Phish Denver Dick’s Setlist And The Skinny | Night Three

Phish brought their summer touring season to a close tonight at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park near Denver, CO. It’s been an eventful 25-show summer for the quartet, who are currently slated to return on October 18 at Hampton Coliseum in Virginia. On Friday the band continued their setlist-spelling tradition, while last night’s high-energy performance featured a debut cover and a standout “Chalk Dust Torture.” For the finale, Phish tipped their hat towards the local “delights” with a debut cover, treated fans to plenty of fiery jamming and dusted off a pair of originals for the first time in 2013.

In a repeat of the previous evening, tickets to tonight’s show sold out just hours before the band took the stage with the second “A Song I Heard The Ocean Sing” of 2013. “ASIHTOS,” which hadn’t been a show opener since its debut on June 17, 2004; had only been performed once a year in 2010, 2011 and 2012. A short and sweet “Kill Devils Falls” was up next. In the 3-slot, Guitarist Trey Anastasio utilized a swampy, Leslie-like tone for a sublime “Back On The Train” solo. Setlist staple “Rift” was played particularly well and gave way to “Meat.” Keyboardist Page McConnell used the song’s breaks to deliver funky organ sweeps. “It’s Ice” has shined in 2013 with the band extending the Page-led interludes and tonight was no exception. Phish then laid down the first “Guelah Papyrus” of the year, another song we profiled in our list of Phish originals gone missing in 2013. The fans used the pause in the “Divided Sky” that followed to chant “We Love Dick’s!” A cover of “Funky Bitch” broke up a string of eight originals the quartet had recorded and released on studio albums. Though “Cavern” (off A Picture Of Nectar) and “Stealing Time From The Faulty Plan” (off Joy) renewed the trend. The jam in the “David Bowie” set closer started off at a fast pace and rapidly built in intensity until a monstrous peak was reached.

Phish opened the final set of the summer with “Carini.” A few minutes into the jam, the Vermonters switched gears from the usually dark, minor-key improv to a beautiful, powerfully emotive major-key segment. Anastasio confidently led his band mates through a few chord changes before the jam petered out around the 12-minute mark. “Birds Of A Feather” had a ferocious streak and showcased Page/Trey interplay. Next up was a cover of TV On The Radio’s “Golden Age” filled with pretty riffage from the guitarist that eventually led to “Prince Caspian.” McConnell and bassist Mike Gordon followed Trey as he landed on an anthemic chord sequence that he used as the basis for his “Caspian” solo. It seemed as if many songs and jams were played at hyper-speed this weekend, which was also true of tonight’s “Piper.” The brisk pace allowed the quartet to settle in on a choppy rock groove with stops and starts that saw the crowd reprise the “Woo!” chants from the West Coast shows. Phish had issues landing a cover of “Boogie On Reggae Woman,” but used the opportunity to let drummer Jon Fishman segue into the first “Saw It Again” since June 22, 2012. “Mike’s Song” brought us to the third cover debut of the run -Peter Tosh’s “Legalize It,” a nod to Colorado’s legalization of marijuana. Page McConnell handled the vocals and changed the words to “sour diesel” in one of the “some call it” sections. Elements of the cover made its way into the beginning of “Weekapaug Groove.” After a high-impact weekend the reflective “Show Of Life” set up a “Suzy Greenberg” set closer. Anastasio took a moment at the end of “Suzy” to praise the audience in many ways and to thank the fans for an incredible summer. A “Character Zero” encore brought the rocking weekend to a close.

Setlist…

[via Phish.net]

• Venue Capacity / Attendance / Type: 26,000 / 26,000 / Outdoor Soccer Stadium
• Previous Shows at Venue: 8 Shows -09/02/2011, 09/03/2011, 09/04/2011, 8/31/2012, 9/01/2012, 9/02/2012, 8/30/2013 and 8/31/2013
• Number Of Songs / Length – First Set: 12 / 8:27 p.m. -9:55 p.m. (88 Minutes)
• Number Of Songs / Length – Second Set & Encore: 13 / 10:27 p.m. -11:58 p.m. (91 Minutes)
• Total Number of Songs / Covers / Originals: 25 / 5 / 20
• Biggest Bustout: Saw It Again -53 Shows (LTP -6/22/2012)
• Tour Debuts: Guelah Papyrus, Saw It Again, Legalize It
• Average Song Vintage: 1996
• Debuts: Legalize It -Peter Tosh
• Weather: 70° and Partly Cloudy at ticket time
• Average Song Gap: 9.7
• The Spread: Junta -2, Picture Of Nectar -2, Rift -2, Billy Breathes -2, The Story Of The Ghost -2, Farmhouse -2, Undermind -1, Joy -2, Misc -6, Covers -4
• Longest LivePhish Track / Shortest LivePhish Track: Divided Sky 15:16 / Saw It Again 4:08
• Audio: Live Phish

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