If you werent at The Stanley for this show, you missed out on one of the strongest dance-inducing jams in TAB history followed by the show nearly coming to an end because we literally brought the roof down. Sort of.
The show is a solid one all around, with a strong opener in Javier Cinakowski (Have YOU ever seen a cow ski?), the first and only performance of ‘Perhaps‘ and a rare-mid set @ the BBQ. The Mr. Completely though, thats the big one here. Clocking in around 20 minutes, the jam just gets dirty and the crowd just kept dancing. These old Depression–era theaters were not meant for this level of funk. Personally, I blame Cyro Baptista, but it was a collective effort. to bring the house down.
During Mr. Completely, as I personally witnessed from 5th row Ray-side, the balcony was literally bouncing up and down which was followed by hallucinations of Steve McCroskey-esque (Airplane!) as he sees the airplane in the tower saying “It’s coming right at us!”. We needed no glue to see that the balcony was seriously shaking up and down with each collective jump of the crowd. A quick run to the bathroom and I saw what many others discuss as mere rumor nowadays – the fucking ceiling was seriously falling apart underneath the balcony – especially in the back area way behind the soundboard. One girl was covered in dried plaster and some blood, a few others in just plaster, but yeah, it was real. Pretty scary when you’re three sheets mid-second set.
Trey was then told by Brad to play ONLY acoustic, non-amplified songs for the rest of the night, without striking too much fear into the place. Few knew what happened, but the rest of the show: Ray Dawn, @ the Gazebo, and an hysterical story time before Pebbles and Marbles led to a memorable show for the music as well as the venue.
Overall, a great show, upped by request for all to enjoy. Download links below.
1 “sickening” 2 Brad Sands came out to tell Trey something at the conclusion of Mr. Completely 3 At the end of Radon, Trey explains that the venue management was concerned about the stablity of the balcony after the amount of shaking that went on during Mr. Completely and that the remainder of the songs would be acoustic 4 With the horns at the front of the stage unmiced 5 Trey solo acoustic; Trey tells two stories prior to Pebbles and Marbles
Setlist Source: TeamUSA via PT
(Thanks to JB for the call)
Nine years ago, Trey Anastasio Band, about as close to the way we see it today played it’s second show of a winter 2001 tour at the Landmark Theater in Syracuse, NY. Reflecting on these past shows of a rejuvenated TAB, replete with horns and female vocals that are better than ever, I gave a listen to this show from 2/22/01 and found the same band, 9 years younger and full of the same talent and jam potential as we have today.
Set 1: In the Wee Wee hours, Push on Till the Day->Tube Top Wobble, Sunday Morning, Mozambique, Gotta Jibboo, Burlap Sack and Pumps, Guyute*
Set 2: Rainy Day Woman #12 & #35, Sand**, It Makes no Difference, Mellow Mood, Happy Coffee Song^, Nothin but an E Thing^^, At the Gazebo, Drifting
Encore: Will it Go Round in Circles?
* acoustic, performed seated on edge of stage
** with Trey on keys (20 minutes)
^ dedicated to Paul Languedoc
^^ Known now as the intro to ‘Pebbles and Marbles’,
Trey 2-22-01 ticket
Shortly after listening to this, I remembered that I very strangely wrote a review of this and sent it off to a few friends that night, a supreme rarity since I never wrote a music review until that night. Since I’m great at cataloging and saving everything (see PhanArt: The Art of the Fans of Phish for solid evidence of this OCD), my email review fo 2/22/01, written a few hours after the show ended.
Hello all. if you didnt get a chance to catch the trey and his band tour this time around, you missed an unbelievable show. it was well worth it, and even though the landmark is an amazing place to see a show, it is not run too well, ie, they ran out of water. but enough of that, on with the show.
acoustic guyute
After having some beers at the blue tusk, myself and some friends from faegans hit off the show. i wound up having seats right i front of the sound board, about 16th row. the show began with what may be an old cover, called ‘wee wee hours’, (i think). they then played a very funky song ‘push on till the day’, which went on for close to 15 minutes. then an amazing new song, ‘its true’, which sounded like ‘fast enough for you’/’waste’. ‘mozambique’ was next, and that is a very funky salsa tune, which had trey dancing a bit. then the band busts out into the one song i knew i would hear, ‘gotta jiboo’. i hear this song every place i go, and every venue in the last 2 years. after a long jam which made t seem like jiboo as done, they went right back into it, then hit off a new one, burlap sack and pumps. the set ended with a rendition of guyute which cannot be compared to. acoustic, front and center of the stage, with trey teasing the crowd before going right back into the lyrics at the end.
after a 50 minute set break, the band returned and played, amazingly, ‘rainy day woman’ by dylan, which was key with the horns. then a long funky version of ‘sand’, (with trey on keys), followed by ‘it makes no difference’. trey then tells the audience that they want to play this next song that they have only rehearsed once, called out ‘mellow mood’, got ‘mellow mood’, great marley tune. then as a dedication to paul, he plays the ‘happy coffee song’. after that, while i rememberit clearly, i have no idea the names of the songs. but everything was great, including a 15 minute encore of ‘will it go round in circles’
ed note: It seems that I left out a good deal of the show, but it was a clearly a blast going there, being nine years younger and being at my first Trey show. One of my favorite Trey shows ever, as well as being my first of a (personally) epic 2001
Many are familiar with HeadCount, a nonpartisan organization that works with musicians to facilitate participation in democracy. Since its inception in 2004, the organization has registered over 150,000 voters. It is now taking a step forward, motivating members of the music community to be involved, active citizens. HeadCount’s Board of Directors includes Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead, other well known musicians, and the very top managers, promoters and media publishers in the live music industry. HeadCount has a great deal of causes they educate the masses on, including Food and Farm Policy, Health Care Reform, Personal Liberty, Gulf Coast Recovery, Human Rights, and Sustainability and Conservation, as well as a “Midterms Matter” initiative to Get Out the Vote
On 12/30 at the Hyatt in Miami, FL, Mock Show was held in its 2nd installment this year, and the 5th overall Phish poster convention ever. It was a great success and featured dozens of artists from PhanArt, including Ryan Kerrigan, AJ Masthay, Tripp, Andrew Abis, Erin Cadigan, Bruce Horan, Fred Hosman, as well as new PhanArtists Uncle Ebenezer, Vinny Naro and Franky Scaglione among many, many others.
reading the F$%&ing book!PhanArt Table
This was also the first installment of the Phish poster awards at Mock Show, presented by Head Count. Golden Tubes were awarded to the following:
PhanArt: The Art of the Fans of Phish was nominated in the best non-poster art category. It was an honor to be in the same category as Jim Pollock and Ryan Kerrigan!
The Heavy Pets played an amazing set of music, their first ever full acoustic set, right across from the PhanArt table! Location was perfect in all possible ways!
The Heavy Pets
Some info about HeadCount: HeadCount is a 501(c)3 nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to registering voters and inspiring participation in democracy through the power of music. More information can be found at www.HeadCount.org.
Some info about Mock Show: Mock Show is a nomadic art exhibition staged around Phish’s multi-night runs which allows both fan artists and professional established artists associated with the band to showcase their talents to art enthusiasts while raising money for local and national charities.
Ok, so the title of this post is a bit misleading – there were really only 2 other runs – NY->VA in 02/03, and Miami 03/04, and these pale in comparison to the amazing music, weather, phans and overall good time had by thousands in Miami December 28th-31st.
Full moon risin
Overall, this is in the top 5 all timeNew Years runs, right behind the 2 nights in Big Cypress, the 1998 run at MSG and on par with the 1997 run through the Northeast. Amazing music that was well played and full of bustouts galore to satisfy even the most ardent Phish fan.
We provide you with brief reviews created by PhanArt Pete with help from Tim O’Shea, both of whom made it through a week in Florida with all that 2009 could throw at them and made it into 2010 watching the sunrise on the beach while Lady Gaga chilled nearby.
Kuroda is a golden god of some sort
Monday 12/28 – A good start
A smooth start to the show, a My Soul bustout followed by Roggae‘s amazing return to the lineup. My Soul is a personal favorite, having been seen in Albany for the first couple shows I saw in 97 and 98. Undermind was good, Bouncin and Poor Heart gave a chance to grab a drink from the vendors on 300 who had no lines, period (best venue ever for that). Stash was played perfectly, IDK and Beauty were nice, Possum rocked the set out and got us ready for set 2 madness.
Taste the rainbow
Set 2 with Mike’s to open got us moving, but the Light destroyed the theory/hope that they would play ALS->Light on 12/31, but no complaints. Still having not listened to it, i heard something resembling DEG, and even if it’s not that, its a jam that is possibly on of the best of the run. H2, groove, Alaska and BDTNL were all well played and kept the crowd dancing. Makisupa->Hood was another highlight, complete with some unreal jamming before devolving into Contact. Zero to close it out and First Tube for yet another rocking ending.
We toyed with the idea of going to Orchard Lounge for the post-show, but a long drive down from NY, even with a night in Orlando made it tough to stay up late. The sweet suite we got at the Best Western Atlantic beckoned to be given Rock Star Treatment there instead. Based upon reports, IHOP was enjoyed by all.
Those trampolines are way too high for YEM
Tuesday 12/29 – Right near da beach. Boy-eeee!
Quick, name the movie that comes from. Answer at the end of this day’s review.
Great views back here
A full day to relax, finally, after 3-4 days of holidays, packing, running around, and preparing for these 4 days. We headed to the beach, scared the locals and Europeans staying at our hotel and wandered into the ocean, which was much warmer than expected. The sandbar and the rolling waves made for a good pre-show exercise regime that worked pretty well. Stretching and getting into dancing mode takes effort and practice it turns out.
Ocean-view suite FTW
We headed to the lots and sold some Miami NYE shirts for Jiggs and Twitter shirts for ourselves, met up with Paulie from Coventry Blog, Brandon from Green Crew and made some new friends here and there.
good lord why are the walls melting?
This was at the time I found out that it takes TWO hours to find drugs in Miami! I was amazed! Now, I dont partake in anything more than beer, but from what the others around us in the lots, it took them up to TWO hours to locate things that were expected to be available much easier. Scarface lied to us. Turns out it wasnt a documentary.
The show proved to be the 2nd best overall from the run (in our opinion). Golgi to open and Maze to follow again got the show on the right foot, with a Driver to set us up before the funk set in deep. Oh but wait, we’re gonna drop The Connection on you first! The second time this radio single from ’04 was played and it was well received. The words still hung true, the fans loved it, and then we got Wolfman‘s, which was good and high energy, but nothing standout/spectacular. Ocelot was Ocelot, Reba was amazing, Access Me was a good version even though the crowd didnt seem to react much to it. Either fans dont know the songs at times or they are still reacting with jaws agape. Divided Sky had the longest silent note ever, and Cavern was called by Tim to end the set.
Behind the stage is really nice sometimes
Set 2 started ever so perfectly with Kill Devil Falls rocking the start of the show and then a BOMB of a Tweezer dropped on the crowd. Thank Trey that this song has found its old jamming style. A segue into Prince Caspian showed that this song is more than the old ‘Fuckerpants‘ of yesteryear. Once that ended, we were bring you one of the Jams of the Weekend! Jibboo->Wilson->Jibboo->Heavy Things->2001. Starting out with one of my most overseen songs (Jibboo) made it unique by dropping a Type II out of there and headed into Wilson before heading BACK into Jibboo! My legs hated me later, but the band simply couldnt keep me down. Segueing into Heavy Things led to some later jamming from Trey in a song that is otherwise standard most of the time. But they spaced it out and eventually made it into 2001 for the Dance Party Miami U.S.A. to begin in earnest. Funky and more dancier than lately, a bit energetic, and then a good call with Slave to rest our (my) legs. Sleeping Monkey and Tweeprise for a solid encore.
So did you guess Half-Baked? Nice work Phanner!
Wednesday 12/30 – Mock Show FTW! Phish saves the day
Mock Show traffic
Mock Show at the Hyatt in downtown Miami was as successful as previous ones and featured more artists than ever (it seemed like it at least). New PhanArtists Franky Scaglione and Vinny Naro were there and set up nearby, along with Ryan Kerrigan, AJ Masthay, IsadoraBullock, Andrew Abis, as well as David Welker, who made designed the RIFT cover art, plus an exhibit by Jim Pollock and the first ever Acoustic Set by Ft. Lauderdale natives The Heavy Pets! We have some great pics of this as well, since hte PhanArt table was right across from the stage.
Overall, Mock Show was a success – sold a few PhanArt books, made money for Mockingbird, sold some shirts, cleaned Jiggs out of “A laser pointer doesnt make you Chris Kuroda” stickers, and had a great time meeting folks from Facebook, Twitter, email, lot, old shows, etc… Mock Shows are the greatest gathering of bona fide talent out there amongst all music-centric artists and should continue to be a great success at Phish’s next extended run of shows this coming summer. Thank you to Julie P for coming in and helping out with the PhanArt table!
Aquarium Airlines Arena
Night 3 made Night 2 look like an acoustic Particle show. To better describe this night, I quote Trey Monkeystasio– “12/30/09 is gonna make 12/30/97 look like 12:30 at Applebees!” And indeed, this was true. From the first notes of Soul Shakedown Party, it was ON. Jim was present, then JESUS! Good lord have I listened to TOO MANY bands cover this song before I finally heard it! Dixie Cannonball was a great listen, I’m glad they are working some countryish tunes back into the mix, especially since Ramble Dove and The Green Sparrow seem to have been left out of the rotation yet again. Stealing Time took its place as a bona fide rocker before, but that is getting more and more solidified each day. Corrina bust out was unreal, and 10 years to the date as well! This boded well.
How well? What’s the Use? was next! God bless the guy who was shouting this to them from behind the stage. And then the notes we had been hoping to hear – TELA!!! Tim and I took one look at each other and hugged that we FINALLY got our Tela! Dreams do come true with Phish, they really do. Gone was cool, but really, after Tela, the WOW factor had set in.
Seriously, these lights are awesome.
Even though I’m over the hump on # of shows, I still had never caught Rocky Top, I always missed it by one or two shows. I had my drink in hand as i heard the opening notes and walked through my curtain to 118, only to find a guy about to walk into me, spilling my tasty beverage. Nothing was keeping me from Rocky Top, and as such, I made sure that I got past him and to my seat before Gordo sang the opening line. Chalkdust and Bowie for the nice double rocker close. Bowie had a slightly extended hi-hat intro, something that is needed in the future – BUILD the anticipation Fish!
Set 2 we moved behind the stage to hang with Julie and Tracy for some severely underrated seats and shots (these will be well worth seeing when we get the pics up). Sand started out but wasn’t a Camden rocker, but simply apt. The Curtain With was solid before an unexpectedly amazing Lifeboy. The jam out of this song was great. (Overheard on Lot/Twitter: Do atheists love or hate Lifeboy?) A Type II’d Back on the Train was the rocker of the night, and even the jam into Wading was amazing. Velvet Sea is best described in this case as a ‘Lifeguard Song‘, a phrase we can attribute to Paulie from Coventry Blog. Definition: a song played to tell everyone to sit down, rest, relax, grab some water or tasty beverage and then wait for the next song; a break song. See: Velvet Sea, Bug, Farmhouse, Joy, Let me Lie, etc…
This band rules
HYHU for ‘another’ vacuum solo proved to be a great crowd-interaction by inviting up ‘Rich‘ from the floor near the stage to come and do a vacuum solo, as Fish had completed his final solo of the ‘aughts’ (worst name ever) on the 28th. So Rich started out slowly but got the hang of it and gave us an above-average vacuum solo for us to enjoy. Not bad at all bro! To top it off, Rich is now the luckiest guy on earth and eternally famous in Phish-lore for decades to come. So we must ask – do you know him? If so, we want to hear from Rich! Have him email us! phanart@gmail.com
Free was a great way to start ending the 2nd set, but the highlight of the night and possibly jam of the run was Boogie on Reggae Antelope. Teases of the guitar riff in Antelope make this version A#1 to listen to if you haven’t already. Frankenstein with Keytar allowed Page to strut towards the front of the stage and rock out with this number. By the time we left the arena, it was officially New Years Eve and time to party down on the beach. While my favorite dive bar in the country would have to wait another night, the beach gave us a nice light warm breeze.
Oh, and we saw people having sex in a hot tub. It was a good thing we saw this, because our plans for the 31st involved going in that hot tub. STDs averted.
Thursday 12/31 – Good riddance 2009, HELLO 2010
Few words describe 2009, most of them vulgar. It sucked, to put it very mildly. But Phish was in Miami, Tim and I were dressed as Crockett and Tubbs – pulled it off really well with fake badges and aviators, even had a kid thing I was a NARC. How cute.
In the still, of the night.....
We found ours seats Page Side diagonal behind the stage and made sure the drinks and supplies were in order (confetti and mardi gras beads and other things for the ladies). I think Tim and I wound up seeing about 15 or so shows together this stupendous year for Phish, and it was highly appropriate to see that through the end at New Years. Party Time opener was expected, but instead we got AC/DC Bag, the opener of the year, followed by a rocking 46 Days and a 10 years later version of Water in the Sky. A sick Gin and Punch gave way to the funk being dropped out for Moma. This so far was a greatest hits set of set openers and gave way to even more bustouts.
Guyute has always been a personal favorite of mine (PhanArt Pete) and seeing Trey with the New York Philharmonic makes the song even better, even in concert with Phish! Swept->Steep was awesome to hear after 9+ years, but DEMAND? WHAT? WHATWHATWHAT? WOW! The only thing that could have made Demand better was a Melt Jam outro, but no, we arent complaining. The segue into 7 Below was top notch and a Lawn Boy Julius kept us pumped for the rest of the year of Phish
Set 2 came out with a Rock and Roll-> Piper for a good 20 minutes+ of glowsticks and dancing, a Simple->Theme was solid, before a much needed Shine a Light (lifeguard song) came in next. Ghost was possibly the jam of the night, a no-flub tight fast-paced version with a good funk jam that kept growing and growing before spacing out into something totally different. As it got ambient and spacy, loops were thrown in and before you knew it, Mike was speaking the lyrics to N02! From where we were sitting, few knew what this was. Folks, ya gotta do your homework and all, but it is problably for the best you got a big WTF reaction to N02, something stay true for the WAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWA that IS N02.
Steve, I can see you! awesome!
Suzy ended the set in standard rocking fashion. It was time to prepare for Midnight. Drinks were in hand, brahs were finding their way to better seats, the kids behind me were appreciative of the Don Julio I shared with them, and the boom was lowered for the net for the prank. The cannon made its way on stage as well. Good work to the guys who took care of this, it came off flawlessly! (Anyone know the setbreak music between 2 + 3? We would love to hear this again. Good work Kuroda!)
The expected Party Time opener was well-received by the crowd and the energy only built as the ball was lowered in the last minute of 2009 before being left on the stage, turning all of AAA into a gigantic disco ball.Numbers were counted backwards, old Scottish Drinking songs were played, and hugs were had everywhere! I even hugged a dready brah next to me! Phish makes you do crazy shit!
As was expected and called well in advance, DWD was the first song of 2010, just like it was the first song of the last decade from Big Cypress. The jam for this overshadowed by the thousands of balloons that worked their way around the crowd and arena over the course of the next few minutes. Fluffhead had more crowd interaction. Sara from Pittsburgh came on stage (Fish in a wig and dress) and the antics began, Fluffhead was played, laughs were had.
The middle trampoline says 'greater than or equal to, less than or equal to'
Note – we love this crowd interaction stuff, but not just because we get cool fans on stage to take part in a song or other onstage antics. Rather, we have the best possible reaction by the band and their management to the Naked guy from 12/5/09 in Charlottesville. The latter does NOT need to become a trend, and was noted as such in the recent Editorial by Christy Articola in Surrender to the Flow. This is a good faith effort by the band to protect for their safety and keep fans in the crowd and the band safe on stage.
PARTY TIME!!!!
Joy for a nice relax in the new year, Coil for the same, and YEM to rock the house down one more time.
The encore of Blue Moon was apt on this night of a second full moon this year, complete with complete thank you’s to all, and then Loving Cup to end the night.
sunrise on south beach
We wandered off into the night, amazed at the four nights of music we just witnessed, and found our way to a cab a few blocks north. A trip to the Sunrise Cafe (Collins and 42nd st.) was the best decision for the New Year, and we enjoyed the beach and Don until the sun rose. Just like 10 years ago.
A bit older, a lot wiser, a bit more grown up and still able to travel and see music as much as is needed; welcome to 2010 where we can only hope things get better. Where there is hope, there is love.
Routinely on lot, Shakedown and tour, a few phans take it upon themselves to use the outline of the Phish logo, or a resemblance of it to create a piece of lot art – typically a shirt or sticker – and sell it for profit. This is wrong and should not be encouraged.
There are dozens of examples of this kind of ripoff of the Phish logo. We choose only to post one as a prime example of where fans go wrong in using copyrighted material. We have all seen these on the lots, sometimes they are phans, sometimes local entrepreneurs, but they all do not deserve a bit of business from phans.
Too many times in the past couple tours this has been witnessed. When PhanArt: The Art of the Fans of Phishwas first accepting images of Phish fan-art for the book, we received a handful of versions of the Phish logo, an iconic image. None were used. When fans and creators of the art asked why, we explained that the art was done using a copyrighted logo for the band, and as such, it would not be included in a book of original art made by fans.
The most important thing to keep in mind is this (via phish.net): The Phish logo is INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY! The logo is owned by Phish, and they control its commercial use. Please respect the intellectual and artistic property of the band and do not support weasel thief rip-offs. Please report such thievery to the proper individuals. The logo is included on this page for clear and apparent informational purposes, in that the purpose of this page is to discuss the use of the logo, notably, without profit.
So why shouldnt you use the Phish logo in any way, shape or form, including the the outline of the logo?
1. Because it is unoriginal to take the Phish logo and put a different word inside of it.
2. Because you are stealing someone else’s art, namely, Phish’s.
3. Because you run the risk of facing legal consequences for stealing the art.
Don’t do it. Be creative. We want you to be creative, not ripoff an existing idea.
So you are coming to PhanArt’s hometown and want to know where to party down after the show? Well, courtesy of jambase.com, we have a few shows that might be of interest to you, with some thoughts on each.
Friday 11/27
The Heavy Pets at Jillian’s
Upsides – Jillian’s is 3 blocks north on S. Pearl, the same street The Knick is on. The Heavy Pets are awesome, which is a very big upside
Downside – typically SUNY kids and douchebags go to Jillian’s – this has continued to be the case for a decade+. On the upside to this is that its Thanksgiving, so most of the aforementioned Dbags are home for the holidays, and the stage is on the main floor, making it easier to enjoy yourself and avoid the downside.
This event is co-sponsored by Phan Food, the upcoming Phish Cookbook! Come on down, submit a recipe of your choice, and enjoy some great music and post-show revelry! check out PhanFood.com
Think of Dave and Buster’s, but with college Dbags
Zach Deputy at Red Square
If you dont know Zach Deputy, you should make an effort to see him one of the two nights he has booked at Red Square. It is a great venue, all of 2 blocks away from The Knick (heading towards the Hudson) and full of tasty beers and always a good amount of hot mamas. Zach D is a little bit Keller Williams, some Jack Johnson and Ryan Montbleau, and a WHOLE Lotta Funk.
Room outside to chill, smoke, chat
Timbre Coup at Dublin Underground (formerly Savannah’s)
this show will be solid, good untzing to check out, and Savannah’s is all of a block up from The Knick (we do not refer to it by those other names) ON Pearl Street. You can get there in less than a minute, barring any people being in your way. Definitely close though.
Saturday 11/28
Robo-France 29, Valentines (upstairs)
Albany’s own Justin Schultz and Josh Breden are the force behind this fast-growing Jam-rock band, with a hint of Alternative/Country/Punk. Formed in 2007, their hits include Carl Winslow, Man Without a Plan, Good Luck Train, and The Fall, as well as covers of Grateful Dead, Dylan, Pink Floyd, Rush and Hank Williams I (yes, the 1st)
Robo France 29
This is HIGHLY recommended to go to for two big reasons: 1) the show is at Valentines, a classic Albany venue, and the band that moe. started out at when they moved to Albany, not to mention Ominous Seapods and Conehead Buddha and numerous other bands from the mid-90s. 2) Robo-France 29 is the next band to come from this great Albany legacy of producing some amazing bands.
Robo France 29
Check them out here:
www.myspace.com/robofrance
www.youtube.com/therealrobofrance29
Raisinhead – Jillian’s of Albany
Great local band, may be the best place in terms of space to see a show.
ok, a week late and a dollar short, but here’s my take on the amazing night of music a few lucky thousand of us were fortunate to be a part of September 12th.
Show Review: Trey Anastasio with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, 9/12/09, Carnegie Hall, NYC
By Pete Mason
For years I have considered orchestral compositions the ultimate form of music, with the intricacies that I felt would never be understood, a style that would be too difficult to get into, and a high-class following that would elude me forever. This started to change years ago when I heard the amazing beauty of Eric Clapton playing with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London (2/10/90), and discovered the intersection of one of the greatest guitarist in history and one of the finest orchestras in the world. Hearing Layla, White Room, Bell Bottom Blues, as well as a unique Guitar Concerto in two movements performed with a guitar (?!) AND a 40 piece orchestra. My ears never had it so good. Every note was played, expanding, but not drowning out, the original composition. Bands like Queensryche and YES had explored orchestral infusion into their rock act previously, but the Clapton collaboration hit home with me, and I was forever hooked.
The only thing that stood in the way of getting a fix for this new-orchestral sound was more combination acts like the one that got me hooked. It took only a couple years before Trey was playing with the Vermont Youth Orchestra on ‘Guyute’, but opportunities to see this were limited. I listened to the version on ‘Sharin’ in the Groove’, The Mockingbird Foundation’s tribute album to Phish (mbird.org), over and over, guiding the orchestra while I drove cross-country and around town. This was some of the best music I could have imagined to hear.
When Trey Anastasio was announced to play the 2004 Bonnaroo music festival with the Nashville Chamber Orchestra, I knew that this would be the musical experience I had been long waiting for – combining my favorite band’s music with an orchestra, drawing out every last note of music hidden in there, expanding the tablature to a full musical composition replete with instruments I had not seen nor heard from since grade school. The experience was the highlight of that Bonnaroo, and set the stage for the musical bliss that was set upon Carnegie Hall this past Saturday.
The show having been announced in mid-July, I immediately purchased the best seats I could afford (4th row balcony, which provided immense views), as I knew the size of the room was considerably smaller than a normal phish-venue, and the demand would certainly be high. Arriving at Carnegie Hall, I saw what I had joked would be there, presuming it wouldn’t – nitrous tanks and a few shady-entrepreneurs making a quick buck on fans with money to burn on a cheap high. Ignoring this, I went inside and found myself walking up, up, up, up to the top level, and then was guided to my seat by an usher, which felt very high-class. Taking my seat, I marveled at the crowd around me, the youth, the remarkably familiar feeling I had in this great community of people, as well as the sharply dressed folks who took the occasion to go ‘phormal’, as we once had for Radio City in 2000. The crowd was very chill and happy, and notably respectful of the hall, likely thrilled to be able to see such a unique night of music in such a famous building.
The seats were small and legroom was nil, but that was all taken away with the warming up of the New York Philharmonic. You could hear each section of instruments (the strings, the horns, the woods, the percussion, etc…) randomly tuning up, and a finely tuned ear could hear aspects of the peak of ‘Guyute’, the middle section of ‘Pebbles and Marbles’, and miscellaneous tuning and playing as the crowd got settled.
Upon their arrival to the stage, the principal violinist, the conductor, Asher Fisch, and then The Bad Lieutenant himself, Trey, came out to thunderous applause, likely the loudest Carnegie has ever heard. ‘First tube’ was soft and quiet at first, but perfect. Trey’s guitar was quieter than ever, but he changed the volume as the song got towards the end, with an amazing buildup, similar to the now-invigorated versions phish has played in 09. The flutes, violins and bongos/congos are heavy in this song, carrying the tune to its final section and peaking very subtly and suddenly. ‘The Inlaw Josie Wales’, ‘Brian and Robert’, ‘The Divided Sky’ and ‘Water in the Sky’ were soft excursions into the mid-90s writing of Trey, and showed the orchestral side of his writing that had been there all this time. Divided Sky was the crowd pleaser-supreme in the first set, giving the crowd a wide range of melodies and expansion of an already tremendous song. ‘Pebbles and Marbles’ and ‘Guyute’ closed out the first set, the latter of which had many heads bobbing and moving hands subtly to the movement of Asher Fisch, who was one of the more animated conductors I could have imagined, making Tom Hulce’s Mozart look like a impassive director of music. Fisch was swaying from side to side, almost seeming to leap in the air at times when the music compelled him to do so. It almost seems as though he would fit in at a Phish show.
Setbreak brought about a trip to the headiest smelling bathrooms since the last Phish show, and long lines of fans waiting for overpriced water, but the room was getting a bit warm. ‘Time Turns Elastic’ started with the first two movements, which are not heard in the Phish version, as they are a cornucopia of the orchestra’s sound leading into the ‘Submarine’ section of the 30 minute composition.
This may be one of the best compositions I have ever heard, with high and lows, peaks and valleys, crescendos and decrescendos, arpeggios and other words I had to look up, the masterpiece of Trey’s orchestral composition so far proved itself to be a crowd pleaser, with an attentive crowd focusing on the various sections. When played with Phish, fans take time to refuel and make pit stops, but for this version of ‘Time Turns Elastic’, every audience member hung on each section, as the segues were fluid to say the least. The most fascinating thing about this version of ‘Time Turns Elastic’ was the focus on the various movements and sections within the song. The final section, ‘Carousel’, brought the song to a resounding peak, with applause that was the loudest of the evening thus far.
‘Let me Lie’ was touching, soft and short, providing a nice interlude in between two long epics, the latter being the debut of ‘You Enjoy Myself’, the immense crowd pleaser. This was the song the entire crowd was waiting with baited breath to hear, only to be paused and let the excitement build longer as Trey thanked the audience, the orchestra, and remembered his late-sister, Kristine Anastasio Manning, for who’s foundation the night benefitted.
YEM started off with a round of applause overshadowing the opening section, but soon, you could hear a pin drop, were it not for the orchestra. The crowd hung on every note, hearing the song like never before, but really, like the song was meant to be heard – this version of the song brings out layers and aspects of the song still left unexplored through almost 500 performances over the course of the band’s career. The ‘Pre-Nirvana’ segment had the percussionist working a snare drum to emulate Fishman, as the strings brought about the largess of the ‘Nirvana’ section, with Trey playing softly and complementarily alongside the collection of musicians onstage. The xylophone in this section is worth turning the speakers up for. A crescendo appears here with the trumpets, French horns and tympanis working to bring the song to its first crest. More xylophone brings the section typically played by Mike to its peak, with Trey playing louder and the horns coming in to build the song up once again. The next section with the tremendous peak was resounding with horns and cymbals making it akin to the concert version, but so much better in so many ways. The bongos and congos took over the interlude in between these two sections, with an even louder zenith reached before ‘The Charge’ appeared and then dissolved with audience laughter, before a funky YEM jam beat was played by Trey and the percussionist, all the while the Trombones, Tuba and French Horn played ‘Boy, Man, God, Shit’ in a way it was never played before. You can’t help but laugh hearing this version, both out of the humor inflected by the horns, as well as the precision reached in the performance. Clarinets and other woods built up the song where the trampolines would usually come into play, and then the strings and full orchestra come into play, bringing the song into a three minute composed jam that highlighted all the parts of the song, as well as the musicians on stage, who were performing for an audience larger than they could possibly know.
As the final jam section ended and the strings played a very light ‘Wash Uffizi drive me to Firenze’, Trey set his guitar down and took towards the microphone, and began a vocal jam all on his own, a first for any Phish fan. The similarities between this vocal jam and the ‘Arc’ that Eddie Vedder performed on his recent solo tour this past summer were resounding, with the exception that Anastasio does his vocals all on his own, and without the need to loop the sounds; the room carried Anastasio’s voice throughout its acoustic borders, while the orchestra backed up each inflection of Trey’s voice.
The roar of the audience at the end was deafening, even for one of those cheering loudly. We cheered like a Phish audience for a very non-Phish set of performers, and they deserved every ounce of it. An encore of ‘If I Could’ was so perfect, you need to hear it first hand to truly appreciate how soft and elegant the song gets; the album version has strings towards the end, which is a nice start for a song that has found a new home in an orchestral composition. The harp solo after the first two sets of lyrics is enough to make your eyes well up with tears of joy, and then the strings make the wells runneth over. A more beautiful composition is hard to come by.
As the show ended, fans ventured out into the streets to dodge the nitrous vendors, and headed out into the night, having experienced one of the most amazing musical events of 2009, let alone the entire decade/century. Yes, it was that amazing.
Overall, even the most rabid of phish fans and music fans in general, would appreciate the intricacies, tempo changes, structure and multi-auditory stimulation that come from the greatness of an orchestra. Seeing Trey in an orchestral setting is the way to see him perform him music. Remember, he went to school for this, so this isn’t some silly venture like Jordan playing baseball. No, this is the real thing. This is Jerry Garcia playing solo shows, Mick Jagger putting out subpar solo albums for unknown reasons, and Bono hanging out with world leaders to push for more attention to Africa. This is where the rockstar in Trey goes on to become something more, something larger, something that transcends Phish, but brings along the music for the ride. You have to pondet the thought, that since Trey went to college for Composition, had he not co-founded Phish, would he have been the next Fisch?
One has to wonder, have we been duped this whole time by Phish, that now we deep down can appreciate the intricacy and effort it takes to create orchestral music? Most the songs played that night have been played by Phish since the early days (YEM, Divided Sky), the 90s (Guyute, Inlaw, Brian and Robert, Water in the Sky) and in recent years (Time Turns Elastic, Let me Lie, Pebbles and Marbles), yet at the time, few knew that we were hearing the rock and jam versions of classical songs. All these songs have that familiar strain, and can possibly convert Phisheads into Classicophiles in no time.
This show was a game-changer and eye-opener for many fans. Seek it out and join in one of the greatest auditory experiences you have ever heard.
