Twiddle Announces Special Themes for Their 3-Night Baker’s Dozen Run (7/20 – 7/22)
Whenever Phish comes to New York City for a multi-night run, bands and artists from across the globe flock to the city to display their talents for hungry music enthusiasts before and after each MSG show. It’s really the perfect opportunity to showcase what you got – New York City is the largest music market in the world, Madison Square Garden is central to hundreds of spectacular neighboring venues, the shows typically end around 11, and Phish fans generally have expansive music pallets.
When the legendary jam quartet from Vermont announced its unprecedented, quite frankly ground-breaking “Baker’s Dozen” run of shows at MSG, fans and bands alike immediately started licking their chops, calling off work, and researching affordable travel accommodations to soak in this historic music event. Whenever Phish does something like this, we here at CEG lead the way in organizing world-class Phish After-Parties. Heck, we own and operate this site: phishafterparties.com. For this particularly special Phish run, we lead our batch of announcements with a three night Irving Plaza run with one of the most meteoric Phish-inspired jam bands on the circuit: the one-and-only Twiddle.
Also from Vermont, Twiddle has made tremendous strides over the past 13 years accumulating an incredibly loyal fan base, sometimes called “Twiddiots,” with something a lot of jam bands forget to do: write songs. In my opinion, this is one of the reasons Twiddle has found so much success – they write compact songs with direction, dexterous instrumentation, tasteful improvisation, and narrative lyrics. Too often jam bands get lost in improvisation – which to some is the cream of the crop – but to achieve immense nation-wide success, you need to write songs with compelling lyrics. It’s no wonder Twiddle’s new album, Plump (Chapter 1 & 2), landed on several Billboard Charts on the week of its release in late April: 6# Alternative New: Artist Albums, #16 Top New: Artist Albums (Heatseekers), #31 Current: Alternative Albums, #48 Current: Rock Albums.
To make their three night run at Irving Plaza from July 20 – July 22 even more attractive, Twiddle recently announced special themes to each of their shows. For the first night on July 20 (which is actually the night before Baker’s Dozen commences), Twiddle will perform a special collaborative “Twidaila” set with their friends and local Vermont sonic allies, Madaila. Madaila, similar to Twiddle in their formative days, has made immense strides over the past couple years, wowing crowds with their unique brand of pysch pop. Their novel spin on improvisation paired with the now-famous musicians from Twiddle should make for a memorable night.
For night 2 on July 21, Twiddle will perform with the infamous Giant Country Horns, who made their comeback over New Year’s performing with the James Brown Dance Party for a Phish NYE After-Party. For those who aren’t in the know, the Giant Country Horns, comprised of Carl Gerhard (trumpet), Dave Grippo (alto sax), and Russell Remington (tenor sax), joined Phish on their 1991 summer tour for about 20 shows across North America. Named after “Giant Country” white bread, the tour was made famous for the band’s horn-inspired rearrangements of Phish classics like “Suzy Greenberg,” “Stash,” and “Split Open and Melt,” to name a few. To add a bit more context to this incredibly special theme, enjoy this classic video from the 1991 summer tour at Arrowhead Ranch in Parksville, NY.
To complete this trifecta of tasty themes, night 3 on Saturday July 22 will see 13-year-old guitar prodigy Brandon “Taz” Niederauer step in as a special guest. Twiddle has performed several times with this tiny shredder, most recently at their PlayStation Theatre run in New York City. You might recognize Taz as the lead guitar student in the hit Broadway show, School of Rock, or maybe on the Ellen DeGeneres show. Wherever you’ve seen him, it’s nearly impossible to not lose your breath and/or mind whenever he picks up the guitar. Like the other themed nights, this is yet another not to be missed. Tickets for all three shows can be purchased at this link. Limited three-day passes are still available, as well as VIP balcony options!