It was 10/4 good buddy, and Beats Antique graced the Canopy Club with Too Many Zooz and Thriftworks. It was a big show for Beats considering their new album Shadowbox was to be released the next day, so this show saw a lot of debut performances of tracks.
The night kicked off with Thriftworks. A Tipper’ish downtempo set was a good way to [caption id="attachment_23854" align="alignright" width="300"]
The Hybycozo shadowbox of Beats Antique. 10.4.16 Photo by Sean Hersch.[/caption]
start out the night, however some awkward transitions and varied audio levels of certain cue’s and tracks made it a little disorienting. The capability of a smooth psychedelic electronic sound was there but it seemed he never quite found the sweet spot. I still saw some potential there that would let me give him another live viewing.
What the opening performance lacked Too Many Zooz made up for it in every way. First off if there is a trumpet player that is playing with one hand and holding a mixed drink in the other for the entire set, I am going to pay attention. Secondly their drummer had an impressive percussive rig mounted on top of a marching bass drum. The engineering skills behind the creation were self-evident.
Anyway, the performance was a good high energy set that got everyone riled up complete with choreographed dance moves, and insane baritone sax licks. Basically the only way I can describe these guys is that they are a more psychedelic version of Moon Hooch. And anybody that can do a two step shuffle during a bari sax solo is alright in my book.
Once Too Many Zooz ended, there was only the skeletons of the Hybycozo Designs sitting on stage hiding the drums and other instruments. I can’t explain how great of a fit these groups of artists are. I am really excited to see the relationship between Hybocozo and Beats grow. I’m predicting L.E.D. versions of those geodesic sculptures… Just the thought of that is blowing my mind.
Beats Antique dramatically took the stage as Zoe danced around with her little illuminated hybocozo sculpture, exactly like on the cover of their album Shadowbox. It was a stunning start to a percussion heavy set.
Tommy ‘sidecar’ Cappel absolutely ravaged the drum set the entire show. His band mate David Satori disclosed Tommy’s secret to his strength as a drummer. 
Apparently to be a strong drummer it is important to smoke a lot of weed. But I’m not condoning that, if you smoke too much you could end up a legend like Buddy Rich. Performance enhancing drugs should not be encouraged…
The set almost felt like we were like lab rats for Beats to display their new work to see if there were any positive reactions. The results couldn’t have been better. Vendetta and Killer Bee were two highlights of the set, both of which are on Shadowbox.
Somewhere in the middle of the madness there was a pretty and poetic plug for marriage equality that went from shadows on a sheet to a giant dragon on stage. The encore following the set was Roustabout followed by their song The Block with Too Many Zooz that featured Too Many Zooz, of course.
It seems Beats Antique has a midwest soft spot for the Canopy Club. Just know that any time you see a band play a show the night before an album release it is going to be one of two things, a trainwreck, or an amazing set filled with music that you got to see before anybody else, and Beats Antique don’t wreck no trains…
Check out my gallery from the show below, to see the full sized images on Facebook click here.
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