Article Contributed by Ducky
Published on November 26, 2025
Dogs in a Pile | Garcia’s | photos by Josh Konrad
Dogs In A Pile closed out a three-week residency (Wednesday–Thursday each week for three weeks) at Garcia’s Chicago this week. With the residency complete, Chicago became their sixth most-played city in the United States, and Garcia’s their sixth most-played venue.
Wednesday night — just about six minutes before Dogs were due to appear on stage — I looked down to make sure all of my camera equipment was in place, and when I looked up, a mob of onlookers had appeared in the pit as if out of the air itself. Then the lights went down. As they all took their places on stage, keyboardist Jeremy Kaplan got on the mic to express — regretfully — that it was the final week of the band’s three-week Chicago run. But to shift into the music on a high note, he also expressed their collective adoration for the city, assuring everyone that they WILL be back. With that, the band began to play.
They opened with a Bent Strange → Ghost Riders in the Sky → Bent Strange sandwich jam, and suddenly the room was on tumble-dry. The music rolled off the stage and wound through every body in the room. The people were locked to the stage, as if by some sonic chain — locked to every word, every note. After 25 minutes, the first jam finally came to a close, and they wasted no time throwing down a searing Help → Slip. What I love about when Dogs play the Dead is that they don’t try to emulate the exact tone — the exact sound — of a Grateful Dead jam. It’s an all-too-pervasive problem in the scene. From there they slid right into Creep. It starts softly, but things got heavy fast when Jimmy belted the chorus and the band hit full stride.
After Lazy Day, they played the final cover of the night before the encore — the Cab Calloway classic Minnie the Moocher. It landed beautifully as a meta-tribute to Chicago and its ties to the Blues Brothers legacy. The band and crowd made each chorus happen together in joyous unison.
To celebrate the release of their new album Distroid, the band played the entire album straight through as set two. The album opens with Go Set — a tune finally put to record after being in rotation since 2019, never going more than 17 shows without an appearance. They found a pocket quickly, rode it to a shining peak, and descended softly into Lucia’s Secret. My Disguise opens with a triumphant synth line reminiscent of a disco horn section — funky, bright, continuing the tone established in tracks one and two. Nicolette pushed the funk further, bouncing joyfully around the room. Spirits were high.
They were deep in the pocket at the end of Nicolette, closing the jam on tight, succinct hits — a flex of just how dialed-in this band is with new material. They eased the tempo with a new chapter in the Thomas Duncan saga: Thomas Duncan Pt. 3. With no stops, they rolled into the album’s final four tracks: The Bag → Samba for Sam → Por Que Pedro → Samba for Sam (ending).
The encore was a celebration in itself — closing the night with Joe Cocker’s Space Captain. It was a sight to see the entire room shouting the chorus together, singing, “learning to live together” in harmony. A jubilant night, a fantastic record, and Dogs In A Pile are clearly on the path toward something big.
SETLIST
Set 1:
Bent Strange →
Ghost Riders in the Sky →
Bent Strange (reprise)
Help On the Way →
Slipknot →
Creep
Lazy Day
Minnie the Moocher
Unfocused
Trunk Rum
Set 2: Distroid
Go Set →
Lucia’s Secret
My Disguise
Nicolette
Shenanigans →
Thomas Duncan Pt. 3
The Bag →
Samba for Sam →
Por Que Pedro →
Samba for Sam (reprise)
ENCORE:
Space Captain
