Phish brought their 13th Labour Day Weekend run at Dick’s to a close last night, putting the cap on what has been an incredible summer tour and one of their most consistently amazing in recent memory. While the Sunday show had a slight dip in quality (at least for some) toward the end of the second set, it was still an excellent show with a bevy of highlights, and a fitting end to the run.
It's funny to look at the “Dog Log” opener from a couple of different perspectives – when the band launched into it, my brain rebooted itself and I screamed in excitement (along with 25,000 other people) about the massive bustout. On the other hand, it’s interesting to now compare this four-night run at Dick’s with Mondegreen, purely from a musical standpoint – whether it was a conscious choice or not, it seems as though the band brought more purpose to the setlists at Dick’s, infusing some big chases into the shows that seemed to be the only factor missing from the Delaware festival.
But I digress – it’s impossible to know what the band’s thought process is, and they played “Dog Log” last night, breaking a 464-show gap since June 20, 2012. While the song itself is nothing special musically, it’s always a blast to be in attendance for a bustout of this magnitude when almost the entire crowd goes nuts for it.
Speculations of whether we’d be in for an animal or dog-themed set abounded when the band launched into a concise “Runaway Jim” next, but they were quickly abandoned through an energetic “The Moma Dance.”
While the first set had been relatively strong so far, the “My Friend, My Friend” that came next blew the doors wide open on jamming, continuing this song’s summer-long streak of incredible versions.
Without skipping a beat, guitarist Trey Anastasio gleefully shouted “knife!” into his microphone as the jam began in a powerful and rocking place, drummer Jon Fishman crushing the intensity with a driving beat. Keyboardist Page McConnell hinted briefly at some “Chest Fever”-like themes as the band began to peel off into exploration.
Developing a dense space with pulsating Wurlitzer and synth work from McConnell, Anastasio toyed with some energetic themes before opting to mellow out more and continue exploring. Fish’s steady pocket kept the jam from getting too quiet and the band luxuriated in this space for several minutes, dancing around each other’s sounds before emerging into upbeat funk terrain.
Calling to mind the festival-closing “Fuego” from Mondegreen, “MFMF” ventured into a purely exuberant jam, getting the energy up and smiles on faces as the band shouted the chorus over the peak. Wrapping up at just a hair over 18 minutes, we were treated next to a funked-out “Tube.”
While it didn’t go terribly long or far from the song proper, there are some really interesting tones and deconstructions, especially from the synth toolkit of bassist Mike Gordon and Anastasio’s wobbly effects. The guitarist also shouted quotes of Thomas Dolby’s “She Blinded Me With Science,” something done once before during this song at 2020’s The Beacon Jams.
As if the energy wasn’t high enough already, the band ripped through “Fluffhead” to continue the first set, overcoming a couple of minor flubs for an electric “Arrival” section, complete with a lengthy sustained note from Anastasio. Pure joy.
“Stash” acted as the penultimate song of the set and featured some really cool tones as the band explored a Klezmer-like chord progression to infuse some evil tension into the jam. A towering peak closed out the Phish classic and Anastasio counted the band into the only song in the first set debuted after 1998 – “Life Saving Gun.”
While it was the only song written in the last 25 years to be played, it fit with the vibe of the set and was exactly the closer I was hoping for. Beginning at an excellent speed, McConnell attacked his clavinet while Gordon dug in on some heavy support action.
Modulating into a bright major key, Fish slowed to half-time and allowed Anastasio to build some joyous soloing around a repeated and familiar-sounding melody. Kicking back into the song’s normal tempo, the band built to peak after peak after peak, calling to mind the 12/30/23 “LSG” in its joyous finish to the set. Anastasio added shouts of “science!” and “Dog Log!” interspersed with “percussion rinse” at the end, just having an absolute blast on stage as Fish did, in fact, rinse us with some incredible fills.
Returning for the second set, “Prince Caspian” was tapped to open for just the second time ever and seemed briefly as though the band was going to go big on this song, but they instead opted for the recent trend of short opener > big jam and called for “Set Your Soul Free.”
Beginning in a funky Type I space, Gordon coloured the background with swirling textures as the band toyed with modulations into a minor key several times. Toggling between brighter and darker moods, McConnell moved from clavinet to piano and back again as Anastasio played some searching and melancholy lead lines.
Finally picking up on some themes they wanted to explore just before the 10-minute mark, Fish began to pick up speed as it seemed as though we were headed for another strong major peak. Anastasio infused Leslie speaker into his tone as the band began to up the energy.
The guitarist found himself in “Mountain Jam” territory, a familiar space the last few years – though he came so close to teasing the full melody, he left off the second half (do it, you coward!).
Coming down from the peak, Fish slowed to half-time as McConnell moved to sparkling Rhodes work and Gordon activated his synth-funk effect as the jam began to head in weird territory. Anastasio turned on his octave-up chirp sound on the Whammy along with droning loops as the improv got deeper.
McConnell moved next to Prophet Rev2 synth, playing thick chords that moved in stereo panning from left to right as Anastasio came down into some rhythm-funk riffing. Some astounding improv began to ensue as the band patiently explored the groove, McConnell’s textures accentuating the dark riffing from Anastasio and Gordon, plus Fish’s heavy beat. This segment reminded me of the end of the 10/27/18 “No Men in No Man’s Land,” a grimy and evil march with heavy effects from the whole band.
Continuing to explore the space, Anastasio switched to synth effects for a spell, developing hypnotic riffs in tandem with the rest of the band as they switched to a more grounded mode from the earlier motifs.
McConnell moved to thick Wurlitzer chords and the jam seemed to chill out for a while, but the intensity began to ramp back up thanks to Fish and Anastasio’s playing, building to an incredible peak – but not in the traditional bliss or rock sense. Thick waves of Moog One synthesizer came together with Gordon’s thundering bass and Anastasio’s cacophonous loops for a roiling and turbulent conclusion to this epic “Set Your Soul Free.”
My jaw was on the FLOOR already and with Anastasio’s segue into “Tweezer,” it was time to get the party started as multitudes of glow sticks were hurled into the air in excitement. While never straying into Type II territory, the anticipated song brought forth a vicious guitar-led peak, Anastasio easily having the most fun of anyone in the venue last night.
“Light” came next and acted as its typical 12-minute self, getting into some wonderfully patient and contemplative spaces in the first half, Anastasio showing off two very different vibes by then morphing into some evil cacophony by way of a “Blaze On”-like vamp that quickly got twisted and warped into something very different.
Fading into a cooldown “A Life Beyond the Dream,” it became clear when “The Howling” was called next that we had entered the jukebox fourth quarter – something dreaded by many fans as it generally signals the end of improv for the show. The band (especially Anastasio) always has a blast during these show-ending segments and a run like “More” > “Character Zero” > “Slave to the Traffic Light” was more than earned after what they had played already across the weekend’s shows.
Anastasio took a moment at the end of “Slave” to thank everyone for an absolutely incredible summer – and what a run it’s been!!
As if it wasn’t enough already, the band busted out “Sabotage” for the encore, breaking a 453-show gap since July 7, 2012. This might have been the highest energy moment of the night as the entire audience recognized it within two seconds and went ballistic for the rare cover.
“Tweezer Reprise” brought the weekend to a fitting close – but for what I believe is the first time ever, the band extended the outro and jammed on the song’s incredibly euphoric themes for several minutes, going to higher and higher peaks before reprising the lyrics and finishing with a bang.
Runs like this summer and this weekend at Dick’s are why we Phish – constant risk-taking and fresh-sounding jams from a band closing in on their 41st anniversary is absolutely unheard of and should not be possible with this level of consistently, but such is the magic of Phish.
As sad as I am that we likely won’t have another show until the end of December, I am so grateful for all the memories made on this summer tour from Mansfield to Dick’s and cannot wait to close out the year with them in a few months.
Thank you, Phish – forever the best band on the planet.