Phish, image via YouTube<\/p>\n
Phish returned to the stage in Las Vegas last night for the penultimate performance in their second Sphere residency. Eight shows into their series at the technologically unmatched arena, the iconic jam quartet continued to turn up tracks that hadn\u2019t yet appeared in the run, now totaling more than 140 distinct entries, and expanded their already sprawling repertoire with three rarer tracks, plus some old-school technological innovation from Jon Fishman<\/p>\n
Phish\u2019s show on Friday night opened with another scene from The Barn, Trey Anastasio\u2019s Vermont recording studio. As the performance began, the dusky interior view zoomed to a stained glass window in the eaves, and the rest of the room\u2019s details slipped into shadows as more windows appeared and the band struck the radiant first notes of \u201cSample in a Jar.\u201d Pillars of light streamed down from the ceiling while they slipped into a supremely funky rendition of \u201cBoogie on Reggae Woman,\u201d and the ensuing \u201cHeavy Things\u201d was complemented by more abstract flashes of color, now forming paint-like waves across the dome, while \u201cBouncing Around the Room\u201d projected video of the band in performance.<\/p>\n
The first surprise of the night arrived with \u201cMound,\u201d staged for the first time since September 2023 and paired with an animation of the Rift cover, a sequence that\u2019s accompanied several other songs from the 1993 album over the past few weeks. Fans hardly had a chance to settle down again through \u201cMountains in the Mist\u201d and \u201cStealing Time From the Faulty Plan\u201d before \u201cTela\u201d appeared for the first time since New Year\u2019s Eve 2023. Exactly 100 shows after its last appearance, the song, and the following \u201cMcGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters,\u201d were paired with animations of the vivid fantasy world of Gamehendge.<\/p>\n
Phish capped off their first frame with the uncommon Fuego cut \u201cWingsuit,\u201d performed for the first time since August 2024, and an adventurous 15-minute rendition of \u201cDavid Bowie.\u201d After opening their second set with \u201cWilson,\u201d complete with a striking moment of the crowd calling out the song\u2019s refrain, the group launched a shapeshifting segued spring through \u201cSeven Below,\u201d \u201cPlasma,\u201d \u201cCrosseyed and Painless\u201d and \u201cPillow Jets,\u201d clocking in at a combined total of 58 minutes and showcasing live lighting from Chris Kuroda. \u201cShade\u201d gave the room a momentary reprieve under natural scenes before \u201cSand\u201d came crashing inn to punctuate the frame with the menacing dentist visual sequence.<\/p>\n
While walking out for the encore, Fishman approached the drum kit, then veered off course to add a vacuum cleaner solo to the a capella romp of \u201cI Didn\u2019t Know.\u201d After five hard-hitting minutes of \u201cSaw It Again,\u201d Anastasio walked to the kit and seamlessly swapped in for Fishman, so he could once again exhibit his musical mastery of the household appliance. \u201cMoses Brown, Moses Heaps, Moses DeWitt! The 500-foot-tall man!,\u201d Anastasio said at the song\u2019s conclusion. \u201cSucking for you! We saw it again!\u201d At long last, to finish arguably their most exciting Sphere show yet, keyboardist Page McConnell led a cover of The Velvet Underground\u2019s \u201cRock & Roll.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Phish, image via YouTube Phish returned to the stage in Las Vegas last night for the penultimate performance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216],"class_list":["post-621447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}