The Phish from Vermont returned to Saratoga Springs, NY on Friday to begin a two-night run of flood recovery benefit shows at the Broadview Stage at SPAC (or just “SPAC” for those who can’t keep up with amphitheater name changes).
While mid-tour additions to the schedule are a rare occurrence for Phish, these two benefit shows came together quickly while the band was already on tour this summer in response to a spate of catastrophic flash flooding and river flooding that befell the band’s home state and its surrounding areas in early to mid-July. Per the National Weather Service, “Extensive flooding to communities, washouts of numerous roads and bridges, and even the occurrence of land and mudslides resulted in significant property losses. The most widespread and significant flood damage occurred as a result of prolonged heavy rainfall during the 10-11 July 2023 period, when rainfall amounts of 3 to 9 inches were observed across the state over 48 hours.”
As Phish keyboardist Page McConnell, who still resides in Vermont, explained to FOX 5 New York‘s Steve Lacy when the shows were announced in late July, “We started planning this event pretty much the day that the destruction and the flooding started. We’ve been on tour for about three weeks now, so I haven’t even been home for any of this, but of course we knew about it and everyone’s contacting us and we’re seeing the papers and seeing videos, and it’s heartbreaking. There is a lot of destruction and devastation and a lot of people are really having a hard time.”
Exactly 84 years prior to Friday’s Phish flood recovery benefit show, another (fictional) group was going through some hard times and in need of some help: On August 25th, 1938, the masses were introduced to the struggles of the citizens of Munchkinland when The Wizard of Oz made its national theatrical debut.
Whether by intention or coincidence, hopeful motifs and Wizard of Oz interpolations dotted Friday’s performance, combining quirky Phish-ery with earnest optimism to set an apt tone for an event devised to raise beleaguered spirits and lend a helping hand to an ailing community.
Related: Page McConnell Talks Planning Phish Flood Recovery Benefit Shows While On Tour [Watch]
Jon Fishman‘s new dress—a lime green Lisa Simpson number with blue water droplets replacing the typical donuts—served as a reminder of the show’s nature, a bonus tour date with a benevolent purpose. Even as the band fought through some early flubs on “Kill Devil Falls” and “The Moma Dance”, Fish’s “drop” drip served as a reminder that this was no night for nitpicking.
Encouraging Joy cut “Ocelot” coaxed the band out to play in just its second appearance of the year, and after bobbing along a surface-level “The Wedge” and a solid take on Mike Gordon tune “Mull”, that playful nature escalated to heated rock sparring on 2023’s first “Punch You In The Eye”. With any uneasy footing now corrected following the three-week, post-MSG break and a middling start at SPAC, Phish hammered home Friday’s first set with “Sand” and The Velvet Underground‘s “Rock and Roll”, Chris Kuroda and Andrew Giffin creating a jaw-dropping spectacle from above as the band wailed away onstage.
This “Sand”, in particular, is one we’ll surely revisit. Throughout the song, Trey Anastasio contoured the “Munchkinland” theme from The Wizard of Oz (you know, the “come out, come out, wherever you are” scene when Dorothy is celebrated by the locals for smushing the Wicked Witch of the East with her house). It’s certainly possible—likely, even—that Trey didn’t set out to play this when he stepped onstage, but he found the lick in the murk of “Sand” and ran with it, making for an unusual and engaging take on the song as “Wait, I know that melody, what is that again?” mumbles rippled through the crowd and across the internet.
Just as Trey leaned into that Munchkin riff during “Sand”, Fishman ran with the Oz schtick for set two, returning to the stage sporting a Munckin-style front ponytail with his droplet dress.
A pretty run through the ever-improving “Evolve” continued the show’s reassuring ethos to start concert’s back half (“Then came the people with problems and hope / That don’t mean a thing, if they just knew the scope”). Next up was a song many had guessed prior to the flood relief benefit, “A Wave of Hope”, a thematically appropriate selection on various levels. Paired with the “Simple” that flowed in behind it, this two-song, 45ish-minute chunk of shadowy, churning improvisation stood out as the highlight of the performance.
“Fuego” kept it rolling out of the final whisps of this dynamic “Simple” jam, touching on some moody and mysterious spaces before surging into an explosive “Chalk Dust Torture” (complete with a “Munchkinland” outro) to cap the five-song second set.
8/25/23 Saratoga Springs, NY
Jake Silco pic.twitter.com/2O1W2kb9yD
— Phish: From The Road (@Phish_FTR) August 26, 2023
Jake Silco “Wading in the Velvet Sea” may have been a little on the nose as the encore for a flood recovery benefit, but its sentimental tilt won out over its face-value association in time for Phish to ride off on a rocket ship to the SPAC stars with a “Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S.” finale, leaving the Saratoga crowd to scatter to the parking lots as “We’re Off to See the Wizard” played through the P.A.
Phish returns to SPAC on Saturday night for one more flood benefit relief show. Tickets for the performance are still available here. If you can’t make it in person, you can watch a free livestream of the performance here. Fans watching from home who wish to donate to the cause will be presented with opportunities to donate during the streams. You can also donate now by visiting this link. 100% of all donations will be directed to the WaterWheel Foundation’s Flood Recovery Fund.
Below, you can check out the setlist from Friday night, watch a full, pro-shot video of the show, and view a gallery of photos from the night via photographer Charlie Jenkins.
Phish: Flood Recovery Benefit – 8/25/23 – Full Pro-Shot Video
Setlist [via Phish.net]: Phish | Broadview Stage at SPAC | Saratoga Springs, NY | 8/25/23
SET 1: Kill Devil Falls, The Moma Dance, Ocelot, The Wedge, Mull > Punch You in the Eye, Sand, Rock and Roll
SET 2: Evolve, A Wave of Hope -> Simple > Fuego -> Chalk Dust Torture
ENCORE: Wading in the Velvet Sea, Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S.
This performance was a benefit for Vermont and Upstate New York flood recovery efforts and was a free webcast with all proceeds via donation going to those efforts. Coinciding with the 84th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz being released in the United States on the date of this show, Trey teased We Welcome You to Munchkinland several times in Sand as well as at the end of Chalk Dust Torture, Fish wore his hair with a single pigtail sticking out of the front of his head like a munchkin for the second set, and We Welcome You to Munchkinland was the postshow music. Trey also teased Dave’s Energy Guide on Sand. Prior to the performance, Trey and Page treated Foundation guests to a duo set featuring performances of “If I Could”, “Brian and Robert”, “Sleep”, “Talk”, “Strange Design”, “Mountains in the Mist”, and “Sample in a Jar”.
The post Phish Takes SPAC Over The Rainbow To Oz At First Of Two Flood Recovery Benefit Shows [Photos/Video] appeared first on L4LM.
