For their second performance at DTE Music Theatre (the first back in the summer of 2011), in keeping with tradition at this venue, Phish opened up the show with “Wolfman’s Brother”, getting the crowd loosend up and ready to dance the night away.

The band followed with “Devotion To A Dream” from their new album Fuego (read the album review here), one of the more poppy songs featured on the album. The song is very clean-cut and has an energetic call-and-response chorus that feels rather triumphant. After an exuberant version of “Wilson”, the boys played the first “Poor Heart” of the summer tour, a twangy country tune that had the whole crowd grooving to this summertime hoe-down.

Another special moment from the first set was the very funky “It’s Ice,” featuring an absolutely monstrous break section with Trey and Page both giving their all. Mike and Fishman backed them up with incredible style, as per usual. The boys closed the set with “46 Days”, ending the first set with a total bang!

The second set opened with a solid “Mike’s Song” that segued right into “Ghost”, the longest jam of the show at 11:35. The “Weekapaug Groove” also had some really wonderful moments, both deeply intense and trascendent. Another track from Fuego, “Waiting All Night” provided an appropriate slow-down song during this high energy set.

Of course, the slow down was only to be picked up immediately after with an ever-energetic “Tweezer” that took us right into a fiery version of “Fuego” to keep things rolling. The second set closed with a high-intensity version of “Tweezer Reprise”, leaving us with high hopes for the encore.

For the first time in Phish history (Phishtory), the four members encored with “Also Sprach Zarathustra”, the opening theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey, playing a spacey yet playful rendition of this fan favorite. This seuged into a 10:22 long Possum, the fun-loving jammy tune that provided an excellent ending to a wonderful, energy-filled evening.

The show is a great example of what Phish has been up to thus far on their summer tour, an interplay between their most classic and beloved songs and a smattering of their newest material: a truly delightful combination. It may however, take some time for phans to truly embrace the material on Fuego, but is this any different from how fans first responded to their 2009 album Joy?

All in all, this night in Michigan was a great reminder of what we all know and love about Phish: that symbiotic relationship between band and audience, the spontaneity of musical improvisation, and that feeling of blissful freedom we experience dancing at their shows.

-Lily Enchin

Set 1: Wolfman’s Brother, Devotion To a Dream, Wilson > Poor Heart, The Moma Dance, Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan, Lawn Boy, Yarmouth Road > Rift, The Line, It’s Ice > 46 Days

Set 2: Mike’s Song > Ghost > Prince Caspian[1] > Backwards Down the Number Line > Weekapaug Groove[1] > Cavern > Piper > Waiting All Night, Tweezer > Fuego > Tweezer Reprise

Encore: Also Sprach Zarathustra > Possum

[1] Unfinished.

Teases:
· Fuego tease in 46 Days
· Streets of Cairo tease in Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan

[Courtesy of phish.net ]