Phish Magnaball Night One – Setlist & The Skinny

On Friday night Phish began Magnaball, their 10th major multi-day festival, at the site of their last event – Superball IX – Watkins Glen International race track in Watkins Glen, New York. As they’ve seemingly done all summer long, the foursome showcased what makes seeing them live completely worth spending money to trek around the country, using vacation time to sit in traffic for hours in the hopes of hearing something memorable.

Phish got the Magnaball rolling with the second “Simple” to open a show this summer, settling into an exploratory jam that stretched near the 12 minute mark. As the improv progressed it eventually faded away as the Thrilling Chilling Sounds sample was triggered alerting the pending entrance of “The Dogs.” The short but peppy rendition was followed by the “The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday” > “Avenu Malkenu” > “The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday.” The well executed classic pairing of the Gamehendge theme and classic Jewish hymn was the first performance by Phish since the Fourth of July 2012 at Jones Beach in Wantagh, New York. A ferocious “Free” was bolstered by bassist Mike Gordon’s thumping bottom line and Trey Anastasio’s MuTron’d soloing. Trey then paused for a moment to address the audience, thanking everyone for coming and acknowledging that Magnaball was the band’s 10th big festival. He then noted that at the time of their first festival, 1996’s Clifford Ball, his daughter Eliza was the only child among the four band mates but since then that number had grown to 11 and all the offspring were in attendance. Anastasio then told the crowd it was Eliza’s 20th birthday and led the audience in singing “Happy Birthday” to his daughter who briefly joined her dad on stage for a hug.

After the birthday festivities, drummer Jon Fishman cranked up the familiar beat to “The Wedge.” Out of nowhere Gordon took the band through just the second ever performance of “Mock Song” (struggling with the random lyrics, altering them to add “Clifford Super Magnaball”) – the only other rendition of the absurdist Round Room deep cut coming at the Gorge in 2003. A tender “Roggae” followed the bustout, as the darkness of night fully allowed Chris Kuroda’s massive light rig and installations around the grounds to truly impress, illuminating both the stage and surrounding trees. A sharp take on “Rift” was followed by the set closing “Bathtub Gin” that like the “Simple” that started the set dove into exploratory improvisational waters, getting angular and rigid before transitioning through several distinct themes, culminating after over 20 minutes with a mighty blissed-out apex and bringing the lengthy first half to a fierce end.

Set two was initiated with “Chalk Dust Torture” and those hoping for more of the expansive jamming in set one were promptly satiated. A spell of ambient, minimally melodic and shadowy improvisation turned into a notable display of intergroup synergy as the foursome built a haunting groove with elements of “What’s The Use?” thrown in. The prolonged, patient jam ever so gradually built energy ahead of a turn into “Ghost.” The gritty, funk-forward “Ghost” kept the mood dark and the tempo deliberate as Gordon pumped chest-thumping notes in time with Fish’s inventive playing. Several minutes progressed before Anastasio asserted himself and lifted the pace and color of the jam, forcibly causing the segue into The Velvet Underground’s “Rock And Roll.” A nifty but pithy jam shifted smoothly into “Harry Hood.”

“Hood” featured a typical start to its open-ended second half with a pretty build that preceded a lengthy excursion outside the usual confines of the song, and the standout jam moved brilliantly back into the tune’s triumphant conclusion. Anastasio tempered the energy at the race track by firing up the ballad “Waste.” The new number “No Men In No Man’s Land” infused a jolt of funky fun at the backend of the set. The lively nascent addition to the band’s repertoire continued causing heads to bob with the clavinet propelled groove it produced. A skillful move to “Slave To The Traffic Light” set the table for the Phish classic to shoulder the set to an inspirational end. The festival’s first night encore began with “Farmhouse” and ended with a manic Anastasio stomping around during a show ending burst of energy in the form of “First Tube.”

Setlist…

[via Phish.net]

• Venue Type: Outdoor Racetrack / 30,000
• Previous Shows at Venue: 3 Shows – 07/01/2011, 07/02/2011 and 07/03/2011
• Number Of Songs / Length – First Set: 10 / 8:08 p.m. – 9:33 p.m. ET (85 Minutes)
• Number Of Songs / Length – Second Set & Encore: 9 / 10:12 p.m. ET – 11:55 p.m. (103 Minutes)
• Total Number of Songs / Covers / Originals: 19 / 2 / 17
• Biggest Bustout: Mock Song – 320 Shows (Last Time Played – 7/12/2003)
• Average Song Vintage: 1995
• Debuts: N/A
• Tour Debuts: The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday, Avenu Malkenu, Mock Song
• Weather: 66 °F and Clear at Showtime
• Guitar Used By Trey Anastasio: KOA #3, aka Ocedoc
• Average Song Gap: 40.11
• The Spread: Farmhouse – 2, The Story Of The Ghost – 2, Billy Breathes – 2, Rift – 2, Round Room – 1, Picture Of Nectar – 1, Lawn Boy – 1, Misc. – 6, Covers – 2
• Longest LivePhish Track / Shortest LivePhish Track: Bathtub Gin – 23:33, The Man Who Stepped into Yesterday – 1:30
• Audio: Live Phish

Phish From The Road Photos

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