On Sunday night, Phish finished off their Fall Tour 2018 run of shows at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. Highlighted by a brilliant third quarter featuring a jammed-out “No Quarter,” this show featured excellent renditions of “Everything’s Right,” “Carini” and “Plasma.” The song selection tended toward Phish’s more recent music, with six songs debuting in 2014 or later.
The night began on a high note, with an outstanding “Everything’s Right.” The band has been playing this song well lately — a quality performance came at the tour opener in Albany. This one contained a marvelous transition to a major key Type II jam, resulting in a breathtaking series of peaks led by guitarist Trey Anastasio. To my ears, some of the most powerful jamming of the tour, albeit not at great length. The song, which began to scattered cheers, wrapped to a thunderous roar from the audience, cheers which were only sustained when the band dropped into “Destiny Unbound.” The relative-rarity is always a treat, this version containing a short but sweet funked-out jam section.
The next segment of “Heavy Things” followed by “Miss You” took a little bit of energy out of the set. However, both songs were quite well played, with “Miss You” reaching a surprisingly energetic peak. That energy continued with the second “Tube” of fall tour. Fans clamoring for deep “Tube jams” have been happy as of late, and this was no different. It culminated in a unique metal/funk hybrid jam which contained a rather sinister peak before shifting to the blues section. The band conferred for a while before beginning the tour-debut of “Petrichor,” the marquee track from 2016’s Big Boat. It is hard to think of a good placement for this song, but I’d say this is as good as any. It was well-played, highlighted by a beautiful outro jam led by Trey. Next was “I Always Wanted It This Way,” another Big Boat song. This contained another excellent jam segment, at first led by keyboardist Page McConnell, who experimented with his synthesizer sounds before moving to the organ, allowing Trey to again lead the band into a ferocious peak. We thought the set would end there, but the band stepped to the front of the stage to deliver the always-welcomed a cappella “Grind.” While this first set was not as cohesive as some of the other first frames this tour, it still contained some incredible jamming, particularly in the set-opening “Everything’s Right.”
Set two began with everyone’s favorite lumpy head, “Carini.” This song is a well-established 3.0 workhorse jam-vehicle, and this edition is no different. While only clocking at just over 11 minutes, the band still managed to deliver a brilliant piece of improvisation, beginning with a minor key, delay-laden exploration that morphed into a sprawling major key jam. As this fizzled out, Trey signaled to Page, who slid smoothly into the familiar opening chords of “No Quarter.” The well-received Led Zeppelin cover elicited a mighty reaction from the crowd, and the band seemed to respond. During the middle jam section, Trey brought a little extra heat. The boys then decided to really go for it, extending the outro of the song into a jam. This extra surprise turned into a full-fledged “No Quarter” jam, which grew into a bluesy, funky Type II groove. Just as the jam seemed to be plateauing, Trey nicely led the others through a smooth segue into “Cities.” The crowd erupted as the band nailed the transition. While “Cities” was short, it wrapped up a brilliant segment of Phish.
No Quarter > Cities Captured by Gregory Marcus
After ending “Cities,” Trey opted to fire up “Gotta Jibboo,” another song they have torn up lately featuring stellar playing by Trey, culminating in some machine gun licks that sent the crowd into a frenzy. As “Jibboo” wound down, Trey began the thumping power chords of “Twist.” Like the “Carini,” this take was short, lasting only eight minutes. However, again Phish proved to be improvisationally efficient, as the “Twist” jam quickly became exploratory. After a few minutes of interesting playing that stayed within the general structure of the song, the four-piece effortless slid into another major key section, akin to the one in “Carini.” Trey then began playing the melody from “What’s The Use?,” eventually shifting into the proper key for another well-placed segue. “What’s The Use” is always a joy to hear live, and this one contained the added bonus of drummer Jon Fishman leading the band back into the ending of “Twist” for a “Twist”/”What’s The Use?” sandwich.
Next, Trey led the band through a rendition of “Shade.” This was a cool down song for a set that, in my humble opinion, didn’t need a cooldown. Nonetheless, Trey always seems to enjoy playing these songs, and his guitar work reflected that. Next began “Plasma,” one of the better Trey-Anastasio-Band-turned-Phish songs. This version is absolutely stand-out, certainly the highlight of the fourth quarter. The band unleashed a powerful egalitarian grooving jam, with each member taking the lead at times. Trey then took the band into another major key, Type II section, which nearly immediately grew into fantastic hose playing. Like the “Everything’s Right” to open the show, this near-set-closing “Plasma” contained absolutely epic jamming, but again, it is quite economical. As the crowd applauded and cheered after this incredible improvisation, Trey played the familiar intro to “Character Zero,” a predictable but enthusiastically-received cap to the set. All in all, this was a rather interesting and thoroughly solid set of Phish. There was jamming where there often isn’t, and every song was quite well played.
The band seemed to know that fans were clamoring for an older, more traditional Phish song, and they delivered with the crowd-favorite “Fluffhead” encore. This version was by no means flub-free, but Trey has seemed to rediscover the ability to really shred over the “Arrival” section. While it was not quite as raucous as the Hampton version, it did provide for a rousing cap to a fun show and a fantastic run. If these shows were just a warm-up for the Vegas run, we are in for a treat.
Phish heads to Las Vegas for a four-show Halloween run MGM Grand Garden Arena beginning on Wednesday, October 31. Webcasts from Sin City are available via LivePhish.com
The Skinny
The Setlist | |
|---|---|
The Venue | |
Allstate Arena [See upcoming shows] | |
7 shows — 10/31/1995, 10/03/1999, 09/22/2000, 09/23/2000, 02/20/2003, 10/26/2018, 10/27/2018 | |
The Music | |
9 songs | |
9 songs | |
18 songs / | |
2002 | |
17.63 [Gap chart] | |
N/A | |
Destiny Unbound, Heavy Things, Miss You, Petrichor, I Always Wanted It This Way, Grind, No Quarter, Shade, Plasma | |
Grind – LTP 7/6/2016 (91 Show Gap) | |
Petrichor – 17:10 | |
Grind – 1:49 | |
Junta – 1, Billy Breathes – 1, Farmhouse – 3, Undermind – 1, Big Boat – 3, Misc. – 7, Covers – 2 | |
The Rest | |
47° F and light rain at showtime | |
Koa 1 | |
Capacity: 18,500 | |
