Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, photo by Andrew Blackstein

Pigeons Playing Ping Pong took the stage at Port Chester, N.Y.’s Capitol Theatre over the weekend for a very special two-night holiday program dubbed “The Festival of Melting Lights.” On the final nights of Hanukkah, at the storied jam haven, the jam-funk outfit celebrated the holiday season with four action-packed sets featuring essentials, rarities and resurrected covers, amplified by some high-profile guest spots.

Pigeons Playing Ping Pong set off their first stand at The Cap on Friday, Dec. 19, with “The Town,” the lead track off last year’s studio album Day in Time, then looked back to 2017’s Pizazz with “Henrietta” and “Somethin’ for Ya” alongside cuts from their 2025 album Feed the Fire, “Twitch” and “Hell Yeah.” The Baltimore quartet switched gears for some fan service by resurrecting old favorite covers of Hot Chocolate’s “You Sexy Thing” and The Temptations’ “My Girl,” both performed for the first time since their set at Northlands Music Festival in 2021.

After a deft and dynamic transition between “Wireless” and a “Hell Yeah” reprise, the band blasted into the set-break with “Beneath the Surface,” bolstered by some electrifying keyboard work from Spafford’s Cory Schechtman. Pigeons Playing Ping Pong’s second set commenced with the 2016 Pleasure centerpiece “Pop Off,” then proceeded through further essentials like “Right Track” and an expansive medley of “Ocean Flows” and “Walking on the Moon” before Spafford axeman Brian Moss brought a surge of guitar to “Lightning.” The quartet emptied the tank on “Julia,” then closed night one on “Miyagi.”

Pigeons Playing Ping Pong returned for night two with the longtime setlist staple and Feed the Fire standout “In the Bubble,” then threw it back to the 10-year classic “Porcupine” before the more recent entry “Love Trap.” After touching down from a soaring jam, the band invited up Goose’s Peter Anspach, who opened the show with his Great Blue side project. Anspach let loose the keys on “Fox and Toad” and “Sunny Day,” then stepped away as the core quartet closed their first set with a cover of Foo Fighters’ “Learn to Fly,” performed for the first time since July 2023.

PPPP covered Collective Soul’s “Shine” and debuted the new original “Polaroid” before calling on Anspach again, who led a ripping treatment on “Posidon with his electric guitar. The band’s final full set of the weekend came to a close with “The Labyrinth” and “Horizon,” then “Scrambled Greg” Ormont stepped into the spotlight solo with his acoustic guitar to perform “The Jamtronica Song,” a jam-band parody of Adam Sandler’s “The Chanukah Song.” The holiday spirit came into full swing with the traditional “Hava Nagila” followed by a grand finale of “Water.”

Pigeons Playing Ping Pong will wrap up a long year on the road with a New Year’s Eve celebration at Denver’s Ogden Theatre alongside Magic Beans. Find tickets and more information at pigeonsplayingpingpong.com.