Circles Around The Sun kicked off their latest tour at Baltimore’s 8×10 Club on February 27th to a packed house. The psychedelic rock-outfit, consisting of Adam MacDougall (keys), Mark Levy (drums) and Dan Horne (bass) were joined by guitarist Scott Metzger (RANA, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead) for a two-hour-plus show that honored the memory of late guitarist, and CATS founding member, Neal Casal as well as showed the promising potential this progressive band has going forward.
The group wasted no time getting going, opening things up with a nearly 18-minute version of “On My Mind” from the 2018 studio album Let It Wander that featured some bouncy lead-guitar lines from Metzger along with some incredibly tight interplay between Metzger and MacDougall. “Gilbert’s Groove”, the first of two tracks performed this evening from their 2015 debut album Interludes For The Dead, followed as the musicians continued to weave their sonic tapestry over top of Horne’s thumping bass lines. The upbeat “When I Was at Peace”, the opening track from the 2019 EP Meets Joe Russo, was up next which led into the evening’s first new song “Leaving (Rogue Lemon)”, from the yet-to-be-released eponymous album Circles Around The Sun (available March 20th).
Extended versions of “Halicarnassus”, “Scarlotta’s Magnolias” and “Immovable Object” allowed all four members to stretch their legs, particularly Messrs. Metzger & MacDougall, in what amounted to nearly 50 minutes of improvisational bliss, with the latter track featuring a brief “Breakdown” (Tom Petty) tease. The evening’s second new composition, “Babyman”, featuring the machine-like Levy on Drumtraks™, closed the set with jazzy chord-changes and a contagious groove. The group returned for an encore with another Let It Wander track, “One for Chuck”, which was dedicated to the song’s namesake: Public Enemy frontman Chuck D.
After only performing with CATS for a handful of shows during their 2019 NYE run, Metzger has clearly found his comfort zone with this group as he continually gave the other musicians space to contribute to their remarkably cohesive style that Casal helped develop in 2015. While the heart of the band’s sound is driven by the three original members, Metzger’s innate ability to switch between delivering searing guitar lines and accompanying MacDougall’s trademark psychedelic leads has already proven to be a perfect match. Though this was just the opening night of their 10-show Northeast run, it is obvious that this band is well-rehearsed and excited to perform their material together. With several more shows and festival appearances scheduled for this summer, all with Mr. Metzger, the future of Circles Around The Sun is as bright as anyone could hope for.
Watch exclusive video of “Leaving (Rogue Lemon)” from the 8×10 below:
Photo: Piper Ferguson via CATS Facebook
