Headstash

STS9 - Dec. 30 - "Roller coaster of reworked songs with Phipps absolutely taking over all night."

Headstash Magazine will have daily coverage of Phish, STS9, The Disco Biscuits, Umphrey's McGee's New Year's Runs as well as SnowGlobe festival in California. We'll also have in-depth coverage of Lotus, The New Deal, moe. and Pretty Lights.

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STS9's New Year's Eve run will take them back to The Tabernacle in Atlanta, Georgia for five nights after a two-year hiatus from the venue. Stay tuned for coverage from all the nights.

December 27 - The Tabernacle - Atlanta, GA
December 28 - The Tabernacle - Atlanta, GA
December 29 - The Tabernacle - Atlanta, GA

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Photo Credit: Josh Cohan

December 30 – The Tabernacle – Atlanta, GA

Set I:  Be Nice, Empires Part II > Move My Peeps, Scheme, Lion, Golden Gate, Frequencies DnB > Frequencies 2 > Frequencies 3, Atlas
Set II: This, Us, Hidden Hand, Hidden Fist, Metameme, Satori, Looking Back On Earth, Firewall, March, When The Dust Settles, The Unquestionable Supremacy of Nature
Encore: From Now On, The Rabble

Crowd Atmosphere: Usually a crowd starts off crazy and tapers off as their energy wears thin, but in this case, the room got louder and the vibes were strongest (with the crowd and the band) at the end of the show before peaking during the encore.

Best Song: Satori (Crowd grooved hard during this song.)

Bustout of the Night: Looking Back On Earth

Best Jam: Looking Back On Earth (Reworked ending.)

Photo Credit: Josh Cohan

Best Segue: The three "Frequencies" weaved in and out of each other nicely.

Best Moment: The band and crowd's energy during the "From Now On" encore.

Sloppiest Moment: Hidden Hand, Hidden Fist (Though the ending was strong and definitely made up for it.)

Lights Review: A lot of LEDs last night and the lights during "Atlas" were absolutely blindingly bright. But when when the LEDs wee off and Saxton was given freedom to light as he pleases, he was masterful.

Twitter Recap: The debut of "March," which has some potential and a lot of songs were reworked and tweaked. Phipps took over.

Other Notes: A slower, growling intro to "Be Nice" started things off on a strong note. In what became the theme of the night, Phipps' emphatic synth work pulled your ear before Murph's residual bassline slowly made its way to the forefront.

By the fourth night of the run with already so many expectations met, the crowd's energy was lower than the previous shows but got progressively more raucous as the band fired through a host of fan-favorites with excellent musicianship.

In the two-hole was "Empires," a song that runs a wide range of emotions but never to the extreme on either end. A segue into "Move My Peeps" was both surprising (as normally "New Soma" comes next) and well executed.

The LEDs during "Move My Peeps" featured sea turtles and other underwater life for an extended period of time which felt a bit random and unnecessary. Thankfully, Saxton took over with a beautiful "ROYGBIV" design near the end as Zach's arms moved frenetically as he built up the drum and bass jam.

Another theme of the night would be reworked and re-reworked songs. Probably the most played song of 2011, "Scheme" was completely different and slowed down for a more sultry feel rather than the usual raging one. Though the sample remained in the beginning, the ending electronic one was absent.

Photo Credit: Josh Cohan

It evoked imagery of a slow-motion scene in an action movie as people slowly grooved to and fro in accordance with the infectious backbeat. The song was a welcome divergence if for no other reason than STS9 continuing to evolve.

After "Lion" and an emotional "Golden Gate" that elicited the most boisterous reaction of the first set, the band launched into a "Frequencies" suite.

The "Frequencies DnB > Frequencies 2 > Frequencies 3" segment was long, patient and though the transition from one to the next was clear, it was smooth and organic.

Phipps completely took over for all three songs with a synth that ran the gamut from light and airy to dark and menacing - all at the absolute appropriate times.

By the time "Freq 3" hit, you could feel the band building up to something speciall. At the ultimate peak, it felt like a controlled mess of chaos with Phipps holding it down and pulling the jam into the right direction.

"Atlas" closed out the first set with some really bright and frankly a bit overwhelming LED screens.

After a long set break, the second set opened up with an especially spooky version of "This, Us" which was a lot like the "Twilight" set two opener earlier in the week.

A sloppy first half of "Hidden Hand, Hidden Fist" was made up for by Zach's inspired playing during the breakdown and ending.

"Metameme" had images of spinning, melting clocks on the LEDs, like something out of a Salvador Dali painting. But this was only the first of at least three other starkly different animations.

Photo Credit: Josh Cohan

The highlight of the night was a flawless "Satori" with colorful, dynamic lights by Saxton and an intense back and forth between Hunter and Zach. The crowd roared during this song and picked up steam with every passing minute from here on.

A rare and completely reworked "Looking Back On Earth" followed with a spacier and darker middle and ending jam. The version felt very deliberate throughout like they had a point to make with the music. It was Nine Inch Nails-like in its darkness.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, this roller coaster of a show had "Firewall" next, a song Phipps controlled from beginning to end. This jam, debuted during last year's New Year's Eve run, really is unlike anything else in their catalog. Phipps' improv at the end was punctuated by Zach's best drumming of the night.

A new song, called "March" by STS9's Twitter, was dark, but fun and had a TRON/Daft Punk feel to it.

After reworking "When The Dust Settles" for the summer garnered great reviews from fans, it was curious to see them revert back to the original version for the first half. The ending jam is pulsating, though, andit still retained Phipps' fluttery keys and Hunter's wailing guitar parts.

"The Unquestionable Supremacy of Nature," a song I would have bet money would have shown up on December 31, ended the set with a jungle beat ending that was creative and different than normal.

While some crowds take the encore for granted, this one implored them to return to the stage with minutes of screaming, stomping and clapping.

"From Now On" was an excellent encore choice and the crowd and band alike moved with swagger as the rocking song with ethereal undertones progressed. The song was uplifting and just what the crowd wanted.

Closing the show with "The Rabble" further solidified Phipps' title of MVP as he consistently drew the wildest cheers of the night.

This version was dark and dirty with some great flourishes on the keys and nothing short of hypnotizing lights. After it was over, no one wanted to leave the stage or the floor until the house music finally came out over the PA.

With one more night to go, there are still a lot of great songs in the queue and at least one or two new tracks expected.

 

- Nick Rhodes

 

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Stay tuned as we continue to review STS9's New Year's Eve run and all your favorite bands as they countdown to 2012.

What did you think of the show? Let us know in the comments section.