I have always maintained that, on many occasions, the love and enthusiasm of a well-unified fan base is every bit as important to a band’s live experience as the live show itself. Last Friday was one of those times. When Lotus stopped in Madison to kick off the second leg of their Gilded Age Tour, perhaps their most exciting headlining tour to date, the Orpheum Theatre was lucky to host some of the most enthusiastic fans of any music scene. Of course, that’s not to say the band didn’t do their part as well. Supported on the bill by Turbo Suit, Lotus hit the stage early and played two full sets laden with incredible musicianship and the extravagant light show that most fans have come to expect from the band.
Turbo Suit, the first band on the bill that night, merges funk melodies focused on live instrumentation with electronic dance music in a way that’s fairly familiar to fans of both genres. Formerly known as Cosby Sweater, the trio consists of drummer Jeff Peterson, DJ/Producer David Embry, and saxophonist extraordinaire Nicholas Gerlach. In the wake of their recent name change, a reaction to the controversial allegations against their namesake Bill Cosby, the band is back and stronger than ever. Their Madison performance couldn’t have come at a better time—their first album under their new name, Out Here, was released March 3.
The new album is as eclectic as it is melodically intoxicating. Fans who are familiar with Turbo Suit’s work will not be disappointed by the central presence of bouncing sax melodies, gritty and driving, laid out atop dance beats, as well as groove-band instrumentation. Artists like Big Gigantic and GRiZ have popularized heavy use of saxophone in dance music over the years, and Turbo Suit bridges the gap between this hybrid and a more organic live-band sound. The band showcases an even wider range on their eclectic debut album, from hip hop beats and features from notable rappers like ProbCause and Zion I to fluid, “wall-of-sound”style synth explosions on tracks like “Coogi Wolf.” I write this on the very day of the album’s release, and I can already tell that Out Here will be looming toward the top of my computer’s “recently played” display well into the foreseeable future. But alas, the main attraction of the show began only after Turbo Suit had left the stage.
When I spoke with Luke Miller of Lotus last week, he mentioned that the band had been taking advantage of the opportunity to dive deep into their catalog each night, playing a different set every night. With that in mind, I was excited to see what the band had in store as they began the first of two back-to-back sets. They opened the first set with “Juggernaut.” This crowd-favorite conjured all of the Orpheum’s energy with a tight, crisp sound that could only come from a band like Lotus. Everyone in the band is an excellent musician in their own right, yet the musical chemistry was undeniable onstage, something that comes naturally when a group has spent well over a decade building their sound together.
The rest of Lotus’ first set, and the entire show for that matter, was like a cross-section of the band’s work, delivering fan-favorites from throughout their catalog. “Break Build Burn,” the opening track from 2013’s Build, followed “Juggernaut.” The band then took us back in time “Livingston Storm” from 2005’s Nomad, and all of the old-school Lotus fans in the house went nuts.
This portion of the set saw liberal use of synthesizer, pounding dance beats and a distinct shift in the band’s light show. The spotlights went dark, and the strobing colors that radiated from the back of the stage illuminated only a silhouette of each band member, bringing about a sense of anticipation as Lotus’ monumental sound grew before our eyes and ears. The band jumped a decade into the future to play “The Oaks” from their most recent album Gilded Age. This song, and the rest of Gilded Age, emphasize more organic instrumentation.
As a spotlight brightened, lead guitarist Mike Rempel was illuminated as the centerpiece of the band’s melodic sound. The stage was well lit, yet the colorful light show behind the band was as busy as ever as the band dissected each of Rempel’s melodies, building upon each hook to convey coherent and emotionally powerful soundscapes. The first set closed with “Behind Midwest Storefronts,” a song from 2008’s Hammerstrike which did just that. Conversations between guitars built up to a wall of sound that soundsed like a more energetic and melodic take on post-rock conventions, paired perfectly with a dynamic light display that gave me goosebumps.
When Lotus returned to the stage after an intermission, their second set carried out the same diversity and power as the first. When they opened up with “Golden Ghost,” and then “Suitcases,” two of the band’s more electronic and groovy songs, there was a renewed energy on the floor. The band continued to balance songs like this with slow-building guitar tunes, giving each band member a chance to showcase his talent.
The show came to a climax as the second set closed with “Spiritualize,” a song that builds gradually with an intensity that harnesses every aspect of the band’s sound. Followed by an encore of “Bush Pilot” and “In an Outline,” Lotus ended the night with an incredible display of enthusiasm that was reciprocated by everyone in the room. Keyboardist/Guitarist Luke Miller mentioned to me in our interview that Lotus tends to avoid conventions of “genre” that too often tend to constrict creativity. The band’s performance proved his point more clearly than his words possibly could.
