March 25, 2011

Mike Gordon Band @ Brooklyn Bowl, March 23

On a spring evening that saw hail, freezing rain, thunder and lightning envelop New York City, the Mike Gordon Band played their second of two sold-out shows at Brooklyn Bowl. The Phish bassist’s current five-piece “solo” band first started performing together in 2008 and the payoff of having five lengthy tours under their belts is paying major dividends in terms of tightness and the size of the repertoire. The MGB’s second Brooklyn Bowl show, while not mind-blowing, displayed a high level of engagement, creativity and the willingness to take risks that Phish fans love.

[All photos by Jeremy Gordon]

With such a deep song list after multiple years together and three Mike Gordon albums to pull from, the band did a nice job of mixing tunes most in the audience were familiar with alongside gems from the catalog that those who don’t own the albums may not have known. Variety was a keyword during the first set as the band moved fluidly from the groove of Andelman’s Yard and Sound to the more sinister I’m Deranged to the ’70s fusion of River Niger. Gordon gave band mates Scott Murawski and Tom Cleary a chance to lead on Max Creek’s Willow Tree and the Cleary-written MGB original Be Good and You’ll Be Lonely respectively. Cleary impressed throughout the night with his spastic style on keys and country-tinged vocals, while Murawski provided moments of glory among a number of unmemorable solos.

Set 1: Andelmans’ Yard, Sound, I’m Deranged > Willow Tree, River Niger, Balloon, Be Good and You’ll Be Lonely, You’re No Good^[1], Mound

Set 2: Traveled Too Far, Flashback > Funky Bitch, Pretend, What Things Seem, Hand in My Pocket, Couch Lady

Encore: Takin’ It to the Streets

[1] Mike Gordon debut; Dude of Life on vocals.

Notes: The Mike Gordon debut of “You’re No Good” featured the Dude of Life on vocals.

[via Phish.net]

The first set ended with a pair of treats – longtime Phish collaborator Steve “Dude of Life” Pollak singing Linda Ronstadt’s You’re No Good with the MGB and an extended take on the Rift chestnut Mound. As Gordon mentioned, what better place to “bring out the Dude” than a bowling alley? The Dude’s awkward dance moves scored points with most of the audience and he quickly left the stage to let the band get down to business after delivering the vocals, only to return for the outro.

READ ON for more of Scotty’s thoughts and Jeremy’s photos…

As the NCAA Basketball Tournament reduces down to eight teams today, we are a couple hours ahead of the game with our Elite 8 Bracket. There were some close contests in the Sweet 16, like The Band narrowing out Umphrey’s McGee w/Jennifer Hartswick in a 51% to 49% contest. We have our updated bracket below and four match-ups for you to vote on.

Matchup #1

Ramble On (Led Zeppelin)

Phish debuted this cover at Alpine Valley in the Summer of 1998. As most Phish fans know, there has been one other performance ever and it was the following week at Vernon Downs where the band paired Ramble On with their own Slave To The Traffic Light to close the first set. There are some killer Ramble On Teases in the Slave jam. Source: 8-1-1998

[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/phramble.mp3]

UPDATE: The text in all the descriptions for Cover Wars March Madness are taken from the original editions which at times – are out of date. As one of our readers pointed out in the previous round – Phish has since performed one more partial performance of Ramble On, and yes – it was pretty terrible.

VS.

Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)

Jeff Buckley: Buckley’s hauntingly dramatic version from his 1994 debut Grace is the best known cover of Hallelujah. It’s one of the best known covers of any song ever. Many people who love the Buckley version have no idea Cohen was the originator – I know I’ve met more than a few.

[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/hallelujahbuckley.mp3]

Video from Chicago in 1995:

READ ON to vote on the remaining three matchups in the Elite 8…

We all know plenty of songs that reference another song by name, for example the famous line in Sweet Home Alabama, “I hope Neil Young will remember, a Southern Man

Australian synth-pop act Cut Copy are Jimmy Fallon’s musical guest tonight on NBC’s Late Night. The boys recently put out their critically acclaimed third album, Zonoscope, which reached #3 on