Thievery Corporation @ House of Blues

Thievery Corporation played Houston’s House of Blues last Tuesday and brought with them a rotating band of (at least) six talented multi-lingual singers along with a bassist, a sitar/guitar player, a mini-horns section, three drummers on different setups, four trippy video boards, and even some musicians that I’m probably forgetting. Ever since catching Thievery’s impressive set at last year’s Voodoo Music Festival with the rest o’ the Breakfast crew, I’ve been fiending for another performance. Check out a brief recap and some photos and video of their performance after the jump.

At its core, Thievery Corporation are DJs Rob Garza and Eric Hilton, who have been performing together for nearly fifteen years. As mentioned in the intro, they are joined live by a variety of additional musicians who are nearly unanimous in their jaw-dropping level of talent. The skills of their permanent sitarist/guitarist, Rob Myers, were particularly impressive at the Houston show. The diverse crowd was primed to dance, and the energy in House of Blues was as high as I’ve ever seen it. The musical styles incorporated into their Houston performance included jazz, reggae, chanson, afrobeat, Goa trance, funk, dub, hip-hop, bossa nova, dance-rock, and many more… all expertly executed. In pockets of the crowd, it became closer to a rave than concert at points.

They played a good deal of the songs from their 2008 album that was one of the best records of the year, Sound the Alarm. The record, which is their most recent, has a distinctly revolutionary tinge that is appropriate for educated global citizens - with liner notes quoting the likes of Noam Chomsky and Mahatma Gandhi. In addition to fantastic versions of songs from that album, such as “Hare Krishna,” “La Femme Parallel,” “Sweet Tides,” “Mandala,” “Sound the Alarm,” and “Radio Retaliation,” the band also played a variety of older crowd-pleasers like “Lebanese Blonde,” as well as some amazing songs I wasn’t familiar with. The languages rotated as quickly as the musicians on stage, covering French, Portuguese, Spanish, Hindi, English, and more. “And more” seems to be a recurring theme with Thievery Corporation.

Make sure to catch them the next time they’re within driving distance. They are a band that you can go into a show knowing nothing about, but still come out a fan after witnessing some incredibly unique and incredibly DANCEable music. I know it’s short, but this video’ll give you a good idea for what the setup and feel of the show was: