On Friday night, Phish’s resident chairman of the boards, Page McConnell, made a surprise appearance in New Orleans, performing at a brand-new venue called Elephant Collective—a Burning Man-esque art collective and venue, chock full of art installations and unique lounges—for a summer solstice party dubbed “Afterglow”. Page sat in with Russell Batiste, the famed Crescent City drummer who was also a part of Page’s electronic side trio in the early 2000s, Vida Blue, along with bassist Oteil Burbridge. Vida Blue made headlines again earlier in the year after the Spam Allstars posted that they were looking forward to getting back in the studio with the electronic trio; the Spam Allstars later confirmed they had been recording with McConnell, Burbridge, and Batiste on Instagram.
Last night, McConnell found himself performing with Russell Batiste and Orkestra from Da Hood—this lineup of primarily New Orleans-based musicians released an album in 2007 called The Clinic. As noted on the show’s description, the Summer Solstice celebration at Elephant Collective was in part curated by percussionist Damon Batiste, Russell’s brother, making it a family affair for the Batistes, who are a legendary New Orleans musical family. Keeping in this theme, Damon and Russell’s father, keyboardist David Paul Batiste, also joined the all-star crew during the night.
To start off the show, Russell Batiste and company performed a few songs with Orkestra from Da Hood to warm up the eager crowd. After a few numbers, Page came out—as noted by Live For Live Music writer, Sam D’arcangelo, “Not a lot of people there knew Page would be there, and most didn’t know who he was when he showed up. There was a contingent of Phish fans at the show, many of whom rushed there quickly after the venue announced Page would be appearing an hour beforehand, but for the most part, people were there for the party in general.”
Russell paired the introduction of the Phish keyboardist with a confirmation that a new Vida Blue album was in the works and coming soon. Batiste paired this announcement by noting “I don’t know if I should say it or not, but I’m gonna take my fucking chances ’cause I have nothing to lose, but Vida Blue is coming out with another album!”—marking the first time members of the band itself have officially confirmed their new project.
Russell Batiste Introduces Page McConnell & Confirms New Vida Blue Album
From there, with McConnell on keys, Batiste and Orkestra from Da Hood launched into a classic Vida Blue tune, “Most Events Aren’t Planned”—a tune that Phish debuted during the 13th and final night of their already-legendary Baker’s Dozen run at Madison Square Garden and reprised during their 2017 summer tour closer at Colorado’s Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. From there, the band performed The Meters’ classic 1969 number, “Cissy Strut”, with Russell’s dad, David Paul, on keytar, and Russell invited a few fans in attendance to dance on stage. While the night raged until 4 am or so, Page came out around 11 pm and stayed on for six or seven songs, at points switching to keytar for select numbers. Check out more videos from last night below from Live For Live Music.