Just in time for Thanksgiving with your family, Phish bassist Mike Gordon has shared a new playlist featuring his favorite live cuts from the band’s 2022 touring year. The hand-selected collection of tracks on LivePhish comes as the band prepares to finish off 2022 with another New Year’s Eve run at Madison Square Garden.
Shared on Tuesday, the latest installment of Mike’s Picks spans from Phish’s Riviera Maya, Mexico destination event through the tour-closing Labor Day weekend run at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. Though many of the songs feature robust jams, including the extensive “Kill Devil Falls” from Saturday at Dick’s, Gordon was sure to point out that his selections weren’t based solely on improvisation, noting, “It’s never for obvious reasons.”
“I have to like the song, not just the jam, and feel fresh emotions sparking from the version I’m hearing,” Gordon wrote on social media. “Apologies for repeating a song twice, but both versions offered something new for me. Please enjoy. And have an awesome thanksgiving.”
The 17-song playlist features some healthy diversity, though as Gordon noted there are two versions of the same song. Ironically, the two recordings of “Blaze On” come from the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, MA on July 15th and the Xfinity Theatre in Hartford, CT on July 24th.
Several shows evidently stood out to Gordon, with the bassist choosing four songs from Phish’s July 23rd concert at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in New York including “Undermind”, “Ghost”, “Set Your Soul Free”, and “Twist”, totaling nearly an hour of music. Phish’s July 15th concert at the Xfinity Center came in second with three selections with the aforementioned “Blaze On”, the fifth-ever performance of Sci-Fi Soldier‘s “The Howling”, and Trey Anastasio‘s pandemic anthem-turned-emerging jam vehicle “Wave of Hope”.
Gordo also picked a pair of tracks from the 2022 spring tour opening run at The Wharf Amphitheater in Orange Beach, AL with “Stash” from night one and “Golden Age” from night two. The last twofer on Mike’s playlist comes from July 26th at Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, NY with “NICU” and “Everything’s Right”.
“I’m feeling so much gratitude for my bandmates and all of you for coming and listening and being part of the fabric of our uni-energy. That’s not a word; that’s me sounding dumb, and yet authentic,” Gordon concluded.
Check out Mike Gordon’s 2022 Phish playlist on LivePhish. Relive the band’s summer tour with Live For Live Music‘s archive of show recaps, videos, and setlists.