[UPDATE 12/24/21]: STS9 has announced that its East of the Sun 2021–2022 New Year’s run at The Eastern in Atlanta, GA has been postponed due to the ongoing spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant. For more information on the postponement, head here.
[12/23/21] STS9 is set to say goodbye to this year and ring in the next with four shows in Atlanta, continuing a traditions that dates back more than a decade. This time around, however, the long-running STS9 New Year’s tradition in the Peach State will see a number of notable updates—from the venue to the conceptual nature of the shows.
Rather than returning to The Tabernacle, a legendary room in STS9 lore, the jamtronica pioneers will head to state-of-the-art new venue The Eastern on December 29th, 30th, and 31st, 2021 as well as January 1st, 2022. The new venue, which just opened in Atlanta’s Reynoldstown neighborhood in September of this year, boasts a multi-tiered floor plan for optimal sightlines in addition to top of the line sound and lights.
As bassist Alana Rocklin tells Live For Live Music about the new venue for this year’s NYE festivities, “The Tabernacle is one of our favorite places to play, and we’ve been so fortunate to play there more than any other band. We’ve had some of our most important moments as a band there, and it will always hold a special place in our hearts. We hope to play there again sometime! But, we’re so honored and excited to play at The Eastern for their inaugural New Years shows. It’s a gorgeous venue and we can’t wait to play there! It’s going to be super special!”
The modern iteration of STS9 has largely placed its creative focus on crafting extended narratives, often connecting series of shows in different places—and in different years—by way of common thematic threads. The Atlanta shows, billed as East of the Sun, will round out a story the band began telling at its October run in Napa, CA, dubbed West of the Moon.
As Rocklin explains, “‘East of the Sun/West of the Moon’ is an old jazz standard that felt like it fit perfectly with our current musical inspirations and these two runs. Being that we had a run of shows on the west coast, and the very next run on the east coast, back-to-back, it felt like the perfect theme. We love to name our runs and connect them to the music, art, and stories that we are inspired by at the moment. We have a blast digging into these themes throughout the shows and using them to inspire the music and production.”
Each night of the 2021–2022 New Year’s run at The Eastern will feature two sets by STS9 in addition to a nightly “wild card.” In addition to supporting sets by Richard Devine (12/30), No Stress (12/31), and Cloudchord (1/1), the first night of the run (12/29) will feature the revival of another STS9 tradition, “Wave Spell,” the band’s ongoing all-improv experiment.
“The Wave Spell improv sets are all about the moment, embracing the vibe and energy of the room and creating on the spot, so they are really all unique unto themselves,” explains Rocklin. “Even though we have a very loose idea of what we might do, we really let the moment guide us and we honestly never know what will come out.”
Of note, the band has previously crafted “Wave Spell” performances with Richard Devine, the Atlanta-based glitch producer set to open the festivities the night after this year’s scheduled improv set. While Devine isn’t billed as a guest on 12/29, Rocklin approaches the prospect of unannounced collabs with an attitude of “never say never.”
“Richard has always been a huge inspiration to us and we’re thrilled to have him on the bill,” she explains. “You never who will show up on this run, so don’t miss any of nights!”
Related: Watch STS9’s Psychedelic Improv Set With Richard Devine At Wave Spell Live [Full Video]
While the beautiful new venue, the complex thematic layers, and the potential for surprise collaborations have all upped the ante on this highly anticipated four-night run, the true beauty of STS9’s 2021–2022 New Year’s engagement lies in something much simpler: reconnecting with the Atlanta fanbase for the first time since New Year’s 2019.
“Atlanta will always be home base for us and we are ecstatic to return after two years,” Alana says. “These are our first shows in the Southeast since concerts have returned and we can’t wait to be back. The fans in the South always bring an incredible energy and we can’t wait to bring the 3.0 vibe to ATL, LFG!”
Tickets for the STS9 East of the Sun 2021–2022 New Year’s run shows at The Eastern in Atlanta are now on sale here.
