Phish kicked off a brief fall at Atlantic City, NJ’s Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall last night, marking their first appearance at the venue since Halloween weekend 2013. The Vermont Quartet opened the show with a direct not to that stand’s October 31, 2013 gig, with “Fuego,” one of the originals they debut that night, when they played an “album from the future,” Wingsuit, which was later reworked and released as Fuego in 2014. From there, they jump into an over 17-minute “A Wave of Hope” and an equally exploratory, uniquely placed “Slave to the Traffic Light.” Phish then closed their first set with the tour’s first extended segue, which moved gradually from “Pillow Jets” into “It’s Ice” and a seasonally appropriate “Ghost.”
Phish picked up where they left off at the top of their second set, stylistically, offering a completely seamless suite of music. They got going with a 16-minute spin on the newer jam-vehicle “Oblivion” and then transitioned into a nearly 25-minute “Down with Disease” and a 20-plus minute “Tweezer” that settled gently into the more delicate “Mercury.” That tune led into their first take on “Don’t Hurt Very Long,” the spooky, quirky number from their 2018 Halloween Kasvot Växt’s í rokk Halloween gag, since August 7, 2024. The bit then moved into a precisely played, 17-minute, set-closing “Fluffhead.” During both “Down with Disease” and “Tweezer,” Trey Anastasio also moved over the mini-drum kit he employed briefly in the mid-1990s, and revived during Phish’s recent '90s-themed Madison Square Garden run in July, allowing Page McConnell to lead the band’s jams.
At the top of Phish’s encore, Anastasio introduced the band’s next number as a “September/October song,” and the group then busted out the early-era segue from “Alumni Blues” into “Letter to Jimmy Page” and back into “Alumni Blues” for the first time since July 13, 2023. The night then came to a close to with another Kasvot Växt cut, the funky “Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S.”
Phish will return to Boardwalk Hall this evening. Of note, the venue hosts the loudest and largest instrument on the planet, the Midmer-Losh and Kimball pipe organs. As the image above shows, the group tested out the instrument during their soundcheck.
Here’s a look at last night’s setlist via Phish.net
Friday, October 2, Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, NJ
SET 1: Fuego, A Wave of Hope, Slave to the Traffic Light, Pillow Jets -> It’s Ice > Ghost
SET 2: Oblivion > Down with Disease[1] > Tweezer[2] > Mercury > Death Don’t Hurt Very Long > Fluffhead
ENCORE: Alumni Blues > Letter to Jimmy Page > Alumni Blues, Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S.
[1] Unfinished. Trey on mini drum kit.
[2] Trey on mini drum kit.
Down with Disease was unfinished. Disease and Tweezer featured Trey on mini drum kit. Death Don’t Hurt Very Long was last performed August 7, 2024 (100 shows). Alumni Blues and Letter to Jimmy Page were last performed July 12, 2023 (158 shows).
