After a barn-burner last night, Phish returned to the UIC Pavilion in Chicago for the second of three shows at the 9,250-capacity indoor venue tonight.
[Photo by Joel Berk]
Night two of the UIC run started with a few of Phish’s more silly and short rarities – Dinner and a Movie and Ha Ha Ha. A scorching Chalk Dust Torture gave the audience their first taste of tension and release during Trey Anastasio’s solo. A pair of songs off Round Room – Mexican Cousin and Walls of the Cave – came next and was followed by the old school pairing of Runaway Jim and Foam. I Didn’t Know saw its first action of 2011 as Phish continued to dig deeper into their repertoire. Another well-played Ocelot, the fifth Ginseng Sullivan since the hiatus and a somewhat shaky Wedge led into a Limb By Limb that deliciously moved away from the tune’s main structure. To close the first set, Phish covered The Rolling Stones’ Let It Loose for the first time since they covered Exile On Main Street at Festival 8.
While the opening stanza was light on improvisation, a 20-minute Down With Disease that kicked off set two set a different tone. Disease quickly veered off its standard track, as the band explored a number of interesting spaces, eventually settling into a lengthy transition jam that seemed to zig towards a number of different songs before finally zagging into Twist. Put this Disease at the top of your “must download” list. The group toyed with the beginning of Twist, both in tempo and vocally, during the choruses. Backwards Down The Number Line continues to chase Possum as most played song of 3.0 and after getting the call mid-second set tonight is only two versions behind. A straight-forward Theme led into a Golden Age that contained a spacy end segment that eventually led into a cover of A Day In The Life by The Beatles.
Most of Trey’s You Enjoy Myself solos have been short and to the point over the past few years. For this evening’s second set-closing YEM, Anastasio showed much more patience and built up the pace methodically leading up to a big finish. Sure a three-song encore doesn’t grab the attention last night’s five-song monster did, but the Slave To The Traffic Light that followed Heavy Things was a beaut, while Rocky Top gave the crowd one more chance to get their ya ya’s out. The UIC run and the current leg of Phish tour ends tomorrow. READ ON for tonight’s setlist and The Skinny…
