[ATTENDED: July 25, 2023] Phish
This was my sixteenth Phish show. I assumed I’d be seeing 17 tomorrow, but I decided to blow it off instead.
Primarily, because this trip from Prince to Philly sucked so bad, I left work at 4:30 and parked at 7. Yes, there was a donut run in the middle, but still. My parking space was way back in the woods (which was actually kind of easy to get out, thankfully). And I felt like I was surrounded by insanity.
This was my first Mann Center show where I had an assigned seat. I thought it was balcony, but it was actually outside in that weird uncovered area. The seat was pretty good. Me neighbors were weird though. Not very friendly–no one passed me anything.
I felt like the show had to be spectacular if I was going to even consider going tomorrow night.
And while the show checked off NO songs on my gotta see list and bumped FIVE songs into “now I’ve seen it four times” territory and one song into “now I’ve seen it 5 times” the show was still fun.
Really, seeing a band sixteen times and seeing a few songs only six times is stull a lot of originality, although I fell like they’ve been playing the same basic grouping of songs for the last few tours. Or maybe playing the same venue makes them think of playing the same songs a lot.
Having said that, they opened with a song I’ve never heard before–a cover of Shuggie Otis’ “Strawberry Letter 23.” So that was fun. It boded for a night of firsts, but did not bode true.
Nevertheless, I love “Bathtub Gin” and was super psyched to hear that and “The Squirming Coil.” I was over the moon to hear “Axilla” which I have heard recently, but which is such a barn burner, I love it. I thought I had seen “Ya Mar” more than I have, but it was only my second time and it was great.
Blaze On and Walls of the Cave both jumped into four timer territory. It’s especially surprising for “Walls” because it has only recently come into frequent rotation, but I seem to be getting it a lot–I still really like it though.
The mellow “Waste” sounded just wonderful tonight.
And they threw in a surprise extra song–46 days, the song that follows me everywhere.
During intermission, I met up with a fellow fan who I’ve known online for years and it was great to finally meet in person.
heading back to my seat, set two opened with some noise and craziness that resolved into “Down with Disease” a particular favorite.
Then they segued into “The Well” a new song that starts out fairly chill and very much like a newish Phish song. But they jammed it out for a pretty long time and then it got really really dark and heavy, with Fish yelling “the Well!” I l oved it. It was a superlative jam session and I’m curious what the song will officially sound like.
I’ve gotten No Men in No Man’s Land a lot (four times now) but it’s catchy. I’ve also gotten Beneath a Sea of Starts (Part 1) the Ghosts of the Forest song and I still don’t recognize it.
But the end of the set was fantastic. A wonderful “Piper,” a song I forget about until I hear it and I remember how great it is. This segued into a Talking Heads cover of “Crosseyed and Painless” which was fun as Fish sang it. Fish was featured a lot on the big screen and it was cool to see how complex some of his drumming is.
They ended with “Chalk Dust Torture,” another four timer, but one of my favorite Phish song so no harm there.
I wanted to sneak out for the encore and be closer to the exit, but just like in Atlantic City they encored with “Wading in the Velvet Sea” a lovely song with some cool parts. I like it a lot, but would have loved something different. I also figured they weren’t going to end on that mellow song as they tend to not. And sure enough, Trey started the frenetic guitar of Jimi Hendrix’ “Fire” a ripping ending that was a lot of fun.
I slogged to my car, got stuck in traffic, avoided a huge slow down on 95 but still didn’t get home until after 1AM. Phish is exhausting.
~~~~
The six, five and four timers club
- Mike’s Song [6]
- Weekapaug Groove [6]
- Split open and Melt [5]
- You Enjoy Myself [5]
- Suzy Greenberg [5]
- Wilson [5]
- 46 Days [5]
- Roggae
- Slave to the Traffic Light
- Everything’s Right
- More
- Carini
- I am Hydrogen
- Back on the Train
- Blaze On
- Walls of the Cave
- No Men in No Man’s Land
- Chalk Dust Torture
A Phish.net site lists every song that Phish has every played and when the last time it was played. So I decided to make my own personal ultimate list of Phish songs I’d like to see.
According to that site, I have seen 123 different songs and there are 184 songs [not including the dozens of one-offs that they will not repeat] that I have not heard them play.
The completist in me would love to hear all 184 of those songs, (some they haven’t played in years, so that’s unlikely). But given that enormous list, I have now selected the 36 or so songs that I want to hear live (the ones on the bottom are the rest of the Kasvot Voxt album and it would be cool to get the whole thing, but not essential). These are in order of frequency of play (“Possum” is their second most frequently played song and I have not yet heard it live), which means likelihood I’ll hear them I guess.
- Possum [548] (Weekapaug Groove has been played 497 times and I’ve heard it 5 times)
- Golgi Apparatus [469]
- Cavern [467]
- Foam [349]
- Lizards [325] (Split Open and Melt has been played 332 times and I have seen it 5 times)
- Maze [326]
- Sample in a Jar [298] [saw it TREY SOLO]
- Fee [283] (Slave to the Traffic Light has been played 272 time and I have seen it 4 times)
- It’s Ice [243]
- Silent in the Morning [185]
- Punch You in the Eye [161]
- Prince Caspian [165]
- Twist [160]
- Scent of a Mule [137]
- Guyute [132]
- Heavy Things [95] [TAB played it]
- Stealing Time from the Faulty Plan [79]
- Farmhouse [82] [TREY played it]
- Joy [52]
- A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing [43] (Everything’s Right has been played 42 times and i have seen it 4 times)
- Pebbles and Marbles [27]
- Weigh [44]
- Big Black Furry Creatures from Mars [131]
- Kung [38]
- Fuck Your Face [18]
- Mexican Cousin [15]
- Ass Handed [17]
- Colonel Forbin/Mockingbird
- *Stray Dog [Kasvot Växt] [4]
- *Everything is Hollow [Kasvot Växt] [3]
- *We Are Come to Outlive Our Brains [Kasvot Växt] [9]
- *Play By Play [Kasvot Växt] [3]
| July 25, 2023 [Mann Center night 1 of 2] | |
| SET ONE | |
| Strawberry Letter 23 [Shuggie Otis] 4:20 | |
| Bathtub Gin 14:35 (2) | |
| Back on the Train 8:28 [4] | |
| The Squirming Coil 7:19 [2] | |
| Axilla (Part II) 5:41 [2] | |
| Ya Mar 7:10 [2] | |
| Blaze On 10:16 [4] | |
| Waste 5:42 [3] | |
| Walls of the Cave 10:16 [4] | |
| 46 Days 6:08 [5] | |
| SET TWO | |
| Down with Disease 16:48 [3] | |
| The Well 20:38 [Eighth longest song I’ve seen] | |
| No Men in No Man’s Land 6:10 [4] | |
| Beneath a Sea of Starts (Part 1) [Ghosts of the Forest] 9:07 [3] | |
| Piper 9:10 [3] | |
| Crosseyed and Painless 6:53 [Talking Heads] [2] | |
| Chalk Dust Torture 8:04 [4] | |
| ENCORE | |
| Wading in the Velvet Sea 5:05 [2] | |
| Fire [Jimi Hendrix] 4:43 [2] |
| August 7, 2022 [Atlantic City night 3 of 3] | August 7, 2022 [Atlantic City night 1 of 3] |
| SET ONE | SET ONE |
| Wolfman’s Brother 11:37 | Chalk Dust Torture 7:39 [3] |
| Tube 12:07 [3] | Wilson 4:18 [5] |
| Mountains in the Mist 6:57 | Sand 11:19 [saw TAB play it too] |
| Ocelot 11:10 | Plasma 8:25 [2] |
| Fluffhead 14:28 [2] | Theme from the Bottom 8:10 [3] |
| Mercury 7:09 [2] | Back on the Train 7:50 [3] |
| Gumbo 4:49 [2] | Sigma Oasis 21:29 [Sixth longest song I’ve seen] |
| Carini 9:53 [4] | Cities 4:43 [Talking Heads] [2] |
| SET TWO | More 6:00 [4] |
| Mike’s Song 7:19 [6] | SET TWO |
| I am Hydrogen 7:01 [4] | Axilla (Part II) 5:54 |
| Weekapaug Groove 8:13 [6] | Soul Planet 14:52 [Trey song] [2] |
| A Wave of Hope 19:23 | Down with Disease 20:51 [2] [Seventh longest song I’ve seen] |
| You Enjoy Myself 23:46 [5] [Fifth longest song I’ve seen] | Ruby Waves 14:39 [Ghosts of the Forest] [3] |
| Suzy Greenberg 7:21 [5] | Down with Disease 0:50 [2] |
| ENCORE | Ghost 12:17 [2 plus 1 slow version] |
| Wading in the Velvet Sea 5:43 [2] | Harry Hood 14:54 [2] |
| First Tube 7:21 [2] | ENCORE |
| Sleeping Monkey 4:13 | |
| Free 10:35 [2] |
| July 20, 2022 [Mann Center night 2 of 2] | July 19, 2022 [Mann Center night 1 of 2] |
| SET ONE | SET ONE |
| Steam (8:27) [3] | Space Oddity [David Bowie] (5:27) (a cappella) (first time since 2017) |
| Runaway Jim (11:50) [2] | Martian Monster (5:50) [2] |
| Tela (6:46) | Halley’s Comet (17:03) [2] (Richard Wright cover) |
| Kill Devil Falls (10:59) [2] | Stash (11:57) |
| Theme from the Bottom (7:51) [2] | The Moma Dance (7:22) [3] |
| Birds of a Feather (6:16) [3] | Gotta Jibboo (8:09) [2] |
| I Didn’t Know (4:36) [with vacuum solo] (Richard Wright) | Shade (4:27) [saw Trey perform at Newport] |
| Funky Bitch (6:48) [3] (Son Seals) | Old Home Place (3:27) (The Dillards) |
| Split Open and Melt (14:58) [5] | Walls of the Cave (11:49) (3) |
| SET TWO | SET TWO |
| AC/DC Bag (10:01) | More (5:37) [3] |
| Soul Planet (9:51) [Trey song] | Tweezer (15:54) [3] |
| Simple (14:50) [3] | Cities (5:03) [Talking Heads] |
| Light (9:28) [3] | Tweezer (4:53) [3] |
| Party Time (7:34) | Passing Through [Kasvot Växt] (4:34) |
| Lonely Trip (7:34) [Trey song] | Izabella (4:01) [2] (Jimi Hendrix) |
| David Bowie (13:10) [2] | Tweezer (4:40) [3] |
| ENCORE | Mercury (7:30) |
| Waste (5:29) [2] | Piper (13:59) [2] |
| Loving Cup (7:41) [2] (Rolling Stones) | Tweezer (1:11) [3] |
| Also Sprach Zarathustra / 2001 (7:48) [2] (Richard Strauss cover) | |
| Character Zero (7:26) [2] | |
| ENCORE | |
| Drift While You’re Sleeping [Ghosts of the Forest] (11:45) | |
| Tweezer Reprise (3:37) [3] |
| August 15, 2021 [Atlantic City night 3 of 3] | August 14, 2021 [Atlantic City night 2 of 3] |
| SET ONE | SET ONE |
| The Landlady (6:08) | Llama [slow version] (8:03) |
| Scents and Subtle Sounds (pt. 1) (1:59) | Tube (7:56) [2] |
| The Moma Dance [slow] (14:06) | Destiny Unbound (7:24) |
| The Final Hurrah [Kasvot Växt] (8:25) [2] | Ya Mar (6:36) |
| Mike’s Song (9:30) [5] | 46 Days (7:57) [4] |
| I am Hydrogen (2:56) [3] | Reba [no whistle] (12:03) [2] |
| Weekapaug Groove (8:09) [5] | Soul Shakedown Party (6:02) |
| The Sloth (4:32) | Split Open and Melt (15:36) [4] |
| Roggae (8:18) [4] | The Squirming Coil (9:57) |
| Back on the Train (5:23) [2] | |
| You Enjoy Myself (20:02) [4] | |
| SET TWO | SET TWO |
| Carini (15:44) [3] | I Never Needed You Like This Before (5:21) |
| Set Your Soul Free (10:49) [Trey Song] [2] | Drowned (15:54) |
| Beneath a Sea of Starts (Part 1) [Ghosts of the Forest] (8:20) [2] | Ghost [slow version] (11:47) [1 first slow version] |
| Piper (11:57) [a bit more Carini] | Scents and Subtle Sounds (pt 2 only) (4:56) |
| Waves (6:33) | Chalk Dust Torture (8:30) [2] |
| Simple (6:42) [2] | No Quarter (8:06) |
| About to Run [Ghosts of the Forest song] (6:47) [2] | Slave to the Traffic Light (10:15) [4] |
| First Tube (8:21) | Suzy Greenberg (7:48) [4] |
| ENCORE | |
| ENCORE | A Life Beyond the Dream (7:46) |
| Fluffhead (15:01) | Tweezer Reprise (3:38) [2] |
| Backwards Down the Number Line (8:45) [2] |
| December 30, 2019 Madison Square Garden [night 3 of 4] | December 29, 2019 Madison Square Garden [night 2 of 4] |
| SET ONE | |
| Wilson (4:49) (4) | Turtle in the Clouds (7:51) [Kasvot Växt] |
| The Final Hurrah (7:37) [Kasvot Växt] | The Moma Dance (7:54) (2) |
| 46 Days (8:40) (3) | Kill Devil Falls (8:40) |
| The Ballad of Curtis Loew (5:02) [Lynyrd Skynyrd cover] | Yarmouth Road (7:12) [Mike song] |
| Blaze On (17:17) (3) | The Wedge (7:41) |
| Corinna (5:32) [Taj Mahal cover] | Beauty of a Broken Heart (5:28) [Page song] |
| Mike’s Song (6:24) (4) | Fuego (9:16) (2) |
| Contact (6:13) | My Friend, My Friend (5:25) (no Myfe ending) |
| Weekapaug Groove (4:59) (4) | Birds of a Feather (5:42) (2) |
| About to Run (7:47) [Ghosts of the Forest song] | While My Guitar Gently Weeps (7:12) [The Beatles cover] (first time since 2013) |
| More (8:18) (2) | Walls of the Cave (11:07) (2) |
| SET TWO | SET TWO |
| Tweezer (36:08) (2) [LONGEST SONG I’VE SEEN] | Carini (13:52) (2) |
| Pan Story (3:25) | Back on the Train (6:22) |
| Ruby Waves (13:23) [Ghosts of the Forest] (2) | Bathtub Gin (15:44) |
| Steam (with Tweezer reprise and Ruby Waves reprise) (11:53) (2) | Golden Age [TV on the Radio] (11:06) (2) |
| Slave to the Traffic Light (9:28) (3) | Also Sprach Zarathustra / 2001 (8:16) [Richard Strauss cover] |
| ENCORE | Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley (5:12) [Lee Dorsey cover] |
| Rock & Roll (7:19) [Velvet Underground cover] | Chalk Dust Torture (5:19) |
| Harry Hood (18:53) | |
| ENCORE | |
| Show of Life (5:35) [Trey song] (2) | |
| Run Like an Antelope (9:08) |
| Camden, June 29, 2019 |
December 30, 2018 Madison Square Garden [night 3 of 4] |
| SET ONE | SET ONE |
| Mike’s Song (9:12) (3) | Alumni Blues (5:14) |
| I Am Hydrogen (3:02) (2) | Letter to Jimmy Page > Alumni Blues (1:53) |
| Weekapaug Groove (8:01) (3) | Mike’s Song (9:14) (2) |
| Divided Sky (15:48) | Glide II (4:03) (first since 1995) |
| Everything’s Right (9:50) [Trey song] (4) | Weekapaug Groove (12:38) (2) |
| Guelah Papyrus (5:22) | Crosseyed and Painless (8:50) |
| Sparkle (3:51) (3) | Bliss (1:39) |
| Roggae (7:59) (3) | Billy Breathes (5:35) (2) |
| 46 Days (10:31) (2) | No Men in No Man’s Land (7:50) (3) |
| SET TWO | Tube > Weekapaug Groove > Tube (10:02) |
| Blaze On (9:23) (2) | More (6:23) |
| NICU (4:57) | SET TWO |
| Golden Age (8:27) [TV on the Radio] | Cool Amber and Mercury (9:35) [Kasvot Växt] |
| Ruby Waves (13:38)[Ghosts of the Forest] | Everything’s Right (15:30) [Trey song] (3) |
| Death Don’t Hurt Very Long (2:57) [Kasvot Växt] | Plasma (9:09) |
| Rift (6:11) (3) | Light (20:01) (2) |
| Beneath a Sea of Stars Part 1 (8:10) [Ghosts of the Forest] [debut] | Wading in the Velvet Sea (5:25) |
| Waiting All Night (4:59) | Split Open and Melt (18:26) (3) |
| Ghost (8:17) | ENCORE |
| Say It to Me S.A.N.T.O.S (6:42) [Kasvot Växt] | Funky Bitch (5:33) (2) (Son Seals) |
| ENCORE | Wilson (4:10) (3) |
| You Enjoy Myself (19:50) (3) | Rocky Top (2:40) |
| Grind (1:51) (a capella) | Cavern (4:45) |
| Camden August 8, 2018 |
Camden, August 7, 2018 |
| SET ONE | SET ONE |
| The Moma Dance (9:34) | Crowd Control (5:20) |
| Free (8:03) | No Men in No Man’s Land (7:34) (2) |
| Undermind (8:27) | Blaze On (11:22) |
| Theme From the Bottom (8:23) | Lawn Boy (4:16) |
| My Sweet One (2:09) | Infinite (9:26) |
| Steam (8:38) | Wilson (4:08) (2) |
| Train Song (3:09) | Roggae (9:29) (2) |
| Halley’s Comet (6:29) | Rift (6:08) (2) |
| Everything’s Right [Trey song] (16:41) (2) | 46 Days (9:41) [with Theme from S.W.A.T. tease] |
| SET TWO | Sparkle (3:34) (2) |
| Julius (8:06) | David Bowie (11:27) |
| Carini (11:49) | SET TWO |
| Set Your Soul Free (10:52) [Trey song] | Down with Disease (24:28) [3rd LONGEST SONG I’VE SEEN] |
| Wingsuit (9:05) | Backwards Down the Number Line (8:28) |
| Scents and Subtle Sounds (12:04) | I Always Wanted It That Way (8:45) |
| Waste (6:20) | Miss You (6:25) |
| Split Open and Melt (11:59) (2) | Light (16:30) |
| Character Zero (8:47) | Mike’s Song (7:32) |
| ENCORE | I Am Hydrogen (3:08) |
| Suzy Greenberg (6:33) (3) | Weekapaug Groove (8:46) |
| ENCORE | |
| Show of Life (Trey song) (6:02) |
| 2017 Bakers Dozen Night 13 [Glazed] |
2017 Bakers Dozen Night 1 [Coconut] |
| SET ONE | SET ONE |
| Dogs Stole Things (4:57) | Shake Your Coconuts (3:37) [Junior Senior cover] |
| Rift (6:25) | Martian Monster (6:02) |
| Ha Ha Ha (1:36) | Timber ho! (8:29) [Josh White cover] (2) |
| Camel Walk (6:20) | 555 (7:30) |
| Crazy Sometimes (7:38) [Mike song] | Pigtail (8:00) [Trey song] |
| Saw It Again (6:08) | Halfway to the Moon (8:44) |
| Sanity (5:32) | Reba (12:53) (no whistling end) |
| Bouncing Around the Room (4:01) | Moonage Daydream (6:07) [David Bowie cover] |
| Most Events Aren’t Planned (11:38) [Vida Blue song] | Walls of the Cave (11:45) |
| Bug (7:05) | SET TWO |
| I Been Around (3:55) | Tweezer (16:12) |
| Izabella (6:42) [Jimi Hendrix song] | Seven Below (13:10) |
| SET TWO | Billy Breathes (5:27) |
| Simple (25:58) [2nd LONGEST SONG I’VE SEEN] | Sparkle (4:08) |
| Rise/Come Together (7:28) [Trey song] | Everything’s Right (11:42) [Trey song] |
| Starman (5:27) [David Bowie song] | Slave to the Traffic Light (9:23) (2) |
| You Enjoy Myself (24:01) (2) [4th LONGEST SONG I’VE SEEN] | Suzy Greenberg (8:09) (2) |
| Loving Cup (7:48) [The Rolling Stones song] | Coconut (3:18) (a capella) [Harry Nilsson cover] |
| ENCORE | ENCORE |
| On the Road Again (2:32) [Willie Nelson cover] | The Mango Song (7:42) |
| Lawn Boy Reprise (1:28) | Good Times, Bad Times (5:44) [Led Zeppelin cover] |
| Bass Solo (0:30) | |
| Tweezer Reprise (3:56) |
| 2016 Mann Center |
| SET ONE |
| Wilson (5:09) |
| Funky Bitch (6:14) [Son Seals cover] |
| No Men in No Man’s Land (8:16) |
| Roggae (9:46) |
| Nellie Kane (2:59) [Hot Rize cover] |
| Gumbo (6:21) |
| Birds of a Feather (7:35) |
| Sleep Again (6:05) [Trey song] |
| Things People Do (2:49) |
| Limb By Limb (7:19) |
| Split Open and Melt (10:18) |
| The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony (1:43) |
| Suzy Greenberg (6:40) |
| SET TWO |
| Fuego (16:04) |
| Runaway Jim (7:52) |
| Gotta Jibboo (8:51) |
| Breath and Burning (9:34) |
| Timber ho! (5:36) [Josh White cover] |
| Slave to the Traffic Light (9:36) |
| You Enjoy Myself (18:43) |
| ENCORE |
| Quinn the Eskimo (4:49) [Bob Dylan cover] |
TREY ANASTASIO BAND SETLISTS FOR ADDITION
| TREY ANASTASIO BAND Fillmore 2016 |
TREY ANASTASIO solo Newport Folk Fest 2019 |
| SET ONE | Sample in a Jar [PHISH] |
| Sand (11:18) [PHISH] | Blaze On [PHISH] |
| Sometime After Sunset (5:39) | Brian and Robert [PHISH] |
| Mozambique (3:43) | The Inlaw Josie Wales [PHISH] |
| Magilla (2:59) [PHISH] | Set Your Soul Free |
| Gotta Jibboo (10:25) | Back on the Train [PHISH] |
| Pigtail (6:29) | Farmhouse [PHISH] |
| Curlew’s Call (9:38) | Rise/Come Together [TAB] |
| Cayman Review (7:30) | Shade [PHISH] |
| Ocelot (9:12) [PHISH] | Summer of ’89 [PHISH] |
| Valentine (6:06) | Sand [PHISH] |
| Tuesday (5:50) | Snowflakes in the Sand [TAB] |
| SET TWO | Steam [PHISH] |
| Drifting (7:39) | More [PHISH] |
| Night Speaks to a Woman (10:21) | |
| Delta Lady (4:29) [Leon Russel] | |
| Simple Twist Up Dave (9:30) | |
| The Song (5:06) | |
| Feel It Still (3:11) [Portugal, The Man] | |
| 49 Bye-Byes (4:42) [Crosby, Stills & Nash] | |
| Last Tube (10:40) | |
| Architect (7:18) | |
| Clint Eastwood (7:43) [Gorillaz] | |
| Black Dog (8:35) [Led Zeppelin] | |
| ENCORE | |
| The Parting Glass (3:02) [traditional] | |
| Heavy Things (5:08) [PHISH] | |
| Push On ‘Til The Day (10:23) |
I Just Read About That... 
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