Here we have a couple of classics from the Summer of ’97 to tide you over ’till Sunday night’s No Spoilers action! These need no introduction- Alpine and Star Lake ’97. “Reba,” “Mike’s,” “Slave,” “Gumbo,” “Crosseyed,” “Ghost”- you know where they go. Nothing like a little trip down memory lane before busting into the future. FYI, Phish has been practicing at The Centrum in Worcester for a couple of days, getting ready to tear Fenway apart- new songs are being rehearsed. Enjoy the downloads, I’ll be speaking to you Monday from the other side. A great show and weekend to all!
I: Amoreena*, Poor Heart, Stash, Water in the Sky, Gumbo > The Horse > Silent in the Morning, Beauty of My Dreams, Crosseyed and Painless, Wilson > Little Drummer Boy, Sweet Adeline
II: Runaway Jim, Ghost > Izabella, Sleeping Monkey, McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters, Sample in a Jar, Also Sprach Zarathustra > Golgi Apparatus, Frankenstein
DOWNLOADS OF THE WEEKEND: Here we have a couple of classics from the Summer of ’97 to tide you over ’till Sunday night’s No Spoilers action! These need no introduction- Alpine and Star Lake ’97. “Reba,” “Mike’s,” “Slave,” “Gumbo,” “Crosseyed,” “Ghost”- you know where they go. Nothing like a little trip down memory lane before …
The first show of summer- there is nothing quite like it. Staring down the barrel of so many adventures, the tour- and possibilities- seem endless. Always defined by a palpable energy and anticipation, Phish’s tour kickoff parties are always a blast. With friends reuniting from across the country and beyond, everyone is always in great spirits and raring to go as soon as they arrive in the chosen city of destination. This will be the case- plus more- come Sunday in Boston, considering how many people will be seeing their first glimpse of Phish in 2009. After Hampton’s ticket debacle, many loyal fans were forced to wait it out until this summer to get their first 3.0 fix, and the time has finally come!
Tech Rehearsal @ Cricket Pavilon (M.Gordon)
Fenway will be vibrating with so much collective energy this weekend, awaiting all the new material Phish has to offer, and rocking to updated versions of the classics. Predicting what they will play, while fun, is ultimately futile. (“Time Turns Elastic,” “Tweezer” to open set II?) But I do predict that almost every single person in the stadium Sunday will have a one-of-a-kind Phish experience that will be as fun as any they’ve ever had. There is no more time to wait, only time to pack up and travel! So as you go on your way to Fenway, or whatever your first summer show will be, take the appropriate tunes contained within “Miner’s Picks: Summer Kickoff Party.” Contained on the compilation are highlights from the first shows of each US summer tour spanning the years of 1995-2004. The time is now, so enjoy the music and get ready to launch into summertime!
This is not a first show of tour, but one on the home stretch of the massive musical outing of Summer ’95. This show sparked the final twi-night stand before Sugarbush’s quasi-festival ended the triumphant summer. There is great playing througout this one, as Phish was a well-oiled machine at the end of tour. This one is coming at you as the last pre-tour reader request – enjoy!
I: AC/DC Bag, Scent of a Mule, Horn, Taste, The Wedge, Lizards, Mound, Fee, Run Like an Antelope
II: Also Sprach Zarathustra > Possum > Ha Ha Ha, TMWSIY > Avenu Malkenu > Mike’s Song > Contact > Weekapaug Groove, Amazing Grace, The Squirming Coil
E: HYHU > Cracklin’ Rosie > HYHU, Golgi Apparatus
Source: Unknown
The first show of summer- there is nothing quite like it. Staring down the barrel of so many adventures, the tour- and possibilities- seem endless. Always defined by a palpable energy and anticipation, Phish’s tour kickoff parties are always a blast. With friends reuniting from across the country and beyond, everyone is always in great …
We now sit on the brink of Summer Tour, with just over three days left until we congregate in Boston, and interestingly enough, this will be the second consecutive summer tour that is starting at a baseball stadium. Phish has been called up from Keyspan to Fenway this year, due to their super agent, Coran Capshaw, and they are primed to make their major league debut. Forging two subcultures of America- Phish and baseball – the Fenway opener may be more appropriate than meets the eye. While Phish’s psychedelic scene and baseball’s mainstream crowd may seem on different ends of the spectrum, the two cultures are far more similar than they appear.
A striking connection between the Phish fans and baseball fans are their love of statistics. What songs were played; how long since the last version; how long was the jam; how many shows have you been to; what songs have you seen and how many times? The list of numbers goes on and on, not so different than the national pastime’s fanatic following of home runs, RBIs, ERA, batting average, on-base percentage, strikeouts,WHIP, and what not. Yet it’s not just how these numbers accumulate, but how each group obsesses over them like fiends. Fantasy baseball leagues thrive on people’s desire to follow the numbers over the internet, and, ironically, this was the same original premise of Phantasy Tour. In each scene, fans will both glorify or criticize their heroes, depending on their performance on a given day, and they’ll make damn sure their voices are heard by someone. Grateful Dead aficionado, David Gans, once made a coherent analogy “Why Grateful Dead Shows Are Like Baseball Games,” and I’ve always thought the comparison to be spot on.
Phish @ Keyspan Park – 2004 (MSJ)
Both cultures come from rich traditions whose participants value and honor their past. The Boys of Summer, speaking of either Phish or baseball players, come from a lineage who forged a path for them to follow. Whether referencing former heroes of the diamond or the stage, the best became cultural icons of their era. Jerry Garcia, Joe DiMaggio, Jimi Hendrix, Willie Mays, John Lennon, Jackie Robinson, Miles Davis, Babe Ruth- these people were larger than life, transcending their sport or art and defining a place in time. With a certain charisma and flair for the dramatic, sectors of society gravitated around these symbolic figures who pushed their art forward.
The season of summer is a centerpiece for both Phish and baseball. Tours and games, reassuring fixtures of every year’s middle season, are always there to provide us with that fountain of youth; that magic reminding us of how life used to be. A double-header in the sun or a psychedelic adventure under the stars- both are spiritual endeavors that remind us of an innocent place inside of us; that kid who just wants to have fun all day. And so we go- to shows and to games- to feel that idyllic innocence and to discover what will happen, again and again, for a lifetime.
Stage at Fenway
Both Phish and baseball are ways of life with their own rites, ceremonies, and innate, underlying credos. Steeped in history, fans of each like to sit around and talk shop all night, while time stands still. Debates, arguments, and smack talk are the fabric of both conversations; but in the end it is the process that is remembered rather than the results. Eternal bonds that could never be broken are formed within each culture-friendships- companions on this ride.
And the funny thing with both Phish and baseball is that some just don’t get it. What’s the big deal? Why the obsession? If people aren’t into them, they couldn’t care less, and sometimes, therein lies the beauty. Often thought of as mere concerts and games- nothing but recreation- the magic in both Phish and baseball lies within the hearts of those who believe in their ethos.
These timeless entities will converge in only three days, when we migrate to Fenway to see Phish battle The Green Monster in a showdown that is guaranteed to be an instant classic!
Often referred to as simply the “Fleezer” show, this second set is downright nasty. In a summer of experimental jams, this “Tweezer” ranks right up there. Dominating the entire second set aside from an opening “Theme,” this “Tweezer” winds through many stages of improv, including a section of The Who’s “My Generation.” A true beast in every sense of the word, this one holds a special place in Summer ‘956 history.
I: Sample in a Jar, Scent of a Mule, Ha Ha Ha, The Divided Sky, Guelah Papyrus, It’s Ice, Strange Design, Maze, Cavern, Sweet Adeline
II: Theme From the Bottom > Tweezer > My Generation* >Tweezer > Tweezer Reprise
We now sit on the brink of Summer Tour, with just over three days left until we congregate in Boston, and interestingly enough, this will be the second consecutive summer tour that is starting at a baseball stadium. Phish has been called up from Keyspan to Fenway this year, due to their super agent, Coran …
Less than a week after the album release and second-ever performance of Trey’s orchestral opus “Time Turns Elastic,” Phish gave the community a significant pre-tour jolt by releasing the newly-completed Phish version as a single on iTunes yesterday morning. Utilizing another video announcement, this time of a studio montage while the song peaks as a soundtrack, Phish punctuated the arrival of their newest piece of music- and by the way it was presented, they seem damn proud of it. A thirteen-plus minute composition, “Time Turns Elastic” will be featured on Phish’s forthcoming album and will certainly jump into this summer’s rotation before too long.
5.21.09 Baltimore (D. Morris)
What started out as an idea for a Phish song during Trey’s solo time in Whitehall, NY, transformed into an orchestral piece, with two movements, in collaboration with Don Hart of Orchestra Nashville. After debuting “Time Turns Elastic” at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium last September, Trey set out to record and release his one of a kind piece. Right around that time, an acoustic demo of Trey playing the song by himself in The Barn surfaced, giving everyone a better point from which to imagine the piece as a Phish song; but I’m not sure anyone imagined this. Rearranging the piece’s second movement for a four-piece band and recording it in New York City, Phish has morphed the symphonic composition into a musical suite that will transfix audiences this summer.
What jumps out about “Time Turns Elastic”- as compared to Phish’s older multi-part compositions- is its cohesiveness. As opposed to many of the band’s classic songs that often contrast different musical milieus with precise, and sometimes abrupt, Zappa-like transitions, “Time Turns Elastic,” flows naturally from one segment into the next, each connected with a melodic framework that provides a unifying thread throughout the piece. While moving between many different compositional textures, there is always a familiar element of the song’s melodic structure, holding it together coherently.
Time Turns Elastic “Single”
After listening through the track about ten times yesterday, I figure there have to be at at least four or five distinct places where Phish could jump into different improvisational segments. Thus it will be interesting to see where the band stretches the song out when it’s performed live- not to mention there is a chance they will choose to play it as a straight composition- but they are Phish. Swimming between upbeat textures and darker segments, musical peaks and valleys, “Time Turns Elastic” has an incredibly dynamic quality. Some parts feel genuinely uplifting, while others are certainly somber and introspective, providing a sense of musical narrative.
(G.Stewart)
The playing on the track sounds like Phish has been firing in the studio and the video can confirm the fun they are having. The most essential part on the track is played by Fishman, who is “doin’ work” the entire time, creating extraordinarily delicate beats and cradling the music with a tapestry of rhythms that guide the band through the many diverse sections. Also interesting about “Time Turns Elastic” is the “whole-band” focus- no one person plays lead- instead, Trey, Mike, and Page, collectively provide the musical filling. While Trey wrote this song by himself, it is certainly not a guitar-led piece, rather a more collaborative effort that may foreshadow a newer song model.
Beyond a strict musical opus, there is a five-piece lyrical montage of poetic imagery that narrates a story right alongside. A philosophical statement about the fluctuations of time and our lives, Trey shares a piece of his own with us through this song. With images like the following: “But I am a submarine / and the submarine sinks below the ground” to “These are the reasons / that we lay down on the / ground / Drawn through a funnel, all / the colors run together / Turning brown;” “Wait for the waves to come / and carry me away / Down on the ground the / sound of voices in the / echoes seem to say;” “And the carousel turns into / breath around me;” Trey has certainly responded to his post-hiatus pop song naysayers with his strongest and most personal lyrical effort in some time. Essentially, Time Turns Elastic is a musical reflection on Trey’s time of struggle and the celebration of the resiliency of the human spirit. (Cue haters vomiting.)
Hampton (J.Bryce)
Yet while many of the lyrical themes are personally connected to Trey’s life, they are universally applicable to all of ours. We have all gone through periods where time has turned elastic- sped quickly or crawled- depending on our state of mind and activity, and we understand the fluctuations of emotion. We have all felt ourselves “in and out of focus” or the “world turning upside down;” and similarly, we have all felt “kissed by the water and held in [our] mother’s arms” and “paved with gold gleaming in daylight.” It is authentic human emotion that “Time Turns Elastic” draws on, both lyrically and musically, striking a chord somewhere inside us all. Maybe you don’t feel it yet after a listen or two, but wait until this summer is over- you will.
Let’s take it north of the border for today’s download to Toronto, home of pleasant Molson Amphitheatre, right on the water. In Phish’s first visit, they christened the venue with a great first set that was highlighted by the closing triumvirate of “Ghost,” “Wilson,” “YEM.” The second set, solid all the way through, was highlighted by the closing “2001 > Misty Mountain Hop” debut. All in all, a nice nugget from the north!
I: Chalk Dust Torture, Sample in a Jar, Cars Trucks Buses, The Sloth, The Divided Sky, Waste, Ghost, Wilson, You Enjoy Myself
II: Twist, The Moma Dance, What’s the Use?, Train Song, Also Sprach Zarathustra > Misty Mountain Hop*
E: Guyute, Hello My Baby
*First time played
Source: Unknown
Less than a week after the album release and second-ever performance of Trey’s orchestral opus “Time Turns Elastic,” Phish gave the community a significant pre-tour jolt by releasing the newly-completed Phish version as a single on iTunes yesterday morning. Utilizing another video announcement, this time of a studio montage while the song peaks as a …
After a meeting of the minds, Phish Thoughts has decided to move forward with our “No Spoilers” project for the entire Summer Tour! If you don’t already know what Phish Thoughts’ “No Spoilers” project is, click here for more details. If you want to read some feedback from the inaugural Hampton downloads, click here. We’ve had a few months to recover and reflect on the whole experience and are committed to continuing the project – albeit with a few changes.
“No Spoilers” was initially conceived as a way to listen to the shows spoiler-free (obviously). Even though it wasn’t part of the initial plan, it also evolved into “and get the shows up “FAST!” The “FAST” part led to a bit of stress pre-, during, and post-show, so we want to rework things a bit moving forward.
What does that mean? We will *always* post a spoiler free AUD source link after each show. The *only* question is how long it’ll take to get the link up. Sometimes it will be really quick, and other times it might take quite a while. How fast will partially depend on what tapers are at which shows.
We also hope that LivePhish takes our suggestion and starts offering an untracked MP3 ASAP after each show (i.e. bundle it for free with the regular tracked LivePhish downloads, but make it available immediately.) But until they do, we’ll keep doing this.
And finally, as always, thanks to the tapers who essentially ARE “No Spoilers”- Jamie Lutch (aka Jerryfreak), Jesse Hurlburt, Mark Hutchison, Jason Sobel, and the rest. Without them this would not happen – we are just companions on this ride.
As usual, if you have any comments, questions, suggestions, etc., please email us at nospoilers@phishthoughts.com
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TORRENT FEEDBACK
As you know, I am trying to move Phish Thoughts to 100% Torrents for the upcoming shows. I want to know how much of a problem that is for people. The only reason for moving away from regular downloads is that hosting them properly is expensive, and trying to host them on the cheap is a pain.
While it would be great if I could continue to offer regular downloads for the small percentage of people that absolutely can’t do torrents (e.g. work restrictions, iPhone, etc.), my strong hunch is that even though torrents are a valid option for many, old habits die hard and the path of least resistance is to just continue using the regular downloads because they’re there.
Also, we’ve done up a really quick, really simple “How to Torrent” tutorial. It’s probably easier than you think – you don’t necessarily need to mess around with firewalls, port forwarding, blah, blah, blah. Try it out and let us know your thoughts! The tutorial is permanently linked along the right side under Phish Thoughts Links.
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FALL ’97 MIX-UP RESULTS- ROBERT G. WINS KNOXVILLE TICKET!
In a race that was finished as close as humanly possible, Robert G. edged out George Fetner to be crowned the ultimate Fall ’97 Mix-Up champion! Robert has chosen a free Section 119 ticket to the Knoxville show on 6.10 as his prize. Robert nailed the entire, compact setlist (unreal!), while the only thing that George missed was the date of the “Simple” jam for track 3! I was incredibly impressed with precision of all three finalists, including Mark Leporati. The track listing to the tie-breaking mix is below.
1. “Slave” 12.5, Cleveland >
2. “Prince Caspian” 12.12, Albany >
3. “Simple” 12.28, Landover >
4. “Split Open and Melt” 11.13, Vegas >
5. “Timber” 12.9, Penn State >
6. “Twist” 11.14, Salt Lake City >
7. “Halley’s Comet” 12.28, Landover >
8. “Tweezer” 11.26, Hartford >
9. “You Enjoy Myself” 11.13, Vegas >
10. “David Bowie” 11.16, Denver >
11. “I Saw it Again” 12/12, Albany >
12. “Wolfman’s Brother” 11.19, Champaign >
13. “Fee/Meatstick jam” 11.19 Champaign
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SUMMER PHOTOGRAPHY VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
In order to make my posts look so fresh and so clean, I need your help! I want to make each post as up-to-date and relevant as possible, so to do that, I am putting out a request for photos of this summer’s shows. I am most interested in shots from inside the show, but am open to any that convey the spirit of this summer’s tour. Please email any and all photos to mrminer@phishthoughts.com as soon after the show as you can. All photos used will be given proper credit on site.
The second show of Summer ’99 found Phish orchestrating the elements once again, as a storm that had been brewing all night exploded with the drop into the “YEM” jam, creating an experience like none other. The second set, somewhat short due to weather, featured massive versions of “Disease” and “YEM.” The “Disease” gets quite dark before transitioning into a Phil and Friends-influenced version of “Prince Caspian,” as this was the next time the song was played. A live experience that you’ll never forget of you were there, this one definitely holds up on tape. We’ll keep the torrent thing going for now and see how it goes. I will probably have to put “regular” links on past posts per week, so they will remain accessible- we will see.
I: Punch You in the Eye, Billy Breathes, Guyute, Wolfman’s Brother*, Beauty of My Dreams#, Doin’ My Time#^, Roggae#, Water in the Sky#, Get Back on the Train#, Poor Heart#^
II: Down With Disease > Prince Caspian > You Enjoy Myself
E: Character Zero
*With Jerry Douglas on dobro. #With Jerry Douglas on dobro, Ronnie McCoury on mandolin and Tim O’Brien on fiddle (and lead vocals on “Doin’ My Time”). ^Gary “El Buho” Gazaway on trumpet; each guest took a solo.
SUMMER NO SPOILERS UPDATE After a meeting of the minds, Phish Thoughts has decided to move forward with our “No Spoilers” project for the entire Summer Tour! If you don’t already know what Phish Thoughts’ “No Spoilers” project is, click here for more details. If you want to read some feedback from the inaugural Hampton …
