The seventh show of this tour marked Phish’s seventh trip to the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. Though BGCA may not yet reside in the highest echelon of Phish lore, it has been home to both unbelievable displays of improvisation and some of the most touching band-fan interaction in the band’s history. Seeing one's favorite band play in one's hometown is a real treat, and this year had no shortage of personal touch for this recapitulator. There was a palpable excitement (and scores of extra tickets) in the air outside the venue while city employees worked to set up the viewing area for Game 6 of the World Series outside City Hall and the Civic Auditorium – that’s right, thousands of Giants fans will descend on “Shakedown” tonight (first pitch at 5:07 PM PDT).

The show marked one of my best friends’ 100th show, and .net All Star @Phlorian’s highly-anticipated first show. I was lucky (and early) enough to see both DB and Florian on the floor before the show began, and ended up spending the whole show with Florian. Also in attendance was .net’s other favorite German, Martin, who like Florian had flown across the globe for this tour. What would Florian’s first song be twenty years after first hearing the song “Rift” in 1994? Little did we know we were mere moments away from a touching homage to another fan...

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[For this recap we'd like to welcome Kristen Goess from @2chix1fightbell –PZ]

Last time I had been to Chula Vista was fall 2000 for Phish’s last west coast fall tour. The year before that is still my favorite “Boogie On” to date. Returning to this venue brought back a lot of memories, mostly good, some bad like a terrible sunburn I got after falling asleep in the middle of a dirt field when I was 20. Driving back to that venue was exciting. The venue itself was a full house and a bit more crowded than I had thought. I wound up with a ticket just to the right of soundboard.

“Devotion to a Dream” opener was on point, strong opener, the crowd was pumped and getting down. “AC/DC Bag” is always a high energy crowd pleaser, and the up-tempo continued with a fast “My Sweet One,” which always makes me smile. “Moma Dance” was a nice surprise placement for those wanting to get the set going in a little more jammy direction. I always am wondering if anyone around me remembers the actual moma "dance" – tap tap? This song always makes me reminiscent of one of my favorite “Moma's” ever from Vegas in 2000, and every time I hear this song I always have hope it will peak again... thank god for hope. “Moma” was still solid and loved the placement, I am just selfish and always want more.

“Halley's” was next. Please read "The Death of Halley's," from this summer's Surrender to the Flow article to get my drift. “Funky Bitch” followed the aborted “Halley's”... still high energy, fast, kept the crowd moving. Not my personal favorite in the realm of the Phish catalogue but Page was getting loose right off the get-go, Fish keeping the fast-tempo beat and Trey and Mike following. “Wolfman's” had kind of a weird beginning but people seemed pretty stoked at the possibility for this first set pick. “Wolfman’s” lacked a little enthusiasm and was a mellower start to this classic. Trey wanted to start a vocal jam, Gordon followed but quickly aborted vocals to jam instrumentally, instead. A slow build by Trey on some of those deep KOA licks and Mike joins in with some sick bass undertones. Fish starts to pick up the pace, and the rest of band follows with Trey still laying down those deep tones that I personally crave out of that axe. Trey leads his shreds through the “Wolfman’s” jam while the rest follow, ending on a high note and longest jam of the set clocking in at 12:12 (make a wish :-)).

“Destiny Unbound” was my personal highlight of my first set due to the small jam that was pretty tasty and stepped away from the normal groove of the song's nature. It took me 99 shows to first hear this song live back in 2010. A little flub by Mike when they get back into the lyrics, but most people there didn't even know what song it was so that was easily overlooked.

"Timber” is another song that isn’t played very often but has great jam potential in a first set. The beginning was a little sloppy and a few missed lyrics but didn't seem to bother the crowd.

Photo by @stim_buck

“Tela” is another song I saw once forever ago and then not again until the Tahoe “Tweezer” show, so it's always a welcomed song for me. Still a rarity these days, but I heard someone say they could have done without it tonight; that's one of the things that makes this band so special, because their songs affect everyone so differently. “Wingsuit” has seen so much growth since it's debut nearly a year ago in Atlantic City. I think the crowd's energy can make or break this song. I was into this version – I am a “Wingsuit” lover – though I may not have picked it to end the set. Mike used his drill at the end and closed it out.

“Free” opened the second set, and while always welcomed, it still doesn't ever take me to those places of past where the middle would get so dark and nasty that people would almost fall over from the dance party. Gordon was throwing down the bombs like he wants it to keep going, but then so rushed back into the original meat of the song. A good way to open the second set, just always leaves me wanting more. The “Golden Age” jam gets juicy, blissful and then gets funky for the Page and Trey combo with light licks from the Koa and Gordo adding in his bass line on top of a Fishman who also quiets down as well. Then those strong KOA tones come out that I crave. The jam starts building energy again, Trey uses his echoplex, CK5 lights are going off and the whole band getting experimental before they slow down again, Page picks it up then they settle into “Jibboo”...I love “Jibboo” and for awhile the band forgot about it, only being played twice this summer and the first time this fall. Sweet guitar licks, fast paced, high energy and kept the crowd's energy upbeat. The ever-present “whale call” came in and exited quickly into a Trey-lead jam that you definitely didn't want to end.

“Carini” is now a staple when it comes to second set jams. It came in with a fury and the crowd was definitely feeling it. Fishman was throwing down the tempo and the rest of the band followed. Gordon stayed in the background wanting to drop some serious bombs but staying subtle yet strong. Near the end of the jam, I totally thought “Caspian” was on it's way and actually shocked when “Piper” re-appeared after the Santa Barbara performance. In the new era of the non-slow-build “Piper,” this one actually explores the song and cohesively builds after the initial entry. Trey's fast notes with a little distortion thrown in fit perfectly along with Fish. Page and Gordon were also on the same level and together start building out a jam that is different, a bit dark and exciting. Fish slows it down for a second before Page stands up and starts laying down the funk on the keys along with Trey who keeps the fast pace going and... lift off. Fishman again changes direction and band follows leading to more exploration and was one of my favorite parts of the night. But my personal account on twitter is @30minutepipers for a reason. Like I mentioned before regarding the “Halley's” – there's always hope, and I can't live in the past and the future never comes, all we have is the now, the present, and I sometimes have to remind myself of this especially with some of my favorite songs.

Photo © Phish From the Road

Then the “Caspian” that I heard at the end of “Carini” came, so I was happy to hear this and can always tell Trey is happy to play this song. It gets slow and pretty in the middle before picking back up into what drops into another unexpected “Tweezer.” I was sure “Tweeer” was being saved for Bill Graham after the one in Santa Barbara. After a sast and furious entry, Trey and Page played nicely off one another, nothing super exploratory, just cohesive playing by all members of the band. They slow it all down a bit all on the same tempo in which the band is seemingly calling for "Woos" from the crowd. They continue the jam and begin to get a bit darker with some sweet deep bass lines from Mike, Trey holding back and seeing where they could take it. Page begins to step up as well and then the crowd goes nuts as they begin playing the opening notes to “Rock and Roll.” At a short five and a half minutes, it was still high energy but not jammed out before ending the set with “You Enjoy Myself.” Of course everyone wants to hear this song. It hasn't been in heavy rotation like in years past, so anytime you hear the opening notes you have to be stoked. Nothing strays out of the norm of the song, no extra oomph, maybe a fight bell, but it's still “YEM.”

They encored with ”Suzy” > “Tweeprise.” Usually a fluffer of the band, I would have broken away from the “Suzy” especially with the “Tweezer,” “Piper,” “Suzy” and “Tweeprise” all being played in the same show night one of Santa Barbara, but what it ultimately comes down to is the fact that this band is doing what makes them happy. Every show is a blessing because for so long I never thought I'd ever hear them play again, and now they have been playing for as long as they've been broken up. So yes, while we can't pick our own setlists and some shows are better than others, we are actually the most blessed group of people to see a band that comes out and loves what they do and provide some sort of spiritual mediation for a lot of us.

Have fun in San Fran! Southern California has been a blast and I look forward to returning to Vegas on Halloween for the first time since 2004...10 years! Should be quite the comeback.

Photo © Phish From the Road

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[For this recap we'd like to welcome guest blogger @n00b100 - SP]

After last year's decidedly fun Hollywood Bowl show, which was capped off with a nigh-legendary “Harry Hood,” I was chomping at the bit to get to another show. I was actually excited to hear that Phish's LA area show this year would be in the Forum (home of the Lakers and Kings for many years), because as cool and beautiful a venue as the Hollywood Bowl is, I've always been told by my longer-tenured Phish friends (i.e. all of them) that indoors Phish is a much different experience. So were they correct? We shall see...

Photo by @stim_buck

A very sharp “46 Days” immediately got the almost entirely full Forum out of their seats (I was in the back, so I could see the whole venue easily, and while there were a few patches of empty seats higher up top, the entire lower section and the floor was packed with writhing, shimmying fans), and “Tube” - accompanied with loud cheer at the "freeway in Los Angeles" line - kept the crowd moving as well. One cool thing about the live experience, among many, is watching the band interact and signal each other, and I got to see that in “Tube” as Trey turned to Fish and called for him to move into the bluesy stomp that precedes the final verse. “Train Song,” which is something of a rarity these days, came next, and the harmonies were done quite well (glad to see Mike can still sing this, even if “Drowned” is somewhat beyond him these days), and then came the first surprise of the night - a first set “Ghost.”

Photo by @stim_buck

Now, if I do have one criticism of 3.0 (I do have a few, now and again), it's that there seems to be some sort of invisible barrier that separates Set 1 from Set 2 these days, and if a Set 2 jam vehicle crosses over into Set 1, it becomes more of a Set 1 "get the people going" song than a Set 2 "improv launching pad." Case in point: “Ghost” on 8/30/13, a very fine and compact version, did not venture beyond its usual boundaries at all. And this first set “Ghost” matched that to a tee, as it served as a “Kill Devil Falls”-esque way to get the dance party back on track after the “Train Song” breather, although I'd never say no to the regular “Ghost” jam and the band gave it the energetic treatment you'd want from a first set song. “Sparkle” (my first repeat from last year) and “Sample in a Jar” came next - your intrepid reporter will admit that he got a soft pretzel and bottled water during Sample, but could hear it perfectly fine in the foyer, and can safely report that it sounded exactly like “Sample in a Jar.”

But “Sparkle” and “Sample,” much like a jet plane testing its brakes before takeoff, were the appetizer to the first main course of the night - “Divided Sky.” The further along I've come as a Phish fan, the more I've come to appreciate songs like this, and “Fluffhead,” and “The Curtain” (either “With” or “Without”) - songs with nary a lick of Type-II improv and that are mainly differentiated by subtleties in the playing, but are remarkable compositions and contain moments of absolutely heart-stopping beauty. As Page's swirling organ part led into Trey's solo moment, I thought about how humbling it was to hear this song, a song Phish has played at some dude's pig ranch, university lounges, some of the Northeast's most famous clubs, on Halloween 1994, during the first night of Lemonwheel, and now in front of my face right at this moment. Then came the pause, nonstop cheering from the crowd, a gigantic smile on Trey's face (I could see it even all the way across the arena), and an absolutely *crushed* version of “Divided Sky.”

Photo by @stim_buck

“The Line” came next - I stayed to listen because I really like the song, and it was quite the juxtaposition to see people dancing furiously and what felt like a quarter of the crowd streaming to the restrooms - and then Page's showcase in “It's Ice” (cool to see a spotlight on him while he wailed on his clavinet), during which time I saw a young teenager about ten sections away dancing his ass off, full spin-move-doing-the-Robot-in-the-Soul-Train-Line-in-the-70s dancing that you just know he's feeling the effects of today. It was great to see. A ferocious “Kill Devil Falls” came next (see what I mean?), and then the second first set highlight in a massive "Classic Gin" Type-I “Bathtub Gin,” replete with hilarious “Low Rider” and “Long Tall Glasses” teases, that built up to a frenetic, double-time close (it's kind of hilarious to see Fish, such a compact fellow, just hammer away on the skins). So that's a heck of a way to end the first set.

Setbreak: I heard a lot of whistling of “Low Rider” in the men's room.

Photo by@Phish_FTR

Set 2 opened with two Type-I dance vehicles, first a well-played version of Fuego standout “555,” then “Backwards Down The Number Line,” which nobody in attendance seemed to have much of a problem getting down to. In person, I was a bit perplexed by the song selection, although in hindsight “Number Line” makes sense as a tribute to one of Mike's daughters (apparently he was wandering around the lot with his daughter, and he informed a few lucky fans that it was indeed her birthday), which, if so, is more a nice touch than the apparently continuing campaign to make “Number Line” The Most Hated Phish Song In All of Fandom. But we hadn't gotten deep yet, and it felt like it was time for the band to stretch their legs.

And that time came, courtesy of the fog of noise that Mike coaxes out of his bass every time they play this song, with “Down With Disease.” The initial jam out of the final verse was kept at a low boil, with Trey playing something that sounded like “Under Pressure” while Page picked out some lovely notes on the organ. Trey shifted to some stabbing chords as the band kept the groove going, searching for the next avenue to explore, which seemed to be coming as Trey worked out the hair metal power chord sequence he'd hit upon in the 7/26/14 “Ghost,” but then Page took over and started playing a repeating, atonal riff that both Trey and Mike picked up on. Suddenly, things got weird and off-kilter, mid-90s style, as the jam seemed to be eating itself; Trey started going to the effects, Fish played around with his beat, and a dissonant wave of noise emanated from the stage. Phish doesn't go very dark anymore, so when they hit this kind of darkness it's always worth hearing. Then comes the magic moment - that roar you can hear from the crowd is Kuroda hitting the "star" lights on the ceiling of the Forum while switching off his own light banks, lighting up the Forum like a huge planetarium, as the band latched on to a 2.0-style groove and Mike found himself a new filter. I've included a picture, which gives maybe 25% of the insanely cool effect those lights had:

Photo by@n00b100

Then, with Mike dinging away on his fight bell and Page moving back to the clavinet, Trey remembered the power chords from before, and all of a sudden we're back in the ‘80s as the band moves as one towards a *furious* peak. Maybe this is attendance bias, but as cool as the 7/26 Ghost is, this jam (thanks to Trey dropping the chords and soloing his ass off) is a total improvement on it, especially with just how massive and powerful the energy built up on stage got. The jam cycled down, Page tickled the ivories, and “Fuego” kicks in. I don't think I can say enough about that “DWD” - it delved into the darkness and burst out into brightness, Trey got himself a nice little showcase, and you could just feel the band's palpable chemistry throughout. “Fuego” was quite nice (especially when it devolved into another spacey piece of business, as the band continues to work the lessons of 1999 and 2000 into their current arsenal), as was the “Twist” that came next (although, as “Twist” is my favorite Phish song from a composition standpoint, it's pretty easy to tell when “Twist” is going to move into Parts Unknown and when “Twist” is going to stay in the pocket), and a perfectly placed “Bouncing Around The Room” gave the crowd a chance to relax a bit and sing along. Hey, I'll take a “Bouncing” in the late second set over “Wading in the Velvet Sea” or “Gotta Jibboo” any day.

And then, with another neat little flurry of effects before the song proper, came the Fall tour debut of “David Bowie,” and this is a strong version given a little extra oomph (as @fracai noted in his show review) by Trey's Echoplex (which he utilized to very nice effect at certain points in the show). “Character Zero” (my second repeat from last year) closed out the second set proper, and with the crowd urging them to return, they came back to give me my third repeat from last year - an encore-slot “Harry Hood!” I certainly wasn't expecting them to give me another Hollywood “Hood” - I wasn't even expecting one of the outside-the-box “Hoods” like Eugene's or Randall's or Philly's - but what I did get, a "typical-beautiful" “Hood” that spiraled upwards to a lovely peak and Trey sustaining one note for an extended period as the star lights came on again and the crowd went bonkers, was more than enough to satisfy me at that point. “Grind,” charming and goofy as usual, ended the evening.

Final thoughts? A quite good show to keep the fires stoked after Santa Barbara's damn good second show. Make sure you catch the “Divided Sky” and that super-fun “Low Rider Gin” - and the “Down With Disease” is absolutely not optional.

Photo by@taopauly

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What a roller-coaster ride Fall 2014 has been so far! As many of you noted in your comments to my Eugene precap, the tour opener was (NOT) all about my high expectations and I completely assumed the role of Sisyphus pushing that particular boulder to the top of my stack of preconceived notions for the always portentous first night. Unlike the band on such evenings, I was not a bag of nerves, I was at home at the Matt Knight Arena in the warm embrace of friends old and new. As expected, and much like that exhilarating rush of the first plummet over the edge of the log flume, the Eugene show was fantastic, made a big splash, and got the seat of my pants wet. No, they didn’t play everything I had forecasted, and I didn’t in truth expect them to do that. I expected a great show and that is exactly what we got. Couldn’t be happier with the song selection and still can’t get “Plasma” out of my head.

Photo by @ebyron

As we made our way north to Seattle, my hopes remained high that the energy from the previous night would carry us and the band through day two. Those hopes were dashed the instant we walked through the doors of the Key Arena and my wife’s excitement to be alive in that moment was misinterpreted by venue staff as excessive intoxication. After ten minutes of interrogation, negotiation, and an invitation for the alcohol monitors to gargle on my nuts the happy vibe was taken down quite a few notches. The Seattle show was thereby destined to be the painful neck-snapping lurch at the bottom of that first rise and fall of the roller-coaster's run. Just to be sure it wasn’t all about my personal experience, I went back and listened to the Seattle show again and reached the same conclusion as I did during the (nod to Jimi Hendrix) experience. The first set is certain to be the nadir of this tour. The second saw a barely perceptible change in direction as we began our slow ascent up the next hill. The dreaded Saturday Night Special had occurred. Much like that day’s homecoming game at Autzen, Oregon just crushed Washington.

Photo by Rene Huemer, © Phish From the Road

Following the lines going south, we hopped off tour in the physical sense and retreated to the safety of the couch. Because the Phish ticketing system is so broken, heading to the Santa Barbara Bowl seemed out of the question. After seeing the images of the venue, both still and moving, and hearing that once again extra tickets were littering the ground unused (AT A 4,500 SEAT VENUE???) I felt blinding rage toward each person involved with the abject failure of the Phish ticket distribution system. There will be more on this later so I won’t steal that piece of future thunder, but seriously, it is high time to institute a ticketless non-refundable (you can’t scalp these or buy them to trade for other shows that also have artificially high demand you worthless scumbag) concert entry system. Other artists do it… our band should too.... get your shit together, Phish!

Santa Barbara 1, as noted by my esteemed colleague TheEmu, saw the band start to do that on stage again at least, the limp and lifeless Seattle show was no reason to start freaking out and throwing stuff. Go listen to Tuesday night’s “Chalk Dust” and “Ghost” again. That shit was proper and completely set the stage for what was to come last night. Sure the intimacy of the venue led to some awkward moments (see “Birds” and “Suzy Greenberg”), but ultimately the train was set back on the right track.

Photo © Phish From the Road

As we all know, Phish will occasionally offer us a glimpse behind the curtain and clouded visions of what is to come. In the days leading up to the most hallowed of eves, all eyes and ears are searching for a clue for the trick or treat that awaits in Vegas. With that in mind, if you were paying attention to @Phish_FTR yesterday, you were not surprised by the band’s invitation to last night’s “Soul Shakedown Party” at all. Happy, grinning ear to ear perhaps, but definitely not surprised. A great way to watch the sun go down on another day in paradise and a terrific start to what would be a wonderful night of music. The first set vibe was focused on the idyllic tranquility of (“Wedge”) Santa Barbara and the state of (“Undermind”) relaxation that arises from (“Horn”) a luxurious full body (“Ya Mar”) massage. The band clearly feeds off (“Jesus Just Left Chicago”) its environment and the warm glow of (“A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing”) the crowd. This first set (“Winterqueen”) had bucketfuls to spare (“My Friend, My Friend”) and a few of them dumped out all over my kitchen as I (“Split Open and Melt”) cooked dinner (I’ll spare you my braise recipe), my wife completed her security clearance documentation for a new job opportunity, and my daughter took photos of the swirling patterns that can be induced in (“Walls of the Cave”) a plate of milk inoculated with food coloring and a drop of dish soap. We ate during setbreak and settled down for set two.

Photo by Rene Huemer, © Phish From the Road

With the Pacific Ocean beckoning in the distance, we ran down to the beach and got absolutely “Drowned” in the chilly and chaotic surf that cascaded wildly onto the shore. Diving deeper beneath the surface we found the “Theme From the Bottom” to be quite pleasing, once again fathoming previously unimaginable depths. Unlike the powers that be vested with the weighty responsibility of determining when or if Phish consciously teases, quotes, or jams another song within a song and deems it worthy of being canonized into a given show’s setlist, I will state unequivocally that Phish played portions of the Pink Floyd song “Echoes” during both “Theme From the Bottom” and the “Steam” that billowed from this eruption of Pompeian lava onto the ocean floor. To borrow the words of another of my esteemed colleagues, this “Echoes” jamakinto is as obvious as two goats fucking in church and if you cannot hear it you are fucking deaf.

As I basked in the undulating flow of “Waves” I asked myself how sick would it be if Phish busted out Meddle for Halloween? About as sick as the strains of both “Stranglehold” and “Mike’s Song” that also reverberated through the “Echoes” in my brain as I fought with the reality that they would actually be covering Trey and the Undectet’s Original Boardwalk Style as a subtle nod to the place (Atlantic City) the old Halloween tradition died and the new one was born.

Photo © Phish From the Road

“Twenty Years Later” marks the thematic divide between the aquatic third and extra-terrestrial fourth quarter of last night’s show. As our kayak returned from the wild ride in thirty-foot seas, we were greeted on land by a menagerie of Animals to close out the show. “Scent of a Mule” found Mike ringing the fight bell like a champ as a frenetic Fishman played alien whack-a-mole on the marimba lumina. The UFOs of course unloaded their laser beams and departed with the monolith to the space disco funk of “Also Sprach Zarathustra” (aka “2001”). Eugene’s missing second set “Mike’s Song” finally arrived with a faithful canine (“Runaway Jim”) as his companion and a blistering “Weekapaug Groove” which OFFICIALLY contained teases of both “Runaway Jim” and “2001” closed out a terrific second set. Not to be outdone, the two thirds animal encore, featuring Page as the jockey now riding “The Horse” into “Silent in the Morning” and a delirious “Run Like an Antelope” that included a festive yet no less OFFICIAL quote and tease of the show opening “Soul Shakedown Party,” took us to the very precipice of the hard 10:00 PM curfew. What a ride!!! Safe travels down to the Forum and beyond. Stay thirsty my friends… the best show of this tour is yet to come.

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Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant on Paradise Road in Las Vegas will be raising funds to benefit The Mockingbird Foundation, the non-profit whose volunteers help run this site, from October 30 through November 2, about two miles from the MGM Grand where Phish is playing three shows on 10/31, 11/1 and 11/2. Gordon Biersch has brewed a special beer dubbed the "Dubbel Sample in a Jar," which is a "complex, malty ale with hints of spice and licorice, and a balancing hoppiness on the finish," that will be served in a mason jar with the Gordon Biersch and Mockingbird Foundation logos on it.

A portion of the proceeds from sales of the "Dubbel Sample" will benefit Mockingbird. The mason jars are great for storage (not just drinking), and you will be able to purchase them at $5 apiece, too. You can also get one of the mason jars complementary if you order the "Farmhouse Special," a half pound steakburger topped with bacon jam, tomato and arugula, with a fried egg, served with garlic fries and a pint of the "Dubbel Sample" in the specially-branded mason jar. ($18.95)

Those of us at Phish.Net and Mockingbird urge you to support this fundraiser, as it not only raises funds for music education, but it also increases the likelihood that fundraisers like this one will occur in the future in other cities where Phish plays. Thank you!

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Before we get into the play-by-play of Tuesday night’s show, a quick editorial comment. You can say what you want about factors that would drive attendance at these shows down: a smaller fan base on the West Coast, a Tuesday night gig, and the difficulties of getting through Los Angeles traffic for a 6pm start. Phish should be able to fill a 4,500 seat venue, regardless. Instead, under-face tickets were said to be plentiful, and as of this writing you can score great seats for tonight’s “sold-out performance” on Ticketmaster. Of course I’m not breaking any news here, but the culture of ticket speculation is obviously out of hand and keeping away fans who would otherwise attend if the process were more straightforward. But enough of that. On with the Phish.

What a beautiful venue! From my seat on the couch (well, recliner) 2,500 miles away, the Santa Barbara Bowl looked warm and intimate, and I would have loved to have been there to score some of those last minute seats. On top of a smoldering orange sunset and the beckoning wonder of the Pacific Ocean, the band continues to play with a joyful synergy that makes the current era one of my favorites in Phish history. For those of you fortunate enough to have been there last night, my meager words will doubtless be but a distorted reflection of the experience. But I’m going to write them anyway.

© Phish From the Road

I expected to hear some laid-back song selections to match the size and setting of the venue, and was delighted by the choice to open with “Stash,” a jazzy but slightly twisted way to light the burner. “Possum” brought some swamp-boogie down from the top of the mountain to get dancing feet moving before “Ocelot” crept in, strolled around, stretched, roared, and curled up for a nap. The ebb and flow of the first set continued with the reggae swing of “NICU” followed by some more down-home dancin’ music in the form of “Back On the Train.” This “BOTT” is peppy and quick, but take just a moment to listen to the precision of Fishman’s fills. Amazing.

“Limb By Limb” was another appropriate choice for the evening, keeping the tempo upbeat without becoming overly boisterous, and a beachside sunset seems like a perfect backdrop for “Waiting All Night.” By now, the gentle sway of the night was firmly established; smoothly to the upbeat side with “Yarmouth Road,” and then serene again with “When the Circus Comes,” a song which I think would set the mood for later in the evening via Page’s focused, soulful tones. Prior to the pendulum swinging back to the shuffle of “Heavy Things,” Trey took a moment to praise the gorgeous venue, then admitted that he didn’t remember being there to open for Santana in 1993. Maybe that’s just because it was actually 1992, but no matter. It might be fitting that “Stealing TIme,” the only real gritty rocker of the first set, was first awkwardly wrenched into place before closing the first stanza on a high note.

Photo @PhishNQuips

I honestly don’t care how many times Phish wants to open a second set with “Down with Disease” or “Chalk Dust Torture.” If they are going to continue to use these standards as launch pads for mesmerizing improvisation, they can do it every night. Much like the Randall’s version from the summer, the entire band moved as one into the unknown. My ear was drawn from instrument to instrument during the ensuing jam; Fish propelling the music with superhuman dexterity, Mike filling in the foundation with billowing, bubbling tones, Trey sprinkling notes and spraying chords with measured abandon, and Page draping the entire assemblage in a melodious cloak. When it’s all said and done, this might end up being my second favorite “Chalk Dust” of the year, but it is nonetheless a marvelously beautiful example of 3.0 Phish.

As the “CDT” jam pulsed and fragmented to a close, the approaching footsteps of “Ghost” were apparent, and we would be treated to a second jaw-dropping segment. Allow me to reiterate how collaborative this music is: the level of both talent and communication these guys have is mind-blowing. The last 3½ minutes of “Ghost” are absolutely sublime, and as several have pointed out, reminiscent of the TAB song “Valentine.” This was the highlight of the evening for me, as the band reached across the continent to lift me out of my chair, floating on the breeze of their creation. Truly moving.

© Phish From the Road

Ironically, “Birds of a Feather” brought me back to Earth. Like “Stealing Time” in the first set, it seemed a touch out of place, with the abrupt transition from “Ghost,” a chaotic jam, and rough landing that Trey said was “weird” and “freaked me out a little bit.” Page took a quick baseball poll, and Trey further mocked the end of the “Birds” jam before introducing “Wombat.” My favorite quadrupedal marsupial stumbled a little bit out of the gate before finding the herky-jerky crepuscular funk groove I love, then spun himself into a flailing, distorted haze. An odd “Wombat,” to be sure, with more unusual antics on the way. A mid-set “Tweezer” is always welcome, and this version marched determinedly onward, missteps be damned. An emphatic theme from Trey and Page, complemented by massive rolls from Fish, dominated the jam, which dissolved into a spacy section of repeated “Julius” licks that finally gave way to the song itself.

Photo by @stim_buck

“Piper” followed close on the heels of “Julius,” and flirted briefly with “L.A. Woman” before making a beeline back out to space, falling away, and leaving Page to work slowly into “Wading in the Velvet Sea.” Trey actually played with some “Curtis Loew” type licks that I think would actually be a nice add to “Velvet Sea,” but only a few times at the start of the song. To close the set, good ‘ol “Suzy Greenberg” started with another stumble, prompting Fish to chide Trey with the lyric “I wish you’d look at me before you count off the song!” And that’s why even the flubs at a Phish show can me make me giddy. “Boogie On Reggae Woman” > “Tweeprise” proved more than just your obligatory encore, with a strong jam out of “Boogie On” punctuated by dizzying echoes from Trey.

It’s still early in the tour, and things are only going to get tighter and more impressive as Halloween draws near. This was a thoroughly enjoyable show, with a one-two punch in the second set that simply demands that you don’t miss one of these shows if you don’t have to. I sure as hell wish I was out there to see what happens next. Be safe and have fun, everybody!

Photo by @ebyron

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by David “Zzyzx” Steinberg

Part 1: A Brief History of Being a Phish Fan in Seattle

In the early 90s, I was living in southern New Mexico attending graduate school. The conservative town was a bad fit for me, so I was looking for an escape. The chilly mist of the Pacific Northwest seemed to be about as far of an escape from the fiery Mesilla Valley desert, so cars were loaded, apartments were found, and jobs were located. If there was one thing I was worried about, it was not the lack of Phish. The year before I moved, Phish played two northwest runs. 1995 had one in October. We were able to give thanks in 1996 with a Tofurkey Eve Key Arena show. No, we weren’t receiving the dozens of shows that a New Yorker gets, but it wasn’t bad at all for being tucked away in the northwest corner of the country.

Then came The Gorge. Phish played the amphitheater in 1997. The venue was amazing. It was a little annoying to have only two shows all year in our region, but seeing Phish in an environment like that more than made up for it. 1998 and 1999 had a return to The Gorge as part of a more extended tour of the region – but, of course, sans Emerald City – but then after the hiatus we moved into the current pattern. Every other year Phish would play a two-night run in George, WA and then move on to other parts of the country. No one could blame Phish for doing so. If I were in a band and I could play against the backdrop of the Columbia River carving a canyon through basalt, of a land so desolate that you can’t see signs that humans inhabit the planet on the other side of the stage, I would most definitely do the same. It’s one of the most amazing places to see music in the world. The only problem is that – at 160 miles away and over a mountain pass – it’s not somewhere where you can see Phish and also sleep in your bed. It’s local and exciting, but not the same as an actual in town show.

Part 2: A Brief History of Being a Seattle Sports Fan

What’s the history? Pain. The Seattle Mariners are one of only two teams in Major League Baseball that have never even played in the World Series. The Seattle Seahawks have had more luck recently, but prior to 2013 had but one Super Bowl appearance, one in which dropped passes, a few questionable time management moments, and a series of increasingly bizarre calls, missed to the point where the referee actually later apologized, ruined their chances. The SuperSonics won an NBA title in the 1970s but then were bought by an owner who immediately worked to poison the team’s relationship with the community in order to make sure his insane arena demands would be rejected so he could move them to his home town. This isn’t to say that there haven’t been moments of joy and wonder, but – just like a hometown show – the ultimate prize has never really been attained.

Part 3: Joining Forces

At a Trey solo show in Seattle last spring, the guitarist mentioned the Seahawks’ new quarterback Russell Wilson and how it would be cool if the team played Phish’s “Wilson” chant for the fans to do. At the end of his speech he said, “Guaranteed Super Bowl.” This is something that I also have always wanted. I sent a letter to the Mariners back in the 90s asking that Dan Wilson have “Wilson” for this walkup music, a letter that received no response whatsoever. This gained some traction though. First in preseason, and then during the season, the chant could be heard. Random references to it could be seen throughout the city. School marquees said, “Ba-bump, ba-bump WILSON.” The Seattle Great Wheel and the town’s mayor tweeted videos that featured the song. Phish were featured in an NFL Films production. My team, my band, and it was ridden to a championship. Without question, this was the best year of my life as a Phish and sports fan. Not only did I attend my first ever victory parade, but I did so with my favorite band as a soundtrack to the event. How could it be any better?

© Phish From the Road

Part 4: The Reward

After an all east coast summer, the fall tour was announced, and there it sat. October 18, Key Arena, Seattle, WA. Phish would come here for the first time in 18 years. It would be not just a long awaited return but a celebration of all things that happened last year. What could mar this?

The day before the Seattle show, Phish played Eugene, OR. While driving there, my phone suddenly lit up with messages. Percy Harvin – an explosive player who helped seal the victory the year before but didn’t seem to be clicking this year– was suddenly traded for very little. The Seattle sports world suddenly moved from party time to confusion. Maybe that would work itself out, but Phish were still playing the Key. Phish fans would be hanging out by the Space Needle, and the International Fountain. This is a big deal!

A few minutes past eight, lights went out. The band came on stage, perhaps to play the “Wilson” to end all versions, but not to start. We’d first have a “Cavern” interlude, but then it came. I was thinking of all of the things that I would do if I were Trey in that moment. Maybe I’d license a few Russell Wilson highlights and we’d hear Steve Raible’s voice over the PA. Perhaps I’d sprinkle a few further playings of the riff throughout the night. Nothing like that happened. The crowd chanted, people were excited, but, quite surprisingly, Trey didn’t even mention the team or make any comment at all throughout the song. It was put out there, but just as something that happened, not as the big deal that the song and the team represented.

With the expected highlight of the night not being one, that did free up some room for the rest of the set. “Moma Dance,” while still played close to its 3.0 norm, showed a few signs that the band was willing to open it up a little, to play some subtle variations on the theme and keep it interesting. “Lawn Boy” had a few extra antics from Page as he played up his Vegas lounge act for all it was worth. Trey not only nailed the riff in “Sugar Shack,” a progression that has been a rough spot for him over the years, but he felt confident enough to play around with the theme. “Wolfman’s Brother” hit a nice peak. The set closing “Bathtub Gin” had an even better one, an intense finale that got the blood pumping and the crowd dancing. The first set might not have been one for the ages, but it was definitely fun.

After a short break, Phish came out again and referenced the last Seattle show. The earlier Key Arena night had a show opening “Down with Disease,” one that was incredibly strong. When they did the same in 2014, once again a Seattle fan’s mind was thinking about repeating. The jam started out strong and then found a funky space. Page was adding a few beautiful fills. A spacey element was introduced. At the point where things were shaping up so nicely, they moved into “Golden Age.”

Initial disappointment over the end of the jam couldn’t last too long. It’s a fun cover, and hearing Trey suggest that the return to Seattle after such a long gap meant that we were in the right place was very nice, and – again – this song leads to a jam. It got weird and spacey and showed a lot of promise, but again was quickly abandoned, this time for “Fuego.”

“Fuego” versions from the summer were mixed. Some extended out to long jams, others were played more close to the vest. This one was less of a Fuego and more of a Prius as it took a hybrid approach. The final chorus was never sung as another intriguing space jam was formed. This one was given a little more room to breathe, but again perhaps ended a tad soon as “Light” started.

© Phish From the Road

The fast funk jam that followed led to somewhere interesting. For the second straight night, Phish covered a Talking Heads song and once again turned the tempo away from their usual pace and closer to the original. Eugene’s “Crosseyed and Painless” was slowed down and Seattle’s “Cities” was sped up. It was an interesting take for Phish, hearing them play the song like that. It wasn’t as fast at the original – or Mike’s solo versions – but showed something different, improvisation that didn’t come out of a jam but instead from an arrangement choice.

If the night could be said to have a theme, it perhaps was made clear during the “Sand.” One of Phish’s strengths of the past few years was to be able create these uplifting jams of effortless beauty. They’d built and penetrate your mind and soul and body and make it impossible to do much else but dance euphorically. The “Sand” started that approach. Trey found an amazing riff. The rest of the band joined in. This was going to be it, the one moment of the night where the Key Arena totally exploded. Just as it was getting there, “Backwards Down the Number Line” started up. And while it was a great version with a strong mid song break, it also pointed out what could have been.

Just like last year, Phish and the Seahawks’ had interweaving. Instead of the easy good times of 2013, this was a bit more frustrating. However, even if things weren’t quite working to full effect, there still were the glimpses and moments that pointed to brighter days to come. Not every day is going to be the best. Maybe this set will get few re-listens, but – much like the early season for the Hawks – there are hopeful signs that show that the better nights of this town have potential to be epic. Phish playing Seattle, fans taking over Seattle Center, some nice peaks and Phish playing some favorite songs – these are their own rewards.

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I’ve quite deservedly earned the reputation of someone who complains a lot about the lack of Phish shows in Oregon. Going beyond my typical “Phish last played Oregon in 1999” whine, allow me to provide you some perspective as to why exactly this fact is so particularly unfathomable whilst pre-capping the band’s triumphant return to the Beaver State and their first annual visit to the Matthew Knight Arena. You read that right… this is a PRECAP of the Eugene show.

Because there are a limited number of us in the Pacific Northwest, there is no official webcast that will allow one of my east coast colleagues to do a couch tour recap, and there is a high likelihood that I will be unable to go to the show tonight, rage Eugene afterwards, drive to Seattle for the next show at the Key Arena, AND write a recap… I am going to provide a forecast for tonight’s gig based on a historical analysis of what came before. We can discuss your displeasure for this approach and/or how chillingly accurate (I am not crazy) my prognostication was in the comments below. But first… let’s get back to that whole perspective on the lack of Phish in the Pacific Northwest thing I mentioned above.

Matthew Knight Arena

The Grateful Dead last played in Eugene, Oregon on 6/19/94, performing their last show of a three night stand at Autzen Stadium. Inexplicably, the last time Phish played in Tracktown USA was a month earlier in the Silva Concert Hall at the Hult Center on 5/19/94. Let that sink in… the Grateful Dead… featuring Jerry Garcia on guitar… played in this Merry Prankster Mecca more recently than Phish. WTF? Having listened to all five of the previous Eugene shows in preparation for pre-capping tonight’s show I have to ask why? Why Phish WHY? Sure… there were subsequent shows in Salem and Portland as recently as 1999… but still… that’s 15 years without a Phish show in Oregon. Are you kidding me?

Prior to that seemingly final Hult Center show, Eugene had been enjoying a fairly regular return engagement with the Phish. One which previously had included one show each at Woodmen of the World Hall (4/4/91) and the University of Oregon’s EMU Ballroom (10/10/91) and two performances at the Hilton Ballroom (4/22/92 and 3/30/93). If the string of shows was a relay race, the Matthew Knight Arena show tonight is going to be the anchorman… a really slow anchorman who dropped the baton numerous times during his lap around the track and took forever to come back. But nevermind all that… let’s delve deeper into the past before we get to the prognostication. To understand where we ended up we have to go back from whence we came.

WOW Hall

The 4/4/91 WOW Hall show (capacity about 400) is best known for the “I Dream of Jean Jeannie” version of “David Bowie,” the intro for which, in addition to containing the aforementioned “Jeannie” theme song tease also has a clear through the wormhole puff of “Gotta Jibboo”... I shit you not. The “Bowie” jam is clearly the ferocious vortex that was required to suck the “Jibboo” smoke that far into the past. Go back and check it out and tell me I’m wrong… and then listen to the solid first set “YEM” while you are there. This show also features a first set “Colonel Forbin’s” > “Mockingbird,” a second set Fishman “Love You” long time, and a double encore each bearing two songs.

Six months and six days later (10/10/91), Phish doubled down (I’m noticing a trend) and through the sponsorship of Associated Students of the University of Oregon (ASUO) came back to play the EMU Ballroom (capacity about 800) and delivered a tight high energy affair that is really exemplified by an insane “Brother” and sublime “Reba” combo to open a solid second set that also features a great high energy “Antelope” and closes with a raging “Mike’s Groove.” Tack on a “Squirming Coil” with a tail of “Fire” encore and you really can’t complain, comrade.

EMU Ballroom, University of Oregon

Six months and twelve (double six) days later (4/22/92), the boys were back in town for U of O’s Earth Week celebration and the first of their two performances at the Hilton Ballroom (capacity about 1,400). An extended “Wilson” featuring an explanation of “The Secret Language Instructions” with Fishman on trombone is the centerpiece of a second set that also includes another glorious “YEM,” a “Cold as Ice” > “Cracklin’ Rosie” > “Cold as Ice” and the ever elusive WEST COAST “HARPUA!” complete with an invitation to Fishman’s after show party in his Hilton hotel room (623… factorially speaking). Anybody have any stories they want to share about that scene?

The following spring (3/30/93) Phish returned for their second engagement party at the Hilton Ballroom. To get a good grip on this show go directly to the first set “Stash” to hear an angry “Timber (Jerry)” jam morph into a delicate “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” tease from Page. The second set is well constructed and a non-stop good time. The “Tweezer” is all about the chairman of the boards and some heavy metal funk before devolving into a “Lifeboy” breather to prepare for the “Psycho Killer Mike’s Groove” (dedicated to Mike… by Mike) that was going to comprise the meat of the set. This one also included Fishman’s take on “If I Only Had a Brain” and a “Big Ball Jam” for good measure.

Hilton Ballroom

Which brings us back to 5/19/94 and the Hult Center (capacity 2,448… another double double?), the band’s most recent visit to Eugene prior to this evening’s return. This one tears out of the gate with a streaking “Halley’s Comet” that crashes quite abruptly into the fifth consecutive “Llama” to be played in Eugene. Yup… every Eugene show to date has had one taboot, taboot. For the second Eugene show in a row… the first set is dominated by a sick “Stash” and the second set is built around a “Mike’s Groove” centerpiece. The “Theme to I Love Lucy” which appears in “Weekapaug,” “Big Ball Jam,” and “Harry Hood” completes the loop on television show teases that was initiated in the WOW Hall “Bowie” and the show concludes with a four song encore (more “Echoes” of 4/4/91) that includes another version of “Fire.” That’s “Fuego” in Spanish.

Silva Concert Hall at The Hult Center

Having safely returned back to the future we are now prepared to construct our great expectations for this evening in the form of some probable highlights of tonight’s show (see below). Taking heed of the great philosopher Carlos Santana’s words ”Those who cannot remember the pasta are condemned to reheat it” and “Only the Dead have seen the end of Weir” and based entirely on historical trends for Phish shows in Eugene, Oregon we can be absolutely sure of what should come to pass this evening. Phish just can’t help being Phish...and certain places attract certain songs like moths to a flame.

1. “Lllama” has been played at every Eugene show to date. Why break the streak now?
2. There will of course be a healthy selection of “Fuego” tunes...but considering the numerological recurrences of the past “555” is a lock.
3. The first set will feature another above average great performance of “Stash” that will include a rare opening frame Type II jam. That jam will be hotly debated for the “Dark Star” tease that it will be alleged to contain.
4. The second set will include an above average great performance of “Mike’s Groove” with multiple Simpson’s (goodnight Springton… there will be no encore) secret language cues, some humorous banter (are those things real?), and a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Careful with that Axe Eugene” somewhere in the mix.
5. There will be a Fishman song… it should be “Bike” for what it’s worth.
6. There will be an acappella song… fingers crossed for “The Birdwatcher” or “Free Bird!”
7. The other numbers that are already in the Eugene 50% club and therefore highly likely to be played include: “Suzy Greenberg,” “Golgi Apparatus,” “Poor Heart,” “Cavern,” “Divided Sky,” “Runaway Jim,” “The Horse” > “Silent in the Morning,” and “Sparkle.”
8. The songs that will join the club when they are performed this evening include: “All Things Reconsidered,” “Big Ball Jam,” “Fire,” “Foam,” “Glide,” “Guelah Papyrus,” “HYHU,” “My Friend My Friend,” “My Sweet One,” “Reba,” “Rift,” “Antelope,” “The Landlady,” “The Oh Kee Pah Ceremony,” “The Squirming Coil,” and “YEM.”
9. The encore will be a cover of the Lead Belly song “Goodnight Irene” played in the style of Eric Clapton’s cover of the tune with a lyric change to “Goodnight Eugene!”

I know what you are thinking. “All Things Reconsidered” even “The Landlady” doing “The Big Ball Jam” thinks that last one is a stretch. But hear me out. This year marks the 50th anniversary of prankster patron saint Ken Kesey’s gyppo logger master work Sometimes a Great Notion. The book about the lumberjacking Stamper family of Wakonda, Oregon takes it’s title from Leadbelly’s “Goodnight Irene” lyrics:

Sometimes I lives in the country,
Sometimes I lives in the town,
Sometimes I take a great notion,
To jump into the river an’ drown.

Which of course evokes visions of the similar rhyme scheme in the ever elusive, I’m talking the last one was at the E Center on 11/2/98 and we all know what happened there, WEST COAST “HARPUA”... wherein the Phish from Vermont will finally come back to your town Eugene...a nd help you party down. “Twenty Years Later”... it’s still upside down.

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With a great burden weighing on our hearts, we would like to share that our community lost two beautiful people when Larry and Denise Bressler were slain in their Pasadena, CA, home yesterday. While the circumstances are gruesome and not entirely known, we do know that Larry and Denise had taken in a family member who had fallen on hard times and was trying to right his course. This kind of generosity and kindness surprised no one who knew them, but it cost them an unthinkable price.

Larry was a chef and a teacher. As the General Manager of Chefs Center in Pasadena, he helped young chefs and restaurateurs reach their dreams. While many of us struggle to find even one true passion, let alone turn that passion into a life's work, Larry had fully developed two of them in his 50 years: food and music. He mused often about the similarities between the harmonies of flavor and the harmonies of sound. His talent and his boundless enthusiasm earned him the honor of cooking for many professional musicians, and that was his favorite thing to do in the whole wide world. If you've played at High Sierra Music Festival, chances are you've savored Larry's cooking backstage – quite possibly with Larry sitting beside you, asking about you, your bandmates, and where your tour would take you next.

Larry's commitment to personal growth was an inspiration to so many. He was a fixture at the Wharf Rats table, the Phellowship, and more, and coached countless people to sobriety over the years. After losing 180 pounds in his own heroic battle with food addiction, he had a brand new life stretched out before him full of health, possibilities, friends, music – and, of course, his beloved Denise (who had a pure singing voice whose power seemed almost impossible, coming as it did from a woman of her modest stature).

I was lucky enough to be Chef Larry's humble student, if informally, in both cooking and in life. He cooked beside me Saturday afternoon, pulling my ass out of the proverbial fire more than once, and refusing to leave until the job was done even though I'd made him and Denise terribly late for Tom Petty. After the show, they came back and had a plate. He wanted to talk about Phish and the upcoming shows here. We had no idea we were saying goodbye.

Though their Facebook walls are technicolor outpourings of love and despair from coast to coast and beyond, it is impossible to express how deeply this cuts, and for so many. This loss and this inexplicable absence will be profoundly felt and displayed out there this Fall, but there is nothing Larry and Denise would want more than for their friends to dance the pain away. Please do not underestimate the value of an understanding hand on a shoulder, or a held glance, or a smile over these next few weeks. We sure could use it about now.

Farewell, good friends. We love you, always.

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With the announcement of Phish's return to Miami for this year's NYE run -- which will mark the fourth time they have celebrated the New Year in the Sunshine State (third time in Miami) -- we thought we'd ask you about your favorite Florida Phish show. While there are some obvious front runners (one brought to mind by the recent leak of a certain video . . . ), there are other contenders that shouldn't be hastily overlooked. So share with us your thoughts. Participate. Rank.

Phishing Poll, Vol. 12: Best Florida Show

Below, please find a representative song or jam from each night to help you with your ranking.

2/22/1993, "Guelah Papyrus"
2/23/1993, "Paul and Silas"
2/25/1993, "HYHU > If I Only Had a Brain > HYHU"
2/26/1993, "Divided Sky"
2/27/1993, "The Curtain"
8/2/1993, "La Grange"
8/3/1993, "The Lizards"
4/28/1994, "Run Like an Antelope"
4/29/1994, "Reba"
4/30/1994, "Possum"
10/20/1994, "Glide"
10/21/1994, "Foreplay > Long Time"
10/22/1994, "Fluffhead"
10/23/1994, "You Enjoy Myself > The Vibration of Life > You Enjoy Myself"
11/12/1995, "Slave to the Traffic Light"
11/14/1995, "Stash"
11/15/1995, "Theme from the Bottom"
11/16/1995, "Timber (Jerry)"
10/29/1996. "Mike's Song"
11/2/1996, "Crosseyed and Painless"
11/3/1996, "Tweezer"
12/30/1999, "Light Up or Leave Me Alone"
12/31/1999, "Roses Are Free"
12/28/2003, "Frankie Says"
12/29/2003, "Piper"
12/30/2003, "P-Funk Medley"
12/31/2003, "Stash"
12/28/2009, "Harry Hood"
12/29/2009, "Gotta Jiboo"
12/30/2009, "Back On the Train"
12/31/2009, "Blue Moon"

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[Editor's Note: The staff here at phish.net was batting around the abundant merits of this summer's marquee jams, and thought we'd share our thoughts with you. Click through and read about the Randall's "Chalk Dust," the Dick's "Simple," and lots, lots more. This overview is not meant to be comprehensive; if your favorite jam isn't listed, it wasn't a slight. By all means please feel free to discuss your favorites in the comments. These jams are meticulously and painstakingly ranked... by date, ascending. -CB]

“Harry Hood” – 7/1/14, Mansfield, MA (Parker Harrington)
Tour openers are what Christmas mornings used to be for me as a kid: Tons of anticipation that builds, and builds. Regardless of what gifts Santa left under the tree, you were always around family and loved ones and the day provided fantastic memories. I’ve seen several dozen Phish tour openers over the years and they’ve been packed with epic jams, monster versions of classics, top shelf moments of the entire tour and plenty of Phish debuts. Of course, a shift in style or a glimpse into the future is often evident after long breaks and the advent of a new tour as well.

Walking into Great Woods, in Mansfield, MA on July 1st it was fun thinking about all the shows I had seen there as well as trying to guess what type of opener it would be? Shaking off the rust is always part of it but I think, that too, is part of the fun. But would there be more debuts? With the Fuego tunes looming for heavy rotation, that was unlikely. So I was indeed hoping for a tour highlight or two and a masterful take on a Phish classic staple. The only question left in my mind was just which song would it be?

The answer would not be revealed until deep into the second set in an intense, powerful, engaging and thoroughly magnificent “Harry Hood” that left jaws dropped to the ground and the feeling that indeed, “IT” can happen at any time. Phish littered the country over the summer with a seemingly endless supply of stellar “Hoods.” Yet of all the epic versions, Mansfield remains to many fans, me included, as the best “Hood” of the summer.

This near nineteen-minute monster – while not the longest of all the summer “Hoods” (but right up there) – packs a punch from the opening notes. A slow and steady crescendo builds confidently and consciously to the mid-point without a wasted note but having already covered tons of musical ground. Shifting effortlessly from a reggae infused feeling to deep spacey tones to wide open and carefree rock bliss, Phish had already provided a thrilling ride and the powerful, cathartic peak was still off in the horizon. Seemingly every venue and every stop of summer 2014 had at least one signature & marquee jam. Mansfield was no exception and this “Harry Hood” was most certainly a welcome omen for the tour to come.

“Fuego” – 7/4/14, Saratoga Springs, NY (John Demeter)
At their best – and often even at their medium-est – Phish plays the essence of their environment, or of the environment, conjuring the natural elements. Watery and fluid, light and airy, thunderous and grounding, or straight fire? On the 238th birthday of the United States, Phish opened set two with the title track of their new album and selected “All of the Above,” blithely transcending the cultural occasion and opting instead to drop some geologic history on us.

The composed section of “Fuego” fades after six minutes, and Trey leads with some tasty if not particularly noteworthy licks, using part of the vocal melody of the song to stretch out. Around 9:00, he recedes and plays a few trills, changing direction, with Page mimicking, the four members clearly listening intently and reacting. Fishman is a one-man band throughout, and a watery effect bubbles up near 10:00. For the next three minutes the jam dissolves to air, with spacious 4-way improvisation, grounded to earth by the delicate thunder of the drums, oriented once again by a faint reference to the vocal melody.

Around 13:40, magma begins to pool under Mike, and rises through in the form of a simple ascending progression, thick and heavy. The piece is not going to float off to the ether at this point; tangible mass has coalesced. Fish gravitates to the rhythm, Trey repeats a simple complementary riff. The next three minutes are magic. Or science. Or evolution. Or simply music. Trey subtly adjusts tone at the end of his repetitive rhythmic riff – the introduction of a highly reactive element that results in the volcano erupting right around 17:00, lava roiling to the surface. Not an explosion, no 4th of July fireworks, but absolutely molten, celebrating the universe for about two eternal minutes, drenched in white-hot earth gravy.

The peak – simple, elegant, and organic, yet so decisive it sounds composed – could be the kid brother (or perhaps the wise old uncle) of the Camden ‘99 “Chalk Dust” or Nassau ‘03 “Tweezer.” After yet another faint reference to the “Fuego” melody, the thing simmers down, all energy naturally expended, no effort or need to push any further. Lingering thumps from Mike and Fish solidify the ground underneath us, cooling to form a bedrock for the remaining phenomenal set of music.

“Chalk Dust Torture” – 7/13/14, New York, NY (Dan Purcell)
It starts with a lurch, like a 30-year-old Econoline full of vintage gear allowing itself a quick sputter before springing to life at a low idle. It ends 28 minutes later in an unrecognizable wash of color and texture before the drop into a remarkable version of “Light.” If summer 2014 were the Eurovision Song Contest, with points awarded on aggregate results, “Chalk Dust Torture” either would have been outright champeen or narrow bridesmaid to “Harry Hood,” and the glorious Randall’s Island “Chalk Dust” was, in my opinion at least, the jam of the tour.

The band’s deliberate tempo was a far cry from the traditional hyperspeed show-opening or first-set-closing “Chalk Dust.” One has to assume they were inviting themselves to jam; it’s easier to take a good look around when you’re not at a dead run out of the gate. Here, once the second chorus is over, there’s not much hesitation. Camped out on the grand, Page wants to move away from orthodox “Chalk Dust” blues-rock and explore the sunny pastures of the key of D major, so he tinkles away with his nimble right hand until he finally draws the band into a gorgeous two-chord progression that surges to a peak hot enough to anchor any second set. This is not even ten minutes in.

Penalize this jam if you must for hitting its crowd-pleasing peak at the beginning and not the end, but the ensuing twenty minutes don’t contain a dull moment. First there’s a modulation to a minor key and things get funkier; Trey even toys with the by-now-familiar three-chords-then-a-rest Tahoe “Tweezer” jam. Any attempts by the crowd to “Woo!” are buried under Page’s Rhodes and Jon Fishman doing any motherfucking thing he feels. As happened so often this summer, Page and Fish won’t let the jam go, rising and falling together. With so much energy and drive coming from the rhythm section, Trey is free to pick his spots: more chords and rhythm comping than blitzkrieg soloing, focused on adding subtle harmonic colors and small detours from the already-brilliant groove. I know you’ve all heard this jam a hundred times, but you could listen to it a hundred more and not hit bottom.

“Wombat” – 7/18/14, Chicago, IL (Tim Wade)
The Chicago “Wombat” isn’t what I would necessarily call a “great” jam, in that I think it would have a hard time making many Top 10 Improv lists from the tour. But it’s definitely got a spot on the summer 2014 highlight reel.

Bursting from an atypically subdued “Halley’s” outro, the first notes of “Wombat” are greeted with a huge cheer. Fishman’s vocals in this version are straight ridiculous and have Trey cracking up through most of the song. The jam starts with staccato plucking from Trey and typically tasty funk breakdowns. A syncopated, melodic section marks the first departure from typical “Wombat” territory, but that drops right back into the funk groove. At about 4:45 Trey finds a phrase to hook on to, is quickly followed by Page and then Mike, and the jam becomes dreamy and, in short order, fully type-II. After floating for a time, the music coalesces into a proud strut: The March of the Wombat. An enormous Cactus bomb punctuates this section, pushing Page to the Hammond. After much fluttering and warbling from both guitar and organ, the tempo slowly increases to a gallop. Page takes over on piano for a few minutes of celebration, and the jam culminates in a bit of distortion before Trey slams into “Chalk Dust.”

There is no getting around one glaring fact about “Wombat”: The song is plain silly. It employs an SAT vocabulary word in “crepuscular,” rhymes “centrifuge” with “Baton Rouge,” gives us the memorable slogan “cuddly but deadly” and came pre-packaged with an inside joke about Abe Vigoda. Not to mention it’s about an animal which has cubed-shaped feces and uses its thick, tough posterior for defense. When you add to that a deeply infectious funk groove and the preposterous rap stylings of Jon Fishman, you have a song that is truly Phishy. After all, this is band whose menagerie has included bazooka-toting llamas, knife-wielding pigs and more dogs than you can shake a stick at. But “Wombat” is more than just the goofiest song on Fuego. The song is immensely, almost impossibly, FUN!!

The Chicago “Wombat” represents a milestone, both for being the first version to break from its type-I burrow, and only the second track from Fuego to delve into type-II improv. Hopefully even those who roll their eyes and declare that they absolutely did not have to have that will be placated by the added potential of this song opening the door to jaw-dropping improvisation. We haven’t seen it yet, but 7/18/14 showed definitively that “Wombat” can be a jam vehicle. So either bring it forward, people, or leave it behind.

“The Wedge” -> “Ghost” – 7/20/14, Chicago, IL (Marty Acaster)
“The Wedge” is one of a handful of Phish songs that I believe would be welcomed by most attendees of any given show. It has lyrics that evoke both the aquatic tone and connection to the Earth that pervades the thematic construct the band has engineered, and the epic drives through some of the more beautiful parts of the North American continent that we can enjoy between tour stops. It reminds us that it is the journey through life – not the final destination – that is the real prize. However, beyond the location of the show, a random tease, or a rare guest appearance, no individual performance of “The Wedge” really stood out above any other. It is as utilitarian a song as the stonecutter’s tool for which it is named. Its role is to cleave the space that separates one chunk of rock from another.

Though initially unassuming and seemingly just another song to replace “I Am Hydrogen” in that evening’s “Mike’s Groove," the Northerly Island performance would become the most exploratory version of “The Wedge” Phish has played to date. It wasn’t even a particularly pleasing “average-great” performance of the song proper at first, and perhaps therein lies the key to the magic that ensued. The band seems to wobble unsteadily towards a sloppy and tired resolution of the song. However, reminiscent of any one of those moments during the Tahoe “Tweezer” when you thought the end had arrived… the band played on.

First keyed by Page and gradually building into a full band funky groove that hints of “Revival” and Siket Disco Dead jam space; the journey ultimately culminates in a glorious ride through “Paradise City” blasting “Roll with the Changes” on the car stereo. In other words, what is undoubtedly “the best” (read as most exploratory) Phish performance of “The Wedge,” was actually a subtle nod to Amfibian’s cover version of the song included on The Mockingbird Foundation’s Sharin’ in the Groove album. The SITG album version itself is undoubtedly dwarfed by the 45-minute long monster that was reportedly laid down during Amfibian’s recording session at Fireproof Studios in Brooklyn. Outtakes reel anybody? “The Wedge” returns to its expected conclusion and “Ghost” materializes from the cloud of shock and awe that hung over the island.

The composed portion of “Ghost” is equally nondescript and they miss the drop as is the norm these days, but the jam segment just tears right out of the gate. As stated in the jamming table, I described this “Ghost” thusly - Swirling Samurai with a Sawzall wields the power blade on a scintillating space disco mirror ball. What I mean by that is that I heard shades of “My Woman from Tokyo” as a precursor to a thrilling foray through a high energy heavy metal dance groove that reminded me a great deal of Oysterhead’s “Wield the Spade” being played by machine elves on performance enhancing drugs. Taken together, the meat of this particular “Mike’s Groove” sandwich was well marinated and particularly flavorful. Would eat it again.

“Carini” -> “Ghost” – 7/26/14, Columbia, MD (Dan Mielcarz)
After a solid first set with a stand out “Roggae," the band ferociously launches into the dark riff of “Carini" to start the second set. Slight vocal mix-up in the third verse, made up for by a terrifying scream by Fishman during the “people all were screaming when they saw the lump” line. Trey immediately launches into a ripping solo typical of “Carini," but about five minutes in Page moves to the Rhodes and things take a decidedly chill turn. Trey hits on some melodic lines backed by an ever evolving beat from Fish, all layered on top of some walking bass from Mike. For a song that starts off so angry, this gets very pretty very quickly. Page gets back to the baby grand, the tempo increases and Trey starts to fill a little more space with more rock and roll style riffs. Almost as soon as it begins, this section ends, heading into a more groove-oriented section, Trey playing more rhythmically, with Page on organ and Fish laying down a funky beat. This quickly changes into a thrilling rave-up section with some heavier chords and effects from Trey.

The band hits on a rhythmic theme and “Carini" comes to a close with a lighting fast key change into the opening notes of “Ghost.” It’s truly amazing how many places that “Carini” goes in such a short time. At the show, some folks were feeling like the jam ended prematurely, but on a deeper listen there is a lot to hear in those thirteen minutes, and the segue is just plain cool. As if they can’t get to the jam fast enough, the composed section of “Ghost” ends and takes a turn into a small spacey Animals-era Floyd section. This builds into a more classic rock feel with Trey hitting upon a riff that is similar to Judas Priests’ “Living After Midnight.”

But this is a friendly major-key riff that morphs and builds and climbs to a triumphant peak. During the show I compared it to the peak of the Great Went “Bathtub Gin.” On a relisten it isn’t quite that level, but it is in that same genre of Phish jams that I am unable to listen to without getting a big shit-eating grin on my face. Following the peak, the jam takes another turn, with Trey hitting his delay effects, Page on clav and Mike and Fish backing with a darker feel. This outro jam devolves and tumbles down until Trey launches into the opening riff of “Steam."

While largely overshadowed by the next night’s “Tweezerfest.” this “Carini” -> ”Ghost” combo from contains some truly fantastic playing, and is arguably more exploratory than anything from the 7/27/14 show. It stands as one example of many from the 2014 summer tour, demonstrating the band’s current ability to instantly turn the switch from composed tune to incredible improvisation with minimal noodling. Check it out!

“Tweezer” et al – 7/27/14, Columbia, MD (Charlie Dirksen)
If you’ve somehow managed not to hear the second set of MPP2, what are you waiting for? Are you concerned it might not hold-up to the hype, or at least not compete with the merits of the second sets of 2/20/93 Roxy, 5/7/94 Bomb Factory, 7/13/94 Big Birch, and 10/30/10 Boardwalk Hall, each of which involve “Tweezer” to varying degrees? Just like each of these sets, MPP2 is absolutely worth your time to hear, repeatedly.

A “Wilson” opener is often a good omen for the set if not the entire show (see for example 12/6/96 or 10/30/98 Vegas, 12/30/99 Cypress, 11/2/13 AC). “Tweezer” follows, and it isn’t long into the composed opening section before Trey repeats a “Back on the Train”-like riff, and Fish teases “Back on the Train,” which probably helped inspire Trey to return to a variation on the same riff as the “Tweezer” jam segment started, prompting Fish to begin playing “BOTT” again. Trey then modulates the key and begins playing and singing “BOTT,” singing a few verses before launching back into “Tweezer.”

This second “Tweezer” doesn’t last too long before “BOTT” kicks back in for another few verses, and then yes, “Tweezer” appears yet again. It’s this third “Tweezer” segment that contains some dazzling type II improv, as well as a jam for a spell that’s very “Manteca”-like. Of course, this set was just getting started at this point.

“Tweezer” makes several more appearances during it, getting sandwiched by “Free” while also sandwiching “Simple.” Surprisingly, “DwD” follows “Slave,” and there’s also a notably unusual jam out of “NICU” for a few minutes before the set concludes with a hilariously-absurd, must-hear performance by Fish of “Jennifer Dances” (with vacuum) and “I Been Around.” Watching the band slow-walk offstage while finishing “I Been Around” is, like this wonderful set, among the many highlights of 2014.

“Meatstick” – 7/30/14, Portsmouth, VA (Phillip Zerbo)
“Variety is the spice of life” may be a cliché, but it definitely applies to Phish. Even the most beloved Phish songs, played in more or less the same way, year after year, can lead to a rut. Just like people, songs don’t have to change who they are, dress up in some sexy outfit, or deny their essence in order to keep the audience on our toes. As an audience member, you never want to be too comfortable heading off to grab a beverage and hit the can; if it is true that we come to Phish shows in part because “it is never the same show twice” and “you never know what’s going to happen” then those things need to be actually true, right? “IT” is not always about hitting home runs. A few well placed singles and doubles – a little afternoon delight – something that kicks the spark that makes you realize why you seek “IT” in the first place.

So it is with the Portsmouth “Meatstick.” By the five minute mark we’ve wrapped up the dance, and in dozens of similar spots Trey would already be on to the next idea, ready to shift gears. But the funk is too thick, Page riding high and bouncy over the thick, indestructible backbone of Mike and Fish, with Trey content to take a shift bringing up the rear with flowing supportive rhythms. Chris Kuroda knows a moment as well as anyone and seizes upon the energy with cascading waves of visual bubbles that grew to compass not just the stage but the entire venue awning as a surround-sight psychedelic canvass. By 7:30, the “Meatstick” is fully consumed and we are engaged in type-II exploration. The jam doesn’t go that far out, the peak is perhaps a little muted… but none of that matters because the band grabbed a moment, they saw the hole and they hit it.

Phish played to the moment, reminding even the most jaded among us to stay on our toes, because you really don’t know what will happen next. No, the jam out of this “Meatstick” isn’t a top-x jam – it is may be the third or fourth best jam in the first four songs of the set that also witnessed versions of “Fuego,” “Jibboo” and “Piper” that all were among the best of summer for each respective song. Taken together as a package, the first 45+ minutes of the Portsmouth2 second set is among my favorite segments of the past summer.

“Simple” – 8/29/14, Commerce, CO (Chris Bertolet)
From the first notes, it is obvious that the band is blatantly jazzed to be playing this song: each of them simply stampedes out of the gates and gallops off for glory. And while it isn’t the year’s first noteworthy “Simple” – the version a few weeks earlier at Oak Mountain featured some majestic riffage and a blazing meteorite streaking across the Alabama sky to underscore the Universe’s approval, taboot – the Dick’s “Simple” ultimately proves to be the finest version in quite a few years, and an easy contender for jam of the summer.

Fishman relished his tip-of-the-spear role in many of this summer’s finest jams, kicking down doors and compelling his bandmates to follow him through. But this “Simple” is a different beast. Here, Fish is content to establish a blank canvas of open space and steady meter, and let his mates paint over it.

Each of them take a turn with the palette and brush. Everybody follows the familiar path for a short while until the 6:40 mark, when Mike strips out the Bb and C to introduce a patient and blissful meditation on the tonic F. Classic Phish here: breaking a harmonic conversation down to the most basic and bare to create infinite possibility. Around the nine minute mark, Trey introduces some syrupy, sultry blues riffs that keep matters earthbound a while longer, tugging on the reins a spell before Cutting The Fuck Loose and propelling the band through a set of incendiary peaks and crashing modal waves. Fifteen minutes in there is a full-band ebb, and Page pivots to his clav, proposing a funkier vector. By eighteen minutes, things get unlawfully raunchy as Trey’s guitar lines strongly suggest Bowie’s “Fame” – then Mike drops out for a few measures to build tension, eliciting huge cheers from the Colorado crowd when he re-enters the mix. Then, the afterglow.

Having listened to this several thousand times, it’s possible that I might be exaggerating when I say this is the funkiest thing Phish has played since 1997, but I really don’t think I am. Start to finish, this “Simple” is a devastatingly entertaining performance that you could drop on just about any non-fan you’ve struggled to convince. Or just put it on a loop and make it the soundtrack to your most awesome life. It’s that good.

“Mike’s Song” – 8/31/14 Commerce, CO (Chris Glushko)
Let me start by saying the Dick’s “Mike’s Song” is far from my favorite jam from the summer. That award goes to the Dick’s “Simple” with the Randall’s “Chalk Dust” nipping at its heels. I’d venture to say that the Dick’s “Mike’s” doesn’t even make my top 30 jams from summer. Hell, it’s not even in my top three jams from 8/31/14! With that said, you’re probably asking why I chose to write about it. The answer it quite simple – it has the potential to be the most important jam to come out of summer 2014.

From 1993 through 2000, “Mike’s Song” was one of the most deadly jam weapons in Phish’s arsenal. To discover some of the finest versions, check out the jamming chart. When the band came back in 2002 from the first hiatus, “Mike’s Song” lost its mojo. The band stretched out a few versions – see Cincinnati 2/21/03 – but none even came remotely close to the level of play from previous years. Then, when Phish returned to the stage in 2009 after a five-year “retirement,” they placed a renewed focus on playing their songs right. For “Mike’s Song,” this meant a return to the song’s form from the early 90s. What it also meant was not much room to open up the song – leaving us with versions that although fiery, felt very routine.

Five years later and we still have not had a “Mike’s Song” that deviated far from form… until Dick’s. In just over nine minutes, Phish played the best “Mike’s Song” of the last five years, and maybe even the best “Mike’s” since 2000. But more important, they delivered hope that “Mike’s” can one day return to greatness for every fan that’s crossed their fingers and said a little prayer at the start of a ‘09-’14 “Mike’s,” hoping that just maybe it might be the one the breaks the mold. The mold has now been broken. Let’s hope this is just a preview of great things to come in the fall.

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[Editor’s Note: We’d like to welcome guest blogger Satoshi Sakuraba - DH.]

I went to see Phish's 2014 summer tour in America from July 2nd to July 14th. I saw eight shows in two weeks at SPAC, The Mann, and Randall's Island. It was my longest trip in America so far, and the shows were very exciting. I liked SPAC3, Mann2, and Randalls3 because Phish seemed so focused. Also, I met a lot of my friends and hung out with them. I was happy to meet them.

SPAC – July 3
This is my favorite venue because the lot is the best, I'd been there two times before. I stayed at Phanart Pete's place in Albany, NY. I was surprised they opened with "Farmhouse." Actually, I didn't remember the show because I drunk a little moonshine in the parking lot and I had heavy jet lag. I passed out during the last part of the first set. I took an energy pill when they began the second set. It was so good. "Bathtub Gin," "Limb By Limb" and “Winterqueen” were the most impressive tunes. "Winterqueen" had an extremely beautiful melody. As you know it was composed by Trey and Tom Marshall. I went with Phanart Pete and Phootdoc to Putnam Den after the show, and enjoyed drinking, dancing, and eating pizza.

SPAC – July 4
My 3rd July 4th show, Happy Birthday America!! I tried to sing "The Star Spangled Banner." "555" was powerful. "Reba" was rhythmical, I danced. I felt that phans love for the band. One of my favorite tunes, "The Squirming Coil," was perfect as set closer. I was impressed with Page's solo. Beautiful. If Fish had not shouted his part it'd have been very good. Thanks Fish, I love you. It was a perfect first set after “Moma," I didn't like “Moma." I felt "Fuego" (20min) would transform this tour when I heard it.

SPAC – July 5
Pete, Scott, John, and I went to Dinosaur BBQ in Troy for lunch before the show. They opened with "Crowd Control." It was a good opener. "My Friend, My Friend" was beautiful, but Trey didn't play it well. It's okay, Trey! I was excited to hear "Foam" and "Divided Sky." I listened to "Wading in the Velvet Sea" and “David Bowie” carefully. The band concentrated well. They played "David Bowie" perfectly. The second set was so great. I can't describe how good those tunes were. "Carini," "Waves," "Wingsuit," "Piper," "Fluffhead," " Slave to the Traffic Light," and "You Enjoy Myself" were perfect.

I felt so HAPPY to hear “YEM” at SPAC, I love that venue.

The Mann – July 8
They played "Fuego" for about 26 minutes in the second set and it was amazing. I was impressed with just "Fuego" this night. It had a long jam, I thought there were some stories in the long jam. They did not just play, they made a story. "Tweezer" > "Ghost" > "2001" > "Harry Hood," and "Tweezer Reprise." I was blown away by them. I went to a post-show with Pete in downtown and met so many friends.

The Mann – July 9
Pete, Scott and I went to Dalessandro's and had hoagies for lunch. We met Stu and Erica there. They are my good friends. I didn't think my balls would fly this night, but it happened during the second set. They opened with "Chalk Dust Torture." "Wingsuit" was the most impressive tune this night. I was a little baked and tweeted some weird shit. The second set was amazing. It was exciting as SPAC3.

Off Day
Pete, Scott, and I went to Federal Donuts. It was my first experience. I ate four donuts. It was too much. I usually have one or two donuts in Japan. American stomachs are much bigger than Japanese I think. After that Pete and I drove to New Jersey.

Randall's Island July 11, 12, 13
Randall's Island was a very beautiful venue, so I couldn't believe that I was in NYC. The moon floated in the sky. My American friends drove me there from New Jersey. Most of the people brought their own chairs, picnic sheets, and their children played there. It was typical peaceful day. It was good!

I thought Phish played well at Randall's. "Steam" > "DwD" > "Golden Age" > "Limb By Limb" were great in the second set on July 11th. "Carini," "Ghost" > "Wingsuit" and the encore, "Joy" and "First Tube," were great on July 12th, too. Personally, July 13th was the best. The first set and second set were amazing. They played a 28-minute "Chalk Dust." Also "Tweezer," "Wading in the Velvet Sea," and “Slave to the Traffic Light” were perfect. I'd already lost my balls at The Mann before. I was baked during the show. I wanted to stay there as long as possible.

In my opinion SPAC3 was the best night this trip. "Carini," "Waves," and "Wingsuit" > "Piper" > "Fluffhead." Speechless. I've seen Phish 47 times in five years. Seeing Phish was my main purpose. I also wanted to meet my friends and make new friends. Many phans were so nice to me, even though I'd never met them before.

I completely forgot to say, even though I'm living in Japan near Tokyo, that it was not easy to go to America. To go to see Phish in America I needed to take a vacation for more than seven days. Maybe most Japanese phans have a problem, but I think going to see Phish in America is worth it for us. If Phish plays in Japan again, it'll be worth it. I don't know how many phans there are in Japan. Are there about 2,000 or 3,000?? I wasn't there, but Phish sold out a 3,000-seat venue in Japan. I think there aren't a lot of phans in Japan. Most of venues don't allow smoking inside, and they don't have a parking lot, so vendors can't sell stuff. And can't sell food.

I don't know who wants to go to Japan from America. If they come to Japan again, Japanese organizers will bring the venues of less than 5,000. I'd like to see Phish at a small venue in Japan, if they came back again to Japan someday. Tickets will probably 8,000yen each night (about $80 or $100.) Maybe.

One of my friends go to see Phish every tour. Other friends go there once every other year. Most Japanese phans go to America just for Phish, they spend a lot of money and time. I do too. I was happy to hear rumors that Phish would play again in Japan. It was just rumor. But I was excited when I heard that rumors. A lot of Japanese phans have been waiting for them since 2000.

Japanese Phans Love Phish!

I'll continue my trip looking for my balls.

To all my friends, all phans, and Phish: Thank you very much.

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With 39 days to wait for a new Phish show to be played, come waste your time with the 184th 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!