Phish returned to The Pavilion at Star Lake in Burgettstown, PA on Saturday for the second of two nights at the Pittsburgh-area venue. The band continued its pattern of debuts with Trey Anastasio‘s recently premiered “Monsters”, which he unveiled during his trio run with Jon Fishman and bassist Dezron Douglas earlier this year, and played the first-ever encore “Ghost”.
Anastasio, Fishman, Mike Gordon, and Page McConnell were in a lighthearted mood as they kicked off their night two of their first-ever multi-night run at Star Lake with “I Never Needed You Like This Before” from Trey’s 2020 solo quarantine album Lonely Trip. They then played “Turtle In The Clouds” from their 2018 Kasvot Vaxt Halloween set but did not perform the song’s dance. Trey addressed its omission, saying, “You may be asking, why didn’t they dance? And the answer is because, I don’t want to! I prefer to watch you dance!” He then added, “Now is the time on sprockets when we don’t dance,” referencing the famous SNL sketch before repeatedly introducing Jon Fishman. After multiple fake-outs, “Henrietta” busted into the opening of “Llama” like an antelope out of control.
Phish then dipped into yet another of its distinct catalogs (after playing songs from Kasvot Vaxt and Trey’s solo repertoire) with the Sci-Fi Soldier song “Clear your Mind”, followed by a simple “Sample In A Jar”.
After giving the audience a meager “Taste”, the band loosened up a bit during “Ocelot”. They continued to loosen during a bluesy “Julius”, ultimately coming apart completely during a disjointed dismount, but quickly recovered with “Saw It Again”. “Sparkle” came next along with “companion song” “Ass Handed”, as Fishman introduced it. The band then finished the set with “Sand”, the first jam to burst past the ten-minute mark, leaving the audience with a taste of what was to come in set two.
Phish dove deeper into the improvisational waters during the second set, starting with a sprawling 22-minute “Everything’s Right”. The interplanetary adventures continued with “Soul Planet” until the band landed back down on earth for “Twist”. “Most Events Aren’t Planned”, a song from Page’s Vida Blue side project, then led into the Phish debut of “Monsters”, which itself gave way to the always jubilant “Also Sprach Zarathustra” (or “2001”) and a set-closing “Rock and Roll”.
Finally, Phish capped off the weekend in PA with a memorable three-song encore that began with an a cappella “Grind” with the lyrics “86,030 days.” “That’s quite a lot of days”, Trey remarked.
“More than half… how many days are left?” Fish replied.
“Out of all those days, this is the best one,” Trey offered, asking Page,”Do you agree?” He did, and judging by the audience’s response, they did too.
The night wasn’t over yet, though. “Tube” picked up the party once more and prepped the dance floor for the first-ever encore “Ghost”.
Phish summer tour continues tonight in Syracuse before the band sets up shop at Madison Square Garden for a seven-night stay. For more information, head here, and for a full list of upcoming shows and ticketing details, visit the band’s website.
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📸 Rene Huemer pic.twitter.com/VayqzkmtIc
— Phish: From The Road (@Phish_FTR) July 23, 2023
Phish – “Turtle In The Clouds” – 7/22/23
[Video: Gary Fox]
Setlist [via Phish.net]: Phish | The Pavilion At Star Lake | Burgettstown, PA | 7/22/23
SET 1: I Never Needed You Like This Before, Turtle in the Clouds, Llama, Clear Your Mind > Sample in a Jar, Taste, Ocelot, Julius, Saw It Again > Sparkle, Ass Handed, Sand
SET 2: Everything’s Right > Soul Planet -> Twist > Most Events Aren’t Planned, Monsters, Also Sprach Zarathustra > Rock and Roll
ENCORE: Grind, Tube > Ghost