Sound Advice: Find Your Post-Thanksgiving Bliss During Papadosio's Cincinnati Performance

Even though they’re now based in Asheville, North Carolina, every Thanksgiving weekend they play a show in Ohio.

By Garin Pirnia on Wed, Nov 15, 2023 at 5:02 am

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Photo: facebook.com/papadosio

Papadosio performs at Taft Theatre on Nov. 25.

This story is featured in CityBeat's Nov. 15 print edition.

As college students in Athens, Ohio, Papadosio came together as a five-piece. With influences like the Grateful Dead and Frank Zappa, they combine jam band, prog, jazz and psych sounds. The eight-minute song “Find Your Cloud” encapsulates uplifting melodies alongside prog beats. It’s been more than 15 years since they got their start playing shows, like the time they played on St. Patrick’s Day in front of a packed bar that ran out of Jameson. Today, they’re one of the most popular jam/psychedelic bands on the scene. And as my friend Tyler said about them, “They’re the best current band to trip to.”

Last year, they celebrated the 10th anniversary of their seminal album To End the Illusion of Separation (T.E.T.I.O.S.). This year, they released To Live A Making, bookending a fruitful career.

The band had this to say about the record in a social media post: “It’s a story about life: a timely commentary at a pivotal moment in human history that is dedicated to pondering prevailing mainstream cultural narratives. The music aims to inspire notions that life itself is creative, that love is real, and that together we could thrive if only we could tell ourselves the right stories and ask ourselves the right questions.”

Even though they’re now based in Asheville, North Carolina, every Thanksgiving weekend they play a show in Ohio. Cincinnatians will get a holiday treat when Papadosio plays the Taft. Each one of their setlists is different; in August, they performed a 15-song set of Radiohead songs at Secret Dreams in Thornville, Ohio. You never know what they’re going to do, which is part of the appeal. Keyboardist Billy Brouse told Smoky Mountain News that touring should be uncomfortable. “If you can be uncomfortable for 10 years — and sometimes it’s longer — then it will pay off depending on how long you’re uncomfortable and grinding it out. You’re not delusional. You’re going ‘after it.’” And that’s what they’ve done and continue to do.

Papadosio plays the Taft Theatre on Nov. 25 at 6:30 p.m. Dizgo and Chalk Dinosaur opens. Info: tafttheatre.org.