As people continue to stress about tickets and plan for Saturday, Trey is opening his eight show run at Roseland tonight. Amidst the hype and excitement- now exponentially greater with ticket mania- this should be an adrenaline filled run for Trey and fans alike. Simply knowing that madness is around the corner is enough to make these shows all the more significant and exciting. To make sure everyone is in the loop with what is going on out there on the road, I’ll be bringing you post-show reports, and for most of the shows (not Roseland) will have crispy AUDs up by the morning with some highlights to listen to right on the site as you read the reviews!
Much anticipation is already focused on the fourth show of the tour, an appearance at Burlington’s Higher Ground. By far the hardest ticket on the run, stubs went for upwards of $200 to get into this show in which the possibilities are endless. The band apparently had a certain amount of tickets reserved for friends and family for this benefit for Trey’s Seven Below Arts Initiative. Everything about this show screams something special. Rumors of Phish surfacing for the second set have already swirled, though a full band performance seems somewhat unlikely. You know Mike will probably sit in, as he is Higher Ground’s resident “sit-in”guest, and with Ray’s full keyboard set up on stage, Page could easily hop up on a whim. Once three are up there, why not four? In all likelihood, it will be a straight up Trey show, but just considering what might happen is enough to get the heart moving a little faster.
In addition to the highly anticipated Roseland opener, stops at Albany’s classic Palace Theatre, Boston’s Orpheum Theatre, and Richmond’s new swanky room, The National, provide shows to look forward to. The explosion of cheers in Manhattan tomorrow night will be deafening, as the energy may exceed Trey’s comeback show in Brooklyn, because this now all means something a lot more to a lot of people.
8.7.08 Brooklyn
With a possible New Year’s run or show, these eight nights maybe the last we see of Trey until he, with Phish, steps foot on stage in Hampton. I highly doubt he will squeeze anything into January and February- hopefully those months are reserved for Phish’s practice sessions in the Barn, to hone their new and old material with the goal of coming back far sharper and more daring than last time. Not only on the mind of fans, Trey has got to be thinking similarly as he embarks on his first and last tour between his personal comeback and his band’s comeback.
This is a celebratory time in the Phish universe. Not since Miami ’03 has there been so much unbridled excitement in the scene. While that June run of ’04 shows was amazing musically, there was an impending sense that “the end” was near. Now, with nothing but more Phish in sight, the horizon is brighter than ever. In an unexpected case of course-correction, the universe has delivered us back to our fields of collective joy. After years lost on the mysterious Phish-less island, not knowing if we’d ever get home, the wheel has been turned, and we have been transported into a new existence, where possibilities are again endless.
While many are waiting for March to hop back on, Trey is taking whoever will come on a ten-day adventure through the Northeast, reacquainting himself, and all of us, to the wonders of being together again. With little ability to predict what is in store for these eights crazy nights, the anticipation is on the rise. Trey is ready, we are ready- lets’s go!
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TICKET UPDATE: So it seems that someone is thinking straight. Ticket Master has now added “3-Day Packages” for Hampton, so that you can buy all three shows at once! Again, most likely an attempt to shoo away one-ticket holders- you can be sure that if you get in, you WILL get all three shows. This is also a double-edged sword, because now tickets will disappear in less than a split-second now, but at least those who are lucky enough to get tickets don’t have the awkward position of figuring out what to do with their one ticket for the third night. Good luck folks, the people who hook it will be set!
Through the work of community member Paul Shapera Gwynne-Craig, we have a remastered copy of a classic show here. The final show on one of Phish’s most beloved tours, this one has it all. A first set that features a out of nowhere twenty minute Yamar opener, and a peak ’97 Tube prepared the audience for an all out raging second frame. Combining standout versions of Ghost, Mike’s, Hood, and Weekapaug, this was the perfect show to wrap up a perfect tour. Bring in the Dude! Thanks, Paul!
I: Ya Mar, Axilla, Theme From the Bottom, Ginseng Sullivan, Strange Design, Sample in a Jar, Vultures, Tube, Good Times Bad Times
II: NICU, Punch You in the Eye, Ghost, Mike’s Song# > Llama, When the Circus Comes, Weekapaug Groove > Catapult > Weekapaug Groove, Harry Hood*
E: My Soul, The Squirming Coil
J. Willis Pratt and Weird Bionic opened. #During which the band chants, “Bring in the Dude!”, referring not to Steve Pollak but to Trey, as there was apparently a jovial dispute about who the real “Dude of Life” is. Fish calls on Mike to “bring in the Dude” and the band stops and lets Mike play a crazy, effect-laden bass solo. Then Trey asks Fish to let him “bring in the Dude”. Fishman lets him, and bands stops to let Trey play a wah-wah solo. Then Page “brings in the Dude” with the clavinet. Fish doesn’t “bring in the Dude”. *With lights off and a glow stick war.
As people continue to stress about tickets and plan for Saturday, Trey is opening his eight show run at Roseland tonight. Amidst the hype and excitement- now exponentially greater with ticket mania- this should be an adrenaline filled run for Trey and fans alike. Simply knowing that madness is around the corner is enough to …
Answers to the great ticket mystery have started to unfold. Yesterday afternoon, Music Today began trickling emails out notifying the majority of the 100,000 ticket requesters that they had been denied any tickets. It seems as though it was all or nothing, as people who got tickets seemed to get their entire request filled. This seems like a clear an attempt at preventing thousands one-ticketed fans from descending upon Hampton to try to find the other two nights. It makes sense, but if Phish thinks the Hampton lot scene will anything but a completely laughable ticketless joke, they are fooling themselves. Unlike MSG, where there is no lot, and you had to walk the streets looking for extras, Hampton has an extensive parking lot and surrounding area that will no doubt be flooded with ticketless masses.
I have only heard about four people I know getting tickets, and one of them got TWO orders filled, so she has four tickets for each night! Two other “winners” also got their whole order filled, and the third “winner,” my brother, was the only one I know to get a partial order filled, as he only got two for night three. Strictly from an observational standpoint, this system seems like an incredibly random and inequitable way to distribute tickets. Someone who has never seen Phish grabs their dad’s credit card has the same chance of scoring tickets as a loyal fan who has been seeing them for over decade, and given the band countless thousands of dollars. In my opinion, this doesn’t seem right. Rewarding some with six tickets and most with none in a random selection process seems a bit too haphazard.
I don’t have any easy answers, but this is NOT how the situation should be. Many people will wind up not going to these shows because they will be forced to pay scalper prices in order to get in. The ticket game is almost impossible to win- with the Phish allotment of tickets virtually impossible to attain; and with Ticketmaster being so entangled in ticket broker relationships that most of their allotment go directly into the hands of scalpers. Who is left out of all this? The fan! Us! It is a jacked up system that has been ingrained for so long, that it seems hard to overturn. In taking a “strong stance against scalping,” Phish doesn’t seem to care about the reality of the situation. At the very least, they could have played MSG, a venue with a 20,000 person capacity for concerts instead of the 13,800 person Mothership. That would have allowed over 50% more people to get into these shows, and they could have played Hampton the following weekend, thinking of the big picture.
Hampton – The Promised Land- photo: Abhi
The average fan entered the lottery anywhere from 1 to 10 times. When not getting tickets, they are forced to try to break the Ticketmaster log jam, which as we all know, is almost as impossible as the lottery. Maybe you’ll be one of the lucky ones to actually get into the server, but by the time you enter in the “code word” and information, you’re out of luck for the other two nights. With a two ticket limit put into to place to spread the love, this will also ensure that no one will have extras for these shows, forcing our average fan to confront $250-300 tickets for each night. Let’s say you have a girlfriend or boyfriend, husband or wife- now you’re looking at $1500 for the run- JUST FOR TICKETS! With the first round of tickets gone, it seems like broker prices are already starting to climb into the $300 range. Once the 18th has come and gone, I don’t even want to know what they will be charging. This has gotten completely out of control.
What is a shame, is that people who should be inside Hampton, won’t be able to enter due to these exorbitant prices. I understand that Phish only controls their allotment of tickets, but maybe it is time for them to revisit their ticket distribution model, in order to ensure that fans inside didn’t have to cancel their winter vacation to get in. My only idea right now is to go back to the original “Grateful Dead” model for Tickets-By-Mail. It seems like a no brainer. The reason why there are 100,000 requests, is because any jackass with a credit card can put in a request that matters just as much as any other. With mail order- you needed to have the cash in hand if you wanted to order tickets. If that were the case, I’d say that number of “requests” would decrease exponentially. It’s really the only way to do it. No one ever got rejected from mail order before- it was about how good your tickets would be! Although Phish had good intentions, this is a classic case of technology screwing something up that was running smoothly.
Hopefully, this is all due to the massive hype of their comeback, and when they announce further dates, there will be greater chances of getting tickets. Hopefully, they won’t announce dates one weekend at a time, a process that would ensure a repeat of this exact same predicament. Honestly, they should have announced all the dates at once so that many people could have chosen what weekends to see, lessening the white hot intensity that is focused on Hampton. But they didn’t. So, for us “lottery losers,” we need to battle an insufficient server and thousands of brokers on Saturday morning, in a virtual sprint for tickets that will inevitably end quicker than Usain Bolt’s Olympic races. There is no easy strategy here. All I can say is, think positively, and “Good luck!”- this ain’t no walk in the park.
A popular favorite from the Summer of ’94, this is one that everyone has heard. One of the best shows of the tour, this first set is filled with Phish favorites, and the second set is for the ages. Peaches, “Mind Left Bowie” kicks off this epic frame, and before long, amidst a dark twisting Tweezer, the band reprises the Mind Left Body jam at the the peak of this set highlight. Pausing briefly in Lifeboy, the rest of the set explodes with an energetic YEM, and a set closing Chalk Dust. This is a classic- in soundboard form- enjoy!
I: Wilson > Rift, AC/DC Bag, Maze, The Mango Song > Down With Disease, It’s Ice, Dog Faced Boy > The Divided Sky, Sample in a Jar
II: Peaches en Regalia > Mind Left Body jam > David Bowie, Horn, McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters, Tweezer-> Lifeboy, You Enjoy Myself, Chalk Dust Torture
E: Bouncing Around the Room-> Tweezer Reprise
Answers to the great ticket mystery have started to unfold. Yesterday afternoon, Music Today began trickling emails out notifying the majority of the 100,000 ticket requesters that they had been denied any tickets. It seems as though it was all or nothing, as people who got tickets seemed to get their entire request filled. This …
“Here’s a guy and everyboy’s there, right? Up to him to put down what’s on everybody else’s mind. He starts the first chorus, then lines up his ideas, people, yeah, yeah, but get it, and then rises to his fate and has to blow equal to it. All of a sudden somewhere in the middle of the chorus he gets IT- everybody looks up and knows; they listen; he picks it up and carries. Time stops. He’s filling empty space with the substance of our lives, confessions of his bellybottom strain, remembrance of ideas, rehashes of old blowing. He has to blow across bridges and come back and do it with such infinite feeling soul-exploratory for the tune of the moment that everybody knows its not the tune that counts but IT.”
–Jack Kerouac, On the Road
This quote from the classic Beat writer inspired Phish’s name of their 2003 festival. They didn’t make any bones about hiding it, they had a large wooden plaque in the concert grounds at Limestone with this quotation on it. It is a vivid description of a saxophonist hitting his sacred stride and transcending his art form- reaching that place, that indescribable place that we all know so well. What makes Phish such an other-worldly band, is that they seem to have a secret recipe for IT. Four mere humans who can tap into IT far more easily than the most any band, these are the superpowers we have come to adore and expect from Phish.
IT is the reason we go on tour. IT is the reason we fly cross-country for three days or less. IT is the reason credit cards are abused for hotel rooms, rental cars, airplane and concert tickets. IT is the reason we have driven the path of each and every every highway in this vast land. IT is the reason you are reading this blog. IT is the reason for it all.
Those quiet moments of your soul, when the band is soaring into alternate universes and the energy enters you like osmosis. There is no effort expended, you are just a part of IT, flowing through you, as IT fills up your reserves of inspiration, energy, and adrenaline. This is what we quest for, from Tennessee, to Iowa, to Michigan, and beyond. These are the moments during which the band and audience together have peak experiences, as all is forgotten in the majesty of the moment. We forget who we are, where we are, why we are, and for just a moment, we simply are. Not to sound too hippie, but it is these time-and-spaceless moments that carry us, propel us, and allow us to realize that we are but a sponge for this magic if we allow ourselves to be.
IT is the reason there there is a lot scene. IT is the reason people cut the 3 for $5 deal. IT is the reason we have made up a ridiculous number of excuses for missing days of work. IT is also the reason so many of us took the “non-four year” path in school. But regardless of anything you missed at home, IT was always worth it. It was a no brainer.
As Mike Gordon has explained, IT is about that place where you are “half awake and half dreaming,” somewhere muddled between your conscious and subconscious self, letting go- releasing. Allowing the moment to move you for once, as opposed to the opposite. Literally, “surrendering to the flow.” Once you let go, a whole new world appears, a world more colorful and more vivid then anything you remembered. Sure, it sounds like Willy Wonka, but would you argue it’s not true?
IT is the 8.10.97 Deer Creek Cities. IT is the 7.6.94 Montreal Reba. IT is the 12.30.95 Harry Hood. IT is the 12.6.97 Tweezer. IT is the 4.3.98 Nassau Roses. IT is the 12.1.94 Salem Split. IT is the 6.14.00 Fukuoka Twist. IT is the 3.20.92 Binghampton Antelope. IT is the 12.30.93 Mike’s. IT is the 7.21.99 Star Lake My Left Toe. IT is the SPAC Song I Heard the Ocean Sing.
Gazing up in awe of what is sonically surrounding us, IT is that elusive feeling, that when once we experience it, we must seek it out again and again. More addictive than a drug, IT can direct your life if you’re not careful. Have you ever heard of a junkie driving five to eight hours per night through three states just to get another fix? When Hampton was announced, and it sparked a middle of the night party across the nation- that stuff doesn’t happen if this whole Phish thing isn’t the most transportive experience since Doc Brown’s flux capacitor. Found nowhere else in the musical world, the adventures on which these four take us rival those of the greatest improvisers of all time. And IT is all happening again.
IT is why there were 100,000 ticket requests. IT is that feeling of weightless connection when nothing else exists as you dance with your eyes closed. IT is why we feel childish “Christmas Eve” excitement the night before a show, and IT is why we have butterflies all afternoon before it finally happens. Because we know that before long we will to be re-attached to the shooting star of Phish, leaving a trail of cosmic debris in our collective wake, as we hold on with one hand and reach our other out to catch IT passing by.
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DOWNLOAD OF THE DAY:
This is the last show before the tour ending weekend at Sugarbush in Vermont. The second night of a superb two-night run, this second night was captured on soundboard as it was broadcast on FM radio. First set highlights feature the bizarre It’s Ice and a raging Split. The second set gets going with a crazy Maze, peaks with a gargantuan Stash, and winds down with a gorgeous Hood. The encore on this night, was the then-rare, Funky Bitch, dedicated the heads on tour- closing this last night in amphitheatres with something special.
I: Ya Mar, Llama, If I Could, All Things Reconsidered, It’s Ice*, Prince Caspian, Split Open and Melt, Bouncing Around the Room, Chalk Dust Torture
II: Wilson, Maze, Theme From the Bottom, Uncle Pen, Stash, Strange Design, Acoustic Army, Harry Hood, Suzy Greenberg**
E: Funky Bitch#
*Jam in middle featuring Fish on vacuum and Mike playing with an electric drill. **With “Sunshine of Your Love” and “Smoke on the Water” teases. #Dedicated to the tourheads as an always requested but never played tune.
(All photo’s from Michael Copeland’s (Meaty) Phish Photo Compilation)
“Here’s a guy and everyboy’s there, right? Up to him to put down what’s on everybody else’s mind. He starts the first chorus, then lines up his ideas, people, yeah, yeah, but get it, and then rises to his fate and has to blow equal to it. All of a sudden somewhere in the middle …
Trey saw his first concert, Jethro Tull, at the Philly Spectrum, so he explained in 1995. At the classic venue, at his first live music experience, little did he know that his own future band would turn the arena into one of their “homes away from home.” Beginning in the mid-’90s and beyond, The Spectrum always felt like Phish belonged there, as the band carved out a storied history in the building. Amidst the Philly sports complex, and notorious open nitrous market, the venue turned it into a routine stop during Phish’s eastern portion of their tours. With Trey being a huge Flyers fan, and a local of the general area, Philadelphia was always like a Phish homecoming. As the Philadelphia prepares to tear down the now run down Spectrum in favor of the more modernized First Union Center, Phish will hopefully squeeze a few more adventures out of the storied venue before its demolition. Yet, before we start thinking about the future in Philadelphia, lets look at Phish’s nine-show Spectrum past.
The Spectrum’s Stage – photo: Craig
Phish first arrived at the venue with the Rocky statue at the tail end of their monstrous 54-show Fall tour in 1995. With only two Lake Placid shows remaining, the first Spectrum show was the beginning of a celebratory weekend in the land of Phish. After 51 shows of improvising, Phish pulled into to Philly firing on all cylinders, the night after dropping the popular Tweezer > Timber > Tweezer Live Phish release from Binghamton, NY. Wasting no time at all getting their Spectrum career underway, the band opened with the classic combination of Chalkdust, Harry Hood. Both straight up Phish anthems, their appearance at the top of the very first show at the venue announced Phish’s arrival in a building dominated, historically, by the Grateful Dead. The first set progressed with more Phish classics such as Wilson > Maze, before stopping for a rare first set Fishman appearance with Elvis’ “Suspicious Minds.” Yet, it was after the set closing combo of Free, Possum that the adventure would truly begin.
The second set of this show is a frenetic journey through vintage December ’95 Phish. Kick-started by the Tweezer Reprise that completed the Binghamton Tweezer, the set was off and running in a split second. This second set is full of quality Phish jams from the Runaway Jim, to the very unique and psychedelic It’s Ice jam, to the massive Bathtub Gin in which the band rotated instruments for the second time in their career. Out of this spacy madness sparked a late set 2001 which, in turn, launched a concise but shredding set ending Bowie. Holding nothing back, the encore was a raging Good Times, Bad Times into the night’s second performance of Tweezer Reprise. A magnificent journey from beginning to end, this set is quintessential December ’95 Phish; a perfect convergence of music, lunacy, and energy at the first Phish conference at The Spectrum.
After their initial standout visit, Phish didn’t find themselves back at The Spectrum until the first two nights of 1996’s New Years Run. Following a transformative Fall tour, Phish headed for Philadelphia to begin four nights ringing in 1997, a year that would alter Phish’s musical course forever. On the 28th, the first set included one of the first-ever jammed out Wolfman’s, and although the length or funk did not compare to what would come the following year from the once benign song, this version provided a small preview while catching the attention of many fans. The opening set of the run remained pretty tame, though a nice Split was thrown into the list of songs. The second set got started in more interesting fashion with the diverse combination of Makisupa > Maze. During the Makisupa, Trey referenced the holiday spirit of the season by quoting the Grinch for his “key word”- “Stink, stank, stunk.” A Digital Delay jam segued mystically into TMWSIY, whose natural midsection, Avenu Malkenu, did not return to TMWSIY’s original melody. Instead, the band moved directly into the raucous opening to Mike’s- coining this section of the show “The Man Who Stepped Into Mike’s. A big ending to the set foreshadowed what would be a more intense excursion the following night.
The 29th of 1996 was a show that stood out in this run, and while the first set contained nothing much of note, less the return of the jazz cover, Caravan, the second set got downright dirty. Opening with an extended Bowie that had the intensity and magnitude of a set closer, this one was set up for something special. The Beatles’ “A Day In The Life” provided the perfect follow up for the dark excursion. After a mid-set Bathtub Gin, Lizards combination, the band dropped into a twenty-plus minute ripping YEM that found its way into a Rotation Jam, ending with Mike on piano segueing into a comical rendition of “Sixteen Candles.” As the band entered the YEM vocal jam, the show was surely over. But upon the extinguishing of the stage lights- on came four white spots and, “Oom Pah Pah, Oom Pah Pah, Oom Pah Paaaaaaaaaaah..” Stamping the already great show all the more special, Phish entered into the rare, Harpua. With a story about Jimmy, Poster, and Harpua going to hell and meeting the Uber-Demon, and a toungue-in cheeck cover of Oasis’ “Champagne Supernova,” this rendition in the historic venue felt very appropriate. As fans began to flock up to frigid Boston, they felt warm and fuzzy about the first two nights in The City of Brotherly Love.
Returning to The Spectrum for another two-night stand as part of their storied tour of Fall ’97, Phish unleashed a fury of funk in their four sets. The first night was highlighted by a incredibly strong Mike’s Groove, with a Simple > Dog-Faced Boy > Yamar sandwiched between top notch versions of Mike’s and Weekapaug. A dark and dancy twenty-minute Mike’s is really the gem from this set, and while Weekapaugs don’t get much play on my stereo, this is one that is definitely worth listening to, as Mike slaughters the jam.
The second night in ’97 featured a much more interesting first set, climaxing with the three song groovefest of Gumbo > 2001 > YEM. The funk faucet was turned on early in this show, and would overflow the Spectrum before the night was done. A second set opening Bowie provided a cryptic, searing ride that that eventually came out of a dark tunnel into minutes of percussive groove, uncharacteristic for fifteen minutes deep in a Bowie. As the band jammed down to a quiet rhythm, Trey coyly strummed the opening to Possum. The unfinished Bowie gave way for the more upbeat song, but the real highlight of this Possum is what comes directly after it. As the band had toyed with the fall funk all evening, upon the last note of Possum, they bust into a ridiculously tight and addictive jam. Phish should have requested the audience to strap on their seat belts before this unexpected high-paced psychedelic bumper car ride through the layered funk textures that colored the tour. It was as if the band just needed to get some funk out of their system after focusing on the divergent Bowie > Possum for so long. Closing the set with a Hood, this show complimented the night before quite well, creating a two-night stand that is often overshadowed by its east coast ’97 counterparts, Hampton and Worcester.
Phish didn’t visit the Spectrum in 1998, oddly skipping it on their extended and well-loved Fall run. The next time the band stepped foot in The Spectrum was on their anticipatory December ’99 “Cypress Warm Up Tour,” honoring the venue with yet another two-night stand. The first, 12.10, was an anomaly in an otherwise can’t miss two week run. The Tweezer opener is solid, and the band started the second set in promising fashion with a long Jiboo, and a Bowie, which segued before long, into Have Mercy, evoking memories of the classic combo in the well-circulated 5.8.93 Durham, NH show. However, this one would not hold up, as the band flagrantly botched the transition out of Have Mercy and instead of finishing the Bowie, went into a Hold Your Head Up jam signifying a Fishman appearance- this time Crackin’ Rosie- a nice way to kill a promising set. Any momentum was lost at this point, as the band stumbled to the finish line with a quick Twist, and Waste. While this show just wasn’t tapped in, the following night would be an 180 degree turn with a second set adventure into the very fabric of the universe.
Unlike night one, the Phish came on stage and got directly into some serious improvisation with a blissful twenty-minute Hood opener, followed directly by a classic Mike’s > H2 > Weekapaug. 12.11, proved to be a whole different monster than the previous night, as the band played one of the top shows of the year in one of their favorite venues. Circus, Scent of a Mule, and Cavern rounded out the stellar first frame, but no one would be talking about what happened before set break when this show was over.
The second set was a masterpiece- flat out and simple. After a Boogie On opener, the sequence of Sneakin’ Sally > Ghost > 2001 > Disease is the reason we go and see Phish. A absolutely sublime Ghost featured a gorgeous melodic peak by Trey, and got very dirty and ambient quickly after. The band soon entered into a layered “space” jam of straight psychedelic madness- not unlike the 12.17.99 Hampton jam playing in the the recent announcement video. Yet as opposed to Hampton’s anti-climactic Bug, this jam went exactly where everyone thought it was going- into a searing inter-galatcic flight of 2001. This version is a monster, clocking in at over fifteen minutes of pure Phish crack, as the set had now been grooving excessively hard the entire time. Using the popular follow-up of Disease, this entire segment of Phish is awe inducing. One of the most exciting shows of the year, and one of the best ever at The Spectrum, this was an instant classic, adding another page to Phish’s legendary past in this legendary venue.
The Faux Flyer
Only appearing in Camden, across the river, Phish never made it to The Spectrum in 2000, the year before their hiatus, reappearing in Philadelphia during their Winter ’03 “return-to-action tour.” In a pretty tame show, Phish showcased Slave in the first set, while opening up the second with a fun combination of AC/DC Bag and Cities before playing a soaring Theme that went into some uncharted dissonant and groovy territory before segueing into Runaway Jim. Certainly the centerpiece of a mellow show, the Theme > Jim is some high quality Phish (though it won’t be on the compilation due to my lack of an audience copy.)
The Spectrum: 11.29.03
Phish’s final performance at Philly’s Spectrum was a bright spot on a somewhat underwhelming four night Thanksgiving / 20th Anniversary Run. Despite the standard first set, the jam of the run came at the beginning of the second with a dark exploratory Twist. Highlighting the heavy dissonant post-hiatus tone that some fans adored and others disliked, Trey led the band on a journey that finished with a dangerous quest down a dark alley. Yet, at the end of this eerie alley was a triumphant Simple that oozed out of the ending of Twist. One of the jams of ’03, this Spectrum highlight would be the last true psychedelic experiment the band conducted at the venue, as the set continued with a mellow reggae segment of Makisupa and Buffalo Bill, before picking back up with the closing trio of Bowie, Strange Design, and Character Zero.
The Spectrum is such a storied venue, far beyond the many epic nights of Phish. Yet, in September, it will be no more. It will be a sad day when this relic of American culture is gone, but Phish will all but definitely be visiting one more time. With rumors swirling of a weekend at the Spectrum in March (to go along with Hampton, MSG, and Boston), we could all go back one more time for what will surely be a multiple night stand and a final tribute to the many fond memories we’ve collectively had in the building.
Until then, I have compiled the highlights of Phish at The Spectrum from 1995 to 2003, in the newest edition of Miner’s Picks: “The Spectrum.” Totalling 7.5 hours of pure Philadelphia Phish jams, this compilation is complete summary of Phish’s intimate relationship to the classic arena.
1-6. It’s Ice > Gin > Rotation Jam > Mallory > 2001 > Bowie 12.15.95 II
Trey saw his first concert, Jethro Tull, at the Philly Spectrum, so he explained in 1995. At the classic venue, at his first live music experience, little did he know that his own future band would turn the arena into one of their “homes away from home.” Beginning in the mid-’90s and beyond, The Spectrum …
Fans were thrilled when this Fall ’97 gem’s soundboard was leaked about two years ago. A outstanding show from start to finish, highlights of this show abound. From the powerful opening of Curtain > YEM, you knew there was no messing around this evening. With an addictive Crosseyed-laced jam, this YEM is highlight of the three nights right off the bat. A soundboard Black Eyed-Katy is a clear treat, and a solid Theme rounds out the first set. A five song second set filled with improvisation featured amazing versions of Limb, Slave, and a Ghost that has often been credited for starting the “start/stop” phase that dominated late ’97. Only the first night of one of the most exciting weekends of the tour, this show got the Centrum warmed up in a hurry. Crispy SBD!
I: The Curtain, You Enjoy Myself* > I Didn’t Know, Maze, Farmhouse, Black-Eyed Katy, Theme From the Bottom > Rocky Top
II: Timber (Jerry), Limb By Limb, Slave to the Traffic Light > Ghost# > Johnny B. Goode
E: My Soul
*With “Crosseyed and Painless” teases; no bass/drum jam or vocal jam. # With start/stop jamming.
8.7.08 – photo: Dino Perrucci
With the anticipation of Trey starting his short Fall run this week, I figured I’d put this recent show up so people can familiarize themselves with some of the new material he will most likely be playing. With a first set of Trey Band classics, and a second set dominated by new material, Trey’s “comeback” show was much more than a welcome home. With the Phish looming, Trey’s tour is, all of a sudden, far more interesting and relevant. A breeding ground for new songs, TAB is a place for Trey to get loose, work out his new jams, and begin re-sharpening for a few concerts in March. It’s on- starting Thursday! See you at Roseland!
I: Alaska*, Gotta Jibboo, Peggy*, Sweet Dreams Melinda, Sand, Cayman Review, Gone**^ Windora Bug, Night Speaks To A Woman
II: Tuesday, Drifting, Backwards Down The Number Line*, Spin, Valentine**^, Greyhound Rising**^, The Way I Feel, Mr. Completely > Light*^, First Tube
E Heavy Things, Bug
*new original; words and music by Trey and Tom Marshall
**new original; words and music by Trey
^first time played
4.2.98 TUBE: THE BEGINNING OF THE ISLAND RUN
2.16.03 ROUND ROOM JAM, VEGAS
Fans were thrilled when this Fall ’97 gem’s soundboard was leaked about two years ago. A outstanding show from start to finish, highlights of this show abound. From the powerful opening of Curtain > YEM, you knew there was no messing around this evening. With an addictive Crosseyed-laced jam, this YEM is highlight of the …
