Phish Charlotte: Setlist and The Skinny

Backwards Down The Number Line seems to have become a second set song as including tonight’s second set opening take, it has appeared in the closing stanza at five of the tour’s 16 shows thus far. While the Charlotte BDTNL wasn’t jammed out, the two tunes that followed sure were. Marks described Rock and Roll as “Type II” while @surefootedllama felt the jam had “definite hose” moments. The Velvet Underground cover segued into a Ghost that combined with the preceding Rock and Roll was “the best [sequence of] Phish since Merriweather” in Marks’ opinion. The Trey-led jam alternated between major and minor keys before the quartet landed on Free.

Reba made its first appearance in the second set since Festival 8 and featured a fast-paced jam that peaked a little harder than usual. What came next was only the fourth Icculus in the last 16 years. Anastasio again referenced the t-shirt both he and Gordon were wearing when a picture of the garment appeared on the venue’s screens leading Trey to say, “this man has all the answers! he will take you to the promised land!” according to Marks before imploring fans to “read the fucking book.” Jon Fishman’s vacuum solos have been missing of late, so it was a surprise when the group started playing Hold Your Head Up leading to a Fish’s sung cover of Pink Floyd’s Bike that included some toots on the old Electrolux.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5qTfdXZY9g[/youtube]

Most Phish second sets include some sort of ballad or slow moment but not tonight. The energy was kept sky high with standard takes on Chalkdust Torture and You Enjoy Myself closing out the 90-minute-plus set. Phish screwed with song placement once again for the encore, dropping Wilson in that slot for the first time since August 11, 1998 before saying goodnight with Loving Cup.

The lack of jams and ever-shrinking song list was the big story for the last few Phish shows. Luckily for the fans in Charlotte tonight there were a few notable explorations, a smattering of bust outs and – as per usual these days – plenty of energy. Phish heads to Raleigh tomorrow for their eighth performance at Walnut Creek.

Setlist…

Soundcheck: Dog Log, Blues Jam

Set 1: Mike’s Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove, Bouncing Around the Room, NICU[1] >Sample in a Jar, Colonel Forbin’s Ascent > Fly Famous Mockingbird, Axilla, Wolfman’s Brother, Scent of a Mule, Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan

Set 2: Backwards Down the Number Line > Rock and Roll > Ghost > Free, Reba[2], Icculus, Hold Your Head Up > Bike > Hold Your Head Up, Chalk Dust Torture, You Enjoy Myself

Encore: Wilson > Loving Cup

[1] “Play it, Leo!” lyric replaced with “Leo’s House!”
[2] No whistling.

Notes: In NICU, the lyric “Play it, Leo!” was replaced with “Leo’s House!” Reba did not contain the whistling ending. Bike was played for the first time since June 18, 2009 (100 shows). In the soundcheck, Funky Bitch was briefly teased before Dog Log began.

[via Phish.net]

  • Venue Capacity / Attendance: 18,768 / 15,000*
  • Previous Shows at Venue: July 7, 1999, July 25, 2003 and July 2, 2010 [4  including tonight]
  • Number Of Songs / Length – First Set: 12 / 7:48 > 9:04 (76 Minutes)
  • Number Of Songs / Length – Second Set & Encore: 13 / 9:30 > 11:13PM (103 Minutes)
  • Total Number of Songs / Covers / Originals: 25 / 5 / 20 [includes two HYHUs]
  • Biggest Bustout: Bike (Last Played 6/18/2009 – 100 Shows)
  • Debuts: N/A
  • Average Song Gap: 17.8
  • Longest LivePhish Track / Shortest LivePhish Track: You Enjoy Myself (17:58) / Hold Your Head Up (1:54)
  • Wardrobe: Trey = Black Unbuttoned Shirt + T-Shirt / Black Jeans, Mike = Black Unbuttoned Shirt + T-Shirt/Jeans, Page = Blue Shortsleeve Shirt/Jeans, Fish = Dress
  • Audio: Live Phish SBD

* – Estimate, Awaiting Actual Figure From Billboard’s Box Scores

Poster…

Merit Badge…

From The Road Photos…

[Mike and Trey dressing for dinner in Charlotte (6/17/2011 from Mike Gordon) via @Phish_FTR and @mike_gordon]

[Mike and I pedicabbing it to NoDa in Charlotte (6/16/2011 from Trey Anastasio) via @Phish_FTR and @treyanastasio]

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6 Responses

  1. How about we not assume that the Mike’s house sign was calling for a Mike’s groove opener? It clearly was referencing a tour joke and thus could have been calling for Mike in general to be prominent tonight.

  2. How about not holding up signs! or at least only hold them up when they walk on stage and then get rid of them. Thank You!

  3. this new trend of listing what everyone is wearing is super lame. in my opinion. why don’t we just switch to ”who” are they wearing.

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