Phish’s summer 2000 tour turns 25 this year, and this week we look back at one of the most memorable (or least absurd) shows of that era: the “Moby Dick” show.
After the triumph of Big Cypress, the band—comprised of Trey Anastasio, Jon Fishman, Mike Gordon, and Page McConnell—was teetering on the edge of creative burnout and personal implosion, exhausted from a spring of Farmhouse promotion (complete with a few tutorials of the Meatstick Dance for the Japanese fans).
When the phalanx of tour buses came to a stop amid the Indiana cornfields on July 11th, 2000, its passengers were exhausted and unenthused, ready to pull the plug on the whole operation. What followed was a performance that hit the musical heights fans expected while leaning fully into rock-riff absurdity—a meaningful moment for a band in desperate need of a good show (or maybe just a good laugh).
“Ya Mar” kicked off the evening, carrying a Caribbean breeze to cool down the Indiana heat. From there, “Moma” danced and “Uncle Pen” twanged, with Gordon’s bass punching beautifully through both grooves.Then, the first set ended… unofficially.
The band fast-forwarded past the typically safe first-set formula and dove straight into the anything-can-happen territory usually reserved for after the set break. First, they jumped headlong into the towering jam-behemoth of The Who’s “Drowned”. Trey shredded the Halloween ‘95 MVP like a never-ending Pete Townshend windmill before the band settled into a playful bounce. Phish then reprised the jam, start-stop style, the first of several in-jokes that may have worn the patience of the fans, though certainly not the band.
Then came the bust-out of a song that had been chased by likely no one: “Chalk Dust Torture Reprise”. Played just once six years earlier, this cheeseball jam jingle made it painfully clear why the song would go on to vanish for another 25 years. Not every joke lands. Sometimes you just need to get your ass handed to you for 19 more years to figure out how to make it work.
A chilled-out “Theme From the Bottom” cooled down the farm post-sunset, with Trey’s swirl of loops crashing into the final chord before the a cappella break. “Cavern” closed the set officially, another song that would fit just as perfectly on the right hand side of a setlist.
The second set launched with spacey rumblings that gave way to a “2001” that brought the cow funk home. That disco freakout collapsed into “Down with Disease”, a pairing practically mandatory in the late ‘90s. But the band sounded bored with it, sidestepping the usual “DWD” guitar fireworks for a certain… Guitar Center riff.
Led Zeppelin’s “Moby Dick” emerged from the depths, Fishman catching Trey’s bait after a bar or two. The band exchanged grins before nailing the start-stop changes, then bounced straight back into DWD to close it.
“Runaway Jim” took the baton next, spliced with another shot of Zoso for good measure. The bluesy shuffle of “Back on the Train” was a perfect jam vehicle for yet another hard rock detour into— you guessed it — Led Zeppelin’s “Moby Dick”. And with that, we officially had The Moby Dick Show, complete with the famously solo-averse drummer dropping some Bonzo fills.
“Harry Hood” carried on the run of heavy hitters, with the whale joke punched in yet again at the end. By the fourth repeat of a riff that becomes hack-y after a few bars, the message was loud and clear: this show was for the band, not the tens of thousands scattered across The Creek. It was a night of in-jokes and belly laughs—so, of course, they had to put the dress-draped drummer out front for a vacuum solo?
Trey introduced him as Russell Crowe before the very out-of-shape Gladiator stepped up, Electrolux in hand, for Syd Barrett’s “Terrapin”. Anther “Dick” tease gave Trey a chance to do his best Bonham impression while Fishman lapped the stage in absurdist glory. Then, back to the very serious business of face-melting rock as “Character Zero” blew down the cornfields one last time, finally closing the main set — notably free of a certain riff.
“First Tube” gave Trey a final chance to unleash on the pharmers before beating the “Chalk Dust Reprise” and “Moby Dick” gags into the dirt one more time.
Trey said goodnight through laughter, unable to resist a few more quips about “The Phish,” encouraging fans to read “the book” and see “the movie.” He sounded like a late-night infomercial pitchman—and that was exactly the point as the band ended the show with a “Chakdust Torture Reprise” reprise.
Phish has always been about fun, delicately balancing professionalism with absurdity. Some nights, it works better than others, especially when the band is fighting off exhaustion—the same exhaustion that would lead to their extended hiatus a few months later. But the show that would, for good reason, go down as “The Moby Dick Show” stands as a perfect example of how Phish can absolutely destroy a night of music while laughing their asses off the entire time.
Below, check out the setlist from the Phish “Moby Dick” show on 7/11/00, listen to a full audio recording, and watch a full, crowd-shot video of the performance.
Phish – 7/11/00 (“The Moby Dick Show”) – Full Video
[Video: The Pharchive]
Setlist [via phish.net]: Phish | Deer Creek | Noblesville, IN | 7/11/00
Set One: Ya Mar, The Moma Dance, Uncle Pen, Drowned, Chalk Dust Torture Reprise > Chalk Dust Torture, Theme From the Bottom > Cavern
Set Two: Also Sprach Zarathustra > Down with Disease -> Moby Dick > Down with Disease > Runaway Jim -> Moby Dick, Back on the Train -> Moby Dick > Back on the Train, Harry Hood > Moby Dick, Hold Your Head Up > Terrapin > Hold Your Head Up > Moby Dick[1] > Hold Your Head Up, Character Zero
Encore: First Tube > Moby Dick > Chalk Dust Torture Reprise (Reprise)
Notes: [1] Trey on drums and Fish on vacuum. In keeping with the theme of the second set, Hood included a Moby Dick tease. Trey introduced Fish as “Russell Crowe” during Terrapin. The Moby Dick inside of the HYHU jam featured Trey on drums and Fish on vacuum. The Chalk Dust Reprise was akin to the version last played on December 10, 1994 (393 shows), with the band singing the words “Chalk Dust Torture” over varied music. At the end of the encore, Trey joked that, if anyone missed anything, they should read the book or see the movie. Trey also teased Moby Dick at the end of the encore’s Chalk Dust Reprise. Prior to this show, Moby Dick had not been played since November 29, 1997 (174 shows).