[ATTENDED: July 19, 2022] Phish
This was my thirteenth Phish show (thus making it the most I have seen any band). Going to a show two nights in a row is tough (although I have done it many times). But going to a show at the Mann Center two nights in a row is really tough. Especially when it is very hot and I know I’ll be standing the whole time.
But Phish never disappoints at a two night Mann Center run.
This time I decided to stand on the concrete behind the seats for most of the set. I snuck into the seated area a few times (and did managed to park it during intermission) but it’s such chaos down there that it was sometimes harder to see anything.
I wound up much of the night standing near a guy and his son. It was the son’s first show and they were following the band onto Ohio for a run of three or four shows. And the kid got a good show!
They opened with a perfect sing for such a hot night–a sultry, slow building “Steam.” This was my third time seeing them play it and I feel like it may have been the best–it really sounded great (maybe because it opened the show?). They changed things up with a bouncy “Runaway Jim.”
Then they blew my mind by tossing in a segment from “Colonel Forbin’s Ascent.” From time to time they will play pieces of this ancient song cycle that Trey wrote as a youth. I would love to see this whole thing performed live although I know I never will. But to get snippets of it here and there is wonderful. So here was “Tela” which leaves just a couple of songs left from The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday.
The mellow “Tela” jumped into a song I don’t think about too often but which is a lot of fun live: “Kill Devil Falls.” It’s bouncy and lively and just a big ball of summer fun. They jammed that out for 11 minutes until it segued into the delightful “Theme from the Bottom.” I really enjoy this song and there was some great soloing in it as well.
They followed it with “Birds of a Feather.” Story of the Ghost was the first new album of Phish material that I got into back in the day and this song has always been a favorite, so I’m always thrilled to hear it live. But as the song was ending I couldn’t help but notice that a tech guy was bringing what sure looked like a vacuum cleaner out to the stage. No. Frickin. Way.
The three guys started an a capella “I Didn’t Know” and Trey announced “Ladies and gentlemen, he only breathes water, but he sucks air. It’s Moses Brown, Moses Heaps, and Moses DeWitt” . Paige and Mike played a jazzy melody while Trey played the drums and maple ample use of Fishman’s sample pad. While Fish played the first vacuum solo I’ve seen in person!
They followed that with a “Funky Bitch,” a song I’ve seen a few times and which is always a blast to see live because they rock it hard. They ended the set with “Split Open an Melt.” I enjoy a good “S.O.A.M.” (and this was a good one) but I can’t believe I’ve seen this song five times and have yet to see a “Possum” which they have played at 200 MORE shows in their history.
But a stretched out 15 minute SOAM was certainly a fun set ender with its noisy, growly, echoey, dirty guitar sounds and Paige’s complementary synth noises taking everything down into the darkness (along with Chris Kuroda’s lights) until it pulled us all back out again.
They opened set two with “AC/DC Bag” a song that seems to be on every live record they’ve put out and which I couldn’t believe I hadn’t actually seen live myself before. So it was fun to get the crowd energy of this old classic, especially when jammed out to ten minutes.
The song jumped right into “Soul Planet” a Try song that I didn’t know and hadn’t heard before but which rocked perfectly. and also stretched out for ten minutes. It’s amazing how many songs these guys know.
The jam seemed like it was getting darker and darker buy they quickly pulled it out into a bright “Simple,” one of my favorite songs of theirs. This jam was nearly 15 minutes long and had a weird middle part with warm washes of synths from Paige while Trey soloed away, creating a very unusual feel for a Phish song. But it came out of that pretty quickly and returned to Trey’s new favorite raw, dirty guitar sound.
The groove then bounced into “Light,” an upbeat jaunty number that I’m rather fond of. The jam bounced around a few different styles and ended up in a “Party Time”! I’d never seen one live and the crowd completely got into the vibe.
Trey slowed things down for a mellow “Lonely Trip” after which Fish started the frenetic high hat that could only mean “David Bowie” was coming. I love this song and this was only my second time hearing it. It’s funny how Trey had a hard time with the formal parts of the songs yesterday but was (mostly) spot on for these more challenging ones today.
This show was not high on my list for scoring new songs to check off (although I did get a few), but it was a solid rocker from start to finish and a fully enjoyable one with some great songs thrown in.
Last night I left the show as quickly as possible. On this night the parking was utter chaos with no one directing us anywhere. I parked in a spot that was probably not even legal–in the circle, on the grass. I also crept near the exit for the encore.
The encore was probably my favorite mellow Phish song. “Waste.” I love the sentiment of the chorus “come waste your time with me.” It dates all the way back to 1996 but it still works. I don’t love a mellow encore, so I was happy that there was one more tacked on. A rollicking “Loving Cup.” I never really gave this song much thought until I saw Phish play it live. They have a lot of fun with it and the crowd really gets into it. It’s a solid encore and a good night ender.
That parking spot proved to be perfect because I didn’t have to merge with anyone. I backed out successfully and was on the road leading out in no time at all. They were the two most successful exits from the Mann center ever. They almost made me want to go back.
Maybe next summer.
Maybe.
~~~~
The five and four timers club
- Mike’s Song [5]
- Weekapaug Groove [5]
- Split open and Melt [5]
- Roggae
- You Enjoy Myself
- 46 Days
- Slave to the Traffic Light
- Suzy Greenberg
- Wilson
- Everything’s Right (this Trey song is getting A LOT of play).
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.
The Gotta See List (Number in brackets is the number of times the band has played the song)
- 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]
- Wolfman’s Brother [220]
- 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]
- Sleeping Monkey [94]
- Ocelot [94] [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]
- Axilla (Part II) [46]
- 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]
SETLISTS
| 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... 