Maryland funk jam band, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, blazed the stage with two full sets at Emo’s on Friday night with a spectacular light show and performance. Frontman, ‘Scrambled’ Greg Ormont, was full force in his theatrics and brought increasingly high energy to an eager crowd.
The band kicked off their first set with "Whoopie", enticing the crowd to start grooving along with them. Their call was indeed heeded, and the dancing never stopped. "Julia" from their 2014 album Psychology, was undoubtedly a crowd favorite with it’s beachy cabana vibes recalling an adolescent missed opportunity with a girl named Julia. It would be remiss of me not to mention the mesmerizing rainbow of stage lights that transformed the bare concrete inside of Emo’s into what I can only imagine psychedelic dreams are made of.
The band returned for their second set, and Ormont acknowledged a blow up pickle prop and even performed a short, improvised and amusing song about the pickle. However, the apex of the night came halfway through their second set, when the band transitioned from "Burning Up My Time" into a cover of "Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin. A bold move, but the cover was well received by a plethora of cheers and subsequently a mix of hands and cell phones shooting into the air to capture the moment. Jeremy Schon, on lead guitar, bravely ripped out a high energy solo before the band transitioned back into "Burning Up My Time," to the crowd’s absolute delight.
The cheers for an encore were answered with, "Lowdown" and "Schwanthem." When the set finally concluded and the house lights came on, all eyes were wide and satisfied, adjusting back into reality and perhaps experiencing some light tracer sensations following a gratifying performance of sight and sound in equal parts.
-Amy Arnold