August 8, 2021 at Ruoff Music Center, Noblesville, IN
Never miss a Sunday show. Period.
I don’t know the true origin of the phrase, though I started hearing it around the Phish crowd. With Monday being a workday (in most cases), making the sacrifice to be at a Sunday show is special. It signifies a greater fandom, a commitment that’s often rewarded by the band with something epic. This epic reward varies and the payoff wholly depends on your preferred styles of performance by the band. The same as most ‘Phans’, epic jams give me all of the pleasure in the world (like the ones from the first night of this run). Something else I loop into the epic bucket is a healthy amount of shenanigans. The first concert I listened to was particularly goof-riddled (take a look at the first letter of each of the songs in the setlist here). Goofy isn’t everyone’s preference, though it’s clear the band is enjoying themselves during their shenanigans, and that’s worth bunches.
The excitement for something epic was palpable throughout the nearly 25,000 fans. I lost count of the number of people with “Never miss a Sunday show” shirts and other memorabilia they had in tow. Phish opened the show with an absolutely solid first set full of fan favorites and energy filled songs. The set was well executed, a testament to the musical talent of the group. While there weren’t any stand out jams, Phish was building towards something special, ending the set with a song I was hoping to hear in David Bowie, a song in which the tossing of glowsticks by the crowd is a fantastic sight to behold.
Phish was giving us all a great show, though hadn’t yet pulled out something worthy of the epic category. The clear start to something bigger was when Waves became a funk-paced version of Ghost. From here on, there was nothing but smiles as the band teased each of the songs in the second set within each other. Phish flowed between the lyrics and songs as if the second set was one big jam. This second set easily became worthy of the epic moniker.
If you’re interested, check out the setlists at the link here.
Following the epic second set, Phish played a phenomenal encore to wrap up the show. It might be tough to follow the entirety of the shenanigans and sampling that the band lays down during the second set if you’re not familiar with the songs. Even still, the pure joy that Phish had when treating the second set as one big jam is something that any listener can enjoy. I’ll be relistening to the show here, especially the second set and the encore. The adage of not missing a Sunday show held true.
