Phish Plays 4-Song 2nd Set In San Francisco: Setlist, Recap & The Skinny (2024)

Set two featured a pair of +20-minute jams.

By Andy Kahn Oct 18, 2021 • 6:59 am PDT

Phish‘s Fall Tour 2021 continued last night with the band’s second show at San Francisco’s Chase Center. The band turned in a four-song, improvisation-saturated second set featuring two songs that stretched beyond 23-minutes. Sunday’s concert marked the first four-song second set since June 20, 2004 (not counting instances where the same song was played multiple times in a set, like December 30, 2019).

Phish began the first set with “Bug.” The song, making its 80th setlist appearance, never opened a show prior to Sunday’s performance. The contemplative opener was followed by a cover of the now rarely played “My Soul,” the blues number dotted by guitarist Trey Anastasio’s referential licks. Trey, who made an animated cameo on last night’s episode of The Simpsons, kept things rolling by calling for “Back On The Train.” The subsequent “Maze” teed up firey interplay between Trey and keyboardist Page McConnell.

Next up was “Steam,” which led to a brief but vigorous jam and some particularly nimble and rapidly picked notes emanating from Anastasio’s guitar that took the form of a “Dave’s Energy Guide” tease. Bassist Mike Gordon led the charge through “Destiny Unbound,” the formerly ultra-rare original making its third setlist of the year. Page was then given the leadership role for the band’s first performance of his “Beauty Of A Broken Heart” in 30 shows. A beautifully rendered “Reba” brought several minutes of intricate interplay between Trey, Mike and Page as drummer Jon Fishman provided a sturdy rhythmic foundation. Fish propelled a blistering offering of “I Never Needed You Like This Before,” the tension-building song from Trey’s 2020 solo album, Lonely Trip, bringing an emphatic end to the first set.

Read on after The Skinny for the rest of the recap and more.

Before the start of the second set, Trey could be heard speaking into his talkback mic, asking “You guys wanna do ‘Evolve?’” and adding “f*cking A right” in response. After mentioning he was tuning his guitar (with a funny “Hot Tuna” reference), Trey led his bandmates through their second performance of “Evolve,” which appeared on Lonely Trip.

“Set Your Soul Free” set up the first extended jam of the set as the four musicians quickly got to work churning out an atmospheric groove at the onset of the improvisation. They stayed in this peaceful realm for several passages, guided by Page’s gorgeous electric piano runs and Fish’s steady beat. Page’s standout piano work pushed the jam as the tempo shifted and intensity increased. Trey then steered the improv into dark and dirty territory, introducing it first with a screeching riff and then locking into a menacing tone that Mike answered with his own synthy-bassline.

A stream of effects-driven sounds enveloped the arena as the jam dissolved into spacey ambience. Trey led the way out of the ambient sequence by firing up the ending of “Set Your Soul Free” 26 minutes after having started the song. “Wingsuit” served as the penultimate song of the four-song second set and provided its typically dramatic, soaring conclusion.

A rocking start to “Chalk Dust Torture” ushered in what became the fourth and final song of the second set. The last notes of the set came some 23 minutes later as “Chalk Dust Torture” opened up into another exploratory jam. While the earlier jamming tended to be restrained and spacey, this sequence was a bit fiercer and maintained a faster tempo. Trey found a chunky melody that galvanized the second half of the improvisation as the four musicians climbed to a soaring climactic peak.

Page was tapped for the start of the encore as he crooned “Lawn Boy.” The band ended their first visit to the Chase Center with “Wolfman’s Brother,” letting the concise, funky jam punctuate the band’s two-night stand at the new arena.

Phish Fall Tour 2021 continues Tuesday in Eugene, Oregon. Livestreams for the entire tour are available via LivePhish.com

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