Review of Phish 3.0 – Summer 2009
Phish - Comcast Theatre, Hartford, CT - 8-14-09 - Photo by Dave Vann © Phish 2009
Ah yes, the ever loving Phish heads and their plans to take over the music world by convincing every living soul that Phish is the gateway to complete and total consciousness. I will admit, when I was 16 and saw my first Phish show at the Spectrum in Philadelphia in 1996 I was set on adopting this mission. But as someone who has grown both musically and professionally, I’ve come to realize that Phish is just one of many bands that elicit these feelings of joy.
Unfortunately for many, this realization has yet to set in. But I digress and will confidently say Phish is one heck of a good time when they’re on their game. The fist pumping, funk shaking, groove making sounds can fill an arena of 30,000 quite nicely and it would be hard for any music critic to not get swept up in the energy that ensues.
As an old Phish head who after these past two shows in August (Hartford and Saratoga) has seen 52 shows, I have a strong platform to provide a quick look at their sound and where it stands today compared to years past.
What appears to have changed the most for me is the identity of the show. From what I’ve heard and experienced the focus has turned to the identity of the song. Whether this is on purpose or not, clearly the shows themselves don’t seem to be all that different accept for a few surprises here and there. I had a couple of friends who went from Darien, NY then to Hartford, CT and finally Saratoga Springs. For them, the song selections and line up was very similar to Darien (except the wild and wacky Harpua at the end). I’ve heard this same argument from other individuals who went to more then two shows back to back. If you want to go to a show where you hear the same music over and over again you’d go to one of those “indie” shows we hear so much about (disclaimer: I go to lots of indie shows). But of course, this isn’t the reason you trek out to see Phish. You go to be privy to a unique experience.
Mention the word “bomb factory” to an old Phish head and they’ll know exactly what you mean (Download from livephish.com). Today this identity appears to be unhinged. It could be that the band is just getting their kinks figured out and eventually the crazy flows will return to their original form.
Some people may love the first set monsters they’ve been pumping out this tour. I for one would have been satisfied if they stopped with “David Bowie” at Saratoga but instead they kept it going with “Cavern,” “Possum”, “Ocelot” (new song) and finally “Antelope”. To me, this is over doing it. Perhaps they are trying to avoid the fans from complaining about the lack of classic tunes being played. Maybe they’re not worried about the flow any more. Maybe they just want to play what they want when they want. I personally don’t believe this to be true. For one, Trey Anastasio is way too anal of a person to let something like the flow of a show go without a thought. In the end, the identity issue is more then how tight they perform each song but about how connected they become to each show.
Saying my piece on what I miss, I will say that when it comes to playing their classics, they’ve done their homework. One song that stands out as the all encompassing come back song has to be “Stash”. From the first one I heard at Fenway, to the amazing 20 minute long excursion they busted out at Red Rocks to the straight up tension building killer at Hartford, their ability to transcend the original components of this song to their peak capacity is enough to keep me coming back for more. If it helps to add to this songs cred, in 1998 it came in at 73 in Guitar World Magazines Readers’ choice for greatest solo of all-time.
Does this mean I’ll travel 1,000 of miles to see them in Indio, California for their Halloween throwdown? Probably not. If I haven’t made the trip out there for Coachella yet I doubt I’ll make an exception for ganga goo balls.
As for my compadres out in the music blog world that look upon Phish with a smirk and a smile, keep in mind that this isn’t about the amazing studio and production outputs by Phish. It’s not about how well they translate from studio to stage (in fact, it’s quite the opposite). The Phish thing is more about letting go and getting caught up in a moment. But like with any band, it’s not going to groove with everyone.
If you’re going to give Phish a shot next time they’re around, go out of your way to get as close to the stage as possible, get the VIP treatment, stay out of the way of the bouncing hippies and focus on the rock jams in front of you. Barring any major disasters, I guarantee you’ll enjoy the show.
Download & Listen to “Stash” from the Comcast Theatre @ Hartford, CT:
Download & Listen
Thank you to Mr. Miner for the “Stash” download.
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5 Responses to “Review of Phish 3.0 – Summer 2009”
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About Editor
Name: Luke "Kip" Owen
Location: Boston, MA
Contact: kippy[AT]hip2besquare[DOT]net
Twitter: twitter.com/kipdog
Youtube: youtube.com/kipdog
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Did you wear your homemade skirt and get a veggie burrito in “Phish Lot”. Stash could be my favorite Phish tune!
Not a veggie but T-dog and I got a chix burrito from some serious vendor dude. Wasn’t bad.
Wasn’t it Phil Lesh who once complained about Dead fans, saying that all they listened to was his band, and how could he respect their musical opinions/admiration as a result?
In high school, one of my friends chided another friend for loving phish blindly, saying ‘they could get up there and play happy birthday all night and you’d love it.’ I think we all know a couple (or more than a couple) of people to whom that might actually, literally, apply.
It saddens me to see Phish return under these circumstances, broke, sad, and out of practice. Take a listen to the Hood from Hampton (yikes!).
What really just slammed me back in my seat was seeing the thousands upon thousands of positive comments on the download site for that Hampton show. Not just people commenting on their happiness to see Phish back, but on the quality of the music, musicianship, etc. I mean, it was a really horrible show musically but NO ONE seemed to notice.
The new record just flat out sucks in my opinion. It’s like Farmhouse but worse. I don’t know who Trey blew to get the Rolling Stone review that they got (“best record ever omg!”), but it wasn’t his dealer, so that was probably a nice change.
I’m sorry Kip, you may know i had my own kill mommy phase with phish where I really let them go for a while, but I really really love my favorite stuff again. I got the Went day 2 set 2 FOBs off of torrent, and dusted off some old crispy soundboards from old dats ands tuff and I love it. The new Phish is f*cking weak though.
Great ‘Stash’ though, thanks for that.
-OD
Chris, enjoyed your commentary. I haven’t heard the new album but I can only imagine how it turned out (the new songs I heard on tour weren’t too impressive). To be honest, I rarely listen to Phish these days on my headphones. I can maybe do a song or two, if they flow well together. But the old days of jamming an entire show in my bedroom are long gone. I felt those Hampton shows were a bit rocky as well. However, no where near the rockiness that was Coventry. I had a good time at two of the three shows I saw this summer and won’t mind going to see them again this fall. In the end, I like going to shows that make me move and when Phish are playing well, they can get me out of my seat.
While I agree that Joy is a pretty weak album, Phish is still the shiznit to me. I realize that their glory days are over, and that they will probably never be as good as they once were, but for me at 27, Phish 3.0 is as good as it will ever get. From what I have heard, the boys were best from about ‘92 until about ‘98. I was 10 in 1992, living in a farm community in Idaho, never having heard of Phish at all. So though the good ol’ days are over, Phish 3.0 is all I’ve got and I wish that the stereotype of Phans that will listen to Happy Birthday all night long and love it would go away. Their four sets at the Gorge this summer was the best music I’ve ever heard, and I’ve heard a lot of live music. I guess all I’m saying is that just because you might have been around for The Great Went or Big Cyprus, that doesn’t mean you have to ruin it for those of us that have been waiting five years to see the greatest band in the world. Would you still see the Stones, even though they are geezers? Of course, anyone would. Let me have my Phish and eat it too! Don’t get all pompous just because you happen to live on the east coast where touring with Phish is easy. Venues out west are 10+ hours apart from each other, if they even make it out west at all. Maybe you’ve just seen them one too many times . . . but I haven’t.