Weekend Nuggets: The Other Night In Albany
DOWNLOAD OF THE WEEKEND:
11.27.09 Knickerbocker Arena, Albany, NY < Megaupload
11.28.09 Albany (Peek)
With all of the due praise that 11.28 has garnered for its improvisational odyssey, the night beforehand has slid under the radar. In one of the most unique shows of tour, Phish molded an original second set featuring two debuts, a couple bust-outs, and a hefty portion on-point jamming. “My Friend, My Friend,” an aural omen of the fire to come, kicked off the frame, setting the table for the out-0f-left-field cover, “Golden Age.” An experience likening the debut of “Roses Are Free,” twelve years earlier in Rochester, no one had any idea what song Phish had busted out. The entire set passed and we walked out of the venue having no idea the song was even a cover. With a triumphant Phish jam and lyrics referencing “an age of miracles,” I thought the band had just debuted their best-kept secret, written specifically for this go-round. Only later in the evening did I find out the song’s indie pop-tronica roots, download the song, and become mesmerized by its transformation. Phish fed off the energy born from “Golden Age” for the entire set, killing “On Your Way Down,” “Piper > Tommorrow’s Song” and “Harry Hood.” And the first set ain’t too shabby either!
I: AC/DC Bag, Maze, Driver, My Mind’s Got a Mind of its Own, Gumbo, Bouncing Around the Room, It’s Ice, Two Versions of Me, Timber, Limb By Limb, Cavern, Light
II: My Friend, My Friend > Golden Age*, On Your Way Down, Fluffhead, Piper > Tomorrow’s Song*, Prince Caspian, Harry Hood, Suzy Greenberg, The Squirming Coil, I Been Around
E: Fire
*Debut
Source: Sennheiser MD441U > Edirol R4Pro @ 24/88.2
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Jams of the Weekend: 11.27.09
“Piper > Tomorrow’s Song“
[audio:http://phishthoughts.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/ph2009-11-27s2t05.mp3,http://phishthoughts.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/ph2009-11-27s2t06.mp3]=====
VIDEOS OF THE WEEKEND:
“Golden Age” 11.27.09
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“On Your Way Down” 11.27.09
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11.28.09 - Albany (Peek Photography)
love the feeling of uncertainty and wonder that phish can produce with rarities and/or debuts, makes the music feel that much more “live” .. when you aren’t 100% sure what they are playing, etc. always like seeing phish stretch out into new cover territory as well. Rinocerous is a great example – would like to see them play almost anything off Sianese Dream somewhere deep in a set 2. or of course, something off Loveless.
exile set continues to blow me away. i was sort of disappointed in the choice at first and have come to think it is one of the most amazing things i’ve ever heard. so cool that sirius did that broadcast for the world outside indio.
First on board! bout to do some chance fisher after partying!
damn jp!
sorry lycan, couldn’t resist 🙂
Yeah I continue to be amazed by the exile set, and can’t understand why I was so underwhelmed while I was listening to it on Sirius. Maybe the lo-fi stream just made it hard for me to engage it. But after three listens it clicked for me big time, and now I completely love it. Love the selection, love their performance, love the album, all of it.
anybody up?
listening to bathtub gin from lexington 96. went to this show one week after getting destroyed one week earlier in atlanta (where I currently reside). please listen to this jam. it will change your life.
I will say in regards to this post, golden age was really transcendant. i would not be suprised at all if they open set 2 of any of the miami shows with this one…..and really open it up. as far as all the posts i’ve been reading about phish 3.0 style of play, i would not walk into miami with any pre-existing conditions. get checked out prior to entering. Jon Fishman is going to SHINE. He is going to launch this band into the statusphere where he is currently residing on this bathtub 11/07/96!
Let me preface this by saying I love Phish and have nothing but love for them and everything Phish. But. Is it just me or does anyone else notice how poorly played songs like “tomorrow’s song” and “my friend my friend” were? And the same goes for many songs on this Fall tour. And I’m not talking about Phishy exploration. I’m talking about basics like vocals and actually hitting the notes in tune and on time. The more I listen to Fall tour the more I hear an above average amount of flubs on some really basic stuff. And trust me, I usually have no beef with flubs, but Trey’s singing is so out of tune at times it’s laughable. And he literally plays wrong chords on a regular basis. From missing intros to the beginning of Meat to out of sync out of tune transitions regularly. I’ll keep seeing them and love seeing them but wondering of anyone else is noticing this?
Bathtub from Lexington is legendary, indeed. This version was officially released on the “The Road to Vegas” Bonus CD for the Vegas 96 release. Awesome version of Split open on that one, too (Auburn Hills 96)
My other favorite bathtubs are Riverport 98, and I think Holmdel 6/28/00
Short stop before work. First off, glad to see “Golden Age” again getting props, great song, great band, great cover. Lexington “Gin” is amazing. Finally listened to the SBDs of the “Exile” set, driving home from Shreveport yesterday, and was completely blown away. I’d take a “Mike’s>I Just Want To See His Face>Weekapaug” ANY day
Just hopping on before I head out of town for the weekend. Have a good one everybody! Peace.
Love todays write up. Ironically was listening to this show last night and thinking that it was completely overshadowed by Albany 2. Getting its proper due. Golden Age rips!
Next Golden Age will be 12/31/09, possibly just after Auld Land Syne. I don’t think they’ve ever used a cover to ring in the new year, but this one would work brilliantly.
This show needs to be added to the list we compiled a while back of shows that don’t get play because the counterpart was so amazing. I don’t remember them all but miner is able to rattle them off.
I’ve been processing all the “fall into deep space 09” versions of light. That Portland rock and roll smokes and then starts to lift off and they bring out light. Awesome jam but cut off too soon like a lot of others from the fall. Mildly frustrating.
Can’t wait to read Miner’s Philly reviews. I had a blast at those 2.
Off topic (sort of) but just hit 46 days of music on my iTunes. Thanks, in part, to Miner and his archive, and of course, all of Phish 2009. Here’s to trying to listen to all of this music that I have collected.
Not sure if torrent will work as I am visiting family and trying to seed with transmission on my laptop. Not sure if it’s uploading. Megaup
should work fine regardless.
I am glad to see this show highlighted. I have always loved the thanksgiving weekend because of the fact that it becomes a mini run with a completeness over the 3 nights. I think 27-30 holds up better a suite than the MSG run does, for example. So here follows some thanksgiving 2009 thoughts. In this case, I really thought the 27th was the best of the 3. Clearly everyone lvoes the 28th set 2 jamming. it was my birthday, another bday show in a long list of them. I got down hard in set 2 but i must say that the energy of the show on the 27th was better. from the timber in the first set (those last 4 first set songs ruled) to the entire second set, I was floored. The feeling of uncertinty that phish brought back with my firend and golden age (not another Rock+Roll, Disease, or Drowned set 2), and the amazing performance of On your way down by page on his piano and his voice really made me love the opening of this set. Then Fluffhead changed the set in a way i would have never expected. The first half of the set the dark minor funky phish that we all love. Fluffhead is the ultimate good vs. evel song in my phish experience. the battle wages between the piano ang guitar all song long but ultimately in the Clod, Page wins, picks Trye up off the ground and bask in the feeling that life is a bundle of joy. and together they reach the arrival. i digress. This arrival was a highlight of explosive energy like only phish 2009 can do. From here, the set moved to the happy open major chords floating around the venue. 12-30-98 did the same thing. With Hood, Caspian Tomorows Song, Coil, i would have seen it on paper and been underwhelmed but something about the playing and dynamics (especially the Hood) had me mezmorized and happy to be in the think soup. There was clearly a few moments out of Piper and into Tomorows song where we were in the unidentiifed set 2 soup that we all crave– somewhat of a rarity in 2009. I was blown away when this set ended. Finally the fire as a nod to Jimi was 5 minutes of pure anniliation by all 4.
Now Nov 28 was an amzing show too. It added to the feeling that Phish is back in their diverse unexpected way. The jams in set 2 take the 2009 crown for exploration. the dance party was on with 2001 and crosseyed teases. But there are some meandering moments. And set 1 left something o be desired as it did not flow the way other sets do. This has been a standard criticism of set 1s this year by Minor and fans alike. Set 1 on the 28th embodied this. So I stand behind my orginal comment that 27 beats 28 in 2009.
To close out this post i have to mention that albany brought us back to the “expect the unexpected” world that we love. But as a wonderful Cap to the weekend, the Portland show not only kept this vibe alive, but also finished the weekend with a show of favorites too. Disease Possum Stash, Mikes, 2001 Antelope, Carini is a good old Phish show and in some ways that is what we needed after a weekend of mixing it up. On top of this, Portland included what is aguable the best first set of ht year with funk and 6 Mike Gordon songs. I loved it.
A thanksgiving weekend requires 3 phish shows. When one is a phishy mix that the 27th was, one is an exploration, and one is a Mike Showcase, you have something to be thankful for.
The Golden Age was a great way to start the morning out. What a great Jam. They did a great job. Mike and Fish laying down thick backbeats.
great write up, brendan.
ive been listening to the first set from 11-27 a lot. I think it was Brandon Kayda who noticed the duality of the mind theme that was going on in that first set as we were watching the setlist come in. That first set has been the perfect soundtrack for my final exams.
i hope everyones having a good saturday.
Hope everyone has a great Saturday. Finally digging into my Radiolarians Box Set for a morning mix of MMW, Phish, and others.
torrent working? No…right?
def digging the golden age. when did the baby grand go away?
Someone was looking for Deer Creek 2003 yesterday. It is up on etree right now.
Thanks Halcyon