Watch Phish’s Longest Jam Of Fall Tour 2023

Throughout 2023, many of Phish’s spring and summer concerts featured shows in which exploratory improvisation netted a +20-minute performance of a song. The band’s just-completed Fall Tour 2023 – three shows each in Nashville and Chicago surrounding two in Dayton – broke the trend seen earlier in the year, as only two nights produced a +20-minute excursion.

Phish completed their brief Fall Tour 2023 on Sunday night, making the “Ruby Waves” performed on October 11 in Dayton, Ohio the tour’s longest jam. The band shared pro-shot video of the 30-minute “Ruby Waves” they played during the second set of the tour’s second show at Wright State University’s Nutter Center (the other +20 minute jam occurred on opening night when they played a 22-minute “Oblivion.”)

JamBase contributor Ryan Storm wrote a recap of the expansive “Ruby Waves” that LivePhish officially clocked in at 30:45:

[Guitarist Trey Anastasio] kicked off what would eventually turn into a half-hour rendition of jam staple “Ruby Waves.” Guitar and Wurlitzer immediately intertwined in the early stages of the jam as [drummer Jon Fishman] pushed the pace underneath. Slowing down the pace of the jam into a relaxed major-key space, the band began a narrative of beauty as [keyboardist Page McConnell‘s] piano work really stood at the forefront of the music. Switching to Rhodes, the “Ruby” jam began to head deeper into the unknown also thanks to [bassist Mike Gordon]’s space-bombs.

Anastasio’s delay loops took over for a brief moment as off-kilter dissonance seemed to be in our future, but that was quickly exchanged for a classic rock Zeppelin-esque peak. Fish came down from the peak with a cowbell-centric beat similar to the intro of “Foam” as the groovy motif began to inform Phish’s next move. Not even halfway through this jam, the band kept up the effortless vibe to the music, with nothing feeling forced or contrived as the improv just flowed out of them.

Fish drove forward as McConnell laid down a solid bed of piano and the band rested on the cusp of major and minor – decision time. Anastasio opted to modulate into a triumphant bliss mode that sounded distinctly familiar to many fans – seek out the July 20, 2014 “The Wedge,” the October 16, 2021 “Carini,” or the song “Paradise City” if you really liked this. Milking the peak for every second it was worth, the guitarist stuck to rhythm for much of the segment — just drifting along in the uplifting chord progression in no hurry to get anywhere.

As the peak ended, Fish initiated a return to the conclusion of “Ruby Waves,” but it was immediately clear that Anastasio was not done with the song – and we got a “second jam” of sorts, something that has happened in a number of “Tweezer” jams this year.

Departing into a mellow space, McConnell hopped on Moog One synthesizer as the darkness began in earnest. In less than a minute, we had gone from all-out triumph arena rock to exploring the depths of a black hole — Fish’s steady beat were all that held the jam together and prevented total meltdown. Anastasio layered in synth effects and delays as he bent it all with the Whammy pedal as textures from Gordon and McConnell continued to take over.

The thick cloud of soupy noise was soon infiltrated by chirpy guitar leads as Anastasio pulled us from the depths of the pit and into a charging minor-key groove thanks to Fish’s continued propulsion. McConnell’s funky Wurlitzer work and occasional blasts of synth led the way as Anastasio stayed within the pocket of minor-key rhythm work. Through most of 2023, dark jams have been short-lived pockets among big bliss progressions, but Phish stuck with it last night, moving next into a ring-modulator zone (Anastasio’s dial-tone effect) that continued to be not only dark, but weird.

McConnell’s Wurlitzer seemed the only anchor to reality among a torrent of ring mod and space-age tones from Anastasio and Gordon as Jon Fishman continued to be his monstrous self, just obliterating everything in his path with an aggressive groove. THIS is why we Phish.

Finally returning home to “Ruby Waves,” it felt as though the crowd exhaled for the first time in minutes as the insane tension of the final jam section was released at last in a final moment of euphoria — concluding 30 minutes of some of the finest jamming of 2023.