Ok guys, it’s been a looong time since my last post.  I had hoped to cover most of the first leg of tour, but then the database for this blog got all jacked which made me lose all my momentum and totally flake on the whole thing.

So, in an attempt to get back into the swing of things, I’m just going to do a little recap of the Greek as a whole, hitting just the highlights.

Thursday, Aug 5

More of a warmup set than anything, the first set is pretty straight-ahead jamming. Not a whole lot to say. The Halley’s jam was very short, as has been the recent trend.  Pretty much every version was standard.

The second set immediately paid dividends, though, as Down With Disease immediately stole the show.  The very best part of this jam only lasts about two minutes at the end of the jam as Mike lays ratchets up the tension, but it’s my favorite two minutes of the show.  This provides the perfect opportunity to segue into Free.  The transition is telegraphed for a while before they actually commit, and when they finally do it’s extremely satisfying.  The other highlight of this set is an extemely funky Tweezer, again led by Mr. Gordon, the clear MVP of this show.

Not a bad tour leg opener/warmup show.  Not as strong as Toyota Park as far as openers go, but a fair outing.

Friday, Aug 6

The second night of three day runs such as the Greek tend to be my favorite. I don’t think this show is a clear winner over the Saturday show, but it definitely builds on the momentum built up the previous evening.

The opening frame gets off to a fairly rocking start, but it isn’t until the Talking Heads’ Cities that the set really hits its stride, as the band builds a thick, multi-layered groove leading seamlessly into one of the groovingest tunes in their catalog, The Moma Dance. Taking the set out is summer tour classic Bathtub Gin into Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan.

The second set looks better on paper than it was actually executed.  A few of the segues seem a bit forced.  However, that doesn’t really negate the good qualities of this set. Rock and Roll has some great interplay between all band members.  The Ghost, usually one of the band’s most consistent jam stalwarts, never really finds its legs, and the ensuing segue into Mike’s Song is a bit shaky.  A focused jam resucues this version, though, and a beautifully melodic Simple puts this set back on the right track.  It’s the end of the Simple jam that really shines though, as it pulses and throbs its way towards, in an interesting development, Backwards Down the Number Line.  I personally love when they give Simple a bit of room for exploration, because it often yields great things.

Eventually, possibly the shortest ever Seven Below sets up an also short Weekapaug Groove, before You Enjoy Myself takes it home with some Sly Stone “I Want to Take You Higher” teases in the vocal jam.

Saturday, Aug 7

Following a hot Friday night show, the band comes back with another solid outing.

The first set starts off fairly energetically, but really sings as the gentle Reba jam is juxtaposed adroitly with the new Trey tune Sleep Again, a song I’ve found myself whistling more than once in the last few days. The first set then gradually builds itself up to an energetic Tube > Character Zero close.

The second set picks up where the first left off, with Wilson into Light, which has quickly established itself as a jamming force in their repertoire.  This version is no exception as it explores space before building into its companion from the Joy album, Twenty Years Later.  This tune also has a lot of jamming promise that still needs to be realized.  A very forceful 2001 leads into a Suzy Greenberg complete with a reprise style jam that really elevates this version before the predictable, yet welcome, set closer of Slave to the Traffic Light.

Despite all the crazy predictions of what would get played at this highly anticipated Greek run, the band didn’t really diverge at all from their standard canon. However, they still managed to put together a very solid 3 night run to kick off the second leg of the tour, setting up what turned out to be an excellent doubleheader at Telluride.

Following up a greatest-hits packed tour opener in Chicago, the Blossom Center show starts out on a much more lighthearted note. A cover of The Band’s Look Out Cleveland aptly leads things off. Ocelot and Water in the Sky keep up the laid back summer vibe before switching gears into the first jam stalwart of the evening, Stash. Forsaking the classic dizzying guitar licks, this is a true ensemble jam, as Trey’s playing serves largely as a compliment to Mike’s melodic bass lines and Page’s atmospheric accents.

Reprising The Ballad of Curtis Loew from last year’s Fenway performances, Page performs a soulful rendition of the Lynyrd Skynyrd cover before one of their own works best known to the general population, Sample in a Jar. Then, in a moment we all knew would come sooner or later, the tour’s first version of Time Turns Elastic. The subject of much criticism for killing sets in 2009, no doubt many fans groaned when the opening notes of this rang out at the venue. It does seem, though, that Phish has at least tried to address some of the issues with this song. One of the big problems I’ve had with this song is that the middle section drags horribly. To the band’s credit, they have picked up the pace of the song a bit, which helps me, as a listener, get over that hump to the dramatic finish. This version represents a marked improvement on pretty much every attempt from 2009, and I recommend you give it a listen. It might still have a hard time shaking its reputation as a set killer in the live setting, but at least it’s much more enjoyable on tape. It did elicit at least some moderate cheering, though, so there might be hope for this song yet.

As if offering up a consolation prize for those nonplussed by TTE, the familiar riff of Mike’s Song fills the air. I’ve long thought first set Mike’s Grooves mean great things are coming, and this one certainly follows in that tradition. Buoyed by dirty, growling keyboards, Trey leads the band to a huge peak for a thrilling Mike’s Song before coasting into I Am Hydrogen before regrouping and dropping into a playful Weekapaug Groove, bringing an excellent first frame to a close.

Set two begins on a high note as the band breaks out the first summer appearance of a favorite cover, Rock and Roll. Forsaking a straight-ahead rock approach, the band really gels as the jam ever so gradually works its way toward ambient territory. This eventually gives rise to a charming, subdued Harry Hood that has strong hints of last year’s landmark Jones Beach rendition.

Continuing down the path laid out so far in this set, Backwards Down the Number Line features yet another excellent, impressionistic jam (official Phish video here) with equal contributions by all band members, the perfect lead in for another tune from Joy, the brooding Twenty Years Later. I can just feel a huge jam waiting to come out of the ending of this song, and when it does, look out. I think there’s some great, hidden territory just waiting to be explored by launching off the big descending melody that takes this song out. This is my sleeper pick for this summer.

A surprise version of the John Lennon classic, Instant Karma comes out of nowhere, followed by a classic combo of Oh Kee Pah Ceremony > Suzy Greenberg. Finally, the crowd pleasing Waste and Character Zero finish off the set, while an encore of The Squirming Coil caps off a great night.

In contrast to the somewhat straightfoward jamming of the previous night’s show (especially Chicago’s first set), this show featured a lot of great communication between the entire band throughout. Trey seemed content to let the songs find their own ground instead of forging ahead as the band leader on several key jams, including Stash, Rock and Roll, and Number Line. So far in 2010, the band has shown serious clarity and focus in their composed sections, while allowing even some of their most well-worn classics a bit of room to breathe. I think there’s a lot of great things in store for 2010!

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Look Out Cleveland

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Mike’s Song

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Rock and Roll

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I don’t know about anybody else, but this tour opener sort of snuck up on me.  Summer tour seemed like it was a long ways off, then BOOM!, it’s already the middle of June and Phish is in full swing.  But following a lackluster performance at this venue last year, how would Phish respond? They wasted no time  at Toyota Park, playing the hits early and often, as they set the bar high for the rest of the summer.

There was simply no messing around with this one, as they stepped onto the stage and immediately Mike starts pounding the opening to Down With Disease, a short and straightforward but particularly energetic version.  From there they rattled off a series of summertime favorites in Wolfman’s Brother, Possum, Boogie On Reggae Woman, and Reba. Fine versions all, but as one might predict, the band has not yet strayed too far outside of their comfort zone as they settle into the tour.

Jesus Just Left Chicago, an obvious cover choice given the locale, provided a chance for Page to show off his blues chops on the ivories before Trey leads the band into The Divided Sky.  This is a textbook version, but I was struck at how crisp the band sounded.  This is about as clean a version as I’ve ever heard.  If there’s any rust on this band, I didn’t hear it in this version.  Golgi Apparatus then leads into the first set closer, a fiery David Bowie. So far, so good – a big setlist, and already better than their ’09 Toyota Park showing.

As the house lights went down and the band waded into perhaps their most promising young jam vehicle, Light, I thought they sounded a bit tentative.  However, they quickly found their footing as they explored a dark, layered jam that did not resemble anyplace they’ve taken this song before.  As the jam progressed, and began to flirt with an ambient passage, the unmistakable opening drum cadence for Maze filled the arena.  This Maze solo allowed Trey to provide some dissonant, bending comping to Page’s keyboard work.

The centerpiece of the night, Ghost, immediately picked up in the jam section where Light and Maze left off.  This Ghost featured more of the thematic darkness already established for this set. The song reaches a thrilling climax before parachuting down to a soft landing into Limb by Limb.  A song that, in 2009, typically failed to reach its potential, this version attempts to reclaim some of its past glory, with a melodic jam underscored by some deft bass.  It also features an vocal outro jam surpassing the average “Limb by Limb” round, capping off a strong run of songs to begin the second set.

From here the band slows things down a bit with Prince Caspian (my wife’s pick of the evening), and The Horse -> Silent in the Morning. Run Like an Antelope provides the apparent exclaimation, with a frenzied ending powered by Fishman, who kept pushing the song past its limits, evoking Trey to change up the lyrics to “John Fishman…been you to have any stick, man?”.  A great ending to a great set.

Or so you would think.  I’ll admit, I’m a bit of a sucker for a well constructed set, and this one flows spectacularly.  That’s why I was rather confused when following a raging Antelope the band starts up with a new song, a mid-tempo ballad, Show of Life.  It’s a solid new offering with introspective lyrics, comparable to something like Joy.  From that aspect, it was successful, but in the only real negative of the set, it was just very strangely placed as the set closer.  It would have fit in much better after Caspain, or even Silent in the Morning. I think we’ll be seeing more of this tune, and deservedly so, but hopefully in a better spot in the future.

The encore was a crowd pleasing Cavern and Julius to send the show off on a strong note. And with that, the first set is in the books.  If the rest of the tour is anywhere in the vicinity of Toyota Park ’10, we are in for a fantastic summer.

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Ghost

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Limb by Limb

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The Chicago Tribune’s review almost had me fooled.  For a second I thought maybe, just maybe, the reviewer might have been paying attention to the show. Until I read this gem:

Yet Phish doesn’t know when to quit. Granted, part of the band’s appeal relates to its prolonged soloing and exploratory improvisation. But several tunes (“Run Like An Antelope,” “The Divided Sky”) drifted out of focus and became excuses to noodle. A sleepy coda neutered the otherwise peppy “Reba.” Sometimes, too much is enough.

Really, Chicago Tribune? Divided Sky “drifted out of focus” and became an excuse to noodle? When is the last time you heard that? I was there, and I sure as hell did not hear a noodly jam in the middle of Divided Sky. And as for Antelope, that jam absolutely RAGED at the end, thanks in part to Fish taking control.

Ugh. No wonder nobody reads newspapers anymore. This is just plain old laziness.

So here’s a public service announcement to the local newspaper guy getting “stuck” with the Phish assignment: Stick to the facts. Phish is not playing these shows for John Q Public walking in off the street anymore, they’re playing it for the fans that will see multiple shows this tour and have been following the band for years. It is impossible to review them outside of this context. If you want opinions, find somebody who looks relatively sober and ask them.

Rant over.

Anyway, the show was pretty quality; certainly MUCH better than last year’s clunker at Toyota Park. I didn’t get home until yesterday, so I haven’t had a chance to do a proper writeup yet, but I’ll get around to it sooner or later. Stay tuned.

Summer tour is fast approaching HERE! So, to celebrate the return of Tour, I thought I’d pick a well known show featuring a legendary version of a summer classic first set opener, Runaway Jim.

Admittedly, this is a show from a fall tour.  And the Jim in question opens the second set, not the first. Or, you could say, this version is an entire set itself!  At just under an hour, it holds the title of Longest Single Phish Song Ever Performed.  This ‘Runaway Jam’ (pun intended) is considered by some to be one of the best Phish song performances of all time.

The first set starts out on a fairly strong note.  Following The Wedge is a Foam featuring some very deft piano work, as well as a long standalone Simple with a mellow, Roggae-ish jam.  This leads into the classic TMWSIY->Alvenu Malkenu->TMWSIY sandwich.  From here on out the set becomes very song oriented, although with some lesser played numbers such as Horn, The Sloth, and I Saw It Again, before David Bowie brings the set to a dark, intense close.

The intensity of the Bowie closer belies the sprawling, gargantuan Runaway Jim that “opens” the second set.  It begins crisply like a typical Jim, but the jam out of the main song weaves in and out of Type I and Type II jamming styles.  This slowly gives way to a sneaky, furtive vamp, which in turn builds into a raging groove.  Eventually a sort of spacy vibe builds into some serious machine gun work by Trey.  By now we over 30 minutes into the jam, and there’s no end in sight.  Mike then leads the band into my favorite section of the jam, which is essentially Trey riffing gloomily on two notes over the top of a sparse bassline. After exploring this about as much as they possibly could, the jam briefly ends up in a frenetic noise jam, which is the sonic equivalent of a three year old’s finger paintings.  I’m not sure if I mean that in a good way or a bad way…take it for what it’s worth. Finally to close out the last 10 minutes of this monster is a Weekapaug Groove jam, by which I mean they basically play Weekapaug in its entirety, sans lyrics.

Let’s not forget, though, that we’re just getting started with this set.  In a brilliant turn, the band follows up this madness with a well placed Strange Design that serves to remind the crowd that there’s still a lot of music left to be played.  This leads into a Harry Hood that’s fairly powerful without being very melodic.  Prince Caspian and Suzy Greenberg round out the second set.  The encore is “Fishman drum solo” fest, featuring a bored-sounding drum ending to Buffalo Bill, and a more energetic effort during Moby Dick before rocking out the show with Fire.

Clearly, the crown jewel of this show is the Jim. There’s no way anybody could deny that this is a Phish jam of truly epic proportions.  The only question is whether there’s enough good stuff in here to make it worth an hour.  For the most part I think it is.  Certainly there’s a bit of filler in here, but overall the jam is much more coherent that some of the ’95 Tweezers that approach this length. I think if you cut the last 15 minutes off this jam nobody would have complained too much. Yes, I know that would cut off the ‘Paug jam, but they might just as well have played Weekapaug in its entirety anyway. Still, this shows Phish at the top of their game, ready to throw down something totally unexpected, and it deserves a listen from every fan. While I don’t think it’s their greatest jam ever, there are certain sections of it that really deliver the goods.

Synopsis:
Set I: Solid jams early, mostly song driven later. Finishes with a strong Bowie

Set II: Runaway Jim is the undisputed king of this show at almost an hour.

Notable versions: Foam*, Simple*, Runaway Jim***, Harry Hood*

Overall: Runaway Jim runs away with this show.

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Foam

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An interesting blog post from the Online Phish Tour blog today addresses reasons that 16 of this summer’s shows haven’t yet sold out. This includes Deer Creek(!), of all places.

Among the possible contributing factors he lists:

1. An aging fan base
2. A more conservative approach from the band
3. Lack of perceived scarcity for tickets

Certainly I think the first is the primary contributing factor here.  Let’s not forget that a substantial number of the audience are those who travel from show to show.  The kids that humped around for weeks at a time on tour were in college and in their early twenties in the 90′s.  Now they’re all growns up.  They have kids and real jobs and mortgages now. I certainly fall into that camp.  Instead of planning out tour routes, I’m finding the nearby shows I can hit on the weekend.

Per the second point, I don’t think it’s a huge factor, but not entirely insignificant.  2009 definitely had some epic jams, but as a whole, their style is in fact more conservative.  It used to be that you didn’t want to miss a Phish show because you might miss something legendary.  While they’re still capable of that, I don’t get that sense from the fanbase as much as I used to.

To the last point, I think it’s less that people are counting on getting tickets cheaper/free from scalpers or off the ground as they are less interested in paying $50 a ticket.  That was the inflated price I paid scalpers for the ’04 Vegas shows – I think face value was still around $30.  It wasn’t that long ago when $50 was a really expensive ticket for a single show.  Now with fees, even through Phish Ticketing, you end up paying at least $60 per ticket, and more if you use Ticketmaster or LiveNation.  It’s hard to make enough money selling $1 grilled cheese sandwiches or $2 PBR’s in the lot to cover that.

2010, I think, will be a bellwether year in telling us the direction this band is taking. Are they a nostalgia act, like the Dead, or are they still interested in pushing the creative envelope every single night?  I still think it is the latter, but it will come in the form of redefining their classics (i.e.  the Jones Beach Hood from last year) rather than epic new compositions.  They’ll need to really readdress their song selection (I’m looking at you, Time Turns Elastic) and construct setlists that weave in and out, and take chances. I’m faithful this will happen, because it seems like the band is still having fun and are touring again for the right reasons. Or, at least I want to believe it.  We’ll find out beginning in 42 days at Toyota Park. Hope to see you there!

Halloween has a special place in every Phish fan’s heart due to their history of donning a ‘musical costume’, whereby they cover an influential album in its entirety.  1994 brought us The Beatles ‘The White Album’, and 1995 The Who’s ‘Quadrophenia’.  This 1996 show is probably the most ambitious musical costume from an artistic perspective, as they tackle the Talking Heads’ ‘Remain in Light’.

It takes a little bit of a mad-scientist ethos to open a show with Sanity and Highway to Hell. This can only mean big things, right?  Well, maybe not.  Despite the appearance of  Down With Disease, You Enjoy Myself , and Reba all in the first set(!), it takes a rare appearance of Forbin->Mockingbird to really breathe some life into the set. Unfortunately, the aforementioned trio of huge classics largely fails to deliver, leaving much to be desired.  But never mind that, did you remember Phish is covering the Talking Heads next set?

The Remain in Light set can be neatly drawn into two halves.  The first is all about quirky, upbeat tunes.  Born Under Punches is a little bit shaky, but they really nail Crosseyed and Painless, which would of course go on to become a very coveted cover to see in later tours.  The Great Curve fairs equally well – huge energy, horn accompaniments, tricky vocals, it all comes together.  Once in a Lifetime, perhaps the most well-known song from the album, is fairly straightforward but executed flawlessly.

Then the second half of the album kicks in.  Houses in Motion starts out strong, but sort of loses steam as it progresses.  Seen and Not Seen, basically a spoken word tune with minimal backing, completely saps the life out of the set, and it never seems to recover.  Listening Wind has a heavy tribal feel, buoyed by some extra percussion courtesy of Karl Perazzo, nice atmospheric work by Trey, and numerous other sound effects.  The Overload is similar, but even a bit slower.  I realize what effect they are trying to acheive and that they are trying to be faithful to the source material, but ultimately the second half of the album is just plain old boring.  It’s not really their fault, but at the end of the day, the second half of Remain in Light just isn’t a great performance piece.  Unless you are a huge Talking Heads fan, there’s not a lot of reason to give the second half of this set more than a few spins.

Not to worry, though, as Brother makes two uncommon set openers for this show as they return for the third frame. A short but somewhat unorthodox 2001 is not focused as much on the buildup as it is on rhythmic jamming between “verses”.  This leads into Maze before the jam highlight of the evening, Simple. This standalone Simple is the second longest song performance of the night, with a long, keyboard driven jam that just sort of rolls along before Trey lays it on as the song builds in intensity.  Swept Away -> Steep, really almost one song split into two, makes an appearance before the bluesy Jesus Just Left Chicago, bolstered by Dave Grippo’s saxamophone handiwork, and Suzy Greenberg w/ trumpet backing take the set out in style.  The horns are a great touch to liven up two otherwise routine song choices.

This show certainly had its ups and downs.  The first set is pretty forgettable, despite how good it looks on paper.  Things get really great for a while in the cover set, but they are unable to maintain it all the way through, largely due to the source material.  The third set has some above average versions, but nothing really good enough to elevate this show beyond something of a novelty.  I wouldn’t say Phish struck out with this show, but it’s not exactly a homerun either. Still, it’s worth at least one listen, but it probably won’t find its way into your regular rotation.

Synopsis:

Set I: Forgettable, despite what appears to be a great setlist on paper

Set II: The Remain in Light set starts out strong, but about halfway through loses a lot of its steam

Set III: A few good performances and some guest horns make for an above average set

Notable versions: Crosseyed and Painless**, The Great Curve**, 2001*, Simple**, Jesus Just Left Chicago*, Suzy Greenberg*

Rarities: Sanity, Colonel Forbin’s Ascent, Fly Famous Mockingbird, Brother

Overall: A bit of a novelty show with a few strong performances

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The Great Curve

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Simple

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Summer ’93 was a breakout tour for Phish.  In addition to headlining larger venues, they were starting to really throw themselves into the improvisational aspect of their performances.  Whereas previous years spotlighted Phish’s compositional tendencies, ’93 was the advent of a new era of intense improvisation.  Mr. Miner has a great post about that tour here, along with a killer compilation of highlights just from August of that year that is definitely worth a listen.

However, there was a lot more music than just August from that year worth listening to.  One such show is the Pittsburgh show early in the tour.  The first set of this show was definitely front-loaded with intensity.  The pace was set early with a Buried Alive -> Rift combo before a Foam that Trey nurtured to an exciting climax.  The other highlight of this set is a a Maze with a truly wild organ solo that serves as a launchpad for a dizzying battery of notes from Trey’s ‘Doc.  The set cools down somewhat from here with by the book readings of Esther and Divided Sky.

Set two gets off to an inauspicious beginning with a rather tame 2001 -> Poor Heart.  2001 had not yet become the monster we would see several years later.  However, as a I stated earlier, ’93 was all about Phish bringing the jams to life, and the Run Like an Antelope that would follow is a prime specimen of this.  The Flight section is one of the most intense I’ve heard, as it spirals up into the stratosphere at breakneck speed before it reaches its peak and collapses upon itself.  The beginning of the “Rye Rye Rocco” section is quite drawn out as we are bludgeoned with sonic haymakers leading into a short experimental section that Mike somehow leads seamlessly into a full “Brother” intro (no easy feat, as Brother is in 3/4 time) which then stops as quickly as it began, and is followed immediately by the Rye Rye Rocco chant, and just like that the song is over.

The next set of songs features some of the “new” material from the Rift album, beginning with Mound and ending with All Things Reconsidered. However, it’s the Fast Enough for You sandwiched between that really shines.  One of what I think is one of the the band’s most underrated and most relatable songs, it conveys the resignation of a man content to be in a relationship with someone with a different emotional velocity, and the sadness at the realization that the situation is not sustainable.  In a masterful stroke, Trey conveys that sorrow with a mournful, wailing solo that nominally resembles other live versions, but carries far more emotional weight.

From here on out the tone shifts towards a more fun-and-games attitude. A wide-ranging You Enjoy Myself features a beautiful piano solo by Page, immediately contrasted against an evil, gritty Mike solo.  Also of note is Fishman’s trip to the front as he discovers, as the result of a prank by crew members, that his vacuum cleaner was set to blow air, rather than suck.  Disaster averted, he then kicks off a Purple Rain better than Prince could ever hope to achieve.  Well, ok, maybe not, but you’re never gonna hear a vacuum solo in Prince’s version either, so it’s got that going for it.  And to top it all off, we get an acapella version of Freebird!

While it’s perhaps not the most memorable show of the tour, it does include some serious highlights, especially the Antelope and Fast Enough for You.  So, while you’re perhaps waiting to find out just what tickets you got for summer tour, give this show a listen and get ready for what promises to be an exciting, if somewhat unorthodox tour schedule.

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Fast Enough for You

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I’m quite certain this show has a special place in many fans’ hearts. It doesn’t really feature that many big jams; it’s wasn’t a destination or event show; and frankly, the playing overall is a bit sloppy. Despite all this, I’ve listened to this show many, many times because it’s just so much damn fun.

A standard opening salvo of Runaway Jim and Foam does nothing to foreshadow the madness that is to come, though Glide is a nice early addition to the set.  Split Open and Melt is the first big jam of the show and does feature a great section of Page pounding away at the keys underneath a foreboding sonic wall of guitar.  This keeps the tempo up through a relatively energetic If I Could and a charged Punch You in the Eye. The subsequent Bathtub Gin is mostly unadventurous until the final two minutes, where Trey begins playing a bit with the time on a variation of the main Gin theme and salvages an otherwise unremarkable Gin.  Scent of a Mule is an average version, fairly light in the way of any sort of Mule Duel.  Cavern then makes its appearance.  However, what is typically a first set closer/filler, this Cavern has a bit of spunk.  The band is playing around with the vocals at the end of each verse, making this version a bit unpredictable, and perhaps unknowingly setting the stage for what’s to come in the second half.

Unless you are one of my younger readers, or you were living under a rock in 1994, you probably remember the infamous TV coverage of OJ Simpson fleeing police in a low-speed police chase in his white Ford Bronco.  I recall watching this at home with my parents, likely on CNN, but little did I know at the time that Phish was giving this monumental event the attention it deserved.  When I first heard this show a few years later on tape, the significance of the show was not denoted on the tape insert (yes, it was a cassette tape).  So when I heard a spacey “OOOOOOOOOOJJJJJJJJJJJJJ” pouring out of the speakers over the top of 2001 I was baffled.  Only after a few “Whadda ya say, OJ?” quips from Fishman did I slowly realize what was going on.  I can’t even imagine what the people who were actually there were thinking at the time.  This was, of course, before The Internets made news available on demand on our computers and mobiles.  I don’t think the novelty of actually being at this show could be overstated.

2001 continues with myriad OJ references throughout, followed by a spirited, OJ-free Sample in a Jar.  Poor Heart, in contrast, contains OJ references between nearly every line (as well as the inexplicable exclaimation “I need some talcum powder” from Fishman…perhaps a not-so-subtle message to his drum tech).  Mike’s Song ups the ante, throwing in a “Mission: Impossible” tease and some commentary for the show’s audience to perhaps let them in on the joke.

The next track is the then-new Simple, only its second appearance ever.  It’s sloppy, and haphazard, and completely awesome; perhaps my favorite version ever.  It’s an interesting version not only for the complete “We’ve got OJ” verse, but also because the vocals are still sort of being felt out.  The chorus on this version is a little bit over the top with the harmonizing.  Things wind down as they transition back into Mike’s before wading into I Am Hydrogen.  But, Simple’s not done yet!  As the band moves into H2, they sing a complete “…we’ve got cymbals in the band” verse in the style of Hydrogen!  Who says the band needs to play crazy jams to be exploratory, as they use a brand new song in a totally unexpected way.  Hydrogen of course eventually gives way to Weekapaug Groove, which ends the reign of OJ in this set.

But, the fun isn’t over, as the band belts out the  “Oom Pa Pa” opening of Harpua! This Harpua contains possibly the fastest performed Kung ever, as Trey recites the chant by himself in less than 20 seconds.  This clears the way for the story of Poster Nut Bag’s birth and inevitable tragic end, while somehow working in a tease of Voodoo Child and briefly reprising Simple (which Trey refers to as the “We’ve Got it Simple song”).

The set makes its stretch run with a series of high-energy ditties Sparkle ( with a Big Ball Jam), Julius, and Frankenstein.  And as they often do after a crazy show, the encore contains Sleeping Monkey, as well as Rocky Top.

In short, this is a wild, unpredictable show that’s short on jams but pays off big in the humor department.  If you find yourself getting burned out on 20 minute jams once in a while, this is the antidote.  No matter how many times I listen to this show, it always sounds fresh, and always stimulates my appetite for more Phish.

Synopsis:

Set I: Spirited song-based set.  Highlight: Cavern

Set II: One of the funniest sets the band has ever played. Highlight: a delightfully wacky Simple

Standout versions: Split Open and Melt*, Cavern*, 2001*, Poor Heart*, Simple*, I Am Hydrogen*

2001

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Poor Heart

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