I LOVE PHISH TODAY because of the Little Feat set one week ago! Here you go, kids; your Halloween show review!
I had a GREAT time during this show, it was everything they hyped it up to be and more. And the ticket was a bitch to get- pardon my french. Reason #4 explains what I did during the hours before my first Halloween show: I had to walk the boardwalk aimlessly, finger in the air, to find a ticket for my buddy, which of course didn't happen. Don't worry, we all got in no problems and were able to rock the show together. First show, I rocked Fish side, mostly, second show Page side rage side all day, H'weenie dead center for my boys, with my closest phriends around.
First set I was actually down on the floor, and it was incredible. I got some amazing pictures of Page keytar-ing up for the Frankenstein opener (how appropriate). I've been so lucky as to have seen this before (SPAC 6/20/10, encore), but Frankenstein is just not the same without it. So a very special moment and good, solid opener indeed. BBFCFM followed, a tune that used to be a bust out but now has been heard far too often (four times in 2010, and I happened to be at all those shows.. I'm over it, sowwy.), and then, so appropriately but earlier than expected, Story of a Ghost! Everyone was waiting for it, and the hall erupted with cheers and balloons and bouncy balls at those first few funky notes. They kept up the theme with a Spooky (first since April '93) into The Divided Sky. (You know what's comin' next, but I had to wait for it, so you'll wait and read my side story: in this years Phishbill, they wrote a legal disclaimer requesting- jokingly, no doubt- to have the name of The Divided Sky changed legally to Divided Sky. They said since it never said 'the' in the lyrics, it didn't make sense to have it in the title. They also wanted to make an addendum to the title Gotta Jibboo. Proposed alternative: No, Seriously, I Really Gotta Jibboo. =) ) THEN THEY PLAYED ROSES ARE FREEEEE!!!!!! Sorry, that's just how I felt about that whole situation. MY FRIST ROSES!! Oh, it's like falling in love, or getting your first apartment. Freeing and fulfilling and luscious and enviable, all at the same time. Carve out a pumpkin and rely on your destiny.... it was so so wonderful for me. I kiss the Phish gods above. Then, to close the set, a funky Funky Bitch into Boogie (which got super down and dirty), then Stash and Character Zero. Standard. Gettin' ready. Savin' energy. I hear you boys.
During the set break, they played over the PA the first track off Little Feat's 1978 live double album "Waiting for Columbus," called Join the Band. Though we all already knew what cover they were going to do (if we didn't know from Saturday's giveaway), the crowd burst into recognition and applause. When the lights went down on the stage (God- everything about this weekend was so special for me) I was finally part of some Secret Language business!! I have studied Phish's secret language to better understand how they communicate with one another and improvise so successfully, but I kind of thought they were done with it. Well, I suppose they mostly are but on Sunday night, those of us who took care of our Phishbills and didn't throw the flyers out took part in a call and response to get the boys to start playing. Before the second track of the double album, first live of the set, an announcer came on stage to tell us what an extraordinary event this was (as if we didn't know that!). "Let's just get to it folks, help me bring 'em out. Gimme an F!" Crowd: PH! "Gimme an E!" I! "Gimme an A!" S! "Gimme a T!" H!! "Please welcome, Little Feat!" PHHISHHHHHHHH!!! If only good for one thing, that will be great to hear when I can finally download the show. So they started the Waiting for Columbus set exactly as Little Feat would have played it. The horns section added such a profound second level to the music for me; at times, I just stood and absorbed the volume that was being blasted at me. And other times, I stood in awe at the world-renown percussionist Giovanni Hidalgo and his immense drumming talents. I thought Fish was good... shiii.
Every song was a debut (except Time Loves a Hero), and since at least 50% of Phish phans weren't old enough or born by '78, the appreciation level wasn't quite where it was for, say, The Beatles set or The Who set. It was way up there, don't get me wrong. This is certainly the hardest musical costume the boys have donned, and they certainly pulled it off beautifully. And we phans just love the boys! Not to say that anything they spew at us we accept; we're rather a judgmental bunch, especially when it comes to our deities. But they were trying real hard, and doing a pretty great job, covering some pretty hard rockin' jam sandwich kinda melodies. What I'm trying to say is that even for the phans who didn't know Little Feat, or who didn't realize Time Loves a Hero wasn't a Phish original, the set was pretty great. High energy, only a few noticeable flubs, and super entertaining, to say the least. For one track, Willin', the horns section stepped back and the boys mixed it up- Mike on keys, Fish on vocals, Page on bass and Trey on drums, which was awesome. (I had seen Trey on drums the week before, when Fish broke out the Elextrolux, but I thought it was still pretty cool, Ernie's alright.) For the next track, Don't Bogart That Joint, was sung acapella, which I found amazing, I LOVEE when four men who don't consider themselves singers can bust out an acapella or two. (In my reading I have found that Phish spent a lot of time going to barber shop quartet classes and working on their voices blending.) This was my Surrender to the Flow vote for song to be kept in rotation, as lame as that may be. They closed the second set just as a strong as it began, and treated us phans to a special H'ween treat- the boys and their guests took small drums and danced single file around the general admission floor area. I got a nice wink from the red-head!
People were blown away and tired at this point. We train for two sets each night, and sometimes barely muster enough strength for a multi-song encore. But tonight, we had about another hour-hour and a half left of music. This is not to say we weren't excited- believe me, when those underwater, spacey noises broke the surface for DWD, people were hype to have their boys back. Fish flubbed the beginning and it had to be restarted, prompting him to declare, "Sorry- this ones off our album." But then it got rowdy, for sure. A high energy Back on the Train to re-ignite our souls followed by a funky, frankly badass version of Jibboo, never heard it quite so... uh uh, ya know? Then came a Camel Walk which livened the crowed, and a strangely placed Suzy Greenberg, for the slot machines of Atlantic City. Wilson was a given, we had all been waiting for it to go, and I rocked it alone as I was transitioning from floor level to up a bit for a better sound. But it really wasn't that incredible, and it seemed to stick out just like Suzy did, which disappointed me a little. After Wilson, the show was coming to a close but it wouldn't be any sweet goodbye or quite bidding farewell. Harry Hood started this closing run, followed by The Horse>Silent (soft spot... made me cry... like it usually does), and, clearly, YEEEMMMMMMM. It was fantastic, absolutely wonderful, as many times as I hear that epic jam I will never, ever, be sick of it. It keeps me guessing, tho I could sing each part in my sleep. The jam keeps me interested, following and anticipating every note. The lyrics keep me laughing, actually laughing out loud with- not at- a musical composition. You Enjoy Myself is easily one of Phish's best songs, best jams, highest energy, most loved. Easily. And it made a wonderful Halloween set 3 closer. Admittedly, Julius almost blew it out of the water, featuring the horn section and Hildago back on the stage. Can you imagine a Julius so full of energy and sound and passion. That's what we got- best Julius I've seen to date, and I know that song will never be the same again. (Suzy is pretty much not the same since I heard the version from Festival 8.)
So there you have it, two hours later and a crap ton of text. But I hope you are enjoying my blog so far, hope I've done a decent job keeping up with it and that you will continue to read! Please feel free to share any stories or anything with me, via email, comment, or on my fbook page: facebook.com/phunkyTela.
Happy Halloween yall, much lovee <3 oh ps IT SNOWED IN NY TODAY. Welcome to winter, what are we about 50 days from Worcester? =D
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