This past Thursday, July 2nd, the lid was blown off Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom, as Thievery Corporation and special guests, Beats Antique, swept the stage on the The Music Never Stopped series.
This performance, put on by Silver Wrapper, was part of the eleven-show docket comprising the Grateful Dead’s legendary 50th Anniversary Fare Thee Well tour, which concludes with three last shows at Chicago’s Soldier Field (July 5). It is for this exact reason Thursday evening’s so was so phenomenal—the presence of Dead fans was everywhere, and there was nothing but love filling the walls of the Aragon. The crowd was filled with gypsies, dreamers, and folk of all ages. Everywhere I turned people were dressed in their finest hippie garb, with a beer in their hand and a smile on their face. It was truly beautiful.
The evening kicked off with Beats Antique absolutely killing it onstage. They brought what I can best describe as burlesque snake charmer music. The trio, made up of David Satori, Tommy “Sidecar’ Cappel, and Zoe Jakes, brew a blend of tribal, electronic, hip-hop, and dance fusion—or what some have labeled ‘gyp-hop”. They combined the sounds of tribal drum circle beats, and hightailed it with powerful percussion, sensual bellydancing and costumes galore, taking the audience on a trance-like journey of sound. The trio was joined on stage by special guests who assisted them in their wacky mask-donning performances. This group absolutely defies the traditional notion of an electronic group, and takes their music to a whole other level with their live performance and homage to Middle Eastern and West African music culture. One of my favorite parts of their performance was their sampling of Primus—not surprise, as the group works closely with Primus frontman Les Claypool.
Beats Antique’s performance was the perfect opening into the main act of the evening, Thievery Corporation—who had the audience roaring the moment they took the stage. The “chillout” electronica, trip-hop group has been making people bump and sway for years—and this performance was no exception.
Days prior to Thursday’s performance, the duo, comprised of Rob Garza and Eric Hilton, announced they were taking Grateful Dead song requests that they would showcase during their set. So, as promised, the duo, along with a number of talented special guests, mixed in a number of Dead songs into their already killer set. They rocked their famous hits such as, “Lebanese Blonde”, “Depth of My Soul”, “Overstand”, “Take My Soul”, “Sweet Tides”, and ‘Holographic U”, along with Grateful Dead tunes such as “Eyes of the World”, “China Cat”, and “Fire on the Mountain.”
Beats Antique and Thievery Corporation fed off each other so well—leaving the audience in a total sound trance. They incorporated their own special guests on stage, which also added even more color and power to their performances. At one point, Thievery had about ten people on stage—and at that, a special shout out must be given to their bass player, Ashish Vyas, who defied all stereotypes of bass players as stoic, unmoving beings. The guy treated the stage like his playground and was constantly sashaying around.
This was one of the best live performances I have seen to date—thanks to both musical groups. There is a reason why they were chosen to be part of this Grateful Dead tour, and if you ever have the chance to see either of these groups (or both, hopefully), I would highly recommend it.