Phish just wrapped up their Night #3 from Alpine Valley Music Theatre with undoubtably the strongest show of the run, tour, year, perhaps even 3.0… It. Was. Incredible.
The band played a great first night which you can read about here. Our friend Stephen Olker also shot Night #1 for us which you can see here. Here’s our thoughts from Night #2, which I thought was an odd show. Night #3 was nothing like anything we had seen all year.
The band launched the show with “The Landlady” and mentioned that they wanted to start the show teaching the audience “dance moves” that came along with the patented Phish classic. The band’s official account tweeted out “Shafty” next, but it was actually the old school version of that song which appeared in ’97 (?) which was called “Olivia’s Pool”, done as a swing-y “Julius” type number.
Trey’s classic “TMWSIY” was perfectly delivered and featured the “Avenu Malkenu” middle section, all delivered spot-on and in perfect high-energy. “Meatstick” came next and kept people grooving, “Vultures” got people woo-ing, “Spock’s Brain” achieved the “holy crap” status of the set, and that wasn’t even the halfway point. Insane show tonight that just kept on getting more insane.
There were all these moments that will be impossible to fully capture from this show, but one was Trey just geeking on Mike doing his “Spock’s Brain” thing.
Omg, someone capture a gif of Trey from the Spock's Brain section where Mike is solo singing. He was like a kid in a candy store right there. Just geeked out. He's having a ridiculous amount of fun up there tonight. #phish
— LIVE music blog (@livemusicblog) July 15, 2019
The way the band kinda just hilariously fell apart at the end of “Glide” but fully on purpose, none of that Coventry thing… they were just having a blast all night.
Bahahahahaha the vocal end to "Glide" is one for the record books. "We like to follow every dancing lesson with a singing lesson." Unbelievable. #phish
— LIVE music blog (@livemusicblog) July 15, 2019
This was still the first set, so early in the show still.
“About to Run” was a truly standout version, definitely the version Trey needed to get through finally. It could be one of the highlights they publish, it was commanding. “Strange Design” featured Page nailing the beautiful composition, while “Timber” was perfectly played and “I Didn’t Know” brought some hi-jinx. Trey was on some “John Sullen Melancholy” vocal vibe referring to Fishman.
Trey quickly bounces to drums, then bounces up front and starts doing the Meatstick dance during "I Didn't Know". Then the Landlady dance. Then keeps repeating "John Sullen Meloncholy" as a vocal chant.
Fishman ends the set with "Suck it!"
"He's sucking it for you!" #phish
— LIVE music blog (@livemusicblog) July 15, 2019
The band closed with the Led Zeppelin classic “Good Times Bad Times”.
Kicking off set two was the newly perfected launchpad “Mercury” which was incredible tonight. And it moved nicely into “Ruby Waves” which became it’s own stratosphere layer tonight. The band went on for 30 minutes within a set of grooves and (micro) jams that truly reached next level playing, next level patience, everything that a long jam like this required. There is almost ZERO fat in this, too. Plus, pretty sure there was a “Dave’s Energy Guide” tease. I can’t wait to re-listen.
DAVE's ENERGY GUIDE!!!
— Scott Bernstein (@heyscottyb) July 15, 2019
“Twist” emerged after about an hour of the band on stage (crazy), and moved wonderfully between some great “woo’s” and good crowd cenergy to the gorgeous “Swept Away > Steep”. The band brought “Death Don’t Hurt Very Long” up to a nice little bounce-y jam, but of course this being the last night of tour and the energy was feeding both directions, this was probably the most raucous version you’ve ever heard. Even got Trey drooling.
"You know it's good when Trey starts drooling." – Jon Fishman after "Death Don't Hurt Very Long"
Huge applause. #phish
— LIVE music blog (@livemusicblog) July 15, 2019
The band started the notes for “Icculus” and Trey started a bit of his narration about how it was a good summer, but that again, we needed to read the book between now and their Dick’s run. I need to re-listen to get every part of this, but it was hilarious as usual.
"You don't care what the book's about. You just wanna know who wrote the damn thing!" #Phish #Icculus
— LIVE music blog (@livemusicblog) July 15, 2019
Not a dull moment for this show moved from that into “Buffalo Bill” into Trey sorta teasing an “Icculus (Reprise)” because the crowd was “worried” about what they’d play next. A stellar “You Enjoy Myself” came next and featured a whole section of hilarity in the middle after the trampoline part, with Trey and Mike jamming, something about a proposal and a full “Catapult” and “Contact”. LOL wut.
Trey plays "here's comes the bride" notes after "Contact" and the band IMMEDIATELY falls perfectly into the "You Enjoy Myself" jam. Haha wow. #phish
— LIVE music blog (@livemusicblog) July 15, 2019
A perfect “More” and an even more perfect “Tweezer Reprise” finish off the run. What. A. Night.
Scroll down to see the setlist…
Phish @ Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, WI 7.14.19
Set I: The Landlady, Olivia’s Pool, The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday > Avenu Malkenu > The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday, Meatstick, Vultures, Spock’s Brain, Pebbles and Marbles, Glide, About to Run, Strange Design, Timber, I Didn’t Know, Good Times Bad Times
Set II: Mercury -> Ruby Waves* > Twist > Swept Away > Steep > Death Don’t Hurt Very Long, Icculus, Buffalo Bill, Icculus (Reprise), You Enjoy Myself > Catapult > Contact > YEM
Encore: More, Tweezer Reprise
* – Massive jam (30+ minutes), must hear stuff.
Poster:
