Fall tours: 1984, 1994, & 2014

There is not much to say about Fall 1984 since I can only judge it on the two shows available at phishows.com. However, it is clear that Phish was already working toward creating their sound, even if it involved two guitars, no keyboards, a bunch of covers, and a whole lot of goofiness.  Hey, they were college kids.

A decade later, Phish had honed its craft and become the quintessential "college band". It is easy to forget these days that colleges were its bread and butter. But as they tore their way across the country again, it was at college halls (and other auditoriums, for sure) that these four guys made some of their best music ever. How does one sum up Fall 1994? Lots of bluegrass, the most extensive jams to date, the evolution of two new songs, the "White Album", and the "Vibration of Life."

Bluegrass became a huge part of Phish's repertoire in '94, with their arrangement of Boston's "Foreplay/Long Time" as the centerpiece.  Trey learned to play fiddle, while Mike played banjo, Page played standup bass, and Fish played the washboard. They often did these songs without amplification; and some of these college crowds actually quieted down in order to hear it. Listen to Dec. 7 and be amazed by the audience's attentiveness. Better still, after the show on Nov. 19, the band played an entire bluegrass mini-set in the parking lot, which some intrepid fan managed to get on tape (not and easy task back then!).

When plugged in, the band members were stretching out. Though not the totally tuned-in jams of today, these noodle-fests definitely yielded great rewards if you stuck with them. Every single "Tweezer" was a musical journey (Nov. 23); every "Stash" killed (Nov. 12); every "Reba" soared (Oct. 26); every "Harry Hood" was supremely climactic (Oct. 23); every "David Bowie" was epic (Nov. 14); every "You Enjoy Myself" got funked out with big vocal jams (Dec. 4); every "Chalk Dust Torture" rocked out hard (Nov. 4). It is no wonder the first official live album was culled from these shows (and not even the examples listed here).

On Halloween 1994, a new tradition of covering another band's entire album was established with 'The Beatles': note perfect when necessary ("Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da"), jammed out when plausible ("While My Guitar Gently Weeps"); completely reworked when possible ("Don't Pass Me By"); and played for laughs when given the chance ("Helter Skelter").


Fall 1994 saw the band working out two new songs, evolving and polishing them in front of the audience - "Simple", which began life that summer as a mere song-sketch in the middle of "Mike's Song", became its own fleshed-out tune, and sometimes jam-vehicle; and "Guyute", which would undergo a few more changes, was mostly solidified by December.

Finally, there was the "Vibration of Life", an idea that a musical vibration cycle at just the right frequency can provide energy to a roomful of people. Even if the band was only messing with the audience, it was a recurring theme at several shows and one of those things that if you wanted to believe it, it became true. Phish's playing was so full of life and electricity during the autumn of 1994, if they were offering to give some of that energy back to the faithful fans, well, why not take it for what it was?


Twenty years later, the fall of 2014 picked up where the summer left off - every town still got a "Fuego" and what the jams lacked in crazy experimentation, they made up for in focus. The cover songs were still minimal and the shining moments came in the form of hooked-up funk (the Oct. 31 "Sand"), excellent segues ("Theme From the Bottom -> Steam" on Oct. 22), and blissful peaks ("Bathtub Gin" from Oct. 18, "Wolfman's Brother" on Oct. 25). The newer songs were still getting a huge workout, though a few more takes of "Wombat" (only two?) would have been nice, because there is so much that can be done with that groove.

Like the previous Halloween, a set of new music was presented - this time in the form of instrumental pieces to accompany some narratives and sound effects from a 1964 Disney record of scary stories and sound effects. As silly as that reads, it was strikingly entertaining, magnificent in its execution and endlessly re-listenable. (Try to get "They attack!" out of your head after hearing "The Birds".)

Those that say that the mid-1990s was the high point for Phish have a good argument with Fall 1994. The guys were certainly at their very best up to that point (though not without flubs). But I will still take 2014 for its variety (there are more than 200 songs in rotation now) and the maturity it takes to let the jams breathe instead of always being frenetic freakouts. The argument may be that they do not jam like they used to, but that may very well be the point no matter which side you are on.

Stretching like a great big stretchy thing

The doctor gave me a pamphlet of stretching exercises to do daily. I kid you not, it takes about an hour and a half to do them all.

The physical therapist, whom I started seeing this week, gave me another sheet full of stretches.  Sure, why not add on?

So all I do, for two hours every day, is stretch.  And stretch.  And stretch.

It is a colossal bore.

I. Just. Want. To. Run.