Phish Steps Back Into Gamehendge At Las Vegas Sphere

Friday night’s show marked the halfway point of Phish’s latest run at Las Vegas’ voluminous Sphere, a venue that, with its stunning visuals and pristine sound, seems tailor-made for the likes of the Vermont foursome. If Hampton is the Mothership, Phish is making the Sphere a planet all its own.

The band has been on a heater going back to last summer’s tour and this year’s Sphere residency has, so far, kept the streak rolling. After a solid first weekend, the band came in hot on Thursday with a stellar show that included the gooey “Fuego” -> “Dark Puddle” jam. So, what could they do for an encore to keep the Vegas crowd firing on all cylinders?

By kicking off with a song that hadn’t opened a show in 35 years, following that with an animated Gamehendge and, later, delivering almost an hour of wide-ranging improv that would be memorable no matter the venue.

Once again starting in front of an image of The Barn, floodwaters quickly submerged the famous studio into inky, watery depths, floating as the band eased into “The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday,” setting a delightful, even soothing tone to open the show.

Things got real weird in the best way, though, as the segue into “The Lizards” and another Phish icon — The Helping Friendly Book — appeared on the screen as animated pages from the book flew around. A quick journey through a series of doors dropped into the magical Land of Gamehendge itself.

The trippy animation — including dancing lizards, some of which were downright cute, a kaleidoscopic castle and the ghostly figure of the evil Wilson — was a perfect match for the jaunty classic that, somehow, managed to again breathe new life into a piece of the band’s lore that’s older than the band itself.

The trip to Gamehendge ended as “Set Your Soul Free” kicked in while colorful streaks of blues, purples and pinks swirled on screen. The song took on a spacey tone, synth lines from Page McConnell adding texture as the mid-tempo jam unfolded. As the song picked up steam, stretching close to the 20 minute mark, Chris Kuroda’s lights highlighted the band while the colors formed into a donut behind them. Or maybe it was an eye. Or a donut eye. This band.

“Roggae” followed as Jim Pollock’s beloved artwork from the archival LivePhish releases again made an appearance, rotating around the arena. “Ya Mar” followed, backed on the screen by Tube Raider, a mish-mash tribute to 1980s vide0 game glory that combined elements of classic games like Galaga and Rad Racer — and featured 8-bit renderings of the band members.

The chill vibes gave way to a rollicking, spooky version of “The Dogs” set to the image of a haunted house. Next up was another downshift via a gentle “Billy Breathes,” with imagery of a gorgeous sunny sky that became a solar eclipse, the perfect accompaniment to the song’s hushed ending.

“It’s Ice” helped the crowd reenergize after the ballad, especially a particularly funky synth lick from Page during the jam. The band then brought the first set to a close with a rousing “Walls of the Cave,” featuring visuals of coasting through a grove of bioluminescent trees that sped up as the closing jam intensified. It was a high-flying, electric end to what was a standard, well-played – if occasionally tonally imbalanced – first set.

Kicking off the second set was “Pebbles and Marbles,” set to the bird’s nest visuals that ran during one of last weekend’s shows, a great match, particularly when the baby birds took flight to the Page-piano-driven jam.

More than any other shows the band plays — including Mexico and fests — Sphere shows are the ultimate “you have to be there” experiences that can’t fully translate to the couch tour experience. But even squeezed within the boundaries of my TV, which is just a tad smaller than the Sphere’s viewing screen, they’re still impressive, and ultimately it’s the music that keeps me tuned in from my Ohio-based living room well after 1 a.m.

And that was absolutely the case for what was, to me, the night’s centerpiece.

“What’s Going Through Your Mind” continued its impressive two-year run as the screen became a KurodaTron, taking on the appearance of a behemoth version of CK5’s legendary lighting rigs. Pushed along by Jon Fishman’s unwavering drums, Mike Gordon’s chugging bassline and Page’s burbling synths, the jam transitioned to a major key at around the 14-minute mark, patiently teased along by Trey Anastasio’s guitar.

With the MegaKuroda taking all sorts of sparkling twists and turns behind them, Phish patiently built toward a frenetic major key peak, took a detour into a “Tahoe Tweezer”-style stop-and-woo with the crowd and landed on a discordant, spacey cloud of sounds, the song sliding close to 30 minutes before the familiar opening chords of “Piper” elevated above the ambient noise. Built on a repeated riff, the Farmhouse stand-out hurtled to its own glorious rock ‘n’ roll climax before giving way to “Monsters,” ending a tremendous 45-minutes of what Phish does best: riding the wave and surrendering to the flow, wherever that takes you.

The visuals for “Monsters” kept things dark with a fog-shrouded forest, a flying school of fish and jellyfish, plus a menagerie of creatures with glowing eyes. A breather, yes, but an emotionally unsettling one that wrapped with the crowd being swallowed by a large whale, the water motif returning strong.

Properly rested, the propulsive “Life Saving Gun” unfolded before a glimmering orb with video of the band members displayed inside. A galactic light show, the orb became more like a colorful supernova, spinning and sending swirls of light across the ceiling as the band took the jam in a spacey direction, Page’s keyboards weaving with Trey’s wah-styled riffs.

Content to continue stretching out the astral vibes, “What’s The Use?” brought out more interstellar visuals as the gorgeous instrumental, complete with an extended pause at its quietest moment, pushed the music even further out into the universe.

Not content to go gentle into that good night, “Vultures” brought the energy back up, the song’s funky, syncopated beat a well-matched partner to the return of Pollock’s artwork coming to life. Finally, the set came to a close with a spirited “Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S.,” the only way it could end with so many celestial graphics and cosmic music from the band.

After over an hour and a half of music in the second frame, Phish closed the night out with a polished “Slave to the Traffic Light.” On the screen behind the band, spider webs were the motif, including a giant spider that made its way across a web and dangled just above the band for a spell. If it was in awe of the way they keep finding new territory over 40 years in, it wasn’t alone.

Phish’s second of three Sphere weekends wraps on Saturday, April 25. Livestreams of all nine Phish Sphere shows are available to purchase through nugs and LivePhish.

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