This past Wednesday, April 16th, Lotus ended their incredible three night run at the Brooklyn Bowl with a bang. I arrived at the venue around 8PM and quickly noted an atmosphere very reminiscent of the last day during a festival. Everyone I spoke to were both ecstatic in anticipation for the nights’ upcoming two sets and simultaneously exhausted from the two previous nights of raging. There was no opening act, which gave everyone a chance to enjoy the bar and have a few drinks, while also greeting friends as they entered. The perks of the Brooklyn Bowl also include the ability for you to grab dinner, or even go bowling for a few frames until the show starts – whichever happens to be your fancy.
As the time neared 9PM, I made my way towards the stage. The dance floor was completely packed and buzzing with excitement as Lotus took the stage promptly at 9:15, jumping right into a signature track, ‘Uffi’, kicking off the night with a nice funky start. The first thing I noticed about this set in particular, was that the band chose to bring along their famed light set up which really looked incredible in such a small venue.
The next hour and a half of their set flew by, as the band played a great selection of new and old songs to please the crowd, and even whipped out a brilliant cover of Mord Fustang’s “We Are Now Connected”, which was followed by an spontaneous onstage marriage proposal! Between sets it felt like a stampede for the door, as everyone went outside all at once to smoke, but the venue didn’t take long to quickly fill back up in time for the second set, consisting almost entirely of fan favorites such as “Flower Sermon” and “L’immueble”. In a final farewell to their fantastic three night run, the band treated fans with an encore of “Wax”.
As the venue started to clear out, I was more than ready to head across the street to Output’s Panther Room for the after-party with Beard-o-Bees and Luke the Knife, both DJ side projects of Lotus members Jesse Miller and Luke Miller, respectively. The Panther Room is an intimate side room to Output’s main floor, and was packed to the brim very quickly, but the classy atmosphere suited the disco inspired sound of Luke the Knife perfectly. Beard-o-Bee’s impressed as well, toting a much more electronic sound, which at one point reminded me of how I would imagine the music of a rebellious Koopa Kid from Super Mario, which is a huge compliment in my eyes. These two kept the party going longer than I could keep up, and I wound up leaving the club around four with the party still raging inside. On the subway ride home, I tried repeatedly to think of A) a previous Lotus show that had left me so satisfied, B) the last time the Brooklyn Bowl had felt so alive, and C) the last time a Wednesday had been this much fun. I couldn’t come up with an answer for a single one. That Wednesday night in Williamsburg was truly something else.
