Lotus Hosts Guest-Filled Concerts Celebrating Chuck & Charley Morris

Lotus took the stage on Friday and Saturday nights for a pair of benefit concerts at Denver’s Fillmore Auditorium to celebrate the lives of the band’s percussionist Chuck Morris and his son Charley. An assemblage of close musical friends and collaborators joined Lotus at various points of the weekend with all net proceeds from the shows donated to the Morris Family.

Chuck and Charley were vacationing on Beaver Lake near Fayetteville, Arkansas on Thursday, March 16 when they left on a kayaking trip. The pair were soon reported missing. Officials announced their bodies were recovered on Sunday, April 9. A GoFundMe campaign was established to raise funds for the Morris Family.

The percussion spot with Chuck’s gear set up was left unfilled as Chuck’s bandmates — Luke Miller, Jesse Miller, Mike Greenfield and Tim Palmieri — opened Friday’s concert with “Land Of The Lush.” Vocalist Gabe Otto and percussionist Anthony Fugate then emerged for “Eats The Light” off Lotus’ 2016 LP, Eat The Light. Fugate stuck around to add to a version of “Opo” that also featured Thievery Corporation’s Jeff Franca, who also contributed to the ensuing “Tar Pits.” Next, Jeff Lloyd and Scotty Zwang joined Lotus for “Destroyer.” Former Lotus guitarist Mike Rempel then made his first appearance of the weekend on a set-closing “Spiritualized” that saw the ensemble rounded out by Hive Mind’s Rohan Prakash.

Mike Rempel and original Lotus drummer Steve Clemens were on hand for the “Intro To A Cell”/”Spaghetti” sequence that kicked off Friday’s second set. The latter gave way to an “Arupa” featuring Jeff Peterson with Fugate returning for a run of “Drums,” “Slow Cookin’” and “Flower Sermon.” Gabe Otto then came back to front Lotus, Lloyd, Rempel and Prakash on a cover of Talking Heads’ “This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)” to close the frame. Lotus punctuated the night with a “Shimmer And Out” encore assisted by Rohan Prakash and Steve Clemens.

Lotus went sans guests to start Saturday’s show with “Nematode.” Rempel and Clemens then joined their old bandmates for “Sid” before ceding the stage to Big Gigantic’s Dominic Lalli, Dopapod’s Neal “Fro” Evans and The Motet’s Dave Watts, who augmented Lotus on “Cold Facts.” Rempel and Prakash were back for the “Caywood” that followed.

Saturday’s first set rolled on with the fitting cover debut of LCD Soundsystem’s “Someone Great” featuring Watts, Otto and Zwang. Dave Watts stayed out for the “Desert Blooms” that came next with Anthony Fugate also contributing to the recently debuted original. Next, Gabe Otto once again helmed a Talking Heads cover as Lotus ended the frame with “Once In A Lifetime.”

Lotus threw back to their early days to get Saturday’s second set underway as the band linked oldies “Mikesnack” and “It’s All Clear To Me Now” with original members Mike Rempel and Steve Clemens. The latter transitioned into a take on the Bee Gees’ “You Should Be Dancing” sung by Gabe Otto. Disco Biscuits drummer Allen Aucoin contributed to the disco classic as well as the “Tip Of The Tongue” that followed. Up next was a wild “Drums” segment featuring Clemens, Evans, Watts, Prakash, Zwang, Fugate, Aucoin and Padge.

After “Drums,” the stage was mostly cleared leaving Watts and Lotus to perform Mildlife’s “Automatic.” Then, Prakash and The Motet keyboardist Joey Porter sat-in on “Greet The Mind” before Lotus, Rempel and Clemens ended the final set of the weekend with the beloved “Umbilical Moonrise.” A brass parade in honor of Chuck and Charley Morris served as the evening’s encore.

Watch pro-shot video featuring the start of each show below:

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Setlists (via Lotus Facebook)

Friday, April 21

Set One: Land of the Lush, Eats the Light (Gabe Otto, Anthony Fugate), Opo (Fugate, Jeff Franca), Tar Pits (Jeff Franca), Destroyer (Jeff Lloyd, Scotty Zwang), Spiritualize (Rempel)

Set Two: Intro to a Cell (Mike Rempel, Steve Clemens) > Spaghetti (Rempel, Clemens) > Arupa (Jeff Peterson > Drums (Fugate, Peterson) > Slow Cookin’ (Peterson, Fugate > Flower Sermon (Fugate), This Must Be the Place (Rohan, Rempel, Lloyd, Gabe)

Encore: Shimmer and Out (Clemens, Rohan)

Saturday, April 22

Set One: Nematode, Sid (Mike Rempel, Steve Clemens), Cold Facts (Dominic Lalli, Neal Fro Evans, Dave Watts), Caywood (Rempel, Rohan), Someone Great* (Gabe Otto, Scotty Zwang, Watts), Desert Blooms (Anthony Fugate, Watts), Once in a Lifetime (Otto, Fugate)

Set Two: Mikesnack (Rempel, Clemens) > It’s All Clear to Me Now (Rempel, Clemens) > You Should Be Dancing (Allen Aucoin, Otto) > Tip of the Tongue (Wilson, Aucoin) > Drums (Aucoin, Watts, Fro, Rohan, Fugate, Clemens, Zwang, Padge), Automatic (Dave Watts – Drums, Greenfield – Percussion), Greet the Mind (Joey Porter, Rohan), Umbilical Moonrise (Rempel, Clemens – Drums, No Tim, No Greenfield)

Encore: Brass Parade – Brothers of Brass

*LCD Soundsystem, first time played

Source: JamBase.com