Justin Beiber - Phish (setlists)

Multiple sources are reporting on basically two stories related to Phish and St. Catherine's, Ontario native Justin Beiber.   On Wednesday August 15 (08/15/12 as it would appear on a live recording) Bieber, his girlfriend Selena Gomez and guitarist/ musical director Dan Kanter took in what would be called in the parlance of a Phish head the first night of the second leg of summer tour.  Phish has always played well in California delighting their west coast fans with their east coast antics.   Not surprisingly Kanter was the long time fan of the bunch and had been pressing Bieber to take in a concert for some time.  As the Hollywood Reporter, citing insiders, puts it it also helped that Bieber was finally 18.

Bieber and crew got some face time with the members of Phish (first Mike Gordon and then Trey Anastasio) and perhaps more importantly their kids got some face time with the pop duo.  The above photo taken at the time is credited to Brad Sands, Phish' longtime road manager (and hopefully one day author of tell-all biography).  Kanter notably got to meet his guitar god and Bieber and Anastasio apparently found common ground talking about music and most interestingly Phish' lighting director Chris Kuroda - who is considered so much a member of the band (likely moreso than any lighting director ever) that a group of fans CK5 have revered him for years.

In the accompanying clip from Justin's tourstop in the lovely city of Fresno, California (10/04/12) you can clearly hear the strains of  Divided Sky (around 13:40) an enduring touchstone for Phish fans.

The next night in the Grateful Dead and Crips capital of Oakland, CA (10/05/12) Kanter led the group in a blending of Love Me Like You Do (a Bieber delux edition number) into She Don't Like The Lights (more Bieber) dropping riffs from typically-huge-not-boy-size Phish instrumentals Sand (4:32) and First Tube (5:35).

The most interesting news to come out of all of this is not that Bieber went to a Phish show, participated in a glowstick war, or that his band is dropping Phish cues in concert but that Chris Kuroda will be designing the lighting for Bieber's next tour.