Comes In Completely: Phish Returns To Pittsburgh – Recap, Setlist & The Skinny

Coming into this tour most discussion regarding Phish‘s summer jaunt focused on the 13-show “Baker’s Dozen” residency at Madison Square Garden in New York City that begins on Friday. The band announced the “Baker’s Dozen” run at the end of January and it wasn’t until the middle of March that fans learned the tour would include eight additional shows. Talk of Phish’s visits to Chicago, Dayton and Pittsburgh ahead of the MSG shows seemed almost lost in all the hype surrounding the “Baker’s Dozen.” However, Phish is all about expecting the unexpected and each of the five concerts leading up to The Garden featured multiple incredible moments.

Wednesday night’s show at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh was the icing on the pre-“Baker’s Dozen” cake. While many discussed the possibility of Phish going 13 shows at The Garden without any repeats, there were few who thought they would open the tour with five repeat-less concerts. The Pittsburgh show began with an eight-song first set highlighted by one of the best versions of “Prince Caspian” yet, while the closing stanza included the fourth 20-minute jam in the past four shows and this one came out of a tune Phish hadn’t played in over 14 years.

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After opening each of the first four shows of tour with originals, Phish went the cover route at their Petersen Events Center debut by kicking off the evening with Clifton Chenier’s “My Soul.” The blues number gave the band a chance to settle in while “NICU” gave them more of a challenge. Phish raced through “Halley’s Comet” next but took a more patient approach towards “Undermind.” The former returned after a 21-show layoff, the most shows Phish had gone without performing “Halley’s Comet” since 2000. “Undermind” was highlighted by Trey Anastasio utilizing a delay effect as he worked staccato jabs at his guitar into his solo. A spot-on “Divided Sky” led into the Phish debut of “Marissa.” The slow and loping “Marissa” was recently premiered by Mike Gordon as part of his set at the High Sierra Music Festival on June 30.

[Marissa | Captured by The Kamherst]

Phish’s first set in Pittsburgh rolled on with “Home,” a song written by Page McConnell for inclusion on last year’s Big Boat LP. The quartet’s third ever live version of “Home” was similar in both length and style to the two versions played by Phish last fall. “Home” gave way to a wild “Prince Caspian” that stands among the best in the song’s 22-year history. The “Caspian” started innocently enough with a jam that featured impressive interplay between Trey and Page as the pair exchanged powerful and beautiful riffs. The band eventually blew beyond the normal “Caspian” boundaries for a dark and fierce excursion. Anastasio led the way as Phish built the must-hear “Prince Caspian” to a crowd-pleasing climax. Once the foursome had achieved the peak of the jam Trey starting singing the refrain to bring the masterful version and rare, eight-song first set, to a close.

[Prince Caspian Peak | Captured by “Paul Languedoc”]

The final pre-“Baker’s Dozen” set of the run began with “Punch You In The Eye.” Phish hadn’t performed “PYITE” since last August’s Lockn’ Festival, the longest span of shows between versions since 1994. One of the biggest surprises of tour came next with Phish’s first take on the Trey Anastasio Band staple “Mr. Completely” since July 15, 2003. The quartet extended “Mr. Completely” to 30 minutes on July 15, 2003 which was the only other time Phish played the tune. On Wednesday, the Vermonters once again used “Mr. Completely” as an improvisational springboard. The Pittsburgh version was a bliss-filled affair that spanned over the 20-minute mark, the fourth show in a row with a 20-minute jam. Phish built the jaw-dropping “Mr. Completely” to multiple crescendos and improvised on the same joyous sequence for nearly the entire rendition before launching into “Mercury.”

[Mr. Completely | Captured by The Kamherst]

Just as the foursome was working their way through “Mercury,” they zagged in a different direction and offered the Phish debut of “Come Together.” Trey Anastasio had debuted the original, not to be confused with The Beatles’ song of the same name, with his TAB outfit on April 20, 2017. Anastasio’s song has a positive message about being “tired of our senseless fight” and urges listeners to “rise up” and “come together” as “I’m a part of you and you’re a part of me.” Phish concluded “Come Together” as “Mercury” went unfinished. As if Wednesday’s show wasn’t filled with enough surprises, out came “Contact” for its first appearance outside of an encore since July 7, 2012.

[Come Together | Captured by The Kamherst]

After “Contact,” Phish ran through the rocker “Axilla Pt. 1” and then dusted off “Steam” for the first time since October. “Steam” was well played though fairly short and was followed by the set-closing “Backwards Down The Number Line.” The quartet then returned for an encore of “Things People Do,” another one of Page McConnell’s contributions to Big Boat, the reflective “Bug” and a cover of The Osborne Brothers’ bluegrass classic “Rocky Top.”

More than five months after the “Baker’s Dozen” residency was announced we’re finally on the verge of getting it on. Phish continues the tour with the first of 13 concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Friday night. A webcast of Friday’s show and the entire run is available via LivePhish.com.

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