Thievery Corporation at Roundhouse

Marking the Washington DC collective’s 30^th anniversary, Thievery Corporation has set out on a global victory lap to celebrate a prolific and influential career creating radically independent, genre-bending electronic music. Spearheaded by original founders Rob Garza and Eric Hilton, Thievery Corporation are represented on stage by Garza on decks and synth and honorary members on drums, percussion, bass, guitar, sitar and vocals. This entourage of eight interprets 12 albums’ worth of material across two jam-packed hours.

Tonight’s performance began with a narrated introduction, a biography of sorts contextualising the legacy of Thievery Corporation. Presumably designed to build tension and prestige, it fell on slightly deaf ears as a rowdy crowd of established fans waited for the infamous beats to kick in. They have come here for nostalgia, party grooves and extreme eclecticism and, despite the slightly self-aggrandising start, the show does deliver on all of these promises.

Opening tracks The Glass Bead Game and Assault on Babylon capture the pioneering sound of their 1997 album Sounds from the Thievery Hi Fi in all of its Latin-to-dub-spanning glory. On command, audience members (including those too young to have heard these songs upon their original release) begin moving and grooving, visibly charged with passion. Matching their excitement levels were the three vocalists who, like sizzling dishes on a lazy Susan, skipped out from behind the DJ booth on rotation each time it was time for them to sing, greeting the audience as if it was the first time. While they showed exceptional talent and heart, the theatricality of their stage presence was a jarring contrast to the bed of ambient instrumental underneath, especially when a surprise piece of lightbulb choreography took the performance to absurd variety circus territory. Necessary? Probably not. Entertaining? Absolutely.

The real spectacle, though, was the tight-knit band who consistently added a virtuosic touch of human spirit to an otherwise groove-locked sound. Complete with iconic sitar and buoyant percussion arrangements, the collective masterfully takes the audience on a journey through bossa nova, afrobeat, classical North Indian music and hip hop. These trip-hop roots put them on the map back in 1996, and 30 years later the melting pot of sound still holds up. Even with the slightly distracting bells and whistles, tonight’s show had a warm sense of earnestness that resulted in collective and resounding joy. 

Megan Merino
Photos: Nick Bennett

For further information and future events, visit Thievery Corporation’s website here.

Watch the video for Warning Shots here: