After the weekend off it looks like Phish’s organization is back at work this morning. The mailorder period ended last week and we’re seeing credit card charges pop up and emails being sent confirming or rejecting your mailorder requests for the fall tour. Twitter is blowing up…
Did you get rejected? Did you get your tickets? Drop some comments and let us know…
Photo by @CoventryMusic
Standard Fare [Phish Thoughts]
After setting the table for a huge Sunday night closer at SPAC, Phish went the other way, playing a song-based show that contained barely any creativity. After an exciting opening frame with several summer bust-outs, one wasn’t wrong to think the band might come back with one of their most engaging frames of tour. But Phish pulled out of upstate New York after a choppy second set that contained their least engaging playing of tour. While maintaining their energy and tightness, Phish took no risks in a energetic show that was heavy on the setlist, but, at times in the second set, straight up boring.
While I wasn’t there and everyone’s definitely entitled to their own opinion, this particular review was worth calling out for me. At a show that had many saying “this was the best we’ve seen of the band in 2010,” the most popular Phish blogger on the planet decides to completely lambast the show as uncreative and boring. Listen for yourself and decide on your own context, because reading reviews like this have nothing close to a connection to what actually happened on tape. Stop reading these reviews anyway. Get the shows and re-discover that joy and excitement of not always knowing where they’re supposed to go next based on what the prior night’s setlist was.
From my end watching the stream and listening at home, I’m loving every part of this show and the return of songs I’ve always enjoyed like “Roggae” and “Swept Away.” And come on, strong playing or not, the band would have to fart their way through “Makisupa Policeman > Piper > 2001 > YEM” for that to sound shitty.
Phish concert….. parents wont let me go? [Yahoo! Answers]
Ok so i am 14. My favorite band in the WHOLE world is phish. They are almost like a hippie band and they play very happy music about random things. Well last summer my parents went to thier concert and i wanted to go but they said no beacause people do things there that i shouldn’t be exposed to. Their going again this summer and i REALLY want to go but again they said no!!!!!! They said because people do drugs there. but really i am a responsible person!! It’s not like im gonna go up some random hippie and say ” Yo give me some pot!” I wouldn’t do that. So i don’t really understand why they wont let me go….Any idea???!!!??!!
I’m speechless; the parents can go, but the 14-year old can’t? We at LIVE MUSIC BLOG.com will not stand for this injustice!
Phish’s Fall Tour opens tonight in Detroit where the band will hit to stage and shout “Hello, Ohio” to start the show. EPIC.
Seriously, how amazing has this summer been? This entire year has been a dream come true for Phish fans far and wide, East Coast and West Coast, and it just keeps rolling on. In the spirit of the tour opener, I thought I’d ask everyone to reflect a bit on their absolute, mind-tingling, hair-on-your-neck-standing-up moment of the year for you as a fan. Where were you when you had that moment where you lost yourself in all of this? I’ve had so many of those moments in the ten shows I saw this year, but hands down the epic moment for me was seeing the band tear through “Split Open and Melt” at the second night of Red Rocks while it was pouring hard rain on the entire audience. There’s nothing quite like being surrounded by 6,000 like-minded folks while you’re all getting soaked and watching your favorite band together. Good times.
Drop some comments to get psyched for tonight…we’ll have setlist updates tonight and plenty of commentary to go around…
I got an email from the Metermaids the other day with this track attached:
Metermaids – Two Rows of Teeth vs. Thriller [mp3]
It got me thinking that I haven’t been hearing too many bands work some level of Michael Jackson tribute into their sets these days. I guess that’s not crazy surprising to anyone, but I half-expected almost every show I saw after that event would feature some level of Thriller tease, a Beat It jam, or something similar. Am I just not seeing the right bands or is this too cliche to expect from any self-respecting touring musician?
I’m going to look into this one a bit. I know there are plenty of MJ tributes before his untimely passing but I’m curious as to whether or not people feel they can do it justice now that he’s gone. And if you want to catch the Metermaids tackling the MJ tributes, they’re playing at The Studio at Webster Hall in NYC tonight.
The Flaming Lips, Pitchfork 2009 | © youaintnopicasso.com
Matt just put up his photos from The Flamings Lips at this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival.
They’re must-see as always (the photos, that is), but the band is no longer retaining that status for me. It comes with a caveat now. It is “they are must-see if you’ve never seen them before and only if you haven’t seen them before.”
But even though the setlist was a bit different than normal, the overall show was pretty much the same. It had the same strengths and unfortunately the same weaknesses. On the plus side, the pluses still completely bury the minuses. The show is still an unparalleled display of wonder, highlighted by confetti, lights and giant balloons. However, Wayne still has a tendency to talk for almost as long as he sings. I’d say that they averaged about two minutes of talking between each song.
I can’t seem to get past this myself. I hate on-stage banter for the most part. But he goes on to say that he feels like it’s a nice little quirk of the band or something. What do you guys think?
© youaintnopicasso.com
I thought I’d post a link to something I just read and commented on and (naturally) feel quite passionate about, but I do this to explain a point and not bring any further unnecessary scrutiny on someone that wasn’t really, well, prepared for the experience of Phish headlining Bonnaroo.
I’ve been thoroughly enjoying all the Bonnaroo photos and live downloads posted over at You Ain’t No Picasso, especially the Janelle Monae shots and writeup and the Beastie Boys fluff-fest. Every post I read I just kept thinking, “man I feel like I’m right there with ya…” But his post on the Phish set at Bonnaroo left me a bit perturbed, if only for the reason that I feel like way too many people have expectations of music that is just ridiculously over-the-top.
If I try to write anything more than a paragraph on Phish, I’m going to open myself up to more scrutiny than I’d like. I’ll be brief. Yes, this band has been a punchline to me for the better part of a decade now. No, I’ve never listened to them any more than that episode where Homer gets addicted to “medical” marijuana on the Simpsons (”The vote was yesterday? Aww man!”). But I wasn’t bored/repulsed/angered by the three Phish songs I heard at Bonnaroo. As I told Amrit the next day, to me it just sounded like really noodley classic rock. I wasn’t really into it, but it wasn’t bad by any stretch. But did we stay around to see any of their show on Sunday? No, we did not. We hit the road early, my friend, and we didn’t regret it at all.
One of the lamest things about trying to cover a festival for a music blog is the notion that as media you get to shoot bands from the press pit right in the front of the stage, but for the first three songs only. This is a standard industry practice. But it’s hardly a way to enjoy the festival and/or music you’re witnessing. You’re surrounded by a bunch of photographers basically running around trying to get every possible angle of every shot their lenses will allow in just those three songs, meanwhile avoiding the stage security and your fellow photogs. But it’s hardly a judge of what a band is capable of or what you’re missing out on by not sitting through and letting your musical ears chill out a bit.
Which brings us to the thoughts on the tour in general — everyone just needs to check their expectations at the door. I thought the first leg of the Phish Summer Tour was absolutely incredible from where I sat, especially considering the sheer notion that this band has not done a tour of this size in a very long time. As much as there is rehearsing in a practice space to nail all the parts in “David Bowie,” the experience of doing this in front of a festival crowd is something that you need to respect and consider. And expect mistakes, because that’s what real musicians do if they’re focused on making music and not so focused on being this perfect specimen.
At any rate, I love and respect everything Matt does on that blog and he’s a better music blogger than me for more reasons I can list. That’s why I was bummed he didn’t fluff my favorite band in the world. That’s all. Call me an idealist, but I really thought some of the indie kids would feel the crossover pull of one of the most innovative and interesting bands this world has ever seen. I mean, come on…who really would not like seeing this jam live? You’ve got to be a friggin’ zombie if this doesn’t get your ears perked up, your head bobbing, and your feet moving.
Phish live at Bonnaroo 6-12-2009 – 2001 (Also Sprach Zarathustra) [YouTube]
Tickets? Check. Beer? Check. Goodies? Check.
Wipes and Diapers? Check.
HB, ready for a weekend on the Mountain
The festival season is fast approaching. However, this year is going to be a very different experience for me and my crew. This year, I’m bringing along a six-month old, my son Harry. Crazy, you say? I don’t think so. Does it change the whole festival-going experience as we’ve known it so far. For sure.
Since 2001, my wife and I have hit at least a festival a year: the Vibes, the late and great Berkfest, Langerado, and for the past four years, Mountain Jam. We’ve got the whole thing down to a science. We know what to bring and we know how to get it all in one cart to schlep up the mountain. This year is a whole new deal, though.
My niece, Sammi, and her freshly painted face, at Langerado ’07
It was one thing to spend a weekend on the Mountain just two adults. However, this year there are things we’ll need to bring to the Mountain because we’ve got our son with us. There’s the tent, to give him a place to crash during the day, hearing protectors, toys, changes of clothing, and the aforementioned diapers and wipes, and there are many things I am sure I haven’t even thought of yet. None of this stuff was with us last year.
I’ve been surprised at the number of times people have wanted to know why I would expose my son to “that environment.” Inevitably these are people that have never been to a festival. Sure there’s a certain amount of sketchy people, but I live in New York City. I see at least three sketchy people on the way to the office each day.
My nephew, Matthew, at Langerado ’07
It’s not like this is the first time I’ve gone to a festival with kids, although they were much older than my son. In ’07, my niece and nephew (then six and eight) came along for the afternoons at Mountain Jam. They had an awesome time, were fascinated by the freaky people, and were treated quite nicely by them in return. They did wonder why the place smelled “funny,” but didn’t think anything of it. They’re kids. They do look like they’re having a pretty good time, don’t they?
Sure, there’s the risk that HB could be having a bad day, if that’s the case we’ll have to adjust our plan. That’s what you do when you’re a parent. But, for all of the challenges that bringing a baby to the festival will add, they pale in comparison to the joy I’m going to have sharing the experience with HB. When I think of dancing with my son on the side of a mountain, with 10,000 other fans getting down to Michael Franti with us, I’m overcome with emotion.
Should be a great weekend on the Mountain. Have you traveled with kids to a festival? Have any tips to pass along? Please share them in the comments!
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