Dopapod is in the midst of its final month of shows before going on indefinite hiatus and fans around the country are coming out to say farewell. This courtesy extended to former crew members too, as Goose multi-instrumentalist and former Dopapod employee Peter Anspach caught the band’s Tuesday show in Rochester, NY, and sat in on a few tunes.
As Dopapod guitarist Rob Compa explained last year in one of his “Tuesday Tour Stories” videos, Anspach was actually “fired” from the band’s road crew a decade ago. According to Compa, Anpsach toured with the band for about six months doing “whatever Luke Stratton told him to do.” In a subsequent post, Anspach clarified he was a “monitor technician/lightning tech” and “That experience on the road was a main factor into what made me want to be a musician full time.”
Ahead of Dopapod’s 2014 appearance at The Peach Music Festival, Peter let the band know that this would be his last show. “For him leaving,” Rob explained, “We had this late-night set on the Mushroom Stage, big crowd… and we brought Peter out onstage, gave him a cake with, like, candles on it, and had the entire crowd chant, ‘Peter, you’re fired! Peter, you’re fired! Peter, you’re fired!’ at Peter, and that was his going away celebration.” [Note: You can listen to a full recording of the show here featuring the aptly named track “Peter You’re Fired”.]
But the story doesn’t end there. That night, Dopapod played right until the sound curfew at Montage Mountain, after which point local noise ordinances would kick in and any violations would result in fines for the festival. Reaching that time limit, Dopapod took its bows and walked offstage, only for Anspach to walk out and pump up the crowd, riling them up into chants for an encore.
“The festival higher-ups who were there were like, ‘No, you absolutely cannot do it, we’re gonna get fined, you can’t do it.’ But the crowd wouldn’t let us not. … They wouldn’t let us go away and it was all Peter’s fault, so we had to go up and play another song. I don’t know who got in trouble. Peter definitely got in trouble with our manager, I think he kinda yelled at him afterwards.”
“That was a very funny send-off for Peter, who very obviously was not content being behind the scenes and wanted to be onstage,” Rob laughed in conclusion.
Fast forward ten years, and Anspach and Goose just made their Madison Square Garden debut for the sold-out SOULSHINE benefit with Dave Matthews Band, Warren Haynes Band, and many more. Nine days and 333 miles later, Anspach caught up with his old bosses in Dopapod for their show at Essex in Compa’s hometown of Rochester. Anspach put his multi-instrumental skills on display, jumping in on guitar for a metal version of “Nuggy Jawson” and then switching to keys to finish off the first set with “Indian Grits”.
After Dopapod slammed down a second set of hard-hitting classics including “8 Years Ended”, “Bubblebrain”, and a closing sandwich of “FABA” into Frank Zappa‘s “I Am the Slime” back into “FABA”, Anspach returned for the encore. It has become customary for any visiting dignitary who is a longtime associate of Dopapod’s to deliver an improvisational monologue on friendship over “Best Friends”, the last song on what may well prove to be the last Dopapod album, Phobia. Anspach fondly remembered his halcyon days following Dopapod in the early 2010s, the reflections giving way to one more guitar volley with Compa as they closed the show with “Runny”.
Watch Peter Anspach reunite with Dopapod in the clips below. Catch Dopapod on the band’s final shows before going on indefinite hiatus at the end of the year.
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Dopapod, Peter Anspach — “Best Friends” — 12/3/24 — Partial
[Video: Fuzzy Dunlop]
Dopapod — “Nerds” — 12/3/24 — Partial
[Video: Fuzzy Dunlop]
Setlist: Dopapod | Essex | Rochester, NY | 12/3/24
Set One: Welcome to Paradise (Green Day), Draculas Monk > Nerds > Two Somebodies > Nerds, Wizzy, Turn By Turn [1], Metal Nuggy Jawson [2], Indian Grits [3]
Set Two: Cloud World, 8 Years Ended, Brand New Home, Test of Time, Bubblebrain, FABA > I Am The Slime (Frank Zappa) > FABA
Encore: Best Friends [4], Runny [2]
[1] MGMT Kids tease
[2] Peter Anspach on Guitar
[3] Peter Anspach on Keys
[4] Peter Anspach on Vocals and Guitar