Freakin’ On The Greek
The Greek Theatre - Berkeley, CA
With a nationwide, carpet-bombing of mail order tickets yesterday, the final countdown to the Greek Theatre has officially begun. Energy, anticipation, and anxiety has already flooded the scene, as the hype for Berkeley’s three-night stand has come to a head in recent weeks. While people finalize plans, scour the Internet for extra tickets, and prepare to head west, the appearance of second-leg stubs at doorsteps across the country yesterday, upped the adrenaline for all fans trying to focus through one more week.
The tickets for Leg II sport venue-specific designs, the Greeks decorated with a graphic take of the theatre’s backdrop. With “Phish” written in lightening bolts on the tickets, the band gave a subtle nod to the Grateful Dead as they prepare to set up shop on their forefathers’ home turf. The excitement is peaking for many, but others are still trying to get their 
hands on that last ticket to complete their three-pack. By not releasing multi-night packages, Phish and Ticketmaster left a lot of fans to face the worlds of ticket trading and brokering. With Saturday night stubs being the scarcest, prices in the secondary market have climbed over $300 a pop for the intimate GA shows. Since these are the only west coast dates scheduled, the migration to the Bay will come from far and wide, as this is the closer to home Phish will come for thousands of left coast fans. All of these factors have converged to create quite the pre-show hubbub for the upcoming nights in Northern California.
Phish’s only previous visit to Berkeley’s famed amphitheatre came on August 28, 1993, as the finale of Summer ’93. Concluding one of the most prolific months in their history, Phish capped August with a start-to-finish smoker that provides a quintessential portrait of the band in that era of history. “Maze” and “Stash” stood out in the first set, while highlight versions of “Antelope” and “YEM” sparkled in the second. The Dead had just finished a summer run at Shoreline the day before this show, and many first-timers crossed the Bay to check out an up and coming Phish. But since that night, relived countless times through the soundboard tape that became a staple any collector’s stash, Phish has never been back to the Greek.
6.22.10 (P.Harrington)
Ever since 1995, Phish has made Shoreline their routine Bay Area tour stop. With a capacity of 22,000 (almost triple The Greek’s 8000), it simply made more economic sense to play the larger venue. But those days are gone and in this modern era, Phish plays where they want, when they want. With the ability to sell 44,000 tickets over two-nights at Shoreline, Phish, instead, chose the less profitable route of selling 24,000 tickets over three nights in Berkeley – but the experience will be incomparable. Despite being Bill Graham’s baby, Shoreline’s design likens most amphitheatres across the country. But when one steps into the Greek Theatre, it becomes quite apparent they have arrived somewhere special. And when Phish looks out onto the classic stone amphitheatre, they will also feel the mystique of he Greek, and their music will likely reflect their surroundings.
6.27.10 (B.Colligan)
These upcoming Berkeley shows represent the Red Rocks of 2010 – a multi-night party in one of music’s hallowed venues to kick off the second leg of summer. Last year, the band’s improvement between Leg I and Leg II grew so significant, it became virtually inexplicable. The five-weeks between tours – whether used for practice, sorcery, Oh Kee Pah Ceremonies or family time – produced a far more evolved band in August then we’d left in June. I’m not sure we can expect such a colossal leap of progress over this month-long break, but if a musical shift brings any semblance of congruity to 2009’s giant steps, we are in for some good times. Having established a new sound and style for 2010, Phish looks to further their exploits of the early summer…next week!
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Jam of the Day:
“Run Like An Antelope” 8.28 II
The last time Phish visited The Greek…
[audio:http://phishthoughts.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/ph1993-08-28d2t03.mp3]=====
DOWNLOAD OF THE DAY: Greek History
8.28.1993 The Greek Theatre, Berkeley, CA < Megaupload
8.28.1993
Phish’s last visit to The Greek – seventeen years ago in August ’93; a completely different animal altogether.
I: Llama, Bouncing Around the Room, Foam, Ginseng Sullivan, Maze, Fluffhead, Stash, The Squirming Coil, Crimes of the Mind*
II: Also Sprach Zarathustra > Rift, Run Like an Antelope, The Horse > Silent in the Morning, Sparkle, It’s Ice > Big Ball Jam, Purple Rain > Hold Your Head Up, You Enjoy Myself > Oye Como Va Jam > You Enjoy Myself > Contact**, Chalk Dust Torture
E: Daniel Saw the Stone, Amazing Grace
* w/ Dude of Life on Vocals, **out vocal jam, JJ Cale opened
Source: SBD
Tags: 2010, Summer '10, Venues
“a burnt match scribble on a soaking wet cocktail napkin of a plan”
nice
@BK
I am not the person you want to speak with. FAIL
(jk)
He is and he is isn’t @Dancin’ in my mind. He certainly has some existentialist views but isn’t a total life is meaningless and random bullshitter. Sometimes I wonder if those guys ever tried meditating, or smoked weed.
yea, Berzerker – i think Marshall has it right taking the wife on a 5 week European vaca after leg 2
they really like to see the attention and planning of the family vaca’s equal or greater too that of tour
Still on my no-phish diet
How do I do it?
By devouring the DJ Kicks series, courtesy of T3:
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=dbb56bed3344cb2acc64faf95aefdf14aa93869145f0c234eb82f7bdc560c785d64c5e3bb516ff91fd62f60dbaa10efb
I’ll be ravenous for fresh phish by next Thursday…
I think most people who got into the Dead post Jerry have a hard time getting into latter era GD. Quite natural when you consider your only connection to the band is through recordings, so you fall for the gritty, uber creative younger years.
^jdub from earlier. i often think the same about phish
look at Phish…throwing out at least 5-6 jams people are calling best of summer….good stuff! now imagine they jammed twice a show?! j/k 😉
^j/k? we all know you’re not kidding miner!
@jdub
Yeah you’re probably right RE: me failing – that is a very, very stupid way to go about reading if I have ever heard any. My bad :/
I’m looking forward to trying it again
^ Ugh. Ugly link. But it works.
Till manyana…
@BK
I’m not a heavy fiction reader and Robins is honestly next on my list. Been meaning to get to him for a while. So we’ll trade, I’ll read Skinny Legs and All next and you read the Plague.
By it I mean The Plague of course, obviously I read llfa.
Ugh, sorry for being so damn repetitve.
I hope Phish jams more leg II.
@jdub
I recommend “Jitterbug Perfume” to start for Robbins. That book is fucking incredible.
Good Lord. Honest to Me just placed The Plague on hold at my library 30 seconds ago.
@BK, I think you confused me with Jtran for a moment, similar name similar avatar to some degree. No failing on the reading end, failing on the correspondence end i guess.
yeah, jitterbug perfume has been highly recommended and I guess I shall start there.
I literally haven’t read fiction in about 5 years. Nothing but woodworking books/mags, buddhist/new age/self help types, and newspapers/blogs/online shit for a long time now. All of a sudden, with some prodding from this site, i feel a desire to connect with our literary geniuses. Mostly because I am growing tired of so much in your face reality and want some sarcasm with my reality.
Synchronicity Bingo! Love it buddy
Glad you’re enjoying @KWL. Just put some stuff up there that I already have on my computer. I’d be happy to add more or take requests (if they’re in my CD collection) if you’re ever interested.
Have you guys read Villa Incognito? That one is my favorite.
@lycan, if you’re out there-
Re-spinning CF 7.19 and it sounds even better on re-listen.
So my girlfriend went home for the week today, which = me sitting at home listening to Phish. Decided to let her in on the party, so we’re concurrently spinning 6/14/00. I told her she’d either go to sleep, hate Phish, or scratch her head and realize how great they are.
We’re just doing Twist > end of set 2, but here’s some comments so far from our chat: I prefaced the set with the mushroom rumor/fact
nuts!
i like this
dude
that is sick
it is so trippy
type 2?!
🙂
Yeah I really like the thought that there is so much knowledge out there waiting to be found in so many different subjects – that’s part of why I like reading so much.
catching up the last 10 pages
great fiery but good natured posting by @f0ol throughout
that’s how you stir the pot without trolling
FWIW Gorge Gin and the ’10 Gins are just 2 different things. Gorge Gin is an open jam, the others are closed, that simple. In that sense, the Gorge Gin isn’t even really a “Gin”, it’s a unique jam after some point not too far in.
I would argue the RnR from the next night is also an open jam that just returns to the theme, i.e. RnR > open jam > RnR
@jdub, I’m hear ya, man. I read nonfiction almost exclusively. The only exception is when someone says, “you haven’t read _____!?! You have to, you’ll love it, I’m sure!”. Villa Incognito was one of those.
@dognamedwilson
Yeah I agree. The BBR Jam, the OTM->War A Peace, and Sophia are my 3 favorite parts of that show – and the three I focused the bigger parts of my review on. I’m wondering if I did them justice…
@Ramblin holy shit! you have been hard at work with the uploads!
well done sir!
@dog : I’d like to hear your take on Villa as it is the only book by my favorite author I didn’t like. I gave it another shot and still nothing, although I feel it may be a bit over my head, not sure. Anyhow, I absolutely pray he’s got another something cooking in the oven.
I generally read fiction, but interesting fiction like Robbins/Camus/Orwell/Salinger. Love it.
I haven’t read Villa Incognito, I’ll have to put that one on the list – thanks for the rec