Phish hit the court that is Ruoff Music Center in Noblesville, IN on Saturday to serve up a Saturday show featuring a rare performance of its titular tribute to French tennis great Guy Forget. The band’s second of three weekend shows at the venue known until 2001 as Deer Creek (get over it) followed Phish’s strangely-familiar “Diseasefest” on Friday.
Saturday’s show was top-heavy with a 9-song, 73-minute first set and a 6-song, 68-minute second set. Though the vocal delivery of the opening “Mike’s Song” may have sounded a bit timid, the show’s opening bit of improvisation showed little apprehension as Page McConnell dove straight in with the clavinet. Beside him, guitarist Trey Anastasio boldly announced his presence with a 35-second sustained note, while Jon Fishman occupied seemingly every beat with all the fills he could fathom. The blissfully light “I Am Hydrogen” followed and made this a full “Mike’s Groove”, following Connecticut’s “Mike’s Song” > “The Curtain With” > “Weekapaug Groove”, aka “Mike’s With Groove“.
Phish — “Mike’s Song” > “I Am Hydrogen” > “Weekapaug Groove” [Pro-Shot]
After plopping it in the two slot of the tour opener’s first set, Phish has continued to play with the usually-predictable placement of “Character Zero” and on Saturday dropped it in the middle of set one following “Mike’s”. The man Mulcahy preceded the contemplative “Drift While You’re Sleeping” and the chaotically convoluted “Maze” that was bested only by the delightfully chaotic “I Didn’t Know”, featuring Fishman (or rather his twin, as Trey joked) on vacuum. The first set was filled with classics and vestiges of Phish’s early days with the intricately delightful “Reba” giving way to a set-closing cover of Jimi Hendrix‘s “Izabella”, the first of 2024.
Phish came charging out of the gate for set two by ripping straight into “Chalk Dust Torture”, which opened up into 15 minutes of jamming with Fishman’s foot on the gas the entire time. Mike Gordon‘s low bass rumble at the beginning revved the engines, as Trey took the band on a slight blissful detour with help from Page’s grand piano. Without breaking stride, the jam led into “Plasma”, though after the song’s identifying quarter notes and sparing lyrics, the band picked up the “Chalk Dust” jam right where it left off as if nothing had happened.
Phish — “Chalk Dust Torture” [Pro-Shot]
This would be a recurring theme in set two as (after Evolve standout “Monsters”) the band pulled the same continuity scheme with “Crosseyed and Painless”. The Talking Heads cover led into the rare “Guy Forget” which ultimately led back into the same “Crosseyed” jam before a climactic “Fuego” closed the set. Phish’s homage to two-time Davis Cup champion Guy Forget (not pronounced the way it looks) has only been played three additional times since its debut on October 1st, 2000 in Phoenix. “Guy Forget” isn’t as much a song as it is Trey and Fish shouting “I’ve never met a man that I could not forget except for Guy Forget” over an existing jam, and to call it a song would be an affront to songs everywhere. It last appeared on August 5th, 2023 at Madison Square Garden, snapping a 425-show gap from its previous performance at the band’s first-ever Labor Day Weekend run at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park outside Denver.
Phish — “Crosseyed And Painless” (Talking Heads) > “Guy Forget” — 8/3/24
[Video: shinepigeon]
For the encore, Phish doubled down on references to Halloweens past, following the second set’s “Crosseyed and Painless” from 1996’s Remain in Light show with “Rock and Roll” from 1998’s tribute to The Velvet Underground‘s Loaded. This marked the first-ever Phish show to feature “Izabella”, “Crosseyed and Painless”, and “Rock and Roll”. The band did just that as it rocked and rolled through the final minutes and teed up a Sunday finale at Ruoff Music Center.
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Phish — “Drift While You’re Sleeping” — 8/3/24
[Video: shinepigeon]
Phish — “Reba” — 8/3/24
[Video: shinepigeon]
Phish — “Izabella” (Jimi Hendrix) — 8/3/24
[Video: shinepigeon]
Setlist [via phish.net]: Phish | Ruoff Music Center | Noblesville, IN | 8/3/24
Set One: Mike’s Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove, Character Zero, Drift While You’re Sleeping > Maze, I Didn’t Know[1], Reba[2], Izabella (Jimi Hendrix)
Set Two: Chalk Dust Torture -> Plasma, Monsters, Crosseyed and Painless (Talking Heads) -> Guy Forget -> Crosseyed and Painless > Fuego
Encore: Rock and Roll (Velvet Underground)
[1] Lyrics changed to reference Mike.
[2] No whistling.
Before his solo in I Didn’t Know, Fish laid down at the front of the stage and reclined against his vacuum. Trey then called Fish “a man who’s been sleeping at the front of the stage while his twin plays the drums.” I Didn’t Know’s lyrics were changed to reference Mike. Reba did not contain the whistling ending. Trey teased Johnny B. Goode in Rock and Roll.