Last night, Connecticut jam rock bands lespecial and Eggy took the stage together at an event called Le Getaway, a socially-distanced presentation of live music taking place at Club Getaway resort in the Berkshire Mountains in Kent, CT. Featuring a single set performance from each band, Le Getaway offered music to patrons spread out across designated pod areas, not unlike the experience at Connecticut’s other currently highly popular concert experience, Morris’ South Farms.
Related: Zoning Commission Issues Cease And Desist To South Farms Over ‘Twilight Concerts’ Series
A twist on this year’s more common model of drive-in concerts, Le Getaway offered patrons both a day ticket option and an overnight ticket option, the latter of which included the opportunity to stay the night in the resort’s cabins as well as participate in camp-friendly outside activities during the day. The pre-music outdoor festivities included activities such as a ping-pong, a drum circle lesson with lespecial drummer Rory Dolan, and more.
Four-member groove rock band Eggy, who were playing their first show in front of a live audience since February, then kicked off the music around 5 pm. The band opened their set with a succinct but aggressive version of the original tune “Last of Kin”. An intense level of eagerness was visible in each band member, not only in their playing but in their contagious stage presence. “Solid Ground”, meanwhile, was a perfect choice for a lespecial opening slot, as the song’s melody and beat invited a colorful stretch of dance rock that matched the headlining trio’s own darker funk vibe.
Dominating Eggy’s set, however, was no doubt the ambitiously pulled off three-song segment of “Burritos El Chavo”, “Finding and Losing”, and “Shadow”. After the band jammed “Burritos” out for an extraordinarily psychedelic ride, they jumped quickly into the uplifting opening riff of “Shadows”. Through quickly-shifting moments of hard-rocking improv, “Finding and Losing” and the endings of “Burritos” and “Shadow” weaved in and out of one another, making for a tremendous musical sandwich to conclude their set.
lespecial then took the stage for their own single set performance that mixed new and old originals with a variety of covers. The trio’s style, which uniquely blends progressive rock with trip-hop and funk, suits rather perfectly for a late night Halloween vibe. This was apparent with the opening original tune “The Vessel”, in which the massive dub tone from bassist Luke Bemand found company in the heavy attack on drums from Dolan and sinister guitar sounds from guitarist John Grusauskas.
Among the highlights of the band’s headlining performance was a collaboration with Boston-based saxophonist Lee Ross, who was invited to jam on a hard-hitting, futuristic rendition of the Fela Kuti afrobeat re-work “Harambe Zombie”. Similarly, a tenaciously played version of Primus’ “Tommy The Cat” garnered some of the best cheers from the crowd, leaving bassist Bemand to comment afterwards, “We finally nailed that one, guys.”
Bemand also took a moment during the set to address performing at Club Getaway, noting that the band grew up not far from the resort and how significant it was to finally bring a live music experience to the venue. He also made a point to mention that this was possibly the first of many future musical events to be thrown at Club Kent. It was certainly a strong first showing for the resort, with the event selling out within hours of being announced last month.
lespecial had a few more treats in store for the back half of their show. After throwing down a heavy-handed version of the original song “Third Antler”, they jammed on the theme song to the classic horror flick Halloween, and as they did so a crew member of the band walked out on the edge of the stage dressed as the film’s main character, Michael Myers. This whipped up a festive energy in the crowd, and it was matched with a brief, crowd-pleasing take on Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight” that was sandwiched in the middle of the band’s original instrumental song “Buggn’”.
Following the main stage performances, Le Getaway concert attendees that had purchased overnight passes were invited to a special “Campfire Jam” which saw both bands playing stripped down sets of music at a socially-distant setup near a large bonfire. After a few opening covers of songs like “Angel From Montgomery” and “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” from close band friend Milo Barer, Eggy performed the first campfire set, opening with an impressively jammed-out version of “Suite Judy Blues Eyes.” lespecial donned acoustic instruments for their campfire set, playing covers like The Band’s “Atlantic City” and Neil Young’s “Cowgirl in The Sand.”
Scroll down to check out a gallery of images from Eggy and lespecial at Club Getaway for Le Getaway on Saturday.
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