Amid a sea of jazz, funk, and jam late-night concerts in New Orleans during Jazz Fest, lespecial stood apart with an early morning melee of prog-rock pummeling featuring Mike Dillon (Punkadelic, Fearless Flying Frog Brigade) and Kanika Moore (Doom Flamingo). Judging by the crowd that packed the Toulouse Theatre at 2 a.m. on Friday, May 2nd, many Jazz Fest revelers welcomed the change of pace.
Some day and a half after opening Daze Between New Orleans at the nearby Mahalia Jackson Theater, lespecial skulked across the French Quarter under the cover of darkness for the band’s very first Jazz Fest late-night show. Though firmly rooted in its own bass-thumping funk metal-meets 808-infused dystopia, lespecial was still able to read the room as it locked into a dancey disco beat in “FWD” early on in the show. Bassist Luke Bemand, guitarist Jonny Grusauskas, and drummer Rory Dolan also used the evening to familiarize fans with recently debuted song, “Recidivism”, with Jonny introducing the song, “It’s a little bit heavy.” Spoiler: it was a lot heavy, powered by motorized palm-muted power chords over hard-hitting groove metal rhythms.
After just a few songs on their own, the kids welcomed their “Jazz Dad” Mike Dillon. The wild and wide-eyed percussive Tasmanian Devil led his punk rock progenies through Mike Dillon Band and Punkadelic stompers “Speed Trap”, “Crab Rangoon”, and Billy Goat‘s “F–k More Bitch Less” with frenzied intensity. At one point, all four musicians joined together on Dillon’s vibraphone like a Blue Man Group in black t-shirts. Throttling between elegant vibraphone and unrelenting sludge metal, Dillon harnessed lespecial’s raw energy to make this one of the heaviest shows on the entire Jazz Fest after-dark calendar.
Related: Mike Dillon & lespecial Started A Punk-Rock Band? Fackn’ A! [Interview]
Dillon’s sit-in came on with the subtlety of trucker crank, so when Kanika Moore came onstage it allowed a much-needed opportunity to breathe. As is required whenever Mike D and lespecial join forces, they dipped into Les Claypool‘s immense catalog to dig up Sausage‘s “Riddles Are Abound Tonight” with Kanika on vocals. With that, Dillon subbed out for Moore who took center stage on lespecial’s “Vessel” and the expanded ensemble’s lauded cover of Tool‘s “Forty Six & 2”. Taking on lespecial originals “Machine Elf” and “Divider”, Moore brought a soothing feminine energy to the syncopated onslaught of dude rock.
Finally, lespecial, Moore, and the entire Toulouse Theatre went out screaming to Nine Inch Nails‘ “Head Like A Hole”. Though the crowd clammored for more, Bemand was unrelenting as he insisted the band had to catch a 6 a.m. flight (though he said this at 3:26 a.m., so surely there was time for at least one more—even multiple songs if they had TSA pre-check). As the band expressed gratitude on social media to fans who came out in the early morning to pack the Toulouse, lespecial admitted, “The 6am flight however was not that tight.”
Check out some photos of lespecial in New Orleans by Jay Strausser and Dave Vann plus some fan-shot videos by Ben Graham.
lespecial — “Recidivism” — 5/1/25
Setlist: lespecial | Toulouse Theatre | New Orleans, LA | 5/1/25
Set: Orb, FWD, Recidivism, Speed Trap [1], Monk Meets Fela [1], Crab Rangoon [1], F–k More Bitch Less (Billy Goat) [1], Phat Redneck Gangster (Garage A Trois) [1], Riddles Are Abound Tonight (Sausage) [1] [2], Vessel [2], Forty Six & 2 (Tool) [2], Machine Elf [2], Divider [2], Head Like A Hole (Nine Inch Nails) [2]
[1] w/ Mike Dillon
[2] w/ Kanika Moore
