Photo Credit: Bahram Foroughi
Last night, Aug. 30, Phish sent off the summer with the finest and final performances of its summer tour. In the second night of its adored annual dog days series at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo., the band made good use of the monumental momentum it’s accrued since its tour outset on July 20, delivering two thrilling sets easily in the contest for their most thrilling show of the year so far. Beyond top-tier treatments of essential originals, Friday’s show was distinguished by some expansive, entrancing jams and two bust-outs, which clearly stand out against the relatively stable rotation that the group carefully honed across its latest road trip.
Phish jumped into night two at Dick’s with a chugging, high-speed run of the locomotive classic “Back on the Train,” From this steady, but coyly adventurous opening, the band continued into a high-spirited “Wolfman’s Brother,” which launched the first extended improvisatory section of the evening as the band found some spring major-key moments in the 1994 standout’s gritty funk structure. After some considerable builds and bold tech meddling from all four members, Phish followed the funk into the slinking streetbeater of “Hey Stranger,” which has rapidly edged out from the tracklist of Evolve, the quartet’s 16th studio album, to become a setlist staple and fan favorite.
The band tossed out its first curveball of the evening with the ensuing “Guelah Papyrus,” issuing the highlight from A Picture of Nectar for the first time since July 22, 2022 and closing a gap of 105 shows. This surprise brought spirits high for “No Men In No Man’s Land,” which provided a thoughtfully realized jam vehicle from its frequent set one position. After the band fluently communicated without words, trading the primary voice and bolstering dense, synth-drenched soundscapes with stuttering polyrhythms from Jon Fishman, it moved from an unexpectedly abrupt closure into an unexpectedly lengthy “Steam.”
The second Evolve cut from night two came with the title track, a straight-ahead but undeniably precise run that led on into the second bust out of the evening. In its first staging since July 29, 2022, “Strange Design” found a mellow, meditative fluttering heartbeat in the 1995 deep cut, restoring the Billy Breathes outtake to glory as a well-placed moment of reprieve after an even 100 shows. Having returned to center, the band sprinted away again with “Run Like an Antelope,” which raced through hard-funking, headily technical and emotionally soaring sections to close out the first frame.
“Chalk Dust Torture” exploded out of the set break, setting high expectations for the night’s latter half within its first notes. The final jam section of this regular face-melter went as big as anyone could hope for, stacking brick after brick of pedal manipulation and fervent ripping to erect a towering edifice of dark dissonance, repeatedly teasing some bright-eyed relief before turning once again to the treatment’s moody, dissonant ground floor. Tensions mounted as the band worked out towards the light and then veered into Type II shadow again and again; by the twenty-minute mark, the quartet finally gave way, peeling away some fuzz to reach bold, inspiring major key peaks as the song would to its conclusion at the 27-minute mark.
After the longest song of the evening, Phish moved into “Sand,” which opened as a rocker defined by confidence and tact and easily. This certified staple found its experimental side by carefully cultivating space, then furnishing it with some fiery charges and deep synchronization shared Page McConnell and Mike Gordon. “Ruby Waves” returned the band to the bold and gloomy psychedelia of “Chalk Dust,” flagging between some race-pace speeding past the song’s regular temp and slow sulk into some sparse and heavy passages.
With one last crash of synths, the band left “Ruby Waves” unfinished to bring on “What’s the Use?” Trey Anastasio planted a moment of peace here with some spacey, surfy tones that guided a seraphic mid-section. From some rapturous peaks, the band sought structure again with an undeniably exuberant “Possum” and the ever-inspiring and optimistic “Everything’s Right,” which closed out the main portion of the show on a high note.
Once the band had taken its well-earned bows, it rallied again for a pitch-perfect encore, comprising the first “Fee” since Feb. 25, 2023, which saw Anastasio belting into a megaphone, and “You Enjoy Myself,” which snuck one last instrumental hurrah in after the vocal jam. Phish returns to Dick’s tonight, and will close out its summer tour with a last show on Sunday, Sept. 1. For more information on these shows, visit phish.com/tours. Fans can stream the Dick’s series and other performances from the summer via LivePhish.
Read on for the complete setlist from Friday night.
Phish
Dick’s Sporting Goods Park – Commerce City, Colo.
8/30/24
Set I: Back on the Train, Wolfman’s Brother, Hey Stranger, Guelah Papyrus#, No Men In No Man’s Land, Steam, Evolve, Strange Design~, Run Like an Antelope
Set II: Chalk Dust Torture, Sand, Ruby Waves* > What’s the Use? > Possum, Everything’s Right
Encore: Fee+, You Enjoy Myself
Notes:
# LTP July 22, 2022
~ LTP July 29, 2022
* Unfinished.
+ Trey on megaphone, LTP Feb. 25, 2023
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