Tonight, Phish will celebrate Cinco de Mayo with a Dinner and a Movie webcast of their Sunday, January 15th, 2017 performance at Barceló Maya Beach in Riviera Maya, Mexico, the final night of their second Phish: Riviera Maya destination event. Tune in below tonight starting at 8:30 p.m. ET and scroll down to read along with our stream companion.
Phish ‘Dinner and a Movie’ Ep. 7 – 1/15/17 – Riviera Maya, MX – Full Show
This seventh episode of Phish’s Dinner and a Movie follows the 8/31/12 “F— You Face” show, the 7/27/14 Merriweather “Tweezerfest”, the 7/25/17’s Baker’s Dozen “Jam-Filled” night, Magnaball night two (8/22/15), last year’s first night at Mohegan Sun (7/19/19), and the first night of the band’s 2016 Halloween run in Las Vegas (10/28/16).
This week’s Phish Dinner and a Movie stream marks the first installment since Phish rescheduled their 2020 summer tour to 2021 late last week. Now that there’s officially no live Phish in sight, these weekly webcasts continue to give fans a way to connect and share an experience as we self-isolate. Before we get going, we wanted to express our gratitude for these Tuesdays together: Thank you, Phish. Dinner and a Movie is helping everyone more than you know.
Now, on with the show. Considering today’s date, a Mexico date was a no-brainer pick for tonight’s Dinner and a Movie. The band doubled down on the Cinco de Mayo theme with a pair of Page McConnell-submitted recipes for tacos (both beef and a vegetarian option). Us? We’ll be making Phish—erm, fish—tacos for dinner, but the Chairman is totally cool with the audible. As he explained when Dinner and a Movie Ep. 7 was announced, “Anything goes. That is one of the beautiful things about tacos. Another beauty of the taco is that it’s kind of a Mexican sandwich. And you all know how I feel about sandwiches.”
Before we move on with our Cinco de Mayo/Taco Tuesday Phish Mexico stream companion, a quick note for all the celebrating gringos out there from Page: “A little context about the holiday: Cinco de Mayo is not celebrated nearly as much by our southern cousins as it is north of the border. Cinco de Mayo is also called the Anniversary of the Battle of Puebla. It commemorates a military victory in 1862 over the French forces of Napoleon III. It is not a celebration of Mexican independence. The Mexican war for independence against Spain ended in 1821. I just learned some of this so I thought I would share.” Thanks for the clarification, Leo. The more you know…
Tonight’s Dinner and a Movie show, 1/15/17, was the last of three performances from the 2017 edition of the band’s all-inclusive Mexican destination event, which had launched with great success in 2016. The 2017 edition was well underway by the time fans sauntered onto the beach for the last of three performances of the weekend. Meanwhile, they had mingled at their resorts, floated around the lazy river in Fishman donut inner tubes, and enjoyed some beautiful waterside art installations by visual artist Eric Rieger, better known as HOTTEA. With one more night left, the band and fans were ready to leave it all on the sand.
Aside from the all-around great playing on this night, what set 1/15/17 apart from the previous beachside shows south of the border was the weather. After two days of sunshine, rain pelted Riviera Maya throughout the day on that Sunday. Intermittent bursts of rain and blustering seaside winds pummeled the band and crowd throughout the show, making for a markedly different experience than the previous two nights; but how much can rain really bother you when you’re watching a Phish show on a tropical beach? You get wet, and you party on—and watch Chris Kuroda work his magic on the mist.
The band kicked things off with Stevie Wonder‘s “Boogie On Reggae Woman”. While Trey Anastasio had trouble remembering some of the words, his self-effacing laughter at the gaffe made the remainder of the song that much more enjoyable. The “Simple” that followed gave the band an opportunity to stretch out a little for some brief but sublime improvisation. By the time the “Tweezer” riff bled into the “Simple” jam, it was apparent that the band was ready to end their Mexican vacation with a bang.
Following a full segue into “Tweezer”, the band was primed and ready for the first big jam of the set. Propelled by an impressive Jon Fishman pocket, the band moved through various sonic spaces (and even a Trey tease of the Grateful Dead’s “Slipknot!) before floating into a beautiful “Roggae” just after the 12-minute mark. After coming to their first full stop of the show, the band jumped into the most surprising song selection of the night, “Nothing”. The Anastasio/Tom Marshall-penned Amfibian tune had only been played by Phish six times prior to that night, and it has not resurfaced since.
The “Nothing” interlude gave way to another big first set jam on “Ghost”, which quickly cemented itself as the highlight of this already-strong first frame as Trey worked up an impressive and aggressive solo before bringing the song to a close. The tropical vibes of “Ya Mar”, the energy of “Stealing Time From The Faulty Plan”, and the bluegrass punch of “Rift” led up to the set’s big finale: “Fluffhead”.
While there were one or two forgotten lyrics during the song’s verses, the composed sections more than made up for it as the band turned in a spirited take on the multi-section classic. Life was indeed a bundle of joy for all of those in Mexico as this highlight-filled first set came to a close.
A meaty “Down With Disease” got the second set started as the band fell in behind bassist Mike Gordon for some brooding improv. The unfinished “Disease” flowed seamlessly into “No Men In No Man’s Land” with Trey delivering the refrain emphatically, his long red locks blowing in the ocean breeze. A down and dirty “Sneakin’ Sally Through The Alley” followed, as the band skillfully laid into the song’s structure before dropping into sparse, funky jam space led by Gordon and McConnell. The “Sally” jam then turned on a dime to an atmospheric riff, which ended with a chilling, thrilling run through the “Shipwreck” narration from Halloween 2014 in Las Vegas. The “Shipwreck” teases continued as the band segued into a rocking “Possum” and, in turn, a searing “Carini”.
As the last “Shipwreck”-infused notes of the “Carini” jam fizzled out, the familiar drum intro to “David Bowie” began to roll in, making its return after a longer-than-usual 12-show gap. Finally, a celebratory “Harry Hood” closed out the last of six sets of the weekend. Gracias, Señor Miner.
With a “Tweeprise” looming, fans may have called a quickie encore opener before the obligatory exclamation point. What they got in the pre-‘prise slot, however, was a towering “Slave To The Traffic Light”—one more classic Phish song in a show already packed with them, a victory lap after what had been easily the best of the six Mexican shows to that point.
Check out the setlist below, and tune in at 8:30 pm ET to watch the stream. Taco Tuesday Cinco de Mayo Mexican Phish is coming at you.
Setlist: Phish | Barceló Maya Beach | Riviera Maya, Mexico | 1/15/17
Set One: Boogie On Reggae Woman > Simple -> Tweezer > Roggae, Nothing, Ghost > Ya Mar, Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan, Rift > Fluffhead
Set Two: Down with Disease[1] -> No Men In No Man’s Land > Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley -> Possum > Carini > David Bowie, Harry Hood
Encore: Slave to the Traffic Light > Tweezer Reprise
[1] Unfinished.
Trey teased Slipknot! in Tweezer. The Little Drummer Boy was teased in Ghost. DWD was unfinished. Possum, Carini, David Bowie, and Harry Hood contained Shipwreck quotes.