WORCESTER 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO
After Friday night's stellar show, I'll admit to facing this assignment with some amount of trepidation. I was worried about having to review a show that in all likelihood would be below the heights reached on the 25th. Well, let's say that there was no reason to worry - last night stands at least equal and maybe above its partner, and the two shows were of such high quality that we will be talking about the Worcester '13 run for years to come. Now, on to the show!
I was anxious to see what changes the DCU Center (née Centrum) had made, especially after reading Parker's excellent preview. Well, if any of you were worried, it is the same old Centrum - a cozy little barn of a hockey rink that has been the site of many amazing Phish shows. The concourse was a little cleaner and brighter, but bathroom lines were still long and getting in and out of the building was still a long and annoying process. Sound on the floor was great, although when I ventured into the stands during Prince Bathroombreak Friday night, things were a little boomy and echoey.
WORCESTER 1 RECAP
The colors on the trees are mostly faded. It’s cold outside. The Red Sox are in the World Series. And Phish is back at The Centrum. Life is good. Short and sweet here, for a blow-by-blow visit the excellent JamBase Skinny.
Shit-show Friday afternoon traffic led to a very late start even for Phish standard time – at a half hour after the scheduled start time the floor was barely half full. Everything about this venue “outside the ropes” (concessions, bathrooms, Worcester as a place) is still a pain-in-the-ass, but everything inside was relaxed, cozy, and happy!
The “Waves” > “Carini” combo is exactly what you want out of the critical third quarter frame, this has it all, 23-minutes that oozes sexy crunchy grooves, and taken as a whole every bit as satisfying as the Hampton “Tweezer.” If “Carini” isn’t the most consistent go-to jam stalwart, I’m not sure what is – so damn good, every single time. The “Caspian” was a soul-crushing moment, and the “Number Line” didn’t help matters. But then every ounce of potential disappointment transformed as our lovable Vermont heroes opened the books back up on the jamming through “Ghost” and the “Disease” > “Sneaking Sally” combo. Everything that came after was gravy, but the sheer quantity of songs gave everyone a hook to hang their hat on. Good points, bad points. Good times, bad times. Sometimes it was hard to get emotional footing through the roller coaster, but that which was good, was great.
A PATTERN IN PHISH'S PREDICTABILITY
Of the many elements of the Phish.net feature set, one that often catches my curiosity is Trey's Notebook. It identifies songs most likely to be played at each show, given songs played in the previous year but not the previous three shows.
For upcoming shows, it's an algorithmic prediction ("Here's what you might expect to hear...") that often works remarkably well, such as predicting 68% of the 22 songs played three nights ago in Rochester. But for previous shows, focus on those percentages themselves rather than the list of songs, and Trey's Notebook becomes a measure of the extent to which Phish's setlists are predictable.
That varies widely, as this first chart illustrates. A handful of early shows were completely predicted (100%!), but many were predictive #fails (0%). Shows in 1990-93 were generally less predictable than shows before or since, largely as a function of the repertoire expanding during that period. And there's a general pattern, marked here with a fifth-order polynomial trendline, in maroon, though nothing stark. (Note that this scatterplot replaces an earlier, clunkier lineplot.)
GLENS FALLS, AND FISH'S (UNSEEN) BALLS
I’m not going to lie: I fucked up.
The “why” isn’t important. I just did. I flat-out forgot I had volunteered for recap duty tonight, and I have been so dually preoccupied with work and a gnarly case of the crud to even realize there was a webcast. Yes, I made it home and dialed in the feed in time to catch the very beginning of “Limb By Limb," but if I tried to pretend I knew what happened before then (apart from what songs were played), I just couldn’t live with myself.
So I asked some other staffers about the first half of the first set, and here’s what they told me:
One replied, “I’m not streaming.”
Another offered, “I had technical difficulties for half the set. Then I got really high off a candy. Now I’m hiding under a Slanket.”
DECOMPRESSING IN ROCHESTER
From the editors: For this installment of our fall tour recaps, phish.net staff wanted to extend an invitation to Lenny Stubbe (aka @lastubbe on twitter, and phish.net) to offer his perspective on Tuesday night’s return to Rochester. Lenny is a longtime Phish fan and Deadhead from Buffalo, NY. He was an early Usenet contributor who wrote a handful of articles published in DeadBase, phish.net and The Phish Companion. Lenny also occasionally contributes to UpstateLIVE.com. Lenny is an avid taper and collector of live music with a passion for preserving audience recordings of all existing Phish and Grateful Dead shows, many of which he shares on dead-phish.com.
Has it really been 14 years since Phish has played Rochester? If you take Canandaigua out it certainly has. You would think Rochester, like Buffalo, which has also not seen the band in some time, is one of those upstate New York towns that would have seen the band a ton over the years. But Rochester has actually seen just a handful of shows: a University of Rochester cafeteria on 4/20/91; The Warehouse on 9/27/91; Auditorium Theatre on 2/9/93; and the War Memorial (now the “Blue Cross Arena”) on 12/11/97, 12/5/99 and last night, 10/22/13. Amazing when you think about it, as Phish ruled the east coast early on and often.
MYSTERY JAM MONDAY PART 165
Starting with this week's 165th installment of Phish.net's Mystery Jam Monday, inaugural MJM emeritus @RabeldyNugs will be your guest host for a few weeks. I suggest you invest in Q-tips, because you will need all the help you can get with Rabeldy running the show.
As usual, this week's 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! (You'll need it.)
Answer: First-time winner @standard impressively knew the mystery clip was the 9/21/99 Vultures, perhaps the only exploratory version played to date. Well done!
HAMPTON 3: FIRE IN THE FREEZER
One more night in Hampton for an undersold Sunday show that I hoped would put an exclamation point on the weekend and get Fall Tour off to a rampaging start. And did it ever. Forgive me for rushing my set up, here, but I’m dying to spark this one and get to it.
HAMPTON 2: SHARING THE GERMS
The last three times Phish have played the Coliseum have all come under extraordinary events. First Phish came back from their hiatus in the 2002/3 inverse New Years Run. Right before breaking up, they added a final indoor show in 2004, one with an amazing first set and a second that was… less so. When they returned again, the USS Hampton was once again the venue of choice. With all of the focus on death and rebirth, there hasn’t been a chance to just play a run of shows here. Finally 2013 delivers normal shows. Demand is down, everyone can get in, expectations are low (which – of course – leads to the inverse expectation game that makes expectations high because they were previously so low), it’s time for a normal run in an abnormal venue.
HAMPTON 1: PHISH SCARES SHIT OUT OF RAM
IT never gets old. Nothing quite like the thrill of a tour opener before its opening notes. What will they play first? Will it be a debut? An original? A cover? Will it jam in a style complementary of the summer’s highlights? How will the set go?!? Will it simply continue their rehearsal, their soundcheck!? Will it hint at the album to be covered in AC on Halloween? Simply put, will the tour begin with music as equally legendary, and historic, as the Coliseum? As Phish?
BOARDWALK HALL: THE HALLOWEEN MONSTER IN THE BASEMENT
Atlantic City is a small American metropolis of about 40,000 with more personality than many larger ones. Situated at the tail end of the Jersey shore, AC (as it is known for short) can conjure up images of old-timey, mustachioed men in red and white pinstriped, onesie bathing suits as easily as it can summon visions of modern hotel casinos with their gleaming metal, steel and lights.
It's as much an attraction for New Jersey residents as it is for nearby Philadelphians. And as the circus comes to town for the third time, we are reminded of all the city has to offer: From the attractions of the boardwalk (Play some Skee Ball. It's a NJ tradition!) to the beauty of the ocean (although you might not want to go for a dip in November). It also has a wealth of hotels within walking distance of the venue (a la Hampton) and the extensive gambling (a la Las Vegas) and a wide variety of culinary delights (it's not just the famous New York style pizza and Philly cheese steaks after all).
And all this will take place around a three day Halloween run at venue with a personality befitting its surroundings, Boardwalk Hall.
READING IS FUNDAMENTAL: RIDE THE PHISH BUS TO MAGIC MIKE'S
On October 29, 2013, Phish will make their debut performance at the Sovereign Center Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania. I know what you are thinking. “If it is their debut performance, how can we step into a yesterday that doesn't exist?” Well, in the first place, Reading has played an integral role in both the history of Phish, my life, and my relationship with Phish. Secondly, while Phish has never played in Reading, and the venue itself was only constructed in 2001, it was built atop the rubble of the Astor Theater.
The Astor Theater is a venue with its own rich history; the ghosts of which are sure to be lively as we make our way toward the feast of Samhain. Originally designed by architect William H. Lee and constructed in 1928, its intended purpose was a 2,478 seat Art Deco movie theater. The Astor Theater opened October 3, 1928 with an opening night program that included dedication of the theater, an overture performed by the Astor Concert Orchestra conducted by Vincent Kay, a Movietone newsreel, vitaphone presentations by banjoist Eddie Peabody, comedians Shaw and Lee, Larry Ceballos’ Under Sea Revue a stage presentation by the Circus Follies, the feature film Street Angel starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell, and exit music for a film, in this case “Angela Mia,” performed on the Wurlitzer Cathedral Organ. What a night! The Astor was in use as a movie theater through 1975, with its final days as such being of the X-rated variety. After going out of the movie business, the Astor Theater experienced a brief but undeniably awesome period as a music venue with 31 performers gracing the stage from late 1975 through 1978 that included Hall & Oates, Billy Joel, Kansas, the Charlie Daniels Band, Jeff Beck (with the Jan Hammer Group), Bonnie Raitt (with Johnny’s Dance Band), Hot Tuna, Jerry Garcia Band, Riders of the New Purple Sage, Phoebe Snow, Rush, Barry Manilow, Blue Oyster Cult, and Todd Rundgren. The Astor was placed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1978 but despite renovation efforts led by Red Skelton, the theater fell into disrepair during the 1980s, was subsequently razed to make way for the Sovereign Center in 1998, and delisted from the NRHP in 2000.
PHISHING POLL THURSDAY, VOL. 9: JUKEBOX TOUR
It's been a gas to watch all the musical costume chatter from our users these past few weeks. The staff is every bit as wound up for the big AC reveal, and the anticipation put us in a nostalgic way about a spate of shows during the Summer 1998 U.S. tour when Phish dared to don a musical costume nearly every night (even if only a song at a time).
The resulting flurry of debut covers -- some intentionally ironic, some unspeakably poignant, but all completely unexpected -- gave rise on rec.music.phish to the nickname "Jukebox Tour." The moniker didn't last, of course, and some of the output has even faded from memory for me personally (Wait, Phish played "Running With the Devil"?! Really?! Yep!), but that made it even more fun to revisit. We hope you'll enjoy with both ears and both thumbs.
[NOTE FOR THE ANALLY FIXATED: This is a list of debut cover songs from the Summer of 1998. Anybody who complains that established covers played during the Summer of 1998 were not included, or that debut covers from some other tour were not included, or that the "California Love Jam" that's not a song was not included, will be dipped in honey and fed to fire ants. Thank you, The Management.]
HARTFORD: THE VENUE INSIDE A MALL
It had to be the best idea ever. "Let's build an arena and we'll stick it inside a shopping mall." For 1975, it had to make sense. No one who went to the Hartford Civic Center in 80's and 90's can forget the absurd collision of commerce that was the Civic Center. Buy some jeans at The Gap, have dinner at The Ground Round, and watch a monster truck show. What a night!
MYSTERY JAM MONDAY PART 164
Welcome to the 164th edition of Phish.net's Mystery Jam Monday Tuesday! This week's winner will once again 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 Wednesday if necessary, with the answer to follow on Wednesday Thursday. Good luck!
Answer: @jmponder wins his third MJM by IDing the 7/5/98 Fee, a sloppy version in a sloppy show that nonetheless has a few unique jams worth listening to.
IS THIS STILL YOUR DADDY'S CENTRUM?
I'm pretty stoked to be writing a few words about this venue and equally stoked for the upcoming shows. Sometime by the end of the year, or if the cards don't fall right, perhaps the first part of 2014 Tour, I'll hit my 300th show. Tons of special memories of course. I've seen Phish perform in every place from dorms, college quads, fraternity houses, gin soaked college bars with 15 people attending and deserted clubs to hallowed halls to the country's biggest, grandest and most cherished venues. Yet, of all the special places I've seen this band- the Centrum ranks right up there among my favorite venues. Perhaps I'm one of only a handful of people that would make that seemingly bizarre claim and hold the venue in such high regard. What is it about the Centrum? Who knows. A cocktail of great memories with friends, remembering the band beginning to "hit it big", great musical moments, omnipresent electricity in the air, historical shows, and a large dose of home-town homerism has elevated this venue for me. Regardless of what regard you hold this venue, there's no doubting the importance it has had in Phish history or the many great musical moments that it has hosted.
Who knows: You may not even recognize the Centrum in Worcester, MA when you visit on October 25th and October 26th for the bands fifteenth and sixteenth appearances here. These shows keep this hallowed venue square in the top few of most played venues by Phish (and likewise the second most performed artist here). Let's get a few things straight before we roll up our sleeves. First off, it is, phonetically, "Woo-ster" not "Worchester". And like Deer Creek, The Boston Garden or Great Woods, it doesn't quite matter which corporate behemoth shelled out enough money to rename the joint. It will always be "The Centrum" but feel free to call it the DCU Center if you want. The venue has actually had a few different names over the years. We need to do a bit of house-cleaning here on Phish.net as we actually have the names incorrect. In 1993 when Phish first played here on New Year's Eve and in 1995 the venue was named "Centrum in Worcester". In 1997, it was re-christened "Worcester's Centrum Center" and in the 3.0 era, starting with their performances in 2010, it has been known as "DCU Center".
The venue, with a capacity of 14,500 and situated in New England's second biggest city, has an embarrassingly rich history for not only epic Phish shows, but also for scores of other bands. We'll look at 'Ten Great Moments' in Centrum Phish history after we look to the future. Despite some real high moments musically and historically for the band, the venue has also been marred with complaints. Most notably have been the lack of restrooms, the lack of concessions and the miniscule concourse space to accommodate the always sold-out crowds. So what's changed? Read on for the best of what's to come and the best of what's already been!
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