Article Contributed by Joshua Konrad
Published on 2026-04-01
Scott Metzger | LaMP | Garcia's Chicago | March 21st, 2026 - photos by Joshua Konrad
LaMP lit the stage Saturday night in Chicago for Garcia’s one-year anniversary. It was evident on entry that it promised to be quite the affair. Hot off the night prior, all indicators pointed to it being an electrifying few hours away from the outside world. The trio of Russ Lawton (Trey Anastasio Band, Soule Monde, HoneyWell), Scott Metzger (Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, Wolf!), and Ray ‘The Milkman’ Paczkowski (Trey Anastasio Band, Soule Monde, Vorcza, Viperhouse) have been spinning a frenetic type of gold since one rather happenstance evening together on stage in 2018. And from where else but Nectar’s would something so sublime emerge? Even less surprising was the fact that Garcia’s, on its first birthday, was sold out again.
The instant the band took up their instruments, the audience was locked to the stage. And then there was light! The music started, and energy began to pulse down from the band and through the people looking on, clear to the back of the room like a patronus charm, entrancement in its wake. Slowly at first, then rising with the music. Like a swarm of bees—twisting, twisting, rising, rising! The set started with “Mimi Digs It” off of Soule Monde’s record of the same name. Then came the first two tracks off LaMP’s debut record (“Some Days” and “Ramblin’”), and during “Ramblin’” the air caught fire—the spirit jumping at every twitch of the sonic flame. Next came another Soule Monde tune (“Bernard”) before working their way back to a cut off their first album, titled “Q Division,” and as they worked up to the peak of the jam, the floor beneath their feet spun on a needle point—tilting and whirling as it turned. A sonic bridge to an interdimensional oasis. It was all sure to be ashes by morning at the rate things were going. Lawton was pushing like the Energizer Bunny. The moment a tune would end, he would be counting off the next. Paczkowski gave mention of this fact when they finally caught a break for a moment, telling the crowd that “once Russ gets going, you can’t stop him.” That much was already clear.
After what I can only surmise is an unreleased LaMP tune (an ecstatic one at that), the band slipped into “Ulterior Motives,” a cut off their sophomore album One Of Us. If it weren’t for cell phone clocks, there would be no way of knowing how long it had been. They could have been playing for an hour or a day. Time didn’t matter here—not anymore at least. After all, why should it? We were in uncharted territory. When the next tune (another Soule Monde cut) wound to a close, set break came, and that was more jarring than anything the band could possibly have done on stage.
When the band returned to the stage, the room lit up again. Suddenly, and from out of nowhere anyone could see—beams from outer space, interplanetary communications. They jumped straight into another unreleased tune, aptly titled “Frenzy.” And it didn’t take long for the space to work up into exactly that. Manic and hysterical. Not funny—feverish. Like the music was ripping through layers of existence, desperate to get to the people. From that point, the band worked through two tracks off of One Of Us (“Cosmo” and “Jasper’s World,” respectively). My brain started to sound like a broken record; I just kept thinking it couldn’t get any higher. I was wrong every time, I might add. Ironically, the next song they played was “Out of Curiosity,” a cut off their self-titled debut and a personal favorite of mine. It’s a brief, bubbly respite from the cavernous pockets and chaotic peaks of LaMP’s jams—brief being the key word here, because it didn’t take them very long to work things back into a stormy euphoria. And it was a welcome one at that.
Not unlike any other good thing, it was inevitable that it should end. Things came to something of a head, and Lawton, Metzger, and Paczkowski pushed through three more tunes before finally relenting, finishing off the second set with one more cut (“Clipse Dog”) off of their debut album to end the show how it started. The band left the stage, and it was only moments later when they returned to send everyone off on one more high note with a heated encore that pulled the energy that had been building all night in and down on our heads. And that was that. It could go no further. It was a show that took me to places sonically that I have never even considered, let alone been. Rock meets free jazz in a certain way. Instrumental music has a way of stretching things out in a “yoga for the ears” kind of way. LaMP is no exception to the rule. In their case, I would amend it slightly to reflect a more psychedelic implication—calling it “acid for the ears.” I can say with a concrete level of certainty that I will be keeping myself aware of their movements going forward, because I won’t miss it.
ALL I CAN SAY IS THANK HEAVEN FOR NECTAR’S—MAY IT REST IN PEACE.
Be sure to get out and see LaMP in a city near you as they continue to push on down the road. Upcoming dates and news can be found at their website, ilikelamp.com.
