Reigning funk heavyweight champions Lettuce are known for pushing the boundaries of the genre, with a sound that has continued to evolve throughout the band’s career. Since their earliest days playing clubs in Massachusetts while attending Boston’s Berklee College of Music, there has always been something different about this collective of musical minds and their mission to create something completely unique, a sound of their own. This internal drive has effectively cast them apart from their contemporaries, all while paying homage to those that came before them.
Hikitsugu! Lettuce Takes Over Japan: A Look Back [Videos]
Coming off a successful tour in Japan–their most recent of several successful trips to the Asian country–the group has decided to relive their first outing to the Land of the Rising Sun. On May 4th at New Orleans’ Joy Theater, Lettuce will pay tribute to their 2004 album Live In Tokyo (recorded in 2003 during Lettuce’s first trip to the Far East) as part of their RageFest late-night throwdown during this year’s Jazz Fest. The event will see Lettuce play two sets (set one: Live In Tokyo; set two: Lettuce being Lettuce) in addition to performances by Marco Benevento and DJ Soul Sister. The show will also feature a special guest spot from Dave Matthews Band trumpeter Rashawn Ross, who happened to be along for the ride with Lettuce during their memorable Japanese debut (purchase tickets here).
In addition to being the band’s first performances in Japan, this run keyboardist Neal Evans‘ first performances as a member of Lettuce, as he had been playing with guitarist Eric Krasno in Soulive at the time. Take a listen to a number like “Kron Dutch” and you will see the immediate impact Evans has on the band. Evans can take the lead or provide some background flourishes that add a whole other element to the multi-layered funk explosion that is Lettuce.
And then you have cuts like “Nyack,” witnessing Ryan Zoidis going full beast-mode on sax, or Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff showing off his songwriting skills on “The Flu” as the group delves into some deep, dark psychedelic jazz. Over the course of the musical journey in its entirety, Lettuce makes their way through numbers from 2002’s Outta Here and other special treats for an auditory onslaught that causes jaws to need to be scraped off the floor
Tickets for the show are currently on-sale, and can be purchased here. For show updates and additional information, join the Facebook Event page. Take a look at the album’s full setlist below:
Live In Tokyo Setlist
Intro
Nyack
Break Out
The Dump
Kron Dutch
Reunion
The Flu
4 On 6
Squadlive
Breakout Reprise
