Disco Biscuits play at Bluebird tonight

As Tuesday night dissolves into Wednesday morning, the Disco Biscuits' show will be winding down. But a few years ago, their performance would just be starting up. Once known as a band whose concerts lasted until the sun came up, the Disco Biscuits are maturing. \nThey are growing and evolving into a band that can lay down respected studio albums but still turn any venue into a party and surprise even their most dedicated fans on any given night.\nWhen the Disco Biscuits take the stage at 9 p.m. Tuesday at the Bluebird, attendees are advised to stretch and wear loose clothing because they're stepping into a dance party.\nLongtime fan Rodney "Danger" Smyth, a student at the University of Vermont, said the band draws comparisons to Phish, but he said they are unlike any band around. He described them as trance-fusion with elements of rock and electronica. \nSmyth considers the group one of the top touring acts around. He has traveled to Tennessee, West Virginia and Amsterdam over the years to see the Biscuits.\nSky Garner, who has followed the band on-and-off since 1999, barely had to leave his neighborhood to see the band.\n"The second time I saw them, it was 20 minutes from my house," Garner said. "There were only 20 people there; the sun was behind the water. It was really cool."\nGarner said the Biscuits have transformed themselves from a dark, trance band that would play from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. into a jam band with funk and techno aspects. But even with their new sound, Garner said, the Disco Biscuits can fill 7,000-seat venues. \nTheir most recent release is a two-disc live album. In fact, most of their releases are live recordings. The new one is The Wind at Four to Fly, which got its name from a classic Biscuits song, "Morph Dusseldorf." Fans of the Biscuits are quick to point out that a listener will never really understand the Disco Biscuits until he or she sees them live.\n"I was the biggest hater of them for two years," Smyth said. "You have to get the live experience to see what they're about. It will change your life."\nA mainstay in the jam music scene, the Biscuits are expanding from their serious East Coast following to the Midwest and out to California. They come to Bloomington in the middle of a packed touring schedule, playing a string of shows from Indiana to Colorado and California before making their way back to Philadelphia for a sold-out Dec. 30 show.\nSmyth said he keeps going to shows because he is always entranced by the band and loves the energy.\n"Every show is different," Smyth said. "You never know what to expect."\nWhile they win most of their fans over with the live show, the Biscuits have garnered acclaim from the studio recordings as well. Their www.jambase.com bio boasts that their 2002 album, Senior Boombox, was named the best studio record of 2002 by Relix Magazine. \nFor fan Julia Bastian, an East Coast touring veteran, the Biscuits are a way to get out of the mundaneness of day-to-day life.\n"There's something about the Biscuits that transcends the ordinary and makes you transcend the problems and triviality of your life," she said.