Pigeons Playing Ping Pong conducted a two-night run at the House Of Blues Boston over the weekend. Night one on Friday, April 1 saw PPPP paying tribute to Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins as well as bringing out special guests while night two saw the band tying up loose ends and welcoming publicist Greg Knight.
Pigeons Playing Ping Pong — guitarists Greg Ormont and Jeremy Schon, bassist Ben Carrey and drummer Alex Petropulos — kicked off night one with the intro to “Funk E Zekiel” before heading into staples “Burning Up My Time” and “Offshoot.” A standalone version of new tune “Hell Yeah” followed ahead of a paring of “Something For Ya” and “Porcupine.”
PPPP then welcomed their first guest of the evening, TAUK keyboardist A.C. Carter, for another newer tune “Let The Boogie Out” before Doom Flamingo vocalist Kanika Moore joined in for a cover of Jamiroquai’s “Cosmic Girl.” While Moore departed, Carter stuck around to finish up “Let The Boogie Out.” PPPP went it alone on “King Kong” to close the first set.
Set two got going with another intro-only iteration of “Skipjack.” Following “Fortress,” Pigeons pulled “Batman” from the audience who was soon revealed as frequent collaborator and Berklee School Of Music instructor Tomo Fujita on guitar for staples “Lightning” and “Poseidon.”
The quartet then offered “Su Casa” before paying tribute to Taylor Hawkins, who sadly died on March 25, with a debut instrumental take on the Foo Fighters classic “Learn To Fly,” which the band fit within their original “High As Five.” PPPP continued the tribute by adding elements of Foo Fighters’ “My Hero” in encore song “Horizon.”
Night two began with Pigeons finishing up “Funk E Zekiel” before jamming out on “Sail On.” After “In The Bubble,” PPPP paired up “Melting Lights” with “Live It Up” before concluding the set with a “Distant Times” that contained Elton John’s “Rocket Man.”
Set two got underway with Greg Knight joining the band and delivering a freestyle on “Day In Time.” The second frame carried a “Day” theme with the quartet also delivering “Sunny Day” and set-closer “Dawn A New Day.” Pigeons Playing Ping Pong capped off their Boston run with “Elephante,” a recently released single set to land on their new album, Perspective, which is out on Friday with the band set to celebrate with a concert in NYC on April 9.
Watch fan-shot video of night one encore “Horizon” below:
April 1 Setlist (via PPPP Facebook)
Set One: Funk E Zekiel* > Burning Up My Time > Offshoot, Hell Yeah, Somethin’ For Ya > Porcupine, Let The Boogie Out^ > Cosmic Girl^+ > Let The Boogie Out^, King Kong
Set Two: Skipjack* > Fortress, Lightning”%, Poseidon%$, Su Casa, High As Five > Learn To Fly# > High As Five
Encore: Horizon~
Notes:
- * Intro only
- ^ w/ AC (TAUK) on keys
- + w/ Kanika Moore (Doom Flamingo) on vocals and tambourine; w/ Let’s Groove and Move On Up teases
- ” w/ Batman pulled on stage from crowd to jam, revealed to be Tomo Fujita!
- % w/ Tomo Fujita on guitar
- $ w/ Norwegian Wood tease
- # First time played (R.I.P. Taylor Hawkins)
- ~ w/ My Hero# and 1979 teases
April 2 Setlist (via PPPP Facebook)
Set One: Funk E* > Sail On^, In The Bubble, Melting Lights > Live It Up, Distant Times > Rocket Man > Distant Times
Set Two: Day In Time”, Avalanche, The Town, Drums > Julia, Sunny Day > Take A Picture > Sunny Day, Dawn A New Day
Encore: Elephante
Notes:
- * No intro, finished from last night
- ^ w/ Jam
- “ w/ Greg Knight freestyle rap
