On Saturday in Burlington, the two-night Royal Family Ball came to a close at Higher Ground. The evening, which included a movie character costume contest, saw Lettuce take the stage in full Star Wars regalia. Eric Krasno appeared as Darth Vader, while fellow guitarist Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff was Yoda. Keyboard player Neal Evans appeared as Han Solo, bassist Erick Coomes was “a hipster Luke Skywalker,” drummer Adam Deitch was Chewbacca, Soulive’s Alan Evans guested on percussion as Lando Calrissian, while Sam Kininger and Ryan Zoidis as hooded Jedi Warriors.

Looking back on the night, Deitch recalls, “The lights went dim as we began the hip hop version of the imperial death march to begin the set. At the completion of death march mayhem we moved into our new album’s NBA styled funk anthem “Madison Square,” followed by new untitled songs that will appear on our next release in early 2012. We brought back “The Dump” from the vaults of our first album, originally an old funky 45 we found on a compilation. Towards the end of the show a naughty nurse found her way onto stage, danced provocatively for a moment before completely capsizing slowly like giant redwood tree cut at the bottom. A collective “oooh” from the concerned band and crowd was let out, before stage manager, announcer, band comedian Mike Gibney politely escorted her off stage and hopefully to the nearest ice pack. As we celebrated our star rhythm guitarist shmeans’ birthday with a Ben and Jerry’s cookie dough ice cream cake after the show, the vibe in Burlington could not have been any ‘higher.‘”