Home Live For Live Music Pigeons Playing Ping Pong Debut New Song During Surprise Sunday Show

Pigeons Playing Ping Pong Debut New Song During Surprise Sunday Show [Audio/Photos]

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On Sunday, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong previously was scheduled to perform at Red Rocks Amphitheatre along with moe. and Twiddle. Following Rob Derhak’s diagnosis with cancer and the start of moe.’s sudden hiatus as their bassist seeks treatment, the highly anticipated Red Rocks show was canceled. However, while the circumstances of the show’s cancellation are somber, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong still made good use of their time in Colorado, keeping the good vibes going with a joint show with Twiddle on Saturday and a surprise two-set performance on Sunday at Denver’s Globe Hall—the latter marking Pigeons’ first headlining two-set show in Colorado’s Front Range for the first time in years.

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Pigeons’ surprise Sunday performance was announced on Friday afternoon, with the band quickly selling out Globe Hall, which has a capacity of around 200 people. The intimate show was a jubilant affair, with its end at midnight also marking the start of drummer Alex “Gator” Petropulos’s birthday. Coming off a high from their performance at the Boulder Theatre with Twiddle the night before, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong shredded through their show, offering the debut of a new song, “Sail On,” in addition to two sets of their patented funk-infused jams.

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Ahead of their first song, “Live Life,” vocalist and guitarist Greg Ormont opened the show with a quip about sunscreen being sold at the merch stand, joking that he had been practicing the line for their debut Red Rocks performance. “Live Life” served as laidback set opener, with the crowd coasting on the mellow and dubby groove as Ormont hilariously providing his own echoing vocal reverb. By way of a rhythmic break, the song abruptly dropped into the funk tune “Bad For You”, welcoming in the slinky and heavy melody. As “Bad For You” entered its jam segment, guitarist Jeremy Schon was fully locked in, leading the song to an accelerated peak ahead of an abrupt return to refrain and shredding over the steady backbone laid down by Petropulos and bassist Ben Carrey.

“Poseidon” offered a change of pace initially, with the lyric instrumental opening to the number serving as a palette cleanser before landing in the feel-good and bubbly main theme of the song. With three-part harmonies accenting the lead vocals during the opening verses, Pigeons made their way into the jam, driving the crowd into a frenzy as they teased the Allman Brothers Band’s “Jessica”—an appropriate choice considering the group was also coming off their Friday performance at The Peach Festival, an event that has become a gathering for the extended musical family of the Allman Brothers Band since its inception in 2012. With the jam continuing to work off the Allman Brothers classic, the improvisation eventually loosened up into a more spacious jam, eventually reaching a soaring climax before returning to “Poseidon” bouncing main theme.

The bass-heavy rock number “King Kong” was up next. Particularly in contrast to the show’s opening tunes, the percussive lyrics and weight of song showcased Pigeons’ mastery of their diverse catalog. Ormont offered powerful and gravely vocals, and Schon’s frenetic soloing showed a guitarist fully dialed in. However, the MVPs of “King Kong” were the band’s rhythm section, with both Carrey and Petropulos taking extended solos and sounding particularly tight across its duration. As the song came to an aggressive and abrupt end, the band started in on “Couldn’t We All,” carrying over some of the heaviness of King Kong into the slinky melody.

With Ormont front and center with the spoken word-esque vocals, “Couldn’t We All” dropped into a dark jam, with Schon fully taking advantage of the solid rhythmic base as his frenzied guitar built the song to of multiple dramatic peaks. At time quick and propulsive and at others more ambient and spacious, a tremendous bridge back to the refrain showed the band firing on all cylinders. From there, Pigeons moved into the more straight-forward funk stylings of “Upfunk,” with Carrey and Ormont jumping to punctuate the end of each phrase. A psychedelic transition led to a slower, sexy jam with varying speed and style but cohesive in their somewhat darker tone. Closing out the song, Gator laid down a huge extended drum solo, eliciting huge cheers from the crowd as he worked the kit. As the group wrapped up the first set, they offered a sandwich of “Burning Up My Time,” with the song eventually transitioning through “Sir Real” before landing back in its joyful refrain and making for a triumphant finish.

Pigeons Playing Ping Pong returned after set break with “Landing.” During the song, Schon stepped to the front of the stage and offered a roaring guitar solo to properly kick off the second set. From there, the band added layers of complexity on top of an initially minimal and percussive funk jam that paved the way into “Something For Ya.” The crowd grooved off the carefree riff of the song, eventually harshly dropping into a shreddy guitar solo, with the contrast driving the crowd into a frenzy before the main melody of “Something For Ya” kicked back in.

At the center of Pigeons’ second set was a “Time To Ride” sandwich housing “Kiwi.” The bass led the charge into “Time To Ride,” which featured theatrical antics from Ormont as he provided the vocal, heavily stylized guitar work, a quick bass solo from Carrey. Parallel guitar riffs led into a brief, more ambient jam and a return to the steady funk groove of the song before the band dropped into “Kiwi.” Cascading and precise guitar characterized Pigeons’ quick detour through “Kiwi” ahead of their triumphant return to “Time To Ride,” closing out the combo with a sultry jam that galloped then sprinted toward its shreddy and climactic resolution.

Ahead of the next song, Greg took a moment to make some special announcements, hyping their upcoming “Flocktoberfest” show at the Boulder Theatre as well as their new album due out in the fall. Ormont’s vocals were particularly pristine during “Henrietta,” with the band easily sliding into the catchy feel-good number and its subsequent syncopated jam. As the complex bass line intertwined with the crisp staccato guitar, the song made its way to its rapid yet melodic climax ahead of its finger-wagging close.

“Fun In Funk” featured more gritty vocals for Ormont and saw the band showcase their tightness, frequently pausing throughout its build to the delight of the audience. From there, the group debuted a brand-new and never-heard tune, “Sail On.” This latest addition to the Pigeons catalog was characterized by soaring vocals from Greg and delightful, bouncing instrumental melody with somewhat darker undertones to punctuate the end of certain phrases. With the show charging toward its close, the band next laid out a patient and masterful rendition of “Whirled” featuring dramatic pauses, harmonic guitars, and a propulsive locked-in rhythm section.

For the second to last song of the night, Pigeons offered the triumphant and decisive “Fade Fast,” with Greg again shining on vocals before Jeremy took over the lead with a commanding solo that segued through to an airy and light jam reminiscent of Lotus’ “Sunrain.” After dropping back into the chorus of “Fade Fast,” the song hit is energized climax, with Schon leading the charge as he shredded through to the close of the song ahead of the final number of the set, the space-disco crowd pleaser, “Schwanthem.” After a brief break, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong returned for their encore, with the crowd still amped to keep the show going and yelling out “One more set.” For their final song of the night, Pigeons played a dynamic rendition of “Too Long,” which, much to the delight of the audience, housed a cover of the “Imperial March” from Star Wars. To cap off the show, Pigeons announced that it was the birthday of their drummer, Gator, then lead the crowd in singing “Happy Birthday,” marking a celebratory end to a special Sunday night.

You can check out the setlist from Pigeons Playing Ping Pong’s two-set extravaganza below. Also, you can enjoy full audio from the night, courtesy of The Space Fish, and peep a gallery of photos from Globe Hall last night, courtesy of Gary Sheer.


Setlist: Pigeons Playing Ping Pong | Globe Hall | Denver, CO | 8/13/2017

Set One: Live Life > Bad For You, Poseidon*, King Kong, Couldn’t We All > Upfunk, Burning Up My Time > Sir Real > Burning Up My Time

Set Two: Landing > Jam > Something For Ya, Time To Ride > Kiwi > Time To Ride, Henrietta, Fun In Funk, Sail On, Whirled, Fade Fast, Schwanthem

Encore: Too Long > Imperial March > Too Long

* with tease of the Allman Brothers Band’s “Jessica”

 

 

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