Phish Howls & Foams Up Another Merriweather Post Pavillon Win (SHOW REVIEW)

Phish closed out an impressive two-night stand at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD on Sunday evening (7/31) with a pair of inspiring sets that mixed a healthy dose of older material along with some more recent compositions and was littered with a surplus of exploratory instrumental odysseys that oozed psychedelia, proving that, even after nearly four decades together, the Vermont quartet is still more than capable of performing with peak precision. 

Merriweather has always been something of a hallowed venue in the Phish universe since they first performed there in 1992 when opening for Santana, an experience so cherished by the band they ended up alluding to it in one of their songs, the rarely-played oddity “Walfredo”. Since then, Phish has gone on to play Merriweather 24 more times and have delivered some of their most legendary performances there, including the explosive 1998 debut cover of the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” and 2014’s infamous “Tweezer-fest.” And while the once serene rural environs that used to envelop the pavilion have slowly been decimated due to the relatively recent commercial development that has all but replaced what essentially used to be a forest (it’s a small miracle the venue’s naming rights haven’t also been sold to some massive conglomerate yet), it’s clear the band’s affinity for Merriweather remains as strong as it was thirty years ago.

Things got started shortly after 730 p.m. with an extended take on “A Wave of Hope”, a relatively new optimistic number from Trey Anastasio’s lockdown-inspired 2020 solo album Lonely Trip that ultimately pushed past the fifteen-minute mark and set the tone for the rest of the evening with some dark & brooding jams, similar to the previous evening’s opener, “Sand”, which also counted among Saturday’s longest performances at over twelve minutes. 

Unlike the previous night’s opening stanza, which was teeming with beloved & uncommonly-played chestnuts such as “If I Could”, “Shafty” and “The Lizards”, Sunday’s first set was, with a few exceptions, composed of comparatively more “standard” material like “AC/DC Bag” & “Sparkle”, both of which elicited raucous sing-a-longs from the capacity crowd, as well as a particularly funky take on Anastasio’s “Back on the Train” led by Page McConnell’s brilliant use of his Clavinet. 

One of the more fascinating aspects of seeing Phish live, and there are many, is that, on any given night, even the most unlikely song can end up delivering the standout moment of the concert, as was the case with “Mull” on Sunday. A funky Mike Gordon tune that debuted less than a year ago and has been trotted out for a handful of well-played but mostly unassuming performances since then, transformed into an improvisational tour-de-force featuring some exceptionally dark & purposeful jamming led by Gordon’s envelope-filter-infused bass-lines before making a buttery-smooth transition into “Foam.” Among the oldest and most technically challenging pieces in Phish’s catalog, “Foam’s” live performances can admittedly be somewhat hit-or-miss due to the difficult chord & tempo changes that comprise the composed sections of the song, however, this evening’s performance was perfectly executed, with all four band members remaining in-sync throughout. 

The first set came to a rousing conclusion with a bookending fifteen-minute rendition of fan-favorite “Ghost”, which also counts among the evening’s highlights thanks to some mesmerizing tempo shifts from Jon Fishman that patiently built to a dramatic closing jam with a series of Anastasio’s trademark tension-and-release-soaked guitar riffs that produced some of the evening’s loudest audience ovations. 

After a brief set break, the band returned to the stage with the bouncy “Halley’s Comet” before delving into a nearly twenty-minute version of “Tweezer” that led to some of the darkest & most foreboding jamming of the evening, much to the crowd’s delight.

“Tweezer’s” dark veil was momentarily lifted for a somewhat fruitless performance of “Wingsuit” which at least allowed the audience a chance to catch their collective breath before a brief return to the “Tweezer” theme en route to an energetic version of “Birds of a Feather” that featured McConnell trading tasteful leads with Anastasio on electric piano.

The altruistic ballad “Joy” offered up another chance for the rain-soaked crowd to relax for a bit before “Taste”, another exceedingly difficult song to perform that was surprisingly well-executed and featured some of Fishman’s best drum work of the evening as well as a rollicking piano solo from McConnell. 

“What’s the Use?”, a droning yet dramatic instrumental affair led to a pair of high-energy set-closing originals, “The Howling” and “Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S”,  both of which were initially composed as part of the group’s Halloween performances in 2021 (Sci-Fi Soldier) and 2018 (Kasvot Växt’s i Rokk), respectively. The group closed out the evening with a triumphant triple encore consisting of another Anastasio ballad, “Show of Life”, as well as a boisterous pairing of The Rolling Stones’ classic “Loving Cup” and “Tweezer Reprise.” Like a well-drawn-out basketball play, Phish continues to execute and score at the Post.

Phish Setlist Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD, USA, Summer Tour 2022

 

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