Set Your Soul Free

• Performances
• History
• Lyrics
• Jam Chart
• Artist
  • Phish
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  • Mike
  • Page
  • Trey
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Originally Performed By	Trey Anastasio
Appears On
Music/Lyrics	Anastasio
Vocals	Trey (lead), Mike, Page (backing)
Phish Debut	2018-07-20
Last Played	2025-07-25
Current Gap	10
Historian	TaylorFranklin
Last Update	2025-10-13

History

Not to be confused with a cover of Leon Russel’s song, “Set Your Soul Free” comes out of the same period of other soulful, optimistic, and life-affirming Trey lyric-penned songs such as “Soul Planet” and “More,” which are broadly categorized by some as his “Love and Light” songs. The style is reminiscent of funk and soul bands such as Trey’s favorite Sly and the Family Stone who, along with King Sunny Ade, was one of the original inspirations for the Trey Anastasio Band.

Fittingly, “Set Your Soul Free” was first played by TAB on 10/27/17 In Las Vegas, NV at the Brooklyn Bowl along with another soon-to-be Phish song “Soul Planet.” The show opened with a TAB debut acapella version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” with Trey holding a candle in tribute to the victims of the Las Vegas shooting at the Route 91 Harvest music festival shooting earlier in the month. TAB would continue to play this song six more times before Phish’s debut, and it has continued to be in TAB’s repertoire since

The song starts off with a driving intro rhythm guitar riff that chugs along throughout the body of the song. The lyrics are also driven by a clear direction to be present in life, particularly with the help of music and the “spirit family” naturally. It is an ode to music as a way of life and a reflection of the audience they play for each night. It was an appropriate song of hope, moving forward, and letting music show you the way in the face of challenges. 

In the final stanza, the words become almost like a funky and soulful prayer as Mike and Page sing a cascade of harmonizing and cycling repetitions of the song title for Trey to show off his best and soulful vocals. When these vocals end with a triumphant and last refrain, punctuated with “oh yeah,” the riff returns and the band is free to roam into the depth of the jam, and there have already been many of those thanks to this song. 

Early in the Summer Tour of 2018 on 7/20/18, Phish debuted “Set Your Soul Free” as the opening song on the first night of three at the Gorge. Since the start, “Set Your Soul Free” quickly found a home as a set opener. For its second performance ever on 7/25/18, it opened set two and proved itself to be a new, very reliable jam vehicle. This version is over 23 minutes of improv-heavy grooves before heading into “Twist” and remains one of the best versions of the song.

Phish “Set Your Soul Free” - 7/25/18, George, WA

Other notable highlights include Dicks 9/1/18 for a combination of ambiance, bliss, funk, and effects; 10/17/18 in Albany, NY for one of the darker versions to ever be performed before segueing into “Birds of a Feather”; and Mexico’s 2/22/19 monster set two opener segues into an outstanding “Mercury.”  This was the longest version to date until 10/17/21 in San Fransico, California, where they played a four-song set alongside another monster jam in “Chalkdust Torture.” 

Phish “Set Your Soul Free” - 02/22/19, Cancun, Mexico. Video by Phish.

On 12/7/18 Trey played the first acoustic version at the Los Angeles, CA Walt Disney Concert Hall. On 8/23/19 at Lockn’ 2019, it was the opening song of set two, and featured special guest guitarist Derek Trucks, who had been scheduled to play with TAB that evening and for Trey to join the Tedeschi Trucks Band the following night. If one is still in doubt about how to set one’s soul free, one should look no further than how two guitar virtuosos interpret it together side by side, setting our souls free in this spirit family. 

Trey Anastasio Band Featuring Derek Trucks - 8/23/19 - LOCKN'. Video by Relix

Giving its refrain to the title of Trey’s 2020 live album, Burn It Down, the song has continued to hold its own in the 2020s, including another highly recommended version in the fourth quarter of the second night of Bethel in 2022 among nearly yearly contributions to the song’s jam chart

But, what is IT we are burning? Our egos? Our minds? Our insecurities? The house? The town? Regardless, burn one down today for this spirit family!

Last significant update: 7/19/25

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