Dopapod, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong Rock Boulder Theater [Review]
A perfect pairing in Boulder - Saturday, January 28, 2017
By Stephanie Esposito
Monday, January 30, 2017
This weekend, the proverbial train rolled into Colorado carrying Pigeons Playing Ping Pong and Dopapod. The two heavy-hitting and respectable bands from the eastern coast (Baltimore and Boston areas, respectively) have shared the bill at numerous music festivals, and co-headlined a 40-night tour last fall.
They visited Coloradans at the Ogden and Boulder Theaters for some brotherly love to start off the first two nights of Pigeons’ spring 2017 west coast tour. While we all should have accepted by now that we are spoiled beyond belief with our local music scene, these guys coming out to do a two night run together was noteworthy for more reasons than I was anticipating.
Pigeons did not disappoint with their clean, high energy, smiley, curl-headed, danceable-as-all-hell jammy funk. Dopapod had more surprises in store, also probably due to the fact that the most recent album I could find to listen to came out in 2014. Even a year or two can change how these improvisational and multi-dimensional bands end up sounding. More to write about during the first set I thought, more to dance about in the second, when Pigeons put a funky finish on the night at The Boulder Theater.
Dopapod started the night off kind of dark and moody, letting me know they were not taking their responsibility lightly to open up the show. Almost like they knew we had fresh legs, they would shamelessly entertain us with Zappa-esque funky keyboards leading to bright guitar licks. There were even two keyboard players, when bass player Chuck Jones' dad came out and sat in with the band. As soon as their heavier rock influenced songs made me think of Umphrey's, or a darker side of Phish, they played the Primus song "Groundhog Day" pretty perfectly. In case anyone was wondering why the guitar player was wearing a Dead Kennedys T-shirt, we now have undeniable evidence that not everyone in the jam scene is influenced just by The Grateful Dead.
There were so many different vibes during the first set, it really excited me and made me feel all the good feelings that come up when you are loving on some good music. Exciting timing, darker chord changes, a little head banging, all from a band that could have been overlooked if you were judging them from a simple electro-jam perspective. Check out the first song of their set for free from nugs.net and Facebook has a cover of Tool's "Lateralus" from their New Years Eve show that's worth a listen too.
I love the contrast of the two bands and they really put on a well-balanced night of music. As soon as Pigeons took the stage, their seemingly boundless positive sounds burst out into the crowd. Like a beach ball that is never going to land, I just see each of their chords bouncing around in a joyful way. While we got crunchier sounds from Dopapod, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong have a special mix of reggae and funk, but not to be excluded are the great guitar tones that give them a solid foundation on which to rock! From their first show in Colorado at the Lazy Dog in 2013, to this weekend at the Boulder Theater, it's guaranteed we have not seen the last of them.
From a technical position, the show got started a little late, but there was plenty of room to dance among the young fans all night - the tiers at the Boulder Theater being big enough to give shorter people room to see, but not being so tight like at some venues that you're dancing with your crotch to the back of someone’s head. I did experience a little temporary removal of my person due to a small flamey thing my friend passed to me, so it is worthy to mention that security at the theater is not currently “420 friendly” by any means.
Keep the fire onstage and in your heart, babes.