Funk Band Lettuce Launches New Online Platform for Live Shows

Following Lettuce on tour is easier than ever, and it won’t cost you too much, as the longstanding funk group recently launched a new online platform, Lettuce Live.

The subscription-based site is filled with real-time uploads from the road, including concert audio and videos, as well as unreleased live performances from the band’s thirty-plus-year history and the entire Lettuce discography. Basically, it’s a one-stop virtual music shop for all things Lettuce.

The idea isn’t new, but the group — which includes bassist Erick "Jesus" Coomes, drummer Adam Deitch, guitarist Adam "Shmeeans" Smirnoff, sax man Ryan Zoidis, vocalist Nigel Hall and trumpet player Eric "Benny" Bloom — didn’t want to release just any old concert content.

“We’re not the average band that says, ‘Okay, the board mix is fine, let’s put it out,’” explains Deitch, who lives in Denver. “No, we want it to sound really good, to the point that we want to listen to it after the show on the bus.”

And that’s exactly what he and his bandmates have been doing this year. So much so, he adds, that it only felt right to treat their followers to Lettuce Live. “We feel like if we’re enjoying them, then it’s time to share them with our fans," Deitch says. "That’s what’s going on."

Anyone who’s ever seen, or even heard of, Lettuce knows that the best way to experience the six-piece’s music is live, in person, alongside an audience filled with fans. But the next best thing, according to Deitch, is checking out recordings such as the ones on the new website.
“The live show is where the magic happens,” he explains. “It’s where the arrangements get split open like an atom. Anything can happen. A lot of improv and great moments. Nigel singing and Shmeeans solos. So if you’re a Lettuce fan, it’s important that you listen to these shows, especially our last run.”

That tour included stops in Philadelphia and New York City, Deitch’s old stamping grounds, as well as this year’s West Coast shows with Ziggy Marley. Of course, the sets all have the Lettuce stamp of approval, which means they were worthy of jamming out to on the tour bus.

“The chunk that we’re releasing right now from 2024, we’ve all listened to those on the bus after the show,” Deitch says. “We blast it. We’ve all been partying to it, listening to it, and taking notes and learning things from it.”

He likens the process to a method used by his hometown basketball team, the New York Knicks. “It’s exactly like the Knicks watching the game after the game," he explains, "going, ‘What could we do better?’ Or, ‘That was great. Let’s do that again.’”

That’s typically the case for Lettuce. The band often creates some sort of musical magic unwittingly, and only really realizes it after the fact, when the members check out the live audio.

“The thing is, we’ll do something great, and if we don’t listen to it, we’ll forget it and not be able to pull it out six months later,” Deitch says. “It’s important for us to listen to it and go, ‘Wow, that was a great show. What made it a great show?’ We’re clueless. We’re musicians. We just go out there and play, so when the magic happens, we've got to study it.

“A transition might happen that wasn’t on the set list that just happened in the moment, and we've got to figure out why that worked and then figure out if we can do it again or make it part of our set,” he continues. “It’s important for us to do it. We hope the crowd likes it. We hope they dig Lettuce Live.”

Other than the creation of Lettuce Live, in which fans can get all the music they could ever want from the Boston-born jammers, the group also released a twentieth-anniversary edition of Live in Tokyo, an auditory record of Lettuce’s first time in Japan, which was initially released in 2004 as Live at Blue Note Tokyo. Deitch still can’t believe they got to play there early on in their careers.

“We were just kids. It’s just amazing that we got a chance to do that as a bunch of college buddies,” he says. “We only had one record out. ... Who gets to go to Tokyo without having a hit record? It was pretty wild.”

Live in Tokyo follows last year’s Live In Amsterdam. Clearly, Lettuce loves the live show. Looking ahead, Deitch points to new music, including a collaboration with the Colorado Symphony, an organization the band has performed with before.

Lettuce has a date with the Nashville Symphony early next year, too. A lot is going on, but as Deitch sees it, Lettuce continues to fire on all cylinders.

“It all has to expand and get better,” he concludes, “and that’s how I feel it’s working right now.”

Check out Lettuce Live online now.