Have you ever been at a jam band show where they bring out one guitarist after another? At some point, there is a law of diminishing return on the number of six-stringers onstage—the rhythm section patiently holds down the grooves for guitar solo after guitar solo. This was not the case with Pink Talking Fish on Sunday at Buffalo Iron Works in New York, where the band welcomed three guitarists from Dogs In A Pile and Aqueous and made them all share one guitar—Cal Kehoe‘s.
After covering Wish You Were Here in its entirety in the first set, Pink Talking Fish focused the second-half of the show more on its Talking Heads and Phish split personality. Midway through the frame, during a take on Talking Heads’ “Slippery People”, the band brought out Dogs In A Pile’s Brian Murray and Jimmy Law plus Aqueous’ Mike Gantzer. While it may not have been surprising to see Murray, Law, and Gantzer together—seeing how they just jammed together 24 hours prior on the same stage for a cover of Steely Dan‘s “Green Earrings”—what was surprising is that all three guitarists came unarmed. No problem, because PTF guitarist Cal Kehoe paid close attention that day in kindergarten when we all learned about sharing, and graciously offered up use of his instrument to his guests.
Musically, the PTF-DIAP-AQ sit-in ranks somewhere near Phish’s July 21st, 1997 show in Virginia Beach when Trey Anastasio played three guitars, Page McConnell laid across his piano, and Dave Matthews Band’s LeRoi Moore played two saxophones. It wasn’t about the music, man, it was about the close-knit bond of this musical community and fans’ not only patience—but encouragement—for such shenanigans that make every show a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Watch members of Dogs In A Pile, Aqueous, and Pink Talking Fish all play the same guitar in Buffalo. PTF’s tour continues this week with a pair of shows in New Hampshire, and on Tuesday the band announced a new crop of summer tour dates throughout the Northeast, Midwest, and Western U.S. Dogs In A Pile have shows this week throughout the Midwest in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Indiana. Find tickets and tour dates on PTF’s and DIAP’s websites. Aqueous went on an indefinite hiatus in the summer of 2023.
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Setlist: Pink Talking Fish | Buffalo Iron Works | Buffalo, NY | 4/6/25
Set One: Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V), Welcome to the Machine, Have a Cigar, Wish You Were Here, Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts VI-IX)
Set Two: Sabotage (Beastie Boys), Runaway Jim, This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody), Slippery People, Fearless, My Friend, My Friend, The Mango Song, Burning Down the House, Brain Damage, Eclipse
Encore: A Day in the Life (The Beatles)
[1] with Mike Gantzer, Jimmy Law, Brian Murray and Cal all playing the same guitar together