Long before electronic dance music was accepted by the masses, it lived in the realm of jam bands. While most EDM these days is more pop-based and generally played by one person on a laptop, bands like The Slip, New Deal, and Sound Tribe Sector 9 (STS9) blend live rock instrumentation with electronics to create a more immersive concert experience. STS9 has toured non-stop since forming in Santa Cruz, CA over fifteen years ago. Though they haven’t released a studio album since 2011’s When The Dust Settles, they still played to a near capacity crowd on Friday at one of last shows at Austin Music Hall before it closes at the end of the year.
In true jam band form, the concert consisted of two sets of well over an hour each with a twenty minute break in-between. The crowd was a melting pot of all sorts of people. Young, old, hippie, and college kids all danced together to the same music for over three hours. The set list consisted of songs from all over their catalog of studio and live recordings with every song being greeted with ecstatic cheering from the fans. Though all their songs are instrumental and only a few words were said throughout the night from drummer, Zach Velmer, the crowd’s connection to the music superseded any need for unnecessary articulation.
One of the most amazing parts of any STS9 is how the lights and music combine to create a meaningful experience. Lighting engineer Saxton Waller is basically the sixth member of the band, much like Phish’s lighting director Chris Kuroda is often referred to as CK5. Having been with STS9 for the entirety of their career, Waller is able to roll with any jam or improvisation that the band can throw at him. There was equally loud cheering for some of the lighting effects that took place during the night as there was for the music being played.
The first set saw a bit more space for dancing, but as the band returned for their second set, the previously empty areas quickly filled up with latecomers looking to dance to what the band self-describes as “post-rock dance music”. Everywhere you looked people were dancing to every song. Those that seemed a bit more reserved in the beginning of the night eventually gave in towards the end of the night. Whether it be from the captivating beats or from the perpetual haze of weed smoke, by the time STS9 returned for an encore around there was not a soul to be found sitting down or standing still.
2015.11.20
Austin Music Hall
Austin, TX
SET I:
Walk to the Light
Hidden Hand, Hidden Fist
MOD
Poseidon
Mischief of a Sleepwalker
Vapors
Kamuy
Totem
SET II:
Arigato
STS9
Scheme
Shock Doctrine
Grow
The Un?able Supremacy of Nature
Click Lang Echo
Encore:
Tooth
Firewall
