Though Billy Strings canceled his String The Halls concerts in Nashville due to a positive COVID test within his touring party, Music City still got a taste of the bluegrass phenom thanks to Dopapod. The genre-hopping palindrome enthusiasts debuted a cover of “Dust In A Baggie” during a show at Nashville’s Basement East on Friday.
The show marked the end of a lengthy fall tour for Dopapod, the band’s first full-fledged tour in a number of years. Friday’s performance began with the setlist staple “Flipped” ahead of the robot rock of “Numbers Need Humans”. An expansive pairing of “Grow” and “Vol. 3 #86” took nearly 30 minutes off the clock before guitarist Rob Compa kicked into Billy’s “Dust in a Baggie”.
Dopapod’s “Dust in a Baggie” honored the source material by keeping with the original tempo, as drummer Neal “Fro” Evans pounded out a freight train rhythm. Following the verses, however, the band dropped into a more down-tempo jam that was uniquely Dopapod. After the Billy cover, it was back to business as usual with D-pod’s ode to the instrumental ensembles of the jam scene with “Nerds”. The band would briefly break out of “Nerds” for a detour into the 8-bit glory of the “Dr. Mario Theme” before segueing back into “Nerds” to close set one.
Dopapod – “Dust In A Baggie” (Billy Strings) – 12/18/21
[Video: Long Legged Lucy]
Returning for set two, the band kicked things off with “Velcro”. Dopapod took its time in what would prove to be a five-song second set, inserting an “Apache” jam into “Velcro” in tribute to The Sugarhill Gang. Set two kept on rolling with a transition into “Trapper Keeper” before ultimately segueing into “Mucho”. This brought about the first break in the action before Dopapod fired up “Hi Doggie”, which was ultimately paired with “FABA” to close the second frame.
Taking the Basement East stage one last time, Dopapod opted for the all-time classic “French Bowling” ahead of an unexpected cover of Styx‘s “Come Sail Away” to wrap the show. Dopapod is off the road until a three-night New Year’s Eve run across Texas, December 29th–31st. Those shows will mark the band’s last with lighting director and sound engineer Luke Stratton, signaling the end of his 11 years of service to the group. Visit the band’s website for tickets and a full list of tour dates.
Dopapod – Basement East – Nashville, TN – 12/18/21 – Full Show
Setlist: Dopapod | Basement East | Nashville, TN | 12/18/21
Set One: Flipped, Numbers Need Humans, Grow -> Vol. 3 #86, Dust in a Baggie ¹, Super Bowl > Nerds -> Dr. Mario Theme > Nerds
Set Two: Velcro ² > Trapper Keeper -> Mucho, Hi Doggie > FABA
Encore: French Bowling, Come Sail Away ³
¹ Billy Strings cover, Another One Bites the Dust (Queen) tease
² Apache (The Sugarhill Gang) jam
³ Styx cover
[H/T JamBase]