In January of this year, Jam Cruise 16 set sail from Miami, beginning a five-day music excursion that detoured through Roatan, Honduras, and the Grand Cayman Islands before returning to port on January 22nd. Headlined by Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood, this year’s edition of Jam Cruise also offered its characteristic mix of genres, with artists as disparate as Galactic to Antibalas to DJ Logic to Aqueous to Keller Williams all on board the ship.

The jamtronica favorites, Lotus, were also high on the bill, with the band performing twice over the course of the weeklong music cruise. Lotus has a long-standing history with Jam Cruise, which harkens back to the earliest days of the event. As Director of Artist Programming Annabel Lukins explained before the group’s second performance on the boat this year, years ago, a fan-led movement dubbed GLOTS—an abbreviation for “Get Lotus On The Ship”—successfully earned Lotus a spot on the lineup. In the years since, the group has continued to rise on the bill, with 2018 finding Lotus comfortably returning to one of the top spots on the lineup.

This year, after kicking off the first day of Jam Cruise 16 with a late-night set in the below-deck Stardust Theater, the group also headlined and closed out the pool deck’s main stage later in the week on Wednesday. Rising to the occasion after setting expectations high the first night, Lotus offered up a groove-oriented set that drew heavily on the band’s older catalog. A major highlight of the set came from an unfortunate technical issue, when the speakers cut out during the climax of “It’s All Clear To Me Now”; undeterred, the band seamlessly segued into an extended percussion jam as the issue was resolved, and the group quickly picked up where they had left off, dropping straight back into the song’s peak.

Recently, Jam Cruise released another highlight from Lotus’ Wednesday set on the pool deck. You can take a listen to the band’s stellar rendition of “Gilded Age” below. Enjoy!

Lotus – “Gilded Age” [Pro-Shot]

 

[Video: Jam Cruise]

At the fourth-annual Brooklyn Comes Alive, Jam Cruise will bring its iconic Jam Room to land for the first time ever, with improvisational sessions hosted by George Porter Jr. as well as the duo of Craig Brodhead and Karina Rykman. Brooklyn Comes Alive will return to Brooklyn’s beloved Williamsburg neighborhood on September 29th for an all-day music marathon at Brooklyn Bowl, Music Hall of Williamsburg, and Rough Trade.

Inspired by the vibrant musical communities of Brooklyn and New Orleans, Brooklyn Comes Alive brings together more than 50 artists, allowing them to carry out passion projects, play with their musical heroes, and collaborate in never-before-seen formations. For more information, ticketing, and to see the full list of performers scheduled for Brooklyn Comes Alive 2018, head to the festival’s website here.

Brooklyn Comes Alive is sponsored by Denver-based company, Pure CBD Exchange, which creates and sells a number of CBD/cannabidiol products (What is CBD?) from concentrates, tinctures, extracts, lotions, creams, and more. The use of CBD has gained much notoriety as of late, for use as both a health and wellness supplement and to treat conditions such as epilepsy, PTSD, cancer, and a number of mental disorders and is also used for anti-inflammation, nausea reduction, sleep aid, and more. Pure CBD Exchange was co-founded by Gregg Allman Band organist/keyboardist and Brooklyn Comes Alive musician Peter Levin back in 2017.

Pure CBD Exchange focuses on low-THC cannabis products with high CBD content. They work within the Colorado Industrial Hemp pilot program to distribute non-psychoactive tinctures, extracts, lotions, and more all over the world. The company has featured by companies like VICE, High Times, Leafly, and more.