Lettuce celebrated the annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival with its seminal late-night event, RAGE!FEST, bringing the mayhem back to its original home at the ornate Joy Theater for a sold-out show on the second Friday of Jazz Fest. The sextet’s unique brand of primarily instrumental space funk and soul was perfectly displayed throughout a smashing two-set showcase at The Joy after a one-year diversion of the perennial party to the Saenger Theatre. Playing to a wall-to-wall packed house of eager fans, Lettuce’s propulsive, energized takes on many of its most beloved tunes—alongside a few covers from venerated forerunners like James Brown—gave the band enough time and space to be sure that everyone got a taste of the groove.

Speaking of honoring the musicians who came before, Lettuce kicked off the festivities with keyboard wizard Nigel Hall soulfully leading the charge on the late, great Brown’s testament to how best to live your life, “Make It Funky”. Luckily, that’s exactly what Hall and his five bandmates do as well as anyone on the planet. Drummer Adam Deitch, whose heartbeat is likely both syncopated and polyrhythmic, simply doesn’t know any other way. Pairing JB’s mission statement and first and foremost musical commandment with a lovely “Get Greazy” chaser, Lettuce—just two songs in—had the crowd in the palm of its hands. While the mighty funk machine that is Lettuce might be proud of its Northern roots, the band members have no trouble bowing their collective heads to praise and pay respect to all that Crescent City has contributed to the funk genre and the legion of players the area has produced.

Lettuce — The Joy Theater — New Orleans, LA — 5/3/24 — Preview

After said machine got properly lubed with “Greaze” it was time to lose its mind with a tasty “Lettsanity” that showcased the horn section, a.k.a sax-wielding multi-instrumentalist Ryan Zoidis and trumpeter Eric “Benny” Bloom, and slinky guitarist Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff perfectly. Deitch rode his junk hat cymbal mercilessly, its inherent tinny flat sound serving as a percussive counterpoint to the horns and six-string riffs. Combined, the result was a twisted, turning sonic mixture that quickly transformed the crowd into a writhing mass of movement.

Working as a six-headed yet perfectly in-tune team, Lettuce went back to its Unify album to drop an “Insta-Classic” follow up that demonstrated just how powerful the band could be when firing in-line and on all cylinders. Bassist Erick “Jesus” Coomes laid down one of his tastier grooves of the evening, alternately supporting Deitch in creating a rock solid pocket and going off book with thick and tasty pops and funky fills galore. The groove eventually morphed into another Unify favorite, “Vámonos”, which invited the crowd along on a winding voyage befitting of its name (the word “Vámonos” in Spanish translates to “Let[t]’s go!). Using the crescendo of theensuing “Rock Creek” as a satisfyingly natural set closer, Lettuce took a well earned pause to reload, refresh, and likely re-funkify its tank back to full.

Coomes took the mic as he so often does to hype the crowd back up for Lettuce’s return to the stage, although judging by the reaction the set-opening instrumental take on Earth, Wind & Fire‘s “Yearnin’ Learnin'” garnered, he didn’t need to do much to stoke their flames. Letting Smirnoff get a little down and dirty “By Any Shmeeans Necessary”, the band backed its six-string gunslinger with all the funky spirit it could muster before getting a little more groovy with Keni Burke’s “Rising To The Top”.

The build-and-release frenzy of “Madison” roared to life next with the fans responding in force to its rousing call to get the funk down before transitioning seamlessly into the gracious, sparsely deconstructed “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” from Sly & The Family Stone. Turning the joyous outburst of the original into a meditative, slow simmering funky stew was an ideal example of how Lettuce approaches covers and makes them its own by bringing an idiosyncratic take on everything it does. “Squadlive” kept the energy high and the crowd edging toward insanity. Having Coomes go insane during his solo spotlight didn’t mitigate the brain-damaging effect Lettuce’s sonic bombardment was causing either, mind you.

“Phyllis”, from Lettuce’s Crush disc, got a little spacey but the funk groove at its heart carried the set closer to a most satisfying conclusion. Before starting the encore, Jesus took to the mic once more, shouting out the band’s hard-working crew and singling out road manager Hillary Clinton for her tireless efforts to keep the band’s collective headspace free and clear so Lettuce can do what it does. After Coomes finished displaying gratitude, Deitch introduced the encore tune, “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright”, with a heartfelt shout-out to the co-writer of the evening’s closing tune, a man who he called “one of the funkiest,” the gone-too-soon Nick Daniels.

With the crowd and the band exhausted from this fantastic display of funk, the only thing left to do for Coomes was to urge the crowd to “Keep your heads on a swivel out there, as my grandfather used to say” adding a quick, “Have fun y’all” before joining his Lettuce brothers backstage to come down from the musical rampage they had just embarked upon. Judging from the dazed expressions on the departing crowd’s faces it’s safe to say the now dissipating RAGE! was rapidly replaced with a sense of wonder at the display of musicianship they had just witnessed. Fans filed out of the Joy Theater, dispersing into the night in a grinning haze that spoke volumes to just how much good a little Lettuce can do you.

Check out a gallery of images from Lettuce RAGE!FEST courtesy of photographers Andy J. Gordon, James Cooke, Lazy Eye Photography, Nick Langlois, and Tim McGuire.

Setlist: Lettuce | The Joy Theater | New Orleans, LA | 5/3/24

Set One: Make It Funky (James Brown) > Get Greazy, Lettsanity, Insta-Classic, Vámonos > Rock Creek,

Set Two: Yearnin’ Learnin’(Earth, WInd & Fire), By Any Shmeeans, Rising To The Top (Keni Burke), Madison > Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) (Sly & The Family Stone), Squadlive, Change The World, Phyllis

Encore: Everything’s Gonna Be Alright