I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: August 8, 2018] Phish

I have never seen a band two nights in a row in the same place before (I have seen Tori Amos three times in four days but that was at different locations).  I knew that Phish always mixed up their sets so that two nights in the same place never contained the same songs.  This was a great way to hear even more different stuff.

Tonight’s show was very different for me though.  My daughter was in the 4H Fair play before the show (she was a wicked stepsister in Cinderella).  I certainly wanted to see that.  It was super fun, although pro-tip…she needs to exaggerate her on-stage behavior more.

I was afraid I’d be late for the show (4H traffic is shocking!), but traffic was light and I made it to Camden in okay  time.  I had to park over a mile away (and still pay $30).  It was a 15-minute brisk walk to the stadium during which time I was feeling kind of down about the whole event.  There were lots of drunk people and scalpers and hawkers and ugly sights abounded.  Plus it was hot and I was in a hurry and then I got to the gates and the line was huge.

I also knew that I was much later than the night before so I wouldn’t get a choice spot at the railing like the night before.

I bought a corn dog (yum) and walked up to the lawn.  I decided to purposely pick a different part of the lawn tonight (Page’s side).  And just as I climbed the stairs I saw Armando, my friend from the night before.  I was hoping to see him and was kicking myself for not coordinating with him.  But I love the serendipity of running into him like that.  He was talking to a woman who turned out to be his mom!  She lives closer to the venue than he does so he was staying with her for the night and he invited her along. She had been to many concerts with him (how cool is that) but had never seen Phish so she was excited for something new.  She was great to hang with.

He had a spot along the railing again and got ready for Night #2.

In which they played 8 songs in a row that I hadn’t seen them play before.

They opened with a funky “The Moma Dance” with Fish yelling throughout.  And then they played “Free” which is another song that I love.

Each of these songs ran about 8 minutes, including the next one, “Undermind.”  I know a lot of old school fans don’t like the newer albums as much but I think songs like “Undermind” are terrific.

Then they played a song I’ve wanted to hear, “Theme From The Bottom.”   Evidently Trey has a rocky history with the instrumental section before the jam.  But Trey was making up for last night’s flubs by playing a beautiful version of the song.

They played a spirited version of “My Sweet One,” and I remember wondering what Armando’s mom thought of all of the stylistic changes.

Then they played an awesome “Steam.”  It’s a song I didn’t really think too much about before this show, but man it was great to hear–especially  the cool sound effects.   Page started the jam but Trey took over with a tease of Frank Zappa’s “Apostrophe.”

It was followed by a fast tempo “Train Song” which segued into “Halley’s Comet.”  I had just been grooving on “Halley’s Comet” the other day so it was awesome to hear it live.  Everyone sounded great–the harmonies were perfect.

The songs had all been pretty long, but there were no lengthy jams this set until they played the final song, “Everything’s Right.”  It’s a new song and not frequently played.

They jammed it for nearly 17 minutes.  There was a spacey Mike and Page-led section followed by a joyously wild and loose solo from Trey.  The weather was fine this night so all of the cheers and yells came from the peaks of Trey’s solos and not mother nature.  As with yesterday though, they seemed to cut the jam abruptly short, this time to return to the song and finish it up tidily.

Set two began with “Julius” a song that I love but which I forget about.  There was some ferocious jamming which led to an amazing “Carini.”  I had just listened to the song and was really hoping to hear it and when they started playing it, Armando told me he was also really hoping for it too.  It was raw and rough and sounded awesome.

“Set Your Soul Free,” stretched out nearly 11 minutes with Mike immediately taking things to the dark side into a deep bass groove which developed a kind of underwater feel until the pace quickened and things really took off.  It was followed by a lovely “Wingsuit,” which was a way to relax after the last 20 or so jamming minutes.  Apparently Mike played the drill again.

It was followed by a 12 minute “Scents & Subtle Sounds,” which included apparently “one of the most sought after sections of Phish’s music out there … the intro to “Scents & Subtle Sounds.” Considering the last six times this tune was played, it was performed without the intro, the inclusion of the intro was a pleasant and delightful surprise to those in attendance. ”

The show paused for a moment while Trey switched guitars to play a lovely “Waste.” Trey nailed the outro, which he had apparently been skipping during his acoustic tour.

That was neat to hear but it is always fun to be rudely awakened out of a pretty song with a great funky bass line.  In this case, “Split Open and Melt” which was a major highlight.  This was the only song of the second set that I’d seen before, but I love it and could hear it every time.  Especially in this case.  The jam went really weird, got kind of dark and sinister.  It build up some great tension.  Enough that even though I had stopped taking videos by then, I had to bust out the phone to capture what was happening (it didn’t translate).  But the way Kuroda brought the lights down really low as if enclosing everyone in a claustrophobic cage was awesome.

They came out of that with  “Character Zero.”  Armando told me that a lot of fans say they don’t like this song and yet there was not one person not singing along to the chorus,

I had never really enjoyed “Suzy Greenberg” until I saw it live and it clicked (the live performance and lights really make it).  It is now the only song I’ve seen three times and I’ve never been disappointed by it (although Fish seemed less than crazy in his pre-chorus shouting nonsense).

This was my fifth time seeing them and of the 18 songs they played, I’d only seen 3 of those songs before.  I was also really happy that they didn’t do any covers in these two nights.  Many of their covers are great ones that are a standard part of the repertoire, but as with most bands, I want to hear your music!  So thank you for that.

And thanks for letting me understand why people follow this band around.  I left in such a better head space than when I arrived.