LOTUS – LIVE – BEACHLAND BALLROOM – CLEVELAND
By Eric Rauert
No opener meant an evening with Lotus at the Beachland Ballroom room and I was at a sold out show once again. My usual spot stage right was packed tight, so I “settled” for an empty corner of the soundbooth (and I’m glad I did). Artists must love the ballroom, because Lotus was planning on spending two nights with us in a similar fashion to Bumpin’ Uglies. I was only able to catch the Saturday 4/20 show but you best believe I wasn’t about to skip witnessing the celebration of a traditional jam band holiday.
The set was off to an immediate and funky start with “Harps”, morphing from its freestyle beginning into a killer chord progression that rooted the rest of the song. But the real star of the first set was the wild 4 song jam from “Move Too Fast” > “Sunrain” composing nearly an hour of stellar playing.
My personal highlight of this jam was the cover of “Heads Will Roll” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The band wished the crowd a happy 4/20 before diving into the beat. Being covered so much, I can’t even be sure I’ve heard the original but Lotus is now the definitive version for me. Coming in with no expectations, the mastery of electronica blew me away and the relentless pace of the first set made this four piece quickly into jam-tronica stars in my eyes.
But fans of guitar would win out as the last few minutes of the first set slowly transitioned back into “Sunrain”. Funky keys and beats gave way to guitarist Tim Palmieri leading the charge on more of a “traditional” jam band song. The set ended with a segment punctuated by the long guitar solos and bright peaks I’ve come to expect from bands like Phish and Pigeons Playing Ping Pong.
After set break the music was categorically slower in pace and funkier, to the disappointment of absolutely no one. “Catacombs” quickly became my second set hit. With disco backbone and killer flute sampling Lotus blamed this wonderful little ditty on 4/20 saying “see what 4/20 does to us?”. Again, I didn’t hear anyone complaining.
“Age of Inexperience” followed as a solo song to end the set but never quite hit the peaks of the jams earlier in the night. “Bushpilot” was the choice for encore, with a bombastic (and synthetic) horns section quickly announcing their return to stage and their final departure.
I massively enjoyed the jam sessions that Lotus had to offer for this show. Honestly, there’s no clear star of the band to me and that’s a strength; each member plays off the strengths of each other during the jams. The cohesion, flow, and all around grooviness I noticed during the sets was a result of this teamwork. Couple this with a comfort of genres from all corners of the jam world and you have an act that has something to offer for just about anyone with ears. I was sad I couldn’t catch both nights of their run but you can bet I’ll be planning for the next time they’re in town.
Setlist:
Set 1:
Harps
Blender
Move Too Fast >
Sunrain >
Livingston Storm >
Heads Will Roll (Yeah Yeah Yeahs cover) >
Sunrain
Set 2:
Catacombs
Transfixed >
Tiraquon Acid Funk (Space Dimension Controller cover) >
Spaghetti >
Arupa
Bush Pilot
Age of Inexperience
Encore:
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