LIVE: The Seapods “Reunion Show” @ The Hollow, 02/11 & 02/12/2022

On Friday, February 11th, The Seapods played the first night of their two-night run at The Hollow in downtown Albany. Since the band’s hiatus a couple of decades ago, they have only played together a few times — most recently in 2018. So some very excited fans packed the club, absolutely ready to see their favorite local jam band play.

The Seapods Night One

From note one on night one, The Seapods absolutely delivered. They gave the fans exactly what they had been missing all these years. For set one, Max Verna brought his banjo out on stage and gave us a few solo songs to get things warmed up. He was later joined by Tom Pirozzi (bass), Brian Mangini (keyboards), and Ted Marotta (drums) — guitarist Todd Pasternack sat in them for a few songs during set two. 

Each set The Seapods gave us was a slightly different tone than the last. Each one got more and more exciting leaving fans absolutely breathless. However, even after three full sets of music, we wanted more and these incredible musicians came out and encored with “Get Out of my Life”, “Woman” (Lee Dorsey), and “Can’t You Hear me Knocking” (Rolling Stones).

The Seapods Night Two

On February 12, we returned to The Hollow in Albany to see if The Seapods could possibly top their performance from night one. To my complete and utter shock, this band not only leveled up from night one the surprises just kept coming.

Set one was a delightful bluegrass set that was just what we all needed to get us all warmed up for what was to come. The sweet surprises started right away — sit-ins from Sam “Zucchini” Brewton (drums), Crick Diefendorf (banjo and guitar), and Josh Himmelsbach (mandolin). They hung out for pretty much the entirety of set one and took turns coming back throughout the night. At many points, the stage looked as packed as the club itself.

Set two was an immediate and noticeable change from set one. The boys brought out some of their more rocking tunes and the crowd absolutely went wild for them. It really left me wondering what they could possibly do for set three and that was quickly answered.

Jamming

Clearly, The Seapods catalog is proof enough that they are definitely a “Jam Band.” However, when they started on the final set of their run at The Hollow I quickly learned that if you are patient enough you will get a tasty set full of delicious jams.

Set three was so good it made me question whether or not these guys really were on hiatus. I really didn’t think it was possible to jam out like that when you haven’t really seen each other for a couple of decades. It was an absolute privilege to be there to witness the magic.

Photo Gallery by Tammie Birdwell