Real Estate bassist Alex Bleeker played a two-show New Year’s run with his jamband Alex Bleeker & the Freaks this weekend. On Saturday night, Alex Bleeker & the Freaks headlined a late night, post-Phish show at New York’s Mercury Lounge. Sponsored by Dog Gone Blog, the evening featured a psychedelic light show by Planetary Projections. The Freaks—which also features Real Estate’s Jackson Pollis—nodded to the jam-vibe with a cover of the Grateful Dead’s “Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo” (a song they teased at New York’s Brooklyn Bowl earlier in the month). They also teased Phish’s “Bathtub Gin” during their trademark cover of indie folk group Mountain Man’s “Animal Tracks.”

Then, last night Alex Bleeker & the Freaks’ run continued with a opening spot for psychedelic rockers War on Drugs at Philadelphia’s Johnny Brenda’s. Despite their presence in the indie rock community, War on Drugs’ New Year’s run was inspired by their love of the Dead. War on Drugs will return to the venue this evening while Bleeker is off the road until Real Estate kicks off an Australian tour in January.