MR. MINER'S PHISH THOUGHTS

Five Flavors of Gumbo

As Phish’s music transformed into deep heavy funk grooves during the year 1997, and would subsequently evolve from there, their musical catalog would be similarly altered.  Some songs remained structurally the same, while others made the transformation with the band, finding themselves slowed down, and funked out.  Songs like Wolfman’s Brother, Tube, and Free became permanent funk vehicles.  Old songs and covers like Camel Walk, Sneakin’ Sally and Cities re-emerged.  New songs were written specifically in this vein- Ghost, The Moma Dance, Meat and later Sand, and Jiboo.  What they played was certainly adjusted to how they played.

One of the songs most profoundly effected by the onset of the “funk era” was Gumbo.  Initially debuted in 1990, Gumbo was a loose jazz-based composition that came into its own during the Summer ’91 tour with the Giant Country Horns.  The horns added the necessary accompaniment to the band in Gumbo, making the composition sound complete.  Up until 1997, the song stayed within its structure and was more often than not, part of one of those first set string of jamless songs.  Featuring nonsensical Phishy lyrics, the song was fun, but nothing to get you pumped up.  This all changed in the summer of 1997, when making three fifteen minute plus explorations- two of which were among the best jams of the summer- Gumbo took on a whole new character.  It now became a song that included exploratory jams, and was always good for at least ten minutes of dancy improvisation.  As Phish’s career progressed after 97, many standout versions would be played.  Below are five versions that you should, and probaby do, know about. Let’s revisit each of them.

1. 7.29.97 Desert Sky Pavilion, Phoenix, AZ

This desert Gumbo was the first time the band truly jammed the song out with any significance, and it worked out great.  Trey has referenced this jam as a personal favorite, and an example of the type of playing they were striving for in the Summer of ’97.  With the band completely locked, they work cooperatively to produce some quintessential whole-band Phish grooves in this fourteen-minute version.  A week into the tour, this Gumbo provided a preview of what was to come over the following two plus weeks on the way to the Great Went.

LISTEN TO 7.29.97 DESERT SKY GUMBO NOW!

2. 8.13.97 Star Lake Amphitheatre, Burgettstown, PA

A personal favorite, this Gumbo has all the dialed in funk of the 7.29 version, but then transcends it, adding layers of melody and harmony on top of the heavy grooves.  Known among many fans for its “Frankin’s Tower”-esque jam towards the last third of the song, whether intentionally or coincidentally, the band hints strongly at the Dead classic within the context of their own Phish funk.  This version includes some Phish-crack funk grooves at the onset of the jam, illustrating their musical progression over the summer.  This version has a certain flow to it the entire way through.  An A+ version all the way, this one is a can’t miss.

LISTEN TO 8.13.97 STAR LAKE GUMBO NOW!

3. 7.17.98 The Gorge, George Washington

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This version, directly preceding the sunset serenade of Divided Sky, gave the crowd some extremely thick open-air grooves to navigate, juxtaposing the band’s looseness and precision.   The Gorge’s huge bellowing, uninhibited sound brought the band’s playing even slower, as this version resembles an elephant strolling slowly down to the watering hole.  Some classic ’98 Trey licks are contained in this version that also sees some round and perfectly atypical Gordon basslines leading the way.  A laid back version that practically transports you to the Columbia River, this one is perfect is setting and ambiance.

LISTEN TO 7.17.98 GORGE GUMBO NOW!

4. 8.3.98: Deer Creek, Noblesville, IN

Deer Creek – photo Sean A

Perhaps the best Gumbo ever played, this set opener goes deep and clocks in just under twenty minutes.  With Trey leading the way right out of the gate, he picks up on a familiar melodic lick that he continues to play with and reference throughout the extended improv, and finally uses to peak the jam at the end.  This jam is a Deer Creek classic, and one of the highlights that never faded from the Summer of ’98.  Flirting with Manteca at points, this Gumbo is non-stop entertainment from beginning to end, and sees Trey absolutely shredding staccato funk lines the whole time.  Including some melodic resolution to the funk as well, this version illustrates how big this song had become in the post-’97 era.  This version sees the band firing on all cylinders in the middle of one of their best years ever.

5. 8.15.98 The Lemonwheel, Limestone, ME

photo- Dan Gareau

Inseparable from its completely epic combination of Gumbo > Sanity > Tweezer, and following a divine Reba, this Gumbo had magic written all over it.  Taking on a larger-than-life feeling up at Limestone, this Gumbo moved slowly, yet powerfully, echoing through the vast concert field and showering the crowd with searing guitar lines and heavy bass bombs.  Once the band drops into the jam of this version, its gets downright dirty.  Ridiculously thick and percussive, this Gumbo initiated a 80,000 person throw down while taking on a life all its own.  One of those times you felt that band was channeling the universe into your brain, this Gumbo felt perfect.  As the jam progresses, the band begins a Tweezer Reprise chord progression, signalling the huge upcoming Tweezer that was minutes away from blowing up.  The ending of this jam builds into some melodic territory that out of nowhere leads you directly into Sanity.  The most bizarrely natural transition, the age old classic brought the set to new heights.

What’s Your Favorite Gumbo? Respond in comments below??

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Coming at the end of a transformative tour in the Fall of 1996, this show would become known for one of the best guest sit-ins of the band’s career.  Welcoming Peter Apfelbaum on tenor sax to the stage for the second set sequence of 2001 > Timber Ho! > Taste, and Funky Bitch, the show transformed into a psychedelic jazz fusion performance, with Apfelbaum taking center stage multiple times.  Simply an epic portion of Phish +1.  The first set also featured John McEuen on banjo for My Old Home Place and Uncle Pen for you bluegrass fans out there.  Everyone united for a sublime Amazing Grace jam at the end of the night.  This one is special.

I: Runaway Jim, Punch You in the Eye, All Things Reconsidered, Bouncing Around the Room, Stash, Fluffhead, The Old Home Place*, Uncle Pen*, Prince Caspian, Chalk Dust Torture

II: La Grange, It’s Ice, Glide, Brother, Contact, Also Sprach Zarathustra-> Timber (Jerry)**, Taste**, Funky Bitch**, Amazing Grace, Amazing Grace Jam#

E: Possum#

*With John McEuen on banjo. **With Peter Apfelbaum on tenor sax. #With Peter Apfelbaum on tenor sax and John McEuen on lap slide guitar.

As Phish’s music transformed into deep heavy funk grooves during the year 1997, and would subsequently evolve from there, their musical catalog would be similarly altered.  Some songs remained structurally the same, while others made the transformation with the band, finding themselves slowed down, and funked out.  Songs like Wolfman’s Brother, Tube, and Free became …

Five Flavors of Gumbo Read More »

The Siket Disc

Phish is a live band whose musical essence lives in their on-stage improvisation.  Because of this truth, their many attempts at studio albums throughout their pre-1997 career, never truly captured their live sound.  With 1996’s Billy Breathes, they had finally succeeded in making an industry-accepted and widely acclaimed studio album, yet it still didn’t reflect their live sound.  In the days following Phish’s Winter 1997 Europe tour, where they had fully completed their funk transformation, the band stepped into Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, NY with a new approach to their work.

Having discovered a looser approach to their live jamming, the band decided to bring that approach into the studio.  Throughout 1997 and 1998, they would be in and out of the studio for sessions of straight improvisation.  Phish had no preconceptions of what would come out of these Bearsville Sessions, and the goal was just to create.  After the sessions, the band went back and listened to their jams, and began to write songs around the most interesting and catchy sections.  This was how The Story Of the Ghost came to be. On the album, the tracks existed as shorter ghost-like apparitions of the songs they represented, often fading in and out without any hard endings.  A true concept album, The Story of the Ghost came closest to representing their live sound.  However, when the band released their favorite outtakes from their sessions of March 11-15, and September 29-October 2 of 1997, on an instrumental album The Siket Disc, a new level of studio and live sonic resemblance emerged.

Page went back and listened to the material not used on their official release, selecting portions of music he found particularly interesting.  These portions were then brought to engineer, John Siket, who mixed the selections- but there was never any other music played on the album.  No overdubs, no retakes, just snippets of live Phish- in the studio.  Totaling nine instrumental, bordering on ambient, tracks, The Siket Disc was a instant favorite of fans favoring more abstract Phish soundscapes and darker psychedelia.  When it dropped less than a month before summer tour on June 3, 1999, many fans wondered if these live outtakes would somehow be incorporated into the upcoming tour.

Needing to wait no longer than two sets to find out the answer, late in the second set of Bonner Springs’ tour opener, Phish started a dark ambient jam out of Bug that built into layered sheets of distorted sound, eventually segueing into the beginning of Stash.  Phish had just debuted “My Left Toe,” the first track of The Siket Disc. This abstract jam would work its way into setlists all summer long, providing dark intros, and outros for jams- the most glorious coming in an dark-turned-blissful extended exploration at Star Lake on 7.21.  In addition, the post-apocalyptic sounds of “What’s the Use,” the album’s most impressive track, regularly worked into sets as well.  With such precision, melody, percussion, and subconscious bass work, it’s hard to believe that this “song” is really just a jam.  Transforming into a composed piece, this heavy musical segment was awe-inspiring to see live, and helped define the 1999 sound.

“The Name Is Slick,” evokes the feel of a late-night smoky jazz club, and it’s choppy guitar licks came straight out of Trey’s repertoire.  The track’s melodies appeared live both before and after the disc’s release.  The “Slick” melodies are particularly prominent in the Great Wood’s Split from 7.12.99.  “The Happy Whip and Dung Song,” a track sonically resembling a crazed psychedelic merry-go-round, made one live appearance in Alpine Valley’s huge second set of 7.24.99, out of the end of Mango song.  The only other track off The Siket Disc to appear live was “Quadrophonic Toppling,” a soundscape that came at the end of the gargantuan 40 minute Big Cypress “Sand,” cementing its place in the annals of Phish history.

Mere snippets of improvisation, The Siket Disc, brought forth studio-set Phish jams, that when compiled into an album, transports the listener right into the middle of Phish jams.  With no context surrounding the deep musical segments, it’s not necessarily an album for Phish beginners; but when you know what’s going on, it emerges as Phish’s most creative and interesting album to date.

1.4.03 (Weekapaug >) What’s the Use

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DOWNLOAD OF THE DAY:

Miner’s Picks: Summer ’96 & Miner’s Picks: Fall ’96 (links below)

Because these didn’t make it up to the site until the end of the day yesterday, I wanted to give you a chance to download this great music.  Totaling 15 hours, it covers most all essential 1996 Phish, as they moved toward a new sound.  I am giving you second links right below here, but the track listings, and original links, are in the previous post. Enjoy!

MINER’S PICKS: SUMMER’ 96 PT. 1

MINER’S PICKS: SUMMER ’96 PT. 2

MINER’S PICKS: FALL ’96 PT. 1

MINER’S PICKS: FALL ’96 PT. 2

MINER’S PICKS: FALL ’96 PT. 3

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In other news, with all the Phish hubbub these days, Scott Bernstein, of Hidden Track fame has started a Phish portal site called You Enjoy MyBlog.  With links to articles, videos, and audio downloads, its a place for all things Phishy. Check it Out!

Phish is a live band whose musical essence lives in their on-stage improvisation.  Because of this truth, their many attempts at studio albums throughout their pre-1997 career, never truly captured their live sound.  With 1996’s Billy Breathes, they had finally succeeded in making an industry-accepted and widely acclaimed studio album, yet it still didn’t reflect …

The Siket Disc Read More »

Tour Stop: Thomas & Mack Center

Phish in Vegas- seldom things were more indulgent and dionysian than seeing the greatest musical show on earth in the most lavish of adult playgrounds.  As Hunter S. Thompson once said, Vegas is the greatest town for psychedelics- overwhelming the senses from every angle, carpet pattern, slot machine ding, flashing light, and neon color.  Las Vegas and Phish made quite the festive combination.  The round-the-clock Vegas experience, spring-boarding off of magnificent Phish shows each night, created the best-weekend long party on tour.  From the pool to the blackjack table, to the bar, to your room, to the bar, to the show, to the after-parties, to your room, to the clubs, to the casinos, to your buddy’s suite, back to the casino- it never stopped.  All fun, all Phish, all the time.  Vegas, baby!  After Phish closed out Fall ’96 at the Aladdin Theatre on the strip, Phish found a permanent Las Vegas home in 1997 at the Thomas & Mack Center- the major sporting venue for UNLV.  It was in this building that ten shows would take place between the years of 1997 and the final year of 2004, all just a quick walk or cab from your hotel.  All shows here were fully general admission creating a Vegas-style free for all atmosphere in the overwhelmingly red venue. Let’s go to the videotape!

1997 saw Phish open its now-legendary tour in the City of Sin, with the back half of the Thomas & Mack Center curtained off due to the smaller crowd.  Creating a much more intimate feel, the GA floor was about half the size and had no seats, and plenty of room to move- unlike the later days of human sardines on Vegas floor.  The second song, a blazing funk instrumental, set the tone for the fall and had the crowd buzzing at setbreak, trying to figure out the name of “Black-Eyed Katy.”  Signaling the focus of Fall ’97, the funk instrumental provided a jolt of excitement to the first set which also included a great Split Open and a solid YEM. Yet, the hands down highlight of the show was the second set opening, Stash.  Stretching beyond twenty minutes, this spellbinding jam breaks down to an ambient tribal section before mystically building back into the song.  A dark-horse version, this is one of the best and most unique post-95 Stash’s out there.  This excursion got the tour underway, in earnest. A deep Mike’s Groove on a small spacious dance floor punctuated the evening.  As the Mike’s got into a tender melodic place, it sounded as if they would move into Piper, a move many fans had anticipated for the new song.  However, the band played it true with a Hydrogen intermezzo.  As the show ended and fans drove on to Utah, the lingering question was, “What was that funk jam?”

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1998 brought Phish back to Las Vegas for a two-night weekend around Halloween.  These shows would officially stamp Thomas & Mack with the Phish logo, as it would become a favorite tour stop for the rest of Phish’s career.  The Friday night affair was Phish’s “supposed” 15th anniversary of their first show, and though further research proved this to be inaccurate, the night progressed with that assumption.  Honoring the alleged anniversary, Phish played “Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress,” the first song they ever played back on December 2, 1983, and never played again over the next 1,204 shows.  A long and blistering Antelope highlighted the first set, but it would be the second set that people would remember from this one.  The opening sequence of Stash > Manteca > Tweezer provided the darkest improvisational segments of the evening, and the section of the show that would be played the most on fans’ CD players. The rest of the set mellowed out with a segue into NICU followed by an interesting interwoven jam by Trey and Mike leading the band into Prince Caspian.  A Golgi closer and a Freebird encore were also classic nuggets of Phish on their faux fifteenth.

As good as the 30th was, this 1998 weekend will live in Phish immortality for the ridiculous Halloween show the next night.  Probably the most “Phished-out” Halloween set, with the band jamming on and extending most songs off Velvet Underground’s Loaded, this show had three sets chock full of great Phish.  The first set’s palate was painted brightest by the mid-set Sneakin’ Sally and the set ending, aggressive Mike’s Groove.  Having warmed up with some heavy artillery, Phish was ready to slip into their Halloween costume.  As they worked through Loaded , you did not have to know the album to appreciate the music that emanated from the stage.  Emotionally driven songs gave way to Phishy extensions that created one of the more poignant performances of the band’s career.  Classic songs like “Sweet Jane,” “Rock and Roll,” and “Cool it Down,” just sounded right when Phish played them.  They especially killed the emotional ballads of “New Age” and ” Oh! Sweet Nuthin.’”  With not a single down point in the entire set, you could not help but feel proud of what the band had just accomplished when they walked off stage.

The third set, however, was when the demons of All Hallows Eve came out.  The supremely ominous and darkly exploratory 30 minute Wolfman’s provided the jam of the weekend, as Phish fused their new ambient style with their excessively dark psychedelia.  Reacting to one of the deepest points of the Fall ’98 highlight, the crowd, inspired by the sheer madness of the music, responded with a collective roar of insanity and a flurry of neon glow sticks.  Mired with darkness, artistic noise, and masterful improv this is a masterpiece of terrorizing Phish.  The jam finally segued into a  Piper, bringing some upbeat and melodic resolution to the darkness, and finally into a strangely abbreviated, set-ending Ghost, with delay loops left playing onstage.  Many fans were perplexed as to the reason for the abrupt ending, but one way or the other, they had just witnessed Phish at it’s maniacal best.  A classic that now lives on in the Live Phish series, this was the hallmark weekend for Phish at the Thomas and Mack Center.

2.15.03 – photo: Morgan

Somehow missing Las Vegas during a heavy touring year of 1999, Phish next came back to the desert oasis in 2000, on the brink of their hiatus.  September 29th, and 30th- the latter being Trey’s birthday- would be the last Vegas Phish party until 2003.  With only five shows left after this stand, the shows began to take on more meaning, knowing that this would be it- indefinitely.  The circus came in full force to Las Vegas for another weekend of debauchery.  The first set of the run featured a late Spock’s Brain, Bathtub Gin combo that got the improvisation moving, after a rocking Carini, Rift, Frankenstein opener boosted the energy to start.  The Gin was the real noteworthy highlight, featuring a wide open up-beat funk jam, not too far off from a 2001-type groove.

The second set opening sequence obliterated the building with the bust out Dinner and a Movie, followed by a huge Moma Dance, paying homage to the song’s roots.  Not letting up for a second, they dropped into a 2001 > Fluffhead.  These four songs had the crowd as high as possible, which was good, because following a Meatstick, the set degraded into a Kid Rock-fest with crappy covers of “Walk This Way,” what could have been a phenomenal “Rapper’s Delight,” and “We’re An American Band.”  Our beloved superheroes were now kicking it with Kid Rock- he and Trey had apparently hit it off.  Times, they were a’ changin’.

Trey’s birthday show, officially released as Live in Vegas, was high in bust out material and somewhat less in consistent heavy improvisation.  Opening with Walfredo, the catchy tune with all band members on different instruments, played for the first time since 1997, was a classic Phishy way to begin the show.  Stepping into their normal places on stage, the band played the recently busted out Curtain (With), the original composition with a blssful ending jam that would evolve into Reba.  Esther,  a Forbin’s > Mockingbird, referencing the upcoming hiatus for the first time, A Day in the Life and Emotional Rescue all appeared for the first time since 1998 throughout the course of this show.  The improvisational highlight came in the second set ending Twist > Sand > A Day In the Life.   As Phish bid farewell to Vegas and headed west to Phoenix, and then up the coast to Shoreline, fans became more nostalgic and reflective on the significance of these last few nights in the desert.

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After a lackluster comeback run over New Years of ’02-’03, many were left wondering if Phish had lost their mojo.  After a series of shows that were noticeably lacking in adventure and engaging material, Phish had business to take care of as they embarked on their Winter ’03 tour.  After a strong opening statement in the form of Walls > Carini at the LA Forum on Valentine’s Day, Phish headed four hours east, back to the Thomas & Mack, for yet another two-night stand.  Playing with a renewed fire and explosiveness, Phish tore apart the Thomas & Mack once again, with a first night’s second set of Waves > Bug, Ghost > Free, Hood.  On this night, Phish showed that LA was no fluke, and that they were back- at least for now.

The second night of ’03 got underway in a hurry with an opening Bowie > Catapult > Bowie, and a unique amorphous jam out of the new title track, Round Room.  The second set saw a masterful transition from Disease into Seven Below, and then back into Disease.  Later in the set, the long Piper jam would contain a reprise of Disease, while also teasing Seven Below, making this a very thematic set.  Both of these nights, again scheduled over a weekend for fans nationwide to attend, fully established Phish’s return.  They went on to play a solid Winter tour, and a stellar Summer tour before ending the year in Miami with four amazing shows.  2003 was a good year.

4.17.04 – photo: Derek

2004, not so much.  Phish’s final trip to Las Vegas’s Thomas & Mack is a time many fans point to where things really unraveled.  For the first time, Phish and Vegas were not going so well together.  Many in the once musically focused Phish community now seemed to favor the post-show party over the show itself- band and fans alike.  Trey’s voice was noticeably haggard throughout these three nights, and while each show contained its moments- this was still Phish, after all- the band seemed less unified than ever, producing some shows that would go down in Phish history for all the wrong reasons.  Despite the three-night struggle, the Disease on the first night was awesome, and the Twist and Tweezer from the second and third nights respectively were also solid.  Interestingly enough, I thought one of the more intense moments of the three nights was the seven minute Secret Smile late in the show on the first night.  This song saw Trey emoting a beautiful, yet sorrowful extended solo.  Looking back with perspective, he was crying through his guitar, talking to the world the best way he knew how, fully knowing that Phish was spiraling towards an imminent demise.  Phish doesn’t play three nights without ripping really hard at many points over the course of the shows.  It was quite perplexing.  This was the beginning of the end.

4.16.04 – photo: soyhead

As rumors now swirl about March dates and Summer dates, one would assume that Phish would go back to Vegas and do it up again.  Yet, perhaps, that is exactly what they don’t need- a 24-hour party.  Only time will tell if we will enter the familar confines of the Thomas & Mack Center again; to squeeze onto the floor, or find a bit of room on a third level balcony behind the stage, directly level with the speakers.  Perhaps Phish has matured past Vegas, for everyone’s well-being, or perhaps we will walk the strip wide-eyed all night once again.  Regardless of the future, Phish definitely has a rich past in this classic venue.

To commemorate Phish’s Thomas & Mack Shows, I present Miner’s Picks: Thomas & Mack. With about five and a half hours of pure Vegas Phish, this one should bring back some memories.  I had to leave out the Halloween ’98 show (ouch!) and the 2.15.03 show, because I only have the official releases. Nonetheless, there is plenty to keep you busy in here.  The link and tracks are below.

MINER’S PICKS: THOMAS & MACK <<< DOWNLOAD LINK!!

1. Black-Eyed Katy 11.13.97

2. Split Open and Melt 11.13.97

3. Stash 11.13.97

4,5,6. Mike’s > H2 > Weekapaug 11.13.97

7. Antelope 10.30.98

8,9,10. Stash > Manteca > Tweezer 10.30.98

11,12. Spock’s Brain, Bathtub Gin 9.29.00

13,14,15,16. Dinner and a Movie > Moma, 2001 > Fluffhead 9.29.00

17. The Curtain (With) 9.30.00

18,19. Twist > Sand 9.30.00

20. Round Room 2.16.03

21,22. Down With Disease > Seven Below 2.16.03

23,24. 2001 > Down With Disease 4.15.04

25. Twist 4.16.04

27,28. Halley’s Comet > Tweezer 4.17.08

(all photos @ Thomas & Mack Center. Credit: anonymous photographers at Phishpics.net)

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DOWNLOAD OF THE DAY: 8.6.93 Peacock Pavilion @ Cincinnati Zoo, OH

This is a classic show in the classic month of August 1993.  Smack in the middle of Phish’s “speed jazz” era, Phish was embarking on high-paced journeys every night.  This show, actually in a zoo, is a keeper right from the hot Split opener.  The real heat is turned on in the second frame with a Buried Alive > Tweezer, and a YEM > Halley’s > Slave.  Grab this if your missing it, its a staple of a complete collection. Set two is a nice soundboard!

1: Split Open and Melt, Poor Heart, The Curtain, Sample in a Jar, Rift, Horn, The Divided Sky, Nellie Cane, Chalk Dust Torture, Suzy Greenberg

2: Buried Alive-> Tweezer*, Guelah Papyrus, The Squirming Coil, Uncle Pen, You Enjoy Myself**-> Halley’s Comet-> Slave to the Traffic Light, HYHU-> Cracklin’ Rosie-> HYHU, Tweezer Reprise

E: Amazing Grace

*With “Tequila” tease. **With “Cocaine” (J.J. Cale) jam, including some lyrics.



Phish in Vegas- seldom things were more indulgent and dionysian than seeing the greatest musical show on earth in the most lavish of adult playgrounds.  As Hunter S. Thompson once said, Vegas is the greatest town for psychedelics- overwhelming the senses from every angle, carpet pattern, slot machine ding, flashing light, and neon color.  Las …

Tour Stop: Thomas & Mack Center Read More »

1996: The Forgotten Year

What happened between the climactic year of 1995 and the transformation of 1997?  Many seem to gloss over this time period as irrelevant to the band’s history, but when looking back with perspective, 1996 was a crucial year in Phish’s development.  Not to mention, it is a wholly underrated year of Phish.  Interestingly, you can actually hear the band’s music changing as they moved through the year, slowly evolving toward the sound of 1997.  Phish ended 1995 on the highest note possible; imploding Madison Square Garden in, certainly, their biggest and most significant show to date.  They stood at the mountaintop and could now gaze into the lush valleys below, reveling in the glow of their triumph.  Yet, after spending over a decade striving to reach this point, the question that would soon loom over the band was, “Now what?”

Fall ’96- photo: phish.net

Once you have reached a goal that has been in the distance for so long, self-reflection and reevaluation become a natural byproduct of success, and trying to figure out what comes next.  As Phish embarked on the year 1996, it was this natural process of self-discovery that would unfold over the course of the year.  Unsure of where their next musical move would take them, a new direction would emerge over the course of the summer and fall, and by the time early- 1997 rolled around, Phish would be reinvented.

Taking the six months off after a marathon Fall 1995, Phish first reemerged for an exciting daytime slot at Jazzfest in New Orleans- for which they would not be invited back due to the scene that came with them.  An 18-show European tour followed in June, mixing opening gigs with Santana with some headlining gigs of their own.  Musically, these shows remained relatively conservative for Phish, and didn’t necessarily break new ground while working some new songs into the rotation.

Red Rocks – photo: nugs.net

As they wound up their European vacation, Phish headed back to the US for an abbreviated eleven show summer tour.  This underrated tour featured standout shows, and amazing jams; yet Phish’s musical textures seemed to remain similar to the previous year’s fast, arena-rock psychedelia.  For a band who was always pushing the envelope of their own live music, they weren’t incorporating any truly new elements into their music- though they did feature a mini-acoustic stage throughout the summer.  With no lack of sharp and precise jamming, Summer ’96 produced some excellent musical portions.  Specifically, the four-night run at Red Rocks, (for which they would also not be invited back), contained some of the more inspired music of the summer.  With each night providing an array of smoking musical highlights, some of the best, in no particular order, were the 2001>Disease, Mike’s Groove, Runaway Jim > Gypsy Queen > Jim, Curtain > Tweezer, and the infamous Forbin’s > Mockingbird about the giant iguana and the newly discovered life on Mars, which they followed up with the appropriate Bowie cover.  Unfortunately, due to unruly fans, Phish would not be allowed back to this powerful venue, stamping these final four nights as Phish’s farewell to Morrison’s musical mecca.

Moving into the Midwest, Phish debuted at Alpine Valley, and then played arguably the best two shows of the summer in the cornfields at Deer Creek.  With first night highlights of Split Open, Antelope, Timber Ho! and Possum, and the second show being such a complete masterpiece, this was the year that Phish made Deer Creek their own personal Midwestern home.  With only one previous visit to the venue, these two stellar performances indelibly stamped Deer Creek on the map for all Phish fans to flock to for the following eight years.  Featuring one of the best first sets of the year, and a 30 minute monstrous and terrifying Mike’s Song in the second, 8.13.96 went down as one of the best shows of 1996.

After a consistently underrated show in Hershey Park, PA,  Phish and their traveling circus headed up to Plattsburgh, NY for the first weekend of over-sized Phish bliss in the playground of The Clifford Ball.  With art installations, interactive activities, rides, art projects, actors, contortionists, and an incredibly fan-friendly vibe, the Phish festival was born.  One of the most significant developments of 1996, this weekend would set the template for all the Phish festivals that dominated our imaginations over the years.  Chock full of excellent music and sensory overload, The Clifford Ball was a paradigm shift in possibilities that could come out of a live concert.  Once again, Phish had redefined what was possible in rock and roll.

The triumphant end of the summer, gave way to a new, more critically acclaimed, album in “Billy Breathes,” and a 35 show fall tour that would wind from Lake Placid, NY all the way to Las Vegas, NV.  Through the course of this fall itinerary, Phish would rediscover themselves, and begin to reinvent their approach to improvisation.  People often look at this tour in segments- the east coast segment up to Halloween, the post-Halloween through the Midwest, and the final run down the west coast.  It is fair to say that as each leg of this tour progressed, Phish’s playing became more and more energetic and began moving further along in a new and original direction.

Fall ’96 – photo: jawrat.com

The first leg of the tour remained fairly tame with some minor highlights popping up here and there, but as the band began to play arenas exclusively, the fluid translation of their sound to the bigger rooms wasn’t immediate.  With Trey playing a lot of his mini-percussion kit all fall, Page was forced to carry the top half of the music a bit too often.  Things shifted, however, on October 31st.  The musical costume Phish would don this year, profoundly effected the musical course of the rest of their career.  As we all know, Phish chose to cover the Talking Head’s 1980 classic, “Remain in Light.”  With a focus on groove and percussion, this album forced Phish to take a divergent approach to jamming.  Typically, Phish integrated their individual lines or patterns, matching them up and bouncing them off, what other band members were playing to create a heavily layered psychedelia.  However, given the percussive polyrhythms of “Remain In Light,” Phish had to work as one entity to create one groove, with each band member contributing a part of the greater whole.

Listening and completing each others’ musical ideas and phrases, Phish practiced this type of cooperative playing, and came out to the Omni’s stage on Halloween and nailed it, discovering their next musical step in the process. The band would now begin to work as one to create slower, more intentional rhythm grooves, a style that would not truly come to fruition until March 1st of 1997 in the industrial city of Hamburg, Germany.  In a club called Markthalle, during the Wolfman’s jam, Phish’s transformation was realized.  They had finally uncovered the musical style they had been carving away at since that night in Atlanta.  The band chronicled this show of great significance with the release of “Slip, Stitch, and Pass.”

11.2.96- photo: jawrat.com

After Halloween, Fall ’96 would begin to pick up steam.  Beginning with the Crosseyed > Antelope of following show in West Palm Beach, and the Tweezer in Gainesville, Phish would begin to crank out some inspired jams over the course of the tour, many which still hold up- if not forgotten- today.  Blazing a trail through the Midwest, highlights included the Curtain > Mike’s from Knoxville, TN, the Bathtub Gin from Lexington, KY, the YEM from Auburn Hills, the Grand Rapids Tweezer (!), the Omaha Harry Hood, the Target Center’s 2001 > Suzy, and the Simple from Memphis.  Seemingly driven with more emotion, enthusiasm, and inspiration, these Midwestern shows upped the ante from the east coast run, and prepared Phish for their final west coast stretch.

Phish turned it on as the year headed for a close.  The ten show west coast run dialed up the intensity, and featured the best playing of the fall.  Beginning in Spokane, WA and concluding with the recently released Aladdin Theatre show in Las Vegas, Phish honed in on their developing style of play, resulting in some highlight shows and some jealous east coasters.  From a heavy Vancouver Mike’s Groove, to a Tweezer > Sweet Emotion > Disease Reprise in Seattle, some more significant ripples were made in Phish’s pond in the pacific northwest.  Continuing with a phenomenal California run through the Cow Palace outside San Francisco, Arco Arena in Sacramento, and Pauly Pavilion at UCLA, featuring the bust out pf Peaches and a top notch Tweezer, Phish built large quantities of momentum as they approached their last three shows.  After smoking stops in Phoenix, San Diego and an end-of-tour throwdown in Vegas putting a cap on their fall, Phish were now swimming in a whole new direction.

A year that started with Phish looking for their next move, ended with the band solidly on track for the next stage of their career.  Culminating with a Philly > Boston New Year’s Run, 1996 was a year of transition, and many tend to leave it out of conversations because the band experienced some growing pains along the way.  Yet, what is growth without adversity?  A year that is sandwiched on both sides by years of far heavier-hitting Phish music, 1995 could not have progressed to 1997 had it not been for 1996.  With that understanding, and a knowledge of some of the lesser-known gems of this year, we may find a new appreciation for 1996- the forgotten year.

In appreciation of this Phishy year of transition, I have put together a couple compilations that should bring everyone up to speed on 1996.  Below you will find links to Miner’s Picks: Summer ’96 and Miner’s Picks: Fall ’96.  Totaling fifteen hours of music, many of which you may not be familiar with, these picks should help bring everyone up to speed on the forgotten year.  Links and track lists are below.  As always, download away, and be sure to enjoy the music!

MINER’S PICKS: SUMMER ’96 PT.1 <<<ALL LINKS ARE LIVE!!

MINER’S PICKS: SUMMER ’96 PT.2

MINER’S PICKS: FALL ’96 PT.1

MINER’S PICKS: FALL ’96 PT. 2

MINER’S PICKS: FALL ’96 PT. 3

SUMMER ’96

1. Tweezer 7.21 The Forum, Nuremberg, GER

2. Reba 7.21 The Forum, Nuremberg, GER

3. Antelope 8.2 Wolf Mountain, Park City, UT

4. Reba 8.4 Red Rocks Morrison, CO

5. David Bowie 8.4 Red Rocks

6. Slave to the Traffic Light 8.4 Red Rocks

7,8. 2001 >Disease 8.5 Red Rocks

9,10. Curtain > Tweezer 8.6 Red Rocks

11. Stash 8.7 Red Rocks

12. Runaway Jim 8.7 Red Rocks

13. Split Open and Melt 8.12 Deer Creek, IN

14. Antelope 8.12 Deer Creek

15. Mike’s Song 8.13 Deer Creek

16, 17. Wilson > Disease 8.14 Hershey Park, PA

18. Tweezer 8.14 Hershey Park, PA

19,20,21,22. Mike’s > Simple > Contact > Groove 8.16 Clifford Ball

23,24. 2001 > Disease 8.16 Clifford Ball

25. Harry Hood 8.16. Clifford Ball

26. Reba 8.17 Clifford Ball

27. Fluffhead 8.17 Clifford Ball

MINER’S PICKS: FALL ’96

1,2,3. Mike’s > Horse > Silent 10.29 Tallahasse, FL

4,5. Crosseyed > Antelope 11.2 West Palm Beach, FL

6. Tweezer 11.3 Gainesville, FL

7. Split Open and Melt 11.6 Knoxville, TN

8,9. Mike’s > Mike’s Jam (tracked as Simple) 11.6 Knoxville, TN

10. Bathtub Gin 11.7 Lexington, KY

11. YEM 11.9 Auburn Hills, MI

12. Tweezer 11.11 Grand Rapids, MI

13. Slave to the Traffic Light 11.11 Grand Rapids, MI

14, 15. 2001 > Suzy 11.13 Minneapolis, MN

16. Mike’s Song 11.15 St. Louis, MO

17, 18. Axilla > Harry Hood 11.16 Omaha, NE

19. David Bowie 11.19 Kansas City, MO

20,21,22. Bathtub Gin > Vibration of Life > YEM 11.19 Kansas City, MO

23. Split Open and Melt 11.23 Vancouver, BC

24. Antelope 11.24 Portland, OR

25,26,27. Tweezer > Sweet Emotion jam > Disease Reprise 11.27 Seattle, WA

28,29,30,31. 2001 > Timber Ho! > Jam > Taste 11.30 Sacramento, CA

32. Tweezer 12.1 Los Angeles, CA

33. Reba 12.1 Los Angeles, CA

34. Slave 12.1 Los Angeles, CA

35. Mike’s Song 12.4 San Diego, CA

36,37. 2001 > Llama 12.6 Las Vegas, NV

38,39,40.41 Mike’s > Simple > Hood > Weekapaug 12.6 Las Vegas, NV

What happened between the climactic year of 1995 and the transformation of 1997?  Many seem to gloss over this time period as irrelevant to the band’s history, but when looking back with perspective, 1996 was a crucial year in Phish’s development.  Not to mention, it is a wholly underrated year of Phish.  Interestingly, you can …

1996: The Forgotten Year Read More »

Classic Phish: 12.30.93

Once upon a time, there was one analog tape- one set- that I played twice as much as all my others.  It was just that good.  Forward, backward- I played it over and over and over again.  This is the story of that tape.  After stepping up their game in August of ’93, concluding a very successful summer tour, Phish took the fall off from touring.  The next time the band hit the stage, they embarked on their customary December New Year’s Run tucked into the Northeast.  It is this New Years Run that produced 12.30.93, one of the best Phish shows in history, and the outlandishly over-played analog tape of my yesteryears was the second set of this show.

Coming on a brisk snowy night in Portland, ME, this show cemented Cumberland County Civic Center as an ultimately Phishy venue.  With the stage designed as a massive aquarium for the New Years’ Run, Phish dove deeply on this evening.  Still regarded as one of the marquee performances of the band’s career, 12.30.93 was an instant classic, and its absence in the Live Phish series boggles the mind.  Wasting no time at all, the band opened up with a thick and grooving David Bowie that incorporated some masterful teasing of Aerosmith’s “Dream On.”  This initial jam of the show was so locked and patient, clearly illustrating the level of synchronicity the band felt on this night.  The show would only grow from this point forward.

Bowie’s greeting gave way to a typical first set series of non-improvisational songs, with a Curtain > Sample, and a Forbin’s > Mockingbird both highlights of this string.  Before closing the set with an a capella Freebird, the band stopped off for a short Bathtub Gin that featured some thematic and flowing improv before moving into some chugging uncharted territory.  Peaking pretty wildly, this Gin balanced out the dark Bowie that opened- but in reality, this was all just warm up.

Improving exponentially each year in the early ’90s, Phish commanded your attention every night at the end of 1993.   Something to behold and now listen to, with a total commitment to the entity of Phish, the band blossomed so fast, like one of those scientific time-lapse clips, from the years 1991-1995.  Coming at the end of a huge year of growth for Phish, they were about to play one of the best sets of their lives.

Like they did for almost every single Summer show in 1993, Phish came out for set two and opened up with their newly discovered instrumental cover of Deodato’s arrangement of “Also Sprach Zarathustra.”  Coupled with a new light rig that debuted over the summer, allowing Kuroda to both move and change colors of lights for the first time, people were getting the first glimpse of the new, more futuristic look of Phish.  These new lights, now contained indoors for the first time ever, upped the ante of the Phish experience.   “2001,” as it became known, was simply a three minute intro to each set during 1993- a little space-funk to get things moving.  This time, the band immediately launched into the New Years Run’s Mike’s Song.

Crisply moving through the initial couple minutes, when the jam dropped, the place exploded, and Phish moved into one of the greatest Mike’s ever played.  Period.  Enough cannot be said about the quality and sheer perfection of this jam- pure Phish.  With the classic focus on the second jam of the song, (inexplicably dropped in later years), it was here that the Phish tapped into existential forces and simply channeled the universe’s energy.  With all band members just going off as one, this Mike’s defines the ethos- the fundamental spirit- of Phish.  Ranging from bliss to terror, this jam does not let up for one second, before it seamlessly moves into Horse > Silent.  Only twelve minutes long, this Mike’s is potentially twelve of the best minutes of Phish’s career.  Listen yourself before you tell me I’m exaggerating.  It’s amazing how “compact” Phish jams were back then, so much madness in a short amount of time- no nonsense playing.

Phish 1993: photo – wolfgangsvault.com

The dream setlist continued with a mid-set Punch You In the Eye.  Coming in an unexpected slot, Punch picked the dark energy in the building right back up again.  Directly following the tightly executed version, the band dropped right into McGrupp which dissolved into the beginning of Weekapaug, closing the “dream” Mike’s Groove.  This Weekapaug features prominent Trey shredding throughout, and the band members just firing like the pistons of a automobile.  This is some full-on no-hesitation jamming that illustrates the style of Phish at the end of one of their greatest years of improvement.

A then typical Fishman segment of Prince’s Purple Rain came next before the band closed the set with a rare and majestic Slave to the Traffic Light.  Busted out in Cincinnati on August 6, of ’93, Slave had been tucked away for two years and 241 shows.  Played only one other time, at their first Red Rocks show on 8.20.93, the band, supposedly responding to a front row request, played their delicate jam vehicle as the emotional crescendo of this set of pure Phish fire.  The song, being so rare at the time, got the full treatment with one of the more emotionally intricate and directed builds of all-time. This is ten minutes of sonic bliss.

After sets like this, encores mean nothing, but if you’re keeping score, they played a Rocky Top, and a Good Times, Bad Times to end this version of 12.30- the best night of the year.  So you can see why I kept listening to that analog tape over and over and over again- this set will hold up to any set ever played to this day.  If you’re not yet convinced, download it below and let Phish convince you.

LISTEN TO THE 12.30.93 MIKE’S SONG NOW!

===

This is an amazing matrix recording of one of the best Phish shows of all time.  If you don’t have this, grab it now!

I: David Bowie, Weigh, The Curtain > Sample in a Jar, Paul and Silas, Colonel Forbin’s Ascent > Famous Mockingbird, Rift, Bathtub Gin, Freebird

II: Also Sprach Zarathustra > Mike’s Song > The Horse > Silent in the Morning, Punch You in the Eye, McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters > Weekapaug Groove> Purple Rain, Slave to the Traffic Light

E: Rocky Top, Good Times Bad Times

(The songs aren’t labeled by name, only track number.)

Once upon a time, there was one analog tape- one set- that I played twice as much as all my others.  It was just that good.  Forward, backward- I played it over and over and over again.  This is the story of that tape.  After stepping up their game in August of ’93, concluding a …

Classic Phish: 12.30.93 Read More »

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