Show Review - Phish 8/16/24 Dover, DE
The Greatest Thing Ever
After a mind-blowing start to Mondegreen on Thursday night, Phish returned to the stage at The Woodlands for a second night that didn’t quite reach the musical highs of the first – at least in the first two sets. The band displayed razor-sharp tightness and dexterity through the show proper, plus incredible and dense pockets of improvisation – and that’s not even beginning to touch on the mammoth 50-minute “Mondegreen Ambient Jam.”
With another hot day in the books, fans lined the Silent Trees at the back of the concert field to take refuge from the sun later in the afternoon as archivist Kevin Shapiro played another edition of From the Archives on the Bunny Radio – I took the opportunity to hang out in front of the broadcast booth with some other fans, excitedly taking in the unreleased SBDs of incredible jams like the 7/8/99 “Birds of a Feather,” 9/24/00 “Cities,” and a lengthy soundcheck from 2022.
As showtime neared, I took my place in a similar spot to Thursday around Page Side of the soundboard, incredibly excited to see what the band would do to follow up Thursday’s show – all while speculation abounded about the possibility of the night’s secret set – would it involve the cardboard city hall? The Heliograph? Maybe even take place in one of the art installations in the forest? Anticipation and excitement were both sky-high.
Phish began the first set with “Bouncing Around the Room,” easing into the night with the song’s catchy harmonies before jumping into what has been one of the summer’s best jam vehicles in “Kill Devil Falls.” This track began the trend of “microjams” that would pop up again throughout the first and second sets, guitarist Trey Anastasio and Page McConnell dominating the early part of the jam with flurries of traded riffs. Bassist Mike Gordon engaged some synthy effects as the improv teetered on the brink of major and minor, giving a really cool and seat-of-the-pants vibe to it. Breaking into a more ambient zone, McConnell turned to his Moog One for some gentle comping as Anastasio laid into some more relaxed melodies.
Picking up steam and seeming to be preparing for serious liftoff, the budding jam was bailed on in favour of the second “Peaches En Regalia” of tour, marking the first time the Frank Zappa cover had appeared twice in a single year since 2017.
A snarling romp through “Free” led to a quintessential Phish experience – an early-evening festival “Divided Sky.” Anastasio executed the composition with precision and nailed the long sustain to create an absolutely gorgeous solo. “Tube” came in next with some solid Type 1.5 play, never fully breaking form but continuing the energy of the set well.
Patient and gorgeous, “Mountains in the Mist” had the crowd in near silence and rapt attention for a similar slot to Thursday’s “Roggae” jam, drummer Jon Fishman’s washes of ride cymbal cleanly supporting Anastasio’s tender solo for one of the best versions of this song I’ve ever heard.
Another well-played composition in “Reba” gave way to another small pocket of jamming in “Twist,” lifting off into some double-time Allman zones for a few minutes before returning home and landing in “Character Zero” to close the set.
After spending all of Thursday’s show and last night’s first set in a similar spot, I decided to do some roaming around the field for the second frame, ending up further back by the Heliograph when the band came out for the second set with “My Friend, My Friend.” Considering the two incredible versions from earlier in this tour and the massive second-set opener on Thursday, I was sure we were about to hear a 20+ minute version of this song – but Anastasio had other ideas and launched into a set that to me is more about the whole than the sum of its parts.
With more than a few opportunities to continue stretches of improv getting bailed on in favour of a segue, the 85-minute set traversed through seven different songs (and two reprises) that I began to enjoy more once I let go of my expectation of a long jam once it became clear that it wasn’t in the cards – though we know now that the band was saving gas in the tank for the not-so-secret set.
“MFMF” shuffled into a peppy zone thanks to Fish’s insistence, just starting to take off around the 11-minute mark when Anastasio pulled the plug and called for “No Men in No Man’s Land.” Don’t skip this deceptively short 12-minute version – it gets out there QUICKLY, zooming into some major-key zones and riding the momentum of a soaring peak before crashing down into a cacophonous ring-modulator jam, McConnell utilizing piano instead of synthesizer to keep the jam more grounded rather than fully lift off – until the final couple of minutes when the keyboardist unleashed a flurry of arpeggiator-like effects from the Moog One, really blasting off into outer space before the band segued cleanly into “Ruby Waves.”
Picking up almost exactly where “NMINML” left off after the lyrics, some vicious and charging jamming early on eventually quieted into a patient zone with a loping beat from Fish, eventually turning more percussive in a way that reminded me of “Foam.”
A major-key modulation ensued with the band all sticking to rhythmic work and Gordon utilizing a particularly interesting effect that’s hard to describe – giving this jam a very unique feel from a lot of the other improv last night. Collapsing in on itself toward the end, “Ruby Waves” disintegrated into the opening of “Pillow Jets,” conjuring thunderous waves of guitar through the intensely psychedelic jam, seeming far longer than its ten minutes.
The jam picked up steam and seemed to be poised for serious liftoff when Anastasio steered the band into a wild “Your Pet Cat,” continuing the flow from the “Pillow Jets” jam with a fiery major-key peak – though McConnell did not want to let go of the screeching cat samples, giving the end of the jam a funny off-kilter quality as the band landed back in a quick reprise of “Ruby Waves” before funking into “Ghost.”
At this point, vibes were on the menu through a solid peak and “No Men in No Man’s Land” reprise before the band opted to balance the newer material that dominated the second set with a perfect and joyous “Fluffhead” closer. Once again, Anastasio demonstrated his precision with one of the cleanest versions in recent memory, and Fish’s work toward the end of the “Bundle of Joy” segment deserves extra spotlight – I honestly cannot fathom how one person can drum like that.
Returning for the encore, Anastasio stepped to the mic and clued us in on to the impending secret set, noting that he was “just telling this one guy right here, the rest of you didn’t hear that.” Now that we knew not to go anywhere after the conclusion of the encore, a fiery pairing of “Harry Hood” and “First Tube” gave us a peek at how excited the band was for what was to come – the way Anastasio bounced around the stage during the closer reminded me of his similar energy during the same song on 10/31/18, right before the Kasvot Växt costume set.
As a big chunk of the crowd filtered away to get food, drink, or a bathroom break and I took the opportunity to return to my previous Page-side soundboard spot as it quickly became clear that the “secret set” would be taking place on the main stage. A curtain broken up by waving streamers was hoisted in front of the band’s instruments and imagery of a jungle began to play along with some ambient tracks as people took their spots and prepared for what was to come.
Over the course of the next fifty minutes, Phish unleashed one of the greatest singular pieces of improvised music I’ve ever heard, marking one of the coolest moments of my concertgoing career and easily my favourite thing I’ve heard from this band. Traversing nearly every possible musical idea in their arsenal, my reactions ranged from dancing to standing and gazing at the intense visuals with my mouth agape, just in pure awe of the musical greatness happening in front of me.
It was like Phish’s ode to the age-old practice of getting stoned, turning psychedelic visuals on the TV, and listening to jams.
Anastasio began with some acoustic guitar strains as McConnell brought in a subtle wave of synth, ever-evolving imagery of silhouettes in the forest being projected on the screen, reminding me a bit of “Wish You Were Here” for a little bit. Slowly unfolding like petals on a flower, the band seeped into the ambience with great patience and commitment to quieter dynamics, staying in a space they rarely reach for extended periods of time.
Fish moved from drum kit to Marimba Lumina and helped contribute to the layered sound as Anastasio began to infuse electric guitar work, linking up with McConnell’s Wurlitzer for some gentle major-key riffing. The guitarist’s deft switching between acoustic and electric seemed impossibly fast at times throughout the jam, giving an amazing contrast with an instrument we never get to hear in an extended-improv setting.
Gordon’s toolkit of ambient pedals produced angular noises as McConnell alternated between waves of Moog One and gentle Wurli, eventually turning to sparkling Rhodes as Fish returned to his drum kit and led the band into a plodding jam that pushed Anastasio toward some heavy classic rock soloing with heavy Whammy usage. Getting more grounded with the removal of synthesizer, the heavy jam continued to take on more weight, heading in a more cacophonous direction as McConnell’s incredible piano work stood out from the pack.
The jam then proceeded to reach a boiling space with ring modulator entering the fray as the darkness eventually collapsed in on itself like a dying star, returning to a serene plane of ambience as the set reached the 20-minute mark.
Anastasio infused acoustic back into the jam as McConnell began to lay into Moog One textures underneath the floating music. Taking on qualities not unlike “Prince Caspian” or the all-time bliss of the 12/16/99 “Tweezer” we rode the wave of synthesizer into a beautiful soundscape that brought tears to my eyes, the band sustained this for several minutes before Fish started to pick up the pace, still buoyed by McConnell’s base layer of synthesizer. The keyboardist deserves a special call-out for the section from 20-30 minutes, sticking just to textural work instead of pianos, leaving tons of room for the rest of the band to fill in.
Fish hit into a shuffling beat whose psychedelic quality reminded me of the 6/14/00 “Fukuoka Jam #2,” McConnell switching back to the more grounded piano for some INCREDIBLE work, still sticking to quieter spaces.
The intensity began to ramp up with Anastasio’s purposeful soloing, smoothly continuing along for several minutes before an abrupt pivot into deep space led by Fish’s drastic increase in tempo and McConnell’s reintroduction of synth had my jaw on the floor. The drummer was on fire all night (when isn’t he?), but this segment has to be heard to be believed, Anastasio’s loops and heavy synth low-end from Gordon coming together around McConnell’s Wurli work, all while the visuals on the screen became more frenzied, moving perfectly in time with the music – it hasn’t been revealed who was behind the production yet but it is likely Moment Factory, a company Phish has worked with for several New Year’s Eve gags as well as April’s run at Sphere.
Just as it seemed as though we were hitting a new, evil vein of jamming, Anastasio turned back to acoustic to drop away some of the intensity but was offset by McConnell’s subtle blasts of synth, once again highlighting how cool an acoustic guitar sounds in a setting such as this.
Fish continued to absolutely excel as the jam teetered on the brink of collapse into madness once again, Phish expertly navigating a rollercoaster of musical ideas as the band blew past the 40-minute mark at high speeds, taking each twist and turn with ease as the four guys on stage worked as a singular organism, locking in on riff after riff.
McConnell began doubling Anastasio’s ascending melodies on synth and hit one final fast peak before the jam slowed and shot out into a thick cloud of scuzz filled with whale call and a base layer of synthesizer, coloured clouds on the screen turning into a display of the end of a VHS tape, signalling the finale of the set as the final strains of ambient washes faded into the night air.
The massive Mondegreen crowd cheered our hearts out as the set ended, just in awe of the spectacle we had just witnessed, immediately cementing itself as one of the greatest pieces of music Phish has ever played.
While I did my best to put my thoughts on paper, this really needs the added visual element to be properly taken in – check out the video below to see how the imagery complemented the mind-blowing music.
We’re halfway through the four-day festival here in Delaware and the vibes could not be higher from both the band and the audience. I continue to be so incredibly grateful to be here and cannot WAIT to see what the band has in store for the next two nights. Livestreams are available for the whole weekend via LivePhish.com.