Phish @ Telluride, Town Park – Night One: Setlist and Recap

After kicking off the second leg of their summer tour with a three-night stand in Berkeley, the members of Phish moved on to another beautiful venue – Town Park in Telluride, CO. The quartet last visited Telluride in 1991 making for a 19 year absence from the mountain town.

[via @Tweeprise]

The foursome opened up with the first repeat of the tour – Down With Disease – and repeated a few other songs from the Berkeley run, namely Possum and Ocelot. Camel Walk made its tour debut shortly before the sun went down and the first cover of the evening came in the form of a truncated version of Light Up or Leave Me Alone. It took the band 1,140 shows between August 13, 1988 and Big Cypress to play the Traffic cover and then another 181 gigs before busting it out in July at Raleigh, but with a scant seven show gap between Raleigh and tonight has Light Up or Leave Me Alone returned to the repertoire for good?

Summer of ’89, an original which was debuted during the first leg of the tour, filled the ballad slot before Stash gave the quartet an opportunity to jam. A rare mid-set Cavern came next followed by the lyrically fitting Wedge. Julius ended the set with a big high-energy solo from guitarist Trey Anastasio.

08/09/2010 Telluride Town Park

Set 1: Down with Disease, Camel Walk, Ocelot, Light Up Or Leave Me Alone, Summer of ’89, Stash, Cavern, The Wedge, Possum, Julius

Set 2: Sand > Backwards Down the Number Line > Prince Caspian > Tweezer > Boogie On Reggae Woman > Piper > Mountains in the Mist, David Bowie, A Day in the Life

Encore: Quinn The Eskimo, Tweezer Reprise

[via Phish.net]

Set Two started off with a well-jammed Sand that eventually segued into Backwards Down The Number Line. BDTNL stuck fairly close to the script but the same can’t be said for a Prince Caspian that contained much more improvisation than a usual. Tweezer came out of the beautiful Caspian and as soon as the Tweezer jam started the group focused on the funk elements of the tune and quickly transitioned into Boogie On Reggae Woman. Boogie On was extended a bit and led into Piper. Clearly the band was looking to jam and – as usual – used Piper as an improvisational springboard.

Once again, Phish paid tribute to their surroundings by dropping the tender Mountains in the Mist after the high-energy romps through Tweezer, Boogie On and Piper. A raging David Bowie brought things up again before A Day in the Life closed the set.  While Trey, Mike, Page and Fish didn’t cover the Dead on the 15th anniversary of Jerry Garcia’s death, they did perform a tune that the Dead played quite often – Bob Dylan’s Quinn The Eskimo – as part of the encore along with Tweezer Reprise. Phish returns to Town Park in Telluride tomorrow night.