Hello everyone. I hope you
survived the mini heat wave that we just experienced. I was at an
even hotter location down South in Nashville Tennessee. And what was
I doing there? I was on my honeymoon which of course we timed with
Phish's Fall Tour. So if no one objects, here is my recap of Phish,
live in Nashville, TN, on Oct. 18th and 19th,
2016.
First, yes I am married. Neither
myself or my beautiful bride Casey wanted a big fancy ceremony. But
Pennsylvania came through for us with something called a Self Uniting
Marriage License. A couple signs it, and three days later we are
married. No judge, no vows, just our undying love for each other. I
love it!
When we were planning this out and
Phish announced their Fall Tour, Casey suggested we go to Nashville
to see and hang with her musician cousin. The day after I put in our
ticket request, her cousin told us she joined a band in NYC and was
moving there by the end of September. But of course we were still
going. I did check out to see if anyone cool was playing at the
historic Ryman Auditorium. I saw Bob Weir was playing but it was the
second night of Phish's run. Oh well, guess I won't be able to see
Bobby. LMAO.
We went down 2 days early to camp
out and see a few of the sites. While I love rock and roll, the only
country music I like is old school stuff, outlaw country. You know,
like this guy.
Oct. 18th, 2016
Soundcheck:
Jam, Blues Jam, Tide Turns, Petrichor, Walking Blues
SET
1:
Chalk
Dust Torture,
Blaze
On,
Ghost,
Lawn
Boy,
Halley's
Comet >
Sand,
Tide
Turns,
46
Days >
Breath
and Burning,
Limb
By Limb >
Cavern
>
Also
Sprach Zarathustra
SET
2:
Julius
>
Fuego
>
My
Friend, My Friend,
Samson
and Delilah[1],
Twist[2]
>
Miss
You[3],
West
L.A. Fadeaway[3]
>
Playing
in the Band[4]
[1]
Phish debut; Bob Weir on guitar and vocals.
[2] Bob Weir on guitar.
[3] Bob Weir on guitar and vocals.
[4] Phish debut; Bob Weir on guitar.
[2] Bob Weir on guitar.
[3] Bob Weir on guitar and vocals.
[4] Phish debut; Bob Weir on guitar.
You can stream it here
We
were eating a light meal when we saw on FB that Bobby was
soundchecking Walkin' Blues with Phish. My immediate thoughts were 1)
Wow, Bobby's gonna play with Phish and 2) they're gonna play Walkin'
Blues?!?!?!?!? An OK blues number that really wasn't all that when I
saw the Dead do it. But who am I to complain?
First
set was solid, with a few second set heavy weights making an
appearance. Both Ghost and Sand had some nice bits of improv.
Everyone expected Cavern to be the end but they squeezed one more
tune in and the 2001 definitely had a little extra something
something in it.
The
second set started of decent enough. None of the first three songs
really stretched out but I was still happy. Then without a word,
Bobby came out and the place erupted. We knew he was gonna show up at
some point but we thought, maybe the encore, maybe towards the end?
But this was rather early. As my friend Jay DeWald, formerly of the
Jay DeWald Experience said ”What if the rest of the set turns into
Grateful Dead music?” The Samson is outstanding. Hearing Trey rip
the hell out of the solo with Bobby playing slide, wow, just like out
of the Dead's 70's era. Then a Phish song. Ok, this is gonna get real
good. I joked Bobby could definitely do the Woo's in Twist. And the
jam was sick!!! It was like a double helix of interweaving guitars.
They very quickly got into some really deep psychedelia. I kept
picturing Trey's leads poking a barrier between this world and a
world where one had to beware what was around. Kind of like the
alternate world when the Gorgon lives in Strangeful Things. I told
you it was some deep space!
Then
Bobby sang a Phish tune. Did not see that coming. And he owned it.
Whether it's about Trey's sister, Jerry G, or one of your own loved
ones, this might be the definitive version. Then West LA Fadeaway,
which they performed with Bobby the last time he sat in back in 2000.
I told Jay I hope they finish with I Know You Rider but Playin' is
quite alright as well. And Trey sang. Trey sang Playin' with Bobby on
stage. Wow, just wow. And this version really reminded me of the late
'72/early '73 versions, where it was trippy but not super long, 20
minutes +.
And
one of the few songs both bands played for the encore, Quinn the
Eskimo. Hell yes! Trey never introduced or thanked Bobby for coming
out. Almost like they just assumed everybody got it. Yes, we did.
Somehow,
I recovered from that and got a good nights sleep. On to day 2!
October
19th,
2016.
Soundcheck:
Home, Let's Go. I Always Wanted It This Way, Plasma
SET
1:
Theme
From the Bottom,
Camel
Walk,
My
Soul,
Petrichor,
Stealing
Time From the Faulty Plan >
My
Sweet One,
Waking
Up Dead,
Halfway
to the Moon,
Running
Out of Time[1],
Tube
>
Shine
a Light
[1]
Debut
You
can stream it here
Overall,
I thought night 2 was better musically than night 1. Yes, Bobby
joining them was a top 3 all time moment in Phish history, but they
really took it up a notch in this show. First set was good. Petrichor
is like 4 songs linked together. 2 of them I like, 2 I'm meh about.
The Tube has a nice extended jam and I love anything off of Exile on
Main Street.
I
haven't seen Golden Age in over 2 years so that was fantastic. Trey
almost ripcords it to go into Tweezer and what a monster it was. The
other highlight of the second set was Hood. All sorts of magic
happening there. I really like how they are doing different kinds of
things in Hood now. 3.0 Hoods are a unique beast. I had to get the
crowd Wooing when it was obvious the band was pausing for the Wooo's.
I'm not against all Woo's, just not during the quiet parts of Reba.
Our
Urbr ride home ended up being a chick who wanted to know about
veganism and of course my wife is a vegan. Rather cool little twist
of the universe. And there it is. I might not see Phish live for a
little bit as I am moving out to Oregon next spring/summer, so I
really hoped this would be memorable. Oh, yes.
Dave
Kemp
BA
American Studies
PhD
Rock and Roll
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