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Phish's only performance to date of this Bob Dylan song closed the 1998 Bridge School Benefit. After backing benefit organizer Neil Young and Sarah McLachlan on Ian Tyson’s “Four Strong Winds,” Phish started up “I Shall Be Released,” perhaps best known for its inclusion on The Band’s classic 1968 album Music From Big Pink. Page sang the first verse, Young the second and Trey the third, with the rest joining in on the chorus. Accompanying on accordion was Kevin Hearn, keyboardist for Barenaked Ladies.

The anthemic ballad has often served as the Bridge School Benefit grand finale and famously closed The Band’s 1976 farewell concert, which was captured in the Martin Scorsese film The Last Waltz; Young was one of the many guest stars who joined in on that rendition. Dylan’s own version can be found on Greatest Hits, Vol. 2. 

Watch I Shall Be Released on YouTube Phish with Neil Young, Sarah McLachlan, and Kevin Hearn, "I Shall Be Released" – 10/18/98, Mountain View, CA

(Dylan)
© Dwarf Music

They say ev’rything can be replaced
Yet ev’ry distance is not near
So I remember ev’ry face
Of ev’ry man who put me here
I see my light come shining
From the west unto the east
Any day now, any day now
I shall be released

They say ev’ry man needs protection
They say ev’ry man must fall
Yet I swear I see my reflection
Some place so high above this wall
I see my light come shining
From the west unto the east
Any day now, any day now
I shall be released

Standing next to me in this lonely crowd
Is a man who swears he’s not to blame
All day long I hear him shout so loud
Crying out that he was framed
I see my light come shining
From the west unto the east
Any day now, any day now
I shall be released