Phish Merriweather Post Pavilion 2015 Night One – Setlist & The Skinny

While the big news in the Phish world on Saturday morning and afternoon was the announcement that the band’s Magnaball Festival had sold out, there was still the matter of a two-night stand at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland to end the pre-festival portion of the tour. The band 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 marked the group’s fourteenth at Merriweather Post Pavilion and what a gig it was continuing an incredible summer for the band.

Phish opened the festivities with “Simple,” the first time the Mike Gordon penned classic has appeared in that slot since June 23, 1995. Eleven years ago to the date one of the lowlights of a Coventry run filled with unfortunate moments was the band’s butchered performance of “Glide.” Thankfully the rendition Phish laid down after “Simple” at Merriweather was flawless. The Merriweather “Glide” was the year’s first (last time played – July 9, 2014) as was the case with the “Buried Alive” (last time played – October 31, 2014) and “McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters” (last time played – July 9, 2014) that followed. “McGrupp” featured keyboardist Page McConnell on electric piano throughout the verses and choruses, but he returned to grand piano for a blissful solo while Gordon and guitarist Trey Anastasio played on their backs while doing bicycle kicks in the sky. Phish then threw in a pair of gems off 1998’s Story Of The Ghost LP – a typically gorgeous “Roggae” and a spot-on “Limb By Limb.” From there it was right back to 2015 debuts as Mike led his mates through the most metal song in the Phish repertoire, “Big Black Furry Creature From Mars.”

Towards the end of “BBFCFM” Page threw in a vocal sample from Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House and the band used the opportunity to transition into the first “Your Pet Cat” since the quartet debuted their version of the Disney album on Halloween. However shortly after starting “Your Pet Cat,” Phish segued back into “Big Black Furry Creatures From Mars” and ended the song. Following “Horn” the band treated the capacity crowd to “Blaze On,” an Anastasio/Marshall original debuted on the first night of tour in Bend, Oregon. The tour’s seventh “Blaze On” wasn’t extended like the Shoreline version but Trey and Page each showed their increasing comfort with the song by adding flourishes within nearly every segment. “Blaze On” dissolved into “Run Like An Antelope,” a cool little segue, and McConnell went an unusual route by using clavinet for the start of the Lawn Boy classic. Page was on fire throughout the set, especially on an “Antelope” that played off the energy from the crowd. Trey took an unusual approach of his own to the set closer by throwing in dissonant riffs along with more melodic ones before engaging in a call- and-response with Page as he led a build towards a powerful climax. Anastasio also replaced “Marco Esquandolas” with “Gacktoidler Esquandolas” adding to the fun of a set that had flow, energy, humor and bust outs.

The second set opened with “Halley’s Comet,” marking the first time since 2010 the Richard Wright penned song appeared in that slot. Anastasio utilized his Mu-Tron effect for the duration of “Halley’s” including on its short jam section. “46 Days” emerged out of “Halley’s” and featured two vastly different movements within the jam. The first section was a particularly dark jam with impressive contributions from all four members of the band. Trey barely played any leads in the first section and was content to add angular rhythmic jabs at his guitar to the mix. McConnell led a move to a major key for the second distinct segment of the standout “46 Days” jam. Anastasio piled on one pretty, melodic riff after another as his band mates wailed away which made for a blissful “butter jam” that contrasted sharply from the dark and eerie soundscape Phish had explored just minutes earlier. “Bug” offered band and fans a bit of a breather before the year’s second rendition of “Steam.” This was be no ordinary “Steam” as the Vermonters slickly segued into the fan-favorite instrumental “What’s The Use?” in between verses. “Steam” picked up right where it left off post “What’s The Use?” but the band soon transitioned into “Piper.” Phish showed off their propensity to switch between major and minor keys within one jam once again in “Piper.” Portions of the raging “Piper” continued the blissful themes found in “46 Days,” while other moments were latin-tinged explorations. When the “Piper” was at its energetic peak, Anastasio initiated a transition into “Tweezer.”

“Tweezer” saw Trey focus on rhythm as Gordon and McConnell did the heavy lifting in the melody department. When a frothy groove had developed Anastasio put down his guitar and picked up his megaphone. Mike then started reciting lines from his The White Tape obscurity “N02,” which was last played August 12, 2010 (202 shows). Phish simulated a visit to an evil dentist with Gordon warning “this may hurt just a little bit” as Trey pressed the siren button on his megaphone, Fish continued the “Tweezer” groove and Page triggered Chilling, Thrilling sound effects. The bassist picked up his drill and with Anastasio started running laps around the stage adding to the wild scene. Once the quartet had their fill of “N02” they finished off “Tweezer.” Another aggressive “Walls Of The Cave” brought the second set to a close. Phish had one more tour debut in store for the Maryland faithful as “Sleeping Monkey” kicked off the encore. Trey took a moment during the “Sleeping Monkey” intro to say the band had come across a list of all 333 Phish songs ranked that Richard Gehr wrote for SPIN Magazine last year and Page was disappointed “Sleeping Monkey” wasn’t near the top of the list (it scored the 259 slot). Anastasio noted “Sleeping Monkey” is one of McConnell’s favorite songs and that he asks to play it nearly every night. The guitarist said “tonight is your night, Page” before relaying another story about “Sleeping Monkey.” One of Trey Anastasio Band bassist Tony Markellis’s impressions of his first Phish show is that you don’t often see a band where the drummer sings by himself to end a concert, referring to “Sleeping Monkey.” A “Tweezer Reprise” with Fish butting in “home on the train” during the intro then ended the show on a high-energy note.

Phish returns to Merriweather Post Pavilion on Sunday. A webcast is available via LivePhish.com.

Setlist…

[via Phish.net]

• Venue Type: Outdoor Amphitheatre / 19,316
• Previous Shows at Venue: 13 Shows – 07/17/1992, 08/08/1998, 07/09/1999, 09/17/2000, 08/15/2009, 06/26/2010, 06/27/2010, 06/11/2011, 06/12/2011, 07/13/2013, 07/14/2013, 07/26/2014 and 07/27/2014
• Number Of Songs / Length – First Set: 11 / 7:36 p.m. – 8:51 p.m. (75 Minutes)
• Number Of Songs / Length – Second Set & Encore: 11 / 9:24 p.m. – 10:55 p.m. (91 Minutes)
• Total Number of Songs / Covers / Originals: 22 / 0 / 22
• Biggest Bustout: Glide & McGrupp – 53 Shows (Last Time Played – July 9, 2014)
• Average Song Vintage: 1996
• Debuts: N/A
• Tour Debuts: Glide, Buried Alive, McGrupp, Big Black Furry Creature From Mars, Your Pet Cat, NO2, Sleeping Monkey
• Weather: 84°F and Sunny at ticket time
• Guitar Used By Trey Anastasio: KOA #3, aka Ocedoc
• Average Song Gap: 22.2
• The Spread: Lawn Boy – 1, Picture To Nectar – 3, Rift – 1, Story Of The Ghost – 2, Farmhouse – 2, Round Room – 2, Misc. – 11
• Longest LivePhish Track / Shortest LivePhish Track: Piper 15:48 / Tweezer (second instance) 1:00
• Audio: Live Phish

Phish From The Road Photos…

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