Review: Phish PNC Holmdel – Night One
Phish @ PNC Bank Arts Center – May 31
While the opening three-night stand in Bethel, NY showed a lot of promise for the current summer Phish tour, Tuesday night’s show at the PNC Bank Center was a small step backward. Unexpected sound issues and botched sections nearly zapped most of the band’s confidence but despite these setbacks the band put forth a relatively energetic performance (albeit a very restrained energy).
[All photos by S. Balaji Mani]
Launched by the much-awaited Chalkdust Torture, the first set opened strong. A nicely placed Roggae followed, maintaining the energy while taking a laid-back tempo. Guitarist Trey Anastasio first encountered some tuning issues during The Moma Dance, correcting himself later on.
A high-energy Rock n Roll and intense Sand were extended but remained relatively structured as strictly Type I adventures. The improvisation in Sand was especially noteworthy, with Trey and Page taking melodic cues from each other. Just as the first set was coming to its eventual close, the composed parts of Divided Sky escaped Trey’s reach – whereas he had flubbed it in the past, this time he completely forgot one entire section. Embarrassed after attempting multiple times to remember the part, Trey deferred to the audience and encouraged the crowd to sing the missing notes. During these uncomfortable moments bassist Mike Gordon and drummer Jon Fishman exchanged looks of confusion but kept playing.
READ ON for more on Night One of Phish @ PNC…
