Superballin’
Unofficial SBIX Print (Masthay)
Sun has risen on day two of Superball, and day one was divine. To be back on the grounds of the Phish festival with the band at the top of its came felt like the days of lore. The sky was a bit bluer as the clouds floated above and the music was a bit slowed down as it blanketed the intimate concert ground. From note one Phish dropped a power-packed and poignant opening night of a festival that people will be talking about for time to come—the time when a full-powered band and their grand summer tradition came back together in the new era.
As it stands, I have little Internet access on site as I chase down friends with Droids to use their phones as a wifi hotspot. Combined with this spotty web access and the 24 hour nature of the festival, I’ll speak to you on the other side. Or when I catch up with a Droid again…
I: Possum, Peaches en Regalia, The Moma Dance, Torn and Frayed, NICU, Bathtub Gin, Life on Mars?, My Friend, My Friend, Wolfman’s Brother, Roses Are Free, Funky Bitch, Quinn the Eskimo
II: Jam > Crosseyed and Painless -> Chalk Dust Torture, Sand, The Wedge, Mike’s Song > Simple > Bug, The Horse > Silent in the Morning, Weekapaug Groove, Joy, Character Zero
E: Show of Life
*****
SBIX Mini Print (Masthay)
*****
SB IX Mini Print (Masthay)
*****
A bit more…Without having listened back, the band anchored the first set with huge versions of their classic pieces—“Moma Dance,” “Wolfman’s,” and “Bathtub Gin”—while pulling out several rarities, taboot. A scorching and cleaned-up “Peaches” came at the beginning of the set, while an out-of-the-blue “Life On Mars?” was delivered in the middle, before a jammed-out and exclamatory “Quinn the Eskimo” sent things to setbreak in high style.
The second set featured more exploratory playing from the band—peaking in a utterly sublime “Simple”—channeling the mysteries of the universe through the speaker towers of Watkins Glen. After a shredding “Crosseyed” jam, the band dropped onto an ambient path that wound a slow and enchanting route into “Chalk Dust.” This juxtaposition of styles, from shredding to abstract to shredding, kept things interesting before a way laid-back “Sand” provided a shining mid-set highlight filled with festival-sized dance grooves. A monster “Mike’s Groove”— centered around “Simple’s” cosmic trek—dominated the second half of the set, and just when it felt like “YEM” might close the set, out popped out a crunching “Character Zero.” An enthralling version of “Show of Life—and perhaps the most extensive to date—provided an indelible stamp of catharsis to a very poignant night of Phish.
The festival is back and better than ever. Love every minute of IT, folks! See you at 3pm!
Tags: Festivals, Summer 2011
Take new stones any time anywhere
New page.
4000th post bottom of paged
As it all comes back to 25
Huzzah!
I was so spent by the strorage jam that I couldn’t enjoy it to the fullest. Though it was way out there. To be honest it sounded more like a panda bear esque set. Or something like that. Oh and to the dbag in the bulls jersey who felt the need to be a dbag tothe twenty or so sitting down in the third or so row during storage jam set. We all really appreciated that you thought it was gay for us to be sitting. Good times.
Where’d my avatar go!@ dubbyatee eff. Just returned from the Black Dub show here in toronto. Please see them if the opportunity presents itself. Brian Blade on drums. Killer. Nite all.
I knew that would happen @butter, because I’m stuck in a chrono-synclastic infundfibula.
I had to google that Bk, and I still don’t know what it is
So how open will the storage locker be for the Gorge and beyond?
Butter, gorge is sounding better everyday! Think, low pressure, wide open spaces. Picture a happy band and happynTrey itching to play again. Think bethel and Greek as recent tour openers. Think storage shed jamming. …
I like robear’s thoughts on the gorge. A lot.
The Gorge is such a great venue. Just found my other unused lawn ticket from Pine Knob (DTE), anyone need the download?
randomposternutbag @ gmail
Storage Monkey (For Mr. C, cuz I know he loves this song.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEiAaKioRhM
anybody pick up any vinyl from the JEMP store? hoping they do another limited release in Colorado, or on their site. White Album LP selling for low to mid $100’s on eBay.
saw a copy of Lawn Boy sold for $375.
awesome vid. thx for posting that bingo.
can’t imagine.
@tela’smuff, I stood in line for a hair under seven hours and bought one of each. Got two Party Time albums though, as a good friend asked for a copy. He was kind enough to at least make an appearance in the line for the white tape(d) album.
Two Soundchecks – 1per cust.
Party Time – 3!!!per cust.
White tape(d)album – 2per cust.
Sad that so many buy, only to sell for a profit later. Not cool at all. There’s so many out there that actually want the records to, oh, I don’t know…listen to. It’s a shame some will have to pay hundreds to get their ears on one. There were a decent amount of folks not acting decently, trying to get those in line to help them out. We helped them out by showing them the end of the line and encouraging them to get in it.
On day one, while in line, having redirected the line around a tree for some shade, I had the pleasure of getting 2 high fives from the cutest little one. She couldn’t have been much older than 1 1/2. Her parents were also in line….and while I’m reading the days festival paper, she casually walks up to me and offers a high five. We high fived once. She then smiled and did it again, then just as casually, walked back over to her parents. It was a beautiful moment, especially since my wife and I are in deep negotiations about having our first. Not yet, but we’re heading in that direction. Anyway, it was a simple gesture to a stranger that many witnessed and surely warmed them as much as I.
Definitely saw a lot of families there. I thought that was just splendid.
best Moma of 3.0? following that perfect Peaches. nice start!
yeah Cory, it happens. such is the life of collecting vinyl, or anything really. my fingers are crossed they release some more copies by tours end. 3 per customer seems fairly liberal though! good for those that scored though.
do the kid thing. lots of joy!
OK, almost 4020 posts. Surely, this is the largest number on any one article, right?
@Miner, I mentioned it here the other day but…
Great to see your reviews make the PHiSH fest papers, along with a few book plugs too.
Ya’ll saw that, right? Good stuff. Were you contacted by anyone in particular, or did you do the contacting for said review gig? Just curious. Love that the bb is getting some exposure beyond the bb’s eyes and thumbs.
Ha, my wife will appreciate your post. My younger bro has 5, so we’re a little behind.
Within the next year for sure. I want mine to hear PHiSH live too. All these great stories from ya’ll is encouraging. We’re in our mid thirties so….
I was told that Party Time will most likely be released, but with a different jacket. That was from a jemp cat while waiting in line. No timeline as to when that will happen. As far as the soundchecks are concerned…they had 2000, and sold the 300 they apparently held back for the fest. No more of those. I think due to sheer demand, they’ll re-release the White Tape(d) album, but that’s just an assumption.
At any given time, you heard one copy, two copies, or three copies. No one seemed to know for certain, despite working that tent. We were all stunned that the limit was three on that one. There were 1500 of each going out that wknd., or so we were told.
And with 4020, I’m going to bed with the storage jam. Can’t wait for miner’s write-up tomorrow.
Unrelated. Why is it we take such good care of the camp spots yet totally trash the concert grounds? At 9 am, it looked like that garbage flotilla out in the ocean.
4020
nooooo
luckily i was able to grab the Two Soundchecks during Record Store Day.
me too on the age, and we are planning kid 2 soon. timing it up with a limited tour for Phish in 2012. i’m slick like that. as far as getting my daughter to dig Phish, it’s coming along. i have to fight off the Taylor Swift bombardment at times, but she’s learning…
every song so far for set i 7/1 has lots of additional flair. 🙂
@Random, you’ve got mail
um…2023? something