Photo by Adam Winokur

On Saturday, the Disco Biscuits brought their Wheel Concept back to the stage at the beautiful mountaintop venue Penn’s Peak in Jim Thorpe, Pa. The group debuted the concept of allowing a wheel to determine what song they’d play next back in Atlantic City in 2002 and have since used the wheel for shows only twice since: in Sayreville, N.J., in 2007 and New York’s PlayStation Theatre (now the Palladium Times Square) in 2016.

After their first spin, the Disco Biscuits opened with a jam of “Space Train” into “Pimp Blue Rikki.” Next, fate or luck decided the band play a bust out of “Park Ave,” which was last played on July 15, 2016, or 234 shows prior. Without pause, the wheel was spun twice more, leading into a jam of “Another Plan of Attack” into “Astronaut” to close the first set.

The second set, too, started with a whirl landing on an opener of “Lake Shore Drive” into “Running Into the Night.” As they played, around and around, the wheel went landing on “Barfly” and then “Tourists (Rocket Ship).” The possibility of major bust-outs remained as songs like “Trooper,” which hasn’t been played since 2014, were written on the board. The Disco Biscuits’ party of chance and display of improvisational skill continued as they moved from “Evolve” to “Hot Air Balloon” into a set-closing performance of “Why We Dance.”

After a short break, the band returned to the stage and decided to take fate into their own hands by picking a song of their choosing from the wheel for their last jam of the evening and went with “Floes,” which was last played at the Wellmont Theatre in Montclair, N.J., in November of 2021.

After the set, the Disco Biscuits’ Marc Brownstein took to Twitter to let everyone know which songs the wheel didn’t land on: “Crickets,” “Nughuffer,” “Floes,” (encored anyway), “Trooper”
“Orch theme” and “Portal.” He went on to jubilantly add, “We had the wheel slightly leaning towards old songs bustouts, 7-5 or 8-4, but the wheel wanted the new stuff!”

It’s notable that Long Island jamband opened at Penn’s Peak on Friday, and the group’s guitarist Jared Cowen spun the wheel as a child back in 2007. During the Disco Biscuit’s Saturday performance, he got to relive the experience by spinning it once again.

 

 
 
 
 
 
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See the full setlist below.

The Disco Biscuits
Penn’s Peak – Jim Thorpe, Pa.
Jan. 21, 2023

Set I: Space Train > Pimp Blue Rikki, Park Ave 1 > Another Plan of Attack > Astronaut

Set II: Lake Shore Drive > Running Into the Night > Barfly > Tourists (Rocket Ship) > Evolve > Hot Air Balloon > Why We Dance

Enc.: Floes

Notes:

1. Last time played 7/15/16 (234 Shows)