STS9 (Show) 10/24/12

I will start this post by including the Spotify player for their most recent studio release. It is nice to listen to the band you are reading about to put you in the mindset.

I will begin this one with a story from Bonnaroo 2 years ago. Friday night was electronica late night with Bassnectar followed by Pretty Lights. Also, I believe that Lil' Wayne was playing and maybe Ratatat too. I chose to go hard with my friend Austin and go see Bassnectar and Pretty Lights back to back. This proved to be a good choice and a whole lot of fun, but it left me feeling tired the next day.

The next night was String Cheese Incident followed by Tribe. I had been so stoked to see tribe, but due to my dedication to the previous night, I was overcome with exhaustion about halfway through cheese. I made my way back to camp to rest before Tribe and long story short, never made it back to centeroo. I woke up the next morning yelling at my friends and trying to find out why everyone let me sleep. Turns out they had tried to wake me to no avail. So, at that point I vowed to see Tribe the first chance I got, this show was that chance!

The show was at the historic Ryman Auditorium. We had seen Umphrey's there earlier in the year and were already prepared for poor sound. The venue is beautiful, but it is never quite loud enough. We were running behind and had missed the opener, so we ended up walking in as they were starting their first song. The first thing that surprised me was how intense the smell of weed was. The Ryman is notoriously strict on smokers, but tonight they seemed to be more lax in light of the craziness that was unfolding.

The crowd was diverse, but had all the expected attendees. There were your classic deadhead style hippies, your electro kids drugged up on molly, the new wave hippy kids with flat bill hats and a wide variety of hat pins, and your in between music enthusiasts. Everyone was cool though and the vibes were excellent. What I will say for this crowd is that they came to dance and they were very happy to be seeing Tribe, as was I.

In regards to the band, I am thrilled to say that it was everything I had waited 2 years to see. They brought it. At times, their album work can be more laid back and ambient, but they play DANCE MUSIC live. Everything was adequately intricate and a nice blend between the traditional band and electro. The band is a bit older, not Cheese old, but older. However, they all looked like they were thrilled to be playing and that they understood all of the people who were so eager to enjoy their music.

My next series of comments involves the light show. Tribe uses an LED wall system that forms a pyramid behind the whole band and a rectangular panel, the width of the pyramid, between the guitarist and bass player and the rest of the band. The content that flows across these screens is magical and truly enhances the experience. Everything is synchronized with the music to some extent and really provides a unique experience. The only other time I have seen a light set up of this magnitude is with electronic artists. It was very cool to see a band doing something similar.

In closing, I will say that if you have not seen Tribe and they are coming to your city soon, GO SEE THEM! It is a hell of a party and you can't help but feel the good vibes and energy from the music.

-Cory