Mike Gordon Debuts ‘Destiny Unbound’ & Tedeschi Trucks Band Jams With Hot Tuna At Sunshine Music Festival

The 2018 installment of the Sunshine Music Festival got underway yesterday at Vinoy Park in St. Petersburg, Florida. The traveling two-day fest, which will move to the Southeast part of the state today, is being headlined by Tedeschi Trucks Band and features performances from Phish bassist Mike Gordon, Medeski, Martin & Wood, Hot Tuna, Foundation Of Funk and The Suffers. The big news coming out of day one of the fest came courtesy of Gordon and the Tedeschi Trucks Band’s sets.

Gordon, who is fresh off a four-night New Year’s stand with Phish, played his first solo show of the year. This weekend’s appearances are serving as a bit of a preview for his upcoming winter tour, which kicks off early next month in Seattle. The quintet used yesterday’s warm-up gig to play a number of songs off his latest album OGOGO including “Stealing Jamaica” and they also performed “Cities” by Talking Heads. The familiar cover to Gordon featured guitarist Scott Murawski on lead vocals with Mike recently revealing via a Twitter Q&A that he initially brought the idea to cover the Fear Of Music track to Phish after seeing Murawski play it with his longtime band Max Creek. Gordon’s set also saw the band’s debut take on the Phish rarity “Destiny Unbound.” The road trip tune, which was in heavy rotation for a short period after it was debuted in 1990 was shelved for over 12 years before being dusted off in 2003 and has only been played 14 times since. Watch fan-shot footage of Mike Gordon’s debut take on “Destiny Unbound” below:

[Destiny Unbound | Captured by Crabby_Phish]

Later in the evening, Tedeschi Trucks Band took to the stage for their first of two headling performances. The meaty ensemble opened up their main set by debuting a brand new tune “Love Having You.” From there, the band offered up their traditional mix of originals and covers with takes on Derek and the Dominos “Anyday,” Toots & The Maytals “Sailing On” and Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.” The Southern rock and soul act also used the opportunity to debut their take on Susan Tedeschi’s “Talkin’ About” from her 2008 solo release Back to The River with Susan mentioning she hadn’t played it live in a number of years. Tedeschi Trucks Band also collaborated with their Wheels Of Soul touring partners from last summer as Hot Tuna’s Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady joined them for a take on Elmore James’ “The Sky Is Crying.” Watch fan-shot footage below:

[Sky Is Crying]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y17xJ9HzZ1Y