Mike Gordon set sail on his winter tour at the State Theatre in Ithaca, New York on Friday night. Gordon honored Little Feat guitarist Paul Barrere, who died in October of last year, with Little Feat’s “Sailin’ Shoes” interlaced throughout the jam heavy concert.
Mike and his five-piece — featuring guitarist Scott Murawski, drummer John Kimock, keyboardist Robert Walter and percussionist Craig Myers — kicked things off with “Victim” from the 2017 album OGOGO. “Say Something” from 2014’s Overstep came next and led back into “Victim” before heading into the song’s reprise of sorts, “Victim 3D.” Gordon then debuted a new song he wrote called “Borrowing Rain.” The Phish tune “Meat” kicked off a continuous block that featured the first appearance of Little Feat’s “Sailin’ Shoes” since 2014 as well as Overstep track “Jumping” and “Sughn Never Sets” — which Mike debuted on March 8, 2019 in Atlanta — to close out the first frame.
Set two saw Gordon getting right to it with a “Pendulum” sandwich featuring a debut cover of Aimee Mann’s “Save Me” in the middle. Mann originally wrote and performed the song for the 1999 Paul Thomas Anderson film Magnolia. Newer tune “Acid Man,” which also saw its debut last year in Atlanta, came next. Then, Mike launched into another sandwich that began with “I Am Random” ahead of the first “Sailin’ Shoes” of the second set before returning to “I Am Random.” OGOGO’s “Marissa” followed before Murawski led the band on Talking Heads’ “Cities.” Gordon and company do the song at its original tempo as opposed to the slowed down version Phish usually plays. Then, “Crazy Sometimes” bled into another round of “Sailin’ Shoes” and went back into “Crazy Sometimes” to bring the second set to a close.
Mike and the band retook the stage to bring the house down with Son Seals’ “Funky Bitch.” Check out audience-shot video of “Cities” via ChakaHahn below:
Cities
Setlist
Set One: Victim, Say Something > Victim > Victim 3D, Borrowing Rain[1], Meat > Sailin’ Shoes > Jumping > Sughn Never Sets
Set Two: Pendulum > Save Me[1] > Pendulum, Acid Man, I Am Random > Sailin’ Shoes > I Am Random, Marissa, Cities > Crazy Sometimes > Sailin’ Shoes > Crazy Sometimes
Encore: Funky Bitch
Notes:
[1] Debut
