Mr. Miner's Phish Thoughts

One lingering question regarding summer tour remains, even after all the tickets have gone on sale: Where will the tour actually end? If we are to believe things as they stand, Phish will play their west coast and Midwestern shows, and then invite everyone back the east coast for two random midweek shows at Jones Beach. This plan seems just a tad strange, leaving everybody hanging in the New York area after a Wednesday night finale. Since when has summer tour ended on a Wednesday? This routing, however, does leave the door wide open for a day off on Thursday followed by a weekend multi-night farewell. And there have been some rumors floating around.

One of the scenarios that has been circulating in cyberspace has Phish making another trek up to Limestone, Maine to put an exclamation point on summer 2010 in old-school fashion. While the timing seems to work, with the possibility of one or two days between Jones Beach and a potential festival, the question remains if this mature incarnation of Phish will bring their traveling caravan and their families up to the edge of America for a weekend party. A relic of times gone by, arguments both for and against a return to the hallowed Air Force Base in Loring, Maine make sense. On one had, Limestone is piece of Phish history, defining many summer weekends, and the band’s return to prominence wouldn’t be fully complete without a 3.0 festival at Limestone. We had The Great Went and Lemonwheel in the first go-round, and IT in the second. It is only natural to head back to the vast magical playground of legend, allowing east coast fans to drive, not fly cross country, to a Phish festival.

That being said, that was then and this is now. Limestone is a sacred slice of Phish history, a place in time and space where pieces of our hearts and souls reside forever. Those days of traffic, camping, rainstorms, Northern sunsets, and endless blue skies can never be recreated, so why even try? Phish is older and so is their fanbase, we’ve been there and done that – thrice. And who wants to deal with the logistics of getting up all the way up there again? Plus, without a party-based scene for the band, what would be the perks of being in the middle of nowhere for a couple of nights, when they can stay in posh hotels playing elsewhere. With stronger rumors of Indio on the horizon for October, it’s hard to believe that Phish will throw two festivals in three months, and with the ease, bliss, and resorts surrounding Southern California’s Empire Polo Fields, why would they try anything else?

An original set of dates that leaked just before the official tour announcement included two Radio City shows following Jones Beach. However, any chatter of a two-night stand at New York City’s iconic theatre has fizzled out. Unless things are being kept incredibly under wraps, the likelihood of these materializing seems very slim. So the question remains, are we bidding adieu in the stadium surroundings of Jones Beach, or will something be added to end an extensive summer in style? A leg that features Phish’s marquee shows of summer – The Greek and Telluride – and their two most classic summer venues in Deer Creek and Alpine, deserves a better ending than the overcrowded and over-patrolled environs of Jones Beach. But whether or not anything will actually be added to the tour is completely up in the air. But for now, the rumor mill spins on.

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Jam of the Day:

“Reba” 7.3.94 I

Another standout ’94 “Reba.” This one contains an extended and sublime quote of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

[audio:http://phishthoughts.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Track-08.mp3]

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DOWNLOAD OF THE DAY:

9.27.95 Cal Expo Amphitheater, Sacramento, CA < Torrent

9.27.95 Cal Expo Amphitheater, Sacramento, CA < Megaupload

The first show of the long road of Fall ’95 featured five debuts and a new arrangement for “Taste.”

I: Wolfman’s Brother, Rift, Free, It’s Ice, I Didn’t Know, The Fog That Surrounds^, Strange Design, Chalk Dust Torture, The Squirming Coil

II: Cars Trucks Buses*, AC/DC Bag, David Bowie, Billy Breathes*, Keyboard Cavalry*, Harry Hood^**, Hello My Baby*, A Day in the Life

E: Possum

*Debut, ^ new arrangement of “Taste,” **Unfinished

Source: (F.O.B.) Schoeps MK4

Tags: 2010, Festivals, Rumors, Summer '10

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