The live music community gave thanks for rising young talent over the weekend as Eggy and Dogs In A Pile converged upon The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY for a two-night, co-headlining run that channeled the past and provided a glimpse of the future but still managed to stay firmly rooted in the present.
The Future
“We just saw the future tonight,” The Capitol Theatre owner Peter Shapiro said from the stage ahead of Saturday night’s encore. “This is the future, and we’re thankful for it.”
That glowing designation from the decorated jam band impresario came after two nights of explosive exhibition by Eggy and Dogs In A Pile. On Friday, the New Jersey-native Dogs had played first, leaving Eggy with headlining duties. On Saturday, Eggy, the New Haven, CT quartet, had started things off ahead of Dogs In A Pile’s closing frame. In between the two dual-band evenings, for Friday’s encore, both outfits had come together onstage for a collaborative mash-up of Steely Dan‘s date-appropriate “Black Friday” and a Grateful Dead tune befitting the Cap’s pedigree, “Bird Song”.
Related: Master Class: Lessons Learned From Peter Shapiro [Interview]
The two bands had displayed different skill sets and bright spots throughout their respective sets, each thrilling and intriguing in their own ways. The “Black Friday”/”Bird Song” encore collaboration, in turn, had shown what new sparks can fly when creative forces come together to form something greater than the sum of their parts—the same notion that allowed these two bands to pool their respective communities and step up to a headlining role at The Capitol Theatre for the first time. For both of these ever-rising acts, it surely won’t be the last.
Eggy & Dogs In A Pile – “Black Friday” (Steely Dan) > “Bird Song” (Grateful Dead) > “Black Friday” > “Bird Song” > “Black Friday” [Pro-Shot] – 11/29/24
The Past
Shapiro has been booking jam bands in New York since before the members of both Dogs In A Pile and Eggy were old enough to hold instruments, a fact that certainly lends some credence to his claims about the future. But many of the weekend’s standout moments arose from these two groups’ deep reverence for the past.
Both nights’ collaborative encores, from Friday’s Steely Dan/Grateful Dead combo to Saturday’s Grateful pairing of “One More Saturday Night” and “The Music Never Stopped”, paid homage to the theater’s background as a favorite stop for the Grateful Dead and its latter-day offshoots. Beyond that, they touched on the Dead’s role as the progenitors of the modern jam band scene—the scene from which both bands grew, the scene that both are working to refine for a new generation.
More recent history supplemented the air of significance in the venue throughout the run, as well. For many years, Twiddle held its annual Frendsgiving run at The Capitol Theatre on these post-Thanksgiving dates, running canned food drives and providing music fans in the Northeast with a reliable chance to catch up with friends, get in the giving spirit, and witness memorable performances at the beloved “rock palace.” Twiddle’s Frendsgiving tradition also consistently put a spotlight on the weekend’s supporting acts, giving a long list of up-and-comers a chance to play the big stage. Over the years, that list has included both Eggy (in 2021) and Dogs In A Pile (in 2022). Both bands also paid their dues on the Cap’s side stage, Garcia’s, and logged additional opening duties in the theater ahead of their respective headlining debuts.
With Twiddle now on indefinite hiatus, Eggy and Dogs In A Pile stepped up to make the tradition their own, running food drives throughout the weekend and leaning into the collaborative spirit that often made Frendsgiving feel like a family affair.
The final song of the weekend seemed to wink at this next chapter in a generations-long tradition of live music. Faces have changed, bands come and gone, but with acts like Dogs and Eggy gaining new fans in numbers by way of relentless touring, thoughtful songwriting, world-class musicianship, and forward-thinking creativity, the music—that long-running thread—has never stopped.
Eggy & Dogs In A Pile – “The Music Never Stopped” (Grateful Dead) – 11/30/24
[Video: gr8fuljon]
The Present
On a weekend steeped in history and underscored by projections of the future, what stood out most was the vibrance of the present moment. Both Eggy and Dogs In A Pile are in the midst of well-earned upswings in popularity. Both bands are writing new music regularly, expanding and refining their distinct approaches as they go.
While much of Dogs In A Pile’s catalog comes from this decade, the band’s two sets liberally incorporated recent material, from the songs on the group’s 2023 sophomore LP, Bloom, to a number of memorable newer tunes like Friday’s “Lazy Susan” (debuted in Nashville eight days prior) and Saturday’s “Burning Daylight” > “Chop Shop” (both of which debuted in November ’24).
Even the band’s Saturday night cover of Rage Against The Machine’s “Bulls On Parade” felt like a pick specific to this band and this moment. As Dogs In A Pile continue to find themselves in heavier jams and optimize the use of their members’ individual talents, seeing Sam Lucid pass off his bass to a fully capable Jeremy Kaplan (keys) and lead this band named after a Grateful Dead lyric through a bombastic cover of a ’90s alt-rock anger anthem felt both unique and appropriate. Same goes for the jarringly psychedelic jam out of holiday piano classic “Linus and Lucy” on Friday.
Dogs In A Pile – “Bulls On Parade” (Rage Against The Machine) – 11/30/24
[Video: Hey Tom Banjo]
Eggy is also in the midst of a prolific writing period. The band arrived at The Capitol Theatre armed with the ten new tracks from the group’s standout 2024 sophomore album, Waiting Game, and nearly as many newer songs debuted on tour since then. Eggy’s sets mixed that new material with both invigorated takes on songs that have been around for years and awe-inspiring displays of ability in more recent creative forays, from Friday night’s deep-cut/deep-jam cover of John Brown’s Body‘s “Searchlight” and beautiful acoustic interlude (a holdover from the band’s most recent tour) to the group’s increasingly compelling experimentations with effects throughout the run. Eggy is sounding like a band hitting its stride, a band not to miss at this specific moment in time.
Late in Saturday’s set, the outfit doubled down on that notion. With help from vocalist Veronica Stewart-Frommer and guitarist Marlo Shankweiler from Melt, yet another rising band making noise in the extended live music scene, Eggy delivered a moment both highly awaited and largely unexpected: the live debut of heart-wrenching power ballad “So Long”, which appears on Waiting Game as a vocal duet between Stewart-Frommer and Eggy drummer/vocalist Alex Bailey. Until Saturday night, it was the only song from the album that had yet to be performed live—even as newer tunes popped up—adding a layer of allure to its eventual debut.
Related: On Tour With Eggy: Waiting Game [Feature]
You could hear Eggy fans buzzing with anticipation for the debut they knew was coming as Veronica and Marlo took the stage, but what they got first was one they didn’t: a rendition of “Plant The Garden“, the lead single from Melt’s own new album, If There’s A Heaven, which arrived a week after Waiting Game. It’s not unusual for a band to celebrate the music that’s inspiring them by covering a song, but in this case, it certainly was notable that the source of inspiration was not a forbearer but a contemporary. When “So Long” followed—with Bailey moving to center stage to sing with Veronica and Dogs In A Pile’s Joe Babick filling in on drums—the mutual respect and collaborative spirit driving the weekend was all the more apparent.
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Platitudes like “the future is now” tend to devalue the very accomplishments they’re meant to celebrate, so I won’t say that. But I will say this: After this past weekend at The Capitol Theatre, music fans can feel very good about the present.
For a full list of upcoming Dogs In A Pile tour dates, head here. For a full list of upcoming Eggy tour dates, head here. Scroll down to view the full setlists from both nights and a selection of photos from the run. Audio recordings of the run are available to stream via nugs.net.
Setlist [via thecarton.net, go-set.net]: Eggy & Dogs In A Pile | The Capitol Theatre | Port Chester, NY | 11/29/24
Set One [Dogs In A Pile]: Look Johnny II, Nicolette, Apeman [1], Today, Ugly Song, G Song, Linus and Lucy [2], Lazy Susan, Look Johnny, Bubble
Set Two [Eggy]: Here and Now, A Moments Notice, Sweaters for Strawmen > Searchlight [3], 12 Pounds of Pain, Eggy Birthday Song [4], Thorns [5], Bad Side Of The Moon [6]
Encore [Eggy & Dogs In A Pile]: Black Friday [7]-> Bird Song [8] -> Black Friday [7] -> Bird Song [8] -> Black Friday [7]
Notes:
[1] The Kinks cover
[2] Vince Guaraldi cover
[3] John Brown’s Body cover, LTP 11/3/19
[4] For Eggy guitarist Jake Brownstein
[5] Jake Brownstein on acoustic, Mike Goodman on upright bass, Alex Bailey on cajon
[6] Elton John cover; Jake Brownstein on acoustic, Mike Goodman on upright bass, Alex Bailey on cajon
[7] Steely Dan cover; First time played for both bands
[8] Grateful Dead cover; First time played for Eggy
Setlist [via thecarton.net, go-set.net]: Dogs In A Pile & Eggy | The Capitol Theatre | Port Chester, NY | 11/30/24
Set One [Eggy]: Shadow, High Noon, Shallow Rivers, All Wheel’s Turnin’, Plant The Garden [1]-> So Long [2], Whoa There-> Smile [3]
Set Two [Dogs In A Pile]: Little Things, You Didn’t Hear It From Me, Bent Strange, Burning Daylight > Chop Shop, Thomas Duncan Pt. 3, Bulls on Parade [4], Rinky Dink Rag > Say Something
Encore [Dogs In A Pile & Eggy]: One More Saturday Night [5], The Music Never Stopped [6]
Notes:
[1] Melt cover; with Melt’s Veronica Stewart-Frommer (vocals) and Marlo Shankweiler (guitar); First time played by Eggy
[2] First time played; with Melt’s Veronica Stewart-Frommer (vocals) and Marlo Shankweiler (guitar), Dogs In A Pile’s Joe Babick (drums)
[3] with two dancing Luchadores
[4] Rage Against the Machine cover; Sam Lucid on lead vocals, Jeremy Kaplan on bass
[5] Grateful Dead cover; First time played for Eggy
[6] Grateful Dead cover
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