Turbo Suit interview), I made up my mind to do just that – I’d be Carbondale bound in the morning to see Turbo Suit play in my old stomping grounds of Southern Illinois University. It was time to get a little nostalgic! After a short drive from Nashville to Carbondale, I met up with a buddy for a local classic, Fat Patties. If you ever find yourself at SIU I highly recommend this burger joint – if I’m not mistaken, it has been voted as one of the top 20 best burger stops in the state of Illinois. With The Grateful Dead playing in the background and organic grass fed beef on the grill, who would argue? The owner will even sell you a beer while you wait in line to place your order!
After filling up, we bar-hopped, taking in the beer specials and diverse crowds, eventually ending up at Tres Hombres, who had a 50 Shades of Grey themed pub crawl going on. While watching that weirdness unfold, we tried to convince our bartender to join us at Turbo Suit show later that night. He claimed that their name sounded like something he would of been into during his high school years, and went on to explain that he was huge into the bluegrass scene. I passed him a Summer Camp flyer and we headed to the venue. Upon our arrival to Hangar 9, I started doing my street team thing – in fact, my buddy Andy and I were pulling double duty while handing out Summer Camp flyers and trying to convince passer-byes to join us for that night’s show. Apparently our enthusiasm (and my description of Turbo Suit’s sound as XXX) was enough to excite a few random strangers, as we did manage to convince a few people to come back around show time. After entering Hangar 9, I was slightly bummed out that Umphrey’s McGee’s Joel Cummins would not be playing with the band that night. The last time I’d seen Turbo Suit (at the time named Cosby Sweater), I had run into Joel at the bar prior to the show and tried desperately to buy him a drink. He respectfully declined my offer, probably wary of my epic cat sweater.
Turbo suit took the stage and the floor filled with Salukis ready to get down. All my Summer Camp excitement before the show seemed to have rubbed off on those around me, as the atmosphere was nearly festival-like – friends were greeting each other gleefully, strangers were shaking strangers hands, and everybody was ready to party. Turbo Suit’s new album “Out Here” was released earlier this year, meaning there was plenty of new material for everyone to digest. Like every other Turbo Suit show I’ve attended, things always get real for me when they play Escort’s “Cocaine Blues.” Full of shout-outs to Chicago, this song always gets me excited… and in a college town venue seemingly filled with students from the Chicagoland area, I was not alone in turning my dancing dial to 11. One highlight of Turbo Suit’s jam-heavy instrumental set was a Lorde sample that took me totally by surprise – exactly the type of moment this band creates on a regular basis to keep fans on the edge of their seats. On this night, I found myself going back and forth from the front row, to the dance space near the middle of the room, then to a table where a college sophomore I’d convinced to go to the show was hanging out. I encouraged him to “follow his dreams” because when I’m buzzed I have all the advice worth giving… until the music pulled me away, back to the front row for another dance session.
I’d last seen Cosby Sweater in Carbondale the year prior while finishing up my Camp Counselor submission video. It was nice to see them again, this time as Turbo Suit, and seeing Carbondale’s changes since I’d left was interesting as well. Much like with Turbo Suit’s name evolution, it was great to see that everything seemed to be the same, only slightly different, newer, and fresh.]]>
