Lotus | 06.07 – 09.2013 | Pittsburgh, PA & Baltimore, MD

Three nights of Lotus

…While Moonrise Festival, says goodbye, Lotus says Hello to sold out shows….

Mr.Smalls, Pittsburgh PA | Baltimore SoundStage, Baltimore MD

06.07 – 09.2013

Photos by: Justin Elliott

Word by :Justin Elliott & Steve Ledgers

The last time I saw Lotus was in Richmond, Virginia, a few months ago in March. After that run I had believed I had seen the best Lotus shows to date–a typical feeling for us die-hard Lotus fans. The boys had raised the bar and left us yearning for more. But that’s the trouble with following music like this. You’re constantly in awe, wondering how long it’s going to be until you’re blown away, in a totally new yet just as baffling way, once again.

Returning to Mr.Smalls, an 18th century Catholic Church turned venue, Lotus set another unbelievable standard with their performances. ‘Nematode’ started the set of the first night, really showing the boys were ready to rage the stage, uncharacteristic for the first night “warm-up”.

In my experience attending concerts, there tends to be an evening when the band just goes through the motions. This was not the case this weekend. Night one, they were on fire, throwing in some treats for the OG fans, such as ‘Nri’ and ‘Expired Slang.’

Months ago Lotus announced they were returning to Mr. Smalls, which is where they recorded the album ‘Nomad,’ an absolute favorite of mine and a ground breaking record for them, containing staples such as ‘Spiritualize,’ ‘Suitcases,’ and ‘Travel.’

Nomad was the reason we all bought tickets months in advance.

So, for the next night, ignoring the fact it was Saturday, we all wore our Sunday best.

With so much speculation as to how they would open the night floating among the fans, they surprised most of us with ‘Break Build Burn’ and ‘Middle Road’ from their latest album ‘Build.’ Most of us were expecting a ‘Suitcases’ opener, which is the first track on the album, ‘Nomad.’ And most of us were expecting to hear the original mellow, jazzy sound of the album. I’m glad we got the twist on the album we did and not the standard sound. The first set was killer. Full of new and old, exciting the crowd and preparing them for ‘Nomad,’ in full.

Living up to the hype, they proved they were here to perform. Segueing through most of the second set, playing those older tracks with new flair, Lotus has fully slipped into a new skin. Michael Rempel, guitarist, even took it back to that old school organic flow, busting out a melodica–similar to a recorder–for ‘Ball of Energy.’

That night was hands down some of the best Lotus I’ve heard. There weren’t any crazy throw-backs, no songs the fans had begged to be reawakened, nothing particularly amazing about the set lists and songs played–all of which were pretty normal, considering their present repertoire, but holy hell did the improvisation light fires in the eyes, minds, and bodies of the audience. It was rich and colorful, relaxed, personal. It was tight and loose, compact and scattered. It was melodic, distorted, and intensely vibrational.

It was exploratory.

Lotus has (shall I boldly say, “officially”?) stopped controlling everything. They have gone back to simply playing music. There were no indications from Luke, no crazed or confused facial expressions, like the ones he would normally make when they would find themselves in a directionless jam that probably felt as if they were about to frit the notes away into nothingness, moments when he would be visibly worried and speaking into the radio and telling everyone to reel everything in, because he had no faith in where they were going, or what they were playing. That all too safe style, which has pretty much owned and stifled their music for the last two years, that style they’ve taken refuge in, maybe without fully realizing it.

No, that was gone. The confidence returned, in full bloom. That care-free and casual way of performing, of hanging out in musical space, of taking risks, trotting down dark and unfamiliar corridors of strange, alien notes and taking turns and visiting great rooms of new vibrational bliss, was there! And Lotus, present for every moment, every experience, keenly in tune with themselves and each other, threw up their hands and went along for the ride, smiling and smiling and smiling, all the while.

Night two in Pittsburgh was nothing but explosions and fireworks–a beautiful climax.

Then like a great story, on the third night, we got a change of venue, an illuminating denouement, and much needed resolution. What a night to end on, too. After two jam-packed and energetic shows that etched their dates into the history books, they burned us with some flames again.

All and all, on this run, I had no idea what to expect. The only thing I can say is there were no repeats, and tons of beautiful segues, within yet another sold out run of shows. Coming off a break from a near sold out tour, they made it clear that the summer of 2013 is going to be a real treat for anyone lucky enough to hear their tunes.