Washington D.C.-based DJ collective and world music wanderers Thievery Corporation, known for their dazzling array of stunning lighting designs and eclectic mash-ups of world cultures and languages from those cultures, returned to Stubb’s in Austin on a beautiful night during the F1 US Grand Prix on Saturday, October 21, 2017.
Saturday was the collective’s first return to Austin after stopping by for SXSW earlier this year to celebrate the release of their latest album The Temple of I & I. The reggae vibes of the new album washed over the mostly-Anglo crowd as Mr. Lif, long time collaborator of Thievery, introduced “The Temple of I & I” stating, “It goes a little something like this…let me come talk to you…” The eclectic band immediately broke into new single “Fight to Survive” with a matching light pattern of the Jamaican flag providing an appropriate backdrop to match the feel of the set.
The island-inspired vibes of Thievery’s newest album also feature Kingston-newcomer, rapper and vocalist Racquel Jones who, as former Miss Jamaica contestant, shares her many talents of MC as well as a powerhouse of a lyricist. Lif, whose energy is immeasurable during every Thievery Corporation show, climbed onto a house speaker at Stubb’s shortly before well-known sitar player Rob Myers began to play his majestic stringed and fretted peculiar-sounding instrument.
Long-time Austin-based Thievery Corporation collaborator LouLou Ghelichkhani had an opportunity to perform in front of her home crowd, performing 2017’s “Time + Space” and also took a moment to plug a raffle of a signed guitar, with 100% of proceeds to go towards Hurricane relief in Puerto Rico at the merchandise stand.
With an over two-hour set of music following Austin-based Latin-flavored Afrobeat brass band Hard Proof, who unfortunately did not perform with Thievery Corporation as they did during a New Year’s Eve set in 2016, Thievery Corporation played their most well-known song, “Lebanese Blonde” featuring sitar played by Rob before playing several more encores. After LouLou’s glorious rendition of “Sweet Tides,” Lif ended the show with words of hope and healing as well as he said “…much love to the big dreamers out there…”
All photos by Alex Freeman.
