Biscuits at the Visulite
Bryan Rodgers
2003-08-28
Hello from Home Grown HQ! We had quite an August around here, with trips to
see Garaj Mahal in Charlotte, the Allman Brothers/Karl Denson/Bluestring in
Raleigh, and The Disco Biscuits in Charlotte. All of the shows were stellar
but I feel compelled to write about the Biscuits, who, in my opinion, simply
blow away everyone else's band. Unfortunately, I had to miss the band's
two-day event in the mountains of Tennessee, so I made sure I went to The
Visulite Theatre in Charlotte, where the band always rips it up. The Visulite is simply becoming my favorite venue in NC next to the Lincoln.
Re-entry, space, and sound are very important...this was my 5th Charlotte
show and somewhere around my 40th show overall. I heard about the blending
of song melodies that was going on at TranceMission, and they definitely
continued that last night. Hope opener was solid, and Home Again vocals
sounded really great! All the vocals sounded good in my opinion.
Confrontation is always a fave, and now I have a new fave...Digital Buddha!
I was not a fan of this song after seeing it at Haymaker but this version
was off the meat rackazoni! Absolutely delicious rhythm to this one, and
total chaos as it sped into the fast "Little Betty Boop's been thinkin'"
section of Boop. Boop was long, long, long, and the part about 6-7 minutes
before they went back into Digi Buddha is the highlight of the first set for
me. Wrap it up with the Confrontation ending...fuck yeah. Sometime during
the set, maybe between Confrontation and Buddha, Barber was throwing orange
slices into the audience, one of which apparently found a friendly or
unfriendly hand because it came zooming back right into his head! Second set was one of those non-stop throwdowns. I remember wondering how an
hour and 15 minutes could go by so fast. Truly one of the most ballistic and
fearless sets I have heard them play. I had called for a Story opener but
got it as a second set opener. Story was not very long, and they latched on
to the ending theme for a minute before Marc and Aron started layering the
House Dog intro over the jam. One joyous minute later they were in House Dog
and it was phenomenal! Story of the Dog! You have to hear this jam, they
were totally playing the House Dog intro over the Story-themed jam to
incredible effect. HUGE Dog jumped right into Mr. Don, which i just cannot
get enough of. Don was not around for very long before they went into the
best frickin' version of Rock Candy I have ever heard. They beat the shit
out of this song. It got very lost in a hypnotizing jam before they really
made my night....I-Man! Still my alltime favorite DB song, and this one was
loooong and intense. I started freaking out immediately when I heard the
I-Man chords creeping in to Rock Candy's ending jam. I had just told (Bisco
conventional lighting director) Justin Carey that I don't get enough I-Man.
The last one I saw before this one was 8-9-02 Wilmington. I mean, I'm LOST
without I-Man! The band looked very pleased when they brought Story back around to finish
it all up. There are worse encores than Barfly (Jamilla? Frog Legs?) but it
was a decent way to end the night, and I felt good for the guy who yelled
for it before the second set. Such an incredible band...I don't think I've heard them hit a wrong note in
about two years now. OK, maybe wrong to some people but not to me. :-) Now is the time to turn our attention to the Harmonized Records Showcase
Weekend. Over two days (Oct. 3-4, 2003) we will host 5 of the best bands in
ther nation at The Lincoln Theatre in Raleigh, NC. Friday Oct. 3 features
The Motet and ULU. Saturday features Garaj Mahal, Perpetual Groove, and
Lotus. Each night will include a show-ending free-for-all jam that will
help make this weekend one of the most memorable in our history. Check out
all the details at href='http://www.harmonizedrecords.com/showcase.html'>the Harmonized
website.Thanks for reading! Bryan Rodgers
www.homegrownmusic.net" The Harmonized Records Show-ciz-ase!
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