Phish Dick’s Sporting Goods Park 2015 Night Three – Setlist & The Skinny

Phish played the final show of a three-night stand at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park near Denver on Sunday evening, once again staging the finale of their Summer Tour at the Colorado venue on the eve of Labor Day. On Sunday night at Dick’s, the foursome went to work showcasing the confidence built up over the course of an exceptional tour, leaving those at the stadium and webcasting at home thankful to have the day off Monday to recover from a truly memorable finale.

Phish began the show delivering a mighty bustout, playing “The Landlady” outside of “Punch You In the Eye” for the first time since a December 3, 1994 performance with the Cosmic Country Horns – some 768 shows ago. A fiery “Free” followed the rarity opener and caught guitarist Trey Anastasio and bassist Mike Gordon engaging each other as the energy picked up. More hot interplay followed with keyboardist Page McConnell and drummer Jon Fishman getting into the mix as the funk-leaning “The Moma Dance” filled its usual early-first set slot. Only the second “Seven Below” of the summer ventured into a sublime jam that stretched out some while staying within the friendly confines of the buoyant tune. A gentle transition brought about “Prince Caspian” which garnered another succinct but interesting bit of first set improvisation.

“Backwards Down The Number Line” then made a rare first set appearance, concluding a trifecta of songs sprinkled with terse but enthusiastic jamming. A bit of a pause to deal with some equipment issues preceded a straight-ahead playing of “The Line.” Gordon next led the band through “Scent Of A Mule” complete with McConnell soloing on piano and Fish responding on the Marimba Lumina while Trey put on a t-shirt that read “Let Page Stand Up” similar to the one he wore Friday night. The second “Saw It Again” of the summer was augmented with spooky Chilling Thrilling Sounds samples and screams. Page took charge of a sharp take on his “Halfway To The Moon” before another bust out, the a cappella “The Birdwatcher,” was sung for the first time since 2012 (and just fourth time overall). Not done yet and doing as Trey’s shirt requested, McConnell donned his Moog keytar for a set closing rip through the lone cover of the first half, “Frankenstein.”

The chant-inducing opening notes of “Wilson” signaled the start of the second set and the feisty rocker soon gave way to “Down With Disease.” The Dick’s “Disease” moved into a spacey, atmospheric jam for a few minutes before Anastasio picked the tempo up with a riff reminiscent of “Weekapaug Groove” which quickly subsided back into a focused, and eventually progressively soaring melodic theme. Coming around to a glorious crescendo, the “Disease” jam grew out of all four band members driving the progression through several energetic peaks, ultimately subsiding with to a soft landing prior to the jolting entrance of “Carini.” An elaborately constructed, darkly layered improvisation, richly colored by Page’s chunky clavinet and Mike’s forceful bass work, chartered the mid-set highlight into the subsequent “Steam.” A bit of a struggle with the lyrics was overcome by Anastasio with the help of McConnell as a short “Steam” sharply pivoted to “Piper.”

More uplifting, brightly colored improvisation spun out of “Piper,” fueled by Fish’s speedy work behind the kit and Page’s electric piano. At times sounding like “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking,” Fish grabbed his microphone to sing a line from The Doobie Brothers’ “Rockin’ Down The Highway” during the rocking jam, ahead of a turn into a tight take on “2001.” Chunky, angular funkiness was threaded into the ensuing “Tweezer,” which hosted a hearty, initially enthralling segment of four-way interplay that instead of leading to a deeper jam, abruptly shifted to the classic pairing of “The Horse” > “Silent In The Morning.” A typically poignant “Slave To The Traffic Light” brought the final set of the Summer Tour a stirring conclusion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jg7no9SliY

Though “Tweezer Reprise” was expected at some point in the encore, opening with it was a bit out of place. When “Harpua” was played next the placement made more sense as a weekend at Dick’s wouldn’t be right without a proper dose of antics. “Harpua” featured Trey’s narration first mentioning their fondness of playing the song in Colorado as he imagines the song’s protagonist old man residing in the mountains of the state. After explaining to setlist keepers “Harpua” only need be listed as “Harpua” once, Trey continued the narration, picturing Jimmy – an East Coast transplant now living in Colorado – sitting on his couch, eating edibles and using his vaporizer surrounded by his record collection. Due to the altitude Jimmy has trouble breathing and – as demonstrated by Trey – needs the help of an oxygen tank. Jimmy is surrounded by his record collection and fires up an LP — as the band dove into “After Midnight.”

While still playing “After Midnight,” Trey explained Jimmy started not feeling well, realizing the oxygen tank he bought in a parking lot of a Phish show might not be oxygen — and a brief performance of “N02” was then followed by another major bustout in the form of “Keyboard Army.” Coming to from the drug-induced dreamlike state, Jimmy starts thinking about his cat, Poster Nutbag, wondering how long people have been keeping cats as pets and triggering the start of “Your Pet Cat.” As the narration continued, Mike explained a dream where he ate the dead Poster, leading to another huge bustout, a cover of Talking Heads’ “Once In A Lifetime” (played for the first time since Halloween 1996). The end of “Once In A Lifetime” included the conclusion of “Harpua.“ Trey then took moment to express the band’s gratitude for their fans and the community that has grown around them while the band seamlessly transited to their debut cover of Brotherhood of Man’s “United We Stand,” bringing a truly epic encore to a moving end.

And just to be sure their message was heard (and in typical Dick’s tradition) the first letter of the songs making up the encore spelled out “THANK YOU.”

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