NYS Music 20​13

Author: Lori Christina

  • Night 2 of Phish at SPAC – The Jams Keep Comin’

    My 25th Phish Show. I’m no longer a noob per my lil’ brother Dr. Pauly. This was the first SPAC Phish run since 2009 that Pauly didn’t come east for. He’ll be picking up tour in Chicago and sometime between the end of Summer Tour and the anticipated fall run he will hit show 300. Needless to say, Pauly knows Phish.

    Let’s get some stats out-of-the-way. Night two and show three of Summer Tour offered three repeats in ” Chalk Dust Torture” ,  “Backwards Down the Number Line” and “Possum”. We heard the first ever SPAC “Tweezer”, one debut in “Architect”. There were a total of 10 songs in the first set and 10 in the second set including the double encore.

    I started the day by attending the poster show at the Saratoga Hilton. I met Dave Calarco, aka Mr. Miner, and poster artist John Warner. John is not a Phish-centric artist, doing work for the heavyweights of the jamband scene. I was most drawn to his work as he displayed his art form for many of the artists I love including Govt Mule, Furthur, Phish, Mountain Jam, Warren Haynes and many others. I bought a copy of Mr Miner’s Phish Thoughts and my second Ryan Kerrigan poster.

    I gave Friday night’s show a solid B. I was hoping that three shows in, the cobwebs were off and we were in for a sizzling Saturday night. This was the first year I was out on the lawn with the masses. My prior six SPAC Phish shows were from inside the shed. I found a place on the inside of the far right ramp to the balcony at the top of the slope that had a pretty good line of sight and good sound.

    Phish took the stage at 8:24 PM.  “Crowd Control” kicked things off. Traditionally this song appeared in the second set, but since 3.0 it has moved into the spot of  show opener.  It’s a light airy tune, a la  “Golden Age”.  This was a first time live performance  for me and I found myself singing it the last few days so it’s a keeper! “Chalk Dust Torture”  gets everyone rocking no matter where it appears in the rotation with its defying cry of  “Can’t I live while I’m young?!”  “The Wedge”  had a low tempo, almost reggae beat to it. Dr. Pauly texted me that this song always reminds him of  Colorado.  The first cover of the night was next with Mike Gordon on lead vocals for “Funky Bitch”.  Cactus, looking hipster chic in his scarf, also bared a striking resemblance to chef Anthony Bourdain.  “Heavy Things” and “Bug”  continued what was appearing to be a fairly mellow first set.  “Bug” is one of those songs I enjoy because it invokes philosophical questions like “Is there a God? , and “What is the meaning of life?” “Bouncin’ Round the Room”  was  the first Phish song I could name because of its frequent radio play, yet I have friends that bail for the bathroom during “Bouncin” but I enjoy it and up on the lawn, I thought that this would be a great song to Prancercise  too.

    “Tube” brought the funk back into the set.  For generation, 3.0 “Tube” performances,  it was a longish 6+ minutes.  My favorite Tube is the 12/7/97 Dayton Ohio version with its awesome Tube Jam.  Listen closely to the SPAC 7/6/13 version and from 5:28 to 5:51, you might hear teases of Booker T’s “Green Onions”.  Trey pulled the rip chord on the  “Tube”  jam and launched  into the rocker  “Julius”.  I heard a young Phish head tell his buddy that the name of the song was “Take Another Step” after the refrain. I chuckled because that was what I originally thought the name of the song was, because why would Tom Marshall and Trey title a song “Julius” when the word doesn’t even appear in the lyrics?

    “Julius” could have easily ended the set but what happened next will be talked about for quite a while in Phish circles and deserves a replay. “Split Open and Melt” can be butchered. I heard a great version in Utica in 2010.  In this version, Trey and Fishman really locked in and the jam became full of ambient and discordant sounds tempered by the ethereal keyboards of Page McConnell.  I went down the rabbit hole to memories of  some of  Jerry Garcia’s best  jamming. At one point I forgot what song was playing and what show I was at.  About 15 minutes in, Fishman appeared to be playing bells or a glockenspiel with a very light touch.  SOAM definitely is the Set 1 highlight, ending at 9:43 PM.

    After a short intermission, “Backwards down the Number Line” opened Set II  at 10:13 PM (the second repeat from the Bangor tour opener).  Yeah, the Phish play it a lot but I will always like it as it reminds me of my 40+ year friendship with my best friend Kim.  Dr. Pauly had texted me that his buddy Fink (who I looked for but didn’t cross paths with) had told him that “Tweezer” had never been played at SPAC and to expect one.   Well, we got it as  appeared as the second song of the second set and the “Tweezer”, “Sand” and “Carini” trio will be talked about and replayed all summer long.  A glowstick war broke out on the lawn during “Tweezer”.   This “Sand’ was smooth and sultry the way I like them and the “Carini” that followed I found dark and dirty and rocking. Some folks thought it wasn’t as evil as other Carini’s, but to each their own.

    The boys gave us a break with the debut of “Architect” from Trey’s solo album Traveler.  I haven’t had a chance to listen to this song again,  but like many songs added from the band’s side projects this one will be a tweaked and mature the more it is played.  A young phan and I talked about this being about the Matrix  (my favorite movie) and free will and cause and effect as the Architect is a character in the second and third of the Matrix series and one of the lyrics in Trey’s song is  “You may even see the cause in the machine.”   A fairly standard but rocking “Wilson”, a sloppy but fun cover of “Boogie on Reggae Woman” (I think the lyrics were butchered, but all is good) and “Possum” (the third and final repeat of tour to date) closed out set II. Like many others and no matter how many times its played I still love “Possum”, although I can’t say the same for “Kill Devil Falls”, which they got out of the way as the opener on night one.

    “Show of Life” was a throw away encore so I started heading to the car. With that veteran move, I lost my noob status.  I listened to “Tweezer Reprise” as I headed out of the State Park and back home. Sometimes its good to be a local. I was home in twenty minutes and downloading the show.  After Friday’s  B performance I gave Saturday night an A-. The only reason it wasn’t a little higher was because of the canoodling on song selection during set I. I was happy but missing my Phishing buddies and was looking forward to Night 3 because as Fink and Dr. Pauly say, ” Never Miss A Sunday Show”.

    Setlist

    Set 1: Crowd Control > Chalk Dust Torture, The Wedge, Funky Bitch, Heavy Things, Bug, Bouncing Around the Room, Tube > Julius, Split Open and Melt

    Set 2: Backwards Down the Number Line > Tweezer > Sand > Carini 1 -> Architect 2, Wilson > Boogie On Reggae Woman > Possum

    Encore: Show of Life > Tweezer Reprise

    1 Meatstick tease from Mike.
    2 Phish debut.

  • Standing on the Super Moon – Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration at Tanglewood, June 22nd

    Symphonies do not typically lend themselves to improvisation, a trademark of Jerry Garcia and his performances with the Grateful Dead. So it was going to be interesting to see how Warren Haynes, one of the hardest working men in rock and roll was going to handle the Garcia catalog within the constraints of the Boston Pops Orchestra. The answer was very well, considering there was no rehearsal with the full orchestra other then what transpired the day of the show and at soundcheck, for which I happened to be picnicking on the lawn.

    Original Art by Nate Duval. Pick up at nateduval.com
    Original Art by Nate Duval. Pick one up at nateduval.com

    I attended the show with my tour buddy of many years, Kim, along with her family. Kim is a classically trained music teacher so I was going to rely on her opinion on how well the musicians did! Or so I thought. Kim’s biggest critique: She wanted more Warren as he was a little low in the mix. I argued that this wasn’t the Warren Haynes show but his interpretation of Jerry Garcia’s vast catalog within the settings of an orchestra. Nor were we listening to a rock band like The Allman Brothers, or Haynes’ own Gov’t Mule where he can let it rip. Shall I say I was looking for a refined performance? I argued that his guitar and his voice were just two instruments within the orchestra. Kim made note that one item not typically found in an orchestra was a trap set and I felt likewise about the four string electric bass. We also had vocals from Warren and two back up singers, Alecia Chekour and Jasmine Muhammad, ala the Jerry Garcia Band. The Joshua Light Show was another atypical appearance with the symphony.

    Keith Lockhart, Conductor of the Pops, took to the stage with wearing a tye-dye shirt while Warren was a little more formal. No tux for him, but he was wearing a suit coat on a very muggy night. He also was playing Wolf, one of Jerry’s own personal guitars designed by former Alembic employee Doug Irwin. Wolf was of the guitars that Garcia allegedly bequeathed to Irwin that wound up being involved in a dispute with the Grateful Dead organization on who actually had the ownership of the guitars. When the lawyers were paid, Irwin got to keep Tiger and Wolf; when both guitars were sold in 2002, Wolf garnered $700,000! Not a bad chunk of change, considering Jerry Garcia paid $1,500 for it. How the guitar wound up back within the control of Garcia’s estate I was not able to track down, but Trixie (Theresa) Garcia authorized the use of Wolf and approved of the symphonic celebrations. Down in the pit, my friend PFossilman Phil noted there was a big burly guy probably there to protect the guitar!!

    We spent the first Set in our seats in the shed where we had a jumbo screen right in front of us so I was able to see the setlist which the cameras captured many times, much to the chagrin of the dude sitting behind me who kept shrieking, “Why did they have to show it!” and “Please don’t show it again!” As I mentioned, the sound was a little subdued in the shed so we stayed on the lawn for Set 2. I was able to lay on our blanket on the lawn under the giant Super Moon, which Warren made reference to during “Standing on the Moon”, close my eyes and take in all the notes and movements. It was magical to hear songs I’ve heard so many times, including the distinctive sound ‘wah wah’ of Wolf echo across the Tanglewood lawn. Some old time deadheads thought it a sacrilege that anyone other then Garcia should be playing Wolf.

    All the songs were from the Grateful Dead repertoire except for “Russian Lullaby”,  a song that was originally written by composer Irving Berlin, which Jerry performed with his Jerry Garcia Band. The “Terrapin Station/Slipnot/Terrapin Reprise” segment lent itself best to the full symphony with its big notes and crescendos. Kim mentioned that the full orchestra was light in the middle of most songs and seemed to be more in the mix on the openers, closers and the band interludes. It would be interesting to know how long it took the Pops to score the music for the various instruments as there are definitely pieces that can be improved upon as far as making bolder use of the horns, percussion, strings etc…

    I encourage you to give a listen and experience the show for yourself as everyone will have their own opinion. Warren and the Boston Pops received many standing ovations throughout the show. I enjoyed a family outing listening to some of my favorite tunes. Although I wouldn’t chase the performances from stop to stop, I would go attend another show to see how another symphony handles the Garcia catalog.

    While a recording of the Tanglewood show has yet to surface, here is Warren’s performance with the National Symphony Orchestra at The Wolf Trap in Vienna, Virginia on June 26th. We will update this post as recordings surface.

    Set I: Tuning, Dark Star, Bird Song, Crazy Fingers, Russian Lullaby/Band/Interlude, Scarlet Begonias/Band/ Interlude, Shakedown Street, Morning Dew

    Set II: Mission in the Rain*, High Time^, Uncle Johns Band/Band/Interlude, West LA FadeAway, Standing on the Moon, Drums, Lady with a Fan/Terrapin Station/SlipKnot/Terrapin Reprise

    Encore: Ship of Fools

    * only one verse

    ^ not on official set list