12/27/08 Disco Biscuits @ Nokia Theater, New York, NY

Set 1: Jam > Orch Theme > Tricycle > 42 > Orch Theme > 42, Uber Glue
Set 2: Jam > Standing On The Verge Of Getting It On1 2, Rock Your Dance1 3, Tamarin Alley, Reactor > Mindless Dribble4 > Reactor, Spraypaint4 > Little Shimmy In A Conga Line5, Bernstein And Chasnoff
Encore: Digital Buddha
1with Tuphace on vocals
21st time played (Funkadelic)
31st time played (Tuphace)
4unfinished
5ending only

This was the Biscuits' first New Year's run at Nokia, which has become their NYC home.

The first set was pretty solid and they had a very nice jam to start set two. The guest vocalist threw off the momentum a bit, but they recovered for a decent show. Nothing mind-blowing though.

08/24/08 Agents of Mayhem (Molitz, Gutwillig,Travis & Hann)/EOTO/DJ Logic @ Spiegeltent, New York, NY

This jamband supergroup concocted by Particle's Steve Molitz featured Disco Biscuits shredder Jon "Barber" Gutwillig along with String Cheese Incident offshoot EOTO (Michael Travis and Jason Hann). DJ Logic spun intermittently and joined in several jams. The venue was the magical circular Spiegeltent inside Spiegelworld on the north side of South Street Seaport. It was the traveling beer hall's final NYC season.

The Agents of Mayhem was a nod to Yippie Abbie Hoffman's prankster ways. The band fittingly pranked the entire crowd when Barber was "arrested" onstage. Much of the crowd scattered after Barber got led off stage in handcuffs. Someone yelled, "If they got Barber, no one's safe!"

Those who remained began chanting "Fuck the police!" Our collective jaw dropped when the "cop" came back, guitar in tow. Barber explained, "He's a Biscuithead." The officer then led the group through a appropriate and rousing rendition of "Come Together".

They also covered the hit song of the summer, MGMT's "Time To Pretend".

4/12/08 Disco Biscuits @ Nokia Theater, New York, NY

04/12/08 • Nokia Theatre • New York , NY
Set 1: M.E.M.P.H.I.S. > Lunar Pursuit > Shelby Rose1 > Air Song1 > And The Ladies Were The Rest Of The Night2
Set 2: Rockafella > Above The Waves3 > Bazaar Escape2, Resurrection > Spacebirdmatingcall > Shadow > 42
Encore: Mulberry's Dream
1inverted
2ending only
3completes 4/11 version (ending and beginning sections only)

I know I caught one of the shows of the Biscuits' inaugural run at the Nokia, which would quickly become one of their most venerated stomping grounds. I am 90% sure it was this one.

08/16-18/07 Camp Bisco @ Indian Lookout Country Club, Mariaville, NY

Disco Biscuits
08/16/07 • Indian Lookout Country Club • Mariaville , NY
Set 1: Bernstein And Chasnoff, Boom Shanker1 > The Great Abyss, Hot Air Balloon
1unfinished

08/17/07 • Indian Lookout Country Club • Mariaville , NY
Set 1: Glastonbury1 > Basis For A Day > Gangster2 > Shem-Rah Boo3 > Basis For A Day, Rockafella
Set 2: Jigsaw Earth > Above The Waves4 > Jigsaw Earth, Magellan > Termites > Magellan
Set 3: Rainbow Song > Spacebirdmatingcall, Reactor > Orch Theme5 > Reactor
1Tractorbeam style
2ending only
3unfinished
4inverted
5with Simon Posford and Zach Velmer (STS9)
Set I started at approximately 3:45pm in place of The New Originals because Simon Postford was delayed; Sets II and III occured in tDB scheduled evening time slot

08/18/07 • Indian Lookout Country Club • Mariaville , NY
Set 1: 10 Ton Foot, Astronaut > Munchkin Invasion1 > Astronaut, Story Of The World2, Take A Bow3
Set 2: Caterpillar > Cyclone > Caterpillar, Pilin' It High4, Papercut5 > Sound One
Encore: I Wanna Be Sedated > Digital Buddha
1inverted
2preceded by "Strawberry Girl" fake-out
31st time played (Muse); with Tom Hamilton (Brothers Past) on vocals
4Perfume version; with Johnny Rabb (BioDiesel) on drums
51st time played

Umphrey's McGee
08/16/07 • Indian Lookout Country Club • Mariaville , NY
Set 1: Nothing Too Fancy, Much Obliged > Mulche's Odyssey, Resolution > Norwegian Wood > Resolution > Sociable Jimmy, Wizard Burial Ground, Push the Pig, 2nd Self

Sound Tribe Sector 9
08/17/07 • Indian Lookout Country Club • Mariaville , NY
Set 1: Tooth, Aimlessly, We'll Meet In Our Dreams, F. Word, Arigato, Be Nice, Somesing, Lo Swaga, One A Day, Instantly1
1with Rent tease

Despite not having a significant source of income or transportation, I managed to get my girlfriend to her first proper music festival, and it was a doozy.

We enrolled in the Work Exchange Team, pledging 18 hours of labor each in exchange for free tickets. Thankfully, the labor did not turn out to be of the hard variety.

Sadly, we could not afford to attend the Disco Biscuits/Umphrey's McGee show the preceding night at McCarren Pool, due partly to not completing a pair of t-shirts meant to fund our adventure. However, we were able to find a fellow fan on a Biscuits message board willing to take us up to the festival.

We arrived a night early and set up camp outside the gates, ensuring a short wait and a premium camping spot once the festival officially opened in the morning.

After setting up camp and checking in with the W.E.T. crew, we caught an earlyish Umphrey's set that catered to the Biscuits crowd, meaning it was a bit more danceable and electronic than previous Umphrey's sets I had witnessed.

Then it was time for the Biscuits. Truth be told, I did not really know enough about the band to accurately review these sets, nor do I remember much.

We had signed up for the 9AM-3PM shifts, so unfortunately, late night acts were out of the question.

As a matter of fact, I recall very little about the actual music. In retrospect, i don't think I saw all that much of it for a festival. I enjoyed STS9. I was a bit disappointed by Infected Mushroom. Girl Talk was a dance party as expected. The Biscuits were standard. I remember rushing towards the stage when the Biscuits played a surprise Friday afternoon set and getting down to Slick Rick the Ruler. But what really stands out is the overall experience.

The next morning we discovered that the greatest job at a festival like Camp Bisco is running the kids tent, the reason being that Camp Bisco is no place for children. For the 6 hours we sat there, one kid came by and he was accompanied by his dad. So we basically just played with all the toys ourselves for the entire morning.

That night, there was ostensibly some music. But what i will always remember is the galeforce winds that ripped through the campgrounds, nearly taking down the stage and sending tents swirling through the night sky like Dorothy's farmhouse. Equally memorable was the stunning starscape that followed.

Luckily, our tent was too small to have blown away, but all our sleeping gear was soaked. So we were forced to spend the night in the front seats of our friend's car, whihc was made all the more uncomfortable by the 40 degree chill.

The next morning we woke up and helped clean up the grounds a bit, clad in our warmest clothes - hoodies and sarongs. We even put in a stint at the VIP tent, during which we were able to experience some of the VIP benefits like couches and hot food.

Finally, we completed our W.E.T. requirements and were free to enjoy the rest of the festival. We copped some Xanax off a friend to relax and then found some doses. Of course, that is not the greatest combination and, following an intimate encounter with a Blow Pop, we shut our eyes and slept through the rest of the festival.

07/28/07 The Join w/Marc Brownstein & Aron Magner @ Highline Ballroom, New York, NY

When the New Deal bassist Dan Kurtz formed an the electropop group Dragonette with his wife, the remaining members of the trio created this collaboration project featuring a rotating cast of the finest improvisers on the jam scene.

This show paired the New Deal's keyboardist and drummer with two members of the Disco Biscuits, Marc Brownstein and Aron Magner.

It was a high energy dance party, just as I would've expected from a mixture of two of my favorite groups. The tunes were mostly jams with a dash of New Deal and Disco Biscuit flavor, along with a couple of choice covers.

This was my first time at the Highline Ballroom, named after the nearby abandoned Highline railroad tracks, which would soon be transformed into an elevated park.

Listen to the show HERE.

04/27/07 Disco Biscuits (TractorBeam) @ Gramercy Theatre, New York, NY

Set 1: Strobelights and Martinis1 > Pygmy Twylyte > Morph Dusseldorf > Spaga > Crickets > Sweating Bullets, Munchkin Invasion > The Great Abyss > Astronaut > Munchkin Invasion > Astronaut
1with "Cyclone" fake-out

This under-the-radar gig announced just several days prior and billed under a pseudonym, saw The Disco Biscuits eschewing vocals, never their strong suit, for an all instrumental set.

Not having seen the Biscuits in a couple years at that point, I rediscovered their trancefusion sound, fell in love and haven't looked back since.

09/13/05 Disco Biscuits/Sir Joe Russo's Flying Circus/Danjaboots @ Spirit, New York, NY

09/13/05 Spirit Nightclub, New York, NY
Hurricane Katrina Relief Concert
Set I: Voices Insane1, Little Shimmy In A Conga Line1, Svenghali1 2, Confrontation2, Three Wishes2, Helicopters2
Encore: Bazaar Escape1
1 with Mike Greenfield on drums
2 with Joe Russo on drums

The Disco Biscuits were in a period of turmoil in 2005. This seems to be the case more often than not with the group, but it was especially true in the fall of 2005. Their drummer, Sammy "The Professor" Altman, had played his last gigs with the band at the annual festival, Camp Bisco, and a replacement had not yet been named.

Despite their uncertain future, after the devastating destruction of Hurricaine Katrina, The Disco Biscuits sprang to action and put together a benefit concert on short notice, abetted by some friends from the jam community.

I think the show was announced the day before. I was pretty low on funds, but I figured it was a worthy cause. As it turned out, I ended up with a free ticket from some friends I ran into outside. I still wanted to contribute, so I bought some raffle tickets.

Scotty "Boom Boom" Metzger and Sir Joe Russo opened the night with their short-lived acoustic guitar country duo Danjaboots. There were covers of Ween and Bob Dylan and a rather profane ode to big record companies.

Another Russo/Metzger collab was next, this one dubbed Flying Circus and featuring the musicians on their regular instruments, drums and electric guitar respectively. They were augmented by Aron and Marc of the Biscuits and Kevin Kendricks on the 1's and 2's. The music tended towards the electronic improv of Biscuits' side project, Electron. The highlight was a tease of Phish's "Maze," appropriate since their unofficial fifth member, Chris "CK5" Kuroda, was running the lights for the evening.

Finally the Disco Biscuits took the stage for a set augmented by The Ally's Mike Greenfield and the omnipresent Russo. The set looks nice on paper in retrospect, but I remember very little of it. It was fun watching from the second floor lounge overlooking the dance floor and stage area.

It's always nice to catch a line-up of this magnitude at a relatively small venue on such short notice.

One thing that sticks out is the "Smoking Allowed" signs in the back of the club, a relic of a bygone era now, as smoking would be officially banned from all NYC clubs by the end of that year.

04/26/05 Umphrey's McGee @ BB King's Blues Club, New York, NY

04/26/05 B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, New York, NY
Official Post-Jammy's Show
Set I: Jazz Odyssey> In the Kitchen, Push the Pig, Resolution1, Soul Food I2, Bad Is Bad2 3, Heart and Soul2, Believe the Lie, Glory, The Bottom Half, Women Wine and Song> Hurt Bird Bath> Jam4> Jam4 5> Jam4 5> Hurt Bird Bath
Set II: Making Flippy Floppy> Jam6, Pay the Snucka, Miss Tinkle's Overture7, Thin Air, Bright Lights
Encore: Plunger
1 with Hysteria tease
2 with Huey Lewis on harmonica and vocals
3 first time played (Huey Lewis and the News)
4 with Aron Magner with Joel on keys and Marc Brownstein replacing Ryan on bass
5 with Joe Russo replacing Kris on drums
6 "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" jam; with Nellie McKay on vocals
7 with Thunderstruck jam

This was an official after party for the Jammys, which is the jam scene's take on the Grammys, with a heavy focus on pairing musicians haphazardly with often captivating results.

As such, there were many guests in the house.

The higlights were Huey Lewis jamming on a few tunes, some Biscuits and Joe Russo jamming on another and some of my favorite Umphrey's originals: "In the Kitchen," "Women Wine and Song," "Miss Tinkle's Overture," "Bright Lights" and "Plunger."

There was also a Talking Heads cover and a peculiar vocal take on "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" by Nellie McKay.

All in all, it was a very jammy affair.

01/01/05 L. Cool Trio w/Mike Gordon @ Knitting Factory, New York, NY

After a uneventful New Year's Eve spent at a friend's parent's house party, this was a nice New Year's Day treat.

The original Knitting Factory on Houston was known, in conjunction with the aforementioned Tonic, as the center of downtown's early 1990s underground alternative jazz scene that spawned such vaunted cats as Medeski Martin & Wood and Steve Bernstein's various projects.

The new location expanded the pallette to include everything from punk to funk, often simultaneously held in any of the venue's three separate performance spaces.

I believe this may have been my first time at the club.

The line-up was a supergroup of sorts comprised of Mark Brownstein of the Disco Biscuits on bass, Jamie Shields of The New Deal on keys and Joe Russo of Benevento Russo Duo on drums. These were (and still are) some of my favorite musicians from some of my favorite bands.

The vibe in the crowd was fairly laid back, fully understandable for the night after the biggest party night of the year.

We secured a spot in the balcony and danced our way through the improvised electronic grooves that the trio laid down in the first set.

At the start of the second set, a familiar face emerged on stage.

It was none other than Mike Gordon, bassist for recently disbanded Phish, who just happened to live in an apartment above the club.

Since Brownie was already holding down the low end, Cactus tried his hand at guitar, capably strumming along to the L. Cool concoctions for the duration of the show.

12/31/03 Disco Biscuits/The New Deal @ Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, NY

The New Deal opened and played an interlocking set; Set II was a Battle of the Bands with the Disco Biscuits taking the stage under different identities
Set I: Morph Dusseldorf1> Aceetobee, 42> Basis For A Day2
Set II: Basis For A Day3 4 5, Above The Waves6> Svenghali6 7, Svenghali6 7> Above The Waves6, Blame Canada10 8 9, Kyle's Mom's A Bitch10 8, It's Easy MMMKay10 8, Chocolate Salty Balls (P.S. I Love You)10 8, Fuck That Doll10 11, Sweating Bullets10 11, Frog Legs12, Pilin' It High12, Oname' Wa13, Ohio Gozaimasu10 13
Set III: Rock Candy> Voices Insane7> Pygmy Twylyte> Voices Insane7> Rock Candy, Munchkin Invasion14> 42
1 with "Hot Air Balloon" fake-out
2 segued into New Deal set
3 segued out of New Deal set
4 with new years countdown
5 band leaves stage and an emcee introduces the Battle of the Bands
6 Performed as "The Disco Biscuits"
7 dyslexic
8 Performed as "The Cartmans"
9 with Ericalynn Gruenberg on vocals
10 1st time played
11 Performed as "Fuck the Robots"
12 Performed as "The Perfume"
13 Performed as "Panda Power"
14 completes 12/30 dyslexic version

This was my first time seeing the band that would later become one of my favorites, but I went to see The New Deal. It was also my first New Year's Eve concert.

We drove into the city and had a few drinks at a friend's apartment, thinking we had some time to kill.

When we got to the venue, the line was practically around the block, so we sat down to kill some tallboys in the adjacent deli.

We finally got inside and found our balcony seats. My least favorite thing about Hammerstein is the inability to move freely between the balconies and the floor.

I think we caught the last several minutes of The New Deal's opening set, before they segued seamlessly into the Disco Biscuits. Either way, the only music I vividly remember is The Cartmans portion of the Battle of the Bands segment the Biscuits had concocted as a New Year's schtick. "Kyle's Mom's a Bitch" and "Salty Chocolate Balls" were the only tunes I knew. I don't even remember what happened at midnight.

Talking to seasoned fans after the show, most were quick to tell me that the band should not be judged by this anomalous performance. Still, it would be a couple years before I would see them again.

Just prior to leaving, we struck up a conversation with some lovely Bisquettes in the balcony, when a young gentleman sat down in front of us regurgitating typical acid gibberish like "It doesn't matter, man!" Sadly, our lady friends jetted when the young spunion began to remove his pants. Shortly later, I saw him leaving the venue on a stretcher.