Phish Returns To Tuscaloosa After 23 Years – Setlist & The Skinny

Phish continued its trip through the South on Sunday night with a stop at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater. The 7,500-person open-air venue played host to the band’s first visit to the Druid City since 1991. The gig featured a bit of everything, mixing some tour staples with a handful of 2015 debuts, and scattering extended jams amongst more song-oriented fare.

The band kicked the show off in rock and roll mode, with “Sample in a Jar” and “Chalk Dust Torture.” The latter appeared in a first set for the first time since the band’s last visit to Alabama a year ago, and like that version, it skipped the extended improv that has accompanied the tune in recent second sets. The band next gave “Train Song” its first ride of 2015, and followed it with “Devotion to a Dream.” Tuscaloosa got its first listen to Trey Anastasio’s Mu-Tron pedal next, as Trey added an extra layer of funk to an inspired take on “Meat.” A typically hot “Maze” was followed by “The Line” and a beautiful sunset “Roggae.” Things got dark with “My Friend, My Friend” — which was infused with “The Very Long Fuse” samples — and they stayed dark with a swampy take on “46 Days” before “Cavern” closed out the set.

On the heels of two improv-heavy nights in Atlanta, the band added yet another chapter to the summer’s improvisatory playbook with the second-set-opening “Down With Disease.” After escaping the song’s structure, they went dark and spacey. Jon Fishman’s sprightly kit work helped lead the band out of the sonic goo and into an upbeat “Piper”-esque jam. A couple minutes of psychedelic haze ensued before the “Disease” ended, nearly 20 minutes after it began, with the opening notes of “Camel Walk.”

A slow but smooth take on the Jeff Holdsworth-penned tune was followed by a Mu-Tron- assisted rendition of the somewhat rare “Seven Below.” After a standard “Fuego,” the tour finally saw its first “2001.” Trey’s new Mu-Tron pedal seemed to lend the tune some much-needed mojo. Though it didn’t quite break 8 minutes, this “2001” was still the longest version since 10/27/13. The song seemed to have stolen its extra heat from “Harry Hood”: that tune, which has been long and extremely creative of late, was short and to the point this time around. The quick “Hood” left room for the band to rock themselves off stage with “Possum.” The evening came to a close with the first Beatles cover of the tour, in the form of “A Day in the Life.”

Phish is off Monday, returning to the stage on Tuesday night in Nashville. That show will be webcast on LivePhish.com.

Setlist

• Venue Type: Outdoor Amphitheater / 7,470
• Previous Shows at Venue: N/A
• Number Of Songs / Length – First Set: 11 / 7:36 p.m. CT – 8:50 p.m (74 Minutes)
• Number Of Songs / Length – Second Set & Encore: 8 / 9:22 p.m. CT – 10:43 (81 Minutes)
• Total Number of Songs / Covers / Originals: 18 / 16 / 2
• Biggest Bustout: Meat (Last Time Played: 7/30/14 — 31 shows)
• Average Song Vintage: 1995
• Debuts: N/A
• Tour Debuts: Train Song, Meat, Camel Walk, Seven Below, 2001, A Day in the Life
• Guitar Used By Trey Anastasio: KOA #3, aka Ocedoc
• Average Song Gap: 8.79
• The Spread: A Picture Of Nectar – 2, Rift – 2, Hoist – 2, Billy Breathes – 1, Story of the Ghost – 2, Round Room – 2, Fuego – 3, Misc – 5
• Longest LivePhish Track / Shortest LivePhish Track: Down With Disease 19:48, Train Song 3:16
• Audio: Live Phish

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