STS9 Play With Horn Section, Debut Covers For Halloween

STS9 played almost a full set of covers at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby, PA last night. The Halloween treat came as a surprise to many fans. It was the sixth show of STS9’s Great Cycle Spectacles tour, though the band added an element of spookiness by calling this one the “Great Cycle Apocalypse.”

The band took the stage in matching white suits, kicking off the music with a cover of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” which STS9 debuted just a few days ago at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, GA. This version was a little different though, as the band was joined by three members of Jay-Z’s horn section on saxophone, trumpet and trombone. The horns then left the stage before the band busted out a very crowd pleasing rendition of “2001” (aka “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”), which also had the STS9 original “DnB” worked into it. It was the first time the band has busted out “2001” in over a decade. Next came debuts of both the White Stripes’ “Icky Thump” and Daft Punk’s “Robot Rock.” STS9 then played The Cure’s “The Walk,” which they also premiered a few days ago in Atlanta, followed by the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil,” which was debuted in August at the “Axe the Winery” show. The band then played Dee Lite’s “What is Love” before the horn section came out again for King Tubby’s “King Pharaoh’s Dub” (which STS9 calls “King Pharaoh’s Tomb”). The first set closed with a version of the Bloody Beetroots’ “Awesome” into the STS9 classic, “Unquestionable Supremacy of Nature.” It was definitely a set that STS9 fans will remember for some time.

The band switched up their costumes for the second set, with all of them wearing gas masks in appropriately apocalyptic fashion. While the first set had been filled with surprises, this one was fairly standard and was mostly comprised of newer songs such as “Scheme,” “Simulator” and “When The Dust Settles.” STS9 closed out the second set with “EHM” and “Inspire Strikes Back” before encoring with “Hidden Hand, Hidden Fist.” You can view the full set list from STS9’s Halloween show below. You can also watch a video of the band covering “Thriller” with a horn section above.

STS9, October 31, 2012, Tower Theater, Upper Darby, PA

Set I:

Thriller (Michael Jackson) (^)

2001 (Richard Strauss) w/ DnB

Icky Thump (White Stripes) > (*)

Robot Rock (Daft Punk)(*)

The Walk (The Cure)

Sympathy For The Devil (Rolling Stones)

What Is Love? (Dee Lite)

King Pharoahs Tomb (King Tubby) (^)

Awesome (Bloody Beetroots) >

Unquestionable Supremacy of Nature

Set II:

March

Scheme >

Rent

Simulator

Abcees

When The Dust Settles >

EHM

Inspire Strikes Back

E:

Hidden Hand, Hidden Fist

(^) w/ horn section

(*) debut