Photo Credit: Zach Blum Members of Umphrey’s McGee, Brendan Bayliss and Jake Cinninger, have announced their 21st annual holiday show. The event will take
Cluster Flies tracks “Dogs Stole Things,” “Vultures,” “Dirt,” “Bye Bye Foot” and “Piper.”
Phish didn’t wait long to use “Twist” as a jam vehicle with a 13-minute version played in Prague on June 20, 1997 followed by an 18-minute workout at the Hurricane Festival the next night. “Twist” was played a total of 11 times in 1997. However, the song appeared live just twice in 1998. The first came on opening night of the Island Tour and helped set the tone for the run.
Once Phish’s 1999 got underway “Twist” went into heavy rotation and has been a staple of the live repertoire ever since. The four-piece has yet to go more than 20 shows between plays over the past 21 years. A total of 148 versions of “Twist” have been performed by Phish between 1997 – 2020. Anastasio adapted the song for the
Cluster Flies cover of Phish’s “Twist” and more.
Brendan’s rendition of the
Farmhouse cut “Twist” came about halfway through his set. Bayliss performed the song as a preview for the upcoming debut of the
Cluster Flies version set to debut soon on JamBase ahead of
Cluster Flies‘ April 30 release date. Brendan talked a bit about doing the cover and mentioned that his
Wine Not? version lacked the pedal steel frequent UM collaborator
Mike Racky added to the
Cluster Flies version. The Umphrey’s guitarist will also appear on an upcoming episode of The JamBase Podcast to discuss the “Twist” cover and his experience with Phish and their music.