Triumph.
That was the theme of Phish’s return to Dick’s Sporting Goods last night as they began their annual Labour Day weekend run at the Colorado soccer stadium. With four nights ahead, fans flocked from all over to convene at one of the band’s most-played venues, eagerly awaiting some amazing music.
The band wasted no time and jumped directly into “Carini” to open the show. Guitarist Trey Anastasio dedicated the song to “Frenchy,” the infamous naked dude from last year’s Dick’s who sadly passed away of cancer in April.
Improvisation was on the menu from the first notes and Phish modulated into a major key less than two minutes into the jam. No warm-up was needed as Anastasio led another shift into a funky plinko section with keyboardist Page McConnell on clavinet before another major modulation.
Drummer Jon Fishman pushed forward as McConnell shifted to Wurlitzer electric piano amid the rapidly-expanding bliss motif. There’s something perfect about the combination of Wurli and Anastasio’s clean, melodic lead tones combined with the absolutely perfect Colorado weather last night – smiles stretched widely across faces as the first song of the show continued to rage. McConnell eventually switched to piano as the peak continued to build and build, blazing past the 13-minute mark.
While many (myself included) expected the jam to wrap up from there, being the first song of the show, I was ecstatic when they made a shift into a darker, more percussive mode. Fish attacked his toms with gusto as McConnell layered textures from his Prophet Rev2 synthesizer among Anastasio’s envelope-filtered delay work. Bassist Mike Gordon was also insistent in this section, pushing the music forward with a constant rapid stream of notes.
Anastasio and Fishman aggressively pushed into a minor-key space that would be the final section of the jam before they crashed back into “Carini” proper – much more smoothly than some recent versions.
How do you follow up a nearly 20-minute show opener? You can’t really – but Phish kept the energy up through well-played first-set staples “Halley’s Comet” and “Blaze On.” “Prince Caspian” has been a reliable first-set-microjam vehicle as of late, and last night’s was drenched in some excellent reverse-delayed guitar and other effects in its brief foray into uncharted territory.
The first appearance of “We Are Come To Outlive Our Brains” since August 6, 2021 (a VERY notable gap!) led to a shortened “Mercury” where Fish encountered some issues with his Marimba Lumina. “Ruby Waves” seemed like a weird choice given how the set had been going – but it gave us an excellent 15-minute jam to boost the second quarter of the show.
Anastasio and Fishman were really the leaders of last night’s show, driving each of the big jams with an evident amount of aggression. McConnell stepped up during the early part of “Ruby” as well with some awe-inspiring piano work. Anastasio utilized his octave-up setting on the Digitech Whammy pedal for some bright chirps among the shifting jam – Fish was truly on FIRE.
The peak broke into an off-kilter space where synths and a touch of darkness made a resurgence, once again highlighted by Fish’s tom work. Hinting at a “Plasma”-like rhythm, the “Ruby” jam found its way to a driving and funky peak before nicely sliding home. “Character Zero” was an exclamation point on the set and had the energy go through the ROOF (or lack thereof) for the upbeat rocker.
When “Set Your Soul Free” opened the second set, I figured it was time for a huge version of this song – the last few have been relatively short and contained. It was not to be, however, as the band quickly wrapped up in favour of the best possible ripcord – “Tweezer.”
Reaching the 20-minute mark just like every single version of the song played this year, the second set centrepiece wasted no time before modulating just a couple of minutes into the jam, similar to the first set’s “Carini.” A light and pretty major mode was built atop McConnell’s Wurlitzer as he and Anastasio traded on some arpeggiated licks. A very organic transition into a different mode saw McConnell lay down a thick carpet of Rhodes as the guitarist gradually shifted into darker modes. Gordon began to add in textures of his own, a glassy and percussive effect that lent perfectly to the unfolding jam.
McConnell moved up to synthesizer ahead of a toggle back into the major key, this time full of bright delays and undulating waves of keyboard textures. A beautiful and energetic peak ensued as we rolled past the 16-minute mark with hints at “Mountain Jam” – a euphoric moment for all 30,000 people in attendance.
We were far from done with the freezer at that point, and Phish dove down to the ocean floor to explore some deep, dark places with a looped bass-synth guitar and minor-key playing. This lasted a few minutes before a smooth return to the “Tweezer” riff and brief vamping on its theme faded into “Beneath a Sea of Stars Part I.”
We’re all here together and the weather’s fine, indeed.
An absolutely perfect choice for a post-massive jam landing pad, the deep and unique space of “Sea of Stars” let Anastasio really let loose with his reverse delay as Fish went full free-jazz on drums throughout the dense eight minutes. This kind of motif is what “Wingsuit” wishes it could be…
New summer favourite “Oblivion” sauntered in next, but its budding jam was abandoned relatively quickly for a somewhat awkward segue into “Light.”
Luckily for us, this “Light” was absolutely phenomenal and saw the band lock in on a final piece of big improvisation.
Fish was the MVP of this jam by FAR, taking what he clearly was intending for “Oblivion” out in an explosive fashion. There’s also something really cool about clavinet being used in a major-key space, and McConnell stuck with it for a lengthy section of the “Light” jam as the band explored. It was, of course, time for a huge peak, and we got yet another patient and amazing build to take us into the set-closing “Slave to the Traffic Light” – a perfect and massively energetic choice.
The two-song encore of “Show of Life” and “Say it to Me S.A.N.T.O.S.” left us curious about the hanging “Tweezer Reprise,” yet very happy at the concert we had just witnessed.
We return to Dick’s tonight for the second of four shows – it’s Friday, and we’re ready to rage!
Great review, can’t wait to listen back.