Live Review: EOTO @ the Fillmore
EOTO isn’t a group that relies on playing the same setlist night in and night out. Seeing a group that improvises everything offers show attendees a chance to hear something unique every time and Friday night at the Fillmore was no different.
EOTO is an electronic duo comprised of Michael Travis and Jason Hann who are members of jam band warriors the String Cheese Incident. Friday night the group rolled through San Francisco bringing their mix of improvised jamtronica and dubstep to the Fillmore.
Like many jam band associated acts, one of EOTO’s base ingredients is improvisation in a live setting. However while other groups improvise studio recorded tracks, EOTO have no songs. In many ways this formula works to their advantage. When a group has a very extensive catalogue often it is easy to feel unfulfilled if they leave a favorite off of the setlist, or butcher a certain song. But with EOTO it is more conducive to focus on the total composition of the set.
Directionally EOTO seems to be moving into new territory. There is still a heavy serving of dubstep and house based jams, however on Friday night the set seemed break new boundaries genre wise weaving in some spacier and lighter melodic moments. Also adding to the EOTO experience are the enticing and trippy visuals that pop off the projection screen including a Mrs. Pacman game.
It was far from a sellout crowd, however that was just fine for the half-filled room at the Fillmore. Attracted to EOTO shows are the typical dedicated ‘festie’ and ‘rave’ kids, however there was a bit of diversity seen in some of the older parental aged fans in the crowd. One of the easiest ways to gauge the show is to listen to the echoes of comments from seasoned EOTO fans during and afterwards and there were plenty gushing about Friday’s performance.
EOTO brings something special to the oversatured dubstep and electronic genres. Instead of relying on popular bangers, remixes, and bass, each night EOTO crafts something uniquely varying that will never be carbon copied. All in all they delivered a captivating set Friday night in San Francisco at the Fillmore.
