Photo by Rene Hunter// via Phish from the Road Twitter

Last night, Phish kicked off their destination event, ‘Phish: Riviera Maya,’ at the Moon Palace in Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico. The commencement set marked the fifth time Phish have welcomed fans to the Riviera Maya and served as their first live performance with an audience since their Halloween 2021 shows in Las Vegas.

Phish ushered in fans with a single set, rich with bust-outs, a debut and their first sit-in featuring Dave Matthews since 1995. Making an immediate nod to their beautiful surroundings and the event’s reptile mascot, the bearded band opened the night with “The Lizards,” marking the first time the song has served as an opener since 1990. They then played “The Moma Dance” and jammed into Frank Zappa’s “Peaches en Regalia” for the first time since the second night of their New York Baker’s Dozen run on July 22, 2017. Next, the band moved into “I Never Needed You Like This Before” from Trey Anastasio’s 2020 LP Lonely Trip.

Phish then covered Son Seal’s “Funky Bitch” which led to an extended jam of “Tweezer” > “Piper” > “Soul Planet.” The music didn’t stop as they moved seamlessly from “Soul Planet” into “Meat,” which saw teases of “Tweezer” and Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water.” They continued to roll out sound as “Meat” morphed into their recently debuted Sci-Fi Soldier single, “The Howling,” which was followed by “Shade.” Phish gave fans a bit of time to reflect and cool down as they played another track from Anastasio’s Lonely Trip, “Evolve,” which marked the third time they’ve ever played it together live. Next came “Tube,” during which Anastasio once again teased “Tweezer,” which led into “Sigma Oasis.” The quartet ended their welcome set again with a nod to their surroundings by playing “Sand.”

Phish returned to the stage with special guest Dave Matthews, who had played his event at the Moon Palace with Tim Reynolds, which featured a guest performance by Anastasio just days before. The last time Matthews played with all the members of phish was on June 17, 1995. Phish and Matthews came out the gates with their debut performance of “So Damn Lucky” off of Matthews’ 2003 debut album Some Devil. Anastasio is credited as a contributor on the album and toured with Matthews supporting the LP when it was released. Mathews then joined Phish on a cover of Daniel Lanois’ “The Maker,” which was last performed on Oct. 15, 1994, nearly 1,000 shows ago. To close the show, Phish and Matthews delivered what fans were hoping for – a “Tweezer Reprise” finale. The encore closer featured Matthews on acoustic guitar and howling vocals and went on for over 20 minutes.

Phish: Riviera Maya continues tonight with a start time of 7:30 p.m. EST. A livestream will be available on LivePhish.com, with SiriusXM airing the show on Phish Radio.

Watch a clip of “Tweezer Reprise” from @danceswithphish below:

Phish
Phish: Riviera Maya – Moon Palace, Cancún, Mexico
Feb. 24, 2022

Set: The Lizards, The Moma Dance > Peaches en Regalia, I Never Needed You Like This Before, Funky Bitch > Tweezer -> Piper -> Soul Planet -> Meat > The Howling > Shade, Evolve, Tube > Sigma Oasis, Sand

Enc.: So Damn Lucky[1], The Maker[2], Tweezer Reprise[2]

[1] Phish debut; with Dave Matthews on guitar and vocals.
[2] With Dave Matthews on guitar and vocals.

Setlist via phish.net