Flashback | Phish Plays A Private Wedding In Burlington

Vermont jam titans Phish have played the role of wedding band a number of times over the past 30 years including performances at LD Chris Kuroda, manager Jason Colton and former manager Brad Sands’ wedding receptions. While the quartet only performed a handful of tunes at each one previously mentioned, today marks the 25th anniversary of a night they played multiple sets at the wedding of their Burlington friends Beth and Steven Drebber.

The band debuted a number of songs publicly for the first time at the Drebber’s wedding including “In A Mellow Tone” (Duke Ellington cover), “Four” (Miles Davis cover), “Lucky Seven” (Dave Holland cover), “Blue Sky” (Allman Brothers cover), “Night And Day” (Cole Porter cover) and “The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony.” Phish archivist Kevin Shapiro detailed the event for Phish.com’s Tour Archive:

This show was a private reception following Steve and Beth Drebber’s wedding. It consisted of one jazz set and one Phish set. This show yielded several new additions to the band’s jazz repertoire, including the 1st known “public” performances of: In A Mellow Tone (Duke Ellington cover), Four (Miles Davis cover), Lucky Seven (Dave Holland cover), Blue Sky (Dicky Betts cover), Night And Day (Cole Porter cover) and The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony. Several songs were dedicated to best man Jim Tasse and Jim gave a toast at the end of set I. Blue Sky was the newlyweds’ official first dance. During Suzy Greenberg, some guests did the “ceremonial first bounce” on mini trampolines while the band teased the Popeye Theme. Icculus included Steve (or somebody) on trumpet and guest vocals. A garter removal/bouquet toss and cake cutting followed Night And Day. Run Like An Antelope featured Steve on drums and Fish on trumpet and trombone while the entire audience ran back and forth in an unsuccessful attempt to tip the boathouse over. After Run Like An Antelope, Steve said a few words of thanks and the band played a “Going Away Jam”. Contact was dedicated to everybody driving home, especially the newlyweds. Trey quipped “please drive safely and remember, the best offense is a good defense”. A long, tribal Drums/percussion jam followed Contact to end what Steve called a “dream wedding”.

Eighty-five minutes worth of music from that evening circulates:

Here’s the setlist for the “show” via Phish.net, but note only the second set as well as “Icculus” and “Run Like An Antelope” are featured in the audio embedded above:

Set One: Satin Doll, On Green Dolphin Street[1], In a Mellow Tone[2], Autumn Leaves[1], Four[2], My Favorite Things[1], Lucky Seven[2], Donna Lee, Take the ‘A’ Train

Set Two: Blue Sky[2], Suzy Greenberg, AC/DC Bag, Ya Mar, Rocky Top, On Your Way Down, Night and Day[2], Blue Monk, I Didn’t Know[3], You Enjoy Myself, Possum

Set Three: Icculus[4], Run Like an Antelope[5], The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony[6] > Contact

[1] First known public Phish performance.
[2] First known Phish performance.
[3] Fish on trombone.
[4] Steven Drebber on vocals, unknown trumpet player (possibly Fish).
[5] Steven Drebber on drums and Fish on trumpet and trombone.
[6] First known performance.