Photo by Matt Riley

Lettuce

Top Hat

Missoula, MT

February 10

It took Lettuce over twenty years to get there, but word that they were one of the funkiest bands in the scene reached Montana well before the band itself. Whatever persuaded the group to book their debut show in Missoula on the current 2015: A Funk Odyssey tour was well rewarded: their performance at the Top Hat sold out days prior. The band responded in kind with a lengthy, single-set show chock full of signature grooves and some surprise collaborations.

Powerhouse drummer Adam Deitch brought his electronic project Break Science along to open up the show, and a sizable portion of the audience was in attendance just as much for the pre-party as the main course. Deitch and collaborator Borahm Lee didn’t disappoint, drawing from a wide palette of electronic subgenres to create a booming dance party. Most of the crowd had already worked up a sweat before Lettuce even hit the stage. But as the six-piece crew (guitarist Eric Krasno was back east performing with Brooklyn Is Dead) emerged, with bassist Erick “Jesus” Coomes’ LED display glasses flashing a bright blue “Jesus saved the funk” message, the dancing spread all the way to the back of the room as the slinky middle-eastern tones of “Evil Wu” started pumping out of the speakers.

It’s an indubitable testament to the music scene that surrounds both the band and the town/venue to have members of the previous night’s Eric Johnson/Mike Stern show as well as the following night’s headliner, Leftover Salmon, in attendance. The ante was upped even further when veteran guitarist Stern actually appeared onstage to spice up “BlastOff,” peeling off a dizzying number of notes before slipping into backstage darkness as surreptitiously as he had appeared. Stern wasn’t the only guest of the evening; vocalist Nigel Hall also joined the fray and added some old-school soul to a handful of numbers like James Brown’s “Super Bad” and the original “Sounds Like A Party To Me.”

Regardless of lineup additions however, Lettuce knows its way around the funk. Horn melodies took off like birds in flight on tunes like “Big Anthem”, and guitarist Adam Smirnoff dug his fingers into the Curtis Mayfield medley “We’re A Winner/Move On Up” in an appropriate nod to the tunes’ originator. Deitch remained an unmovable beat machine throughout, and his telekinetic ability to instantly follow lead lines pushed songs into ever-evolving territory. Yet even in the most spacious jams this band never abandons the groove, egging the crowd on to greater extents of willful abandon. As one bar manager said later: “It felt like people were hanging off the ceiling.”

The band never came up for air and pounded out a massive set including heavy hitters like “Ziggowatt” and “Madison Square” before finally leaving the stage for the first time. They were quick to return for a two-song encore, including the saxophone-driven “Phyllis,” that took the show past the two and a half hour mark. It’s a safe bet the funk titans’ inaugural visit to Montana won’t be their last; as Coomes declared from onstage: “The music feels good, the place feels good, the people feel great!”