Today, to end the week, we look at some final moments from fall tour that left a mark on our collective memories. Two are jams and two are songs, but all four are illustrations of those times at shows when time stands still and we swim in the shrine of the Phish.

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“Disease > Free” 11.18 II

Phish usually drops one of their anthems to initiate and conclude their tours; creating thematic welcomes and farewells for all involved. This fall’s welcome-to-tour jam came as part of Detroit’s second set in the form of “Down With Disease.” Turning the upbeat rock and roll into a sharper piece of improv, Trey brought the band into darker thoughts using a dissonant tone. Shedding his strong guitar leads for a more collaborative affair, Trey offered fluttering melodies that accompanied Page and Mike’s offerings. An amoeba-like jam, the band pushed, pulled and stretched as one unit, without anyone dominating the mixture. Descending from the peak, the band sat in the musical denouement for a bit before Trey introduced the chords of “Free.” Allowing “Disease’s” jam to come to an organic conclusion, something the band hasn’t always been able to do this year, they moved quite naturally into the next song. Though “Free” hasn’t exactly been a vehicle for the band since their return, Trey added some gnarling guitar work, stretching Detroit’s version into the most significant of the fall. A bombastic landing pad for some other-worldy music, Cobo bounced in super-slow-motion with the over-sized bass grooves en route to the second-set’s standout sequence.

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“Torn and Frayed” 11.21 I

When Phish broke out this fan favorite from their “Exile” set, many people’s hopes were answered – Phish would continue to play “Torn and Frayed” as part of their catalog. Given the most interpretative treatment out of all the “Exile” songs in Indio, the song emerged as the leading contender to remain in the band’s catalog. And coincidentally, “Torn and Frayed” became the first song played off the double-album this fall. In line with the band’s current sound, were it not for the song’s significant legacy, it sounds like a piece that could have been cut in the studio while recording “Joy.” A narrative of the rock and roll lifestyle, “Torn and Frayed” is lyrically appropriate for Phish as well, referencing the path once traveled. Though I expected the song to pop up later in tour as a jam vehicle, the band kept it under wraps while bringing out three other songs from their cover set. Perhaps in Miami?

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“Camel Walk” 11.24 I

“Camel Walk” represented the moment everyone knew the first night of Philly would be something special. Significant not for its musical blowout, but for its mere inclusion as the fourth song of the show, “Camel Walk” foreshadowed the incredibly entertaining night that would unfold. Following a smoking triumvirate of “Chalk Dust” “Bathtub Gin,” “Cities,” many expected a dip in the first set excitement. Instead, the band continued the non-stop opening frame with 2009 bust-out of their funked out, old-school piece. Phish locked the switch in the “on” position from the first note of this show, and never took the pedal off the metal. With a set of musical bellows, Phish stoked a setlist fire, and “Camel Walk” added a necessary spark to the early stages of an already burning blaze.

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“Piper > BBFCFM” 11.22 II

In a building that bled with an old-school energy, Phish played right along with the feel of the miniature arena. Transforming this second set “Piper” into a manic musical passage, Phish upped the intensity of their break-neck journey with a high-speed percussive chase. Tearing into a set of power chords, Trey lent a harder edge to the music, while Page initiated an effect-laden synth pattern that quickly grew into the focus of the jam. Sprouting a unique musical root, Phish cranked up their tongue-in-cheek homage to death metal, “Big Black Furry Creatures From Mars.” With an aggressive transition likening a gasoline on a fire, Phish unleashed a mid-set inferno. Complete with nonsensical on-stage antics, the band launched a ludicrous escapade into the occult. Eventually emerging from the bizarre in a comedic ending, Trey tipped his cap to Fishman and his family in their home town of Syracuse. A throwback moment of the highest degree, it was refreshing to see that Phish still carried their spirit of absurdity into this era.

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Jam of the Day:

“Rock and Roll > Light > Crimes of the Mind” 11.29 II

Cumberland County’s improvisational meat of the second set.

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DOWNLOAD OF THE DAY:

11.22.09 Onondaga War Memorial, Syracuse, NY < Megaupload

I: David Bowie, Julius, Sparkle, Kill Devil Falls, Lawn Boy, Heavy Things, Funky Bitch, Sample in a Jar, Boogie On Reggae Woman, Let Me Lie, Beauty of a Broken Heart, Stash

II: Drowned > Twist > Piper > Big Black Furry Creature from Mars, Tube, Theme From the Bottom, Maze, The Horse > Silent in the Morning, Character Zero, First Tube

E: Good Times Bad Times

Source: DPA 4021 > Sound Devices 722 (24/96)

Listen to the ovation at the end of “Seven Below > Ghost.” The roar that you hear is one of absolute celebration from all sectors of the audience; Phish had transformed into psychedelic juggernauts of yore. Regardless of anyone’s opinion on the music itself, the band had showcased the qualities that made them famous – a musical abandon defined by uninhibited risk taking and, ultimately, golden musical pastures. Phish had just let it all hang loose for the first time since their comeback. Sure, the band had played some amazing jams, and certainly had put together more than a few awe-inspiring sets and shows, but this was a different story altogether. This was the exploratory magic of Phish at work again. For nearly an hour, the band pushed each other harder than we had seen them do in this era, experimenting with, and exploring, new musical planes, while arriving at some truly sublime segments of music along the way. In my memory, and in the memory of countless other fans, this was the type of passionate adventure that has always defined the Phish experience.

Throughout this fifty-minute stretch, Phish proved what most of us assumed – they could still throw down the gauntlet on a moment’s notice. Listening to Albany while driving last night, I felt like I was listening to Phish of a different era. A different energy blared from the speaker than I was used to hearing this year; the music likened the exploratory bravado that dripped from stages for years on end. I could truly hear the band searching for the sound, and then about halfway through “Seven Below,” hitting their stride like a gazelle on the Serengeti Plains. Everything clicked deep into this jam; deeper than Phish had been usually willing to dig this go-round. And in no surprise, the first time the band let loose in this uninhibited manner, they succeeded with flying colors. With heart-tugging melodic themes and a connected conversation, Phish found themselves amidst the defining musical jaunt since their return.

Once the band hit their stride, they never lost it for a minute. Careening to a triumphant peak of “Seven Below,” the band slid down the other side into “Ghost.” And from note one of this most unique jam, the band had everything locked down. Sewn together with profound musical glue, this piece would drive the band far beyond anything one would expect to hear from the song. Embodying the theory that if the band is flowing, it matters not what songs they play, Phish continued their musical theatrics with a multi-faceted jam that reached several sonic plateaus. Building from cooperative melodic grooves into a more abstract section of shimmering psychedelia, the music turned far more intense as Mike cranked up his filter and began crushing core patterns. The band continued to merge masterful sections of improv, landing in some of the most maniacal music of the modern era. This represented Phish without borders; jamming without preconceived notions of where things were headed; improvising in the truest sense of the word.

This is what Phish did in their prime, in various forms, from 1993 to 2000, and then again in 2003. Throughout these years, Phish always devised new ways to create original magic from similar springboards. Each year represented an evolution from the one before; Phish’s music built upon itself, morphing like a chameleon from one self-referential form to another. A freakish phenomenon, the band continued to reinvent their music year after year, proving to be one of the most creative forces in the history of the game.

So here we are, at the end of 2009. With a New Years Run separating us from Phish 2010, the first year back in just about in the books. It’s been an incredibly positive year for the Phish community, one laced with more than a few memories of a lifetime. But musically speaking, I believe 2009 will be looked back upon as the foundation for everything that followed; the building blocks for the next musical evolution. The band needed to prove to themselves, more than anyone in the audience, that they still had their mojo. It took them a while to get back into the swing of things, with some sparkling highlights along the way. But I don’t think it was until Albany that the band fully realized the magic they were still capable of hatching. Listening back, one can clearly hear Trey trying to bring back the “Seven Below” melody, aiming for a safe ending to the set’s opening jam. But the band pushed on, unconcerned with what was supposed to happen, and diving off the edge. Emerging almost an hour later, the band had rediscovered the mystery of the unknown; those pristine possibilities that arise when they drop guard and allow things to happen. When the landing point is unknown, Phish is at their greatest. And listening to that crowd in Albany, I think everyone agrees.

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Jam of the Day:

“Birds Of A Feather” 11.25 II

The standout piece of improv in a lackluster second set in Philly.

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DOWNLOAD OF THE DAY:

11.29.09 CCCC, Portland, ME < Megupload

I: Possum, Down with Disease, Nellie Kane, Weigh, When the Circus Comes, Kill Devil Falls, Water in the Sky, Stash, Meat, Undermind, Mike’s Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove

II: The Moma Dance, Rock and Roll > Light > Crimes of the Mind, Pebbles and Marbles, Also Sprach Zarathustra > Golgi Apparatus, Cavern, Run Like an Antelope

E: Free Bird, Carini, Waste

Source: Beyerdynamic CK930 > Grace Design Lunatec V3 > Sonic AD2K+ > Marantz PMD-661 (@ 24 bit / 96 kHz)