2019/11/1 Pigeons Playing Ping Pong “Stop Making Cake” (Andy Frasco & The UN opened) @ PlayStation Theatre
In the kitchen, simple ingredients assmbled one at a time in careful order add up to more than the sum of their parts as eggs, flour, water, sugar and heat become cake. Musicians are no different as guitar, drums, and bass join together to become a band, the collective far greater than the sum of their parts, as well. In musical costume, the creative behemoth known as Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, dressed as chefs for their performance of “Stop Making Cake,” served up a mashup of originals garnished with Cake and Talking Heads covers for night 2 of 3 on their Halloween run through Boston, New York, and Connecticut.
“Macho Man” Andy Frasco & the UN, dressed as their favorite 80s wrestlers, got the crowd going early with a high energy opening set of fun covers and originals, along with a heavy dose of Andy and his shtick. He’s hard not to love, funny as hell, backed by great musicians, with a singular desire to party and have a good time, and he delivered. Some set highlights included covers of “Baker Street,” “Two Tickets to Paradise,” “Bulls on Parade,” “Tom Sawyer,” “Killing in the Name,” and original “Change of Pace.” Music is just a a part of Andy’s show, however, as he came down from the stage several times to either smoke a joint with some folks up front, crowd surf, and, best yet, a crowd-surfing pillow fight on an air mattress with Ernie Chang, saxophonist with the UN. Andy’s quote of the night, “I may not be as good at music as everybody else, you know, I’m not the best, but I like to have a good time.” Its just this type of self-awareness that makes his shtick authentic and his show worth seeing. Bravo, sir.
Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, clad in matching chef jackets and hats, took the stage shortly after 10:30, the adoring crowd receiving their “kitchen staff” eagerly: “Scrambled Byrne” Greg Ormont, “Frank Sinatra” Jeremy Schon, “Chef Gator” Alex Pretropolis, and “Baker Ben” Carrey. “Too Long” got the kitchen party going before the band added a few extra ingredients, The West End Blend(er) Horns, for “Burning Up My Time” > “Love You Madly” (Cake) > “Burning Up My Time.” Accompanied by Jeremy Schon’s dizzying solos and Greg Ormont’s chicken scratch guitar, the rhythm section of Ben Carrey on bass and Alex Petropolis on drums drove the crowd into a frenzy all night. Just to highlight that point, the first set drum solo featured Chef Gator playing (not only his drum kit but an assortment of mixing bowls, as well) with a mix of spatulas, whisks, and wooden spoons. “Julia” sandwiched the first Talking Heads cover of the night, “Flowers,” to close the 75-minute set.
After a moderate 20 minute break, PPPP returned with “Henrietta” to whip the crowd up. The next sequence, featuring a cover of “Burning Down the House,” was certainly the highlight of their musical costume. Just like the first set, Ben was still way up in the mix, dropping consistent bone rattling bass bombs mixed with frenetic beats that kept the crowd moving frantically. The West End Blend horns continued to be in and out, adding beautiful layers of trumpet and trombone solos to the Cake served up by Pigeon, especially during the “Crosseyed and Painless” > “Horizon” > “Sheep Go to Heaven” > “Horizons” combo that ended the set. “Ocean Flows” gave the crowd one more chance to boogie down several moments of raucous applause.
It’s always a pleasure to share increasingly bigger rooms with this band, as they continue to grow and please their adoring Flock. Pigeons Playing Ping Pong has a unique creative edge that keeps their fans coming back time after time after time, a growing sense of, “what will they do next?” Hope to be there to find out.
17,265 steps of my sweat equity were baked into this delicious cake.
Setlist:
Set One: Burning Up My Time > Love You Madly*^ > Burning Up My Time* >> Sunny Day > The Distance*^~ > Sunny Day, The Liquid*, The Great Curve*^% > Upfunk > Drums+ > Upfunk, Julia > Nothing But Flowers*^ > Julia
Set Two: Henrietta, Naive Melody* > Porcupine > Burning Down The House* > Porcupine, Lightning* > Cheese Nugget*^# > Crosseyed And Painless* > Lightning*, Horizon > Sheep Go To Heaven*^ > Horizon .
Encore: Ocean Flows
Notes:
“Stop Making Cake” Halloween Night 2
* w/ @westendblend(er) horns
^ First time played
~ Instrumental
% Reggae style w/ Live Life intro and outro
+ Drum solo played with whisks, spatulas, spoons and mixing bowls
# Nugget / Say Cheese mashup
https://nysmusic.com/2019/11/04/pigeons-serve-up-talking-heads-cake-in-times-square/