After Summer ’09 and Indio—featuring a masterful take on Exile on Main Street and a well-loved acoustic set—the energy and anticipation was sky high for Phish’s first all-indoor, fall tour since 1997. Historically, things got crazier when Phish took their show inside the walls of arenas across the country, but when Fall ’09 started, that wasn’t necessarily the case. Jamming not so frequently and often in linear fashion, while relying on high energy rock and roll, the band perplexed many fans by their on stage decisions. But on the second night of Albany, someone put something in the water backstage, and the band came out and tore through 50 of the most sublime minutes of music since they had returned in “Seven Below > Ghost.” The band went on to finish the final week of tour on this crest of momentum, and getting into far more interesting jams on the way. This musical momentum would come to a head in Miami over New Year’s Run, the band was finally on the same page and moving into the future. Enjoy these Fall ’09 highlights as we fade into the weekend.
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“46 Days” 11.18 II, Detroit, MI
In the first set of fall, Phish got into an infectious and retro funk jam that melted into an ambient soundscape.
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“Split Open and Melt” 11.21 I, Cincinatti, OH
Possibly the best “Split” of this era from the third set of four at The Crown.
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“Disease > Twenty Years Later” 11.24 II, Philadelphia, PA
A gorgeous jam amidst a smoking show at the Wachovia Center.
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“Seven Below > Ghost” 11.28 II, Albany, NY
The night everything turned around.
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“Undermind” 11.29 I, Portland, ME
A lively take on the 2004 title track featuring lockstep interplay between Trey and Mike.
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“Light > Slave” 12.2 II, NYC, NY
“Light” had been expanding throughout the fall, but this version set a new improvisational paradigm for the 3.0 vehicle.
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“Disease > Piper” 12.3 II, NYC, NY
The improvisational centerpiece from the second night at MSG—a furious song pairing with a level of jamming spurned on by the events in Albany of November 28th. A very different “Disease” jam than the delicate Philly rendition.
“Reba” 12.4 I, NYC, NY
An urgent, yet blissful, jam that reminded me of versions of an era past.
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“You Enjoy Myself” 12.4 II. NYC, NY
The return of YEMSG—a song with a lush history at the midtiown venue.
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“Tweezer -> Light” 12.5 II, Charlottesville, VA
The best “Tweezer” of tour was followed by a dark and mind-fucklingly abstract “Light” of the likes we hadn’t heard before. This sequence set Charlottesville’s tour finale in Charlottesville.
