After warming up on Wednesday with a soundcheck comprised of classic rock covers featuring commonly misheard lyrics, or mondegreens, Phish kicked off its first festival in nearly a decade, the highly anticipated Mondegreen, with a night of blissful jams and some mondegreens of their own.
Opening with one of Phish’s most obvious mondegreen songs, “Moma Dance” (“The moment ends, the moma dance”), the band sounded nice and loose right from the start, especially Jon Fishman, who spiced up the song’s instrumental intro with flowing tom fills before singing the first lyrics of weekend. The jam quickly turned blissful, and the band navigated multiple spontaneous key changes with impressive coordination, locking in on melodic ideas supplied by Trey Anastasio before finishing in the song’s original key.
The country/bluegrass-inspired “Back on the Train” came next, with another brief but solid jam, followed by an especially funky “Wolfman’s Brother”, which was the first jam to fully depart from the song’s structure. The 20-minute exploration was a Phishy concoction of heavy rock and funk, capped with a buoyant bevy of layered, interlocking melodies, before an ascending pattern brought the band back to the song’s original key for strong finish.
“Funky Bitch” was the first Mike Gordon-led song of the weekend and featured a stellar organ solo from Chairman of the Boards Page McConnell. Then, as the sun descended from overhead, “Roggae” brought a hushed calm over Mondegreen. Each member of the band sang a verse before the four collectively dove straight into an expansive instrumental jam with angelic interaction between Trey and Page. It didn’t take long for the laid-back “Roggae” to ramp up, but it was the synchronized landing back into the end of the tune that was truly impressive.
“NICU” is arguably Phish’s second most obvious example of a lyrical mondegreen (“and I see you”) after “Moma Dance”. The song featured another solid organ solo from Page, which Trey introduced with a hearty, “Play it, Leo! Do it!”
“A Wave of Hope” was the first 3.0-era song to make the Mondegreen cut. The adventurous 16-minute jam section drew the crowd in, building up tension that released with an intense burst of applause before the start of “Sand”.
The set-closing “Sand” was one of the evening’s more patient jams. The audience especially appreciated Trey’s funk siren sound effects—a staple of Phish’s 1.0 era—which he looped and layered to create a swirl of seemingly random, subtle accents.
“What’s Going Through Your Mind”, a recent Trey Anastasio Band song that Phish just debuted with help from Billy Strings, also included some tasteful looping before settling into a synth-heavy funk jam. Page shifted to piano as deep psychedelic rock unfolded into a light and airy major key section. A gradual climb built up to a crescendo that marked the end of the jam, but the music never stopped as Gordon grabbed the electric drill during the transition to “Chalk Dust Torture”.
Phish – “What’s Going Through Your Mind?” – 8/15/24
Despite the song’s in-your-face attitude, the four musicians couldn’t contain their joy as they delved into another blissful jam. It was finally dark now, though, and it wasn’t long before the first inklings of so-called “evil Phish” emerged, brief though they were before CDT’s triumphant final chorus (“Can’t I live while I’m young?!).
Again the band failed to stop completely before rolling straight into “Light”. More happy improv ensued before the jam dropped into an extended dissonant section with looping, amelodic sound effects. Fishman meanwhile jammed through the chaos without ever losing the pocket.
From the primal soup emerged “Prince Caspian” with another jam stretching to the 15-minute mark. The song included a drum feature and the first real crowd participation of the weekend, with the audience offering enthusiastic woos in a call-and-response with the band. Continuing the theme of happy jams, Phish gave fans another chance to bliss out with one of the night’s most solid jams.
Fishman helped bring the jam to a satisfying conclusion before leading the charge on “Crosseyed and Painless”. The Talking Heads favorite stretched deep without ever straying too far afield, and the crowd cheered in approval before Trey’s gentle strumming signaled the start of “Lonely Trip”, a more recent composition and the most straightforward number of the night. “Everything’s Right” then ended the set with a bit more unbridled joy.
Trey was all smiles when the band returned for an encore. Starting off with a straightforward “Saw it Again” featuring humorous vocals from Fishman, the band continued with “Possum”, which gave each member one last chance to stretch out before “Slave to the Traffic Light” brought night one to a close.
Click below to view a gallery of photos from opening night of Mondegreen courtesy of photographer Peter Wallace.
Mondegreen continues with two sets from Phish on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and if last night is any indication, there is a lot of great music to come. Those unable to make it in person can tune in to Phish’s nightly performances via LivePhish. [Note: Live For Live Music is a LivePhish affiliate. Ordering your webcast via the links on this page helps support our work covering Phish and the world of live music as a whole. Thanks for reading!].
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Setlist: Phish | Mondegreen | The Woodlands | Dover, DE | 8/15/24
Set 1: The Moma Dance, Back on the Train, Wolfman’s Brother, Funky Bitch (Son Seals), Roggae, NICU, A Wave of Hope (Trey Anastasio), Sand
Set 2: What’s Going Through Your Mind (Trey Anastasio Band) -> Chalk Dust Torture -> Light > Prince Caspian, Crosseyed and Painless (Talking Heads), Lonely Trip (Trey Anastasio), Everything’s Right
Encore: Saw It Again (Trey Anastasio & Tom Marshall) > Possum, Slave to the Traffic Light
