For The Record: Watch Phish’s Wet & Wild Night In Wilmington End Early

Phish returned to Live Oak Bank Pavilion At Riverfront Park on Wednesday to take their second-ever swing at the water-adjacent venue. Water was a problem, though, as the show was stopped during the second set due to severe weather and heavy rain that soaked both band and audience. The cancellation led to a wet and wild conclusion that saw guitarist Trey Anastasio going on the record and drummer Jon Fishman refusing to leave the stage for a spell.

Incredibly, the last Phish show that was stopped mid-set due to weather took place 10 years ago to the day earlier — on July 19, 2013 — at Chicago’s Northerly Island. Even more mind-bending, a Phish show set to take place in Baltimore 30 years ago to the day prior was canceled outright mere weeks before the gig reportedly due to ticket sales. The curse of July 19th on the fourth year of each decade was only avoided by the famed “Leo Trio” show at Alpine Valley on July 19, 2003.

Phish, however, got off to a promising start in Wilmington with keyboardist Page McConnell’s instrumental “Cars Trucks Buses.” “A Wave Of Hope” took a nearly 20-minute flight in the second song slot. The quartet swirled into the jam with Fish keeping a steady beat while rolling off boisterous fills as Mike Gordon bubbled on his Spring Tour-debuted Serek bass.

A couple minutes in, Trey peeled off some echoing runs which swung the jam into a darker, funkier affair with Mike and Trey showing off some crunchy effects. The band then descended another level with Anastasio heading the other direction — reeling off ascending, repeating lines as McConnell slapped on some synth.

Down, down, down into a vibey haze. Anastasio then began to circle back up out of the fog and into a major-key mist, the kind that feels good on the face. A mellow sequence emerged with a shuffling beat from Fish over which Mike and Trey draped some stellar intertwining play. Anastasio found some bliss-y runs that brought the jam back up into the clouds. “​​I have grown my wings, I am flying.”

Trey then thanked the crowd before jumping into “Funky Bitch.” Gordon led the band through the first couple verses before McConnell began simmering on the B3 with the guitarist seemingly calling back to the “Camel Walk” the night before with jazzy slide ups before getting saucy on the Son Seals number, tearing into the tune and taking it to the finish line.

The funky and somewhat sinister “hey stranger” popped up next, just the second play since its debut on December 29, 2022 at Madison Square Garden. Anastasio kicked on his backward guitar effect as Page percolated on the clavinet. Anastasio then slogged through swampier tones over a hi-hat-laced beat from Fish.

The Chairman then came out from behind The Boards for “Lawn Boy.” Page’s worked the crowd before handing things off to Mr. Michael Gordon. McConnell wrapped the song by saying, “We’re so happy to be playing on a lawn this evening.”

Trey then tumbled into “Back On The Train.” Anastasio led the quartet into a strutting jam with some chicken-scratch licks as Fish worked the snare and Mike jumped boulders on the bass sprinkled with twinkling Wurlitzer electric piano from Page. Trey’s chicken scratch then went on a mad dash across the coop.

Next, “When The Circus Comes” swayed into Live Oak Bank Pavilion. Anastasio glided through the gorgeous Los Lobos number before sliding into “It’s Ice.” Page handled lead vocals for the second time in the first set on the composed classic.

“Blaze On” bubbled up after “It’s Ice.” Leo made a brief but raucous run on the 88s ahead of Trey jumping into the jam with a thick, growling tone before thinning things out and linking up with Page on tasty runs and ramp ups. The two soloists synced up beautifully before the band went blazing out of the first frame.

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

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After a prophetic short delay for storms moving through the area, Phish rocked their way into “Chalk Dust Torture” to launch the doomed second set. Trey went from playful as he led the way through the A Picture of Nectar cut to laser-focused. The band surged into the first instrumental segment and escalated things pretty quickly for a rambunctious ride.

The jam took a more buoyant turn, beginning in minor before bursting into major with Page and Trey linking up once again on sweet descending licks over burbling bass from Mike and a ride-cymbal-laden beat from Fish that flattened out like a delta branching its way to the sea. Trey and Page teamed up once again, this time playing in harmony on guitar and piano respectively.

Anastasio toggled the band between major and minor keys before hanging some rhythm work on the former. The band then began to spread out again with Trey and Page returning to the pretty twinkles. A driving groove emerged, underpinned by Mike and Fish, giving room for Anatsaio to soar overhead and get into some screaming loops before cooling things down into the recently debuted “Oblivion.”

Trey first performed the song on June 9 during his Trey Anastasio Trio show at the Mission Ballroom in Denver. Phish debuted the vibey number during their Summer 2023 Tour opener on July 11 in Huntsville, Alabama. The Wilmington rendition came with a spooky, edgy groove caked in synth and swirled-in Wurlitzer from Page as well as cushioning growling auto-wah from Trey.

The quartet then broke through the clouds into a sky sparkling with synth before dropping into the song’s motif groove. Trey returned to the knife’s edge and queued up some stellar echoing loops which he then tore into. The rain began to come down again with the crew having to cover Page’s more front-facing boards, which didn’t stop the band from cycling through chunky grooves back into the “Oblivion” chorus.

Anastasio then dropped the band into “The Wedge.” Trey chuckled while leading them through the Rift classic. The guitarist then revealed the reason he was laughing. “I just wanna say, I gotta share this with our friends out here. I started [The Wedge] in the wrong key. Professional musicians, Page McConnell and Mike Gordon unphased by the wrong key! This next song is in the correct key,” he added. The band then fell into the “Scents and Subtle Sounds” intro as the rain really started come down and crew members hustled to cover things up. Phish soldiered into “Scents” proper as the crew continued to try and protect the gear and the band got soaked.

Finally the axe came down and Anstasio ended “Scents” after longtime crew member Richard “Dickie Scotland” came on stage to alert the guitarist about the seriousness of the situation. Trey then stated that he did not want to stop and wanted that fact noted “in the permanent record.” He then launched into a soliloquy about his fifth grade teacher. “As my fifth grade teacher said when I got thrown out of 5th Grade: ‘This is going on your permanent record.’ “It never did, he was lying!” Trey continued. “But, I want it on my permanent record that I didn’t want to stop. They stopped me! That’s on my permanent record!” He gave a final kerrang and added, “Take that 5th Grade throw-out teacher!”

Trey apparently was disciplined, despite being a “super musician,” in Middle School according to a report card that circulated in a Phish newsletter decades ago:

But the wet and wild shenanigans weren’t over. Fish remained on his drum throne and said, “You know, Taylor Swift didn’t stop,” referring to some of the pop star’s rain-soaked concerts on her Eras Tour. Fish then added, “It’s terrible, it’s criminal,” presumably addressing the stoppage. He continued: “Taylor Swift’s drummer’s drums weren’t all wet.”

He then proceeded to play his waterlogged kit noting how “cool” it sounded and hilariously hitting some “awfully rough on the beaver” samples as the crew whispered in his ears. “I guess the gear’s covered up. I forgot about that,” he finally said before playing himself off stage with a bah-dum-ching! And that was that as the show was “concluded for the night” due to severe weather.

Phish resumes their 2023 Summer Tour at The Pavilion at Star Lake in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania on Friday. Watch that show and the rest of Phish’s summer trek via LivePhis.com

Watch three videos showing off different vantage points of the storm rolling through that cut last night’s show short:

Phish From The Road Photos

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