The 2020 return of Circles Around The Sun to Higher Ground on March 1st reaffirmed the distinctions of their music, in its original configuration and in the more accessible form as documented on their third studio album. Bassist Dan Horne’s subdued shout-out to the late Neal Casal as the group left the stage belied the surviving bandmembers’ practical and philosophical embrace of the group’s guitarist/titular leader’s wish they carry on recording and touring in the wake of his passing.
In fact, on this frigid first day of March, CATS nurtured the logical progression of their music since forming in 2015 to provide music for the Grateful Dead’s Fare Thee Well shows. With Scott Metzger in place of his deceased predecessor, the foursome effectively mixed new material with selections from their first two albums, Interludes For The Dead and Let It Wander. In doing so, the band’s ninety-minutes single set was much more conventional than the performance of approximately a year ago—an object lesson in seamless continuity based on the unique chemistry of the original personnel—but it rightfully evoked a thoroughly positive reaction from a near sold-out crowd.
Slow-motion sways and the bobbing of heads all around the small room took precedence over conversation and (most) cell phone usage during the early going of “Immovable Object.” In contrast to the band itself, whose stage presence was relegated to mutual nods in advance of transitions, the audience became understandably more animated as culls from the eponymous album such as “Babyman” alternated with the previously-recorded and released likes of “Gilbert’s Groove.” The hypnotic nature of “Halicarnassus” was thus as mesmerizing in their own way as the more insistent pace of “Leaving (Rogue Lemon).” As a result, over the course of the evening, Circles Around The Sun provided as much impetus to dance as to just space out.
Accordingly, if this setlist sequencing didn’t quite conjure up the cumulative momentum of 2019’s show with Casal, the quartet did achieve the goal of meshing the adjustment(s) in style. And there was no denying the evidence of rapture when the quartet played the obviously Dead-derived “Scarlotta’s Magnolias” (even if one wag mistook it for “China Cat Sunflower”). In his fourth appearance in the greater Burlington area in a little over a year, Metzger proved himself every bit the distinctive musician he was with Soule Monde, Robert Walter’s 20th Congress and Joe Russo’s Almost Dead: the lines he unfurled from his (BTV-rooted) Creston-make guitar snaked through the pronounced rhythm work of Horne and drummer Mark Levy and for tunes like “Detroit DOS,” his solos and rhythm chording remained clearly-defined from the multiple textures Adam MacDougall coaxed from his battery of keyboards. (Would that Horne had intro’d the individual players during one of his good-natured between-song commentaries: they deserved the recognition).
The latter was markedly more restrained than in his days with the Chris Robinson Brotherhood, particularly with his synthesizer work. But the interstellar soundscapes he did unleash fit the atmosphere of a stage festooned with five ( ?!) mirrored balls and shrouded in fog. For this second trip to the Green Mountains, CATS may have otherwise sacrificed some of the mystery in its musicianship, but the succession of solos with pronounced rhythmic support resonated with the listeners because this group’s clarity of purpose transcended that readily-recognizable approach.
Photos by Ross Mickel at Bootleggers Beware
SETLIST
Immovable Object
Babyman
Gilbert’s Groove
Detroit Dos
Scarlotta’s Magnolias
Leaving (Rogue Lemon)
Halicarnassus
Money’s No Option
ENCORE: One For Chuck
