The Mike Gordon Band continued their run of sold out shows to open their winter tour at Cincinnati’s 20th Century Theater on Thursday night. The intimate venue and its small stage put the band just above the ground, which was not unnoticed by the Phish bassist who quipped that he “felt close to the crowd spiritually…and physically” before launching into the night-opening Equilibrium. That song, paired with the Phish rarity Spock’s Brain, got the night started with a weird boognish vibe, before turning funky with the addition of Mad Dog and his Filthy Little Secret horns. The trio of horns led by Michael “Mad Dog” Mavridoglou (Ray’s Music Exchange) kept the jam-packed crowd dancing through I am Random, You Strike My Main Nerve (Tower of Power), and the set-closing Steps.

The band-Mike Gordon with guitarist Scott Murawski, organist/synth man Robert Walter, multi-instrumentalist Craig Myers and drummer John Kimock-kept the funk alive to start set two with a Face > Stealing Jamaica sequence that immediately had the crowd back dancing. Set two was looser and felt like a miniature Phish celebration on the same day that the long-awaited Phish summer tour was announced.

Mike Gordon continues the tour tonight in St. Louis, before finishing the weekend up north in Madison (SOLD OUT) and Minneapolis and landing with four western dates in Boulder (SOLD OUT), Salt Lake City (SOLD OUT), Portland, and Seattle.

Visit mike-gordon.com for tickets. Cincinnati setlist below courtesy of setlist.fm.

• Set 1
• Equilibrium
• Spock’s Brain
  (Phish song)
• Put Down the Phone
• Normal Phoebe
• I Am Random
  (with Mad Dog’s Filthy Little Secret)
• You Strike My Main Nerve
  (Tower of Power cover) (with Mad Dog’s Filthy Little Secret)
• Steps
  (with Mad Dog’s Filthy Little Secret)
• Set 2
• Face >
• Stealing Jamaica
• Angatta
• Sleep to Dream
  (Fiona Apple cover)
• Crazy Sometimes
• Sughn Never Sets
• Encore:
• Gimme Some Lovin’
  (The Spencer Davis Group cover)