Eggy Turns Toronto Purim Party Into Celebration Of Women In Music

Eggy brought their second annual Purim celebration to Annabel’s in Toronto on Saturday night, continuing their widely successful Here And How Tour with a themed show centering around women in music.

While last year’s sold-out Purim throwdown at Brooklyn Bowl featured vocalist Sammi Garett and the Funky Dawgz horns to augment the costume set in the second half of the show, this year’s weaved covers from female artists throughout the whole duration and was straight-up Eggy.

The band came onstage in costume with keyboardist Dani Battat as Britney Spears, guitarist Jake Brownstein as Joni Mitchell, drummer Alex Bailey as Joan Jett, and bassist Mike Goodman as Janis Joplin.

The show opened with Emily King‘s “Remind Me,” Bailey nailing the vocal as the full Toronto house got into the groove. Quick runs through “Between You And Me” and “You” finished out the “warm-up” portion of the set as Eggy prepared for the first cover of the night, nestling Sheryl Crow‘s “Soak Up The Sun” within a “Laurel” sandwich.

Embarking on a high-energy jam to start, Battat peppered clav overtop Goodman’s insistent bass lines as Brownstein drove the band through an explosive early peak to open the night’s improvisational floodgates. Bailey shined with some whirlwind fills as the quartet drove the music around and around to the delight of the crowd.

Brownstein worked the intro lick to “Soak Up The Sun” into the final peak as Eggy executed a flawless segue, Bailey nailing the vocals with his bandmates harmonizing smoothly behind him as the musical layers carried forth the energy from “Laurel.” Hitting back into some improv, Bailey kept the disco beat going as Brownstein augmented his tone with some darker layers and textural delays. Battat joined the fray with some electric piano and work as the band built to a cacophonous peak atop Goodman’s tension-building ascending licks.

Leading back into the ending of “Laurel,” the band opted to fire up recently-debuted original “Trixieville” next, its incredible earworm opening lick getting the crowd sold pretty much instantly.

Possibly my favorite cover of the night came next as the set drew nearer to its end as the band weaved the jam through another smooth segue into “Barracuda.” This is not a tune that you’d expect a jam band to nail the way that Eggy did, but I was blown away by their precision on the cover both with music and Bailey’s vocals, Brownstein shredding his Toronto-made Frank Brothers guitar through a Type I solo before we were treated to a gorgeous extended jam.

Battat led the way into a brief funk zone on electric piano before the whole band collected into a more mellow major-key vibe, contrasting with the pretty much nonstop energy of the set up until that point. The band locked in on a gorgeous democratic motif from there – everyone adding a beautiful layer, especially Brownstein’s melodies, but what really stuck out to me was the keyboard work as Eggy built to an emotionally-charged peak before heading back into “Trixieville” and then a reprise of “Barracuda” to close out the first set.

Toronto is not a market that lots of jambands play very often, so most of the crowd had only seen Eggy once before at their Canadian debut in May 2024, but the prevailing sentiment at setbreak was one of excitement and gratitude that the band picked our city for their special Purim show AND that it was absolutely amazing so far.

The second set kicked off with a great pairing of “Must Come Down” into theme-appropriate “Queen’s Gambit,” the latter descending into Type II territory atop a descending riff from Brownstein that was quickly latched onto by Goodman.

Bailey hit the toms as Battat locked in with Goodman on piano hits, building in energy around Brownstein’s hypnotic licks and then propelling forward into a funkier motif. Infusing some of his signature Chase Bliss MOOD usage into the jam, the swirling effects gave the music a more psychedelic feel as Battat laid into some really cool, thick electric piano chords.

Bailey initiated a melodic break in the music that saw guitar, bass, and keys all dance around each other for a spell before returning to more textural work to let Brownstein’s repeated riffs inform the next segment. Thumping funk returned in full force for a spell before the band built back into the ending of “Queen’s Gambit” at a full-force explosive and cathartic peak.

Setlist staple “Oh, What A World” made its expected appearance as Eggy proceeded to blow the audience away with their beautiful take on the Kacey Musgraves song before debuting a slower and more atmospheric cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” highlighted by sparkling Moog synth work from Battat on a soaring solo.

From there, the band rolled into “Edge Of Seventeen” — a Stevie Nicks classic last played 560 shows prior on December 2, 2015 — a version that was among many audience member’s highlights as Eggy went full disco-funk on another extended improvisational journey, this time highlighted by Battat’s clav and Goodman’s tight in-the-pocket grooving.

Brownstein and Bailey mimicked riffs from each other as the former threw in some jazzy chords, letting Battat keep the lead for a while. From there it was all energy as the band hit into a sustained high-energy peak with active playing from all members, a hallmark of Eggy’s jamming style that keeps every minute so fresh.

Brownstein let loose some wild delay builds ahead of a final explosion into the “Edge of Seventeen” chorus before the band returned to their original catalog with the pulsating synth intro to “Woah There.” Riding a high from the set so far, they expertly foreshadowed the encore with some “Tell Me Something Good” teases while Brownstein took an early lead on some wah riffs.

Bailey seemed to be everywhere on his kit at once as he smoothly built alongside the rest of the band to a rocking peak, complete with a double-time section that saw grins from both band and audience alike.

One of the first songs Brownstein and Battat ever wrote together, “Golden Gate Dancer,” was tapped to close the second set with one last burst of energy, Eggy leaving the Toronto crowd with a final volcanic peak as they exited the stage to massive cheers.

“Tell Me Something Good” brought the show to a close with one final strong Bailey vocal performance, a joyous crowd singalong, and a solidification of Toronto as a stronghold for Eggy fans outside of their home base in the NYC area.

The band is now two for two on Purim and are already looking ahead to the possibilities for next year’s holiday show – this is a tradition that will undoubtedly continue to grow in size and scale throughout Eggy’s career, so do not miss a future edition if you have the ability to be there!

The Here And How Tour continues this weekend with a short Northeastern run before heading to the Southeast in April and an already-stacked summer festival season.

Setlist (via The Carton)

Set One: Remind Me[1], Between You and Me[2] > You > Laurel-> Soak Up The Sun[3]-> Laurel, Trixieville-> Barracuda[4]-> Trixieville > Barracuda[4]

Set Two: Must Come Down[5]-> Queen’s Gambit, Oh, What A World[6], Big Yellow Taxi[7] > Edge of Seventeen[8], Woah There[9], Golden Gate Dancer[10]

Encore: Tell Me Something Good[11]

Notes:

• The band wore costumes inspired by iconic women in music. Dani (Britney Spears), Jake (Joni Mitchell), Alex (Joan Jett), Mike (Janis Joplin)
• [1] Emily King cover
• [2] OG version
• [3] Sheryl Crow cover, FTP
• [4] Heart cover, FTP
• [5] with Slide (Calvin Harris cover)
• [6] Kacey Musgraves cover
• [7] Joni Mitchell cover, FTP
• [8] Stevie Nicks cover, LTP 12/2/15 (560 show gap)
• [9] with Tell Me Something Good (Rufus) teases
• [10] with Barracuda (Heart) teases
• [11] Rufus & Chaka Khan cover, LTP 9/29/15 (564 show gap)