Coming off a two-night stand in Nashville, Phish continued their Fall Tour on Friday with the first of three shows at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. The four-piece returned to the room formerly known as the Rosemont Horizon for the first time since 2003. The Vermont-based band famously made their debut at the 18,500-capacity building on Halloween 1995, when they donned their second-ever musical costume by performing The Who’s Quadrophenia in its entirety. Last night’s show saw them loosely weave together a space-themed first set as they dug in for noteworthy second frame that featured a must hear “Tweezer” > “Golden Age.”
After an initial bout of technical difficulties with Trey Anastasio‘s guitar rig, Phish got their first show in the Chicago suburb in over 15+ years off the ground with “Punch You In The Eye.” The four-piece delivered an extended intro as Page McConnell layered glimmery keyboardist sounds, while Anastasio scratched away as they worked their way into the Gamehendge-adjacent song. After holding onto the last note of “PYITE,” Trey called out for “Martian Monster.” McConnell had fun toying with the Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House vocal sample throughout playing it forwards, backwards and every way in between. The band eventually settled into a funk groove. McConnell would rely heavily upon the Clavinet, creating a cacophony of noise as Trey leaned on with one lead after the next with Mike Gordon holding things down on the low-end.
A blast of arena-rock psychedelia followed with a short and concise “Axilla.” The quartet then reached back for “Reba.” The longtime fan-favorite featured a blissful jam before bringing the musical complex tune to a frothy, energetic peak. Phish went with back-to-back cuts from Lawn Boy serving up “My Sweet One” – their manic, oddball take on a bluegrass song next. The prog-leaning “Mercury” gave Jon Fishman a chance to show off on the Marimba Lumina before the quartet served up their first extended jam of the night. As they moved away from the main structure they would first settle in some swamp rock sounds as Anastasio utilized his Leslie speaker for a watery tone. The guitarist would then take charge patiently stretching things out as McConnell moved to piano and Gordon laid down synthy bass lines.
Page then led them to deep space funk territory delivering a number of interstellar keyboard sounds. The space theme continued as they dropped directly into a cover of David Bowie’s “Moonage Daydream.” It was just the third-ever take on the The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders from Mars tune that was debuted on Halloween 2016. Phish wasn’t done showing off their musical chops as the intricate “Walls of the Cave” followed. The knotty Round Room selection gave everyone one last blast of high energy before the set came to a close.
“Tweezer” was tapped to open up Phish’s second frame in the Windy City. The jam vehicle was propelled early on by some fat bass notes from Gordon as Anastasio turned to some deep resonate guitar tones. The Burlington-birthed act locked in on a gorgeous, dreamy democratic jam with all four members seamlessly communicating with each other in lock-step. The song would drift into Meters-esque territory as McConnell moved over to his Hammond B3 with the rest of the band picking up on the New Orleans party feel. With the “Tweezer” pushing toward the 20-minute mark, Trey would take over driving hard with arena rock guitar.
Phish continued to work through the A Picture of Nectar song taking things back toward the funk they’d been laying down all night as the familiar strains of “Golden Age” emerged. Last night’s take on the TV On The Radio cover coalesced into another egalitarian jam that moved from minimalist guitar rock to gooey acid jazz to blistering outer space soundscapes. Things veered into quiet Brian Eno territory before segueing into “Frost.” The mid-tempo ballad that Trey brought over from TAB was dusted off for the first time since last August at MSG and played for just the third time by his full-time band last night.
The bouncy folk rocker “Limb By Limb” got taken for an extended spin that featured another patient full band jam. Anastasio, Gordon, McConnell and Fishman couldn’t keep themselves away from the dance-funk serving up “Sand” next. Trey continued this MVP worthy night annihilating a string of fiery, machine gun solos one after the another. A long conversation between Anastasio and McConnell landed them on The Beatles’ “A Day In The Life.” The Sgt. Pepper-closer went straight into “Possum” as the anthemic rocker brought the memorable stanza came to a close. Phish returned back to the land of Gamehendge as “Wilson” was tapped to kick off their two-song encore with “Tweezer Reprise” putting an emphatic cap on night one of three at the Allstate Arena.
The Skinny
The Setlist | |
|---|---|
The Venue | |
Allstate Arena [See upcoming shows] | |
5 shows — 10/31/1995, 10/03/1999, 09/22/2000, 09/23/2000, 02/20/2003 | |
The Music | |
8 songs | |
9 songs | |
17 songs / | |
1999 | |
13.94 [Gap chart] | |
N/A | |
Punch You In The Eye, Martian Monster, Axilla, Reba, My Sweet One, Moonage Daydream, Frost, Limb By Limb, A Day In The Life | |
Moonage Daydream – 48 Shows (LTP -07/21/2017) | |
Tweezer 21:36 | |
Tweezer Reprise – 3:32 | |
Lawn Boy – 2, A Picture of Nectar – 2, The Story of the Ghost – 1, Farmhouse – 1, Round Room – 1, Misc. – 7, Covers – 3 | |
The Rest | |
49° and cloudy at showtime | |
Koa 1 | |
Capacity: 18,500 | |
