Pigeons Playing Ping Pong – October 19th – The Boulder Theater

Photos by Jim Mimna

Pigeons Playing Ping Pong brought their high-energy show to The Boulder Theater for a two night stand and, judging by the rabid crowd who packed out the room both nights, they were glad they did.  This energetic young band definitely brings a lot of enthusiasm to the stage, and their sound is everything a jam band might want.  As a matter of fact, if you’re a Phish fan you should love them because, to my ear, they sound extremely similar.  Their song writing is good, but I found a lot of the songs to sound alike, often times not realizing they had moved on to a different tune.  That said, their production value was off the hook, and one of their strongest points.  Their lights were really well done and Manny Newman deserves a big pat on the back as the lights fit the music perfectly.  It was clear from the get-go that Newman was the fifth band member as he drew us into the songs when an overly long jam might have lost me.  Newman rode the jams and pushed the peaks to over the top with his brilliant displays.

As someone who had never see the band before I definitely found them to be extremely derivative of Phish, so much so that I couldn’t remove Phish from my thoughts throughout the night.  At a couple of moments, I wondered if Pigeons are what Phish would sound like with another guitar player on stage.  I liked the interaction they had with the audience, but I did find the antics of the bass player – while definitely fun and nonsensical – to be over the top.  At times it was just too much.

All-in-all this band has a very loyal following who knew every word and were very much into the music.  I have got to give them props for their family vibe, I even saw kids as young as 5 to 10 years old in the audience getting down, something reminiscent of the Grateful Dead and an aspect I definitely appreciated.  I guess, in the end, I need more experiences with this band to really decide if I am a fan of them or not….which in today’s music scene is a definite positive in a landscape of bands that often leave me not interested after only a few songs, let alone a solid two set show.  If you have not seen this band yourself I highly recommend you do, they might be exactly what you’re looking for and, if nothing else, you’re going to have a good time.