Jay Lane Joins Circles Around The Sun For Wild Double Drum Encore At Sweetwater Music Hall

Circles Around The Sun brought their California Coaster ’24 run to Bay Area venue Sweetwater Music Hall on Friday, April 12. Dead & Company drummer Jay Lane, who along with ALO bassist Steve Adams accompanied Reed Mathis on a set of originals to open the night, came back out for a wild encore to end the concert.

CATS — guitarist John Lee Shannon, keyboardist Adam MacDougall, bassist Dan Horne and drummer Mark Levy — delivered an eight-song headlining set before the surprise double drum encore. The quartet featured material from throughout their career including “Saturday’s Children” off their 2015 debut LP, Interludes For The Dead, and the title track to their latest full-length album, 2023’s Language.

The band selected “Babyman” to showcase Lane’s massive talents in the encore slot. Circles Around The Sun and Jay Lane turned in a 20-minute version of the song that opens the four-piece’s 2020 self-titled release.

“Babyman” was chock full of adventurous improvisation and percussive jams with each member getting in on the percussion action. Stream audio and view a clip of CATS and Lane’s “Babyman” performance from Friday night at Sweetwater Music Hall below:

Mathis was on guitar for the U.S. debut of his Reed Mathis’ In The Now project earlier in the night. The trio of Mathis, Lane and Adams became a quartet when Adam MacDougall sat in towards the end of the set for the Mathis-penned original, “Moving On.”

Watch footage of Reed Mathis’ “Moving On” performance at the Mill Valley, California venue below:

Circles Around The Sun performs in Las Vegas on Wednesday and Thursday nights surrounding the Phish run at the Sphere. Jay Lane will head to the Sphere to perform a 24-show residency with Dead & Company that starts on May 16.