On Saturday, September 17th, Grammy-nominated future-funk sextet Lettuce will return to Brooklyn, NY for a long-awaited performance at The Brooklyn Mirage as part of long-running music marathon Brooklyn Comes Alive [get tickets].
The festival set, which comes at the end of a busy summer of touring in support of new LP Unify, will mark the band’s first performance in Brooklyn since November 2021 and just its second New York City play since before the pandemic. It will also serve as a stateside going-away party for Adam Deitch (drums), Adam Shmeeans Smirnoff (guitar), Erick “Jesus” Coomes (bass), Ryan Zoidis (saxophones), Eric “Benny” Bloom (trumpet) and Nigel Hall (keys/vocals) ahead of their monthlong European tour in late September and early October.
While this year’s appearance will serve as Lettuce’s official Brooklyn Comes Alive debut, the individual members of the band have consistently participated in the event since its earliest incarnations with one-off projects, all-star tributes, and more.
Related: Brooklyn Comes Alive Reveals 2022 Lineup: STS9, Lettuce, Medeski Martin & Wood, More
Back in 2016, six different Brooklyn Comes Alive sets featured members of Lettuce on their respective lineups. From The Coomes Brothers (featuring Jesus and his brother, Tycoon, alongside Zoidis, Bloom, and Smirnoff) to [Br]eaking [Bi]scuits (a Break Science/The Disco Biscuits combo featuring Deitch, Borahm Lee, Marc Brownstein, and Aron Magner) to a J Dilla tribute (featuring Deitch, Smirnoff, Nate Edgar, and more), the second-annual Brooklyn Comes Alive was packed with creative new ideas from the minds behind Lettuce. Members of the band also lent their abilities to previously established projects like Earth Wind & Power (The Nth Power‘s guest-filled Earth Wind & Fire tribute tribute) and Manic Focus & Friends in addition to reviving a rare project, DRKWAV, which features Deitch, John Medeski, and Skerik.
The only Lettuce member who did not appear at the 2016 event was Nigel Hall. He made sure to sign on for Brooklyn Comes Alive 2017, where he joined longtime Chapter 2 cohorts Eric Krasno, Louis Cato, and Chris Loftlin for a show-stealing Eric Krasno & Friends set.
In 2018, Lettuce became the first touring band to field its entire lineup at Brooklyn Comes Alive. Nigel Hall linked up with Wil Blades, Robert “Sput” Searight, and Nate Werth as Switch Hitters, Shmeeans played alongside a stacked band as part of a tribute to the late Col. Bruce Hampton, Coomes led his Baby Jesus Peasant Party with help from Zoidis and more, Bloom teamed up with percussionist Johnny Vidacovich and organist Robert Walter for a thrilling jazz trio set, and Deitch gathered Bloom, Zoidis, and Wil Blades for a set by his eponymous quartet.
Even as Brooklyn Comes Alive has grown and evolved—moving from multiple smaller, indoor venues to the sprawling, outdoor Brooklyn Mirage and incorporating larger, nationally touring acts on its lineups—the unifying Lettuce thread has remained. In 2021, the event’s first year at The Brooklyn Mirage, drummer Adam Deitch helped soundtrack a breathtaking sunset over the Manhattan skyline with a jazz-inflected performance by a new-look Break Science Live Band. The set marked the drummer’s sixth at the festival, the most of any artist in Brooklyn Comes Alive history.
Now, at long last, the stars have aligned for a full-scale Lettuce show at Brooklyn Comes Alive on Saturday, September 17th. With Medeski Martin & Wood, STS9, and new-yet-familiar funk outfit Cool Cool Cool sharing the bill, the 2022 edition of Brooklyn Comes Alive is primed to be the biggest and best yet. Grab your tickets here.
Click below to take a walk down the long road to the first-ever Lettuce set at Brooklyn Comes Alive on Saturday, September 17th, 2022 with videos from the band members’ past performances at the event. Scroll down to view the complete set of Brooklyn Comes Alive 2022 artist baseball cards.
J Dilla Tribute ft. Adam Deitch, Adam Smirnoff, More – “So Far To Go” – Brooklyn Comes Alive 2016
[Video: Evan Pragliola]
