Phish SPAC 7/7/13: Setlist and Recap - Sunday Night #3, Saratoga, NY

Official SPAC posters by Drew Millard

Phish completed the final night of a three-show run at SPAC. This is their 4th overall show since tour began in Bangor, Maine on Wednesday.

Here is the setlist for the Sunday show:

The Phish 7/7/13 SPAC, Saratoga, NY

Set 1: AC/DC Bag, Back on the Train, Divided Sky, Free, ICE, Mound, Maze, Limb by Limb, Walls of the Cave

Set 2: DWD > Ghost > Piper^ > Velvet Sea* , Antelope# > Meatstick > YEM

Encore: Loving Cup

Notes: 
^ DEG teases
# With "Meatstick" keyword and lyrics replacing Antelope with "meatstick"
* Pauly takes a piss song

Times: Set 1 began at 8:11pm ET and ended at 9:38pm. Set 2 began at 10:12pm. The show ended at 11:35pm.

Gordo aka Eraserhead

****

Couch Tour Recap: SPAC #3 - Mr. Meatstick
By Pauly

Sunday show. Bad weather. Final night at SPAC? All the elements for a perfect storm of events. Phish always throws down when phans have to brave the elements. Fourth show of 2013 followed a similar formula: 90-minute first set of greatest hits with one exceptional standout, followed by a second set jamming orgy. The final night of SPAC included another jamilicious-heavy 7-song second set anchored by a DWD > Ghost.

I rocked out on couch tour again, much to the dismay of my neighbors who must be sick of Phish by now. You don't hear much crowd noise thru the webcast, so I can only imagine how loud it got inside the shed for the intro to Divided Sky. First one ever at SPAC? It was due. Phish has come a long way from its prog rock days and Flock of Seagulls haircuts. Anxiously awaited Free. Sounded a tad faster than normal. My feed kept going out during Ice! I likened it to being at a show and having dance space invaded by chatty-mol girls or the sweaty drunk guy trying to hit on said chatty girls. Thrilled they didn't mess up Mound (too much). It's one of hardest songs they play, but I'm glad they're not hiding it on the shelf like Esther.

Mound clap...

The set’s structure resembled something from 93-94 (with exception of Back on the Train which was birthed from Phish's post-funk phase in 98). If that's the vibe -- vintage 90s -- then I was hoping we'd get a Weigh or Llama. Maze didn't stray too far away from the herd, but Trey nailed it and he was bouncing up and down the rest of the song. Fish put on a drum clinic with a squishy octopus jam in Limb. Page and Fish were dishing and swishing. Walls of the Cave was the first new song of the 2.0 era (and thus ended the 90s theme). Good to see Walls get back into rotation. Wanted Gordo to do the "THWOOOSH!" effect. Denied. Walls ended the 88-minute set.

DWD kicked off the second set. Around the ten-minute mark, a tranquil jam emerged from the thick gooey jam. Ghost snuck up on me. Felt like we were headed to a different part of the universe. Leo busted out the talkbox. Ghostbox. Seemed like Trey purposely tried to play as few notes possible. Minimalist Trey. You get to hear everyone else much better. Morphed into a pong jam. ADHD-Trey crashed the plinko party. Rushed out of milky way Ghost pong jam into a hyper Piper. Smooth jam out. Thought I heard a "Dave's Energy Guide" tease. Hoped Page would get funky with the voicebox in Velvet. Antelope repeat from Bangor, but I could hear it every show. AK-47 Trey in full glory. Meatstick insertion. Trey swapped out "antelope" lyric for "meatstick" (e.g. Mr. Meatstick, set the gearshift for the meatstick of your soul, run like a meatstick out of control, etc.). On cue, they seg'd into Meatstick. Heard some Jimmy Page GTBT licks, and thought Zeppelin would close out the set. Instead... a monstrous YEM. Page vox. Loved the Trey finger-licking picking. Staccato plinko. CK5 unleashed new lighting cues during vocal jam. Gordo is farther away from Trey. Didn't really notice until the tramp routine. YEM capped off 7-song second set. Perhaps a GTBT encore? Nope. Went for a Stones cover and Loving Cup, which was the first and only cover of the night. Strong second set. As I said to Tom after the show: "YEM, Ghost, DWD, Piper, Antelope -- if you get 3 of those in the same set, that's a good show. Tonight we got all 5."

YEM

SPAC run complete. I'm digging these 7 and 8-song second sets that have a sensational 30-40 minute segments that impressed a jaded vet like me:

Friday: 46 Days > Steam > Drowned > Slave
Saturday: Tweezer > Sand > Carini
Sunday: DWD > Ghost > Piper

I doubt we'd ever get a rare 5-songer, but the 7-song sets allow more room for jamming. I hope they continue to play fewer songs on the "back nine." Couch tour is over... for now. Maybe they'll webcast one of the Merriweather or Alpharetta shows?

****

Check out our Summer Tour 2013 page which has setlist info and links to videos and reviews.

Here are setlists/recaps for Bangor, SPAC 1, and SPAC 2. Here's Fink's reviews for SPAC 1 and SPAC 2.

FYI... download the 7.7.13 SPAC at LivePhish.