The Rest of Halloween
10.31.10 (Graham Lucas)
While Phish’s take on Little Feat’s “Waiting For Columbus” was the clear centerpiece of an amazing evening, Phish played two other sets as well. The first frame, filled with Halloween-themed selections featured one of the jams of the tour in “Stash,” and a dancy early sequence of “Ghost > Spooky.” During the third set – practically an afterthought following such a masterful Halloween cover – Phish marched out a sequence of high-energy anthems to close the show, weekend, and tour. Without getting into any serious jams other than a smoking “Jibboo,” Phish used a fun finale to celebrate the achievements of the season. And after a transformative few weeks, that felt just fine.
"Frankenstein" (G.Lucas)
Phish crafted a Halloween-laced opening set with the heavier rock of “Frankenstein” and “Big Black Furry Creatures From Mars,” before catching everyone off guard with an early “Ghost.” Playing with a collective direction and relaxing feel, the entire band toyed within the song structure while building closely off each others’ offerings. Trey stepped out front with an enthusiastic solo while Fishman kept a cymbal heavy beat. Continuing the holiday theme, Page seamlessly came in with piano chords that smoothly transformed the jam into the late-’60s cover, “Spooky.” One couldn’t tell where “Ghost” ended and “Spooky” began in a particularly seamless segue. Though Trey has often teased the guitar lick from this piece (a la 12/31/95’s “Weekapaug”), the song hadn’t been performed since April ’93, making it the largest bust-out in Atlantic City.
Phish passionately nailed “Divided Sky” as a mid-set interlude and continued the holiday cheer with “Roses Are Free,” but the improvisational peak of the Phish-only section of the show came in a staggering “Stash.” The band dove headfirst into this top-notch highlight; a jam that illustrates the band’s current no-nonsense style as well as any. Within a minute of exiting the lyrics, Phish fully locked into a synched pattern that began to build away from the song. As Mike and Page joined Trey in a major key, the band transformed the usually evil opus into a blissful magic-carpet ride into the sunset of Fall Tour. Fishman remained loosely-anchored in “Stash’s” rhythms, while the other three band members took off into an alternate reality. Forging a pristine path through this musical wormhole, the band subconsciously slid right back into the key of “Stash,” picking up the snarling journey at the end of the sonic rainbow. A crunchy “Character Zero” punctuated a highly-engaging opening frame, bringing the evening to into its first setbreak.
10.31.10 Graham Lucas)
After playing, arguably, their most impressive Halloween set to date, Phish came out for a third set with all sorts of possibilities. Some darker selections that seemed like a given – “Mike’s Groove” and “Light”- never showed up, and the band favored an upbeat, high-energy affair to close out their tour. A scalding “Disease” ripped the frame wide open, roaring out of the composed rock into a snapping section of percussive grooves. Locked and loaded, the band seemed to be on the brink of something significant as Trey wove guitar effects into the increasingly abstract piece. Slowing into a series of collective hits, the band landed in a murky psychedelia; Phish was set for liftoff. But in an inexplicable move, Trey called for an abrupt change into “Back On the Train” as “Disease” reached its deepest point. This move signified the type of set that would roll out – a fun, song-based third frame rather than a Vegas ’98er.
10/31 Official Poster (Duval)
The centerpiece of this high-octane conclusion came in a fiercely-active “Jibboo.” Trey’s non-stop solo formed the scintillating icing on a musical cake which showcased more full-band interplay than usual. Trey even drew the band into his melodic template towards the end of the excursion. But when the dust settles, “Jibboo” is a vehicle for mind-numbing guitar work, and that is exactly what underlined is what this third-set standout. Building to a white-hot peak, Phish settled the audience with the slowed-funk of “Camel Walk,” a clear nod to Little Feat’s musical influence.
The set got a bit choppy in the middle, as “Suzy” and “Wilson” seemed completely out of place; but the band decided to jam out of “Wilson” for one few times in their career. Beginning with a guitar lick that sounded like the precursor to another Led Zeppelin tease, the band stayed on their own turf this time, crafting a thrashing heavy metal-turned-ambient passage that showcased far more creativity than they have infused into the song in eons. As Phish drew out the cosmic sludge into a drone landscape, Trey subtly teased the original lick that got this shindig started before he dropped out for the opening drum roll of “Harry Hood.” A delicate and mellow version of the usually high-spirited jam reached the ending chorus with no real build up to it, leaving the last “Hood” of fall a bit short of spectacular. But this entire set was gravy after such a stunning and satisfying Halloween performance.
"YEM" - 10.31.10 (B.Lovelace)
As soon as Trey started “The Horse,” everyone in the venue knew where we were headed – “Horse > Silent,” YEM.” And so it was. A largely guitar-based “YEM” jam put the final stamp on an unforgettable evening of music on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City. Finalizing things with a set of joyful Phish songs, everyone drifted into November 1st with the energy and inspiration that only Phish can provide. Bringing all their guests back for a “Julius” encore, the show ended with the band of the hour – Little Phish – on stage for one last time. Closing tour with a special encore, the band took a bow to a notably enthusiastic ovation. Putting down their instruments for the last time of tour, Phish had arrived. Sometime during the magical fall of 2010, their comeback came to a close, and Phish took the first bold step into in the next golden era of their career.
I: Frankenstein, Big Black Furry Creature from Mars, Ghost > Spooky, The Divided Sky, Roses Are Free, Funky Bitch, Boogie On Reggae Woman, Stash, Character Zero
II: Little Feat – Waiting For Columbus
III. Down with Disease > Back on the Train, Gotta Jibboo, Camel Walk, Suzy Greenberg, Wilson > Harry Hood, The Horse > Silent in the Morning, You Enjoy Myself
E: Julius*
* with Giovanni Hidalgo and horn section
Tags: 2010, Fall '10, Halloween
Brim was early in the tour GD so things were just getting goin
was hard hearing all those hot small venue shows
I needed to get back on tour
I don’t ask for much but a few interesting, creative chunks of jamming and a consistently flubless, tight groovin band
they came through and covered the album I’ve wanted all along but thought they’d never do
not too many 3 night runs these days. fuckin love em.
Agreed with the tail end Walk Away. Nice touch.
plus the girl didn’t puke on me all weekend
that’s been a problem at recent runs
the little things make all the difference
miner, that’s kinda’ what I felt. the funny thing, someone mentioned there were signs for most of the Set II night 2 songs. I enjoyed night 1 overall as well. Got a bit spoiled in Providence, in retrospect.
No doubt AW. 3 in a row gets ya open.
Haha.
“plus the girl didn’t puke on me all weekend”
poor K.
And missing Utica and Manch stings.
Really glad I’m taking part in 3.0. Most shows I’ve seen in one year ever. Loved every minute (tho a few of those TTE minutes were spent sipping beers).
Hey Miner,
I’ve been meaning to tell you this, but yours is the first blog I ever really got involved with, so I thought yours was the norm as far as design and usability goes.
The design of this is waaayyyy better than most.
really cool. just another part of why this place is so cool.
Head fulla blaze. At my tuck-in bar in Phila Going to see this sound system called Solomonic spin some dubplates and Praise HIM. Nite.
So I like the “Drums” portion of “Drums > Space” section more than, I assume, the average person, but I must say, there is still something extremely satisfying about looking up after the beginning of Drums and seeing that it’s only 2:30 long…
D>S got better with age @garret. You’re in for it at MSG by the way.
@t3
Not complaining, man – just givin you the heads up.
Vibe in the venue was unreal. The staff there seemed to be having as much fun as us!
Boardwalk Hall, including staff, were unusually cool
As much as I found AC the town a very mixed bag, Boardwalk Hall is an A+ venue
Even when I wasn’t 100% inside the music, I was always loving the Hall
Would easily return there for a 3 day run
Perhaps the most unique large indoor venue I know of, and easily the biggest surprise of the weekend
Thank you, Phish
Sweet jeebus, the LP downloads take friggin forever
What up guys!
Finally moved in (for the most part) to my new apartment. Started right as I got home on 5:30 Monday, a couple hours after work the last couple days and here we are.
Interneted up, first task: downloaded Feat from @C’s mediafire. Loving it A LOT. Makes me see how much of a sick job Phish did with the material.
there’s a bunch of just seamless segues on the halloween cover set. one song just completely morphing into another.
De-Lurking for a moment to agree that the 10/31 I Stash is an absolute keeper. One of the top jams of 3.0 and one of the few that will stay in steady rotation for me. Extremely tight. Also shows Trey’s more restrained and selective (and thus more effective) use of the whale.
You got that right @Robear
Time Loves A Hero->Day or Night – I was listening to it and was thinking “there’s a segue between these two songs I think” – looked on iTunes and I was a minute into Day or Night and didn’t even realize it. Loving it.
I’ve had Fat Man in the Bathtub stuck in my head for the past two days.
@Gdad
I know! Words cannot describe my excitement at realizing, at the beginning of November, that MSG was ONLY two months away! Which is also way too long from now…
I still am kind of processing the fact that Phish covered this album – seems out of left field so to speak and I love it. Great album.
Now if I can listen to the actual Little Feat performance, I bet I’ll appreciate it a lot more 😀
Poster Collector’s thinking about framing (sumodie/Mango, et.al):
http://www.glidemagazine.com/hiddentrack/the-b-list-10-best-phish-frame-jobs/
Boy, the covering of Feat DID NOT do anything to decrease Time Loves’ ranking on my ‘Top Covers’ list.
Absolutely love it.
Spinning the show in full right now.
@neemor
Wow, those are pretty sharp, aren’t they?
@BK
Get to it my man. Listening to WFC at the hotel pre show got me so amped for the show. Every song I could hear the boys blowing the place up with it.
I also have to agree with sumo’s comment either today or yesterday about the crowd mellowing out for the cover set. Not so much in my section but it was apparent throughout the venue to me that either cats were having trouble grooving because they didn’t know the record or they just weren’t into it. That said, plenty of grooving going on to go around no doubt.
I found myself at times upset that the response in certain portions of the set weren’t as enthusiastic as I expected
Phish + Expectations = dagged. I honestly only ran into one person who was upset about the choice. He seemed like a wedge though so I just laughed at him and kept on going.
Sharp, indeed.
I was looking specifically at the end of the article where it looks like Link might lose his shop and his passion soon if he doesn’t get some framing work done.
Figured this is a good place to get that info out…..