Piper Infographic

Some Phish fans lament the shortening of Piper’s long drawn out build from the late-1990s. For lovers of this section of music, it doesn’t get any longer than Oswego 7/18/1999 where the intro clocks in at over five minutes. Phish liked this intro so much they used part of it on the studio version of Piper on Farmhouse.

Quick Facts

• The five longest intros all happened in 1998 and 1999
• The shortest intro is Commerce City 9/1/19 at just 15s
• Only one Piper, Albany 10/16/18, does not have an intro
• The intro from 12/31/16 at MSG includes Ass Handed

“Second verse same as the first a little bit louder and a little bit worse.” We kid, we do not think the second verse of Piper is any worse, though it probably is typically a little bit louder. As the band expanded the arrangement of the song in 1997, they added a second verse that was not present on the European Tour. And then sometimes they just get crazy and add a third verse, squint to see those rare instances.

Quick Facts

• The first 9 performances of Piper all had only one verse
• There are just seven Pipers (4%) with three verses

Piper’s “bridge,” defined as the time between the two verses was another addition in Fall of 1997, and another section that’s length has decreased over time. Some bridges are mostly piano-led while some feature Trey ferociously playing his guitar over it.

Quick Facts

• There are nine Pipers with two bridges
• The longest bridge is 5m 50s from Columbus on 7/15/00

Piper used to have an ending, we call it the coda. Last played on 12/31/2002, it hadn’t made an appearance before that since 5/18/2000.

Quick Facts

• There have been 108 versions since the last Piper Coda
• Of the Pipers, 37 or 21.3% have had a Coda

Well we are JamBase, we weren’t going to not visualize the jam were we? Whether it’s the longest ever or the shortest ever, we have got it timed.

Quick Facts

• The longest jam is Saratoga 6/19/2004 at 29m 13s
• The shortest jam is MSG 12/31/2010 at just 2m 07s