On Saturday, the beloved tribute act Pink Talking Fish closed out their spring tour with a triumphant hometown show at Boston, Massachusetts’ Paradise Rock Club. The performance saw the band in truly proper form, paying tribute to Pink Floyd, Talking Heads, and Phish with a hugely energetic show. To celebrate the band’s homecoming, the group had a number of special surprises in store for the Boston crowd, including sit-ins from Russ Lawton of Trey Anastasio Band and Dave Grippo and Carl Gerhard of Giant Country Horns.

Russ Lawton, most recently, has been on tour with Trey Anastasio and bassist Tony Markellis as Trey Anastasio Trio. Following longtime Trey Anastasio Band keyboardist Ray Paczkowski’s surgery to remove a brain tumor, the scheduled Trey Anastasio Band spring tour was canceled, instead replaced with a trio tour, marking the ensemble’s first full run since 1999. Furthermore, the trio tour was particularly timely given that the shows coincided with the 20th anniversary of Trey Anastasio Trio’s famed “8 Foot Florescent Tubes” show at Winooski, Vermont’s Higher Ground on April 17th.

As for Giant Country Horns, the horn group has been a longstanding staple with Phistory, with the group joining Phish on the road for what was affectionately known as “The Horns Tour” in 1991. Alto saxophonist, Dave “The Truth” Grippo holds the honor of being one of Vermont quartet’s most frequent guests on stage, though his Giant Country Horns bandmates like Carl Gerhard and Russ Remington have similarly graced stages with Phish multiple times.

Russ Lawton was the first sit-in of the evening, joining Pink Talking Fish for a take on a song he wrote with Trey Anastasio, the fan-favorite “Sand”—while Lawton was featured during the number, Dave Grippo made his first appearance of the evening, coming out to play cowbell for the tune. During Pink Talking Fish’s second set, Grippo returned to the stage, this time with his Giant Country Horn bandmate, trumpeter Carl Gerhard, for renditions of “Cavern” and “Julius”.

You can watch a video of Pink Talking Fish’s energetic rendition of Talking Head’s “Psycho Killer” below, which was recorded by Renee Gould and provided by Pink Talking Fish, and stay tuned for more videos of the standout collaborations from Pink Talking Fish’s spring tour closer!

 

 

 

 

[Video: Renee Gould via Pink Talking Fish]

Setlist: Pink Talking Fish | Paradise Rock Club | Boston, MA | 5/12/2018

Set 1: Divided Sky > Whipping Post > Divided Sky, Uh Oh Love Comes To Town > Happiest Days Of Our Lives > Another Brick In The Wall Part 2 > Limb By Limb > Another Brick In The Wall Part 3 > Psycho Killer > Us And Them*, Sand**

Set 2: Time Loves A Hero > Cities, Mother, Cavern*** > Julius***%, Life During Wartime% > Pigs (3 Different Ones)%% > Carini > Pigs (3 Different Ones) > Once In A Lifetime

E: Harry Hood

* w/ Waste tease
**w/ Russ Lawton on drums and Dave Grippo on cowbell
***w/ Dave Grippo on saxophone and Carl Gerhardt on trumpet
%w/ Entrance Of The Gladiators tease
%%w/ Bathtub Gin tease