The day of the dead saw the demise of one Phish Halloween tradition and the birth of something completely different. Rather than play another band’s album as a musical costume, Phish opted to interpret a rare cut from the Disney collection – Chilling Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House (1964), turning a 25 minute sound effects album into a 65 minute demonstration in improvised interpretation.
The result was one of the most talked about nights of Phish, not only for the performance that was experienced, but the potential of what was to come the next two nights and over their upcoming New Years run in Miami.
The first of three sets was bookended with haunted numbers, an opening sequence of “Buried Alive > Ghost” and a funk filled “Wolfman’s Brother” to close it out, steadily building the anticipation for the grand mystery of what this Chilling Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House set would end up being.
The stage and lighting were well done, per usual. The word in the casino was that the Cirque du Soleil show at MGM Grand, KÀ, was not in production that night, meaning the elaborate stage performances that Phish has become known for at their larger events would be accompanied by some of Vegas’ best. Phish began their set with “The Haunted House” inside of a haunted house that was pushed out onto a stage filled with smoke and a graveyard. An audio-visual highlight, “The Fuse” showed a slow burning fuse across the front of the haunted house which built the audience to froth and a jam that is hopefully heard in Miami. When the fuse went out, the walls from the house blew down and it was game on – the band was dressed in white tuxedos with ghoulish makeup, playing on top of this haunted house. The cheers were defeaning.
During “Dogs” the audience, naturally, howled along with the pre-recorded barks and screams and the band worked into a jam that could re-emerge in “I Saw it Again.” “Timber” was the first really spooky song of the night while “Your Pet Cat”, like all songs on the album, were introduced by Esther, a graveyard resident who kept the interpretation of the album true to the original by including the original narration.
The spaciest jam of the night, “Shipwreck”, was full of weirdness and had the deepest jam, in the vein of “Sand”, a looming threat in Set 3. “The Unsafe Bridge” became a Pulp Fiction-esque surf rocker while both dark and foreboding.
“The Chinese Water Torture” ended up being the song that sounded most like an above-standard Phish-jam while “The Birds” got deep and heavy and gave the crowd a gift in the form of Esther’s pre-recorded “They Attack!” serving as both a catalyst and bridge to the jams that developed. The set was ending on such a high note when “Martian Monster” followed “The Birds” with its own sound snipper with ‘Your Trip is Short’. Repeated over and over, the crowd caught on quickly during a 10 minute groove that never let up.
I look forward to finding out how this album came to the band’s attention and how their discussion of how to play this set developed, as well as how the night was produced and choreographed. Those who put the show together command respect for contributing such a major component to evening.
The third set kept the energy flowing, starting with “Punch You in the Eye > Golden Age > Tweezer > Heavy Things”, all of which flowed together seamlessly. Guyute was greeted with cheers for its rarity while “Sand” gave us the longest jam of the weekend, clocking in at 18 minutes and segued seamlessly into “Tweezer Reprise”. An encore of Leonard Cohen’s “Is this what you Wanted” referenced ghosts of a relationship haunting a house, and doubling as a question to difficult to please Phish fans. Page McConnell broke out the keytar for an appropriate “Frankenstein” cover that ended the night.
The introduction of brand new improv, a counterbalance to last year’s brand new album Wingsuit (later released in June as Fuego) was more than welcome by fans – there was no ambivalence here as nearly all saw this for what it was: Phish doing the unexpected and appealing to the pleas of fans who seek a greater degree of improvisational jamming.
We all won in Vegas with Phish. Each night kept getting better and we had reminders on the 1st and 2nd of November with some choice teases and jams. Never a dull moment to be had, Phish connected early with a surprise roundhouse and we enjoyed the bewilderment that followed through the bold choice of Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House.
Set 1: Buried Alive>Ghost, Scent of a Mule, Sample in a Jar, Reba, 46 Days, Big Black Furry Creature from Mars, Lawn Boy, Saw It Again>Tube, Wolfman’s Brother
Set 2: The Haunted House, The Very Long Fuse, The Dogs, Timber, Your Pet Cat, Shipwreck, The Unsafe Bridge, The Chinese Water Torture, The Birds, Martian Monster
Set 3: Punch You In the Eye>Golden Age>Tweezer->Heavy Things, Guyute, Sand->Tweezer Reprise
Encore: Is this What you Wanted, Frankenstein
October 23 saw the early release of V/H/S Viral, the third installment of the V/H/S film series, which has been praised by horror fans everywhere. But how does a horror series such as this strike lightning three times?
The Doobie Brothers Southbound features some of country music’s legendary performers such as Vince Gill, Toby Keith, Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton, and Sara Evans, with some of today’s most talented newcomers, such as The Zac Brown Band, Hunter Hayes, Chris Young, Casey James, Tyler Farr,
Opening the first set on a bare, black stage, the three piece band treated the mostly-Gen-X crowd to seven songs. Six of those songs were released in the 1990s, including the popular “My Name is Mud” and “Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver.” Les Claypool, the band’s bassist and lead singer, explained that they had received some feedback on social media that fans were ‘sick of’ Primus performing “Jerry was a Race Car Driver” repeatedly at shows. The Albany crowd was clearly not among the complainers; they were disappointed. They recovered though, as many of them came to see the second set.
Performing all 14 compositions in order, Primus’s distinctive sound heightened the dark, scary elements of the music, emphasizing some of the more ominous parts of the film. Claypool put down his bass guitar for many of the songs, relying instead on the resonance of the classical bass. The band also welcomed a cellist and percussionist to the stage, which added to the quality of the sound.
New neighbors Maggie (Melissa McCarthy) and son Oliver (
Lieberher stands out more and more as the film progresses and reminded me of Abigail Breslin when she starred in Little Miss Sunshine and stole the show. Lieberher is in the same league as Breslin, shining from the periphery. Poignant quotable observations such as “It’s gonna be a long life” provoke thought and sum up scenes quite well. Oliver is given the task of not only following along with Vincent’s lead – whether to the local bar, the racetrack or the bank, where Vincent stashes track winnings in an account under his ‘grandson’s’ name – but to improve on the situation in the only way a 9-year-old can, through honest observations.
Ouija 
