Phish Denver Dick’s Setlist And The Skinny | Night Two
By Scott Bernstein Aug 31, 2013 • 7:00 pm PDT
Last night Phish began a three-night stand at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park near Denver, CO by informing fans “MOST SHOWS SPELL SOMETHING.” Tonight, the quartet returned to the giant soccer stadium and had more tricks up their sleeves, this time of the improvisational variety.
Phish opened up the second night at Dick’s, which officially sold out hours before the show, with the first “Buried Alive” of 2013. High-energy takes on “AC/DC Bag” and “Wolfman’s Brother” came next. Guitarist Trey Anastasio and bassist Mike Gordon lost their sweatshirts/jackets before starting the fifth-ever performance of “Yarmouth Road” -a Mike Gordon original debuted earlier this summer. Up next was the first “Fee” of 2013, #1 song on our JB List published earlier this week of ten Phish originals not yet played in 2013. After a brief harmonics outro to “Fee,” the band faded away into “Halfway To The Moon,” one of Page’s contributions to the repertoire, which despite being around since 2010 has only been performed eight times, including tonight. “The Wedge” and a standard “Halley’s Comet” preceded the set’s first real jam in “Bathtub Gin,” which featured some teasing of “Dave’s Energy Guide” from Trey. During the outro to “Bouncing Around The Room,” Trey prompted Fishman to start “Mound” as soon as “Bouncing” ended, further cementing “Mound” as a standard in the rotation and no longer a Phish rarity. A late-in-the-set “Gumbo” led into the set-closing “Run Like an Antelope.”
Phish returned from setbreak with one of the year’s improvisational highlights, a “Type II” “Chalkdust Torture” that saw the band expertly explore many different jam spaces before ending after 20 glorious minutes. “Chalk Dust” weaved and bobbed through a few peaks and even a “Manteca”-esque segment -a must-hear jam. The quartet was feeling the jamming and launched into “Light.” Unfortunately for Anastasio he started it in the wrong key, but quickly realized his mistake, laughed it off and changed to the correct key. “Light” contained a heavily-syncopated jam that was both dark and funky. The short but impressive improv soon faded into “46 Days.” “Steam” followed and segued into “Free” before “Joy” offered a breather after a high-impact start to the set. “Also Sprach Zarathrustra,” aka “2001,” brought the energy right back to a rolling boil. The first “Tweezer” since the instant classic Tahoe version was of the “rock” variety as Anastasio led his mates to a bold peak that was almost closer to “Tweezer Reprise” than the regular song. Once the climax was reached, the quartet explored at a slower pace for a few more interesting minutes until Trey pulled the plug in favor of “Backwards Down The Number Line,” which wound up closing the set. When the band came back for the encore, Anastasio thanked the fans for a wonderful tour and told them they would be going back to Vermont after tomorrow night’s show but couldn’t wait to hit the road this fall. From there the group launched into a debut cover of Willie Nelson’s 1980 classic “On The Road Again.” McConnell, Gordon and Anastasio shared lead vocals on the fitting cover. The perfunctory “Tweezer Reprise” brought the night to a close. Phish returns to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park tomorrow to finish off the run.
Setlist…
[via Phish.net]
- Venue Capacity / Attendance / Type: 26,000 / 26,000 / Outdoor Soccer Stadium
- Previous Shows at Venue: 7 Shows -09/02/2011, 09/03/2011, 09/04/2011, 8/31/2012, 9/01/2012, 9/02/2012 and 8/30/2013
- Number Of Songs / Length – First Set: 13 / 8:16 p.m. -9:49 p.m. (93 minutes)
- Number Of Songs / Length – Second Set & Encore: 11 / 10:19 p.m. -11:50 p.m. (91 Minutes)
- Total Number of Songs / Covers / Originals: 24 / 2 / 22
- Biggest Bustout: Buried Alive -60 Shows (LTP 6/7/2012)
- Tour Debuts: Buried Alive, Fee, On The Road Again
- Average Song Vintage: 1997
- Debuts: On The Road Again -Willie Nelson
- Weather: 77° and Sunny at ticket time
- Average Song Gap: 8.73
- The Spread: Junta -1, Lawn Boy -3, A Picture of Nectar -3, Rift -2, Hoist -1, Billy Breathes -1, Round Room -1, Joy -3, Misc. – 7, Cover -2
- Longest LivePhish Track / Shortest LivePhish Track: Forthcoming
- Audio: Live Phish
Phish From The Road Photos…
