The Time Phish Dedicated A Song To The Entire State Of Delaware
Revisit the band’s first show in The First State.
By Andy Kahn Sep 20, 2023 • 9:35 am PDT
Next summer Phish will host a festival in Dover, Delaware. The band’s 11th festival will mark just their third time performing in Delaware, where they last held a show on April 18, 1994, in Newark at the University of Delaware’s Bob Carpenter Center.
Phish’s only other concert in Delaware also took place at “The Bob” when they played their first show in The First State on February 13, 1993. During that evening’s first set, following an adventurous “Stash,” Phish keyboardist Page McConnell made an announcement on behalf of the building manager asking the audience of around 4,200 attendees to help the ushers out and clear the aisles.
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“We want to thank everyone for coming out here and making our first Delaware gig ever such a great event,” guitarist Trey Anastasio then told the audience at The Bob. “We’re going to get Page to sing a little song here in honor of our first Delaware gig.”
“Thanks, we’d like to sing this song for the whole state of Delaware,” McConnell added.
The band then launched into “Lawn Boy,” featuring McConnell on lead vocals. Trey took a quick solo following Page’s encouraging “take it away Lawn Boy” prompt.
Listen to the dedication to Delaware here:
Phish’s festival in Delaware will be held August 15 – 18, 2024 at The Woodlands in Dover. Located on the grounds of Dover Motor Speedway, The Woodlands spreads out over 105 acres. Having the speedway adjacent to the site allowed AEG to use some of the track’s infrastructure for both parking and camping.
Full details of the August 2024 event are forthcoming.
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February 13, 1993 Setlist (via Phish.net)
Set 1: David Bowie, Bouncing Around the Room, Poor Heart > It's Ice > Glide > Rift, Stash, Lawn Boy > Maze, Golgi Apparatus
Set 2: Runaway Jim, Wilson [1] > Uncle Pen, Tweezer > The Lizards, Llama, You Enjoy Myself, Big Ball Jam > Hold Your Head Up > Lengthwise [2] > Hold Your Head Up, The Squirming Coil, Cavern
Encore: Amazing Grace, Tweezer Reprise
After Stash, Page made an announcement on behalf of the building manager that “for your own safety the aisles must be cleared.” Trey then noted that this was the band’s first appearance in Delaware, and Trey and Page dedicated Lawn Boy to the state of Delaware. Wilson contained Simpsons, Oom Pa Pa, and Random Note signals. The YEM vocal jam contained a Lion Sleeps Tonight theme. Fish introduced Lengthwise as “a very nice song, a sad lament, where I am left out naked on the plank (I can get arrested for that these days)” and he directed a crowd sing-along accompaniment to his vacuum solo.
