After a great first night to open up their run at the Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie in Grand Prairie, TX, Phish returned to venue for to close out the two night stand.Tonight’s show was the last before Las Vegas, as anticipation continues to build for what is sure to be an incredible Halloween show. With so much excitement on the horizon, it was a bit strange that Phish responded with a more sentimental and reflective performance. The show was highlighted more by the few bust outs included than anything else, and never crossed the 10-minute mark in any single song during the second set. When was the last time the first and second set had the same number of songs?The first set brought some fun energy to the table, starting with the once-rare “Daniel Saw The Stone,” a traditional reggae influenced tune that hadn’t been played since 2012 before this year. Now in its third iteration of 2016, “Daniel” was an upbeat way to start the show, and both “The Moma Dance” and “Chalk Dust Torture” kept that energy running strongly through the start of the first set. A cover of Talking Heads’ “Cities” came next, as the band continued to rock out in Texas.Just a couple of days ago, phans everywhere had noticed that no songs from Phish’s studio debut, Junta, had been played yet on tour. While fans were hopeful for a classic album Halloween, the band broke out into “David Bowie” on the first night in Grand Prairie, effectively nixing the possibility. The real surprise came on night two, when Phish transitioned from “Cities” into the Junta composition “Foam.” Easily one of the most challenging songs in Phish’s repertoire, the band nailed this bust out version – it hadn’t been played since 2014 (70 shows).After the Mike Gordon led “Waking Up Dead” from Big Boat, the band put yet another Junta track in the first set: “Divided Sky.” The tour debut version was as captivating as ever, ending with an uplifting melodic jam out. Jon Fishman got the curtain call next, as the band went into the classic “I Didn’t Know” featuring the drummer with a great vacuum solo. Trey Anastasio was joking about Texas during the song as well, only adding to the silliness. From there, the band launched into James Gang’s “Walk Away,” another once-rare cover that returned in summer 2016 and reprised during tonight’s show. Trey was wailing on the funky cover, and Page McConnell led the song’s vocals nicely.After “Walk Away,” the band again brought out their drawling instrumental “What’s The Use?” for a slower moment of the set. Afterwards, Trey immediately started singing the lyrics to the Big Boat song “More,” pulsating love and light to the Texan crowd. It was quite the happy-go-lucky way to end a great set of music.Phish started their second set with a pair of Joy tracks, opening with the rocking “Stealing Time From The Faulty Plan” before bringing out the first “Backwards Down The Number Line” of the tour. Amazingly, the band hadn’t played the song in 13 shows – the longest gap since its debut in 2009. Trey led an upbeat solo through the end of the song, and kept the mood sentimental with the first “Lifeboy” since 12/29/11 (189 shows) The song led into a nice ambient jam moment, before ending smoothly. Still, the energy level remained very low throughout the set.Page then brought out the organ introduction of fan-favorite “Meatstick,” another exciting tour debut for the fans in Texas. They kept the set rolling with “The Line,” playing the Fuego track for the first time on this fall tour, and maintained the mellow mood with Big Boat song “Tide Turns.” A lot of melodic Trey playing punctuated the first half of the second set, but the band pivoted with a great version of “Taste.” Trey teased “What’s The Use?” throughout the jam, essentially reprising the instrumental before completing the wind-up ending of “Taste.”The band offered up the next big bust out of the set, “Friday,” playing the song for the first time since 2004 – a gap of 325 shows. A song that many thought had been shelved for good, its return seems to be symbolic of Phish’s overall sentimental mindset. Big Boat was a pensive effort that saw the band’s members try their hand at reflective songwriting. “Friday” is certainly of a similar mentality, as the band last played it at Coventry – their final shows before breaking up. Sentimental, though it did very little to pick up the energy of the second set.“Waves” followed, offering the first real improvisation of the set. The jam was short-lived however, and the band finally brought some rock and roll to the show with the song “Julius.” Page had some nice piano solos during the early part of the jam, before Trey took the lead with some blues-rock inspired playing. They finished out the second set with a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Good Times Bad Times,” nailing it as per usual. Still, with no songs even crossing the 10 minute mark in the second set, it felt more like two first sets in Grand Prairie than anything else.To put the final nail in the coffin, the band returned for an encore of “Show Of Life.” Though the show did have some fun moments, it’s hard to not look at the setlist as a fairly sleepy collection of Phish songs. Perhaps they’re just saving the big-energy moments for Las Vegas, hopefully playing it safe while they continue to work on whatever is in store for Halloween. Whatever the case may be, we’re still excited to get to the MGM Grand.Check out the full setlist below, courtesy of Phish.net.Setlist: Phish at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie, Grand Prairie, TX – 10/25/16Set 1: Daniel Saw the Stone, The Moma Dance > Chalk Dust Torture, Cities, Foam, Waking Up Dead, Divided Sky, I Didn’t Know, Walk Away > What’s the Use? > MoreSet 2: Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan, Backwards Down the Number Line > Lifeboy, Meatstick, The Line, Tide Turns > Taste, Friday, Waves > Julius > Good Times Bad TimesEncore: Show Of Life read more