Five-piece livetronica band Papadosio returned to the East Coast for two nights over Halloween weekend, bringing with it a new song. The stops in Delaware and Virginia on Friday and Saturday came following the band’s first trip to the West Coast since 2018.

On Friday, at The Queen in Wilmington, DE, Papadosio opened with “Geoglyph”, a funky fan favorite sure to incite movement around the room. As this hypnotic backbreaker settled down, keyboardist Sam Brouse picked up his guitar and the band began “Glimpse of Light”, tearing open the end with a heavy, textured jam that rolled straight into the buoyant admonition of “You and Yourself”. “Night Colors” electrified the room as Dustin Klein’s visuals—after projection-mapping the old theater’s proscenium arch and organ pipes—brought to life images of “queens” like Freddy Mercury, Beyoncé, and Bettie Page that hung around the stage in ornate bronze frames.

“Skipswitch” featured a segment of “Aquatic Ambience” from the 2005 video game Donkey Kong Country, a song the band featured in August during its Arcade Set at Secret Dreams Music & Arts Festival, followed by “Versicolor” and the second appearance of one of the band’s most recent songs, “Not Just A Word”, with guitarist/vocalist Anthony Thogmartin singing straight from the heart of stark familial love in which the song was written.

Next, the band played “Fly Agaric”, a chunky jam oasis from the 2020 album Microdosio, and “Smile and Nod”. Then Thogmartin took the mic and said, “To maximize our use of time, we’re going to play a long weird one for you”, the exact words one always wants to hear at a Papadosio show. The band skipped the usual offstage encore break to set into a tinkering mad scientist rendition of the band’s classic song “Snorkel” to end the show.

Papadosio – The Queen – Wilmington, DE –10/28/22

[Video: Stray House Studios]

Night two, at Elevation 27 in Virginia Beach, began with an epic XL version of “Vactrollio” before slinking off into the haywire delights of “Euclidean Lights”. Spooky and crawling, “Cubensis” sandwiched a “Curve Jam”, laden with Rob McConnell’s innovative bass, followed by “Advocate of Change” and the live debut of Papadosio’s newest track “Zoom Out”. Both songs, old and new, mutated with an intoxicating blend of improvisational conversation among drummer Mike Healy, synth master Billy Brouse, and the rest of the band.

“Threes”, “Out of Hiding”, and a greasy floor-banger of “Write Sing Play Mix” led into the tension and release of “The Eyes Have Eyes”, and the set came to a close. The band members handed out setlists and left the stage, but fans wouldn’t have it. After ten minutes of cheers and howls for one more song, Papadosio returned with an unlisted heavy-hitting “Holy Heck” to end the night properly.

Notably absent from these sets were songs from the band’s 2012 album T.E.T.I.O.S., which, in honor of its ten-year anniversary, Papadosio is preparing to play for the first time in its entirety on November 25th and 26th at Masonic Auditorium in Cleveland, OH. Tickets are available here.

Setlist: Papadosio | The Queen | Wilmington, DE / 10/28/22

Set: Geoglyph, Glimpse of Light > You and Yourself, Night Colors, Skipswitch > Aquatic Ambience (Donkey Kong Country) > Skipswitch, Versicolor, Not Just A Word, Fly Agaric, Smile and Nod, Snorkel

Setlist: Papadosio | Elevation 27 | Virginia Beach, VA | 10/29/22

Set: Vactrollio XL > Euclidean Lights, Cubensis > Curve Jam > Cubensis, Advocate of Change, Zoom Out [1], Threes, Out of Hiding, Write Sing Play Mix > The Eyes Have Eyes

Encore: Holy Heck

[1] FTP