Long before he became the mastermind behind the Polyphonic Spree, Tim DeLaughter led Tripping Daisy, the Dallas band who made some extremely likable psych-pop jams that got serious alternative rock radio burn in the '90s. My first non-stadium, non-festival show was a Tripping Daisy gig with the Rev. Horton Heat, the Supersuckers, and Hagfish in 1995. I was in ninth grade, and that shit was fire. On Saturday night, the reunited Tripping Daisy kicked off their first tour in 26 years. They played their hometown's Bomb Factory, and they reached way back into the past for both their setlist and their merch.
Tripping Daisy broke up after guitarist Wes Berggren passed away from a drug overdose in 1999. In 2018, they got back together and played a few shows around Texas. They're reportedly working on a new album now, and they've just embarked on their first proper tour since their breakup. The tour celebrates the 30th anniversary of the band's 1995 album I Am An Elastic Firecracker, and they're playing the LP in full every night. Before the Dallas gig, however, Tim DeLaughter went on Instagram and announced that this one set would draw from the band's entire history and that it would include surprises -- "things that we've never played, things that we've only played one time." He also said that they'd be selling merch from his personal vault, all of which is from the '90s.
Tripping Daisy's set omitted a few tracks from I Am An Elastic Firecracker to make room for those surprises. (On the other nights, DeLaughter says that they really will play that album in full, along with other songs from the band's history.) The band's set included "Wiggle Wiggle," which is not a Bob Dylan cover. That song comes from the mid-'90s, and Tripping Daisy have never released a proper studio version, though they did it in a 1996 Peel Session and included a live version on the 2020 rarities compilation Pico Perch. They also played "Stella Is A Planet" for the first time in 26 years. Here's fan footage of "Wiggle Wiggle."
Tim DeLaughter has been talking about all the vintage stuff that Tripping Daisy will sell on that tour and showing off some of the hard-to-find items on Instagram. Below, check out some of those items, as well as the setlist from the Bomb Factory gig, via Setlist.fm.
SETLIST:
01 "Community Mantra"
02 "On The Ground"
03 "ROCketPop"
04 "PirANhA"
05 "Wiggle Wiggle"
06 "Waited A Light Year"
07 "Tiny Men"
08 "Our Drive To The Sun"
09 "You First"
10 "Geeareohdoubleyou"
11 "Sonic Bloom"
12 "Trip Along"
13 "SAme DREss neW dAy"
14 "Blown Away"
15 "I Got A Girl"
16 "Brown-Eyed Pickle Boy"
17 "Stella Is A Planet"
18 "One Through Four"
19 "Field Day Jitters"
20 "My Umbrella"
21 "PriCK"
22 "High"
