The Disco Biscuits Play First Shows with Marlon B. Lewis at Suwannee Hulaween and Brooklyn Bowl Nashville

The Disco Biscuits, image via YouTube

The Disco Biscuits set out on a new chapter in their three-decade story over the weekend as they returned to the stage for their first shows with a new lineup. After last week’s departure of Allen Aucoin, their drummer of 20 years, the enduring livetornica quartet formally introduced their refreshed sound with newcomer Marlon B. Lewis through performances at Suwannee Hulaween and Nashville, Tenn.’s Brooklyn Bowl; in three very distinct stagings, the band celebrated the occasion with several setlist curveballs.

It would be difficult to find a venue better suited for initiating The Disco Biscuits’ new era than Live Oak, Fla.’s Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park; the beloved outdoor festival grounds have long been recognized as a haven for all forms of jam music, and the group has regularly stopped by since a 2010 appearance at the now-folded Blackwater Music Festival. In the decade and a half since, The Disco Biscuits have weathered many meaningful changes, and a double billing as their primary formation and their TRACTORBEAM alias gave them the chance to fully demonstrate their new sound and perspective.

The Disco Biscuits first appeared as dusk fell on Friday, Oct. 31. On the Hallows second stage, the quartet tore into their performance with a soaring medley of the two-decade essential “Rock Candy” and the 2024 debut “Country Royale,” combined for a total of over 30 minutes. This ful embrace of unstructured improvisation carried on as the group ripped through a four-phase segued sequence for the remainder of the first set, combining “Helicopters,” an incomplete “Dino Baby” and “Orch Theme” before a “Helicopters closer.”

The band’s second set proceeded from a similarly framed format, with the 22-year live essential “Caterpillar both beginning and ending a five-song cycle. Highlights came from deep within a haze of rhythmic intersections, including an inverted version of “Portal To an Empty Head” and the first treatment of the rarity “Neck Romancer” since November 2024

In the early hours of Saturday morning, The Disco Biscuits capped off a long night of electro-jam with a TRACTORBEAM set on the Spirit Lake stage, which centered the trance in their trance-fusion for a fully-electrified nine-track set of pulsing dance beats. The late-night mix featured a whopping five live debuts, including Bronski Beat’s “Smalltown Boy,” Alice Deejay’s “Better Off Alone” and ABBA’s “Dancing Queen.”

After sleeping off a wild night on the way up the coast, The Disco Biscuits arrived in Nashville on Sunday, Nov. 2, for their first full headline performance backed by Lewis. Set one from Bisco 3.0 was heavy on extended improvisation, with a 15-minute opener of “Above the Waves” preceding a five-track cycle in which all parts–save for the second phase of a bisected “Confrontation–stretched past the 10-minute mark. The band began their second set with a 20-minute “Catalyst,” then made their live debut as The Disco Biscuits of Chris Lake, Skrillex & Anita B. Queen’s dubstep hit “La Noche”–a clear standout from their TRACTORBEAM set. After completing Friday’s “Dino Baby” and landing on “To Be Continued,” the band capped off their performance with an encore of “Digital Buddha.”

The Disco Biscuits will return to the stage tomorrow, Nov. 5, for a show at Charlottesville, Va.’s Jefferson Theater. Find tickets and more information on the band’s 2025 live itinerary at discobiscuits.com/shows.