World music wanderers Thievery Corporation returned to Stubbs in Austin after stopping by for SXSW earlier this year, to celebrate the release of their latest album, The Temple of I & I. The Washington D.C.-based DJ collective, known for their dazzling array of stunning lighting designs and eclectic mash-ups of world cultures and languages from those cultures, including Jamaican, Indian, and French, took the Austin crowd on a tour around the globe both aurally and visually throughout the night, Saturday, October 21st.
The island-inspired vibes of Thievery’s newest album were introduced by Kingston-newcomer, rapper and vocalist Racquel Jones, who as former Miss Jamaica contestant, shares her many talents of MC as well as a powerhouse of a lyricist. Long-time collaborator Mr. Lif, whose energy is immeasurable during every Thievery Corporation show, climbed onto a house speaker at Stubbs shortly before well-known sitar player Rob Myers began to play his majestic stringed and fretted peculiar-sounding instrument.
While reggae-vibes washed over the mostly-Anglo crowd, Mr. Lif introduced The Temple of I & I stating, “It goes a little something like this… let me come talk to you…” and the eclectic band broke into new single “Fight to Survive” with a matching light pattern of the Jamaican flag providing an appropriate backdrop to match the feel of the set.
Long-time Austin-based Thievery Corporation collaborator LouLou Ghelichkhani had an opportunity to perform in front of her home crowd, performing 2017’s “Time + Space” and also took a moment to plug a raffle of a signed guitar, with 100% of proceeds to go towards Hurricane relief in Puerto Rico at the merchandise stand.
With an over two-hour set of music following Austin-based Latin-flavored brass band Hard Proof, who unfortunately did not perform with Thievery Corporation as they did during a New Years Eve set in 2016, Thievery Corporation played their most well-known song, “Lebanese Blonde” featuring sitar played by Myers before playing several encores. After LouLou’s glorious rendition of “Sweet Tides,” Lif ended the show with words of hope and healing as well as he said “…much love to the big dreamers out there…”
