We Follow The Lines Going South

6.7.09 Camden (D. Vann)

6.7.09 Camden (D. Vann)

Still reeling from Camden’s throwdown as we make our way down to Asheville, the excitement for the rest of this Summer is now bubbling more vigorously than ever.  With six summer shows under their belt, Phish looks to dial up the intensity and improvisation as we enter one of the most anticipated weeks of tour.  From the mountains of Asheville, to the sleeper in Knoxville (tickets are now going for $12 on TicketsNow!), and from the monstrosity of Bonnaroo to the intimacy of The Fabulous Fox Theatre- this week holds countless promising moments.  The venues will be diverse, including both the grandest and smallest stages of the summer, and it’s all kicking off with an indoor GA show tonight in Asheville.  Having re-acclimated to the live setting, the band looks to springboard off their colossal night in Camden and continue their fireworks down south.

6.7.09 (D.Vann)

6.7.09 (D.Vann)

The band members are having a blast on stage night after night; flashing huge smiles, joking with each other and the crowd, and clearly sharing our enthusiasm for what is unfolding this summer. Trey, Page and Fish look like kids in a candy store up there, and while Mike is always more reserved, his bass has been expressing his thoughts in between subtle smiles.  This positive energy and enthusiasm has permeated their music into the audience where the crowds have been spectacular.  Everyone at the shows is having a blast and it seems that most people are coming for the right reasons- in celebration of Phish.  Once again, we are living IT, and it feels so good to be home again.

6.7.09 (D.Vann)

6.7.09 (D.Vann)

One of the most encouraging trends on this leg has been the copious amount of new songs, virtually all with improvisational potential.  Not to mention that when these pieces are compiled onto Phish’s forthcoming album, they may just comprise the most impressive studio effort of the band’s career.  Each piece focusing on a different piece of Phish’s sonic repertoire, the new material spans the Phish spectrum from ballads to psychedelia to straight-ahead rock and roll.  It will be interesting to watch the development of these new songs and see when they are placed as centerpiece jam vehicles in the show.  Personally, I look forward to the time when Phish builds big second set versions of “Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan,” the playful “Ocelot,” and “Twenty Years Later,” just to name a few.  And that time could be sooner rather than later.  Phish’s songwriting hasn’t been this strong since 1997 when they debuted a slew of new material that summer.  And with the way things are going, I think we will continue to hear further debuts as we shift into the southern run.

With the band improving by the night, it has been like watching time-lapse photography of Phish’s re-development.  Harnessing the precision and energy that put them on the map, and channeling it into a renewed improvisational spirit, the odysseys that made Phish famous are again knocking on our door again; and we’ve never had a more welcome visitor.

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344 Responses to “We Follow The Lines Going South”

  1. Doc Says:

    I’m feeling a BOAF next

  2. Bwana Sun Says:

    no Gamehenge for Asheville… maybe the FOX!

  3. Doc Says:

    Theme

  4. Mr. Completely Says:

    lol “them” from the bottom on the twit

  5. Lifeboy Says:

    when the repeats are stash and tube, how can anyone complain?

  6. Doc Says:

    Another Gogli

  7. Doc Says:

    Now Possum

  8. Col4bin Says:

    Third Possum this summer then…

  9. Phamily Berzerker Says:

    I wanted to say this earlier, that I was looking forward to the new cover or two that will bubble up in 3.0 this tour.

    A lot of bands start out playing covers. This band plays their covers particularly well. I suspect this one was fitting in many regards.

    I am highly interested in hearing Halley’s>Maze.

    LENGTHWISE!!! A song so great it appears twice on the album.

    I love this band.

  10. c0wfunk Says:

    just got in – make no mistake about it, phish blew up the civic center. Everyone came out of that room completely blown away by the power of this band. You could walk right up to the stage in front of page, it was a little wild.

    The first set dog faced boy, gumbo, tube, lengthwise came with a story about how trey stole the lyrics of the first 3 songs from fishmans’ journal way back in the day and then they convinced fish to do the lengthwise. divided sky was unbelievable – for real – this song doesn’t get any better.

    Second set just kept pushing . ghost was pushing it, halley’s >maze was sick++

    Awesome asheville vibe pervading – the new song opener received a huge ovation and from there we all knew it was on. Outside was great- they totally let us take over and there’s already been glowing reviews of the whole phish thing from our most skeptical citycouncil blue meanie guy. So maybe they’ll let us do it again. :)shower->sleep->work->knoxville ..

  11. halcyon Says:

    awesome cowfunk….glad you had a blast…

  12. Henry Holland Says:

    Holy crap, the set 1 BT only took 5 minutes to download. Heard some of it by live stream, the Divided Sky sounded really tight. Phish really needs to think about live video (with audio) streams, even if it means just sticking a camera at the soundboard with one shot all night, they could make serious $$$ on that.

  13. JPhishman Says:

    Thanks Miner and crew for making the downloads happen… this is epic. The whole site overall… fucking awesome. Hit me up for a beverage at the gorge!

  14. Jason Waite Says:

    THANK YOU ~ downloading these shows & reading the reviews (& comments) does make it so epic, feeling right there with you… right there with the band every moment as the rediscover the music…. PHISH v3.0 yo!

    THANK YOU MR MINER

  15. Jason Waite Says:

    oh ya, ya’ll can click on my name & check out my art 🙂

  16. Al Says:

    LIVEPHISH should think about video releases. The new light rig is awesome and the shows are excellent!

  17. Al Says:

    Check out this video of “Kill Devil Falls” from Jones Beach. Looks and sounds almost like an offical video (single camera). Nice:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itlIo-9jcEM&feature=related

  18. Al Says:

    Another new song (“Stealin’ Time..”) video taped at Jones Beach. Great quality:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0V6WAE54nQ&feature=related

  19. phishn head Says:

    6th row at camden………..wow……….wow……..anybody else as stoked as me …..thanks to the boys I feel whole again……thx miner keep up the great work…..

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