NYS Music 20​13

Tag: MSG

  • Widespread Panic cap off 2013 Fall Tour in Syracuse and New York City

    In the Northeast, we are a bit spoiled with more than our share of regularly touring bands to see on a frequent basis. Phish and moe. play in these parts plenty, and with all the festivals, we get to see a wide selection of bands from across the country, some of whom tour each year to satiate their fan’s musical needs. There is one band, however, that doesn’t visit nearly as often as some would like, and aside from a sit-in friendly performance at Mountain Jam in June, hasn’t played Upstate New York since 2008 and New York City since 2011.

    Widespread Panic, the yang to Phish’s yin in the jamband world, are more at home in other parts of the country than the Northeast, as much of their following derives from the Southeast, Mountain West and Midwest, similar to Phish having a base in the Northeast with strong followings throughout the rest of the country. The only difference is that Phish doesn’t play the Southeast quite often, akin to Widespread not giving the Northeast as much love on a regular basis. The bands are opposite sides of the same coin: Phish playing more jazz-based improvisation from their songs, while Panic take a blues/rock detour from their compositions and covers. But both bands have had historic years in 2013, and at nearly the same age, they are reaching yet another peak in their careers. While both have been beset by events that could have spelled the end for other bands, they pushed through and found their sound once again, with audiences steadfast and committed to the group all the while.

    It’s an easy connection to make between the two, especially if you’re a fan of both bands. The parallels exist and can be found as far back as their origins on college campuses on either end of the eastern seaboard, as well as their appearances on H.O.R.D.E. tour back in the early 1990s. And while Phish and Panic have their distinct attributes, they make for a knockout 1-2 punch that made the autumn in New York and the Northeast stand tall above any other year in recent memory.

    Starting in Syracuse on November 14th, Widespread Panic returned to the Landmark Theatre for the first time since November 2001. With a packed crowd and impressive light and visual show, curious and avid fans alike filled downtown Syracuse and the 85 year-old venue for a night of southern blues and jams. Three strong rockers open the show – “Tall Boy,” “Pigeons” and “Who do you Belong to?,” setting the stage for the night, one where the audience found all the reason to wonder why it took this band 12 years to play the historic Landmark Theater once again.

    “You Should Be Glad,” one of the band’s new songs when they returned from hiatus in 2005, typically crosses the 10 minute threshold, but at 18 minutes, this one fell into a groove quickly and time passed by unknowingly, a hallmark of how easy it is to fall into the rocking jams the sextet produces. The first set was capped by an early Panic tune, “Holden Oversoul,” and retained the rocking blues base that Widespread is known for.

    “Up All Night,” an interesting choice to start off the second set, was extended by guitarist Jimmy Herring before the second set of lyrics could be sung by John Bell. “North,” originally by friend of Panic, Jerry Joseph, set the stage for a jam that took off just as “North” dipped towards completion, but then was off and running on a standalone jam that eventually moved into “Help Me,” a new cover in their extensive catalog, played for only the first time since this past Halloween. The Sonny Boy Williamson II tune, a slow creeping blues number, recalled a mellow “Rollin and Tumblin” meets “Smokestack Lightning,” two songs that could easily fit into the band’s setlist on any given night, in one form or another.

    The metal-lite “Flicker” segued into the deck of 52 ballad “Jack,” which provided a buffer between “Papa’s Home,” erupting with a short drums segment from Todd Nance and Sunny Ortiz in between. Quite powerful and emotional were “I’m Not Alone” and “Radio Child,” which served as more than near-end of set placements; they were a tribute to fan Brian Lee, who passed away earlier that day. Having run Radiochild.org, a site with full length videos of Widespread Panic shows, Brian was a member of the broader online Panic community and for the band to pay tribute to a fallen fan was a true testament to the band’s connection to their following.

    An encore of Beanland’s “1 x 1” and the James Taylor tune “Knockin’ Round the Zoo” followed John Bell’s greeting of the crowd before the encore, saying “Thank you. Hopefully it will not be another 12 years before we come back and visit you again,” which elicited great cheers from the audience. As someone who was there on 11/6/01, let’s hope there are more shows for the Northeast in store in 2014 and beyond.

    Set 1: Tall Boy, Pigeons, Who Do You Belong To?, True To My Nature, The Last Straw > You Got Yours, You Should Be Glad, Sleeping Man, Trouble, Holden Oversoul

    Set 2: Up All Night, North > Help Me, Better Off, Crazy, Flicker > Jack > Papa’s Home > Drums > Papa’s Home, I’m Not Alone, Radio Child, Imitation Leather Shoes

    Encore: 1×1, Knockin’ Round The Zoo

    Download the Syracuse show from Etree

    Two days later, following an equally rare trip to Boston, Widespread Panic closed out their tour in the Theater at Madison Square Garden to a packed house of revelers who knew fair well that this year, and tour in particular, was one not to miss. What is it about jambands and Fall Tours that makes them so unforgettably good and painful to skip?

    The stage was set with an opener of “Diner,” one of the true jam vehicles in their repertoire. “Drinking Muddy Water,” originally by The Yardbirds, segued neatly from “Diner,” making way for the “Rollin and Tumblin”-esque early rock/blues infusion from the British supergroup. Jimmy Herring took the reins to channel Clapton, Page and Beck amid Todd Nance’s lead-the-way drumming. “Barstools and Dreamers,” complete with a ‘Satisfied’ rap, flipped the script and segued strongly into “Machine.” Then the surprise of the night, Motorhead’s “Ace of Spades,” closed the set with JB on vocals and Herring and Schools shredding the tune while a spastic cartoon cricket danced on the skrim behind Nance. Another of the Halloween debut covers, “Ace of Spades” blew the crowd away, leading JB to quip “Be right back with our acoustic set.”

    But there would be none of that in the second set. Instead, a venue that has seen its share of Boxing cards was given a roundhouse with “Protein Drink > Sewing Machine,” two Vic Chesnutt tunes that have added a serious hard rock edge to Widespread Panic since they became a regular part of the rotation a few years ago. After “Saint Ex” and “Pilgrims” mellowed the vibe from the set openers, a tasty sandwich took over for a solid 40 minutes. “Driving Song > Ride me High > Mercy > Bust it Big > Driving Song” found itself wandering from JJ Cale to soulful Panic into a usual treat while in the Big Apple, “Bust it Big,” featuring the line “Rosemary’s Baby is a New York City kid,” from the sharp vocals of the lone New York City kid in the band, JoJo Hermann. Capped off with “Chilly Water,” the show ended on a high note, as nearly all Panic shows do, rocked out and draining every available drop of energy from the musicians.

    The encore was a true treat as well, starting with John Bell softly singing Jimmy Cliff’s “Many Rivers to Cross,” which first appeared on the 2012 Wood Tour and finds an occasional yet perfect placement in the encore slot. “Surprise Valley” followed to give another dose of southern rock to the audience, while a perfect tour-closing number, “End of Show,” found JB on his mandolin to cap the night and a tour for the books.

    Now can we make these Northeast runs a yearly thing?

    Set 1: Diner > Drinking Muddy Water, Greta > Love Tractor, Can’t Get High, Gradle, Thought Sausage > Barstools and Dreamers* > Machine, Ace of Spades

    Set 2: Protein Drink > Sewing Machine, Saint Ex > Pilgrims, Driving Song > Ride Me High > Mercy > Bust It Big > Driving Song, Chilly Water

    Encore: Many Rivers to Cross, Surprise Valley, End of the Show

    * with ‘Satisfied’ rap

    Download the New York City show from Etree

  • Phish at Madison Square Garden, December 31, 2012

    Of the 220 different songs Phish played in 2012, #218 was Ricky Nelson’s “Garden Party”, played on New Years Eve at the World’s Most Famous Arena, perhaps had the most defining chorus to all their phans. The bands opening tune on December 31, 2012 included these first lyrics:

    “I went to a garden party, reminisced with my old friends
    A chance to share old memories and play our songs again
    When I got to the garden party they all knew my name
    But no one recognized me I didn’t look the same.”

    Barring a flux capacitor, no one could have predicted the complete change of direction 3.0 phish took in 2012, let alone from last year’s “Steam” stunt to this year’s golf-themed funked-out classic New Years Eve throwdown into 2013. That juxtaposition from last year’s New Year’s Eve low energy affair that garnered much criticism from the band’s outspoken fanbase to this entire 2012’s stellar record of epic shows appeared to be the impetus behind the band choosing “Garden Party” as their opening number at MSG. Upon entering MSG, phans (some of whom paid as much as $1500+ for a scalped ticket) were greeted with lush green astroturf/grass on the stage and GA floor and perhaps the first time in the band’s 30 year history, people enjoyed lawn seats at an indoor venue.  Complete with sunbathers, croquet, badminton and picnickers, the stage was literally set for a Garden Party. Little did we know however, that an obscure phish-geek-stat-guy- type of song would prove to be the tee box for a golf-themed third set party that ensued in the wee-hours of 2013.

    Artist James Flames created this poster for the three-night run

    Once lyrics were clearly delivered by bassist Mike Gordon, it became obvious why the band chose to start their 3-set throwdown at the Garden with such an poignant, anticlimactic song. However, no one in attendance could have predicted the actual Garden Party that ensued hours later. Phish has always walked the line of music-geekery and headier-than-thou status among jam fans with their setlists. Perpetuating that pervasive purgatory, Phish delivered a masterful setlist for all, satisfying both the jam-centric lovers of “Ghost”, “Piper”, “Sand” and also for phans who love Phish for well-documented New Years’ antics.

    Following “Garden Party”, the band moved into one of their 1.0 staples, “Possum”, which appeared to be specifically chosen for that slot after Garden Party, in response to perhaps, previous phans criticism of the band overplaying the old fave too many times during Summer Tour. Can you imagine? The disgust and outrage! However, this 10+ min Possum was delivered flawlessly and was a great energetic springboard for easily, the band’s most energetic set of the three on New Years Eve. From “Possum”, they went feverishly through Ween’s “Roses are Free”, “Rift” and a thoughtful “Sample in a Jar” that prompted many noteworthy compliments around my section 102 at the Garden. From there, they played “Alaska” and a great “Mike’s Song”, but rather segue into the traditional “Hydrogen>Weekapaug Groove”, the band dropped a rousing  “Walk Away” cover before going into a frenetic, high-paced “Weekapaug” (Perhaps the best MSG version since 1995) that saw Trey Anastasio jumping, spinning his red locks and keeping his vertical head bobbing with his signature “Trey Face” that just continued to whip the Garden crowd into a frenzy. Finally the band wrapped up the 70 min set with an upbeat “Character Zero” that just wet the pallets of everyone in attendance for a dark, funky second set filled with historic jam vehicles from the Vermont quartet.

    The second set began swiftly with crowd favorite “Birds of a Feather”. A rather rudimentary rendition, the band simply spring-boarded that energy into the start of “Ghost”, which would be the last time the band would stop between songs during the second set.  During the next 65 minutes, Phish simply segued between songs playing puppet-master of crescendos with “Ghost>Piper>Light>2001>The Horse->Silent in the Morning>You Enjoy Myself.” The highlights of the set, hands down, were the quickly revved up Piper with early dashes of the epic Vegas 2003 version, and a 2001 that while short (like nearly all 3.0 ‘Sprach’s) had brief, deep concentrations of syncopation. Phish then appropriately slowed it down with a dash of perfectly placed Horse/Silent and gently placed the cherry atop the set with the always anticipated “YEM”, so much so during these 4-night runs that it’s previously prompting the lot acronym “YEMSG.” While typically not always a fan of the concluding YEM ‘Vocal Jam’, this year’s version was eerie and possibly intentionally weird, only foreshadowing the “Bizarro-Golf-Garden Party” that was about to ensue after the 30 min setbreak. During setbreak, the music notably included some gag hints, including Fresh Prince’s “Summertime” with phans energy soaring and crowds singing along.

    Around 11:45 pm, Phish returned for their final notes of 2012 and their first of 2013. It was a perfect 15-minute entertaining reprieve from the sweaty Garden crowd dancing their asses of. It was quite entertaining w/ Trey, Page Mike and a caddie-adorned Jon Fishman hitting tee shots into the crowd.Kicking things off w/ a fun “Party Time” before moving a 27-yr old obscure Phish chant “Kung.” Starting dark and creepy w/ odd lyrics including the lines “Can we stand?…Can we stare? We can stage a run away golf cart marathon!” (Unbeknownst initially to even this old 17 year  jaded vet) Basing this song as this year’s NYE theme (2010 was “Meatstick” and 2011 was “Steam”) Kung allowed the band to unleash a feverish on-stage Garden Party including midgets, dancers, the band hitting foam golf balls into the crow and an aforementioned “golf cart marathon” rapidly moving across the stage and through the backstage MSG tunnels at a frenetic pace.  Following the entire dimpled display, the foursome continued into classic upbeat “Chalkdust Torture” where the band brought us into 2013 with everyone in the garden hugging it out over “Auld Lang Syne.”  Following Auld Lang Syne, Phish capped off the 28th’s “Tweezer” with “Tweezer Reprise”, a great selection to commemorate 2012m considering NBC famously used ‘TweePrise’ as its audio accompaniment for its much heralded Gold-Medal video montage of Michael Phelps. I encourage readers to check out Youtube videos of this gag which includes a powerful “Tweezer Reprise”, complete with female backup vocals, featuring Syracuse’s own Carrie Manolakos.

    Following the ‘Reprise’ is just one more reason to either love Phish for their quirkiness or hate them for breeding setlist thirsty stat geeks. Follow me here: along with the golf-themed “Garden Party” third set, the band also made a point to play golf-themed songs from their catalog and bust-out covers with  “Sand”, “The Wedge” a masterfully played debut cover of Steve Miller’s “Fly Like An Eagle”, a rocking “Wilson” (with a Wilson-logo golf ball appearing on the MSG jumbotron) and a doo-wop version of “Lawn Boy”, before closing out the occasion with the encore of “Driver” (first attempt botched by band has led to online speculation they initially flubbed “Driver” as to try again ala ‘using their mulligan’) and a classic rock-n-roll bustout cover (and first time played the extended rock ballad version) of Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man.” (Many phans also debated whether the song “Par Tee-Time” aka Party Time was also intentional by the band).  When the lights came around 1 am in 2013, the Phish crew had even orchestrated Kenny Loggins’ “I’m Alright” (from Caddyshack) as the departing chorus. Oblivious to many saggy-eyed faithful, it was just one more observation on how this band is still putting the inside-joke on us.

    While the night before was musically my personal favorite show of the four-night run, with 12/28 and 12/29 paling in comparison to the run’s latter shows. But Phish knows it not about how you start, but how you finish. That was evident with the entire 12/31 show including this monster version of “Iron Man” which proved to be historic. In return, the entire sweaty Garden crowd appeared thankful Phish chose such a powerful, energetic, classic song to close out what has been heralded by phans and myself as thee best year in Phish 3.0. The 220th different song of the year, “Iron Man” that Phish played, in some way, symbolized a band that had just wrapped up their 27th show at Madison Square Garden and triumphantly began their 30th year as one of most successful touring acts today: definitely an ‘Iron Man’ feat this day and age.

  • Phish at Madison Square Garden, December 29, 2012

    The opening night of Phish’s New Year’s run left little to be desired. The band came out and eased through a first set, before dropping the defining ‘Wolfman’s Brother’ of the so-called 3.0 era. The second set, well you’ve heard about the second set. There is little to say about it other than it was one of the best sets of Phish I’ve seen in a long time. Understandably, the proverbial bar was set incredibly high for the second of the four shows. With mid-town Manhattan lit up with cheer, lights and lagers, it was an easy stroll into Madison Square Garden, a place that has become a second home of sorts to Phish. The crowd ready, aside from the stragglers staggering in, the quartet opened with a standard ‘Crowd Control’, an uninspired ‘Mound’ and a standard ‘AC/DC Bag’. It wasn’t anything spectacular, but it felt like Phish was getting the opening jitters out. Then came ‘Rock and Roll’, a Velvet Underground tune that Phish has slayed countless times in the band’s career. After the standard part of the song, guitarist Trey Anastasio jumps into the lead, laying down relentless licks over a true rock and roll backing. The ending “It was alright” chants were inspired, and it seemed as if Phish was starting to take this show to a new level.

    Then, BOOM. Sorry for the personal touch, but I love ‘Sugar Shack’. It seemed like it was slightly re-worked, with Anastasio playing a slightly more rhythmic riff under bassist Mike Gordon’s boppy bass line. Anytime Phish plays ‘Sugar Shack’, I go nuts, therefore I suggest you listen to the song instead of me. It’s one of the best songs Gordon has penned. ‘Reba’, a short ‘Halley’s Comet’, ‘Limb by Limb’ and a somewhat extended ‘Wading in the Velvet Sea’ add a softer touch to set. An inspired ‘Bathtub Gin’, with a slow ascension complete with a ‘Suzie Q’ segment, followed by some exploration with Anastasio again taking charge with ferocious licks, closed out a well-played set.

    ‘Golden Age’, a song that debuted in 2009 (A TV On the Radio cover), opened the second set. I am still not sold on this tune, aside from the Superball version (which I believe is a Top-10 3.0 jam) because it just doesn’t do it for me. The jam that came out of it had the fans around me raging, dancing and high-fiving, and was engaging, but I was still high from the ending of Wolfman’s, so maybe I wasn’t listening closely enough.

    ‘Waves’ then bled into ‘Prince Caspian’ before the pace picked up with a tight, fast ‘Boogie On Reggae Woman’. Gordon tears the ending into a meatball-bass free-for-all. ‘Suzy Greenberg’, ‘Bug’ and ‘Cavern’ fill the next few slots before the arena-rocker ’46 Days’ makes an appearance. Again, Anastasio takes the lead and builds up several tension and release riffs. It’s becoming apparent that while Phish isn’t taking many risks on this night, Anastasio has decided he’s going to put that Languedoc to the test by bending and building notes until the place explodes. ‘The Squirming Coil’ started a three-song encore, followed by ‘Grind’ and a rollicking ‘First Tube’.

    This show was pure fun. Tightly played music with some exploration and certainly some guitar lessons from Anastasio. It definitely was different from the first night, but no doubt this show deserves a listen or two or ten. In fact, the energy comes through in the LivePhish recording. Go on a long run and you won’t stop until this show ends. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPT5SkEXhRU?&w=560&h=315]

  • Phish at Madison Square Garden, December 28, 2012

    The moment of exhilaration when the venue lights go down and Phish returns to the stage elicits an unmistakable sound, as a festive and anticipatory crowd awoke from their dormancy to start the third consecutive Holiday run at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Electric waves of cheers scream out, as Trey Anastasio, Page McConnell, Mike Gordon and Jon Fishman walked out on December 28, 2012, to perform ‘Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan” followed by “The Moma Dance”; Phish was back, the best Christmas/Hanukkah present anyone could ask for!

    Phish December 28 2012Floor seating was restricted this year through an alternate entrance, giving ample room to conduct Phish fueled dancing. The warm and happy 20,000 collected inside MSG’s round room hung on each song, waiting for that first big moment of the shows. Each song gave an opportunity that satiated, if not built up, the eager crowd to the point of release; “Funky Bitch” gave Trey a chance to hit the peaks of Son Seals’ accelerated blues number. Page’s “Army of One” was a brief piano-led curveball before the funk of “Tube” descended for a short yet thrilling few minutes. “Stash”, “Kill Devil Falls” and “Free” followed, with each one building up but left fans waiting for that moment when the building would shake from a combination of band and audience. That came in the form of set closer “Wolfman’s Brother”, a 14 minute funk odyssey that set the tone for the second set with Mike Gordon makes synthesizer affects on his bass that sounded more Edgar Winter on “Frankenstein” than anything else. Trey took over mid-jam and led the Type II improvisation that cranked out a jam based on the traditional “Little Drummer Boy”, getting the crowd to respond with a response of “Rum Pa Pa Pum”, amid an up-tempo beat that was far from traditional – if you haven’t danced to a funkified version of “Little Drummer Boy”, you’re missing the potential.

    After a break to catch our breath, meet up with friends and coordinate with friends, the second set opened up with a monstrous version of “Tweezer”, leading to the second six-song set in a row, dating back to the previous show on September 2nd in Commerce City, Colorado. With “Tweezer”, a vehicle arrived for what has led to the greatest jams that Phish has historically played, slowly arriving at the peaks amid Chris Kuroda’s sea of lights. About 12 minutes in, the song falls out of the first jam, serenely settling into a Trey-led jam that finally peaked a minute before dissolving into “Maze.”

    Phish December 28 2012

    “Maze” got down and dirty, with more meandering and exploration from Page on the keys, even sounding like Booker T. Jones for more than a few moments, adding on a few minutes to this stalwart of a tune. Fishman took a minute to play a drum beat similar to “Under Pressure” that Trey identified as “Little Drummer Boy”, leading to a brief reprise and crowd participation and laughs from all, before dipping into “Twist”. This version got so deep into its jam, as it has been prone to do in 2012, that is nearly disappeared from the song proper before reemerging 10 minutes later, like Jaws taking four barrels down and only showing up a short while later with teeth ready for action. Having taken the crowd on a sojourn to improvisation a dark and scary “Little Drummer Boy” jam arose, before the final “WOOOs” brought the song to conclusion.

    Phish December 28 2012

    “Theme From the Bottom” was simply beautiful, and these appearances in the second set are becoming a welcome treat. Trey let loose with some focused jamming, complimented by Page’s grand piano play. And to push the tempo back up towards 11, “Fluffhead” came back to New York! Even though it caught some by surprise, the tune was as incredible and never felt so good mid second set. Every section of this long composition was masterfully played and from the experience of dancing this one out on the floor, it might have been the spark for the rest of the weekend. The elation that “Fluffhead” inspires, especially when you recall that it was the first song back on March 6th, 2009 at Hampton – this version stands up to the long awaited return of Fluffhead and Phish.

    “David Bowie” from Saratoga Performing Arts Center on July 8th is a standout version from 2012 but MSG night 1 may have it beat by a nose. Five minutes in, the jam breaks out and everything from Set 2 that preceded the song was brought to fruition. The four band members on the stage were completely in sync as the builds arose and the curves were thrown, with Trey leading the way into the finale amid start/stop jamming and hitting the adrenalized peak of Bowie.

    Phish December 28 2012

    An encore of “Bouncing Around the Room” and Led Zeppelin’s “Good Times Bad Times” were a decent encore for a well-practiced and dialed in band. There would be no “Tweezer Reprise” in the encore slot this evening – that was going to be saved for a bigger peak later this run. The first of four nights in the books, it was time to head out into New York City and find more adventures for this night. Phish was just getting warmed up. The New Years run is on! Happy New Year!