On March 22, 2014, Mike Gordon and his band performed at The Rio in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada towards the end of their Spring Tour. The show, which does not currently circulate among fans, quickly became a band-favorite and was cherry picked for a brand new live release. It has been fully remixed from the band’s multi-tracks and mastered for release and is available now as a download at LivePhish.com and streaming via the LivePhish App.
The show featured originals from Mike’s newest album Overstep, including “Long Black Line,” “Face,” “Paint,” “Jumping,” “Peel” (which included an extended “Mrs. Peel” segment where fans in the front row were able to participate in the song’s evolution via a light up keyboard known as “EEL” that spanned the front of the stage). Phish fans will recognize “555” and the rarity “Spock’s Brain,” which hadn’t been played live on stage since 2003.
Mike recalls from his journal: “the good nights are the ones that feel really tight and really loose at the same time. Vancouver had that abandon. And all the new cannons were firing: we lit up the “EEL” keyboard along the front of the stage during the first set, cueing the audience to play along when certain keys glowed, and the ‘contact mics’ allowed us to weave in coughing sounds, sneezes, church bells, etc. in between notes on our instruments by tapping our mic stands. The extended ‘Peel’ kept traveling into different crevices of our dreamworlds.”
The five-piece lineup includes Mike on bass, Scott Murawski on guitar, Craig Myers on percussion, Tom Cleary on keyboards and drummer Todd Isler. To download the entire Vancouver show, please visit http://livephi.sh/mg140322.