Dogs In A Pile brought Christmas cheer and improvisational firepower to Ardmore Music Hall for a four-night run, complete with themed “Hot Dogs In A Pile” at concessions each evening and a variety of special guests and unique performances.
The run kicked off on Thursday with Dogs In A Pile side project Cats In A Stack—a jazz fusion trio comprised of keyboardist Jeremy Kaplan, drummer Joey Babick, and bassist Sam Lucid, joined by the Ocean Avenue Stompers Horns. DIAP then delivered two sets featuring covers of Lorde‘s “Royals”, Wings‘ “Let ‘Em In” (with guest Ian Gray from Ovean Avenue Stompers), The Waitresses‘ “Christmas Wrapping”, Vince Guaraldi‘s “Linus and Lucy”, The Beatles‘ “Got To Get You Into My Life”, and Cab Calloway‘s “Minnie the Moocher”. The night closed with Keith Mansfield‘s “Funky Fanfare”, followed by a funky “Say Something”.
Cats In A Stack – Ardmore Music Hall – Ardmore, PA – 12/18/25 — Full Video
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Dogs In A Pile – Ardmore Music Hall – Ardmore, PA – 12/18/25 — Full Audio
Friday began with an afternoon performance for WXPN‘s Free at Noon series. The evening’s performance included covers of Ween‘s “Voodoo Lady”, Miles Davis‘ “All Blues” (with guest Jonathan Coleman from Muscle Tough), and the Grateful Dead‘s “Bird Song” (featuring Coleman and Dopapod‘s Eli Winderman). The night once again closed on a funky note with The Meters‘ “People Say”, with Winderman sitting in on keys.
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Dogs In A Pile – “Thomas Duncan, Pt. 2” –12/19/25
Dogs In A Pile – Ardmore Music Hall – Ardmore, PA – 12/19/25 — Full Audio
On Saturday, DIAP played a special lunchtime kids show featuring playful renditions of “Fruit Salad” (The Wiggles), themes from SpongeBob SquarePants and Bluey, The Beatles‘ “Octopus’s Garden”, and holiday favorites including “Jingle Bell Rock” and “Grandma Got Ran Over By A Reindeer”. That night’s performance showcased covers of Jimi Hendrix‘s “Fire”, Ben Folds‘ “Song for the Dumped”, Billy Preston‘s “Will It Go ‘Round In Circles?”, and The Reverend Horton Heat‘s “Psychobilly Freakout”, plus a festive “Christmas Town” encore.
Dogs In A Pile – Ardmore Music Hall – Ardmore, PA – 12/20/25 — Full Audio
Rounding out the weekend, Sunday started with an opening acoustic trio set from DIAP guitarists Brian Murray and Jimmy Law with Steve Kimock, a.k.a. “Murray’s Law”—a play on Brian and Jimmy’s last names and Zero‘s song “Murphy’s Law”. Kimock remained onstage for much of the evening’s first set, contributing to “Today”, “Stranger”, “Spun”, “Bugle on the Shelf”, and the Grateful Dead’s “Crazy Fingers”. Set two highlighted originals “Snow Day” and “Tillie” alongside a spirited cover of Martha Reeves and the Vandellas‘ “Dancing in the Street”. The band closed the four-night stand with “EDM Song”—the same song that kicked off night one—sandwiched within “Bubble”.
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Dogs In A Pile – Ardmore Music Hall – Ardmore, PA – 12/21/25 — Full Audio
Below, check out photos from Dogs In A Pile’s four-night stand at Ardmore Music Hall. Scroll down to view the full setlists. All four nights are available to stream on demand via nugs. Now through January 5th, nugs is offering new subscribers a year of All Access membership for $99.99, as opposed to the usual $199.99. Start streaming here. [Note: This special deal for 50% off your first year of nugs All Access subscription is available for new users, trial subscribers, and existing monthly users as an upgrade. Discounted subscriptions will renew at the standard rate after first year until cancellation. Live For Live Music is a nugs affiliate. Ordering your subscription or purchasing a download via the links on this page helps support our work covering the world of live music. Thank you for reading!]
Dogs In A Pile will close out 2025 with a two-night New Year’s Eve celebration at Bearsville Theater in Woodstock, NY, before touring the Western U.S. throughout the winter. The band also recently announced a special show in New Orleans as part of Live For Live Music‘s annual Fest by Nite series during Jazz Fest. Find a full list of upcoming tour dates on the band’s website.
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Setlist: Dogs In A Pile | Ardmore Music Hall | Ardmore, PA | 12/21/25
Set 1: Westward, Didn’t You Know?, Today[1]-> Stranger[1], Crazy Fingers[2] > Spun[1] > Bugle on the Shelf[1]
Set 2: Earthbound Man, Snow Day, Tillie > It Gets Better-> Jack & Coke, Go Set-> Dancing in the Street[3]-> Go Set, Tookin’ Around
Encore: Bubble > EDM Song-> Bubble
Footnotes:
[1] With Steve Kimock
[2] Grateful Dead. With Steve Kimock
[3] Martha Reeves and the Vandellas
Setlist: Dogs In A Pile | Ardmore Music Hall | Ardmore, PA | 12/20/25
Set 1: Fire[1], Little Things, Song for the Dumped[2], Burning Daylight-> Charlie-> Battenkill Breakdown-> Charlie, Happy Song, You Didn’t Hear It From Me
Set 2: Moon of Colorado-> 6 Little Lies > Will It Go ‘Round In Circles?[3]-> Lattice, Psychobilly Freakout[4] > Bent Strange-> Chop Shop
Encore: Christmas Town, Lazy Susan
Footnotes:
[1] Jimi Hendrix
[2] Ben Folds
[3] Billy Preston
[4] The Reverend Horton Heat
Setlist: Dogs In A Pile | Ardmore Music Hall | Ardmore, PA | 12/20/25
Set 1: Fruit Salad[1], Jingle Bell Rock[2], Down by the Bay[3], Monkey and the Engineer[4], Grandma Got Ran Over By A Reindeer[5], SpongeBob Theme, Bluey Theme Song, Cha-Cha Slide[6], Octopus’s Garden[7], Hanukkah Oh Hanukkah[3], Inchworm, Movin’ Right Along[8], Bluey Theme Song, Limbo Rock[9]
Footnotes:
[1] The Wiggles
[2] Bobby Helms
[3] Traditional
[4] Jesse Fuller
[5] Elmo & Patsy
[6] DJ Casper
[7] The Beatles
[8] The Muppets
[9] Chubby Checker
Show Notes: This set was performed during the lunchtime kid’s show.
Setlist: Dogs In A Pile | Ardmore Music Hall | Ardmore, PA | 12/19/25
Set 1: Hot Dog > Frosty > Voodoo Lady[1] > The Bag, Ugly Song, Applesauce, Appleseed, All Blues[2], Bird Song[3]
Set 2: Thomas Duncan, Pt. 2, Look Johnny II, None, Can’t Wait for Tonight > Rabbit-> Criminal[4], Samba for Sam
Encore: People Say[5]
Footnotes:
[1] Ween
[2] Miles Davis. With Jonathan Colman
[3] Jerry Garcia. With Jonathan Colman and Eli Winderman
[4] Fiona Apple
[5] The Meters. With Eli Winderman
Setlist: Dogs In A Pile | Ardmore Music Hall | Ardmore, PA | 12/19/25
One Set: Nicolette, My Disguise, Shenanigans, Thomas Duncan, Pt. 3
Encore: Inchworm
Show Notes: This set was performed during a radio broadcast on WXPN Free at Noon series.
Setlist: Dogs In A Pile | Ardmore Music Hall | Ardmore, PA | 12/18/25
Set 1: EDM Song > G Song, Mr. Tooker, Dangers of Rah Rah-> Royals[1], Let ‘Em In[2], Trunk Rum
Set 2: Christmas Wrapping[3], Linus and Lucy[4], Look Johnny, Four More Days, Got To Get You Into My Life[5], My Disguise, Minnie the Moocher[6], ¿Por Que, Pedro?, Craig and Pat
Encore: Funky Fanfare[7] > Say Something
Footnotes:
[1] Lorde
[2] Wings. With Ian Gray
[3] The Waitresses
[4] Vince Guaraldi
[5] The Beatles
[6] Cab Calloway
[7] Keith Mansfield