Here’s How Phish Fans Reacted To ‘Chilling, Thrilling’ Halloween Show In 2014
By Scott Bernstein Nov 1, 2017 • 1:31 pm PDT
Photo by Rene Huemer via @PhishFromTheRoad on Instagram
On October 31, 2014 Phish shocked and awed fans both on hand at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas and around the world via live webcast by unveiling their interpretation of the 1964 Disney album of sound effects, Chilling, Thrilling Sounds Of The Haunted House. The “musical costume” came as the second set at the band’s first Sin City performance since 2004, yet Chilling, Thrilling was far from a cover set.
As we noted that night, Phish created and performed a score of their own as they added original grooves to the soundtrack of Chilling, Thrilling Sounds Of The Haunted House. For the second year in a row, they made Halloween about showing the strength of their own music rather than honoring someone else. The theatrical, art-rock set also saw the stage setup like a graveyard with dancers roaming around throughout. Phish took their Halloween tradition to a new dimension on October 31, 2014 by creating and performing the perfect, spooky soundtrack for the occasion that melded all of their influences, while still donning a musical costume of sorts.
Just one year prior Phish had played a very different set of original debuts as their musical costume on Halloween 2013 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. The Wingsuit set featured material that would form the base of the group’s next studio album, Fuego which came out in 2014. Many fans were not pleased to go from expecting to hear a cover album to hearing originals in 2013, yet the reaction was extremely different in 2014.
Here’s a look at how Twitter responded to the Chilling, Thrilling night in Las Vegas:
Fans Had No Idea What To Expect, Including Me
Kudos To Phish & Crew For Keeping Secrets Well
Just As Doors Opened We Had Our First Look At The Playbill
We Also Saw The Crazy Stage Design For The First Time
Lots Of Wikipedia Searches Were Made For Chilling, Thrilling
https://twitter.com/Duanebase/status/528365873455591424Fans Didn’t Know What To Make Of It
https://twitter.com/LiquidTime/status/528356018334744576Shortly Into The Set It Was Clear This Was No Wingsuit
https://twitter.com/GuyForgetOPT/status/528429953076174848Aaron “Neddy” Stein Sure Liked The Show
https://twitter.com/alliedise/status/528683466724884480Scott “Bizarchive” Marks Kept Those Who Couldn’t Watch Informed
Mr. Miner Loved It!
Thankfully, They Did
And Thankfully, The Tradition Didn’t Die
Harris Wittels (RIP) Was On Hand
The Encore Was Unfamiliar To Many
But Not This Guy
I Kinda Went A Little Nuts In My Euphoria About How Good It Was
More Positive Reactions
https://twitter.com/alliedise/status/528534939038662656 https://twitter.com/leorakatz/status/528697162893242368 https://twitter.com/ballark/status/528684266721275904 https://twitter.com/Mr_Ginsberg/status/528676316544262145 https://twitter.com/VelvetSeaWader/status/528676178807521280 https://twitter.com/phishbait555/status/528675375094984704 https://twitter.com/leschnosebest/status/528672134571503619 https://twitter.com/Taboot/status/528656332505612289 https://twitter.com/beginners_ear/status/528621124612292608 https://twitter.com/Bcmcclain/status/528614720467918848 https://twitter.com/codysilay/status/528614999456219136 https://twitter.com/fluffhead67/status/528584866137653250 https://twitter.com/SttFlow/status/528566894748397568 https://twitter.com/nolasox/status/528525036521795584 https://twitter.com/SaxNStrikeouts/status/528485044348649473 https://twitter.com/superdee/status/528468824115654657 https://twitter.com/yanzlow/status/528437634142851072 https://twitter.com/gene_bove/status/528429161879437312Set 1: Buried Alive > Ghost > Scent of a Mule, Sample in a Jar > Reba, 46 Days, Big Black Furry Creature from Mars, Lawn Boy [1], Saw It Again > Tube > Wolfman's Brother
Set 2: Intro [2], The Haunted House [3], The Very Long Fuse [4], The Dogs [5], Timber [6], Your Pet Cat [7], Shipwreck [8], The Unsafe Bridge [9], The Chinese Water Torture [10], The Birds [11], Martian Monster [12]
Set 3: Punch You in the Eye > Golden Age > Tweezer -> Heavy Things, Guyute, Sand -> Tweezer Reprise
Encore: Is This What You Wanted [13], Frankenstein [14]
The backdrop on the stage at the start of the show was a large gate adorned with a “P.” During Lawn Boy, Page introduced Mike as “Michael Gordleone” and Fish took a drum solo. Trey teased Saw It Again during Tube and San-Ho-Zay during Wolfman’s. The musical costume was a set of original, mostly instrumental music played with the sound effects and narration of the 1964 Disneyland album Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House. Prior to the start of Set II, the stage was cleared of all band equipment, and a graveyard set was brought out. At the start of the set, smoke filled the stage, and zombies appeared behind the gate. When the gate opened, a large haunted house with the band inside was brought to the front of the stage. The sound effects and narration were played on the PA, while an undead narrator would emerge from a crypt inscribed with “ESTHER” prior to each song for the introduction. At the end of The Fuse, the sides of the house came down while sounds of an explosion were heard, and the band was revealed inside, dressed in white tuxedoes and with zombie face paint. Several zombies came to the front of the stage and danced during Martian Monster. At the conclusion of the set, the band members came down from the Haunted House riser, slowly walked to the front of the stage, and took bows, along with the entire cast of zombies. All songs during the second set were debuts, with the titles taken from the first ten tracks of Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House. Sand contained a tease by Trey of School’s Out. Is This What You Wanted was a Phish debut. Page performed Frankenstein on keytar, which was played for the first time since July 1, 2012 (100 shows).
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