Lettuce brought their Mt. Crushmore tour on Wednesday night, March 1st, to The Aggie Theatre in Fort Collins, CO to a very hyped up, sold-out crowd. The Russ Liquid Test, out of New Orleans, is on as support for this run of shows, and delivered their raw electro-funk stylings to the mix, which made for a perfect pairing of musical dishes.
The Russ Liquid Test’s set witnessed Russell Scott, Andrew Block, and Deven Trusclair throw down fresh remixes of Gaslamp Killer‘s “The Butcher,” BlapDeli‘s “D’s in the Club,” and The Noisy Freaks‘ “All I Need.” The group also ran through some unreleased bangers, and even invited GRiZ up for an impromptu jam on “Saratoga,” much to the delight of everybody in attendance. There is no doubt that 2017 is going to be a big year for this band, so keep your ears open!
Still early into this current tour, it certainly seemed like Lettuce had been on the road for a several weeks, as everything clicked and the group was primed and ready to go. With Adam Deitch and Jesus Coomes laying down what is easily one of the tightest rhythm section in the game, Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff, Neal Evans, Ryan Zoidis, and Benny Bloom each took turns leading the group through various cuts from the band’s catalog.
It isn’t often that current acts pay tribute to classical composers, but Lettuce did just that with a show opening rendition of Mozart‘s “The Requiem Mass,” which was the legendary composer’s last piece of music ever written before his death. The band flipped the script on the unfinished piece, giving it some hip-hop flavor as only Lettuce can do. The Crush track “Chief” was mashed up with James Brown‘s “Give It Up Or Turn It Loose” during the set, which Deitch says the group likes to call “Chief It Up and Turn It Loose.”
The melodic opening notes of Shmeeans’ guitar on “Phyllis” puts you in that “time to get down” mindset, as the tough backbeat laid down by Deitch moves in, and The Shady Horns simply do what The Shady Horns do. Lettuce’s set just never let up, as they brought the boogie with tracks like “Trillogy,” “Sam Huff’s Flying Ragin’ Machine,” and the set-closing, 70’s-inspired “Force.” The song makes you feel like you’re walking across 110th street (Bobby Womack, anyone?) in Harlem back in the day, straight pimpin’ it with bell bottoms on, an afro-pick in your coif, struttin’ down the street. What a night of funky music!
Lettuce and The Russ Liquid Test continue their tour together over the next two weeks, and you can check out their tour dates here. Lettuce will also be hosting the two-day Fool’s Paradise event down in St. Augustine, FL from March 31st – April 1st with Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, The Floozies, The Main Squeeze, The Motet, Oteil Burbridge, and more. For more info, go to the festival website.
Setlist: The Russ Liquid Test | Aggie Theatre | Fort Collins, CO | 3/1/17
Set: BlueFLWRS (unreleased), Farther (unreleased), The Butcher (Gaslamp Killer remix), D’s in the Club (BlapDeli remix), Death (unreleased), Free Dumb, Samurai (unreleased), Honesty, Let Me Stand, Rhythm (unreleased), Saratoga* (unreleased), All I Need (The Noisy Freaks remix), 1984, Devide & Conquer remix
* = w/ GRiZ
Setlist: Lettuce | Aggie Theatre | Fort Collins, CO | 3/1/17
Set: Requiem, Get Greasy, Chief It Up, Gogo, Shmink Daddy Kane, By Any Shmeeans Necessary, Neal Evans song (Untitled), Bowler, Phyllis, Trillogy, Blaze, Sam Huff’s Flying Ragin’ Machine, New Reel, Force
E: Blast Off, Madison Square
The post Lettuce Brings The Funk & The Russ Liquid Test Brings GRiZ For A Rager At The Aggie [Videos] appeared first on L4LM.
