This Friday, we’ll take a break from MSG memories and look at what Phish has done on Veterans Day, November 11th, throughout their career. Since 1990, the band has only played three times on 11.11—in 1995 at The Fox in Atlanta, 1996 at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and again at Van Andel in 1998! And lo and behold, these three nights have plenty of meat to compose a Friday playlist. The Fox show was the third of a three-night stand that kicked off the second half of a marathon (54 show) fall tour. Taking a week off after Halloween in Chicago, Phish reemerged in Atlanta and would wind their way over six plus weeks up to Albany. I’ve always thought of 11.11.95 as the strongest of the trifecta. The following year, Phish was on their Midwestern leg of Fall tour on the 11th of November, and they were at the very beginning of a metamorphosis. The band had just stunned their audience with their interpretation of Remain In Light for Halloween, and from then on, their slow transformation to groove-based playing was underway. In 1998, Phish had just crushed three nights at UIC Pavilion amidst a standout fall tour when they landed back at Van Andel, in a case of cosmic routing, on the same date they had played there in ’96. This show continued the band’s hot streak and featured one of the best second sets of tour. Let’s reminisce…
The melodic endpoint of a relatively dark second set.
This Friday, we’ll take a break from MSG memories and look at what Phish has done on Veterans Day, November 11th, throughout their career. Since 1990, the band has only played three times on 11.11—in 1995 at The Fox in Atlanta, 1996 at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and again at Van Andel …
In the days following their transformative Halloween in Atlanta, Phish headed back to Florida with Karl Perazzo along for his third and fourth consecutive shows. After their well-documented escapade at Coral Sky in West Palm Beach, the band played this show at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Perazzo played his final two sets before Phish traveled to the Midwest, off and running on their percussive pathway to 1997. Remain In Light took immediate effect as the band continued their collaborative grooving. Check out the late-set “Tweezer” for a show-stopping highlight featuring this emerging style of improv.
Phish blew up this second set “Mike’s Song” in Tallahassee, Florida, the show before Halloween. The band got some down-low practice during “Mike’s” second jam as they grooved significantly on Talking Head’s “Houses In Motion.” With Karl Perazzo on board, this piece really took off.
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VIDEO OF THE WEEKEND:
“Stash” 11.2.96– More from Phish’s upcoming Coral Sky release
DOWNLOAD OF THE WEEKEND: 11.3.1996 O’Connell Center, Gainesville, FL < Torrent 11.3.1996 O’Connell Center, Gainesville, FL < Megaupload In the days following their transformative Halloween in Atlanta, Phish headed back to Florida with Karl Perazzo along for his third and fourth consecutive shows. After their well-documented escapade at Coral Sky in West Palm Beach, the …
Since Phish has shied away from the Pacific Northwest this time around, here are a couple shows from ’96, when Phish was a nationally touring outfit. These shows were part of an extensive west coast run that concluded Fall ’96. (This Portland show may have been posted once, but now it will be in the permanent archives as well.)
I: Poor Heart, AC/DC Bag, All Things Reconsidered, Bouncing Around the Room, Reba, Character Zero, Strange Design, Taste, I Didn’t Know, Sample in a Jar, Run Like an Antelope
II: Also Sprach Zarathustra > Sparkle, David Bowie, A Day in the Life, You Enjoy Myself, Loving Cup, Suzy Greenberg
DOWNLOADS OF THE WEEKEND: Since Phish has shied away from the Pacific Northwest this time around, here are a couple shows from ’96, when Phish was a nationally touring outfit. These shows were part of an extensive west coast run that concluded Fall ’96. (This Portland show may have been posted once, but now it …
Darkness and light, opposite symbols that go to the very core of cultural mythology. The psychedelic journey often mirrors these poles, taking one from the eye of the beast to the most glorious, self-realizing peaks. Staring down the dark side in order to most clearly see the light of one’s new self. While Phish regularly condenses these introspective rites into three-hour sessions, on one occasion they had all night. In the swamps of Florida, on the brink of 2000, Phish finally had the setting to match their goal – an all-night affair with no restraints. In the Clifford Ball DVD extras, filmed in 1996, the band spoke of the “LG,” or the “Long Gig” they envisioned one day, where the band would just keep playing and playing, outlasting even the fans who stayed all night and beyond. They claimed it would happen; they’d get port-potties onstage, and one day they’d play their “Long Gig;” it was the ultimate goal. While the band exaggerated in typical fashion throughout the interview, the glimmer in their eyes told a different story. Through their goofy looks and hyperbole, one can see the sincerity behind their claims. They meant it. And finally, on December 31, 1999, Phish had their “LG.”
Big Cypress – 12.31.99
In their 1996 interview, Trey pondered what type of music the band would play after 60 or 70 hours straight. Well on this night, eight would have to be the test. And the results were other worldly. Producing jams that were connected by a certain ethereal quality, like a patient thread splicing together the band’s divine musical offerings. Without time constraints, and armed with their port-o-potty, Phish played as the spirit moved, extending jams as long as felt natural. While no single piece of music broke any record, (somewhat surprisingly), the night included many extended jams, first highlighted by the night’s opening features of “Disease,” “Bathtub Gin,” and a sublime “Twist > Caspian” which truly began to set the musical tone for the evening. Following next came one of the nights longer, thematic and defining jams, “Rock and Roll.”
The darkest chunk of the night kicked off with a scorching “Crosseyed,” which carried a melodic progression throughout the jam, and peaked with a percussive 40-minute apocalyptic grooves of “Sand > Quadraphonic Toppling,” bringing the many climactic late ’99 versions to an unquestionable head. Resolving this darkness with a multi-tiered “Slave,” the band commenced the jam without even a beat remaining until it became time to move. Phish let is all hang down on this night, playing a macrocosm of any regular show, we all finally had a place to be instead hallucinating in hotel rooms until the sun came up.
The Beginning of “Roses” (D.Clinch)
Perhaps the most connected piece of music came in the depths of the evening, as the band brought a reprise of “After Midnight” into one of the most hallowed musical passages of their career – set and setting considered. Powerful, soulful, music, channelled from the ether, where every note mattered as much as the next. The final peak of the night came as the sky began to turn a dark grey, foreshadowing the oncoming day. Phish sat into “Roses Are Free” for one of few times since their epic Nassau adventure in April ’98, but never had they again transcended the composition. But when they unshelved the song on the brink of dawn to bring in the millennium’s first sunrise, everyone knew this time would be different. Moving right out of the song into multi-faceted epic, the band passed through several planes of ambient, melodic, and, finally, deeply dark and churning music. The ultimate stage seemed as though the universe’s final plates were shifting into alignment for the onset of the new era.
Before the sun began to rise in earnest, the sky boasted stunning patterns of pink puffy clouds that nobody who witnessed will ever forget. Phish and the forces were at work again, this time collaborating on a soundtrack for the passage of time. And while that is what the entire night represented, the entry back into morning’s light boiled down to the second-only “Roses” jam.
And it was good.
Almost eight hours, or a lifetime later, Phish had finally done it. They had played their “LG.”
Continuing our tour of Summer 2010 venues, here’s Phish’s stop in Charlotte in the Summer of ’99. The second set really brings the heat with its 35 minute “2001 > Disease” and grows more abstract with some ambient sound-sculpting out of “My Left Toe.” After a guitar-driven “Bug,” a catalog of Phish grooves closes the night in one of the summers most infectious “YEMs.”
I: Back on the Train, What’s the Use?, Billy Breathes, My Mind’s Got a Mind of its Own, Sneakin’ Sally through the Alley, Axilla, Rift, Wolfman’s Brother, Maze, Loving Cup
II: 2001 > Down with Disease, My Left Toe > Wading in the Velvet Sea > My Left Toe > Bug, You Enjoy Myself
Darkness and light, opposite symbols that go to the very core of cultural mythology. The psychedelic journey often mirrors these poles, taking one from the eye of the beast to the most glorious, self-realizing peaks. Staring down the dark side in order to most clearly see the light of one’s new self. While Phish regularly …
Phish concluded Fall ’96 with a famed run down the west coast. Ending in Las Vegas on December 6th, these two shows came directly before- with a stop in Phoenix in between them. Both shows illustrate the band’s developing sound, as they finished the tour with far more musical direction than when it began. Converging in more groove-oriented playing, the transition to funk was underway. The LA “Tweezer” and San Diego “Mike’s” stand head and shoulders above the rest of their respective shows. Enjoy the weekend.
I: Peaches en Regalia, Poor Heart, Cavern, Cars Trucks Buses, Character Zero, The Curtain, Down With Disease, Train Song, The Horse > Silent in the Morning, Sample in a Jar, Run Like an Antelope
II: Tweezer > Sparkle, Simple > A Day in the Life, Reba, Swept Away > Steep > Tweezer Reprise > Johnny B. Goode, Slave to the Traffic Light
This “Gin” that highlighted night three of UIC’s ’98 stand, saw Trey carry a melodic idea throughout the entire jam, creating an melodic anthem.
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VIDEO OF WEEKEND:
“Bug,” “Reprise” 3.8.09 E Hampton, VA (Three-Camera shoot)
DOWNLOADS OF THE WEEKEND: Phish concluded Fall ’96 with a famed run down the west coast. Ending in Las Vegas on December 6th, these two shows came directly before- with a stop in Phoenix in between them. Both shows illustrate the band’s developing sound, as they finished the tour with far more musical direction than …