Lettuce | 09.18.2013 | Stage 48 | New York, NY

Lettuce

…a funky salute to James Brown

09.18.2013 :: Stage 48 :: New York, NY

Photos by: Ross Citrin

Words by: Zach Franck

It’s always a promising night getting to see a Brooklyn-based supergroup, Lettuce; Especially when they’re playing in their home city of New York. This past Wednesday the band played at Stage 48, a newer venue located in Hells Kitchen. They performed a special tribute set to the “Godfather of Soul”, covering some of James Browns’ biggest hits! Although it was a week-night, the venue was packed to capacity and quickly sold-out. Lettuce always shows love to New York and New York always shows love to Lettuce. They were introduced by former New York Knicks player John Starks, who called them the “funkiest band in the world”. The band wasted no time and opened up with the funk classic ‘Hot Pants Road’ – Their musicianship was incredibly astonishing. One song after another, they remained tight and hit every note. Nigel Hall was absolutely astonishing as James Brown, he put everything he had into playing the part. The second-set was filled to the brim with songs from the Lettuce discography, from hip-hop to jazz. The crowd response was great – everybody was dancing; It didn’t matter if you were twenty-five or fifty-five.  Lettuce is one band that truly epitomizes that New York feel, their music is soulful and they aren’t afraid to experiment. Wednesday night was a prime example of why in fact they are world-class musicians; Not many bands can play James Brown and actually sound like James Brown.