Phish Keeps Debuts Coming & Delivers 18-Minute ‘A Song I Heard The Ocean Sing’ In Wilmington

Phish brought their summer tour to Wilmington, North Carolina on Tuesday for their first of two shows at Live Oak Bank Pavilion at Riverfront Park. The quartet offered their premiere performance of “mercy,” worked in plenty of surprises and delivered a few expansive jams last night.

My parents moved to Wilmington, North Carolina in 2016 to pursue their retirement dreams of year round tennis and golf. The Live Bank Oak Pavilion didn’t exist when they moved down, but I started hearing about it well before it opened. My parents are music enthusiasts and a new Live Nation venue opening 15 minutes from their house was exciting, less exciting was the repeated conversations that started with, “Have you heard about the new venue in Wilmington?” But after spending a beautiful, if hot, night in the open air venue on the river, I agree there is much to be enthusiastic about.

Live Oak Bank Pavilion is located at Riverfront Park on the Cape Fear River which reminds most people of the cinematic thrillers with the same name. But there was nothing ominous or threatening about last night in Wilmington. I have spent a lot of time in coastal North Carolina and the laid back attitude and general friendliness was on full display as Phish played Wilmington for the first time. A walkable downtown allowed fans to stroll the riverwalk to the venue or take a slight detour to shop a lovely “Shakedown Street” where vendors set up their booths in a grassy lot a few blocks north.

Some of my friends waited in a brief line to enter the 7,200-capacity venue early, while I enjoyed catching up with some college friends and strolled in around 6:15 pm. I was concerned about the crowd being packed with Phish playing a smaller venue than usual, but there was plenty of space and it was well organized and staffed. The staff were friendly and helpful and seemed delighted we were there. A woman working concessions remarked, “Have you seen these guys before? Apparently they are a big deal!”

I was also delighted to see my favorite band at the venue I have been hearing so much about on a steamy North Carolina summer night (is there any other kind?). I found a nice spot on the lawn although the view was slightly obstructed by the soundboard tent. This and the light rig being secured in place and not moving three dimensionally showed Phish squeezing their sophisticated production into the smaller venue.

Phish opened the show by singing “Happy Birthday” to Jim Pollock, the band’s longtime friend and artist. Pollock’s work is engrained in the iconography of Phish in his design of countless band posters, album and merchandise artwork.

After barely five minutes into the show Phish showed a willingness to allow their songs to breathe playing an inspired “Simple.” Guitarist Trey Anastasio played a distorted, repeating riff that took the jam into a contemplative and dark place right off the bat. A creative “Simple” jam to start the show was thrilling and set my expectations high as they ended the song layering space effects with delicate melodies. The band has been playing patiently at times during this tour and this almost 12-minute version of “Simple” had me hoping they would continue to explore new sonic territory as they did at their shows in Alpharetta, Georgia on July 14 and 15th.

Next up was an under five minute version of the funky song “Camel Walk.” The sultry theme continued with “Gotta Jibboo” which found some great interplay between Anastasio leaning into some rock and roll riffs and keyboardist Page McConnell laying down some gorgeous chords on the baby grand piano. This was followed by “Steam,” a song I heard last time I saw Phish in North Carolina on another very hot and humid summer evening. This version allowed bassist Mike Gordon to come through strongly in the mix, a huge improvement from last year when his volume was often not pronounced enough for my liking.

Standard versions of “Poor Heart” and “Cavern” followed suit, but a stand out of the first set was listening to “Divided Sky” while the sun set over the river. Phish has been playing their complicated composed songs well on this tour showing a commitment to play the classics with focus and feeling. Next up was a song penned by Mike Gordon. “Casual Enlightenment” has been played three times now after debuting in the summer of 2021. Set one closed with the ballad, “Shade,” hinting at some emotional depth from Anastasio we would hear more of in the second set and the sweeping, “Drift While You’re Sleeping.” After a lengthy composed section, this song ends with hands in the air exclaiming, “We move through stormy weather. We know that our days are few. We dream and we struggle together. And we know love will carry us through.” And honestly, who doesn’t need to be reminded of this?

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

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Thankfully the ever present sun had set and a breeze began to flow every once in a while during set break and the crowd had a chance to hydrate and catch up before the second set, which opened with “Timber (Jerry the Mule),” a song Phish has been playing since 1987. This song with its rich and soulful energy provides a perfect runway for Phish to take off and Anastasio led the band into some jamming outside the lines of the song. A floating and layered jam with drummer Jon Fishman creating some rolling fills made this eight-minute version feel longer than it was.

After a first set with 10 songs, some fans may have been looking for the band to extend into some deeper jamming in this set. And the band delivered with an absolutely stunning “A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing.” At 18 minutes and 40 seconds, it almost hit the magical 20-minute marker (which prompts some generous fans participating in a challenge to donate to the Mockingbird Foundation, Phish’s charitable arm supporting music education), but regardless it was a gorgeous, funky and juicy exploration of a jam. Played 45 times since 2004, this song is authoritative and powerful and the band embodied both of those energies as they laid into the song portion of this performance. Keyboardist McConnell laid down some intense organ under Anastasio’s growly guitar and the show cracked open. A strong and confident Anastasio led the meaty rock and roll jam with Gordon laying down some sick funk lines underneath. The crowd was enraptured with fans repeatedly yelling, “Yeah!” throughout the jam. When McConnell came in with some blues on the keys, we knew we were in for a masterclass in textures and sonic landscapes that only Phish can provide. The band sounded hungry during this entire song and the last 5 minutes saw the band allowing themselves to sit in musical ideas with an unhurried and open sensibility. I texted a friend, “More of this please.” during this section. A third of the 45 times this song has been played it has led to a jam worth noting, and this one will push it over that mark. Chris Kuroda, the lighting designer, also demonstrated the depth of his palate during this song, creating his always evolving layers and shapes but going one (or many steps!) further creating depth within shafts of light.

Fittingly the song “Light” was up next. This song from their 2009 album, Joy, was written by Anastasio and longtime band lyricist, Tom Marshall. Marshall was inspired by the idea of mind and body being separate entities and how this concept can help one distance themselves from a dark period in their life. This song gives me hope and always makes me feel grateful for where this band is in their career as they play a summer tour on the eve of their 40th anniversary as a band this fall. This version slips into a nice delicate jam with Trey trilling notes and laying back allowing for conversation between the band members. Hints at the “Timber” riff punctuated the middle section of this 13-minute version as the band settled into a relaxed, beautiful and effortless space. The breeze off the river and the ocean a few miles away danced through the spacious lawn and I once again marveled at the joy of seeing my favorite band outside on a midsummer evening.

The band then landed perfectly in a stunning debut of a newer ballad, “mercy,” off Anastasio’s first fully acoustic solo album from 2022 of the same name. The emotion and intimacy that Anastasio is now able to access due to maturity, experience and vocal training is something that continues to blow me away. The excellent placement of debuts (this is the fifth original song debuted on this tour so far) continued with “mercy” as it segued gently into “Twenty Years Later,” which saw the band stretching out once again and playing with some swirling guitar work and Fishman laying down some intricate rhythms. Another nod to the birthday of Pollock came with the feel good “Backwards Down the Number Line,” when we can all hug our friends and appreciate the long lasting friendship that has allowed this band to continue to stay together after all these years. “Bug” always brings me back to the ‘90s with its mantra of “It doesn’t matter,” which comforted me many times as my adolescence confused and challenged me. A spirited “Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S.” closed the second almost 75-minute set (a pattern that seems intentional on this tour). An arena rock song that only Phish could write with its themes of the elements and a big nod to nostalgia with lyrics like, “You will always remember where you were.”

Two slightly shorter sets and a longer, thoughtful encore seem to be the trend on this tour and an absolutely blistering, funky dance party version of “The Howling” kicked off this encore in good fashion. Anastasio introduced this song by saying it was a “dance song from outer space” and blast off we did. The energy from the band was notable and the crowd howled along and danced like primal beings. You could hear the smiles from Trey as he sang and encouraged the crowd to “Do it!” This song, off the very unique Sci-Fi Soldier album, has been played 11 times now and has served as a fun new song that gets the crowd moving similar in vibe to their cover of “Also Sprach Zarathustra.” As someone who loves to dance and loves when Phish plays funk, this song hits in all the right places for me. The dynamic between Anastasio and the rhythm section during this song was incredible and with McConnell laying down the spacey synths, it was one of the highlights of the show for me and a solid, playful encore. Expertly following a new song with an old classic (a common Phish trick that is so effective), the band closes night one in Wilmington with a fun “Suzy Greenberg.”

A friend, who is a local to Wilmington, told me that when Anastasio played at this venue fall of 2021 with his solo band (a fascinating tour as band members got COVID and were replaced nightly in a dramatic fashion leading to some incredible, unexpected shows) he remarked that he loved the venue and my friend knew that he would want to return with Phish. How fun for a band that has played for 40 years to play a new city. They seemed laid back, open and willing to explore deeply in some moments in this show and isn’t that how we should feel when we are somewhere new? Once you get your footing and settle in, then the real adventures begin. The stage is set for Phish to deliver bigtime for their second night in this new-to-them city. I expect the vibes to be high as we gear up for night two. Watch a livestream via LivePhish.com.

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