June 30, 2009

Phish Halloween Run in the Works

Just like they did when announcing the Hampton reunion shows and Summer Tour 2009, a new splash page on Phish.com announced the band plans to hold a three-day festival October 30 - November 1.

The location has yet to be disclosed, but the splash page urges everybody to "save the date." There is some speculation that "Save the Date" could be an old-school Phish play on words. How so? Read on ...

Jamtopia has listed a bunch of potential answers to the question of where will Phish play on Halloween. With the recent infestation of fire ants to the map on Phish.com, and now the boat dragging away Ohio and Kansas, speculation is rampant that the festival will take place in Indio, California at the same site that hosts the Coachella Festival every summer.

Supposedly Phish is scheduled to play The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien on October 28. And making Indio seem like even more of a possibility ... the Coachella Festival site is surrounded by date fields.

Stay tuned ...

RECENT NEWS, ARTICLES & LINKS
Hotels filling up on rumored Phish fest
Mike Gordon interview in Bass Player magazine.

Directly from Phish.com's news page ...

"
A Phish 'Live Track Pack' for Guitar Hero World Tour is available for download and features live recordings of Sample in a Jar (12/1/94 Salem Armory, Salem, OR); Down with Disease (12/1/95 Hershey Park Arena, Hershey, PA); and Chalk Dust Torture (11/16/94 Hill Auditorium, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, as released on 'A Live One'). The pack is compatible with the 360, PS3 and Wii.

The 'Track Pack' can be downloaded from the Xbox LIVE Marketplace and from the PlayStation store (where you can also download the songs as singles).

Additionally, Rock Band released tracks from this year's Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, and included is Wilson from Phish's Friday night set."

Phish name new album "Joy" (UltimateGuitar.com)
Phish Summer Tour 2009 Highlights (Examiner.com)
PETA Put Phish on the Hook for Name Change (Spinner.com)

This has nothing to do with Joy, but here's post from the WaxBanks Blog detailing the songs on a 30-song "mix tape" the blog's administrator put together. What's so interesting about it is he chose to make a mix from the 2003-2004 era ... not exactly everyone's favorite period of Phishistory.

The post, which is very lengthy, even provides links where you can download the versions of the songs in question. Fun read, and he manages to pick out some gems from Phish 2.0. Well worth checking out.

June 29, 2009

Phish on the Cover of Billboard Magazine

It's not the thrill that'll get ya when ya get your picture on the cover of the Rolling Stone, but it's probably the next best thing in the music world ...

The latest issue of Billboard magazine has Phish on the cover -- although the cover is not available to view online -- with a full feature story on the inside. Additionally, Billboard.com posted individual Q&As with Mike, Page and Trey.

What? No Henrietta?

Billboard.com also has a photo spread of Phish's Fenway Park show taken by Dave Vann, who also did the photo's on Phish's "From the Road" section of their web site. They even posted a little video from the Bonnaroo of Chalk Dust Torture.

Looks like the boys are back in the mainstream.

June 25, 2009

Phish Names New Album "Joy"

Apparently, wiser heads prevailed and the boys decided against calling the next Phish album Party Time! or Party Time with Phish, and decided to name it after the new ballad Joy.

There are only going to be 10 songs on Joy, which is set for release on July 28. By comparison, here are the total track listings, and original release dates, for all of Phish's studio albums, excluding The Siket Disc:

Junta (14), 5/8/89; Lawn Boy (9), 9/21/90; Picture of Nectar (16) 2/18/92; Rift (15), 2/2/93; Hoist (11), 3/29/94; Billy Breathes (13) 10/15/96; The White Tape (16) 8/1/98; Story of the Ghost (14) 10/27/98; Farmhouse (12 -- 14 on the Japanese version) 5/16/00; Round Room (12) 12/10/02; Undermind (14) 6/15/04.

Here is the track listing for Joy:

1. Twenty Years Later
2. Backwards Down the Number Line
3. Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan
4. Light
5. Joy
6. Sugar Shack
7. Ocelot
8. Kill Devil Falls
9. I've Been Around
10. Time Turns Elastic

No surprises here -- everything except for I've Been Around was performed live during the first leg of Summer Tour 2009 (at least, I don't recall hearing I've Been Around; let me know if I'm wrong). Phish.com had the following to say about Joy:

"Phish will be releasing Joy, their first studio album in five years, later this summer on JEMP Records. The record was recorded in New York City this spring with producer Steve Lillywhite. Stay tuned for further details and pre-order information in the coming weeks!"

It's fun to say the sentence "Phish will be releasing Joy ..." Isn't that what they do best? Well, unless you ask a good number of "Phish-heads" over at PhantasyTour.com -- I haven't looked yet but I bet they are totally ragging on the new album title, the track listing, and whatever else the can find "wrong" with today's announcement by the band.

NEWS ARTICLES
Joy for Phish (Relix)
Phish New Album Details: Joy (Jambase)
Phish Capture Famous Live Vibe on New Summer Album "Joy" (Rolling Stone)

LINKS
This has nothing to do with Joy, but here's post from the WaxBanks Blog detailing the songs on a 30-song "mix tape" the blog's administrator put together. What's so interesting about it is he chose to make a mix from the 2003-2004 era ... not exactly everyone's favorite period of Phishistory. The post, which is very lengthy, even provides links where you can download the versions of the songs in question. Fun read, and he manages to pick out some gems from Phish 2.0. Well worth checking out.

June 21, 2009

Phish Alpine Valley Night Two Setlist, Photos, Downloads, Show Details and More

Sunday night marked Phish's final performance on the first leg of Summer Tour 2009, and they closed out by dropping a bomb in Alpine Valley over the last two nights. The shows are f-ing great and well-worth downloading -- I know I plan on listening to them a lot in the car this summer. Alpine Valley this year became the Valley of the Breakout with many songs making their first appearance since Phish started playing again.

Also, it's been a blast listening to all but three of the shows live, streaming over the Internet thanks to WigMan and a few other intrepid devotees. It made for an unforgettable June!

Download an audience recording of tonight's show, courtesy of PhishThoughts.com's "No Spoilers."

PHISH AT ALPINE VALLEY NIGHT TWO SET LIST
June 21, 2009

SET ONE
^Brother, Wolfman's Brother, ^^Funky Bitch -> The Divided Sky, Joy, Back On The Train, Taste, Poor Heart, The Horse -> Silent in the Morning, ^^^The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday -> Avenu Malkanu -> The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday, Time Turns Elastic

SET TWO
Cross-eyed and Painless -> Down With Disease ->Bug, Piper, Wading in the Velvet Sea, Boogie on Reggae Woman, Slave to the Traffic Light

ENCORE
Grind, *Frankenstein

^First time played since 8/2/03 at the IT festival. Brother has only been played four times since 7/28/98. Also, all seven children of the band members, and Trey's wife, Sue, sat in a steel bathtub center stage during the song; ^^First Funky Bitch since Phish's return to the stage this year, last played 6/24/04 at (where else) Alpine Valley; First time played since 7/7/03 in Phoenix, Arizona; First Cross-eyed and Painless since 6/23/04 at Deer Creek; *With Page on Keytar (it was reportedly once owned by James Brown), Mike on a bass guitar that looks like flames, and Trey on a five-necked guitar.

Phish
6/21/09 Alpine Valley Music Theatre , East Troy, WI


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PHOTOS
Grind
Sometime during the second set
Killer slide show by GCactus, with photos of Trey's five-neck guitar

VIDEO
You Enjoy Myself (from 6/20)

LINKS
This has nothing to do with Alpine Valley, but I found this list of the 50 worst band names of all time, and Phish comes in at No. 43.
Phish brings frenzied energy to Alpine Valley 6/20/09
Phish bust out rarities, kids for unique Father's Day gig (Rolling Stone)
The dark side of the Phish reunion: Hit-and-run defecation (Milwaukee Decider)
Phish energizes sold-out Alpine crowd (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

June 20, 2009

Phish Alpine Valley Setlist, Photos, Downloads, Show Details and More

Tonight is the first of a two-night run at the hallowed Alpine Valley Music Theatre, home to some out-of-this-world musical adventures and history over the years, and not just by Phish, er, The Sea Kittens (still trying to get used to their name change). Alpine Valley is where The Dead held Terrapin Station: A Grateful Dead Family Reunion, electing to get down inside the amphitheater's majestic setting rather than at Shoreline, their home base. Alpine Valley is also the last place Stevie Ray Vaughn performed before hopping on that doomed helicopter. It is also the largest "shed" in the country with a seating capacity of 37,000.

Download an audience recording of tonight's show courtesy of PhishThoughts.com's "No Spoilers."

PHISH AT ALPINE VALLEY SET LIST
June 20, 2009

SET ONE
Punch You in the Eye, Runaway Jim, Stash, Ya Mar, Bathtub Gin, Kill Devil Falls, Train Song, Farmhouse, Sparkle, Run Like An Antelope

SET TWO
Waves > Sample In A Jar, Maze, Makisupa Policeman, Ghost >, The Lizards, You Enjoy Myself > NICU > Prince Caspian > Waste > Fire

ENCORE
Character Zero

Phish
6/20/09 Alpine Valley Music Theatre , East Troy, WI


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LINKS
Phish energizes sold-out Alpine crowd
Phish tonight at Alpine Valley

PHOTOS
Phish's "From the Road slide show

VIDEO
Runaway Jim
Ya Mar
Bathtub Gin
Farmhouse
Waves (very short clip)
Makisupa Policeman
Ghost
Waste and Fire

June 19, 2009

Phish Deer Creek Setlist, Photos, Downloads, Links, Show Details and More

The Sea Kittens tore it up at Deer Creek tonight, laying down some cornfield madness! This venue was the site of The Moby Dick Show on 7/11/00, which included an often-overlooked, hilarious Chalk Dust Torture reprise (<-- video, right about the 3:20 mark it starts). This show won the boys a Jammy for Live Performance of the Year.

As anyone seen my Axilla? It's only been played five times since the original hiatus, last appearing at Coventry on 8/16/04. It may be lost. If found, please promptly return to Big Red.

Download an audience recording of tonight's show courtesy of PhishThoughts.com's "No Spoilers."

PHISH AT DEER CREEK SET LIST
June 19, 2009

SOUNDCHECK
Ginseng Sullivan, Let Me Lie

SET ONE
Backwards Down the Number Line, AC/DC Bag, Limb By Limb, The Moma Dance, Split Open and Melt, Lawn Boy, The Wedge, Stealing Time from the Faulty Plan, The Connection, Ocelot, Fluffhead

SET TWO
A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing, Drowned, Twist, Let Me Lie, Tweezer, 2001, Suzy Greenberg, Possum

ENCORE
*Sleeping Monkey, **Tweeprise

*Last Sleeping Monkey was 12/28/03 in Miami, paired with Loving Cup for the encore. This is only the 8th Sleeping Monkey since 10/31/98. While the band played Sleeping Monkey tonight, on chat boards across the Internet people were wishing for an Antelope to close out the show. But of course, it ended with **Tweeprise, which has not been left off a set and played the next night since 12/15/95 at the Philly Spectrum.

Phish
6/19/09 Verizon Wireless Music Center , Noblesville, IN


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LINKS
This is officially the dumbest shit I have ever seen in my life. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) wants Phish to change it's name to"Sea Kittens." What's next, ask Fishman to change his last name to "Sea Kitten-man" too? Good God almighty.

Here is a "cautionary tale" about seeing Phish at Deer Creek on 8/12/96 (setlist). Funny stuff ...
Phish week: Thursday (Indianapolis Star)
10 things you need to know before the Alpine show
Past "gratefulness" at Deer Creek

Fuse TV is showing clips from the Bonnaroo tomorrow night (Saturday, June 20) and plans to include Phish in its broadcast. Here's the trailer for the show, and here's a "channel finder" so you can figure out what channel it's on locally.

Mr. Minor's review

PHOTOS
Going back a few shows, here is a stellar slide show from Great Woods.
Best seat in the house ... Not!
Split Open and Melt
Weather map during The Wedge
Blurry shot from the first set
Phish's "From the Road" slide show

June 18, 2009

Phish Starlake Amphitheater Setlist, Photos, Downloads, Show Details and More

Phish returns to the Starlake Amphitheater in Pittsburgh tonight. The last time they played there, the setlist was wild and the show was great, following on the heels of a less than stellar performance at Walnut Creek in Raleigh (I was there!).
Download an audience recording of tonight's show courtesy of PhishThoughts.com's "No Spoilers."

PHISH AT STARLAKE AMPHITHEATER (PITTSBURGH) SET LIST
June 18, 2009

SET ONE
Golgi Apparatus, Chalk Dust Torture, Bouncing Around The Room, Wolfman's Brother, Divided Sky, Heavy Things, ^Walk Away, Wilson, Tube, Alaska, David Bowie

SET TWO
Down With Disease > Free, Guyute, Piper > When The Circus Comes To Town, Harry Hood > The Squirming Coil, You Enjoy Myself

ENCORE
Grind, Hello My Baby, *Bike, Loving Cup

^First Walk Away since 10/5/00 at Irvine Meadows; *First Bike since 9/12/00 at the Tweeter Center in Mansfield, Mass.

Phish
6/18/09 Post Gazette Pavilion, Burgettstown, PA


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LINKS
Phish revels in jam with "hero" Springsteen
Bonnaroo beginnings
Mr. Minor's review

June 16, 2009

Phish Fox Theater in St. Louis Setlist, Photos, Downloads, Show Notes and More

Tonight's show was streaming live on PhishTube. If you have not checked out the PhishTube stream yet, you're missing out on this summer's biggest treat!
Download an audience recording of tonight's show courtesy of PhishThoughts.com's "No Spoilers."

PHISH AT THE FOX THEATER (ST. LOUIS) SET LIST
June 16, 2009

SET ONE
Kill Devil Falls, Ocelot, Brian and Robert, Sample in a Jar, Rift, Ya Mar, *Reba, Train Song, Horn, Possum -> Slave to the Traffic Light

SET TWO
**Halley's Comet -> Runaway Jim, Frankie Sez, Time Turns Elastic, ^Sleep, Mike's Song -> I am Hydrogen -> Weekapaug Groove, Boogie on Reggae Woman, Character Zero

ENCORE
^^Star Spangled Banner, ^^^McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters, While My Guitar Gently Weeps

*without whistling; **Trey teased Seven Below before song started; ^Last time Sleep was played was 7/1/00 in Hartford; ^^A Capella -- after the song Trey said, "Play ball" before launching into ^^^the first McGrupp since 7/29/03 at StarLake. Before that, McGrupp had not been played since 9/18/00 in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. McGrupp has only been played eight times since 1997.

LINKS
Mr. Minor's review. He's right on with this one.
Phish: Reunited, rockin'
Who's been out and about lately in St. Louis?

PHOTOS
Mash of photos from tonight's show
Slave to the Traffic Light
From the balcony
Chandelier
Frankie Sez
Fox Theater from outside

VIDEO
Trey playing Time Turns Elastic on acoustic guitar at The Barn.

Phish St. Louis Setlist, Photos, Video, Downloads, Show Details and more

It's about 385 miles from the site of the Bonnaroo to the Fox Theater in St. Louis, with Nashville about an hour up the road from Roo-ville. So, you're looking at an eight to 10-hour road trip, depending on traffic, how often you stop along the way, etc.

According to The Phish Companion, Phish has made one stop at the Fox Theater in St. Louis over the years, back on 11/23/94. Here's the setlist from that night:

PHISH AT THE FOX THEATER (ST. LOUIS)
November 23, 1994

SET ONE
Wilson -> Sparkle -> Simple, It's Ice, If I Could, The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony -> Suzy Greenberg, Divided Sky, Amazing Grace

SET TWO
Maze, Fee, Scent of a Mule, Tweezer, Lifeboy, *You Enjoy Myself, Tweeprise

ENCORE
Sample in a Jar

*Contained The Vibration of Life and a Frankenstein tease.

I'm guessing the Fox Theater is going to be the sleeper show of the entire summer. Think about it; it has all the ingredients for something special. It's about 620 miles from Manchester to St. Louis, and about 650 miles from Mancheter to Pittsburgh. Going from the Bonnaroo to St. Louis and then back up to Starlake is about 1,300 miles. Granted there is a day off on either side of the Fox Theater shows, but that's still quite a haul, even for the band.

The Fox Theater has a seating capacity of 5,060, and the show is sold out. You think it was hard to get a ticket in Asheville? Scoring a ticket in the lot in St. Louis is going to be like squeezing blood from a turnip.

Phish tends to do something special on these out-of-the-way tour stops. Two shows immediately come to mind: 1) 9/14/99 in Boise, Idaho. I skipped the Boise show and regret it to this day; hands down, I have listened to a copy of this show more than any other I have in my library. 2) 11/2/98 in West Valley, Utah (where???). This, of course, is the night they busted out Dark Side of the Moon.

I'm sure there are other shows that were out of the way from the rest of the scheduled tour dates where they brought the heat, but those are the two that always come to mind.

The last time Phish played Missouri (again, according to The Phish Companion) was 7/29/98 in Maryland Heights (a St. Louis suburb) at the Riverport Amphitheater. That night they busted out a Dog Log, Kung, Glide, If You Need a Fool (another Del McCoury Band cover, which hasn't been played since Camp Oswego in 1999), the new arrangement of Vultures (which is they way they play it "today") plus a 15-minute version of Buried Alive!

Who knows? The way this tour has been going they may not do anything special at all, as far as song choice or the setlist goes, other than play their asses off and lay down what becomes an instant classic. Or, they may bust out that Col. Forbin's -> Mockingbird or Harpua everyone's been waiting to hear. I guess we'll find out soon!

While you're waiting for the show to begin (don't forget about the possibility of a live stream at PhishTube), check this out ... for some reason, I decided to do a Google search on the acronym "YEM," and it turned out there are several "meanings" behind it.

As it states on Wikipedia, YEM may refer to:

• An ancient Vietnamese bodice worn by women
• Yamashita Engineering Manufacture Inc.
• Yeast Extract Mannitol
• A Chinese surname of Cantonese origin, meaning Bold, Stern, Star
• The Yem People, an ethnic group of southern Ethiopia
• The Yem Special Woreda a region in southern Ethiopia named after the Yem people
• You Enjoy Myself, a song by the band Phish

Speaking of YEM, the YEM Blog posted links today to video of Phish performing Divided Sky at a show I saw in Greensboro, North Carolina on 3/1/03. In fact, this show was one of those out-of-the-way sleeper shows, with the tour stopping at the Nassau Coliseum on the night before -- a 700-mile, 12-hour drive. Everyone remembers they busted out Destiny Unbound and Soul Shakedown Party in Nassau, but how many people remember Proud Mary making an appearance (again, during the YEM vocal jam) in Greensboro for the first time since Phish's very first show?

Dig it. Have fun in St. Louis, and don't forget to post lots of pictures!

June 14, 2009

Phish Sunday Night Bonnaroo Setlist, Photos, Links, Downloads and More

Tonight was interesting. Great show, and then Farmhouse, Backwards Down the Number Line and Prince Caspian seemed to suck the energy right out of the crowd. Don't get me wrong ... I thought it was great; just an observation.
Are they ever going to break out songs from Round Room, other than Waves? Still waiting for Pebbles and Marbles and Walls of the Cave to drop ...
Download an audience recording of the show from PhishThoughts.com's "No Spoilers."

PHISH AT BONNAROO SUNDAY NIGHT SET LIST
June 14, 2009

SET ONE
AC/DC Bag, NICU, Gotta Jibboo, ^Punch You in the Eye -> Sparkle -> Bathtub Gin, Character Zero -> Tweezer -> The Horse -> Silent in the Morning, Run Like an Antelope, ^^Mustang Sally, ^^^Bobby Jean -> ^^^Glory Days

SET TWO
Rock and Roll -> Light -> 46 Days, Limb By Limb, Farmhouse, Backwards Down the Number Line -> *Prince Caspian -> First Tube

ENCORE
Suzy Greenberg -> Tweeprise

^Glowstick War; ^^Trey talked about going to his first concert, Bruce Springsteen, at 12 years old. Then introduced Bruce as his boyhood hero. During the song, Bruce nodded at Page for a keyboard solo and said, "Play it Mr. Keyboard Player." -- Huh? The last Mustang Sally was 6/21/88 at Nectar's in Burlington; ^^^ Bruce Springsteen song, first time played; *Unfinished

Interesting they did not play Rocky Top at any of the three Tennessee shows.

LINKS
Deer Creek ticket raffle
Springsteen, Phish Jam Together at Bonnaroo
Curtain Call with Phish (Bonnaroo.com)

PHOTOS
Waiting for the show to begin
Check out all of the open space in front of the stage
You can't see it, but Snoop was onstage before Phish tonight
Phish pit before the show
AC/DC Bag
Bathtub Gin
Mustang Sally
Playing with The Boss
Birdseye view onstage with Bruce
Phish's From the Road slide show

June 12, 2009

Phish Bonnaroo Setlist, Photos, Reviews, Links, Downloads and More

The first night's single, late-night set was a monster on paper and listening back to it. A perfect sampler for the masses.
Phish is not scheduled to perform again until Sunday, from 8:30 pm to midnight CST, on the "What" stage.
Download an audience recording of the Friday night show from PhishThoughts.com's "No Spoilers." Check out the jam after Kill Devil Falls!

PHISH ON BONNAROO WHAT STAGE DAY ONE SET LIST

June 12, 2009

SOUNDCHECK
Ocelot, Dog Log, Nellie Kane, Funky Bitch, Llama jam

FRIDAY LATE-NIGHT SET
Chalk Dust Torture, Stealing Time From The Faulty Plan, The Divided Sky, Possum, Down With Disease, Alaska, Stash, Golgi Appartus, Wolfman's Brother, Poor Heart, Kill Devil Falls --> Free, Wading In The Velvet Sea, Harry Hood --> *Highway To Hell --> 2001 --> You Enjoy Myself --> Wilson --> You Enjoy Myself

ENCORE
A Day in the Life

*First time played since 2/26/97 in Stuttgart, Germany -- a gem of a show in its own right.

Phish
6/12/09 Bonnaroo Music Festival, Manchester, TN


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REVIEWS
Phish @ Bonnaroo 6/12/09
WAAY TV Review with Video
Three Euphoric Hours with Phish (New York Times)
Mr. Minor's Review-a-roo

LINKS
Live streaming broadcast from the Bonnaroo via iPhone
Before Bonnaroo
My Phish Experience
Springsteen, Phish Reel in Bonnaroo Crowds
Al Green would like to Give You a Rose (Oh, and also: Phish!)
This article refers to David Byrne as the ex-frontman of Phish
Phish Deliver Giant Set
Bonnaroo Heats Up with Phish
Phish Prep for Bonnaroo Finale with Three-Hour Set
Phish, in First Appearance, Comes Home to Bonnaroo
Flashback: A Brief History of Phish before they Hit Bonnaroo
500 mushroom-laced peanut butter treats seized pre-Bonnaroo

PHOTOS
BandsThatJam.com photo gallery
New York Times slide show with a cool stage shot of Phish
Bonnaroo grounds from the sky
Phish's From the Road slide show

VIDEO
This isn't related to the Bonnaroo, but the trailer for the much-anticipated "Maybe So, Maybe Not" documentary is now online.

June 10, 2009

Phish Knoxville Setlist, Photos, Links, Show and Song Details and More

Tonight's show was sick! Interesting that they did not play Rocky Top.
A friend just sent me a text from inside and said the crowd is so loud it reminds him of seeing Iron Maiden in the late 1980s!
Download an audience recording of tonight's show from PhishThoughts.com's "No Spoilers."

PHISH AT THOMPSON-BOLING ARENA (KNOXVILLE) SET LIST
June 10, 2009

SET ONE
Runaway Jim, Punch You in the Eye, Ocelot, Foam, Train Song, Undermind, ^Mike's Song --> I am Hydrogen --> Weekapaug Groove, The Squirming Coil, Character Zero

SET TWO
Back on the Train, Waves --> Song I Heard the Ocean Sing --> David Bowie, Army of One, Reba, Hello My Baby, Julius --> Cavern --> Harry Hood

ENCORE
Frankenstein

^With glowstick war

Tonight was the 1,195 show Phish has played. Seems like it should be more, right? Gov't Mule has played more than 1,300 shows, according to their website. Tonight was also just the 21st time Phish has played in Tennessee.

DOWNLOAD FROM LIVEPHISH.COM
Phish
6/10/09 Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, TN


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LINKS
That petition to get Phish to provide a live stream of every show is still floating around. Might as well sign it.
Phish-heads vs. Dave Matthews Band fans cartoon
Here's an article with many factual errors, like saying Phish has a history of lineup changes!!!
David Steinberg, creator of ZZYZX Phish Stats, posted an essay on the PhantasyTour.com message board titled The Return of Fun Trey.
$510 for St. Louis tickets.
USA Today article mentions WigMan and the live streams
Phish fans converge on Knoxville for sold-out show
When it comes to Phish, they can never say 'ever'
Phish at Alpine Valley Music Center
Phish and Fishman rarities in Asheville
Jambase Asheville review
13 drug arrests related to Phish concert
Vermonter seeds Sox-Yankees feud
Clean up after Phish concert smooth

PHOTOS

Ocelot
Hydrogen
Weekapaug Groove
Someone posted this image as part of a discussion of Trey being happy and healthy again.
Side shot of Trey
Phan shot from the second row
Set break Look at all those blissful Phish-heads all the way up to the rafters!
Mike & Trey gettin' down
Phish's From the Road slide show

VIDEOS
Backing up the assertion that Trey is back, here he is freaking out during the Tweeprise in Camden.

June 8, 2009

Phish in Asheville: Mike & Trey Likely to Sit in at a Local Show Tonight

Today is a travel day on Phish's 2009 Summer Tour, a day off from the frenetic pace of the first six shows at four venues -- Fenway Park, Jones Beach, Great Woods and Camden -- of tour. The drive from Camden to Asheville takes anywhere from eight to 10 hours, depending how fast you drive and how many stops you make.

But this is shaping up to be no ordinary travel day. This is one of those days in between shows that, if you're lucky enough to figure out what's going on, you'll be telling your friends about for the rest of your life.

Let me explain ...

The Asheville Citizen-Times is reporting that the Pisgah Brewing Company is hosting a pre-Phish bash tonight (Monday) with Blueground Undergrass, featuring the Rev. Jeff Mosier, and Col. Bruce Hampton and the Quark Alliance set to perform at 7pm. Tickets are $10 and are still available at Brown Paper Tickets, although for how long remains to be seen. Click here for contact information and directions.

In the past, whenever Col. Bruce has made an appearance in the vicinity of a Phish show Mike Gordon has shown up to sit in. But also, also, Rev. Jeff Mosier is the guy who taught Phish the ins and outs of bluegrass.

In the Fall of 1994, Phish contracted with Mosier to help them learn the intimate details of how to play bluegrass in the traditional style. The story goes, they flew him to Michigan, Mike picked him up in a limo, and they had their first lesson on 11/14/94 (The Phish Companion disputes this, saying Mosier's week-long travels with Phish began on 11/16/94 in Ann Arbor, but the video says 11/14; Old Home Place and Nellie Kane were performed acoustic on 11/14, but Mosier did not appear on stage with the band until 11/16, which incidentally features the Chalk Dust Torture found on A Live One). That week, the band started playing their mini-acoustic showcase in the middle of the first set, featuring Trey on acoustic guitar (and sometimes fiddle), Mike on banjo, Page on standup bass and Fishman on mandolin, which is hilarious because in traditional bluegrass bands the mandolin player is usually the most proficient picker of the group. Also that week, Phish debuted I'm Blue I'm Lonesome, My Long Journey Home, Fixin' To Die, Little Tiny Butter Biscuits, and Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms.

Mosier is also the person responsible for filming the official, yet unreleased, Phish video called The Bluegrass Sessions (follow that link and scroll to the bottom of the page for links to the entire movie). Now, The Bluegrass Sessions movie was long considered to be the "Holy Grail" of Phish videos because it was never released and it was next to impossible to find a copy. Thanks to YouTube, and to Rev. Jeff Mosier for agreeing to post it, The Bluegrass Sessions was remastered and is now a freely-traded, but still not available for purchase, home movie of Phish backstage learning how to play bluegrass. Total running time of all nine clips is about 1 hour 20 minutes.

So, you see, the Pisgah Brewing Company is set up to host an evening of music that may not provide any sort of stellar musical performances, but if you go you are going to get to see the boys playing in a little tiny place -- a memory you'll hold dear forever.

If you are there, you have to make the 10-mile drive to the town of Black Mountain (home of Pisgah Brewing and site of tonight's show). I'm willing to bet Mike, quite possibly Trey, and maybe even Page and Fishman, too, will be there. Why do I say this? Because there is a lot of history, although not widely known, not only with Col. Bruce and Phish, but the Rev. Jeff Mosier plays a special role in the band's history.

Anyway, Asheville's newspaper, the Citizen-Times, reports that downtown merchants and the police are preparing for the influx of Phish-heads to their quaint mountain town -- a place affectionately referred to as "Eugene East" because of the large hippie population residing in this city of about 75,000 people.

I lived in Raleigh, N.C. for seven years -- 15 minutes away from Walnut Creek -- and used to make the 4.5-hour jaunt to Asheville to catch shows at The Orange Peel and the Asheville Civic Center; the latter is home to the annual Warren Haynes Christmas Jam. Phish-related shows I've seen there over the years include Vida Blue, the Jazz Mandolin Project, the Trey Anastasio Band, Serial Pod (Trey, Mike and Bill Kreutzman), Oysterhead, and Mike Gordon and Leo Kottke.

Warren's stint with The Dead and the Allman Bros. Band just came to a close, and Gov't Mule is in between tour dates. Warren lives in Asheville, so there is a very real possibility that he will sit in with Phish, possibly on Funky Bitch? Stay tuned ...

The Beastie Boys are playing at The Orange Peel Wednesday night, and seminal punk band X will also be in town this week. Asheville is suddenly the place to be on the live music map.

Just for kicks, here's a killer photo from last night at Camden.

June 7, 2009

Phish Camden Setlist, Links, Photos and Song Stats

I've posted links to tons of videos, many of them complete songs in high definition, from Fenway Park, Jones Beach, Great Woods and tonight's show, on each night's web page (bottom right of this page).
Download an audience recording of tonight's show, courtesy of PhishThoughts.com "No Spoilers." The entire tour is available as well.

PHISH AT SUSQUEHANNA BANK CENTER (CAMDEN) SET LIST
June 7, 2009

SET ONE
Chalk Dust Torture, Fee^ --> Wolfman's Brother, Guyute, My Sweet One, 46 Days, The Lizards, The Wedge, Strange Design, Tube, First Tube^^

SET TWO
Sand*, Suzie Greenberg, Limb by Limb**, The Horse --> Silent in the Morning, Sugar Shack***#, Character Zero, Tweezer###

ENCORE
Joy***##, Bouncing Around the Room, Run Like and Antelope, Tweeprise

^Trey botched the lyrics and laughed hysterically. The post song jam stretched out and entered new territory from the typical, post-Fee harmonic jam; ^^Trey says, "Well, we might as well play this one now.” Only the second time First Tube and Tube have been played back to back, the other time being 12/31/03; *with Train Song teases -- This is only the second time Sand has been played since 10/6/00 -- that's right, it was played only once after the hiatus; **Massive Glowstick war; ***New song, first time played; #New Mike original; ##Trey said they had a blast on the Northeast run and want to continue playing there tonight as long as possible, and he also talked for a while about playing new songs; ###This was only the second time in history that Tweezer closed the second set, the first time being 18 years ago on 11/14/91 in Chapel Hill, N.C.

LINKS
Here's a link to the petition again -- tell Phish you want them to provide a live stream of every show; just one camera pointed directly at the stage -- no frills, no cuts or edits, nothing fancy. Just a camera set up at the soundboard pointed right at the stage. Turn it on when the show starts and then turn it off when it's over. No one even needs to touch the camera once it's on.

Two tickets for Knoxville.

Wikipedia entry about Phish's new album due out July 28.

In case you forgot (I completely forgot all about it), here is Mike Gordon's cell number (212.330.9092); really it's more of a hotline, but you can communicate with him from time to time via voice mail. Good luck!

VIDEOS
Chalk Dust Torture
Fee
Wolfman's Brother
Guyute's peak
The Lizards
Glowstick war during The Wedge
Tube
First Tube
Lights at the end of First Tube
Limb by Limb
Character Zero
Chris Kuroda during Character Zero
Tweezer
Tweezer Jam
Bouncing Around the Room
Run Like an Antelope
End of Antelope and Tweeprise

PHOTOS
View of the Philadelphia skyline from the docks next to the venue.
Another skyline view.
Guyute
Limb by Limb
Phish's "From the Road" slide show
Jambase photos

REVIEWS
Phish jam on Camden waterfront (Philadelphia Inquirer)

June 6, 2009

Phish Great Woods (Mansfield) Setlist, Photos, Links and Song Stats

I think I'll always refer to The Comcast Center as Great Woods. Some venues just shouldn't change their name; or at least call it the Comcast Center at Great Woods, like in Raleigh the venue is called the Time Warner Pavilion at Walnut Creek. Anyway ...
PhishThoughts "No Spoilers" audience recording available here an hour or two after the show.

PHISH AT GREAT WOODS SET LIST
June 6, 2009


SET ONE

Stealing Time From The Faulty Plan, Nothing, Back On The Train, Golgi Apparatus, Sparkle, Gotta Jibboo, Lawn Boy, Let Me Lie*, Taste, Makisupa Policeman, Prince Caspian

SET TWO

Seven Below, Fluffhead, Scent Of A Mule, Heavy Things, Harry Hood --> Possum, Bug

ENCORE

Contact^, Julius

*First time played by Phish. Song originally debuted summer 2006 when Mike and Trey toured with The Duo as GRAB.
^Some guy runs on stage after Contact, they carry him off and Trey says, "Let's hear it for that guy. He's going to miss the next song."


LINKS

BostonHerald.com writer blogging about tonight's show.

VIDEO

Glowstick war
Stealing Time from the Faulty Plan
Nothing
Back on the Train
Golgi Apparatus
Taste
Prince Caspian
Seven Below
Fluffhead (part one)
Fluffhead (part two)
Scent of a Mule
Heavy Things
Part of the Harry Hood jam
A few seconds of Possum, and a few more.
Contact
Julius

PHOTOS

Obviously this has nothing to do with this show, but here is the Hot Dog as displayed in the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.

Here's the official slide show from Phish's On the Road web page.

June 5, 2009

Phish Jones Beach Setlist from Night Three, Photos, Video and Song Stats

Of course, right after I wrote yesterday that Phish breaking out Buried Alive was a long shot at best -- it had only been played nine times since 2/26/97 -- the boys tear it open for the second song of the night. Too funny. Of all the songs in their catalog to discuss and specifically say, "No, they won't play it ..."

PhishThoughts.com audience recording now available for download. Was no one cheering at this show?

PHISH JONES BEACH SET LIST

Third night
June 5, 2009

SET ONE
Wilson, Buried Alive^, Kill Devil Falls, AC/DC Bag, I Didn't Know**, My Friend My Friend, Ya Mar***, Theme From The Bottom, Boogie On Reggae Woman, Split Open and Melt

SET TWO
Down With Disease --> Twist# --> Piper --> Backwards Down the Number Line --> Free, Twenty Years Later*--> 2001 --> Slave To The Traffic Light

ENCORE
A Day in the Life

*New song, first time played.
^Only played four times since Big Cypress (7/1/00, 7/15/03, 4/15/04 and tonight).
**Trey says, "Ipsa Doodle (?) will now play the vacuum for you, sucking all of the moisture out of the air ..." (it rained all night long) and he kept on mumbling as Fishman started his vacuum solo. Trey remained on guitar instead of moving to his customary spot behind the drum kit. Possibly the first time this has occurred in modern Phish history? When the second verse started, the traditional spot where Fishman ends his solo and returns to the drums, he kept playing the vacuum over the vocals, perhaps as joking payback for Trey mumbling on and on when Fish started his solo? God only knows ... but it was different.
***Trey says, "Mike's gonna play one for his grandpa now," and Mike rips off a bass solo.
#With Oye Como Va teases.

Thanks to WigMan again for the live broadcast, both audio and video, of tonight's show at PhishTube. (In fact, he kept broadcasting into The Lot and then well into his drive outta town. It was like a real-life Truman Show, except he was interacting with the viewers by reading messages people were posting in his chat room). I don't know how many shows WigMan plans on hitting, but I hope it's a lot of them, if not all of them. It's so killer to be able to watch (as best as possible from an iPhone stream) and listen to the show, with surprisingly clear audio, from my home in Bend, Oregon since I couldn't make it back east for any Summer Tour 2009 shows.

TO PHISH'S MANAGEMENT -- If you are reading this for some reason, you guys need to set up a camera on a tri-pod out by the soundboard, point it at the stage capturing as much of the lighting rig as possible, and let it roll from the scheduled show time until its time to pack up and roll out after the show. I would gladly shell out a few bucks to be able to do this for every show on the tour, or at least as many as I could catch based around my actual life!!! And I'm willing to bet there are tens of thousands of people who feel the same way I do. No-frills -- one camera angle all night, pointed directly at the stage, with streaming audio and video. We don't need anything special, just the option of hearing the music if/when we want to. And if you think for some reason this would encourage Phish-heads to stay home and watch the show rather than attending in person, you are off your rocker!!!

REVIEWS
Here's a typically thorough review of the show from Mr. Minor. He may see everything through rose-colored lenses at times, but he is wonderful at dissecting the music and exposing its guts.

LINKS
Having said all of that, and with WigMan's operation in mind, here is an online petition to sign to get Phish to offer a live video stream of each show for a small fee. Sign it. Probably won't do a bit of good but it's worth a try.

Here is a review of the second night of Jones Beach posted at the Helping Friendly Book Blog.

VIDEO
Wilson
Buried Alive
My Friend, My Friend
Ya Mar in high definition
Boogie On Reggae Woman
Split Open and Melt
Down with Disease

PHOTOS
Slide show from Phish's "From the Road" web page. They've been posting just killer photos all week long.
Trey finally changed his shirt tonight.
AC/DC Bag
Pre-show
More pre-show
Mike
Wilson
View from behind Fishman's kit
Lil dude's first show.

June 4, 2009

Phish Jones Beach Setlist from Night Two, Photos and Song Stats

Thanks to WigMan for making streaming audio and video of the shows possible.

PHISH JONES BEACH SET LIST
Second Night
June 4, 2009

SET ONE
Grind*, Divided Sky, Ocelot, The Squirming Coil, Punch You in the Eye, Dirt, NICU, Story of the Ghost --> Run Like and Antelope

SET TWO
Water in the Sky#, Birds of a Feather, Drowned^ --> Meatstick^^, Time Turns Elastic, Waste, You Enjoy Myself

ENCORE
Rock and Roll**

SONG STATS
*Third time ever played (12/30/98, 3/6/09), first time not played as the encore and only the second time ever Phish opened the show A capella. The first time was earlier this week at Fenway Park with The Star Spangled Banner; #Slow version; ^Just the 5th time played since the original hiatus; ^^With Japanese lyrics. Only the third time played since 10/7/00; **Only the fourth time ever Rock and Roll was played as the encore (7/12/99, 10/4/99, 12/3/99), and only the 27th time this song has ever been played, believe it or not.

Divided Sky is the 13th most-played song by Phish. It has been performed 323 times, or at 27 percent of all Phish shows. The most-played song is You Enjoy Myself at 476 times, appearing at 39 percent of all Phish shows. The top 10 most played songs over Phish's 26-year career (has it really been that long?)? Second is Mike's Song (381/31%), followed by Golgi Apparatus (376/31%), Bouncing Around the Room (376/31%), Possum (374/31%), Weekapaug Groove (356/29%), Cavern (355/29%), David Bowie (349/29%), Chalk Dust Torture (343/28%), and Stash (335/28%). All of these songs, except for Golgi Apparatus, have already made an appearance in Summer Tour 2009.

Phish now has played You Enjoy Myself two out of the three nights of this tour. I guess Trey meant it when he told Rolling Stone he would give his left nut to play YEM five times a night every night for the rest of his life!!!

A lot of people on Twitter are commenting that they would like to see Buried Alive open the third night at Jones Beach. That's highly unlikely to happen. Buried Alive has only been played nine times since 2/26/97. Incidentally, it was the opening song at my very first show -- 2/25/93 at the Cameo Theatre in Miami Beach.

Thanks to The International House of ZZYZX for the statistical breakdown.

DOWNLOADS
An audience recording of tonight's show is now available to download, courtesy of PhishThoughts.com's "No Spoliers" (so-called because the song list is not included so you can be surprised while listening).

And of course tonight's show is available at LivePhish.com. The Fenway Park and first night of Jones Beach (worth getting just to hear the new improvisational ground Phish broke during Harry Hood -- truly sounds like nothing they've ever done before) are already available.

VIDEO
It's amazing how technology is bringing the shows right to our desktop in such intimate detail and so quickly. And to think, there once was a day we had to wait for Rosemary's Digest to hit our inbox to read setlists, and sometimes they were a week old once we received them. We were amazed by technology then!

On that note, here are some killer high definition videos of a handful of songs from the first night of Jones Beach.

Stealing Time from the Faulty Plan
Cities
Mike's Song
Simple (this video is exceptionally high def)
Kill Devil Falls
Harry Hood (picls up just after the much-talked-about jam, unfortunately)
Runaway Jim
Possum
Suzy Greenberg
Glowstick War during Reba
Foam
You Enjoy Myself

There is plenty more video of the Jones Beach run out there, just not in high def. Search YouTube to your heart's content.

PHOTOS
Run Like an Antelope
Shot of the stage with the water in the background.
Guy in a chicken suit walking into the show.
Essential grub from the lot.
During Birds of a feather
Side shot of the band (not 100% sure this is from tonight's show).
Cool little slideshow someone put together -- a retrospect on the band.
Here's one you can download as wallpaper of the boys playing Drowned.
Another wallpaper-worthy photo from tonight's show.
Ghost
Another shot of Ghost.
Dirt

June 2, 2009

Phish Jones Beach Setlist from Night One, Photos and Song Stats

If you have not already read about the improvisation in the middle of Harry Hood, it is a must hear. Phish broke new musical ground with a beautiful, show-stopping, ambient-style piece of music (you can't really call it a jam -- it goes beyond anything they've ever done, especially in the context of Harry Hood), signaling their triumphant return is legitimate. They're back, and they care!

PHISH AT JONES BEACH SET LIST
June 2, 2009

SET ONE
Runaway Jim, Foam, Stealing Time from the Faulty Plan*, Timber Ho, Cities, Driver, Reba, Farmhouse, Possum, If I Could

SET TWO
Mike's Song --> Simple --> Wolfman's Brother --> Weekapaug Groove, When the Circus Comes, ^*Kill Devil Falls, Harry Hood --> Loving Cup

ENCORE
^^Suzi Greenberg

*New song, first time played; ^Trey says, "We're going to play that request. Thank you for listening and thank you for requesting." ^^Trey says, "You got something going on here tomorrow night? How come we can't play here tomorrow night, too? That's kinda weird. Anyway ..."

Phish had not played Jones Beach in 14 years, and for the most part the setlist looked like something they would have performed back in 1995.

SHOW REVIEWS
Here's a review of the show in the New York Times.
Another review from the Concord Monitor newspaper in New Hampshire.
Jambase's take on the festivities.

PHOTOS
Loving Cup
And the rain came pouring down ...
Here is a slide show from Phish's own "From the Road" web page. Great stuff here for desktop wallpaper. It really shows off Chris Kuroda's magic behind the light board as well.