“Let this music relax your mind”

After several months of speculation, the day finally arrived.  Despite the fact that Phishbills were handed out upon entrance to the venue in the afternoon stating that they would be performing the Rolling Stone’s Exile on Main Street, it didn’t seem to dampen any of the anticipation.  Sandwiched between two great Phish sets, we would be treated to a performance of one of the greatest rock albums of all time.

I: Sample in a Jar, The Divided Sky, Lawnboy, Kill Devil Falls, Bathtub Gin*, The Squirming Coil, Runaway Jim, Possum*, Run Like an Antelope*

II: Rocks Off, Rip This Joint, Shake Your Hips, Casino Boogie, Tumbling Dice, Sweet Virginia, Torn and Frayed, Sweet Black Angel, Loving Cup**, Happy, Turd on the Run, Ventilator Blues, I Just Want to See His Face**, Let it Loose, All Down the Line, Stop Breaking Down, Shine a Light, Soul Survivor

II: Backwards Down the Number Line -> Fluffhead, Ghost**, When the Circus Comes to Town, You Enjoy Myself***

e: Suzie Greenberg**

Of course the Exile set was the centerpiece of the evening, but before you get to the main course, you’ve got to have some appetizers.  The band eases into the first set with Sample in a Jar before a great Divided Sky that flows beautifully from Trey’s guitar before he takes plenty of time to soak it in at the “sunset” portion of the song while the attentitve crowd cheers him on.  Then, before Page takes center stage for Lawnboy, Trey speaks for the first time, acknowledging the beauty of the venue while perhaps giving us a play on words (”it’s been a long time since we played on grass”).

Following the keyboardists suave vocal performance, the band kicks it up a notch with Kill Devil Falls, followed by another first set staple, Bathtub Gin.  Even though it will be November in less than 24 hours, it still feels like summer.  After this blistering Gin, the band takes it down a notch with The Squirming Coil, and starts to build back up with Runaway Jim on the way to finishing the set on a high note with a rollicking duo of Possum and Run Like an Antelope. All of this, of course, is just a warmup for the evening.

When I first saw the Phishbill on the way into the venue, I let out in a shout of joy, “It’s Exile!”.  One of my all-time favorite albums, I had been hoping Phish would choose the Rolling Stones classic from the moment they announced Festival8.  Even a casual fan would recognize the oft-played cover Loving Cup, but the album goes so much deeper than this single track.  There’s the grimy blues of Casino Boogie, the soul of Shine a Light, the tender Sweet Black Angel.

The only question was how Phish would handle the arrangements, with a number of tracks featuring horns and female backup.  But no worries.  Phish gave the album the star treatment it deserves with the help of star soul singer Sharon Jones, as well as Saundra Williams on vocals, Dave Guy on trumpet, David Smith on trombone, and Tony Jarvis on sax.  These five extremely talented musicians helped Phish bring this album to life the way they would never be able on their own.

Just prior to taking the stage, the audience was treated to a montage of some of the albums that didn’t make the cut.  Bowie, Prince, Hendrix, et al were worked into an intriguing mix. (A brief clip of Jerry drew the largest cheer of course.)

I’m not sure how many fans would have recognized the album when the band first let into Rocks Off, but I would guess that as the set went on they would probably recognize more tunes than they might have suspected. While none of the tracks on the album really rival the noteriety of Stones hits such as Satisfaction, Paint it Black, or Ruby Tuesday, to me, many of these songs feel like the “real” Rolling Stones – British rockers whose primary influences were American bluesmen. This album is a rejection of the British Invasion they helped fuel.

Similarly, the choice of this album by Phish is a statement from them as well. Despite the (usually derisive) label of being a jam band, Phish is triumphantly proclaiming “We’re a rock band!”  And they do rock this material, getting down and dirty with Rip This Join, Shake Your Hips, and the first song of the night they deviate from album form, if even for only a few minutes, Casino Boogie.  By this time, the horns and backing vocals are in full swing.  But it’s Tumbling Dice that’s the first real showcase of the amazing backing vocals of Sharon Jones and Saundra Davis.

Sweet Virginia, a tune Phish has covered in the past, is Fishman’s first lead vocal of the night, before the classic, bleak portrait of life on the road, Torn and Frayed, which I’m sure hits very close to home for Phish. This begins what I feel is the strongest portion of the album (and the set), as Trey switches up for his acoustic for the tender Sweet Black Angel before unleashing the crowning jewel of the set, Loving Cup.

Now, we’ve all heard Loving Cup before from Phish, and it rightfully has a spot in many fans’ hearts as their best cover song.  But we’ve never heard a version like this before, and likely never will again.  Everybody knew it was coming at this exact moment, yet the crowd erupts with a huge cheer, and the band absolutely delivers.  This entire version felt like one huge release as the  band, horns, and vocals all come together perfectly.

Following this peak, Happy and Turd on the Run almost feel like an afterthought as the album moves into some of the “filler” portion.  However, this gives the band a chance to stretch it out a little bit and provide one of the sleeper hits of the evening, Ventilator Blues -> I Just Want to See His Face. The swaying chorus of “Let this music relax your mind” builds towards a powerful climax, one of the high points of the evening for me.  From this point on it’s back into rhythm ‘n’ blues as they propel towards the finish with Let it Loose, All Down the Line, and Stop Breaking Down before the soulful singalong of Shine a Light and the straightforward rock’n’soul of Soul Survivor put a huge exclaimation point on a fantastic 100 minutes of Phish.

And we’re stil not done for the evening.  After a long setbreak, the band returned to the stage with a tune that’s at once accessible to the general listening public, yet also fast becoming a crowd favorite, Backwards Down the Number Line.  It’s jammed in a fairly straightforward way into a song everybody was expecting at some point in the weekend, Fluffhead.   It’s an energetic yet fairly standard version until the final section of the song, “The Arrival”, when Kuroda lets loose with the enormous tiki torches that mark the unofficial boundary of the music area.  And when I say “tiki torches”, I mean “huge jet burners that could power a hot air balloon.”  We were standing back by these things, and they were bright, and they were loud, and they were hot.  Of course the crowd goes nuts as the band wraps up a wild ending to Fluff.

Next up is the first real big jam tune of the night, Ghost. Where one could expect the band to take Ghost into dark, spooky territory, it being Halloween and all, instead the band lays down a relatively rocking version.  Page goes crazy on the clav early into the jam over some sick Mike bass lines, and Trey takes over later in the jam with some circular melodies that keep the energy up.  The band then decides to sort of let everybody refresh with a beautifully placed and performed When the Circus Comes to Town.  The Exile set aside, this is surprisingly the only cover of the entire weekend.  Wrapping up the 5-song set is a blistering You Enjoy Myself, one of the best of the year.  The jam is wide ranging, from some Herbie Hancock “Chameleon” style work on the synth early in the jam to some guitar shredding to a dirrrrty bass solo.  This version clocks in around 22 minutes, all of it pure gold.

In an unsurprising move, the band reprised the horns and singers for an amazing encore of Suzy Greenberg.  No matter how many times you’ve heard this tune, you must, must, must hear this version.  On top of a full-bodied, horn charged version, the band gives some space for Sharon and Saundra to go wild in a sort of soul vocal duel.  They might as well retire Suzy, because this version will never be topped.

While I’ve certainly heard better shows musically (not that this show wasn’t fantastic in that regard) this is one of the greatest Phish shows I’ve every personally attended.  From the musical costume, to the amazing festival grounds, to the infectous vibe of the crowd, and the inspired playing of my favorite band, every aspect of this day was epic.

Synopsis:

Set I: A high-energy first set that felt like summer tour. Highlight: Possum

Set II: The Exile set may go down as their best musical costume ever, topped by an amazing Loving Cup.

Set III: A mostly rocking, jammed out set anchored by a huge YEM.

Highlights: Bathtub Gin*, Possum*, Run Like an Antelope*, Loving Cup**, I Just Want to See His Face**, Ghost**, You Enjoy Myself***, Suzy Greenberg**

Overall: A memorable show from start to finish. An instant classic.

New! to Helping Friendly Book – Audio!

Loving Cup

I Just Want to See His Face

Suzy Greenberg

Filed under: Category Reviews | Tags: 2009,antelope,essential,exileonmainst,ghost,gin,lovingcup,possum,suzy greenberg,yem by doug