Phish Tour 2022: Mansfield Night 1 – Setlist, Recap & The Skinny

Phish launched the summer portion of their 2022 Spring + Summer Tour on Thursday with the first of two concerts at Xfinity Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts, formerly known as the Great Woods Center for the Performing Arts, a historically important venue for the band. Night one in Mansfield saw the Vermont Quartet delivering an all-original show full of notable juxtapositions and segues. The first set boasted a bust out of “Mound” followed by an adventurous second set. The band also delivered a rollicking two-song encore beginning with a tour debut.

Phish got the summer leg of their tour underway by grooving right into “Ghost.” Getting into the jam, the band went down a whirlpool of swirling clavinet and guitar from keyboardist Page McConnell and Trey Anastasio respectively. The vortex spit the quartet out on the major side of things with a shuffling beat accentuated by fills from drummer Jon Fishman and bubbling bass notes from Mike Gordon. Fish rolled the snare and Trey hits some trills on the Languedoc signaling an upward swing in the opening excursion and a triumphant, tiered climax that led into “Set Your Soul Free.”

While “Ghost” was fairly tight, a little rust showed on “Set Your Soul Free” but was brushed aside as Anastasio wailed into the jam before cooling it down into a pocket groove with McConnell working his Wurlitzer electric piano and moving to the Moog synthesizer as Trey blasted out some wahed-out rhythmic strums before moving to more lead work. The band coalesced around Trey as he reeled off some rocking riffage. Fish worked some fills and cymbal splashes as Gordo linked up Anastasio on the riff the latter had found.

The band then swerved into a more buoyant, droning affair with Page switching to Hammond organ, adding swirling swells before Anastasio chucked the band back into “Ghost” for its conclusion. The descending riff of “The Wedge” put the band and audience on the “highway to the great divide.” Trey had some twang in store to kick off his solo and ended it with some rapid-fire right-hand work.

Next, everyone clapped along for the intro to “The Wedge’s” fellow Rift cut “Mound,” last time played on December 8, 2019, in Charleston. Mike led the band through the tune that cycles through shades of blues and bluegrass. Mike also presided over a bass solo that went from rock to more melodic stylings to free-form. From the “great divide” to “Mound”, the band then floated through “Mountains In The Mist.” The “on the road again” lyric got an apt rise out of the opening night audience. Another opening night apropos number, “Back On The Train,” followed. The shuffling country funk of “BOTT” got Mansfield bouncing. The song also references mountains, this time the smoky variety. Anastasio presided over a twangy guitar soup, which he brought from a simmer to a quick boil ahead of the song’s conclusion.

Phish then went from the smoking mountains to “Ruby Waves.” Page did that cool thing he does on the Moog during the “ball of energy” lyric and stayed on the synth as the band gelled together into the jam. Anastasio alomost matched Page’s synth patch with his guitar tone and both musicians had some effects wizardry in store. Fish shuffled the snare and Gordon had some effects of his own on bounding bass notes as Page switched to his Sequential Prophet synth as Trey delved into a pulsating, electronic jam before heading back into the “Ruby” rundown and conclusion.

“Hey Page,” Trey said. “Yeah Trey, Page responded. “So, where you been over this last break?” Trey asked as the friends got into their “I Been Around” schtick. McConnell then led the band through the tour debut of the Joy track before Trey dropped the group into “Tube.” The band got right to the funk with Page on clav and Trey washing the shed in some echoing notes before dropping into his own clav-like tone and then worked on some auto-wah as Mike percolated on some effects. Anastasio then went full industrial for a moment before getting back into his normal tone as Fish kept up a rock-steady beat simmering with hi-hat. The band then hit the rocking instrumental bridge and back into “Tube.”

Anastasio served up the crunchy opening chords to the fiery Ghosts Of The Forest track “About To Run.” Trey continued his scorched earth campaign on a particularly torchy rendition of the tune to close out the first frame.

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

A somewhat choppy start to “Chalk Dust Torture” began the second set. The band seemed to find their footing in the jam, which began with some whirring notes from Trey and Page on the Wurly. Fish locked into a ride-cymbal laced groove as the band headed into a more major sequence with Trey and Page cascading on guitar and electric piano respectively as Gordon bounced around on the bass. Trey got into a clicky, almost xylophone-like tone. A more galloping beat from Fish ensued as Page worked his Moog and Fender Rhodes while Trey cut some soaring notes and Mike thumped the bass. Anastasio then got into some rhythmic work that led into “Plasma.”

As the song gave way to the jam, Fish rolled on the toms and snare as McConnell brought in his brassy patch on the Yamaha synth. Fish had some more fantastic fill work in store as Anastasio began to climb on the Languedoc and then delivered some fretboard fireworks before landing briefly back into “Plasma” but quickly tumbling into “Weekapaug Groove.” A tasty funk jam followed with Page working clav then piano and Mike slapping as Trey circled. Anastasio then began playing some descending power chords that sounded a bit like “Suzy Greenberg” before dropping back into industrial world leading into a bizarre jam with Trey cycling through his arsenal of newer effects and Page matching the high strangeness on the Moog.

Fittingly, Trey then led the band into the creepy “Saw It Again,” the third tour debut of the evening, which the band appeared to be having a blast on. “Prince Caspian” emerged from the spooky “Saw It Again” jam. The band wandered through some soundscapes out of “Caspian” into “Backwards Down The Number Line.” Trey and Page teamed up on guitar and piano for a sweet cyclical sequence on the outro.

Following “Number Line,” the band jumped into “Bug.” Trey had some more fireworks in store for “Bug” before the band slid into its fellow Farmhouse cut “Sand.” The band journeyed through a slow-burner groove laced with clav from Page, who then switched to piano as Trey began to soar and shred and hit a killer climax white light moment before concluding the song and second set.

Phish returned for the encore with the tour debut of “Punch You In The Eye.” The quartet then jumped into the olfactory space funk of “Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S.” The outro jam featured McConnell smashing the clav while Trey reeled off some melodic licks before blasting off to bring night one in Mansfield to a close. Phish returns to Xfinity Center tonight. Livestreams are available via LivePhish.com.

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