Phish at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, N.Y. - July 3, 2019

On March 6, 2009, when Phish returned to the stage for the first time since 2004, they opened with “Fluffhead”, a song they had not played in almost nine years.  Opening with “Fluffhead” is their musical equivalent of throwing down the gauntlet; a promise, nay, a prideful boast, that says the band is ready to attack its composed material and take you on a special journey.

It is too bad, then, that when they opened with “Fluffhead” on July 3 at SPAC, it fell a bit short of the lofty expectations that it presented.  The “Who Do? We Do!” and “The Chase” sections had some flubby playing by Trey Anastasio, taking me out of the moment. The triumphant “Arrival” ending temporarily lifted my spirits and had me literally leaping, but a thoroughly botched middle section of “Guyute” had me cringing as Jon Fishman somehow ended up being a half-measure ahead of Trey in the fast-jig part.  It was brutal.

Thankfully, they knew to come back with a gimme in the form of “Martian Monster”, an easy riff for heavy jamming.  Course corrected, fast numbers like “Llama” and “Poor Heart” kept spirits high, “Crazy Sometimes” reminded me why it is one of my preferred newer Mike Gordon tunes, and “Steam” brought the slinky groove I love so much. “Silent in the Morning” (preceded by a barely-played “The Horse”) was perfectly placed at the back end of the set, giving way to what was, at first, a surprise in the rare performance of “Sleep”, but made perfect sense as it led into my favorite new multi-part epic, “Drift While You’re Sleeping” to end the set.  It was the first song to be repeated from the Camden run and, boy oh boy, I was still as glad to hear it as I was just days before.

That grouping got me thinking about how the titles of some of the other new tunes by Ghosts of the Forest share similarities with older Phish songs.  Maybe in the future we can see “Ghosts of the Forest > Ghost”, “Friend > Friends”, “About to Run > Run Like an Antelope”, “Halfway Home > Home”, “The Line > In Long Lines”, “Waves > Ruby Waves”, “Brief Time > Liquid Time > Party Time” or “Waiting in the Velvet Sea >  Beneath a Sea of Stars”.

Picking up on the much improved second half of the first set, the band got everyone dancing right away in set two with “No Men in No Man’s Land”, and even though on paper, it might seem like a disappointment to have the ballad “Dirt” in the second slot, it worked nicely and it gave way to the best sequence of the night, as “Plasma” wove its slow-funk groove into “We Are Come to Outlive Our Brains”, only to eventually have “Plasma” briefly teased before a full-on segue into “Tweezer Reprise” that caused the crowd to erupt, with glowsticks flying everywhere.

Somehow, they managed to shift the energy after the enormous “Reprise” into a well-played “The Wedge” that I was really hoping would slip back into “Plasma”, but it was not to be.  No arguments here, though, on the choice “Sneaking Sally Through the Alley” to keep the groove party going.  And while “Run Like an Antelope” is almost always welcome, it was absolutely the weakest “Antelope” jam I had ever heard.  Thankfully, they knew not to end the set there, giving us an excellent “More” that could (and probably should) have ended the set.  Instead, much like the opening of the show, expectations were set high to end it on a glorious note with “Slave to the Traffic Light”.  The jam was big, but I have seen bigger and better.

The show ended with the second shortest encore of the tour – a seven-minute “Rock and Roll” that packed a big punch in the jam and its super-big ending, despite the thoroughly bungled lick from Trey in the middle break of the song.

With the exception of the first half of the second set, this was a show that may be worth a casual listen, but without any expectations that minds will be blown.  Not the best way to end my five-show run, though I still would not trade it for anything.  Summer 2019 was shaping up to be one heck of a tour.  I am excited to hear what is to come at Mohegan Sun, Fenway Park and Alpine Valley.

Phish at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, N.Y. - July 2, 2019

SPAC has a long and fruitful history with Phish as a venue where excellent shows have taken place during each era of the band. The 3.0-era, especially, has seen some multi-night runs that have produced fantastic jams and the venue continues to be a fan favorite. 

Imagine my surprise when my wife, Gloria, and my friend, Marshall, both attending SPAC for the first time, expressed their displeasure with the place. Sure, it has its problems - the stage is not visible from the lawn, the venue can get quite crowded and the entrance and exit usually elicits a feeling of being herded like cattle - but still! This is SPAC, a magical place where great music consistently gets conjured up (their Twitter handle is even @MagicOfSPAC)!

Thank goodness the music made up for the venue's alleged shortcomings. We staked out a spot in the rear of the main lawn near some trees as the party got started with a debut opener from out of nowhere, the old Everly Brothers song, "Cathy's Clown" followed by the "Tweezer Reprise" we thought we would get in Camden - the rare first-set appearance of the latter hearkening back to that wacky time they opened and closed a show with it at SPAC in 2010 (after playing it twice at the previous show).

Things stayed pretty rocking for most of the set, with "Carini", "AC/DC Bag", "Home" (during which they nailed the harmonies) and a total rager of a "Bathtub Gin". "Theme From the Bottom" slowed things down and the usually reliable set-closer "Walls of the Cave" fell flat. But there was levity and laughter, too - when Jon Fishman came in before the modulation for his vocal on "The Moma Dance" and then almost aborted it (making me think for a brief moment that it would end up as its instrumental counterpart, "Black Eyed Katy"), and when Fish and Trey Anastasio continued cracking each other up with a strange "heee-hawww" lick that the former sang and the latter played on guitar (something they had been doing in Camden, too) during an extended "Meat".

The second set really packed a punch right out of the gate with the Kasvot Vaxt song "Cool Amber and Mercury" to open and back-to-back amazeballs jams in "Down With Disease" and "Scents and Subtle Sounds" (the latter including the rarely played intro section). The set then turned from straight-up rocking, with "Twist" and "Wilson", to romping fun with "Scent of a Mule", "Halley's Comet" and the rare oddball "Fuck Your Face" (not a dirty song, as one might suspect, but rather about a guitar that sounds so awesome it will do what the title suggests). A good (but not great) "Harry Hood" closed the set.  Had that been the show closer, it might have been a little disappointing, but we had an encore to come.

The band came back onstage and played "Fee", which I predicted right away would involve Trey Anastasio messing up the lyrics.  Not only was I correct, but the megaphone through which he sings the verses started conking out on him, too, leaving the whole thing a bit of a mess.  But, hey, this is summer 2019, when encores have usually been at least two, sometimes three or four, songs, so there was room for redemption.  And redemption we got with the absolutely gorgeous Ghosts of the Forest song "A Life Beyond the Dream" followed by a banging "First Tube" that got some numbnut in the audience so excited, he jumped onstage, ran past Trey and then around by Jon Fishman's drums before being escorted away.

It was a slamming end to a show that was not perfect, but had some excellent bits that are definitely worth a few repeated listens ("Cathy's Clown", "Bathtub Gin", "Disease" and "Scents", for sure).  Not only that, but it was the fourth show in a row with no repeated songs, which is one of the big reasons I have kept coming back, especially to the magic of SPAC.

Phish at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, N.Y., July 3, 2016

Never miss a Sunday show, they say, but it sounded like even the band itself could have skipped this one and taken a rest after two great nights.  Three in a row might be too much for Phish these days.

John and me during the first set

On paper, this looks like the kind of show that gives creedence to that motto, though.  I mean, check out the first set:

Set I: The Wedge, Heavy Things, Tube, Sugar Shack, Lawn Boy, Sparkle > Sample in a Jar, It's Ice > Guelah Papyrus, Ocelot > Scent of a Mule, Possum

Truth be told, there did not seem to be much hooking up in this set.  I had wondered if it was just me, so I checked out the fan reviews at phish.net.  Words like "perfunctory", "spent", and "disappointed" dotted the mixed reviews. 

Of course, "flubbed" showed up several times, especially referring to the mess Trey Anastasio made of "Sugar Shack".  I have seen Phish play that song six times, and never have I heard Trey nail that (admittedly difficult) lick.  Beyond that, most of the set seemed uninspired until "Ocelot" surprised me with some excellent soloing by Trey (much as it did on 6/16/2012 in Atlantic City).  "Scent" featured a synthtastic solo by Jon Fishman on his Marimba Lumina and "Possum", well hey, these guys can rock "Possum" in their sleep by now.

And sleep is exactly what it sounded like Trey needed even though, once again, the list for the second set would get any phan all hot and bothered:

Set II: Soul Shakedown Party, The Moma Dance > Twist > Joy > Breath and Burning, Axilla > Theme From the Bottom > Harry Hood > Show of Life

I mean, "Shakedown" and "Show of Life" were played for the first time years (and only the 10th time ever for the former).  So why did they feel lackluster? 

Good thing "The Moma Dance" saved the day with a sprawling jam that should be heard by everyone everywhere, and "Twist" kept things rocking and rolling.  But the sloppiness and lack of focus of the subsequent songs prevented me from truly enjoying "Harry Hood", especially after witnessing one of the best ever just a few nights before.

I made a beeline to the exit during the "Rock and Roll" encore, which was well-played but not strong enough to salvage a so-so show.  While making my escape to the street spot about a mile away where I parked in order to avoid the $10 parking fee and beat the ridiculous traffic, I saw a homemade sign laying on the lawn, dirtied up as if it had not been hoisted over the creator's head for a while.

It read "Never miss a Sunday show".

Phish at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, N.Y., July 2, 2016

We Phish phans love the unexpected.  That is why we keep going back - you never know what will be in store for any given show.

However, we also love tradition.  There are, of course, the big ones like the Halloween "musical costume" and the letter and word games ensconced in the Dick's set lists.  But there are little ones, too - like "Silent in the Morning" often showing up on New Year's Eve or "The Star Spangled Banner" on July 4 - and it seems there is a new one: "Crowd Control" as the opening song of at least one SPAC show of each run.

Shmaltz brewery in Clifton Park, N.Y.

Shmaltz tasting glass

John, Meredith and Aaron in the SPAC lot

The entrance to SPAC

After spending the afternoon at Shmaltz, an excellent craft brewery in Clifton Park, N.Y., my friends and I were not surprised, yet completely delighted, that the little ditty from 'Undermind' opened the July 2 show, night two of the back-to-back-to-back at SPAC.  After a relatively uneventful "555", my favorite 2.0 jam-vehicle "Seven Below" kicked in and I was ready for some big stuff.  Instead, it gave way to an unexpectedly excellent "Back on the Train" (complete with "Sleeping Monkey" quotes to emphasize the train motif).

"Crowd Control"

The rest of the set was a healthy mix of every era:  They brought some more of the best of 2.0 with "Army of One" (always a treat), "46 Days" (particularly rocking), and the set-closing "Walls of the Cave" (good, but not great - in particular, the blast-off from the F# to the B before the final "silent trees" refrain needs to be huge and it was not).  The original 1997-style slow version of "Water in the Sky" seems to be the norm now and other oldies like "Divided Sky" and "Rift" surely kept the Phish vets happy, while "Martian Monster" (Halloween 2014's most played tune) had Trey Anastasio ditching his guitar for Fishman's Marimba Lumina.

Meredith and me during the first set

Phish had been on a second-set roll lately, so when the funk was dropped on us with "No Men in No Man's Land" as an opener, it was once again time to throw down.  A solid "Fuego" that included some nice exploration at the end gave way to the MVP jam of the night with "Light" (my favorite 3.0 jam vehicle!), which did all the great things a "Light" jam should and could do, including a tease of a previous song ("No Men"). 

Things went a bit south after that, though, as "Golden Age" and "Taste" failed to soar, so it was no time for the oft-bungled "The Horse" (which Trey just stops playing on guitar now, leaving Page McConnell to play the chords on piano) and a strained "Silent in the Morning" in which Trey had great difficulty playing the repeated 16th notes.

Thankfully, "Julius" brought the party back to life in time for a set-closing "A Day in the Life" - the third Beatles cover of the tour (though much more common than "Dear Prudence" and "I Am the Walrus".

The usual 50/50 mix of groans and cheers could be heard for the "Bouncing Around the Room" encore, but I told my friends John and Meredith - "I call 'Antelope'," mostly because many of the first bunch of Phish tapes I owned (shows from 1992 and 1993) had a "Bouncing > Antelope" combo. 

Sure enough, we were treated to an utterly fantastic "Run Like an Antelope" to close what was a mixed bag of a show, with some great (but not classic) high points.

Phish at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY, July 1

Even on my fifth trip to Saratoga Performing Arts Center to see Phish, it is still always great to be back at SPAC.

It was slow-going and a little worrisome, though.  Thanks to tons of traffic on I-287 and I-87, a trip that should have taken less than three hours took almost five.  Not only that, I drove through waves of rain, and the threat of thunderstorms continually loomed.

But once I rolled into the parking lot of the beautiful Saratoga Spa State Park, things immediately started looking up.  The storm threat had passed and the band gave the OK via Twitter to enter the venue.  So I happily drank a few beers (it was nice to finally toss back a few since I spent the Mann shows stone cold sober in preparation for the Sunset Classic race) and headed to the lawn in time for the "Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan", which I love as an opening song.

I danced around the back of the main lawn area for a while before settling into my usual solo spot on the left corner where the hill is steep and it is usually muddy, but offers an excellent sight line to both the stage and a screen.

Right away, the treats began with the first performance of "The Birds" since its debut on Halloween 2014, and by the time "NICU" was in full swing, my friends from Albany (Meredith and John, the awesome folks who convinced me to run the Maine Coast Marathon in May) sent me a text message, summoning me to their spot which had a great view from the mid-center of the lawn.

The fun kept coming with "Cities", a surprisingly placed "David Bowie", "Free", and "Uncle Pen", the latter compelling me to swing several partners round and round.  Speaking of fun - how about that new Mike Gordon tune, "Let's Go", with its fun singalong "Whoooaaaaaa" chorus? 

Things got a little more chilled out (but no less enjoyable) with well-played renditions of "Halfway to the Moon" and "Waiting All Night", but when "Bathtub Gin" kicked into gear and they ramped up the tempo the way they did in 1999, the show had really taken off.  So when "Golgi Apparatus" started (and played perfectly until Trey Anastasio botched the final lick), we figured it was the end of the set.

But then Trey said "Thanks everybody.  We'll do one more," and the set ended with "The Squirming Coil", in which he nailed the composed parts and left the ending open for a beautiful piano solo by Page McConnell.

The second set was a nonstop tour de force.  Phish brought the funk with "Sand" and "2001" and the rock with "Carini" and "Chalk Dust Torture", which featured a brief 2011-style Plinko jam, a full-on bliss jam that recalled the stellar 7/10/99 version in its modulation from E-minor to G-major, Trey playing Jon Fishman's Marimba Lumina (this time with the actual marimba sound), and Mike playing piano while Page played the Hammond.  It was an epic jam.

Some may criticize the back-to-back balladry of "Prince Caspian", "Bug", and "Shine a Light" but  I certainly could find no reason to complain, especially with Trey positively tearing it up at the end of "Bug".  "My Sweet One" was a bit sloppy at first but it contained a kickass drum solo, and "Sleeping Monkey" was had its usual weird tenderness, but the set-closing version of the Jimi Hendrix song "Fire" had some stellar playing from Mike (with Trey announcing, "Move over, Rover, and let Cactus take over!") and a rip-roaring solo from Trey that contained all the fire and ferociousness of his 1990's playing.  

The predicable but powerful "Character Zero" encore sealed the deal, as night one of SPAC became an indisputable highlight of the tour so far.

Phish at SPAC, July 5

We have a winner!

Friday may have had the best jam of the SPAC run in the epic "Fuego", and Thursday may have had the close-second "Limb by Limb", but last night's show was the all-around champ of the run, maybe of the tour so far.

Perhaps part of it had to do with similarities to previous great SPAC shows - the "Crowd Control" show opener (7/6/13) and the "You Enjoy Myself" second set closer (8/16/09, 6/20/10 and 7/7/13). Though no version of "A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing" will top the 6/19/04 SPAC performance this one was nestled nicely in a fantastic first set. 

The crescendo in "My Friend My Friend", the fluidity of the best "Divided Sky" in a long time, and the freak-out climax of "David Bowie" all provided peaks throughout the set. And the surprising "Wading in the Velvet Sea" brought me back to my very first SPAC show (6/19/04).

Jon "Moses DeWitt" Fishman took two spotlight turns - wailing on the vacuum cleaner in "I Didn't Know" and playing his Marimba Lumina in "Scent of a Mule" - as well as providing deliciously funky fills during my first ever "Undermind" (at long last, after seeing 44 shows since they started playing it!)

All this and "Wombat", too, during which I was glad I took a pee break in the previous song (a standard "Foam"), because I boogied hard. 

And that was just the first set.

What followed was a flawless run of music that alternated between darkly intense ("Carini"), gorgeous and flowing ("Waves"), and gloriously soaring ("Wingsuit" and "Slave to the Traffic Light"). Add two early classics (a flawless "Fluffhead" and a kick-ass "YEM" during which Trey danced like a crazy man because Mike Gordon's funk was so deep) and even an oddly placed but somehow perfect "Heavy Things" (much like Thursday's "Sparkle") and you have a set that will provide listening pleasure and fond memories for a long time.

The "Suzy Greenberg" encore that I totally called was the icing on the cake for this show that is an excellent representation of Phish in 2014. It is the one to play for the people in your life that somehow still have no idea who Phish is and what it sounds like. It is a keeper.

Set list:

Set I: Crowd Control, My Friend My Friend, Scent of a Mule, Undermind, A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing, I Didn't Know, Foam, Wombat, Divided Sky, Wading in the Velvet Sea, David Bowie

Set II: Carini > Waves > Wingsuit > Piper > Fluffhead, Heavy Things, Slave to the Traffic Light, You Enjoy Myself"

Encore: Suzy Greenberg

Phish at SPAC, July 4

There is something special about seeing Phish on the Fourth of July. It started in 1999 - after spending the three previous Independence Days in other countries - with fireworks, stars-and-stripes outfits, and the band's signature a capella version of "The Star Spangled Banner" in Atlanta.

The following year, I saw the Camden show which lost the outfits (in recent years, the fireworks went away, too), but included a second set that had fans all abuzz as a 30-minute "Gotta Jibboo" led the way in a five-song set of monster jams.

Last night's second set at SPAC seemed headed in that direction when "Fuego" stretched beyond 20-minutes with exploratory jams that ebbed and flowed until landing on an ascending chord progression that sounded like a hybrid of "What's the Use" and "Roses Are Free", before fading into the ambient noise that began "Down With Disease".

As the "Disease" pushed on into its 13th minute, it seemed as if the jam train would be on nonstop service to the end. But the jam fizzled out instead of making what could have been brilliant return to its coda (a rare occurrence these days) as it did on 12/29/13. 

From there until the ultra-octane "First Tube" closer, the jams meandered but stayed grounded, never really finding springboards from which to make any big leaps. "Twist" wandered away and also did not return for a final chorus; "Light" lacked its usual powerful punch in the main section and then ambled about, searching for something it never found. "Theme From the Bottom" was good enough and "Backwards Down the Number Line" stayed on a steady roll for its eight minutes, but mostly it felt as if the time spent on those songs could have been better served with a well-played "Fluffhead".

None of this could have been predicted from the first set, which sounds like a different show entirely. It was not the action-packed first set of their 

last July 4 show (2012), but the short, sharp execution of high-energy tunes ("Kill Devil Falls", "Runaway Jim", "46 Days" and "Rift"), funky rump-shakers ("555" and "The Moma Dance"), laid-back groove ("Waiting All Night") and complex composition ("Reba"), kept the set brimming with excitement.

The first set closed with a cacophonous "Split Open and Melt", a song for which I admit I have lost my taste. In addition to getting a lot slower in recent years, the jam section almost immediately drops into weirdness the minute the chorus ends. It never has a chance to rock. I first noticed this on 6/1/11 and few "Melt" jams have stirred me since. But I must admit, when the noisy sonic layers built to a climax last night, it was at least interesting.

So, if the "Star-Spangled" opener was the only thing that gave the show its Fourth of July feel, at least the full-on romp of the "Character Zero" encore ended the show with a fiery blast of its own. 

Certainly, I can not complain - I had pavilion seats for the first time at ever SPAC (after eight shows on the lawn since 2004), where the view was excellent and the sound was perfect (especially Mike Gordon's bone rattling bass bombs). And even if the second set jams never soared, I never stopped dancing.

Oh, and still no "Wombat".

Phish at SPAC, July 3

The first set of last night's Phish show at Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., (the first of seven in the Empire State this summer) was what I expected Tuesday's tour opener to be - solid playing, heavy on the shorter songs, lighter on the jamming. 

That is not to say it was bad. With the exception of "Yarmouth Road", one of the worst of last year's crop of new songs, the song selection was excellent and the execution was tight. The unusual "Farmhouse" opener gave way to a hot "Wolfman's Brother" with a climax that reminded me of the feeling I got on 12/28/2010, when I realized during that song that I had made the right decision to get back on the Phish train.

"Maze", "Chalk Dust Torture" and "Possum" were rollicking but never took flight. Even the loping groove of "Ocelot" stayed mostly reined in. Elsewhere in the set, the balladry of "Roggae" and the infrequently played (and treat to hear) "Strange Design" kept things pretty and light. New song "Devotion of a Dream" was a set highlight, thanks to punchy and precise musicianship and great vocals.

Thankfully, the downpours had ceased before the show and - minding my lesson learned from Jones Beach last year - I wore a cheap poncho to keep my shirt and shorts dry. There was still a light rain as set two started with "Bathtub Gin" and it was immediately obvious that if the first set offered nothing that truly soared, set two would more than make up for it.

The sound seemed much better on the lawn than in previous years. Was it because there were fewer people (it was not sold out) or had they improved the audio quality? From my spot in the center of the muddy lawn the sound was bright, loud and clear.

There will be no argument that "Limb by Limb" was the MVP jam of the night. What will be debated is whether it eclipsed the "Harry Hood" from Tuesday. My vote goes with "Hood", but it is close. After some soloing over the main chord structure, Trey Anastasio started playing an interesting counter rhythm over the complex drum pattern that Jon Fishman astoundingly keeps up for minutes on end (while singing on top of it, no less). But then Fish switched out of the original beat and matched Trey's new rhythm. It happened quickly and seamlessly, and the new direction gave the jam crazy new life as it peaked again. When it settled down into deep ambient sounds, Trey began the opening to "Winterqueen" the gorgeous sort-of-new song (does anyone else remember that the Trey Anastasio Band played it once three years ago and called it "Glacier"?) that radiates shimmering beauty. Another great new tune, "The Line" followed - at five performances, it is the most-played song from 'Fuego' and Phish has played it at every venue except Great Woods since its debut last fall.

As soon as the riff to "Tweezer" began, the crowd got fired up and glowsticks started flying everywhere. The jam kept the crowd dancing, though it did not reach any new heights and came to a close a bit abruptly to make way for, of all things, "Prince Caspian". Eliminating the closing section, Trey began the most oddly placed "Sparkle" ever. It totally worked. 

And if "Sparkle" does not end with the frenzy of the old days, the climax to the set-closing "Run Like an Antlelope" provided all the frenzy one could handle.

An encore of "Sing Monica", in which the band's vocals sounded better than they have in years, would have been sufficient on its own, but they knocked out a "Tweezer Reprise" to cap it off with a bang.

The second night of the tour was another fantastic night with Phish. And, save for the one cover of "Funky Bitch" at Jazz Fest in April and "Auld Lang Syne" on New Year's Eve, it marked the eighth show in a row with no cover songs. What seemed like a stunt for the New Year's run, now seems very much like a new philosophy for the band. And though I may lament never again grooving to "Golden Age" or "Crosseyed and Painless", this new all Phish by Phish ethos is A-OK with me. Heck, it increases my chances of finally seeing them play "Undermind".

So tonight..."Wombat" opener? 

July 3, 2014 set list 

Set I: Farmhouse, Wolfman's Brother, Maze,Yarmouth Road, Strange Design, Devotion to a Dream, Ocelot, Chalk Dust Torture, Mound, Roggae, Possum

Set II: Bathtub Gin > Limb By Limb > Winterqueen, The Line, Tweezer > Prince Caspian > Sparkle, Run Like an Antelope

Encore: Sing Monica > Tweezer Reprise