Circles Around the Sun returned to Washington, DC last Thursday, putting on an outstanding show at Gypsy Sally's, treating those in attendance to an evening of instrumental psychedelia and extended jams. Kicking off the northeast run of their North American tour with the performance in Georgetown, the quartet, led by guitarist Neal Casal of Cris Robinson Brotherhood, offered up a two-hour set of original tunes inspired by the music of the Grateful Dead.
Originally formed to record set-break music for the Dead's 2015 "Fare Thee Well" shows, where the four living members of the Grateful Dead shared the stage for the last time, the band has gone on to release a second album, entitled Let It Wander, and has now embarked on its most extensive tour to date. It's clear the band is enjoying playing together and growing into its own sound. In addition to Casal, keyboardist Adam MacDougall - also a Cris Robinson Brotherhood alum - bassist Dan Horne and drummer Mark Levy have developed a unique voice that blends their inspiration from the Dead with synth driven grooves and laid back guitar licks to produce ethereal, dreamy soundscapes.
Opening their show with the lead track from Let It Wander, "On My Mind," the band instantly stretched its improvisational legs, jamming for nearly 20 minutes from the tune that heavily features licks from "The Music Never Stopped." The psychedelic character of the music was beautifully complemented by the stage design, which featured five disco balls across the stage, fractaling the lights and scattering them around the room in a beautiful display of color. Following a loud and lively exploration, the band dropped into the slower jam from their original set-break music, "Hallucinate a Solution," which was similarly extended, clocking in at 15 minutes when all was said and done.
The band would continue to shift tempos and jam freely throughout the set, with a 22 minute performance of "Halicarnassus" serving as the show's centerpiece. As the band continues to hone its sound and tour more extensively, it will be no surprise if Circles Around the Sun becomes one of the must-see bands in the jam-band circuit.
Circles Around the Sun will return to the DMV region this summer, performing a late night set at Lockn' Festival in late August, where the laid-back grooves and psychedelic show will be uniquely impacted by a beautiful setting in Garcia's Forest.
Setlist
Setlist
Setlist
Click here to see the setlist for Circles Around the Sun's performance at Gypsy Sally's on May 30 2019
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