ESSEX, VT RECAP
All right, raise your hand if you're gonna miss Couch Tour!
This event, as absorbed via the Information Superhighway in my computer chair, must have been wonderful to attend. Even the webcast was permeated with a sense of community and homecoming, and it's just a shame that it took a horrendous force majeure to make it happen. If Phish is playing, I'm either there or wishing I were, and this was most certainly true tonight.
Of course, it was the kind of night (last announced show this year, rumors afloat about another mini-or-quasi-hiatus, first show in Vermont since Coventry, loose and loping soundcheck) that stirs up disproportionate and even mythical expectations among fans. Tonight's show, while entertaining, was a reminder that expectations are best kept small.
"Chalk Dust", a song that has been far more interesting mid-set than it has in the leadoff slot since the comeback, didn't exactly find the band pouncing, and the "Moma Dance" that followed felt a bit like a second icebreaker. While many were expecting topical nods like "Water in the Sky" or "Drowned" - the latter of which would have meshed perfectly with the gallows humor of Fishman's "Hurricane Muumuu" - this "Moma" would suffice. The SS "Moma" served as metaphorical counterpoint to the way Vermont absorbed the energy of Irene, taking wind and water into its sails to achieve velocity rather than buckling or crumbling.
"NICU" arrived somewhat unexpectedly, perhaps, but was capably delivered. Then "Funky Bitch" - a time-honored cover that seems to pull up just shy of its historical summit these days, and did tonight as well. "Sample in a Jar" felt its 1995 oats a bit, surprisingly, tacking on the bonus chorus that the "Bitch" jam felt to be lacking. A genuinely popping "Sample"!
My favorite "Cavern" of all time is the one that I heard at Jazzfest in 1996, primarily because the "take care of your shoes" line dropped at the precise moment that the skies puked up silver-dollar rain that quickly turned the Ray-Ban Stage infield into a pond. Tonight's "Cavern" recalled that moment for me and... well, that's one of the many reasons I love this band.
The moisture theme persisted into "Bathtub Gin". The most notable part of this "Gin" was the "Tweezer"-esque intro, which found Trey dropping out to build some long-overdue tension before the whole band landed on the one. The jam proper was about as linear as "Gin" jams get these days - if not by-the-numbers then certainly not for-the-books. "Alaska", much as I appreciate the Band-like chord changes and whimsical nature of the lyrics, dropped few jaws. The "Possum" that followed did little to remedy the set's flagging momentum.
Of course, leave it to Phish to stick the landing, as they did with a really nice "Wolfman's" > "Julius" combo. A few minutes into the "Wolfman's" jam, Trey made the first hard left turn of the night, modulating into a very unexpected harmonic space. The rest of the jam didn't quite realize the potential that was suggested in that moment, but it did signal an awakening of sorts in the arc of the set. The "Julius", though, provided the arguable highlight of the entire evening. and will gain a reputation as one of the best if not the best "Julius" of 3.0. The jam segment began like many strong "Bowies" or "Rebas", retreating into quiet ambience before patiently building to a well-earned peak. No 8/3/97 or 10/31/94 to be sure, but head and shoulders above the rest of the set, and you can quote me.
Setbreak music was "The Entertainer", deftly played by my daughter on our living room piano. [Did I mention how much I'm going to miss Couch Tour?]
Okay, I'll get this out of the way now - I loved what happened in the first half of the second set tonight. I've already spoken with a few folks who were not especially enchanted with the "Carini" but they can all get bent. When you dedicate "Carini" to Carini, you are rather obligated to deliver the goods, and tonight's "Carini" jam is precisely why I still geek out on Phish. Motion, a juxtaposition of light and dark, and a willingness to (if only occasionally) throw caution to the wind. A connoisseur's "Carini" in my book.
"Down With Disease" was perhaps most notable for a tease of the legendary Vegas "Piper". Think I'm joking, noob? Check yourself before you wreck yourself. Of course, that jam in itself references "Disease" several times, so the karmic scales are now re-balanced. Very enjoyable "Disease" even if it followed a somewhat worn trail without blasting a hole in the stratosphere.
Truly great "Slaves" couple grace and power. The 4-chord progression of this jam makes that possible, but not always achievable. We heard a particularly good "Slave" tonight in that regard; while not on par with 11/21/97 or 7/4/99, for example, this version was unrushed and finally explosive. Until I have a chance to compare formally, I'll call it a gratifying leap forward from the Tahoe rendition I saw about a month ago.
"Rock and Roll" managed to sustain this set's impressive momentum, but fell far short of this summer's consistently high watermark. [Let's all enjoy a tangent here and appreciate where this song has taken us in the last few years - peaking with the transcendant Gorge version. If that hosedown doesn't send tingles up your spine, you're on life support.] "Twist" featured some especially fleet-fingered soloing from Trey, but resolved all too quickly, bleeding into a passionate and appropos "Number Line". My inner metal-head wants to despise this song, but my unconscious won't let me and my foot won't stop tapping. The other night I had a lucid dream that I watched Phish play this at a water park, while each and every bather signed along to the lyrics in American Sign Language. Because why not.
The final three songs of the second set hardly fell short of the mark in any way, but delivered little to write home about. There's a recurring issue, it seems to me, with setlist construction. Perhaps Trey doesn't know how much time is left in the set, and makes a conservative call by decking up several (2-3) set closers in a row, where that space might have been more aptly filled with a bona fide jamming tune. For instance, I would have much preferred to hear a set-closing "Split" - a song that's slowly clawing its way back to glory and may any day break on through to the other side once more - than the unfortunately rote "Suzy" > "Zero" combo Phish chose to play tonight instead. I've said this before and I will say it again - it's time for Trey to start scripting setlists again, instead of leaving flow to chance every time Phish takes the stage. I realize it flies in the face of Phish's Power of Now aesthetic, but why not give it a try?
"Loving Cup" encore, folks, and that's all she wrote. Lovely way to spend an evening. and I extend my sincerest thanks and admiration to everyone who worked so hard to pull this together. Phish and the people who work for them are some of the finest human beings on this rock, and that's in no small part due to the "freezer" from whence they came. Please, dig deep, and give all you can.
Until next time...
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As long as the boys are smiling, we're destined to do the same.
once again confirming if phish is "supposed" to do something, they wont.
But if a show is out of the ay...or barely sold out..or has terrible weather before...it will rage.
ah well.
keeping how/why this show came together.....the high price people paid for tickets (either literally, or including hotels, travel, days off of work etc.) you would think itd be a LOUD raging crowd.
I saw a very mellow quite one..that didnt seem to jump on the few real moments this show had
For the next tour I'm going to be mindful to check my expectations at the door. I had a blast last night watching the stream, but it definitely wasn't the show I was anticipating.
Highlights for me were Sample, Wolfman's, Julius, Carni, DWD, Slave. My "inner metal-head" has always embraced BDTNL, and Trey seems to consistently play some oh so tasty licks in the mid section that punctuate for me just how natural and fluid a player he is. I always enjoy when they pull it out, but last night I could have done without it due to it reinforcing for me where the second set wasn't going starting with Twist. I had high hopes for set II, and thought that after the first 3 songs they were going to continue to bring the fire throughout the rest of the night. It felt to me that the set plateaued after Slave and then returned to set I excitement level - which was definitely fun, but nothing that would inspire me to text those i know who weren't watching to rub it in and let them know what idiots they were for not dropping the cash to tune in.
Still it was a very enjoyable night, the band was tight, consistent, having a blast, and bringing us fans yet another wonderful experience while doing a great deed for their beautiful state...all of which I am very grateful for!
fish
@cirrus said: Shut up, n00b.
But yeah, woulda thought the homecoming last show of the year would have many more bust outs than.....uh, "Carini"? Is that a bust out these days?
In anycase, Thanks for the year fellas, hopefully we'll see you again soon! Enjoy yer time off!
I for one will be filling up the time listening to December 95 in order, let the tapes put me in that tour state of mind...
Peace Phriends.
That being said, did anyone here think last night would come off any different than it did? The boys just put together 6 of the best shows they've played in recent memory and then put this together last minute as a fundraiser. I think they delivered exactly what we all knew they would.
This is an amazing band that has suddenly come back to life and brought us all that feeling of why we all got into them in the first place, the IT. NYE will blow our minds
I sat fish/mike side on the rail with my wife, her brother and his wife. We were all stone cold sober and floored by the complex layers of sound the entire evening. There were few low points and each member of the band was wide eyed and grinning from ear to ear the entire evening. Very few flubs or misplaced notes and I often felt like the playing was a somewhat redemption to VT for Coventry. Granted there were no "bustouts" or "Oh my God's" last night but I can't say enough how well they played. Mike came out to introduce VT's Governor before the show and told the crowd how pumped the band was to be playing this show.
I think 2011 will go down in the books as a year when the boys, night for night, were playing well and most of the shows I have listened to from this year have a 94 esque feel to them. My opinion is, "How the f_ _k can someone offer a review to a show from a webcast?
Serious sound in that venue for sure.
Dosque
A few crew members and Mike's wife actually helped us get him into the tech area where he was revived.
I don't understand the appeal of getting this blasted. You're not going to remember the show. In this guy's case he may remember waking up to see 10 strangers with laminates looking down at him in alarm. How's that fun?
Jazzy Julius was really fun. Carini-> Disease-> Slave was an excellent segment.
All in all this was a solid show and the somewhat 'safe' setlist made sense for the occasion. This event was not the type where the band is going to jam for 20 minutes -> Catapult -> Kung.
And to chime in on if it is possible to recap a show from a webcast I would say it certainly is. Sure your not gonna get the emotional responce from being at the show, which frankly I hate to read about in reviews, it should be about the music.
You might even be able to more objectivly review a show by just listening to the webcast on your couch and not getting caught up in the energy. Getting caught up in the energy of a crowd is not a bad thing of course but not very helpful for most reviews. It probably cuts down on the "best show evah!" factor.
THE SOUND WAS UNREAL! the floor was TIGHT u had to bring the heat to get some space which was freakin awesome to get moving around and wrangle up some space. wolfmans julius shit was heavy!!!!! i had a great time. i would too argree that the flow fell off at the end, but oh well, its still a phish show right?
thank you fellas! keep it going!!!!
This guys knows what's up!
Agreed. I've heard plenty of more memorable Gins and Rock & Rolls, but there is something to be said for a show in which they predominately stick to the script but slip the extra mustard into places that don't usually get it. It's nice to be able to add a few more names to that list of songs that Phish surprisingly burned a hole through this summer.
Not sure why, but I was 100% convinced they were going to play and utterly demolish Round Room deep in the second set. A laughable sentiment? Perhaps, but listen to 2/16/03 or 7/13/03 before dismissing Round Room as an improv platform. I can't think of any other songs played 5 or fewer times with such good jams.
How about paying for the webcast because it's for a good cause and you like Phish?
Snoozefest my ass. Get bent.
Love how people complain about couch tour.... well maybe if you had a decent set up stream through the tv with some surround sound, rage it and dance around, gotta love that their is the opportunity to be apart of it and see it, better than nothing.. and freaking Noobs noobs noobs, dont know what to appreciate or whats what, cant even count how many people on tour this year were talking about "that new song" they liked referring to chalkd dust, loving cup, and bathtub gin.. hehe yup noobs.. Just grateful that tours are continuing and phish is jamming again and enjoying it. hopefully more shows to come~ if rumors of another quickie tour or festy come true will be there with brain on full melt.
Best ever Carini. Was anyone else here really confused when Disease just ended in the middle of a groove and Slave started?? Major ripchord there...if I remember quite right, I believe Fishman was the culprit followed by Mike
Just a thought on the Trey losing track of time thing at the end of sets. He has a clock mounted on his pedal board (like lots of guitarists do), which was visible a few times on the webcast last night. I could even read the time. So I don't think that's it. Who knows?
I'm assuming your 2 shows in '97 were a lot like mine. Wide-eyed and bushy-tailed. Wondering at these exotic people saying "Six Up" instead of "Five Oh" - marvelling at the ingredients in a Ganja Goo-Ball and reminding yourself not to tell that cute hippie girl how your mom would also toss in a few butterscotch chips to brighten things up a bit. The music was great! Except Bouncin' - such a lame song and you knew you were destined to be more than one of "those people" who just came for Bouncin and Sparkle, lame pop radio megahits that must have been a lot more popular somewhere else, probably out on the west coast. That's probably where they say "Six-Up" too, come to think of it. You saw that look in their eyes. People knew what was real. What was happening. You wanted in.
Oh the first day back at school, you're riding in the backseat of Robbie Freeman's Gallant, he lights a joint up and you proclaim the herb to be quite "heady" and at Robbie & Donnie's perplexed looks, you sigh and raise an eyebrow. Slight condescension tints your tone as you explain the finer points of marijuana to these squares. And what is this music? 311? Not quite so heady. You like the song with the bass solo thats 7:15 but the rest is just kind of schwaggy. You gave them the 2nd disc of A Live One, because Wilson was a badass metal song. The CD skipped into the middle of the Tweezer jam and they laughed at you. Tears were burning your eyes as you explained how much better it was on LSD. They turned around and fixed eyes on you, LSD? You've never eaten LSD, they smelled your fear and called your bluff so you told them you could get some in December when Phish played Rocester. You had a guy. You got his pager number. He's from the West Coast and if you saw the guy you'd totally know he wasn't Six-Up. Those confused looks set your heart a-flutter and you calmly explained that out on the West Coast they called Cops "Six Up" instead of "Five-Oh" - they reluctantly bowed to your superior wisdom and started listening to Phish with you. Phish came back, you told Donnie & Ronnie that you were going to go meet your guy. You were running around the lot trying to find LSD. You ended up in a porta-pottie ripping up tiny pieces of notebook paper and hoping they didn't notice the difference. 4 hours later, Ronnie totally peaked during that song about the Ghost and saw a cartoon zebra dancing on the ceiling. Donnie saw the devil emerge from this white guy's dreadlocks during that heavy metal song and wouldn't talk about it for years. He wasn't ever the same again and last you saw him was in 2009, he was the bursar for the local episcopalian church.
He saw your Phish t shirt and asked you why didn't you listen? He saw the devil that night. God spoke to him through his LSD haze and showed him the light. You started to tell him the truth, but what if the tour kids found out? Big Sky Tony and Mississippi Mary might not let you on the bus if they knew you used to be a bunker!
Granted, perhaps you were more respectful of the scene?. Maybe you studied the Phish archives and parking lot anthropology for years before you felt that you were astute enough that your very presence at your first Phish show wouldn't be an affront to the older fans. You sneered at the first cop you saw and shouted "Six Up!" as if that scream had been building in your lungs during your entire two year training period, as if all the nights spent developing a tolerance towards any potentially cool-threatening performance enhancing drugs and painstakingly ciphering out the differences between the intros to Maze & Bowie had finally came to fruition. You produced a Samuel (Sammy!) Smith Oatmeal Stout and a set of flash cards from your backpack and quickly refreshed your memory on the Secret Language cues through a complicated system of mnemonic devices. Some guy asked you what you wanted to hear tonight and you replied "Destiny, Alumni, Sneakin Sally, Long Cool Woman, Fuck Your Face, Letter To Jimmy Page, Flat Fee. In that order." He gave you an odd look and said he hoped they played Disease. You scoffed and blew off this obviously MTV-obsessed teenybopper and roared "Who do I have to blow around here in order to hold a single rational discussion about why they framed Tela?"
At some point during the night you got dosed and they found you in the woods curled up in a ball apparently speaking in tongues. You wouldn't stop so they took you to the hospital. You regained full consciousness the next day and a pretty Doctor came in and asked "Can you please explain to me what 'Buffalo Bill 10/31/94. 204 Shows. Dog Faced Boy. 8/12/96. 109 Shows. Boogie On Reggae Woman. 9/13/88. 989 shows. BBFCFM. 8.6.96. 118 shows means?" You had been repeating it for hours. You knew the future. You called the rest of the bustouts for summer and fall tour before they happened.
The world is your oyster.
Trey started working the Slave intro really quietly while the groove was still going and they took it down quickly but rationally. Not as much of a ripcord as the > Twist, just a really fast detour.
And wow, this Zero does absolutely smoke. I love when they let this song breathe a little
The DWD jam doesn't tease the Vegas '03 Piper so much as draw on similar musical materials. (Pedantry break!) Same rhythm pattern, briefly, but different chords. Tunes like DWD often feature IIIb-IV chording from Trey, which curves the sound gently away from the funky minor (i) chord that's the homebase of the jam.
This DWD is like that, pleasurably so.
The 2/16/03 Vegas Piper begins with that same maneuver from Trey, but instead of
i (implied) IIIb-IV
he crosses an unexpected IV-VIIb-I bridge (which is a I-IV-V progression in a new key)
before tumbling back down to an equally unexpected I-VIIb-IV pattern, which is the climax of the jam. In other words, instead of a funky minor-key jam sliding (conventionally) into its relative major, he switches (via a clever little progression) from minor to major, with the same root.
The effect is galvanizing partly because the newfound major key chucks that ever-so-slightly downbeat minor key right out the window, clearing the air. Definitely one of the most intoxicating jams I've heard them play.
OK, pedantry off. HEY GOOFY AHISTORICAL NOTION: the 'plinko' style was invented during the 2/26/03 Stash. ;v)
venue holds a little over 10,000. it was full for sure. not many people looking for tickets in the lot yesterday. you either had one or you didn't. it wasn't a typical phish scene because it was so immediate, and not exactly on the beaten track of a normal tour. last nights show was great. setlist wise they didn't do anything out of the ordinary, but it doesn't matter because the show was for a cause. everything was played very crisp as the boys continue to be on a roll. i have absolutely zero complaints, and i believe everyone in attendance felt the same way. the phans there were fortunate to be there, and that is the attitude that needed to be had. what a great time. also, setlist in my opinion definitely paid homage to their roots. cavern with picture of nectar quote, slave and carini for the dude and pete. wolfman's does contain hurricane quote. songs that trey has written with tom that he clearly enjoys. Possum for Jeff?, or just another Possum. I told Joey that Trey was last nights MVP, which means it is always a good show. Page had a look after Suzy like whoa, what did i just do? You did it Pageand took us to your house. Chalkdust was a perfect opener for me last night.Loving Cup encore reminded everyone that being at a Phish show is indeed a beautiful buzz. Julius went from mellow jazzy to a hard raucous set closer. Probably my favorite Julius seen live. No complaints here. If you're gonna complain at a Phish show, you probably should not be there.
On a side note: Initially going by myself, i felt i brought a bunch of people with me to this show. every phriend who could not attend, and the non fan friends that were excited I was going and was able to be so lucky to get a PBTM. The Hurricane affected my scheduled work in Rhode Island. I would have never been here. The people I have met in Providence did everything to accommodate me in getting to Vermont, and even though they don't go to shows or genuinely like Phish, they wanted to know every detail from me about my experience as well. Oh and every one I met around me on the rail were absolutely great.
Great work.
Based on the setlist, I'm guessing that "I'm the plowman in the valley, with a face full of mud" wasn't exactly intentional but I know it resonated with a lot of people in a cathartic way on wicked fun, warm and dry night!
I'm a big fan of noobs in general. Besides the obvious that we were all new at one point- and lord willing, we'll all find other new things to fall in love with in our life.
With the hiatus and then the breakup, it was hard for Phish to draw in new blood for the majority of the Aughts. The crowds are significantly smaller than they used to be but they also seem a lot younger. So while it may seem as if all these new people are a monolithic horde following some hot new trend, it's really just Phish reaching people again.
Thank (or blame) MGMT & Animal Collective & Ariel Pink for reviving interest in the psychedelic if you must tie, personally it brings warmth to my heart to see mobs of teenagers wearing neon headbands and dashikis wandering around the Phish lot trying to decipher what their first hit of acid is saying to them when they could be at Nickleback with too much makeup on drinking Bud Lite until they puke.
THat said- this show was a lot of fun & I hope the $$ raised helps the people whose lives have been uprooted by these storms, because I live right on the edge of the area affected and I know people who had water running throught their attics and now have everything (inc. the furnace) in a front yard pile. W/O flood insurance many are SOL
Call me a geezer but one of the things that impressed me most was how chill everything was - traffic not really backed up at all (thought it would be straight back to B-town) - easy into the lot, and there were extras floating around the lot everywhere! I felt bad for those who didnt bother showing up after the Flynn sellout.
The show itself - just a few things stand out - Moma was hot. So tasty. Mike with a big sound. Probably would go back and relisten to just that. For some reason, got me going more than anything else all night. Loved hearing Slave and Theme, and Character Zero got real intense at the end - it;s possible I have never seen Trey so orgasmic on stage - just seeing that happiness and energy from them always gets a huge smile on my face even if the music isn't nailed.
Crowd WAS super mellow and I absolutely loved it. Made me proud of Vermont. No drama.
Wasn't the EPIC show I of course fantasized about, but it was a wonderful and unexpected treat to be there when showtime dropped.
Oh, and last note - a beautiful harvest moon hanging beautifully in amidst a patch of clouds for a good period of time - many heads turned stage right for a while, just checking it out while getting down...