By Sara Schweiger TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
WORCESTER — Phish kicked off its 2012 summer tour at
the DCU Center Thursday night, treating fans to a blistering performance at a
rare indoor venue stop during the usual outdoor amphitheater season.
The traditional glow sticks, balloons and beach balls being
tossed around contrasted against the more recent ubiquity of smartphones as
fans texted, tweeted, and took photos and videos. Whatever they had in hand,
however, fans came to the DCU to have fun, and they were richly rewarded.
The show began – and ended – with the driving instrumental
“Buried Alive,” a seeming homage to the rash of stars the music world has
buried recently: Adam Yauch. Levon Helm. Robin Gibb. Whitney Houston. Donna
Summer.
After guitarist Trey Anastasio's scorching riff took the
opening song home, Phish perhaps paid tribute to one of its clear favorite
venues by going into “Runaway Jim,” a song it legendarily jammed for nearly an
hour here almost 15 years ago.
The band followed with a gorgeous “Torn and Frayed” from the
Rolling Stones' “Exile on Main Street,” an album Phish covered in its entirety
on Halloween 2009. Phish encored with “Shine a Light” from that album to finish
its last stop in Worcester in December 2010.
Bassist Mike Gordon took the spotlight on vocals and the
rhythmic beat of the Son Seals' “Funky Bitch.”
“Every time I see her/she's got new fancy clothes,” sang
Gordon, who took to the stage wearing an uncharacteristic scarf. Not everyone
had new clothes, however, as drummer Jon Fishman sported his trademark torn and
frayed muumuu.
Anastasio conferred with Fishman before launching into the
funky “Moma Dance,” on which Fishman sings, and whispers, a bulk of the lyrics.
“Rift” put keyboardist Page McConnell in the lead as he
shared vocals with Anastasio and ripped off an inspiring piano solo mid-song.
The harmonic “Nothing” and raucously good “Ocelot” followed,
with the latter featuring a forceful, leg-lifting solo by Anastasio. The band
then grooved into the melodic “Beauty of a Broken Heart” from McConnell's 2007
self-titled solo effort.
An extra-long drum intro on “Possum” produced the first of
the night's many glow stick showers from the ecstatic fans, who - if the
blogosphere and Twitterverse are any indication - came to the DCU with high
expectations after what many felt was an underwhelming 2011 New Year's Run on
Phish's last brief tour.
They ended the strong first set with a rousing “Rocky Top”
(one of Tennessee's myriad state songs), as Phish will be heading south to
headline Sunday's lineup at the massive Bonnaroo music festival in Manchester,
Tenn.
Things took a deep and spacey turn during the second-set
“Carini” opener that morphed into “Taste,” in which Phish gave fans a taste of
the Beatles' “Norwegian Wood” for a couple of bars.
The dark-grooved second set continued with “Ghost” and an
accompanying extended exploration, which to the uninitiated ear might have
appeared overlong but really exemplified what a good Phish jam does: takes you
around the world and back to the structure of a set. In this case, it was a
bang: the hip-shaking Stevie Wonder number “Boogie on Reggae Woman,” out of
which emerged a soaring, energetic jam.
The pace slowed with the tender “If I Could,” whose
appearances on Phish set lists have become rare but was a staple on Anastasio's
recent mini tour last winter where he was accompanied by symphony orchestras.
Bob Dylan's “Quinn the Eskimo” seemed appropriate for
honoring the musician's recent 71st birthday, and gave way to longtime
favorites “Harry Hood” and “Cavern” (“Whatever you do/take care of your shoes”
– or better yet, kick them off and dance) to end the set … until Anastasio
decided to reprise “Buried Alive” for a punctuation mark.
After a brief encore break, the band returned to the stage
and to “Exile on Main Street” for “Loving Cup” – one of Phish's most beloved
and expertly performed covers - sending the crowd home on a “beautiful buzz”
and plenty of reason to think they're in for a stellar summer.
