PITTSBURGH RECAP: "WELL OH BABY, MY HAIR'S ON END ABOUT YINZ"
[We would like to thank user Aaron Presuhn for recapping last night's show.]
On a cold Wednesday night, The Phish from Vermont returned to The Petersen Events Center, University of Pittsburgh campus. Contrast tonight’s weather with the last time they played here in 2017...when it was about 95 degrees. Walking up that damn hill in searing midday heat after drinking a Founder’s KBS was no fun. That show happened to fall on my birthday, and it was a heater to go along with the weather. I was excited to see how tonight shook out!
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SET 1: 555, AC/DC Bag, Cars Trucks Buses, Water in the Sky > Sample in a Jar, Theme From the Bottom > Funky Bitch > Wolfman's Brother, Halley's Comet > When the Circus Comes, Victim[1] > Run Like an Antelope
SET 2: Cavern > Runaway Jim > Ghosts of the Forest[1] > A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing > Prince Caspian > Fuego > You Enjoy Myself > Good Times Bad Times
ENCORE: Hold Your Head Up > Terrapin > Hold Your Head Up, Julius
Phish Fans Fund Pittsburgh Music
The all-volunteer, fan-run Mockingbird Foundation is once again celebrating Phish tour by making unsolicited Tour Grants supporting a music program near each of the venues at which the band will perform. This series of Tour Grants covers all of the locations Phish will play during the band's 2019 Fall Tour.
In honor of Phish's upcoming show at Peterson Events Center, December 4th, the Mockingbird Foundation is sending a check for $1500 to support music education through the Marching Crusaders at Bishop Canevin High School in Pittsburgh, PA, a private Jesuit-inspired school with four growing music programs.
This is Mockingbird's 3rd grant in Pittsburgh, 18th grant in Pennsylvania, and 420th grant overall. The Foundation has now disbursed $167,000 in Tour Grants, 11% of its more than $1.4M in grants covering all 50 states. Watch for news posts here at Phish.net, or the evolving press release at the Foundation's website, for news on other "miracle" tour grants this fall. And please consider making a contribution, to help us give back to the communities we've touched.
PHISH AT THE MET - WELL I'LL BE VAN DAMME'D
Howdy folks, or I guess that should be PHOLKS right??? My name is Bill and I am substituting for my brother-in-law Martin (@Doctor_Smarty) for this article. He had intended to tell you guys about the Phish concert at The Met last night, but there was a problem. I am subscribed to SIRIUSXM and he isn’t. When I got the email asking me if I wanted to go to the concert, I entered the drawing assuming I could just give the tickets to my brother-in-law and he and his wife could go see their favorite band. Unfortunately, the tickets were non-transferable, so my brother-in-law and his wife stayed back in Oregon instead of coming out to spend Thanksgiving with the rest of our family. That meant that me and my wife went to the concert instead. He told me that you guys would be interested to know how it all went down, so this is my attempt to do that. Obviously I won’t know any of the lingo you guys usually use to talk about this stuff. But here goes.
I’m not very big into going to live concerts to be honest. I’m more inclined to be at home with a glass of Crown Royal and puff on a Cuban cigar while sitting next to my fire pit listening to classic rock on my Sonos. In fact, the only concert I have ever been to before last night was when @Doctor_Smarty took me and his sister (my wife) to see Guns N Roses at the Florida Suncoast Dome on December 28th, 1991. That was quite an experience, let me tell you. But probably best I don’t. Suffice to say, I had not been back to a concert since. I also never listen to Phish Radio on SIRIUSXM. My favorite channel is Classic Rewind. My favorite band is arguably, with all due respect to Bob Dylan, Bearsville Records’ greatest artist...FOGHAT!!. Man...I just can’t get enough of that “Slow Ride” if you know what I mean? Alright, take it easy. As you can imagine, other than when Martin comes to visit, I haven’t really heard any Phish and don’t really know the songs. My ears were a blank canvas in that respect. After last night, I’m feeling like they are more like one of those Jackson Pollock splatter-gram deals now. Are rock concerts always like this?
Soundcheck: Cool Amber and Mercury (this soundcheck is incomplete)
SET 1: Hello My Baby, Tweezer > Free, The Moma Dance > Tweezer -> Blaze On, Jesus Just Left Chicago, Kill Devil Falls > Tweezer > Ya Mar, Drift While You're Sleeping
SET 2: Chalk Dust Torture[1] > Tweezer > Mike's Song > Sparkle, Ass Handed > Weekapaug Groove, Miss You > Waves > Twist > A Day in the Life > Also Sprach Zarathustra[2] > More
ENCORE: Waste > Tweezer Reprise
MYSTERY JAM TUESDAY PART 398
Welcome to the 398th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the first and easiest of December. The winner will receive THREE (!) MP3 download codes courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net and our friend @raisinsnacks, who tossed their codes back into the pool for a n00b triple crown this week. To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of the mystery clip. Each person gets one guess to start – if no one answers correctly in the first 24 hours, I'll post a hint. After the hint, everyone gets one more guess before Wednesday at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Good luck!
Phish Fans Fund Yeadon Music
The all-volunteer, fan-run Mockingbird Foundation is once again celebrating Phish tour by making unsolicited Tour Grants supporting a music program near each of the venues at which the band will perform. This series of Tour Grants covers all of the locations Phish will play during the band's 2019 Fall Tour.
In honor of Phish's upcoming show at The Met, December 3rd, the Mockingbird Foundation is sending a check for $1500 to support music education through the Bell Avenue Elementary School Band in Yeadon, PA. Bell Avenue is a K-6 urban elementary school just outside of Philadelphia and part of the William Penn School District, a Title 1 school district providing services for students in a low income area where students receive 100% free and reduced lunch and breakfast. Bell Avenue Elementary School's band program has been a particular challenge, with virtually no arts funding. We want to help change that.
This is Mockingbird's 17th grant in Pennsylvania, and 419th grant overall. The Foundation has now5 disbursed $165,500 in Tour Grants, 11% of its more than $1.4M in grants covering all 50 states. Watch for news posts here at Phish.net, or the evolving press release at the Foundation's website, for news on other "miracle" tour grants this fall. And please consider making a contribution, to help us give back to the communities we've touched.
NASSAU RECAP: "THE LAND OF THE BRAVE AND THE FREE"
[We would once again like to thank Alaina Stamatis, user @farmhose (twitter @fad_albert), for recapping last night's show. -Ed.]
Ah yes, Long Island. The New Jersey that nobody talks about. The land of sports cars smashed into trees with smoke slowly rising from them and no driver or passengers to be found. The only island you can visit where you'll see a housewife driving a fat Benz with a vanity plate that reads XANAX. Long Island, where you can advertise that you're driving on Xanax with no recourse.
Which naturally leads us to Long Island's prodigal son: Billy Joel. Many of us in the Phish community know of Mr. Joel's real and/or exaggerated and/or entirely fictional rivalry with Phish (for hogging MSG every New Year's Eve despite being a "second rate cover band"); but what y'all might've missed is that Mr. Joel already had a longstanding rivalry with Long Island for requiring that he drive his sports cars "safely" and "on the road." For when I was in high school Mr. Joel wrecked his third hot rod in two years when he swerved off the road, over the curb, across the lawn, and into a sleeping old man's living room. And while this sleeping old man was probably the only Long Islander who didn't double as a Billy Joel fan (a Piano Fan?), when the police arrived on the scene, the officers were quite starstruck. Harkening back to moments ago when we were discussing a brazen use of Xanax while operating heavy machinery: despite driving directly into someone's house, Mr. Joel was not given a breathalyzer test.
So what was going to happen to us tonight? Would a fuming Billy Joel drive through the center of Shakedown? And more importantly, was Phish going to mow down our psyches and egos with some searing, soaring, and face melting hetty jams?
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Soundcheck: Drift While You're Sleeping (this soundcheck is possibly incomplete)
SET 1: Ghost > Rift, The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday > Avenu Malkenu > The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday > The Wedge, Martian Monster > Timber (Jerry The Mule) > Cool It Down > Roggae > Poor Heart > Tube > Character Zero
SET 2: Everything's Right > Down with Disease[1] -> Cities > Carini > Ruby Waves > Twenty Years Later > Backwards Down the Number Line > Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S.
ENCORE: Roses Are Free > Slave to the Traffic Light
Phish Fans Fund Wyandanch Music
The all-volunteer, fan-run Mockingbird Foundation is once again celebrating Phish tour by making unsolicited Tour Grants supporting a music program near each of the venues at which the band will perform. This series of Tour Grants covers all of the locations Phish will play during the band's 2019 Fall Tour.
In honor of Phish's upcoming show at Nassau Coliseum, December 1st, the Mockingbird Foundation is sending a check for $1500 to support music education through the Wyandanch Memorial High School in Wyandanch, NY. This was the only district on Long Island to not pass their budget last year, which has taken a huge hit on all programs. Professional athletes, sports teams and businesses have all come out to pledge $300k to fund their athletics program... but we've heard crickets about the arts, and suspect a much bigger need there!
This is Mockingbird's 1st grant in Wyandanch, 40th grant in New York, and 418th grant overall. The Foundation has now disbursed $164,000 in Tour Grants, 11% of its more than $1.4M in grants covering all 50 states. Watch for news posts here at Phish.net, or the evolving press release at the Foundation's website, for news on other "miracle" tour grants this fall. And please consider making a contribution, to help us give back to the communities we've touched.
PROVIDENCE2 RECAP: A BIG BLACK FURRY HOT MESSY MARSUPIAL THANKSGIVING FEAST
Ok turkeys it’s recap time! For everyone at home keeping score the year is 2019. The date is November 30th, and it also happens to be Thanksgiving weekend. (Here in the USA anyway; back home in Canada where I’m from we do Thanksgiving a month earlier. But don’t worry, we have a long terrible genocidal history with respect to our indigenous population too.) Anyway, a lot to be grateful for tonight, and I’m sure a lot of folks went home happy. I’ll start my recap by offering some gratitude for finally having met @Icculus face-to-face, a solid 25 years after our initial exchange via a B&P of what I believe was the Bomb Factory.
On that note, the band certainly brought out some heavy artillery tonight, but count me among those who hope that “Plasma” reprise is now safely stored away in its holster for the foreseeable future. I thought the show had some powerful moments, and also some surprisingly rough ones, but we’ll get to that…
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Soundcheck: Jam, Drift While You're Sleeping, About to Run
SET 1: Turtle in the Clouds, Punch You in the Eye > Llama[1], Meat, The Old Home Place, Lawn Boy, I Didn't Know, Maze, Horn, Gotta Jibboo > Stash[2] -> Plasma Reprise > Golgi Apparatus
SET 2: Bathtub Gin > Alaska[2] > What's the Use? > Piper > Golden Age -> Plasma Reprise > Harry Hood
ENCORE: Big Black Furry Creature from Mars[2] > Kung > Wombat, Possum > Plasma Reprise
PROVIDENCE1 RECAP: BETTER THAN TERRIBLE
IT has been almost twenty-five years since Phish first played the Civic Center in Providence (12/29/94), and sixteen years since a version of a song performed on November 29 made the jam charts. But then again, it’s been ten years since Phish last even performed on November 29 (in Portland, ME).
Did Phish perform a 59 minute “Runaway Jim” last night, like they did at the Worcester Centrum twenty-two years ago on November 29? (Of course not, WTF is wrong with you.) But did they play a lot of songs that “Trey’s Notebook” predicted they would play? (Remarkably, only a few!) Ok, but did they perform any versions of songs that were so unquestionably “above-average great” and noteworthy that the jam charts team will undoubtedly vote them onto the charts in due course!?
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Phish Fans Fund Providence Music
The all-volunteer, fan-run Mockingbird Foundation is once again celebrating Phish tour by making unsolicited Tour Grants supporting a music program near each of the venues at which the band will perform. This series of Tour Grants covers all of the locations Phish will play during the band's 2019 Fall Tour.
In honor of Phish's ongoing shows at Dunkin' Donuts Center, November 29th and 30th, the Mockingbird Foundation is sending a check for $1500 to support music education through New Urban Arts in Providence, RI. This is a nationally-recognized community arts studio for high school students and emerging artists that empowers young people as artists and leaders through free, year-round out-of-school programs that promote sustained mentoring relationships between urban high school students and trained artist mentors.
This is Mockingbird's 3rd grant in Providence, and 417th grant overall. The Foundation has now disbursed $162,500 in Tour Grants, 11% of its more than $1.4M in grants covering all 50 states. Watch for news posts here at Phish.net, or the evolving press release at the Foundation's website, for news on other "miracle" tour grants this fall. And please consider making a contribution, to help us give back to the communities we've touched.
Soundcheck: Victim, Ghosts of the Forest, Steps (this soundcheck is possibly incomplete)
SET 1: First Tube, The Final Hurrah > NICU, Steam > Scent of a Mule, Bye Bye Foot, No Men In No Man's Land, Gumbo > My Soul, Maybe[1], Sand > Fire
SET 2: 46 Days > Back on the Train > Plasma > Farmhouse, Light -> Plasma Reprise > Birds of a Feather, Joy, Simple -> Set Your Soul Free -> Plasma Reprise, Walk Away
MYSTERY JAM MONDAY PART 397
Welcome to the 397th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the last of November. The winner will receive an MP3 download code courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. To win, be the first person to identify the songs and dates of all three mystery clips. The clips are connected by a theme, but the theme needn't be part of the correct answer. Each person gets one guess to start – if no one answers correctly in the first 24 hours, I'll post a hint. After the hint, everyone gets one more guess before Wednesday at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Good luck!
Hint: Technically, these jams were played in three different venues.
AFTER MIDNIGHT EP 2: A LONG DAY ON ALLIGATOR ALLEY
What's it like to build a city for 75,000 fans from scratch? Why did people sit in traffic for 18 hours waiting to get into Big Cypress? And were there actually alligators? In episode two, Jesse Jarnow takes listeners through the planning and fan arrival to Big Cypress. They hear from Trey, Fish, John Paluska, Brad Sands, Tom Marshall, Jefferson Waful and others.
MYSTERY JAM MONDAY PART 396
Welcome to the 396th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the third of November. The winner will receive an MP3 download code courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. This week's puzzle had a helping friendly hand from MJM HoFer @justino - thanks dude! To win, be the first person to identify the songs and dates of both mystery clips. The clips are connected by a theme, but the theme needn't be part of the correct answer. Each person gets one guess to start – if no one answers correctly in the first 24 hours, I'll post a hint. After the hint, everyone gets one more guess before Wednesday at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Good luck!
AFTER MIDNIGHT EPISODE 1: THE PLAN
In episode one of After Midnight, Jesse Jarnow brings in new interviews with Trey, Fishman, Paluska and others to help answer the following questions: Why did 75,000 Phish fans endure an 18-hour traffic jam to see Phish in the Everglades? Why did Phish make 75,000 fans endure a massive traffic jam to see them? What were Phish doing in Florida in the first place?
THE UNSAFE BRIDGE
Gephyrophobia.
It is an affliction and anxiety disorder that many people have which makes the sufferer afraid of bridges. When you think about it, there are all sorts of things to be worried about when crossing a bridge. There are scores of bridges that have simply collapsed because of structural integrity issues. Many bridges often span high altitudes which compound the issue for those with a fear of heights (acrophobia) as well. Likewise, many bridges sway in the wind which isn’t particularly good for those with a fear of wind (ancraophobia). Let’s not forget many bridges cross water and people with aquaphobia likely aren’t too thrilled about driving over a large body of water....
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Mike at MPP1
Mike at MPP1
Phish.net
The Mockingbird Foundation