Photos and review by: Jason Robey
ASHEVILLE, NC — As the Orange Peel began to fill up with eager fans, chomping at the bit for the Disco Biscuits to take the stage for a sold-out stop on their Why We Dance tour, the room was buzzing with excitement and set list predictions. The band is hot on the heels of the release of their new album, Revolution in Motion, dropped just two weeks prior. The group has been blazing a trail with their unique blend of rock and electronic music, often described as trance-fusion, for nearly 30 years, and the general consensus among fans is that they are playing some of their best shows of their career on their current tour.
By the time the lights when down and the quintet took the stage, there was barely room to walk in the venue, but the opening notes of “House Dog Party Favor” was all the inspiration fans needed to make room to dance. That kicked-off 80 straight minutes of music, without a single stop, with each song in the set transitioning seamlessly into the next. The 32-minute opener allowed guitarist / vocalist Jon “The Barber” Gutwillig and keyboardist Aron Magner ample opportunities to explore their instruments along the song’s theme, before dropping into “Who’s In Charge” with laser-perfect accuracy. The improv-heavy performance was punctuated with an awe-inspiring use of lights and lasers, blasting the room off into another world for the crowd, continuing with blazing hot performances of “Pat and Dex” and “SpaceBirdMatingCall.”
As the second set took off with “Shocked!,” the opening track from the new album, the rock solid rhythm section of bassist Marc “Brownie” Brownstein and drummer Allen Aucoin strapped in for another marathon, this time running for more than an hour and a half. The magic of the Disco Biscuits’ live show continued to astonish the crowd, as they slid fluidly into “Shadow” and again into one of the band’s earliest songs, “Spaga.” During the final song of the set, “Down to the Bottom,” technical difficulties prompted Brownstein and Magner to switch places, Marc finishing out on the keyboards and Aron taking over vocal responsibilities. The switch was performed so perfectly that it seemed planned to the crowd. The band returned for an energetic encore of “Highwire,” giving the audience one last chance to dance out all their energy, following a monster of show, before moving on to the next tour stop. The band proved to all the first-timers in attendance that their show is one to be experienced live, and will undoubtedly see many of those faces in the crowd again.
