Phish Open Up Annual Run at Dick's Sporting Goods Park

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Phish returned to Commerce City, CO, on Friday night to open up their annual summer-closing, Labor Day weekend run at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, playing their first show since being forced to cancel their much-anticipated Curveball festival. Though many fans found other ways to enjoy those unfortunate circumstances, the band offered a bit of recompense in the form of a free stream of this weekend’s Colorado shows for those with Curveball wristbands.

The weekend kicked off with a bright, spirited “Free,” which led into an unexpected first-set placement of fan favorite “Harry Hood,” with both tunes topping the 10-minute mark already. The instrumental “What’s the Use” provided an early show breather, followed by an energetic “Blaze On.”

The impeccable first-set song choice continues with “Ghost,” which moved from the slinky main portion of the song into some extended improvisation with contributions from all four members of the band, stretching over 15-minutes, the longest cut of the first set, and eventually building steam to lead into Talking Heads’ “Crosseyed and Painless,” another second-set regular and fan-favorite. The first set then rounded out with a bouncy “Simple” and a “Cavern” closer.

“No Men In No Man’s Land” opened the second frame—one of the band’s favorite placements of the tune—and led straight into the longest selection of the night, a “Carini” that started off heavy with the chunky main riff, then eventually made its way into some airy improvisation, with light organ from Page McConnell and sparse picking from Trey Anastasio.

The five-song second set continued with “Theme From the Bottom,” which served as a launchpad for the final two cuts of the set, a “Mercury” and “Light” one-two punch that together spanned well over 30 minutes, with each featuring powerful late-song interplay. Phish then returned to the stage to close out the night with the Chilling, Thrilling cut “Martian Monster” and the pop-blues rocker “Julius.”

See the full setlist below as it appears in our Box Scores section, along with some videos from the night. Phish return to Commerce City tonight for round two of three.

Phish
Dick’s Sporting Goods Park Commerce City, CO

Set I: Free > Harry Hood, What’s the Use? > Blaze On, Ghost > Crosseyed and Painless > Simple > Cavern

Set II: No Men In No Man’s Land > Carini > Theme From the Bottom > Mercury > Light

Encore: Martian Monster > Julius

Source: Phish.net