A Pre-Tour Wishlist
6.9.09 Asheville (D.Vann)
Two more days! It’s hard to believe that all the rumors and speculation that swirled around this Red Rocks stand for the better part of a year are coming to fruition in just two days. Everyone will set up in Colorado for a relaxing four nights in the mountains to kick off the second half of summer tour at one of the greatest venues in the country. As I think of the shows ahead, here are ten trends and/or developments that I hope to see over the course of August- in no particular order:
1. The return of “Scents and Subtle Sounds”- this was just getting good.
2. Mike needs to be louder again- back to the drawing board!
3. Increased musical risk taking- success or fail. June was for safety, now let’s take the plunge.
4. The exploration of “Ocelot,” “Faulty Plan,” and “Twenty Years Later.”
5. The improvement of LivePhish SBDs. Immediately.
6. Keep the “Tweezers” coming!
7. The use of ambient jamming as a creative tool, not a crutch. (e.g. Deer Creek “Oceans” and Alpine “Crosseyed”)
8. At least one big “Mike’s Song?” Red Rocks?
9. The re-emergence of “Free” as a jam vehicle.
10. As many “Songs I Heard the Ocean Sing” as possible- this is the new path to darkness.
What developments would you like to see this tour?
=====
Miner’s Travels : A Word About Show Reviews
Before this next run of shows gets underway, I just want to say a brief word about my show reviews. Phish is such a personal experience for all of us, it’s impossible to be objective in conveying the experience of a show, and that’s not even my intention. My “thoughts” are exactly that- my reflections on the music and experience of that night, at that moment. Sometimes I have the chance to listen to the show before I write, and sometimes I don’t. At times in June, I felt like my “thoughts” were interpreted as an attempt to objectively state things about a show, set, or jam- and that is never my goal, it isn’t possible. My thoughts are different from your thoughts, and our experiences and perceptions differ as well. The amazing thing about Phish is that many of our personal experiences are so similar, that we can relate to each other and share our ideas. Once tour is over, we will return to our regularly scheduled analysis and see how things stack up. Until then, enjoy the ride!
=====
Jam of the Day:
“Bathtub Gin” 7.8.98 I Barcelona, SP (listen)
This second-song “Gin” came in the first set of the band’s three-night Barcelona stand that concluded Europe ’98. A soaring “type-I” highlight, the band was clicking from moment one on this night, and throughout this standout tour. Besides one (allegedly) Absinthe-induced night in Prague, the tremendous music never stopped. A high quality SBD makes this one even more enjoyable for a summer day. Enjoy!
=====
DOWNLOAD OF THE DAY:
7.25.92 Performing Arts Center, Stowe, VT SBD < TORRENT
7.25.92 Performing Arts Center, Stowe, VT SBD < MEGAUPLOAD
Trey and Carlos - August '92 (phish.com)
This classic one set nugget from the Summer of ’92 comes to you via reader request in time for Red Rocks. This well-known opening set includes a fantastic guest sit-in by Carlos Santana, and his bandmates, Raul Rakow and Karl Perazzo, and remains one of the most well circulated tapes in history.
Runaway Jim, Foam, Sparkle, Stash, Rift, You Enjoy Myself*, Llama*, Funky Bitch*
Opened for Santana. *With Carlos Santana, Raul Rekow, and Karl Perazzo
Tags: Summer '09
As much as it saddens me to say…
I have 2 for both nites at the Gorge for best offer, or perhaps a
Halloween trade-a-rino.
pencilneckslick@yahoo.ca
miner can you please post the SBD for the whole 1993-08-15 show?
good call Jay – SPAC from 6-27 is hot too, and 6-14 Greek, that great Oade Bros. aud…Cuyahoga too…that was the first run of shows I was bummed to miss, 16 years old, sitting at home all summer after my first shows at hampton that spring…
High Time (brent era collection) vol. 1 uploading now to mediafire, at unheard-of blazing upload speeds taboot. Very much a Greatest Hits, 95% of which would be familiar to someone like Jay
@pencilneck sounds like a sad story, does that mean you can’t go? 🙁
Sorry Pencil, wish I could help you out. I just found my trade. Good luck!
For what it’s worth, I still have a 2-day pass to the Gorge and a Shoreline Lawn I need somebody to enjoy!
“I don’t really know what a horrible Grateful Dead show sounds like. I mean, with Phish I have heard flubbed YEM’s/Bowies/Reba’s etc etc so I know what it sounds like.
I don’t think I’ve noticed one flub in any of the GD shows I have.”
Dude….. are you insane?
What i am saying is i guess you need to listen to more Dead shows. Or maybe, if you have never heard a flubbed show, count your blessings and stop collecting Dead b/c you are bound to come across a whole lot of them.
Certainly a great deal more than flubbed Phish shows, which I am not sure even really exist.
Either way, it is 6:40 am in Croatia and I just woke up, so please forgive my anti-Dead-ness.
Dr SF woke up and forgot all about 2004
Maybe that’s a good thing. 🙂 Though 6/19 SPAC Set 2 can stand against anything they ever played. IMO
^^^ so very true dr. that whole weekend as a matter of fact, but that second set brought my mind to new places i didnt know existed
I just caught myself staring at my RR tix… goddamn… “Are they real?”
I usually stay away from Dead discussions, because I used to love them, and I’m not really sure why I stopped listening to them.
I always loved Jerry’s tone. Goddamn. That tone is just to die for.
I think I stopped listening because they were so inconsistent. Plus, I’m more consistently in the mood for dark stuff, and they almost never deliver (there’s only so many times you can listen to Victim from Without a Net!).
They just weren’t my thing, even though I listened to them for about 4 years pretty consistently. Dunno.
Dead aside, I CANNOT get enough of Grisman/Garcia stuff. Boy those guys sure sounded great.
Saw the Grisman Quintet at the Boulder Theater in August 2007 (I think) and it was one of the best performances I’ve ever seen. His son opened for them, I thought it was pretty freaking cool!
bring miami piper back
HARTFORD IM PACKIN 450 glowsticks surrender to flow bring everything you got
lol Dr Jones calling the Dead sloppy or inconsistent isn’t bashing them it’s just the truth, no one loves them more than me but why do you think I have all these mixtape playlists sitting around? Not just slop…I cut out most of the cowboy songs and bobby blues tunes too…and Brent originals…etc etc
@mug a lot of the darkness in the Dead is in the ballads…thematically, GD shows were actually much darker a lot of the time than most Phish shows…very heavy dark night of the soul trips of death and loss you know…they’d always pay it off with the rave-up closer, though.
Phish is the reverse…never noticed that before, lyrically lighter, musically darker.
For darker Dead you have to dig a little deeper…10-29-89 dark star for instance…or lots and lots of the jams from 72-74.
Hmmmm… I appreciate the suggestions Mr. Completely. Maybe I’ll give ’em a shot.
One of my biggest problems (some could call it, I choose not to) is that I never listen to lyrics unless I’m told to. I’m all about the sound. I find it incredible difficult and distracting and detracting to try and decipher lyrics (especially live lyrics). Though I do okay with Phish… I usually don’t care to pay attention unless I’m specifically told to do so, so I guess Phish is where I should be anyway.
^^that Dark Star is 10-26-89.
Check out this DWD from 8/5/96 (2nd night Red Rocks 96)…it moves into a beautiful space that reminds of a ’74 Eyes of the World…this was the first time I ever heard Phish jam like this, so of course, at the time it was the BEST EVER!
But it holds up, check it out.
“miner can you please post the SBD for the whole 1993-08-15 show?”
^ don’t have it…just had that “Stash”…the copy I have is actually fairly mediocre to poor…
damn, yeah i just downloaded the one on phishows.com and it’s bad quality… livephish.com needs to start releasing more shows
@ Marshall
“Prince Caspian >
2001”
^ Love it.
1. Bust outs of Page/Mike material (back in the basement, andelmans yard, runaway bride, dig further down….some sick music written by these guys over the last few years!)
2. Jesus Left Chicago smoker!
3. Jerry ballad on 8/8 (wharf rat, ship of fools, standing on the moon)
4. SPAC Guyute tour closer
5. Exploratory Chalkdust (see 3/6/09)
6. Smiling, grateful, positive fans!
WALLS OF THE CAVE!!!!