Thirty years of bossa nova bass lines and D.C. dub politics, and Thievery Corporation are bringing the anniversary to Emo’s Austin — not an arena, not a festival stage, but a 1,700-cap room on East Riverside where the PA will hold what they’re carrying and the floor will be close enough to matter. The 30th Anniversary Tour hits Emo’s on Wednesday, June 17.
Rob Garza and Eric Hilton met in summer 1995 at the Eighteenth Street Lounge in Washington, D.C. — Hilton’s club, where the two bonded over Brazilian records and decided they had something to build together. The debut, Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi, followed in 1996 and helped define what eventually got called downtempo and chill-out electronic — neither label particularly fits, but both stuck. Thirty years and more than twenty albums later, the catalog is genuinely dense: The Mirror Conspiracy, The Richest Man in Babylon, Radio Retaliation, Culture of Fear — concept records built around Garza and Hilton’s left-leaning politics, woven into the architecture of the sound rather than announced from the stage. Their music has turned up in Garden State, Vanilla Sky, and Crazy Stupid Love; guest collaborators over the years have included Perry Farrell, David Byrne, and Wayne Coyne.
The live show is the event here. This leg of the 30th Anniversary Tour runs close to two hours and features a full ensemble of touring collaborators — vocalists Laura Vall and Mr. Lif, Frank Orrall, Puma Ptah, and Hilton on sitar. Earlier dates have included an intimate acoustic segment with the whole band seated in a circle at the front of the stage. At a room like Emo’s, floor access puts you in the right position for that.
The band released A Sky So Close in February 2026, and this Texas run arrives a few months behind it. The routing is four nights straight: Fort Worth June 16, Austin June 17, Dallas June 18, Houston June 19. The Austin date lands mid-run, which is usually when the set is settled and the ensemble has its chemistry locked.
Emo’s Austin is at 2015 E Riverside Dr. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster. Doors at 7:00 PM. More shows across the Austin area on the regional calendar.