Night one of Dick’s. Home to some of the most storied shows of Phish 3.0, with all sorts of setlist shenanigans. The “S” show. “Fuck Your Face.” “Most Shows Spell Something.” The “Lushington” fakeout. What would tonight bring?

A short but sweet “Tube” opened the show, but the fun thing about first night Dick’s is that even when songs stay within the song’s usual confines, the mind starts racing in crossword puzzle mode: “What could they be spelling?” During Page’s initial clavinet solo, Trey and Mike turned to each other and stood close (as they have several times this summer, notably during the Magnaball “Twist"), holding down the rhythm. “Ghost” followed, sending fans scrambling for their Scrabble dictionaries and coming up empty, “tg” not being found at the beginning nor “gt” at the end of many words. Trey's solo during “Ghost" was delicate and patient, and – simply because it wouldn’t be a summer 2015 recap without this statement – seemingly influenced by his time preparing for and playing at the Fare Thee Well shows.

Photo by Patrick Jordan © Phish From the Road

A deep dark slowdown finish to “Ghost” lead into the upbeat opening of “Halley’s Comet.” An allegro tempo and some fun duel-style interplay between Trey and Page started the “Halley’s" jam, which seemed to be going somewhere fast, but screeched to a halt when Trey played the opening riff to “Undermind.” A fun “Undermind,” but – unless they were spelling in Dothraki – it seemed unlikely that either “TGHU” or “UHGT” were at the beginning or end of any words. “Yarmouth Road” followed, and with a fun but relatively straightforward first set underway, “Bathtub Gin” brought hopes of a tentpole jam. One thing that has stood out about 2015 has been the ability of the band to instantly drop into a raging up-tempo jam, with very little noodling to find their way there. This “Gin” is a perfect example of this phenomenon – a very short build to a great raging peak.

After a short onstage discussion, the band decided on “Waiting All Night.” “Waiting” is a departure for Phish – one of several on Fuego that works better in the studio than live. “Horn” set up "The Wedge,” which was stretched out a bit, with a fairly exciting jam tacked on. “46 Days” had the feel of a set closer as soon as it started, got to a point where I thought they were raving up to end the set, and then took an amazing Trey-led turn into type-II territory. Bathed in intense black lights by Kuroda, Page drove the jam with some fantastic work on the organ as the band veered into a spacey place halfway between a "Harry Hood" jam and Pink Floyd’s “Dogs,” before segueing into “Run Like an Antelope.” Page stayed on the Hammond through the opening section of “Antelope,” which gave it an unusual Jimmy Smith feel. This “Antelope” jam was slow to build, with Page back on piano trading licks with Trey, but reached a typically wild set-closing peak with lights from Kuroda to match. During the final “Antelope” rave-up, Trey happily announced “We love Dick’s! We’re happy to be back!"

Photo © @stim_buck

On the webcast, a slideshow of summer tour photos was shown during setbreak, accompanied by music from Neu!’s self-titled debut album. Reflecting on the first set, it was (as they say) first setty, but there were highlights in the brief “Halley’s" jam, the "Bathtub Gin" and the "46 Days" -> “Antelope.” With the first letters from the first set songs spelling TGHUYBWHWFR, it seemed as if the word play from Dick’s in years past was left behind.

“Wolfman’s Brother” came down on me to open the second set. While most 3.0 “Wolfman’s” have been good-to-great – often as a centerpiece jam of a first set – the truly extended jamming the song would sometimes see in 1.0 and 2.0 has been absent. I had high hopes that the prime jamming slot placement of this “Wolfman’s” would lead to such an excursion. This jam didn’t disappoint, even if it stayed within the ten-to-twelve minute confines of most 3.0 versions – Mike held down an incredibly strong bass line throughout that Trey used as a launching pad for some inspired improvisation. A very chill end to the jam with some great keyboard work by Page faded into the bouncy opening of “Blaze On.”

I was pretty down on “Blaze On” following its debut, mostly due to the stoner-pandering lyrics. But the great jams at Shoreline and especially Magnaball, along with the truly infectious happiness with which Trey sings the song has made me a believer. The Dick's “Blaze On” can proudly stand with those versions and cements its place as a great jam vehicle. A spacey Floyd-esque part of the jam instead ended up being a Trey-led transition into "Golden Age.” The composed section, however, was a bit tarnished, with some pretty harsh flubs. It’s fair to say that even in the beginning of the jam, Trey still did not seem to be feeling it. However, this allowed Page to take the lead, which he did with aplomb, leaning heavily on his electric piano. Trey was seemingly content to remain in a rhythm role for the middle portion of the jam, with mike using his meatball pedal to great acclaim from the crowd. Trey eventually regained his footing, and with some great drum fills and changes from Fishman, jumped back into the lead role, playing some anthemic riffs with some judicious use of his whammy pedal. A fantastic version.

Photo by Patrick Jordan © Phish From the Road

Having redeemed “Golden Age” from a rough composed section, the band started another fan favorite cover, “Roses Are Free.” Unfortunately, it also featured a problematic composed section, with no jam to speak of, just a dissonant rave-up that gave way to “Fuego.” Being a song they wrote, they found solid footing in the composed section, which allowed a climb into one of the more interesting “Fuego” jams, with some dark riffing by Trey that built to a climax. This lead to a tender refractory period, featuring Fishman doing some delicate work on the drums, Trey using delay pedals and a Page-led sideways slide into well-executed “Wading in the Velvet Sea.” Continuing the theme of songs starting with a Page piano riff, “Walls of the Cave” was up next, reprising the same set closing sequence from the second day of Magnaball. “Walls” was a rocking set closer, and I’m happy to see this tune enter heavier rotation as opposed to a typical "Character Zero” to end the set.

The smart money was on a standard “Loving Cup” or “Julius” encore, but instead the band returned to play “Hold Your Head Up” while Fishman and Trey – wearing a "LET FISH SUCK" T-shirt – switched places on stage. Fish, following a bit of banter about Syd Barrett, started to sing an inspired version of “Bike.” This was an outstanding version with a truly great and melodic vacuum solo. Another refrain of “HYHU” allowed Fishman to swing his vacuum hose, jump on the piano, bow excitedly, sprint around the stage and generally act like a madman. Trey and Fishman then made their way back to their own instruments, and proving that the smart money is always right, played a rollicking version of “Loving Cup” to close the show.

The absence of setlist wordplay antics may have led to a more standard song selection than previous Friday night Dick’s shows, but there was a lot to like here. Highlights of the second set were the “Wolfman’s” through “Golden Age” sequence, and “Bike," with an honorable mention to what was a very good “Fuego.” The jams were great examples of 2015 Phish, where the band can seemingly find a happy place quickly, with minimal navigation required. While not quite reaching the peaks of Magnaball, the band shrugged off the 11-night layoff. It’s getting to the point where Phish at Dick’s is one of the surest things in rock and roll music, and this portends great things for Saturday and Sunday night.

Photo © Mike Gordon

Phish Summer 2015 – Setlists & Recaps
07/21/15 Setlist – Recap – Bend 1
07/22/15 Setlist – Recap – Bend 2
07/24/15 Setlist – Recap, Recap2 – Shoreline
07/25/15 Setlist – Recap – LA Forum
07/28/15 Setlist – Recap – Austin
07/29/15 Setlist – Recap – Grand Prarie
07/31/15 Setlist – Recap – Atlanta 1
08/01/15 Setlist – Recap – Atlanta 2
08/02/15 Setlist – Recap – Tuscaloosa
08/04/15 Setlist – Recap – Nashville
08/05/15 Setlist – Recap – Kansas City
08/07/15 Setlist – Recap – Blossom
08/08/15 Setlist – Recap – Alpine 1
08/09/15 Setlist – Recap – Apline 2
08/11/15 Setlist – Recap – Mann 1
08/12/15 Setlist – Recap – Mann 2
08/14/15 Setlist – Recap – Raleigh
08/15/15 Setlist – Recap – Merriweather 1
08/16/15 Setlist – Recap – Merriweather 2
08/21/15 Setlist – Recap – Magnaball 1
08/22/15 Setlist – Recap – Magnaball 2
08/23/15 Setlist – Recap – Magnaball 3
09/04/15 Setlist – Recap – Dick's 1
09/05/15 Setlist – Recap – Dick's 2
09/06/15 Setlist – Recap – Dick's 3

Commerce City, CO posters by Rich Kelly. 12x24, Edition of 850 each night.

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