After spending two nights this week in the cozy, air conditioned confines of Mohegan Sun Arena earlier this week, Phish on Friday stepped back outdoors (and 1,000 miles west) to kick off a three-night run at East Troy, WI’s Alpine Valley Music Theatre.
While the set began with the summer evening light still lingering in the sky overhead, Trey Anastasio, Mike Gordon, Page McConnell, and Jon Fishman seemed to sprint toward the darkness from the start, revving through urgent, foreboding takes on “46 Days”, “The Moma Dance”, and vinyl-exclusive Evolve standout “The Well”.
From the bottom of “The Well”, Phish set its fiendish sights on yet another number marked by its embrace of madness, “My Friend, My Friend”. Trey wielded his stable of guitar effects like a knife and Page brandished dystopian synth tones as the band once again found a groove within the shadows as the notably non-moving light rig cast telling red shapes from above.
This groove proved to be particularly deep: Before long, dark, percolating segment caught a glint of the fading sun, jumped on the melodic shoulders of Page and Trey, and rode off into the multi-color light above en route to well-earned, cathartic waves of tension powered by glorious Anastasio sustain. When all was said and done, this 17+ minute version of “My Friend, My Friend” ranked as the longest rendition in the song’s 32-year history—and easily one of the best Phish jams of the summer so far.
A brief, beautiful “Brian and Robert” respite cued up the next round of unhinged rock fury, a blistering “Llama”, before the quartet kept a cover of Talking Heads‘s “Cities” cool, smokey, and funky throughout its brief but alluring jam section. A breezy “Ya Mar” was the last glint of sunlight for this notably dark first set before a sharp-edged “Stash” (featuring a peppering of the Allman Brothers Band’s “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” from Trey) and a howling “Cavern” brought the show to setbreak.
Reaffirming the nefarious inflection of the evening’s performance, the second set kicked off with shrieking rocker “Axilla (Part II)”. During its droning outro jam, Anastasio gave a nod to LD Chris Kuroda—”shine that thing in my face, birthday boy”—and teased a little “Happy Birthday To You” before turning his attention to “Down With Disease”. This unfinished rendition, another highlight of the show, remained anthemic and enveloping throughout its 17:50 runtime.
An all-too-quickly abandoned “Mercury” may have let a sour taste in some fans’ mouths (that moody little groove they briefly hit was ice cold) but a much better kind of “Taste” quickly cleansed palates. Abolishing any lingering doubt, a multi-layered “Ghost” (an undoubted keeper) brought the goods with a top-notch workout that started murky, went pretty and meditative, and swelled to a luminous, unearthly glow before skidding back into the song’s composed theme at high-speed and landing to reform as “Limb by Limb”.
Related: A Mike’s “With” Groove Redemption: Phish Serves Up Setlist Nerd Gold In CT [Videos]
The band now seemingly content with the sharpness of their Alpine knives after working the grindstone with gloomy, invigorating darkness all night long, sentimentality took over in the fourth quarter with “The Horse”/”Silent in the Morning” and Led Zeppelin‘s “Good Times, Bad Times” closing the set. After taking a sing-along (and sway-along) detour through “Contact” to start the encore, Phish opted to ditch the car and “Run Like An Antelope” instead (complete with more bits of “Liz Reed”) to round out yet another “better than the last” summer ’24 show.
With their proverbial blades as sharp as ever, this weekend is shaping up to be an outstanding one. My friend, my friend… it looks like we’ve got a serious run on our hands. Phish night two at Alpine coming up on Saturday… buckle up.
Below, view the setlist, photos, and a selection of fan-shot videos from the first of three nights of Phish at Alpine Valley Music theatre.
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 | Alpine Valley Music Theatre | East Troy, WI | 7/26/24
Set One: 46 Days, The Moma Dance, The Well, My Friend, My Friend[1] -> Brian and Robert, Llama, Cities > Ya Mar, Stash, Cavern
Set Two: Axilla (Part II) > Down with Disease[2] > Mercury > Taste > Ghost > Limb By Limb, The Horse > Silent in the Morning, Good Times Bad Times
Encore: Contact > Run Like an Antelope
[1] No “Myfe” ending.
[2] Unfinished.
My Friend, My Friend did not contain the “Myfe” ending. Trey teased In Memory of Elizabeth Reed in Stash and Antelope. During Axilla, Trey told Kuroda to “shine that thing in my face, birthday boy” and teased Happy Birthday. Disease was unfinished.
Phish – “Stash” – 7/26/24
[Video: shinepigeon]
Phish – “Ghost” – 7/26/24
[Video: shinepigeon]
Phish – “The Horse” > “Silent In The Morning” – 7/26/24
[Video: shinepigeon]
Phish – “Run Like An Antelope” – 7/26/24
[Video: shinepigeon]
View this post on Instagram
The post Phish Sharpens Alpine Knife With Longest “My Friend, My Friend” Ever On Night 1 [Videos] appeared first on L4LM.
