Phish SPAC 7/5/13: Setlist and Recap - Night #1

Official poster by Drew Millard

The Phish returned to upstate New York for the first of a three-night run at SPAC.

This show (and all three SPAC shows) is being webcast over at LivePhish.com.

Here is the setlist for the Night #1 at SPAC:

Phish 7/5/13 - SPAC, Saratoga Springs, NY

Set 1: Kill Devil Falls, MoMA Dance, Sample, Roses Are Free, BIRDS, Yarmouth Road^,  GIN, Nellie Cane, Army of One, My Friend My Friend, Cities, Bowie

Set 2: Energy^^ > Light > Mango Song > 46 Days > Steam > Drowned > Slave

Encore: ZERO

Notes:
^ FTP - debut of reggae-flavored "Yarmouth Road"
^^FTP - debut of "Energy" a cover by Apples In Stereo

Times: Set 1 began at 8: 24pm ET and ended at 9:54pm. Set 2 started at 10:24pm. Show ended at 11:45pm ET.

****

Couch Tour Recap: SPAC #1
by Pauly

I rocked couch tour. I custied up and bought the SPAC webcast. I saved $5 for buying all three shows and now have $5 more bucks in my "miscellaneous lot fund", which I can't wait to blow (on grilled cheese and contraband) as soon as I link up on tour in Chicago. I'm digging this couch tour lifestyle on the West Coast.... no wooks or shirtless drunk noobs or chatty schwilly girls... and by 5 o'clock in the afternoon I'm on my couch and ripping bingers and ready for a full-blown Phish religious experience beamed into the comforts of my living room. Plus I get to eat spicy (boneless) chicken wings and watch two baseball games at once and monitor Twitter while watching multi-camera coverage of Phish. Welcome to the future.

via "Leo Cam"

First set was 90-minutes of greatest hits plus one new song, Yarmouth Road. However, the second set was a stellar seven-song jam heavy set. Inclement weather is a small price to pay to see Phish. Thunderstorms delayed the show and my big sis IronGirl got stuck outside and had to wait almost a half hour before they re-opened the front gates.

SPAC kicked off with a throw-away KDF. Sloppy Moma Dance from the start, yet it finished full-throttle funk. Mellow intro to Roses Are Free slowly built up steam and created more of a fucking BANG during the tension-release segment. Jam fell victim to a Trey ripcord. Those six Ween fans in skinny black jeans and berets and Ween tattoos who got dragged to the show must've been pissed. Birds failed to take flight. It was an unexpected and reliable second set jam monster last summer, but it has now been demoted to first set filler. Trey tossed in an Ian's farm and barking dogs reference before Gordo sang lead on a new song -- Yarmouth Road. If you dig reggae Phish, then YR is up your alley. Happy, fluffy first set summer song. Positive sign to hear a new song. Hope there's more on the way. Gin jam might have been highlight of the set. My Friend didn't last long enough to truly get dark and devious. Funkified Cities. Set 1 ended with a smoking Bowie.

Ninety minutes of greatest hits... a little of everything... country, 80s and 90s covers, Page solo, old-school Phish, new school, and some 97 funk. Not much jamming, but solid first set.

I'm a die-hard fan of hour-long spurts of nonstop playing. For one, it prevents ADD-Trey from taking over and ripcording everything. Or worse, I hate those five minute huddles when Trey is trying to negotiate the next three songs with Gordo and Page. I prefer the sets when the band plays straight thru and lets the music organically evolve into the next song and the set becomes one free-flowing river. Even if you hated the song selection on Friday, the boys pulled off some pretty silky smooth segues. Only one seemed forced or rushed but everything else was like buttah.

Energy > Light > Mango Song > 46 Days > Steam > Drowned > Slave

I thought Energy was a new song, but it's an Apples in Stereo original. The Light delivered, but it was less of a ferocious monster and more dream-like and paranormal. Page's pumpkin jam on Light weaved in and out with Trey. Shroomy Mango Song, a throwback to the early 90s, makes me feels wobbly when I hear it. Kicked it up a notch with 46 Days. Didn't think they'd play Steam because we already got Light, yet they gave us both in the same set. Amazing alien-tractor beam lights by CK5. Spooky with all the fog/steam.

Pic by @Phish_FTR

What the fuck was going on during the Steam jam? Aside from the Divided Sky teases, Trey unleashed some freaky-ass shit. That bizarre avalanche of weird notes was the lowlight of the show for me. Live music is hit or miss. Trey missed... but I'm glad he took a shot instead of playing it safe. At the end of the Steam jam, Trey fumbled an opportunity to really blow the roof off of SPAC. Alas, Trey wanted to hang out in freak town and he certainly got there. Felt like I was gargling Jamba Juice spiked with ketamine. Too many bloated whales.

Jonas said it best, "Trey played some bad notes in those scales. You can Tell when Trey is rusty because the whales start coming out to feed."

After mostly a trippy-mellow set, Fishman came in strong on a thunderous intro to Drowned, which sounded like the running of the bulls. Wish they'd leave the Fish Cam on Fishman the entire song just so we could watch him channel his inner Keith Moon. My girlfriend wasn't impressed with Gordo's voice, "He can't hit those notes anymore." Hey, Daltry cant hit them either, but Gordo was a little off. Slave had a tender minimalist intro. They saved all those extra notes for the ending, which they nailed. Zero encore had plenty of dirty tones. Trey ditching the Ocedoc and switching guitars is most notable on tunes like Zero.

SPAC night #1 had the best of both worlds -- greatest hits in the opening set and old school jamming in the second set. After the second show, it's safe to say Phish has shaken off all the rust. Now let's see what they can really do with the next two nights at SPAC.

Check out Bangor 7/3/13 setlist and couch tour recap.

FYI... download the 7.5.13 SPAC show over at LivePhish. If you have the app, then you can stream the show.

Update: Fink went to the show. Check out his 3am review: Steamy in SPAC.