There aren't many concerts that would fill the seats of the Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Oregon for two whole evenings, but Phish is definitely one of them. The origins of the merry pranksters still run deep in the small town, so having one of the figurehead bands of modern jam music grace the stage was easily enough to wake everyone from their pandemic and cannabis-induced hibernation.
On October 19th and 20th, the Vermont group felt right at home on the opposite end of the country, with Phish-heads arriving in leagues from either underneath their comfortable Eugene rocks or just following the tour from their own home towns. No openers, just four long sets of Phish for two nights in a row.
The celebrated jam band started promptly at 8pm on Tuesday night, ironically opening with "Down with Disease," which led into "Runaway Jim." Phish's style is quite smooth. While constantly evolving their songs into new experiences with lengthy improvisation, they maintain a composed flow, usually avoiding any jarring transitions or sudden dynamic changes. Their live material is much like a dream in the sense that everything blends seamlessly, and ostensibly without effort. Additionally, all four members have a relatively relaxed presence. However, even without "bouncing around the room," Phish manages to entrance the audience in musical psychedelia, aided by a blanket of nearly 100 stage lights attached to pulley systems, which keep the colored beams almost always in motion above the stage.
Another unique portion of the show came from Trey Anastasio's heart, speaking for the band on the tragic events that took place in San Fransisco, where, at their previous concert, a man fell to his death and two other patrons injured themselves. Trey first addressed the two men who were injured, touching on how tightly-knit the band's community is. He also sent his love to the friends and family of Ryan Prosser, the gentleman who passed away. Trey then went on to thank the phans and send love to all:
“I know this affected everybody, and some of the people who were nearby this event, I know have a lot of feelings and experienced this thing. So, I’m sending out my love to all. We all are (I’m speaking for the band) sending our love to all of them, everybody in the whole community," said Anastasio. "So, anytime you have a series of events with large groups of people, things are gonna happen. But, I don’t know if I can express how much we feel a part of this group of people that are here tonight, and every night, and the people who can’t be here, watching on TV. We very much know and feel that we’re just four more people in this group, who happen to be up here and you guys are standing there. But, when something like this happens, it hurts us very deeply and we want to send our love... We love you and please be safe.”
