scooter's spot v. 2.0: (VIDEO!!) the Brain Damaged Eggmen

Monday, June 19, 2006

(VIDEO!!) the Brain Damaged Eggmen

This past January, on the fourth voyage of Jam Cruise, a couple members of Umphrey's McGee and a couple members of the Disco Biscuits came together to form a supergroup of sorts. They dubbed themselves the Brain Damaged Eggmen, and played a show that many on the boat considered to be one of the highlights of the trip.

The jamband scene is ripe with gimmicks, and this show was no exception. Except this gimmick, or theme, or whatever you want to call it, worked! And the gimmick was a doozy: put together a group comprised of members of two of the more popular (read: possessing rabid fan bases) bands on the scene to play a two set show. One set of covers by the Beatles, and another of Pink Floyd covers: hence the group's name. ("Brain Damage" being a track on the Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, and Eggmen being a reference to a line in "I Am the Walrus".)

As I already mentioned, this show was very highly acclaimed, and by people whose opinions I value highly. So I regretted that this show was supposed to be a one-off performance, a treat for the few who were on the Jam Cruise. Thus, I was pretty happy when the rumors began to circulate in the Disco Biscuits' scene that the group would be playing again at Bonnaroo.

That performance occurred this weekend, and served as a mechanism for Umphrey's to seamlessly segue their set into the Disco Biscuits' set that was to follow. What either band played is inconsequential to this post, what concerns me is what the Eggmen played:

Baby You're a Rich Man> Another Brick In the Wall, Brain Damage> Eclipse

Looks pretty good, right? Well, add some special guests to the mix (Joe Russo of the Benevento/Russo Duo, Brothers Past's Tom Hamilton) and you have a pretty killer mini-set.

I didn't take these pics, but they made me laugh and I wanted to share... Thanks to the photog, whomever you may be...

The Brain Damaged Eggmen (with guest vocalists Tom Hamilton and Joe Russo)

Russo and Hamilton having way too much fun...

I haven't received too many reports from the 'Roo yet, but I can be pretty sure that this short set was well-received and a ton of fun.

***

A week or so before the Bonnaroo set, it was announced that the Brain Damaged Eggmen would perform a post-Lollapalooza show in Chicago that is to be a benefit for the Ustorm Foundation, a non-profit organization created to help provide access to music and art educational programs to needy children and young adults.

Here is the news post on Phantasy Tour:

Brain Damaged Eggmen Post-Lollapalooza Show

If I was going to be in Chicago that weekend, I would definitely be hitting this one up.

In honor of the second, and the scheduled third performance by the Brain Damaged Eggmen, I'm gonna make good on my promise from a loooooooooong time ago and upload some video clips from their first performance.

I've done so by constructing a YouTube playlist. I've never done this before, so bare with me. If everything works right you should be able to skip from video to video. The Beatles clips come first, followed by the Pink Floyd ones. Unfortunately, none of the songs are complete (and I'm missing the "Hey Jude" where apparently everyone in the audience was invited onstage to sing to coda), but it gives a good impression of what these guys can do.