Attending a Phish show at The Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia is somewhat akin to stumbling upon a long-forgotten civilization. The kind historians marvel at for centuries while the rest of society does their best to sweep any notion of it under their collective rug, dismissing it as some farcical hippie fantasy.
After commuting through an endless stretch of a seemingly always congested but otherwise nondescript urban corridor, the lush greenery of Philly’s massive Fairmount Park suddenly crests on the horizon like a hidden treasure. A closer inspection reveals a series of massive fields strewn with vehicles, playing host to a bacchanalian affair of genuinely epic proportions.
What unfolds from there essentially amounts to a cultural melting pot. A sizable conglomerate of attendees from all walks of life is accounted for, ranging from young high school-age kids seeking their first tastes of freedom and adventure to wild-eyed AARP-eligible Deadheads who refuse to get off the bus. Sprawling rows of vendors, some who arrived as early as 9 am, hawk their homemade wares in a chaotic scene that plays out like an in-person ETSY-inspired bazaar accompanied by a food court and open-air drug market.
However, despite the dizzying array of extra-curricular activities taking place outside the venue, the real magic lies within. The past 48 hours in the City of Brotherly Love were no exception as the Vermont-based quartet delivered a pair of standout shows to the Philly faithful that stretched the boundaries of musical exploration and proved, once again, that, even after almost forty years, Phish is still clearly at the top of their game.
After a Tuesday afternoon that featured several rounds of severe thunderstorms which turned a majority of the unpaved venue grounds into a mucky mud-filled mess, the band took to the stage right at 8pm under still gray (but mercifully dry) skies and immediately brightened things up with a surprise rendition of The Brothers Johnson R&B chestnut, “Strawberry Letter 23” for just the tenth time since it’s 2017 debut.
A welcome early-first-set rendition of the classic “Bathtub Gin” featured a goosebump-inducing sing-a-long moment with the capacity crowd as well as what would be the first of many extended musical odysseys of the evening. However, this version was slightly marred by guitarist Trey Anastasio’s recent penchant for incorporating vocal inflection when singing, an often hit-or-miss proposition that fell squarely in the “miss” category during this performance.
An energetic reading of “Back on the Train” featured another high-energy jam that saw keyboardist Page McConnell egging Anastasio on with some ferocious piano runs before a surprise mid-set rendition of “The Squirming Coil”, which concluded with a typically breathtaking instrumental coda from McConnell.
The seasonal theme continued with a trio of summer-centric numbers, highlighted by a fist-pumping offering of “Axilla (Part II)” and the calypso-soaked strains of Cyril Ferguson’s “Ya Mar” before an optimistic “Blaze On.”
A brief moment of respite was provided during a tender reading of Anastasio’s ballad, “Waste”, before capping the nearly eighty-minute set with a litany of tension and release-fueled guitar runs courtesy of originals “Walls of the Cave” and “46 Days”.
After a (relatively) quick set break, the band returned to the stage with some spacey effects to signal the start of their beloved jam vehicle, “Down With Disease”. Similar to the first set “Bathtub Gin” excursion, the band was immediately locked in and proceeded to deliver an eclectic jam that seemingly covered every end of the musical spectrum and was helmed by some tasty tempo changes from drummer Jon Fishman.
Just the second-ever public performance of a new Anastasio composition, “The Well”, counted as one of the genuine highlight moments of the night thanks to some rollicking piano work from McConnell that eventually gave way to the song’s apoplectic ending before a funky reading of “No Men In No Man’s Land”. With an initially breezy arrangement that features an engrossing mix of tempos from Fishman, as well as a nefarious jam that traverses the same dark corridors as Phish staples “Split Open and Melt” -“The Well” counts as one of Anastasio’s most promising new songs in quite some time.
A somewhat uneven performance of “Beneath A Sea of Stars Part I”, from Anastasio’s “Ghosts of the Forest” project lacked some of the cohesiveness of the evening’s preceding material but energy levels were immediately revitalized with the dark undertones of “Piper”.
After landing on a wildly appealing (and evil sounding) 70’s funk jam, the group abruptly veered into the Talking Heads anthemic “Crosseyed and Painless” for a somewhat abbreviated romp before closing the set with a scorching version of “Chalkdust Torture”.
A double encore of the emotional tear-jerker “Wading in the Velvet Sea”, followed by just the fourth performance of Jimi Hendrix’s “Fire” since 2016, set the stage for the following evening’s performance with absurdly high expectations.
Thankfully, the band was able to live up to their own lofty precedent as they delivered another strong performance, including a jam for the ages, courtesy of a monstrous version of “Carini
The weather Gods were considerably more kind on Wednesday, providing ample heat and sunshine, but lacking the east coast’s notoriously stifling humidity, giving way to a near-pristine July afternoon, especially when compared to the previous day’s deluge.
After kicking things off with the fan-favorite “Mike’s Song”, all four members immediately settled into a dark groove seemingly guided by bassist Mike Gordon that slowly built towards a brooding climax before a surprise left-turn into Stevie Wonder’s “Boogie on Reggae Woman”, a segue which elicited some of the loudest ovations of the past two evenings.
The band was clearly in a playful mood as the “Boogie On” jam cleverly crept back towards the closing theme of “Mike’s Song” which ultimately led to a full-fledged reprise of the final segment before melting into “Mike’s” usual instrumental companion piece, “I am Hydrogen.”
The opening twenty-six-minute segment eventually concluded with a lively version of “Weekapaug Groove” that saw the entire pavilion pulsating with each note, driven by Gordon’s funky slap-bass lines.
A tender reading of McConnell’s “Army of One” offered up a much-needed reprieve after the hot start before dropping into the nautically-theme funk special, “Moma Dance”, which built towards a wonderfully chaotic jam.
“Moma’s” funky tempo eventually gave way to the tranquil opening chords of the equally sea-worthy “Prince Caspian”, a version that easily counts among the evening’s highlights thanks to a series of hair-raising peaks.
“Caspian” was followed up with a quick “happy birthday” message from Anastasio to lighting director Chris Kuroda, often referred to as the “5th member of the band” due to his wizard-like abilities controlling one of the most impressive light-shows in the industry.
A rather pedestrian reading of “Backwards Down the Number Line” continued Kuroda’s birthday celebration before giving way to a dynamic set-closing one-two punch of the dark and foreboding Ghosts of the Forest track “About to Run”, along with one of Phish’s most beloved originals, “Fluffhead” which capped Wednesday’s opening stanza with crackling energy.
The evening’s second set began with a pair of jam vehicles that showcased the band’s unique “Type II” improv, a term coined by fans for stretches where the band abandons the song’s original chord and melodic structure in lieu of creating something entirely unique.
“Set Your Soul Free” kicked things off by settling into an atmospheric groove that casually built to a searing jam before unleashing a “Carini” that will live in Phish infamy.
Wednesday’s version of “Carini”, which clocked in at over twenty-two minutes and has already been lovingly coined as the “Mann Carini” across Phish-centric message boards, was a perfect snapshot of everything Phish does best. A patient jam that exhibited strong Pink Floyd influences eventually landed on a hypnotic descending chord progression that all four members immediately jumped on leading to a cathartic peak. However, the quartet was not even close to finished as the song continued on with a litany of jaw-dropping segments that sounded almost nothing alike and somehow managed to continue to build in intensity before finally giving way to a much-needed breather with the tender ballad, “Joy.”
The two-day stand’s final set concluded with relatively brief, but high-octane, runs through TV On The Radio’s “Golden Age” and “Limb By Limb” before a compelling combo of two of Phish’s oldest and most cherished compositions, “Golgi Apparatus” and finally “Harry Hood”, which wrapped things up with the song’s signature three-chord closing jam. “You can feel good about Hood,” indeed.
The quartet returned for a memorable encore that mirrored Tuesday’s performance with the juxtaposition of “A Life Beyond The Dream”, which counts as one of the best ballads Anastasio has ever composed, and another of Phish’s oldest entries, “Run Like An Antelope”.
As the band approaches their fortieth anniversary at the end of this year, it’s clear that all four members have no intention of slowing down anytime soon, much to their rabid fanbase’s delight. If the past two nights in Philly are any indication, they may have another forty years to go.
