Thursday, April 19, 2018

The Island Tour, 20 years later - April 2, 1998

Twenty years ago this month, at the first of four Phish shows, Trey Anastasio said they "got bored at home" and decided to play a few shows.  They booked two nights at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island and two nights at the Providence Civic Center on Rhode Island and dubbed it the Island Tour.

I attended the two Long Island shows with my friend, aLi; my brother, Ben; and a few other pals.

My ticket stub.  It only cost $25 to see Phish 20 years ago.
Most of the notes I made from the first show (April 2, 1998) focused on the general fun that was had, how much of a bummer the security guards were, the crazy and long jams, and the band's light-hearted approach.  Two decades of retrospect reveal a slightly different - or at least, more complete - story.

Immediately, in the first set of the first show, it is easy to spot that despite being bored at home, they were likely not practicing. Flubs were present in the composed sections of almost every song, notably in the tricky meter of "Sloth" and the miscued ending of "My Mind's Got a Mind of Its Own" (the latter I was truly grateful to hear, though, due to its rarity). But when "Stash" took off into its jam...wow. It positively slayed for more than 15 incredible minutes.  And the set-ending "Chalkdust Torture" was so fast and fierce that with its ramped-up tempo and missed cues, combined with Trey flying so far off the rails during the solo that he barely stuck his landing, it is hard not to point to this moment as the beginning of the road to the 2.0 era - when the composed sections took a backseat to long, exploratory jams that rarely made it back down to earth.

After all, it was only a few months later when Trey (incorrectly) declared that no one cares if they miss some changes and that it is "all about energy," in an interview that ended up in the 'Bittersweet Motel' film. It was that attitude (and the drugs that likely induced it) that proved to be the band's undoing a few years hence.

That said, there was fun in the air and some magic, too, especially in the second set, which included a solid "Simple" jam, the debut of "Frankie Says", the buttery segue from "Wolfman's Brother" into "Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley" and the monster jams in the latter and "Twist".

Speaking of "Twist" and 'Bittersweet Motel', there is a scene during which they are practicing "Birds of a Feather" (which also debuted at this show) and they are having a laugh about incorporating what they call the "'Star Trek' chord." I do not know if that scene was filmed before or after this show, but Mike is clearly riffing on that familiar eight-note pattern during the jam in the Island Tour's "Twist".

Save for that "Stash" and the set-ending "Chalkdust" (which includes some band banter/silliness at the end), the first set is mostly forgettable.  But that second set is well worth repeated spins.



No comments:

Post a Comment