Phish returned to Northerly Island for their second time this weekend amidst absolutely beautiful weather, contrary to last year’s partly rained-out mess. The venue matched the weather for beauty, the sun glowing behind the city just to the left of the stage as it fell below the horizon each night, giving you more than just the Phish lights to stare at in awe throughout the show. In terms of the music, the quartet pulled out some serious power this run, although it came in some unexpected places.

Night One:

The massive roar of the crowd at the beginning of every show immediately lets anyone who doesn’t see the band walking on stage know that the start is imminent. Phish jumped straight in to start the run off with one of their Fuego tracks, the Gordon-penned “555.” This was a standard version where they dug into the dark jam segment for a couple minutes before they continued on through some of their staple songs such as “Kill Devil Falls” and “Bouncing Around the Room.”

A strong “Reba” followed, flowing smoothly through to the blissful jam segment before dropping into the second “Waiting All Night” in two shows, this one coming first set rather than the second. More Fuego kept rolling in with a “Halfway to the Moon” just after a fun but relatively standard “Birds of a Feather.” They kept with more staples through a “Sparkle” and “Sample in a Jar,” then dropped into the third “A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing” of the tour, marking the first time they’ve played the previously rare song that many times in a tour.

Next came the “Stash” that is always a jolly good time and that was a likely closer. However, after an interesting version in which Trey landed some unique notes and mixed up the vibe, they brought it down for “Squirming Coil,” letting Page take the spotlight for a couple minutes before breaking the set. Overall, it was a somewhat typical set for Phish this tour, but it set the stage for a raging second set with a few surprises. 

Phish returned to the stage for the second set and immediately busted out a cover, “Golden Age.” This one went a little beyond the average, breaking out into a very cool funky jam that really got the crowd grooving before they began to space it out. As the jam spread out more and more it started to come towards a halt, when Trey jumped into the first “Mango Song” of the tour and also the first in almost a year (July 26, 2013).

“Sand” followed and Trey seemed to get tired of this one faster than usual, jumping somewhat abruptly out of the solo into “Piper.” This was also the second “Piper” in two shows, and was a strong but not very noteworthy version. From here the show picked back up from the strange break in the “Sand.” They dove into a short-lived but very fun “Halley’s Comet” and then came that funky Phish-crack that we all now know as “Wombat.” Whether or not you hate this song given the indisputably inane lyrics, it is fun to see live and can really groove. This version in particular was notable, being the first time since its debut that they explored the powerful jam potential that it holds, coasting through a couple different soundscapes before a jump into another staple, “Chalkdust Torture.” The following “Slave to the Traffic Light” brought a very welcome relaxed mood, riding us through bliss until the end. “Julius” filled its common spot as the sole encore song, and ripped as usual.

Set 1: 555Kill Devil FallsBouncing Around the RoomRebaWaiting All NightBirds of a FeatherHalfway to the Moon > Sparkle > Sample in a JarA Song I Heard the Ocean SingStashThe Squirming Coil

Set 2: Golden Age > The Mango SongSand -> Piper -> Halley’s Comet -> Wombat-> Chalk Dust Torture > Slave to the Traffic Light

Encore: Julius 

Night Two:

Phish returned to the stage the second night to a larger crowd and a practical replication of the beautiful weather the night before. The first set was rather reminiscent of several others of the tour, even specifically of the DTE show just a few days prior. While changing up the order some, they played many of the same staples such as “Wolfman’s Brother,” “Devotion to a Dream,” “46 Days,” and “Yarmouth Road.” Interestingly enough, these repeats also all came one after the other and began with another repeat, “The Moma Dance.” They ripped these out and set up a good groove, but nothing special here.

Following the Yarmouth came the first and only bust-out of the set, “Brian and Robert,” which like Mango Song also hadn’t been played since July ’13. After this they pushed on into another standard “Wingsuit” before entering into an interesting “Tube” that contained “Smoke on the Water” teases from Trey. The “Tube” dissolved into “Free,” which then contained a Wingsuit tease. The always welcome bliss of “Roggae” continued to settle us in nice and easy, followed by the poppy but notably powerful “Heavy Things” that led into a blasting but straight-forward “Run like an Antelope” which contained another “Smoke on the Water” tease as well as Fishman singing “Istanbul (Not Constantinople).”

Given the particularly arrow-to-the-target first set, the crowd was expecting something akin to second sets at previous runs in the tour when the band really brings the fire. They opened up the set with a dark and screaming “Carini.” Just at the point when it starts to open up and they would normally blast off into Carini space as they did in Fall ’13, Trey jumped into the “Waves” intro. “Waves” featured some great solo work by Trey, but never fully opened up into jam-magic before the segue into another “Fuego” that we all knew was coming. Having played this song in every city they’ve hit this tour, fans have expressed their tiring of the tune, especially to-the-book performances of it such as this ten-minute version. The most interesting note of this one was the unexpected and out-of-season “Little Drummer Boy” tease thrown in by Trey.

The “Fuego” gave way to the typical “Twist>Light,” of which the Light definitely dominated, entering a quiet space with Fishman playing lightly on drums and Trey and Page dropping small melodies to coast it along. The Twist left room for Trey to get his “Fuego” tease in as well as a “San-Ho-Zay” tease. Several of the band members also took part in woo-ing during the transition between Twist and Light. “Light” then shifted easily into the first “Twenty Years Later” of the tour, giving the crowd a short breather before the main highlight of the night, “Harry Hood.” The band really got into a united groove on this one, following Trey through some interesting minor-key riffs and bluesy moods (and another “Fuego” riff) before returning to the heavenly peak that is the closing of the song.

This led into a straightforward “Cavern” to close out the set with high energy. For the encore this night the band gave fans the treat of 3 songs, the tour-first of “Grind” and “Bug,” as well as another high-energy song to truly end the night, “Suzy Greenberg.”

Set 1: The Moma DanceWolfman’s BrotherDevotion To a Dream46 Days,Yarmouth RoadBrian and RobertWingsuitTube > Free > RoggaeHeavy Things >Run Like an Antelope

Set 2: Carini -> Waves > Fuego > Twist > Light > Twenty Years Later > Harry HoodCavern

Encore: GrindBugSuzy Greenberg

Teases:
· Smoke on the Water tease in Tube
· Wingsuit tease in Free
· Istanbul (Not Constantinople) and Smoke on the Water quotes in Run Like an Antelope
· The Little Drummer Boy tease in Fuego
· Fuego and San-Ho-Zay teases in Twist
· Fuego tease in Harry Hood
· Fuego tease in Suzy Greenberg

Notes: This show was webcast via LivePhish. Tube and Antelope contained Smoke on the Water teases from Trey. Wingsuit was teased in Free. Fish quoted Istanbul (Not Constantinople) in Antelope. Trey teased The Little Drummer Boy in Fuego. Twist included Fuego and San-Ho-Zay teases from Trey. Hood and Suzy included Fuego teases from Trey.

Night Three:

As they say, “Never miss a Sunday Show,” and in this case they were not kidding. Sunday’s show brought the run home with some awesome bust-outs as well as some incredible and unexpected exploratory jams.

Phish opened Sunday’s show with “Gumbo,” only the second time in their history that they have opened with that song since it debuted in 1990. From this they jumped into a shred-tastic “Runaway Jim” and then hit the crowd with another rare bust-out, the Gamehendge tune “Tela,” last played after the famous Tahoe Tweezer.

After this awesome performance, they jumped into “Scent of a Mule.” As they did in SPAC, the band took their time and had fun with this one, Fish jumping on the Marimba Lumina for a solo. However, unlike at SPAC, during Fish’s play-time the rest of the band also jumped on the drum set, with Trey manning the throne and Gordo and Page adding in on the cymbals. Page even stood over next to Fish for a moment holding two candles in front of the Lumina as if to create mood lighting, even though no lighting was necessary to feel the mood of this one.

The “Bathtub Gin” that followed was also strong, with peaks on top of peaks coming out of awesome solo work by Trey and fantastic interplay from Page. From here they dipped into “Silent in the Morning,” which Page sang beautifully before continuing his awesome streak through a grinding “Maze” in which his hands started to flutter and fly. The staple “Ocelot” followed to mellow things back out a bit, and the set was ended with a somewhat predictable but killer “Walls of the Cave.”

The band gave no surprises in terms of opening the second set as they had in the first, playing the “Down With Disease” we all knew had to fit in the weekend somewhere. While maybe not fully comparable to others of recent date, it was a strong version featuring full-band improvisation and a noticeable key change near the start of the jam. As the jam simmered down to a bubble, Trey brought it into “Winterqueen,” a mellow song that has a somewhat similar feel in the jam to the blissful “Roggae” space.

From here they entered into “Theme from the Bottom,” Trey beginning it where Fish and Page usually do. Next came another Mike’s Groove, always an interesting beginning to what will likely be an amazing stretch of songs. The first song in the groove, “The Wedge,” was one of the absolute highlights of the show, and even of the run as a whole, as they took a whole new path unlike ever before. After coasting through the composed segment of the song, they entered into another full-band exploration with Trey focusing on rhythm and really letting the song breath through a few minutes before Fish tried to bring it back for a close. However, this was not to be the end. Instead the whole band kept going and met each other on a delightful progression that rose and brought the whole thing to a final climax. Going for the one-two-punch, the band then entered into a “Ghost” that would also turn out to be something of a chef-d’oeuvre of improvisation. Trey again focused more on rhythm and chord-progression as he has loved doing recently and the band built another delightful evolution of sound before half-seguing the “Ghost” into the “Weekapaug Groove” that was in the back of everyone’s mind. The “Weekapaug” was powerful and fun, had a little “Stash” tease in there, and became notable for the full-band “Ghost” tease.

After they closed up that beautiful Groove, they closed the set with the perfect finale song “First Tube.” As predictable as the DWD opener to the second set, “Character Zero” acted as the single-song encore to send folks home with some ecstatic energy.

Set 1: Gumbo > Runaway JimTelaThe LineScent of a Mule[1] > Bathtub Gin >Silent in the Morning > Maze > OcelotWalls of the Cave

Set 2: Down with Disease[2] > Winterqueen > Theme From the Bottom > Mike’s Song > The WedgeGhost -> Weekapaug GrooveFirst Tube

Encore: Character Zero

[1] Fish on Marimba Lumina and all four band members on Fish’s drum set.
[2] Unfinished.

Teases:
· Scent of a Mule tease in Bathtub Gin
· San-Ho-Zay tease
· San-Ho-ZayGhost, and Stash teases in Weekapaug Groove

Notes: This show was webcast via LivePhish. Scent of a Mule featured Fish on Marimba Lumina and all four band members on Fish’s drum set. Gin contained a Scent of a Mule tease by Trey. DWD was unfinished. Weekapaug contained San-Ho-Zay and Stash teases from Trey and a full-band Ghost jam.

-Charlie Harmon

[All photos courtesy of Phish’s Facebook page]