Phish Celebrates Jon Fishman’s Homecoming With 28-Minute ‘Tweezer’ In Syracuse

The lone single-night stop on Phish‘s 2023 Summer Tour took place last night at St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheater At Lakeview in Syracuse. A slight detour between Star Lake and The Mann, it was set up to be a classic “skippable” show barn-burner — and it was.

Absolutely perfect weather in the afternoon shone over the energetic lot scene as thousands of people grew in excitement for the show to come. Syracuse seemed to be a turning point in many people’s touring schedule – many either had done the whole run up until that point or were just starting their travels last night.

The blazing sun went behind a cloud, offering some much-needed relief to those on the expansive lawn as the band took the stage. The second “Happy Birthday” of the tour was dedicated to drummer Jon Fishman‘s mumu-maker Lisa Simpson as Trey also shouted out the drummer’s hometown.

“Free” was the first proper song of the night and felt shorter than normal – though bassist Mike Gordon‘s solo pumped through the PA at seismic levels. An airy “Steam” saw guitarist Trey Anastasio put his Digitech Whammy pedal through some serious use as the band continued to settle in to the idyllic lakeside venue. The quartet was completely locked in from the first notes of the show and proceeded to nail “McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters,” seeing its first play since Mexico early this year.

“Evolve” opened up another gorgeous solo from Anastasio as he seemed to revel in the perfect evening weather, spinning together melodic phrase after melodic phrase. The song selection in set one, while mostly devoid of jamming, was spot-on in terms of energy and execution, which continued through “Stealing Time from the Faulty Plan,” “Meat” and “Walk Away.” The first speed-bump was hit with some minor flubs within “Theme From the Bottom,” but the band made up for it with the song’s jam — perfectly suited to a sunset vibe.

On paper, the “Kill Devil Falls” set closer fits right in with the rest of the songs — it could very easily have been a solid eight minutes of jamming to close a well-crafted first set. Anastasio had other ideas, however, and put his foot to the floor within seconds of the improv beginning. Fish joined him with a propulsive beat that didn’t allow for even a second of momentum to be lost as they blitzed into Type II territory. The guitarist, star of the set as a whole, confidently led the rest of the band through a series of modulations and tone shifts, dipping at one point into some synth-filter sludge but largely keeping it in an upbeat zone.

The “KDF” peak contained multiple Chris Kuroda white-light moments as the packed venue cheered along with unexpected and incredible jam that was chosen to close an awesome set of music.

Read on after The Skinny for the rest of the recap and more.

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Setbreak seemed to fly by as those of us on the lawn raved about 2023’s new light rig and the absolutely PERFECT house sound (thank you Garry Brown!). Predictions for the second frame flew around, some “Down with Disease,” some “Tweezer,” but the prevailing notion was that we were in for something big.

And big it was – beginning with the first “Suzy Greenberg” second-set opener since July 21, 2003. Keyboardist Page McConnell, undoubtedly the MVP of this set, stretched out on the piano during the short rocker before Anastasio uncorked the opening riff of “Tweezer.” The jam began in earnest with an excellent peak and an effortless vibe that offered Phish a clear exit ramp around the 12-minute mark – a choice many may have worried about, given the shorter song length in the last few shows.

Instead, Anastasio sprinkled delays over the groove as Fish dropped into a funkier half-time space. The darkness began to creep in as the guitarist teased Genesis’ “That’s All” among Gordon’s heavy synth tones. McConnell joined in on the synth action with sweeping waves of Moog One atop his Wurlitzer electric piano as the band searched for their next direction. It came in the form of a pretty major-key shift that saw a bouncier motif develop. As mentioned in the first set, Anastasio’s melodic phrasing has been absolutely impeccable this summer and it was no different in this section.

Much like the incredibly long version of “Tweezer” played in Berkeley in April, Phish returned to the main riff of the song midway through the lengthy jam, only to find a new vein of inspiration and continue out back into the unknown. Continuing in the bouncy funk groove for a few minutes, Fish found his way back to “Tweezer” as McConnell began unleashing some serious synthesizer action on Moog, prompting Anastasio to keep jamming. The synth-drenched improv was only added to by Gordon’s deep space bombs as Anastasio resisted the pull of his own synth pedals and opted for heavy delay instead.

Fish kept up a driving beat as “Tweezer” slunk past the 25-minute mark, eventually melting smoothly into a perfectly-placed “Oblivion.” In just its third Phish appearance, the newly-debuted song showcased its jam potential last week in Wilmington, though it reached even greater heights last night in Syracuse.

McConnell asserted himself early, sprinkling in short bursts of Moog during the song proper. The improv began with heavy keyboard work as well, the chunky tone of the Hammond B3 spiralling across the crowd with perfect clarity. It was clear within minutes that this jam was heading for darker waters as McConnell made the pivot from organ to synthesizers, this time leading the way on his Prophet and Yamaha CS60. The jam seemed to exist on the edge of major and minor at times, Anastasio’s phrasing flipping between the two as McConnell threw in beautiful chords on Fender Rhodes.

Deep space was reached as the synth tones melded with Anastasio’s insistent delay, creating a layered soundscape of scuzz. The band emerged from the darkness with some “Weekapaug Groove”-like phrasing from Anastasio, showing off the dichotomy of moods they can so effortlessly reach within a single piece of improv. Phish took their time with the ensuing peak, layering sounds in no hurry as the energy gradually built up to a white-light moment and smooth return to “Oblivion” – leaving many in the crowd in awe of the monstrous pairing of songs that anchored the set.

The first back-to-back 20+ minute jams since February 22, 2019 melted into a beautiful “Miss You” breather before a rare late-second-set “Wolfman’s Brother” went deep into a peppy funk groove with excellent Clavinet work from McConnell and scratchy wah playing from Anastasio. While they could have easily ended at five songs, the band was having too much fun and opted for a raucous “Possum” as an exclamation point on the incredible 80 minutes of music.

Anastasio noted that they had to celebrate Fish’s hometown show and brought the drummer to the front of the stage to play vacuum during the “I Didn’t Know” that started the encore. Just the second-ever “What’s the Use?” in the encore slot (first since June 30, 2019) led to the obligatory “Tweezer Reprise” closer, ending off an incredible night of music in upstate New York.

With a day off today, Phish hits The Mann in Philadelphia tomorrow and Wednesday for a pair of concerts ahead of their seven-night residency at Madison Square Garden that begins Friday. While some shows of the tour have been a bit inconsistent in terms of jamming and flow, the single night in Syracuse showed that the momentum is building and we’re just getting started on this tour.

Webcasts for the remaining summer shows are available via LivePhish.

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