Welcome to the 225th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday. I've posted NINE clips this week -- these nine clips share something in common. To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of each of the nine mystery jam clips, and answer what the nine clips share in common.Each person gets one guess per day, with the second “day” starting after I post the hint -- each guess should contain nine songs / dates, and a guess at the commonality. No sharing or trading of answers is allowed. A hint will be posted on Tuesday if necessary, with the answer to follow on Wednesday. The winner will receive an MP3 code good for a free download of any show, courtesy of our friends atLivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. Good luck!

Note: Some (iOS) users may notice that the audio skips back to the first clip only halfway in, looping indefinitely. If that's the case, you can listen here.

Hint:

Answer: Congrats to @TwiceBitten, now @TwiceAnMJMWinner, who correctly identified the 5/7/94 Dog Log (Soundcheck), 6/16/95 Runaway Jim, 9/2/87 Shaggy Dog, 7/12/03 Dogs Stole Things, 5/3/85 McGrupp (PhishTracks and Phish.in' have a track labeled "Whipping Post -> McGrupp", but it only contains Whipping Post), 8/21/15 The Dogs, 7/23/88 No Dogs Allowed, 8/21/87 Harpua, and 12/2/97 Dog Faced Boy, as well as the canine theme that connects them all. I must say I'm really pleased with so many folks taking a crack at this week's crazy MJM, so I'm curious to see how folks do next week when we'll be back with our now typical 3 clip + theme format for MJM226: Holiday Edition.

Welcome to the 224th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday. I've posted three clips this week -- these three clips share something in common. To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of each of the three mystery jam clips, and answer what the three clips share in common.Each person gets one guess per day, with the second “day” starting after I post the hint -- each guess should contain three songs / dates, and a guess at the commonality. No sharing or trading of answers is allowed. A hint will be posted on Tuesday if necessary, with the answer to follow on Wednesday. The winner will receive an MP3 code good for a free download of any show, courtesy of our friends atLivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. Good luck!

Answer: Congrats to @schvice, who wins his sixth (and likely penultimate) MJM, going back-to-back by identifying the seriously tricky 7/16/92 David Bowie, the 11/10/90 Possum, and the 6/30/94 Antelope, all of which were played in towns named "Richmond" (two in VA, one in IN). Which of the six time winners will get their seventh win and be forced into retirement first: @schvice, @WayIFeel, or @ucpete? Find out on Monday, when we take things up a notch in honor of MJM 225.

Welcome to the 223rd edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday. I've posted three clips this week -- these three clips share something in common. To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of each of the three mystery jam clips, and answer what the three clips share in common.Each person gets one guess per day, with the second “day” starting after I post the hint -- each guess should contain three songs / dates, and a guess at the commonality. No sharing or trading of answers is allowed. A hint will be posted on Tuesday if necessary, with the answer to follow on Wednesday. The winner will receive an MP3 code good for a free download of any show, courtesy of our friends atLivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. Good luck!

Answer: Congrats to @scvhice who won his fifth MJM by correctly identifying the 10/11/95 Mike's Song, the 3/31/93 Harry Hood, and the 3/11/90 Roll Like a Cantaloupe – he also noticed that all three of these jams have TV show theme teases in them. In doing so, he takes home yet another free download code – who's gonna take one home next week?

Welcome to the 222nd edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday. I've posted three clips this week -- these three clips share something in common. To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of each of the three mystery jam clips, and answer what the three clips share in common.Each person gets one guess per day, with the second “day” starting after I post the hint -- each guess should contain three songs / dates, and a guess at the commonality. No sharing or trading of answers is allowed. A hint will be posted on Tuesday if necessary, with the answer to follow on Wednesday. The winner will receive two MP3 codes good for free downloads of any two shows, courtesy of our friends atLivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. Good luck!

Hint: Though you're certainly hearing Trey, Page, Mike, and Jon playing in these clips, you won't find any of the clips on PhishTracks...

Answer: Congrats to first-time winner @Hamphish, who takes home two codes by identifying the5/17/99 Voodoo Child (Slight Return), the 4/11/04 Chalk Dust Torture, and the 2/1/92 Tone Clone, in addition to figuring out the theme of "Jams where Phish played at another band's gig" (all shows took place, not surprisingly, in Vermont) -- in these cases, Phish with Russ and Tony from TAB, Phish alone after rotating one-by-one with the members TAB, and Phish with the members of Shockra. For those of you who may be asking "Who the heck is Shockra and why did Phish play a few shows with them?", you may be surprised to hear that Mike was taking lessons from Shockra bassist Edwin Hurwitz, a local expert in slap bass, and Mike was keen on adding the technique to his growing repertoire. See you in five days!

Welcome to the 221st edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday. I've posted three clips this week -- these three clips share something in common. To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of each of the three mystery jam clips, and answer what the three clips share in common.Each person gets one guess per day, with the second “day” starting after I post the hint -- each guess should contain three songs / dates, and a guess at the commonality. No sharing or trading of answers is allowed. A hint will be posted on Tuesday if necessary, with the answer to follow on Wednesday. The winner will receive an MP3 code good for a free download of any show, courtesy of our friends atLivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. Good luck!

Hint:

Answer: For only the 15th time in 221 MJMs (6.8% W%), the Blog wins!

The Blog's record has now improved to 15 wins, 179 outright losses, and 26 hint-aided losses (plus thevoided MJM 214). The guessing crew was on the right track, but ultimately fell short. The picture of the Lidocaine ointment was a nod to the topical nature of this week's MJM -- note that it says "For Topical Use Only" on the label. The topic itself is Mr. Rogers Nelson, also known as Prince Rogers Nelson; this week's jams were played at shows during which Phish covered The Purple One: 12/31/98 Antelope("1999"), 12/30/94 Tweezer ("Purple Rain"), and 8/28/93 Stash ("Purple Rain"). Come back next week for MJM 222, where we'll play for two download codes.

Welcome to the 220th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday. I've posted five short clips this week -- these five clips share something in common. To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of each of the five mystery jam clips, and answer what the five clips share in common. Each person gets one guess per day, with the second “day” starting after I post the hint -- each guess should contain five songs / dates, and a guess at the commonality. No sharing or trading of answers is allowed. A hint will be posted on Tuesday if necessary, with the answer to follow on Wednesday at approximately 1 PM ET / 10 AM PT. The winner will receive an MP3 code good for a free download of any show, courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. Good luck!

Hint (3:08 PM ET / 12:08 PM PT):

Answer: Congrats to second-time winner @mickeyjoe86 who correctly identified the 8/31/12 CDT, the 9/5/15 CDT, the 9/4/11 CDT, the 8/31/14 CDT, and the 8/31/13 CDT, all played at Dick's in CO; one of the five songs (fingers) was from the FYF show, and "Chalk Dust Torture" is purported to be Trey's favorite Phish song. Stay tuned next week for MJM 221, back at the regularly scheduled time.

Among the many data elements on Phish.net, users' ratings of shows receive a disproportionate amount of critique. They are generic by design, suspected of some biases, and used differently by different users.* But despite their flaws, the ratings are still informative**.

We’ll start with an arcane issue: how show performance varies by day of the week. While some fans may love the Friday/Saturday blowout, many warn to “never miss a Sunday!”. Similarly the band’s “you snooze, you lose” mantra has emphasized that sparks happen in expected places on unexpected nights. An analysis of show ratings helps to consider each of these ideas, as well as to identify some interesting variations.

All at Once

First, let’s look at the ratings*** for all 1701 known shows. If we take the average rating for each show, and then average those averages by weekday, Sunday is indeed tops - with a mean average of 3.87 just edging out Friday (3.82) and Saturday (3.85). However, the averages alone don’t vary much, as the lowest (Monday, at 3.69) isn’t much lower. Meanwhile, variance (differences from the average within each group) do vary. So, let’s look at that...

Of those that have been rated, only a third have average ratings below 3.57, while a third have average ratings above 4.13. That’s stilted towards the high end, but still involves sufficient variation for comparisons. Or, treating the ratings as an indicator of performances, Phish shows are typically hot – but they’re not all equally so, and how hot they are varies, even across the week.

This stacked-petal polar chart**** uses red for the hottest third, and yellow for the bottom third. Each spoke within it illustrates how that day’s shows are distributed across these thirds. (Icons outside each spoke indicate how many shows happened that day and the average number of raters for each of them.)

If you lose by snoozing, it’s not on Monday: 41% of Monday shows are in the bottom third, while only 27% are in the top third – respectively, the highest and lowest proportions of any in the chart. Saturday seems least risky, with the smallest proportion at the bottom (28%); but Sunday more often had the highest payoffs, with the largest proportion (39%) in the top third. Of the rest, Friday fared best, while Tuesday and Wednesday were “merely” consistent, with about a third of each day’s shows in each third of all shows.

Travel Effects

For more stark differences, compare shows within and beyond the United States. The aggregate statistics for domestic shows are close to the above. But shows outside the U.S. have either been weaker or simply judged more harshly: The top third of them have averages as low as 3.78, while the bottom third have averages all below 3.17!

Distributions across the week are even more stark than single summary statistics. Mondays fare decisively “worse” both domestically and abroad. But the strongest nights abroad have apparently been Thursdays (43% in the top third, and only 14% at the bottom!), while the weakest have been either Sundays (with only 13% at the top) or Fridays (with just over 50% at the bottom!)

Across the Eras

Finally, compare the weekly distribution of show ratings, as it changes across three eras of Phish (as commonly distinguished, with divisions at the hiatus and breakup). Even 2.0 shows have been better than non-US shows, on average, with the top third at 4.04 and above. And 3.0 shows have tended to be rated higher than 1.0 shows by small margins, whichever summary statistic is used.

But, again, the distribution across weekdays is even more pronounced: While there were far more Friday and Saturday shows in 1.0 (1983-2000), the distribution of ratings was relatively consistent across the week.

In 2.0 (2002-2004), Wednesdays were apparently the bomb: Only seven shows, but 57% of them were at the top, while none were at the bottom. Finally, so far in 3.0 (2009-2016), Monday through Thursday have apparently been meh, with about half of the shows in the bottom third for that era. But only about 1 in 5 weekend shows fall in the bottom third - and nearly half of Sunday shows are in the top third.

The weekend blowout is back, and you definitely shouldn't snooze on Sundays - at least, not in the U.S.

Methodological Notes

* There are three known concerns about ratings, addressed briefly here and thoroughly in coming posts:

• First, the show ratings are a blunt instrument. Individual users might prioritize song choice(s), bustouts, overall setlist rarity, improvisational breadth (as a proportion of sound made at the show), improvisational depth (as variance from the composed notes, keys, rhythms, etc.), guest appearances, show length, venue characteristics, personal experience, esoteric characteristics or events, and/or other matters – if they discern with any clarity. Many judgements are more generalized, and some are more informed than others. Those differences are interesting - but measuring them separately would simply invite some form of combination, to provide an overall rating.

• Second, there are some purported biases in the data, such as that a show is rated higher by actual attendees (compared to those on couch tour or listening later), by those who've seen fewer shows (which presumes that n00bs are less discerning and connoisseurs more critical), or because it occurred more recently (both from n00b bias and from a rose filter critical of the past). Some of them could potentially be incorporated into our statistical summary, but each has been addressed in previous forum posts presenting data analysis that somewhat undermines the assumptions they entertain.

• Finally, there are known variations among raters: Some are more critical, giving only 4s and 5s, while others use the full range of available scores. The effects of differential use of the available ratings are somewhat mitigated by comparing relatively few categories, in the aggregate, across many hundreds of shows, from many thousands of ratings. Nonetheless, we are exploring variation among users and possibilities for standardizing scores per user. This blog post is the first in a series of analyses that have emerged from those investigations, and which illustrate a key point: Even without standardization, the ratings have valid meaning and uses.

** Despite flaws, the ratings are informative in three senses. Two are straightforward: They aggregate input from tens of thousands of users, about hundreds of shows. (Even the least discerning rater doesn’t give 5 stars to every show.) The third is empirical, and the point of today’s post: The show ratings are related to other variables of interest. That is, they may have predictive validity. (Similarly, you might critique DMV road tests, but they’re correlated with driving performance.)

*** All ratings data current as of April 8, 2016, at 1 a.m.

**** A stacked-petal polar chart (which might also be called a stacked circular column graph) is a dual variation on radar charts, using disconnected directional spokes, each with multiple values. (Here, bubble keys are also added for two additional variables.) Whereas the outwardly expanding widths of sector graphs (aka pie charts, et al) are subject to variable interpretation (by angle, arc, or area), concentric gridlines and series values are included here to emphasize that the salient aspect of spokes in these charts is length rather than area.

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Welcome to the 219th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday. Like last week, I've posted three clips this week -- these three clips share something in common. To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of each of the three mystery jam clips, and answer what the three clips share in common. Each person gets one guess per day, with the second “day” starting after I post the hint -- each guess should contain three songs / dates, and a guess at the commonality. No sharing or trading of answers is allowed. A hint will be posted on Tuesday if necessary, with the answer to follow on Wednesday. The winner will receive an MP3 code good for a free download of any show, courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. Good luck!

Answer: Congrats to first-time winner @dbertsch who quickly identified this week's trifecta: 8/2/97 Down with Disease, 4/17/04 Halley's Comet, 8/15/15 Piper, and correctly noted that all three jams lead to segues -> Tweezer. I'm impressed that the guessing crew has taken down the new format twice in two weeks without too much fuss. We'll see if that changes next week, when MJM 220 drops at 4 PM PT / 7 PM ET to give the can't .net at work crew a better chance at glory. Thanks for playing!

Sick of delegate counts on the proverbial road to 1600 Pennsylvania? Here’s some relief: a state-by-state analysis of the 1600* public Phish performances in the U.S.

The graphic below plots each state as a bubble, at the intersection of the first and last dates Phish played there. The larger the bubble, the more shows Phish has played in that state. (A legend is included in the lower left of the graphic.)

These bubbles appear in several distinct clumps: The large bubbles in the upper left are places Phish started and has performed the most. To the right of that, a group of varying sizes represent states first visited in the band’s early expansion, from 1989 to 1991, and still played recently. Finally, the sparse group of smaller bubbles in the lower middle-to-right represent sporadic stops from 1990-1995 that haven’t been visited in a number of years.

An upward sloping trend, where that third group was higher (i.e. had been played more recently) than the first, would show that Phish was adding new states and shedding old ones. But while they’ve added new states, they aren’t shedding old ones: Though Vermont hasn’t been played in several years, every state played before 1989 has also been played since 2009..

Contrarily, a downward sloping trend, where the first and third groups predominated, would indicate that the band was simply sticking to its origins. Instead, that second group appears: The bulk of the states added from 1989 through 1991 have been played in the most recent year.

The overall trend of the 45 represented states is still slightly downward (indicated by the red dotted line, a simple linear regression of those 45 data points). But take into account all 1600* shows (as the green dashed line does), and the trend is simply forward and steady: Beyond a small number of outliers (such as Oklahoma, not played until 16 years after Nevada, and not shown here at all), Phish has typically expanded their itinerary while continuing to visit most states.

* We're aware of 1823 dates at some point associated with a Phish performance (not counting side projects or guest appearances, which we group as sideshows). Of those, 9 didn't happen (6 cancelled, 3 postponed), and 45 more were either erroneous (e.g. 10/12/88 was actually 12/10/88 set I) or aberrant (e.g. there was no 12/25/88 show, planned or performed). Set aside 16 private events, 13 soundchecks, 14 television appearances, 8 radio shows, 6 sporting events, 3 award events, and 8 miscellaneous events (such as a post-show bluegrass jam in a parking lot), and we’re left with 1701 legit, public, mostly ticketed, "counts for stats purposes" show dates - of which 101 are outside the U.S. (that graph comes later) and 1600 within.

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Welcome to the 218th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, and the debut of a new era of the MJM. While Phish 3.0 officially started on 3/6/09, some might argue that the band didn't really hit its stride till five months later at the Gorge on 8/7/09. Likewise, while MJM 3.0 officially started on 11/9/15, maybe someday folks (all seven of you who tune in each week) will say that it took MJM 3.0 five months to hit its stride. Like always, the winner will receive an MP3 code good for a free download of any show, courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net.

I've posted three clips this week -- these three clips share something in common. To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of each of the three mystery jam clips, and answer what the three clips share in common*. Each person gets one guess per day, with the second “day” starting after I post the hint -- each guess should contain three songs / dates, and a guess at the commonality. A hint will be posted on Tuesday if necessary, with the answer to follow on Wednesday.

*Yes, these three clips were all played by Phish. Yes, none of these clips were played in my kitchen. There is something very particular that I have in mind that these clips share in common, and only that commonality (along with the three songs and dates that share it) will be accepted as the correct answer.

Note: While I expect this to be harder than your typical MJM, I don't expect it to be three times as hard; if you figure out one of the clips, you'll want to look at where / when / how / why it was played / recorded / etc. to guide and narrow your search for the other two. We'll start out this week with a more straightforward puzzle, and as folks get the hang of it, we'll take you out into Type II MJMs and beyond. If this fails miserably, the MJM always reserves the right to revert to the classic format. Good luck and have fun!

Hint: The years these jams were played are like Span, Panik, and Posey yesterday -- well, more like Span, Posey, and Panik; the commonality is like the three most important aspects of real estate investment.

Answer: Congrats to six-time winner @WayIFeel who successfully identitied the 12/13/92 Bowie, the 4/6/94 Mike's Song, and the 8/9/93 Tweezer as all being played on Canadian soil. One more win puts him on the shelf as yet another MJM emeritus -- when he's gone, who will fill his shoes?

Welcome to the 217th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday. The winner will receive an MP3 code good for a free download of any show, 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!

Answer: By identifying the 9/30/00 Emotional Rescue, @highhat (a.k.a. @hai_hatto) wins his third MJM and takes home another download code. Be sure to tune in next week, when MJM 3.0 starts in earnest with a new, more challenging format.

Welcome to the 216th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday. The winner will receive an MP3 code good for a free download of any show, 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!

Answer: Congrate to five-time winner @WayIFeel for crushing this week's MJM in 16 minutes, identifying the 6/23/12 Simple, and taking home the code for a free show download. Enjoy these quick victories while they last, because there's a flurry of novel MJMs coming, and they won't be so -- *cough* -- Simple.

When I think of the abundance of talented individuals I have met in the Phish community, two words come to mind: kindness and creativity.

I had the pleasure of chatting with Holly Bowling, who released her first album, Distillation of a Dream: The Music of Phish Reimagined for Solo Piano, in the fall of 2015.

By the end of our conversation, there was a huge smile on my face. This talented pianist who has worked relentlessly to dissect complex Phish jams and translate them to piano is a shining diamond in our community. Holly exemplifies kindness, dedication and creativity in the music world. She has chosen to donate a percentage of sales of her album to a non-profit organization near to my heart, The Mockingbird Foundation. We are so grateful and excited for donations from our community to continue to assist with providing grants to schools and organizations to ensure music education for children.

Photo: Jessie Bell

Holly’s Phish journey began when she first listened in high school, during the hiatus around 2001. Live Phish shows were not an option during this time, so she, like so many of Phish’s devoted listeners, spent a great amount of time listening. Once the reunion shows at Madison Square Garden and Hampton Coliseum were announced in 2002-2003, Holly became an active live Phish show attendee, seeing most of the 2.0 era as well as many shows in 3.0.

The inspiration to dedicate and focus her efforts on dissecting a Phish jam came from one of the most memorable jams in the history of the song “Tweezer” - the “Tahoe Tweezer.” Holly began learning, practicing and teaching piano by the Suzuki method, so listening to a piece of music and learning it by ear was a natural extension of her musical process. She began by taking segments of the jam and writing down what she heard, transcribing the music into a manuscript book and then arranging it into a solo piano context. Although the “Tahoe Tweezer” was obviously born from improvisation, Holly wanted to study and transcribe the music with the care and attention one would give a symphonic composition, true to its magnificent form.

Holly states her first live performance of Phish’s music, which was held at a San Francisco bar during the 2014 Bill Graham Civic Center run, was one of the most memorable performances of her career as the level of interest, enjoyment, and crowd energy that filled the room was a complete surprise. I happened to be lucky enough to be in attendance that afternoon, and that small place was filled with people of a genuine interest, dancing enjoyment and overall supportive and positive energy. Holly shines as yet another example that we are in fact everywhere, and we are often pretty kick-ass.

During my discussion with Holly we spoke about her album, upcoming tour dates, musical approach, and what may be in her future plans.

The album Distillation of a Dream: The Music of Phish Reimagined for Solo Piano was released in the fall of 2015. I inquired how Holly selected the tracks for her album as the catalogue is so vast and deep! It wasn’t necessarily an easy task. If Holly were to pick the track listing today, it may be different than the current song selection on the album. For any song she is translating, there are certain criteria she is looking for and things to completely avoid. One of the biggest factors is the simple limitation of the instrument itself. For example, the organ is capable of long sustained notes, but that does not translate as easily to the piano. Holly is limited by the piano’s mechanical constraints, and steers away from songs or jams with crucial sections that aren’t a great fit for piano, such as those that are really drum-focused or have lots of fast repetition on the same note (possible on guitar, but limited by the instrument in the case of the piano). When choosing a jam that works well for transcription, Holly listens for a clearly recognizable melodic theme. Jams that focus more on changes in tone and timbre are much more difficult to translate into solo piano music. For the album, Holly chose some slower selections of Phish songs that are rarely played, with harmonies that resonate beautifully on the piano. However, she couldn’t release an album without including certain staples of a Phish diet, notably “Harry Hood.”

Holly has begun performing selections from the Grateful Dead’s catalog as well. She was asked by Jambase to transcribe her favorite performance of “Eyes of the World” as part of the website’s Songs Of Their Own video series and has been including the music of the Grateful Dead in her live shows ever since. These songs are mixed in with her versions of Phish songs, her transcriptions of Phish jams, and a healthy dose of her own improvisation. She posts detailed setlists after every show to help listeners sort out the different elements of the show and to document the origin of the improvised sections.

On Holly’s upcoming tour, she is most excited about playing The Old Church in Portland. As the name suggests, the building was once a church, but is now a non-profit music venue. It is a beautiful old building with amazing acoustics to highlight the baby grand piano and she is thrilled to be playing there. It can be an amazing adventure as a live music goer to experience music in an atypical venue. The venue can certainly set the energy and tone for the show, and for those of you in Portland, OR, I encourage you folks to go live the unconventional, which shouldn’t be hard.

Holly’s upcoming tour schedule is as follows, with more dates to be announced soon. Holly Bowling Tour Dates

Holly plans to release additional music in the coming year, although no official details of a follow-up album have been announced just yet. She has been working a lot on the music of the Grateful Dead in addition to continuing to add to her repertoire of Phish songs and is enjoying exploring the differences between the two bands’ improvisation and composition style. She has also been taking time to work on her own compositions when not on the road and is looking forward to adding in this element.

Holly told me one of the most special stories about another notable performance which occurred at the 2015 Magnaball festival. One of her friend’s presented an idea that Holly should perform her own "secret set" post show. Her friend shipped in a piano she’d bought from Craigslist, and Holly played a concert in the RV campground on the first night. On the third night, Holly stepped up to the plate even further and hauled ass post show to drive the piano through the campground area and did a second show at a friend’s campsite in the “Wetlands” campground. The site had EZ-ups, candlelight, beautiful flowers, and provided the perfect backdrop to what you would want to stumble upon on your way back to your tent, a beautiful piano softly playing music while the audience was introspectively listening to the melodic sounds produced by Holly’s playing while reflecting on the outstanding music that Phish had just delivered. This made me beam for several reasons, mostly because our community should have the goals of kindness, creativity, and the simple desire to make others smile. Go see Holly, and be sure to check out the album Distillation of a Dream: The Music of Phish Reimagined for Solo Piano if you haven’t done so yet!

For more info: http://hollybowling.com http://facebook.com/hollybowlingmusic

Album available from The Royal Potato Family: http://royalpotatofamily.com/artists/holly-bowling/

Upcoming tourdates: http://www.bandsintown.com/HollyBowling

Holly Bowling Tour Dates

References:

1. Suzuki Association of the Americas Website

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Previous installments:

Part 1 (HM, #50-41)

Part 2 (#40-31)

Part 3 (#30-21)

Part 4 (#20-11)

And one last time, for all time:

DISCLAIMER: All of this is just one man's very subjective opinion. Feel free to discuss, disagree (gently), and point out anything I may have missed or ignored in the comments. Vive la différence!

NUMBERS 10-1

10. 7/27/14 II, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD

I think that, at this point, we have finally exhausted everything that could possibly be said about 7/27/14 II.

9. 12/…

10. 7/27/14 II, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD

No, just kidding. I’m still not really sure where the idea that this set has no replay value comes from, unless you’re absolutely beholden to jams and jams alone – yes, this set is a tad light on improv compared to, say, even something like 7/20/14 II, but I’ve always maintained that segues can sometimes be just as interesting as jams (not always, but sometimes), and there are some absolutely mind-melting segues in this show. Couple that with deep improv post-”Tweezer” 1, the giddy wackiness of the “NICU” -> “Jam” -> “HYHU” > “Jennifer Dances” > “HYHU” run, and the heart-warming close with “I Been Around”, and you’re talking about something as *fun* as the band has ever played. This is a pretty good demarcation set for the elite of 3.0, I’d think.

Also, “Catapult” -> “Slave” still gets to me every single damn time.

9. 12/29/13 II, Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

Another show that, from top to bottom, is nigh unassailable as part of 3.0’s canon. The cool thing about the 1-2 punch style of jamming that Fall 2013 and this show traded in is that it doesn’t allow you to catch your breath after the first big-time jam – that’s not always a good thing, but so many of Fall 2013’s 1-2 punches (to say nothing of this show) featured two jams so strong that their cumulative effect really hit home in a way separating them by, say, “Julius” wouldn’t. Think about it – how strange would this death-defying “Disease” and Pigpen-from-Peanuts-filthy “Carini” sound not paired together?

8. 8/12/15 II, The Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA

When you get into this level of greatness, we’re really only talking about a matter of degrees separating all of these sets – if you hold this one higher in your heart, I wouldn’t argue with you one little bit. “Twist” and “Scents and Subtle Sounds”, paired together, make for a truly hearty half-hour-plus of music, with a superb journey-to-the-center-of-the-peak in the former and a head-down charging dark groove in the latter, and is where the reputation of this set lies. But a lot of sets in this era would be quite happy with the “Gin” and “NMINML” that kicks things off, and who doesn’t love “Hood” at the end? Five songs, all well worth hearing, and the moment (for me) where Summer 2015 started playing for higher stakes.

7. 8/15/11 II, UIC Pavilion, Chicago, IL

One of the true Big Deals of the era, a set that, when it was played, really started to get people talking about how the band had truly found their feet in this incarnation. It’s the fluidity of the set, more than anything else, that impresses me the most today – how every song seems to segue together, even if only a few do in the setlist-marking sense, creating the “one big jam” sensation of the great sets (and much of Fall ’97). For the people that think Page need to use the theremin more often (my hand is raised), this staggering “Undermind” is Exhibit A, B, C, and D.

6. 8/22/15 II, Magnaball, Watkins Glen, NY

It’s funny how people (including me) get nervous once they’ve passed the first two songs of a second set without improv being played – we have tons of examples of the band getting down to business with Set II, Song 2, but once you get past that with no improv, you start wondering what exactly the band is getting up to with their self-styled terrain for improvisation. It makes it all the funnier, then, when the result is something like this Set II, where the next four songs take you on a near-hour tour through the cosmos (RIP Harris), peaking with an era highlight in “Tweezer” -> “Prince Caspian”. Sometimes I need to remember that those fellows on stage know what they’re doing, y’know?

5. 8/19/12 II, Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco, CA

A companion piece with 6/23/12 II, where a parade of encores follows up an absolutely thrilling jam sequence, almost like a Europe ’72 second set in reverse. The peak in “Light” and decamping into “Sally” still remains one of 3.0’s most “hold on for dear life” moments, and when they find their way back into “Crosseyed” after that high-energy “Sally” jam, you find yourself just shaking your head in disbelief. But, man…”C&P” > “Light” -> “Sally” -> “C&P” > “Theme” > “YEM”. Man…

4. 7/31/15 II, Aaron’s Amphitheatre at Lakewood, Atlanta, GA

Here’s a question – what part of this set would you take out, if asked to take a part out? You wouldn’t take out the “KDF”, of course, that’s the tentpole jam. You wouldn’t take out the “Martian Monster”, it’s such a crazy and weird sidecar to the big monster jam. Would you get rid of that gorgeously melodic “Twist”? Maybe the “BOTT”, but every set needs a breather, and it’s connected to the songs on both sides by segues, even! You’re definitely not tossing out that “Reba”, especially considering how high-quality it is, and that hell’s-coming-with-me “Gin” is just too good as a set closer. So that means this set is a perfect sum of its parts, right? No wonder it’s got such a special place in my heart.

3. 7/13/14 II, Randall’s Island, New York, NY

Isn’t it great how much this set works as the yin to 7/27/14’s yang? Rather than pull out more segues than you can shake a stick at, this baby’s got jamming coming out of its ears; you could very easily argue that no hour-ish sequence of the era matches “CDT” > “Light” > “Tweezer” for sheer quality improvisation. It’s a truly rare set or jam in 3.0 that a) immediately marches up .net’s official or unofficial rating chart, b) actually gets other Phish-related forums to say something nice for once, and c) becomes a standard-bearer for future shows/jams to chase, but this set accomplished all three more or less from the moment it was played. And yet, it’s still not as much a favorite to me as…

2. 10/20/13 II, Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA

This was, for a good long time, my favorite set of the era, and I’m sure I’m not the only person who held that sentiment. There’s just *so much* you have to argue against here – the Heart of Darkness “Tweezer”, the vicious firepower of “Golden Age”, “Piper” -> “Takin' Care of Business” -> “2001”’s lighter-waving moment, strong versions of “Sand” and “Slave” to close. There’s so much to love in this set, and any era of this band would welcome it with open arms. It’s one of their career highlights.

But it’s no longer my favorite set of 3.0. What is, you ask?

1. 12/31/14 II, American Airlines Arena, Miami, FL

The heart wants what it wants. Think about this – 12/31/14 II starts with “Birds of a Feather”, a song I don’t care for very much (sorry, “BOAF” fans); it has a “Chalk Dust Torture” that is played a mite too fast (didn’t think that was possible, but here we are) and doesn’t have any improv in it; it closes with “Martian Monster”, which nearly hit “Back on the Train” in ’99 levels of overplayed in the year following this show. So how can I justify calling this my favorite set of the era, over some of the most famous sets of their career?

Here’s how: with a “Ghost” that works its way into some of the best bliss jamming this side of NYE 2010, then seemingly comes to an early close, only to explode back to life and hit a staggering second peak when Trey Anastasio grabs the reins and leads the band down the stretch, a “Theme from the Bottom” that devolves into scratchy and punchy Echoplex-driven funkiness, and a you-GOTTA-hear-this mega-segue into a “Cities” that opens up like a lotus flower in gorgeous fashion and closes 40 minutes of superlative music that might as well be one long jam. I may not love “BOAF” and that version of “CDT” might not be 7/13/14’s, but neither of them actually detract from the set at all. And yes, “Martian Monster” may be a tad overplayed now, but it sure as shit wasn’t on New Year’s Eve 2014, and that massive roar that greets “You have been selected…” still tugs my heartstrings the hundredth time I’ve heard it as much as it did the first (not to mention that the version played has some real stank on it, as well). Add all that up, and you’ve got a set that I think competes with damn near anything they’ve ever played, and serves as a worthy ruler to seven truly fantastic years.

Thank you so much for reading, everyone! I hope you all enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed putting it together and reliving the best of the last seven years. Please leave a comment below, and be sure to tip your waitress.*

* the Mockingbird Foundation

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