Photo credit: Bahram Foroughi
On Sunday, August 11, Phish got back in the saddle for the third and final performance of its series at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in Bethel, NY. Closing out their third official appearance at the venue, the band continued their summer tour trend of sternly reminding fans not to miss a Sunday show, delivering athletic, jaw-dropping jams and a healthy dose of surprises. The centerpiece of this impressive performance was a long-awaited re-do of “Fikus,” which shocked fans as the first performance in more than 25 years.
Phish opened its show with an explosive, fast-paced production by Trey Anastasios Lonely journey original “I Never Needed You Like This Before,” then moved into a restrained, then triumphant “46 Days,” which kicked off the first extended jam of the evening. As the quartet explored some hidden rhythms and switched up the piece’s primary melodic voice, they built pressure that climaxed with “Bathtub Gin,” where a fiery tempo saw the band leap over the edge into unbridled improvisation, circling down the drain and exploring some eye-opening territory before leveling out to a fast-paced funk with a strong footprint.
When silence finally fell, the band elicited a roar from the crowd with the atmospheric, gentle first notes of “Fikus.” The often unsung entry of The history of the mind came for its sixth performance, 26 years after its debut in July 1998 and its last performance in November 1998, around 800 shows ago. The blurry canon that emerged between Mike Gordon’s lead vocals and Anastasio’s guitar widened as the song progressed, developing a subtle, complex and understated atmosphere that contrasted with the band’s broader performance. Watch a fan-shot video of the outburst below.
“Theme From the Bottom” followed, inspiring some exhilarating and ethereal moments before the band slipped into the rolling blues of “Timber (Jerry the Mule).” After the second performance of “Human Nature,” the first of two tracks from the band’s recent 16th studio album, Evolve in Sunday’s setlist and “Limb By Limb”, the band ended their first frame with a powerful “Axilla”, which led into the hymn-like closer “Sigma Oasis”.
Phish returned to the stage with the short and sweet percussive clatter of “Buried Alive,” which propelled the band like a bullet train into fan favorite “AC/DC Bag,” which kicked off the longest jam of Sunday’s show. The quartet ramped up the speed before fully taking off, at times seeming completely detached from the songs beneath them, letting the utter clarity of instrumental communication between its members propel them through countless tempo and tone changes; lightning-fast ascending passages gave way to a shadowy, sludgy core in the middle that waded through an intoxicating dark psych landscape that gave each member a chance to play with effects while creating a shoegaze-esque foundation for the set to follow.
“Fuego” took root here, then blossomed with new, light splashes of color like an irrepressible smile without abandoning the moody, stuttering funk of the song’s core, before taking off with a gospel-tinged, brightly happy jam into “Golden Age.” The band turned this new high point around with an impressive all-out transition to a new high point of “Simple,” then bobbed through “Life Saving Gun”—which quickly proved to be a live classic from Phish’s recent studio set—on the way to the show-closing “Harry Hood.” After the lights went down, the band regrouped once again for an encore of “A Life Beyond The Dream” and “Say It To Me SANTOS.”
Phish returns on Thursday, August 15th to kick off its long-awaited 11th annual festival weekend, Mondegreen, in The Woodlands of Dover, Del. Fans in attendance can find coverage from Relix on site with The daily greensthe official newspaper of the experience. For tickets and more information about Mondegreen and Phish’s larger summer tour, visit phish.com/tours.
Read on to see Sunday night’s full setlist.
Phish
Bethel Woods Center for the Arts – Bethel, NY
12.08.24
Sentence I: I’ve never needed you like this before, 46 Days, Bathtub Gin, Fikus+, Theme From the Bottom > Timber (Jerry the Mule), Human Nature, Limb By Limb, Axilla > Sigma Oasis
Sentence II: Buried Alive, AC/DC Bag > Fuego > Golden Age -> Simple Life Saving Weapon, Harry Hood
Encore: A life beyond the dream, tell me, SANTOS
Notes:
+ New edition of “Fikus”, last played on November 7, 1998 (800 shows)
