Rotary Downs and Big Light

Name: Rotary Downs and Big Light
Start: 2026-05-01T21:00:00-05:00
End: 2026-05-02T01:00:00-05:00
Location: 2227 Saint Claude Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana 70117, United States

Schedule

Fri, 01 May, 2026 at 09:00 pm to Sat, 02 May, 2026 at 01:00 am

UTC-05:00

Location

2227 Saint Claude Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana 70117, United States | New Orleans, LA

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of their critically-acclaimed post-Katrina album Chained to the Chariot, Rotary Downs will return from a four-year hiatus to perform songs from their vast catalog and present two previously unreleased tracks. The release of Chained to the Chariot brought the band national attention, including invitations to play Bonnaroo, High Sierra Music Festival, New Orleans Jazz Fest, and a live performance on National Public Radio in New York City.
Rotary Downs led the early 2000’s New Orleans Indie Rock revolution with a full head of steam, most notably with their 4th album, Chained To The Chariot, released in 2006. Hailed by NPR as “a stunning collection of psychedelic art-pop” the band toured regionally and around the US supporting the album with a 3 year run at The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and The Voodoo Music Experience. Their 2010 follow up “Cracked Maps and Blue Reports” won “Best Rock Album” by Offbeat Magazine readers.
Their 2014 release “Traces” is a psychedelic dream in many moods but with a harder edge and lower lighting than previous offerings, tighter and sharper than ever before.
Rotary Downs has won best rock band honors multiple times from the New Orleans alt-weekly Gambit and monthly music publication Offbeat, and has performed multiple times at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Voodoo Music Experience, Bonnaroo Music Festival SXSW, the High Sierra Music Festival as well as the MIDEM music conference in Cannes, France. Two of its songs are featured in the Rock Band video game, and the song “Djinni Stomp” was featured in the third season of HBO’s New Orleans-set drama Treme.
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Big Light is the elusive band has etched its name in San Francisco lore going back at least a decade. Emerging back on the scene with fresh energy, they still occupy their own planet within the Nor Cal indie rock galaxy. Led by the captivating, moody songwriting of vocalist/guitarist, Fred Torphy, this is music that hits you at your core. Holding down the bottom end with his signature style is bassist Steve Adams (ALO, Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers), while founding member Bradly Bifulco maintains his chair behind the drum kit. Lead guitarist Jeremy Korpas rejoined the band in 2016, and has since began writing new material with Big Light for an as-to-yet-be-titled follow-up to 2014's 'The Well-Wishers'.