Following a festival slot at Austin City Limits, Phish’s fall tour of 2010 began in earnest with an intimate three-night stand a Broomfield, Colorado. While these shows didn’t hold up as tour highlights come, they were a solid starter pack for what would be the band’s best 3.0 tour to that point. This tour contained several indelible trends, and the first began in Broomfield—”Light” as a vehicle for quickened groove. What had been primarily an abstract and “ambient”-slanted jam, transformed in Broomfield, upping the song’s potential for improv, and several stellar versions would follow. Another Fall trend was the transformation of “Carini” into a blissed out jam. The band took the demonic piece and continuously flipped it upside down, transforming its path into melodic realms. Finally, durng Fall 2010, “Sand” evolved from a platform for guitar fireworks into a whole-band jam, and was a centerpiece of fall. Surrounding these metamorphoses, Phish’s musical efficiency and proficiency both soared, but the band’s lock-step jamming didn’t fully click until their second performance in Charleston. From that point, Phish traveled north for the rest of the tour—two weeks that saw the band’s consistency return like never before in this era. Less Amherst, the band ran off a stretch standout performances in Augusta, Utica, Providence, Manchester, and three in AC. When this tour ended, the community was flying high as the band seemed destined for greatness again. Today’s playlist—featuring a few more than ten tracks—brings us back though the hottest stretch of Fall 2010.
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“Crosseyed and Painless” 10.16 II, Charleston, SC
A three-tiered beast of the likes we rarely hear this era.
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A high-octane, mid-set pairing from the band’s fire-stoking show.
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“Light” 10.19 II, Augusta, ME
My pick for the version of Fall, combining both groove-based and abstract elements.
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“Reba” 10.19 E, Augusta. ME
Out of nowhere Phish dropped one of the elite “Rebas” ever.
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“Run Like an Antelope” 10.20 I, Utica, NY
The Utica “Antelope” went where no modern version has been before or after.
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“Split > Have Mercy > Piper > Split” 10.20 II, Utica, NY
The unforgettable sequence from Utica’s second set.
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“Rock and Roll > Carini” 10.22 II, Providence, RI
Some avant-garde psychedelia into, arguably, the “Carini” of tour.
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“Light” 10.26 II, Manchester, NH
A groove-centric rendition that saw a reprise of the “Alumni Blues” funk from the opening set
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A fierce “Ghost” that, for some reason, doesn’t get mentioned much.
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“Cities” 10.29 I, Atlantic City, NJ
Atlantic “Cities.”
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Two staples of tour came together in the opening show of AC.
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“Chalk Dust -> Whole Lotta Love -> Chalk Dust” 10.30 I
Was this a Halloween trick or tease? During setbreak, opinions varied.
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