Father’s Day Family Outing with Lotus
Sunday funday for Write Lotus in New Jersey
Barbecuing on the deck or the patio. Burgers and dogs on the grill. A likely scene on Father’s Day, as is your dad mowing the lawn or, hopefully, watching the game in peace. Snoring. Or maybe it’s live music, though in all these years, I haven’t seen a single band on that most sacred of holidays for heavy duty spatulas and oversized tongs.
The possibility became reality when Lotus was added to the New Jersey stop of the moe.mentUM tour: ParkStage, a new, temporary venue hosting a summer concert series close to the shore in Freehold. At $20 more than the regular GA ticket, I splurged for VIP pit. Arrived early and treated myself to an Argentinian ground beef empanada and a vegan with pinto beans off a food truck. So satisfying were the fillings and the medium-rare dough of the half-moons that my mind got a boost, too. Then, I claimed my spot on the rail and made friends with this dude and his girlfriend to my right, whereupon the usual exchange of personal and musical backgrounds began.
As the adage goes, “Never miss a Sunday show.” Never miss a favorite band’s shows in your home state, either. Unlike when Lotus played an hour opening set at The Big E in Massachusetts, I knew going in that this would be just 45 minutes and done. My shortest Lotus show timewise, but four songs or five? Who cares. We’d all do it for one. Because it’s community, and however you define it, support matters.
Guitarist Tim Palmieri and drummer/percussionist Mike Greenfield are the resident dads. I hadn’t heard “Blender” since 2019: It has more oomph thanks to the middle-of-the-stage pairing, as if the focus is on the action following the decision in the story rather than the contemplation that happened beforehand. “Neon Tubes” is always a complex, engaging adventure—as a proponent of many things progressive, it’s my Father’s Day 2026 memory. Keyboardist/Guitarist Luke Miller and twin Jesse, on bass and modular synth, found yet another direction to move in on their latest album, and “Angler” leans hard into that light vs. dark motif. The dance-y vibe of “Electric Orange” and the warm weather “Shimmer And Out” hit us with a double shot of sunshine as the sun was starting its long fadeout.
People who’d never heard Lotus, or heard of them, received a compact, diverse sample of what this group is capable of. Inspiring. How different is natural, where taking chances is the norm, and the masses gravitate to that real messaging. Like at Summerdance, which I’ve still never attended. Never been to a Lotus Halloween show and, until the 2023 New Year’s run, I’d never done a full one of those. But guess what? I’ve now seen them on an important family holiday, and there was plenty of family to celebrate with in The Garden State, even if I just met them.