STS9 dug deep into their repertoire for the first night of their three-night New Years’ run at the Fillmore Auditorium in Denver. The show kicked off with the first half of “Breathe In” segued into a bust out of “Monkey Music” that then played into the “Ramone & Emiglio” piano solo. This series of tunes was followed by “Mobsters” > “Surreality,” which made for an uncharacteristically transition heavy start to the show. The second set also included some surprises as well, as the band played into a rendition of The Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” after their standard back-to-back to-back “Evasive” > “Kamuy.” However the biggest shocker of the night came at the end of set two, as “Moonsockets” transitioned into a bust out of “So It Goes,” which hasn’t been played outside of STS9’s acoustic “Axe the Cables” shows in more than five years. The band followed up this crowd pleaser with an encore that featured the fan favorite “Somesing” followed by the second half of “Breathe In.”

Last night’s STS9 show surprised many of the band’s diehard fans, who had grown accustomed to a lack of setlist diversity. The inclusion of many rarer songs, as well as the extensive jamming and surprisingly high number of transitions made for a fantastic start to the band’s New Year’s Eve run.

Here’s last night’s STS9 setlist via The Lowdown

Saturday, December 29, 2012, Fillmore Auditorium, Denver, CO

Set 1:
Breathe In (1st half)>
Monkey Music>
Ramone & Emiglio (piano ending only)
Mobsters>
Surreality>
Eb
Empires
Be Nice
We Will Meet In Our Dreams (sans vocal intro)
Tokyo
Frequencies 2>3

Set 2:
Really Wut?
Music Us
Evasive>
Kamuy (unfinished at drum solo)>
Sympathy for The Devil 
King Pharaoh’s Tomb
F. Word
Grow
Moonsockets>
So It Goes

E:
Somesing
Breathe In (2nd half)