Home Jambase Phish Revisits Past Halloween Shows At United Center Finale In Chicago

Phish Revisits Past Halloween Shows At United Center Finale In Chicago

October 16, 2023

Phish closed out their fall tour on Sunday with the weekend’s third show at Chicago’s United Center. Following two evenings that went long on improvisation, the band crafted Sunday’s show more around compelling song selection, treating the crowd to a handful of covers and three songs that had been out of action for more than 100 shows. The show did have some improvisatory highlights, including a second set “Song I Heard the Ocean Sing” which featured several minutes of jamming around the “Tweezer” riff.

With no Halloween gig on Phish’s 2023 calendar, Sunday’s tour closer was as close to October 31st as the band will get this year. As a possible nod to this fact, the quartet played no fewer than five songs from previous Halloween albums, beginning with the show opener “Everything Is Hollow.” The Kasvot Vaxt tune had only been played three times before, all in 2018 and 2019. A quick, upbeat take on the song was followed by a similarly brief “Timber (Jerry the Mule)” which featured some spirited interplay between Trey Anastasio and Page McConnell.

The band wove some excellent tension and release into “Ocelot,” while Trey included an extended tease of Jimi Hendrix’s “Third Stone From the Sun” in “Vultures.” Next up was “Monsters,” a ballad with a soaring guitar solo, whose only previous appearance was in July.

The middle of the set featured strong versions of two of the best songs that Phish debuted in the mid-2010s, “Plasma” and “Mercury.” Then, in what would be the improvisational highlight of the set, Phish headed into the harmonic minor for a vaguely Middle Eastern-sounding “Stash.” A lovely “Leaves” preceded a solid take on the set closer, “David Bowie.”

Read on after The Skinny for the rest of the recap and more.

The Skinny

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The Setlist
Set 1: Everything is Hollow > Timber (Jerry the Mule), Ocelot, Vultures, Monsters, Plasma, Mercury, Stash, Leaves, David Bowie Set 2: Drowned > A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing -> Tweezer ^[1] -> Simple, Pebbles and Marbles, Spanish Moon, A Wave of Hope > Evolve, Loving Cup Encore: Run Like an Antelope > Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S. > Tweezer Reprise [1] No lyrics. Everything is Hollow was performed for the first time since December 8, 2019 (135 Shows). Trey teased Third Stone From the Sun during Vultures. Drowned was played for the first time since August 14, 2021 (114 Shows). Trey teased Cissy Strut in A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing. Tweezer was performed as a “continuation” of October 13th’s version (played between the original Tweezer on that night and the Tweezer Reprise that would follow later in this show) and had no lyrics. Trey teased Get Back in Simple. Spanish Moon was played for the first time since February 21, 2019 (171 shows).
The Venue
Name	United Center [See upcoming shows]
Capacity	23,500
Previously	2 shows 10/13/2023, 10/14/2023
The Music
First Set	10 songs / 8:04 pm to 9:26 pm (82 minutes)
Second Set & Encore	12 songs / 10:04 pm to 11:37 pm (93 minutes)
Total Songs	22 songs 18 originals / 4 covers
Average Vintage	2004
Average Song Gap	32.73 [Gap chart]
Debuts	None
Tour Debuts	All except Stash, Tweezer, Wave of Hope, Evolve, Run Like an Antelope and Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S.
Biggest Bustout	Spanish Moon LTP 2/21/19 (171 show gap)
Longest Song	A Wave of Hope 12:11
Shortest Song	Tweezer Reprise 3:34
The Spread	Junta – 1, Lawn Boy – 1, A Picture of Nectar – 3, Round Room – 1, Undermind – 1, Joy – 1, Kasvot Växt – 2, Sigma Oasis – 2, Misc. – 6, Covers – 4
The Rest
Weather	54°F and Cloudy at Showtime
Guitar	Koa 1

Buy / Download this Show

The Who’s “Drowned,” once a Phish staple, had been missing in action since August 2021. It came roaring back to kick off Sunday’s second set — though without much of a jam before it yielded the stage to “A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing.” The jam out of the latter proved to be one of the improvisatory highlights of the second set, morphing from a funky romp reminiscent of the Meters’ “Cissy Strut” to a full-on “Tweezer” jam that featured some tremendous synth work from Page before the band veered into “Simple.” Despite appearing in a marquee second slot where many a classic “Simple” has appeared, this version was short and sweet. So was the “Pebbles and Marbles” that came next.

The second set got a shot of adrenaline with Little Feat’s “Spanish Moon,” which had been played just twice before: once as part of the Waiting for Columbus set on Halloween 2010, and again in Mexico in February 2019. “Wave of Hope” followed, and featured some galloping psychedelia, with Page McConnell leaning heavily into his synths while Trey sprayed spiraling threads of sound from his pedal board.

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Spanish Moon	00:00:00

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Channel	Curty kobashiy
Band	Phish (See 3,992 videos)

Throughout the set, Phish appeared to want to squeeze more songs in, rather than extend the jam out of any particular song, and their final two pre-encore setlist choices continued that trend: “Evolve” and a high-octane “Loving Cup.” The latter was the set’s third song that came from a Halloween cover album (The Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main St.). After the encore led off with a raucous “Run Like an Antelope,” the band played yet another Halloween tune: Kasvot Vaxt’s “Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S.” The evening and the tour then closed with the always-explosive “Tweezer Reprise.”

Phish next takes the stage December 28 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Phish From The Road Photos

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cyb8wACpx8W/

Posters

https://www.instagram.com/p/CyWIOxLuBeF/

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Phish Fall Tour 2023 — The Skinny

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