Preview Predictions for Pigeons Playing Domefest

Written by Michael Broerman
Imagine: it’s May 16, and you’re pulling into Marvin’s Mountaintop in Masontown, West Virginia.  The only thing more beautiful than the new venue is today’s lineup, featuring performances from The Magic Beans, The Fritz, Chalk Dinosaur, a late night set from Litz, and, of course, our gracious hosts for the weekend Pigeons Playing Ping Pong.  You’re at the 10th annual Domefest.
This year is going to feature more surprises than ever, with a stacked late night lineup of Litz on Thursday, The Magic Beans on Friday, and a double-header on Saturday of Mungion followed by The Domefest All-Stars to close out the weekend.
Domefest has come a long way since its inception as Pigeons lead guitar player Jeremy Schon’s senior project back at University of Maryland.  That first year Dome was a one day event with free beer with admission and Pigeons Playing Ping Pong were lower on the lineup than the porta potties.
But now, here we are at the festival’s new location of Marvin’s Mountaintop, the former home of the All Good Music Festival (RIP) as well as the host of regional Burning Man events.  The band has remained committed to the vision of an intimate music festival and announced they would only sell 2,500 tickets for the weekend, with the intention of slowly growing the festival over time (last year’s Dome sold out at 2,000 tickets.)  And that’s totally their right, this is their baby after all. One of the most lasting images I have from last year’s Domefest was finally digging our car out of the mud to make the long drive back to Ohio; dehydrated, delirius, and Domed up to the max, and who do we see directing traffic out the front gate but Greg Ormont, grinning ear to ear as he waves muddy Subaru after muddy Subaru out of his and his friend’s biggest party of the year.
And you can’t talk about Pigeons and not mention pageantry.  Honestly, the four Ps of Pigeons are: pageantry, performance, party and PENGUINS.  Each night of Domefest has its own theme, Thursday is Domecoming Weekend, Friday is Magic Kingdome, and Saturday is Dome for the Holidays.  As far as what to expect each of these nights from Pigeons, your guess is as good as mine. But, since I have the outlet, I might as well make some guesses.
Thursday night is going to be a very classy affair on the mountain.  I have a good feeling that we will see the sparkly-sequin sport coats Pigeons wore for this year’s New Years Steve set in Pittsburgh (which Greg also repurposed for his role as The Ringmaster in Pink Talking Fish’s “Junta Circus in February).  And, given the age of the band members and the “domecoming” theme, there will definitely be a corny homecoming slow dance song. My money is on “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” by Green Day because, you know, high school.
Magic Kingdome will see plenty of DisNYE material.  No brainer.
And then there’s Dome for the Holidays.  This one could go in a lot of different directions.  The next holiday on the calendar is the Fourth of July, so maybe a bitching cover of “The Star Spangled Banner” with Jeremy ripping it Hendrix style?  Not terribly likely, but possible. They could also go the complete opposite direction and do a set of Christmas carols and that still wouldn’t be the craziest set they’ve ever done (missing Dead Zeppelin at the 9:30 in 2015 is my biggest regret).  
But, I have one sure-fire prediction that I know will come true: Domefest is going to be fun.  More than fun, it’s going to be a party. More than a party, it’s going to be a rager. The festival season starts Thursday on Marvin’s Mountain.  See you there!