Heyyyy, you better check out this recording of Cycles at The Fox Theatre!
After spending the last month and a half on the road supporting Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, Cycles returned home to the front range to co-headline The Fox Theatre alongside jamband cohorts Evanoff. As the lights dimmed down and a sample of Busta Rhymes announcing “Ayo, THIS IS A FUCKING EMERGENCY, EVACUATE THE FUCKING PREMISES BITCH” coursed through the PA, the crowd was brought to immediate attention as the band kicked into the punchy opening riffs of “The Store”. Time on the road has seemed to serve Cycles quite well, sounding tight as ever, nailing transitions both in composed sections as well as seamlessly shifting through jam segments. After a chaotic solo from Patrick, the band slowly melted into the blissful build of the jam. As Patrick patiently accented to the softest moments of the segment and the reverb built thickness, Wood and Tucker kept the train moving, keeping a steadily building melodic rhythm for Patty to paint his picture. As the solo began to wind itself up, the bottom almost seemed to drop out before Patty’s guitar came piercing back through the mist. Slowly then re-building into the apex of the jam, a triumphant peak-filled flurry before crashing back into the outro…and this wast just the beginning! Maybe Busta Rhymes was right about the extremity of the situation….
Once the dust settled, the band launched into a cover of Black Moth Super Rainbow’s “Panic Blooms”, the self-titled track off their 2018 album. Tucker’s voice brought an endearing twist on the original’s washed-out lo-fi vocals, a more straightforward approach to the song. The jam had the same capacity to build itself as did “The Store” and reached equally fulfilling heights. Next up was the combo “Water > Everything Must Go”, the latter of which featured one of the fiercest peaks of the night. Both tunes showing off Cycles’ penchant for contrasting intense-whirlwind jams and peaks with blissed-out reverb-laced moments of dynamic transcendence. We then saw an appearance of the newish Mike Wood tune “Find Your Friends”, a slow and dark tune about the disconnect between tangible and digital relationships. The jam in the middle ramped up the intensity and took listeners through a forest of rumbling toms and shrewd guitar peaks that would end up being one of the most interesting jam segments of the evening.
The intensity kept up as the opening riffs of “Mean Dog” began to ring through The Fox. Hardcore Cycles fans know “Mean Dog” as a tune that often times features a well known hip-hop instrumental or even possibly a classic electronic dance number, but on this particular evening, Cycles played a remix of several Austin Powers samples, further cementing “Mean Dog” as a tune who’s middle-part can be just about anything. Keeping the jams alive, the band then performed “Game Show”, a well-placed tune to keep the set’s energy high and featured another deeply stirring jam that took the original structure on a ride through deep space. The take-off is around the 2:15 mark and shows a complete deconstruction of the tune, bridged by a big-sky-reverb burst. Tucker then takes the reigns, spurting off several frantic bass licks while Patrick and Wood slowly build the ambiance. The jam intensifies as Patty and Tucker find the intersections of their ideas before fully locking into a ambient groove. As Patrick’s guitar emerges and begins riling everyone up again, the peak mounts, motivated by a three chord riff Patrick came up with. Once he trades it off to Tucker, it’s back to the races, layering and building before the song’s final peak.
The set then continued with another Patrick tune, the fantastical “The Ball” which featured exceptional guitar work from Patrick, delivering swift licks locked-in with the rest of the band, guiding them through the inspiring groove and delivering some of the most engrossing moments of the evening. The set then closed out the way it had started, with a high-energy original and staple of the band’s life repertoire, “The Mess”. The intro featured some fun interplay between Tucker and Patrick but the real star is the absolute supernova of a jam that erupts from about the four minute mark. All semblance of the tune is dropped, traded for looping-reversed-trills and a thick canvas of cymbals and rumbling bass notes. After a deep dive into weirdness, we’re snapped back to the reality of the tune briefly before being taken deeper into Type II territory on the backs of a biting solo. As the descent into Type II intensifies, so does the thump of Tucker’s bass. As the bass line gets funkier, Patrick begins to loop a descending four-part electronica riff which begins to inspire drum claps from Wood. This segment is fleeting, however, as Tucker comes back in with the original structure of the tune, prompting one final flurry of solos from Patrick to close out the song.
Cycles was firing on all cylinders at The Fox, executing all their tunes with a fierce focus and attention to detail that was inspiring. Their ability to pack so much flavor into such compact segments shows a masterful understanding of song structure, as well as engrossing improvisation that evokes moments of visceral awe. They are those moments when you think to yourself, “damn”. These moments are in every Cycles song. Whether it’s Patrick putting down several layers of riffage, Tucker leaping through the air playing complex bass lines with a seemingly effortless ease, or Mike Wood writing yet another incredibly fresh and accessible song, Cycles is full of “damn” moments. The Fox was no exception.
Cycles | 2019-04-26 | The Fox Theatre, Boulder, CO
-= One Set =-
01. The Store[1]
02. Panic Blooms (Black Moth Super Rainbow cover)
03. Water >
04. Everything Must Go
05. Find Your Friends[2]
06. Mean Dog[3]
07. Game Show[4]
08. The Ball
09. The Mess
Show Notes: This was as co-headlining show with Evanoff. Dog City Disco opened the show followed by Cycles then Evanoff.
[1] “The Store” contained samples from “Geek Down (feat. Busta Rhymes)” (J Dilla).
[2] “Find Your Friends” contained a “The Store” tease.
[3] “Mean Dog” contained samples from a 1994 interview with Jerry Garcia in which he describes eating frosting dosed with 800 hits of LSD. It also contained several samples from the Austin Powers movie franchise, “Number One Spot” (Ludacris) and “Geek Down (feat. Busta Rhymes)” (J Dilla).
[4] “Game Show” contained samples from the Austin Powers movie franchise.
Taper Notes: DFC directly behind the soundboard. Mics raised around 9′ PAS. Board patch thanks to FOH Engineer Phil.
Thanks to Cycles and The Fox Theatre for being cool with taping/sharing shows. Go see live music and tip your bartenders! #spacetapes
LINK: https://archive.org/details/Cycles2019-04-26.AKG.P170.AUD.SBD.Matrix.flac16
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