After kicking off its 2024 summer tour with a three-show stand in Mansfield, MA this past weekend, Phish headed to Uncasville, CT’s Mohegan Sun on Tuesday for the first time in five years to begin a two-night, midweek run at the casino arena.
Chilling, Thrilling Sounds favorite “Martian Monster” opened the night for the fifth time in its nearly 50 appearances dating back to Halloween 2014, its Page McConnell-helmed vocal sample serving as a mission statement for the evening: “Your spaceship is about to blast off on its voyage of discovery.”
A spirited “Rift” gave way to another telling song selection, TV On The Radio‘s “Golden Age”, which McConnell, Trey Anastasio (sounding sharp with his ’90s Languedoc speaker cabinets onstage), Mike Gordon, and Jon Fishman (looking sharp in an orange dress with neon yellow donuts) sent hurtling through space via patient, clean-tone melodies and probing interplay for an early deposit in the evening’s “keeper jam” file. While the cover has been a live improv vehicle for Phish for nearly 15 years, this marked the first time it had appeared during a first set.
The show seemed to rifle through various (golden) ages of Phish from there. When all was said and done, the band had pulled material from ten of its now-16 studio albums—2024’s Evolve (“Evolve”, “Mercy”), 2020’s Sigma Oasis (“Everything’s Right”), 2009’s Joy (“Kill Devil Falls”), 2004’s Undermind (“Undermind”), 2002’s Round Room (“Walls of the Cave”), 2000’s Farmhouse (“Piper”), 1998’s The Story of the Ghost (“Guyute”), 1996’s Billy Breathes (“Waste”), 1994’s Hoist (“Julius”), and 1993’s Rift (“Rift”). Beyond that, the setlist encompassed songs from two different Trey Anastasio solo project albums [TAB‘s 2003 live LP Plasma (“Plasma”) and Ghosts of the Forest‘s 2019 self-titled (“Ruby Waves”, “About to Run”)], incorporated a cover that dates back to the mid-’80s in the band’s repertoire (“Funky Bitch”), and even made use of two of the most notable Phish staples that have never received the studio treatment (“Gumbo” and “Carini”).
But while the spread was significant, and certainly unique enough to keep fans on their toes, it never felt as though the band was actively trying to spotlight as many projects as possible. The first set showcased classic opening-frame flow, rifling through higher-energy rockers (“Funky Bitch”), complex compositions (“Guyute”), and mellow sing-alongs (“Gumbo”, “Undermind”, “Evolve”, “Waste”) en route to a stalwart “Walls of the Cave” closer.
The second set was as well-balanced as they come, top-loaded with a slew of exploratory jams on dark, moody, droning favorites (“Plasma”, “Kill Devil Falls”, “Carini”, “Ruby Waves”), buoyed by a third-quarter “Piper”/”mercy” respite, and capped with an emphatic “Everything’s Right” ripper. Even the encore, a two-song pairing of curtain call regular “Julius” and guitar assault “About to Run” (in its second-ever attempt at closing a show), felt like an effortless mix of convention and creativity.
Plus, the lights! I watched this one from the couch, so I only got a taste, but each flash of Chris Kuroda and Andrew Giffin‘s visual brilliance on the stream felt like rediscovering an old flame. We haven’t seen this kinetic behemoth of a light rig in all its glory in an indoor space since 2023—a strange thought considering the year Phish has had already in 2024 (Mexico, Sphere, new album, Tiny Desk, etc.)—and it’s hard to overstate just how welcome that return to form was on Tuesday at Mohegan. We’re here for all of the visual variety we’ve seen recently, but MF-ers better not act like they forgot about CK. We’ve missed you…
This was a really strong show (looking at you, in particular, “Golden Age” and “Kill Devil Falls”), a creative and wide-ranging performance filled with great playing and unique experimentation that showcased a sprawl of different eras in Phish’s four-decade tenure but still managed to feel notably current. And yet… with so much material theoretically in play, so much road left to cover this summer, so much momentum behind the band, and so much potential on display each and every night, I wouldn’t be surprised if this one drifts further toward the bottom of the stack as the 2024 summer tour barrels on toward Mondegreen and Dick’s. Tuesday was good, but the best is yet to come. There’s a golden age comin’ round…
Below, view the setlist, a selection of videos, and a gallery of photos from this week’s first of two Phish shows at Mohegan Sun Arena via Andrew Blackstein.
Phish returns to Mohegan Sun on Wednesday night to round out the two-show stand. For a full list of upcoming Phish tour dates, head here. Fans can follow along with the tour from home with nightly video webcasts via LivePhish. To order your webcasts for any of the band’s upcoming summer shows or purchase a discounted full-tour webcast package, head here. [Note: Live For Live Music is a LivePhish affiliate. Ordering your webcast via the links on this page helps support our work covering Phish and the world of live music as a whole. Thanks for reading!]
Setlist [via phish.net]: Phish | Mohegan Sun Arena | Uncasville, CT | 7/23/24
Set One: Martian Monster, Rift > Golden Age, Gumbo, Funky Bitch, Guyute, Undermind, Evolve, Waste > Walls of the Cave
Set Two: Plasma > Kill Devil Falls > Carini > Ruby Waves > Piper > Mercy, Everything’s Right
Encore: Julius, About to Run
Phish – “Martian Monster”, “Rift” [Pro-Shot] – 7/23/24
Phish – “Plasma” [Pro-Shot] – 7/23/24
Phish – “Carini” – 7/23/24
[Video: digidigit]
Phish – “Julius”, “About to Run” – 7/23/24
[Video: digidigit]
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