The rumors about Phish’s Halloween show have been swirling for months. Sometime during the late summer, Trey had revealed that the band will cover an album as they have for past Halloween shows, but didn’t say which album or artist they would pay tribute to. The rumors ranged from Frank Zappa to Jimi Hendrix (Are You Experienced turns 50 next year!). In the end, the P-fish made the most obvious choice of all and honored the late David Bowie by performing his seminal masterpiece, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.

Right out of the gates, the band was showing that this was going to be a fun night. In light of Trey’s recent and highly criticized choice to wear a $780 Gucci shirt on the Jimmy Fallon Show, Trey decided to bust the shirt out again for last night’s performance. In the opening lyrics of “Carini,” which opened the first set, Trey sang “Everyone was screaming when they saw the shirt.” Classic.

After a smokin’ set of Phish tunes, the boys were welcomed by back-up vocalists and a strings section for the main event of the evening. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars doesn’t lend itself to a lot of jamming, but Phish did the album justice while putting their own twist on it. The set is really remarkable when you consider this is the first time that Phish has performed almost all of these songs.

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars set
Five Years, Soul Love
Moonage Daydream
Starman
It Ain’t Easy
Lady Stardust
Star
Hang On to Yourself
Ziggy Stardust
Suffragette City
Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide

For the encore, Phish reprised their a cappella version of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” to cap off the tribute to Bowie.

Thanks to Tom Rowles for the great stream. Check out his channel for more tunes from last night.