Before I dive into a detailed breakdown of this weekend’s events at The Orpheum Theater, I’ll keep it short and offer this generalization: Man, oh man, the last few days were a great time to be a fan of dance music in Madison. The city’s jam junkies turned out Friday to see their revered heroes in Sound Tribe Sector 9 melt some faces and Saturday, it seemed, everyone in Madison came out for what has become something of a tradition in our city: Cherub’s yearly visit.
Friday, the Orpheum was packed with heady fans, unified by their belief that they were in the presence of greatness. Obviously, every band with a large enough following to play the Orpheum has plenty of devoted fans, but to a demographic of music lovers who love three-hour sets, whirlwind synth solos and eight-minute songs turned into 15-minute jam sessions onstage, STS9 are royalty, and I do consider myself within that rank.
After an opening set from Tauk, a four-piece funk band from New York City, STS9 took the stage for two back-to-back sets clocking in at a total of just over three hours. And even if you can’t quite get down with STS9’s fanbase as they swing their heads and bop around for such an extensive show, you must at least admire their stamina. And, at the risk of sounding incredibly cheesy, once you surrender yourself to the jam and move around to the music however you see fit, you start to understand why the band is so adored by so many. The word “vibe” gets thrown around a lot, with good reason. It really was a hell of an experience.
STS9 falls somewhere in the psychedelic gray area between electronic dance music and live jam rock, and their live show exhibits the best of both genres (and everything in between). Their light technician also deserves his or her fair share of praise, as their visual production was awe-inspiring. I’m not the STS9 connoisseur that a lot of their fans are, so I couldn’t pretend to know every song in their whopping three-hour set by name, but the devotion of their fans showed every time they dove into a new song when a sea of faces lit up with recognition and they boogied their way into a new jam.
What I like about STS9 is they’re not afraid to push the boundaries of their own musical style, stretching the sometimes-constricting definition of what a jam band should be. Their most recent studio EP, "When the Dust Settles," took a step away from their older sound, moving from funk-heavy jams with very few electronic elements to an electronic soundscape of 808s, ethereal synth melodies and transient harmony. I was pleased to see that while their live show presented a nice cross-section of their discograph; they didn’t shy away from their newer music, playing electro-heavy songs like “Golden Gate” and “Scheme” from "When the Dust Settles" at the end of their set. Not that I expected anyone to be displeased by their set, but the show certainly ended with a sea of happy faces and tired dancing legs.
The next night was another animal entirely. Everyone I knew who was into electronic music made their way to the Orpheum, accompanied by a ton of people I never would have expected to see at a show. Cherub seems to have built up quite a loving relationship with Madison over the last few years, and every time they’re here it seems more and more people come out to spread that love. Cherub’s live show brings out the freaks in all of us, and on Saturday, the Orpheum was looking to party. Unfortunately, I was underwhelmed by an opening set from Hippie Sabotage, a DJ duo who played it safe with tasteful EDM tunes. I didn’t mind their set, but through the Orpheum’s sound system the room filled with a thumping, 128 bpm bass hits. And every time they played a song, I could tell that the melody was there, but it was virtually inaudible.
I’d be lying if I said that ruined the show for me. When Cherub took the stage, the Orpheum erupted in a state of drunken bliss. The climax of a night dedicated to drinking and debauchery had arrived. And this wasn’t your typical pop/EDM show filled with drunk people; this was Cherub’s first show at the Orpheum, filled with exceptionally drunk people looking to get down. I was at the front of the main floor when they opened with “XOXO,” a brutally catchy sing-along song that I’d expected Cherub to save for later in their set. This was followed by the enchantingly sexy “Work the Middle.”
Their sound was more powerful than I had ever heard from them, as this is their first time touring with a full four-piece band, trading computerized synth and drum loops for two additional musicians. This freed up Jordan Kelley and Jason Huber, Cherub’s core members, to do much more musically than I had seen them do in the past. The show was filled with more raucous breakdowns and shredding guitar solos than I had expected from the band. A couple of my favorite songs were stuffed neatly into the meat of their set, like “Do I (Where We Are),” which includes a powerful shout out to Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin',” and “Monogamy,” another crowd favorite when it comes to singing along.
The closing of Cherub’s set, however, was nowhere near as strong as their encore. When Cherub returned to the stage, they jumped right into “Disco Shit,” one of their more intoxicating electronic songs, starting with a four-on-the-floor bass drum and building into a beautiful ode to “that disco shit,” and the beautiful escape to be found in forgetting about everyday life to get lost in music and dance all night.
This, of course, was followed by the moment we’d all been waiting for. Huber spent a couple of minutes rolling around on the ground and hollering at fans up front before starting the song, but “Doses & Mimosas” was worth the wait. This is the song that perfectly encapsulates what Cherub is all about. After all, even the Orpheum had modified their bar menu to include “Doses of Mimosas” for the night. When Kelley popped a bottle and showered the front of the crowd, it took me right back to their two-night run at the Majestic last fall, when both nights ended with multiple bottles raining down upon us.
As the synth melody rang out and the band left the stage, I briefly thought about how I had to work the next morning, then remembered that I didn’t care. That’s why Madison, and the world, needs Cherub. They bring out the freaks in all of us, and that’s why we love them.
