Phish Riviera Maya Mexico 2020 – Night 2 Setlist, Recap & Skinny

Phish Riviera Maya 2020 continued Friday night with the first two set performance of this year’s event, following last night’s single “welcome set.” Like Thursday’s opener at Moon Palace in Cancun, Mexico, Friday’s concert was a source of bust outs — original and cover — as well as seamless segueing and worth-a-second-listen improvisations.

Night two opened with Kasvot Växt’s “Turtle In The Clouds.” Keyboardist Page McConnell and drummer Jon Fishman (back to wearing his typically colored frock) held it down while bassist Mike Gordon and guitarist Trey Anastasio did their synchronized dance at the front of the stage — though they were a bit out of sync for part of it. “Shafty,” shelved since 2012, was then played for just the sixth time. The funkified arrangement of “Olivia’s Pool” that had not been performed in 302 shows worked through several groovy passages.

Coming off a year in which it came into more prominence, “Plasma” further established itself as an equal parts Trey Anastasio Band and Phish tune. In what’s becoming a trend (see the first two shows of Fall Tour 2019), Friday’s “Plasma” was again part of a segue sequence and teases, this time shifting back into “Shafty” before a quick return to close “Plasma.” The concert then visited Gamehenge via Anastasio’s classic narrative “The Lizards.”

After “The Lizards,” Trey took time to salute the event’s organizers CID Entertainment and its CEO Dan Berkowitz and complimented this year’s new venue, which features hot tubs in every room. The band acknowledged that by firing up “Bathtub Gin” and soon were methodically developing an improvised sequence that steadily intensified while Page, concentrating on organ, volleyed back and forth with Trey and pushed the jam into full-on Type II territory. The “Gin” rose to a tension-filled climax as Trey held one piercing note after another, once again eventually shifting back into “Shafty.” The band went back to close out the end of “Bathtub Gin” and then lit up “Blaze On.”

Trey changed the “Blaze On” lyrics to reference “dancing on the beach” and the ensuing jam got dark and spacey as it took on elements of “Plasma.” Trey then turned to Page and the spotlight was on the pianist for a bust out cover of The Who’s “Sea & Sand.” Phish debuted the Quadrophenia song when they covered the rock opera on Halloween 1995 and again on New Year’s Eve 1995. The only other time it had made a Phish setlist was 670 shows prior, on July 20, 1998, in Ventura, California. The emotional bust out was followed by an uplifting and rocking “Possum” with Trey slipping in some “Shafty” and “Plasma” licks before the set drew to an end.

The second set started with the second live Phish performance of “Sigma Oasis,” which made its debut at last fall’s tour closer in North Charleston. The band moved from the opener into “Also Sprach Zarathustra” (“2001”) and the instrumental cover synthesized a pulsating groove, with start-stop action, and an array of otherworldly sounds emanating from the stage. The band came back from deep space and entered the dreamy intro of the multifaceted “Drift While Your Sleeping.” Working across the varied segments of the Ghost Of The Forest tune, Anastasio carried them through to its hopeful conclusion. Countering the big finish of the previous song, the tender ballad “Lifeboy” made a rare setlist appearance.

Page was again put in the leadership role for “I Always Wanted It This Way,” steering the jittery Big Boat track to a swift and punchy payoff. While maintaining the groove, Trey walked over to Mike and gave instructions that led to a segue into another Big Boat cut, “No Men In No Man’s Land.” Soon came the first “Shafty” tease of the second set, followed by a sprawling jam that maintained a loose structure and never coalesced into a cohesive movement.

They then came together for “Piper,” paving the way to a cutting, angular jam that washed over the crowd at the same time the skies opened up with a rain shower. The intense improvisation was balanced with an ending bit of ambient drone. From the noise came Fishman kicking off the familiar pattern that starts Led Zeppelin’s banging “Good Times, Bad Times,” and the classic rocker punctuated the set.

Phish returned for the evening’s encore, delivering “Sand” for the beach-going audience. Fish and Mike set a deep-in-the-pocket foundation that supported Trey’s nimble melodic overplay and Page’s chunky accents. Seemingly out of nowhere, and certainly unexpectedly, Trey steered a segue into “Weekpaug Groove.” The rare “Weekapaug” without a prior “Mike’s Song” came with a stretched out and energized jam that ended with one more return to “Shafty.”

Phish plays in Mexico again on Saturday and Sunday. Live streams are available via LivePhish.com.

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