Lotus Loads New Year’s Eve Concert With ‘Timely’ Debut Covers By Britney Spears, MGMT, Daft Punk & More

Lotus held a New Year’s Eve concert at Philadelphia’s Union Transfer that saw the locally-affiliated jamtronica group debut a batch of wide-ranging new covers. The band premiered their takes on time-centric songs by Britney Spears, MGMT, Daft Punk, Semisonic and Pink Floyd across the show’s two sets.

The first “timely” cover to be debuted came within the first set opener “Middle Road” which encapsulated an instrumental arrangement of Britney Spears’ hit “… Baby One More Time.” The next “time” cover premiere emerged from “Can You Hear The Sound” via a segue into Semisonic’s “Closing Time,” which was also played sans vocals.

Lotus continued with “Ra-Ako-St” teeing up the final first set “time” cover debut, MGMT’s “Time to Pretend,” which featured guitarist Tim Palmieri on lead vocals. A transition into “Shimmer And Out” served as the first-set closer.

The second half launched behind a pairing of “Flower Sermon” with “Greet the Mind.” Another “time” cover came next as Daft Punk’s “One More Time” was given a spin by Lotus for the first time, riding it into the countdown to midnight.

The time-centric theme carried on in the early stages of 2025 with an instrumental work-up of Pink Floyd’s classic “Time.” Lotus sampled Steve Miller’s “Fly Like An Eagle” (notably the “Time keeps on slipping” lyrics) to transition out of the subsequent “Stranger Danger.”

A substantial “128” capped the second set. Lotus then returned to punctuate the performance with an “Opus” encore.”

Stream official soundboard audio of Lotus’ New Year’s Eve concert in Philly via nugs.net. Scroll on for video footage of the cover debuts as well.