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I feel I never told you the story of The Phish. A band that I once knew and
raged to - of whom I'd always boast. This band, two decades in the making, is
in constant evolution and the recent run of 20th Anniversary shows made that
very obvious.
The four-night anniversary run started at the Nassau Coliseum
in Uniondale, NY, traveled down the New Jersey Turnpike to the Philly Spectrum,
then back up to the Pepsi Arena in Albany and finishing it all off on December
2nd at the Fleet Center in Boston - exactly 20 years after their very first
show at an ROTC dance at the University of Vermont. The four nights were a walk
down memory lane in a "This is Your Life" kind of style featuring
ghosts from Phishtory including the Dude of Life, Tom Marshall,
and original Phish guitarist Jeff Holdsworth whom Phish had not played
with for 15 years. Topping it all off was the excellent Video Retrospective
shown during the Boston show at the end of the first set.
Besides the fun and games of having old friends join the stage, I wish I could
tell you that the shows lived up to the hype musically. I'm not saying the shows
were bad. [I read a post on livephish.com that said, "Phish is like pizza...
even when it's bad, it's still good." So true, so true.] I'm saying that
Phish is not playing like it's 1997 anymore and why should they?! It's almost
2004! This current Phish would rather play "All of These Dreams" after
a raging "Frankenstein > Kung > Frankenstein" instead of keeping
the momentum going with a funky "Moma Dance," for example.
Photo by Jay Blakesberg
Boston 12.02.03 |
I'm done complaining though, because I have accepted the fact
that Phish, and its long-time fans (including yours truly), are growing up.
A minor example of these changes is the Pollock Baby Bib that is available through
Dry Goods. Not to say that Papa can't still rage and work the massive crowd
into a frenzy because there were some incredibly high moments during these shows.
Those moments include the "Divided Sky" and "David Bowie"
from Philly, "Good Times, Bad Times" in Albany, "Bathtub Gin
> Free" from Nassau, and the "Rock and Roll" from Boston.
These are those points where you are completely "in the moment" -
a very rare feeling of being totally present that few things in life can evoke.
The absolute highlight of all four nights put together was the "Tweezer
> 2001 > YEM" from Albany. Dropping the "Tweezer" right
at that moment proved that Phish could wield enough power to single-handedly
defeat Sauron for good. And the "You Enjoy Myself" was just so different
than any I'd heard before. The jam in the middle was so (seemingly) spontaneous
and right on - each member listening to and watching each other closely to create
a seamless quilt of electrifying music - with a ridiculous and shamelessly rocking
section that had everyone just freaking out. This YEM really stood out in the
whole run because each band member really came out and just got nasty. This
was PHISH playing, not just Trey and the boys. Please, don't believe me - listen
to it yourself from livephish.com.
Photo by SuperDee :: Nassau 11.28.03 |
There are many more things I'd like to talk to you about, like
the (not so) hidden messages in the Boston show during the "Waste"
("Don't want to be a painter, 'cause everyone comes to look.") and
"Bug" ("overrated - it doesn't matter"). But I think that would
be overstepping my personal boundaries so instead I'll sign off and maybe we'll
bump into each other in Miami and we can analyze the night away. Or we can just
dance and have a good time because it really doesn't matter that much anyway.
SuperDee
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