June 5, 2011

Having appeared at the festival a number of times since its start, Umphrey’s McGee earned themselves the post-Mule, late night Saturday slot at Mountain Jam 2011. The Chicago-based sextet welcomed

Phish @ DTE Energy Music Center – June 3

Words: Andrew Bender
Photos: Benjamin Slayter

On Friday night, Phish made a memorable debut appearance at the venue formerly known as Pine Knob. Stepping onto stage for a rare birthday show at 7:45 PM, bassist Mike Gordon smiled at the crowd through his sunglasses as the last rays of the sun still peaked over the top of the grassy hillside filled with enthusiastic fans. The crowd roared their approval as the band launched into Wolfman’s Brother, setting the tone early for the tour’s sixth show. An exemplary Funky Bitch followed as Trey’s guitar licks opened for the birthday boy to belt out the lead vocals and Page’s piano and organ work shone in the jam following the second verse. In what may be the first time since last year’s Hershey Park performance, Mike held the incredibly long opening note on the last verse for the duration – much to the crowds delight.

[All photos by Benjamin Slayter]

Following a solid Sample in a Jar, the opening notes of NICU brought the Friday night party back to full steam as Trey worked a ‘Happy Birthday, Cactus’ into the lyrics, and ended the song with guitar teases of Happy Birthday. The rare first set Mike’s Song that followed was a great treat and the first half belonged to Gordon who then opened up an enthusiastic but restrained jam with Fishman’s snare-cymbal combos driving things. The classic transition into I Am Hydrogen and Weekapaug Groove was truly timeless. Weekapaug’s intense, fast pace kept on for the jam with the entire band meshing well.

• Phish @ DTE Energy Music Center: Setlist & The Skinny

Then, Phish demonstrated their willingness to take requests as an errant beach ball bearing the Sharpied word “TELA” landed on stage, was thrown off, and landed back. The calendar rolled back even further as the sweet opening notes of Tela and Page’s vocal lead transitioned into the final hyperkinetic jam. A rocking Chalk Dust Torture followed that spoke even more of things to come in the second set as little fault could be found in any element of the performance while stretching the Chalk Dust jam out longer than in most recent performances.

READ ON for more about last night’s Phish show…