August 09 2024 by Ryan O’Malley
Even with the threat of a hurricane, the lush parking lots of the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in Bethel, N.Y. began to fill with RVs, campers, and trucks carrying pop-ups and over-sized grills. Under a still ominous sky on Friday afternoon, shakedown was being set up whether Mother Nature – more specifically her evil sister, Hurricane Debby – liked it or not.
Maybe it was just sheer luck – or the mixture of patchouli and cannabis coming from the lot – but Debby decided to change directions and allow for perennial jam titans, Phish, to kick off the first of three nights at the legendary venue. No strangers to the Bethel stage, the four-piece walked on just after 8p.m. and rewarded those who made the trek with a funky “First Tube” to open the night, complete with guitarist Trey Anastasio’s signature dancing and guitar hoist. Following a really energetic “No Men in No Man’s Land,” Anastasio addressed the near-capacity crowd with “welcome, everybody. Thanks for being here.” It was a sentiment that was probably felt by the crowd, too, as speculation of the show being postponed or outright canceled was running rampant on social media throughout the day.
“Cavern” proved to be bouncy addition to a first set that had two of the first three songs being released no later than 1999. Keeping with their earlier material, the quartet unleashed a ferocious “My Friend,” My Friend,” a lyrically darker song for the band. Coming in just under the 20 minute mark, Friday’s version was the longest Phish has ever played. For almost half of the performance, the song went in a completely different direction with Anastasio and keyboardist Page McConnell doing some call-and-answer riffs that eventually led way to a spacey jam bookended by some impressive low end from bassist Mike Gordon and drummer Jon Fishman keeping it all together.
Other first set highlights included a lively “Bug,” and the swing-like “Julius.” Often times “Julius” proves to be a solid first set closer, which many at Bethel mistakenly assumed would be the case on Friday. More often times than not, Phish has been known to play more songs in their first set than in the second, and such was the case on Friday as Fishman locked into the funky opening of their version of “Also Sprach Zarathustra,” or the theme from “2001: A Space Odyssey.” After a tight “Taste,” the band launched into a soaring “Character Zero,” which capped off a fiery first set that was 95% material that debuted before 2000.
A thumping “The Wedge” kicked off set two with some explorative bass playing from Gordon which guided most of the song. Something that has become more common at Phish shows is that of “Tweezer” taking up almost half of the second set. While the Bethel version didn’t quite take up the majority of the set, it did clock in at nearly 25 minutes, and found “Tweezer” themes make their way into the following numbers of “Pillow Jets,” and “Piper,” both of which would have been strong performances without the “Tweezer” themes.
Ending the second set was a one-two shot of The Rolling Stones’ “Shine a Light,” and a blistering “Chalkdust Torture,” which saw Anastasio delivering some of his best soloing of the night. Not ones to disappoint, Phish came back for a three song encore beginning with the always-fun “Big Black Furry Creature From Mars” making its 2024 live debut. The groove heavy chant of “Gotta Jibboo” had nearly everyone in attendance singing along before leading into the slower and reflective “More” which capped off a night where nearly all of their own material was released before 2000 which is typically a dream set list for a lot of the band’s loyal fan base. Leading up to their four-day Mondegreen festival in Delaware, the three day romp at Bethel Woods served as the perfect catalyst to get the band and the fans ready for what will surely be a blowout as only Phish knows how to do.
Check out the full gallery of photos from this nigh here.
Set 1:
First Tube
No Men in No Man’s Land
Cavern
My Friend, My Friend (No “Myfe” ending)
Bug
Julius
Also sprach Zarathustra, op. 30 (Richard Strauss cover) (>)
Taste
Character Zero
Set 2:
The Wedge
Tweezer
Pillow Jets (-> ‘Tweezer’ >)
Piper (-> ‘Tweezer’ >)
Shine a Light (The Rolling Stones cover)
Chalk Dust Torture
Encore:
Big Black Furry Creature From Mars
Gotta Jibboo
More
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