Pink Talking Fish Debuts Beastie Boys Covers In San Diego

Pink Talking Fish surprised fans in San Diego last month by debuting their Pink Talking Fish Are Beastie Boys concept at Winston’s on November 21. The band fit in a number of Beastie Boys covers with their usual mix of songs from the Phish, Pink Floyd and Talking Heads’ repertoires.

The audience was treated to a rendition of the Beastie’s Check Your Head track “In 3’s” to kick off the concert, which wasn’t billed as Pink Talking Fish Are Beastie Boys ahead of time. PTF then covered “Gumbo” by Phish and worked Pink Floyd’s “Time” into “Uh Oh Love Comes To Town” by Talking Heads. Next up was “Reba” and then the band jammed Floyd’s “Pigs (3 Different Ones)” into the Talking Heads classic “Crosseyed & Painless” to end the set. Pink Talking Fish welcomed guitarist Kyle Merrill for the set closer.

A medley of Phish’s “Poor Heart” and the Beastie Boys’ “Girls” began the second set. Pink Talking Fish then segued from Talking Heads’ “Blind” into the chorus of “Alumni Blues” by Phish before performing a take on Pink Floyd’s “Fearless” that included a jam on “Prince Caspian” and covering “Theme From The Bottom.” The set continued with Beastie Boys classics “So Whatcha Want,” “Root Down” and “Fight For Your Right To Party.” PTF capped the set with a run of “Carini” into “Houses In Motion” into “Run Like Hell.” The evening ended with a “Sabotage” encore.

More Pink Talking Fish Are Beastie Boys shows are slated for Denver’s Summit Music Hall on December 14, The Gramercy Theater in New York City on December 29 and Boston’s Paradise Rock Club on New Year’s Eve.

Stream a soundboard matrix recording featuring most of PTF’s November 21 show taped by Aaron Bowers:

Setlist

Set One: In 3’s > Gumbo*, Time > Uh Oh Love Comes To Town, Reba, Pigs (3 Different Ones)** > Crosseyed And Painless***

Set Two: Poor Heart > Girls > Poor Heart, Blind > Alumni Blues^ > Fearless > Prince Caspian Jam^^ > Theme From The Bottom^^^, So Whatcha Want, Root Down, Fight For Your Right To Party, Carini% > Houses In Motion%% > Run Like Hell%%+

Encore: Sabotage

• *w/ Big Chief tease
• **w/ Death Don’t Hurt Very Long and Bathtub Gin teases
• ***w/ Kyle Merrill on guitar
• ^ Chorus only
• ^^ w/ Hunger Strike tease
• ^^^w/ Crashing Down tease
• % w/ So Whatcha Want tease
• %% w/ Can’t Stop tease
• + w/ Slipknot tease