Things were amiss this year with the annual Labor Day Phish three-day extravaganza and the threat of plague for campers at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, CO.
Bubonic plague be damned. The loyal “phans” paraded around business as usual with their merch tables fully functional for concert-goers. All things considered, things went by as smoothly as possible. AEG did their best-accommodating phans with offsite parking at the Northfield shopping center and free shuttling to the home of the Major League Soccer Colorado Rapids soccer club.
Sunday night’s show punctuated a successful three-day end of summer blowout in Phish fashion. Set one started off hot with a commanding take of “Stray Dog” that saw lead vocalist change the words to reflect the current condition to “Plague Dog.” We see what you did there, Trey.
There were no surprises but set one’s “My Friend, My Friend” brilliantly captured the Vermont quartet in perfect stride like the days when Peyton Manning used to find Demaryius Thomas in the end zone in his Denver Broncos days.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the expert delivery of “Tweezer” in set two only to have the reprise close down the weekend.
“TWEEZER TEASER, BRUH!”
DICK’S SPORTING GOODS PARK Commerce City, CO SET 1: Stray Dog[1], Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan, Turtle in the Clouds, Wolfman’s Brother, Birds of a Feather, We Are Come to Outlive Our Brains > Taste > My Friend, My Friend[2] > Twenty Years Later > Sparkle, Crazy Sometimes > Bathtub Gin SET 2: Sightless Escape[3], Fuego -> Piper > Tweezer > Also Sprach Zarathustra > Chalk Dust Torture[4] > Waste > Cavern > First Tube ENCORE: The Horse > Silent in the Morning, A Life Beyond The Dream, Tweezer Reprise [1] Lyric changed to “Plague Dog.” [2] No “Myfe” ending. [3] Phish debut. [4] Unfinished.
