Phish Makes Something Special Out Of ‘Nothing’ At 2nd Albany Show

Phish continued their run of Divided Sky Foundation benefit shows at MVP Arena in Albany, New York on Saturday with a solid first set and a very exploratory second set that had the band running on all cylinders throughout the night.

The vibes were pretty high after Friday night's Phil Lesh tribute and the three night run kickoff. With Halloween coming up, people were in quite the festive mood with many in the audience dressed up in various costumes.

Night two kicked off with a satisfying Type I “Possum” that had a good peak from guitarist Trey Anastasio. The Saturday night crowd ate it up and was ready to let loose with the rocking opener.

“Sigma Oasis” was in the second spot and continued the trend this year of keyboardist Page McConnell adding a bunch of synthesizer flourishes that take the song to another level. Once Phish left the song’s structure it was great to see this early in the show that they were completely in mid-tour form, which is always a good sign that they are feeling that elusive it.

Chris Kuroda was making some early magic of his own happen, which is also a good sign two songs into a show. As the jam was reaching the six minute mark it felt like they were going in for the long haul, but Trey smoothly brought it back to the song’s structure to bring it to an end.

“Back on the Train” had a tremendous peak build in the short Type I jam that the crowd was all about before the band busted out the first “Nothing” in 118 shows and only the ninth one ever played. It would be nice if more 2.0 songs were around more frequently, but at least Phish dusts them off from time to time.

“Stash” had a strong showing with the beginning of the jam having a slight “Tequila” feel to it as they got the crowd wooing before they decided to take off with Trey attacking the guitar while the others followed perfectly. A quick “Bouncing Around The Room” gave way to “Tube” and while it went by in a flash, the jam was tight and once again it felt like we were going to get a big jam only for Trey to pull the cord and bring the song back toward its ending.

A reliable late set “Bathtub Gin” lived up to expectations with all four musicians locked in completely. Drummer Jon Fishman's hands were moving at a wild pace throughout this jam as he pushed the momentum for the entire 15 minutes. It feels as if he just a machine sometimes the way he plays, especially 40 years in. Kuroda once again pulled from his magic back of tricks during the jam, lighting up MVP Arena and the band in inventive ways.

Bassist Mike Gordon was locked into a great groove most of the jam, which let Page color the music with various keyboards. The musicians locked in a few times on different riffs that had the crowd going wild. When Trey eventually brought them back to the song’s end on the fastest gin riff in recent memory, it was amazing to realize the jam was only about 10 minutes, as it felt far longer with all of the movements they went through. A solid “More” brought the set home with a few powerful peaks.

Read on after The Skinny for the rest of the recap and more.

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“Prince Caspian” was called on to start the second set off and quickly went into “Down With Disease.” Once the jam started it was straight into bliss territory with Kuroda making it look like the lights were dancing to the music. About five minutes in, the first taste of an evil jam emerged with Mike bobbing and weaving through Trey’s inspired playing, but it wasn’t meant to be, yet. The jam seemed like it was going to peter out, but Fishman pushed through giving the song a few more minutes of life before the jam transitioned into “Ruby Waves.”

Trey locked into a riff and the others piled on beautifully with Page adding an amazing amount of texture. Fishman’s fills are wild through this jam. Mike took over the lead for a bit with a slight head nod from Trey and led them back to bliss territory, which is clearly what they were feeling up to this point of the evening. Page took over the reigns next once again and they were pushing and pulling whether to remain blissful or go dark. A fantastic few minutes worth your time to go back and listen to.

In the clean up spot was “Fuego,” which might have been the jam of the night. Once the song portion was over, they were right back into bliss territory but soon the bleeps and bloops took Albany into outer space with Mike dropping some bass bombs. The four of them locked in on this for a few minutes, figuring out where they wanted to take it. Once Mike brought out the drill they went full freeform territory, where it may have sounded as disjointed as you could get where no one was listening to one another, but Phish was truly moving as one.

This is what 40 years of playing together as one can get you. What was teased in “Disease” and “Ruby” finally emerged and a dark jam enveloped the arena, much to the crowd’s delight.

A perfect drop into “What’s the Use?” followed and it may have only been eight minutes, but what a powerful eight it was. Early in the song, Kuroda slowly began turning off all of the lights as the band whittled down the sonics to nothing but a handful of notes and Fishman tapping his cymbal. The Albany crowd went wild as we were in “Divided Sky” territory. Delicately the band brought the song back up as Kuroda turned the lights back on. It was perfect placement in the set for this stunning rendition that gave way to “Golden Age” in the building it premiered in.

Phish was once again in pure bliss territory before turning the funk on with Mike and Fishman leading ahead of a sharp left turn back toward the disjointedness of “Fuego.” If they had dropped into “Split Open and Melt” I think the arena may have been left in a pile of ash. The jam had some wild progressions and was really out in another dimension.

“Lonely Trip” was used as the cool down song after what just took place and it was needed. The song has been used so well in these situations and is truly one of the best of the last decade or so of the band. Fishman then signaled for the beginning of “Harry Hood” that saw Page getting some spotlight time in the composed section and Trey absolutely nailing the ending of the song. It was a triumphant end to a fantastic set.

“Golgi Apparatus” started the encore off before “Slave to the Traffic Light” brought it home with one more fantastic bliss filled jam and Trey really going for it and once again nailing the ending peaks, much to the crowd’s approval with a roar going through MVP Arena. A quick “thank you” for supporting the Divided Sky Foundation and “see you tomorrow night” from Trey ended the show.

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Phish’s run at MVP Arena concludes tonight, Sunday, October 27. Livestreams are available for purchase via LivePhish.com. Proceeds from the concerts and webcasts will benefit the Divided Sky Foundation.

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