The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival is one of the greatest traditions of this land. Uniting the best and brightest from all walks of improvisational music, combined with southern flavor and creole cuisine, Jazzfest becomes a multi-sensory indulgence. This past weekend, the ‘09 edition got underway, and yesterday, April 26th was the 13 year anniversary of Phish’s unique Jazzfest appearance in 1996. Performing at the festival grounds under the blazing southern heat, and right before The Meters, the band played one long set that created a unique dynamic between Phish and their classic surroundings.
4.26.96 The Fairgrounds @ Jazzfest
When Phish announced the would be playing the New Orleans fest, the community was jazzed to see the band make such a prestigious and historic appearance. But when all was said and done, the festival didn’t share the joy of the Phish scene infiltrating the festival, and the band would never be invited back. The inundation of the fairgrounds with Phish’s fringe element took the organizers by surprise; a surprise they didn’t need to see again. Meanwhile, Phish took to the Bayou with a solid one-setter that gave N’awlins a taste of Vermont’s Finest.
4.26.96 Phish Crowd
Following the band’s epic peak of 1995 at Madison Square Garden, everyone was eager to see them again, and what better place to do it than New Orleans? A lot of people shared this idea, and a circus of Phishies descended upon the fairground on a near 100 degree afternoon. VW Buses took over the residential area where the festival is located, while dreaded, patchworked hippies dispersed throughout the grounds. This entire scene creatied an odd amalgam of Phish lot and Jazzfest; Jazz lot.
When it came time for Phish to play at 3:30 pm, the dispersed tribe united around the Ray Ban main stage, awaiting the first notes of 1996. Opening with an appropriate and festive “Ya Mar,” Trey wove a tease of “When The Saints Go Marching In” to commemorate their visit to the south. The band went on to play a very palatable set for the mixed audience, making sure to include a little something for everyone. The set contained several highlights, but the band’s first dip into improv came with “Stash.” The dark, twisting music sat against a summer backdrop, as the band shredded the densely textured jam to the delight of the Phish-dominated crowd.
4.26.96 Jazzfest
Longtime friend of the band and New Orleans native, Michael Ray, came out and joined them on trumpet for a spirited run through Page’s “Cars Trucks Buses.” But when the dust settled, three other segments of music stood out- “YEM” > a half-a capella and very interesting “Wolfman’s Brother” (segue via vocal jam), “2001 > Hood,” and a large, late-set “Bowie.” None of these jams entered into a separate reality, but that really wasn’t the point of the set. The band had sustained contact with the source for four nights at the end of 1995, but on this first afternoon of 1996, their set was defined by straight-forward, fun in the sun.
“Stash” and “Bowie” provided the only outright darkness of an otherwise upbeat, happy show. Phish brought their pre-’97 cow funk down to the swamp, with particularly laid-back escapades in “YEM,” and “2001.” Following the “2001,” Phish released “Harry Hood” for the first time since the sacred 12.30.95 rendition, and under the late afternoon sky, they unveiled a tightly wound and majestic version of their feel-good classic.
4.26.96 Jazzfest
If this was a normal Phish set, it might have ended with with “Hood” or “Sample,” and then certainly with The Beatles classic, “A Day In the Life.” But this wasn’t a normal Phish set, and they just kept playing, entering into their most extended and interesting jam of the day in “David Bowie.” Cranking out some ’95-esque psychedelia, the set-closing “Bowie” thrilled all the Phish kids and created the post-show buzz.
The fairgrounds and surrounding neighborhood provided a unique post-show atmosphere of southern comfort. Sometimes the experience of a show can be so unique that the music, regardless of how crazy or mellow, just seems to fit. Just like that laid back day New Orleans so many years ago.
Ya Mar*, AC/DC Bag, Sparkle, Stash, Cars Trucks Buses**, You Enjoy Myself > Wolfman’s Brother***, Scent of a Mule, Also Sprach Zarathustra > Harry Hood, Sample in a Jar, A Day in the Life, David Bowie
E: Hello My Baby, Cavern
*With “When The Saints Go Marching In” tease. **With Michael Ray on trumpet. ***A capella intro.
The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival is one of the greatest traditions of this land. Uniting the best and brightest from all walks of improvisational music, combined with southern flavor and creole cuisine, Jazzfest becomes a multi-sensory indulgence. This past weekend, the ‘09 edition got underway, and yesterday, April 26th was the 13 year …
After watching and re-watching The Clifford Ball DVDs a few times, I’ve got to tip my hat to the band for their best piece of merch ever. (Well, right after the Assface poster at least!) Filmed with an unparalleled intimacy, one can really get a feel for the shows in a way most of their other DVDs have lacked. Likely due to the poignant and unique subject matter, they certainly did this release up right!
With seven DVDs, a 52-page booklet about the festival, and a set of commemorative post cards taken in Plattsburgh that weekend- all packaged perfectly in a slide-in case, this is one of those possessions that feels good to hold. And then you put it on. All of a sudden you are shot back to 1996 as the festival opens with “Chalk Dust.” You remember exactly where you were as the camera pans out over the endless sea of people, and you are enraptured once again.
The Clifford Ball
I know for me, I never watch the band at the show. Unconcerned with their largely motionless silhouettes, watching DVDs of shows is like reliving the experience from a completely different perspective. And the quality of these particular shots are simply to-die-for. Being able to watch the Clifford Ball “Hood,” “Slave,” Mike’s” and all the other monster highlights from a closeness never imagined is completely novel. The goofy expressions on their faces, or how fast their fingers move- things I simply don’t see at a show- become a whole new part of the experience. It’s like Phish-up close and personal in your living room- literally.
Shining through on these DVDS is the quality of musicianship that took place all weekend long back in August of 1996. Having not listened to The Ball in quite some time, I was struck by how consistently on point the band throughout the festival, for six straight sets. After watching the shows, I remembered just how many highlights there were beyond the weekend’s handful of go-to jams.
The Clifford Ball
Beyond the music, however, The Clifford Ball was a reinvention of the concert experience, and this aspect of the weekend is not lost. Covered in depth by Parke Peterbaugh in a well-written essay and through an entire DVD full of extras, you get to spend quite some time behind the scenes. Perhaps the highlight of the package, the extra footage contains lengthy interviews with a far younger Phish, a documentary about The Clifford Ball experience, and great footage of both The Flatbed Jam and soundcheck. Trey discusses how they saw the festival as an opportunity to play at all different times of day, and that the late-night set was one of his favorite.
If you haven’t already seen these DVDs, I highly recommend checking them out. Hours upon hours of entertainment for any fan, these DVDs chronicle the beginning of Phish’s legendary festivals and the creative energy that went into making such a special weekend. The beginning of a new era in Phish history, so much started right there on the grounds of The Clifford Ball.
This weekend in 1995 saw the Grateful Dead fizzling out just down I-95 at RFK, while Phish was shredding apart Philadelphia’s Fairmont Park like it was their psychedelic playground. This show is the second of a two-night stand that was among the highlights of the summer. Enjoy the SBD.
I: Ya Mar > AC/DC Bag, Taste, Theme From the Bottom, If I Could, Sparkle, The Divided Sky, I Didn’t Know, Split Open and Melt
II: Maze, Sample in a Jar, Scent of a Mule, Mike’s Song > Why Don’t We Do It in the Road > HYHU > Jam > Weekapaug Groove, Amazing Grace, Cavern
E: Bouncing Around the Room, Slave to the Traffic Light
After watching and re-watching The Clifford Ball DVDs a few times, I’ve got to tip my hat to the band for their best piece of merch ever. (Well, right after the Assface poster at least!) Filmed with an unparalleled intimacy, one can really get a feel for the shows in a way most of their …
Lost amidst the excitement of last week’s summer tour announcement was the Dry Goods preview of the long-awaited release of a seven DVD box set chronicling The Clifford Ball, the band’s inaugural Phish-only mega-festival in 1996. After staging seven larger-than-life weekends, all begging for their own DVD release, the band is finally dropping a long-overdue audio-visual treat. This box set will recap every single note played that weekend in Plattsburgh, NY, including a disc of extra footage of the late-night “Flatbed Jam,” a thirty minute mini-feature with band interviews, an interview with artist Jim Pollack, August 15th’s 90-minute soundcheck and more. Needless to say, this will be special trip down memory lane for all who attended and a glimpse into the weekend that started it all for those who didn’t. A weekend highly deserving of recognition, the Phish community would never be the same afterwards.
The Clifford Ball was a game changer. As Trey said in Billboard Magazine in September of 1996, “We realized that there is another whole level of concerts that hasn’t been explored yet.” Needless to say, Phish pioneered that exploration. Never before had a single band staged a festival of such magnitude all by itself. What Phish presented to its fan base on the weekend of August 16-17 of 1996 was something far more than a concert. From the moment of arrival, fans were given site maps and greeted with an interactive experience that transcended music. As the 70,000 fans explored the fantastical psychedelic playground, they were greeted with bizarre performers mingling about, art installations, human gyroscopes, and several carnival rides and activities. This was a 24-hour experience, and there would only be less than six hours of Phish per day.
“Ball Square” (Todd Wickesty)
With a mid-day orchestral performance coupled with a glider plane’s graceful stunts, Ball Square, the festival’s center of activity, snowboarders ripping high-flying stunts on trampolines during “Tweezer,” and a risque trapeze act by a female acrobat during Antelope, the entire festival seemed as imaginary, hallucinatory, and improvisational as Phish’s music itself. The band had created an experience– a mini-civilization– that mirrored the values and freedom of their transcendent jams. There was a constant sense of disbelief throughout the weekend that emanated from the band and audience alike; we had discovered a new way to do things and the results were other-worldly. Complete with its own “Ball Radio” station delving into the archives and giving reports on the weekend’s happenings, The Clifford Ball was truly something groundbreaking in the music industry. With the super-saturation of summertime festivals these days, it is hard to remember back to a time when they were few and far between. As they consistently did with their music, Phish pushed the envelope of what was possible in a live music experience, creating a brand new festival model.
The Clifford Ball
It wasn’t just the various forms of entertainment that made The Clifford Ball so unique, it was the emerging sense of the Phish community that permeated the weekend. Collecting the diverse energies of Phish’s unique fans and allowing that energy to guide the festival; when the shows were over the all-night fun was just beginning! Meandering down the endless airstrips after the shows, one was greeted with a selection of dance parties featuring different types of music, all being spun by fans. There was nothing official here, just the Phish community going off in the way they knew best. Between the disco trucks and the large PA’s set up by smaller bands, the conclusion of the official music only meant the beginning of the non-official madness. This is when the fans took over, putting on their own impromptu all-night events. This pattern would be built upon throughout the band’s career, as fans continued to play a larger role in the late-night entertainment over subsequent festivals.
A weekend that would forever change the face of Phish’s summer celebrations, The Clifford Ball was a revelation. Once you arrived, you didn’t have to go anywhere for the entire weekend. Cars were parked and not revisited until it was time to leave. Everything you needed was provided. From food vendors, to ice trucks, to the 24-hour general store, this was the way to throw a party! As the final notes of “Tweezer Reprise” blared through the speaker towers closing the final set of the weekend, everyone knew that the community had arrived. Awestruck by the massive Phish experience, fans floated on cloud nine, not believing what they had just witnessed. The Ball was a weekend-long lucid dream; it was heaven and you could control your destiny. With no next show to get to and ultimate freedom from authorities, the weekend served as a colossal decompression tank, akin to a real-life “choose-your-own-adventure” book.
After this August weekend, the paradigm had forever shifted. Soon Phish found Limestone, ME, and our own sacred decommissioned air force base, to continue this summertime tradition. Next came The Went, and then The Wheel. Oswego, Big Cypress, IT, and Coventry would follow, but none of these indelible memories would have come to fruition had it not been for The Clifford Ball– “A beacon of light in the world of flight.”
What are your memories of The Clifford Ball? Respond in Comments below!
Here’s the phenomenal soundtrack to the first Phish festival day ever. With a stellar three set performance, The Clifford Ball was off and running, blazing a new path of how to throw a concert. All three sets were crafted masterfully, while the second and third were especially sick, featuring a monster Mike’s Groove and 2001 > Disease, respectfully. This day was properly capped with a spirited rendition of “Harry Hood,” affirming that everything in the universe was indeed as perfect as it seemed
I: Chalk Dust Torture, Bathtub Gin, Ya Mar, AC/DC Bag, Esther, The Divided Sky, Halley’s Comet, David Bowie
II: Split Open and Melt, Sparkle, Free, The Squirming Coil, Waste**, Talk**, Train Song**, Strange Design**, Hello My Baby, Mike’s Song > Simple > Contact > Weekapaug Groove
III: Makisupa Policeman, Also Sprach Zarathustra > Down With Disease, NICU, Life on Mars, Harry Hood#
E: Amazing Grace
**Acoustic mini-stage. #With fireworks.
Lost amidst the excitement of last week’s summer tour announcement was the Dry Goods preview of the long-awaited release of a seven DVD box set chronicling The Clifford Ball, the band’s inaugural Phish-only mega-festival in 1996. After staging seven larger-than-life weekends, all begging for their own DVD release, the band is finally dropping a long-overdue …
What happened between the climactic year of 1995 and the transformation of 1997? Many seem to gloss over this time period as irrelevant to the band’s history, but when looking back with perspective, 1996 was a crucial year in Phish’s development. Not to mention, it is a wholly underrated year of Phish. Interestingly, you can actually hear the band’s music changing as they moved through the year, slowly evolving toward the sound of 1997. Phish ended 1995 on the highest note possible; imploding Madison Square Garden in, certainly, their biggest and most significant show to date. They stood at the mountaintop and could now gaze into the lush valleys below, reveling in the glow of their triumph. Yet, after spending over a decade striving to reach this point, the question that would soon loom over the band was, “Now what?”
Fall ’96- photo: phish.net
Once you have reached a goal that has been in the distance for so long, self-reflection and reevaluation become a natural byproduct of success, and trying to figure out what comes next. As Phish embarked on the year 1996, it was this natural process of self-discovery that would unfold over the course of the year. Unsure of where their next musical move would take them, a new direction would emerge over the course of the summer and fall, and by the time early- 1997 rolled around, Phish would be reinvented.
Taking the six months off after a marathon Fall 1995, Phish first reemerged for an exciting daytime slot at Jazzfest in New Orleans- for which they would not be invited back due to the scene that came with them. An 18-show European tour followed in June, mixing opening gigs with Santana with some headlining gigs of their own. Musically, these shows remained relatively conservative for Phish, and didn’t necessarily break new ground while working some new songs into the rotation.
Red Rocks – photo: nugs.net
As they wound up their European vacation, Phish headed back to the US for an abbreviated eleven show summer tour. This underrated tour featured standout shows, and amazing jams; yet Phish’s musical textures seemed to remain similar to the previous year’s fast, arena-rock psychedelia. For a band who was always pushing the envelope of their own live music, they weren’t incorporating any truly new elements into their music- though they did feature a mini-acoustic stage throughout the summer. With no lack of sharp and precise jamming, Summer ’96 produced some excellent musical portions. Specifically, the four-night run at Red Rocks, (for which they would also not be invited back), contained some of the more inspired music of the summer. With each night providing an array of smoking musical highlights, some of the best, in no particular order, were the 2001>Disease, Mike’s Groove, Runaway Jim > Gypsy Queen > Jim, Curtain > Tweezer, and the infamous Forbin’s > Mockingbird about the giant iguana and the newly discovered life on Mars, which they followed up with the appropriate Bowie cover. Unfortunately, due to unruly fans, Phish would not be allowed back to this powerful venue, stamping these final four nights as Phish’s farewell to Morrison’s musical mecca.
Moving into the Midwest, Phish debuted at Alpine Valley, and then played arguably the best two shows of the summer in the cornfields at Deer Creek. With first night highlights of Split Open, Antelope, Timber Ho! and Possum, and the second show being such a complete masterpiece, this was the year that Phish made Deer Creek their own personal Midwestern home. With only one previous visit to the venue, these two stellar performances indelibly stamped Deer Creek on the map for all Phish fans to flock to for the following eight years. Featuring one of the best first sets of the year, and a 30 minute monstrous and terrifying Mike’s Song in the second, 8.13.96 went down as one of the best shows of 1996.
After a consistently underrated show in Hershey Park, PA, Phish and their traveling circus headed up to Plattsburgh, NY for the first weekend of over-sized Phish bliss in the playground of The Clifford Ball. With art installations, interactive activities, rides, art projects, actors, contortionists, and an incredibly fan-friendly vibe, the Phish festival was born. One of the most significant developments of 1996, this weekend would set the template for all the Phish festivals that dominated our imaginations over the years. Chock full of excellent music and sensory overload, The Clifford Ball was a paradigm shift in possibilities that could come out of a live concert. Once again, Phish had redefined what was possible in rock and roll.
The triumphant end of the summer, gave way to a new, more critically acclaimed, album in “Billy Breathes,” and a 35 show fall tour that would wind from Lake Placid, NY all the way to Las Vegas, NV. Through the course of this fall itinerary, Phish would rediscover themselves, and begin to reinvent their approach to improvisation. People often look at this tour in segments- the east coast segment up to Halloween, the post-Halloween through the Midwest, and the final run down the west coast. It is fair to say that as each leg of this tour progressed, Phish’s playing became more and more energetic and began moving further along in a new and original direction.
Fall ’96 – photo: jawrat.com
The first leg of the tour remained fairly tame with some minor highlights popping up here and there, but as the band began to play arenas exclusively, the fluid translation of their sound to the bigger rooms wasn’t immediate. With Trey playing a lot of his mini-percussion kit all fall, Page was forced to carry the top half of the music a bit too often. Things shifted, however, on October 31st. The musical costume Phish would don this year, profoundly effected the musical course of the rest of their career. As we all know, Phish chose to cover the Talking Head’s 1980 classic, “Remain in Light.” With a focus on groove and percussion, this album forced Phish to take a divergent approach to jamming. Typically, Phish integrated their individual lines or patterns, matching them up and bouncing them off, what other band members were playing to create a heavily layered psychedelia. However, given the percussive polyrhythms of “Remain In Light,” Phish had to work as one entity to create one groove, with each band member contributing a part of the greater whole.
Listening and completing each others’ musical ideas and phrases, Phish practiced this type of cooperative playing, and came out to the Omni’s stage on Halloween and nailed it, discovering their next musical step in the process. The band would now begin to work as one to create slower, more intentional rhythm grooves, a style that would not truly come to fruition until March 1st of 1997 in the industrial city of Hamburg, Germany. In a club called Markthalle, during the Wolfman’s jam, Phish’s transformation was realized. They had finally uncovered the musical style they had been carving away at since that night in Atlanta. The band chronicled this show of great significance with the release of “Slip, Stitch, and Pass.”
11.2.96- photo: jawrat.com
After Halloween, Fall ’96 would begin to pick up steam. Beginning with the Crosseyed > Antelope of following show in West Palm Beach, and the Tweezer in Gainesville, Phish would begin to crank out some inspired jams over the course of the tour, many which still hold up- if not forgotten- today. Blazing a trail through the Midwest, highlights included the Curtain > Mike’s from Knoxville, TN, the Bathtub Gin from Lexington, KY, the YEM from Auburn Hills, the Grand Rapids Tweezer (!), the Omaha Harry Hood, the Target Center’s 2001 > Suzy, and the Simple from Memphis. Seemingly driven with more emotion, enthusiasm, and inspiration, these Midwestern shows upped the ante from the east coast run, and prepared Phish for their final west coast stretch.
Phish turned it on as the year headed for a close. The ten show west coast run dialed up the intensity, and featured the best playing of the fall. Beginning in Spokane, WA and concluding with the recently released Aladdin Theatre show in Las Vegas, Phish honed in on their developing style of play, resulting in some highlight shows and some jealous east coasters. From a heavy Vancouver Mike’s Groove, to a Tweezer > Sweet Emotion > Disease Reprise in Seattle, some more significant ripples were made in Phish’s pond in the pacific northwest. Continuing with a phenomenal California run through the Cow Palace outside San Francisco, Arco Arena in Sacramento, and Pauly Pavilion at UCLA, featuring the bust out pf Peaches and a top notch Tweezer, Phish built large quantities of momentum as they approached their last three shows. After smoking stops in Phoenix, San Diego and an end-of-tour throwdown in Vegas putting a cap on their fall, Phish were now swimming in a whole new direction.
A year that started with Phish looking for their next move, ended with the band solidly on track for the next stage of their career. Culminating with a Philly > Boston New Year’s Run, 1996 was a year of transition, and many tend to leave it out of conversations because the band experienced some growing pains along the way. Yet, what is growth without adversity? A year that is sandwiched on both sides by years of far heavier-hitting Phish music, 1995 could not have progressed to 1997 had it not been for 1996. With that understanding, and a knowledge of some of the lesser-known gems of this year, we may find a new appreciation for 1996- the forgotten year.
In appreciation of this Phishy year of transition, I have put together a couple compilations that should bring everyone up to speed on 1996. Below you will find links to Miner’s Picks: Summer ’96 and Miner’s Picks: Fall ’96. Totaling fifteen hours of music, many of which you may not be familiar with, these picks should help bring everyone up to speed on the forgotten year. Links and track lists are below. As always, download away, and be sure to enjoy the music!
What happened between the climactic year of 1995 and the transformation of 1997? Many seem to gloss over this time period as irrelevant to the band’s history, but when looking back with perspective, 1996 was a crucial year in Phish’s development. Not to mention, it is a wholly underrated year of Phish. Interestingly, you can …
