On Saturday night, Mike Gordon played the second show of his March 2019 solo tour with a performance at The Orange Peel in Asheville, NC. Following Friday night’s tour-opening show which included the debuts of a pair of new songs, Gordon continued unveiling new material in Asheville with the debuts of three new songs.
After getting started with “Victim”, Gordon and his band—comprised of guitarist Scott Murawski, keyboardist/organist Robert Walter, drummer John Kimock, and percussionist Craig Myers—moved into the first debut of the night with “Put Down The Phone” led by Murawski. Myer’s original “Angatta” followed before the quintet moved into “555”, the Gordon/Murawski tune off of Phish‘s 2014 Fuego release. Gordon and company picked up the pace with a bouncy cover of Robert Palmer‘s “Looking For Clues”, highlighted by some explosive organ solos out of Walter’s corner. A breezy take on “Yarmouth Road” came next, which was followed up by the second debut of the night with “I Am Random”. Gordon and his bandmates brought the first set to a close with “Go Away”.
Following a brief setbreak, the five-piece opened up their second set with “Whirlwind”, the third tune of the night off of Gordon’s 2017 OGOGO release. A rockin’ take on Max Creek‘s “Jones” came next, as Murawski traded off a series of electrifying solos with Walter. “Steps” came next before the quintet launched into the third debut of the evening with “My Favorite Mistake”. Mike’s solo endeavor offered up Phish’s “Sugar Shack” for just the fourth time since 2016, before wrapping the second set with a segue of “Surface” into “Crazy Sometimes”. The latter featured a handful of teases including “Frankenstein”, as well as I Dream of Jeannie, Gilligan’s Island, Brady Bunch, and Flintstones theme teases. Gordon and the band returned to the stage for an encore performance of Rancid‘s “Ruby Soho”.
Mike Gordon’s solo tour continues tonight, Sunday, March 10th, with a performance in Nashville, TN. For a full list of Mike Gordon’s upcoming tour dates, head here.
Setlist: Mike Gordon | The Orange Peel | Asheville, NC | 3/9/2019
Set One: Victim, Put Down The Phone[1], Angatta, 555, Looking for Clues, Yarmouth Road, I Am Random[1], Go Away
Set Two: Whirlwind, Jones, Steps, My Favorite Mistake[1], Sugar Shack, Surface > Crazy Sometimes
Encore: Ruby Soho
[1] Debut