Phish in Philly: A satisfying set

Mike Gordon, Trey Anastasio, Jon Fishman, and Page McConnell - known collectively as Phish - are unquestionably adventurous, whimsical heroes of the progressive jam-band movement. On Tuesday, the start of Phish's two-night, sold-out stand at the Mann, the quartet was greeted by glow-stick-throwing Phans as though they'd won the Stanley Cup (the band did have a Flyers jersey on stage, covering an end table).

Phish had indeed been victorious of late. Guitarist Anastasio recently took part - the part: Jerry Garcia's role - in the (supposed) final five shows of the Grateful Dead. This was sufficient to accord Anastasio and his band deific status.

With hundreds of "Fare Thee Well" shirts in the crowd (several reading, "Let Trey Sing"), that Phish-Dead connection was warm and lively Tuesday night, especially when Anastastio's guitar lines channeled Garcia in the rambling, pastoral "Backwards Down the Number Line" and the phase-shifting "46 Days."

There has always been far more to Phish than Dead echoes and jam noodling. There always have been hints of prog, shades of Yes-like theme-and-variation, such as in the dreamy, dreary stop-and-start "Dog Faced Boy." A Zappa-esque funk came through in the thrashing "Axilla" and the zig-zagging "Fuego." Phish gave Little Feat's wiry "Skin It Back" an ominous weight with a snaky, sinister guitar solo and a heart-pounding piano finale from McConnell. That same keyboardist sang his heart out on a full-blown cover of the Velvet Underground's "Rock & Roll" - possibly the most gleeful moment of the evening.

Phish reveled in its covers and its show of influences. The members were as passionate tucking into wild inspirations as they were with their own classics, such as the delicately percussive "Taste." Yet for all this mix-and-mash, as usual, Phish maintained its own identity. Starting with a head nod to the audience, Anastasio began singing the gently rolling "Crowd Control" ("I'm a feather in a storm, I'm a raindrop in the sea / If I don't get enough of you, I'm a lighter shade of me") with an open-throated earnestness that dovetailed handsomely with Gordon's harmonies.

If you can imagine a '70s cop drama sound track penned by Phish, "Martian Monster" would be it. The epic, winding complexity of "David Bowie" - incendiary guitar solos, thick dissonance, dirty bursts of lilting country and cool jazz - could only be Phish. All that, and drummer Fishman still looked great in that same polka-dot tunic he's been wearing for years. As far as Phish shows went, this one was a doozy.