Just as they did the past two years/Father’s Days, Page, Trey, Mike and Jon’s children came out during Brother, the ninth version of the tune since 1997. At one point three generations of Fishman’s, Gordon’s, Anastasio’s and McConnell’s graced the stage. Down With Disease gave Phish their first chance to jam and while they started “to venture away from the main theme with Trey taking control,” unfortunately “it didn’t last long.” Later in the set Phish debuted a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s Thunder Road in tribute to E Street Band sax star Clarence Clemons, who passed away yesterday. Fellow Jersey boy Anastasio sang and took the solo on the Thunder Road bust out. While Clemons never performed with Phish, Springsteen led the band through three songs at Bonnaroo in 2009.
The second set was similar to many on this tour in that it contained many big jam songs that didn’t jam very much but instead featured shred-filled solos from Trey. Sand and Light were notable exceptions as the former had a start/stop segment propelled by Page and the latter went off into a brief, melodic exploration before seguing into Backwards Down The Number Line. One of the highlights of the set was Anastasio’s work in the Fluff’s Arrival segment of Fluffhead. During the set-closing Suzy Greenberg Phish tied the leg together with Fishman shouting “what!?!?” as he did in Merriweather and Trey referencing “Page’s House” as he did all tour.
[Photo via PhishBFM]
We’ll have much more on this leg in the coming days. Phish returns at Super Ball IX in Watkins Glen, NY over the Fourth of July Weekend.
Setlist…
[via Phish.net]
- Venue Capacity / Attendance: 6,500 / 6,500
- Previous Shows at Venue: 6/15/2010
- Number Of Songs / Length – First Set: 12 / 7:52 > 9:25 (93 Minutes)
- Number Of Songs / Length – Second Set & Encore: 10 / 9:52 > 11:29 [97 Minutes]
- Total Number of Songs / Covers / Originals: 22 / 5 / 17
- Biggest Bustout: Harpua (Last Played – 07/04/2010 49 Shows)
- Debuts: Thunder Road (Bruce Springsteen)
- Average Song Gap: 8.14
- Longest LivePhish Track / Shortest LivePhish Track: Forthcoming
- Wardrobe: Trey = Longsleeve Flannel Shirt/Jeans, Mike = Black T-Shirt/Jeans, Fish = Dress, Page = Forthcoming
- Audio: Live Phish SBD
Poster…
Merit Badge…
5 Responses
These guys r a class act!!!!
Thank you Scotty B et al for the great coverage of this tour.
Really love the The Skinny and YEMblog is indispensable.
Top-notch.
Outstanding as always!
Great run they are playing the Way THEY want too. Some shows like Bethel and Charlotte were jam heavy others were not but the one thing I think we can all agree on is they sound fucking great even on most relistens. Hopefully 9 wont be a classic fest with yem antelope hood dwd ghost free bdtnl possum etc. I hope they mix it up a little better. Only quasi complaint of the tour was song selection even though each version had its very own feel to it. I wouldnt mind hearing some new songs like pigtail, myproblem right here, birdwatcher, steam, mixed with some rarities like dog log and such. the one thing I do know is I wont be disappointed!
This is great. Well said, Kyle. I was hoping for a lot more new stuff. All I can assume is they road tested a lot of stuff last summer and shelved it this summer b/c it may be going on an upcoming album. They’ve done that before if I am not mistaken. I absolutely love STEAM. That has to make a new album. We’ll see what happens at Watkins Glen…
They sound fantastic these days. I wouldnt mind shelving BDTNL for a few shows…and Possum…both always rock n’ rage…but they are appearing so much that they are turning great tunes into semi let-downs if you see a lot of shows.