Show Review: Thievery Corporation @ Stubb’s (06.28.2025)
On Saturday night in our fair city, the air hung thick like a sweaty veil of heat and incense. Writhing and swaying bodies passed the vibe check under the towering live oak canopies of Stubb’s Amphitheater. In a quick annual return to the Capital City following a stop at Emo’s in May 2024, this was once again the kind of performance where reality feels soft at the edges. The audience was ripe for a descent into Thievery Corporation’s kaleidoscopic world, and they delivered over the sinuous two-hour set that served as the final stop of this leg of tours until the fall. With a well-deserved break imminent, the touring group pulled no punches and left it all on stage.
After a quick DJ set from Austinite Bob Armstrong, the lights dimmed, and the wanton crowd paced in anticipation. From the first basslines of Assault on Babylon, the band summoned a space both weightless yet grounded, where time slowed to the tempo of the continuous pulsing dub beat. With the vivacious vocals of Puma Ptah, the crowd found their feet quickly settling into the trance, moving together like jellyfish swaying in a tide. If music is a drug, then Thievery are the alchemists, carefully contrasting ethereal textures alongside intense angst, into something that doesn’t beg for your attention so much as it slowly rewires your brain.
Anchored by co-founder and producer Rob Garza on electronic duties, perched high at center stage, he served as conductor, welcoming in the talented rotating foursome of emcees to bring different levels of energy and vibe on vocals, rising and falling with the breath of the audience. Thievery boasts an eclectic catalog, and on this tour featured a set list that highlighted their expansive 25+ year career spanning their entire discography.
The remaining members of the touring group of musicians joining Garza, included Rob Myers on sitar and guitar (who I’ll admit I surprisingly thought was co-founder Eric Hilton for a second, forcing a quick doubletake…Hilton is off with his new solo effort), Jeff Franca and Frank Orrall on drums / percussion, and Dan Africano on the ever-present bass. The set drifted in and out of languages including Spanish, French, and English with each vocalist a vessel for a voice larger than their own. One of the highlights to the primarily Gen X crowd was the Garden State-famous Lebanese Blonde, where the aforementioned sitar and hook melted into the heat, floating above the venue alongside the audience-supplied smoke. The wondrous Laura Vall was a true standout, providing vocals on that track amongst many others, including the audience favorite Mirror Conspiracy.
Throughout the night, the band wove a tapestry of resistance and acknowledgment of the current political climate. This was more pronounced during a short acoustic set. Longtime collaborating MCs, Mr. Lif and Puma traded barbs about the current political climate and the progressive Austin crowd, as expected, were willing participants. Tracks like Amerimacka and Warning Shots hit with relevance, their lyrics prophetic in a time where the line between surveillance-states and safety, freedom and overt nationalism, grows blurrier by the week. But Thievery never seem to wallow in negativity. They offer rhythm as a portal to joy and salvation. Even when the world may feel heavy, their music can lift you.
The final acoustic number was a highwater mark, once again bringing out the radiant Loulou Ghelichkhani to provide the soothing vocals on Sweet Tides. Starting out seated on a stool, she quickly removed it to let her body move free with the music. The crowd was similarly unrestricted and the love in the air was palpable.
Unfortunately, it was difficult to jot down the remainder of the setlist in the midst of the relentless groove in which I was a willing participant, and similarly it was impossible not to feel the electricity of unity; rooted and intimate. A few others I recalled were Pueblo Unido, Truth and Rights, and the final track of the evening, Richest Man in Babylon. Tonight were hundreds of strangers sharing a single space, not just in heated proximity, but in connected though pulse. Under the vibrant glow of the stage lights and the faint inevitably rising outline of downtown that seems to engulf the Red River Cultural District, it felt like we were all simply part of a ritual of sound, sweat, and optimism. In a time of seemingly endless fracture and clamor, Thievery Corporation still manage to build sanctuaries out of sound. They are welcome in Austin anytime. See you next year.
Sketches and words by Jon Wagner (jwagnerviz)
As always, I try to capture the essence of the show through my drawings, hoping to bring the reader along in spirit. Cheers, -j
Edit: Found the setlist! Killer.
