Summer 2011 – Part I

Phish Summer 2011

Phish brought a shaft of light in the heart of winter yesterday, dropping 18 dates that comprise the opening leg of Summer Tour 2011. Beginning at Bethel Woods in Bethel, New York and concluding at nTelos Pavilion in Portsmouth, Virginia, Phish will remain tight to the eastern seaboard this June, making only a short, three-show trip to the midwest. With “additional summer announcements” to come” and “no further touring plans” for the rest of the year, these dates are only the beginning of what will be a significant season of for the Phish from Vermont.

Bethel Woods - Bethel, NY

June will blast off with a three-night run in the band’s first trip to Bethel Woods, a spanking new venue opened in 2006 on the grounds of the original Woodstock Festival. One of four multi-night stands of the month, this Memorial Day three-pack in upstate New York will certainly be “destination shows” for fans nationwide. Moving from one stand to another, Phish will return to PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey for the first time since 2000. Formerly known as The Garden State Arts Center, this central Jersey shed was a popular venue throughout the ’90s, and this year’s show marks a homecoming Trey who hails from from the nearby area.

After the opening five shows, the band will shift their scene to the midwest for a three-show weekend in Detroit, Cleveland and Cincinnati. The Clarktson, Michigan venue formerly known as Pine Knob—a classic summertime amphitheatre opened in 1972—will host Phish for the first time ever, marking the band’s first summer gig in the Motor City area in quite some time. From there, Phish will return to Blossom Music Center for the second straight year before heading to Cleveland’s interstate rival, Cincinnati, for the the band’s first performance at Riverbend Music Center since the Fall 2000.

DTE Music Center - Clarkston, MI

After Cincy’s Sunday night show, Phish will hop directly back to the Northeast and will play a string of venues drenched in Phish history. Midweek stops at Great Woods and Darien Lake will be followed by a weekend showcase at Camden and Merriweather Post Pavilion—the only stop of the four that will host two performances. The band will subsequently fly south for their final multi-night stop of June, a midweek twin bill at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Alpharetta, Georgia. Following a string of cookie-cutter venues, Alpharetta’s over-sized GA floor will provide much needed dance space relief after the cozy confines of Merriweather.

To close out June, Phish will play a weekend run at three venues they played just last year—Verizon Wireless in Charlotte, Walnut Creek in Raleigh, and nTelos Pavilion in Portsmouth. The former sheds two hold far more historical weight—though far as far less mobility—than the latter, a fully GA venue on the water of southeastern Virgina. June’s end-of-tour bash will be an intimate affair as nTelos Pavilion’s 6,500 person tent is the smallest venue on the tour by far.

nTelos - 6.15.10 (B.Riley)

A strong opening leg leaves some questions hanging about the rest of the summer. Will Watkins Glen still take place on July 4th weekend as expected, and will it be a stand-alone event? Despite a saturation of northeast shows, many sources say the festival is still a go—we shall see. Will the second leg of summer finally give the west coast some proper lovin’ before the band takes the fall season off from touring? These answers will likely unfold after tickets are sold for June, so don’t hold your breath. But summer’s opening docket is quite an encouraging beginning to Phish 2011. (Now we are really starting to sound futuristic!)

In an interesting ticketing twist, Phish has reduced the price of lawn tickets to a $45 face value, while keeping pavilions at $60, making their first foray into tiered-priced ticketing. Oddly, however, they have not provided “Lawn Only” or “Pavilion Only” options on their Tickets By Mail request form, essentially creating the scenario of “It Costs Less to Get Screwed” if one gets shafted with unwanted lawn tickets. So we got that going for us, which is good. The ticket request window is now open for a ten-day period until March 4th at 11:59 pm Eastern. Best of luck in the lottery, and see you on the road!

5/27 – 29 Bethel Woods, Bethel, NY
5/31 – 6/1 PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel, NJ
6/3 DTE Energy Center, Clarkston, MI
6/4 Blossom Music Center, Cuyahoga Falls, OH
6/5 Riverbend Music Center, Cincinnati, Ohio
6/7 Comcast Center, Mansfield, MA
6/8 Darien Lake Amphitheatre, Darien Center, NY
6/10 Susquehanna Bank Center, Camden, NJ
6/11-12 Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD
6/14-15 Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, Alpharetta, GA
6/17 Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, Charlotte, NC
6/18 Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion, Raleigh, NC
6/19 nTtelos Pavilion at Harbor Center, Portsmouth, VA

=====

Jam of the Day:

Gumbo” 8.3.98 II

With summertime on the mind, here is a supreme example of the summer funk of ’98.

[audio:http://phishthoughts.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/d2t01.mp3]

=====

DOWNLOAD OF THE DAY:

6.22.2000 AmSouth Amphitheatre, Antioch, Tennessee

FLAC Torrent (via etree), Mp3 Torrent, Megaupload < Links

6.27.10 (G.Lucas)

6.27.10 (G.Lucas)

Keeping with today’s theme, here is the first US summer show from 2000 outside Nashville, TN. A fierce “Jibboo > 2001 > Sand” kicked off the second set in the band’s return to domestic amphitheatres after two weeks in Japanese clubs. A sublime version of “Harry Hood” followed, bringing Sam Bush, Ronnie and Robby McCroury to stage in a rare perfect guest spot.

I: First Tube, Wolfman’s Brother, Beauty of My Dreams, Golgi Apparatus, Limb By Limb, Bug, Poor Heart, Roggae, Chalk Dust Torture

II: Gotta Jibboo > Also Sprach Zarathustra > Sand, Harry Hood -> Dog Faced Boy > Harry Hood*, I’m Blue, I’m Lonesome**, Hold Whatcha Got**, Uncle Pen**, Free Bird***

E: You Enjoy Myself

*w/ Sam Bush on fiddle, Robbie McCoury on banjo, Ronnie McCoury on mandolin

** Del McCoury on guitar, Ricky Skaggs on mandolin, Mike Bub on upright double-bass, and Jason Carter on fiddle in addition to those already on stage

*** w/ all guests plus Wynnona Judd on vocals

Source: Neumann KM140 > Sonosax SX-M2 > Panasonic SV-255 (48khz)

Tags: ,

718 Responses to “Summer 2011 – Part I”

  1. Andrew Says:

    Hack the soundtrack Tzara!

  2. voopa Says:

    That was fun.

  3. Tzara's Ghost Says:

    @andrew, didn’t actually listen to the video, you think this fukuoka jam #2 would be better? I don’t see how it couldn’t be. Epic shit. Good ocelot birthing music.

  4. Andrew Says:

    That segment of the show stands for the birth of many things, most of which we’ve enjoyed, others we may never grasp.

    Maybe if we listen close enough an Ocelot was born. Somewhere.

  5. neemor Says:

    Good luck to all of you crazy fans on your tickets…

  6. Tzara's Ghost Says:

    Yeah this jam is great. The wife is asleep on one arm, the cat asleep on the other. Just me and my glass of wine, thinking how I’m going to refill when it’s time. And, Walk Away.

  7. sumodie Says:

    E Factory in Philly tonight:

    I.
    GBOTT
    Free (2)
    Sample (2)
    The Wedge (2)
    Wilson (2)
    Strange Design (2)
    20 Years later
    Suzy (2)
    Twist
    Theme (3)
    Carini (2)
    Waste, enter Meatman+Russell R.
    Lawn Boy (2) enter Chainsaw+J-HA+Lawton+Milkman
    Liquid Time (2)
    Heavy Things (2)
    Hey Ya (4)

    II.
    Push On (3)
    Tube Top Flop
    Night Speaks (2)
    Ooh Child (3)
    Burlap (2)
    Ocelot (4)
    Shine
    Dark and Down
    MR. FUKIN C
    Ether Sunday (2)
    Acting the Devil (2)
    Done Done It (3)
    Sand (4)

    E) At the Gazebo
    Birdwatcher (3)
    Tuesday (4)

  8. Andrew Says:

    Tzara – jams like that sometimes spill my wine as I nod off, then I wonder how I’m going to clean it up before the wifey notices 😉

  9. Andrew Says:

    Hope the E was good to all!

  10. Tzara's Ghost Says:

    No doubt, A. I sometimes forget how much of an arid landscape this jam becomes. So patient and atmospsheric. I almost spilled my wine, but captured it all in the end. A “discovered gem” for sure, but it truly does make its own planet.

  11. gavinsdad Says:

    tight.

    set 1 stealth mvp = russ remington no doubt. nice accents.

    set 1 the full band (liquid time and heavy things) = +2

    set 2 Mr C was ballz. as was Sandy.

  12. neemor Says:

    Just looking at the paper, I can see a clear zeroing-in on the set…they’ll be swinging’ by the end of tour…

    Some solid standouts from last year this time are starting to hold down major spots…betcha some big hitters emerge…

    I will be needing you cats to determine my Summer Tour route this year as usual, would like to pick up extras for any of these New York/New England shows…singles…keep your local neemor in mind!

  13. neemor Says:

    Yes.
    Nice to see Liquid Time in that interesting slot.
    Figured it’d be full-on band treatment, guess not.
    Thanks for the updates, sumo, gdad.

  14. butter Says:

    any links to the last 2 Trey shows?

  15. Mr.Miner Says:

    lawnboy full band?

  16. Mr.Miner Says:

    butter, they are all on the site brah

  17. butter Says:

    miner, i only see up to Boston?

    pretty irie, were do i look

  18. voopa Says:

    Man, what a great show.

Leave a Reply