The elements played a major factor in the second night of Phish’s four night stand at gorgeous Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, CO after a nasty rainstorm enveloped the venue during the middle of first set and didn’t relent until over an hour later when the band finally returned for the second set.
[Photos by Dave Vann]
Weather always seems to push the band to greater heights and tonight was no exception as the quartet came out swinging for the second stanza opening with two highly exploratory covers, the tender Joy and a nasty Tweezer that found the band alternating between the dark funk and light buttery chord progressions at will.
Let’s take a look at the setlist…
Set One: Runaway Jim, Chalk Dust Torture, Bathtub Gin, Time Turns Elastic, Lawn Boy, Water In The Sky, Stealing Time From The Faulty Plan, Split Open and Melt
Set Two: Drowned > Crosseyed and Painless > Joy, Tweezer > Backwards Down The Numberline > Fluffhead* > Piper > A Day in the Life
Encore: Suzie Greenberg, Tweezer Reprise
* – unfinished
For the first set, the quartet played by the book treating the enthusiastic audience to a mixture of tunes from throughout their career including newcomers Time Turns Elastic and Stealing Time From The Faulty Plan. Split Open and Melt, which closed the first set, foreshadowed the adventurous turns the improvisation would take during the second stanza.
Drowned and Crosseyed rewarded the crowd for standing in the soaking rains for the length of the setbreak. Those who were freezing cold were warmed up immediately after 25 minutes of dancing to the twists and turns of the jams. Joy gave the crowd a chance to catch their breath before Phish dropped the massive Tweezer. Backwards Down The Numberline continues to impress thanks to a healthy dose of fiery improv and a tight Fluffhead was curiously unfinished as Trey started Piper which led to another round of fierce exploratory jamming. And since the band started the set with two covers, why not finish with one as well? Chris Kuroda seemed to really enjoy lighting the rocks during A Day In The Life. A hot Suzie led into a Tweezer Reprise that gave everybody once last chance to move their weary bones.
Phish returns for the third show of the Red Rocks ’09 run tomorrow. As always, follow @YEMblog for live updates from the show courtesy of HT’s DaveO and enjoy all the #phish action at PhishTwit.
7 Responses
“Those who were freezing cold were warmed up immediately after 25 minutes of dancing to the twists and turns of the jams.”
Maybe you’ve never learned the meaning of immediate, but I think you have it wrong here.
Looks like an ok show, now to have a listen.
OK, um um, from split all the way through entire second set, was priceless….. when they busted into Melt as the rain came on heavy…. improv was sick to the close of set. And set 2, u dont see a Fluff, Crosseyed, Day in life, in one set with a sisk SUzy and Reprise everyday if ever….. after u take a listen to second set…… I think ok show, will be deleted…..
ps and how can I forget with a Drowned set 2 opener!!!!!!
mmmmm buttery chord progressions. my friend a major old school phish head found herself sitting behind phishman on her jetblue flight out from new york a few days ago.
and i mean fishman
we need NIGHT 3 review!!!!!!!!!
First night……. so, so. Pretty disappointed! Second night……. holy sH#t!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT was my favorite band!!!! YES YES YES!!! Thank God for Phish! D