[live review + photos] Sound Tribe Sector 9 @ House of Blues

Sound Tribe Sector 9 appeared this past Thursday at the House of Blues. With them came an ever-growing following of individuals with a shared taste in tantalizing guitar riffs, groovy baselines and a dynamic percussion section. What brewed was a fair amount of anticipation as the crowd poured into the 3-level venue to the sounds of the funky hip-hop/electro mashups of the opening act, The Polish Ambassador, who sported a neon blue and yellow jumpsuit and a pair of thick, plastic orange glasses, resembling a Derek Zoolander spin-off.

>> PHOTOS: "Sound Tribe Sector 9 at House of Blues" <<

Earlier this year, STS9 had to cancel the larger portion of their winter tour, due to the cancer diagnosis of bass player David Murphy. For this most recent show, Murphy sported a t-shirt that bluntly read "Fuck Cancer." Throughout the show he exhibited a fevered passion for both the music and the crowd, the implication that he's not taking any of it for granted. A very mutual presence of thankfulness was felt by both the audience and the band.

Despite the extended break taken, STS9 headlined a long list of music festivals this year including Bonnaroo, in Tennessee, All Good, in West Virginia, Summer Camp, in Illinois, Re:Generation, in Oregon, and Wakarusa, in Arkansas, among others. The Boston concert this past Thursday was the first local appearance since last August's performance with fellow-jam astronauts Lotus at the Bank of America Pavilion. The group played two one-hour sets, opening with "Shock Doctrine" and "Be Nice," floated their way through another hour and a half of beat-heavy space rock and free-form synth jams before performing an encore with "When the Dust Settles," off their most recent album of the same name. STS9 brought back a much-needed live improv element to the House of Blues after the recent string of high-commodity Deadmau5 concerts the previous week.