Tonight (Tuesday, July 28th), Phish will air their “Double Chocolate”-themed performance from 2017’s Baker’s Dozen residency at Madison Square Garden on 7/28/17 as the eighteenth episode of their ongoing archival webcast/cooking series, Dinner and a Movie. Tune in below at 8:30 p.m. ET and scroll down to follow along with our 7/28/17 Stream Companion.
Phish Dinner and a Movie Episode 18: 7/28/27, Madison Square Garden [Full Show]
The eighteenth episode of Dinner and a Movie follows the 8/31/12 “F— Your 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 (7/9/19), the first night of the band’s 2016 Halloween run in Las Vegas (10/28/16), the final night of 2017’s Mexican destination event (1/15/17), the band’s first of three nights in Alpharetta, GA in 2018 (8/3/18), the out-there 1997 U.S. tour opener featuring a guest appearance by LeRoi Moore of Dave Matthews Band (7/21/97), the improv-heavy second night of their 2018 Madison Square Garden New Year’s run (12/29/18), 2013’s Friday night at The Gorge (7/26/13), the band’s 1995 debut at Deer Creek Music Center (6/19/95), the fiery Wednesday night at The Mann in 2015 (8/12/15), an evening at the iconic Greek Theatre in Berkeley, CA from 2010 (8/7/10), and an “avant-garde” set two video from Northampton, MA back in 1989 (5/1/89), 2019’s wild Alpine Valley finale (7/14/19), and the third night of Phish’s return to Hampton Coliseum in the fall of 2013 (10/20/13).
This week’s archival stream marks the second edition of the series to take place on the anniversary of the show’s original date, following the airing of 7/14/19 at Alpine Valley on its one-year anniversary for episode sixteen. Tonight’s stream also marks the second episode of Dinner and a Movie to pull from the Baker’s Dozen, Phish’s 13-show residency at the World’s Most Famous Arena in the summer of 2017. Back in early April, the band showcased the run’s fourth, “Jam-Filled” night as the third episode of the series. Now, we get to re-sample the sixth “donut” of the Dozen: “Double Chocolate” night.
Related: A Baker’s Dozen Exposé: About Those Spicy Chicken Sandwiches In Section 119…
The 7/28/17 show marked the beginning of the middle “run” within the 13-night stretch, and by this point, fans had figured out the game. On the morning of each show, Phish would announce a donut flavor for the evening. That night’s performance would then play on the flavor du jour as the theme of the show, inspiring thought-out song selections, surprise bust-outs, and out-of-left-field covers in accordance with the day’s dessert. You can read our full, show-by-show rundown of the Baker’s Dozen here.
TONIGHT’S FLAVOR is DOUBLE CHOCOLATE (dark chocolate glaze with chocolate cookie crumb). #phish #BakersDozen pic.twitter.com/58HpkZhgyB
— Phish (@phish) July 28, 2017
The chocolate references started from the first song, as the band took the stage in a cappella formation for perhaps the most unusual cover of the entire residency: “Chocolate Rain”, the ubiquitous song by Tay Zonday from the salad days of the viral video era. Just as Zonday famously did in his original “Chocolate Rain” video, the band even “moved away from the mic to breathe in” in unison, leaving the already amused Garden crowd in stitches. Silliness still on their minds, the band moved into a rendition of Jon Fishman‘s “Ass Handed” in the second slot.
Song selections like these were part of what made the Baker’s Dozen so special. Thanks to some particular baked goods, “Chocolate Rain” was performed to a sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden and cemented in Phish lore for years to come. This brief moment at the Garden allowed the Phish/Zonday connection to linger to this day: Earlier this year, Zonday acquiesced to a Phish fan’s request and “performed” Phish’s “Ass-Handed” for a Cameo video. The donut comes full-circle…
Tay Zonday – “Ass Handed” (Phish)
[Video: Scott Bernstein]
In terms of theme-focused chocolate references, the band also offered up some alternate “Fee” lyrics during the encore (lyrics changed to “have a chocolate donut and catch your breath”) and debut cover of Hot Chocolate‘s “You Sexy Thing” during set two. While the chocolate antics were fun to see, however, it’s the “regular” Phish around the theme-centric selections that propelled this show toward the top of most fans’ “Best of the Dozen” lists.
With 5 nights worth of songs now off the table as part of the no-repeat run, the first set continued on with a mix of staples and rarities like “Weigh”, “Undermind”, “The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony”, “The Dogs”, “Destiny Unbound”, “Divided Sky”, “Things People Do”, and “Sand”.
Set two was where the band truly got down to business for one of the finest sets of the 26 they played in the NYC arena that summer. Phish kicked off set two with a shocker, as “Have Mercy” by The Mighty Diamonds served as a standalone opener for the first time ever. At that point, “Have Mercy” had only been played a handful of times, and all of them except for this version came in the middle of an extended jam. [Note: The show-opening rendition in Charlotte last summer now shares this distinction with the Baker’s Dozen version]. “Have Mercy” is typically a surprise that appears out of the ether of ambitious improvisation, so to say that fans were caught off guard by the song’s placement as set-opener would be an understatement—and we were just getting started.
From there, the band moved into “Chalk Dust Torture” and made the most of their classic tune’s only Dozen appearance by riding it to more than 20 minutes of sublime improvisation. After leaving “Chalk Dust” unfinished just before the 25-minute mark, the Phish debut of “You Sexy Thing” prompted an eruption of approval and appreciation from the crowd. For a fanbase long familiar with the concept of “Miracles,” the addition of this tune to the Phish repertoire seemed obvious as soon as Mike Gordon started to sing. The Garden simply erupted with excitement as the band started up the soulful cover, and while Mike struggled mightily with the song’s high notes, the fans at MSG were too busy singing and laughing along to care.
After guiding “You Sexy Thing” into a sparse, funky groove featuring unique interplay between Page McConnell and Trey Anastasio, the band flowed into “Mercury”, still a relatively new number in Phish’s catalog at that point. While LivePhish scores this segment as “You Sexy Thing” > “Mercury”, the distinctive bass line of the Hot Chocolate classic faded back in around the 12-minute mark of “Mercury”, and a reprise of the chorus vocals followed suit. The debates continue to this day regarding whether or not this “You Sexy Thing” “reprise” was a nod to the “double” portion of the “Double Chocolate” theme. We say, why not?
With time for a couple more, the band moved into “Backwards Down The Number Line” followed by a celebratory take on The Velvet Underground‘s “Rock & Roll”. The crowd couldn’t help but feel the sentiments of the tune—during the Baker’s Dozen, everything was indeed “alright.” After the chocolate-modified “Fee” encore opener, the band closed out night six with their a cappella arrangement of David Bowie‘s “Space Oddity”.
Check out a gallery of photos from the show below courtesy of photographer Andrew Blackstein and tune in to relive the performance at 8:30 ET tonight, July 28th.
Setlist: Phish | Madison Square Garden | New York, NY | 7/28/27
SET 1: Chocolate Rain[1], Ass Handed, Free, Weigh > Undermind > The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony, The Dogs > Destiny Unbound, Divided Sky, Things People Do, Sand
SET 2: Have Mercy, Chalk Dust Torture[2], You Sexy Thing[3] > Mercury -> You Sexy Thing > Backwards Down the Number Line > Rock and Roll
ENCORE: Fee[4], Space Oddity
[1] Phish debut; a cappella, with Page on a midi controller keyboard.
[2] Unfinished.
[3] Phish debut.
[4] Trey sang verses through megaphone. Lyrics changed to “have a chocolate donut and catch your breath.”
This show was night six of Phish’s Baker’s Dozen run at Madison Square Garden and consisted of a chocolate donut theme. Donuts with a dark chocolate glaze with chocolate cookie crumb were given to fans arriving at the venue and the show featured the Phish debuts of Chocolate Rain and You Sexy Thing. Chocolate Rain was performed a cappella and featured Page on a midi controller keyboard. Chalk Dust Torture was unfinished. Fee featured Trey on megaphone. Fee’s lyrics were changed to “have a chocolate donut and catch your breath.”
