
Phish has moved onto the Garden State tonight to continue the early summer tour madness. We’re following along with the usual suspects. Check it out:
Phish @ PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel, NJ, 5/31/11
Set 1: Chalk Dust Torture, Roggae, Punch You In the Eye, The Moma Dance > Rock and Roll, Sand, Tube > The Divided Sky, Character Zero
Set 2: After Midnight > Possum, Drowned > Maze, Dirt, Alaska, YEM
Encore: Fire
My couch tour plans this weekend had to change, so I’m spending some time at work today catching up on reviews and coverage from night three of Phish in Bethel Woods. Here’s the setlist from Sunday night…
Phish @ Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, Bethel, NY 5/29/11
Set 1: AC/DC Bag, Sample in a Jar, Rift, Ocelot, Ya Mar, Timber (Jerry) > The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony > Suzy Greenberg > 46 Days > Twenty Years Later, The Ballad of Curtis Loew, Run Like an Antelope *
Set 2: Mike’s Song > Simple > Weekapaug Groove, Meatstick > Fluffhead > Joy, Also Sprach Zarathustra > Light > Slave to the Traffic Light
Encore: Loving Cup > Tweezer Reprise
Notes: Antelope contained Curtis Loew and Manteca teases (Trey). Meatstick included Japanese lyrics. A fan ran across the stage during Tweezer Reprise.
[Setlist via Phish.net]
The lots are already open for tonight’s start of two shows at PNC in Jersey so make sure you follow along with @YEMblog, @Phish_FTR and @ohkeepahblog for updates live as they happen during the show.
The organizers for Coachella just announced that next year’s festival will be held over two weekends in April instead of the usual one weekend approach…
We’re excited to announce Coachella 2012 will be held over TWO WEEKENDS.
In an effort to try and accommodate everyone who wants to experience the festival, COACHELLA 2012 will be two separate events, held over two consecutive weekends. We will attempt to produce two identical festival weekends. That means same lineup, same art, same place, different people.
We know many of you were unable to attend this year’s festival because passes sold out much sooner than anticipated. We were truly surprised by the overwhelming response and remain honored by your passion and enthusiasm. We also know some of you purchased through non legitimate sources and were inconvenienced, gouged or totally scammed. We hope that these changes will give everyone the opportunity to purchase directly from Coachella.com.
Passes go on sale beginning this Friday, June 3rd, 2011, at 10am PST until the following Friday June 10th, 2011, at 10pm PST. This advance sale will be the only opportunity to take advantage of the Coachella Payment Plan. Passes will be available through a payment plan of 10% down and 8 equal monthly payments OR by payment in full. The price of three-day passes remains at $269 plus fees for the sixth consecutive year.
Coachella Weekend 1 – April 13-15, 2012 | Coachella Weekend 2 – April 20-22, 2012
I actually think this is a really poor choice of judgment on behalf of the promoters. Identical festivals? “So because demand was high, we’re going to try and double our supply….” in an attempt to sell more tickets and and provide an instant dilution of the experience that every festival goer gets when they drive into the Indio desert each year. Like, this is a really awful decision and we already know that there’s no way in hell they’re going to get a large set of headliners to do the same show twice at this festival.
I’ll go ahead and risk putting my foot in my mouth right now and say that you’ll see this announcement change in the very near future, maybe by the end of the week. Maybe their demand will be so great that they can pull this off, but there’s no way in hell fans are going to be seeing “identical” festivals. At the very least, there’s no reason to brand it that way when it’s impossible to offer that up. Here’s an opportunity to present something new and unique, and Coachella just went all McDonald’s about it and said “let’s make it bigger,” not at all better (in any planned sense of the word).
Good one, Goldenvoice.

We’re hoping to post up some photos from the Phish tour opener in Bethel last night in the next day or so thanks to the fine work by Kevin Fuller, and the band just took the stage for night two. Follow along with @YEMblog, @Phish_FTR and @LiveMusicBlog for retweets and notes from the show as it goes down…
Phish @ Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, Bethel, NY 5/28/11
Set I: Theme From the Bottom, NICU, Cities, Halley’s Comet, Runaway Jim, Gumbo, Quinn the Eskimo, Limb by Limb, Horn, Bathtub Gin > Manteca > Bathtub Gin
Set II: Down with Disease > Free > Backwards Down the Number Line, Makisupa Policeman > Harry Hood > Cavern > David Bowie
Encore: Day in the Life

NPR is once again digging into the 2011 festival coverage with some great streaming options. This weekend, they’re streaming a ton of sets from the Sasquatch Festival out at the Gorge in Washington state. The stream is audio-only, but it’s sounding pretty damn good so far.
Here’s their broadcast schedule for the weekend: READ MORE

Phish has just kicked off their Summer 2011 tour with the first of three nights at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in Bethel, NY. Tune in here for the setlist and follow along on Twitter at @LiveMusicBlog, @YEMblog, and @Phish_FTR.
Phish @ Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, Bethel, NY 5/27/11
Set 1: Tweezer > My Friend, My Friend, Poor Heart, Roses Are Free > Funky Bitch, Wolfman’s Brother[1] -> Walk Away, Stash, Bouncing Around the Room, Kill Devil Falls, Bold As Love
Set II: Carini > Get Back on the Train, Boogie on Reggae Woman > Waves > Prince Caspian > Crosseyed & Painless > Wading in a Velvet Sea > Possum, Squirming Coil
Encore: Julius
Notes:
[1] Streets Of Cairo tease