Last night, fan-favorite tribute act Pink Talking Fish kicked off the Southeast leg of their fall tour at The Charleston Pour House in Charleston, SC. The Charleston crowd was excited for a set of PTF’s usual Phish–Talking Heads–Pink Floyd fusion, but in light of the previous night’s election results, the band took the opportunity to lace their carefully crafted setlist with some clever political commentary.
Set 1 featured songs and lyrics that were a commentary on Trump’s future presidency. Obvious choices like “Wilson”, “Run Like Hell” and “Big Business” spoke for themselves. Other songs had particularly appropriate lyrics, like “Making Flippy Floppy” (Our president’s crazy, did you hear what he said), “Mother” (Mother should I run for president? Mother should I trust the government), and “Pigs (3 Different Ones)” (Hey you White House, ha ha charade you are.) The band even played into a commonly misheard lyric in “Halley’s Comet”, blending the phrase “Hell is coming” in with the song’s titular refrain before opting for “Chalkdust Torture” to close the set, in honor of Trump’s statement about supporting water-boarding torture methods.
While the music of the first set was on point as usual, the band knew the tongue-in-cheek commentary may have bummed some fans out. So for set two, PTF delivered some contrast, playing all songs with lyrics about positivity and light. “Nothing But Flowers”, “Free”, “Fearless” and “You Enjoy Myself” were obvious statements on this theme. The band even incorporated the “it doesn’t matter” refrain from Phish’s “Bug” into “Fearless”. Both “Naive Melody” and “Harry Hood” gave the crowd an opportunity to belt out some feel-good lyrics.
The encore was dedicated to the new President Elect: “Mexican Cousin” got a rise out of the audience as a hat-tip to Trump’s controversial immigration stance and desire to build a wall along our southern border. “Burning Down The House” was both a dance party and a hopeful plea that the new president doesn’t bring the White House down in flames. Finally, Led Zeppelin‘s “Good Times Bad Times” closed the show with a message of endurance, no matter what happens in the days to come.
Pink Talking Fish is back in action tonight at Smith’s Olde Bar in Atlanta, GA.
Setlist: November 9th, 2016 – Pink Talking Fish – The Pour House – Charleston SC
Set 1: Run Like Hell> Making Flippy Floppy*> Wilson> Mother> Wilson> Psycho Killer**> Halley’s Comet***> Pigs (3 Different Ones)> Big Business, Chalkdust Torture
Set 2: Nothing But Flowers****> Free> Fearless> Bug Outro%> This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody), You Enjoy Myself> Speak To Me> Breathe> You Enjoy Myself%%^> Love – Building On Fire^, Comfortably Numb> Harry Hood
Encore: Mexican Cousin> Burning Down The House, Good Times Bad Times
Notes: *w/ Rift tease, **w/ Exodus tease, ***w/ “Hell Is Coming” lyric,****w/ The Lizards tease, % ending vocals and solo, %%w/ Groove Is In The Heart tease, ^ w/ Burger Time vocals
Set 1 was a commentary on the previous day’s Election Results; Set 2 was filled with song titles and lyrics that embodied inspiration and good feeling; Encore was dedicated to the President Elect, Donald Trump.