NYS Music 20​12

Author: Devon Blue

  • Phish to release Star Lake 98 DVD

    JEMP Records announced today the latest release from the Phish Archives: Star Lake 98 will hit stores and online this coming December 11th. Phish’s 2 DVD set features a multi-camera screen feed from their August 11,1998 performance at the Star Lake Amphitheatre in Burgettstown, PA.

    Star Lake 98 represents the only full-length show available on video from the band’s 1998 summer tour. While the set was created from lawn feeds captured by VHS tapes, the audio was mixed by Jon Atschiller from Paul Languedoc’s multi-track masters. You can pre-order the DVD set now at Phish Dry Goods. A bonus CD available with the pre-order is “So Inclined”, featuring music from the three remaining unreleased Star Lake concerts.

    Phish Archivist Kevin Shapiro shared his thoughts on the show’s release:

    The Star Lake 98 show was the 20th of summer to showcase the loose, experimental vibe of a tour that began in Europe and jumped to the United States en route to the summer’s ending Lemonwheel festival.  The introduction of a never-before-played cover each night earned the tour the nickname “summer of covers” from fans and Star Lake’s contribution was a “Trench Town Rock” opener.  Star Lake also saw the return of “Time Loves A Hero” which was played for the first time in a decade and segued out of a sultry “Wolfman’s Brother”.  “Julius”, an extended “Fee” outro (during which hip Pittsburghians clapped along on the 2 and 4) and deep renditions of “Maze” and “Reba” set the stage for set II.  The second set featured a super-swinging, ethereal “Runaway Jim” that foreshadowed 2011’s “Storage Jam” and an unusual pairing of “Meat > Limb By Limb.”  Local flavor of the Commonwealth was provided by “Bittersweet Motel” (the title of the Phish documentary recorded during Europe ’98 dates) and “Wilson”, King of Prussia.

    8/11/98 – Burgettstown, PA Tracklist

    Disc One
    Set I:
    1. Trench Town Rock
    2. Julius
    3. Wolfman’s Brother
    4. Time Loves A Hero
    5. Bittersweet Motel
    6. Reba
    7. The Sloth
    8. Ginseng Sullivan
    9. Fee
    10. Maze
    11. Sample In A Jar

    Disc Two
    Set II:
    1. Runaway Jim
    2. Meat
    3. Limb by Limb
    4. When The Circus Comes
    5. Down With Disease
    Encore:
    1. Wilson
    2. Golgi Apparatus

    [vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/52084147 w=500&h=338]

    “Down With Disease” – Star Lake 98 DVD from Phish on Vimeo.

  • New Riders of the Purple Sage – Live at The Westcott

    By Gauraa Shekhar

    Buddy Cage, the pedal steel guitarist, shoots an amused look in my direction. Standing in the front row, I can almost feel him say, “What are you doing here, kiddo?” I suppress the urge to stereotype as I scan the crowd—sixty-somethings men and women dressed in overalls, hippie dancing to “Where I Come From”. The old man in pigtails standing next to me flashes a huge grin and offers me a whiff of an aromatic something passing hands. “No, thanks!” I assure him I am good. I feel out of place. I am the only one with black XX’s stamped across the back of hand—evidently, the only seventeen year old in the room.

    photo by Frances Huang

    The New Riders of the Purple Sage chime into chorus. And I am pulled out of the background, zapped into the song. The group of seventy-year-olds with their twangy opening burst out more energy than the two young acts before them did—combined. Tonight, there is reason to celebrate. “It’s the 7th year anniversary of our renaissance!” screams David Nelson before cranking the intro to “Panama Red”. “We’ve been together for 45 years!” adds Falzarano. The crowd went berserk.

    As The New Riders of the Purple Sage jams to oldies like “Glendale Train”, “Last Lonely Eagle” and “Louisiana Lady” from their eponymous record, nostalgia billows over the crowd, overwhelms it. Lovers lock eyes, friends hold hands and you can almost feel the music transcending time. The band is playing “Down for the Ride”, when I witness a man jump out of his wheelchair. He holds onto the railing in the front row for support, sways along with the music as he lands on his feet. He catches me looking at him in awe. “Kid, do you know what music is?” he asks. “It’s knowledge. It’s how stories are shared from campfire to campfire and eventually brought to us today.” I nod, soaking in this bizarre experience before me.

    The show rollicks towards an end and as Nelson mentions a closer, the crowd begins to chant, “Dirty Business! Dirty Business!” And there you have it. The band plays the eight minute long hit single from their debut album and the crowd simply loses itself in it.

    I don’t quite know what I was doing there but I felt that no EDM show could measure up to this weirdly wonderful night. Tonight, this was a community: all as one. As they say, it’s always a freak show when the riders come to town.

    Download Steven Weld’s recording of the show