[Editor's Note: this recap is by musicologist and phish.net contributor Jake Cohen. Jake's blog is at: smoothatonalsound.com. –PZ]

Trying to predict anything about a certain Phish show is an exercise in futility. All you can ever be sure of is that you will hear lots of songs you love and have an amazing time. That’s the baseline standard, but there are huge variations within all that. Coming off what are in the view of many the two best shows of the summer so far in Atlanta, it was tough to say how the band would respond. On the one hand, they had just blown up Atlanta with heady, deep improvisation in both night’s second sets (and in the first set on Friday), and were about to cap off that three-night run. On the other, they changed venues and cities, which might interrupt the momentum. But of course, #NeverMissASundayShow.

Tuscaloosa Amphitheater is a gorgeous small amphitheater with no lawn. Imagine just the pavilion of a venue like Merriweather or Great Woods, but the entire lower 100-level section was GA. Sight lines were excellent and the venue felt really tiny, with great sound everywhere, and cheap beer! With the sun setting behind the stage and woods all around, and a friendly Southern spirit in the air, the scene was right for a good time.

Photo by Walter Maddox, Tuscaloosa, AL Mayor

“Sample in a Jar” got things started off, and right away the energy was palpable. It was as if everyone was carrying over their excitement and spirit from the Atlanta shows into Alabama. Being in both a college town and also being in the South, away from the main core of the fanbase, the crowd seemed to skew a touch younger than usual, which overall made for a highly enthusiastic opener, and the feel-good rock/pop vibe of “Sample” matched it well. A surprising second slot “Chalk Dust” came along at a slow, thick tempo, immediately hinting at the possibility for some drawn out improv early in the show. This wasn’t a typical first set in-your-face rocker; instead Phish seemed to be taking their time on the build, with Mike and Fish locked into a funkier-than-normal pocket. Instead of going deep in the second song, Trey opted for something more traditional: a classic tension and release peak. Building up dissonant lines over a big dominant harmony, Trey released to the climactic riff like it was ‘92 hose.

The crowd continued to show even more of their excitement and energy during the break after “Chalk Dust,” clearly amped up on both the big release of the “Chalk Dust” jam and still riding the fumes from the mindblowing Atlanta jams the night before. Showing our love for them, the band acknowledged the fevered exhilaration of the crowd, with Trey visibly expressing gratitude. We are all really so, so lucky.

The rare “Train Song” showed up next, likely referencing the train bridge that cut across the river directly behind the venue. Unlike some recent version which have been train wrecks, Phish played Mike’s folksy composition perfectly, delivering what is probably the most accurate version in a while. In fact, throughout the night the band’s playing on compositions, especially Trey, would have a confidence and accuracy that matched the show energy. “Devotion to a Dream” came next, another good version that continues to showcase Trey’s new post-GD50 comfort with country/blues soloing. Page thanked the crowd, saying how happy they were to be back and that they hadn’t played Tuscaloosa since 1993. The first surprise of the night came with a big, fun, laid back “Meat.” This trip through this now-rarity saw some sections extended even longer than usual, and only one fake-out ending. “Maze” continued the theme of big energy and classic tension/release jamming that we got in the “Chalk Dust,” with a serious big Page organ solo.

Photo © Phish From the Road

“The Line” came next, and this is just honestly one of the few songs I don’t care for. Everyone has one or two – for me, it’s “The Line.” But this was a good place for it, where it couldn’t do much damage to the flow or energy in the set. “Roggae” is a song that I will gladly hear anytime at any show, and this version again showed how Trey’s practicing on modal, moderate-tempo Dead tunes has filtered into his Phish playing, with a truly gorgeous, soaring solo. It was funny that I heard “My Friend, My Friend” in back to back sets, but of course a treat, and the end of the song just has so much intensity which brought the crowd’s energy roaring back. A badass “46 Days” seemed to be the closer, but then they surprised everyone with “Cavern.” Trey even thanked the crowd and said they’d be right back, something that he doesn’t really do anymore at the end of first sets, clearly showing that the band’s excitement matched the crowd’s.

Everyone had a feeling set two would lead off with “Down with Disease” and the band delivered with a nice high energy version. Settling into the groove, the band kept chugging away at a relatively moderate tempo and volume, not getting too fast or high energy coming into the jam. Trey sat back at first, offering some excellent chunky strumming and setting up a loop of him playing tremolo on a single note while Page dominated the early part of the jam on piano. Things seemed to be heading for that typical spacey slowdown that 3.0 era “Disease” jams often find themselves in, but instead Fishman kept up the beat as the band turned to more minor key jamming.

Photo © @tweeprise

About twelve minutes into the jam, Fishman switched up the beat to something with a bit more peppiness to it, shifting Page onto the clav and Trey into a major key area again. Soon Trey found himself in a familiar place, playing the plagal-style jam that has become such a hallmark of 3.0 style. Yet he was doing it all with strumming, as Page swirled around on piano keys. Trey’s strumming pattern resembled “Piper” heavily at this point, and since he was playing two of the chords that make up the “Piper” progression, Fishman responded by going right into the “Piper” drum beat while Mike played a few of the octaves that typically signal the beginning stages of a “Piper” build. But instead of a segue, Trey kept soloing, and gave us a wild, high-energy “Piper” jam during the “Disease.”

I really thought that at any point throughout this whole section of the jam they would slam into “Piper,” but eventually they wound down again, heading for a minor sound with Trey giving some big, wah-infused funk strums. Weird spaciness followed, with really eccentric dissonant notes, and Fishman slowed the beat into something even funkier. Mike played some really eerie circular riffs on his bass and it seemed as though everything might keep getting weirder, but instead Trey surprised everyone with another fun tour debut: “Camel Walk.”

In the post-jam cooldown spot, “Camel Walk” absolutely shined. It was not only an old, rare tune, but it just dripped with funk. It had a playfulness after all of that “Disease” improvisation that it doesn’t always have when it shows up in the first set, as it has the past few years. Trey’s soloing was the perfect combo of melodious lines and funky riffs, and just as with the first set’s compositions, they nailed every change.

Photo © Phish From the Road

The improv potential continued with the tour’s first “Seven Below.” As someone who saw 27 shows in 2003, “Seven Below” has a ton of personal resonance, and this version packed a lot of heat into what felt like much longer than ten minutes. The tempo clicked along at a slightly faster pace than usual, really propelling the jam forward. Right away, Trey eased the jam into another plagal progression jam, clearly wanting to get back to that improvisational launching pad that he’s found so comfortable. All the while Trey had a shimmering electronic sound going on in the background, giving everything a psychedelic sheen, and he played around with some big circular riffs high up on the neck of his guitar with the Mu-tron turned on. Heading for a big ramping up of energy, Trey found his way into some fast strumming with Fishman playing around heavily on the woodblocks. The return of Fish’s love affair with his woodblocks is one of the fun stories of summer 2015 so far. The jam peaked without a flurry of hose, but rather with a increasing amount of action from Page and Mike, with Trey finally erupting into some big chords and, interestingly, returning to the “Seven Below” riff to end the tune.

Sound faded away into the piano opening of “Fuego,” starting a fantastic string of songs that would end the second set with a series of high energy punches. The “Fuego” jam kept the energy flying as the band headed into the first “2001” of the summer. This was a classic version with Page and Trey both offering a variety of jazzy funk licks without trying to peak or build the jam, just keeping it grooving along on the Mike/Fishman pocket. Longer than the four or five-minute versions of a few years ago but not quite up to the ten-plus minute versions of the late 90s, this “2001” was a big crowd pleaser and set everyone up nicely for the “Harry Hood” that dropped in what seemed to be the closer spot.

Unlike the Shoreline and Texas versions, this “Hood” toed the line pretty close to the normal structure, which is to say that it was gorgeous and gentle leading to a big, classic tension and release peak. Like the “Maze” and “Chalk Dust” in the first set, Phish chose to stick to the tried and true improvisational style that characterizes so much of their sound, but they did so with a crispness and ease that we don’t always see in this era. Every mini-peak seemed to be perfectly placed within the overall form of these jams, and the entire band was dialed in to each other’s cues as to where the major structural points of the jam should be.

Photos © @tweeprise

Letting it all loose on the final “Possum,” the boys delivered one more burst of energy to cap off the blazing night before returning to huge applause and treating us to the always welcome “A Day in the Life” encore.

In the end, Phish followed up what are probably their two jammiest and biggest shows of 2015 not with more of that dark exploratory improv that burst through the seams of Atlanta’s “Kill Devil Falls,” “Tweezer,” and “Carini” jams, but instead by building on the energy of those great shows and delivering a Sunday night full of the same excitement and buzz as Atlanta but a bit shorter on transcendent improvisational moments. Still, the nearly 20-minute “Disease” with its “Piper” jam and the big blowout jam on “Seven Below,” along with a number of bustouts, tour debuts, and a much needed “2001” dance party made for a fun, spirited Sunday night.

Phish Summer 2015 – Setlists & Recaps
07/21/15 Setlist – Recap – Bend 1
07/22/15 Setlist – Recap – Bend 2
07/24/15 Setlist – Recap, Recap2 – Shoreline
07/25/15 Setlist – Recap – LA Forum
07/28/15 Setlist – Recap – Austin
07/29/15 Setlist – Recap – Grand Prarie
07/31/15 Setlist – Recap – Atlanta 1
08/01/15 Setlist – Recap – Atlanta 2
08/02/15 Setlist – Recap – Tuscaloosa
08/04/15 Setlist – Recap – Nashville
08/05/15 Setlist – Recap – Kansas City
08/07/15 Setlist – Recap – Blossom
08/08/15 Setlist – Recap – Alpine 1
08/09/15 Setlist – Recap – Apline 2
08/11/15 Setlist – Recap – Mann 1
08/12/15 Setlist – Recap – Mann 2
08/14/15 Setlist – Recap – Raleigh
08/15/15 Setlist – Recap – Merriweather 1
08/16/15 Setlist – Recap – Merriweather 2
08/21/15 Setlist – Recap – Magnaball 1
08/22/15 Setlist – Recap – Magnaball 2
08/23/15 Setlist – Recap – Magnaball 3
09/04/15 Setlist – Recap – Dick's 1
09/05/15 Setlist – Recap – Dick's 2
09/06/15 Setlist – Recap – Dick's 3

Tuscaloosa, AL LE poster by Leslie Herman. Edition of 600. 18x24.

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