After an opening night in Philly that featured moments of both greatness and uncertainty, Phish took the stage once again at TD Pavilion at The Mann on Wednesday to close out a two-night stand. Regardless of the “Tweezerfest” excitement, Tuesday’s first set had featured its fair share of slip-ups, and Trey AnastasioJon Fishman, Mike Gordon, and Page McConnell seemed to arrive for night two with something to prove.

With the heat still in the obscene range at showtime, the only thing that would have been a more appropriate opener than “Steam” would have been if Phish had a song called “Swelter”, or “Gold Bond”. Dare I say this was a perfect version of the song? Appearing in the opening slot for the first time and succinct in the best way, it quickly progressed to rapid-fire Trey and felt like a self-assured statement from the whole band. This one would be a worthy opener if they were to ever make A Live Two.

Frequent set-opener “Runaway Jim” took the two-slot on this evening and went quickly into a far darker jam than normal before coming back around and landing in “Tela”. The whirlwind of lead guitar runs that adorn the end of the Page-sung Gamehendge ballad were positively nailed by Trey, again in stark contrast to the form fumbles he had fought through the night prior.

“Kill Devil Falls” came next and felt refreshing, as it has settled into an increasingly sparing role in the repertoire since serving in heavy rotation in the early years of 3.0. The jam, a slab of good ole’ Phish summer rock, went on an extensive journey in a brief time before gently landing in “Theme From the Bottom”.

Trey continued to lay down high-speed riffage in the jam out of “Theme” as well as in the subsequent “Birds of a Feather”. This “Birds” thrived with heads-up playing from the whole band. Confident, focused, locked-in, really solid Phish.

A well-placed “I Didn’t Know” followed, allowing Jon Fishman (a.k.a. Moses Brown, a.k.a. Moses Heaps, a.k.a. Moses DeWitt) a chance to play the vacuum with artistic simplicity of a late-’80s Miles Davis. “He only breathes water, but he sucks air,” Trey announced before manning the vacant drum stool and taking full advantage of Fishman’s sample pad. Yeah.

Next up was “Funky Bitch”, which is usually a sure sign that Trey is having fun—after all, he’s not gonna call a showcase shredder unless he’s really feeling confident at that given moment. After the strength of Wednesday’s first set, the set-closing “Split Open and Melt” seemed poised for greatness, and it did not disappoint. A showcase in blistering, dark psychedelia, this “Melt” felt like shamanistic journey music. Marauding its way through shoegaze shores, this was a jam being controlled by the full hive mind on stage—the ever-consuming blob—while Chris Kuroda and Andrew Giffin matched the madness with writhing webs of light and color from above.

Related: Chris Kuroda & Andrew Giffin: Mobilizing The Phish Lighting Operation [Interview]

The fourth and final set of Philly’s two-night run featured an array of annihilating “micro-jams.” Nothing venturing too far off to sea, but gobs of wonder packed into each chapter. “AC/DC Bag” kicked things off in a pocket groove reminiscent of the few versions of the song that have escaped the atmosphere over the years. It was clear that Trey had plans for this one as the jam expanded out of the G chord at the end of the song’s progression rather than the normal A chord at the start of the progression. That gave it more of a kick-start then normal and propelled it just over the 10-minute mark for the first time since Coventry 18 years ago.

The jam almost segued perfectly into “Soul Planet”, which itself seemed eager as ever to escape its standard church-camp sing-along form. It did so almost immediately, and each member offered up several dark corridors as possible paths to follow. When they all merged at one, it sounded as if the little flying hamburger aliens from *batteries not included had a band (Look it up, kids). Fish then reignited the charge and things progressed toward machete-slashing music. This was a clinic on listening from each member of the band, as they all created a cycle of syncopated pockets that brought the jam into a dark cow funk before the invisible hand of sensibility dragged them into “Simple”.

This “Simple” started out as a mutated butterfly ballet before evolving into the music for an elevator that takes you from Narnia to Wonderland, then to the sound of a fission reactor complete with the Kuroda warp-entrance. This jam was yet another glimmering example of the four veteran musicians using their old-school ‘Hey Hole’ improvisation in the modern era—phenomenal listening and majestic syncopation. Fish tried to bring everything back into “Soul Planet”, but Trey hijacked the drum fill for “Light“ instead.

“Light” was strong for a few minutes before resolving into some gentler places. It still felt poised for more, and while Trey was taking some warm-up swings, Gordo filled up the space perfectly and drew Trey’s riffage in for a nice snuggle. Continuing this tour’s trend of seamless segue second sets, Trey then brought things mega-smoothly into “Party Time” with Fish perfectly shadowing him.

 

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Trey’s pandemic ode “Lonely Trip” has found its home in the late-2nd-set breath-catching spot, and that’s where it landed on Wednesday night. While some of the newer, heart-on-his-sleeve Trey songs may come across a little “college-freshman-poetry-class,” there’s a lack of ego on this one that works well.

In terms of second-set-closing “David Bowies”, most tour veterans have tamed any and all expectations for this song—there hasn’t really been a truly noteworthy version in nearly two decades—so Trey’s initial Languedoc growl at the very onset of the jam definitely caused a few jaded ears perk up. A strong version the whole way through, it moved into a pretty, major-key extrapolation before Trey used an “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” tease to signal the call to the closing refrain.

 

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Not only were there an abundance of ideas and riches in this entire show, but Trey’s chops were on full display. One-quarter of the way through tour, this night was easily his strongest thus far, and that helped deliver one of the strongest “Bowies” in recent memory. A “Waste”/”Loving Cup” encore was the perfect cap on a show that leaned heavily on older material while still finding the ideal spots for newer songs to fit in.

Next up, Phish returns to the original Woodstock site for just the second time on Friday and Saturday—something fans have been clamoring for since their lauded debut there in 2011. For a full list of upcoming Phish tour dates, head here. Click below to check out a selection of fan-shot videos from the Wednesday night performance at The Mann.

To order your LivePhish webcast for any of the band’s upcoming summer shows, head here. To sign up for a free trial membership to LivePhish+ and listen to the whole summer 2022 tour and more, head here.

 Phish – “I Didn’t Know” – 7/20/22

[Video: Gregory Marcus]

Phish – “David Bowie” – 7/20/22

[Video: Nevaklass]

Phish – “Loving Cup” (The Rolling Stones) – 7/20/22

[Video: Nevaklass]

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Setlist [via phish.net]: Phish | TD Pavilion at The Mann | Philadelphia, PA | 7/20/22

Set One: Steam > Runaway Jim, Tela, Kill Devil Falls, Theme From the Bottom, Birds of a Feather, I Didn’t Know, Funky Bitch, Split Open and Melt

Set Two: AC/DC Bag > Soul Planet > Simple -> Light -> Party Time, Lonely Trip, David Bowie

Encore: Waste > Loving Cup

Notes: Runaway Jim contained a Nellie Kane tease by Trey. David Bowie featured an In Memory of Elizabeth Reed tease by Trey.