After a crushing opening night at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Phish returned to SPAC tonight for night two of their three-night July 4th weekend run. The band played a jam-filled spectacle on Saturday night, with several impressive improv sections highlighting another classic show at the legendary venue.

Opening the show relatively late at 8:25pm, Phish kicked off the night with a rare “Crowd Control”, showing a playful attitude from the start. Mike Gordon‘s “555” was next, bringing some funky vibes to SPAC while giving Trey Anastasio an early moment to shine. “Seven Below” then popped up for the first time in 2016, and the band stretched it out with excellent, cohesive playing for their first jam of the evening. After the short-but-sweet jam, they barely took a breath before starting the familiar shuffle of “Back on the Train”. Trey added a few vocal ad-libs before launching the song off into space with a slick, ripping solo that included a tease of last night’s “Sleeping Monkey”. Page McConnell‘s “Army Of One” followed, with a perfectly placed ballad after back-to-back first set jams. Fan favorite “The Divided Sky” was up next, with it’s awesome composition and soaring ending that drew several loud eruptions from the crowd. SPAC loves “The Divided Sky”, as it has now been played at the past three runs in Saratoga Springs.

Phish kept the high energy moving with a short trip to Mars, as the band dropped “Martian Monster” on the excited crowd. Almost immediately, they launched into a funky jam, as Jon Fishman played around with the tempo and style of his drumming throughout, whipping the music from one feel to another, as McConnell added layers of synth and Trey continued his exploration of Fishman’s Marimba Lumina. Returning from outer space, the band moved right into the, euphoric “Rift”, which they moved through with ease. After a quick take on their slow version of “Water in the Sky”, “46 Days” started up, and the band raged their way through it with a vintage Trey machine-gunning his way through the song with tons of energy. The band then started “Walls of the Cave”, which built to a huge peak to bring the first set to an end.

Set two started with “No Men in No Man’s Land”, which quickly launched off into a furious improv section that featured great tension-and-release style jamming. This section led straight into “Fuego”, which continued the blistering jamming that led into some bluesy type II playing. The “Fuego” jam fizzled out, and the band started ‘Light” up right away. “Light” is known as a jam-launchpad, and this version did not disappoint, as the band explored numerous ideas before landing on another type II jam, this one blissful and driving, leading to a melodic peak that dissolved into plinko-style playing. Out of nowhere, the band started quoting the refrain of “No Men in No Man’s Land” before transitioning into TV on the Radio‘s “Golden Age”.

Phish played five tour debuts to close out the second set. 2016’s first “Taste” emerged out of “Golden Age”, and that bled into “The Horse” which of course led into “Silent in the Morning”. After a standard run through the tracks, they kept the debuts coming with a ripping  “Julius”, which was followed by an excellent set-closing cover of The Beatles‘ “A Day In The Life”, also appearing on a setlist for the first time this year.

For the encore, Phish started with an  “Bouncing Around The Room”. After finishing the song, the real fireworks began with “Run Like An Antelope”, with a ridiculously high energy run through the fan favorite. Anastasio swirled the crowd into a frenzy with his wild playing, capping off an impressive second night from Phish at SPAC.

Phish has only set the bar higher for themselves as they look forward to tomorrow night, when they return to SPAC to close out their three-night stand.

For those who are in Saratoga for the weekend, do not miss the Cosmik Playground tribute to Frank Zapba taking place tomorrow night, July 3rd, at the Putnam Den! With members of Dopapod, RAQ, Digital Tape Machine and more, as well as Ed Mann from Zappa’s band, this is sure to be an unforgettable finale to a great SPAC weekend! More information about the show can be found here.

Check out the full Phish.net setlist from the show, below.

Setlist: Phish at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY – 7/2/16

Set 1: Crowd Control, 555 > Seven Below > Back on the Train, Army of One, Divided Sky, Martian Monster[1] > Rift, Water in the Sky, 46 Days, Walls of the Cave

Set 2: No Men In No Man’s Land > Fuego > Light -> Golden Age > Taste, The Horse > Silent in the Morning > Julius, A Day in the Life

Encore: Bouncing Around the Room, Run Like an Antelope,

[1] Trey on Marimba Lumina.

Teases:
· Sleeping Monkey quote in Back on the Train
· No Men In No Man’s Land quote in LightÂ