See Aqueous Debut Shred-Heavy Phish Cover At Great Flamingle II Festival

Aqueous recently hosted and curated The Great Flamingle II, a two-day festival held at The Heron Farm & Event Center in Sherman, New York that marked the group’s last performances before starting an indefinite hiatus. The quartet debuted a cover of Phish‘s “Mexican Cousin” to end the first night on Friday, August 11.

Guitarist Mike Gantzer dedicated “Mexican Cousin” to Darren Kemp, a longtime supporter of the band. “It’s a big piece of how we met him,” Gantzer explained.

Phish originally released “Mexican Cousin” on their 2002 studio album Round Room. The band debuted the song live on January 2, 2003 at Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia. A mere 14 additional versions have followed over the past 21 years. Most recently Phish trotted out “Mexican Cousin” at Fenway Park in Boston on July 6, 2019.

Aqueous took time getting the intro down at The Great Flamingle II. “We’re not going to do this very well,” drummer Rob Houk predicted. “They didn’t do it very well either … we are talking about Phish,” Gantzer quipped. The four-piece finally lit into the song and pulled off a respectable version featuring a ripping guitar solo from Mike Gantzer.

Watch official video of Aqueous’ first night of The Great Flamingle II courtesy of videographer MKDevo cued to “Mexican Cousin” below:

Aqueous delivered two career-spanning sets on the 11th. Highlights included well-jammed takes on “Dave’s Song,” “All In” and a “Random Company” featuring “Triangle” within. Dopapod drummer Neal Evans emerged during the first set allowing Rob Houk to take center stage to sing Spacehog’s “In The Meantime.”