Oblivion
| Originally Performed By | Trey Anastasio |
| Original Album | Evolve (2024) |
| Appears On |
|
| Music/Lyrics | Anastasio/Marshall |
| Vocals | Trey (lead), Mike, Page (backing) |
| Phish Debut | 2023-07-11 |
| Last Played | 2025-12-28 |
| Current Gap | 3 |
| Historian | Grant Calof (That_Guy) |
| Last Update | 2026-01-01 |
History
Few things in life are inevitable. One could argue the next sick Phish jam 'totally is, bruh', but as Christopher Bullock first said in The Cobbler of Preston (1716), "’tis impossible to be sure of any thing but death and taxes."
And based on funerary texts from Old Kingdom Egypt (c. 2400 - 2300 BC) and proto-cuneiform clay tablets from Sumer, Mesopotamia (c. 3300 BC - 2200 BC)... It's true. Keeping track of death and taxes (and complaints about substandard copper) has been part of the human condition for as long as humans have recorded history. Carved into burial chamber walls (the Pyramid Texts) and later etched into the underside lid of coffins (the Coffin Texts), the earliest funerary texts were used to prepare the decedent for the afterlife. And while the Upanishads (c. 1500 - 500 BC) claim the oldest recorded explorations of consciousness, the Bardo Thodol (aka Tibetan Book of the Dead) holds some of the oldest literature to describe the different stages of consciousness before, during and after death.
Because no matter who you are or what you do to live, thrive and survive, at some point, everyone eventually wonders... "What happens next?" It's a question as old as existence.
Granted, no one has found a concrete answer (thus far), but music and poetry [aka song and verse] offer a lasting, timeless, and tangible way to reflectively ponder and explore the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. And it’s songs like "Oblivion," that give us a brief but intriguing glimpse into one facet of one of myriad possible outcomes.
With lyrics by Tom Marshall and music by Trey Anastasio, “Oblivion” was the second tune released from Phish's sixteenth studio album, Evolve. The song’s winsome riffs and insightful yet minimalist narrative provide an instant hook, overflowing with thought-provoking ideas and haunting imagery.
Rife with refrains like "I fold my hands across my chest," "Though cold I sleep," and "draw me further underground," the lyrics seemingly allude to the varying and subsequent stages of the proverbial end, as consciousness literally and figuratively slips away or "sinks" down through "shale and oil" to the "onyx gates" of a dark "kingdom bathed in ink" where "the reaper" and a final destination awaits... Oblivion.
All that said, what exactly is... oblivion? The afterlife? Eternity? The underworld? Nothingness? Transcendence? A forgotten straight-to-video movie from 1994? Enlightenment? Or as Bill Hicks so eloquently states, "The realization that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves."? Or D) All of the above?
...Or maybe "Oblivion" really is just a groovy tune about fracking.
"Oblivion" made its live debut in the fourth slot of Set 2 on 06/09/23 with the Trey Anastasio Trio. A little over a month later, “Oblivion” found its way onto the Phish setlist in Huntsville, Alabama on 07/11/23. The song has been in steady rotation for Phish and TAB ever since.
If you're looking for a few standout versions, indulge in 08/31/23 from DSG or the longest "Oblivion" to date from Nashville on 10/06/23. 04/21/24 at the Sphere and 04/26/25 at the Hollywood Bowl are also worthy of seeking out.
Oblivion… awaits.
Last significant update: 12/09/2025
Phish.net
The Mockingbird Foundation