On Friday evening, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong brought their upbeat funk-jam grooves to the hallowed Madison Square Garden, where they provided the halftime entertainment during the New York Knicks‘ game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Baltimore-native quartet took the opportunity to honor a pair of funk legends during their roughly 7-minute performance, in addition to showcasing some of their own funky original material.
After an onscreen teaser during the game’s second quarter (“Fun In Funk”), the band began their brief halftime show medley with Pizazz track “Somethin’ For Ya”. From there, they dove straight into Prince‘s “1999”, which the band has covered a handful of times, most notably as part of a “1999” > “2001” medley at 2016’s Domefest. Guitarist/vocalist Scrambled Greg even threw in an appropriate little shout-out to the “Knicks in ’99”, the last year the team made the NBA Finals.
The classic Prince track then segued into Pigeons favorite “FU”, during which the venue’s video staff took the liberty of throwing up colorful block letters to help the band spell out the lyrics (“FU…NK…”), before finally making a landing in “I Feel Good (I Got You)” by James Brown.
Below, you can enjoy pro-shot footage of Pigeons Playing Ping Pong’s Knicks halftime performance as it appeared on the Madison Square Garden jumbotron on Friday evening:
Pigeons Playing Ping Pong – Knicks Halftime Show [Full Pro-Shot] – Madison Square Garden – 3/23/18
[Video: Pigeons Playing Ping Pong]
Setlist: Pigeons Playing Ping Pong | NY Knicks Halftime Show | Madison Square Garden | 3/23/18
90 second 2nd QTR teaser: Fun in Funk
Halftime: Somethin’ For Ya> 1999> FU> I Got You(I feel good)
You can check out a full list of Pigeons Playing Ping Pong’s upcoming tour dates below, and tickets for the upcoming shows are available via the band’s website.