Six Weeks to #60: Episode I

As my 60th Phish show approaches on Friday, 10/15/10, I decided to take a look back at the five other “milestone” shows I’ve seen over the last 14 years. Some were stellar, others were lacking, but they’re all a part of my history with the band.

Every Friday for the next six weeks, I’ll post an essay/review of shows #10, 20, 30, 40 and 50. Up first is my tenth show, Halloween ’98.

#10: 10/31/98 Thomas and Mack Center, Las Vegas, NV

1998 was a banner Phish year for me—I attended my first festival (Lemonwheel), Halloween, and New Year’s shows—and what began as a passion suddenly was hurtling towards obsession.

When a friend from college offered me his extra ticket for Halloween I certainly felt the urge, but as Ithaca, New York sits roughly 2400 miles east of Las Vegas, I didn’t really give the idea much serious thought. Two days before the Saturday show, however, a missive from e-savers (remember them?) clicked into my inbox, advertising cheap flights from Syracuse to Vegas. How could I resist?


I arrived at McCarran around 9:00 that Friday and decided against taking a cab (in hindsight, an epic mistake—the second set from 10/30/98 turned out to be a monster, one that I painfully regret missing to this day) in favor of hoofing it to the The Continental Club Hotel & Casino, where my compatriots Jeff and Alex had set up the day prior.

What looked on the map like a brief walk was actually two fairly grueling miles through the gusty desert with a heavy backpack atop my shoulders. I should’ve sped over to the Thomas & Mack for the remainder of the show, but instead I cruised around the Continental (now known as Terrible’s), which felt like one of Cousin Eddie’s ramshackle casinos from Vegas Vacation. Seriously: to call this place a dive would be to insult dives everywhere.


I was briefly pondering seeing the helmet-haired Vegas legend Cook E. Jarr when my friends burst in, raving about what an amazing show they’d just seen—the first “Long Cool Woman” in 15 years, the premiere of Jimmy Smith’s “Back at the Chicken Shack” and an acapella “Freebird” encore. Marvelous. Added bonus: I basically walked right past the venue on my way from the airport without realizing it.

The next day we tooled around the strip in Alex’s Saturn, abusing the P.A. he’d installed in the hood (“Attention hippies: Take a bath”) and engaging in general Vegas-esque mischief. I’d decided to play one slot machine in each casino, and eventually won $20 at the MGM Grand (and subsequently was chased from the premises by security when I wouldn’t show them my ID that confirmed my 19 years of age).

I called home from the next casino to let my parents know where I was. “Syracuse?” my dad guessed. “New York?” Nope, try again. “Guess where your son is?” he shouted to my mother when I revealed my location. For the guy who once hitchhiked from coast to coast, I expected more congratulatory praise for my impulsive Kerouacian adventure.

After waiting in line for a few hours at Thomas & Mack, I was elected to sprint into the arena to save seats for the general admission show. I grabbed the Browadway-style Phishbill that spoiled what I’d hoped would be a surprise costume set and bolted into the lower bowl, Page-side, about halfway between the stage and the soundboard. Saving seats turned out to be a monumental task, and I eventually retired, finding the rest of the group on the opposite side of the arena. (Side note: how did we ever make that work without cell phones?)


The first set was relatively standard for ’98 Phish (meaning it was average-great, but not mind-blowing). Alex’s buddy freaked out during a mid-set “Sneaking Sally Through the Alley”, exasperatedly breathing “ROB-ERT PAL-MER!” as though he’d simultaneously solved Molyneux’s Problem while ending world hunger. Jeff called the smooth transition from “Sneaking Sally” into “Chalkdust Torture”, and I was stoked to hear “Mike’s Song” a few tunes later.

This was my fourth “Mike’s” in ten shows (certainly no complaints there!) but as I’d yet to hear “I am Hydrogen”, I was a bit let down as the band moved into the then-newish “Frankie Says” (although in hindsight the spacey, textural song was an inspired choice for All Hallow’s Eve) and on into the set-closing “Weekapaug Groove”.

We leafed through the Phishbill during setbreak, chuckling at the “Roggae” and “Dirt” faux-advertisements. Many fans looked at each other quizzically as they also read, wondering why Phish chose the Velvet Underground’s Loaded over the heavily-rumored (and heavily-favored) Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon. In retrospect, the gesture defined the band at this time—while some of the playfulness that characterized its early years had dissipated, Phish had grown into a group that favored simplicity, and Loaded fit that bill. No horns, no guests, no quirky compositions—just a classic rock record that perfectly reflected the mature, 15-year-old Phish and introduced a number of jam fans to the genius of Lou Reed.

Phish’s rendition of the Velvets’ 1970 album was an instant hit that October night, with the deft and subtle Phishy touch applied to a batch of tried and true Reed compositions. Highlights of the Loaded set included a rousing take on “Sweet Jane” (the only VU song I knew at that point) followed by a nearly 14-minute-long version of “Rock and Roll” that hinted at the song’s enormous potential as a jamming springboard, especially as a frequent second-set opener for Phish 3.0.

The Fishman-led “Lonesome Cowboy Bill” arrived towards the end of the set, venturing from the song proper into a jam reminiscent of the Phish’s own “Possum” before delving into one of the lush, ambient soundscapes that defined Phish in 1998 (and foreshadowed the dark-and-dirty experimentation that followed in Set III).

A poignant, triumphant “Oh! Sweet Nuthin’” closed the Loaded set in style, and I long lamented the fact that this song didn’t make it into the regular rotation (although I won’t argue with “Rock and Roll” every third show nowadays). Imagine my surprise and elation last August when “Oh! Sweet Nuthin’” materialized at Shoreline, and three more times since then.



The third set? Depends who you ask. Some call it one of the biggest trainwrecks in the band’s storied career, while others call it a piece of sublime exploration. Opening with a half-hour “Wolfman’s Brother”, Phish left the song proper behind quickly, and by ten minutes in were pushing the boundaries hard. At the 20-minute mark, Fishman was playing vacuum over a wall of sound. 25 minutes after the set began, the band was loping through a sparse funk groove, eventually settling on “Piper”, which ran pretty straightforward and melted into “Ghost”.



Here’s where it really gets interesting and where the stories start to conflict. After about eight minutes of a solid “Ghost”, Trey simply put down his guitar and walked offstage. I’ve heard that someone slipped him something backstage; I’ve heard he was simply freaked out by Vegas; I’ve heard he was trying to channel Lou Reed’s obstinate nature. (OK, I made the last one up.) Suffice to say, the faithful were incredibly confused. After such a spirited jaunt through Loaded, seeing the band play a whacked-out space-jam set and end it abruptly didn’t sit well with a lot of heads (myself included).

Confusion and tension reigned in the few minutes before the end of the third set and the encore (would there even be an encore after that?), and when Phish re-took the stage, I could only think of Fishman as the family member who acts a fool when his parents are fighting in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere. He rollicked the band through an amusing “Sleeping Monkey” and a downright thunderous and emphatically cathartic “Tweezer Reprise” that closed the show.
I lingered in Vegas for a few extra days (the side effect of the e-saver ticket), running into Phish fans here and there, always inquisitive of their thoughts regarding the end of the Halloween show. Most were just as stupefied as I was, but some were very genuinely concerned that the band was in trouble (it turns out they were, although it would take six years and another Vegas run to bring said trouble to the forefront).

I flew home the following Tuesday, admittedly a bit nervous about the future of Phish. When my roommate Rick picked me up in Syracuse, he handed me a printed setlist from the previous night’s show in Salt Lake City—imagine my joy at discovering that not only was my favorite band alive and well, but had covered Dark Side in its entirety in Utah.

Was I jealous that I missed it? Yeah, a little.

Would I trade it for my Phish-Halloween-Vegas experience, and the introduction of Loaded into my life?

Not a bet worth taking.


Setlist:

I: Axilla I, Punch You in the Eye, Roggae, Birds of a Feather, Sneaking Sally Through the Alley > Chalkdust Torture > Lawn Boy, Mike's Song > Frankie Says > Weekapaug Groove

II: Who Loves the Sun, Sweet Jane, Rock and Roll, Cool it Down, New Age, Head Held High, Lonesome Cowboy Bill > I Found a Reason, Train Round the Bend, Oh! Sweet Nuthin'

III: Wolfman's Brother > Piper > Ghost

E: Sleeping Monkey, Tweezer Reprise


Next week: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in Summer '99

Review of Phish at the Greek (Night 1)

A year to the date of Phish’s last appearance in the Bay Area, the Vermont foursome opened the second leg of its summer tour at Berkeley’s Greek Theater on Thursday night.

Phish’s set slightly resembled last summer’s Shoreline stop (“The Divided Sky”, “Halley’s Comet”, “Down With Disease” and “Maze”), but the playing—and of course the atmosphere—were far superior this time around. Many fans expected a bit of rust to have gathered since Phish’s last performance on July 4th near Atlanta, but the band was on point all night, foreshadowing what promises to be a historic week of shows, with two more at the Greek followed by two in Telluride, Colorado early next week.

Opening the night with a buoyant “Possum” and leaping into the funky “Wolfman’s Brother”, the 90-minute first set was paced well, with the awkward stop-and-start transition from “Halley’s” into “Sample in a Jar” standing out as the only gaffe.

After a run of the band’s shorter, sing-a-long numbers (“Sample”, “NICU”, “Bouncing Around the Room”), Phish closed its first set at the Greek since a scorching tour closer in 1993 with “Run Like an Antelope”, one of four songs in Thursday’s show that the band also played that August night in ’93.

“Antelope” has become a go-to first-set closer this summer, finishing off five of the 19 opening segments thus far. Deservedly so, as it’s one of the finest examples of classic Phish: a jaunty opening section precedes a build to a roaring crescendo, finishing off a batch of 10 songs that were enjoyable, yet not terribly adventurous.

The musical bravado that was Phish’s calling card in the mid-1990s surfaced on occasion in the second set, most notably during the set-opening “Disease”. The 15-minute romp featured excellent interplay early in the jam between Anastasio and keyboardist Page McConnell, as the latter traced piano themes around the guitarist’s leads, before moving to the organ as bassist Mike Gordon took the reins, pacing the song with bouncy runs that drummer Jon Fishman augmented nicely, never drawing attention away from Anastasio’s soloing, instead locking into a solid groove while finding spaces for tom-tom fills and cymbal splashes.

Certainly, this “Disease” was the highlight of the evening, as it was the night’s most venturesome offering. Quality takes on “Free”, “Alaska” and “Back on the Train” followed before Fishman led the band into a mid-set “Maze”, which featured formidable solos from McConnell and Anastasio.

“Joy”, the title track from Phish’s 2009 studio album, offered some space to breathe and rest before the double-punch of two of the band’s heaviest hitters: “Tweezer” and “Fluffhead”. “Tweezer” saw Anastasio scatting over a snappy Gordon bass riff and built to a fine peak before mellowing and sliding into the twists and turns of “Fluffhead”.

Arguably Phish’s most difficult composition, “Fluffhead” is an intricate weave of themes and sections that ends with a searing Anastasio solo, and it proved a fitting end to a second set that featured just about everything that Phish faithful long for—precision, humor, and (occasional) transcendence.

Setlist:

I: Possum, Wolfman's Brother, The Divided Sky, Funky Bitch, Kill Devil Falls, Halley's Comet, Sample in a Jar, NICU, Bouncing Around the Room, Run Like an Antelope

II: Down With Disease > Free, Alaska, Back on the Train, Maze, Joy, Tweezer > Fluffhead

E: Loving Cup, Tweezer Reprise

Review of Phish at Walnut Creek

Phish has always been a band that has been greater than the sum of its parts. However, when those parts fire on all four cylinders, as they did during select shining moments on Thursday night at Walnut Creek, it quickly becomes clear why Phish’s legion of devotees remain so loyally entrenched with the Vermont foursome.

Certainly, each member of Phish had his time in the limelight—drummer Jon Fishman added delicate accents to “Light”; keyboardist Page McConnell delivered an exquisite piano outro to “The Squirming Coil”; bassist Mike Gordon bounced through a breakdown in “Free”; and guitarist Trey Anastasio wove colorful leads throughout the night.

Since Phish’s return last year from a self-imposed five-year break-up, the band has been hesitant to fully develop the slew of musical ideas for which it attained such fame in the mid- to late-‘90s. Because of this reticence to stretch their proverbial legs on its traditional jam vehicles (“Moma Dance”, “Halley’s Comet”), the foursome has ratcheted up the group tension-and-release interplay; this hold-it-now-hit-it ideology shined through in each set, highlighted by “The Divided Sky” in the first set and “Light” in the second.

It’s fitting that these two songs were among the standouts, given that “The Divided Sky” was among the first of Anastasio’s major compositions (recorded on 1988’s Junta), and “Light” among his more recent (on last year’s Joy). Fitting because “Divided” features a long, tightly composed section followed by a soaring solo by Anastasio, under which the other three members drive the guitarist along, pushing him to greater and greater heights. Conversely, “Light” feels like little more than a four-chord jam with lyrics intermingled; however, its peaks and valleys were no less impressive than the twists and turns of “The Divided Sky”.

“Light” featured astonishing group interplay, but on a different wavelength than “Divided”—instead of the guitarist dictating the terms, Fishman and Gordon led the way, allowing McConnell and Anastasio to add texture to a 14-minute jaunt through rocking peaks and atmospheric valleys. Some call this type of groupwork “new” Phish; it’s simply the sound of a mature band whose members listen to one another instead of stepping on each other’s toes (as Phish has been known to do at times in the past).

For all Phish’s improvisational skills, however, the band seemed most at home jamming on other artists’ material—the simple blues progression of Traffic’s “Light Up or Leave Me Alone” brought Anastasio to the forefront as McConnell chomped and comped boogie-woogie chords underneath. Similarly, Gordon drove the band through Stevie Wonder’s “Boogie On Reggae Woman” as an encore, slapping slippery bass lines that guided the group to a sublime , just-past-curfew peak.

Also of note were the covers that the band dusted off for the first time in a long time:
Little Feat’s “Time Loves a Hero” (last played 12.31.02), The Mighty Diamonds’ “Have Mercy” (12.11.99) and “Light Up or Leave Me Alone” (12.30.99).

Setlist:

I: Llama, Roses Are Free, Kill Devil Falls, Time Loves a Hero, Alaska, Water in the Sky, Runaway Jim, Moma Dance, The Divided Sky, Cavern

II: Backwards Down the Number Line, Halley's Comet, Light, Fluffhead, Have Mercy, Light Up or Leave Me Alone, Free, Wading in the Velvet Sea, The Squirming Coil, Suzy Greenberg

E: Boogie On Reggae Woman

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Stagecoach coverage

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Coachella coverage

I was fortunate enough to cover my sixth Coachella for the Register. All of my brief write-ups are located here.

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After ten years, I finally got my live Pavement fix. Read my review for the Orange County Register here.