Greensky Bluegrass Dusts Off Phish, Bob Dylan & Wood Brothers Covers At New Haven Opener

Greensky Bluegrass got their two-night run at Westville Music Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut underway on Friday. The quintet revived covers from Phish, Bob Dylan and The Wood Brothers for the New Haven opener.

GSBG — mandolinist Paul Hoffman, guitarist Dave Bruzza, banjo player Michael Bont, bassist Mike Devol and dobroist Anders Beck — kicked the show off with “Do It Alone” from their 2019 album All For Money. The band then stretched “Living Over” to 10 minutes before taking it back with “Less Than Supper,” the title track to the band’s 2003 debut album, which came ahead of a cover of John Hartford’s “Steam Powered Aeroplane.” Next, another vintage GSBG tune came in the form of “Nine Days.”

Greensky then got into some cover material with Jimmy Martin’s “Hit Parade Of Love” before busting out Dylan’s “Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)” for the first time since July 19, 2019, as per Phantasy Tour. The quintet then got exploratory on a nearly 15-minute rendition of bluegrass standard “Broke Mountain Breakdown” which headed into Phish’s “Julius.” Greensky last played the Hoist opener on December 29, 2018 for a total of 132 shows according to PT. Greensky has only played the “Julius” eight times since debuting it in 2015 The Phish rocker would close out the first frame.

The staple “Jaywalking” began the second set ahead of “It’s Not Mine Anymore.” “Middle Mountain Towns” commenced a seamless section that also included the bluegrass traditional “Rueben’s Train,” which headed into The Wood Brothers’ steallar tune “Luckiest Man.” Greensky last played the song on December 7, 2019. “Luckiest Man” would in turn head back into “Rueben’s Train” to cap off the continuous section. “Handguns” and “Just Listening” followed ahead of second set closer “Worried About The Weather.” The encore consisted of the Flatt & Scruggs covered gospel song “Cryin’ Holy Unto The Lord (Rock Where Moses Stood)” before Greensky Bluegrass brought the evening to a close with Bruce Springsteen’s “Atlantic City.”

Watch video of “Julius,” “Luckiest Man,” “Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)” and the GSBG original “Jaywalking” via the JamBase Live Video Archive and also check out full show audio from Greg Nash below:

Setlist (via Phantasy Tour)

Set one: Do It Alone, Living Over, Less than Supper, Steam Powered Aeroplane, Nine Days, Hit Parade of Love, Senor > Broke Mountain Breakdown > Julius

Set Two: Jaywalking, It’s Not Mine Anymore, Middle Mountain Towns > Reuben’s Train > Luckiest Man > Reuben’s Train, Handguns, Just Listening, Worried About the Weather

Encore: Cryin’ Holy Unto The Lord (Rock Where Moses Stood), Atlantic City