Photo Credit: Alive Coverage

Last night, April 20, Phish returned to the fully equipped and immersive Sphere venue in Las Vegas. Taking full advantage of their location, the Vermont-formed band entered the atmosphere and continued to dazzle their audience with displays of mind-blowing optics that served as descriptors, nodding not only to songs and titles but also to albums and other detectable band iconography that seemed to piece together the past. Sonically, Saturday night was complemented by the profuse delivery of jams and organic bursts of improvisation, which carried through sets one and two. 

Night three began with “Set Your Soul Free” in the first position, stretched and elongated, ultimately setting the tone for the band’s delivery of choice material. Scant shapes projected on the dome and rotated while reflecting images of each player. During “Tube,” soapy bubbles gurgled and levitated through a cascade of changing color, coming up on the arrival of “Stash,” which proved intent to remain in an early ‘90s musical era. 

Leaving the pre-aughts behind, Phish arrived at the present day with a 2023 debut and the fourth-ever play of “Pillow Jets.” Pushed close to the 16-minute mark, Trey Anastasio and Mike Gordon altogether abandoning the number’s original composition in favor of an extemporized ascent, intensified with imagery of which erupted with the pyrotechnics of screened fireworks. During “Steam,” Anastasio and Gordon continued their brother-like interplay, teasing “Manteca” before the alpine ridges of a green forest and mist appeared during “Mountains in the Mist.”

A visual highpoint was paired with “Taste” and emerged via stacked iconography that erected longtime Phish artist Jim Pollock’s creations stemming from Live Phish CD releases. At times, the dome appeared like a golden tomb, with movement and light playing off the decades-referenced artwork similarly to a flame torch’s effect, illuminating cave walls. Not far from France’s Chauvet, the art was used to propel a lineage of experience, only in this case, sonically 40 years in the making, rather than hunter and gathering renderings of encounters. 

“46 Days” took the band into the night’s set break, and upon their return, they drifted into a shorter rendition of “Sigma Oasis.” At that point, the dome entered a cloudscape, including birds, trees, and the appearance of the sea creatures conjured in the clouds (including a reference to í rokk’s “Turtle in the Clouds.”) “Fuego” saw spotlights generate a silhouette effect, eventually replicating flame-like shadows meant to mimic the players. The song was a jam catalyst for Gordon, who didn’t take the task lightly and showed off his prowess. 

A common cover, “Golden Age,” represented the first use of borrowed material throughout Phish’s Vegas experience and ran into “Twist,” which saw song lyrics come to life on the dome. 

“I Am Hydrogen” represented a tempo slow-down and was added sans “Mike’s Song” or “Weekapaug Groove” for the first time since 1987. In turn, they picked up a later play on “Chalk Dust Torture” before the final song of set two, “Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S.”

The night’s encore, “A Life Beyond The Dream,” saw Anastasio pick up the acoustic guitar before trading it in for an electric ax, finishing the night on “Tweezer Reprise” and the return of car imagery from night one’s “Tweezer” using a motif to thread the plays together. 

After Saturday’s concert, the band will return to The Sphere for one final show tonight, Sunday, April 21.  

Phish 

The Sphere – Las Vegas 

April 20, 2024

Set I: Set Your Soul Free, Tube, Stash, Pillow Jets, Steam, Mountains in the Mist, Taste, 46 Days

Set II: Sigma Oasis > Fuego > Golden Age -> Twist, I Am Hydrogen > Chalk Dust Torture > Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S.

Enc.:  A Life Beyond The Dream+, Tweezer Reprise

Notes:

+ Began with Trey on acoustic guitar.

Setlist via phish.net.