Category: Takeaways

Projecting All The Places We Would Go – Charlotte, NC 10.26.1996

Phish — Charlotte Coliseum — Charlotte, NC 10.26.1996

I  Julius, CTB, Wolfman’s Brother, Reba, Train Song, Zero, Ice, Theme, Sample

II  Disease>YEM, Sparkle>Simple->McGrupp, Waste, Lope

E  Fire

 

Following their one night stop in Hampton Phish continued to live the words of The Curtain by, you know, following the lines going south to play a Saturday night affair in Charlotte, NC. Well, perhaps it is more accurate to say they followed the lines going west by southwest but that’s just picking nits, amiright? Anyone?

 

::crickets::

 

Tough crowd. Okay, I’ll try to stick to the music here a bit more. So the band returned to Charlotte, a city that has seen its share of high quality Phish over the years. Actually, the whole state of North Carolina has been a boon for the band. No, that wasn’t a finger-to-the-nose punny nod to the town of Boone, but they have played there, wise guy, and I was there and it was a helluva fun time. Check out the Reba if you haven’t ever heard it. Collectively, the band has played 40 shows in the Tarheel State with 11 of those happening in Charlotte. At the time of this show in 1996 they had played Charlotte venues five times starting with a pair of 1990 shows both at The Pterodactyl Club (a now-closed but one time staple of the live music scene in Charlotte) with one on the Spring Tour and the other coming in the Fall. The next visits would be be to the Grady Cole Center, a smallish multi-use venue that is part of the country parks system. The 07.28.1993 show is most notable as being the first time Dr. Jack McConnell joined the band for his now-signature take on Bill Bailey (they have never played the song without him there) and the piano duet he and Page had which preceded it in the encore. They returned about nine months later on 04.24.1994 for a show full of awesome including Gin->Jump Monk->Gin (727 show bustout for Jump Monk which some may recognize more for its influence on Stash than in its original form), a beaut of a Slave, and ho-hum just another one of those mind blowing ’94 Bowies. 1995 saw the first visit to the larger Charlotte Coliseum for the debut of Slow Heart and big time Tweezer amongst other gems. This was Fall ’95 after all…

 

The next visit to Charlotte would be for our show up there, again at the Charlotte Coliseum for what would be the last time to date. Since then Phish has continued to come back to the Queen City (and North Carolina in general), playing another six shows that have all been at the Pavilion of Changing Names currently known as PNC Pavilion. Now nine shows into the tour and in the third show of a four night run (the second such run already this tour) the band is in full operational mode and seems poised to take things to another level from the consistent if somewhat reserved performances of the past several shows. Getting the dance vibe going from the start, the band opens with a spirited Julius with that raging Trey you know to be the case for Julius in this era. After that solid opener we get a vibrant Cars Trucks Buses where Page takes the forefront and then we have a nice if somewhat pedestrian Wolfman’s Brother. I know we all recognize the jam potential of that song these days but back then before the landmark Markethalle  version from the show that would beget Slip Stitch and Pass. Here though, only four plus months prior to that date, the song is about as close to the album version as you could get.

 

But fear not! Next up we have our gal Reba and after running through the composed section we are treated to a thrill ride version where Trey and Fish shine brightly in a jam that flows along quite swimmingly before Trey reaches for the stars and brings down a white hot peak on the unsuspecting gazers in the crowd. I find this version to be quite undervalued in comparison to some of the top notch Rebas out there so I’d recommend you go ahead and spin it. You will not be disappointed. They come up for air for a nice Train Song interlude and then crank into another straight forward and rocking version of Character Zero (our fifth already this tour). I still find it odd to see all of these mid-set Zeros popping up here as we now know it to be a set closer primarily. From here we get dropped into the murk of It’s Ice with Trey setting some atmospheric sound as Page takes a run for a ranging piano solo. This gives way to a satisfying Theme From The Bottom before Sample comes in and squats on our fine little set. In my revisionist dreams I would have nudged Trey to keep that Theme going for another five minutes to cap the set instead of giving way to Sample but he’s the guy making the choices so oh well.

 

During the break you have to have been thinking that this is one of the best first sets of the tour so far and here today I’d be agreeing with you. The clear highlight is the Reba but all throughout we get crisp playing and a real sense of band connectivity. This raises the hopes and expectations headed into the second frame where Phish usually keeps the good stuff. Tonight that maxim holds true as from the get go this second set brings a higher level of Phish than what we have been experiencing over the past several outings. Things get started with yet another fiery Down With Disease (a song that has open 95 sets in its 251 appearances…). While still a firmly ‘type I’ jam, there are a lot of great ideas being thrown out here from all involved but Trey in particular. This is a white hot chugger of a Disease that just begs to escape its structure but instead they take us directly into You Enjoy Myself. Always a quality pick, this one has a lovely pre-nirvana section and they nail all of the composed bits before Trey finally unleashes a ripping solo in his part of the jam. It almost feels like he still had a lot to say in that Disease and carried over that energy here. Mike and Fish back this up with a great D&B section before we get the obligatory VJ. A fast run through a (sadly) FMS-less Sparkle brings us to our next vehicle Simple. Considering how this has been the most consistent vehicle of the tour so far it is no surprise that they again take this one out for a bit of a ride. Things progress as they do and then once Trey hops on the mini-kit we are in weird land. Page is putting up varied effects and organ fills as the rest of the band drives the pocket in this full band jam. Trey eventually moves back to the guitar and we get a bit more to chew on before they drop into some transitional space with Page almost hinting at Keyboard Cavalry. They opt for the first McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters (the first tour debut of the night) instead, having gotten there quite organically it would seem.

 

McGrupp — always a song I love to hear — provides the opportunity to collect oneself a bit in the wake of that Simple and has a perfectly fine end build as it typically does. You may note here that we have another Page-heavy show on our hands but with Trey also showing his chops and Mike&Fish doing their typically awesome thing this one feels more like the whole band is on top of their game tonight. Our breather song tonight is Waste and Trey gives yet another solid solo at the end, inducing the full crowd sway and smilefest that this song seems to always bring with it. Trey take a moment following Waste to give a shout out to Fish’s cousin (in attendance) who recently won a guitar competition, noting that he played a Hendrix tune in the winning. This precedes the set closing Run Like an Antelope where along with the typical psych shred madness of the jam Trey throws in a Star Spangled banner tease along with a Voodoo Child (Slight Return) tease to nod to the Fish cousin thing. They rock this one out as they tend to do and then for the encore they bring more Jimi with our first Fire of the young tour.

 

I really think this show is a bit of a tipping point for the band along the Fall ’96 path (…he says with the large benefit of hindsight). Outside of a couple of song choices that I personally do not prefer there is nothing to complain about in this show and the playing throughout is quite high level. There are multiple takeaway jams — Reba, Ice, Simple, and Disease (yes, I know we have highlighted every one so far but c’mon, they are all quite good for this type of DWD) and YEM for the second tier add-ins — and a vibrant energy reflected by both band and crowd. Just listen to Trey for one. Maybe he was just warming up before this or distracted by NYC or something but it all clicks here. And we still haven’t had much of a hint at the massive thing coming only three shows from now! At this stage in the tour, I’d put this one at the top of the list as a great example of the BRiL (Before Remain in Light) sound. They forego the long form, open psych jams of ’95 for tight versions heavy on the quick exchange of ideas (pretty much like the ‘jam density’ thing that became a part of the 3.0 discussions). While this tour still lacks a major, epcot-level type jam all the signs point to that being an impending inevitability. So go ahead and spin this one with the knowledge that it is but a swell in advance of the tsunami about to crash on the masses and enjoy it for the snapshot it provides into life in the days before the Phish world was forever changed.

None Is Yours And Far Less Mine – Hampton, VA 10.25.1996

Phish — Hampton Coliseum — Hampton, VA 10.25.1996

I  Ha Ha Ha>Taste, Makisupa->Maze, Billy Breathes, Mound, Guelah, IDK, Stash, Coil

II  Tube>Caspian, Timber Ho!>TMWSIY>Aveenu Malkenu>TMWSIY, NICU>Free, Strange Design, Hood>Cavern, SSB

E  JBG

 

We have had the opportunity to revisit a pair of shows from The Mothership already, considering that the Fall ’98 tour included a two night stand at this, one of the band’s favorite venues in which to perform. I say that with confidence as here in this Fall ’96 single night stop (the 2nd of 18 shows played in the Hampton Coliseum) Trey banters about this being one of the band’s favorite rooms to play due to the good sound and ability for everyone to move around where they like. Considering that they had only played this room once prior to Trey making that proclamation, it speaks to the band’s appreciation of this place as they would only play a single show here one more time (08.09.2004) with all other visits being two or three night stands. The most famous of these, of course, is the Fall ’97 pair that wowed the fanbase when the tapes made it out to the masses but perhaps as equally important it the three night stand the band played in 2009 to end The Long Wait and usher in Phish 3.0. There is also the pair of pre-Big Cypress shows from 1999 and two three night stands separated by ten years in 2003 (the cap to the NYE Run that started at MSG for 12.31.2002, ending Hiatus) and 2013 (three scorchers on the well regarded Fall Tour from that year) but it all started with an innocent Saturday night on fall Tour ’95 tucked between stops in Pittsburgh and Knoxville (kinda sounds like a country/trucker song there…). That 11.25.1995 show is perhaps most notable for spawning the first ever Rotation Jam (out of a pretty decent Mike’s) and is sometimes referred to as the Poor Heart Show considering they played the “normal” fast version in the first set, the Slow Heart version as show closer, and a quick Poor Heart Reprise as part of the encore. There is also a solid Timber Ho! 2nd set opener and an engaging Hood to be found in this show so check it out if you never have.

 

As you can see (and probably already knew), this is a room that has become one quite revered in the Phish world both due to the easy nature of seeing shows here and for the music that has been produced. Considering the number of shows here over the years, one could get a pretty good snapshot of the band’s progression simply by spinning these in order… but that’s not really what we are here for, is it? So let’s get into the Fall ’96 offering from The Mothership!

 

From the start, things are a bit different on this night as they open with the Fish-penned Ha Ha Ha (for the first time ever and one of only two times it has opened a show – the other being 06.30.2000). This setlist oddball tune was a bit of a bustout here considering it had been 45 shows since having last been played at the Philly Spectrum on 12.15.1995. These days we look at this song as a nod to a joke, resolution to a big jam, or some other indicator but in the opening slot it seems they are trying to clue us in before the show even gets started so now you end up going through the whole show wondering what that Ha Ha Ha was in reference to way back in the opener slot. And you would honestly be still wondering that by the end of the show since there really isn’t anything in this set that seems to warrant it but now it is in your addled brain, causing havoc with your ability to surrender to the flow, man, and what the hell, now you are having a weird inquisitory head trip instead of being able to lose yourself in the music and shit. Screw that, brah. Back in the room, the band has now moved on to Taste, working through a rough go of the composed section but putting up an energetic if straight forward end jam. Our first Makisupa Policeman of the tour is next and after the “dank” keyword we get a brief, dark, layered outro jam that kinda sorta sounds like it could be plucked out of Fall ’98. There is a full transition into Maze from this which gives us yet another solid take on the song, if perhaps not quite to the demented levels of that one from Pittsburgh.

 

Now four songs in you can easily tell they are amped up and playing well as everything has been on point (well, maybe that Taste wasn’t perfect but the jam made up for it…). They take a brief breather for, um, Billy Breathes (SO obvious) and then give us a fine take on Mound, a tune that I have often wondered whether it would ever break free from its structure (it hasn’t and won’t, but that doesn’t mean I won’t stop asking). Our old pal Guelah Papyrus continues the dance theme and next we have our first I Didn’t Know of the tour, sung by “Mr. Norton Charleston Heston” himself. After the suck and blow tune we get that Trey banter about this being one of their favorite rooms to play and that leads to a solid Stash. There is some decent T&R building in this version as they leave the song structure for a few minutes but this one isn’t going to rise to the top of the heap by any means. The first set comes to a close with a somewhat longish Squirming Coil as Page takes his solo out for a nice walk in capping a set that has had some pretty good work throughout by the Chairman of the Boards. As you listen to this show you might determine this to be a “Page show” and you wouldn’t be wrong at all in saying that as he does bring a lot to the table throughout (and Coil closers kind of tip their hand in this regard too).

 

After the setbreak the tour debuts continue with Tube, here a quite short and contained version of the song that in only a year will have evolved into the sometimes-jam-vehicle we pine for these days. Even with the funk about to drop on us there are no hints of that sort of thing here as it segues into Prince Caspian. Wait. What? Segued from Tube to Fuckerpants? What the hell, Trey? While they get through the song you are now starting to wonder why they chose that pairing and if it had ever happened before (it had not) and you start pondering whether this will be a new thing where they pair two seemingly disparate songs like this (it will not). So the Caspian moves into the typical 1996 build jam for the song and you are okay with it because you are an enlightened phan who is capable of brushing off those odd choices and just giving in to the will of the music. At which point your overly patient girlfriend standing next to you rolls her eyes, shakes her head, and leaves for the bathrooms because she did NOT come here to way to some crappy tune about a guy with no feet. And here some 19+ years later you finally realize why that chick wasn’t much of a keeper. Oh, as an added fact here, there is only one other time they went Tube>Caspian was just a bit more exciting as in 07.27.2003 they go Tube>Caspian->2001 in a quite satisfactory segment that has a nice outro to the Tube before a rousing take on Caspian eventually bleeds to our favorite space funk cover. Well, we didn’t get that here in Hampton but it wasn’t all that bad, honestly.

 

They quickly move on to Timber (Jerry) (yes, I know altering the name of this one time and again is annoying but I really can’t decide which way to name it) and while a brief version there is a nifty little jam that seems to hint back to the Stash from the first set. This drops into our first TMWSIY>Aveenu Malkenu>TMWSIY sequence of the tour (40 shows since the last one) which, while nice to hear, is taking up precious second set jam space here, boys. The subsequent NICU ain’t helping either, Trza. But then they drop into Free and we have at least a few minutes of that chunky rocker as Trey posts up on the minikit for a bit to allow Page to do his piano thing before Trey moves back to the guitar and we wrap this one up. Page gets to sing Strange Design next and then we get what will end up being the veritable highlight of the show with a nicely peaked, type I on steroids Harry Hood. Seriously, the build in this one is very patient and comes off so well. It just adds another entry to the Hampton Hoods legacy where in every single visit to this venue except the 2003 one they have put up a pretty decent version of the song (the main reason it didn’t pop in 2003 is due to it having been played at MSG right before that run). A funky run through Cavern and a rousing Star Spangled Banner wrap up the set and then following the rocking Johnny B. Goode encore we are on the road once more.

 

So here we have a show that is kinda light on the jams but yet still follows our upward trend for the tour so far. You can almost smell what is about to happen but they are still holding back a tad from that with nary a hint of any of the awesome they will lay down on that crowd in Atlanta and beyond. That’s pretty impressive when you realize that they have clearly been working on the Remain In Light material by now but have yet to allow it to slip into any of these shows to date. This show is a pure fun time Friday night Phish show with some interesting setlist choices and quality playing hiding the fact that they really didn’t cover any new ground here. The takeaways are light with the Coil and Hood be your only definite entries as I wouldn’t want to add anything else that really isn’t that interesting at the end of the day. But hang on to your hats because the Saturday show to come will turn us over into the next phase…

 

 

You Keep It Very Clean – Hartford, CT 10.23.1996

Phish — Hartford Civic Center — Hartford, CT 10.23.1996

I  PYITE, Poor Heart, Bag, Foam, Hello My Baby, Zero, Rift, Theme>Lope

II  Brother, Ya Mar, Tweezer>Lizards, Llama, Suzy>Slave, Julius

E  CDT

 

Phish has a long history with Connecticut, stretching back to the not quite verified 05.08.1988  show at a place called CD’s in Norwalk, CT, a venue I cannot find any information on anywhere which means it probably doesn’t exist anymore because you’d have to think there would be some mention of it on these here intrawebz. As with that show, the next visit to the Constitution State is one that has no known setlist but is at least confirmed to have happened on the noted date (04.02.1989) at The Nightshift Cafe in Naugatuck. Their first show in Hartford would come about six weeks later on 05.27.1989 for a fraternity party at Trinity College. This is still a somewhat incomplete record, however, as only the supposed first set of this show circulates. The next visits to CT would be in 1990 to the famed Toad’s Place first for a show on 03.01.1990, then the classic Woodbury Ski & Raquet Club show from 04.29.1990 which circulates on video in full, and then back at Toad’s Place again on 05.06.1990 for a show that was heavily circulated back in the day. You may know it for the Hood or Bowie but the Jagermeister Song is the comical aspect of this one (dedicated to WSP who opened) or perhaps the odd show ending where YEM pretty much just ends without the vocal jam and they had no encore due to the venue curfew. There was one more show in CT on the Fall Tour that year at Wesleyan University in Middletown (09.16.1990) which was a free single set affair that has a super shreddy Trey-heavy Weekapaug and then they wouldn’t return to the state until the following Spring Tour.

 

1991 would produce only three shows in the Nutmeg State with two at The Sting in New Britain (05.16.1991 and 11.19.1991) and a banter-heavy affair from The Salisbury School on 05.19.1991 that was organized by a few prep schools in the area. Oh, to be able to book Phish to play your boarding school… what a different time that was. There is a humorous note that the show was apparently cut short by the powers that be due to suspected drug and alcohol use by the students in attendance, something one would never expect from prep school hippies! Quite honestly, none of these shows are overly noteworthy except in establishing Phish’s affinity for playing in the area but things started to ramp up with Phish performances here in The Land of Steady Habits in 1992. While there are only three shows for Phish here in 1992 they are all quite solid and all were performed at the Palace Theatre in New Haven. The first is the 03.19.1992 show which has one of those rare Bowie ‘tease medley’ versions and a lot of that high energy, tight shred stuff they did back then (not to mention the original arrangement of NICU). The 12.28.1992 show is a bit of table setting for the NYE Run but is a worthwhile listen all the same. Then, on 12.29.1992 they dropped a classic Tweezer in a tease-heavy show that sounds more like Spring ’93 than anything from ’92 or earlier. Of course, there are two BBJs in that show which immediately drops it down a few pegs, unfortunately…

 

1993 had only two CT shows, first for the 04.30.1993 stop in West Hartford and then back to New Haven for the second show on the NYE Run, this time at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum show on 12.29.1993. The playing here is quite good as they had pretty well moved on to the 1994 psych jazz sound at this stage. Stash is quite unique if you have never heard it. After skipping the Provisions State in 1994 Phish returned along the path of the epic Fall ’95 Tour for a great one (again) in New Haven, one best known for the Tweezer it birthed but also for the overall quality of the performance (not to mention being the first time – of four ever – where Prince Caspian has opened the show). I’ll now stop the history lesson to get into the single CT stop for 1996 but it is notable that the band has returned here in almost every year of touring since with an additional nine shows scattered between 1997-2000 and 2009-2013. With the exception of 2000 and 2010 these are all single night stops and in toto Phish has played solid shows here throughout their history. And this one from 10.23.1996 is certainly no exception…

 

The first set starts off well enough with some energy tunes to get things moving as they rip through decent takes on Punch You In The Eye, Poor Heart, and ACDC Bag. The Bag has a bit of extra sauce on it but stays within form and then they add to that energy some more with the first Foam since summer tour. Four songs in there is nothing major to take away but the playing is tight and the band seems ready to go bigger. Before doing so we get the a cappella Hello My Baby and then another couple rockers in Character Zero and Rift. The set seems to be flying by without much of note but then they start up Theme for a soaring, crisp take on the type I vehicle. Trey uses the distortion pedal well here as he plays with the peak and then upon resolution we drop into the Antelope closer you could have seen coming a mile away if you had been watching setlist trends at this stage of tour. This Lope has some solid dissonant shred jamming and tension building, bringing the crowd to a frenzied peak but it otherwise largely straight forward. And that might be one of the shortest first set recaps I’ve done which kinda makes sense here what with the quite un-notable nature of it all (and the fact that this is only a one hour set…). Which probably had a lot of people scratching their heads unless that itch was just their super hetty dreads being a little dry this time of year, brah.

 

And your confusion would have been further amplified had you gandered at the stage during the break rather than heading out to the concourse to chat up that cute spinner gal you met on lot earlier that day as a second drum kit was brought out! What the heck?!? Well, maybe if you were up on your side projects and whatnot you would realize once they came out to the stage that the guest second drummer is none other than Bob Gullotti, drummer for such projects as Michael Ray’s Cosmic Krewe (who is still in fine form, I must say, having just seen him as part of the James Brown Dance party thing post Phish on 01.02.2016), George Garzone’s The Fringe (free jazz improv), Surrender to the Air (remember that Trey thing we mentioned not too long ago?), and as support for a variety of folks over the years. He also has the distinction of being a drum instructor for Fish over the years so all told he has some history with the band. This would be the first of three times Bob joined the band on stage with the other two being during shows in Texas (07.25.1997 and 07.26.1997) on the Summer 1997 Tour. For this night in Hartford he sat in for the entirety of the 2nd set and encore.

 

The set starts out with a punchy Brother, another tour first timer, and this one apparently played by request for Trey’s brother-in-law’s birthday. Right after this Trey introduces their guest and then they drop into a quite fun Ya Mar which has a bit of a drum duel/solo in the end before they come back to the song itself. Considering that Fish virtually never takes actual drum solos this is notable, particularly since with two talented players on the kits it doesn’t ever get jumbled or showoff-y like some big arena rock hair band drummer trying to get the chick in the front row to throw her unmentionables at him. Next up is our first Tweezer in a bit and here is our first real open jam of the night. Trey and Page plug along with the rhythm section setting the beat, with Trey soloing over the time changes as they build momentum here. Trey gets a siren wail going with his sustain, looping it as Page offers up some funky fills and Mike bombs away in the back. Trey drops out to hop on the mini-kit and now we are into the most percussive Tweezer jam that I know of considering there are now three people on drums. Page takes over the lead here with Mike providing some unique lines as well and the jam goes sideways for a few minutes as they explore this open territory. Trey eventually heads back to the guitar for the last couple minutes, building towards the Reprise-ish return to the classic slow Tweezer ending. This segues right into The Lizards which gives us that lovely cautionary tale of our friends from Gamehendge. As usual, this version is bright and danceable and even with two drummers it does not feel overwrought as both Page and Trey nail their respective solos.

 

Backing this up with Llama you might think that the second drummer would get in the way of the beat here but that never happens. Bob and Fish work quite well together which makes sense considering their shared history. Trey shines here, of course, as they turn the civic center into a head banging good time for a few brief minutes. This is followed up by good times Suzy Greenberg that manages to amp the energy up even further even in being about as standard of a take on the song as is possible. Moving towards the back part of the set now, they transition into Slave to the Traffic Light with both drummers offering up the tell tale stop and go beat of the song. The journey to the peak here is nice but nothing new tough it does elicit a rousing cheer from the patrons in the room. Trey then starts up Julius and we are clearly on our way to the end of the set here. As I have mentioned previously, these ’96 versions of Julius really smoke with Trey shredding the shit out of them but this one has that added drummer kicking it up another notch. The swanky groove they lay down for Trey to solo over mandates chair dancing at the very least, assuming you can resist the urge to rise up and give in to the beat. This serves as a solid closer for this guest-enabled set, bringing the crowd up once more to join in the dance party. A suitably fiery Chalkdust Torture with a fun build to the final Trey solo is spurred on by the double drummers, providing the encore tonight and then we are off to discuss the relative merits of bands that have multiple drummers/percussionists while trying to get gathered to begin the trip headed south for that next stop in Hampton.

 

This show seems to continue the pattern set so far in this first seven shows which are high on energy and dexterous playing but light on big jams. And that is not entirely inaccurate but might perhaps be an oversimplification of what is going on at this point. With the new album out (and one that isn’t exactly full of big jam vehicles) the focus is on that material as well as getting back into touring form after about two months off following The Clifford Ball. I would maintain that we haven’t yet had a “bad” show necessarily but that doesn’t mean we have had any great ones either. Most of the jam structures so far are either true to form or in their infancy (e.g. Simple) and we are about to see a whole heck of a lot of development in that respect. This show is a fine enough Wednesday nighter coming on the back end of three straight nights after the pair in New York that preceded it. By the time the following weekend is through we will start to see bigger jams and more noteworthy takeaways, not to mention some more variation in setlist construction and song choice in general. I personally like this show because of the uniqueness the second drummer offers and the overall clean play by all involved throughout but that doesn’t mean it has all-timer jams I’m putting on the big list. With that said, your takeaways tonight are rather light but solid all the same:  Ya Mar, Tweezer, and Theme as the add-in if you so choose. Viewed within the context of the tour progression it is in line with what you might expect at this stage even if we still have yet to hear the inklings of the big things to come in just a few weeks. Maybe they are holding back or maybe they just don’t want to show their hand yet. I can’t really answer that for certain but with the benefit of hindsight I can say for certain that the prevailing trends of this tour are about to be turned on their head… and that is going to be quite exciting indeed.

Trying to Make A Woman That You Move – New York, NY 10.22.1996

Phish — Madison Square Garden — New York, NY 10.22.1996

I  The Curtain>Jim, Bouncin’, Ice, Talk, Melt, Sparkle>Free>YEM

II  2001>Disease>Taste, Mango, Lawn Boy, Mule, Mike’s->Swept Away>Steep>Paug

E Watchtower

 

Fresh off a night of rocking out at The Garden Phish returned for round two in this most venerable of venues. This is one of the most storied venues in the band’s long history with 31 shows having already taken place here along with another four to start TONIGHT! WOOOOOOOO!!!!! Yeah, dude! Phish at the Garden!!!! YEMSG, YO!!!!

 

Ahem.

 

Sorry about that. I’m just a little excited for Phish to bring us more new music. Let’s get back to the review…

 

Okay, so as I was saying Phish has a long history with this venue, first playing a single show along the 1994 NYE Run before a pair capped by the epic 12.31.1995 show preceded this pair we are here to discuss. Over the years certain shows here have stood out for one reason or another, be it the overall awesomeness of the show (such as that 12.31.1995 masterpiece), one particular jam or possibly an entire set that just goes to another level. Some have gone as far as to try to boil down each show played here into one or a few big takeaways, which is admittedly a difficult task. I bring all of this up because if you ask phans what they know of the October 1996 MSG Run the most common answer you will get is something like “oh, yeah, the Freakapaug show!” Now, we have a lot to get through before coming to that memorable part of this one but suffice it to say that this is the moniker by which most fans know 10.22.1996. Now that I have sufficiently teased that, let’s get down to the nitty gritty…

 

In the lore of Phish, certain songs just seem to fit best as set and show openers. I probably mentioned this somewhere along the Spring 1993 path but to me, the pinnacle for this is The Curtain. For those of us who cut our Phish teeth in the 90s we had only bad tapes to tell us of this thing called “The Curtain (With)” as the band put the (With) on the shelf from 1988 until 07.12.2000 (1,178 shows if you are counting) with versions of the song including the (With) becoming more of the norm from there (and particularly in 3.0 where The Curtain (With) has been performed 13 times to the scant 2 that The Curtain has. Even still, we now have to wait to hear whether they will continue With or Without and move on to something else, preferably something with a bit of jam to it. I’m going to skip the full breakdown of songs-that-follow-Curtain but if you guess Tweezer, Sample, Mike’s Song, or Jim you would be in the right ballpark. So in 1996 when we heard The Curtain kick off the first set the first thing you got to do was to get down to that old school classic and then start to prep for what the song following would be. On this night, that would be Runaway Jim, a song that had some of its biggest versions in Fall 1995 — like, seriously, check the 06.16.1995 one from Raleigh if’n you don’t already know it, not to mention a big chugger from that 12.31.1995 show — but also had a couple of keepers from the previous summer tour, first with the one that sandwiched Gypsy Queen at Red Rocks on 08.07.1996 and then for the beaut from Hershey on 08.14.1996 (featuring our friend the mini-kit). While this one doesn’t reach the heights (or depths) of the monsters from ’95 it does give us our first little jamlet which also has a quite nice ‘quiet’ section if that makes any sense. From here we get Bouncin’d before they drop It’s Ice on us. Page is on top doing great work as is typical while Trey scratches out these dissonant, almost feedback-y lines to counterpoint the piano work. This one doesn’t go full darkness like some of the best ones but it is a nice bit of work before we get Talk. Whoopee. Talk.

 

Okay, moving on now they do bring the darkness in the form of Split Open and Melt. This one stays mainly within the framework of the ‘standard’ progression but Trey finds a lead line that is quite satisfying. Working this towards the peak, Trey misses it by a half-step and therefore brings it back around to build a bit more tension before re-peaking the song. The rest of the band catches this with ease and if you aren’t listening for it you might not even notice but it is just another of one of those really cool things you hear when they are connected and improvising in the moment. A quick romp through Sparkle and a brief but crunchy Free serve as appetizers to the set closing YEM that drops next and from the start this feels like a big one is coming. While it might not reach epic status it is quite solid with Trey’s jam being the strength followed by a funky D&B section. I’ve definitely seen much worse first set closers than that. And now you have time to head to the concourse to fight the masses in the bathroom line and grab some water and a pretzel before heading back into the fray.

 

So once settled back into whatever lovely spot in the Garden that you habitated that night you have to wonder if there will be any really big fireworks to come out of this run now that we are minutes from the final set of the run. Sure, that first show was fun and the first set offered up a bit more jamming than the night before but you want big time music and stuff! Everyone loves stuff, right?? Well, stuff you will get in this set, my phriend (sorry, I promise to never do the ‘ph’ thing like that again). After a punchy and funky 2001 to open things up (another song like The Curtain that first lived its life as a precursor to other things rather than as the vehicle it later became) they drop into that telltale soupy intro to Down with Disease. As has been hinted at with the prior two versions on this tour, this one starts to shed the Disease skin a bit while still staying mainly within the theme. Fish is a veritable metronome throughout this one and Mike is going big while Page and Trey throw out ideas. Page heads to the effects board and plays around for a bit while Trey hops on the mini-kit before they bring it all back to the Disease finish. Disease is shaping up to be another song to watch on this tour. Next is a finely executed Taste and then our first Mango Song of the tour, always a welcome one to hear. As always seems to happen at MSG, Page then takes a turn serenading the crowd with Lawn Boy and now we are itching for something in the key of “jam” again… only to get Scent of a Mule all over us. Now, this one is certainly unique as Trey opts for a scat jam solo and rumor has it a guy who is well known as a scatter (Otiel Burbridge) was standing side stage laughing his head off for this so that in and of itself makes it more interesting than the typical Mule (and Page shines in his turn to solo too) but still. It’s Mule. In a prime slot for a big Tweezer or something. But Mule is a song that they seemingly love to play and we already covered this topic so let’s just enjoy it for what it is, mm’kay?

 

Now, to their credit, Phish does have a solid habit of following up Mule with a big jam vehicle (or Cavern but let’s just forget about that) as the most frequent dance partners for that alien adventure are YEM, Tweezer, Stash, Hood, and Mike’s Song. And Cavern but we aren’t talking about that, remember? Tonight gets Mike’s Song and from the start they attack this one with intent, dropping into a menacing jam as soon as possible. They opt out of a second jam for a full segue to Swept Away>Steep, capping it with the yelling thing that is in a few of these early versions before dropping into what is assuredly the set closing Weekapaug Groove. I should probably just go ahead and link the (shaky) video from this whole thing since if you haven’t seen it it might not seem as exciting as it undoubtedly was in the moment. First you get the band playing a really tight and fun version of one of their best loved oddball songs and then, well, then the freaks come out. You have dancers in unique garb, people being quite acrobatic, and… more all while Phish rocks out this Paug. Keep an eye out for Mimi Fishman making her first non-vac stage visit with Phish towards the end of this madness. I mean, nowadays this wouldn’t even cause one to bat an eye what with the crap that Miley is pulling and such but back then this was enough have this version crowned the Freakapaug. It’s a clever name and one that has stuck enough that people know this show for that bit of musical theater and everything else is mere footnote. It is definitely a fun thing to watch so check it out.

 

You’d be excused if you thought that after that they would head to a straight forward encore like Julius or Suzy or maybe even something a cappella and Rocky Top but NOPE! There are more tricks in store for you, oh faithful fan. Let me set things up for you a bit by providing a quite entertaining series of videos that detail the backstage goings on that night as there were several notable guests in attendance. Two of those people, the focus of those videos (and I’m not sure why there is a full rip of Bittersweet Motel at the end of that playlist but hey that’s nice, right?), end up on stage with Phish for the encore, Merl Saunders and Buddy Miles. Now, you a wisened music vet that you are probably already know who these two luminaries are but just in case you do not Buddy Miles was in Electric Flag with Mike Bloomfield before becoming best known for his association with Jimi Hendrix in his Band of Gypsys while Merl Saunders also has a long history with many notable musicians but is most associated with his time working with Jerry Garcia on various projects. This night the two came out to help on the encore bustout of All Along the Watchtower, the song written by Bob Dylan buy made (more) famous by Jimi Hendrix. The only other time Phish had played this tune (excepting sit-ins with other bands and stuff like the Ritz Power Jam which followed their 1993 visit to the Roseland Ballroom across town) was with members of the Dave Matthews Band on 04.21.1994 (check out that full encore for a drum duel between Fish and Carter Beauford that evolves into a full two band jam and then eventually the DMB-type take on Watchtower) making this one with Buddy and Merl a 227 show bustout which is nice. But it is strong also for the music made which starts out as a loose exploration with Buddy offering up some vocal stylings while everyone gets comfortable (Merl joined Page on the keys and Fish gave his kit to Buddy and hopped on Trey’s percussion mini-kit) before Buddy introduces Watchtower and they crank into it for a really fun take on the tune. The dancers came out as well to add to the party and everyone has a blast putting a nice finish to this MSG run. As encores go, this is the sort of thing you could only hope might happen in your weirdest Phish fantasies.

 

When looking at this show and the MSG run in toto it may not be to the level that we have come to expect from our visits here but it still has some solid moments and points to the continuing upward trend on this early part of the tour. Of the two shows, this second one is probably the more “complete” one but that is not to say that we didn’t find value in that first night. Here on night two the takeaways are bigger (Melt, Disease, Paug, Watchtower, and perhaps the Jim if you are feeling gracious) and the stage is grander what with the spectacle they created there at the end. I hate comparing shows to each other because each one has its own special unique snowflake-ness but as with the first night by the time we get to recapping this tour this one will pale in comparison to others yet to come. For now though we have a wild night where the freaks joined the band and the band played a quite fun Tuesday night show for the round room.

 

I’m off to MSG for the back half of this upcoming New Year’s Run so don’t expect any new posts until next week at earliest… unless I decide to drop in to overly fluff the shows I will have just seen. Happy New Year!

 

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…

Until You Burst Into Song and Unwind – Priming Up for Fall 1996

1996

 

Seemingly a lost year in the annals of Phishtory according to some,  1996 exists as a year tucked between two of the most highly lauded years in which the band has played shows. But while this year does not perhaps produce the reactions from fans that 1995 or 1997 do the truth is that this is a year full of amazing music and one that deserves more credit for helping to shape the sound of the band for years to come than it has been given. Our focus will be on the Fall Tour from this year but I think it helps a bit to understand what got us there so that we can then see where it takes us in going forward as well so with that in mind I present you with a quite brief (and not in any way seriously vetted) primer on 1996 Phish.

 

Following the triumphant and understandably highly praised Fall 1995 Tour and ensuing New Year’s Run that culminated with a pair of shows at Madison Square Garden – shows that really shouldn’t need any introduction – the band hit the studio to begin laying down the tracks for what would become the album Billy Breathes. This recording time ran over several months between February and June of that year with the band pausing in April for their first ever appearance at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (aka JazzFest). This one set show is not necessarily the greatest Phish you will ever here but there is a sit-in by Michael Ray for Cars Trucks Buses (a relationship that has blossomed over the years since Trey first joined the Cosmic Krewe for a show in March 1994), a YEM->Wolfman’s combo that works quite well, a soaring Hood, and a wonderfully tensioned David Bowie that has hints of Caravan throughout. Honestly, some of the best music to be found from Phish’s visit to The Crescent City lies in the sit-ins they did with other bands while there but those are not quite the focus of our time here together, are they?

 

Around this time Trey released the first ‘solo’ project album that any of the band members had produced to date with the free jazz experiment Surrender to the Air. This was a HUGE departure from Phish and as a result the album is not necessarily widely considered a must-have album by the majority of Phish fans but it was a worthy risk to undertake as it opened up a whole different world of musical possibility – even if it did not directly result in any new songs for the Phish canon. But when you bring together an amazing group of musicians including Marshall Allen, Trey, Kofi Burbridge, Oteil Burbridge, Damon Choice, Fish, Bob Gulotti, James Harvey, John Medeski, Michael Ray, and Marc Ribot you can expect some magic to go down. Fans of this music should also check out the two shows they played for the release of the album on 04.01.1996 and 04.02.1996 at the New York Arts Academy. Maybe it isn’t your cup of tea but it is challenging improv that finds some moments of true connection amidst the competing lines of the wonderful players who laid it down.

 

Based on the Doniac Schvice that came out in March of that year we knew that the band had no other plans for the Spring besides that Jazz Fest appearance and they also indicated they would be going to Europe for a tour in July (as well as introducing us all to the wonder that is Assface…). In truth, fans would only have to wait another six weeks before the band hit the stage again, this time in Woodstock, NY while in the area recording at Bearsville Studios, a legendary recording studio where a long list of notable records were laid down over the years and which is now a private residence. This was an unannounced show at the now-closed Joyous Lake club played under the name ‘Third Ball’ with an opening band called ‘Juan Hung Low’. Clearly, the sophomoric humor of our band had not worn off in playing bigger stages of late. That show was a bit of a “back to their roots” bar show highlighting some of the newer songs (Waste and Character Zero were both debuted here) with a loose feel and a generally fun vibe permeating the music. Rumors of this show spread wide and far with high quality recordings coming out quite quickly as well, further amping up fans’ excitement for the summer to come.

 

Looking back it is hard to imagine how we made it all work in prepping for tours considering that it took until the Late Spring Doniac Schvice for us to get the details on the European Tour (and even that had several unconfirmed dates as of pressing) and the US Tour to follow. The biggest  news in there (aside from the brief announcement of the impending launch of phish.com, of course) was that the abbreviated US Tour would lead to Phish’s first ever “official” festival on the grounds of a decommissioned airforce base in Plattsburgh, NY. That news alone made the idea of a brief nine show US Tour more palatable to the masses. But before we get to that, let’s talk about that Euro Tour for a bit. Things did not start out as optimistically as one would have liked considering their first set in Italy was rained out but they were there doing several supporting sets for Santana so that allowed for the band to variously join Carlos on stage over the run as well as to allow for Phish to interact with Carl Perazzo, the percussionist who would play a big role in the tour that we are about to tackle here. Without going into too much detail, let’s just say that the Euro Tour was a success on many fronts even if some do not consider there to be a high number of lasting jams to go back to from those shows. I tend to disagree but then I tend to find the good in almost all the Phish I hear. Almost.

 

A few days after returning from Europe (and with the Summer Schvice out to further whip the fervor of the fans for both the Clifford Ball AND our Fall Tour) Phish opened up the tour in gorgeous Park City, UT (oddly enough the second tour in a row that had rain leading into the show…) with Page showing off his new toy the Theremin as they opened with a haunting take on Somewhere Over the Rainbow (which would be quite a mind flipper if that was your first introduction to Phish…) as the stage was framed by the resulting rainbow from the passed storm. This show is okay with not many big highlights but they played a lot of fan favorites cleanly so you really can’t complain about a tour opener like that. Next was the now infamous four show stand at Red Rocks which has some fantastic playing but is most well known for the bad interactions some members of the scene had with the Morrison locals. I’m not going to bother linking the many articles written about this debacle but when you get banned by Red Rocks you know things have gotten a little out of hand. This wasn’t the first sign that the scene had changed (partially since the passing of Jerry but also as the natural expansion occurred when Phish got big over the course of 94-95) but it was the big moment where a lot of people started to recognize the cracks in the armor that had protected our thing from those negative outside influences for longer than it probably deserved.

 

The circus moved on to Alpine Valley and Deer Creek next with the band really starting to catch fire as they worked their way east all while it seemed that more and more fans hopped on the bus headed up to the Northeast. There was one final show in Hershey which ended up being a bit of a sleeper show considering so many people went right from Deer Creek to New York, probably staying on I-90 rather than dipping down into PA via I-80 so as to make the best use of the short amount of time before the festival began. Now, I would argue that the best use of time would have been to go to Hershey but what do I know? I only was able to scheme my way into a four day furlough from the summer camp where I worked on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake to cannonball it up to Plattsburgh for the festival so I can’t speak for those who hit the whole tour or at least the parts between the Midwest and the fest. Anyway, we created one of the lasting memories in the band’s history on that airforce base that weekend and that set the template not just for future Phish festivals but for the evolution of the live music industry in the US as people including the creators of Bonnaroo took that destination camping festival idea and blew it up into the bevy of music fests we now have to enjoy each year. That weekend saw the largest crowd ever (at the time) for Phish as over 70,000 of us congregated in celebration with the music and band as our guide. Along with the summer run that preceded it you can sense that this was the start of a big change in the band considering they had as many fans at that event as would have attended all four of the New Year’s Run shows in 1995 COMBINED. You don’t really go back to playing small theater tours from that.

 

So after The Clifford Ball happened – and I must say that you could do a whole lot worse than to do a little listening project following that US Tour through the festival as it is only 11 shows plus some more treats like the Flatbed Jam – the band headed home (not too far, of course, since they were just across the lake!) to catch their breath and practice a bit for the upcoming Fall Tour. In this time the final details for the Fall Tour came out via another Schvice and fans waited on the release of the album to come (which apparently could have had any of about a hundred different names than what it became…). The Billy Breathes album would end up being released the day prior to the first show of the Fall Tour in Lake Placid, NY and to this day stands as probably the best received album the band has put out. It probably wouldn’t hurt you to give it another listen to get ready for this tour since you will be getting quite familiar with almost all of the songs included on the record.

 

So that is how we got to here, the start of the Fall 1996 Phish Tour. We have 35 shows ahead of us to explore and I think if you have never taken the time to really go through this tour in earnest you may be quite surprised by how great many of these shows really are. It might not include a 20-minute-second-set-opening jam every show and they may have reined in the open psych a tad but there is a lot going on in the playing on this tour, things that will bear fruit not just in these shows but for many years to come in the world of Phish. So aside from a few short site notes below, let’s get down to the matter and crank up the Fall ’96!!

 

As a quick update, I recommend checking out some of the Band History information on phish.com/band which is a lot more in depth (and accurate) than my rough summary above. There are entries for February, April, June, July, October, and November of 1996 along with ones for several other notable times in the band’s history.

 

—

 

Okay, those site notes. Today, 12.14.2015, the 20th anniversary of the amazing Broome County Arena show from Binghamton, NY, will be the last day that the music player over there to the left will have the Fall 1998 tour highlights available. For this tour I am going to try something a little different by clearing the list and updating it with each show post to include the takeaways as we go along. This should help you to listen along if you feel like just hitting the top notch stuff but I do recommend spinning the full shows whenever possible as I tend to leave out some things because I am, after all, just one fan with opinions that might not agree with your take.

 

If you are still looking for those Fall ’98 gems there is a new section just above that player called “The Takeaways” where you can find download links to the compilations. This section should hopefully grow over time as we cover more and more of the band’s music.

 

Please give me any feedback you can so that I can make all of this easy for everyone. Living in the future is awesome, ain’t it?

Always Take The Best Parts Back – Fall 98’s Second Tier

Now that we have had some time to digest the “top tier” from Fall ’98, let’s dive a bit deeper into the “quite solid but perhaps not all-timer” musical selections from that month of touring. As with the prime list, I will be presenting these chronologically so as to avoid any implications with regards to ranking of the art.

 

Before we get there, I updated the prior post to include a download link for the Tier One Playlist. Here it is again for your use. Just keep in mind that the link will expire on or about 12.15.2015…

 

Okay, so the songs. Some of these could easily be in the discussion for the top tier but since I had to draw the line somewhere they got left out. Others are fine enough and probably quite memorable if you were there for them live but in terms of the long-lasting and overall respinability they are not quite there. And I totally defend the creation of the word ‘respinability’ as it makes complete sense in the context of our discussion. Somebody call up the Oxford folks.

 

For the most part the songs included here are either more straightforward versions of songs that were included in Tier One or perhaps just didn’t quite elevate for me to that top echelon. There are also a few fun one-offs and other interesting things that perhaps only suit my fancy in which case feel free to simply skip over that stuff if you want.

 

In order to allow one to see how these work in addition to the first list I am adding them to the playlist for the embedded player rather than removing that (plus that list is a wonderful one to spin so I didn’t want to just remove it without warning…). If you want to start from the beginning of this list it will begin at track 52 with the LA Llama, following the Worcester Gin in the playlist.

 

So without further delay, here we go! I really hope you like Ghost, Bowie, and LxL…

 

Llama  Los Angeles, CA (10.29.1998)

McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters  Los Angeles, CA (10.29.1998)

David Bowie Los Angeles, CA (10.29.1998)

Run Like an Antelope  Las Vegas, NV (10.30.1998)

Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley->Chalkdust Torture  Las Vegas, NV (10.31.1998)

Mike’s Song->Frankie Says>Weekapaug Groove  Las Vegas, NV (10.31.1998)

Rock and Roll  Las Vegas, NV (10.31.1998)

New Age  Las Vegas, NV (10.31.1998)

Oh! Sweet Nuthin’  Las Vegas, NV (10.31.1998)

Limb by Limb  West Valley City, UT (11.02.1998)

Bathtub Gin>Ya Mar  Denver, CO (11.04.1998)

Piper->2001  Denver, CO (11.04.1998)

Simple->Prince Caspian>Fluffhead  Madison, WI (11.06.1998)

Reba  Chicago, IL (11.07.1998)

Taste  Chicago, IL (11.08.1998)

Stash  Chicago, IL (11.08.1998)

Rock and Roll  Chicago, IL  (11.08.1998)

Free  Chicago, IL  (11.09.1998)

You Enjoy Myself  Chicago, IL (11.09.1998)

Theme From The Bottom  Grand Rapids, MI (11.11.1998)

Birds of a Feather  Grand Rapids, MI (11.11.1998)

Limb by Limb  Grand Rapids, MI (11.11.1998)

Ghost  Grand Rapids, MI (11.11.1998)

It’s Ice>Cars Trucks Buses  Cleveland, OH (11.13.1998)

Run Like an Antelope  Cleveland, OH (11.13.1998)

Down With Disease  Cleveland, OH  (11.13.1998)

Birds of a Feather  Cleveland, OH (11.13.1998)

Reba  Cincinnati, OH (11.14.1998)

David Bowie  Cincinnati, OH (11.14.1998)

So Lonely  Cincinnati, OH (11.14.1998)

Ghost  Murfreesboro, TN (11.15.1998)

Scent of a Mule  Murfreesboro, TN (11.15.1998)

Limb by Limb  Murfreesboro, TN (11.15.1998)

Wading in the Velvet Sea>Loving Cup>Weekapaug Groove  Murfreesboro, TN (11.15.1998)

David Bowie  Greenville, SC (11.18.1998)

Slave to the Traffic Light  Greenville, SC (11.18.1998)

Maze  Winston-Salem, NC (11.19.1998)

2001>Rock and Roll->Taste  Winston-Salem, NC (11.19.1998)

Gumbo->Chalkdust Torture  Winston-Salem, NC (11.19.1998)

Roggae  Hampton, VA (11.20.1998)

Split Open and Melt  Hampton, VA (11.20.1998)

Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It  Hampton, VA (11.20.1998)

Foam  Hampton, VA (11.21.1998)

Tubthumping  Hampton, VA (11.21.1998)

Moma Dance  New Haven, CT (11.24.1998)

Stash  New Haven, CT (11.24.1998)

Limb by Limb  New Haven, CT (11.24.1998)

Ghost  New Haven, CT (11.24.1998)

David Bowie  Albany, NY (11.25.1998)

Drowned->Prince Caspian  Albany, NY (11.25.1998)

Roggae  Albany, NY (11.25.1998)

Good Times Bad Times  Albany, NY (11.25.1998)

Ya Mar  Worcester, MA (11.27.1998)

Runaway Jim  Worcester, MA (11.27.1998)

Reba  Worcester, MA (11.27.1998)

Birds of a Feather  Worcester, MA (11.27.1998)

Gumbo  Worcester, MA (11.28.1998)

Down With Disease  Worcester, MA (11.28.1998)

Split Open and Melt  Worcester, MA (11.28.1998)

Prince Caspian>Crossroads  Worcester, MA (11.28.1998)

Tweezer  Worcester, MA (11.28.1998)

Theme From The Bottom  Worcester, MA (11.29.1998)

Possum  Worcester, MA (11.29.1998)

You Enjoy Myself  Worcester, MA (11.29.1998)

 

If your math is good you will recognize that this is another 78 songs added to the list. Which is great. But now if you still need more Fall ’98 in your life perhaps you should just go ahead and listen to the full shows…

 

Here is the link for the DLs for this list.

 

There should be two .zips in that there thingy. Should expire on 12.16.2015

 

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And with this, I will draw my review of Fall 1998 Phish Tour to a close. Get your listens in and start your homework because our next project will be…

 

FALL 1996!

 

 

All That I Would Ever Need – The Top of the Proverbial Fall ’98 Heap

The spreadsheet I posted the other day includes ~170 songs that I had identified over the course of this Fall 98 tour as being of some level of merit. We aren’t going to spend time on each and every one considering that some inclusions are more “that was neat” than really awesome music stuff. Instead, I want to focus on the top tier jams today. These are the ones you either know by name or have memorized due to spinning them numerous times. They represent the Fall 98 sound the best and tell the story of what occurred over the course of those 22 shows over the course of 31 days, covering just under 5,000 miles in a pretty well planned out fashion crossing from west to east between Southern California and New England.

tourmap

Honestly, when looking at some of the questionable routing choices the band’s tour managers have made over the years this is a pretty straight forward one. I still have a hard time understanding why so many people on tour took that right turn in Sulphurdale, UT to head east to Colorado considering there were days between shows and SLC is not that far out of the way but the concerns about police and other hassles were almost assuredly the main factor there. But that’s a discussion for another time. Now, let’s get to the hits!

 

In order to avoid any concerns of ranking (outside of my little tiered system that we are just getting into here) I am presenting these chronologically. Feel free to put them into whatever order your brain needs in order to understand their relative greatness. In many cases there are songs that are listed here that realistically are not the best versions of the songs but work in this context due to being part of a string of segued together tunes, generally paired with a top notch version. So I guess you could say that this endeavor seeks to categorize the best segments of music from the tour since – just as one example – there is no way I’d leave out the NICU between Tweezer and the unique jam into Caspian from 10.30.1998 even though the NICU itself is rather unremarkable. All told we end up with a playlist of 51 songs (including segues and whatnot) from the Greek Reba through the Worcester Gin. There are many many other songs that could be included here so have at it in the comments to let me know where I went wrong (considering that the entire tour is about 440 songs played that 11.5% inclusion rate I hit here isn’t so bad…). This sets us up for at least three tiers of ‘takeaways’. The top of the heap is handled today with the strong-but-perhaps-not-all-timer ‘mid tier’ to follow and finally the interesting inclusions that make some of these sets truly unique (such as fun covers and the like). With all of that said, let’s get this show on the road!

 

Oh wait. Almost forgot…

 

Take a look over to the left sidebar. You might need to scroll down past the other stuff you haven’t been paying attention to but there is now a lovely little music player with the playlist below ready for you to enjoy. If you listen to this you will have a pretty darn good feel for what we got over the course of that tour. You can also pick and choose what you want to spin if you don’t have the 11+ hours it will take you to get through it all in one sitting. Have fun!

 

Reba->Walk Away->Simple  Los Angeles, CA (10.29.1998)

Stash->Manteca->Tweezer->NICU->Jam->Prince Caspian Las Vegas, NV (10.30.1998)

Lonesome Cowboy Bill>I Found A Reason Las Vegas, NV (10.31.1998)

Wolfman’s Brother->Piper Las Vegas, NV (10.31.1998)

Tube->Drowned->Jesus Just Left Chicago West Valley City, UT (11.02.1998)

You Enjoy Myself  West Valley City, UT (11.02.1998)

Frankie Says->David Bowie  Denver, CO (11.04.1998)

Split Open and Melt  Madison, WI (11.06.1998)

Mike’s Song  Chicago, IL (11.07.1998)

ACDC Bag->Ghost  Chicago, IL (11.07.1998)

Down With Disease>Piper  Chicago, IL (11.08.1998)

Bathtub Gin  Chicago, IL (11.09.1998)

Gumbo  Grand Rapids, MI (11.11.1998)

Halley’s Comet Grand Rapids, MI (11.11.1998)

Wolfman’s Brother->Mind Left Body  Cleveland, OH (11.13.1998)

Meat>Harry Hood  Cleveland, OH (11.13.1998)

Tweezer>Moma Dance  Cincinnati, OH (11.14.1998)

Stash  Murfreesboro, TN (11.15.1998)

Wolfman’s Brother->The Lizards Greenville, SC (11.18.1998)

Ghost Winston-Salem, NC (11.19.1998)

Bathtub Gin Hampton, VA (11.20.1998)

Mike’s Song>Simple Hampton, VA (11.21.1998)

Down With Disease New Haven, CT (11.24.1998)

Tweezer->Possum New Haven, CT (11.24.1998)

Weekapaug Groove->Wipeout->Weekapaug Groove Worcester, MA (11.27.1998)

Wolfman’s Brother>Timber (Jerry) Worcester, MA (11.28.1998)

Limb by Limb->Catapult->Kung Worcester, MA (11.29.1998)

Simple Worcester, MA (11.29.1998)

Bathtub Gin Worcester, MA (11.29.1998)

 

So start dissecting because after this we can dive into the next tier of songs as well…

 

UPDATE:  Here is a link to a DL of the playlist (mp3, auds from phish.in) if you are so inclined. It is a temporary link so it will expire one week from today, on or about 12.15.2015.