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Steamboat Magazine

Momentous Music: Pigeons Playing Ping Pong

07/10/2018 11:37AM ● By Alesha Damerville

Images from Pigeons Playing Ping Pong

By Alesha Damerville

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS – From freshman dorms to Red Rocks Amphitheater, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong are the definition of making dreams reality. 

Their high energy, psychedelic funk shows are an in-your-face explosion of good vibes. You will find yourself overtaken with wide smiles, soaring solos and bombastic bass to keep you dancing far past the point you thought you could dance. 

“It’s been a pretty wild ride,” says Greg Ormont, vocalist and guitarist for Pigeons Playing Ping Pong. In the beginning of their journey, the group made an obligatory stop at Red Rocks Amphitheater. It’s safe to say their destiny was manifested during this trip. “As touring band, you have to go to Red Rocks, even if no one is playing there.” 

“You to pay your respects, maybe you get up on the stage and imagine what could be, right-click save that image in your mental archive and use it for inspiration. Even going through the museum – seeing who else has played there and the history on that stage – filled our cups with inspiration. It left us excited to set that benchmark to try to get there,” Ormont says.

It took a few years, but they made it. “It will definitely be a dream come true,” he says. “I’m sure it will be overwhelming. I’m hoping to soak it in and remember the day we showed up with our guitars and a cymbal and jammed unplugged to a few people doing yoga and exercising.”

“We’ve loved playing since the start,” Ormont says. “Whether it’s 10 or 10,000 people, we are having a good time.” The Pigeons have been playing in Steamboat Springs for years, sometimes twice a year; they’re nearly locals at this point. 

“We love Steamboat. We’ve been through a lot of different mountain towns and Steamboat has a great vibe, a great crew of music lovers, an awesome mountain to ski on and probably my favorite hot springs in the world at Strawberry Park,” he says.

“We love playing at Old Town Pub,” Ormont adds. “It’s cool we are able to play somewhere so intimate before flying out to play our first gig at Red Rocks. It’s a wild shift in venue, going from O.T.P. to Red Rocks. The Pub has fantastic energy. It’s a very intimate and rowdy place to play and see music. It’s kind of like a jack-in-the-box full of energy, a spring-loaded room.”

“We love bringing our lightshow and vibes and try to blow the roof off, and the crowd is very open to having the roof blown off – they help us go there,” Ormont says. “It’s going to be nice to bottle up some energy from the mountains and then release it back to the Denver area at Red Rocks.”

The Pigeons Playing Ping Pong play Tuesday, July 10 at the Old Town Pub. For more information about Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, visit http://pigeonsplayingpingpong.com