Phish Tour Continues In Hampton – Recap & Setlist

The energy inside the Hampton Coliseum was positively electric as Phish took the stage to kick off their first three-night run of Fall Tour 2018 at the “Mothership” in Hampton, Virginia on Friday night. Marking the band’s 19th show at the venue during their 10th unique trip to the Coliseum since 1995, the history of Phish at Hampton goes way back and is filled with some incredible highlights along the way. This all-GA venue, which allows groups of friends to easily sit with one another and therefore feed off each others’ energy, has often created an atmosphere in which Phish tends to bring the heat. Last night’s show was no different.

Taking the stage at approximately 8:11 p.m. to raucous cheers and applause from an eager audience ready to get this show on the road, the band quickly dropped into “Strawberry Letter 23” much to fans’ surprise and delight. This groovy cover of Shuggie Otis’ classic hit was originally performed by Phish on the second night of their historic “Baker’s Dozen” residency in 2017 and has not been seen since — a gap of 42 shows. The colossal roar from the masses at the realization of what song was actually being played was downright goosebump-inducing. After the fan favorite, Phish chose the reliably upbeat “Blaze On” to keep folks dancing and singing along. While perhaps a bit standard-sounding at first, this jam proceeded to go on and hit some serious peaks before settling down into what seemed like the conclusion of the tune. Instead, they got darker and more intense, as the light rig seemed to take on a mind of its own, moving all around in perplexing ways. As the jam fizzled out and fans’ ears perked up to hear what was next, many were left completely dumbfounded while yet another bust out came to the table so early on in the show. “Mock Song,” last played 106 shows ago at the Magnaball festival in 2015, was performed for just the third time ever. Abby Fusco took the stage next to Mike Gordon to offer the bassist assistance with lyrics on cue cards for this wordy number before Page McConnell tickled the ivories to finish out this beautiful breather.

Bringing the energy back up again with “Divided Sky,” this gorgeous composition lived up to the level of epicness that both of this year’s prior versions had brought with them. Trey Anastasio took the crowd on a wild ride before landing softly into the cool down choice of “Roggae.” The acoustics inside the venue created a lovely sound as many sang along together before Mike and Trey joined forces to bring about a few solid peaks before cleanly returning back to the song. The silly, lighthearted “Sparkle” followed, with the frenetic energy of the crowd matching and maybe even surpassing the frenzied absurdity coming from the stage. Calming things down for a second with the sultry funk groove of “Undermind,” Page took the first solo before handing things off to Trey, who brought some real gritty, gnarliness with his tone. During the peaks, Chris “CK5” Kuroda lit up the entire room in all white lights, allowing everyone to see just how many human beings were getting down inside that room together. The energy was unparalleled, as Jon Fishman showed off with some fancy fills and Trey all but shouted the outro, “UNDECIDED, UNDEFINED!”

After a longer than usual pause, the band dropped into another rarity of sorts, the super funky and danceable “Meat.” This tune saw Trey getting a little bluesy before he and Mike approached one another and stood face to face, feeding off of each other as they jammed. Fish took another extended drum solo, while fans clapped along, before all four came back to finish the song in unison. The band fanned the flames of that feverish crowd excitement once again with a fast-paced and well-played “Rift” before delivering a massive, straight up rock and roll “Walk Away” to close out the set.

After stunned fans spent setbreak wondering if that set had actually happened and what the band could possibly bring to the table to top it during set two, the lights went down around 10:10 p.m. and the Phish hit the ground running with the aggressively evil-sounding “Carini.” This jam dove deep down and got dark and grungy quickly before gradually shifting to the blissful beauty “Carini” has been known to deliver as of late. The band settled into a swinging groove before Page and Fishman teamed up to propel the jam further, while Mike added some complex layers, as well.

“Sand” came next, featuring a nice “Strawberry Letter 23” tease from Trey before the guitarist’s hints at “Golden Age” were agreed upon and the jam transitioned, somewhat abruptly, into the TV On The Radio cover. Clocking in at over 23 minutes, this longest jam of the night covered a lot of different ground. Trey was undeniably feeling it, as is evidenced by his enthusiastic intonation on the vocals, and the crowd was right there with him. This jam featured a lot of dark, exploratory, experimental sounds that almost border on the edge of getting lost as noise before Fish started to pick it up on the woodblocks to take the wheel and steer the jam in the right direction. Page used “Shipwreck” samples all throughout this jam, giving it an eerie, spooky feel, as CK5 lit the room in soft blue light and the band created an underwater vibe. Deep bass vibrations echoed throughout the venue before Trey broke into “Twist.”

Continuing with the dark and dirty theme of the evening, this jam was full of grit as Trey started ripping something fierce before cutting things short to give way to the unbelievably beautiful “Mountains In The Mist.” Only the ninth time played in 3.0, this tender moment was a perfectly delightful landing pad that let fans catch their breath for a moment before the all-out dance party of “Meatstick” took its place. Short, silly and sweet, “Meatstick” had folks bumping and grooving before an unexpected but much welcomed drop into “Split Open And Melt.” This jam got loud, noisy and discordant, in just the way that “Melt” is supposed to, with Trey simply wailing his heart out, regardless of what else was happening on stage. The aggressive energy of this set closer perfectly encapsulated the tone of the evening and really made a statement about how Phish came to play. The particularly well-played, lovely “Lizards” encore was just the cherry on top of a fantastic Friday Phish sundae and left fans salivating at the thought of two more nights of this!

Phish plays the second of three Hampton Coliseum shows in Hampton, Virginia on Saturday. Webcasts from the Mothership are available via LivePhish.com.

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