Show Review - Eggy 3/22/24 Ardmore, PA
Set 1: Atomic Age-> Northern Lights > Way Of The Stone, Gretchen > Skin It Back[1], Evergreen > 12 Pounds of Pain[2]
Set 2: Finding and Losing[3] > Backyard Bear > Finding and Losing, Let It Rock[4], Ricky Gervais
Encore: Burritos El Chavo 2
Footnotes:
[1] Little Feat cover
[2] With Skin It Back (Little Feat) teases
[3] Unfinished
[4] Chuck Berry cover, with Marc Brownstein on bass, with Portal To An Empty Head and Home Again (Disco Biscuits) and The Windup (Keith Jarrett) teases
It’s been 15 months since the first time I saw Eggy at Relix Studio in New York, and I finally had the opportunity to catch a two-set headlining show last night at the Ardmore Music Hall. The quartet has been on a tear recently, coming off a sold-out run at the legendary Nectar’s in Burlington, VT and tonight marks the first Purim celebration show at a sold-out Brooklyn Bowl.
Before the show, we had the amazing opportunity to enter the venue early for an interview between the band and RJ Bee of Osiris Media – from questions about their upcoming new album to a draft of some of their favourite covers, it was a treat to experience. You can watch the interview (and the show) for a limited time under “recent exclusives” on nugs.net!
The show kicked off with the recently-debuted “Atomic Age,” for just its third play ever. The song’s sultry groove was accentuated by guitarist Jake Brownstein’s dark envelope filter riffs and keyboardist Dani Battat’s distorted synth riffs. Vocal harmonies, one of Eggy’s really strong points, were on fire on the tune as well.
A great laid-back Type I peak landed smoothly in the intro to “Northern Lights,” which segued nicely into a cool-down of “Way of the Stone.” The jam section picked up in energy significantly as the band displayed their mid-tour form. Original instrumental “Gretchen” followed with bassist Mike Goodman sporting an ear-to-ear grin as they navigated the nasty riffs among Battat’s excellent clav work.
Jumping next into “Skin it Back,” Eggy took their time building the jam first with Battat leading on clav and then with Brownstein’s swirling guitar riffs as they reached several strong peaks, beginning to push at the boundaries of the song. Sustained euphoria was reached as they continued to blaze through a soaring major-key theme, with drummer Alex Bailey going crazy on fluid fills and cymbal crashes before each successive build.
Calming things down for “Evergreen” (with appropriately-coloured lights), Bailey took another amazing lead vocal on the mellow tune. After building to another solid peak, Eggy ripped a blistering “12 Pounds of Pain” to close out the first set with some amazing full-band tension/release builds.
“Finding And Losing” began the second set with another very catchy hook, Bailey’s drumming chops on full display through some whirlwind fill sections. The first big jam of the night opened up with some funky delay work from Brownstein as well as a rock-steady groove from the rhythm section. Battat’s filthy clav work added a nice undertone to the guitar leads as the keyboardist introduced some floaty synth pad work on his Virus TI. A huge testament to Eggy’s improvisational ability is how all four band members locked in on some democratic themes with no one person leading almost immediately after departing the song proper.
The momentum of the initial section of improv built to a strong first peak dripping with psychedelia from the many layers of sound, and the band rode that wave into the next section of jamming as Goodman activated a synth-filter pedal on his bass. Without even feeling like a transition between ideas, Eggy smoothly led from one theme to the next as delay effects from Brownstein and Battat became king of the improv. Beautifully synced up with Bailey’s drumbeat, the guitar and piano danced around each other as Battat began doubling his melodies on piano and synth.
Emerging from the moodier tone of earlier in the jam, Battat’s organ opened up the jam into a soaring and sunny motif that led to an incredible peak – and then a smooth drop right into the funked-out end of “Finding And Losing.”
“Backyard Bear” was tapped next, a bouncy and upbeat number reminiscent of The Band. The jam out of this one started in a minimalist space with bright organ work at the top. Brownstein engaged his envelope filter for some funky play as Bailey kept the beat steady and laid-back. It was clear from the outset that the quartet had plans to get into some serious exploration within “Bear” as the jam began to move outside the boundaries of the song proper. Bailey’s beat infused some “Time Loves A Hero” vibes in as Battat switched to piano and engaged in some interplay with the circular guitar riffs. As the intensity rose, Brownstein’s strong lead lines were accentuated by his subtle wah work, adding a bit of texture to the soaring notes.
The peak died away into some serious darkness as Bailey switched to tom work but the real pivot came with Battat’s work on Moog. Reverb-heavy guitar swirled around as Goodman thumped an anchoring bassline to the outer-space noises. The darkness continued in earnest with pulsating waves of synth coming in underneath the angular guitar riffs as Brownstein engaged his Chase Bliss Mood pedal for a computerized synth sound. Battat began laying on thick electric piano chords – while the rest of the band continued to exhibit incredible patience as the peak built steadily. The thick, syrupy pace of the jam allowed each of the musicians on stage to have a ton of space for their own playing without stepping on one another as they hit an amazing peak to finish off the jam.
Welcoming Disco Biscuits bassist Marc Brownstein to the stage next, Eggy hit into an awesome cover of Chuck Berry’s “Let It Rock.” With grins at having one of their musical mentors on stage, the band crushed the cover (complete with teases of multiple Disco Biscuits songs) before Brownie excitedly announced that the Brownstein Famiy Band (himself, his son Zach, plus Jake and Dani) would be performing at the Ardmore on June 27th – the perfect “night zero” event for Goose at the Mann Center on the 28th.
The second set closed with a fiery “Ricky Gervais” before an encore of “Burritos El Chavo 2” finished the night perfectly.
I cannot wait to see what Eggy has in store for the big Purim celebration at Brooklyn Bowl tonight and am excited to keep seeing them more in the future – some of the best improv happening in the entire scene right now!