Vampires, a clown, Beetlejuice, Leo Mazzone, Wednesday, a pirate, a Viking and two frogs. What do these all have in common? Well, sure, it’s Halloween! But of these costumes and more, it’s the two frogs that have the inside track. Eggy, a jam band, is performing, and the frogs fit right in with the former house band of New Haven, CT’s Toad’s Place.
Fun and games was the theme, with oversized playing cards, board games, inflatable dice, Monopoly money and similar placed about the stage. And, yes, the band dressed up as well.
What followed was two sets of an up and comer in the jam band genre, where the band mines the grooves wherever they lead, importantly featuring extended improvisation that makes each show unique. Just ask the “tape” guys, arriving first in line to set up their recording equipment for later archival for fans to compare how the band plays favored songs over the years.
A great thing about jam band is that it keeps the audience guessing, and a knowledge of the band’s songs isn’t even required. Still, sometimes it helps. This particular evening, each of the two sets touched on classics, The Who’s “Pinball Wizard” and CSN&Y’s “Southern Cross,” occasionally touching on a musical refrain to keep the song in mind. It works.
To keep things spontaneous and fun, the band played north of 10 minutes completely blindfolded, and several occasions of spinning a wheel of fortune or an audience member drawing a card from a deck guided the style that they would play each song. The band seemed in great spirits and had the crowd swaying throughout their 2+ hour set.
Jam bands are similar in some ways and different in others. Eggy has a warm and inviting vibe, technical chops and, notably, are obviously having fun. This is a great band to catch now if you like seeing a show close-up. They’re destined for bigger stages.
Set 1:
Set 2:
LA’s The Color Green opened for Eggy. The band features two guitarists, Corey Madden and Noah Kohll, who have played together since their teen, and as new as they are, they may have hit their stride with the recent additions of drummer Corey Rose and bassist Kyla Perlmutter may have finally hit their stride. That includes versatility for what they can do musically as well as four members who can sing lead and/or harmonize.
This particular evening, they played at least one original, “Night,” and otherwise scorched four songs by The Velvet Underground, taking the familiar and working them into their own muse, including guitar solos, dueling guitars and some splendid jazzy rhythms. Six songs over 45 minutes, with the right talent, made for a really good show, and it’ll be fun to see what they can do as the foursome create more songs together.
Setlist:
