“Thanks so much” was the only words the Pigeons Playing Ping Pong uttered as the took the stage at Brooklyn Bowl before turning back and walking off. The band is Greg Ormont (vocals, rhythm guitar), Jeremy Schon (guitar, vocals), Ben Carrey (bass, vocals), and Alex Petropulos (drums). Known for their funk sound, tight jams, and goofy on-stage antics, certainly had something up their sleeves for this April Fools Day show. They returned back on stage to open the set with what played out to be the encore, “G Chord Explosion” rocked right out of the gate and played through with the intensity any show closer should, finishing off with Petropulos pounding his drum kit and another “Thanks Boston” from Carrey before the band walked off stage one more time to resounding boos from the NYC crowd. After the gag was over PPPP returned to bring us the type of show you would expect given the bands rising popularity, the upbeat “Time To Ride” highlighted Ormont’s unique vocals before breaking into “Burning Up My Time>Tubthumping>Burning Up My Time” while the 1997 Chumbawamba cover incited equal parts dance moves and chuckles from the crowd, it was reminiscent of Tom Marshall on vocals when Phish covered the tune at the Hampton Coliseum 11/21/98, and to bring things full circle Schon was sporting his best 1998 Mike Gordon shaggy haircut.
PPPP kept the upbeat jams going with “Live It Up” before being joined on stage by local 24-year-old amazing talent Kyla Moscovich (trumpet, PitchBlk Brass Band) for “Whoopie”, Moscovich laid down brassy solos intertwined with Ormont and Schon battling it out with guitar riffs. “Penguins>Funkijam>Upfunk” was punctuated by a lengthy drum solo by Petropulos, and for “Whirled” Matty Carl (sax, Schwizz) joined in on the fun. PPPP followed by playing “Walk Outside” sandwiched around Carl Douglas’s “Kung Fu Fighting”. The second set was brought to a close with “Julia” a break from the bands usual funky beats to provide more of a Calypso sound. For an encore PPPP returned back to their funk-jam roots for the show closing “Cliffs”. You can catch the Pigeons Playing Ping Pong for three nights at their own music festival, DomeFest, May 28-30 at Trip’s Farm in Terra Alta, WV. Tickets can be purchased here.
4/01/2015 @ Brooklyn Bowl (Brooklyn, NY)
Set 1: G chord explosion#, Time To Ride> Burning Up My Time>Tubthumping>Burning Up My Time, Live It Up, Whoopie^, Penguins>Funkijam>Upfunk%, Whirled*, Walk Outside>Kung Fu Fighting>Walk Outside, Julia
Encore: Cliffs+
Notes:
# Chord explosion followed by a “Thank You” and ending hits, walked off stage as if end of the show
^ w/Kyla Moscovich on trumpet
% w/drum solo
* w/Matty Carl (ShwizZ) on sax
+ w/April Fools day lyrics
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