A lot of first time venues for this tour (Manchester, Augusta, Utica, Atlantic City, Broomfield), but there’s nothing new about Phish when it comes to the Northeast. Two venues in particular, Providence and Mullins Center, have been home to some of Phish’s greatest shows. Starting with the 1998 Island tour, the first night of a two night stand in Providence provided a perfect backdrop to the quality of play on display around this era. More specifically, the band had come off a year of touring in 1997 where their exploratory jamming had reached new heights. And one very specific element of their music was headed in the direction of Funk.

In contrast to the way in which the band played with Tweezer Reprise this past summer tour, during this tour they ended the show in Long Island just before moving on to Providence with a Tweezer Reprise even though no Tweezer was played that night, which is the more common thing to do. The second night of Long Island during this tour has perhaps one of the greatest second sets of all time consisting of a Roses are Free (Ween cover) and a Piper that will make you second guess your purpose on this planet. So it was fitting to end a show of such proportions with such a climatic song. But even more fitting was to start the next night off in Providence with ‘Reprises big brother, Tweezer.

Seen as one of Phish’s foundational jam tunes, you’re in for at the very least a fifteen minute section of improvisation. This is the single biggest reason Phish is not for everyone, but also the single biggest reason Phish heads go to shows in the first place. The element of surprise from such improvisation adds to the live experience that you only get with a handful of bands and furthermore, bands that can pull it off with such emotion and uniqueness.

The Tweezer at this Providence show is by no means one for the record books such as the one from Dallas, Texas back in 1994 at the Bomb Factory. But it definitely set the tone for the evening. The transition into Taste was fluid. A more standard first set tune, Taste has one of my favorite composed jam sections out of all the Phish tunes. Many composed Phish songs are disjointed and the melodies go in many different directions. Often this sets up the crowd for a peak moment but in Taste the melody is straightforward and leads into a jam that keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time. If you’re looking for a great Taste, look no further than this Providence version. Clocking in at just over 11 minutes, they shred through this Billy Breathes classic with force.

Bouncing Round the Room followed these two solid openers. Phish heads can usually tolerate a poppy song like this when placed around the third or fourth song in the first set and following it up with Funky Bitch, a classic Son Seals cover, puts everyone back into “get down” mode. Given its bluesy nature, adding a little bit of funk color was easy for Trey (lead guitarist) and and Mike (bass player) to pull off as they let Page (keyboard / piano player) nail a blues jam. The rest of this first set was nothing short but exceptional. Throwing in some bluegrass with Ginseng Sullivan (Norman Blake cover), little bit of balladry with Lawn Boy and ending with pure arena rock in Character Zero. I will note that it was around 98′ for me that I fell in love with this song and this second set closer is another song version to take note of for those Zero fans.

But we all know that classic Phish shows live and die by the second set. Making a bold move with the opener, Phish decided to test the waters for the second time ever with a new song Birds of Feather, which wouldn’t come out officially until later that year when their album, Story of the Ghost, would be released. Played for the first time in Long Island just a few nights prior, the song became an immediate fan favorite, playing well into the hands of the funk fever. While funk was involved in this version, a more spacey jam took precedent.

When jams become spacey, it only means one or two things. It could mean they’re preparing for an epic comeback to bring the song full circle back to its main theme or it means 2001 time. Well, in this case, we got both! After a solid fifteen minutes of jamming, Phish brought the original chorus from BOAF back from the dead and as the song ended, feedback from Trey’s guitar rang throughout the Civic Center until Fishman’s kickdrum eventually dropped the band into the opening stanza of 2001. To the outsider this is better known as the centerpiece track to Stanley Kubricks cult classic, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Perhaps one of my favorite moments in film is it’s placement in the movie Being There starring Peter Sellers. This version, played by Eumir Deodato’s jazz-pop band, is the one Phish models their version around.

In the Phish community, this song takes on a whole other meaning. The songs lose composition invites improve banter between the band members. As we’re taken for a ride along the 2001 train, they throw in a random Brother that strays far off the reservation for normalcy. Typically this song is a short, filler type of song that’s fun but nothing to write home about. Similar to many Phish songs, there’s only one lyrical line that’s repeated throughout, “Whoooooah, somebody’s jumping into the tub with your brother”. Back in 1996 at the Clifford Ball, Phish’s first of many curated weekend long festivals, Ben and Jerry of ice cream fame joined the band on stage to help shout out these repeated lyrics. And most recently they played it on Father’s Day where they brought out an actual tub and all the band members’ kids jumped into the tub together.

This Brother, on the other hand, was no one-off song. Stretching out over fourteen minutes, in the words of the band, “This was no radio friendly version”. Continuing on in this “non-radio friendly” spirit, they followed right back up with Ghost. In the Fall of 1997 this song came out strong as a clear fan favorite. A perfect example of a song built out of this “funk era”, Ghost showcases the deep base lines that Mike Gordon is able to lay down, letting Page and Trey bounce around like giddy little children playing in a sandbox for the first time. Out of all the songs played, this one you’d think would include the most funk jams but instead it consisted of more straight ahead action. Rocking all the way through to a trance like jam that segued into a playful tease of Can’t Turn You Loose, a song known famously for John Belushi and Dan Akroyd using it in their cult classic film, Blues Brothers.

The Ghost into Lizards transition was pretty rocky to say the least. But, it is Lizards. Like most of the Gamehendge songs, the narrative structure of the song lyrics can lull some folks to sleep. But the instrumental section that follows is one that showcases Page’s chops on the grand piano and always puts a smile on my face. Page and Trey climb together until it reaches the apex as Trey flutters back and forth in the high fret zone and after some “whoa whoa whoa” from the band members, a perfectly timed break in play is executed by the band. With just a simple drum beat from Fishman left hanging from this break, Trey slowly rises the melody out from the abyss and back into the light and we end on a high note.

From the recent shows I’ve listened to a lot of the classic songs from their first album, Junta, such as You Enjoy Myself, David Bowie and Fluffhead have been hit or miss. There’s nothing missed about the Bowie from this night. Firing on all cylinders, The boys feed off the energy from this entire four show tour and pump this energy straight into the veins of the climax of David Bowie. Trey has a slight flub leading into the final shotgun-like guitar strumming that always ends the song but redeems himself quickly with some amazing feedback work during the final moments.

When you have a show that runs though as many exploratory avenues as this one, there’s only one thing left to do and that’s to encore with Harry Hood – a song that is in and of itself an exploration. I won’t go into detail as to how well they played this version, because, lets face it, if you were at all around for these Island Tour shows you know that it was hard for the boys to miss a step. Lets just say that the crowd walked out of the Providence Civic Center that night with grins that stretched from ear to ear.

[Setlist courtesy of Phish.net]