Benevento/Russo Duo Featuring Mike Gordon Performs At moe.down On This Date In 2004

The Benevento/Russo Duo Featuring Mike Gordon took the moe.down stage at the Snow Ridge Ski Resort in Yurin, New York on this date in 2004. The trio had so impressed the festival’s titular band earlier that summer when they shared a bill for a HeadCount benefit at B.B. King’s in New York that moe. made sure they were on the 2004 moe.down lineup. And The Duo with Mike did not disappoint.

Marco, Mike and Joe kicked off the set with their take on “Ho-Down,” famously appearing in the 1942 Rodeo ballet by Aaron Copland and more recently in the “Beef It’s What’s For Dinner” commercials. Benevento handled the lightning-quick melody on the Hammond organ before switching over to some scorching Fender Rhodes, and, along with Russo and Gordon, took the song out. The ominous and almost industrial “Becky” came next, the song would land on The Duo’s 2005 album Best Reason To Buy the Sun. The trio got a little weird with the dark and sprawling “Scratchitti” which the band built into a crescendo before dropping into the shuffle of Mike’s “The Beltless Buckler” from his 2003 solo album Inside In.

Next, the trio delivered their cover of the Yes epic “Roundabout.” Marco handled both the melody on Rhodes as well as the song’s iconic organ backed by Russo’s rock solid beat and dive bombing bass from Gordo. The Duo and Mike then took moe.down on an 18 minute “Mephisto” odyssey before bringing down the house with an instrumental version of the Phish classic “Mike’s Song,” which started out laid back but quickly escalated into the song’s ending hits to bring the set to a close.

Listen to Benevento/Russo Featuring Mike Gordon’s entire set from moe.down 2004 below for this edition of Full Show Friday:

Setlist via Phish.net

Set: Hoe-Down, Becky, Scratchitti > The Beltless Buckler > Roundabout, Mephisto, Mike’s Song