1998: Las Vegas, NV – the year of confusion
If Remain in Light was an obscure album, at least most fans knew of Talking Heads and there was a hit off of the album. The Velvet Underground were a cult band, beloved by those who knew them but completely unknown to most of the rest of the world. Loaded might be their most accessible album, but the closest thing to a hit on it is probably the Cowboy Junkies cover of “Sweet Jane,” and even that is largely known for being on the Natural Born Killers soundtrack.
Freed from any expectation about what the album should or must sound like, Phish really opened things up. While the original Loaded clocks in at under 40 minutes, the cover set was nearly twice that length. Both “Rock and Roll” and “Lonesome Cowboy Bill” cracked the 10 minute barrier, tripling the length of those songs. Loaded went to where Remain in Light pointed; Phish didn’t just cover the album, they made it their own.
Phish love buying into the concept of evil Halloween spirits changing the nature of their songs. 1994 had the “Vibration of Death,” 95 corrupted “Icculus,” and in 1996 the evil Halloween version of the Famous Mockingbird pecked out Colonel Forbin’s eyes and left The Helping Friendly Book sitting in Wilson’s castle. At the Thomas and Mack Center, it wasn’t enough just to say that a song became evil; they actually demonstrated it.
It all started out innocently enough in the third set with an appropriately titled “Wolfman’s Brother.” However, the set would soon be detoured into an incredibly dark jam. The fanbase is divided on this 30 minute version. Some think it’s one of the best things Phish have ever played while others have been known to endlessly attack it; Phish seem to be in the former camp as a clip from this jam was used as the background music for the Save the Date animation. “Piper” distilled the darkness for a moment, but the real weirdness happened in “Ghost.” After a brief attempt at a jam, Trey suddenly put down his guitar and walked off stage, ending the set. People were left bewildered. Ghostus Interuptus aka, “I feel I never told you the story of Ghost… and I still haven’t!”
The confusion that night was only compounded three days later in Utah. Apparently the contrast between playing a show with an impossible ticket in Vegas followed by a half sold Salt Lake City event, led to a desire to return to the old, “You Snooze, You Lose,” rule of summer 1994. Not only did the E Center attendees get the “Harpua” that usually was a Halloween treat, but they got an album performance of their own, the far more well known Dark Side of the Moon. While this was a much more straightforward rendition – Phish: The Biography confirms they learned the entire album that afternoon – the contrast between the popularity of the selections led to anger in some sections of the Phish fandom. Over time Loaded probably stands as the better set of music, but a lot of people were bewildered at the time.
2009: Indio, CA – the year of the festival
2009 went big. There was plenty of eye candy – mountains and palm trees by day, Burbles and fiery oil rigs and lit up palm trees at night – along with the art installation. Joshua Tree National Park was close enough for some exciting day trips.
Festival 8 was the second time that Phish combined a festival with a holiday tradition. While Big Cypress felt more like a festival than a New Year’s show – the midnight fireworks and “Auld Lang Syne” were long forgotten by the time the sun came up – Indio was more of a Halloween show than a festival. Maybe it was due to the number of people staying in hotels instead of on site or because both of the three set shows had a special set, but the main focus of Indio was on the unique sets, the surprisingly good acoustic noon Sunday performance and the cover of Exile on Main Street.
The one thing that made Exile different from the other albums was the use of guests for vocals. They have had horn sections and percussionists before but Sharon Jones and Saunda Williams added a new element. In addition to being amazing during the second half of the album – “All Down the Line” and “I Just Want to See His Face” would not have worked nearly as well without them, they also helped solve the one problem with making this the Halloween treat.
While Loaded had “Lonesome Cowboy Blues” and “Sweet Jane” played a handful of times before the costume set, Exile on Main Street contains a song that actually is in rotation. What would Phish do with “Loving Cup” to make it special? Instead of the usual mid song build to a peak, we had the repeated refrain of “Give a little drink” with a horn arrangement below it. Instead of being an argument against performing Exile, it turned out to be one of the strongest songs in the set.
Not content to lend their vocal talents to the Stones, Jones and Williams returned for the encore, giving “Suzy Greenberg” a call and response segment. That’s the advantage of having guests for your Halloween albums. If they’re just sitting around, they’re likely to get used. Even if the Exile set were horrible, it would have been worth it just for the encore.
2010: Atlantic City, NJ – the year of ???
Speculating about the album is a lot of fun, but now it is almost at an end. Will Mike be right that this is the best one that Phish have played? What about these random clues that have been dropped – red herrings or things that will make sense later?
Regardless of the answer, if there’s one lesson that the previous years have taught, it’s that it’s almost irrelevant what the actual album is. Rooting for one’s preference is fun, but the more obscure album sets have become more popular than the obvious ones. Enjoy the arguments but remember that the vast majority of the songs played in the cover set will never again be played by Phish. Don’t get so caught up in your desires that you don’t actually enjoy the moment.
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Author’s Note: This article could not have been nearly as accurate without the help of the new Phish.net. Thanks is due to the volunteers for all of their hard work to make Phish research much easier.
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