Phish Merriweather Post Pavilion 2013 Setlist And The Skinny – Night One

FULL BREAK DOWN OF PHISH’S FIRST OF TWO
2013 SHOWS AT MERRIWEATHER POST PAVILION

[Photo from Friday by Dave Vann via @Phish_FTR]

Each summer since Phish returned from a near five-year breakup in 2009, Phish has performed at Merriweather Post Pavilion. The three-summer long streak came to an end last year, when the quartet skipped the Maryland venue for the first time in this era. Tonight, the band plays the first of two 2013 shows at the shed. Phish made their debut at the Frank Gehry-designed venue as support for Santana on July 17, 1992 which was the opening night of their tour with Carlos. This evening’s gig marks the group’s tenth at Merriweather Post Pavilion.

Phish opened with Joy track “Kill Devil Falls” for the second time this tour. From there, the band dusted off Mike Gordon’s “Destiny Unbound.” The once holy grail of bust outs was last played at the Super Ball festival in 2011. Tour debuts kept coming with “Taste,” Page McConnell’s “Halfway To The Moon” and yet another song debuted this era – “Twenty Years Later.” Of the 14 versions of “Twenty Years Later” Phish has performed since debuting the tune in 2009, tonight’s was only the third played in a first set. “Maze” gave keyboardist Page McConnell and guitarist Trey Anastasio chances to shine, with each delivering frenetic solos. “Yarmouth Road,” an original penned by Mike Gordon and Scott Murawski that was debuted at SPAC last weekend, saw action again tonight. Next up was “Split Open And Melt,” the first song from the ’80s Phish played this evening. “Split,” an improvisational highlight of the opening stanza, saw the band take the normally dark, minor-keyed jam section for a quick trip into more pretty major-key territory before returning to the darkness.

“Down With Disease,” which opened a second set for the 25th time since Hampton in 2009, kicked off tonight’s second set. In a trend we continue to see this tour, Page led the jamming for a good bit before he connected with Trey on an anthemic riff. At that point, Anastasio brought the jam back to the conclusion of “Down With Disease.” In a reprise of a famed pairing from Phish’s June 26, 1995 show at SPAC, “Free” followed “Disease.” Lawn Boy’s “Bouncing Around The Room” provided a respite after the high-impact start to the set until Phish fired up the energy in the room once more with “Birds Of A Feather.” The straight-forward “Birds” led into the tour’s third “Harry Hood.” Anastasio teased “Birds” and Gordon teased “Dog Log” in the intro, while the jam featured a bit of “Divided Sky” from Trey, among a string of glorious licks. “Architect,” a song off Trey’s Traveler LP was performed for the second time on a Phish stage following the outstanding “Hood.” Next up was the old school “Mike’s Song” > “Simple” pairing. “Birds” was teased once again in the “Mike’s,” while “Simple” was the first tour debut of the set. After a few magical moments of opening the “Simple” jam up, the band faded the improv into “Weekapaug Groove.” Tonight’s funky “Weekapaug” went into a short disco section before its conclusion.

After lots of high-energy songs all night long, Phish came out for the encore with the evening’s sixth tour debut in the mellow “Waste.” Throughout both sets and the start of the encore, the quartet didn’t play any covers. A take on Led Zeppelin’s “Good Times, Bad Times” broke up that string as the final song of the night. The band returns to Merriweather Post Pavilion on Sunday night.

Click here to view the full breakdowns of every show Phish has played in 2013 including setlists, recaps and our statistical rundowns.

Setlist…

Here’s The Skinny from Phish’s return to Merriweather Post Pavilion…

• Venue Capacity / Attendance / Type: 19,316 / 19,316 / Outdoor Amphitheatre
• Previous Shows at Venue: 9 Shows – 7/17/1992, 08/08/1998, 07/09/1999, 09/17/2000, 8/15/2009, 06/26/2010, 06/27/2010, 06/11/2011 and 06/12/2011
• Number Of Songs / Length – First Set: 8 / 7:42 p.m. – 8:50 p.m. (68 Minutes)
• Number Of Songs / Length – Second Set & Encore: 11 / 9:22 p.m. – 10:55 p.m. (93 Minutes)
• Total Number of Songs / Covers / Originals: 19 / 1 / 18
• Biggest Bustout: Destiny Unbound – 61 Shows (LTP – 07/03/2011)
• Tour Debuts: Destiny Unbound, Taste, Halfway To The Moon, Twenty Years Later, Simple, Waste
• Average Song Vintage: 1996
• Debuts: N/A
• Weather: 83° Partly Cloudy at Ticket Time
• Average Song Gap: 12.42
• The Spread: Lawn Boy – 2, Rift – 1, Hoist – 1, Billy Breathes – 3, Story Of A Ghost – 1, Joy – 2, Misc. – 8, Covers – 1
• Longest LivePhish Track / Shortest LivePhish Track: Down With Disease 15:27 / Bouncing Around The Room 3:58
• Audio: Live Phish

Phish From The Road Photos…

Poster…

Coins…