Phish honored the St. Louis Blues’ Stanley Cup victory shortly after the team won the championship on June 12, 2019 by covering Laura Branigan’s “Gloria” to kick off their second set at the Chaifetz Arena. Bassist Mike Gordon shared details of the night in a new interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
“There was just a lot of excitement all around the town,” Gordon told the paper’s Daniel Durchholz of the quartet’s decision to cover the Blues’ postgame victory song. “It was kind of a no-brainer. We just had to do it.” Mike explained that Phish worked up the cover during soundcheck before the show. “There was an iPhone or something, and it was plugged in so everybody could hear it,” the Massachusetts native added. “We learned it and practiced it a little more in our dressing rooms, but that was it. Sometimes we’ve learned songs before encores — after the set and before the encore.” In addition, Mike noted members of Vampire Weekend visited the soundcheck. VW opened their encore at St. Louis’ Fox Theatre that night with a less successful version of “Gloria.”
Mike also revealed he’s working on new material with Scott Murawski, some of which has been debuted during Gordon and Murawski’s current tour with keyboardist Robert Walter, drummer John Kimock and percussionist Craig Myers. “He brings something to the table that I don’t have,” the bassist said of Murawski. “Somehow, he’s got a finger or the pulse of the future. He’ll play me something new, and it’s exactly the direction I wanted to be going in. Maybe not always, but it’s really wild how that works.”
Also of note is that Mike and guitarist Leo Kottke are approaching the finish line on the long-awaited follow-up to 2005’s Sixty Six Steps. “We did those two [Sixty Six Steps and 2002’s Clone] and then spent 15 years talking about the next one,” MG chuckled. “But there were all kinds of things to work through. It just unfolded in such a natural way that now we’re getting closer (to finishing an album). It’s just feeling very organic and pure.” Head here for more from Mike Gordon, who brings his quintet to St. Louis’ Delmar Hall on Friday.
Watch Phish’s performance of video via fan-shot video captured by LazyLightning55 below:
[Hat Tip – Live Music Blog]
