Greensky Bluegrass Delivers Phish Covers Set At Strings & Sol’s Poolside Gazebo

Greensky Bluegrass‘ Thursday afternoon set at Strings & Sol 2023 consisted of songs covered by Phish as well as one of the Vermont-based band’s originals. The hour-long performance took place at the Poolside Gazebo within Dreams Sapphire Resort in Puerto Morelos, Mexico.

The just-completed set was the jamgrass quintet’s second of three Strings & Sol 2023 performances. GSBG closed out the main stage action last night with a set that included a “Casual Wednesday” played by a local mariachi band.

The members of the band — mandolinist Paul Hoffman, guitarist Dave Bruzza, dobro player Anders Beck, banjoist Michael Arlen Bont and bassist Mike Devol — have never hidden their love of Phish. Greensky previously played a set of songs covered by Phish as a matinee on Halloween 2016 at Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas. Today’s show followed a nearly identical path.

Greensky Bluegrass launched their Thursday afternoon set with a take on The Dillards’ “The Old Home Place” and then worked Stevie Wonder’s “Boogie On Reggae Woman” into a coupling of “Time” and “Breathe (Reprise)” from the iconic Pink Floyd album The Dark Side Of The Moon. Next up were covers of the traditional “Paul & Silas” and Son Seals’ “Funky Bitch,” which were last played by the band on January 21, 2017 and November 3, 2018 respectively.

Up through “Funky Bitch,” the fifth song of the set, Greensky performed the same songs in the same order as they did on the afternoon of October 31, 2016 in Las Vegas. However, instead of following with The Beatles’ “A Day In The Life,” ala Halloween ’16, the five-piece moved forward to their fourth-ever version of the Hot Rize gem “Nellie Cane.” GSBG went on to cover Traffic’s “Light Up Or Leave Me Alone” complete with a “Tweezer Reprise” jam.

The biggest bust out of the set followed as the quintet dusted off their rendition of The Velvet Underground’s “Rock & Roll” for the first and only other time since October 31, 2016. Greensky Bluegrass ended the Poolside Gazebo performance with “Chalk Dust Torture,” the afternoon’s lone Phish original.

Watch fan-shot video of “Old Home Place” as well as “Boogie On Reggae Woman” > “Time” > “Breathe (Reprise)” from today’s set below thanks to Max Berde:

Setlist (via Phantasy Tour)

Set: The Old Home Place, Boogie On Reggae Woman > Time > Breathe (Reprise), Paul & Silas, Funky Bitch, Nellie Kane, Light Up Or Leave Me Alone, Rock & Roll, Chalk Dust Torture