After a pretty exciting fall tour, Phish wrapped up the October-long series of shows in a 3-night run in Atlantic City, NJ, at the Boardwalk Hall. Having been to some of the shows the previous week (Utica, Providence, and a 2-run in Amherst), I was very excited to see what Phish had in store for us. Not only were the shows well played, but the set lists were full of some great bust outs and it seemed like some antics were making their way back onto the stage.
I'm happy to report Phish delivered on most accounts. Take a look at the set lists, and then we'll discuss each show individually. (Set lists courtesy of
Phishnet.10/29/2010
Set I: Star Spangled Banner (a capella), My Soul, AC/DC Bag, Ocelot, Sample in a Jar, Light Up or Leave Me Alone, Sugar Shack, Timber > Bouncing Around the Room, Axilla > Rift, The Moma Dance >Cities > 46 Days
Set II: Punch You In the Eye > Sand > Carini >Prince Caspian, Corinna, Piper > Theme From The Bottom > Golgi Apparatus > Slave to the Traffic Light > Fluffhead
Encore: Loving Cup
While the first night had no major bust-outs, it was a pretty solid set list of standards. I was happy to see (hear?) "Carini," which seems to be appearing on more and more set lists. All in all, this show was clearly a warm-up for what was to come, but was enjoyable none the less. A few flubs here and there (will Trey ever get "Sugar Shack" though?), but nothing major.
10/30/2010
Set I: Kill Devil Falls, Cavern > Foam, Guelah Papyrus, Chalk Dust Torture > Whole Lotta Love > Chalk Dust Torture, Ha Ha Ha, Walk Away, Wolfman's Brother > Undermind >Bathtub Gin, The Squirming Coil
Set II: Tube > Possum > Tweezer > Heartbreaker > Ramble On > Thank You > Tweezer > Stairway to Heaven, Halley's Comet > 2001 > David Bowie, Show of Life, Backwards Down the Number Line > Good Times, Bad Times
Encore: Sleeping Monkey > Tweezer Reprise
No, this is not a mistake. It's not the Halloween show. While the show starts out like any Phish show would, what emerges out of it is pure awesomeness. I was happy enough grooving to "Guelah" before "Chalk Dust" raged into Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" and the escaped back into "Chalk Dust." I loved this fun addition, especially with Led Zeppelin floating around the Halloween rumor mill. I also loved the reappearance of the "Wolfman's Brother" vocal jam, which seemed a pretty popular selection for the band on fall tour.
I was not, however, expecting what happened in the second set. First, a "Tube" second set opener. Sweet! But when "Heartbreaker" made its way into "Tweezer" and launched the audience into a Phish induced Zeppelinpalooza, my mind was pretty much blown. The Led just didn't stop! At the end of "Stairway to Heaven," Trey joked, "Happy Halloween! See you next year!" The set ended with another Zeppelin classic, "Good Times, Bad Times," but we got our Phish back in the encore with "Sleeping Monkey" and as expected "Tweezer Reprise."
10/31/2010
Set I: Frankenstein, Big Black Furry Creature from Mars, Ghost > Spooky > Divided Sky, Roses Are Free > Funky Bitch, Boogie On Reggae Woman, Stash, Character Zero
Set II- Halloween Set- Little Feat, "Waiting for Columbus": Fat Man in the Bathtub, All That You Dream, Oh Atlanta, Old Folks Boogie, Time Loves A Hero > Day or Night, Mercenary Territory, Spanish Moon, Dixie Chicken > Tripe Face Boogie, Rocket in my Pocket, Willin', Don't Bogart That Joint, A Apolitical Blues, Sailin' Shoes, Feats Don't Fail Me Now
Set III: Down With Disease > Back on the Train > Gotta Jibboo > Camel Walk, Suzy Greenberg, Wilson > Harry Hood > The Horse > Silent in the Morning > You Enjoy Myself
Encore: Julius
So if you take a look at the songs in Set I, you can notice a theme here- right? Frankenstein, BBFCM, Ghost, Spooky... the line "carve out a pumpkin and rely on your destiny" from "Roses are Free." Yeah. You got it now. I thought it was a great little festive start to the evening. Then, things got funky and cool, and ended with the standard "Character Zero."
Next- The (in)famous Halloween set. Let me say first that this was my second Phish Halloween. Last year, when Phish played The Rolling Stones' "Exile on Main Street," I was decidedly more familiar with that album compared to this year's choice, Little Feats' live album "Waiting for Columbus." Or, so I thought. I have a good amount of Little Feat on my iPod that I've listened to a whole bunch and enjoyed, but I didn't think I had this particular album. I realized part of the way in that whoever I download Little Feat from has their albums mislabeled, and I had in fact listened to the songs on this album several times!
I thought the Halloween set was fantastic. Phish clearly rehearsed their faces off. I really liked that they varied the vocals- MIke sang a few, Page sang a few, hell, even Fishman came out and serenaded us for "Willin'- and I think a highlight was the a capella version of "Don't Bogart That Joint," which to me showed the true spirit of the evening, Phish doing Little Feat their way. The horns and additional percussionist fit seamlessly in with the band. The set ended with the whole group marching around the gates of the floor, instruments in hand and still being played.
I have to say, familiarity the music certainly helps in keeping your interest at this kind of show, but you also need to actually like the music. That being said, I do love "Exile on Main Street," (my favorite Rolling Stones song is "Rocks Off") but a good portion of those songs I'll skip if I listen to it. "Waiting for Columbus," however, is one of those albums that I could listen to all the way through without skipping. I think if you're a Little Feat fan as well as a Phish fan, you are going to love this set, and if you don't care for Little Feat, you won't care for it. I think this makes it a little harder to compare to previous Phish Halloween sets, where the albums had slightly more universal knowledge and appeal, like The Beatles' "The White Album." I'm finding that people who already liked Little Feat really enjoyed this set compared to the rest of Halloween sets, while people who didn't seem to know them or like them could have done with out this one. Personally- I think I liked this set better than "Exile," but "Remain in Light" is probably my favorite still. I think "Waiting For Columbus" is going to the battling with "The White Album" until I give it another few (hundred) listens. No, but seriously, I haven't really stopped listening to this whole set since I got home.
As for set III, I enjoyed it. It was sort of flubby; "Down With Disease" had to be restarted because of a Fishman mess-up to which he reminded himself "This is off our album." Good job Fishman! The restart sounded decent. I thought the song selection was a little bit on the random side and the order was kind of out of wack. But I thought "Gotta JIbboo" and "Harry Hood" were the best versions of the songs here. "Wilson" rocked pretty hard too. The vocal jam on "You Enjoy Myself" was intriguingly sing songy and dreamy. One thing I didn't get- they left the equipment up to still have the horns and percussionist from "Waiting For Columbus" to play with them for another song, but the only song they played with them was the encore, "Julius." I was slightly disappointed in the lack of horns. I would've loved to maybe see them in "Suzy Greenberg," or something. But I will say, while used sparsely, I did enjoy the horn-laced rendition of "Julius" to close out the run.
All in all, this was a phine weekend of Phish, pholks. Sad to think I won't be seeing them again until New Year's. I'm working on making Trey in Princeton, and also looking to make it to the Mike Gordon show in Boston. Time (and funding) will tell.
At the end of any music related posting, I'm going to put out a reminder of the next show I'll be at (unless it's a special report). Right now, I have to update my music calendar, but I'm going to be posting it in the next article, a review of Phish' "Coral Sky" so you know whether it's worth your purchase for the holidays, and reviews of any shows I may go to.
