Pigeons Playing Ping Pong Land in Boston for Three Nights of Extremely Dope Psychedelic Hypnosis

Pigeons Playing Ping Pong Land in Boston for Three Nights of Extremely Dope Psychedelic Hypnosis
By: Cam Elkins
Photography By: Vic Brazen  (Instagram: @wnwmedia)
Pigeons Playing Ping Pong have been on fire this year. Psychedelic hypnotists disguised as musicians, Pigeons use the live-performance platform to take fans through a discovery of new-found euphoric emotional states. Selling out multi-night runs in cities all over the country has become a way of life for the road warrior Pigeons. With their other-worldly ability to generate an unbelievable feedback loop of energy and enthusiasm between the stage and the crowd; music fans everywhere can’t get enough of these guys. From November 29th to December 1st, they packed out the Paradise Rock Club for three nights of funky mayhem that Flockers will be talking about for a long, long time.
Despite playing hundreds of sold-out shows each year, night after night, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong have an uncanny ability to always be completely leaving it all out there for their tribe, the flock. The flock vibes have become such a special part of so many people’s lives, that fans traveled from all around the northeast, mid-atlantic, and mid-west to get in on the action in the Paradise Rock Club. With fans demanding multiple nights everywhere Pigeons land, it is no surprise that they were recently featured on the cover of the renowned Poll-star magazine.
For Flockers, there are very few feelings richer than when lead singer, Greg Ormont, locks eyes with you and blasts you right in back of your eyes with his unforgettably happy gaze. Never straying from the genuine good-heartedness they’re rooted in, Pigeons teamed up with MK Devo and Conscious Alliance to live-stream each night of the 3-night run for their country-wide flock (which we have gone ahead and put links to at the bottom with each night’s set-list.) Ormont sang through the lens of fans souls, as well as through the lens of the video camera, as proceeds from the stream went towards the aide of communities in crisis through Conscious Alliance’s hunger relief and youth empowerment initiatives.

Night 1, following a set that absolutely CRUSHED from the up-and-coming Connecticut jam band, Goose, Pigeons came out for their turn. Opening with Too Long and segueing right into one of my personal favorites, Penguins, the band wasted no time bringing the vibe at Paradise all the way up, blasting fans with their heart-felt, funk-inciting madness.
Keeping things fresh, the band built things up jam after jam, until finally they had Robbie from Ripe join them for a perfectly fitting Just Can’t Wait To Be King lion king cover.

There was an ultra-special, familiar energy in the crowd as the band ended set 1 with Su Casa, a welcoming song of comfort and psychedelic independence. In just over an hour, Pigeons had managed to weave rhythmic threads through each listener, using their music as a catalyst to stir up a truly cathartic energy.
Being in the Paradise Rock Club really felt like a family gathering. With the rhythm section held down by both the relentless badass-ness of New England native, “Gator” (Alex Petropolous), on the drums, and Ben Carrey with his one-of-kind trippy outfits & personality… Pigeons AGAIN showed that they are all awesome, all the time. The band never fails to shine, as lead guitarist Jeremy Schon puts on a clinic each and every show. Playing around with intensity, groove, timing, rhythm, and melody, Jeremy, Greg, Ben, and Gator take listeners on a ride up to the highest peaks and down through the deepest crevices of what is, and what ought to be.
The band came out for set 2 and got straight down to business. The lights (run by one of the best in the game, Manny Newman) were full-on green, yellow, and red, as the band showed off their signature style of deep introspection interspersed with their trademarked stage antics and psychedelic silliness. The band immersed the crowd into a weirdly relatable hypnotic mirage of past loves, as Ormont sang,
“Diving deep into the ocean I can feel the blue
Found I wished that all the fishies and the mermaids was you
I said could this be real, I said could this be true?
Cuz when I dove into the ocean all I could see was you.”
Continuously touching on some of the deepest elements of the human condition, while at the same time bringing a driving, intense, fun-loving, renegade funk flavor to their music, the Pigeons brought wild emotions out of each one of their fans. Dancing wildly into the night, fans were all completely engaged as they played Upfunk, into an inspiringly tender sequence of Kiwi, into Sail On, and then into a Julia-> Rugrats -> Doug -> Julia sandwich. Capping off the night, the band got all drippy and swagadelic as they vortexed the through-the-roof energy with Snake Eyes, one of my favorite songs with some of my all time favorite lyrics,
“It seems this fight is for people who want to stand up
How would you like to raise up,
And feed a mouth with your cup?!”
Closing with Porcupine and encoring with Fun in Funk, night 1 of the Boston run was nothing short of great.
Friday night, following a set from the always moving Joe Hertler & The Rainbow Seekers, roaring fans greeted Pigeons with an almost over-whelming craziness as they walked on stage. Opening with one of their greatest jams, Funk E Zekiel, the band went into Walk Outside, Bad For You, and then into a spectacular cover of The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, By The Way. Later in the set, Flock power was put onto full display as the entire sold out crowd at Paradise Rock Club came together and sang every single word of one of Pigeons biggest hits, “Melting Lights” loud enough for students at the nearby Boston University to groove along to.
Set 2 of Friday night had to have been one of the best sets I’ve seen from a rock band all year. Opening up with funk-jam Whoopie, then into their searing hot fan-favorite King Kong, the group had fans right where they wanted them for Sunny Day, another exceptionally relatable psychedelic jam-odyssey. Improvising the crowd into volcanic eruptions of funk, the band then played another of their greatest hits, F.U. (This night was literally f*cking incredible.) Then again, taking the already soaring energy to new heights, the band whipped out the intense song, Fade Fast.
“Cause I know…
These wings were made to fly high, yeah!
And I know… I’m gonna say it,
That THIS IS MY TIME!
Dream in the sky while there’s time,
The lights are fading fast!”
Closing the night out with inflatable soccer balls bouncing around the venue for the hilariously fun Rob Gronkowski tribute, Yo Soy Fiesta, and then ending with the beautiful, Dawn a New Day encore, November 30th, 2018 was a night that will for sure go down in flock history forever.


Once Colorado’s Cycles was finished with their impressively destructive opening set, Ormont came back out to his people for night 3, sporting a “SAME TEAM” t-shirt (and of course his classic pajamas).
Capping off the weekend celebration, fan’s awe swelled like a tsunami as the band played the famous song Poseidon, before bringing out Berklee School of Music funk-sensei Tomo Fujita for a 20-minute long seminar on making extremely dope music.


We raged on as if our life depended on it, as the Pigeons exploded their bottled-up “end-of-the-world” enthusiasm that they seem to pour into every note. Ending set 1 of night 3 with Where Are We Going, then Michael Jackson’s, Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough (with extra spicy stage antics from Greg), into Schwanthem, tidal waves of party vibes swept across the room creating perfectly chaotic pandemonium inside of the historic Paradise Rock Club.
Set 2 of Night 3 may have been the best set of all, with PPPP “Pop-ing Off” and then busting out into that flocked-out dance frenzy we all know and love with The Liquid. As if things weren’t special enough, they whipped out Indiglo, into the beloved Horizon, and then into a rarely-heard treasure for Pigeons fans, This Is That. Already on top, overlooking all of existence, fans boogied on home as the run came to an end with Eleanor Rigby sandwiched in-between the funkiest of jams, and then finally, Cliffs. Encoring with Ocean Flows, Ormont sang at the top of his lungs, “The ocean flows….
Spilling the water the size of my heart!”
Re-establishing how deeply connected and vividly happy a music fan can feel, they are way, way more than just some band. The pigeons are honestly nothing short of a religion for their biggest fans, with their shows acting as sacred traditions to many. They remind us how amazing it can feel to be alive, bringing everyone to celebrate life, and each other, to the fullest extent.
Although these last few days were barely even a blip in the scope of existence, the richness of joy and connectedness that was had was enough to make many lifetimes worthwhile. Everywhere Pigeons go, flockers come together as one for an event that seems like a modern-day version of an almost tribal-like ritual of super-exuberance. We can’t wait to see them again in just a few weeks at Stage AE in Pittsburgh for New Years stEve! We are looking forward to welcoming 2019 with the fullest of hearts, where the Flock will be rejoicing again in the awakening of the resting passion inside us all, dancing 2018 away into the wild of the night. We hope to see you there! Until then, stay weird ya’ll… and LONG LIVE THE PIGEONS!





(click for live stream) November 29, 2018 @ Paradise (Boston, MA)
I: Too Long, Penguins > Funkijam > Somethin’ For Ya > Stay > Burning Up My Time > Offshoot, Just Can’t Wait To Be King*, Su Casa
II: Live Life > Upfunk > Hyrule Castle > Upfunk, Kiwi > Sail On, Julia > Rugrats > Doug > Julia, Snake Eyes, Porcupine
E: Fun In Funk
* w/ Robbie Wulfsohn (Ripe) on vocals
(click for live stream) November 30, 2018 @ Paradise (Boston, MA) – SOLD OUT
I: Funk E Zekiel, Walk Outside, Bad For You, By The Way > Havana > Melting Lights > Live It Up, Fortress, Doc
II: Whoopie, King Kong, Sunny Day > The Hop > F.U., Fade Fast, Yo Soy Fiesta
E: Dawn A New Day
(click for live stream) December 1, 2018 @ Paradise (Boston, MA) – SOLD OUT
I: Henrietta, Time To Ride, Poseidon, Lightning*, Where Are We Going, Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough > Schwanthem
II: Pop Off, The Liquid, Indiglo > Horizon, This Is That%, Zydeko^ > E-Funk, Skipjack > Eleanor Rigby > Skipjack, Cliffs
E: Ocean Flows
* w/ Tomo Fujita on guitar
% Last time played 10/07/15
^ Unfinished