Phish closed out their Halloween run at the MGM Grand Garden Arena with a three-set show that featured a cover of David Bowie’s 1972 record The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, which joins albums from The Beatles, Talking Heads, Velvet Underground, Rolling Stones, Little Feat and more as those covered by Phish on Halloween night.

Before the group kicked into Ziggy Stardust, however, they played a set of their own to kick things off as the band launched into “Carini,” breaking the streak of openers from the Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House. Trey Anastasio referenced his now-famous shirt he wore on The Tonight Show in “Carini,” altering the lyrics to “everyone was screaming when they saw the shirt.” Anastasio also wore said shirt for the first set.

The shirt references also returned later on in the set, after straightforward performances of tunes like Chilling, Thrilling’s “Your Pet Cat,” “AC/DC Bag,” “Free,” “Possum” and others, as Anastasio closed the set with “Run Like an Antelope,” altering the lyrics to “been you to have any shirt?”

Following a short setbreak, the quartet (minus Fishman) changed into some David Bowie/Starman attire before returning to the stage to kick off the Ziggy Stardust set along with a string section and vocalists that included TAB’s Jennifer Hartswick, Celisse Henderson and Jo Lampert.

The band moved through the record, starting with the acoustic number “Five Years,” with each band member taking a verse on the tune. The vocalists then joined in on “Soul Love” as Page McConnell led those proceedings (all four band members would take the lead on various songs throughout the set) before moving into the more electric and anthemic “Moonage Daydream” complete with vocalists and string section.

Mike Gordon got the nod for “Starman” and Anastasio manned the microphone on “It Ain’t Easy” as the group moved through Side A of Bowie’s 1972 record. McConnell once again led on “Lady Stardust” as the band played that tune without the help of any vocalists or string sections.

It was Jon Fishman’s time to shine on “Star” as he teamed with Hartswick, Lampert and Henderson for the tune before McConnell and Anastasio tackled the anthemic climax of the album, “Ziggy Stardust.” As the album wound to a close, “Suffragette City” stood out as a highlight before Anastasio once again manned vocals for the finale of “Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide.”

After all of that, Phish returned for a third set that didn’t lose sight of the Bowie theme set up in the previous set. After a “46 Days” opener, a funky “Sand” and “Twist” that saw the jam morph into a “Drums” segment, a spacey “2001” found the group weaving in and out of Bowie’s “Fame” as the song reached its typical peak.

“Backwards Down the Numberline” and a towering “Slave to the Traffic Light” closed the proceedings before Phish returned for one more tribute to Bowie, who passed away in January just two days after his 69th birthday, delivering their acapella version of “Space Oddity” before departing.

Here’s a look at the setlist:

Phish
MGM Grand Garden Arena Las Vegas, NV

Set I: Carini*, Your Pet Cat, AC/DC Bag > Free > Possum, What’s the Use? > Wombat, Tube, Wolfman’s Brother, Ass Handed, Petrichor > Run Like an Antelope

Second set features Phish’s debut cover of David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars

Set II: Five Years^, Soul Love^%, Moonage Daydream^%, Starman^%, It Ain’t Easy^%, Lady Stardust, Star%, Hang On to Yourself%, Ziggy Stardust, Suffragette City%, Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide^%

Set III 46 Days > Sand > Twist$ > Drums$$, Meatstick > Also Sprach Zarathustra > Backwards Down the Number Line > Slave to the Traffic Light

Enc: Space Oddity

Notes:
*Lyrics changed to make reference to Trey’s shirt from The Tonight Show
^with string section: Sylvia D’Avanzo, Alisa Horn, Hiroko Taguchi, Todd Low, Antoine Silverman and Alissa Smith
%with vocalists Jennifer Hartswick, Jo Lampert and Celisse Henderson
$Trey on Marimba Lumina.
$$Trey on Marimba Lumina, Page and Mike on percussion.

Source: phish.net