{"id":707,"date":"2015-08-27T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-08-27T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.nysmusic.com\/2015\/2015\/08\/27\/the-magnaball-drive-in-jam-an-audio-visual-odyssey-phish-style\/"},"modified":"2015-08-27T04:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-08-27T04:00:00","slug":"the-magnaball-drive-in-jam-an-audio-visual-odyssey-phish-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.nysmusic.com\/2015\/2015\/08\/27\/the-magnaball-drive-in-jam-an-audio-visual-odyssey-phish-style\/","title":{"rendered":"Magnaball Drive-In Jam: Phish treat fans to an audio-visual Odyssey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Phish<\/a> has surprised their fans with special, unannounced sets at many of their festivals in the past 19 years. At The Clifford Ball, a flatbed truck drove the band around while they jammed. During The Great Went, the band DJ\u2019d under fake names in a tent for a \u201cDisco Set.\u201d The Lemonwheel featured an hour long ambient set late at night, while Big Cypress had slightly-announced ‘Midnight set’ where the band played for seven hours straight, stretching from the end of the last millennium into the dawn of the new one. IT had The Tower Jam, with the band performing on an air traffic control tower while acrobats danced below and Superball IX had the ‘Storage Jam,’ which sparked a new era of psychedelic jamming and broke new ground. The Drive-In Jam would join all these in the annals of Phish lore.<\/p>\n

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Via unpluggedmusings.wordpress.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Magnaball’s foray into the history of Phish’s special festival sets was the Drive-In Jam and it raised the bar while putting forth a performance on par with the ‘Storage Jam,’ if not exceeded this established upper echelon of improvisation. On a 183 foot movie screen, a wide array of visual treats combined with a progressively growing ambient jam that eclipsed the Lemonwheel by a longshot and morphed into a full on jam for 50 minutes. The Drive-in Set raised the bar for surprise performances and gave fans a treat after the music on the main stage ended an hour prior.<\/p>\n

How can one explain what happened in those 50 minutes and the lead up to the Drive-in Jam performance? For starters, you can watch the video captured by Phun Guy<\/a>\u00a0and judge for yourself what transpired. Add to this a breakdown of what occurred in each ‘segment’ of the Drive-In jam and take a waltz through Phish at the top of their game, more than 30 years into their career.<\/p>\n

Breakdown of the Drive-In Set (times are approximate, based on Live Phish recording time.)<\/a><\/p>\n

0:00 \u2013 8:10
Gentle, airy, spooky feedback with the sound of chains and haunted house noises \u2013 a psychedelic Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House<\/em>. Screams and chimes ala \u201cDance of the Sugarplum Fairies\u201d build on the cosmic sound that develops from the first portion of the jam.<\/p>\n

8:10 \u2013 10:30
Waves and a few bass notes from Mike redirect the jam to fresh territory, an ocean-sound-scape, where some light vocals accompany the developing music.<\/p>\n

\"Phish<\/p>\n

10:30 \u2013 12:30
Trey takes a lead and Fishman is more prevalent in the mix, building towards a jam that could be a Type II jam of any song from this summer \u2013 the epic jams we experienced are found within this portion. All four are synced up now.<\/p>\n

12:30 \u2013 15:30
Trey jumps ahead with some arcing riffs while Fish works the crash cymbals loudly. Page is the captain here \u2013 guiding the band into the grandiose trip through an ambient wormhole. Trey keeps jumping ahead at times, short leaps that propel the jam with the rhythm section building upon already fertile ground.<\/p>\n

15:30 \u2013 17:30
Mike brings the bass to the fore and now we have a change in the tone \u2013 deeper and weirder. Trey pops in with some lighter notes while Page adds in UFO sounds to freak people out. The visual display at this time was practically a trip through an episode of Cosmos<\/em>, minus Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s narrating.<\/p>\n

\"Phish<\/p>\n

17:30 \u2013 22:30
And here comes Fishman! The pace picks up a bit as Mike and Fish are going double time and leaving the ambiance behind. Trey and Page follow suit and we have lift-off. This section of the jam is quite remarkable for the build and peaks throughout the ascent. This is a hyper-space jump via ludicrous speed<\/a>. Fish doesn\u2019t let up on the drums for a second and Trey gets a little nasty towards the end here.<\/p>\n

22:30 \u2013 24:00
Trey wants to get weird, so Mike gets into a new bass groove. A jam that could be found in an odd version of “Catapult” grows while Page adds in some subtle screams; the build is tremendous here. Closeup fractal imagery of the band is seen over the rest of the crazy visual effects.<\/p>\n

\"Phish<\/p>\n

24:00 \u2013 27:00
Fish returns the jam to earth\u2019s orbit. The mild funk that develops thankfully doesn\u2019t fizzle or fade but instead grows into a new jam, one working in deep bass from Mike and spacey Page effects. The jam collapses in a collective heap of Trey and Page.<\/p>\n

27:00 \u2013 29:00
Bells, looping and synth arise and slowly rebuild the jam. Fish pounds the drums to redirect and we\u2019re off once again!<\/p>\n

29:00 \u2013 32:00
With a solar array lighting the screen, another Type II-esque jam develops, eliciting a portion of “Cheap Sunglasses”<\/a> followed by a vocal jam from Mike and Trey. This is a freaky portion of the entire jam and fodder for future late night Freakouts by The Bunny.<\/p>\n

32:00 \u2013 34:30
Some meatballs from Mike as Trey slowly paces forward and new territory being broken in a disjointed area where they slowly reconvene.<\/p>\n

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Magna late night #magnaball<\/a><\/p>\n

A photo posted by NYS Music (@nystatemusic) on

34:30 \u2013 37:00
Trey takes over and we have all four dialed back in. A blissful jam emerges. The visuals of the band projected on the screen are more solid and animated with a touch of tripped out A-Ha<\/a>.<\/p>\n

37:00 \u2013 40:00
As this jam builds it develops into a nearly composed portion that would be a treat to hear again live. Mike and Fish steer the ship while Trey leads the way and Page sets the tone for the jam \u2013 it’s hard to hear this jam and not recoil in amazement.<\/p>\n

40:00 \u2013 43:20
This just keeps getting better and better. Page is now leading the way with Trey and Fish creating interplay for a broader jam to develop that adds layers to the already existing jam \u2013 a meta jam. \u2018Whoa\u2019 vocals emerge midway through then Trey takes command.<\/p>\n

43:20 \u2013 45:30
Trey moves the jam into final section territory, a possibly composed portion of accelerated guitar work to signal a shift, which the others follow perfectly. The jam mellows a bit without flatlining; instead Page adds some synth effects to provide a base.<\/p>\n

45:30 \u2013 46:30
We come towards the close of the Drive-in Jam, all four slowly winding down the jam until it is just a series of beats and feedback played behind the screen.<\/p>\n

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Drive In set #phish #magnaball<\/a> A video posted by NYS Music (@nystatemusic) on