STS9 @ Red Rocks

On July 19th, STS9 set for another night at Red Rocks. Only for the show to get canceled minutes before they were to go on stage due to extreme weather conditions. Sound Tribe had just played the night before at Ogden Theatre right in the heart of Denver. However, nothing compares to a Red Rocks set (if you know, you know). Fans returned home drenched and disappointed. Wondering if or when the band would release a new date or simply refund their tickets. Just short of two weeks after, Tribe announced their rescheduled Red Rocks show and did they make up for it.

STS9

On September 29th, the day had finally come with hopes for good weather of course. It was a beautiful day without a cloud in the sky. The temperature was perfect. Warm enough to where you weren’t sweating your face off but also cool enough that you needed nothing more than a light sweater or hoodie. STS9 promised a 4 set night, starting off with an Axe The Cables set (purely acoustic – get it? “ax” the cables – such a clever name). What a beautiful treat and such a special way to start the night. The crowd’s energy was basking in the acoustic vibes. Hearing “Bust Outs Emerge” during set one brought so much hype for the rest of the evening.

The three sets following Axe The Cables were similar but with extra special surprises curated into each. The second pretty normal for a Sound Tribe set, but I did notice that they threw in a couple features in their lighting production that I personally had never seen before. Behind the band stood their lighting structure with several circular lights which lit up as smiley faces and spelt out S-T-S-9 at one point.

During their third set, it was wild to see the band use a front of house stage in the middle of the crowd while playing “Kamuy”. Each member slowly appeared as they used the tunnel beneath the venue to get from the main stage to the temporarily set stage amongst their fans. It was a fun and unique experience that I had never seen before.

During the final set they played two brand new songs off their new album that has yet to release. It’s pretty rare to hear Sound Tribe play anything new. There’s definitely a lot of hype for the new studio album the band has teased us with. The lighting during the last set also took fans by surprise as we were gifted with a laser light show (you never see them use lasers at their headline shows). The special letters in the lasers spelling out LOVE was such an amazing touch and something I had also never seen before (during any set for any artist at that matter). Needless to say, Tiberius did a phenomenal job with the lighting rig this year.

The flow of each set fine tuned showing that Tribe put extra attention to detail while curating them. This is the level of quality the band puts into each year at Red Rocks to keep things different and innovative. For a night that ended up getting canceled resulting in a rescheduled show like this one, I think it’s safe to say the band outdid themselves and seriously over delivered (and I don’t think anyone’s complaining, I sure am not!) This was the perfect evening of sector nine music and fans absolutely cannot wait for what comes next from STS9.