DOPAPOD: LIVE AT THE BASEMENT EAST

Dopapod At Nashville's Basement East Photo Credit Rich Harley — Dopapod Live At Nashville’s The Basement East – Photo Credit Rich Harley

Dopapod launched their fall tour at The Basement East in Nashville recently with a no-holds-barred, funkdafied dance party. Coming off the heels of their self-titled latest studio effort, the band came energized and ready to melt the faces of the packed crowd at the venue. It was evident from the moment they hit the stage—this fantastic foursome has hit their mark.

After local group Three Star Revival got things kicked off by treating us to 80s synthesizers and saucy 70s grooves, Dopapod didn’t waste any time. Beginning with their instrumental “Eight Years Ended” showcasing proggy key action along with some psychedelic guitar riffs, they ushered us upwards into the celestial realm. The quartet followed it up with the lone cover of the night, Frank Zappa’s “I’m the Slime” showcasing keyboardist/vocalist Eli Winderman’s rendition of those vile, classic lyrics.

The group leaned heavily on their older material during both sets with “Nuff,” the single track from Dopapod, showing up in the first set. Rob channeled his inner David Gilmore with drippy fret work in each acoustic groove.

Floyd-esque soundscapes continued to intertwine with the massive funk in the second set and the dance floor was set afire. Fan favorite “Picture in Picture” featured a jam full of pulsing, truncated bass lines creating a collective stomp within the venue before returning to the lyrical portion of the song.

Guitar-heavy earworm “Braindead” closed out the band’s second set with hard-pounding drums and the catchy lyric “Carry these thoughts, inside your head”…carried inside our heads as the light show kept us in a collective hypnotic state.

The band made a quick, jazzy, rhythmic victory lap of an encore with “Please Haalp,” the opener from their 2017 LP Megagem, which put a cherry on top of an otherworldly experience. It was all smiles in the crowd as the house lights came up to send everyone back out into the fall night.

Show Review Crafted By Richard Harley