From the Outer Space’s stage, Johnny Greenawalt of 10,000 Blades remembered sneaking out of a high school dance at Hamden Hall to go to a Pencilgrass concert at The Space. Jon Stone, his bandmate then — and now — did too.
Lucy Gellman Photos
Now they, along with a full docket of other bands, were opening for Pencilgrass as the legendary group reunited for a single weekend. Friday’s show was part of a fundraiser to save the Space, which turned into a mini-festival in its own right and one of the better parties of the year. Wess Meets West jammed rhapsodically to warm up the crowd. Political Animals called it an honor to open for the reunited band. Ceschi couldn’t figure out how they had pulled off a reunion, but he urged the crowd to stick around for what was going to be a historic event.
As midnight crept closer, close to 1,000 people agreed in body, mind, and sprit, packing the Ballroom at The Outer Space for the final act. Their mission: to seriously tear it up for a good cause, answering The Space owner Steve Rodgers’s plea for financial help with their fingers, feet, and voices all at full volume.
If there is a band that can save a venue, it is Pencilgrass. Praised as the “premiere local party band, indoors and out” and one of the best CT bands ever, the group gave a mind-blowing, crowd-surf worthy, dance-your-legs-sore reunion performance at the end of a very long, very good night at The Outer Space on Friday.
Explaining why isn’t a matter of words. Just as it was at the height of New Haven fame in 2005, the group is intensely experiential: to watch them perform is to let the funky inner core of you bust out onto the dance floor and groove the night away in a state of unadulterated, sweaty bliss. Ten years after a summer residency at BAR and nine after the group performed for the last time in New Haven, the members’ seamless and occasionally goofy mix of funk, reggae, and disco was still mesmerizing and infectious.
Vocalist Eddie Prendergast is still a dead ringer for Jermaine Clement — or maybe it’s the other way around — and had the crowd dancing for ninety minutes straight. Rob Katz grew wings, his feet never touching the stage as he flitted between keyboard and microphone. John Panos, who gave an extraordinary performance with Mates of State earlier this year, outdid himself entirely, near-humping the stage as he alternated between spot-on brass parts and ridiculously energetic vocals. Erik Elligers proved to fans that Goodnight Blue Moon hasn’t knocked the EDM entirely out of him as he wailed away on his sax.
Beyond its fun, chewy lyrics, music like this exists for one reason: to make people want to move wildly, sexily, and with every fiber of their being. At the front of the stage, 20‑, 30‑, and 40-somethings packed in shoulder to shoulder, jumping in joyous not-quite-unison as Prendergast belted “don’t be a drag baby / it’s time to shag baby / this music is our music” and Panos replied with a hypnotic brass refrain. Further back, audience members hoisted Swamp Hut’s Danny Ravizza and 10,000 Blades’ Stone up onto their palms, lending a decidedly punk-meets-funk component to the evening.
More than that, Pencilgrass’s performance — and those of other bands on The Space’s astounding, seven-hour, 10-act bill — was a testament to the kind of dynamic, inclusive, and eclectic music venue Rodgers has been able to create with The Space.
“I feel so grateful, and so blessed,” he said in a conversation with the Independent after Friday’s fundraiser. With a metal-themed fundraiser planned for next weekend, he does not yet know how much was raised on Friday. But the fundraising efforts, he said, have gone “very well.”
