By Karynn Brown
Photos by Stephanie Paul
Oct. 23, 2017
New York-based heavy funk band Lettuce continued their fall tour Sunday night at the Bourbon Theatre.
Born in 1992 from musicians at Boston’s Berkeley School of Music, Lettuce is a culmination of precisie skills, a nod to the traditions of the jazz and funk genre and jams to dance to.
Lettuce has made a name and cult following for themselves throughout their years of studio sessions and powerfully energetic live performances. Nebraska, and the Lincoln crowd, was no stranger to the entrancing, timeless, music of Lettuce. As 10 p.m. approached, the audience grew steadily from the bare-bones crowd that showed for RDGLDGRN. Lettuce’s longstanding and carefully cultivated audience is one of introverts, stoners, musicians, historians and absolutely everyone else.
This unique collection of people lead to an upbeat, mutually beneficial, mutually understood energy that powered the dance floor. The overwhelming energy of the 7-person band brought everyone to their feet. It didn’t matter if you were alone, in the crowd, on beat, or had never danced before in your life, you were out there and having fun.
Lettuce’s music and stage presence is founded in childlike experimentation, professional skills,and the gift of improvisation. The energy between the performers was self-contained but still that created a dance floor of head nods, swaying arms and hips and excitement that never faltered throughout the set.
Sunday night’s performance was full of depth and intrigue, which comes from no two songs, light effects, or audience members looking alike. Playing to a flashy background of yellow-green, and blue-purple light beams, Lettuce’s light engineers knew how to throw a party. The perfect mix of disco and strobe gave as much attention to the crowd as to the performers.
Lettuce played for just under two full hours. Playing from their latest releases, Witches Stew, Mt. Crushmore and Crush, the band played a mix of longtime favorites featuring “Kron Dutch” from their 2004 Live in Tokyo album.
Lettuce has been on their fall tour with RDGLDGRN since late July, and will continue through October in North Carolina, New Mexico, Colorado, Kentucky and into Florida.
Openers RDGLDGRN—effectively Red, Gold, Green—got the crowd warmed up and ready to funk with their unique and genuine performance. The D.C.-based hip hop group included bassist “Red,” emcee and lyricist “Green”, guitarist “Gold” and drummer/DJ/manager “Snacks.” They performed lightly and comfortably, letting the fans vote for the first song which was settled as “Lootin in London.”
The band’s sound combines punk-esque steady rhythms and riffs with voice that is half-lyrical pop punk, half-rap.The artists work together to take the very best pillars of sound from these vastly different origins of punk, pop, and rap. Their work was powerful, freeform, and authentic. One song, from their 2015 EP, Red Gold Green 2, entitled “No Pixar” speaks to the meaning of independent music that works outside of the corporate wants of media conglomerates like Pixar and Disney. Green spent time speaking to the crowd, thanking the Bourbon and its staff saying, “Places like these, they give people careers.”
That was followed by a cover of Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds, complete with singalong from the crowd. Green performed on the floor of the Bourbon’s main stage, playing a game with the audience during their last song, splitting it down the middle into teams of Eastside and Westside, singing and cheering with each team to declare the loudest the winner.
The night was full of new experiences for every audience member and performer. Lettuce’s on-stage presence was tight, precise, and bounced their dance-funk energy right back to the crowd. In this way Lettuce’s reputation as impressive, present, magnetic live performers perfectly fit the bill. It was impossible to miss the collective funk of the audience inspired by the performers. Having performed through Omaha and the Midwest before, Lettuce had a fair following and crowd awaiting them in Lincoln.
That didn’t stop the band from turning heads at the show, and creating an atmosphere that was sure to be remembered by all.
Karynn Brown is an editorial intern with KZUM.
