Phloyd Is Dead: A Setlist Built to Move the Room
Talcott Mountain Collective, Simsbury, CT, USA
Talcott Mountain Collectives Atmosphere
The first thing I noticed when I walked in was not the band. They were not playing yet. It was the room itself.
Glasses clinked at the bar. People peeled off winter coats like they were shedding a second weather system. Outside, the blizzard was doing its best impression of a locked door. Despite the weather the chatter had that low, happy pre show hum, the kind that says everyone already believes the night is going to work out.
The lights had a warm ski lodge glow. Bright enough to relax, yet bright enough to keep everyone honest. I didn’t see anyone posturing. People were settling in.
Then the music started, and it did not ask permission.
Where We Are
If you have not been yet, the Talcott Mountain Collective has become a rare spot in Simsbury where different worlds overlap without getting weird about it.
It runs like a true all-ages gathering place in spirit. Food and drinks for families, regulars, and longtime heads who know how to listen. It is a true muli use room that can host a real show without turning into a velvet rope performance of being a typical Venue. Tonight proved that the “collective” part is not just branding. The place holds people gently, then lets the band rearrange them.
And this matters. Small rooms do not forgive sloppy energy. They amplify whatever is real. The laughter, the nerves, the “is this going to be crowded” uncertainty. Talcott makes that uncertainty dissolve faster than it should.
The Secret Weapon: The Guy Behind the Venue’s Soundboard
Here is something people do not say enough. In a small venue, sound is not “extra.” Sound is the whole deal.
For years at Talcott, Michael Sasportas has been the calm center of that deal, the front-of-house brain who makes the room feel bigger without making it feel louder. He is a musician too, and you can hear the difference in the way the mix behaves. When the person driving the board understands what it feels like to be on stage, the mix stops chasing volume and starts chasing music.
You could hear his work all night. Each instrument had its own lane. The kick drum was not a thud. It was a heartbeat. The bass stayed thick without swallowing the room. When the keys started to bloom, the air actually felt like it began to swirl.
That is not luck. That is Michael.
Michael also hosts the weekly open mic nights at Talcott, and as of this week, the venue calendar lists upcoming Thursday sessions at 6:30 pm.
If you want to find his work outside the room, his Michael Sasportas Music & Audio site captures the scope of what he does across Connecticut. Contact Michael today to discuss your music and audio needs! Call 860-480-7300, or email him at booking@msmaudio.com.
Check out Michaels website; https://www.msmaudio.com/
Phloyd Is Dead: The Concept Is The Point
Phloyd Is Dead is a very specific kind of monster, built on an idea that should not work as cleanly as it does.
One part Pink Floyd cover band. One part Grateful Dead cover band. One part Phish cover band. Not as a gimmick, but as a practical plan for steering a rooms emotions. Talcott’s own event description says the quiet part out loud, that this is a tribute built from an all star pool of players tied into those scenes and projects.
At the center is Josh Weinstein on guitar, the setlist architect, also known as the engine behind the Phish tribute project 7 Below.
There is also, apparently, a running cake joke that has reached folklore status. The 7 Below band bio even leans into it, which tells you this is not a private backstage bit. This is canon.
Jon “Stoltz” Stoltzfus on drums brought that precise, professional calm that music educators often have when they are driving the bus at speed. Kevin Huhn on bass held down the low end with that rare blend of jam looseness and orchestral authority. Jordan Giangreco on keys brought the kind of texture that makes a set feel three-dimensional, and he pulled out a Leslie speaker, humming like a living thing whenever the jams opened up.
Larry Tauro handled lead vocals with the kind of comfort that only comes from living with this material for a long time. This was not cosplay. It was fluent.
Set I: Funk first, Then The Long Arc
They opened with “Have a Cigar” and immediately dressed it differently. Funky, buoyant, swaggering. A familiar door, but it opened into a different room.
And that is the night’s thesis, delivered early.
Funk.
“Tennessee Jed” kept the floor moving, turning the room into a gently spinning carousel. Then, instead of letting the energy sag, they snapped directly into Phish’s “Gumbo.” Same idea, different accent. The funk theme did not just continue. It got louder.
Then they did something smart. They did not sprint until everyone dropped. They eased into “Any Colour You Like,” which worked like an instrumental reset. Psychedelic air in the lungs. Still glowing, but giving the room a breath.
From that floating place, they pounced.
“Help on the Way > Slipknot” is a confidence pick. Nobody chooses that if the goal is “play the hits and survive.” The transition did not break the spell. It extended it. The band built tension, then released it by dropping into a new pocket without losing the thread.
They pulled the tempo back with “Sample in a Jar,” tightening and simplifying for a moment. Then they hit the gas with “Run Like Hell,” which is basically propulsion turned into a song. That is where Stoltz mattered most. His drumming did not just keep time. It pulled bodies into motion before people realized they had decided to dance.
Then came the section that felt tailor-made for a Saturday night.
“One More Saturday Night,” because of course. Sometimes the obvious move is the best move.
Then “Wolfman’s Brother,” with that funk baseline ripping underneath everything. Huhn’s bass was the kind of sticky that turns “I am just listening” into “why are my feet doing this.”
After a run of dance tunes, they did the right thing and slowed the room with “Time.” Not a momentum killer, more like a deliberate brake check. The song widened the night, gave it dimension instead of just speed.
Then came the Grateful Deads “He’s Gone.” Which landed as the first-set peak of togetherness. That tune has a gentle inevitability. It makes strangers look like they arrived together.
To close Set I, they went for an ending that already lives in most people’s bones, “Brain Damage” into “Eclipse.” Dark Side of the Moon’s final thought, rolled into one continuous exhale.
Clean. Final. Satisfying.
Set break: A Burger, A Cape Codder, and a reminder that community is real in Simsbury, CT
During set break, I grabbed a bacon cheeseburger and another vodka cranberry from GM Nelson Perez.
Then the night briefly turned sober.
As I walked past the bathroom, I saw a patron who looked woozy, had fallen, and hit their head. Simsbury EMS was there fast. Professional. Calm. The scene was under control in minutes. No chaos. No panic. Just competent care from Simsbury Volunteer Ambulance Association, SVAA. I didn’t see any chaos nor panic from the Talcott Mountain Collective staff, or the first responders for that matter. I only saw competent care, and a professional and caring staff at Talcott Mountain Collective.
It was a hard little sobering moment in the middle of a great night, the kind that makes you grateful you are in a town where people show up and do their jobs well. It made me appreciate this small community even more.
Set II: Liftoff, The Dance Run, The swirl, and The Roar
Set II opened with “Scarlet Begonias,” which is basically a cheat code if you are trying to re-light a dance floor. The room responded immediately. Shoulders loosened. Feet remembered what they came for.
Then I heard the opening chords of “Fearless,” from Meddle, and it hit me like a personal note slipped into the setlist. Nothing flashy. Just deeply right.
From there, they built a run designed to lock the room in.
“Sand” brought that elastic, hypnotic Phish groove into the spotlight. Then “Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2” kept the thump rolling. It felt like the band was daring the room to stop moving.
It did not.
Then “Shakedown Street” arrived, and this is where the crowd felt most synced to the band, whistling, hooting, hollering through the whole thing. Giangreco’s Leslie was the secret sauce. When he kicked it on, the sound did not just change. The air moved. The groove started to rotate.
After that high-energy run, “Us and Them” was the perfect breather. Big, slow, cinematic. A progressive rock exhale that lets you breathe without dropping the emotional stakes.
Then they closed Set II with “2001,” and the room roared at the opening notes. Instant recognition. Instant lift.
And when it ended, people were not just yelling “encore.”
They were yelling for three encores.
That tells you everything you need to know about the temperature in that room.
Encore: Ziggy, And The Perfect Goodbye
They came back out with “Ziggy Stardust,” a curveball that still made total sense, tight, bright, singable, a quick shot of glam electricity before the final landing.
And then “Comfortably Numb.” Always the right closer. Always.
Because that song does not just end a show. It seals it. The last notes hang in the air like a memory you can still feel in your chest on the walk to the car.
Why it mattered
This is what I keep noticing about Connecticut live music when it is done right. It does not need to be huge to be real. You do not need a stadium. You need a room that listens, a band that can shape energy, and a place that makes people want to stay.
The Talcott Mountain Collective is becoming that kind of hub, Simsbury’s living room, but with better sound and better beer.
Phloyd Is Dead understood the assignment. They built the runway, controlled the arc, and sent everyone home with their head still ringing in the best way.
The short version.
Phloyd Is Dead drove the room with setlist choices that were smarter than “covers,” and with a groove that made the blizzard outside feel like somebody else’s problem.
—Drew Jodice
Setlist
Set I
Have a Cigar - Pink Floyd
Tennessee Jed - Grateful Dead
Gumbo - Phish
Any Colour You Like - Pink Floyd
Help on the Way > Slip - Grateful Dead
Sample in a Jar - Phish
Run Like Hell - Pink Floyd
One More Saturday Night - Grateful Dead
Wolfman’s Brother - Phish
Time - Pink Floyd
He’s Gone - Grateful Dead
Brain Damage - Pink FLoyd
Eclipse - Pink FLoyd
Set II
Scarlet Begonias - Grateful Dead
Fearless - Pink Floyd
Sand - Phish
Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2 - Pink Floyd
Shakedown Street - Grateful Dead
Us and Them - Pink Floyd
2001 - Composed by Richard Strauss in 1896. (Phish cover song)
Encore
Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie
Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd
Afterglow
The encore was always going to be the moment when the room decided what it was.
“Comfortably Numb” is not just a closer. It is a shared exhale. Everybody has a guitar line they are waiting for. Everybody knows when the chorus is coming, even if they do not sing every word. It is the kind of ending that does not just finish a concert. It seals the night shut like a memory you can still feel on the drive home.
And that is what makes the Talcott calendar feel like more than a schedule. After living through a night like this, Pink Floyd atmosphere, Grateful Dead swing, Phish funk stitched together into one long arc, you realize the calendar is really a roadmap.
Good times. Good tunes. And strangers you end up talking to like old friends
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