Article Contributed by Jamie Huenefeld
Published on 2026-08-13
Dogs in a Pile | August 8, 2026 | Photos by Jamie Huenefeld/Killahwave and videos by Vinny Vallely
Asbury Park has never needed an excuse to claim Dogs in a Pile as a hometown band, but August 8 handed the town one anyway. The quintet came back to the Stone Pony Summer Stage for a third appearance on the oceanfront lot and treated the homecoming as permission to gamble, with two brand new originals, a cover the band had never attempted before, and a twenty-three minute centerpiece built around the boardwalk's own patron saint. Reality Check Experiment warmed up the crowd beforehand inside the historic Stone Pony, the beach-side venue next to the Summer Stage.
The show began with the blues rock centric "Unfocused." Multi instrumentalist Jeremy Kaplan started on organ, wearing nothing but brown corduroy overalls, while guitarists Brian Murray and Jimmy Law harmonized the vocals. Law wove around Kaplan on a keyboard set to piano effects as the opener ran thirteen minutes as a full heater. "Ugly Song" followed with Murray on lead vocals. Drummer Joey Babick elevated the tune with a steady hand on the kit, and Kaplan teased jazzy undertones through a short but sweet six minutes.
Afterward the band reconfigured. Bassist Sam Lucid handed the bass to Kaplan, who stood at the front of the stage and sang the debut of "I Got You." This first ever performance landed somewhere between nineties alt-rock and punk with a dash of reggae. His voice was truly an asset. Once the song ended, Murray acknowledged that the band was lucky to be home and able to try new things.
Law lent his soulful vocals to "Grease." Another pivot found the group in the piano driven "You've Got a Friend in Me," the Randy Newman standard, sung by Kaplan in a quick two and a half minutes. That one carried more weight than the running time suggested. The band had not touched the song since April 2025, a gap of 162 shows, and was played for the fourth time ever.
Kaplan switched back to organ for the intro to "Appleseed." Murray contributed vocals before the music dissolved into a mellow, spacey jam. Babick's well placed drumming slowly increased the cadence while Lucid kept the low end tight across fifteen minutes.
Kaplan then wove the keys into a transition toward "Throw It Away," where the band's Grateful Dead influence shined through. Lucid was notably engaged. Kaplan moved to the clav and dialed up a blues funk as the sun went down over the town behind the crowd, decorating the sky above the stage in vibrant colors. The groove they found stretched another fifteen minutes and eventually landed in a blues rock pocket led by Law. The set closed with "The Day The Music Came To Me," sung by Murray. The band stepped off-stage for a much needed break.
"Jack & Coke" kicked off set two. Kaplan gave the opening a Latin vibe layered on top of blues guitar, Lucid took the vocal, and the bassist steered the jam in several directions before driving the band down into a slow simmer of funk. An ambient transition ushered the music into "Psychobilly Freakout," the Reverend Horton Heat cover the band had not played since January, which is a stretch of 67 shows. Babick kicked the tempo into high gear for a reading full of punk energy and slap-back country twang, with Kaplan's organ as the cherry on top. The tune gave way to more funk, then a clever build brought the boys back into the "Psychobilly" theme to close out fifteen minutes.
Kaplan dove into "Chop Shop" on the keys and supplied the lead vocals. The band settled into a breezy blues groove that built into a complex tapestry, and Kaplan continued to shine, trading ideas back and forth with Lucid across a fiery seventeen minutes while Murray dropped in psychedelic textures. The second debut of the night arrived next, a mellow new original called "Asbury Park," with Murray on acoustic guitar and lead vocals. This was a fitting first ever performance for a band who adopted Asbury Park as their home.
The music flowed gently into an ambient sequence that turned dark and bass driven, Kaplan moving between synth and piano effects. About six minutes in, the music started to sound like "Tillie," a nod to the grinning face that has watched over Asbury Park since the Palace Amusements days. The band swapped in "summer stage" for "summertime," and the crowd was hip to the trip for sure. Babick's percussion, and the cowbell in particular, carried the jam as the music turned psychedelic and climbed toward a raging peak from Law. Things mellowed once more, the type II exploration soldiered on, and the whole piece eventually resolved into the nineties single "Cherub Rock." The Smashing Pumpkins classic was sung by Lucid and played for the first time in band history. Kaplan switched to guitar for the occasion. At one point, all three guitarists were in the middle of the stage jamming together. Clocking in at twenty-three minutes, "Tillie" was the longest single stretch of music all night.
"6 Little Lies" ended the set on a high note, delivering on a song the band had flagged in the marketing leading up to the show.
The band stepped off stage and returned to encore with David Bowie's "Let's Dance," and they really slammed the famous cover. Check out this short video of the song by videographer Vinny Vallely. Babick shined again on the kit, and the funky interplay between bass and synth earned a re-listen. An eleven minute "Thomas Duncan, Pt. 3" closed the night and was the only song of the evening drawn from a studio album, in this case last November's Distroid. This band harmonized beautifully together, and the tune served as a fine example, particularly through the composed sections, which they nailed. Vallely captured this tune perfectly on video as well. Upon conclusion of the encore, Law thanked everybody and said, "see you next year."
Dogs in a Pile will stay on the road well past the summer. A mid-west run continues this week at LedgeStone Vineyards in Greenleaf, Wisconsin (Aug. 13), Turner Hall Ballroom in Milwaukee (Aug. 14), and The Pines Music Park in Eau Claire, Wisconsin (Aug. 15). September opens at The Bluebird in Bloomington, Indiana (Sept. 3), and the band will spend the holiday weekend on festival grounds, playing Secret Dreams Festival in Thornville, Ohio (Sept. 4) and Adirondack Independence Music Festival in Lake George, New York (Sept. 6), with a stop at Hogs Hollow Saloon in Berwick, Pennsylvania (Sept. 5) squeezed between. A northeast swing follows through Soundcheck Studios in Pembroke, Massachusetts (Sept. 17), the Berklee Performance Center in Boston (Sept. 19), and Waterfront Park in Burlington, Vermont (Sept. 20). Fall brings two nights of Concerts Under the Stars in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania (Oct. 9 and 10), a three night stand at The 8x10 in Baltimore (Oct. 20 through 22), and two nights at Irving Plaza in New York (Dec. 4 and 5). The band will set sail on Jam Cruise 23 from Miami in February 2027. Hop on over to the band's tour page for more details on these dates and more.
Check out more photos from the show!
Band: Dogs in a Pile
Location: Asbury Park, NJ
Venue: The Stone Pony Summer Stage
Date: August 8, 2026
Set One: Unfocused, Ugly Song, I Got You[1], Grease, You've Got a Friend in Me[2], Appleseed > Throw It Away, The Day The Music Came To Me
Set Two: Jack & Coke > Psychobilly Freakout[3], Chop Shop, Asbury Park[1], Tillie > Cherub Rock[4], 6 Little Lies
Encore: Let's Dance[5], Thomas Duncan, Pt. 3
Notes:
[1] Debut
[2] Randy Newman
[3] The Reverend Horton Heat
[4] First time played, Smashing Pumpkins
[5] David Bowie
