So far, So good…
IT changes your life, and as transcendent music, it simultaneously surprises and awes us. Harnessing that power, Phish have demonstrated over the course of almost 27 years why they are one of the most versatile touring acts in rock history. Today, Phish still continues to earn new fans, while charming even the most belligerently jaded of their aging base by tossing them a bone now and then.
This is not to say that it’s “all Hood.” Phish is not the same band that played non-stop for ten hours at Cypress ten years ago to festively baptize a millennium. They are not improvising as boldly and routinely as they did, say, in August 1993 or December 1995 or November 1997. But, in context, the highlights of their shows these days are just as meaningful now as they were back then. Phish is playing well, and almost all of their shiny new original songs, which debuted on this tour, appear to show at least as much promise as any Rift, Hoist or Joy tune ever did.
The Summer tour so far can be summarized in two words: bust outs. Trey, Mike, Page and Fish are having fun, and the music and shows reflect it. Setlists have been entertaining, similar to – but not as jaw-dropping as – the setlists of Furthur shows from the perspective of veteran Deadheads. (Perhaps Trey will visit the Fantasy Setlist Generator on Phish.net for ideas.) Phish seems to be on track to break last year’s Most Unique Songs Played in a Year record. Chris Kuroda continues to be pure genius behind the light board, and sound engineer Garry Brown is doing brilliant work with difficult venues. Bottom line? There are many reasons to be thankful that Phish is still at it. And while the typical “jamming tune” is generally shorter than what it once was, and while the music may not always be the best you’ve ever heard from them, Phish’s shows will likely contain enough for you to enjoy yourself.
In fact, Phish’s Summer tour, which is presently on a brief hiatus before it continues in August with three shows at Berkeley’s Greek Theater, has already covered all of the bases that fans have come to expect from Phish on every tour. While no show has been a start-to-finish, hear-at-all-costs shredapulooza, almost every show had something noteworthy. There were huge bust outs, blistering jams, goofy gimmicks, and now-legendary encores. In sum:
BUST OUTS: A setlist-whore’s dream, the most shocking bust out was the immortally obscene “Fuck Your Face” on July 2 in Charlotte. Prior to this date, “Fuck Your Face” had been performed by Phish only once publicly on 4/29/87 at Nectar’s (1,413 shows earlier), and privately during a soundcheck on 11/10/91 in Charleston, South Carolina. Other bust outs of old Phish originals on the Summer tour included “Alumni Blues -> Letter to Jimmy Page -> Alumni Blues,” which surprisingly opened the June 25 Camden gig (“Alumni” had not been played since 7/24/99 (222 shows earlier) and “Letter” had not been played since 7/15/94 (587 shows)), and “Walfredo,” which opened the June 27 Merriweather show and fortunately had not been played since 9/30/2000 (131 shows).
Phish also debuted a handful of new originals (Trey’s “Show of Life,” “Summer of ’89” and “Dr. Gabel,” Page’s “Halfway to the Moon,” and Mike’s “Idea”), which are described below, and covered numerous tunes for the very first time: “Look Out Cleveland” (The Band) and “Instant Karma” (John Lennon) on June 12 in Cuyahoga Falls, OH; “Cold Water” (Tom Waits) on June 15 in Portsmouth, VA; “Lit O Bit” (Rita Clarke and The Naturals) on June 22 at Great Woods (now the “Comcast Center”); “The Rover” (Led Zeppelin) on June 24 in Camden; “Free Man in Paris” (Joni Mitchell) on June 25 in Camden; “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” (Neutral Milk Hotel) on June 26 at Merriweather; “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” (The Rolling Stones) on June 27 at Merriweather; “I Am the Walrus” (The Beatles) on June 29 in Canandaigua, NY, during a strong “Mike’s Groove”; and the tremendously popular “Killing in the Name” (Rage Against the Machine), during “Harpua” on July 4 in Alpharetta, GA, with Fish on drums and lead vocals. Phish even brought back three old-school covers in Raleigh, NC, on July 1: “Time Loves A Hero” (Little Feat, last played 12/31/2002, 127 shows earlier); “Have Mercy” (The Mighty Diamonds, last played 12/10/99, 189 shows); and “Light Up or Leave Me Alone” (Traffic, last played at Cypress on 12/30/99, 181 shows).
MUST-HEAR: Your extensive Phish listening has trained your ears over the years to tell the difference between an average, typically great version of a song, and a version that reminds you why you still care about what Phish does and when it does it. (If you aren’t sure if you know the difference, then compare, for example, any version of “Mike’s Groove” from 2009-2010 with any version from December 1995.) Must-hear versions of tunes often involve “Type II” improvisation, which is old fanboy-speak for when a song’s jam leaves its traditional form or modus operandi. It is often marked by a time signature change or changes accompanied by improvisation that carves-out a distinctive, original path (e.g., the Bangor “Tweezer” from 11/2/94 on A Live One; the Paradiso “Stash” from 7/2/97; “YEM” from both 12/9/95 and 10/10/99 in Albany; “Seven Below” from the Gorge on 7/13/03 and more recently on 11/28/09 in Albany; and so on). So-called “Type II” jamming, however, can sound dreadful. It is risky improvisation that usually sounds like risky improvisation. But when it soars like melodious, composed music, one basks blissfully in its transcendence.
This tour featured a few versions of tunes that might please even a jaded veteran: the “Chalk Dust Torture” from June 25 Camden, the most thrilling version since 8/9/04 Hampton, and one of the best improvisations of “Phish 3.0”; the June 17 Hartford “Down with Disease -> Sand” (even though “Sand” ends awkwardly when Trey starts “Horse”); the “2001 -> Billie Jean / Thriller Mash-up Jam -> 2001” from Camden on June 25, the first anniversary of Michael Jackson’s death; the Merriweather June 27 “Piper” (which cruised out of whale-calling aimlessness into an intense “Birds of a Feather”-like jam); the return of “Fuck Your Face” on July 2 in Charlotte; and the potent cover of “Killing in the Name” on July 4 in Georgia. There’s more that is arguably “must-hear,” of course, and it is discussed below.
SHTICK: In Hartford on June 18, fans were treated to one of the most memorable encores in Phish history. “Sleeping Monkey” was played for a guy who, at the previous night’s show on June 17, had apparently held a “big, elaborate sign” requesting the song all night. At Trey’s direction — “This is for you, guy with the sign” – the crowd impressively sang-along on the chorus. As if that weren’t enough, Phish then proceeded to play two complete versions of “Tweezer Reprise,” the second of which, albeit fast and hideously sloppy in its opening section, was “for Hershey Park,” because Phish had played “Tweezer” there but no “Reprise.” Somewhat unsurprisingly, Phish then opened, and closed, the next show at SPAC on June 19 with “Tweezer Reprise.” This marked the first time since 11/9/95 (482 shows earlier) that “Tweeprise” had opened a show, and the first time since 7/16/93 that two consecutive Phish shows had each closed with the same song. (“Freebird” had closed both the July 15 and July 16, 1993, shows.)
Even though Fish had given his vacuum cleaner away to a fortunate fan named Rich in Miami on 12/30/09 after “Love You,” in Camden on June 24, Fish employed an Electrolux of unknown origin expertly on “I Didn’t Know.” During the song and before Fish’s vacuum solo, Trey reminded the audience of his “very strong prediction” at Camden a year earlier on 6/7/09 that the Flyers would win the Stanley Cup in the 2009-2010 season. (The Flyers made it to the final this year, but failed to win the Cup.) Trey then predicted that the Flyers would win the Cup next year, as long as Fish performed “his voodoo Stanley Cup, sucking, vacuum tube sound.” During Fish’s solo, many fans chanted “Let’s Go Flyers!” and Fish briefly played along to it. It is a must-hear version for Fishman-on-vacuum aficionados — who should check out his vacuum mastery during “Love You” and “Hold Your Head Up” on 6/2/90 Greenstreets if you haven’t heard them yet.
Phish performed a second set on June 27 at Merriweather that was similar in its ludicrousness to the 8/14/09 Hartford second set last Summer. After a perfunctory “Wilson” and strong “Meatstick” with Japanese lyrics, Phish launched into “Saw It Again,” and then continued to tease it now and then during the rest of the show, including vocalizing it during a jam that segued out of the debut of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” While musically a mixed-bag, just like Hartford 8/14/09, this Merriweather show is ridiculously entertaining and a tour standout.
A summary of the Summer tour’s “shtick” must conclude by noting the “Harpua” on the Fourth of July in Alpharetta. The story of this particular “Harpua” isn’t worth re-telling, aside from the fact that it involves Jimmy listening to one of his “all-time favorite bands”: a band that “happens to be one of the only other bands, other than Phish, that won’t bullshit you, and will tell you the truth, you know, in their songs.” Phish then launch into “Killing in the Name” by Rage Against the Machine. While not nailed, it is a riot, with Fish on drums and vocals. (If you’re unfamiliar with the song, said vocals include a refrain of “FUCK YOU I WON’T DO WHAT YOU TELL ME!”)
The foregoing “Executive Summary” of Phish’s Summer tour was written for those of you who allot yourself no more than ten minutes or so of Phish-reading at any given time. If you’re interested in more detail about Phish’s shows year-to-date, the following capsule summaries may be useful to you. They at least will help contextualize my two cents on Phish’s music, if not also help you decide whether to bother downloading any shows or tracks off of LivePhish (the recordings for this tour sound spectacular). For substantially more information about Phish’s songs, including recent versions of them, please see the Song Histories on Phish.net. There is also a “Recommended Listening” section below, in case meritorious versions of songs from the tour interest you.
Chicago
After five months off earlier this year, in which they found time to induct Genesis into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 15 (covering “Watcher of the Skies” and “No Reply At All”) and play a few tunes on Jimmy Fallon’s late-night show on May 13 (“Loving Cup” and “Kill Devil Falls”), Phish opened their Summer tour quite well in Chicago on June 11. Occurring only a few days after the Blackhawks had defeated Trey’s beloved Flyers to secure the Stanley Cup for the first time in almost 40 years, Phish’s tour opener featured strong playing in “Wolfman’s Brother,” “Reba,” “Ghost,” and the rare cover “Jesus Just Left Chicago,” as well as excellent, melodic soloing from Trey on “Limb by Limb,” which ended surprisingly with a vocal jam. The jam in “Light” was unusually disoriented, if only given Trey’s hair-pulling overuse of a whammy pedal that creates a whiny, obnoxiously off-key, whale-calling-like effect. This pedal was frequently used on this tour, appearing at times to magnify flubs while possibly (and ironically) trying to conceal them. Some fans want this pedal to be thrown up against a wall and shot. But it seems to greatly amuse Trey and, like it or not, it is his tone. And if he wants his gorgeous Languedoc to sound like an out-of-tune, gasping-for-air Willy the whale on occasion, then so be it. I’m just glad that Phish is back, writing new music, and improvising magnificently on occasion.
The Chicago tour-opening show included the debut of the catchy and now quite popular “Show of Life” as the surprising close to the second set – not a customary location for debuts. “Show of Life” is a simple, Beatles-esque anthem with a sing-a-long chorus (“…Find ourselves right here, in the show of life.”). Like a more serious “Sleeping Monkey,” it seems engineered to end sets and shows on a happy note without undue burden on the band.
Blossom and Hershey
After leaving Chicago, Phish performed in Cuyahoga Falls, OH, at the Blossom Music Center, and in Hershey, PA, before taking a day off. Both shows were well-played, classic “average-GREAT” Phish shows. Phish opened Blossom with a cover of The Band’s “Look Out Cleveland” (a first), and treated everyone again in the second set with John Lennon’s “Instant Karma” (with Page on lead vocals). Blossom’s “Backwards Down the Number Line” (aka “BDTNL”) was quite good, venturing into “Type II” territory. A pro-shot, high quality video of this “BDTNL” can be seen above. Blossom’s second set also had a strong “Character Zero.” Hershey was similarly a paradigmatic, well-played Phish show with a strong setlist, what with crowd faves such as “Fluffhead,” “Funky Bitch,” “Bouncin” and “Sparkle” in the first set, and solid versions of “Drowned,” “Tweezer,” and “You Enjoy Myself” (aka “YEM”) in the second. While there was no “Tweezer Reprise,” nor particularly remarkable versions of any tunes, most fans likely left the show fulfilled, given the solid overall level of play. Even though I do not recommend any particular version from this show below, as a complete package, Hershey was song-to-song one of the most consistently well-played shows of the tour.
Portsmouth
Despite having a day off both before and after the show, Phish’s nTelos Pavilion gig on June 15 in Portsmouth, VA, was fun but “through the motions.” Yes, this show arguably featured one of the best versions of “46 Days” of “Phish 3.0.” (Though not as great as that awesome “46 Days” from Merriweather last year.) And yes, getting a mid-first-set “Slave to the Traffic Light” is necessarily a highlight. And the first set also included the Phish debut of “Cold Water” by Tom Waits and fan-favorites “Poor Heart” and “My Friend My Friend.” But the show overall seemed to lack spirit. Mike’s new tune, “Idea,” however, debuted in the second set, and is noteworthy. It begins with a delicately melodic hook, vaguely reminiscent of “Leprechaun,” an instrumental that Phish only performed a few times in Summer 1993, and which many fans wish Phish would bring back. “Idea” then proceeds almost like a gumbo-soup that incorporates elements from Mike’s solo work and classic rock hits. This Portsmouth show also closes with an excellent “First Tube,” which is similarly worth a listen.
Hartford
The first show in Hartford on June 17 was “typically great” Phish and would have been unremarkable, but for the mighty return of “Walk Away” in the first set, and the second set’s compelling “Down with Disease,” that segued beautifully into “Sand.” Although the ending of “Sand” was weirdly awkward, with Trey beginning “Horse” while Mike and Fish continued to belt out “Sand” for several measures, the first half of the jam was excellent. The show also had the tour’s strongest “Alaska,” and closed well with a good-enough “Mike’s Groove” followed by a “Shine A Light” (Rolling Stones) encore.
The second Hartford show on June 18 was also an above-average show for the tour. While there were no “must hear” versions of anything, almost everything was well-played and the jamming at times in “Wolfman’s,” “Reba,” “Light,” “Tweezer” (even though the opening segment is a bit sloppy), “Harry,” and “Theme” was pretty good. The show also included arguably the tour’s most magnificent encore (“Sleeping Monkey” and “Tweeprise” x2), discussed above, and the debut of “Summer of ’89.” This new tune is more or less a love song from Trey to his wife. Like a sped-up, happy-go-lucky “Let Me Lie,” it has a closing jam section that has potential to melodically soar in an enchanting, soulful way – so long as Trey doesn’t summon Moby Dick on his ‘doc.
SPAC
On June 19 in Saratoga Springs, Phish continued the “Tweeprise” joke by sandwiching the show with it. The opening “Tweeprise” was the first time the song had opened a show since 11/9/95 (482 shows earlier), and the show-closing “Tweeprise” – which was the third encore tune after “Coil” and “Character Zero” — was the first time that the same song had closed two consecutive Phish shows since July 16, 1993, which “Freebird” had closed. This show was consistently well-played (par for the course from Phish), with a strong “Fluffhead” in the first set and an engaging, heavily-spacey, yet still note-heavy, jam out of “Rock and Roll” to open the second set. But the highlight may have been the debut of “Halfway to the Moon,” which – like “Beauty of a Broken Heart” – is another fantastic song from Page. While it features Page’s playing, it also has groovy bass and drums from Mike and Fish, almost like “Undermind” meets “Black-eyed Katy.” Hopefully Trey will comp and solo as well on these Page tunes as he routinely does on so many other intricately melodic tunes, like “Moma Dance,” “Tube,” “Wolfman’s Brother,” and “Bathtub Gin.” The second set of this SPAC show ended with the most inspired version of “Show of Life” to date.
The second SPAC show on June 20, one of the more musically diverse shows of the tour, opened with “Brother,” which also had opened 2009’s Father’s day show (6/21/09). The band’s and Kuroda’s kids apparently climbed in and out of a bathtub on stage during the version. The first set was very well-played, with good versions of “Back on the Train” and “Undermind,” and a strong version of “Roggae.” The first set “Gotta Jibboo” also featured Tony Markellis on bass, while Mike played guitar along with Trey. This is believed to have been the first Phish show at which both Mike and Trey played electric guitars. They both apparently had played acoustic guitars during the acoustic songs in the first set of 12/28/98 MSG. The second set of this SPAC show opened with Carini and was highlighted by a very “Type II” jam out of “Drowned,” the lengthy, improvisational arrangement of “Steep” (which debuted in Miami on New Year’s last year), and a “Makisupa” that included improvised lyrics from Trey that introduced brief solos by Mike, Page and Fish. The second set closed with a good “YEM,” and the “Frankenstein” encore (with Page on keytar) was a fitting end to a show that was above-average, despite the lack of any bust outs or “must-hear” versions.
Great Woods
On June 22, Phish opened a show in Mansfield, Massachusetts, with a cover of “Lit O Bit” (Rita Clarke and the Naturals), which has a Cajun shuffle rhythm and is heavy on Page on piano. It’s a great opener that is similar to The Meters’ “Hey Pocky Way.” The first set was relatively standard, typically great fare, although “Kill Devil Falls” was longer and even more fierce than normal. The set also featured the debut of “Dr. Gabel,” which I presume concerns a doctor who helped Trey deal with his unhealthy addictions (“…Doctor will you help me change my ways… You have really helped to work things out…”). This version is very rough – it seems to be a work in progress. Its music reminded me in spirit of quirky “classic rock” tunes from the late 1960s, like Pink Floyd’s “Scream Thy Last Scream.” Trey profusely thanked the audience after this version for their applause, which surprised him (“You’re amazing … You’re too kind, too kind.”). The second set of this show opened with a “Mike’s Groove” and closed with a “Slave” and “Loving Cup,” which always makes for a good set, but musically this set was at best average-great Phish fare — even though the Weekapaug was one of the better versions of “Phish 3.0.”
July 4 in Georgia- photo by Rick Martinez
Camden
As noted above, the June 24 Camden show’s first set was highlighted by Fishman’s triumphant return on vacuum for an “I Didn’t Know” during which many in the crowd chanted “Let’s Go Flyers!” – to which Fish played along on vacuum. The first set also featured a strangely twirling and warbling “Timber Ho,” making for an unusually sinister version. The set closed with a good cover of Led Zeppelin’s “The Rover,” which helped make it one of the more interesting first sets of the tour, even if most of the set’s music was straightforward. The music of the second set, despite a “DWD -> Crosseyed & Painless” set opener, was a mixed-bag, with the musical highlights being Trey’s wail-free, serene soloing in “Nothing,” and the longest, darkest version of “Twenty Years Later” to date. The “DWD” just didn’t do much, and the “Crosseyed” is weak in light of last year’s Red Rocks version. Still, because the set ended with “Harry > Fluffhead > Julius, You Enjoy Myself,” it’s overall a good set and helped nudge this show across the line into the “slightly above-average-great” range.
The June 25 Camden show, however, was unquestionably above-average and one of the better shows of the tour, even though it, too, was musically a mixed-bag. As noted above, the first set opened with bust outs “Alumni Blues -> Letter to Jimmy Page -> Alumni Blues,” that were promptly and shockingly followed by a “Big Black Furry Creature from Mars.” The first set also featured a good cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Free Man in Paris;” an excellent version of Trey’s new tune, “Summer of ’89,” which has a gorgeous outro-jam and adorable refrain (“… and we danced all night…”); and a somewhat twisted “Split Open and Melt,” one of the more unusual (but still short) versions of “Phish 3.0.” The second set opened with “Chalk Dust Torture,” and as noted above, it contains one of the tightest and most soulful, wondrous improvisations since Phish returned last year. It is must-hear and is proof that Phish can still bring IT. The set lulled for a bit with trifling versions of “Prince Caspian” (aka “Fuckerpants”) and “Heavy Things,” before picking up with a decent “Alaska,” that took a long time to segue into what turned out to be (as noted above) a stellar, must-hear version of “Also Sprach Zarathustra” (aka “2001”). This show was the first anniversary of Michael Jackson’s death, and this version featured heavy teasing of “Billie Jean” and a 30-second or so quote of “Thriller.” This 2001 is up there even with the “best ever” versions of the past, like 4/4/98 Providence and 11/19/97 Champaign. (I only wish LivePhish had tracked this Camden version to include the interlude after “Alaska.”) It would have been difficult for Phish to have topped this jam in the remainder of the show, and they didn’t, playing good but not over-the-top versions of “Light”, “Possum,” “Zero” and “Shine A Light,” but this was nevertheless one of the best shows of the tour. If you’re going to download one show from the tour, based strictly on the music, this is probably the one to get – unless you really dislike the setlist.
Merriweather
Although well-played, the first set of June 26 Merriweather, which opened with “Crowd Control” (just as it did last year at Merriweather), does not feature anything noteworthy, beyond the straightforward cover of Neutral Milk Hotel’s “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea,” and a strong “46 Days” — though nowhere close to as strong as the “46 Days” from Merriweather last year. The second set, however, opened well with a version of “Rock and Roll” that included “Type II” improv, venturing from searing rock to repetitive, spacey, aimless noodling, before settling on a catchy theme, reminiscent of Hendrix’s “Who Knows” and Led Zeppelin’s “Moby Dick,” but without teasing either song. It’s a pretty cool jam, all things considered, even though it lacks the cohesiveness and beauty of the Camden “Chalk Dust Torture” and Hartford “Down with Disease,” other tour highlights. The second set “Tweezer” in this show is pretty good, and ends in a dramatic, spacey-haze, but it’s still a far cry from the exceptional-for-3.0 Camden and Red Rocks versions from Summer 2009.
The June 27 Merriweather show turned out to be similar in spirit to the 8/14/09 Hartford show from last Summer (you know, the second set of which included “Psycho Killer,” “Catapult,” “Icculus,” and a lot of screwing-around with a “pong”-like effect). This Merriweather show opened surprisingly with “Walfredo” (played by request) and a cover of “Mellow Mood,” but the first set was nevertheless musically unremarkable, despite a setlist that also included “Divided Sky,” “Tela,” “My Soul,” and “Ginseng Sullivan.” The first set did have good versions of “Bathtub Gin” and “Antelope,” but we’ve come to expect that from Phish. On the other hand, the second set – discussed above – included a pretty good “Meatstick;” a lot of “Saw It Again” jamming and teases; a “Piper” whose jam eventually went into a thrilling “Birds of a Feather”-like improvisation; and a decent “Ghost” that segued well into a good cover of The Rolling Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” that in turn segued into a “Saw It Again” jam. The set closed with a good “You Enjoy Myself” and an average-great “Fire,” helping to make this one of the better all-around shows of the tour to be sure – even though it was musically a mixed-bag. If you’re limiting yourself to only a few shows to listen to from this tour, check this one out, too, if only to get a dose of what Phish is up to nowadays.
Alpharetta
“Character Zero” surprisingly opened the July 3 Alpharetta, Georgia, show. This marked the first time that a show had opened with “Zero,” which typically ends sets and shows. It was a perfunctory version, but the first set continued to have a diverse, interesting setlist, what with good versions of “Destiny Unbound > Rift,” “McGrupp’s,” “Mountains in the Mist, NICU > Gumbo,” “Strange Design, Sanity,” as well as stalwarts “Gin” and “Antelope.” As far as first sets of Phish go, even though the music of this set was basically “average-great,” this still has to be one of the better sets of the tour given the diversity of the setlist choices (which span almost all of Phish’s years). The second set, though, was pretty standard-going, average-great Phish, except for “Prince Caspian,” which – quite remarkably – concluded with several minutes of delicate, repetitive, mellifluous “Type II” improv, and the “Tweezer,” the jam segment of which shredded well before segueing into an almost “Slave”-like jam for a minute or so.
The tour closer in Alpharetta, Georgia, on the Fourth of July opened appropriately with the “Star Spangled Banner,” which had opened Phish’s Summer tour in 2009 at Fenway Park. Like the previous night, fans were again treated to an interesting first set setlist, with “Forbin’s > Mockingbird” (no narration), “Camel Walk,” “My Friend My Friend,” and a “David Bowie, Gotta Jibboo” closer. The final set of the Summer tour so far proved to be stunningly indicative of the tour as a whole. The jamming throughout the “Down with Disease” set opener through the closing “Weekapaug Groove” is a musical roadmap of sorts describing what Phish has been up to in the last month. While nothing is “must-hear” by any stretch, except for the hysterical cover of “Killing in the Name” during “Harpua” (discussed above), and while Trey’s whale-whammy is in full-effect all over the place, the set is very well-played. The show also encored strongly with “First Tube,” the tour’s most common encore other than “Tweezer Reprise.”
Canandaigua
The first set of this June 29 show opened with “The Connection” followed-by a version of “Down with Disease” that – but for Trey’s tone – might as well have been a punchy, tight 1994 version. Another great “3.0” version of “Undermind” appeared in this first set as well. The second set was musically very lopsided, beginning with a good “Possum,” followed by one of the better “Mike’s Grooves” of “Phish 3.0,” that included a solid “Simple” and the first-ever cover of “I Am the Walrus,” which built – almost like a “Tweeprise” – to a monstrous conclusion before Fish began “Weekapaug.” The set ended, though, with a weak “Limb by Limb,” decent “Joy,” and perfunctory versions of “Harry Hood” and “Golgi.” The “First Tube” encore was great, as it usually is, and capped what was another average-great Phish show overall.
Raleigh
On “paper,” this show looks amazing, with bust outs of covers “Time Loves A Hero,” “Have Mercy” and “Light Up or Leave Me Alone,” as well as a “Llama, Roses are Free” opener in the first set, a second set “Fluffhead,” and a “Boogie on Reggae Woman” encore. But musically, sadly, almost everything is straightforward and “through the motions.” The only highlights (as I hear them) were the sortof-above-average version of “Alaska” in the first set; a minute or so of the “BDTNL” in the second set, when Trey fiercely shredded; the “Light” jam, which — despite Trey’s continued obnoxious use of the whale-whammy pedal – eventually went into a mystical, pseudo-psychedelic spacey, melodic jam for a few minutes; and pretty good versions of “Light Up or Leave Me Alone” and “Boogie On Reggae Woman.” None of this material is “must-hear,” but I recommend the “Light Up” below, because it is very good “Type I” jamming, and it is also interesting to hear how Phish cover this today in light of how they used to cover it in the 1980s and 1990s. Also, for whatever it’s worth, this show’s “Fluffhead” is unfortunately a bit sloppy, and “Free” is perhaps the weakest version ever performed. It is thus unsurprising that a lot of fans believe this to be a below-average show for the tour, despite the bust outs.
Charlotte
The July 2 show in Charlotte was, like so many other shows from the last year, musically a mixed-bag, but nevertheless quite entertaining. The first set opened old school with “Buried Alive > AC/DC Bag > Vultures,” and while the “Vultures” was a bit rough, it was wonderful to hear them play this again. Although Trey couldn’t seem to find a theme in “Stash,” the first set still included a strong “Back on the Train.” The “Drowned” that opened the second set had potential, but the jam seemed to just coast along without much spirit. The “46 Days” that followed it was pretty good and concluded with a vocal jam before segueing well into “Twenty Years Later,” which was much less dark and twisted, and shorter, than the Camden version. As you’ve already heard, the highlight of the show was the incredible return of “Fuck Your Face,” which was well-played and, as noted above, is only believed to have ever been played publicly on 4/29/87 (1,413 shows earlier). The second set closed with a “You Enjoy Myself” that had a fairly average jam segment but a raging bass and drums segment and a remarkable vocal jam with several verses of “Proud Mary” and “Get Back” in it.
Recommended Listening:
June 11 Chicago: Reba, Light, Ghost -> Limb by Limb
June 12 Cuyahoga Falls: BDTNL, Instant Karma
June 15 Portsmouth: 46 Days, Idea, First Tube
June 17 Hartford: Walk Away, DWD -> Sand
June 18 Hartford: Theme from the Bottom, Sleeping Monkey (E), Tweeprise x2 (E)
June 19 SPAC: Halfway to the Moon, Show of Life
June 20 SPAC: Roggae, Carini, Drowned, Makisupa
June 22 Great Woods: Kill Devil Falls
June 24 Camden: Timber Ho, I Didn’t Know, The Rover, Twenty Years Later
June 25 Camden: Alumni -> Letter -> Alumni, Summer of ’89, Chalk Dust Torture, 2001 -> Billie Jean Jam -> 2001
June 26 Merriweather: Rock and Roll
June 27 Merriweather: Piper > Ghost -> Jumpin’ Jack Flash -> Saw It Again
June 29 Canandaigua: Mike’s > Simple > I Am the Walrus > Weekapaug Groove
July 1 Raleigh: Light Up or Leave Me Alone
July 2 Charlotte: Back on the Train
July 3 Alpharetta: Prince Caspian > Tweezer
July 4 Alpharetta: Harpua > Killing in the Name > Harpua
Charlie Dirksen is an antitrust lawyer in San Francisco and an officer and board member of The Mockingbird Foundation, an all-volunteer, Phish-fan-founded non-profit that raises funds for music education programs nationwide. He also works on the setlist team for Phish.Net. He first saw Phish in Boston at the Paradise on October 6, 1989. @cdirksen will be “tweeting” from the Greek Theater shows in August, cell-reception and sobriety permitting.
