Skyscraper is Grand! – New York, NY 10.21.1996

Phish — Madison Square Garden — New York, NY 10.21.1996

I SSB, Sample, CTB, Sloth, Divided, Zero, Ginseng Sullivan, Stash, Waste, Possum

II Wilson, CDT, Wolfman’s Brother, Reba, Train Song, Maze, Life on Mars?, Simple->Horse>Silent, Bowie

E Funky Bitch

Following their first day off of the young tour, Phish descended upon the venerable Madison Square Garden for the first of a pair of midweek shows at the World’s Most Famous Arena. These would be the fourth and fifth shows for Phish in the round room and along with the three shows from 2009 stands as the only other time the band has played the venue outside of a New Year’s Run. Considering the dizzying heights reached in the last visit here on 12.31.1995 expectations ran wild and high with the big time energy of being in New York City just adding to the atmosphere. I don’t know about you but to me there is just something so unique about shows in this venue. And even here in the early stages of Phish’s visits to The Mecca we as fans already knew that it was a special thing to be able to catch our little band in this legendary place. Maybe this all set things up for a letdown or perhaps it was simply a pair of midweek shows that are a bit better than our memories of them but when looking at all of the thirty-one shows that they have played here this pair is generally fairly lightly regarded. Granted, it is up against Holiday Run shows — and some quite legendary ones at that — but perhaps we are being overly critical. I suppose to figure that out we will need to go ahead with the listen and reflection…

First up tonight is the super rare a cappella opener with The Star Spangled Banner welcoming us to the night. When I say rare I’m not kidding as main a cappella tunes that Phish has played over the years are NOT generally opening tunes: Sweet Adeline (8 show openers in 138 appearances), Memories (6/42), Carolina (10/80), Hello My Baby (1/56), Grind (3/20), and the Star Spangled Banner (6/20, shockingly). That last one is interesting and probably more a factor of the song itself being the sort of thing you would start out a public event with than anything and here on this night it would be the first time the song gets the opener slot which is obvious considering it was just debuted a few shows prior to this one. The crowd is into it and that energy carries over into, ugh, another Sample which is quite well received by the masses before they dip into Cars Trucks Buses. This has that bouncy vibe and keeps everyone moving with Page shining in his solo, as always. Keeping things moving, we get our first Sloth of the tour, bringing the dirty rock out to further froth the fervent fans. At this point you have to expect some sort of vehicle to drop since they have been building the energy greatly thus far and we get Divided Sky to the delight of the crowd. Divided is one of those songs that I personally never go seeking but it is as classic of a Phish song as you could want, blending the compositional strength, unique musical phrasings, and pure musicianship that the band has to offer. This one has the crowd really into it and it is quite well executed as Trey goes off in his end solo. For the timers out there, the Pause tonight is 1:14.

Rather than drop into a breather song we get another rocker with Character Zero, still in its protean form without the big crunchy solo but still capable of blowing the roof off the place. Being that it is only the fifth ever Zero fans hadn’t yet fully caught on to this one but being quick learners it is well received all the same. Next we finally get a bit of a breather with the bustout of Ginseng Sullivan (103 show gap), putting the requisite bluegrass tune slot quite late in the set tonight. After this brief interlude we are back to the Phish tunes for Stash and tonight’s version is mainly an exercise in thematic searching before they bring it up to a big peak to resolve the tension. Nothing too major in this jam but a nice listen if you have the time. Waste comes in next to bring things down a bit (already the third of the tour) and then we are on to the Possum set closer. This is the first Possum since The Clifford Ball and perfectly fine in all fashions but doesn’t really require much note above that. The crowd sure seemed to love it though.

So after a few laps around the ring (RIP, Ring, the renovation destroyed you…) to occupy your eyes and mind during setbreak we settle back in for another set of that live Phish music we all seem to love so much. Coming on the heels of a quite rocking first set (the only real slow, breather song is the penultimate Waste) you had to wonder what direction they would go here. Well, being MSG and such Trey of course opens up with a bombastic Wilson, getting the crowd involved from the get go. After the chant-along and subsequent rock out they head into Chalkdust Torture with Trey really going for it in the straight forward but wonderfully big end solo. Second listen of this one really hit me with how hard of a punch it packs. Keeping it lively, we next get Wolfman’s Brother, still a fairly contained song here but with the roots of what is to come starting to form even if it wouldn’t be until the watershed moment that was 03.01.1997. Here it serves to continue the dance party and get us to our first vehicle of the set, our gal Reba.

This is not an all-timer Reba by any stretch but it is well executed and keeps the energy flow going as Trey explores within the theme. It all comes to a nice peak with Fish signaling the finish at just the right time. I love how he almost always seems to know the right time to pull the plug on Reba. It reminds me of that scene in Six Degrees of Separation where the Donald Sutherland character — “Flan” for you trivia buffs — talks about asking his kid’s 2nd grade teacher why all of the students in her class are such talented painters and she responds that she “just knows when to take away the paper”. There’s a lot that we can carry over from that idea to Phish in that often times there are jams that go on for a bit too long without anyone realizing it is time to “take away the paper” as it were. And then there are the times when we feel like there was more to be had if the band would have just kept going except that someone (usually Trey) decides it is time to move on. I suppose there is no right answer to this but it is a thought that always seems to come to me particularly with Reba jams since Fish really does control when the song wraps up. Bringing that back to our conversation about this show, this is one of those Rebas that probably could have gone on longer but was stopped at just the right point. Nice job, Fish.

Stopping to catch their breath a bit, Mike gets the lead singer role for the touching Train Song. It’s a good spot for the ballad as after the quick respite they head into Maze for a shred heavy romp through the mind-bender. This one is a couple of notches down from the demonic beast we heard in Pittsburgh but still probably messed with enough heads that night to keep everyone honest. The fourth and final tour debut of the evening comes in the form of Life on Mars?, the quirky David Bowie cover that was in a somewhat regular rotation throughout Fall 1995 and 1996 before becoming quite rare with one performance in 1997 (03.02.1997, coincidentally the show following that linked Wolfman’s up there), one in all of 2.0 (02.15.2003) and a few scattered versions in 2011. Some people may not be big fans of this cover since it is always played straight up and maybe it is just my memory of catching several of them in that era but it is a cover I have always liked. Trey gets to play a unique line and Page shines on the vocals which is always a nice combo.

Now a bit past the halfway mark in the set there’s still time for another jammer and Phish complies with Simple. This has a similar feel at the start of the jam as the one from Buffalo but goes in a more syncopated direction once Trey hops on the mini-kit. Page is getting funky (well, as funky as they did here in the early part of this tour before… WAIT! I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s just leave that waiting) and it feels like it could go on for a while in this manner. However, when Trey comes back to his guitar he foregoes the lead solo like we got in Lake Placid and instead shifts into a full segue to The Horse>Silent. Always a crowd pleaser (I mean, who doesn’t love to shout out the line “I think that this exact thing happened to me JUST LAST YEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAARRRR!!!”?) this gets the crowd seal of approval before heading straight into what will be the set closing David Bowie. I say straight in because while there is no direct segue they leave out the highhat intro from Fish and instead get down to business. The jam itself takes a little bit to get going but once it does Trey masterfully builds tension towards the massive release you came for with this song. There’s a bit of an almost-but-not-quite off the rails feel here that hints back to the hey days of Bowie while staying within the song and not into the deep deep waters. It works quite well as a punctuation mark to this highly energetic show and the subsequent encore Funky Bitch just adds to that feeling as well.

In the end, on paper, this is perhaps not the most exciting show to look at. The first set really only has that Stash and the Divided Sky as true vehicles and the second seems a bit disjointed or “song-y” until you hear the music being played. Sure, it is arena rock heavy overall but that can make for a quite fun night particularly when you have a crowd that is willing and able to push that energy right back to the stage. Perhaps the energy is a response to the crowd and that works too. While this might not be one of the all time best MSG shows the band has every played it is a lot better on listen that I remembered. There are takeaways here (Reba and Simple for certain, and add that Stash too) and the band is playing very well here just five shows into the tour. You could also argue for the addition of Divided and Bowie there but I’ll leave those for the tour end discussion as second tier nominations. The fact is, of course, that almost everything here will soon be outshined but for this night we have some fun stuff to play. And we get to do it again from this venue one more time!

Which reminds me…

With the NYE Run coming up quite soon I will be putting up this review and the one for 10.22.1996 before sitting back to enjoy this run both on stream and then in person for the final two. I had toyed with putting up reviews for the NYE Run shows but considering I am not one for deadlines and needing to get content up right away, the thought of needing to get what I would consider to be acceptable reviews up in a timely manner simply ain’t gonna happen especially since I will be on the ground for half of the run. So I’ll leave that to others to tackle.

UPDATE!

here’s the full show video for 10.21.1996

Set I

Set II

you might want to take some dramamine before viewing

But What Of Silver Silken Blade – Buffalo, NY 10.19.1996

Phish — Marine Midland Arena — Buffalo, NY 10.19.1996

I MFMF, Rift, Free, Esther>Llama, Gumbo, Disease>Caspian>Frankenstein

II Bag, Sparkle>Slave, Bouncin’, Melt, Fluffhead, Swept Away>Steep>Lope, Hello My Baby

E Fee, Rocky Top

On the back side of a run of four straight nights performing — all in different cities and venues — Phish found themselves at the Marine Midland Arena in Buffalo, NY, the home of the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres. As always seems to happen, this venue has changed names since then first as the HSBC Arena and now as the First Niagara Center. The venue had only opened about a month prior to this show, making it the second venue Phish had already played this tour that was pretty darn brand spanking new. State College… remember?? Geez, it was only like two reviews ago… Well, even if you don’t care about that kind of thing Phish did play this venue not even a month after it had opened but still almost a month before the scoreboard came crashing down at center ice which I suppose is a good thing timing-wise…

This, of course, was not the band’s first trip to the region as over the years the northwest part of New York state has been pretty darned kind to our band. The first visits were in 1991 first for a barroom show at the famed Nietzsche’s on 04.19.1991 (check out the bad joke from Fish during the BBFCFM encore and a pretty okay Reba here) and then that fall (09.28.1991) for a show at a roller rink where Trey ‘skated’ through the crowd while playing his solo in Weekapaug and some audience members took to creating their own roller disco at the back of the floor. The next visit was in spring 1992 for a show in North Tonawanda at the Riviera Theatre (05.08.1992). There’s a nice Reba and that typically fun/loose vibe from small theater Phish with lots of Secret Language and teases throughout. The famed August ’93 run would be the next time Phish would play in the region, for the first time at Darien Lake Performing Arts Center on 08.07.1993 for a classic show that has a glorious archival release available. This is a fantastic show all around but definitely check out the Stash->Makisupa, the “roller coaster of the mind” narration in Forbin’s>Mockingbird, the MFMF>McGrupp->Purple Rain, the Antelope, and more if you are somehow unfamiliar with this one. Oddly enough, this show marked the first time Phish didn’t play BBFCFM at a show in this area. The next visit would be on 04.10.1994 at the Alumni Arena of SUNY Buffalo for a highlight-filled affair, most notably the Antelope, Hood, and Melt. Then we have another famed stop to this part of the country for the 12.07.1995 show from Niagara Falls. Seriously, if you do not know this Fall 1995 gem you really should go spin that before you worry about our 1996 show here. Like that Darien Lake show it is also an archival release and has phenomenal stuff like the big first set Slave, a raging Possum, a mind-bending Melt, a frenzied Reba, and the wonder that is Mike’s->Weekapaug->DDLJ. Phish’s next visit to the area would be for our Fall 1996 show but they have continued to return to the area with four more shows at Darien Lake over the years (08.14.1997, 09.14.2000, 08.13.2009, and 06.08.2011), all shows with notable takeaways for you to peruse… like the ambient jam out of Hood and the Merry Pranksters insanity out of Forbin’s in 1997, the awesome Suzy and Drowned->C&P from 2000, um… the Drowned from 2009 maybe? and the Golden Age teases that abound in 2011. Okay, so maybe the last couple of visits haven’t had quite the fireworks but let’s just roll with it, mm’kay?

So with all of that history here, how does the 1996 stop stack up? Well, I am glad you asked because that is exactly what I plan on covering from here on out in this post. Good thing you stopped by. Starting a show with My Friend My Friend (or Myfe/Knife for you old folks) is generally a good sign as the demented tune froths with an anticipatory build that begs one to get down and dirty. There have been 28 show opening MFMFs in the 139 times it has been played with most setting the tone for the evening to come. This one stays at home with that screeching peak out of Trey before the denouement that gets us to our first Rift of the tour. This is tackled cleanly and we are on to Free. Tonight’s version starts out quite bombastically with Trey giving way to Page after the verses, allowing Page to set the mood. Trey adds in a bunch of pedal effects and grating tones as Fish pounds out the beat and Mike drops in some small artillery fire on the bass. They wrap this one up nicely with a nailed return to the final round of lyrics and we move into our second of the twisted tales of the night with Esther, that now quite rare crowd favorite. This one (with its Random Note SL in the intro) is paired for what stands as the last time currently with Esther, providing an interesting punch to the end of the sad tale of that little girl and her evil doll. That Llama shred can mess with heads too, so we are still somewhat in our darker theme here even with the brightness of Rift and the hopeful feelings of Free counterbalancing the other songs (though the jam in Free is of that darker realm). This connected theory gets blown up next though as they start up the Fish-penned ditty Gumbo. Well, maybe just one song out of theme is okay…

After the Gumbo we have our second Down With Disease of the early tour and tonight’s shreds similarly to the one from Lake Placid but we have a bit of extra effect love from Page and some exploration within the context of the song before Trey comes in to peak this one out. This leads right into Prince Caspian which acts as something of a breather before Trey takes his typical Fall ’96 Caspian solo and then we head right into the set closing cover of Frankenstein. Now, I am a huge fan of Phish’s take on this Edgar Winters classic but just in case you have yet to witness it, here is what I consider to be the canonical version of the tune as performed by Mr. Winters and his pals back in 1973. It is so good that Chuck Klosterman once did an article on it for Grantland. I’m pretty confident Phish has never gone that big with the song particularly with all of the different “instruments” that Edgar plays there. This one from Buffalo is fine enough and puts a nice exclamation point on the set, pretty well closing the book on that darker theme we started back with MFMF.

Considering the set includes a song about a wife with a knife, a song about the consuming dread of silence, a song that while thematically about freeing oneself from the bounds of the physical includes a dissonant jam, a twisted tale about a demonic doll, a wild ride into battle with blastoplast-wielding soldiers of Gamehendge, a lysergically charged romp about soup, a soaring jam with references to visions of demons spurred on by a bout with illness, a song about a regal dude with no feet, and a classic pastiche of varied music that nods to its namesake this set has something of a prevailing vibe going on. There is no big centerpiece jam because there often isn’t in a first set like this but it is a quite fun one if you are into the more dark side of Phish, even though in the end it is all fairly bright and happy music which further confuses one due to the dichotomy that presents. Yeah, I am totally overthinking this here but I need to write about something and a straight forward set like this one doesn’t lend itself to effusive praise about the hetty jamz, yo. But seriously, you could do much worse than a tightly played set such as this one.

The second set starts off with a seemingly random ‘Wish You Were Here’ tease from Trey before they start up another in the line of oddball tales with ACDC Bag. Here in the pre-1997 days this song was more rocker than jam vehicle though you do get a little extra stank for the effort as they amp up the energy big time for this version. Next up is an odd pairing of Sparkle>Slave which makes sense considering it is the only time they have paired the two songs thusly. The Slave is nice in the way that it typically is but feels like it could have gone bigger before giving way to Bouncin’. This is then backed up by Melt and here five songs into the set it is difficult to get any sort of read on what their mindset is considering that they seem to be going back and forth from one style to another. There’s nothing to really complain about though when they get into the Melt jam which while perhaps not anything epic is a fine fine version that relies mainly on the T&R build rather than the mindfuckery that generally makes Melt what it can be. This marks the tenth song to debut for the tour which is fairly typical here in the fourth show as while they are focused on the material from the new album it doesn’t stop them from being Phish and digging into their catalog. They keep the energy up following Melt by playing Fluffhead (another tour debut…) with a little extra emphasis on the “New York” line as tends to happen in this state. Our second glimpse at Swept Away>Steep follows and I have to admit that maybe it is just me but for some reason I always want to write that as “Steep>Swept Away”. Not entirely sure why but I have to consciously remind myself to not write it the wrong way. Clearly that is a me problem…

This duo of tunes works well as the come down from Fluff but also in leading into Run Like An Antelope considering the big peakiness of that song. This Lope gets dissonant for a bit but then goes the way the song does and everyone loves it and screams their heads off in response. As if to bring it all down a bit from this Phish comes out for our first a cappella tune of the tour with Hello My Baby. Kind of a letdown closer after the big time energy of Fluffhead and Antelope but whaddayagonnado. All that’s left are the encores which tonight are Fee and Rocky Top, two fan favorites that do exactly what you expect them to here.

Look, I won’t sugar coat it, this is not a top tier show. It is fine enough and quite well played for the fourth show in as many nights but there just aren’t any major highlights to pull out of this one. In truth this is something of a pattern for Fall 1996 that we will see where they sprinkle in some big time jams but have entire sets or even shows that kind of coast along on the energy stuff without much in the way of true exploratory jamming. There are some takeaways, of course, but they are probably not going to make it anywhere near a best of the tour list when it is all said and done. And with that rousing introduction I’ll say your takeaways are Disease and Melt with Free and Bag being the add-ins if you are feeling gracious. There is nothing wrong with this show by any means but it is largely average fare in a time when Phish had full command of their arsenal and a willing crowd to spur them to greater heights which is not to imply that they do not still have these things but that they were still on the rise on the heels of 1995 and with more big things on the horizon. I think this one ends up being a Saturday Night Special that was probably quite fun in the moment but lacks the lasting power that a couple of big or unique jams could have given it. So now we get that first night off to travel southeast through the state for the return to MSG for a pair of midweek shows. Remember, phans: Don’t pass them, let them pass you.

Inside Me A Voice Was Repeating This Phrase – Pittsburgh, PA 10.18.1996

Phish — Civic Arena — Pittsburgh, PA 10.18.1996

I Jim, Guelah, Old Home Place, CTB, Stash, Strange Design, Divided, Billy Breathes, Taste, Sample

II Suzy>Maze, YEM, Reba, Waste, Hood

E Julius

Continuing their opening run for the Fall 1996 Tour in Pittsburgh, PA, Phish hit the stage for the third time in as many nights (with one more to go in this string before a Sunday night off to get ready for MSG). This was the second time the band had played this venue after a quite decent one on the Fall 1995 Tour (check out the Stash, Reba, and Gin!). The band’s history with The Burgh goes way back with the band first visiting venues in this fine post-industrial city as early as 11.30.1992 — a show with the first ever non-whistle-ending Reba (it’s a good one too!) and one of the few Secret Language Instructions ever — at the Metropol, a smallish music venue that closed in 2002. Then there’s the one time stop to the now-defunct IC Light Amphitheater (one of the more hilarious product sponsor venue names I’ve ever seen because seriously what is Iron City Light doing sponsoring a music venue?? and which is now the site of a soccer stadium project) on 07.18.1993 which has a really fun Antelope that includes jams on Heartbreaker and Brother. Next would be the one time stop at the AJ Palumbo Center on the campus of Duquesne University on 10.09.1994 for the show best known for the ALO Squirming Coil it contains. As an aside here, I saw shows at this venue on two nights of that weekend: first on Friday for Dave Matthews Band opening for hometown heroes Rusted Root (and there was NO ONE in the venue for the DMB set as this was well before their departure from playing real jam music and hitting the big time) and then on Sunday for the Phish from Vermont who also drew a smaller crowd here than Rusted Root. Still one of the stranger music weekends of my life in that regard. Okay, back to the recaps. This Fall 1996 show would end up being the last time that the band has played in Pittsburgh itself as they have since moved on to the wonderful outdoor venue to the west in Burgettstown that seems to have a new sponsor every time they come back (but will always be Star Lake Amphitheatre to me…). I won’t go too deep into detail on that classic venue as they have now played seven shows there since their awesome debut at the venue on 08.13.1997 but if you have never checked out any of the shows here first slap yourself because what the heck, man, but then go do it. You will not be disappointed!

Clearly, the band has a pretty good track record in this part of Pennsylvania. And maybe if you just looked at the setlist from this 10.18.1996 you might think this one is the “off year” but just look at that second set. LOOK AT IT!! THAT’S A SIX SONG SET IN AN ERA WHEN THEY REALLY DIDN’T DO THAT!! Oh, sorry, didn’t mean to get all riled up there. Ahem. Anyway, the setlist here is a tad deceiving as it doesn’t have a bunch of cool segues or many things to indicate that this is anything more than a Friday night fun time in downtown P’Burgh. And let’s be honest, it isn’t a show that is making any short lists for the year but there’s a lot to be found in this one…

We get rocking right from the start with our first Runaway Jim of the tour which while not overly extended has a nice jam to get us up and moving. Next we get our old pal “Two Slot Guelah” which is a fun one and not a song you ever really hear anyone complain about (because why would they?) before they bring back the bluegrass three hole tune for The Old Home Place. This is one of those songs you never really go in saying “hey, I’d love if they played Old Home Place tonight” but you still end up singing along to the playful number. Cars Trucks Buses starts up next for our first repeat of the tour (there will be more tonight…) and this one is as punchy as you could want for a version that stays totally in bounds. You really can’t go wrong with that tune. It just begs you to dance to it. Now we are on to Stash and I will admit that the first time I listened to this version it didn’t do much for me but upon relisten I really liked what Trey had to offer in this one. It is not an epic 94/95 Stash but there is some real solid T&R development as he throws ideas around in getting to the peak. It really lacks in only being 11+ minutes as I would have liked more of what they had going there. Keeping with the tour debuts (excepting CTB) we get Strange Design, that sentimental tune that was left off the Billy Breathes album but did come out as a b-side to Free in a version that is different than how they play it live (this is the only Phish single I ever purchased and I did that only to get this version). Here it is a nice breather after the Stash.

Trey brings the energy right back up by starting into Divided Sky and while pretty much what you expect out of this well loved staple there does seem to be a little bit of extra sauce being put on particularly by Trey who takes a quite soaring solo that has some DEG-like hints right near the peak. Billy Breathes gives us our second tour repeat and another (groan) breather tune but right after this somewhat shaky version we go into Taste. This one is nice enough with a decent bit of soloing from both Page and Trey but I couldn’t get past Fish coming in a tad early at the peak so it isn’t one I’ll be spinning very often. They cap the set with our third tour repeat in a row, Sample in a Jar, and you know how I feel about that song so let’s just move along. Overall this set feels like a lot of table setting without much payoff though the Stash and Divided were quite good. Here in the early stages of this tour it is not surprising that they are both playing a lot of songs and also focusing on the Billy Breathes material. Everything is played well enough but I definitely recall sitting there at the break wondering whether we’d be getting anything more meaty after the lights went back down. I mean, I like side orders as much as the next guy but give me that big juicy burger of a jam to sink my teeth into, please. Anyone else hungry?

Now, part of why we go is because of that unknown regarding what they will play – and how – so it isn’t like anyone was going to leave at setbreak before finding out what they had in store. Of course, maybe your mom was picking you up and she was waiting out front and you really did have to go right then but this was in the age before cell phones were prevalent so you can just make her wait a bit and then explain it off by saying you had no idea what time it was (probably a good idea to take off your watch before using that argument though, momma’s boy). And realistically, the set starts off innocently enough with Suzy Greenberg coming by to get the kids dancing. Nothing too special to see there. But then that heads right into Maze which starts off in the way it does before diving deep into a dark and twisted version that just blows up once Page hits the organ. He and Trey trade quite stellar solos with both riding the dark wave through to the end. This is a wonderful version of the song and while not ‘type II’ in any way gets out there. I’d gladly put this one up there in the higher echelons for Maze. Not content to rest on that the band immediately drops into You Enjoy Myself for a really fun romp through the most frequently played song in the catalog. Things are going along well enough and then in the back part of his jam Trey drops a few “Do You Feel Like We Do?” quotes, sending the crowd into a tizzy. This energy carries over to the D&B section to follow and even into the VJ which has a bit more cheering than your standard one. This is not a world class YEM to rival the best of the best but it is a solid version with that well placed nod to Mr. Frampton. Sticking with the jam vehicles, our gal Reba is up next and this one’s a real beaut, Clark. Trey works his lead lines out with an almost tension-building precision as Page lays down some fantastic complimentary bits on the piano. This all heads to the predictable Reba peak but the getting there is quite lovely. I’m a bit surprised at how lightly regarded this version is by those who rank this sort of thing as if we got a Reba like this these days people wouldn’t stop talking about it for weeks. Maybe in two weeks they’ll surprise me? Considering that this is the next version following one of the all-timers from The Clifford Ball it is nice to hear them reach for the apex once again. The counterpoint to this type of Reba will come in only a few shows when they go dark with it but this one is all about the major key peak build. 94/95 may be the Our quick breather tune tonight is Waste (second of tour and fifth repeated song from that first show of the tour) and it is fine enough but really is just fodder on the way to our Harry Hood closer. As with the other notable tunes played here tonight it isn’t a top of the heap version but it serves quite well as our closer with a lovely bit of playing by Trey to be found here. Interestingly enough, we are seeing a pattern here where a lot of these songs that they are playing well but perhaps not spectacularly here in the early part of the tour will end up having top tier, arty rankin-worthy versions by the time we get to Vegas. Gin, Hood, Reba, Simple, and other songs all get the workout in this tour. While these early tour versions don’t necessarily hint at what is to come they are solid enough that you can’t help but notice (with the benefit of hindsight, of course) that bigger things are on the horizon. That is perhaps a bit revisionist but, hey, we are allowed that kind of latitude here 19 years on from this night. I don’t know, maybe I’m just reaching. Whatever. Anyway, the encore tonight is Julius and I mentioned this on twitter the other day but pretty much all of the versions of Julius from this time period have some unreal playing by Trey. He simply shreds this one to bits and sends us off into the night shaking our heads, wagging our fingers in the air, and praising the power of Phish. It’s a nice exclamation point on a quite solid show, definitely the best show of these opening three of the tour.

As you can probably tell, I really like this show, particularly the second set. Yes, I was there (my first of the tour and last until a wonderful six show run I got a few weeks later) so that influences my opinion but even still you can tell there is something going on here in terms of band/crowd connection that just didn’t elevate in those first two shows. It helps when the band does their part by bringing great playing, energy, and song choice together but the crowd is as much a part of it as anything. I’m not going to dive into that big pool right now but suffice it to say I maintain that this show was aided by a receptive crowd who was willing to reflect the energy back to the band. Those are the nights that end up being the most memorable in my book. So with that your takeaways tonight are Maze, YEM, and Reba (for first tier stuff) with Divided, Hood, Stash and Julius being your next tier and Jim the ‘throw in’ play. The playlist will be updated to include all of those (sans Jim). Next we shuffle off to Buffalo for another night with more to show than what the setlist tells us…

Here Is A Place Of Elegance – State College, PA 10.17.1996

Phish — Bryce Jordan Center, PSU — State College, PA 10.17.1996

I 2001>Funky Bitch, Sparkle, Tweezer>Theme, Talk, PYITE, Zero, ADITL, Reprise

II Ya Mar, CDT, Gin, Mule, Free, Lizards, SSB, Bowie

E Golgi

Phish and college arenas go together like peanut butter and pancakes — which is really good if you have never tried it. There are books that could be written filled with nothing but anecdotes from the many amazing shows the band has played to our impressionable rising youth over the years, anecdotes that most of us have considering that so many of us were first exposed fully to the band while in our formative collegiate years. Penn State University is one of those places where the band has had a rich history, first* having played State College at the old Rec Hall on 04.08.1994 for a show that is chock full of highlights and notably includes the legendary Ice->DDLJ->Ice that birthed the very first Digital Delay Loop Jam. There’s some other great stuff here as well including one of those wonderfully out there ’94 Bowies and a beaut of a Hood. The band has played here in State College two more times, first for the show we are about to discuss and then again the year following as the fourth to last show of the epic Fall ’97 tour. This one is best known for the big time Simple->Timber Ho! but is worthy of a full spin if you have the time. Those last two appearances in State College were at the Bryce Jordan Center, a multi-use facility that hosts the basketball, volleyball, hockey, and other sports teams along with concerts, wrestling, and other non-university revenue generating activities. This venue has some solid trivial history what with Aerosmith recording portions of a live album here, The Backstreet Boys using it as the backdrop for a music video for one of their poppy boy band hits, and Pearl Jam releasing a live album of a show they played here in May of 2003. As the venue had just opened in January 1996 it was still pretty brand spanking new when the Phish scene descended upon it in October of that year, perhaps forever altering the ambient aroma of the HVAC system in the process.

This show starts off with the party vibe as the band throws down a quick hitting dancey combo of 2001>Funky Bitch. Keep an ear on 2001 this tour as the seeds of what is to come in 97-99 are sown as this tour progresses. Tonight’s version is pretty straight forward and the Funky Bitch that follows is about what you’d expect as well. Keeping the energy high, they then drop into Sparkle for the frenetic tale of suitor stress before giving us our first Tweezer of the tour. Maybe it is the fact that it is a mid first set version or that they just aren’t up for it this night but this one just doesn’t really go anywhere. I’m not one to base thoughts on a jam on length but considering this one clocks in at under ten minutes with the lyrical section you know it it not much more than a setlist check mark. They do take this right into Theme from the Bottom though and that has a nice if predictably soaring peak even if it is pretty contained in comparison to the strongest versions of the song.

Staying with the Billy Breathes theme, we get the third Talk ever and I’ll just move on because of all the songs in the Phish canon this is one of the few that simply does not work for me. At all. But that’s a “me” thing related to a certain journey along the NYE Run later in 1996 that really does nothing to add to our conversation here because at the end of the day Talk is just a little ditty they have played a grand total of 14 times (though unfortunately for me right now more than half of those were in 1996…). Following this diversion they bring the energy right back up for a nice run through Punch You In The Eye and further froth the fervor with our second Character Zero in as many shows (get used to it. this song and Taste are the workhorses of this tour with each song appearing in over half of the 35 shows between Lake Placid and Las Vegas). We are still fairly close to the album take here but Trey does start to shine a bit brighter on his solo. Zero is followed by the well loved cover of The Beatles’ A Day In The Life, a straightforward but energetic tale that you knew quite well before Phish started covering it at Red Rocks in 1995. The song works well as a closer or encore so it’s not surprising that WAIT. Hang on, they decided to throw us a bone and close the first set with Reprise, putting a nice cap on a highly energetic set with but one little lull for that bathroom break Talk. Sure, there’s not a lot in the way of takeaway highlight fodder here but in the moment this would have been a quite fun set to get down to as it is just one dance party tune after another… acknowledging, of course, that this is in the days before the real dance party music entered the equation… but I’m getting a bit ahead of myself there, aren’t I?

And so after taking in the sights and the shiny new venue during setbreak one had to wonder what the band would come out with to start the second frame. If you guessed Ya Mar you would have been correct but I have a feeling that not too many people expected that to be our opener. It fits with the prevailing vibe though and this version is bouncy and bright even if it lacks anything resembling a notable outro jam. They keep it cranking from there with a solid, on point Chalkdust Torture (we here in 3.0 need to remember that CDT didn’t become the extended vehicle that it currently is until that watershed 07.10.1999 version from Camden). This is followed by an engaging if somewhat abbreviated Bathtub Gin, a song that had toyed with jam heights in the past but was still not quite a reliable vehicle either. Just wait though. We will soon be hitting one of the biggies… This one is not that though so let’s just move it right along.

When Phish starts up Scent of a Mule you generally get one of a few reactions from those around you. There’s the bathroom breakers who immediately dart out to the concourse to take advantage of the 10-12 minutes of oddity that this song produces, there’s the audible groaner jaded vets who don’t want any of their precious second set jam space taken up by this “filler” tune, there’s the excited hijinx chasers, and there’s the rest of the crowd who either doesn’t know the song well or simply doesn’t care either way because they are having a blast at a Phish show and there’s no reason to let this weird Mike tune ruin their show, man. I’m not entirely certain where I sit on this one personally as even with as many times as I’ve seen the klezmer and duel and whatnot there is something about that “here’s a place of elegance, here we shower ourselves in lightness” section that hits me every time. It’s one of those perfect Phish lyrics that evokes more than the simple words stated. But even above that this song offers up the possibility to hear them do some different musical stylings than in most other songs with Page taking a (usually) interesting solo before handing it over via the duel to Trey (or sometimes Mike gets involved too) and being Phish there is the humor factor that adds to it all too. That said, I’m not really sure why so many of the Mules the band has played warrant jamchart entries except for the possibilitty that someone over at .net is a big time SOAMule fan. I mean, sure, each one has a slightly different take on the duel section but it isn’t like they are up there creating mind-blowing “new” music on the spot. Of course, there are some versions that are worth your time and I’d argue that this one has an interesting Trey section considering he vocally mimics the notes he plays for a bit of a scat feel before they come back around to finish up the duel and klezmer madness that brings us around to the final verse and refrain. As Mules go you can definitely do worse.

After that the band starts up Free, that chugging powerhouse of a tune that was a pretty reliable vehicle for much of the early part of its show life, possibly peaking in 1997 but also having had a couple of quite notable versions in Fall 1995 after only having been debuted at the Voters For Choice Benefit show on 05.16.1995 (along with several other tunes…). 1996 was something of a ‘meh’ year for the tune in jam terms but that’s not to say they played the song poorly. This version is a good example in that regard as it rocks hard and has a nice bit of crunchy, grating guitar out of Trey with Page toying around all over the piano as Mike and Fish provide the bombastic rhythm behind it all. It won’t make the highlight reel but was assuredly a fun one to rock out to in the moment. Now more than halfway through the set, the band comes up for a bit of air and drops the beloved Lizards on us, offering up the wonderful tale and musically engaging song for our enjoyment. Following this you might expect them to go big or at least amp up the energy again but instead the four step out front for an a cappella tune. While it could have been any of a number of tunes at this point (and, really, where have all the a cappella tunes gone? we now only get Grind or a couple others these days and that kinda sucks if you ask me because I love that aspect of Phish) Trey mentions that they need to practice for an upcoming performance of this new song before an NBA game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the LA Lakers. So they trot out their take on The Star Spangled Banner, treating us to our first glimpse at the patriotic side to Phish. I like the Phish version of the song and hearing the entire crowd join in is always a nice touch, particularly in venues like this one. My personal favorite was the celebratory one from the encore of the 11.01.2014 show which seemed like an exclamation point on an amazing night but your mileage may vary. No matter what, this version is cool to hear due to the newness of it and how it sure seems like they really want to get it right before performing it for a non-Phish audience.

So how do you follow up the national anthem then? For Phish it means bringing out a big gun to capitalize on that crowd energy so they start up David Bowie which seems like as good of a choice as any. Understanding that this vehicle was a bit past its heyday, it still had the power — and reputation — to blow up the joint any time Phish started into it. This Penn State version is not a jam monster feeding on the fearful thoughts of the heads cowering from its demonic sound but it is a clinic in the high quality tension and release construct. Trey is large and in charge here, offering up lots of ideas all while playing around the building tension, first with a slowly building section that feels like it could dive right off the deep end at any point. Eventually, as the tension builds Trey’s lines become more and more intricate with Page comping around behind him. You can feel the peak stat to form as we await that sweet release but they bring things down again for another minute or so just to add more to that level of expectation. When the big peak finally does come it hits hard and will have you pumping that fist at your desk. As with the first set ending Reprise, this Bowie packs a big punch that adds to the energy of the set before it and provides the right kind of punctuation mark to this show. A quick Golgi Apparatus encore sends us out into the central Pennsylvania night and we are off to Pittsburgh for a Friday night affair.

There’s no reason to sugar coat this one; it is an energy/rocker show and that is fine. The biggest highlight is perhaps that Bowie closer or maybe the Mule if you really want see some people get pissed off. But even with that the playing is quite solid and the song choices all feel fresh. Sure, they have now worked though all of the songs on the recently released album that they will ever have played (still waiting on that Bliss, Trey!!) in these two shows and there are not any big time highlights in the jam sense to take with us but let’s be patient. This is a Thursday night show and the second of the tour. They are still getting back into the swing of things and within a week or so we will be on our way to bigger and better things. So while there may not be a ton of takeaways here — we will go with Bowie, Mule (yes), and if you want to add them the Free and Tweezer>Theme — it is a fun show to hear for what it is. Not every show can be a ‘canon worthy’ jam-heavy entry so if you can’t have fun for a show like this one I’m not sure how you do Phish. That may sound a bit harsh but whatever. We are lucky to be able to dissect this band to the degree that we do. I mean, could you imagine being a massive Bruce Springsteen fan or something and trying to find the best version of ‘Born in the USA’ or something out of the 10,000 versions that are all essentially the same? I don’t say that to speak ill of The Boss as his shows are legendarily fun but even with all of the people who follow him religiously you never hear they speak about singular versions of songs as much as to compare notes on how many shows they have attended (although they have the bustout thing going for them too…). I am getting away from my point so I’ll just finish off here by saying that this is a fine enough show that is well played and should be categorized as such. Now let’s get ready for some demonic Maze action…

—

*Just to address the item that some super hetty fan will assuredly try to bring up, there is that classic Tela from 08.27.1998 on the Penn State campus but if you know anything about the geography of Pennsylvania you will know that Mont Alto is in the south central part of the state (closer to Gettysburg) and State College is about 100 miles north right smack in the middle of the state. This is a satellite campus and that show, in the food court no less, is a fun little listen not just for that awesome “full” Tela but also for some great banter throughout and one of my favorite things: Trey imploring the crowd to woo! WTF, Trey??

We Float Upon The Air – Lake Placid, NY 10.16.1996

Phish — Olympic Center — Lake Placid, NY 10.16.1996

I CTB, Disease, Wilson>Buried Alive>Poor Heart, Billy Breathes, Mound>Sample, Ice, Horse>Silent, Zero

II Wolfman’s Brother, Taste, Train, Simple>Swept Away>Steep>Caspian, Lope, Coil, Johnny B. Goode

E Waste

On October 15th, 1996 Phish released the album Billy Breathes to a relatively high level of critical acclaim. This is not to say that the album quickly rose to the top of the pop charts but that unlike some of their prior (or subsequent) albums the reviews for this release were surprisingly not overly dismissive even if some reviewers stuck to the stock trade of lazily classifying them as a drug band. The music press has never been overly kind to our band so to read some of the more positive takes on this Steve Lillywhite produced album was a nice change of pace for those of us on the bus at the time. And realistically, the album probably does still stand as one of the best studio offerings from Phish. Five of the thirteen songs on this album have been played more than 130 times each (Zero being king at 186) and another four are near or above 50 performances with only one song, Bliss, never having graced the stage to date. The majority of the songs had been played at least a few times prior to being laid down in the studio for inclusion on the album but in a few cases the recording gave the opportunity to revisit the song to work out the kinks, so to speak. The result is that you get an album that works for both the devout and the casual fan, offering up the sound of Phish without being overly challenging to the uninformed listener. I don’t say that to make any negative connotation but instead to perhaps suggest that Billy Breathes is one of if not the most accessible albums the band has produced over the years. So when the band hit the stage at the Olympic Center in Lake Placid, NY to open their tour and to showcase their new album you knew that we would be treated to a BB-heavy show. This was also the first opportunity to hear the band play since their unbelievable festival The Clifford Ball capped the summer and offered up the blueprint for how to hold a music festival in the new age of music that was developing in the mid to late 90s.

This Lake Placid show stands as one of the closer-to-home tour openers that the band has ever played, excepting the very early years of the band when they didn’t exactly play country-spanning tours. That, combined with the excitement of the album release and the energy that comes from a practiced band ready to get going, set things up well for a show where expectations would be mostly in check due to all of the potential unknowns about what could go down that evening. Right out of the gates we get going on the Billy Breathes material as they start into the Page-penned instrumental Cars Trucks Buses. Mostly existing as a first set bring-up-the-energy number, this song has opened 14 shows out of its 78 performances and has always been a crowd favorite for the dancing it begs you to do. Next up is a somewhat surprisingly placed Down with Disease which immediately takes the set up to another level. This is the type of Disease that stays mainly at home in the ‘type I’ realm but packs a massive punch in just ten minutes of shred mastery. Trey is leading the charge here, spraying The Hose liberally on the elated masses before bringing it back the classic ending that we oftentimes do not get to hear these days. The energy stays high for the next run of three songs as anytime you pair Wilson>Buried Alive>Poor Heart you know the crowd will go apeshit. This kind of harkens back to the type of energetic Phish we heard a ton of in Spring ’93 but it also has a bit more to it now that the band has elevated to a different level entirely from those speed jazz days. At this stage five songs into the set the band pulls up for a well deserved breather, sliding in the airy ballad and title track from the album Billy Breathes. This offers us the chance to gather ourselves a bit before they head out into Mound for a decent if a bit shaky in the back half version that bumps up against Sample in a Jar. After surviving that we are treated to a decently dark and down It’s Ice with Page providing some really nice work in his part of the jam. A quick run through The Horse>Silent in the Morning gives the people who love to sing along their chance to shine and then we are into the set closing Character Zero. This Zero feels like it could have been pulled right from the album which makes sense since the song is still finding its legs.

And then when the lights come up and you look down at the setlist you realize we have a reasonably high number of songs here with twelve songs and pretty much only that Disease to speak of as a real, bona fide highlight. The playing is all quite good here for the most part but it feels like they are holding back just a bit from totally going off. That is not unusual for the first set of a new tour and with the new album out you would expect them to focus on those songs while also throwing in some of the setlist standards and fan favorites. I actually would have expected them to play more songs from the album from the start but there is still a whole set to come for all of that.

So after walking the halls of the venue that is now The Herb Brooks Arena (for obvious reasons…) you settle back into your section as the lights go down and prep for the set to come. The band starts into Wolfman’s Brother (then the first time they had ever opened a second set with the song) and the dance party kicks off once again. This is the pre-cowfunk sort of Wolfman’s where the end jam is pretty straight forward but the song serves its purpose in getting us up and moving before they get back to the Billy Breathes material for Taste. Now, something should probably be said here about this song as it was only a few months before this that the “final” version of this song was formalized. If you know your song history here (and I know you do) Taste evolved a lot from the time it was debuted about 16 months prior to this show. The original version was okay, I guess, but lacked something. It was played ten times before being shelved towards the end of Summer ’95, only to return that Fall with a new set of Fish-sung lyrics and a new name ‘The Fog That Surrounds’ based on one of the lines in the song (named so by the fans. Trey introduced the song as one fans might think they know but that it wasn’t necessarily what they thought it was). This version was performed eight times before the song again changed, becoming a combination of the two prior versions and being penned ‘The Taste That Surrounds’ for fourteen appearances over the rest of Fall ’95 and into the New Year’s Run. During those Spring ’96 recording sessions the band reworked the song again to arrive at the Taste we know today, keeping the best parts of the prior iterations and setting up the structure we have that includes both Page and Trey solos in the outro jam that tends to stay in bounds while reaching high towards a blissy peak. If you want to read more about that song and its history, perhaps you will want to see the “Best Year Ever” post I created for the song a while back. It focuses mainly on versions well past this one but it is something if you are a fan of the song. Here at the start of the Fall Tour the song is pretty straight forward but it does hit that peak nicely so there’s that. A quick downshift for the Mike-sung Train Song leads in to the real highlight of this show (and a hint at some of what we can expect A LOT of this tour) as they crank it up for the first Simple since they masterfully segued into it out of a fun Mike’s Song back at The Clifford Ball on 08.16.1996 (seriously, if you do not know this version you really need to go hear it because they don’t do transitions as good as that very often). This Lake Placid version starts off well enough and then when they drop into the jam Trey takes the back seat, hopping on the mini-kit for a few minutes to allow Page and Mike to take the lead.

treymini

This is something that he did off and on throughout 1995 and 1996, ostensibly to allow for jams to develop out of ideas by the other band members rather than staying in the guitar-led realm. Reception of this by the fanbase is somewhat mixed as there are definitely those who say “playing your effing guitar, dude!” but at times it can work quite well. This Simple is one of those cases as once they get a pocket going Trey comes back in with some elongated, soaring lead lines that feel almost more like something you would hear in 1998. They play around here for a bit but then shift towards something else which ends up being the debuts of Swept Away>Steep, two more songs from the Billy Breathes album. Some of the music for these songs evolved out of a recording experiment the band took on during the recording sessions earlier that year known as The Blob. The following is from the February 1996 entry on phish.com/band:

They started the process by choosing random instruments and recording one note or musical phrase at a time in a multi-layered creation eventually called “The Blob”. They utilized a wide variety of unusual instruments including vibraphones, Mellotron, and Theremin in addition to their traditional instruments. At any given time, a band member could use his “turn” to remove a note or phrase from the tape as well. By the time The Blob was large enough to consume any substantial space on a recording reel, the band had basically determined that it was not what they were looking for. A couple minutes from the middle of The Blob were eventually used as part of the album cuts Swept Away/Steep, but otherwise that mode of recording was eventually scrapped for more conventional methods.

It would be quite interesting to hear the entire Blob project but that seems like something we might never get based on how the band left it. We do get to enjoy the pieces that were lent to some songs though and Swept Away>Steep has that. This debut version is well played and includes something you won’t hear on the album or in most live versions which is that right at the end of Steep the band collectively screams out, providing a jarring end to a largely serene bit of music. They follow this up with the song that follows the pairing on the album, Prince Caspian, by now already a dichotomous song in the canon amongst fans. The song had been debuted in Summer 1995 to mixed fan reaction with some loving the major key end solo from Trey and others feeling that the song sapped a set of any momentum gained up to that point. Personally, I didn’t really have much of an opinion on the song either way but as with most Phish songs it has grown on me and now that they have given us the majesty that is the Magnaball Tweezerpants I am not really going to complain about its potential. But in fall 1996 the song was still very much rooted in its structure, never really veering away from the formula which is perhaps part of why it was received in the way it was in that era. This version from Lake Placid is in that vein but works well in finishing the suite of music that started back in that Simple.

Following that four song string they kick into Run Like An Antelope and we are up and bounding once more. Trey uses a grating, dissonant build to develop the tension in this version and while perhaps not one that goes out there fully it serves well as a counterpoint from the downward trend in the energy of the music over the past few songs. Page steps in next for the always welcome Squirming Coil and as expected provides a lovely outro piano solo that might have had a lot of fans wondering at why the set was closing so early. Those fans would have to stop with their end of show preparations as instead of leaving it at that we have the cover of the Chuck Berry classic Johnny B. Goode, a song that really surprised me in becoming a song that Phish played when I caught the debut emerge in the middle of a ridiculously out there Tweezer on 06.17.1995. I have never been a big fan of this song even when Chuck Berry is singing it but it is one of those songs that anyone who has heard any rock music will know and it provided an energetic bump whenever Phish played it. For some reason they brought it out more than a few times on this tour so get ready for more of this song in late set and encore placements. With that as the show closer it is a little surprising to hear Waste as our encore tonight but with the album release and the overall newness of the song (this is only the 7th ever appearance) I suppose it is somewhat fitting for them to trot this one out, particularly with the lyrical content it brings. After that we are out for the night and headed south towards a pair of shows in Pennsylvania, first with a stop at a brand spanking new venue on the campus of Penn State University.

So what do we make of this first show of the tour? I will be honest, after all of the ambient jams and cowfunkery of Fall 1998 it is pretty nice to hear that clear tone and tight playing that made 93-96 so awe-inspiring. This is not to say that the playing after that was any less amazing but that it wows in a different way. Here we have the band still in their heavily geeky mode, focusing more on practice and musical connection than any of the myriad of outside forces that would eventually lead to… other things. This show is just a tiny taste of what is in store for us going forward and being the first show since the album release is obviously heavy on those songs (9 of 13 tracks got played here), many of which are songs that don’t exactly stretch the limits of the band’s improvisational chops. But as has ever been the case, when they connect it is some of the best stuff in the world and tonight that connection lies most fully in the few takeaways we have to explore. Focus on the Disease, Simple>Swept Away>Steep, and Antelope with the Taste being a decent add in if you are feeling generous.

You may have noticed I have updated the playlist to include the songs that I have as definite takeaways and will continue to add to this as we go along. As always though, I recommend spinning the full show to really get a sense of what went down.

Like Water That Drips From Above – Worcester, MA 11.29.1998

Phish — Worcester Centrum Centre — Worcester, MA 11.29.1998

I P&S, Axilla>Theme, Sparkle>Horn>LxL->Catapult->Kung>Maze, All The Pain Through The Years, Layla

II Roses>Simple, Makisupa, Possum->Wipeout->Possum, Gin, YEM

E Roggae, Hello My Baby

Tour ending shows, particularly Fall Tour closers, have a reputation as being pretty hot throwdowns where anything goes. Part of it is the band giving us one final thank you for yet another great tour. Seriously, outside of maybe the first Euro Tour in 1996 (which has its highlight moments…) has there ever really been a “bad” tour? Sure, there are those who will say some of the 2.0 tours were a bit rough but that’s more a combination of disparate factors than a comment on the music. In a way, the tour finale acts as a summary essay on the tour that just occurred while possibly looking forward towards what is to come. For Fall Tours that means you have the chance to wrap up the entire year with a nice Phishy bow before the celebration that will be the impending New Year’s Run.

Look back all the way to 1992 and you have the pair of shows in Canada that capped the Fall (both at venues called The Spectrum, oddly enough) and there’s the tight playing that would beget the Speed Jazz era that blossomed in 1993. There is no Fall Tour in 1993 since the year is front loaded with a 70+ show spring tour and a big summer but that final show from The Greek on 08.28.1993 you get the culmination of the 93 sound with some aspects of the more open psych to come. Fall 1994 ends in Santa Monica with a show opened by the Dave matthews Band that includes a fantastic Stash, the Simple you have memorized from A Live One, a call back to the Beatles cover set earlier that fall, and the debut of one of my favorite songs they have only ever played twice, Chalkdust Torture Reprise. The epic Fall 95 tour concludes just a scant eleven days before the NYE Run with a wonderfully boisterous show from Lake Placid that puts the exclamation point on the big arena psych rock sound so prevalent that year (and that Tweezer->Reprise is straight awesome). The 1996 Fall Tour ending show from Las Vegas should need no introduction but it too pulls together the massive psych and budding funk that made this tour so impressive in its variety while giving hints of the much much bigger things to come not to mention including a great Harpua encore that brought some friends to the stage to help out. Albany’s tour ender for Fall 97 might not be the biggest show on the tour where Phish destroyed America but the cowfunk is in full effect for this dance party show. I’ll skip 1998 since we are about to discuss that in detail but 1999 from the Mothership is a great example of the junction between the funk and ambience that was at the forefront throughout 1999 while also showing the budding Millennial Sound that would be explored in more greater depth at Big Cypress and beyond. From here it gets a bit more difficult to use these shows as boiler plates for the band as first you get Hiatus in 2000 then the start of less frequent touring during 2.0 followed by The Long Wait and finally the enigma that is 3.0. By that I mean that I think since we are still in the midst of it we are trying to determine what this period of Phish means in the larger context of the band’s legacy and potential future so understanding the impact of developments within the band’s sound is not as easy to do as when we look back ten or more years. There is also the fact that what Fall Tours we have had in 3.0 have been much shorter than in prior years meaning that any theories developed based on the music played therein suffers from lack of data. The important thing, I believe, is that Phish is still together and creating meaningful music which reminds me that I am getting really sidetracked here and need to get back to the matter at hand… eventually.

Along with being something of a celebratory culmination of the tour that preceded it there is something a bit melancholy about a tour ending show. It means the party is ending and it is time to get back to “real life”. It means there is no new Phish to look forward to, at least until you make the annual pilgrimage to whatever big arena or reservation they happen to be playing for the New Year’s Run to come. It also means parting ways with new friends and old perhaps after several weeks spent traveling and running into the same people over and over both on the lots and in those random moments in the hotels, rest stops, and other places we tend to frequent on tour. For these reasons the tour ender brings with it emotions of all kinds and offers one last chance to lose ourselves in the music before the stark white fluorescence of life gets in the way of the rainbows of our mind. Here in 1998 there is a bit of all of the above going on as we get a show that looks back while pushing things forward in certain ways as well.

Your first sign that things are a tad different here in the tour closer is the opening Paul and Silas, a song we grew quite familiar with in Spring ’93. This marks only the second one of the tour (and the second all year taboot taboot after its 115 show bustout in Chicago) and tonight the lyrics are a bit different as Trey adds a bit about Paul Languedoc‘s legal troubles from the night previous. Apparently the then soundman for the band (and luthier of the wonderful guitars that Trey uses and Mike used to) was arrested for failure to vacate a hotel bar in a timely manner the night before so Trey decided to give him some shit about it. Not knowing the reference, most of the fanbase would have been content with the bluegrass song opening a show for the first time but if you listen carefully he alters the lyrics in reference. Next is the more traditional opener Axilla which rocks along before giving way to our first opportunity to stretch out a bit for Theme From The Bottom. Both Trey and Mike are on fire here with Trey leading the band to a soaring peak all while Mike offers up some quite interesting bass work. A frenzied romp through Sparkle keeps the energy high as they almostbutnotquite lose it at the end before going into Horn for the second time this tour. This one is almost clean in the execution and then we head back to the heights for Limb By Limb. The jam here is mostly straight forward in that lovely LxL way that elevates to a big peak but instead of breaking down to the octopus Fish drum clinic outro they stay on the repeating line and hit an almost calypso groove. As you are zoning out to this beautiful music your eyes close and then you snap them back open once you realize that Mike is singing Catapult over this smile-inducing groove, busting out the song after its last appearance in the Fall Tour ending show from Albany 67 shows ago on 12.13.1997 in the midst of a big Weekapaug jam. After getting through the verses Mike voices his approval with several footbell *tings* in time with the beat before Trey comes in over that groove to start up the Kung chant (the only other time these two songs have been paired was in reverse as the coda to the Jim->Vibration of Life->Kung->Catapult sequence in a show best known for the epic sustained note crowd/band peak of Harry Hood). The groove is maintained as the backing music here which ramps up a bit following the intonation as Trey starts up a repeating lick to complement the polyrhythm of Mike and Fish and eventually they all give way to a transitional loop that Trey sets. Fish then comes with the high hat to get us into Bowie… or maybe Maze. Maybe that was more a thing people confused back in the day and I am really only joking because clearly Bowie goes “sika sika sika” while Maze goes “tske tske tske”. I mean, c’mon. It is sooooo obvious. Anyway, they dive into Maze and shred the shit out of it as they are wont to do with a Shafty tease in there for those looking.

From here the set takes a bit of a left turn as Trey introduces a guest who probably would not have been overly familiar to anyone who didn’t live at that time in Vermont (and honestly he is still not really very well known outside of the VT music world). Being that they all lived in Vermont at this point it is not surprising that they bring out Seth Yacovone to play on a couple of songs to end this set, though the very fact of bringing out a guest at all is perhaps the most surprising bit here. If you are not familiar with him, Seth has his own eponymously named band that is more on the hard bluesy side of improv rock with Seth being the guitar player for the power trio. Their first brush with Phish was when Trey met Seth at a guitar workshop. This was followed by Seth’s band being asked to play the lots at The Clifford Ball before eventually joining Phish for this appearance. Trey would end up sitting in with Seth and his band during Hiatus on the majority of the second set from 02.07.2002. Seth has also shared the stage with TAB during the famed Vermont Easter Jam show that saw all four members of Phish eventually have the stage to themselves for a few songs as well as an Amfibian show less than two weeks later where Mike also participated. But here in Worcester they had him up for the two songs to end the first set, first his composition All The Pain Through The Years and the only Phish performance of the Derek and the Dominoes classic Layla. The first song is straight up blues rock with Seth leading on vocals and lead guitar while the band lets him shine, Trey taking his solo turn as well and adding a quick Layla tease which would have been a good precursor of the next song if anyone was able to make that connection in the moment. Layla is pretty well by the numbers to the original you know so well with Trey and Seth trading off on the signature licks of the tune. Neither song elevates to anything otherworldly but it is an interesting sit-in all the same to once again confirm that in the end Phish is just better when we get the four playing without interference by other players. There are definitely some guests who work quite well with Phish (Bela Fleck, MMW, Santana, most of the various bluegrass luminaries who have joined them, and others) but the ones that work best are all world class musicians known for their ability to improvise. This is not to speak ill of Mr. Yacovone’s playing abilities as he is an accomplished player in his own right and perhaps it has something to do with the song choices but this sit-in falls a bit flat for me. The Layla in particular just doesn’t have much replay value considering it is a song everyone already knows every note to and this version does nothing to move the song forward. In the end this sit-in ends up being yet another geeky footnote in the band’s history rather than something we cherish for its greatness. And in closing the set with these two songs it provides a bit of fun but doesn’t exactly give the punch you might expect for the end to the penultimate set of this fine tour.

While you are still debating the merits of that sit-in with your friends the lights come down to get us moving into the second set. Tonight our opener is Roses Are Free, one of only three times they have opened the second set with the Ween tune with the others being the epic Island Tour version and the Desert Sky version from 10.01.2000 (there are also two show opening Roses out there in the 07.25.1998 one from Austin, TX and the 08.02.2009 one from the final show of that wonderful four night run at Red Rocks). Unfortunately, as with all but a scant few amazing versions there is no jam here as they instead start up Simple. There is promise here as Simple has been a consistently strong song on this tour and tonight is no different as from the start of the jam it is clear they mean to take this one for a ride. It stats out with some exploration around the Simple groove with Trey trying out different ideas along the way. Eventually they break down to a more sparse space leading to a searching jam that feels like transitional space but eventually settles into a hard edged, dissonant, and noisy adventure in distortion. This is a different type of ambient jamming than we have seen on this tour, relying more on the powerfully discordant drawn out notes from Trey to open up the portal to a darker sense of ambience instead of the generally blissy nature of the ambient texturing that Phish typically employs. Some may not be fans of this sort of music but it is very encouraging to hear them explore the other side to this ambient sound. The jam seemingly resolves itself into nothingness and they start into the second (this seems to be something of a theme tonight…) Makisupa Policeman of the tour. Tonight’s keyword is another nod to Paul’s arrest as Trey says, “hey Paul, can you pass me the soap?” to the confused delight of the crowd. There is a bit of drippy, loop’d “dub” to follow which is pretty darn cool if you like your music trippy and then they come back to wrap the song up.

When they next start up Possum you start thinking that they are probably just going to go high energy rock Phish on us for the rest of the set but when Trey lays down a final nod to Wipeout in the early part of the jam here you realize that maybe the fun isn’t quite over. This Possum is pretty much what you expect but the jolt of that quick run through Wipeout almost blows the roof off the building when the crowd pushes that energy back to the stage. Once returning to Possum they work it down to a whisper before coming back up to the typical Possum peak as Trey throws in some almost DEG phrasing along the way. Following this they could have gone any of a dozen directions but we are treated with a late second set Bathtub Gin, something not really too common. There are a good number of solid second set Gins but the song generally shows up in the first half of the set which is a bit odd considering that it is so often a first set closer. Well, tonight we get one of those late 2nd set versions and this one first starts out with a raging Gin jam that stays close to the main theme while chugging forth on the patient climb up towards the peak. But that peak never fully releases. Instead, Trey drops out to allow Page to offer up colorful fills before they all drop down to the lower register and head into another ambient jam this one more in the contemplative realm than the Simple jam earlier in this set. Over the next five minutes or so they move through a few different themes, the most engaging being a Mike-led segment that Trey accents with singular notes and Page drapes in spacey effects all while Fish keeps that beat going. This evolves into a sweet little groove pocket that feels like it is about to explode into a big time bliss jam buuuuuuuuut instead they pull back and move on to start up You Enjoy Myself.

This YEM might not end up being your favorite one even from this tour but as the set closer to the final night of Fall Tour you could do a heck of a lot worse. The funk is prevalent in this one early and often even without an end D&B section as Mike and Fish push the pocket higher and higher. Fish in particular is driving the bus in this one with a drum line that is hard to not just get up and dance to as the other players ride this rising wave to bring the room to collective release. Mike is in agreement of the merits of this one as he throws in a bunch of fightbell *tings* throughout. Trey chimes in with some Superbad similar to the one from Albany. This is a great dance party version of a song that brings the room to that final peak you know everyone was looking for having gotten several jams on the night that teased at the release and just built the tension up towards this moment. After the VJ we are on to the encores and, fittingly, we have a more subdued pair with another soulful take on Roggae before they end with one last a cappella song in Hello My Baby. From here we are left to the hugging before one last trip through Shakedown to capitalize on all of those “end of tour” deals the vendors were assuredly offering. I’m sure the nitrous mafia was really gracious in that regard.

Tour ending shows are somewhat difficult to evaluate as you get a bit of everything. There’s the emotional aspects at hand, the “tour summary” feel in certain places, and the overall celebratory feeling of being there for the end of it all. The band always offers up their big thanks to the fans and the crowd is giving it right back to them so in that sense the music sometimes gets elevated by everything contributing to it. This is not always the case, of course, but thankfully on this night it all seems to come together pretty well in providing us with a balanced show that has so many of the elements that make a Phish show great. I’m not saying this is an all-timer show but there is a unique setlist construction, a decent at worst sit-in, some bustouts, a bunch of solid jams, a bit of inside-joke humor, and several nods to the tour gone by. It is clear they had a great time on this tour and this show is a joyful example of that. There isn’t even a single ballad to mess with the flow of the sets. It might not have the highest highs or include everyone’s favorite tunes but it works in its role here as the tour finale. So with that all that is left is the takeaways from the night which tonight are rather a lot. There’s Theme, LxL->Catapult->Kung, Simple, Possum->Wipeout->Possum, Gin, and perhaps YEM with the Seth Yacovone sit-in stuff being interesting at least for a listen. All told, yet another fun night with this band called Phish.

On a final note, as I have mentioned in previous posts I will be doing a bit of summarizing for this tour over the next few posts. With Thanksgiving coming up I will probably get to that next week. So enjoy the holiday and give thanks that we are able to devote so much time and energy to this wonderfully oddball band we obsess over way too much. And thank you for joining me on this tour.

Here We Shower Ourselves With Lightness – Worcester, MA 11.28.1998

Phish — Worcester Centrum Centre — Worcester, MA 11.28.1998

I Gumbo, Tube>Disease, Guyute, Albuquerque, Foam, Moma, Melt

II Julius, Wolfman’s>Timber Ho>Cup>Mule, Caspian>Crossroads, Tweezer, Cavern

E Sample>Reprise

Following up a legendary show can be something of a challenge as you have now increased the already lofty expectations of the fans who want you to “beat” that one with something even more memorable. But it also presents opportunity as when Phish is playing well and connecting with the crowd it can lead to great things as well. Sometimes the show following one of the great ones can fall flat or at least be received more reservedly in being compared to its predecessor. But being Phish, where each night produces its own unique snowflake of musical intrigue, the surest bet is that the show following will be nothing like the one before it which is what makes it all so exciting to experience.

For this middle night of the Turkey Run in Worcester there was definitely a lot of buzz after the Wipeout show from the night before. That show was a seguefest punctuated by a few key jams but really most notable for the setlist construction and don’t-leave-the-room-cuz-you-might-miss-something feel of the way they threw down that second set. On this Saturday night we are treated to a different form of Phish one that is not quite the full jamnation of something like 11.17.1997 but that is also not just an energy rock show full of fun songs and solid playing. This is a hybrid type show with a setlist that might not set the world on fire but that continues the theme of Phish playing whatever they tackle extremely well. I’d also recommend watching the often times dizzying, other times Zapruder-esque fanshot video of this one (from the upper deck, no less) to get a good glimpse into the band’s playing and interactions (including some fun stuff between Mike and Fish during Mule but I’m getting ahead of myself). This is the first set and here is the second. Just warning ya though. You might want some Dramamine.

The show starts out well with a return to jam form from the get go as they open up with a stretched out Gumbo. Tonight they leave the Manteca theme out and we get a thick groove that plods on for a few minutes with Trey sharing ideas over top before they dive into the soup for a bit of loop’d, ambient goo that eventually resolves to our next song on the evening. That song is Tube and even in being a quite compact version has a bit of a min-jamlet in the middle before the final verse. I kept waiting for the Tube Reprise jam to kick in as we got in Utah earlier this tour but alas that was not to be here in Wootown. Instead they head to the murky beginnings of a third song Down With Disease to the delight of the crowd. While perhaps not as triumphant as the Disease that preceded it from New Haven tonight’s version has the inevitably wonderful peaky Trey shining forth above the cacophony of noisy rock groove the band develops here. This is not an exploratory version of the song but gets to that major mode shred quite well for a version that will definitely get you moving. Doubling down on the peak energy we get our 7th Guyute of the tour (in 21 shows to date) making this song one of three that sit in the #2 spot for most times played this tour (and just because the question has been begged, the three most played songs at eight so far are BOAF, Roggae, and Moma Dance with all three of those songs being featured as they are included on the then recently released The Story of the Ghost album). Guyute is its typically rocking self here and gets the crowd even more engaged which means they will probably play a slower, bathroom-break-friendly tune in its wake.

When your one true cool down tune of the show occurs mid first set, that is a good thing (not that you would have known that this would be the case during the show but just work with me here). This is not to say that there would not be other opportunities to take care of business but the ballad-esque nature of Albuquerque just lends itself well to making that quick run out to the concourse to reload the nachos and maybe get a soft pretzel and a beer and maybe some candy… anyone else have the munchies? Just me then? Hmmm, maybe I should have gotten that burrito on lot preshow after all. Lord knows I wouldn’t have been able to find any fried eggs and country ham which reminds me I am supposed to be talking about the slow tune they played here, Albuquerque. Yeah, so they played Alburquerque to follow that Guyute. Right. Moving on. Then they go back out for some more energetic music by kicking into Foam for only the second time this tour. For as little as they played the song this tour it sure sounds good here as they keep it it bouncy and tight, bringing back the rocking dance party that this set began as. That aforementioned eighth Moma Dance of the tour pops in next and (again) while not a massive version just drips with the languid funk that they have been exploring with this song on the tour. Then to cap the set we get Split Open And Melt (3rd 1st closing Melt of the tour and just the third time they played the song as well). There is some very nice exploration going on in this jam within the construct of Melt itself resulting in a satisfying version that doesn’t beg you to hide under your seat like some of those mid-90s versions at its peak but sends everyone off to setbreak saying “okay, that was nice, let’s have some more in the 2nd set, please!” Looking back at the setlist once the lights come up you are hard pressed to find anything really lacking here. It is a set full of well-loved tunes played well and the only “lull” in the action comes in the form of the only cover song played in the set. If more first sets were like this one there would be a lot less complaining about them.

Eventually they come back out for the second set and continue right where they left off by getting the room up and bouncing for Julius. While never a song that will stretch its boundaries musically it can often be a quite spirited ‘type I’ platform for Trey to lay waste on the guitar while the band provides that wonderful swing beat groove in the back. Tonight’s version is a good example of that as Trey lords over the jam with Mike and Fish providing that pocket and Page interjecting with piano fills and comping to accent Mike more than anyone. Julius is happy time bubbly Phish and I’ve always thought it makes for a great wedding reception dance song for a band to cover though I haven’t ever heard of that actually occurring. So instead we are left with Phish to make the Centrum the wedding venue of our minds with beautiful women twirling about in flowing dresses of floral print, patchwork, and other more abstract patterning replacing visions of the bride and her attendants spinning about on the temporary “wood” dancefloor all while cagey wook ‘groomsmen’ groove out and share a smoke with questionable intents in mind. This heart-pumping dance party gives way to Wolfman’s Brother and based on what we have already gotten from this song here in Fall ’98 you have to think another solid version is coming. We aren’t expecting the second coming of the Vegas Wolfman’s here but it is clear they intend to play with this one as once through the lyrics they first start with some exploration on the Wolf funk theme before taking a turn towards dark waters. Trey is offering up some great ideas here and Page is adding effects to the great, um, effect. The groove devolves into dark ambience in that Fall ’98 way with some loops accenting the drone and effect soundscape they put together. Eventually Trey plays some recognizable chords to trigger our transition into a (semi) bustout (62 shows) of Timber (Jerry) the Josh White penned classic that Phish has taken and turned into a springboard for dark improv over the course of making the song their own. Seriously, listen to the original and then one of Phish’s big jam versions of it and tell me they are being true to the original structure of the song. Fans colloquially refer to the song as Timber Ho! (sometimes with parentheses and/or exclamation point and sometimes not) which is more a reference to the words in the refrain than anything. Here in 3.0 the song largely lacks the improv jam that would generally grow out of this one but it is a sought after tune to catch all the same. If you go looking for the key versions of this song check out some from its peak year of 1995 like the Hampton 11.25.1995 take that hints towards MLB, Nashville 11.29.1995 version, the famed 12.14.1995 version which resides in the middle of a great Tweezer, and the super dark one from 12.28.1995 also from here at The Centrum or the stretched out versions from 1997 like Austin 07.26.1997 with Bob Gullotti on the second drum kit, the effects-laden beaut from Denver 11.16.1997 that segues into Simple, or the linear shred of the 11.28.1997 version yet again from here in Worcester. This one in 1998 lives up to the rep it has gained in this venue by going down the hole once more with layered dark ambient washes providing the backdrop for Trey and Mike to solo over while Page adds flashes of bright piano to counterpoint the depth of the jam. Fish is crushing it as always and hitting the crash cymbal with abandon as they bring it up to the peak and circle back to the main theme of the song and final verse/refrain. It kind of leaves you wanting more in a good way but we are soon off into Loving Cup so there’s not much time to play the woe card for what might have been. The rocking energy of the Rolling Stones cover gets us back to that Julius-type headspace after two pretty dark jams and after a fine run through this one they start up the bane of the jam chasing jaded vet’s existence, Scent Of A Mule. Now, before we go deriding this as a mid-second-set-waste-of-ten-minutes let’s considering a few things. First, it is a tune that A LOT of people really like (just watch videos of it on youtube and you’ll see) and, personally, it is one I never complain about hearing considering that it combines their humor, oddball lyrics, and some pretty impressive musicianship over the course of the song and duel/jam. I’m not going to sit here and say that it is transcendent music by any means but I’ve seen a few that pretty well made me laugh out loud in lysergic enjoyment of the antics going down. And someone over at .net really likes the song or at least wanted to be complete with it as there is a quite large jamchart devoted to a song that isn’t exactly a jam vehicle. Plus there are many instances, such as the one during the first show from Vegas here in Fall ’98, where they have used it as a means to play for a bit either in debuting a song, dive into a rare song like Catapult or Digital Delay Loop Jam or otherwise have a bit of fun. Considering the dark nature of the jams earlier in this set this song pops in at a time when they were building back towards a peak of sorts in the setlist construction. This song provides a bit of breathing room and rest for all while still moving things forward. And tonight it goes a bit further than normal with Page and Trey interactively soloing in the typical Mule Duel manner before Mike takes over and then Fish joins him for their own duel, with Mike donning the Viking Helmet to mirror Fish no less (the song starts around the 36:00 mark of that second set video I linked way up top). It is one of those funny things that happen at shows that you really can’t explain well to people after the fact and possibly part of why when you start detailing what goes down at Phish shows to your non-phan friends they start to get that concerned look in their eyes while backing away slowly and looking for a way to change the conversation. Oh well. Some will never understand why we do it all.

So after our antics/humor portion of the set — and let’s be honest with ourselves, would you rather a Mule or some Fish vac tune or (gasp!) a Big Ball Jam? — we head back to the songs with Prince Caspian starting up. Now, some will say that gives us two bathroom break tunes in a row while also debunking my one-ballad-only show theory about this night but you just go ahead and listen to this Fuckerpants and come back with that theory, mister, and I’ll say you probably didn’t really listen to it. This is a Caspian that displays the power of what this song can be with Trey annihilating his end solo by playing a Hendrix-inspired clinic in shred. Caspian is not a song I go seeking but this is a version I would gladly spin again, though perhaps that also has something to do with the fact that they head right from the peak to a small bustout (64 shows) with the Robert Johnson song Crossroads (probably most famous as an Eric Clapton/Cream cover). Phish has some history of their own with the song as it was first teased as part of Harpua on 05.07.1993 before being fully debuted the following night during the tour closing show 05.08.1993 from Durham, NH. It popped up again four times in 1995 and three times in 1997 before the final (for now) version from this night in Worcester. It is a faithful cover of the blues standard with Trey taking a nice solo that he clearly is enjoying playing but otherwise it is mainly notable for the song chasers trying to tick this one off their personal checklists.

At this point in the show you have to think they will head to the closing numbers and they do in a way but the ‘false closer’ tonight just happens to be Tweezer (!). While perhaps not a massive version it does reach into the Fall ’98 bag to chug through the jam that progresses from straight up arena rock in the lyrical portion of the song straight down towards the ambient depths once more. I’m not kidding. As soon as they finish up the last refrain Trey drops down his tone, sets a siren loop and then he and Mike start to work over top, hugging the Tweezer theme while begging to go deeper. I will warn you that if you are watching the video at this stage the dude holding the camera is clearly more interested in dancing than in getting a good shot as it might as well be a POV cam. Not sure if he realizes this, but most people watching a video of the band don’t need nausea and headaches as a side effect. Trey screeches out a bunch of sustained notes here as they stretch for the peak, never fully resolving it as they instead turn back towards the deep end. Stuck in a bit of a search mode here Trey plays a ton of notes before dropping to full sustain and a loop or two as they look to be headed into the ambient world and WHOA WAIT. Just when things are really starting to potentially get interesting it inexplicably ends. Like just plain stops with Trey walking over to Mike and telling him the next song. And we get Cavern’d for the closer. Great. Then we have a rather uninspiring Sample>Reprise encore and we are out into the night. This is not to say the Reprise doesn’t rock but I have never liked pairing anything with Sample so it gets pulled down as well. Kind of a weird ending to an otherwise quite solid show.

This is an oft overlooked show sitting between the gem that is the Wipeout show and the tour closer that we will cover next. I think it is undervalued as a result and in listening to it this one plays out more in line with how the tour has gone than the one preceding (or the one following, honestly, but that’s for another post). That first set even on paper is quite strong and there is nothing in the playing that would cause you to downvalue it either unless you just really don’t like those songs for whatever reason. The Gumbo starts the jamming early and aside from the minor lull for a well played Albuquerque every song in that set is engaging music. The second set reads a bit oddly but again the playing is on point and there are some definite takeaway jams to be had here. I would have been quite happy with having seen this show and for takeaways I’ll point to Gumbo, Disease, Melt, Wolfman’s>Timber, Caspian>Crossroads, and Tweezer with add-ins being Foam and Moma. The Mule is a personal preference thing so you will either want to hear that or not and that’s your thing. In summing up it is hard to discount this show as being one of the stronger complete shows of the tour considering just how strong both sets are without one being noticeably good or bad. This show is a good sign of where the band was at this stage both on this tour and in their career arc and another I’d add to the ever-growing list of shows-you-could-spin-for-a-noob to give them a taste of what this band is all about. To me, that’s a sign that this show holds up quite nicely.

Hoping to Lighten The Tension – Worcester, MA 11.27.1998

Phish — Worcester Centrum Centre — Worcester, MA 11.27.1998

I Funky Bitch, Ya Mar, Carini, Jim, Meat>Reba, Old Home Place, DST, Vultures, Circus, BOAF

II Buried Alive>Wipe Out>CDT->Mirror in the Bathroom->CDT->Dog Log->CDT>Sanity>Buffalo Bill>Mike’s->H2>Weekapaug->Wipe Out->Weekapaug>Paug Reprise>Antelope

E Wading, Golgi>Wipe Out

Ah, Worcester. City of Seven Hills. Wormtown. Heart of the Commonwealth and the City of Dreams. The Woo! We have mentioned how certain cities and venues seem to bring out the best in Phish and our scene and Worcester, MA is right up there with Hampton, New York City, The Gorge, Colorado, Chicago, and more as a place Phish just seems to feel at home. Over the years Phish has played this town 18 times, first back at the Clark University Pub on 01.19.1990. That’s a venue that I am pretty certain does not exist anymore. But from there they take things bigger first with a New Year’s Eve show on 12.31.1991 at the old Worcester Memorial Auditorium which is a really cool building with a storied history. This article gives a glimpse into this now closed venue. I can imagine that those murals would have been fun to check out with Phish as your soundtrack. After that the band didn’t play here for two full years as they again graced a Worcester stage at the famed Centrum (now DCU Center) that has been home to so many great concerts over the years.

Phish’s first appearance there on 12.31.1993 is a show that many point to as a tipping point for the band (and a great tape to give people new to the band to give them a clue of what this band is all about). That show got a radio broadcast and their are remastered soundboards in circulation which helped to make this a very widespread and popular recording… though the music itself really tells the tale with stellar versions of Reba, Tweezer, YEM, and Hood (some hold this as their favorite Hood ever) as well as the debut of the jam that would become Down With Disease to celebrate the new year. Since that night Phish has been back to this venue fifteen more times first for a pair of shows on the NYE 1995 Run on 12.28.1995 (home to a fantastic Tweezer and more) and 12.29.1995 (ever hear of The Real Gin? Yeah.) preceding the two epic shows at MSG, three Thanksgiving weekend gems in 1997 (11.28.1997 where the Ghost gets the love but don’t miss the YEM and pretty much the whole 2nd set, 11.29.1997 with the longest jam in band history for Runaway Jim, and 11.30.1997 with the big first set Wolfman’s and the Stash->Free>Jam->Piper), the three big time shows from around Thanksgiving 1998 that we will cover here, a single night on the Winter 2003 Run 02.26.2003 perhaps best known for the solo band tunes featured in the first frame but the jams here are big too, another pair of pre-MSG NYE Run shows in 2010 (12.27.2010 accompanied by an epic blizzard that influenced song choices and 12.28.2010 which begat the magnificent plinko funk Hood), the two Summer 2012 Tour opening shows (06.07.2012 with that amazing Carini->Taste>Ghost>Boogie>If I Could segment to start the 2nd set and 06.08.2012 with the return of the Roses jam, the Sandy Kane jam and more), and a pair of Fall 2013 shows on the path to Atlantic City for Halloween (10.25.2013 with the Waves>Carini and 10.26.2013 with its great 2nd set highlighted by Drowned>Light not to mention the Kenwood Dennard sit-in in the encore). Here’s a jams-only playlist over at our friends www.phishjustjams.com for you to peruse if this Worcester stuff sounds interesting. I didn’t even mention any of the 1998 highlights and already I am like 1,000 words into this write-up without touching a note of the show above. I suppose I should get to that…

All of that background sets the stage here for high expectations out of the fanbase. Perhaps that could have been on the band’s minds in kicking off their second Turkey Run of shows in as many years here (and the final run of shows on the tour too) but if it was they sure didn’t show it on stage. Instead we are treated to “one of those shows” where everything seems to come together to produce something bigger than the sum of its highly segmented setlist parts. Just take a look at that setlist up there. Seriously. Check it out. Remind you of anything? Like one of those epic seguefest shows all the setlist geeks are always squealing about? Well here we have one of the biggies in Phish history. This is canon. I’ll do my best to work through everything here but you really need to just spin this show to get an idea of how it all went down.

The first set is a bit more traditional, starting off with two covers in Funky Bitch and Ya Mar. The Funky Bitch is fun and gets the crowd into it but the Ya Mar is our first highlight as they add on a cool little jam (with a I Dream of Jeannie tease by Mike along the way). A short Carini is next with a streaker reference and then they kick into Runaway Jim. At this point the crowd is wondering if it will be like the hour long epic from last year. It is not. BUT it does have a nice little Jim Jam at the end which is worth the listen. Our sixth Meat of the tour is next and this one lacks the coda ambient jam but does go right into Reba which is a perfectly acceptable replacement. Reba gets a fight bell *ting* at the drop into the jam and then they build to a predictably good peak. Trey is on point throughout this one with everyone else along for the ride. Nothing revolutionary in this one but definitely a pretty, clean version. A breather for our bluegrass slot tonight brings The Old Home Place in for the first time since the Bridge Benefit shows before this tour then a quick Dogs Stole Things and our first Vultures of the Fall. There’s something about that song that always makes me think it might blow up into a jam but, alas, that has yet to occur. The pre-closer ballad slot gets Los Lobos’ When The Circus Comes and then they bring the set home with a soaring if straight forward Birds of a Feather. Judging from this first set you can tell they came to play but at this stage they have yet to really open it up or give us a hint of what might be to come in the 2nd set. Perhaps better that they saved that surprise…

So after braving the horror that used to be the Centrum bathrooms (seriously, there are some legendary stories about how bad it used to be here before the recent renovations helped… somewhat) you settle back in for the second set and they kick into the second Buried Alive of the tour. Always a good one to kick off a set, tonight it drops into a massive bustout (722 shows!) as they head into the surf rock classic Wipeout. That’s the Surfaris version but I might prefer the Beach Boys/Fat Boys take on it. Ah, the 80s where questionable musical collaborations and funny music videos shaped the world for generations to come… In the Phish world the playing of this song was once a band in joke to make fun of a mistake (i.e. a “wipe out” similar to when a surfer loses it while attempting to catch a tube, as they might say. I’m sure you had trouble figuring that out all by yourself). There are several teases of the song noted throughout the years and two times it actually made it to a setlist in 1991. It was a direct reference in the Vibe of Life portion of the Forbin’s narration on 11.17.1994 so when it came up for the first time again here in the early part of this set it was definitely a head scratching move to the fans. After this they crank into Chalkdust Torture which has a bit more Wipeout in it not to mention Mike playing the baseline to another song familiar to those who matured in the 80s, Mirror in the Bathroom, the wonderfully catchy ska radio hit by The Beat (known here in the U S of A as The English Beat because apparently we need more specificity in differentiating between British ska bands and not really memorable late 70s pop rock bands – apologies if you are big on stuff like this but then if you are what the heck are you doing reading a Phish nerd blog??). That Mike tease is foreshadowing because pretty soon thereafter as they jam CDT the band turns on a dime to start up the debut of Mirror in the Bathroom in earnest before heading back to CDT. Again, they jam the CDT theme before dropping into a bluesy space and adding a few lines from Dog Log in for good measure. This bleeds right back into CDT for a few bars and then we dive into Sanity followed by Buffalo Bill (first one in 75 shows) as the segues keep coming. Catch your breath for a sec because we are only half way home.

Buffalo Bill (one of my longest sought after tunes that I finally caught at Magnaball this summer!) heads into Mike’s Song and now you are thinking, “okay, here we go! just jam, maaaaaaan!” and they do for a bit with a second jam that goes ambient with some nice effects by Trey and Page, leading to a lovely full segue into the “bustout” of I Am Hydrogen (first in 68 shows so the judges say it counts). This is a nice interlude and then we head right into Weekapaug Groove for a triumphant jam that heads to the mountain top peak (with a Nellie Kane tease by Trey in here) before they pull off a full segue back to Wipe Out and then again back to Weekapaug. Things really start getting interesting here as they go double time in bringing this to the apparent close for the song before diving back in to reprise the song with another full Paug jam. Trey first starts to attack and then backs off to set a sustain note/loop as he and Mike then play leads over that note that pierces through in the background. Things get a bit darker here as the continue in this vein for a few minutes before transitioning out to the Run Like An Antelope closer. This Antelope starts out patiently with a somewhat extended primary jam before rising to that frenetic peak and insanity that make this such a great set closing tune. It isn’t the best or most exploratory version you will ever hear but it is a shreddy Lope so who’s complaining?

For the encores it is pretty much gravy at this stage so when they start up Wading in the Velvetta Cheese you just kinda shrug and start to collect your marbles that have someone been scattered all over your section by this set. Admittedly, Trey plays a nice enough solo so you decide to stick around to see if they drop a big energy tune afterwards. You get that with Golgi Apparatus not to mention a final dip into Wipeout so I guess it was worth it. Besides, the Dirty Woo shakedown scene will go long into the night so there’s no rush needed, my friend. The Nitrous Mafia will be waiting for you. Oh, and there is some funny banter between Trey and Fish to be found here if you like that sort of thing.

So how did we like this one? This, like most if not all of the other famed “seguefest” shows (such as 02.20.1993, 05.07.1994, 06.22.1994, 07.27.2014, and on) is a highly beloved show in the fanbase. It combines high energy, stop on a dime musical changes, top notch playing, a few nice jams, and all of the intangibles that make IT all part of the experience. Sure, there is no transcendent monster jam but this is a show that is fun to the core without worry about anything but being in the moment with it. The band is arguably at their best when they are the most un-serious, allowing themselves to take chances they might otherwise think better of. The result is that this show stands as the seventh best rated show ever on .net behind such gems as Big Cypress’s Millenium Set, the amazing middle day of this year’s Magnaball Festival, one of the best two set shows ever from Denver ’97, the mountaintop performance that was NYE 1995 at MSG, one of the best 2.0 shows from Nassau Coliseum, and the ridiculous Drum Logos show from the Japan 2000 tour. There is rightfully a LivePhish release of this one (LP06) and the auds out there are great too so do yourself a favor and spin this one top to bottom to find out what all the fuss is about. And if you like the video check out this for the full second set (with sbd audio). Eagle eyed fans will know that in the start to Weekapaug (around the 42:50 mark) Trey has one of his biggest “Poor Sue” moments…. Of course, as we must do, here are your takeaways for the show: Ya Mar, Jim, Reba, perhaps BOAF if you like em shreddy, and the entirety of the second set. Believe me, it is worth the time as it will also help you to make more sense of the rest of this weekend of shows if you hear this one first. Now go get that balloon, wook. You’ve earned it.

The Image Glistens Like A Gem – Albany, NY 11.25.1998

Phish — Knickerbocker Arena — Albany, NY 11.25.1998

I PYITE>My Soul, Roggae, Bag, Lifeboy, Bowie, Sleep, Driver, GTBT

II 2001>Golgi, Drowned->Caspian>Piper, YEM, Been Caught Stealing>Llama

E Something>Guyute, Free Bird

Once again we have a venue that has gone through several names in its sponsored history. I still refer to it at the Knick (you know, short for Knickerbocker?) but in 1997 the naming rights were sold and it became Pepsi Arena for about 10 years before that contract expired and the current one making it the Times-Union Center began. Perhaps a minor issue for some but there are lots of venues that have been subject to this sort of thing and keeping them all straight can get wonky when you have several Verizon venues for example that could be on a single tour. So we will continue to call some places by the names that made them great like Deer Creek, Great Woods, Pine Knob, Star Lake, and The Knick (amongst so many others). Because, honestly, having a concert album called “Dozin’ at the Pepsi Arena” just doesn’t ring quite as well as Dozin’ at the Knick, right? And we can use The Knick for Phish too because they had played the venue first when it had the original name back on 12.09.1995 with a show that includes a YEM that really shouldn’t need any introduction. They came back again for a pair of shows to cap the Fall ’97 Tour with two highlight-filled nights that I highly recommend you spinning once you are all caught up on your outstanding Fall ’98 homework. We’re getting close to Finals here, people, no time for slacking.

So here was Phish in the final run of shows for this Fall ’98 Tour stopping in for a single Wednesday night show on the way to Worcester. Which is not to say that Albany is on the way from New Haven to Worcester — far from it, in fact — but that this is the show between the now-demolished New Haven Coliseum one we covered quite recently and the three pack at the venerable Worcester Centrum (yes, yet another venue that now sports a corporate name…). There seems to be something of a carryover of the refreshed energy of the band from last night as they come out hot with a fiery combo of Punch You In The Eye>My Soul, two rocking numbers that while quite straight forward in the execution certainly do their part in getting everyone up and moving. A contemplative take on Roggae fills the three slot tonight and while still about what you would expect from this tune they are definitely quite comfortable with where to take it as the end jam gets to some beautifully ethereal space. Trey and Mike are on top here, offering up complimentary lines that take this version higher and higher. This is a song that has really grown on me in 3.0 as I think they really know now how to capture the emotional aspect of the song better now with that reflection back on their past but even in this first year of the song’s existence you can hear the foundation of what the song would eventually become.

Next it is back to sing along time for the cliche-filled, almost-musically-accurately-named Gamehendge classic AC/DC Bag, that sometimes shelved (recall that it sat waiting for 75 shows between 1991 and 1992 and then another 84 shows until popping up again in Spring 1993) and sometimes jammed tune about the mechanical executioner employed by Wilson. Tonight’s version would not match the jammery of the prior version in Chicago but it does have a rocking outro jam that pretty well sends the crowd into a frenzy at the peak. We then catch our breath a bit with another of the better “power ballads” in the song book as Lifeboy hits the stage for only the second time in 1998 and for the final time until returning 133 shows later on 02.21.2003 in Cincinnati. This version has that cathartic build and resolution that makes the song so beloved in the fanbase and then we are on to our first real highlight of the show when — with a lengthy, loop and effect laden intro — David Bowie starts up to the joy of the crowd. This is not a total mindfuck version like something out of the song’s peak years in late 1994 and throughout 1995 (cuz, yeah, Orpheum and Providence in Fall/Winter 1994 or any of a number of Summer 1995 versions like Lakewood, The Mann, Jones Beach, and Deer Creek) but the jam while somewhat linear does have a patient feel to it that is accented well with the loops Trey employs along the way. This one won’t make the Big List Of Best Bowies but in the moment it is a fun ride through a swirling bit of tension and release where Page and Trey dominate the action.

Now we get the unplugged part of the show as Trey straps on the acoustic for Sleep and Driver. While perhaps not the most exciting part of these shows, this interlude served its purpose well in providing a breather slot to “reset” things and to highlight a couple of the less jam-friendly tunes they had brought to the stage in recent months. This wasn’t something they did every show of the tour (like our friend the ubiquitous Big Ball Jam that was a part of practically every show there for a while) but usually when they did Driver or Sleep were one of the songs involved with the two appearing together in two shows on this tour not to mention two stand alone shows prior to tour (for their shared debut on 10.17.1998 as well as in the recording of the Sessions at West 54th performance on 10.20.1998) not to mention again during the NYE Run at MSG. Coming out of this pairing you would expect something big and raucous as we have to be getting close to setbreak, right? So Trey straps back on the ‘doc and warms up with a few casual strums before hitting those easily recognizable notes for Good Times Bad Times, one of the most reliable set/show closing cover rockers in the repertoire. The Led Zeppelin tune was debuted only 50 shows into Phish’s existence and since then has never gone longer than 66 without being played (with only two other gaps of 30 shows or longer). At 214 times played it is the most common cover song Phish plays with the caveat that I do not count HYHU because they have never played the song in its entirety and it solely exists here as a joke on Fish. A few songs are closing in fast (Ya Mar, Uncle Pen, 2001) but for now that place is safe. Tonight’s set ending version has a whirling, noisy, extended jam in the middle before the final return to the powerful chords that signify the close, making this the fourth longest version ever behind one from 1997 (they tended to play it a bit longer then when Trey was showing off his wonderful Hendrixxian chops in lieu of funking it up) and two from 2003. With that we are off to setbreak and tonight, maybe, you decided to take it a little easier after going big last night and hearing about it the whole two and a half hour drive up from New Haven so that means you are the one here rolling your eyes and making the trek out to the concourse to escape the raving mess that is your tour buddy Pauly the Tree. Sure, Pauly is a great guy who gives the best bear hugs to everyone he meets but he gave you so much shit last night that you are just waiting for the post show lot and hotel time to give it right back to him. Tonight is his night to be #1 just as last night was yours. The question then becomes who will be the “winner” in Worcester?

Eventually the setbreak ends your internal conflicts and scheming to bring us more Phish and out of the murk of the set’s start we get the languid funk of Phish’s delightful cover of Deodato’s take on Also Spake Zarathustra, or as we all know it “2001”. There are some debates as to when the peak for this song was, be it the cowfunk monsters of Fall 1997 or the more exploratory juggernauts of 1999 but I’d put 1998 right up there as by now they had the funk thing down and were starting to really tinker with this song. This version is not one I would put on the top of the heap but it has a great wah funk intro with Trey toying around on various lead lines throughout until a loop’d outro drops us into Golgi Apparatus. Wait what? Hang on. 2001 is a set starting tune that drops us into a big jam vehicle, right? RIGHT?? Ah ,well, they can’t all be winners so I guess we just have to deal with the fact that they doubled up on the energy building with the old tune about ticket stubs and cell structures (clearly as a nod to the tough ticket situation for those looking here preshow) before getting to the real meat of the matter here.

After Golgi we are dropped into the first Drowned since the first set one from 11.02.1998. This Albany version follows a similar pattern to that one in that the jam starts out as a high powered explosion of arena rock riffs as Page and Fish add to the cacophony of noise. However, instead of sliding into the groove space that took that Utah one ‘next level’ we get a less noisy but still rocking section where Trey sustains his notes in amping up the dissonant nature of the music before they bring it all down to a nice segue to Prince Caspian. The Caspian is pretty standard for Fall ’98 which means you get a lovely lyrical section followed by Trey just straight annihilating the end solo. You know, ho hum average guitar god stuff. Caspian bleeds right into the slow intro to Piper and, again, while nothing epic it shreds in the way those Fall ’98 Pipers did (excepting the Denver one which went much bigger) in a compact version that hits and runs in just over seven and a half minutes with close to half of that coming in the slow build intro.

Looking to perhaps stretch out a bit following this shredder, Trey starts up You Enjoy Myself which proceeds as it does with a nice though ambient-lacking pre-Nirvana section and then all the prog funk you could want in the balance of the song. Trey throws in a Super Bad tease along the way but overall this version isn’t very noteworthy. The crowd pleasing cover of Been Caught Stealing ramps up next and is paired with Llama for a double closer punch and we are off to the encores. First up would be the final performance of The Beatles’ Something which is somewhat oddly followed up with Guyute. This rocks the joint the way Guyute tends to and then we are treated to my favorite a cappella cover, Free Bird. Kind of a weird three pack for the encore but whaddyagonnado. At the least it sends everyone out on a high note laughing at that Free Bird so there’s that.

I’m not really sure how to evaluate this one as a whole. There is no big standout jam (or three) to point to but to my ear the playing is perfectly fine throughout the show (though some of the reviews out there for this one on .net and in other places do not paint quite as rosy a picture about the show). The song choices and placement are a bit… interesting… what with number of ballad-y tunes in the first set and overall reliance on rockers in the place of true jam vehicles but that’s just quibbling at a certain point. The crowd seems to be really into it (though, honestly, when are they not?) and the band sounds like they are fully engaged so who are we to complain? Okay, sure, fine, maybe there’s a flub or three in Guyute and perhaps in a couple other places but whatever! We will just take our takeaways and move on to Worcester. And with that, your takeaways tonight are Bowie, Drowned->Caspian, and perhaps Roggae and maybe the GTBT if you are feeling gracious. Not a whole lot here but better than nothing. I am confident we will have a lot more to take away once we get to Worcester once we’ve wiped out the midweek malaise from this hump day affair.

And They’re Pushing Me Further From Shore – New Haven, CT 11.24.1998

Phish — New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum — New Haven, CT 11.24.1998

I Disease, Moma>Ginseng, Stash, B&R, LxL, Sample, Tela, CDT

II Ghost>Halley’s>Tweezer->Possum, Wading>Zero

E Suzy>Reprise

Do you hear that? Come closer. Closer… Now you hear it? Yeah, that’s the collective exhale of a band moving on from a weekend with extremely high expectations back to the normal goings on of a midweek stop in the Phish-friendly climes of southern Connecticut. That is not to say that Hampton is not also Phish-friendly but that maybe just maybe the weight of the prior year’s performance in The Mothership influenced the band to the effect that what we got was two solid if not remarkable shows devoid of many “all star” jams (save the Simple, of course) as had occurred in 1997. I cannot verify the band’s mindset here some 18 years in the future, obviously, but all you have to do is listen to the very next show they performed in New Haven, CT and it sure seems pretty clear that they simply allowed this one to flow after having thrown a lot of songs out there over the prior two shows. The end result is a Tuesday night throw down where the playing is white hot, the jams come early and often, and there is nary a wasted moment in getting to the point of the endeavor.

In all the years since its debut — first as the celebratory New Year’s Jam on 12.31.1993 — Down with Disease has been played 250 times with only 19 of those being show openers (it has opened 74 2nd sets and one 3rd set for the Halloween 2010 show which featured the cover of Little Feat’s Waiting For Columbus). In most cases this song as show opener acts as a big energy burst to set the stage for bigger things to come. On this night the energy coming from the show opening Disease is big but so is the jam. This is not just a shred clinic even though that is on display here. This is a triumphant, patient, building jam that reaches its first peak to the elation of the crowd but just keeps going, eventually covering close to 14 minutes as it begs to blow the roof on the joint clear off just as things get going before finally coming around to the full Disease ending that is now so rare to hear. Oh, and lest we forget to mention it, Trey teased Stash a bit in the intro to that Disease. Keeping everyone on their toes, the band starts up Moma Dance after a brief pause, diving into the funk early in this show. They are really starting to put a little extra stank on this tune of late and this version fits that mold perfectly. There is nothing but deep groove going on here but, man, they hit that pocket hard. If you can’t get down to a version like this one then I’m not sure what to say because this is a clinic in Phish Funk. Trey is using the wah pedal to great effect in coloring the groove all while Mike and Fish hammer at that beat and Page comps along. It feels like a groove that could keep on going but they bring it down and head into Ginseng Sullivan for the three slot grassy tune on the evening.

After the brief interlude about the perils of being a valuable root scrounger trying to make his way back home we return to the jam for the Stash that Trey teased at the start of the set. Similar to the first two songs of the evening we stay firmly within the song itself but Trey plays an interesting staccato lead as they patiently work their way through the tension-building exercise that is Stash. Fish pounds us to the release of the peak and we are left with a third quality jam just four songs into the set. Now we get our first real breather tune with Brian & Robert but we are quickly back to it with Limb by Limb. I feel like I am beating the horse here but this is yet another solid jam that does not stray from the song but features Trey reaching high towards to peak. Here in the back half of the first set there has yet to be any one song that is going to make it on to some fan’s jamcharts but there is very little wasted either. Of course, as soon as we are able to turn and hug our neighbors to celebrate that LxL they start up Sample In A Jar to shut me up. Now, I’ve read some who say that Trey takes a “real solo” here but I don’t hear it and I will continue to maintain my position regarding this song because I am right and I have 278 examples to back me up here. Shit, even having Carl Perazzo sitting in doesn’t help and don’t try to tell me that one from Copenhagen 03.02.1997 counts either because a quick quote of Radiohead’s Creep isn’t gonna count here, bucko.

Moving on, we have a lovely Tela where Trey hits all the right notes in the end solo. This is what you want out of this song since even though it is like Sample in the fact that they never “jam” it here at least you have an interesting piece of music that is made better by the performance of it. As if to counterpoint the beauty of Tela they follow it by closing the set with a punishing, rocking take on Chalkdust Torture, one that will send you off to setbreak hooting and hollering about this band and how they came to melt faces before getting into a rambling almost incoherent rant about how THIS is Phish and THIS is them showing everyone why they are the best band on earth as you recap the highlights of the set for everyone in your section. Naturally, all of those people start to slowly back away as they understand the state of mind you are in and they make excuses about how they need to go get a beer or get some air — anything to escape the black hole that is this conversation — and eventually you are left standing there with your back to the stage as you continue to espouse on the wonder that is this set.

Hopefully it isn’t the house lights eventually going down again that snaps you out of it because that would probably mean your whole crew and everyone around you will have left to find somewhere else to dance for the second set to come. But hey, maybe that is what you needed to cleanse your mind a bit on this night so when they come back out and drop that telling loop to kick off Ghost it flips the switch and you shut the hell up for once and lose yourself in yet another high quality jam. Trey takes the helm here at the start, pushing a growly tone over the beat all while the loop persists and Page offers up some crunchy organ to augment Trey. Similar to the Disease that started the show, this one patiently builds with Trey holding his notes longer as Fish picks up the pace. Trey then takes things higher, teasing us with a lead line that gets more and more involved yet still stays true to its Ghost roots, building tension towards a release that hits more than one false peak along the path. Trey throws in some “Foxy Lady” style phrasing as this progresses and there is never a full release bliss peak as we get in many Ghosts but instead heads towards the typical outro space that this song begets. Page is on top here and Trey sets a new loop as they hit the breakdown and look to transition to the next song. Here’s a crappy old video of that one if you are so inclined where perhaps you can find the San Ho Zay and Psycho Killer teases that are hidden within. As a bit of an aside, if you have never read the wonderful Daily Ghost Project by lawnmemo you should go ahead and do that already. He does a fantastic job breaking down so much in those posts. He is also currently working through 2001 too if you like the Ghost stuff. Now back to the show…

The transition from Ghost gets us to Halley’s Comet which tonight does not include a jam but rather serves as the bridge to our next vehicle, Tweezer. The tempo here is a bit slower than “normal” at the start but as they enter the jam space Mike hits the fight bell multiple times (in time with the beat, no less) and then they head off into the ether. Mike takes the clear lead here, building a Tweezer-ish line that Trey picks up and elevates with some more growl tone. This evolves into a serious bit of groove that never really leaves Tweezer with Trey soloing on top, Page added flavors to complement him, and Mike and Fish pushing the groove to greater heights. This is the four-headed monster Phish where all of the players are contributing to the jam while no one is ever wanking out a big solo or anything. This is the type of Phish jam that in the moment has you doing your best dance moves, making knowing eye contact with perfect strangers who feel that connection and reflect it right back to you. Trey eventually brings us all home with some more growly, electro lead lines that bring us to a small bit of dark ambience before Trey kicks into the old school slow down ending to wrap it up. But before fully closing things out Trey stretches out the last note and then they ramp up to punch into the start of Possum. Even before the lyrics you can tell this version is a bit more than your standard Possum fare as Trey plays the slightly off key lead line from “Born on the Bayou” (last teased 11.13.1997 in Mike’s Song) in the intro. Once they get to the jam Trey plays around the Possum theme for a few minutes, offering up an almost staccato version of the normal Possum lead and then solos out of that as Page tinkles away with his own line on the baby grand. This all follows the typical pattern for Possum in getting to the peak but they extend it for several minutes with Trey alternately playing a direct lead and a dissonant “un- jam” (not really too unlike the “un-jams” that Possum enjoyed in Summer 2012) that serves to build tension towards the release peak where he comes back immediately to the Possum theme. It may not be the best Possum ever but it sure is more interesting than the swamp music normalcy of the song.

You could pretty well expect that here some 55 minutes into a set heavy on the jams they would play a bathroom break song next and they do with a serviceable Wading In The Velvet Sea that has a nice outro solo if that is your bag. This is followed by yet another fiery Character Zero on this tour which while pretty much what you expect rocks quite hard in capping this set. In coming out for the encore Phish had a bit of a surprise up their sleeves as they brought out an old friend to assist for the first Suzy Greenberg of this tour, not to mention the ensuing Tweezer Reprise. Everyone by now would have known who the Dude of Life is but might not have been prepared for him to give us some alternate lyrics to Suzy and Reprise. This offers some reason to check these versions out but otherwise it is just another brief visit from a vision of their past which included backing him for his album Crimes of the Mind (an album that offers us the music of Chalkdust Torture as backing to another song entirely amongst other “gems”). He is something of an acquired taste but you cannot deny his place in phishtory so there it is.

Perhaps I am over-fluffing this show due to its juxtaposition with the preceding Hampton run that didn’t exactly elevate this tour to greater heights. Again, I am not saying that the Hampton shows were bad by any means just that they may not have hit the extremely high expectations of the fanbase. This New Haven show is another type of Phish from the one we saw in Hampton, one that is more about taking songs to their logical conclusion by playing around the theme while searching for inspiration towards new music. Honestly, this show is heavy on what would be deemed “type I” jams but it is also showcasing the sound the band had developed in getting to this point on the tour. Being 18 shows into the tour with four to go (including the three night finale in Worcester) they were operating at full capacity. Outside of the Suzy every song in this show had been played within the preceding two weeks, showing that they were familiar with the material and willing to stretch their legs a bit. They also returned to the pattern of less-songs-played, back to the tour average of 9 first set songs after both Hampton shows had 13 song first sets (and below the tour average of 18.9 songs for the whole show by playing just 16 after nights of 22 and 23 in Hampton). All told, this one is a show that I will respin more frequently than those Hampton shows due to the interesting jams that go along with all of the other “standard” factors at play. Just putting together the takeaways proves that as we have Disease, Moma, Stash, LxL, Ghost, and Tweezer->Possum as definites and Suzy>Reprise for the unique offerings they are. I wish all my Tuesdays could be so fruitful. So to return to the question, am I being a bit to fluffy here? Yeah, sure, fine, but I’ll gladly wear that mantle for a show like this one.

Lost In My Reflection

Scattered Musings from a Lifelong Obsession

Category: reviews