Phish Jones Beach ‘09: Setlists, Reviews, Video, Audio

Phish Take Jones Beach by Storm

Hit “play” above to watch HD Jones Beach videos.

Tonight Phish culminated their three-night stand at Jones Beach, and just four nights into the 2009 Summer Tour it's safe to say the Phish machine is kicking into gear.

Tuesday 6/2

On Tuesday, the first set featured a dark new tune entitled Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan, an ebbing and flowing Reba complete with whistling, and the bands first pass at If I Could since PNC 2000.

Set two highlights: an aggressive Mike's Groove, a spunky new number called Kill Devil Falls that seems to channel Chalkdust and Alabama Getaway at the same time, and a long, ambient Harry Hood capped off with a Loving Cup.

I got a blank space where my mind should be.
— Trey Anastasio, Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan

Night one also featured the triumphant return of WigMan, a charismatic fan with plenty of chutzpa, a jailbroken iPhone, and an external mic that allowed him to live broadcast a good chunk of the Phish Jones Beach show to the delight of fans worldwide.

It's impossible to explain the feeling when the broadcast went live and I found myself on PhishTwit watching Phish in real-time from over 800 miles away, streamed from some dude's phone with a mic powered by AAA batteries borrowed from a guy named Headlamp Derek. In Phish lore, this one's an Instant Classic.

It wasn’t just about the show. I liked this guy. I felt I had shared the experience with him. It didn’t go to commercial. It didn’t pan out on a huge crane over the crowd
— Benjamin Slayter via PSFK.com

But the good always seems to come with the bad, and when WigMan's leaky secret trended on Twitter with the phrase “PhishTube Broadcast,” it was quickly exploited by spammers who Tweeted links to spoof websites that served up a helping of bunk antivirus software.

Talk about raining on a parade.

Thursday 6/4

Speaking of rain, that was the forecast for night two at Jones Beach, but Phish didn't seem to mind at all.

On Thursday the band kept the pace set in the previous two shows of the tour, kicking off with Ghost and Antelope, delivering a beautiful Divided Sky, an excellent rendition of the new song Ocelot, a Japanese infused Meatstick, and ripping versions of Waste and Rock and Roll.

NOTE: Sorry for uber lame recap. Just listen to the show and you'll get the idea :)

Friday 6/5

So far so good here midway through the show Friday.

Word from folks at the show is that the rain isn't so bad, but the Buried Alive in the first set couldn't help but remind me of my wife's first show — 6/23/94 at the Phoenix Center — where it not only pissed rain all night but we missed nearly all of the Buried opener thanks to a single staircase leading up to the roof of the parking garage that was the venue.

Meanwhile the setlist tonight started off like it actually was the mid-90s, with Wilson, Buried, and Bag being played among the first four tunes. But the Kill Devil Falls in the 3rd slot probably had some folks feeling like they'd been transported all the way back to Tuesday.

Set two just kicked off with a strong Disease — or as @YEMblog put it so eloquently, “nastiness” — which moved nicely into Twist featuring an extended Oye Como Va jam.

From there it was Segue City as the band moved seamlessly from Twist into Piper into Backwards Down the Number Line into Free. Whew.

There must be something wrong with my source, because Free is followed by some sort of Trey Band vehicle called Twenty Years Later.

After that it's two beauties to end the set, 2001 and a beautiful rendition of Slave.

Stringing together a series of truly improvisational pieces for the first time this tour, Phish crushed their last set on Long Island.
— Mr. Miner, The Best Set Yet

All in all it seems like the band put on a great three nights at Jones Beach… inclement weather and all.

Scroll down for the complete recap: setlists, MP3s, FLACs, SBDs, streams, reviews, photos and more from Phish at Jones Beach.