Longtime Perpetual Groove drummer Albert Suttle made his final appearances with the band during their three-set New Year’s Eve concert on Friday at the Georgia Theatre in Athens, Georgia. Suttle previously announced he would part ways with the group following the New Year’s Eve show after a 20-year tenure.
New Perpetual Groove drummer Darren Stanley shared drumming duties with Suttle on December 31. Suttle was behind the kit for the entirety of the quartet’s first set in Athens. PGroove opened with both parts of “All This Everything,” the title track from their 2004 studio album. The band stuck with material from the LP as “Long Past Settled In” and “So Much As Goodbye” followed. The latter featured the “Super Mario Brothers” theme within. Next up was a lengthy “Crockett & Tubbs” before an “Atlantis” featuring both drummers and narration from Albert closed out the set.
Suttle was on drums for the “Cairo” that kicked off the second set on New Year’s Eve. Darren Stanley then filled the second drum seat for “Crapshoot” and “Spirit Bear” before taking over as the sole drummer on the pairing of “Mayday” and “Save For One.” Next, both Stanley and Suttle were behind kits for PGroove’s debut cover of The Rolling Stones classic “Sway,” which featured Ansley Stewart on vocals. Albert stayed on drums for the pairing of “Robot Waltz” and “Three Weeks” to end the second set on NYE.
PGroove went with a nearly 20-minute version of fan-favorite “Teakwood Betz” featuring Albert Suttle behind the kit to begin the evening’s third set. Then, Stanley emerged as both drummers contributed to the traditional “Auld Lang Syne” and a cover of Talking Heads’ “This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)” to get 2022 underway. Ansley Stewart helped out on the latter as well as the two-drummer versions of “TTFPJ” and “Do Your Thing” that came next before Albert was behind the kit for a set-closing “SunDog.” Perpetual Groove ended the Albert Suttle era with a “Space Paranoids”/”Only Always” encore. Both Suttle and Stanley shared drumming duties on the encore with Stewart adding to the “Only Always” finale.
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Setlist (via Perpetual Groove Facebook)
Set One: All This Everything Pt. 1@, All This Everything Pt. 2@, Long Past Settled In@, So Much As Goodbye@ > Super Mario Brothers Theme@ > So Much As Goodbye@, Crockett & Tubbs@, Atlantis#
Set Two: Cairo@, Crapshoot#, Spirit Bear#, Mayday& > Save For One&, Sway#^%, Robot Waltz@, Three Weeks@
Set Three: Teakwood Betz@, Auld Lang Syne# > Naive Melody#^, TTFPJ#^, Do Your Thing#^, SunDog@
Encore: Space Paranoids#, Only Always#^
- % – First Time Played
- # – Two Drummers
- @ – Albert on drums
- & – Darren on drums
- ^ – w/ Ansley Stewart on vocals
