Phish Mondegreen Day 0: Cover-Heavy Soundcheck & ‘From The The Archives’ Feature Gold Galore

Phish‘s Mondegreen festival in Dover, Delaware opened its gates yesterday and welcomed fans from around the globe to The Woodlands. The band took the stage for a wild 45-minute soundcheck on Wednesday afternoon and then Phish archivist Kevin Shapiro spun mind-blowing gems “From The Archives” on The Bunny radio station.

Mondegreen, Phish’s first self-produced festival since Magnaball in 2015, officially begins today with the first two of eight scheduled sets. It’s hard to believe nine years has passed between Phish festivals but the forced cancelation of Curveball in 2018 left scars. This year’s event has already made it farther than Curveball, which was called off just minutes before soundcheck.

Many fans entered Mondegreen on Wednesday to claim camping sites and take full advantage of the experience. Crews were still putting the finishing touches on The Woodlands as The Bunny went live at the stroke of noon. Soundcheck aired on the radio station giving Phish devotees worldwide a chance to hear the jam session.

Phish spent the first 18 minutes of the soundcheck exploring various soundscapes from blues excursions to synth-laced territory to funk vamps. “Hold Your Head Up” was the first song the band settled on, yet it never wound up singing any of the lyrics. Phish then segued into a more fully-formed cover of The Pretenders’ “Mystery Achievement” before offering truncated versions of The Knack’s “My Sharona,” Steve Perry’s “Oh Sherrie” and Foghat’s “Slow Ride.” Next came a loose take on The Beatles’ 1965 smash “Day Tripper” that gave way to a moment a long time coming.

Guitarist Trey Anastasio and keyboardist Page McConnell have been weaving hints of Allman Brothers songs and tones reminicient of the legendary southern rockers’ music into jams for years but never more so than this summer. The “is Phish playing an Allmans tune?” thread was especially strong when Billy Strings sat in at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan earlier this month.

Phish jammed “Day Tripper” into “Midnight Rider” giving the band a chance to actually perform an ABB classic. Trey sang lead and shredded the solo on the nearly complete cover ahead of an attempt at the Würm portion of Yes’ “Starship Trooper” that included Mike spouting “Big Black Furry Creatures From Mars” lyrics and Trey throwing “Wilson” licks into the mix. The memorable soundcheck came to a close with the end of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway To Heaven.”

Stream Phish’s Mondegreen soundcheck below:

Kevin Shapiro will host four episodes of “From The Archives” on The Bunny over the course of the weekend. Shapsio fittingly chose Phish’s lone electric cover of the Boston hit “Foreplay” > “Longtime” from July 12, 1999 at Great Woods to kick off Wednesday’s installment and the first festival “From The Archives” in six years.

The archivist gave fans a taste of California Phish from 1993 by selecting the outrageous “Colonel Forbin’s Ascent > Fly Famous Mockingbird -> Kung -> Icculus > Fly Famous Mockingbird” sequence laid down by the band in Santa Cruz as his second track. Next up was the severely-underrated 30-minute “NüremberGhost” from July 3, 1997 in Germany and the subsequent “Cars Trucks Buses.” The biggest surprise of the episode followed in a deliciously psychedelic piece recorded by Phish at the “Little Red House” in Burlington, Vermont on December 13, 1985. Shapiro was responding to a friend who asked him to play something “weird” from the ’80s.

Wednesday’s “From The Archives” concluded with an ethereal “You Enjoy Myself” from October 24, 1995 and the “Sleeping Monkey” that emerged out of the vocal jam. “From The Archives” returns Thursday through Saturday at 3 p.m. ET.

Mondegreen From The Archives #1

Foreplay/Longtime (7/12/1999), Colonel Forbin’s Ascent -> Fly Famous Mockingbird -> Kung -> Icculus -> Fly Famous Mockingbird (3/25/1993), Ghost > Cars Trucks Buses (7/3/1997), “Night Fever” as written on a tape by Mike (12/13/85), You Enjoy Myself -> Sleeping Monkey (10/24/1995)

Audio of all eight Phish sets will air live on The Bunny with video available via LivePhish.com webcasts. Phish are scheduled to take the stage on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. ET. Stay tuned for more Phish Mondegreen coverage on JamBase.