Saturday night, August 28th at The Mint in LA, Quactus officially released to their fans the new album, A Sense of We. Though the album has been on the shelves for over a month now, the four piece jam/progressive rock band from LA needed some extra time to put together a line-up of local jamband heavy hitters to join them on stage for a true “Sense of We” experience.
The Mint in LA, normally an intimate small venue on Pico Blvd, was transformed into the feeling of a huge room on Saturday night as Quactus took the stage in front of a nearly capacity room. With a full visual effects screen behind them, painters painting to the music on the side and a collection of guest that included Mike Mangan of Big Organ Trio sitting in for a few tunes, Viking of Delta Nove joining them on the big drum and a show stopping “Scarlet Begonias” with Steve Harris of Cubensis on a second drum kit, the night was full of great music and a fitting kick off for the “Sense of We” tour.
In addition to playing the tracks off the new album, the 3.5 hour show included some tasty covers of “A Little Less Conversation” by Elvis and Bel Biv DeVoe’s “Poison.” At the “Set Break” the guys from Exactly slowly, one by one replaced Quactus with a seamless “Mike’s Song” transition. Quactus then returned to finish out “Mike’s Song” and dive into the second set. If you weren’t paying attention, you didn’t even realize the players had changed.
The new album lives up to expectations delving into everything from Quactus’ signature jammy sound to reggae and even the heavy metal rockin’ “Big Whopper.” Something for everyone and everything you want and more. The album and the band live up to the title, “A Sense of We” as they brought it all together on Saturday night and left no one unsatisfied.
Upcoming dates on the “A Sense of We Tour” include a September 2nd FREE show in Ocean Beach, CA at Winston’s with special guest from Particle and Phil Lesh and Friends, Steve Molitz.
Other dates on the tour:
9/03/10, Ventura, Golden China – Free Show 9/18/10, Las Vegas, E-String11/13/10, Phoenix, The Sail Inn
Setlist from 8/28/10, The Mint, LA:
Set 1: At Ease (new album), Fearless (new album), A Little Less Conversation > Might Be You > Roger Waters (new album) > Finally Free (new album), One Track Mind, Esprit D’escalier, Van Winkle’s Dream, Mike’s Song > EXACTLY SET > Mike’s Song > Wine (new album), Drinko (new album), Somebody Says > The Offer (new album) > Hot Whopper (new album), Superflitious (new album), Alligator, Poison, Valley Of The Ends > Hula Hoop Jam, History Repeats Again, Scarlet Begonias
