As a frequent show-goer it is imperative to have a ragin’ time and I knew for my friends and I’s NYE celebration that I wouldn’t want to spend it anywhere else than under the sweet, jam-tronica sounds and lights of Lotus. Let’s just say this NYE exceeded my expectations beyond any universe and I am (im)patiently waiting for their tour to come around the East Coast this upcoming April.
The day started off beautifully, all of my friends made impeccable timing to Phila and we had no trouble with our hotel check-in or havin a little fun beforehand. We took a couple taxi’s down to Penns Landing and moseyed on down the street being hassled for tickets. The show had sold out and tons of people were trying to get their Lotus-fix. Feeling super lucky that I bought my tickets way ahead of time we made our way into the show. There were multiple heated tents with vendors and merchandise tables. The energy was uncontrollable and getting really rowdy – in the best way possible. We acquired even more friends, new and old and made our way towards the music. It was about to get even more insane…
Lotus opened up with ‘Hammerstrike’ which is one of the first songs that actually got me into Lotus. It felt too perfect. All of a sudden, a familiar beat started playing and I felt like I was transported to France. Lotus busted out a groovy cover of Daft Punk’s, ‘Da Funk’ and the crowd took off. I didn’t see one person not dancing. Rempel was ripping the guitar apart and the rest of the band was completely on point. The next set of songs was indescribable. They started and ended with ‘Shimmer and Out’ and in between rocked out to ‘Sid’, ‘Flower Sermon’, and Deadmau5’s popular song, ‘Ghosts and Stuff’. My ears couldn’t believe the amount of bliss they were experiencing. I turned to look at all my friends, all I could see were smiles, hugging and booty shakin’. What more could you want on New Year’s Eve? Fireworks! After the first set, everyone hurried outside for the midnight countdown. The bridge and night-sky blossomed with lights. Everyone was hooting and hollering. People were bringing in the New Year with kisses and hugs.
They started the second set with ‘Bush Pilot’ — an awesome icebreaker to hit the kids with. The crowd was getting down hard. Out of nowhere, Lotus covered Justice’s ‘Phantom’. Ironically it was appropriately placed and on fire, the crowd was again pleased. They continued with two undeniably fantastic songs, “Dowrn” and “The Oaks”. The highlight of my evening was about to take off. Flowing flawlessly into “It’s all Clear to Me Now”, “Nematode” and “What did I do wrong?”, “Bellwether” into “Umbilical Moonset” back to “Bellwether” was the perfect conclusion to this set list. Encoring with ‘Invincibility of Youth’ and Blacklight Sunflare it was a marvelous ending bringing us all back to reality and letting us rock out to some sweet, melodic beats.
The whole night was strikingly divine. The only thing I would have wanted to change is having each and every one of my friends there so we could have all experienced this night together. Other than that, I can’t find any reason not to be happy with this show. It was quite a passionate gathering of hippies, electroheads, and everything in between. Time and time again, Lotus brings it hard with their talent. Growing and evolving since I first saw them in 2006, I can’t wait to see what is in store for the upcoming year. Make sure you check out some of their East Coast Tour Dates which includes: April 13th and 14th at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC and May 10th and 11th at Irving Plaza in New York, NY.
