Phish Alters ‘Carini’ Lyrics To Reference Bubonic Plague On Fall Tour 2010

This year marks 25 years since Phish’s historic Fall Tour 1995. In recognition of that noteworthy tour and to make up for the lack of shows this fall, JamBase presents a daily retrospective highlighting a noteworthy moment from a Phish fall tour concert that took place on that date over the past 25 years (read a note on Fall 1997 here). The 25 Years Of Phish Fall Tour series runs each day between the start of Phish Fall Tour 1995 on September 27 through that tour’s finale on December 17.

Remember that time Phish played a show in Colorado and guitarist Trey Anastasio changed song lyrics in reference to a bubonic plague outbreak in prairie dogs in the area?

No, I’m not talking about last year’s visit to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City when each night Anastasio altered the words of songs to make note of instances of the plague found in nearby colonies of prairie dogs.

The first time Trey slipped in a mention of the bubonic plague during a show in Colorado took place on this date during the band’s Fall Tour 2010. The third night of the Phish’s tour opening stand at 1stBank Center in Broomfield saw Anastasio call out the plague during “Carini.”

An October 8, 2010 article published by the Broomfield Enterprise, two days before Phish was set to play their first of three shows at 1stBank Center, reported:

Broomfield residents are being warned to avoid open fields near the 1stBank Center after a prairie dog die-off, which officials suspect was caused by plague.

The Broomfield Public Health and Environment and Open Space and Trails departments on Tuesday began investigating the die-off south and west of Uptown Avenue in the Arista development. The affected area is south of the 1stBank Center …

Plague spreads via bites of infected fleas. In humans, the most common symptoms of bubonic plague include sudden onset of severe discomfort, headache, chills, fever and pain in the lymph nodes. Symptoms of more serious variations of plague include blood poisoning (septicemic plague), and the spread of bacteria to the lungs (pneumonic plague).

Phish’s show at 1stBank on October 12, 2010 (the band’s lone concert held on October 12 in the past 25 years), featured “Carini” in the second set opener slot. Set two followed a notable “46 Days” that closed a first set which also saw takes on the rarity “Meat” and covers of “Timber (Jerry The Mule)” and “On Your Way Down.”

After giving Dexter Gordon’s Dexter Calling a spin over the PA during setbreak, the band returned for their final set of the run in Broomfield. As mentioned above, Trey took some liberty with the lyrics to the opening “Carini,” singing, “The people all were screaming when they saw the plague / Everyone was screaming when they saw the plague” and later “Carini had the lumpy plague.”

The band followed “Carini” with “David Bowie” and then a sequence of “Light” into “Theme From the Bottom” into “Free” and “Joy,” which happened to coincide (coincidentally or not) with the rescue operation that safely freed Chilean miners trapped below ground from the Copiapó mining accident.

Click below to listen to the “Carini” second set opener from this date on Phish Fall Tour 2010: