Holly Bowling Covers Phish Album, Grateful Dead & Leonard Cohen In New York City

Pianist Holly Bowling ended 2016 with a pair of pre-Phish shows at The Cutting Room in New York City on December 30 and 31. On the 30th, Bowling presented her take on Phish’s 1996 album Billy Breathes while her New Year’s Eve performance included the debut of a Leonard Cohen cover.

Holly’s main set on 30th began the same way Billy Breathes does, with “Free.” She went on to present the entire 13-track LP over the course of her main set. While Bowling had played a number of Billy Breathes tracks in the past “Cars Trucks Buses,” “Bliss” and “Prince Caspian” were all debuts. The pianist ended the show with a “That’s It For The Other One” encore.

Bowling’s New Year’s Eve performance was of the more typical variety as she mixed Phish and Grateful Dead classics. Holly opened with “Help On The Way” > “Slipknot!” but instead of the usual “Franklin’s” she segued into the TAB/Phish song “Plasma.” Later in the set the pianist worked “Wharf Rat” into a debut cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Everybody Knows.” It was after the Cohen tribute that she performed “Franklin’s Tower.” Bowling ended the set with “Slave To The Traffic Light” and encored with a “Harry Hood” dedicated to the #MSGHoodGuy.

12/30 Video

12/31 Wharf Rat > Everybody Knows > Slipknot! > Franklin’s Tower Video

12/31 Audio (Taped by Jeffery Bowling)

Setlists

12/30

Set: Free, Character Zero > # Waste, Taste, Cars Trucks Buses #, Talk, Theme from the Bottom, Train Song, Bliss > # Billy Breathes, Swept Away > Steep > * Prince Caspian # **

Encore: Cryptical Envelopment > The Other One *** > Cryptical Envelopment

• # first time performed by Holly
• * w/ Strange Design & Little Drummer Boy teases
• ** w/ Free tease
• *** w/ Character Zero & Billy Breathes teases

12/31

Set: Help On The Way > Slipknot! > Plasma *, It’s Ice, Cassidy > ** Squirming Coil, Unbroken Chain, Lost Sailor > Saint of Circumstance ***, Wharf Rat > Everybody Knows > #**** Slipknot! > Franklin’s Tower, Slave to the Traffic Light $

Encore: Harry Hood @

• # first time performed by Holly
• * w/ China Cat tease
• ** w/ Coil tease
• *** w/ Cassidy & Wingsuit teases
• **** Leonard Cohen song w/ Auld Lang Syne tease
• $ w/ Slipknot! tease
• @ Before Hood, Holly dedicated it to #MSGHoodguy. With Cassidy & Lizards teases.