Phish Performs At Jazz Fest In New Orleans On This Date In 2014

On April 26, 2014 Phish returned to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. The Vermont quartet made their debut at the famed fest exactly 18 years prior on April 26, 1996.

Having the fanbase and infrastructure to put on their own festivals — beginning in 1996 with the legendry Clifford Ball and continuing with classic outings like Big Cypress, It, Festival 8 and Magnaball, among others — Phish playing a conventional music festival is somewhat unusual. Besides Jazz Fest, Trey Anastasio, Mike Gordon, Page McConnell and Jon Fishman have graced the stages of Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits and Lockn’.

For their return to Jazz Fest, Phish delivered two sets (rare for Jazz Fest, they played one in ‘96) kicking off with “Kill Devil Falls” followed by “The Moma Dance” into “Rift.” A raucous “Wolfman’s Brother” came next ahead of “Lawn Boy” and a NOLA-appropriate “Party Time.” “Ocelot”, “Funky Bitch” and “46 Days” followed ahead of the set-closing section of “The Line” and “Character Zero.”

The second set got underway with a substantial “Down With Disease,” which would remain unfinished, before Phish headed into “Birds Of A Feather.” Here’s a portion of JamBase’s coverage:

After a near 30-minute set break, Phish returned to the stage with “Down With Disease.” The ”Disease” opener gave us our first extended jam since New Year’s. McConnell strongly asserted himself throughout the musical conversation as Anastasio followed along with choppy rhythm work. When Trey did take control, he immediately transitioned the jam into “Birds Of A Feather.” From there, the band moved into “Twist,” with Trey teasing “Birds” during the intro. Anastasio also threw out a “Streets Of Cairo” tease in the beginning of his “Birds” solo.

Phish then cycled through “Sparkle,” “Free” and “Light” ahead of “Harry Hood” which led into “Cavern” before Phish brought the second set to a close with the a capella “Grind.” The rocker “Julius” would serve as the encore.

Watch pro-shot (partial set) video of Phish’s 2014 Jazz Fest performance below for this edition of Sunday Cinema:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHJZ4OoVV1U