The tentative band we saw in Arkansas was nowhere to be found on Friday night in Alabama, as Phish came out far more relaxed and played a really good show, taking a strong step forward towards regaining their groove. The change of vibe was palpable throughout the first several songs of the night, highlighted by “The Final Hurrah,” prompting Trey to call for “Ghost” in the middle of the first set. The late-’90s groove vehicle quickly transformed into a cohesive, melodic-ambient exploration that stood out from anything played on night one of tour for it’s single-minded purpose. Page—mixing his Rhodes and synths—and Trey hooked up to collectively paint an impressionistic top half of the jam as Fish—switching up the rhythm and sometimes eliminating the backbeat—teamed with Mike lending an amorphous feel to the excursion. I love this style of Phish.

The buzz of the show, however, will certainly be the longest-ever take on “Carini.” Pushing the piece to 25 minutes, the band unleashed a straight ahead groove escapade that must have had everyone at Oak Mountain buckwilin’. As the jam exited its structured framework, Trey surfed his bandmates’ collective rhythmic wave with extended blues-based soloing that just wouldn’t quit. But when Trey finally gave up the reins, the band entered more varied music textures that pushed the music into edgier, three-dimensional territory. After they briefly passed through these experimental waters, Trey cast in his line and hooked them out into a soaring, blissful peak for which modern Phish has become famous. It felt like this was the first time in the opening couple shows of tour that the band fully dropped their inhibitions and let the music flow through them without concern as to where they were heading, resulting in a catharsis of built up pandemic tension.

I gotta take a moment to comment on the “Martian Monster” that followed up “Carini.” Ever since it’s Halloween debut in 2014, I’ve been waiting for Phish to place this piece in the second set and really have at it. It’s potential is astronomical. Though they didn’t blow it open here—not by a long shot—they got loose and improvised more than usual. As Trey laid some thick ’97-esque rhythm chords into the groove, I thought shit was about to truly pop off. Nonetheless, it was great to see the band inject some playfulness into the all-too-static single, and hopefully there will be more second set versions to come this run.

“Golden Age” saw the band fully synced and the funk jam possessed some extra teeth tonight as Trey alternated between lead and rhythm playing. It seemed as though it might be moving into deeper territory just before it wound down into “Mist.” “Blaze On” and “Hood” rounded out the non-stop set that certainly bodes well for the upcoming weekend in Alpharetta. “Ghost” foreshadowed what I believe will be the next step in Phish’s quick return to improvisational virtuosity, moving out as opposed to straight ahead. The band began this re-development with Arkansas’ “Simple” and furthered the process with “Ghost.” Be on the lookout for Atlanta’s “Tweezer” and “Mercury” to further this arc.

Having been to so many of these shows over the years, its kinda funny and cool how I can more or less have the experience at home—totally sober and eating dinner and what not. And if even if I’m not actually having the experience, I can viscerally feel the experience I’d be having were I there. I can picture the people I’d be next to smiling and laughing, and feel the energetic contours of the show. Listening at the same time the show is happening, which I did tonight, helps facilitate this for sure. Over the past couple years, I have found that the mental buildup of missing shows is far worse than the actual experience. As it is happening, it is just not that big of a deal. That said, I’ve yet to miss a truly monstrous “Tweezer,” so talk to me after that happens. But in the end, the show unfolds and then it is over—c’est la vie. It is certainly easier knowing the shows are going on in hot spots of an ongoing pandemic, but nonetheless, like so much of life, it’s all in your mind.

Atlanta Phish rarely disappoints, and this weekend feels like it will deliver big time. Stay safe out there!

Well, I was expecting something a bit more explosive than that. Though the band looked overjoyed to be onstage again and played a perfectly palatable opening set, they sounded less than cohesive after set break as they dipped their toes back into open improvisation. I suppose that was to be expected after such a long layoff, but I figured their preparation plus the magnitude of the moment would cause some sort of Phish magic to click and they would drop a comeback show that would have the community abuzz. Instead, the tour opener in Arkansas likened a welcome home party rather than a serious musical undertaking, likely super fun for those in attendance, but somewhat short of engaging from a distance. That said, I think the jamming will come around quite quickly, and I expect that the band will be far tighter come Atlanta.

“Simple” provided the most engaging and ambitious music of the night for me, as the band dug through some dark and abstract terrain en route to a pretty unique jam. Though the band members explored the same sonic wormhole throughout this passage, they didn’t always sound fully connected while navigating it, sometimes presenting individual ideas that didn’t completely mesh. I really dug the melodic motif Trey laid down at the beginning of the jam and continued to reference throughout in various tones and contexts. I liked the direction of this jam quite a bit and hope to hear more improv that covers similar musical ground.

“Disease” was fine but nothing out of the ordinary. This jam didn’t progress much in any narrative sense, though it seemed to be finally getting somewhere in the minute or so before they moved into “Simple.” Page employed some synth-heavy sounds towards the beginning of the piece that could lend some nice textures to the mix this summer. It was great to see the band attempt two full-on, quasi-patient segues, from “Disease” into “Simple” and even more interestingly, from “Simple” into “Fuego.” I liked the go-get-em attitude right out of the gate, and it bodes well for an adventurous spirit this summer. Beyond the opening two-song sequence, the second set didn’t really offer much to write home about.

Phish did seem totally proficient in their structured jamming in pieces such as “Tube,” “46 Days,” “Wolfman’s” and “Plasma,” all which provided smooth and satisfying groove-based excursions. So their somewhat clunky open jamming wasn’t a matter of chops, but communication which makes perfect sense after they were all sequestered alone for the better part of a year and a half. I really don’t see this as an issue at all though, as they should easily kick this rust off within another show or two.

The question of what song the band would open the post-Covid era with circulated amongst fans for the better part of the past year. I had moved through several stages of predictions, and at one point long ago, when i first heard it, I figured they’d open with “I Never Needed You Like this Before.” It just made too much sense from a lyrical perspective. I had since moved on from that thought and posited they’d go with a well-known favorite to get the crowd instantly amped, but as it turned out, they decided to send a musical message of dedication to their fan base with Trey’s pandemic-scribed rocker. It seemed to work well, especially as they followed it up with the adrenalized injection of “Tube.” The show got underway quickly and the band’s new era was off and running.

In terms of my own experience, I used the webcast audio to listen to most of the show without the video, only watching the very beginning of set one and the very end of set two. The video really throws everything off for me, bringing in a visual element that has never been a part of my Phish experience in the live setting. I have never really looked at the stage during shows, and watching the close up video feed is really jarring for my senses, causing me not to hear the music in the same way at all. Subsequently, I’ve never gotten into Phish videos of any kind—official or Team Hood DVDs, webcasts, Dinner and a Movie archival videos—they don’t do anything for me and detract from my listening experience. I’d much rather just listen to a show as a means of revisiting it. Moving forward in this experiment, I won’t be watching webcasts to experience the music. If I am able to tune in live, it will be through an audio-only feed, though due to my paternal responsibilities, I will be listening to the shows after the fact more often than not.

I will say that I thought I’d be seriously thinking of changing my mind about Atlanta after tonight’s show, but after seeing the crowd, I do not think I’d be comfortable around that many people in such tight quarters right now. It didn’t look fun to me in the present climate. So I will move forward with listening from afar for the time being. I hope all who were there had a blast!

2013—Wingsuit

After Trey unleashed a soaring Duane Allman-esque solo to punctuate a standout version of “Down With Disease” in Reading, Pennsylvania on October 29th, the final show before Halloween 2013, the rumor that Phish would cover The Allman Brothers’ Eat A Peach seemed to be coming to fruition. The band had been featuring, bluesy, Allmans-like peaks to their jams all tour, and this one felt like the tipping point towards their forthcoming Halloween costume. But while fans were busy scouring jams for clues as to what might transpire in Atlantic City’s cover set, the band was hatching another plan altogether.

Since coming back in 2009, Phish had delivered two scintillating Halloween sets, covering a pair of double albums from the annals of classic rock history—The Rolling Stones’ “Exile on Main Street” and Little Feat’s “Waiting for Columbus.” After skipping fall tours in 2011 and 2012, the band found itself amidst a stellar fall run in 2013 as they prepared to descend on Boardwalk Hall for their second Halloween party down the shore in New Jersey.

Keeping everyone guessing until the last moment, fans were thrown a curveball when they stepped into the venue on Friday night, receiving a Phishbill announcing that the band would perform Wingsuit—“an album from the future”—a set of twelve unheard, original songs. Phish would debut a host of new material—half of which they had written together after listening to recent jams—that they would begin to record in the days following Fall Tour. With this unprecedented move, the band broke from their well-loved Halloween tradition and jumped into the unknown with their fans.

Phish had only approached such a daring feat a couple times in their career, debuting six originals at a one-off benefit show in Lowell, Massachusetts in May of 1995, and seven then six, respectively, on the first two nights of Summer ’97 in Dublin, Ireland. But of all the crazy things the band had done in their 30 years, they had never before played an entire set of new, original music, and certainly never flirted with such a feat in such a high-profile affair.

There was no greater risk that Phish could have taken on Halloween. Many Phish fans have a notorious reputation for hating on new music as Trey explained in an anecdote from Wingsuit’s Phishbill: “Every time we’ve put out a new Phish album—literally every time—a certain contingent of fans has felt that the band they know and love is coming to an end. It’s never true.” He went on to recall how he was heckled in 1990 after debuting “Reba,” one of the band’s most hallowed compositions. Needless to say, Phish didn’t expect their audience to lap up their newest offerings in Atlantic City, but they put their wingsuits on and played them anyway. And in doing so, they shocked a fan base that thought it had virtually seen it all.

Through reading their essay and interview in the Phishbill, the band’s energy for their upcoming set became palpable. They were clearly excited to get their songs “dirty and mess them up a little” before recording them, while having “the live energy of a Phish audience directly involved in the making of [their] new album.” Page added that the band was eager to make a statement that in their 3oth year they “were a vital, creative force still, and in some ways, more so than ever.”

There is nothing quite like hearing new Phish music for the first time, and the Wingsuit set put the entire audience—noobs and vets alike—on the same plane, transforming everyone into first-timers. This aspect provided the most novel element of the Halloween set which became an experience in collective discovery; expectations were impossible. The audience learned the nature and dynamics of these songs in real-time with the band. Wingsuit was a collaborative exercise; an unprecedented gesture in live music in which—most often—fans come to hear the familiar. How many other bands could step on stage and captivate their audience with 90 minutes of brand new material?

With their Wingsuit performance, Phish opened the studio doors to their fans, allowing them to be a part of the creative process. The songs of the set varied in style, and many would soon become staples of the band’s live rotation in the following years, including “Wingsuit,” “Fuego,” “The Line,” “Waiting all Night,” “Wombat,” Devotion to a Dream,” “555,” and “Winterqueen.”

Phish didn’t have to take such an audacious risk. The guys could have easily memorized another album from the past and crushed it. It probably would have been easier and less stressful. But choosing the road less traveled has defined Phish’s ethos from their genesis. Throughout their career, their audience had come to expect the unexpected from the band, and Halloween 2013 was another such instance. But little did they know that Wingsuit was the first step towards a new, even greater, Halloween tradition.

2014—Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House

As Halloween 2014 approached, the door was now wide open for anything Phish wanted to do. The scene had shifted to Las Vegas for the first time since 1998 and anticipation for the tour-ending weekend was sky high. What transpired, however, far surpassed anything anyone could have possibly imagined.

Following their own lead of 2013, Phish again performed a set of totally original music, but this time they folded their old tradition of covering an album into the mix. In the middle of the afternoon of the 31st, the Phishbill leaked and fans learned that this year’s cover album would be Walt Disney’s 1964 Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House. But with the assistance of Google, everyone also quickly learned that this album contained no music—only short, spoken vignettes with accompanying sound effects. Hmm. What was going on here?

As it turned out, Phish wrote ten new instrumentals to accompany the album’s eerie narrations while incorporating Disney’s sound effects into these jams via samples triggered by Page. The result? A sublime mash-up of fantasy and psychedelia that plunged the depths of imagination. The band interpreted each scene from the album with an instrumental passage, inviting audience members to be active participants in envisioning mental movies for each musical narrative. Disney’s sketches set the scenes and Phish took over from there, leaving their audience spellbound in awe. When all was said and done, Chilling, Thrilling, as it would come to be known, was the most well-loved Halloween set the band had ever played. Never had Phish honed in on the spirit of All-Hallows Eve like they did on this night, and with a set’s worth of original music without lyrics or songs, proper, this performance was many a psychonaut’s dream.

The production of Chilling, Thrilling was as ambitious as the music. A massive haunted house crumbled after the second “song,” revealing an elevated square stage on which the band performed in white tuxedos and full makeup above a troupe of dancing zombies amidst an elaborate graveyard. Positioned across from each other to enhance focused communication, the band went all out in creating a ghoulish spectacle unmatched in any previous Halloween set.

And then there was the music, itself. These instrumentals were not thrown together haphazardly, but meticulously developed with each boasting a cohesive theme to go along with Disney’s scenes while leaving plenty of room for improvisation. A few of the pieces—“Martian Monster,” “Your Pet Cat,” and “The Dogs”—soon become hallmarks of the band’s live rotation, while two others—“The Very Long Fuse” and “The Birds”—were played less frequently. Though the pieces have not developed into the jam vehicles that many fans envisioned at the time, they are always choice reminders of this special night in Vegas.

The power of hearing new Phish music in real-time without expectations or reference points that underlined Wingsuit once again infused the experience of Chilling, Thrilling, but this time the band wrapped an entire concept and production around the music, bringing these pieces to life in a way that did not take place in Atlantic City. There was much more scaffolding for the audience this time around as the band took them on a musical adventure not unlike a Disney ride from childhood. All the audience had to do was pull down the safety bar and let go.

2018—I Rokk

After a 2016 detour in David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, in which Phish honored the late icon, 2018 seemed primed for a return to the band’s newly minted Halloween tradition. And this time, they flipped the idea on its head once again. Not only did Phish play a full set of original music, they fabricated an obscure Scandinavian band, Kasvot Vaxt, and set out to cover their long-lost album of lore, I Rokk. Though it was clear from the get-go that this was another in the long line of the band’s elaborate gags, one still heard stories of fans who bought into the tongue-in-cheek ploy hook, line and sinker, truly believing that Kasvot Vaxt existed.

The Kasvot Vaxt set featured not just short instrumentals, but a totally new “album” of ten, fully fleshed out Phish songs, complete with hilarious, pastiche lyrics and improvisational passages. This Halloween performance was a comedy show and a psychedelic rock concert mashed into one—a quintessentially Phishy maneuver. In I Rokk, Phish combined the strongest elements of Wingsuit—a brand new set of developed songs, and Chilling, Thrilling—a full-blown, conceptual production—into their most ambitious Halloween set ever played.

Jaws hung to the floor throughout the arena in laughter and disbelief as the band rolled out one incredible song after another while donning Nordic-white outfits on an illuminated, white stage. Everyone in attendance knew they were witnessing something incredibly special as this set transpired—one of those indelible moments in Phish folklore. These songs had obvious staying power from moment one, and it was clear that Phish wrote them with the intention of keeping them around far beyond this Halloween spectacle. “Turtle in the Clouds,” We Are Come to Outlive Our Brains,” “The Final Hurrah, “Say it to me S.A.N.T.O.S,” and “Death Don’t Hurt Very Long” have all become central in the Phish catalog and crowd favorites since Halloween night, while “Passing Through” and “Cool Amber and Mercury” have also proven to be worthy additions to any set. And unlike any previous Halloween set, Phish has since performed every song from I Rokk in their live shows.

The band collaboratively wrote the Kasvot Vaxt songs and they represent Phish song-crafting at its finest, replete with catchy melodies, infectious motifs, deep pockets, and their trademark sense of absurdist humor in instantly memorable lyrics such as “I’m the glue in your magnet,” “This is what space smells like, “Faceplant into rock,” and “Cluuueless Wallob.” This set of songs injected the Phish repertoire with the most clever, innovative and fresh-sounding material in a long time, and much like Chilling, Thrilling—but even more enthusiastically—everyone in the community was on board. The Kasvot Vaxt performance became an instant sensation among fans, while the band responded by creating all sorts of merch to commemorate the special night. Phish and their fans collectively reveled in I Rokk‘s afterglow as everyone’s energy bubbled over throughout the months off and right into the New Year’s Run, where the band excitedly opened the 28th with “We Are Come to Outlive Our Brains.”

It short, I Rokk was one of the absolute peak performances of Phish’s illustrious career. This set built upon what they had learned through Wingsuit and Chilling, Thrilling and could not have transpired without the stepping stones of those previous performances. Traditions take time to develop, and Phish took a bold step in 2013, breaking from their time-honored rite of a cover album and forging forth with a new idea of how a Halloween set could be crafted. Challenging themselves to reinvent Halloween rather than resting on a well-proven formula, Phish veered off the path of least resistance to create a new tradition that has been even more invigorating for the band and more spectacular for their community. Over the span of three performances, Phish has built a new Halloween ritual that stands out in their prolific musical legacy and has set a new standard of greatness for the band that always seems to have a new trick or treat up its sleeve.

This week marks the 20th anniversary of Japan 2000—one of my favorite Phish runs of all time. My friend, Myke Menio—aka @LawnMemo—invited me onto his Daily Soundcheck podcast to talk about these incredible shows. We will be recording five episodes. The first episode just went live and is linked below. I will add the new links to each episode onto this post as they go live. Hope you enjoy!