Welcome to the Future!
5.31.09 (T.Tunick)
In a show every bit as big as its spectacle, Phish fused what we love about them with everything we’ve yet to discover. In an earnest welcome to the next chapter of their careers, Phish played a show- and more specifically- a second set that inter-wound the new with the old, creating a stunning welcome to the future.
The inaugural second set of Summer ’09 was underlined in vibrant fashion by combination of the dirtiest “Tweezer” we’ve heard in quite some time with a slowly moving transition into the debut of one of Phish’s brightest new songs- “Light”- just like it was scripted. Echoes of past glories were felt and furthered upon within the monstrous “Tweezer” in which the band moved through the nastiest grooves we’ve heard in years into a impeccable peak before twisting into a spirited debut of the much-anticipated, “Light.” With a section of improv that could easily develop into a 3.0 “Piper-esque” jam, Phish previewed a song that will certainly jump into this summer’s rotation and highlight many a setlist.
5.31.09 (Phish.com)
Following this symbolic combination, the band dropped into a perfectly-placed “Bathtub Gin” that brought the entire crowd back onto the same page after the other-worldly excursion that directly preceded it. Following precise playing within the feel good jam and “Bowie’s” darker counterpart, Phish took Fenway’s grandest stage of tour to debut their new multi-part epic, “Time Turns Elastic.” With an additional jam tacked onto the song’s final peak, Phish brought the crowd deep within and without their dynamic piece, showcasing Trey’s composition in the most focal point of the show. A song that many fans thought might not translate well onto the Phish stage came off magnificently, one movement seamlessly moved into the next, climaxing in a far more dramatic fashion that imagined. With the band’s announcement of its newest arrival in the middle of the second set of the tour’s first show, we’ve definitely got many more versions to look forward to this summer – and it will be interesting to track the song’s potentially changing form.
5.31.09
With a performance of “Time Turns Elastic” that could have ended the night in a fitting way, Phish wasn’t even close to done. Dropping a bombastic “Free” deep into the second set, Phish showed they still had some love left to give. And if continuously playing wasn’t enough, the band broke out “The Ballad of Curtis Loew” for the first time since August of ’93, enthralling the stadium crowd before finishing with a dynamic “YEM” that gradually built from laid back grooves into a jam with more teeth to it, ending in a centerfield bass-solo by Gordeaux before the band’s first baseball-stadium-sized vocal jam.
Finishing the night with a three-song encore that punctuated an evening that already has made Hampton seem like a distant memory, Phish was good to the last drop. With “Tweezer Reprise” having seen many fitting settings, none was quite like this. Gazing up past the Green Monster, into the night’s glowing half-moon, everything in the universe was right again. Phish was moving forward again, creating new adventures with songs, old and new; adventures that reached out and gripped us in a way that we remembered; the way it’s supposed to be. Hampton needed to happen to get here, but there seems to be no time like the present in Phish’s universe. Night one is in the books- here we go- “Destiny Unbound!”
I: Star Spangled Banner*, Sample in a Jar, Moma Dance, Chalk Dust Torture, Ocelot**, Stash, Bouncing Around the Room, Poor Heart, Limb by Limb, Wading in a Velvet Sea, Down with Disease, Destiny Unbound, Character Zero
II: Tweezer > Light**, Bathtub Gin, David Bowie, Time Turns Elastic**, Free, The Ballad of Curtis Loew, You Enjoy Myself
E: Cavern, Good Times Bad Times, Tweezer Reprise
*from picthing mound ** debut
***
“Tweezer” 5.31.09 partial
Sniggle- I don’t understand the obsession w/ everyone being on the same trip. Is it really that bad that people enjoy Sample in a Jar or Bouncing? This band can play a lot of types of music- not all of it is everyones cup of tea. I used to buy into the idea of set killers back when they played 60 minutes sets pretty consistently. If they continue doing what they are doing- you almost need some breathers during these 100 minute sets- and there is still plenty of time for solid meat and potatoes.
Destiny Unbound is not a song everyone is going to recoginze- they have never put it on a LivePhish release, let alone an album. The hardcores are going to flip and get the significance and the rest of the folks are either going to like the song or not based on its own merits… You can’t have a sleeper song that never gets played and have the whole crowd recognize it when it is played… If Phish wanted everyone to recognize that play it more…
Live Phish Flac to Itunes help needed. Sorry to jump in but this crowd seems knowledgable!
So when I convert the flac to wav and then add to itunes it does not drop in correct song title, band, track number etc. It comes over like this: ph090531d1_09_Limb_By_Limb I emailed Live Phish and they gave me this weak response:
“Sorry, it appears your decoding procedure is not converting the metadata”
Then I asked what decoder does cause I am using standard flac decoder and they say:
“There are other free decoders but I am not sure if any of them convert the metadata.”
Any ideas? Do the MP3’s from Live Phish convert easily into itunes correctly? Any workarounds? Thanks!
are those shns and flacs the same tapers files that did no spoilers?
Fish Sauce:
If it’s really important to you to get the exact same source, look at the source info on the No Spoilers page… (Telefunken USA Ela M 260 > Lunatec V3 > MT (@ 24 / 44.1) Then, look for that exact source on etree.
I like to download them all and decide for myself. Definitly want to delete the sources you don’t want/like as multiple FLAC files of the same show will eat up a ton of your HD’s memory.
Oh and Ocelot is awesome!
@Fish Sauce – no, they’re not the same. It’s usually worth either downloading a couple and deciding for yourself, or waiting a little while until a consensus emerges as to the best couple sources. But FWIW the 16bit of that fileset that’s on etree now should be up before long, and other sources too.
Good to see our old friend Marco still getting in the press http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1176022
also a brief ice tease before stash I think it goes stash riff -> ice riff -> take me out to the ball game riff -> stash for reals ..
@sniggle. I like bouncing and don’t care for destiny. so what, that makes me less of a fan? Everyone enjoys a show in their own distinct way.
Do you’re own thing, don’t judge others. Life’s much more enjoyable for everyone that way.
In an interesting bit of Phishy serendipity, the Project ’93 homies just posted a dankseed source of the last time prior to Fenway that Curtis Loew was performed:
http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=525502
up to the DWD jam now in last night’s first set. nice highspeed shredding in there. the good headphones really bring out the phasing in these MP3s, lol
Just read the latter part of the thread-Someone was asking what lyrical reference “Ocelot” has and it is Mike singing The Beatles’ “Dear Prudence” refrain, “Won’t you come out to play?”
Went to the show, Phish magic-loved the rainbow driving up with my girl and the rain and the sunshine on trey’s first big solo of the night
Oh, and that “pizza” they sold was terrible. Only complaint of the night 🙂
WOOHOO!!!
No spoilers is HARD to do! I’d already told one person not to text me anything. I got a text around 8:45 that said “are you sure?”. I didn’t respond. “gotta do it” I thought, “gotta perservere”. I got another call around 10pm, but didn’t answer it. Then I got worried about all the things it might be, so i checked the message…dude had just put his phone up in the air, and I could hear the BOYMANGODSHIT in the background, so there was one song ruined. Started downloading at 6:40am, and when I had to leave at 7:00am, they weren’t quite done downloading. I went to work, and stayed off of any internet sites that would have ruined it. Then, about ten am, I got an email that had a subject line of “Fenway”…and I totally caved…I had to find out. I’ll guess I’ll have to try again for Jones Beach. Nuff respect anyways to the whole no spoilers crew…and nice pull Jesse! Those Telefunken tubes sound tasty!
Just finished No Spoilers. Thanks NS Crew! It really is the best way to listen the morning after. Sometimes, I even get the urge to scribble the setlist.
Nothing to add that hasn’t been said. The 1st set announcer>Star-Spangled Banner in the beginning is great. Loved Ocelot, too. I could hear it in every 1st set this summer and be happy. Sorry Col., don’t know the 70s lyric phrasing you’re thinking of. (Gunning: I think the good Colonel was thinking more towards the melody of the lyrics and not simply any textual similarities.)
2nd set raged. Tweezer>Light especially. (Curtis Loew!?!) A good show overall. Not without its share of imperfections (not too many are) but solid, nonetheless.
I was really hoping for an a capella “Take Me Out To The Ball Game” to close 2nd set (or open encore). Too predictable, I guess.
Interesting that there were no Round Room or Undermind songs (Undermind was soundchecked but I’m tempted to call it 3.0 anyhow). All 1.0 or 3.0. I wonder how many will make it into regular rotation from the 2.0 era? I’m sure Hampton is a good guide post for that. I for one would love to see Scents, Waves, and A Song I Heard The Ocean Sing make regular appearances.
Mr. Miner I would like to thank you for your website. I have been reading it for about a year and I really enjoy everything. The no spoilers thing is such an awesome thing to do. Peace.
Last night’s show holds so much significance for the rest of the tour.
Such a beautiful thing.
Watch them put DU into the rotation for this tour, only So much power and history behind this song. Means so much in so many ways. I am now just understanding it and actually believing that they played it.
It all makes perfect sense. They are very smart and clever musicians, to say the least.
Curtis Lowe? Another one!
Not to look past the 1st set, b/c it definitely had it’s highlights. But that 2nd set is the absolute heat in terms of songs and notes played.
IMO, Phish 3.0 is back and they mean business.
Personally, I’ve been seeing them since ’93 and all across the globe, and to see this new-old style of music by them, it’s just such a true pleasure and completely welcomed.
The last few years b/f the hiatus were brutal; the song playing was out of whack with 20-30 minute BORE-GALORE jams. LOL.
It’s as if they are back to their roots now, almost early 90’s style’esque, but a much stronger machine, with so much more potential, and so much more in their tool belt, so many gosh darn weapons it’s INSANE.
Rebuilt 3.0. It’s on and the magic is back.
don’t be the only left on the block, come hide with herd and float with the flock
those official flickr pictures are pretty sweet. the one shot behind trey and mike, it’s def apparent there that trey is much healthier! gained some weight. now if he’d let the beard and hair go crazy and bust out the marvin martian tshirt! now we’re talkin hahaha
Regarding the Ampeg amp in Trey’s rig last night.
There used to be a Gallien Kruger bass amp that was part of the setup for a long long time. I never knew if it was a signal from Mike or for some low end on Trey’s guitar (more likely Mike) but it looks like the Ampeg amp replaced it.
I thought this show was awesome.
After Stash everything clicked, and they were on the rest of the night
I’m really digging Ocelot. Can’t wait to hear this one live.
Someone is trying to convince me to go to Roo. Tell me that I’m not crazy to use up just about all the cash I have, even with the impending fall/Halloween/NYE rumors.
chalkdustin, i dunno man, i’ve never wanted to go to the roo especially, but there’s always interesting/unique-to-the-event things happening from a couple groups standing out of the whole lineout, and i’m assuming the phish will make a point to leave their mark in more ways than one. it probably won’t suck.
@hooks I went a few years ago, the lineups got shitty since then, but this year’s actually looks good to me. Plus, 2 (can you count it as 2?)more Phish shows is a plus. Rothbury looks good to me too this year and I know people going, so it’s a toss up to me. I know that Phish at Roo should be a done deal for me, but just having trouble committing financially. Thanks for your input.
^Dustin
unfortunately their response was spot on. the decoder isnt gonna pull id3 info and metadata. if i’m not mistaken you can get a plugin for itunes that lets you drop the files in. then that plugin may let you right click and convert to the file format you set in the prefs of itunes. give it a whirl. otherwise you gotta type them in. i find selecting all the songs and naming the band and album first works best for me, then doing individual songs.
Jason Sobel just put up a lossless Schoeps MK41 source from Dave flaschner’s rig get the lossless copy while it’s hot folks
http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=525511
Do any of the recordings have the full announcer at the beginning of the show. It was loud and I wanna hear it again. He was announcing 9 rules to follow as if it was 9 players in the lineup. Rule 8 was “no smoking” which got a roar of boos.
mitch, see no spoilers set 1.
“stay in your seat” didn’t sound too popular either