Circles Around the Sun returned to Albany for a sold out show at Lark Hall on Saturday, March 9, with Mikaela Davis and Southern Star opening the night. With five disco balls on stage for the two bands, the audience was presented to an incredible evening of Discofied Grateful Dead-inspired dance music.
Mikaela Davis performed an hour long opening set, beginning with the mesmerizing “Cinderella”, Davis at center stage and flanked by Alex Coté (drums), Cian McCarthy (guitars/vocals), Shane McCarthy (bass/vocals) and Kurt Johnson (steel guitar), with “Cinderella” segueing seamlessly into “In My Groove.”
“Home in the Country” from her 2023 release And Southern Star led to a bit of improv, then shifted to “The Pearl,” which had a subtle Grateful Dead-esque intro. Towards the end of “Leave it Alone,” Davis encouraged the crowd to engage in ‘wooing’ – to which they eagerly participated – before smoothly moving into Alice Coltrane‘s “Journey in Satchidananda.” Davis then gave a shout out to her and the band’s collective Upstate roots, hailing from the Catskills, Syracuse and Rochester, before wrapping up her set with “Other Lover.”
Setlist: Cinderella> In My Groove, Home in the Country, The Pearl, Get Gone, Leave It Alone > Journey in Satchidananda> Promise, Other Lover
Circles Around the Sun took the stage for what would be a nearly two-hour performance, with John Lee Shannon (guitars), Adam MacDougall (keys), Dan Horne (bass), and Mark Levy (drums) channeling the spirit – but not the songs outright – of the Grateful Dead. What transpired was the full crowd grooving along, dancing outright but never standing still as Circles went full Disco on the Dead.
Whether it was the “Language“-adjacent “Away Team,” the slow funk disco of “Landline Memories,” or mellow 1970s mall music churning into a nightclub fever pitch in “Immoveable Object,” the performance led the crowd jive relentlessly.
Early Circles songs – “Babyman” and “One for Chuck” – put the focus on bassist Dan Horne, who held the beat all night, and effortlessly drove the tempo towards a swinging disco of “Money’s No Option.” A standing encore brought Mikaela Davis and her harp back out to the stage for a trio of songs – “After Sunrise” (originally a Sergio Mendes and Brazil 77 song, reworked by the artists), Gloaming Away (a late 70’s synth strut) and the hypnotic grooves of “Language.” The encore alone could have extended another hour and none of the sell out crowd would have complained.
Circles Around the Sun – Lark Hall, Albany – Saturday, March 9, 2024
Setlist: Away Team, Landline Memories, Immovable Object, Babyman, One for Chuck, Money’s No Option
Encore: After Sunrise, Gloaming Away, Language (all with Mikaela Davis on harp and Alex Coté on percussion)
Photos by Zak Radick and Conor McMahon
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