Preview: Phish Summer Tour – Leg 2

It wasn’t just the bust outs and new covers either. The band played some outstanding versions of their classic tunes and found their way to some awesome segues in June and July. Some highlights include the Walk Away and Down With Disease > Sand from Hartford, the Michael Jackson tribute version of 2001 in Camden, the Saw it Again-fest at Merriweather and the powerful yet smooth one-two punch of Tweezer > Slave in Alpharetta.

For the second leg of this summer’s tour, there is no Option B or C. After playing shows chock full of bust outs in the first half of the summer, the band has rebuilt some great buzz, something they failed to do last summer or fall when the shows were mostly hit or miss.

The first five shows of the August run will take place in two of the coolest venues in this country – the Greek Theater in Berkeley and Telluride Town Park, a picturesque location nestled in the Rocky Mountains. The band has never played at Town Park and hasn’t played the Greek since 1993 making the first week of the second leg one of the most highly anticipated stretches since the end of Hiatus 2.0. It’s hard to imagine the band doesn’t have something special planned for at least one of these nights.

Following those two new venues, Phish will visit Deer Creek and Alpine Valley, two of the more familiar sheds to fans, and Jones Beach, which returned to the venue rotation last year with three soggy but rocking shows. Demand is way up for Jones Beach tickets with many on the East Coast anxious to see the band one more time this summer.

If Phish comes out and continues to kill it, playing their standards with extra awesomeness and sprinkling in well-played bust outs and new covers, they will fill arenas this fall/winter and sheds again next summer. If they come out and resort back to their “standard” approach to shows, they could again see a quick and steady dropoff in interest and ticket sales.

But I suspect the band much prefers full houses and excited fans back in that “I can’t get enough of these guys” mode and will attack the second half with the same gusto in which they concluded the first. So let’s see some more of those previous Halloween covers resurrected and let’s keep those new covers coming. And while they may have to dig a little deeper to find bust outs now, there are plenty to be had. Skin It Back or Glide II anyone?

Here’s a list of potential bust outs with the last time played…
In the Midnight Hour   3/4/85
Prep School Hippie   12/6/86
Melt the Guns   4/29/87
Lushington   8/29/87
The Chicken   3/11/88
Skin It Back   7/29/88
Dear Mrs. Reagan   1/18/89
All Blues   2/6/89
Anarchy   10/14/89
In a Hole   12/16/89
No Dogs Allowed   4/21/90
Goin’ Down Slow   9/14/90
Minute by Minute   9/15/90
Communication Breakdown   9/15/90
Don’t Get Me Wrong   12/28/90
Donna Lee   7/12/91
Flat Fee   7/26/91
Eliza   5/14/92
I Walk the Line   3/9/93
Satin Doll   5/8/93
Leprechaun   7/31/93
Take the ‘A’ Train   4/13/94
Jump Monk   4/24/94
I Wanna Be Like You   6/10/94
Mother Nature’s Son   10/31/94
Birthday   10/31/94
Helter Skelter   11/17/94
Blackbird   11/22/94
Fixin’ to Die   11/30/94
The Landlady   12/3/94
Touch Me   12/3/94
Back in the U.S.S.R.   12/6/94
Big Ball Jam   12/9/94
Yerushalayim Shel Zahav   12/31/94
Glide II   5/16/95
Dave’s Energy Guide   6/28/95
Don’t You Wanna Go   9/28/95
Shaggy Dog   10/29/95
My Generation   10/31/95
Love, Reign O’er Me   10/31/95
5:15   10/31/95
I’m So Tired   11/18/95
My Long Journey Home   11/29/95
Faht   12/2/95
Acoustic Army   12/8/95
The Real Me   12/29/95
Axilla (Part II)   12/31/95
Once in a Lifetime   10/31/96
Houses in Motion   10/31/96
Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)   10/31/96
The Vibration of Life   11/19/96
Sparks   11/29/96
Suspicious Minds   12/6/96
Caravan   12/29/96
All Things Reconsidered   2/23/97
Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?   2/23/97
Cinnamon Girl   7/31/97
Rock A William   8/10/97
Amoreena   8/13/97
Johnny B. Goode   7/8/98
Sea and Sand   7/20/98
She Caught the Katy and Left Me a Mule to Ride   7/21/98
Izabella   7/31/98
Rhinoceros   8/3/98
Terrapin Station   8/9/98
Ramble On   8/12/98
Burning Down the House   8/12/98
Amazing Grace   10/3/98
Never   10/17/98
Manteca   10/30/98
Sweet Jane   10/31/98
Who Loves the Sun?   10/31/98
Head Held High   10/31/98
Fikus   11/7/98
Sabotage   11/21/98
Cry Baby Cry   11/21/98
Something   11/25/98
Been Caught Stealin’   12/28/98
If I Only Had a Brain   7/8/99
Foreplay/Long Time   7/12/99
Gold Soundz   7/21/99
The Happy Whip and Dung Song   7/24/99
Purple Rain   7/25/99
Whipping Post   7/25/99
Will It Go Round in Circles?   9/21/99
La Grange   9/22/99
Mozambique   9/26/99
Quinn the Eskimo   10/2/99
Misty Mountain Hop   10/10/99
Ride Captain Ride   12/10/99
After Midnight   12/31/99
Quadrophonic Toppling   12/31/99
I’m Blue, I’m Lonesome   6/22/00
Chalk Dust Torture Reprise   7/11/00
Moby Dick   7/11/00
The Curtain w/o   9/9/00
Windora Bug   9/15/00
Back at the Chicken Shack   9/24/00
Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey   9/25/00
Emotional Rescue   9/30/0
Guy Forget   10/1/00
Come On Baby, Let’s Go Downtown   10/5/00
West L.A. Fadeaway   10/6/00   127
The Inlaw Josie Wales   10/6/00
Life on Mars?   2/15/03
Golden Lady   2/16/03
Drifting   2/26/03
Clone   2/26/03
Carolina   3/1/03
Dogs Stole Things   7/12/03
Mock Song   7/12/03
Round Room   7/13/03
Mr. Completely   7/15/03
Lonesome Cowboy Bill 7/30/03
You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere 7/30/03
Spock’s Brain 7/30/03
Dog Log 8/2/03
Daniel Saw The Stone 8/3/03
Shafty 12/30/03
Buffalo Bill 6/25/04
Walls of the Cave 8/14/04