Last night, Mike Gordon celebrated his birthday with a private party at New Yorks City Winery on an off night between Phish shows at the nearby Jones Beach Amphitheatre. Rumors circulated throughout the day that Phish would play a surprise gig in the Manhattan areafueled by a joke Trey Anastasio made from the stage Tuesday night and a cryptic message on Gordons hotline that referenced the craft of cupcake making.
After finishing up the private portion of his birthday celebration, Gordon decided to play some music at the new club, and the news quickly hit the web via message boards, Twitter and Facebook. Relix/Jambands.com was tipped off to the event by City Winery owner Michael Dorf who had indicated all of Phish were there, but it quickly became apparent that the surprise show was in fact BK3: Gordon, Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann and Max Creek guitarist Scott Murawski. As the audience rapidly swelled to several hundred people, the trio offered a two-set performance that included Grateful Dead favorites like Eyes of the World, Cumberland Blues’ and US Blues, with Gordon playing a new bass with red with this flame cut out given to him for his birthday by Page McConnell.
In addition, Donna The Buffalo singer Tara Nevins took the stage for Peggy-O, and Gordon supplied lead vocals on Charles Wright and the Watts 103rd St. Rhythm Band’s Express Yourself and Bob Dylans Quinn the Eskimo, a song Phish has covered on occasion over the years. The rest of the set consisted of The Beatles Come Together, Little Feats Skin it Back, the Jerry Garcia standardTore Up, Flatt & Scruggs’ Doin My Time, nd blues rocker Mercury Blues.