Phish tour rounded its latest bend on Tuesday with the band’s first of two midweek shows at Philadelphia, PA’s TD Pavilion at The Mann. The buzz in the grassy lots of the Fairmount Park amphitheater may have leaned toward the last-minute announcement of a pair of August Phish flood recovery benefit shows at SPAC earlier in the afternoon, but the capacity crowd’s attention was back on Philly by the time Trey Anastasio, Mike Gordon, Page McConnell, Jon Fishman (in classic blue and red) took the stage and jumped into “Strawberry Letter 23” just after 8 p.m.
You could characterize much of Tuesday’s first set in much the same way: fun, often pretty-skewing songs that prominently featured the Chairman of the Boards on the grand piano, a fact that alleviated some of the effect of considerable vocal octave confusion and apparent monitor issues.
A 14-minute “Bathtub Gin” with a piano-led peak accelerated through the finish line in the two-spot before getting “Back On The Train” for a quick but active ride with another piano-rock climax. We’re going Page-heavy, right? Might as well throw in an unusually placed mid-set “Squirming Coil” and give him a true spotlight solo. Who cares if Trey misses a whole chunk of the composed section? (He did.) This is a Page set.
The hot hand in the band remained hot as McConnell ran point from behind the keys on a jaunty “Ya Mar” (“Play it, Leo!”) and a grooving “Blaze On” (“Do it one more time, Leo!”). A beautiful-as-always “Waste” bridged the way to “Walls of the Cave”, another piano-driven statement-maker. Trey struggled again on the composed bits here, but Fishman whipped the crew into shape as soon as his mid-song drum explosion burst through the P.A. Perhaps sensing he had left something on the table on “Walls”, Trey opted to follow the perennial set-closer with one more tune, a rumbling “46 Days”.
A probing “Down With Disease” jam set the table for a strong set two, Page continuing to draw attention with the phase-shifting synth tones framing Anastasio’s melodic tangents. While many “Disease” jams tend to drift into the ether and never return, Trey came storming back into the song’s conclusion more than 15 minutes later with a fire under his ass (a fire named Jon Fishman), his right wrist fanning on a swivel.
If you’re looking to single out a high point from this show, you’re looking for “The Well”. Following its well-received debut in Alpharetta, “The Well” continued to assert itself as the best of the “new song” bunch in Philly in its second-ever outing. The song bridges the dad-rock light and the space-grunge darkness of recent Phish songwriting into something that feels fresh and exciting. You might cringe at some of the opening lyrics (see: “There’s a scallop in the coin purse”), but that cringe turns to stank face before long, and the only thing left by the end is a wind-blown, brain-swirled grin. The band clearly loves it, too: “Can we just play that again?” a giddy Fishman wondered when the song finally ground to a halt.
Phish – “The Well” [Pro-Shot] – 7/25/23
The brief run through “No Men In No Man’s Land” that followed pooled into “Beneath a Sea of Stars Part 1”, which was equal parts lovely (thanks to stellar work from Gordon and more enthralling texture from McConnell) and aimless (par for the course here), though surely satisfying for anyone posted up on the Page-side back corner of The Mann’s lawn overlooking the Philadelphia skyline.
Related: So, What Do We Call Phish’s 7-Night 2023 Run At Madison Square Garden?
The sea of Philly stars eventually drained into “Piper”, kicking off a run of high-voltage rockers (first Talking Heads‘ “Crosseyed and Painless”, then “Chalk Dust Torture”) to bring the set to a close. After going emotional to start the encore with “Wading in the Velvet Sea”, Phish dipped back into the well of leftover energy from the end of set two for an unhinged cover of Jimi Hendrix‘s classic “Fire”.
Phish returns to The Mann on Wednesday night to round out its 2023 trip to the City of Brotherly Love. For a full list of upcoming Phish tour dates, head here.
Scroll down to view the full setlist, watch a selection of videos, and check out a gallery of photos from Tuesday night’s Phish show at The Mann via Andrew Blackstein.
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Setlist [via phish.net]: Phish | TD Pavilion at The Mann | Philadelphia, PA | 7/25/23
Set One: Strawberry Letter 23 > Bathtub Gin[1] -> Back on the Train, The Squirming Coil, Axilla (Part II), Ya Mar, Blaze On, Waste, Walls of the Cave > 46 Days
Set Two: Down with Disease > The Well, No Men In No Man’s Land > Beneath a Sea of Stars Part 1 > Piper > Crosseyed and Painless -> Chalk Dust Torture
Encore: Wading in the Velvet Sea, Fire
[1] Unfinished.
Bathtub Gin was unfinished.
