Tonight, Tuesday, February 23rd, Phish will air the band’s February 22nd, 2019 show in Riviera Maya, Mexico as the 31st episode of the 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 2/22/19 Stream Companion.
Phish Dinner and a Movie Episode 31 – 2/22/19, Riviera Maya, Mexico [STREAM]
[Video: Phish]
This south-of-the-border edition of Phish’s Dinner and a Movie will appropriately benefit the National Immigration Law Center (NILC). Established in 1979, the NILC is the leading national legal advocacy org in the U.S. exclusively dedicated to defending and advancing the rights and opportunities of the most vulnerable immigrants and their loved ones. Believing that everyone living in the U.S. should have equal access to justice, resources, and economic opportunities that allow them to achieve their full human potential, the NILC advances its mission through a racial, economic, and gender justice and equity lens, and works to challenge laws and policies that contribute to systemic inequities. All donations made via The WaterWheel Foundation will go to them. Donate at any time here.
This 31st installment of Dinner and a Movie follows last month’s showing of 7/25/03 in Charlotte, NC. Run down the list of all the past 31 Dinner and a Movies below:
Whether appropriately or sadly, this episode of Dinner and a Movie falls on the one-year anniversary of the last Phish show: 2/23/20 on the same Mexico coastline we’ll see on tonight’s webcast. Yes–it’s been a full year since Phish played a show. It feels like even longer, to be honest, but the amount of entertainment and interaction the band has provided throughout the pandemic has been nothing short of incredible. With Dinner and a Movie alone, the Phish community has spent a full month’s worth of evenings together throughout this concert-starved year. It doesn’t affect the cause, but it sure has healed some of the symptoms.
The Dinner and a Movie effect has even caused the ways in which we miss Phish to mutate. Early on in the series, fans clamored for older shows from the band’s earlier days. I was one of them. Recent, “3.0” Phish was already fresh in our minds. If we’re just doing “movie night” anyway, let’s watch the classics…
The Phish team has responded in kind over the course of the year, offering up prime selections from throughout the band’s decades-long career. But as we move into the second year of the live music shutdown and every fan’s last show is at least a year behind them, I’ve found myself drifting toward more recent recordings. Lest we forget, the Phish that stepped offstage one year ago today was just as exciting as ever. Nothing like a little hindsight to remind us how good we had it.
As such, tonight’s more recent Dinner and a Movie selection—the second of three nights of Phish’s 2019 Mexican destination event—feels like a welcome return to the modern era. (It’s still 3.0 until there’s another show. Don’t @ me, Trey).
Now, on with the show. After the band had turned expectations on their heads on night one with a slew of long-lost tunes including a show-opening bust-out of “Spock’s Brain”, it was anyone’s guess as to how Phish would begin their second Mexican show. However, it’s probably safe to say that nobody expected what did start the night: the first “You Enjoy Myself” show opener since 7/9/03. While this rendition contained a handful of flubs and saw Mike Gordon amusingly head to his trampoline a few bars early, it’s tough to nitpick a show-opening “YEM” on a tropical beach.
After the “YEM” vocal jam faded out, the band picked back up with Kasvot Växt favorite “Turtle In The Clouds”, marking its third-ever Phish performance. It was clear the band was excited to be playing this new material, and that enthusiasm carried over into the song’s choreographed Gordon and Trey Anastasio dance and the nice musical crescendo that followed.
A compact “46 Days” followed as Page McConnell and Gordon helped propel the rocker toward a ripping guitar peak. “No Men In No Man’s Land”, one of Phish’s go-to vehicles in recent years, made its Mexican appearance next. The band worked through a quick-paced, effects-heavy funk jam before easing into a brooding vamp and, in turn, back into the thick funk of “No Men”.
After briefly shifting into some melodic major key space, Jon Fishman‘s drums signaled the start of “Emotional Rescue”, the first Phish rendition of the Rolling Stones classic since the “Fuck Your Face” show at Dick’s back in 2012 and just their sixth rendition overall.
From there, the band kicked into another excellent jammed-out “Tube”, continuing the improv Renaissance the song had experienced as of late with a driving groove propelled by Gordon and Fishman. A “Shade” breather came next before a particularly maniacal “Saw It Again” featuring unhinged howls from Trey and Fishman and Haunted House scream samples from Page brought the first set to a close.
For the second night in a row, a newer-vintage “Soul” song took the set two opener slot as “Set Your Soul Free” pushed into a number of distinct spaces, from “No Quarter”-like organ tremors to sinister wails from Trey. A “Piper”-like motif began to appear around the jam’s 17-minute mark as Trey dialed in some soaring sustain. Things patiently built from there toward a stop-start segment featuring some obligatory “woos” from the crowd. “Set Your Soul Free” continued with watery, Baker’s Dozen-style ambiance before Anastasio drove the 26+ minute exploration home with a towering guitar peak.
While the biggest jam of the night was finished, Phish made it clear that they had plenty of improvisational creativity left in the tank with the “Mercury” that followed. Much like the song’s previous two appearances in Las Vegas and on New Year’s Eve in New York City, the Mexico “Mercury” pushed its way out into the cosmos, stretching out past the 22-minute mark behind focused playing by all four band members.
After nearly 50 minutes of tight improv courtesy of “Set Your Soul Free” and “Mercury”, Phish moved into a well-received mid-set “Slave To The Traffic Light” to keep things moving on a lighter, prettier note. The remainder of the set was all gravy as Phish moved through a fun (if somewhat unremarkable) rendition of “Possum”, a “Sanity” whose intro Trey amusingly botched before righting course and adding some ad-libs with Fishman (“Kablooee!”; “Wham-o!”; etc.), and an always-welcome sing-along “Walk Away” closer.
Tune in to Phish Dinner and a Movie Episode 31 (2/22/19 in Mexico) tonight at 8:30 p.m. ET. Below, check out a gallery of photos from the 2/22/19 Phish performance in Mexico courtesy of photographer Eric Fefferman.
Setlist: Phish | Barcelo Maya Beach | Riviera Maya, MX | 2/22/19
Set One: You Enjoy Myself, Turtle in the Clouds, 46 Days, No Men In No Man’s Land > Emotional Rescue, Tube > Shade, Saw It Again
Set Two: Set Your Soul Free > Mercury > Slave to the Traffic Light > Possum > Sanity > Walk Away
Encore: More
