Can Someone Explain Phish to Me

[dcbc 14464]

Always enjoyed this thread when it was bumped to the top.  This guy gave it a try.

 

[squanchy 11]

it's like the icp with a bit more sanity.

[dcbc 14464]

 

[WhatTheBuck 28771]

Twenty-five years ago tonight I saw my first Phish show. 

Phish | Tue Apr 20th, 1993 | Newport Music Hall | Columbus, OH 

Set 1: Runaway Jim > Weigh > Sparkle, Stash, Bouncing Around the Room, It's Ice > Glide, Uncle Pen, Lawn Boy, David Bowie1

Set 2: Chalk Dust Torture, Fluffhead > Sample in a Jar, Big Ball Jam, The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday > Avenu Malkenu > The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday, My Friend, My Friend2, Llama, You Enjoy Myself, Hold Your Head Up > Whipping Post3 > Hold Your Head Up, Golgi Apparatus

Encore: Funky Bitch, Amazing Grace4

1. Simpsons and All Fall Down signals in intro.

2. Beginning featured Trey on acoustic guitar.

3. Fish on vocals.

4. Without microphones.

The Bowie intro contained Lawn Boy teases from Trey as well as Simpsons and All Fall Down signals. The beginning of My Friend featured Trey on acoustic guitar. YEM contained Mission: Impossible theme teases. Whipping Post featured Fish on vocals. Amazing Grace was performed without microphones.

 

I saw my second Phish show the next night. 

Phish | Wed Apr 21st, 1993 | Newport Music Hall | Columbus, OH 

Set 1: Buried Alive > Poor Heart, Foam, Guelah Papyrus, Maze, Colonel Forbin's Ascent > Fly Famous Mockingbird > Rift, Punch You In the Eye, I Didn't Know1, Run Like an Antelope2

Set 2: Possum, Mound, Split Open and Melt, The Squirming Coil, The Horse3 > Silent in the Morning, Big Ball Jam > Mike's Song > The Great Gig in the Sky, Weekapaug Groove, Gumbo

Encore: Sweet Adeline, Cavern

The jam segment of this Melt is the one that appears at the end of Demand on Hoist. The Mockingbird Narration contained a quote of the Winkie Chant ("O-Ee-Yah! Eoh-Ah!") from The Wizard of Oz. I Didn't Know featured Fish on trombone and The Horse featured Trey on acoustic guitar. Antelope contained a Divided Sky tease from Trey, an I'm a Man (Spencer Davis Group) tease from Page, and Simpsons, Key Change, Tritone Down, and Random Note signals. Mike's contained a brief Oye Como Va tease.

[dcbc 14464]

Cool.

Hauled ass back from TX/OU to catch the second show of a two night run at the Austin Music Hall for my first show.  Priorities.

SET 1: Buried Alive > Poor Heart > Slave to the Traffic Light, I Didn't Know, Demand > Llama, Foam, Strange Design, I'm Blue, I'm Lonesome[1], David Bowie

SET 2: Julius, Simple > Tweezer -> The Lizards, Sample in a Jar, Suspicious Minds > Hold Your Head Up, Harry Hood, Tweezer Reprise

ENCORE: Funky Bitch

[1] Acoustic.

 

Ticket was $17.50 according to the internets.

Edited April 21, 2018 by dcbc

[heinhorn 16]

So, we have a show here in a couple of days.  Who all is going?  I'm looking for a pit ticket for my buddy if anyone has an extra.

[ChickenSandwich 9824]

Thought they sounded fantastic. 

[dcbc 14464]

Missed the Texas show this year. But good gawd, this set (and the next one for that matter).

 

And

 

Edited August 3, 2018 by dcbc

[Gil Bang 25907]

It's complete dogshit unless you're baked out  of your mind.  

If you are, more power to you. 

[dbecks 442]

Bump.

Anyone still into this band? Anyone else going to any shows this summer?

[WhatTheBuck 28771]

I believe Phish peaked in the 90’s. I’ve purged a lot of their music from my collection but I still have a big box of live discs. I’ve got about 75 discs on two spindles in my car that have been there for several months that I plan to offer to someone I see with a Phish sticker on their car. I haven’t seen a Phish sticker on a car in all that time. But then I don’t do a whole lot of driving around town. It’s weird, though, because the main reason I checked them out in the first place was because in the early 90’s, every time I was going to Dead shows I was seeing more and more cars in the lot with Phish stickers on them.

I did have Trey’s thesis The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday on one of those spindles but reconsidered and decided I should probably hold onto that one.

I still need to tell the story of my 4th Phish show on 6/21/94. It’s a great story.

[dcbc 14464]

I see them every so often.  The shows these days are killer.  Not a lot better out there, honestly.  Killer rock shows.

[WhatTheBuck 28771]

On the CBS morning news (aka “CBS Mornings”), they just came in from a commercial break with the opening riff from Tweezer. Tony Dokoupil was doing the commentary. He’s married to Katy Tur, a Phish fan (or phan) who used to work for MSNBC before she became a mother. That can’t be a coincidence.

Here’s Katy posing backstage with Phish lyricist Tom Marshall:

[dbecks 442]

Love hearing those little drops. Sporting events on Fox often have it as well, but it’s sometimes just barely there… almost subliminal-like.

This article did a good job explaining it:

https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/entertainment/2021/10/28/vermont-band-phish-songs-world-series-2021-outro-music-commercial-breaks/8581419002/

Also, I miss Katy Tur. I actually didn’t realize she left MSNBC, but good for her. Her Phish drops were a work of art.

Really liking the sound of the band during this spring tour. A shame they didn’t play any Texas dates this time around, but it’s hot as balls outside. (Friends and I are hitting up Dick’s for the Labor Day weekend run. Should be fun.)

[dbecks 442]

I still need to tell the story of my 4th Phish show on 6/21/94. It’s a great story.

Yes, yes you do.

[WhatTheBuck 28771]

11 minutes ago, dbecks said:

Love hearing those little drops. Sporting events on Fox often have it as well, but it’s sometimes just barely there… almost subliminal-like.

We get a lot of Dead and Phish snippets in the outros of NFL broadcasts.

The all-timer of Tweezers, aka “Tweezerfest,” was performed at the Bomb Factory in Dallas on 5/7/94. And it was the bomb. That was in their heyday.

[WhatTheBuck 28771]

38 minutes ago, dbecks said:

Yes, yes you do.

 

Okay. You asked for it. It’s a long story and you’ll see why I’ve been putting it off. Buckle up.

Summer Solstice shows used to be a big deal for the Dead. I assumed the same would be true for Phish. It really wasn’t but this was a crazy show. It was at the Cincinnati Music Hall which is a gorgeous venue.

It was a beautiful day, great weather. Back then there wasn’t much of a lot scene at Phish shows. We tailgated close to the venue. There wasn’t a big parking lot. There was a park across the street and we hung out there for awhile. We saw a grand total of one dude selling t-shirts. Another guy was selling stickers. That’s the extent of the vending we saw.

So into the show. We had really good seats. We had box seats on stage left. There was a separate hallway that you could only access with those tickets. We had our own refreshment stands and restrooms. To get to our box, we’d go into a little hallway, then each box had a little cloakroom with a curtain on both sides, then you’d get to your box. The chairs in the box weren’t fastened down so we stacked them up in the cloakroom, kicked off our footwear, and danced barefoot on the carpeted floor. It was luxurious.

Now, I’d already been to dozens of Dead shows. I’d had a lot of hippies ask to borrow my ticket stub to bring a friend down to the floor or the pavilion or wherever. I’m no sucker. I’m sure they meant well at the time but I also know that as soon as they got to wherever they wanted to go, returning my stub to me was not going to be a priority. But in this case, some kid, who couldn’t have been older than sixteen, if that, asked if he could borrow my stub. It was such a cool scene and we were having such a great time, and there was no way in hell that he wouldn’t come back to our box. So I gave it to him.

And a few minutes later...FIRE ALARM! They stopped the show and everyone had to leave the venue. And I was left without my ticket stub. We all filed out, and into the park across the street. I frantically scanned the crowd to see if I could find that kid who had my stub. No luck.

Fortunately I was there with a couple friends and they were able to stub me back into the show. When the band came back on stage, Trey explained that there could be no more smoking or if the fire alarm went off again then the show would be over. (They played a continuous set after that and opened with a cover of Hendrix’s Fire.) We were still able to sneak into the little cloakroom to smoke a bowl behind the curtain.

And I got my stub back. Because who wouldn’t want to return to that box and the person that kid was stubbing down was...HIS MOM! She apologized profusely. “I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry!” It was all good. But let that be a lesson to you. Never, ever let anyone borrow your ticket stub.

Here’s a fairly decent bootleg video of the show with good quality audio:

 

[dbecks 442]

Ok, that’s a pretty fucking good story. That venue seems awesome.

[WhatTheBuck 28771]

That show gets overshadowed because the next night at Vet’s Memorial in Columbus was released as Vol 10 of the Live Phish official releases. That was an amazing show too. It was also the first time I saw a real lot scene at a Phish show. The venue is right by the river and, while the parking lot is on the opposite side of the venue from the river, there’s a lot of grassy space to hang out on between the venue and the river.

It’s a solid venue but I’ve only seen a handful of shows there. They’ve never hosted a lot of shows since I’ve been living here. But it’s a weird mix. I’ve also been there to see Jethro Tull, Howard Jones, Yes, String Cheese Incident, and Bob Dylan. Isn’t that bizarre? (That Dylan show kicked ass, btw, not like the first time I saw him at a stadium.)

Anyway, since I’m in a storytelling mood, I had great seats for this Phish show. My roommate and I had third row center seats. On that tour, Phish was only booking venues where you could buy tickets at the box office without having to go through TicketMaster. So we went down to buy tickets the day they went on sale. When we got to the parking lot, there were some other fans hanging out. We went to the box office and took our place first in line.

Then some dude who was in the parking lot before us approached us and said he should be in front of us in line because he was there before us. I told him, “Sorry, dude. The line starts here.” And then I added that he learned a valuable lesson that day. Idiot. Still, first person in line at the box office at the venue at the moment the tickets go on sale should get front row center seats but that’s now how ticketing works and we probably did better than you could ever do today.

I mentioned the “Tweezerfest” show from Dallas. I’ve labeled this show as “Teaserfest.” You should check it out. There are a lot of quotes from other songs and a lot of ins and outs. Also, it was my first time trying to keep a setlist at a Phish show and my first time hearing Simple. I labeled it “Skyscraper.”

The next day I boarded a plane for Vegas to see three nights of the Dead. That began my departure from the Dead and getting on the Phish train because they had a lot more energy. 

[WhatTheBuck 28771]

Old school Phish at the Sphere. As a jaded vet, this has my blessing.

 

[WhatTheBuck 28771]

Yep, okay. Playing up to the stage. Way to go, guys.

 

[dcbc 14464]

Checking in. I just got back from Vegas. I was Section 105 for night 4 and that was the coolest shit I ever have seen. This was my 19th show over 29 years. And while it's not really fair to compare it to anything I've seen before from them, I'm so glad I went.

The second set was an absolute ripper.  They way they set up the stereo field in that unforgiving space was miraculous. 


 

Edited April 23 by dcbc

[WhatTheBuck 28771]

8 hours ago, dcbc said:

 

Divided Sky was the first of the few excerpts I watched. Awesome visuals. I thought the performance was a little clunky to start. I begrudgingly got into it toward the end. I’ve seen better but it took me back because it really is a great song. I even found myself chuckling at Trey’s pregnant pause that used to tire me out by how he seemed to keep milking it longer and longer every time.

 

[dcbc 14464]

Divided Sky was the first of the few excerpts I watched. Awesome visuals. I thought the performance was a little clunky to start. I begrudgingly got into it toward the end. I’ve seen better but it took me back because it really is a great song. I even found myself chuckling at Trey’s pregnant pause that used to tire me out by how he seemed to keep milking it longer and longer every time.

Have I heard a better version of the song?  Probably.  Can it fairly be compared to hearing/seeing this performance?  Nah.  I got choked up a couple of times.  And yes, the stoppage time has gotten silly over the years.
 
The first set struck me as a "this is what the Sphere can do" tutorial at first.  They started small and played things with tighter jam sections or mostly composed tunes like Divided Sky.  By the time they got to Character Zero to end the first set, they were starting to cook.  The second set dug in and didn't feel like it ever let go.  The visuals were more intense and complete in coverage.  If you watched the stage, you got the feeling that the entire venue was moving, tilting, and shifting.  And the floor was definitely moving with all the people dancing.  It was no polite show where everyone sat in his/her seats.  The audience seemed to me like any other show. 
 
Divided sky was really the only landscape we got if you don't count the "sky full of stars" we got for 2001/ASZ.
 
I haven't been to a show since 2016, and, as usual, there were a few tunes I didn't recognize.  But most of the songs hit hard, and I felt like we got a really solid show.  I intentionally avoided spoilers before we went so I wouldn't know what songs to expect or, more importantly, what I'd missed.
 
The people I went with and I were talking about how ridiculous it would seem to us in the 90s if someone had told us we would see something like this 30 years later. 

Edited April 23 by dcbc

[WhatTheBuck 28771]

Synchronicity. This past weekend was the 31st anniversary of my first Phish shows. Back in ‘93, 4/20 wasn’t a date of significance. At the time I felt I was late to the party. I posted setlists earlier in this thread. (We’re still on the first page? Really?)

Before long it will be 20 years since my last Phish shows. Coventry wrecked me.

It’s complicated. I need to see/hear the Reba from the Sphere. They had to have played it, right? I haven’t even bothered to look at setlists at phish.net yet. 

[WhatTheBuck 28771]

Saw a piece on CBS Saturday Morning about Phish’s gig at the Sphere. I didn’t know they were just the second band to perform there after U2. It really is a Phishy thing for them to do.

 

Hey, look. They posted a long interview. Way to go, CBS.

 

 

[dcbc 14464]

There was, in fact, no Reba at the Sphere, and that seems like it should be a crime. 

 

I was at the two Shoreline shows before the first Hiatus.  After the funerary feel after that last show, there was no way I wanted to go see the last show at Coventry, which turns out to have been a good decision.  Big Cypress took a lot out of me physically and, today, if I'm going to camp and see more than one show, it's going to need to be at the Gorge.

 

I'll have to dig up my first stub.  It was Austin Music Hall (10/16/1995).  Wish I could have seen both shows, but it was TX/OU weekend. 

[dcbc 14464]

Also, when this first was announced, I remember thinking, like most people probably, that this would become an annual event of short runs at the Sphere for Phish.  Same owner as MSG and obviously, they have they relationship.  But after seeing it first hand, I'm guessing the amount of work that goes into this to make these performances unique is, suffice it to say, a ridiculous feat.  They surely will play there again, but I'd be surprised if it's with any sort of regularity.

[WhatTheBuck 28771]

No Reba at the Sphere?!?!

Goddamnit. God Fucking Damn You Trey. What the fuck?

Ah, well. It’s not like they could top this one:

Phish has an unusual distinction in that I can say they played both the best and the worst concerts I’ve ever seen. 

[WhatTheBuck 28771]

3 minutes ago, dcbc said:

Also, when this first was announced, I remember thinking, like most people probably, that this would become an annual event of short runs at the Sphere for Phish.  Same owner as MSG and obviously, they have they relationship.  But after seeing it first hand, I'm guessing the amount of work that goes into this to make these performances unique is, suffice it to say, a ridiculous feat.  They surely will play there again, but I'd be surprised if it's with any sort of regularity.

They upped the ante for Dead & Co. 

[dcbc 14464]

Just now, WhatTheBuck said:

They upped the ante for Dead & Co. 

Yeah.  They have been preparing for this for over a year, and it showed.  One of my long-time concert buddies basically said he felt no compulsion to ever see another band perform there.  But I quickly responded that I would buy tickets to see David Byrne there in a heartbeat.

[Prepuce of Doom 21052]

[ajax 2600]

1 hour ago, Prepuce of Doom said:

I hope thousands of people film themselves smoking bongs in the Sphere using green screens and post them on social media. I'm not a pot smoker but this is just petty shit.

[C-Man 27182]

4 hours ago, ajax said:

I hope thousands of people film themselves smoking bongs in the Sphere using green screens and post them on social media. I'm not a pot smoker but this is just petty shit.

Have you met James Dolan?

[stc 1460]

apparently this guy has actually been using facial recognition to ban people from these venues...so it isn't necessarily a meaningless threat. 

https://nypost.com/2024/01/13/metro/judge-oks-nyc-suit-over-msg-james-dolan-using-tech-to-ban-enemies/

 

 

[Prepuce of Doom 21052]

It just occurred to me that the scofflaw should have included #FirstTube and the fact that they didn't makes me like them a lot less. 

[ScottS 1061]

Y'all are missing the most important fact about this story:  the guy is known as "Acid Farts".

Man known as ‘Acid Farts’ banned, then unbanned from Las Vegas Sphere

https://www.instagram.com/acid_farts/

Edited June 11 by ScottS
different word choice

[dcbc 14464]

On 4/23/2024 at 9:25 AM, WhatTheBuck said:

and the worst concerts I’ve ever seen

You were at Coventry?

[WhatTheBuck 28771]

2 minutes ago, dcbc said:

You were at Coventry?

Yep. 

[dcbc 14464]

9 minutes ago, WhatTheBuck said:

Yep. 

I don't know if there's an appropriate emoji for that.  I was at the two Shoreline shows right before the hiatus.  They were great shows, but the ending was funerary and left us all with kind of an empty feeling.  I had no desire to repeat that.  And I know that has nothing to do with the many reasons Coventry was so awful.  But it was enough for me to decide that I was okay with the two 2003 Alpine shows being my last if it really was over.  Narrator: It wasn't over.

Edited June 21 by dcbc

[WhatTheBuck 28771]

7 minutes ago, dcbc said:

I don't know if there's an appropriate emoji for that.  I was at the two Shoreline shows right before the hiatus.  They were great show, but the ending was funerary and left us all with kind of an empty feeling.  I had no desire to repeat that.  And I know that has nothing to do with the many reasons Coventry was so awful.  But it was enough for me to decide that I was okay with the two 2003 Alpine shows to be my last if it really was over.  Narrator: It wasn't over.

It broke me. Those were my last Phish shows.

[dcbc 14464]

1 minute ago, WhatTheBuck said:

It broke me. Those were my last Phish shows.

While nothing will top the 90s shows for me, you really need to get back out there.  They're doing some great things these days. 

[WhatTheBuck 28771]

1 minute ago, dcbc said:

While nothing will top the 90s shows for me, you really need to get back out there.  They're doing some great things these days. 

I’ve kept tabs on ‘em. I haven’t heard enough that would make me want to go to another show. I’m in full on jaded vet mode. We’ve just grown apart.

The jams aren’t as good. Trey doesn’t have his chops anymore. (I’ll offer the simplified Tweezer riff as a prime example.) I don’t like the new songs. I really never cared for anything post-Farmhouse.

I’ve heard a few good moments. I streamed the show from the Greek Theatre when Trey introduced his ocelot Languedoc. That was the most old-school sounding show I’d heard since they re-formed. I watched a free live stream of the Chilling, Thrilling Sounds Halloween show and thought that was pretty cool. I was listening to their Halloween stream when they covered Exile on Main Street but it didn’t take me long to turn it off and just play the album. I’ve heard a lot of stuff that just didn’t do it for me.

I thought the Bathtub Gin at the Sphere was acceptable.

But yeah, I’m not going back. 

[dcbc 14464]

8 hours ago, WhatTheBuck said:

I’m in full on jaded vet mode. We’ve just grown apart.

I could pick at things here and there too, but that doesn't do me or anyone else any good.  I was there for the best of it in the 90s, and I'm still in it for the overall good time I've had while I'm at the shows.  LOL at "doesn't have the chops."  Yeah, he's older just like we are and some of the speed is gone, but he's not in Dead & Co. territory just yet.  The dude still can flat out rip it.  And I'll reiterate, I was there in the 90s too.  So I understand the generality of where you're coming from.  Nonetheless, the second set from the 4th night at the Sphere melted my face enough to get me back to see them again in the future. 

 

I'll watch clips on youtube, but I don't couch tour.  That's not the experience.

 

 

[WhatTheBuck 28771]

Phish will be the musical guest on Fallon tonight. 

[WhatTheBuck 28771]

I was watching Colbert so missed Fallon’s open. That was kind of cute.

I switched over to NBC sometime I guess during Jimmy’s last guest. I woke up just before Phish came on. It was a nice enough mellow song which fit my semi-woke state. Nothing particularly special. Way, way better than Waiting All Night. Sounded Phishy enough. I still love Trey’s guitar tone and still think Mike is an excellent bassist. Obviously you’re not going to get any extended soloing in that setting.

I wondered if the lighting design with those rectangular shapes in the background was supposed to be a nod to the old Minkin artwork they used to use back in the early 90’s. I always liked those.

While searching for pics, I came across this shot from the Sphere which I feel certain must be a reference to those old pieces.

[WhatTheBuck 28771]

On 7/12/2024 at 9:04 AM, WhatTheBuck said:

I wondered if the lighting design with those rectangular shapes in the background was supposed to be a nod to the old Minkin artwork they used to use back in the early 90’s.

Nope, it’s just a Tonight Show thing. I just saw Sublime perform and they had the same background. (They sounded pretty good, btw.)

[WhatTheBuck 28771]

This is a better video than the one I posted in the GD thread. I figured I’d post it here.

The thing I like the most is how everyone instantly recognizes the song and how many people are singing along.

RIP Phil.

 

[dcbc 14464]

On 10/29/2024 at 4:54 AM, WhatTheBuck said:

This is a better video than the one I posted in the GD thread. I figured I’d post it here.

The thing I like the most is how everyone instantly recognizes the song and how many people are singing along.

RIP Phil.

 

That's awesome.  I also like that Trey has gone back to the Mesa Mkiii/Languedoc Cab Rig. 

[dcbc 14464]

On 7/12/2024 at 8:04 AM, WhatTheBuck said:

While searching for pics, I came across this shot from the Sphere which I feel certain must be a reference to those old pieces.

I was at this show and thought the same thing (well, I considered it later; at that point in the show, I was concentrating on not getting sucked into the wormhole.  In a previous Sphere show, they had all the Pollack artwork covering the Sphere.