Future funk sextet Lettuce gave the sold-out crowd at Fort Collins, CO‘s Washington’s all the funk it could handle and just a smidge more during its Thursday two-set banger. With multiple members living in the area, this practically counts as a hometown show and the guys weren’t about to give anything but their level best to the packed house. Luckily everyone on the stage, from the horn section of Ryan Zoidis and Eric “Benny” Bloom to the locked-in rhythm section of bassist Erick “Jesus” Coomes and drummer Adam Deitch and front to back from keyboardist Nigel Hall and Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff on guitar, were locked in and laser focused on bringing the funk to life.
From the opening bass groove laid down by Coomes on “Larimar”, Lettuce managed to be both tight in its communication and effortlessly loose in its execution. The first set, like most of the band’s shows, was an instrumental showing that effortlessly blended covers like Jerry Lordan’s “Apache”, and “Gratitude” by Earth, Wind & Fire with its own tunes like “Krewe”, Purple Cabbage”m and “Good Morning Mr. Shminklehuffer” into a near seamless showcase of synergy.
Lettuce – Washington’s – Fort Collins, CO – 2/8/24 – Preview
Adam Deitch, as usual, put on a percussive clinic, displaying a range and mastery of so many styles of drumming it was almost as awe-inspiring as it was irresistible to the dancing horde at Washington’s. Zoidis and Bloom slipped from lush fills to staccato punctuations with stupefying ease while Shmeeans slinked, snaked, and raged across the top like a skipping stone across deep waters. All this pushing and pulling in different directions kept the sheer scope of both sets miles wide but the lush organ washes and sky-high chords from Hall, not to mention his occasional soulful vocal duties, pulled it all together beautifully.
After a short set break, Smirnoff got a little bluesy on the opening chords of “The Crusher” before Hall went to the high end and the rest of Lettuce checked in one by one for a methodical stand-alone jam. From there the breaks between songs became few and far between as Lettuce unrelentingly piled funky jam on top of funky jam. Not content to just let the spacey jams of its own tunes ring in and out, the band packed little teases into their jams, like the Parliament “Give Up The Funk” hook and Sly & The Family Stone’s classic “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” chant.
From there it was time for a pair of multi-song jams that dominated the free-flowing set. “Silence Is Golden” gave way to “House of Lett” with a sweet taste of The People’s Choice’s ‘Do It Any Way You Wanna” before finishing up with a bumping take on Keni Burke’s “Risin’ to the Top”.
From there it was a wild, four-song tease-laden run through “Sam Huff’s Flying Ragin’ Machine” with a liberal dose of James Brown’s “’I Can’t Stand Myself’ as a sweetener. The train kept on rolling through the always-welcome crowdpleaser “The Force” to “Stratus” by Billy Cobham before “Phyllis” closed out the second set and gave the sweating, near-exhausted crowd a few moments pause.
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Nigel Hall urged the crowd to “let the funk flow” before the band launched into the encore, a steaming hot “Ready to Live” that mixed a rousing Hall vocal run with perfect snippets and jams from the whole band. Hall took the closing moments to introduce the band one by one and the cheers were as loud as they were truly earned.
It’s impossible to deny that Lettuce isn’t one of the finest funk bands in the world, but at this point, it’s time to start thinking about its place on the “All Time” best lists. The band has certainly earned the right to be among the finest funksters ever to take the stage and its show on Thursday was yet another testament to Lettuce’s status as a “Don’t Miss” spectacle.
Setlist: Lettuce | Washington’s | Fort Collins, CO | 2/8/24
Set One: Larimar, Apache (Jerry Lordan) > Krewe, Runnin’ (The Pharcyde) > Purple Cabbage, Gratitude (Earth, Wind & Fire), Break Out, Good Morning Mr. Shminklehuffer
Set Two: The Crusher [1], Silence Is Golden > House of Lett [2] > Risin’ to the Top (Keni Burke), Sam Huff’s Flying Ragin’ Machine [3] > The Force > Stratus (Billy Cobham) > Phyllis
Encore: Ready to Live
[1] ‘Give Up The Funk’ Parliament tease
[2] ‘Do It Any Way You Wanna’ The People’s Choice tease
[3] ‘I Can’t Stand Myself’ James Brown tease