lespecial went on down to South Park for a special Halloween surprise. The unannounced theme was especially appropriate given the venue was Kenny’s in Peoria, IL.
The sold-out Halloween bash started with a performance by multi-headed synth rock sexy-tet Doom Flamingo, whose name conjures images of spooky birds, though lespecial’s heavy metal edge was a better match for the horrifying holiday. The prog-tronic power trio kicked off the shenanigans with a rendition South Park‘s Primus-penned theme song, which culminated with the onstage slaying of “Kenny.” Later, lespecial refered back to the opener with “American Apocalypse”, whose bass part is clearly reminiscent of the cartoon’s off-kilter theme.
“Halloween is a special holiday for us,” bassist Luke Bemand told the audience before launching into the demented tune. “Rory [Dolan] is a satanist so for him it’s a very special day,” he joked(?) “It’s also special for us because it’s the seventh birthday of our album Cheen.”
At the conclusion of “American Apocalypse”, Bemand exclaimed, “Halloween once a year baby!” adding, “For spooky boys like us it’s a full year job, you know what I mean? We wanna pay homage to all the jam bands who pretend like it’s their day when they play this song. It’s not. It’s ours,” Bemand asserted as the band began its creative, kick-ass rendition of the theme from the Halloween horror movie franchise.
Apropos of the holiday and song selection, Dolan donned a Glass Beams-esque mask as the trio covered “Orb” by the Eastern-influenced Australian psychedelic upstarts. lespecial also paid proper homage to Primus with a cover of “Too Many Puppies” before inviting Doom Flamingo vocalist Kanika Moore up to sit in on “The Vessel” and Nine Inch Nails‘ “Head Like a Hole”.
The horrific Halloween show kicked off a run of joint dates for lespecial and Doom Flamingo, which continues this week with shows in St. Paul, MN, Madison, WI, Chicago, and Indianapolis. For a full list of upcoming tour dates and to purchase tickets, head to lespecial’s website.
lespecial – Kenny’s – Peoria, IL – 10/31/24
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