The Disco Biscuits Revive “Rivers,” “Park Ave” and Inverted “7-11” at Ardmore Music Hall
The Disco Biscuits, photo by Bahram Foroughi
Since Tuesday, Aug, 19, The Disco Biscuits have been working through their long-awaited residency at the Ardmore Music Hall in Ardmore, Pa., and the series so far has been a testament to their creative vigor and instrumental prowess thoroughly honed through months on tour. 2025 his been a big year for the livetronica innovators, who have turned in more than 50 shows since January and are staring down a packed slate of fall and winter dates for a proper 30th anniversary celebration. Just outside their Philadelphia home base, the band’s first two nights in Ardmore reminded fans that despite their pursuit of new horizons, The Disco Biscuits never stray far from their roots.
On Tuesday, The Disco Biscuits set off their six-night residency with a set centering ‘90s and early aughts favorites like a perfume version treatment of “Pilin’ it High,” “Voices Insane” and a dyslexic “Caterpillar” closer, alongside the lone 2024 debut “Risky Business.” The enduring quartet of bassist Marc Brownstein, guitarist Jon Gutwillig, drummer Allen Aucoin and keyboardist Aron Magner tore into their second frame with the return of “Rivers,” a live essential dating back to 2008 that had been on the shelf since March 2023. The band merged this curveball directly into “Country Royale,” then blasted through a second lap of “Voices Insane” and “Caterpillar” before capping off the set with the ominous Revolution in Motion album finale “To Be Continued…” After the fan favorite encore “Dino Baby,” The Disco Biscuits wrapped up their first show with the ending passage of “And the Ladies Were the Rest of the Night.”
Last night, The Disco Biscuits doubled down on the impressive series opener with a follow-up performance packed with surprises. The group wasted little time before casting the crowd into a state of sheer awe, following the opener “Munchkin Invasion” into a dazzling inverted version of the beloved 25-year classic “7-11,” rendered in its flipped form for the first time since April 2003. As the track is often interpreted as originally being a veiled statement from the band on their early chemistry issues, its tremendous transformation through the decades and Wednesday’s innovative renewal arrive as a guarantee of the quartet’s current golden age.
Right after the surprising “7-11,” The Disco Biscuits swerved down to “Park Ave,” a cut that dates back to 2009 and hadn’t appeared since January 2024. The band capped off their fiery first set with “Twisted in the Road,” then commenced their second with yet another revival, broaching the 24-year frequent flyer “Spectacle” for the first time since March 2023. Stunning interpretations of “Bazaar Escape” and clipped segments of “Better in Doses” and “Run Like Hell” finally brought The Disco Biscuits to an exhilarating encore of “42.”
The Disco Biscuits will return to the stage tonight, then continue at the Ardmore Music Hall with three further shows through Aug. 24. The band will wrap up their summer with their Between the Trees concert series in Montana and Colorado. Find tickets and The Disco Biscuits’ full tour itinerary here.
