If you happened to be lucky enough to be in attendance for Monday’s show on 4/17/23, there is no explanation for why the Greek in Berkeley is so special, to so many is needed. What a night.
After a singular historic show back in 1993, and a surprise run of three in 2010, this current run of three was a more than welcome Spring surprise when the band announced its plans earlier this year. There’s a reason so many music lovers across the country have this theater on their bucket list of must-visit venues.
Kicking things off with a blissful drop into “The Curtain With”, Phish opened the Greek run with a celebrated tune that hadn’t been played live in a few years. There were a few technically challenging moments here, and a few more sprinkled throughout the first set, but the band played on and adapted as fluidly as possible. The next move into “Carini” signaled something special was brewing. Boom! Full send mode at the Greek, two songs into the show, this one with a complete fan shoutout to a recently passed wonderful human (R.I.P. Frenchie). To witness every human getting down so early in the show is a treat, especially at this venue. It feels so intimate for a space that holds over eight thousand. “Carini” boiled down to a melodic, delicate jam, surprising for where this vehicle often finds itself in modern Phish shows. From here the band seemed to ease their way into the show with more tight than loose offerings of “All of these Dreams”, “Stash”, “Halfway to the Moon”, and a nice rendition of Mike Gordons “Mull” where you could clearly hear his new bass making waves. A nice transition into “Undermine” followed before the set closing “Theme”.
The show started hot, eased back a bit, and now the scene was set for the second frame. Sticking with the easy groove style from set one, “My Soul”, which does not often find itself in set two opening territory, got things going. I’ll jump a bit here as the closer on this set was a fiery “Rock and Roll” that in a way with “My Soul” bookended a set taht will forever go down as another musical master class in improvisation by Phish.
The heart of set two last night was two songs that together clocked in at over an hour. A four-song set in sum with “Tweezer” at the core coming right after the “My Soul” opener that covered as many musical spaces as one could dream of in almost 44 minutes of play. With the crowd locked-in in Greek fashion-one of the hallmark pieces of this special venue, people were headbanging at times, completely lost in ambient space, and in full groove mode as several different sections of improvisational music emerged over this monster sequence. A personal highlight is just after the twenty-minute mark, from there until the end of “Simple” is where you can clearly locate this band creating fresh, new, distinct music in ways literally no one else even comes close in 2023. It is still unique, and it is an incredible thing to witness in real-time.
Back to the “Tweezer”, with several points where the audio and themes shifted, it seemed the jam could have landed at a 25ish minute piece, or again just after the 30-minute mark. After the metal, and another dip into anti-bliss, dark territory, an upbeat house groove emerged. Patience wrapped around creativity prevailed through another peak past forty minutes cementing this as one of the longest jams in Phish history. There is so much to go back and listen to, especially the transition into “Simple”, which is notable for how briefly the song structure was played, and how quickly Phish dropped right back into a dark, evil, deep groove. The business was not finished. It was such a swift move back into type two exploratory territory it was almost as if we were right back in the “Tweezer”, or “Greezer” as someone was explaining to me after the show last night. No wasted notes here, no searching, just an incredibly adventurous selection of music that built to arguably the biggest peak of the night before finally landing in the aforementioned “Rock and Roll.”
The band came back on for a “Miss You” breather, and a shreddy “Sand” to cap off the night. As legendary of a venue as the Greek is, I’m not sure anyone could have expected the show that was offered last night. This is what it means to still show up for Phish in 2023, accept the possibilities, and take the ride. With two more shows to go before a tour-ending run of three in Hollywood this upcoming weekend-not to mention strong shows to start the tour in Seattle, you could say now is as good of a time as ever to tune into Phish. As good friends love to ponder, I wonder what they’ll play tonight?
