Phish/Talking Heads/Pink Floyd tribute act Pink Talking Fish had a number of surprises in store for their New Year’s Eve concert on Monday night at Gypsy Sallys in Washington D.C. The members of the band dressed as the Blue Man Group for a percussive end to 2018 and also paid tribute to the name of the venue they played.
The show started with the aforementioned tribute to the venue as a cover of Santana’s “Gypsy Queen” was followed by a rendition of Allen Toussaint’s “Sneakin’ Sally Through The Alley.” A run of Floyd’s “Money,” Talking Heads’ “Wild Wild Life” and “Rift” by Phish came next. Pink Talking Fish ended the first of two sets by pairing “Fearless” with “Crosseyed & Painless” and “Divided Sky.”
PTF emerged for the second set dressed as the Blue Man Group. The quartet banged out tribal rhythms before landing on the beat for Phish’s “Down With Disease.” They then ditched the costumes and performed “Down With Disease” as a lead in to 2019 and the traditional “Auld Lang Syne.” Next up was “Once In A Lifetime” and a sequence of “Have A Cigar,” “Simple,” “Nothing But Flowers” and a “Gypsy Queen” reprise. The band jammed “Gypsy Queen” into “Astronomy Domine” which bled into TV On The Radio’s “Golden Age.” More Pink Floyd, Talking Heads and Phish classics brought the marathon set to a close. Pink Talking Fish went on to cover the Edgar Winter Group’s “Frankenstein” as the encore. Watch video of the way PTF ended 2018 and began 2019:
The members of Pink Talking Fish appeared on the most recent episode of The JamBase Podcast. Listen to the band discuss “The Art Of The Setlist” starting at the 26-minute mark:
Setlist
Set One: Gypsy Queen > Sneakin’ Sally Through The Alley, Money > Wild Wild Life > Rift, Fearless* > Crosseyed And Painless, Divided Sky
Set Two: Blue Man Group Drums** > Down With Disease > Auld Lang Syne > Once In A Lifetime, Have A Cigar > Simple > Nothing But Flowers > Gypsy Queen > Astronomy Domine > Golden Age > This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody), Pigs (3 Different Ones)^ > Halley’s Comet > Burning Down The House^^, 2001 > Brain Damage > Eclipse > Life During Wartime > Down With Disease
Encore: Frankenstein
- *w/ Bug tease
- **Band was dressed as Blue Man Group and played a drum feature on Floor Toms set up center stage. The rhythm was connected to Down With Disease and transitioned into the song before the NYE Countdown
- ^w/ Bathtub Gin and Do You Feel Like I Do teases
- ^^w/ Simple tease
