Phish Summer Tour 2019: Camden Night 3 – Setlist, Recap & The Skinny

Phish had a number of tricks up their sleeves for the closing show of their three-night run at the BB&T Pavilion in Camden, New Jersey. The first set featured a slew of rarities, and included only two songs debuted after 1993. The second set, on the other hand, showcased the band’s improvisational talents, including an exceptional jam out of the longest-ever “Twenty Years Later,” as well as their playfulness.

The opening “Curtain With” went much more smoothly than the flubbed version that opened the final show of the band’s previous three-night run, in Mexico in February. The next song, “Fast Enough for You,” was also last seen in Mexico — but not since 2017. Despite the gap, this version showed no signs of rust. The always welcome “Buried Alive” started out with some hiccups, but the band recovered for a blazing finish before firing up “Camel Walk.” The Jeff Holdsworth-penned tune featured some machine-gun lick trading between guitarist Trey Anastasio and drummer Jon Fishman.

After a relatively smooth composed section, the jam out of “Reba” was notable for some underwater-sounding guitar lines early on before a fairly run-of-the-mill peak. “Sample In A Jar” made it six consecutive songs from 1993 or earlier to start the show. That streak was broken by “Pebbles And Marbles,” last seen at 2017’s Baker’s Dozen. Trey switched to his blonde guitar for the tune and sounded a bit apprehensive on it. Nonetheless, the song is rare and beloved and brought smiles to the faces of fans at the show and smiley emojis to those following online. Ditto the following pairing of “Tela” and “The Mango Song,” both played only once or twice a year, and both played to near-perfection in Camden. Another rarity, “Driver,” came next. The set closed with its sixth song from the ’80s, “David Bowie.” The relatively standard version included what sounded like quotes from The Allman Brothers’ Band’s “In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed.”

After a set featuring almost exclusively songs from before the millennium, the second set opened with two more recent songs. “Mr. Completely,” all but one of whose Phish versions have fallen in the last two years, started the set out with a monster jam. The song’s explosive energy gradually dwindled, and Page McConnell‘s synths and Fishman’s persistent rhythmic backbone ushered the quartet into a minimalist, nearly ambient soundscape before Fishman returned to the song’s signature drumbeat. But rather than follow him, Trey built one fiery blues lick upon another, leading to a massive peak before the song finally ended.

“Twenty Years Later,” which often adds little improvisation to a set aside from a few minutes of evil guitar licks, went deeper Sunday night than it’s gone since its debut 10 years ago. An initial jam that reprised the bliss of “Completely” gave way to some slippery funk that could have emerged from “Meat.” Appearing to be tickled by the riff they’d found, the band toyed with its rhythm and melody before taking a left turn into “Big Black Furry Creature From Mars.”

The frenzied Mike Gordon-sung tune was followed by the “Tweezer” that had been anticipated all weekend. Unlike the set’s first two songs, “Tweezer” did not venture far into uncharted waters. That’s not to say it was a standard version — far from it. The jam built and built, reaching a thunderous peak, bringing to mind the early ’90s just like the first set’s song selection. After a short ethereal outro jam, the band finally let the crowd cool down with “Shade.” Next up was the Vida Blue tune “Most Events Aren’t Planned,” played here for the fifth time ever by Phish.

Another golden oldie followed: “Makisupa Policeman,” whose keyword was the rather lengthy “All I could think about was how much I couldn’t wait to hear Mike play the bass.” The song’s brief guitar solo included a tease of the riff around which the “Twenty Years Later” jam centered. The riff turned up again in “Chalk Dust Torture,” which was otherwise energetic if a bit sloppy, as well as the set-closing “Suzy Greenberg.”

The band wasn’t done. The encore opened with “Punch You In The Eye,” which hadn’t appeared in an encore since 1998, and continued with “What’s the Use?” which had never been played in an encore. Last but not least was an encore staple, “Julius,” ending with a bang and, after the bang, one last tease of the riff from the “Twenty Years Later” jam.

Phish returns to the stage Tuesday night in Saratoga Springs, New York.

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