Phish Band • Page 11

@Wharf Rat Yeahhhh, but I presume that means actual show start is 7:00 to 7:15. Isn't Fenway curfew 11 PM too?

Either way, on the Amtrak right now and I am psyched! All the merch in the Dry Goods Fenway pop up shop looks SO COOL. As a Yankees fan, I'm kind of happy that so much of it says Boson/Fenway Park so it means I can convince myself not to buy it.

 

Anyone going to Fenway should seriously consider getting this poster. Or any of the prints for this run cause they’re all pretty quality.

 

The Welker is incredible.

The Millward is good (I usually don't like Millward's prints, but this one is cool).

YourCinema is...fine.

The other one looks like something you could buy on Shakedown Street.

 

I really liked the SPAC poster that was just the SPAC pavilion but it looked like some kind of weird alien mothership. Really crisp and simple, I dig that more than the more crowded and overtly psychedelic stuff personally. It's all great tho

 

Where’s everyone pregaming?

 

Gonna get there closer to showtime. Have you seen a Shakedown around the venue?

 

I didn’t see it. We looked quickly but never searched it out.

 

Alright, I'm on the floor for Tuesday. Paid a lot but I never splurge like that, idc, at least I didn't pay full price platinum floor or stubhub markup shit. I just won't gamble before the show like I was planning to, lol.

 

The setlist for night 2 at Fenway looks pretty awesome.

 

I have conflicting feelings about the run. The playing was good but there was very little in terms of deep exploration apart from Tube and Mercury from N1. When you compare Fenway to the Camden and SPAC runs, it's just missing something. Marathon set thing was most definitely a unique experience, but it seems like a lot of people didn't have a very good time with being stuck and crammed in the extremely hot concourse while the storm passed.

Allow me to clarify though...did I have fun? Of fucking course. Phish always wins. There's no one better.

 

uh....so....wow!

 

How was that foam encore

 

Really special. Whole night was

 

That show fucking RULED.

 

We should've met up damn. Were you on the floor?

 

Totally forgot, bummer. :(

I wasn't on floor, but was in section 23. Awesome view, awesome sound, but...holy shit, the smelliest Phish section I've ever been in. Awful BO everywhere and it was full of totally spun wooks. Didn't damper show but created a weird vibe infrequently. There was a small group of really young looking bros (early 20's, boat shoes, etc) and I think one was caught in an acid loop and kept walking up and down the stairs. I think it annoyed the older vet behind him and it seemed like one of the younger kids was basically goading him to punch him in the face. Weird!

Anyway, what a cool show. Scattered thoughts...

First Energy in six years and nearly 250 shows, SICK, was chasing that one. Got a nice little jam on it taboot. First standalone Weekapaug without a Mike's since 2003. With that opening you're already playing with house money. Page's solo in Maze was extra spicy, and the Trey white light peak with the crowd explosion was why you go to Phish. Just mayhem. The Lengthwise intro was an extra treat. The Big Boat pairing was a bit deflating (ugh, Petrichor) but they came up huge with that euphoric Gin.

Set two gets off to a weird start. Soul Planet's composed section is the cheesiest of the cheese, but it produced some stellar jams in 2018 (check out Alpharetta if you guys haven't, massive stuff). This one kinda fizzles into the Wider debut, which was a cool little thing. Started to go a little "wtf? come on guys..." when Undermind started but both that and Final Hurrah got high-energy Type I jams. When Beneath a Sea of Stars started I thought the show was toast, but as I should already know, never doubt Phish. This thing went to some truly unique places sonically and was an odyssey of a jam. Very excited to relisten.

The Ghost -> Weekapaug -> Birds was a straight uppercut after that BASOS, and Birds continues its amazing resurgence after stellar versions in Blossom and Camden this summer. Waste as a cooldown, all good and well-deserved. Golgi ends on a high note.

But the encore was just the cherry on top. First Foam encore ever (!!!) my first Contact after 70+ shows (!!!). So yeah, they earned that More too.

Excited for tonight! As always, special shoutout to Kuroda. Those worm-like patterns with the lights during Gin, holy moly!

 

Also, so many segues! Yum.

 

Haha there was some BO around me but I managed to move away from it mostly. I had friends around but they weren't on the floor so for the show itself I was solo but managed to find a spot with some cool younger folks. Didn't really matter but did succeed in finding some younger folks to hang around which was a little easier for me to vibe with. They were vets too though and made sure I had a great time.

Musically, during the show, I loved all of it. Wasn't really interested in, nor really in a position to think critically about it. I didn't know any of the newer songs at all either, I hadn't listened to any 3.0 at all beforehand. I've since learned people really don't like Petrichor and while I agree it kind of killed some momentum I really felt like it built to a jam as good as any. And I honestly fucking loved Soul Planet lmao just a real classic dad rock heater. Stars was some really cool exploratory shit but I did zone out a little during it, but when it built up it brought me back and I wished I hadn't zoned out. The vibe around me really heated up when Ghost started and that continued through the end of the encore. People were fucking loooving it and that really helped me love it haha. Golgi is a fucking great set closer and then people went NUTS at Foam.

I underestimated Kuroda too. Yeah, yeah, fifth member man,,,, they jam with their light guy!!! I'm thinking yeah alright I'm sure it's some cool lights and he's heard them jam enough to know when they're hitting a peak and be able to complement it. But fuck man he kicks ass. The white light stuff especially...that's genius. The effect of that on the energy level is insane - suddenly you can see everyone perfectly clear

 

Definitely have to relisten to form an actual opinion on the music lol

 

Glad you had a good time, sounds like having to go above face was worth it? It wasn't your first show, right?

And yeah, there aren't enough superlatives for Kuroda. Not just the band-to-Chris mind meld but the technical wizardy of the lights themselves. MSG is basically a cheat code for him at this point because not only does he have the rig, he has all 360 degrees of house lights and even lights on the jumbotron to use. It's insane.

This video is a pretty good example, and he's added more since this. This is one of my favorite Phish videos I think. The jam is Baker's Dozen Ghost.

 

Yeah, it was worth it. It was above face but less than a face GA platinum (like $300) so I figure that's worth it. I guess you have to factor the wasted $25 on COT gold, but even that is still worth it and easily cheaper than GA platinum. It was my first show!! Did I really not say that?

 

Welp, my tour is finally over. Here's how I'd rank the shows I saw...

Camden N3
Mohegan N1
Camden N1
Camden N2
Mohegan N2
Fenway N1
Fenway N2

 

How do you weigh this ranking in terms of fun you had vs music itself? Assume you weight fun some at least because fenway N2 sounded like a disaster. Anyway, glad I got such a good one. Bassist from Max Creek was on stage with Gordon before soundcheck Mohegan N2 so I was hoping to see a sit in on the setlist but it still would've really surprised me lol.

 

To your first point, this is always tough. I am still working my way through my first relistens of all the shows so I guess things could change but I think my gut is right on this current ranking. I really put a precedent on the music, because how much I end up playing back the show ends up coloring my view of it. There are exceptions for shows that were AMAZING in person (energy, bustouts, tight playing, etc) but there aren't really any memorable jams I listen to from them. Hartford 2016 is a great example of this.

Fenway 2 is last by a good margin. I couldn't believe how people were fluffing it. At the end of the day, I'd rather be at a Phish show than anywhere else, but they are human and they're not perfect. Some nights are worse than others.

 

@Wharf Rat Also, I'm about to DM you a link for the SBD from 7/9. Un momento.