Watch Members Of Dogs In A Pile, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong & Cris Jacobs Play Grateful Dead Set At The Ramble

The Ramble Festival hosted a Grateful Dead set performed by members of Dogs In A Pile, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong and Cris Jacobs. The fourth annual event was held last weekend at Camp Ramblewood in Darlington, Maryland.

This year’s The Ramble Band lineup was revealed to include of all five members of Dogs In A Pile – guitarists Jimmy Law and Brian Murray, drummer Joey Babick, keyboardist Jeremy Kaplan and bassist Sam Lucid. Pigeons Playing Ping Pong drummer Alex Petropulos also played a second kit and Jacobs led the ensemble on electric guitar and vocals.

During parts of the performance, Murray played Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir’s “original Cowboy Fancy” Ibanez BWM1 guitar, while both Law and Jacobs employed the use of a replica of Jerry Garcia’s custom Rosebud guitar.

Classic Grateful Dead repertoire made up the setlist as the ensemble worked up “Help On The Way,” “Slipknot!,” “Feel Like A Stranger,” “Dupree’s Diamond Blues,” and “Estimated Prophet” into “Eyes Of The World.” Sneezy saxophonist Destiny Pivonka appeared during “Eyes” and remained for the subsequent “Peggy-O.”

Pulling from the Brent Mydland era of the Dead, Kaplan sang lead on “Blow Away,” ahead of a rousing, set-closing edition of “Morning Dew.” The Ramble fest Artist-At-Large Abby Bryant added vocals to an encore roll through “The Music Never Stopped.”

The Ramble Festival 2026 is scheduled for October 9 – 11. Watch pro-shot video of The Ramble Band’s Grateful Dead set at this year’s event: