Already, rumors are spinning about various stops on an anticipated summer 2015 tour. Wherever it's stopped, and whenever it's announced (likely on a Tuesday, late February?), it's almost certain to happen: Phish 3.0 is all about the summer tour.

For most of this chart, each row shows a calendar year (Jan 1 to Dec 31), with a vertical blue sliver for each Phish show. Three heatmaps summarize those 32 years: The darker blue the sliver, the more shows occurred on that day of the year. In all rows (the 32 years and the heatmaps), dates without shows stay white.

The top multi-colored row is based on a sum across all 32 years, and shows that Phish shows have historically been distributed roughly evenly across the calendar year, with only three exceptions: There have never been shows most January days, several days around the start of the school year, and the third week of December. But glance down the chart (where each row is a different year) and see both noticeable gaps and shifts in where they happened.

Those shifts are summarized clearly in three more heatmap rows at the bottom, one each for three periods in Phish history. Shows from '83-'94 were year-round but with summer downticks reflecting, in part, the targeting of college markets. From '95-'00, summer was central, fall shifted from Nov/Dec to Sep/Oct, and the first three months of the year were thin. Since the hiatus ('03-'14), the first five months (as well as September and November) have been bare - and 3.0 has been decidely summer and October.

So, unless we enter a new pattern, and perhaps even a new era... get ready for the heat, and start brainstorming a costume.

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Though a summer event will celebrate "the music of the Grateful Dead" (emphasis added), the last Grateful Dead show was 7/9/95, 30 years and 65 days after their first. Phish reached that age February 5th of last year, will be a year older than that in less than three weeks, and arguably* became the longest-performing jamband when they took the stage 4/26/14.

Though they are said to have expanded rapidly (even exponentially), Phish's growth was far more gradual than that of other bands, including the Grateful Dead. It wasn't until Phish was perhaps** 7 years old that they played 100 shows in the same year, something that the Grateful Dead did in their 2nd year - and that Widespread Panic, String Cheese Incident, and Umphrey's McGee, for example***, all did in their 4th. (The fastest growing of these was SCI, who played 226 shows in 1997, their sixth year, after two spare ones - though they've played relatively few shows since their 15th.)

And while Phish is thought to have stopped suddenly, their decline was also more gradual: The Grateful Dead's performance frequency peaked (at 150 shows) in their 5th year then dropped (to 4) in their 10th, whereas Phish didn't peak until their 8th year (at only 143 shows), followed by a relatively slow decline until their 18th. Yes, the Grateful Dead (lost and) replaced some personnel, an approach sort of built into the band's music, mystique, and even name. But they also played every year for 31 years, bounced back with abandon after their pause (in 1975), and played more shows per year than Phish in each of the bands' respective 16th through 31st years.

Phish, meanwhile, actually came to a full stop, twice, for almost two and then more than four years. Only WSP has had a (single) sharper drop - but with the exception of that one, WSP has been far more prolific: Only 17 months younger than Phish, they grew almost as quickly as SCI (and in line with both the Grateful Dead and Umphrey's), have typically played more shows at any age than any of these bands, and have played the greatest total number of shows, almost twice the number SCI has played (not Everyday, but the closest to it, at about 24% of the days since they started.)

For their age, Umphrey's McGee wins for consistency and stamina. The band has played more shows at any age than Phish or the Grateful Dead, played more shows in its first 15 years than Phish has in 31, and show no signs of slowing. By 2018, at only 21 years old, they'll have had more stage experience than the Grateful Dead.....though not Widespread, seemingly destined to outlast them all.*

Methods Notes:

Annual counts were drawn from DeadNet, Phish.net, Cheesebase, AllThings, and Everyday Companion.

* The Allmans started earlier, and only recently stopped, so maybe they're the oldest - if they're a jamband? And iterations of "the Dead" continue. Don't over think it; just look at the pretty lines and smile. :)

** We are aware of 94 shows in Phish's sixth year, but recognize that there may be others, long forgotten.

*** Don't be offended that I didn't include moe., Wilco, U2, Celine Dion, or anyone else. Some didn't have data; others didn't add value.

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“Fare Thee Well – Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead” – will take place at Chicago's Soldier Field on July-3-5. The official announcement follows:

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Grateful Dead, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, and Bob Weir will reunite at Chicago’s Soldier Field, nearly 20 years to the day of the last-ever Grateful Dead concert, which took place at the same venue. “Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of Grateful Dead” will take place over three nights – July 3rd, 4th, and 5th, 2015 – and mark the original members’ last-ever performance together. The band will be joined by Trey Anastasio (Guitar), Jeff Chimenti (Keyboards) and Bruce Hornsby (Piano), and will perform two sets of music each night.

In the tradition of the original Grateful Dead Ticketing Service, tickets will be available via a first come first serve mail order system starting on January 20th, followed by an online pre-sale through Dead Online Ticketing February 12th and will be available online to the general public on February 14th via Ticketmaster.

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Referring to the members of Phish as "the boys" was fun, then "so last week", then ironic. Now, it's just sad. But there's always one way to revisit any issue: statistically.

A little over eight months ago, I posted a Venn diagram purporting to show the numbers of common shows with each combination of Phish songs that mention boys:

Lifeboy, Lawn Boy, Dog-Faced Boy, and You Enjoy Myself. The numbers were solid, but some of you questioned the song selection. (No one objected that the first two mention boys only in their titles, not lyrics, but various users suggested adding other songs.)

So, here's a revision, which includes Fluffhead (thanks @larvalcraze) - though not Harpua (which doesn't always mention Jimmy as a boy; sorry, @The_Crested_Hogchoker) or Little Drummer Boy (a cover; sorry, @markah).

This post also does more than update an old farce: This five-petal Venn diagram begins a series of more than two dozen graphs, each drawing on different aspects of Phish.net data, and each utilizing a different kind of graph. Each will post Saturday morning, to give you something to chew on (and perhaps share) over the weekend. Because whose weekend isn't more complete with fresh visualizations of data about the b-... well, you know.

And, by popular demand, yes, you can get it on a shirt - and lots of other stuff, too. Each chart design will be available on several dozen products, with royalties going to the Mockingbird Foundation. And while, sure, this "Five Boys Venn" works on a coffee mug (small or large), it works even better on a boy's toddler t-shirt or mom-to-be's maternity shirt. That's right: Be the first in your 'hood to announce your blue-hued news with a Phish-related visual riddle!

A note on methods: These aren't true Venn diagrams, since each number is total instances rather than unique instances. For example, there have been 191 total Lawn Boys, including the 2 shows that also had Dog-Faced Boy and the 35 that also had Fluffhead; and all three of those numbers include the 1 show that had all three songs.

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Welcome to the 185th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday! The winner will receive an MP3 download courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of the mystery jam clip. Each person gets one guess per day, with the second “day” starting after I post the hint. A hint will be posted on Tuesday if necessary, with the answer to follow on Wednesday. Good luck!

Notes: Mystery Jam Monday was posted for the first time since September 8, 2014 (17 Mondays).

On Saturday night Phish concluded their season at Miami's American Airlines Arena. Let's cut right to the action...

Saturday’s first set opened with a classic five-song sequence that could have been lifted from a 1994 setlist playbook. “Maze” serves as a power-packed kickoff – along with 9/4/11 Dick’s only the second “Maze” show opener since 1995 – with Page and Trey trading confident and peppy leads. A compact but spirited “AC/DC Bag” set the stage for a sublime “Divided Sky” that anchored the set. “Cavern” kept the energy spiked, though with an odd digi-noise leftover plaguing the song’s beginning, one that would recur several times throughout the gig (feature or bug?). “Scent of a Mule” featured a (comically ‘off’) “Smoke on the Water” tease from Trey and a true Mike bass solo before the song’s “duel” portion, but was otherwise uneventful. First sets have been the achilles heel of modern Phish gigs, but this opening segment delivered solid goods.

Photo © Scott Harris

The band shifts to more current material with the new-to-Phish TAB classic, “Plasma,” Fuego’s “Devotion to a Dream, and “Water in the Sky,” that offered opportunity for the obligatory south Florida cheer in response to the “filter out the Everglades” line. “Split Open and Melt” sticks the band’s foot in the improvisational door, with Trey’s digi-noise popping again which kicks the song off with a trippy darkness that they pursued vigorously in the jam. Trey’s playing early in the jam is melancholy, sweet and poetic, soaring softly, a honey rather than vinegar enticement even within the dark confines of the song. Page forms the perfect envelope of support for Trey to explore, the pocket is subtle but super effective. The jam’s climax does get a little dirty and chaotic before pulling in the reigns and taking the set home with “Character Zero.” Low though the bar may have been, front to back that is your Miami run’s best first set, and by a non-trivial margin.

Photo © Phish

“Stealing Time from the Faulty Plan” made its first ever appearance in the second set opening slot, but would only serve as a brief launching pad to the greatness that would follow in the “Down with Disease.” Trey and Page lead the fresh, bright, sunny jam early, letting the song’s structural confines melt away ever so gradually. Fish and Mike locked down in a manner that wasn’t always so evident earlier in the run and provided frictionless loft for Trey’s soaring ascent. At the 10:30 mark we’ve totally dispensed with “DwD” as a song, with the first and most dramatic of several major plot twists. Page laid down a riff that the whole band picks up on immediately, a thick, funky, ass-shaking groove that was so coherent in the moment of expression that one would be forgiven for thinking that moment of magic was in fact composed. “Improvisation that sounds composed” is a phrase often used when describing the essence of peak Phish music, but this passage was so stunning and on-point that if it wasn’t composed, it should be, for a future song!

Photo © Scott Harris

My personal jaw-drop moment of this inspiring “Disease” was at ~16:30, when the jam could so easily have glided to a satisfactory conclusion; but Jon Fishman was having none of that, with a driving, rumbling insistence that nothing is over until we say it is, paving the way to the greatest of rewards. As the jam rounds the clock past the twentieth minute Fishman is in absolute beast mode as the hose is in the full ON position, with Trey riding a wave with a “Manteca”-infused sustain that filled the biggest moment and allowed true collective release, then playfully oozing bliss for the balance of the jam, with a final dose of aggressive weirdness from Trey and Page and an affirmational series of rings from Mike’s fight bell. This “Disease” was twenty-six minutes of dazzling artistry that we will be listening to for the rest of our lives.

Rather than reaching for a breather at the end of such a satisfying-if-mind-bending jam, “Light” takes the handoff and blasts off with the full momentum of the “Disease” as its tailwind. The jam is so chunky that it defies even the most sedentary to not get off their ass and move. This jam is a super active conversation, where all voices yearn for the listener’s attention as one, a textbook example of being “locked in,” offering enough complexity and challenge to hyperactive attentive listeners, while also being fire-under-seat danceable and broadly accessible, this “Light” was simply brilliant. A flawless “full arrow” -> to “Sneakin’ Sally” was the money move at the inflection point of the set, this wave was gaining steam and would not relent or yield. “Sneakin’ Sally” always titillates and delivers in the big moments, but this version ditched its traditional casing and went for a totally bonus if very un-“Sally”-like sonic excursion after the vocal jam.

Photo © Phish

When “Sand” finally washed on stage it was clear this would be a “no-breather” set that would hang ten until the final note. A short tour’s worth of highlights already in the bag from this set alone, Trey approaches this “Sand” with an active persistence, the freshness of the ideas radiating one after another, as if he traded in the glider that has been his aerial transport for so much of this past summer for a stunt plane ready to perform death-defying feats that will shock and amaze! “Harry Hood” starts with Trey in a super playful mood, one that would persist through the balance of the gig. Trey offered a “Happy Birthday” tease, apparently to someone on or near the rail, and threw in a few Pete Townshend windmills for good measure. This “Hood” is delightful, and while it doesn’t go nearly as deep as many of the abundant selection of great versions of 2014, it didn’t need to, as the greatness of this set was long before cemented. A classic closing combo of “Suzy Greenberg” (with a brief “They Attack!” quote from “The Birds”) and the “Good Times Bad Times” encore ended the show much as it began, letting the engines out on the greatest improvisational rock band alive for one last celebratory release before we go our separate ways until next summer.

This show exudes brilliance, with the jam-packed second set immediately in a top tier of 2014-15 sets alongside 7/13/14 Randall’s, 7/27/14 MPP2, and 10/31/14 II Vegas. The show ends the season with an emphatic exclamation, leaving the best memories to linger as we wait for the days to get longer. This show has it all and represents the core of why so many of us are Phish fans. Treasure the memory and let it propel you all to health and happiness in the new year. Hug your friends, hang on to the smiles, until we meet again in summer 2015!

-Phillip Zerbo

Photo © Andrea Nusinov.

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Joining me (PZ) to recap Friday’s action is my dear friend, LMo.

PZ: Happy 2015, Phish fans! We’ve been on a bit of a ride the past few days on the ship of Phish. The fans making the trek to Miami caught a monster wave with the NYE second set and “Tweezer,” though otherwise the band has presented as adrift, disinterested, and even for stretches taking on water, with New Years Day’s performance being even charitably among the least inspired in holiday run history. While not reaching the Jimmy Carter-level malaise that characterized the 2011-12 MSG holiday run, the band was straddling the Mendoza Line with only one and a fraction high quality sets out of five washing upon the Miami shores.

Photo by Brantley Gutierrez © Phish 2014. All rights reserved.

Phish would return to form this night, but it didn’t happen early. “Free” has settled into a comfortable rotation as an opener since first introduced in that role on 12/28/11 MSG. Rather than inspire, “Free” sounds flat and tired here, especially in contrast to the explosive “Martian Monster”-infused brilliance displayed on the final night of fall tour (11/2/14) in Vegas. “The Moma Dance” kept the vanilla flowing, with the first real signs of life came in the strong closing jam in “Possum.” Where one might be most hopeful to find rays of first set improvisational brilliance – “Roggae” and “Stash” – Phish delivered competent, relaxed, professional versions that served admirably in the moment but were otherwise unremarkable.

"Back on the Train” featured an ending that by intention or otherwise was basically the same (very good) jam that concluded the “Possum” from earlier in the set. The deep irony of this set was that Trey nailed the solos in “Sugar Shack” with which he has notorious difficulty, but then proceeds to completely butcher the infinitely less complex “The Line” bringing the vibe of the set to a full stop. “Ocelot” and “The Squirming Coil” conclude the set in much the same sleepytime vibe it began. Add in the increasingly long pauses between songs – often featuring seemingly intense discussion followed by the most mundane of song choices – and for better and/or worse this is your typical Phish first set these days.

Photo by Rene Huemer © Phish 2015. All rights reserved.

LMo: The first set included some of my favorite songs, though all the songs seemed quick to end and i was left wanting for something, somewhere, sometime to extend into uncharted waters, if only for a little while. Those special moments were entirely absent from last night’s first set. i love Free as an opener. i enjoy the tightly composed section and lyrics that invariably lead to the bass line taking over and some time to hear mike gordon lead along to the response of what is always some interesting guitar notes as the lead shifts back to trey. i imagine the song as about the freedom of bass and guitar to talk it out as the lyrics conclude.

in the first set there was a long pause between each song. there seemed to be a lot of deliberation about what to do and where to go and what is what. Moma dance was the choice at that juncture, another one of my old time favorites. i heard very satisfying guitar moments in last nights version, i just wish the MoMa dance would stretch out more and explore before returning to it's conclusion. Possum was just a straight up Possum, no surprises, though short in length. Roggae next with some very very sweet guitar moments again, a beautiful one always. calm calm calm... followed by Stash without surprises and Get Back on the Train.

Get Back on the Train seems to me a sort of calibration song for the band. there are other songs i would also call calibration songs, in that this song really brings all four members to a clear and excellent unison that later seems a basis for some interesting musical communication. there is such a walkable steady rhythm with Get Back on the Train.

Sugar Shack and the Line sort of pull the brakes on the forward momentum. I shrug and enjoy the ballads, though i noticed a slight stumbling sound with the guitar during the line, missed the net on that one. set one concludes with Ocelot and the Squirming Coil- nice bass in the Ocelot. i also enjoy the guitar and piano interchanges and melodic shiftings in this song and last night is a fair example, though nothing overwhelmed me. the Squirming Coil is often a set closer. sadly, the ending got foiled for me with the freezing of my stream and i missed my favorite part of Coil, page and the piano solo. i have experienced live great piano solo moments every time. i love to hear page alone. my stream unlocked as i saw a close up of page ending the set with the flourish of a man paying a bill offhandedly, rising from a table and making a hasty exit.

Photo by Patrick Jordan © Phish 2015. All rights reserved.

PZ: “Mike’s Song” has been on a strong run with innovative and extended first jams of late, with this powerful ten-plus minutes anchored by Fish laying down a simple woodblock beat around which a deep Mike-driven pocket developed, with Trey and Page trading riffs on the surface, a great version for the era. The first ever “46 Days” embedded within a Mike’s Groove was a refreshing and unexpected call, one richly rewarded with a radically funky type-II departure from the song’s structure, this Mike’s Groove was twenty minutes deep before the opening notes of “Weekapaug.”

This “Weekapaug” started out uneventfully enough before soaring to an open, airy plane – Page in control on clavinet – before the “first ending” jam, then they blow through the stop sign and drop into a stop-start, sadly though predictably infected by the fucking “woo.” Page quickly rinses the palate with “They Attack!” samples from “The Birds,” opening the door to the second half of this 17+ minute “Weekapaug” jam that was the clear highlight of the gig. Trey abandoned his new/old guitar in favor of Fish’s marimba lumina. Page picked up Mike’s bass line, while Mike took over on Trey’s guitar for a rotation jam that instantly and easily ranks among the (if not the) best rotation jams of 3.0. As a stand alone “Weekapaug” (clocking it at 17:33) it is in a tier of its own for 3.0 and likely the best since 1.0.

The improvisational jets were exhausted at this point, but riding such a high third quarter wave floated all boats for the show, one that maintained crisp, crowd-pleasing energy. “Fuego” wasn’t in the mood to go big, but yielding to the much loved “Slave to the Traffic Light” left few if any disappointed. An all-too-brief but still fun diversion into “2001” set up a super high-energy “Walls of the Cave” to cap off a set that joins 12/31/14’s second in Miami’s top tier. An uneventful but fun “Sleeping Monkey” (clappers join talkers and smokers in the unholy trinity) and “Rocky Top” send the assembled masses home happy. The band was due for a stellar set... we asked, they delivered. Happy New Year to all, enjoy the final gig and safe travels home.

Photo by Rene Huemer © Phish 2015. All rights reserved.

LMo: as i heard Mike’s Groove from the cloud - mikes - 46 days - weekapaug – it was one coherent whole and it was absolutely amazing good. in Mike's song i heard an amazing piano / bass interplay and exchange, the tension was superb. it is cool to see trey step aside a moment as things get kind of dark and deep. my impression of the guitar moments are of stepping and swaying within the tight rhythm section, a really nice guitar sound all flawless and smooth and soaring through moments. there is a smooth transition into 46 days - really really nice guitar with this song and i am not disappointed - trey just talking talking talking - say it, say it, say it! i like the way the piano supports the melody in 46 days, trailing the lead guitar and spinning with the angles and changes, all the while, a solid rhythm section. i like the extension near the end beyond the lyrics, this is a worthy funky let's take a ride sort of jam. set two is all on.

the transition into weekapaug is just right, smooth. the bass line intro is always a pleasure to hear, page takes up with a really sweet funky groove on the clavinet keyboard, great sound. this is the good good part... the sound builds, very unified very lead guitar and all the sound pulls together. there is the start stop i love though unfortunately the crowd does the woo thing. past that is on track with the Birds - They Attack - from the now infamous 2014 vegas halloween set. things get great and funky good with the shifting of trey to percussion taking up the marimba lumina, then mike shifts to guitar. page on keys takes up the rhythm section with a very bass line keyboard sound while fishman holds it all down fishman style - a must hear and revisit moment. mike on guitar is very very interesting and an entirely different listening experience, while trey looked to be having good fun with percussion. really good old-school fun - mixing it up, getting a little crazy, a band and crowd totally aligned in the moment.

Fuego was a perfect song choice at this juncture. trey’s guitar takes flight into some unknown places in solo. at the conclusion of Fuego there is a really comfortable gentle sounding soft regroup that was good on the ears. from the tones of the guitar at the conclusion i was imagining Whats the Use? coming next, instead it is Slave, one can't go wrong with Slave and this version is no exception.

2001 - ohhh my. very good and very brief. superb things sometimes are enclosed in shorter time frames. i hear the hints of the guitar riff that is so superb from Dick's Simple 8-29-14. this is a winner of a sweet guitar riff that seems to have a lot of room for interchanges and shifts. the bass sound thumps and grooves right along. count me greedy, this 2001 could have extended and had potential for another over the top jam. i was defiantly left wanting more, though this is said as a compliment to the band.

Walls of the Cave is a terrific high energy last blast of excellent blazing light soundscaping. page is on fire with trey - rocking it out and pounding sound to a conclusion... and fishman on drums punctuates the conclusion of an excellent second set. magic!

the encore - Sleeping Monkey and Rocky Top - i wanted to note that fishman has a really familiar and excellent voice. i really enjoy the humor of this song and fishman sings it so sweetly. i could do without the unison crowd clapping. people are happy, in any case. i also wanted to note that for a band of new england guys, they do a soulful version of the southern Rocky Top. having grown up down south, i am amused hearing Rocky Top sung with New England accents.

looking forward to watching from the clouds tonight and cheers to everyone both at home and in Miami. cheers and thank you to my favorite band. i am most vicariously happy for my friends who are there in person.

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Some dates are loaded with history. For Phish, January 1 is not one of those dates. Not that there is no history – 1/1/11 is a tremendous show – but until last night, that was the extent of the Phish shows on New Year’s Day. So, with a sample size of one awesome show, what expectations should we have for Miami2? Well, none. It’s our favorite band, they’ve been playing at a very high level, and we’re probably in for some surprises. That’s good enough, so on with the show.

Photo © Phish @phish_ftr

“Tube” is a capable opener and sets the show mode to Dance Party right away. “Gumbo” follows, with fight bell and clap pedal stirred into the mix, and an assertive piano outro turns full-band blues jam for just a moment. “David Bowie” next? Yeah, why not! That’s an exciting call for early first set, and I like the way it works out. “Bowie” is not overly ambitious, but it does make a few interesting moves before Trey, quite honestly, shreds it up one side and down the other. An amusing “Lawn Boy” then includes Page Side and Mike Side shout outs, and we get a little more blues, this time as “Undermind” reveals its slow-boogie underbelly.

One of the treats to take away from this show is how well Trey plays. After ripping apart “Bowie,” he shows some TLC to “Yarmouth Road,” making for one of the better versions of that Cactus reggae project. I can’t really pay the same compliment to the ensuing “Wingsuit,” a song I love, but I like what Trey is trying to do with it, channeling his inner Coltrane. Also, there’s an unfortunate ending to such a serious song when Mike, uh, drops a meatball, so to speak. But, onward and hopefully upward, with a quick “Poor Heart” and a “Bathtub Gin” closer. Wait, closer? That was quick. But yes, an uneventful if spirited “Gin” is all she wrote for this pleasing first set.

Photo © Phish @phish_ftr

“Twist” just kind of casually strolls in to start the second frame, gets the lay of the land, loosens up, and throws down. Way down, down and dirty, and eventually making way for “Piper.” There are parts of this “Piper” that I love, particularly the pulsing wormhole they enter around 6:45 and the gorgeous minute before the segue into “Prince Caspian.” This show doesn’t have the hour of jaw-dropping artistic brilliance that NYE had, but this little section of “Piper” is cut from the same cloth. “Caspian” wants to get in on the act, too, and gives an extra push at the end before the segue to “Twenty Years Later.” I will attempt to be diplomatic about the “20YL” and say that I am apparently not the target audience for this jam. Someone who enjoys it, please feel free to extol its virtues in the comments section.

Photo © Phish @phish_ftr

“Winterqueen” is, without question, the song from Fuego that has grown on me the most, and this version shows why. Trey is on point, quickly taking this jam over and making it fly, and if you don’t think so, you are a “Winterqueen” hater (of which, apparently, there are some). It is, however, the last highlight from what would turn out to be a truncated second set to go with a diminutive first. As much as I like the “Winterqueen,” I’m not sure a “Wading” sized breather was called for, and the “Antelope,” while good, sounded rushed, and siphoned off a bit of show stopping power from “Rock And Roll” (which was also a strong, shreddy version). The cumulative result of this is an odd *clunk* and brief “Meatstick” encore at the end of a show that I otherwise enjoyed quite a bit.

Trey says goodnight and asks everyone to “come back” tonight, which I am excited to have the chance to do from my living room. In my humble opinion, as well as the opinion of some of this site’s users (as of this writing, 1/1/15 has a slightly better rating than the rained out Northerly Island show with the two song second set), this was a “below average-great” show. It’s OK. There were quite a few things that I enjoyed, and as they showed on Wednesday night (again), IT can happen at any moment. You get that feeling, anyway.

Photo by @languagestrange

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For me, 2014 was full of death and fracture and noise; a year to be ceremoniously booted in the ass and sent packing. It was brightened and softened in its waning days by the news of not one, not two, but three wedding engagements, and by the arrival of a few beautiful bouncing babies. But like many in my family and circle of friends, I couldn’t be happier about turning this page.

Photo by Scott Harris

These inverted holiday runs don’t lend themselves to that kind of punctuation. Expectations peak before the music has a chance to simmer and build flavor. You could argue that the band does itself a disservice by starting a run on New Year’s Eve (or Halloween, for that matter), and a few people I know who wouldn’t dream of missing NYE at MSG took a pass on Miami for just that reason, so it’s a safe bet that the crowd assembled for these shows in Miami is a die-hard and devoted bunch.

The band spends most of the first set validating the couch tour contingent’s decision to skip the trip, and dipping their toes into the pool. There are scattered moments worthy of note, like Page’s stinging Hammond leads in “555” and some spirited chicken picking from Trey in “Heavy Things.” The culminating “ASIHTOS” manages to transcend the cautious and contained quality of what happened before it, and promise bigger things in set two.

Photo by Scott Harris

Despite stumbling out of the gates with a rather clumsy and truncated take on “Birds of a Feather,” the band delivers on that promise with an electrifying second frame. “Ghost” demonstrates major potential in its composed section, with the entire band feeling loose and comfortable for what feels like the first time all night. After a few minutes of improv, the harmonic mood brightens and we’re treated to a homeward stroll through sunkissed pastures. The approach for the first half of this jam is classic “Went ‘Gin’”: a patient meditation on primary colors. The band then retreats to the minor, seemingly ready to end the song, but Trey has bigger plans and decides to break off some climactic blues riffs before succumbing to the allure of deep space.

“Theme From The Bottom” surfaces from the ooze. It is hard to quarrel with second set “Themes,” especially when they are given their proper due. During the “from the bottom / from the top” vocal coda, Trey has another “we’re not done yet” moment and begins scratching on his strings. Fish picks up on this immediately and proposes a second jam that quickly veers into thrilling and chilling territory. Trey takes a back seat to both Mike and Page here, content to let them steer a bit, and Page drops a few “They Attack!” samples before we slide deftly into the most creative and inspired “Cities” since Berkeley 2010.

If you take your Phish loose and playful like party conversation, this is your jam. The band eschews showboating and huddles together in one of those “only Phish” moments of musical brotherhood to assemble something truly beautiful. “Cities” is unduly interrupted, alas, by a “Chalk Dust Torture” that fails to earn its second set stripes, but which hardly diminishes the distilled triumph of the “Theme” -> “Cities” sequence.

“Martian Monster,” complete with album samples, lays to rest any doubt that this year’s Halloween material will find a berth in the repertoire. Page does some terrific headfucking on his Nord here before migrating to his clav and driving the band to a frenzied peak… and that’s all she wrote for set two.

Photo by @thebigmic33

The gag that opens the midnight set will go down as one of the band’s least memorable ones, if I had to guess. The best part of it may well be the Phish debut of “Dem Bones,” which immediately takes its place as the most satisfying a capella tune the band does these days. “Auld Lang Syne” spills into “The Dogs,” which is over before it begins, but which surrenders to an action-packed “Tweezer” that expends everything that’s left in the band’s reserve tank. This classic song saw something of a retreat in 2014 after a legendary showing in 2013, so it is gratifying to see the year end with a heroic version of this caliber.

Unfortunately, there’s little to recommend of what remains in this final set, all of which feels devoid of purpose and just a bit flat (save for a few measures of raw power in “Bug”).

But hey: it’s the first of four nights, and the highlights tonight were hardly anything to sneeze at. The “Theme” -> “Cities” combo stands up to anything Phish has played in 2014, and that’s something I never imagined I’d be saying. Keep your knees loose, folks, and have a wonderful 2015!

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PhanArt Pete Mason is once again raising funds for The Mockingbird Foundation (the sponsor of Phish.net and a 501©(3) nonprofit) through a poster and pin exhibition, this time in Miami on Friday, January 2, 2015, the third day of Phish's four day/show run there. The show takes place from noon to five p.m. at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd. The Center is only five blocks away from the American Airlines Arena, so be sure to hit the poster and pin exhibition pre-Phish.

Exhibitors include Ryan Kerrigan, TRiPP, Isadora Bullock, Michael Boyer, StuPINdous Creations, Pompeii Prints, Fred Sutter, MYFE. Designs, Party Time Pins, Noah Phence, Pin me Down, Cactusbomb, Pinsanity Designs, and Ant Pharms Pins, Sweet Melis, Branden Otto, Brooke Appelman, Brian Bojo’s Phifty-Two Weeks, Golden Road Gallery, Jampanties, Ebbleberry Designs, Super Rad Cape Co, Highly Concerned Enterprises, Brendan Nicolan and Phish Shades. San Francisco-based pianist Holly Bowling will also be playing performances on the hour from 1:00 to 4:00 pm. Her sets will feature arrangements of Phish songs, as well as several “jam transcriptions,” including a complete rendition of the "Tahoe Tweezer" during the final hour, beginning at 4 pm.

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Every Woo down in Wooville liked Tweezer a lot
But the Grinch who lived just north of Wooville did not!

The Grinch hated Tweezer! The whole Tweezer season!
Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason.

It could be, perhaps, that his lid was too tight.
It could be his pen wasn’t working just right.

But I think that the most likely reason of all
May have been that his balls were two sizes too small.

But, whatever the reason -- his hat, pen, or balls --
He stood there, a jaded phan, hating Woo calls,

Staring down from the loge with a sour, Grinchy stare
At the Woos and their crews and dredlockified hair

For he knew every Woo down in Wooville below
Was busy preparing to woo at the show.

"See them quaffing their cocktails," he snarled with a sneer.
"Tomorrow is New Year’s! It's practically here!"

Then he growled, with his Grinch fingers nervously drumming,
"I must find some way to keep Tweezer from coming!

For, tomorrow, I know all the Woo chicks and brahs
Will awaken and dream of Tube Screamers and wahs!

And then! Oh, the boys! Oh, the boys! Boys! Boys! Boys!
There's one thing I hate! It’s the BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! BOYS!

And they'll shriek squeaks and squeals, racing 'round through the venue.
They'll dance while the Phish offers songs off their menu.

They'll hit their woo-floovers. They'll nibble woo-tookas.
They'll blow their woo-hoopers. They'll doink their woo-dookas.

They'll spin their woo-trumkas. They'll slam their woo-slunkas.
They'll beat their woo-bloopas. They'll wham their woo-wonkas.

And they'll play Phishy games like All Fall Down and then D’OH
(A language unknown but to those in the know).

Then the Woos, young and old, will get down to some funk,
And they'll funk! And they'll funk! And they'll FUNK! FUNK! FUNK! FUNK!

They'll funk on Woo grilled cheese, and rare Woo lot food
(Raw lot food is certain to sour your mood).

And then they'll do something that sucks most of all:
Every Woo down in Wooville, the tall and the small,

They'll stand close together, in sync with their doing,
They'll stand hand-in-hand, and those Woos will start wooing!

"And they'll woo! And they'll woo! And they'll WOO! WOO! WOO! WOO!"
And the more the Grinch thought of this vile Tweezer poo,
The more the Grinch thought, "I must not let them woo!

Why, for forty-six years I've put up with it now!
I must stop Tweezer from coming! But how?"

Then he got an idea! An awful idea!
The Grinch got a sinister, awful idea!

"I know just what to do!" The Grinch coughed in his throat.
"I'll make a quick Gordy Claus scarf, and a coat!"

And he chuckled, and clucked, "What a great grinchy jape!
I’ll look just like Saint Mike with this scarf on my nape!”

"All I need is a golf cart." The Grinch looked around.
But since golf carts are scarce, there was none to be found.

Did that stop the Grinch? Sheeit! The Grinch simply said,
"If I can't find a golf cart, I'll make one instead!"

So he fetched his dog ‘Pua, and then some old tires.
And he fastened them all with some duct tape and wires.

Then he loaded some vodka and rum and kahlua
On his ramshackle sleigh and he called for Harpua.

Then the Grinch cried "G.A.!" and the rig started down
Toward the back of the floor where the Woos would dance ‘round.

All their eyes faced the stage. No one knew he was there.
All the Woos were just busting sweet moves without care
When he saw a young scenester with monster beard hair.

"This is mark number one," the old Gordy Claus hissed,
As he snuck in behind, ether rags in his fist.

Then he slid a few fingers into the Woo’s drawers
(Environs ill-suited for timid explorers).

He got stuck only once, during “Rift” > “Funky Bitch,”
Then he pulled out his hand without ripping a stitch

And he smiled at his take, a green pointer-laser,
Which he used to zap Dirksen’s old corduroy blazer.

Then he slithered and slunk through the skunk most unpleasant,
Around the whole room, and he robbed all those present!

Bop guns, Bug-poogas, phan-tookas, and thwocks!
Whammies, and fight bells, and ‘Plexes, and ‘Docs!

And he stuffed them in bags. Then the Grinch, very stealth,
Absconded with Phish-and-fans’ ill-gotten wealth.

Then he slunk to the tour bus, and then what he did
Was he took six of Fishman’s 18 lovely kids.

He cleaned out the stash box as quick as a flash.
Why, that Grinch even took the last lid of Woo hash!

Then he stuffed all the stuff in his old ratty tent
That he’d traded for second gen tapes of Great Went.

As the Grinch zipped the fly on his tent to the top,
He heard a sharp noise that he thought was a cop.

He spun around quick, and he saw a small Woo!
Little Cindy-Lou Woo, who was just twenty-two.

She stared at the Grinch and said, "Gordy Claus, why,
Why are you fucking up Tweezer Day? Why?”

But, you know, that old Grinch was so smart and so greasy,
He thought up a lie, and he thought it up easy!

"Why, my sweet little mama," fake Gordy Claus spewed,
"Phish 3 can’t compete with Phish 1 and Phish 2,

So I'm taking them back home to Burlington, dear,
I'll fix them up there, then I'll bring them back here."

And his fib fooled the Woo. Then he patted her head,
And he gave her a beer, and he sent her to bed.

And when Cindy-Lou Woo was in bed with her stout
He loaded his van and he bugged the fuck out!

Then he did the same thing to the Woos' hotel rooms,
Made off with their shoeses and Fruit-of-the-Looms.

It was quarter of dawn. All the Woos to a man
Were a-snooze due to booze when he packed up his van.

Packed it up with their tickets, their rage sticks, their glitter,
Their snoofs and their fuzzles, their kid’s babysitter!

Ten thousand feet up, past the dogs in their fountains,
He rode with his load up to Icculus Mountain.

"Pooh-pooh to the Woos!" he was grinchily humming.
"They're finding out now that no Tweezer is coming!

They're just waking up! I know just what they'll do!
Their mouths will hang open a minute or two

Then the Woos down in Wooville will all cry boo-hoo!
That's a noise," grinned the Grinch, "that I simply must hear!"
He paused, and the Grinch put a hand to his ear.

And he did hear a sound rising over the lot.
It started quite cold, then it got pretty hot.

But this sound wasn't pissed!
Why, this sound sounded blissed!

Every Woo down in Wooville, the tall and the small,
Was wooing without any jamming at all!

He hadn't stopped Tweezer from coming! It came!
Somehow or other, it came just the same!

And the Grinch, with his grinch feet ice-cold in a puddle
Stood puzzling and puzzling, his face all befuddled.

It came without that! It came without this!
It came without glitter, or shatter, or Phish!"

He puzzled and puzzed till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.

Maybe Tweezer, he thought, doesn't come from a store.
Maybe Tweezer -- and Tweeprise -- mean just a bit more!

And what happened then? Well, in Wooville they say
That the Grinch's wee balls grew THREE sizes that day!

And then the true meaning of Tweezer came through,
And the Grinch found the swag of ten Grinches, plus two!

With a grin on his grill, he came down from the hills
Jamming away on Mike’s ganked power drill

He cruised into Wooville. He brought back the toys.
He brought back Fishman’s children, the girls and the boys.

He brought back their snoof and their tringlers and foozles,
Brought back their woo-tookas, their dafflers and woozles.

He brought back Diego, Guyute the pig,
And he, he himself (the Grinch!) even woo’d at the gig!

Welcome Tweezer. Bring your cheer,
Cheer to all Woos, far and near.

Tweezer Day is in our grasp
So long as we have hands to clasp.

Tweezer Day will always be
Just as long as we have we.

Welcome Tweezer while we stand
Heart to heart and band in hand.

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