Pigeons Playing Ping Pong held a Brooklyn Bowl bash over the weekend with a three-night run that the bowling community would deem a turkey. The three shows at the flagship Brooklyn, NY venue featured a new cover debut as well as appearances by Tim Palmieri (Lotus), members of Melt, and more. The weekend run marked Pigeons’ first time at Brooklyn Bowl since performing a fan-less “Super Bowl PPPPre-Party Halftime Hall of Fame” livestream in February 2021.
Kicking off the three-night engagement on Thursday, Pigeons delivered a show that saw no special guests but instead displayed the inert power of the foursome. Singer/guitarist “Scrambled Greg” Ormont, lead guitarist Jeremy Schon, drummer Alex “Gator” Petropulos, and bassist Ben Carrey displayed their original prowess with a setlist that included a handful of originals debuted in the past two years like “Hit The Ground Runnin'”, “Skinner”, “Fall In Place”, and “Beneath The Surface”.
Midway through the second frame, Pigeons took a break from their original material to debut a cover of “Ha Ha Ha Ha (Yeah)” by White Denim. The punchy track off the Austin indie rock group’s 2019 album Stiff propelled Pigeons through the rest of the evening, with transitions into “Su Casa” and “Schwanthem” ahead of a “Dawn A New Day” encore to close the books on night one.
After the rising New York City indie-soul youngsters of Melt opened the show, PPPP kept the budding bandmates around throughout Friday’s show. During the first set, Evan Lane and Nick Sare returned to the stage to join Pigeons on Foo Fighters‘ “The Pretender” on trumpet and saxophone respectively. The track from Foo Fighters’ 2007 album Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace saw its second-ever airing after Pigeons debuted it on October 28th as part of their Who Fighters Halloween run.
In the second set of the night and fourth of the weekend, Melt frontwoman Veronica Stewart-Frommer took back the stage along with Evan and Nick for a full-bodied reading of “Could You Be Loved”. Friday marked Pigeons’ first performance of the Bob Marley & The Wailers classic since June 10th, 2016.
The third and final night of Pigeons Playing Ping Pong’s 2023 Brooklyn Bowl run was something of a guitar summit as a pair of celebrated axe slingers squared off against Jeremy Schon. First, during the opening set jazz guitarist Nir Felder joined in for Pigeons’ go-to special guest song “Lightning”. Later on in the final set of the weekend, the run came to a climax as Lotus guitarist Tim Palmieri came out to let Blue Oyster Cult‘s “Godzilla” loose on the bustling metropolis of New York City.
Check out images from the Pigeons Playing Ping Pong run at Brooklyn Bowl over the weekend from photographers Andrew Blackstein, Maggie Miles, and Ken Spielman.
Pigeons Playing Ping Pong – “Distant Times” [Pro-Shot] – 4/13/23
Pigeons Playing Ping Pong – “Move Like That” > “Weightless” > “Doc” [Pro-Shot] – 4/14/23
Pigeons Playing Ping Pong – “Lowdown” > “Upfunk” [Pro-Shot] – 4/14/23
Pigeons Playing Ping Pong – “Porcupine” > “Elephante” [Pro-Shot] – 4/15/23
Pigeons Playing Ping Pong – “Twitch” > “Something For Ya” [Pro-Shot] – 4/15/23
Setlist: Pigeons Playing Ping Pong | Brooklyn Bowl | Brooklyn, NY | 4/13/23
Set One: Distant Times, Henrietta > Live It Up, Hit The Ground Runnin’ > Around The World (Red Hot Chili Peppers) > Overrun, Fun In Funk, Skinner
Set Two: Fall In Place > Water, Beneath The Surface, Bad For You, Melting Lights > Ha Ha Ha Ha (Yeah) (White Denim) [1] > Su Casa > Schwanthem
Encore: Dawn A New Day
Notes:
[1] FTP
Setlist: Pigeons Playing Ping Pong | Brooklyn Bowl | Brooklyn, NY | 4/14/23
Set One: Move Like That > Weightless > Doc, Fade Fast, The Pretender (Foo Fighters) [1], Alright Tonight > Poseidon
Set Two: Lowdown [2] > Upfunk > Drums > Upfunk, Burning Up My Time > Spacejam > The Hop > F.U. > Could You Be Loved (Bob Marley & The Wailers) [1] [3] > F.U., Donkey Hotel
Encore: Ocean Flows
Notes:
Sold out show
[1] w/ Evan and Nick (Melt) on trumpet and saxophone
[2] Unfinished
[3] w/ Veronica (Melt) on vocals; LTP 6/10/16
Setlist: Pigeons Playing Ping Pong | Brooklyn Bowl | Brooklyn, NY | 4/15/23
Set One: Porcupine, Elephante, Calm Before The Storm > Lightning [1], Julia > Landing [2] > Wish I Knew Flowers [3] > Moonwalk
Set Two: Twitch, Somethin’ For Ya > The Town, Sail On [2], Godzilla (Blue Oyster Cult) [4], Horizon, Miyagi, King Kong
Encore: Avalanche
Notes:
Sold out show
[1] w/ Nir Felder on guitar
[2] w/ jam
[3] Wish I Knew You [The Revivalists] x Flowers [Miley Cyrus] mashup
[4] w/ Tim Palmieri (Lotus) on guitar; w/ Immigrant Song tease
