After spinning through the first two shows of tour a number of times over the weekend, and I have to say, I hear the emergence of a new Phish. Not only are their jams multiplying in number, but they are also diversifying in scope and laced with new ideas. The band seemed incredibly fresh over the weekend and ready to try new things once again. And one of the biggest reasons for the Bethel shows’ many successes was—go figure—Trey Anastasio. Over the weekend, Trey stepped up and led the band in the commanding fashion of lore, but directed jams with a refined style that didn’t always necessitate melting faces. With delicate, yet directional licks of leadership—creative and intricate leads—Trey came to the forefront of the stage in a way that didn’t diminish his mates’ contributions. I keep thinking of the word “mature” to define this type of playing; a style that could only have been acquired through decades of improvisation and experimentation with the same players. Some key jams from Bethel where this refined yet powerful style is quite prevalent are “Halley’s,” “Bathtub Gin” and “Number Line.” And not consequently, these were three of the more impressive excursions of the weekend.

But only one day earlier, Phish engaged in a completely different type of jamming in an awing rendition of “Waves.” This unforgettable segment came via deep and collaborative exploration—and incredible patience. Unafraid to let things breathe and allow ideas to develop, the band didn’t scurry from improvisational abstraction over the first two shows, but embraced it—exercising patience to discover sublime moments. In this vein, creative soundscapes emerged as a style of Phish jamming again, and no piece exemplified this better than “Waves.” Dripping into the ether directly as the lyrics ended, the band illustrated a new-found proclivity for cosmic exploration. As no one member pushed or dominated the jam, the band traveled together through one of Bethel’s utterly surreal portions of improv. Open-ended jamming at its finest, the band took a collective swan dive into the void during “Waves” and just let the music flow through them. Ending this journey with a ambient sound sculpture, this standout sequence (and its eerie “Crosseyed” counterpart) couldn’t be more different than the stellar jamming of night two.

And yet another divergent sound was showcased in one of the absolute gems of the weekend that got buried in the opening set—”Kill Devil Falls.” This jam was captained by the combination of Trey and Fishman—the backbone of Phish. Pushing the band with speedy and intricate breakbeats, Fishman directed this jaunt at a vicious pace. Fish’s quickened beat science pushed Trey out of some of his only “Whaling” of the weekend and into mind-bending guitar playing, while coaxing the entire band to engage at a pace at which they play.. But the jam wasn’t straight ahead rock; it was far more creative yet still moving a mile a minute. This seemed like an extension of the “urgent ambient” jamming that began to emerge last year during summer’s second leg (illustrated in the Greek’s “Rock and Roll” and Jones Beach’s “Number Line”)—but on steroids! This was some breakneck jamming and tight as anything we heard all weekend.

Phish had that invincible feeling again over the Bethel run; that sense that bullets would bounce off their musical armor like Lilliputians’ attacking Gulliver. And even though the third night’s affair strayed a bit towards the seemingly-fading song-based trend of this era, the show was still strewn with impressive musical conversations. Throw in a bit of staccato, plinko-funk jamming, and from every angle possible, Bethel was an overwhelming triumph for the band and their dedicated fan base. By anyone’s account, this is shaping up to be one crazy summer, and when we finally wind down amidst the Rockies in Colorado come Labor Day, we’ll think back to the green rolling pastures of Bethel Woods and smile.

After two nights of psychedelic debauchery to open summer tour, Phish finished their three-night stand in Bethel with a show that was delivered with a razor-sharp tightness, but far less improvisational adventure than the previous couple. At several times throughout the show, the band seemed on the verge of diving into a musical abyss, but each time they took a turn out of creative waters and into the next song. When looking at Bethel as a three-show package, however, Sunday’s anthemic punctuation mark seemed just fine as we departed the blissful pastures of Woodstock for the grit of central Jersey.

Though Sunday’s show carried a “Saturday night rock and roll” vibe throughout, it still contained legitimate highlights book-ending the second set in “Mike’s > Simple” and “2001 > Light > Slave.” But after rewriting the landscape of modern Phish over the previous two nights, the decision to stay within the box during all of these jams (less “Simple”), seemed like a strange move. Carrying an air-tight quality to many of these sequences, the band allowed only “Simple” to breathe, while pushing through their other improvisational passages with safe and linear interplay. They played with the same precision and fire we have seen over the first couple of nights, but for whatever reason, they decided not to take any musical risks last night. At the end of “46 Days,” “Meatstick” and “Light,” Phish seemed on the brink of oozing into creative and psychedelic waters, but in each case the jam was cut in favor of keeping the setlist moving. The most egregious case of this came in the middle of the second set during “Meatstick.”

After sparking the second half with a ferocious “Mike’s Song” and followed with a summery, ambient jaunt in “Simple,” they smoothly segued into an inexplicably short “Weekapaug.” But at this point in the game, the stage was set for the continuation of a legitimate Phish set. But when “Meatstick” was cut off awkwardly for “Fluffhead,” any musical momentum had been derailed. It’s one thing when “Fluffhead” follows a significant jam, but its a whole ‘nother thing when it cuts one off altogether. After a disconnected three-song, mid-set sequence, the band picked the show back up with the space grooves of “2001.” Featuring heavy-hitting dance patterns, Trey, again, showed off his precise and multi-note licks that have been so prevalent in the summer’s opening weekend. And finally, one of the set’s highest points came in its final song—a multi-tiered “Slave to the Traffic Light” which built slowly through beat-less textures before ending the weekend with a blissful peak.

The opening set contained a true “first set” vibe for the first time this tour, and though everything was played sharply and with gusto, “Timber” represented the most engaging interplay of the set—and likely the show—as the band seethed white-hot psychedelia within the fourth song of the show. “Ocelot” and “Antelope” both featured contained jams with impresive full-band communication, and “Suzy” even boasted a shredding quasi-jam. But, all in all, other than “Timber,” the set amounted to a whole bunch of singles.

Regardless of its linear, song-based contour, Sunday night represented but one slice of a three-part pie that was Bethel Woods—the stand where Summer 2011 blasted off. Have a safe day off and I’ll see you in Jersey!

I: AC/DC Bag, Sample in a Jar, Rift, Ocelot, Ya Mar, Timber, The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony > Suzy Greenberg, 46 Days > Twenty Years Later, The Ballad of Curtis Loew, Run Like an Antelope

II: Mike’s Song > Simple > Weekapaug Groove, Meatstick > Fluffhead, Joy, Also Sprach Zarathustra > Light > Slave to the Traffic Light

E: Loving Cup, Tweezer Reprise

So let’s be serious here…what the fuck is going on? Where are we? What year is this? Because last night was as good as Phish has sounded in memory. Taking risks throughout both sets like a band we once knew—and have become staggeringly intimate with over the past two nights—Phish let us in on a secret: they are as good, if not better, than at any point in their career. Having their way with improvisation like they have in their best of days, the band has all of a sudden completely changed the game. And as a result of the first two shows in Bethel—two nights that have been nothing short of revelations—fans all over the country are now changing their summer plans, perhaps putting a little extra on their credit card than anticipated, in order to catch more of the greatest show on earth—Phish 2011.

Completely reinventing themselves in front of our eyes, from the moment they stepped on stage, the band commanded last night’s show with a passion, enthusiasm, and most of all—jams of all shapes and sizes—in a complete package of the likes we haven’t come close to seeing during this era. The Gorge? Miami? The Greek? Alpine? Utica? MSG? Psshaw….improvisational child’s play compared to the unbridled jamming of Saturday night’s spectacle. Since Hampton, Phish hadn’t come close to playing a show as chock-full of virtuoso, full-throttled and wide-open jamming as they did last night—and it was only the second night of summer tour! So do your reassessing, change your plans, and get to the amphitheatre nearest you! But enough about how we have a new phenomenon on our hands…what the hell happened last night?

It all started with a third-song “Cities.” As the band dripped into the funk, Trey layered a menacing guitar lead over the band’s textures, upping the entire jam to another level. Growing in size and scope while maintaining a thick groove, it was the most powerful version of “Cities” we’ve heard in this era. Then, when Phish dropped into “Halley’s,” the one percent chance that they would actually jam on the song came through in droves! Things were falling into place. Soaring into a quickened groove and anchored by Trey’s lightening-quick guitar work—a defining facet of the Bethel shows thus far—Phish crushed a “Halley’s” like they haven’t since a previous epoch. Speeding into “Anetlope-esque” interplay, the band was off and running in the best show anyone had seen since a previous lifetime. As they switched gears into a bass-led and more demented path, more than a few times I wondered what song we were amidst as I was blissfully unaware of anything but the transcendent moment. And this feeling would be replicated all night long in one improvisational escapade after the next. Flowing through “Halley’s” into “Runaway Jim,” the band’s relentless creativity continued. Within the mellow section of the song between verses, Phish infused a mind-melting “plinko funk” jam in the exact essence of the Worcester “Hood.” Feeding the song’s melodic patterns into a staccato-shredder, the band furthered one of their emerging jamming styles. And when they tore through the song’s “regular” jam, it was the second standout segment within”Runaway Jim!”

After playing through “Gumbo” and a smoking “Quinn the Eskimo,” the band unveiled a pristine “Limb by Limb” And with their newly-found super-abilities, this “Limb” took on an immaculate, life-affirming majesty that others simply don’t. But just when we had no idea how this extended set would come to a close, the opening notes of “Bathtub Gin” took everyone by surprise. And the only thing that could have been more of a surprise than the song’s placement was the jam that came out of it. Getting into torrid uptempo grooves, Trey took command of the music with his precise guitar assassination, and the band careened into yet another stellar piece of improvisation—this time—one of the no-brainer highlights of the night. Phish gained momentum by the second—pushed forward by the quickening beats of Fishman—and sounded as if they might segue into “Golden Age” when, in fact, they were actually speeding into a double-timed “Manteca!” Where were we at this point? When we last left Madison Square Garden, the band had dropped a series of great jams over the New Year’s Run, but they didn’t have the exploratory fire like this! Playing as if a band possessed, upon seamlessly re-merging with “Bathtub’s” theme and punctuating an absolute joke of a first set, the band received an extended standing ovation as if it was the end of the show. But it was only setbreak.

Nobody had any idea what had hit them come setbreak and the only thing many could consider is what might happen when the lights dropped again. And when they did, another musical labyrinth ensued. Sculpting the entirety of the set with mind-melting improvisation from start to finish, Phish came out and simply slayed the second half. To continue describing the superlative nature of their playing would feel redundant at this point, but simply stated, the band spat fire throughout, from the first note to the last. Sometimes, after a stunning set, you are just left with feelings and memories, and last night these emotions couldn’t have been more glowing. Memories of a full-throttled dance session that slowly morphed into a sky-scraping, ambient soundscape in “Disease.” A memory of a natural arrival in “Free” that served as a landing point of deeply cosmic exploration. Feelings evoked by a show-defining, centerpiece jam in “Backwards Down the Number Line”—an organically building adventure into the stratosphere of psychedelia. Memories of visiting band member’s “houses” within in a classic bit of Phishiness and comic relief in an extended “Makisupa.” (I think we all want to live at Page’s house!) Feelings of an exploratory and overwhelmingly blissful “Hood” that brought the song back into play as an vehicle for creative, out-of-the-box, interplay. Memories of needing water after the obvious set-closer in “Cavern” only to be backhanded by a scintillating “Bowie” that punctuated the frame with yet another improvisational odyssey.

We weren’t in Kansas anymore. Nope. We were in Bethel, New York—the site of Phish modern-era reinvention, and it might as well have felt like heaven. The band we watched re-birth themselves over the course 2009 and 2010 had left the building, and Phish 2011 moved in. A whole new monster with razor sharp fangs and a refined improvisational acumen, the band of summer clearly has something to prove. These last two nights have been incredibly powerful events for anyone who has loved this band for any part of their life. To be witnessing all this again is nothing short of awe-inducing. To use a cliche but incredibly appropriate sign off, “It’s all happening…”

I: Theme From the Bottom, NICU, Cities, Halley’s Comet > Runaway Jim, Gumbo, Quinn the Eskimo, Limb By Limb, Horn, Bathtub Gin

II: Down with Disease > Free, Backwards Down the Number Line, Makisupa Policeman -> Harry Hood > Cavern, David Bowie

E: A Day in the Life

Wasting absolutely no time warming up, Phish greeted a salivating fan base in Bethel on Friday night with a show that—above all else—showed a willingness to take risks and put themselves out on an improvisational ledge to see what happens. Meeting their summer audience on the astral plane, Phish put forth a psychedelic adventure of the likes we haven’t seen in quite some time. Within the meat of the second set, the band set the controls for the heart of the sun, and came out with musical gold. The prefab nature of the New Years’ Run was nowhere to be seen as the band dug into one of their more experimental sets in ages—the type of sets of which I dream. And they came up with gold all night long in a show opener that couldn’t be more encouraging—and inspiring—to open summer tour.

After an extended, six-month layoff, the band took a collective inhale and ended their time off with none other than “Tweezer.” Like a breath of the swankiest air you’ve felt in years, Phish growled into summer with a welcome home out of one of their classic pieces. Flowing through connected and laid-back grooves to kick off the show, the band showcased an early propensity for prolific playing. Segueing seamlessly into “My Friend, My Friend,” the guys opened the season with an legitimate improvisational combo that got everyone’s motor revved early. Following up with a non-stop string of greatest hits and hard hitting grooves, the band sparked a first-set fire that culminated in the two most improvisational pieces of the half in “Stash” and “Kill Devil Falls.” Within these two late-set jams, Phish set set the tone for the rest of the show with a absolutely face-melting “Stash,” and the most exciting and out-of-the-box “KDF” since Bonnaroo ’09. In between, the band also worked in a sleek “Wolfman’s -> Walk Away” combo, that saw “Wolfman’s” briefly get into a more abstract and intriguing segment.

But the second-set’s opening sequence seemed to follow the first—more song-based jams. And when the band dropped into “Boogie On,” it seemed totally out of place as the third song of the second set. And I think Phish sensed that too, because half-way through the song’s generic funk grooves, Trey began playing more slowly and with abstract effect, leading the band into a mind-numbing deconstruction of “Boogie On” that was hard to fathom in the live setting. Not until I heard this sequence again on tape did I realize the precision and mastery with which the band executed this demented migration from Stevie Wonder’s song into “Waves.” And when the band landed in “Waves,” the defining, soul-searching sequence of show commenced and wouldn’t end until the final notes of “Velvet Sea.”

Dipping into the first version “Waves” since Red Rocks ’09, the band came up with one of the most sublime segments of this era. Embarking on free-form psychedelia in the vein of a “Dark Star,” the band entered completely egoless jamming with no goal in mind but to play the next note, and it resulted in one of the most enchanting and exploratory passages of Phish in this era. Delicate and connected, exploratory yet coherent, the band intertwined ideas like weaving a fine musical silk. After moving through a melodic collaboration, the band moved onto a far more abstract plane with some serious psychedelic sound-sculpting. Navigating their way through a stunning soundscape of the likes we haven’t heard in recent years, the band organically emerged into “Prince Caspian.” A massive sense of arrival graced this mid-second set version, as it blossomed into a more than just a landing pad for the band’s stratospheric journey. Infusing a sense of glory into the power-ballad, Phish engaged in enhanced interplay that brought this version to a colossal peak. But unfinished—in the surprise of the night—the band rolled out of “Caspian” into “Crosseyed.” And out of “Crosseyed” came the the show’s defining segment, and one of the most sinister and to-die-for segments of 3.0 Phish.

After the band had careened through a torrid “Crosseyed” jam, reprised the lyrics, and continued annihilating a ferocious whole-band conversation, they—collectively—slowed into one of the evilest, most crack-like sequences of Phish in this era. Engulfing the pavilion in larger-than-life swamp music made for monsters, Phish, led by Trey’s uncompressed snarl, unveiled one of the defining modern sequences of dungeon sorcery (evoking echoes of the “Mike’s” jam from 7.22.97). As the crunching and menacing music enveloped our lives again, Phish unrolled a soundtrack of dreams.

Oozing from this sonic underworld into “Velvet Sea,” the slower song provided the perfect cap on the other-worldly excursions into the depths of Phish psychedelia. From the point the band decided to break down “Boogie On” and embark on “Waves,” the show shifted from a concert into a cosmic exploration of the type we travel coast to coast to capture. Organically forging a wide-open adventure on the first night of summer, Phish has our minds drooling at the possibilities the next 31 shows hold. We can only make the assumption that on the first night of tour, the band sent us a message of intent—a psychedelic telegram—to tell us that Summer 2011 blow our minds and expand our hearts. Jump on…its gonna be a hell of a ride.

I: Tweezer > My Friend, My Friend, Poor Heart, Roses Are Free, Funky Bitch, Wolfman’s Brother -> Walk Away, Stash, Bouncing Around the Room, Kill Devil Falls, Bold As Love

II: Carini, Back on the Train, Boogie On Reggae Woman > Waves > Prince Caspian > Crosseyed and Painless > Wading in the Velvet Sea, Possum, The Squirming Coil

E: Julius

So I’m finally in Bethel, my book in finally out of my hands in its final stages of design, the book site has finally launched, and best of all…Phish is finally playing today! So as a wise man once said, “Let’s get this show on the road.” The day has finally arrived and now we stare down a massive slate of summer shows, and we are all drooling to see what the band has to offer. In a matter of hours, the wait will be over and we will again be together again in the Congregation the of Phish. With a slew of shows on our plate, Bethel represents but a three-night appetizer of all that is to come, but with word that the guys have been practicing for tour and with “Waves” played at soundcheck yesterday, I foresee these three nights to be quite the hearty appetizer.  On the site of the legendary Woodstock festival, one must wonder if Phish will give any sort of musical nod to the legendary gathering. Perhaps Trey will start the weekend with an electrifying Star-Spangled tribute to Jimi? Will they open the run, as Richie Haven did Woodstock, by covering “Freedom?” Or perhaps they will cover another of the counter-culture artists—Santana comes to mind—that graced the mud-laced mecca. And maybe they will do nothing at all and focus their energies on what we love best…Phish jams.

One would think that the glossy feel of the New Years’ Run will be gone as the band digs into the dog days of summer. Amidst the thick East Coast summer air, Phish will push the doors to 2011 wide open. Its time to blow it up folks, Summer 2011 is here in a matter of hours….But before we dive head first into the most extensive tour of this era, allow me to introduce a way of participating…

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MR MINER’S PHISH THOUGHTS: THE BOOK

I have finally launched the website for my forthcoming book:”Mr. Miner’s Phish Thoughts: An Anthology by a Fan For the Fans.” And on the book site, we are running a contest that requires you to select certain songs played in each show. The contest will be broken up into three legs of summer, and fans will accrue points as each leg of the contest progresses. We will post standings periodically and you will be able to follow your progress. Just enter your email address and make your picks! The winner of each leg will receive a free, signed copy of “Mr. Miner’s Phish Thoughts: An Anthology by a Fan For the Fans.” Click here to enter, and while your at it, peruse the book site!

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NO SPOILERS – Summer 2011

Summer 2011 is ready to go, and we’ve made some changes. No Spoilers is now available as a podcast. This will let iTunes (and other programs) automagically download the latest show soon after it’s available. Old-school regular downloads (either Megaupload or straight http download) will still be available. Any news will still be posted on the classic No Spoilers page and details/instructions are there now: https://phishthoughts.com/nospoilers.

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PS: I would have posted this last night, but a massive storm in the area knocked out the power of our rental house and I am currently at a local library doing work! To update, I have been swamped with finishing up the book before tour, but I am back on the blog full-force now. The time has come…see you soon!