Category: Jam/Progressive

It took 13 consecutive shows for Phish to perform 237 songs at Madison Square Garden, with not a single repeat among them. It will take far longer than this Baker’s Dozen of shows to fully grasp the historic nature of this run of shows by Vermont’s famous quartet.

On the final night of Phish’s Baker’s Dozen of shows at The Garden, a Pink Glazed donut was the flavor du jour, tickets were nearly impossible to acquire and fans flocked inside early to get ready for the last night of bustouts, first time covers and extended jams that have been the hallmark of Phish’s residency. While the donut flavor did not directly correlate to anything performed during the show, the audience and band were both glazed with joy, reaching the end of this unprecedented run of shows.

The first set of the evening featured songs phans chase, including “Dogs Stole Things,” “Ha Ha Ha,” “Camel Walk,” and “Sanity,” among others. Vida Blue’s “Most Events Aren’t Planned” was a surprise cover, one of a handful that Phish learned in advance of the run. The long awaited bustout of Hendrix’s “Izabella” left many flat-footed with the original intro preceding the stand alone set closer, but once Trey kicked into familiar riff, the crowd cheers began to arise while some stood in disbelief and others with jaws dropped, as the cover shelved for 19 years finally made an appearance in the 25th set of the run.

Set 2 began with “Simple” which wandered past the 25 minute mark, nearly matching the Northerly Island jam from July 14, kicking off a five song set. The new tune “Rise/Come Together” had a powerful, unifying message tied within the ascending rocker, and was greeted by fans with cheers as the “Rise up…. Come Together” lyrics were matched with Chris Kuroda’s growing light show. Bowie’s “Starman” followed, only the second version since The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars was covered in full last fall in Las Vegas.

“You Enjoy Myself” finally arrived, with all the pent up energy you would expect after nearly 2000 minutes of music, and the release on the lyric “Boy” was as powerful as it’s ever been. Prior to the vocal jam, Mike began to tease the “Izabella” bass line and instead of the usual vocal jam, Trey put his guitar back on and, began to jam back into “Izabella” on more time, one of those ‘Holy shit’ moments that kept happening night after night. The set was capped with The Rolling Stones’ “Loving Cup,” a perfect ending to the high energy, jam filled set.

For the encore, Trey choked back tears as he began Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again,” which was followed by Page leaving his key rig while the band kicked back into a jam on “Lawn Boy” that was last heard on July 25, jam-filled donut night. Page told the crowd “A lot of people have been asking me if this is still ‘Lawn Boy’…. It is,” referencing a fan made shirt that appeared only days after the half hour version of the typically standard three minute lounge singer tune.

The laughs that erupted from the audience were due in part to the band being in on the joke and the audience/band interaction solidified as the run came to a close. Page sang a few bars of “Lawn Boy” and while he retreated to his rig, Mike and Fishman laid down the opening bass and drums to “Weekapaug Groove” to fake out the audience (there would be NO repeats this run) before the final release of “Tweezer Reprise” was finally laid out for the fans.

Phish had done it – 13 consecutive shows, no repeats, over 200,000 tickets sold over the course of the run, and a gleeful crowd embracing the joy of the final night of a piece of music history. But most importantly, it was still ”Lawnboy.”

Setlist from Phish.net

Set 1: Dogs Stole Things, Rift, Ha Ha Ha, Camel Walk, Crazy Sometimes > Saw It Again > Sanity > Bouncing Around the Room,Most Events Aren’t Planned[1], Bug, I Been Around, Izabella
Set 2: Simple > Rise/Come Together > Starman, You Enjoy Myself, Loving Cup
Encore: On the Road Again > Lawn Boy Reprise > Tweezer Reprise
[1] Phish debut

The final weekend of Phish’s historic Baker’s Dozen, a run of 13 shows at Madison Square Garden, kicked off on Friday to much fanfare and a lot of fingers in the air, with Friday being lemon donut night.

These shows sold out in advance and were a hot and dwindling commodity throughout the week. On Friday, Phish came on stage and performed a cover of Blind Lemon Jefferson’s “See that my Grave is Kept Clean,” before jumping into a standard, but well played take on fan favorite “Punch You in the Eye,” which bled into a fun, short “Party Time.”

“Big Black Furry Creature from Mars,” “Dinner and a Movie,” a rousing and Trey-led “Ocelot,” “Poor Heart,” “Winterqueen” and “Bold as Love” continued what turned out to be a straight rock set without too much in the way of improvisation. Just when it felt that Phish may have laid a clunker set, they dropped into “First Tube,” which had the Garden shaking and crowd going absolutely ballistic heading into setbreak.

To open the second stanza, Phish performed an acapella “Dem Bones,” before leaping into “No Men in No Man’s Land.” A long and spacey jam followed, something Phish has displayed it can do with utmost patience this run. Out of “NMINML” came “Everything in its Right Place,” by Radiohead. There was confusion over what the song was, before word spread that Phish was playing Radiohead. It was well played, if not spectacular.

“What’s the Use?” blended into “Scents and Subtle Sounds,” which featured the most interesting jam of the night, a nearly 17-minute type-II journey that finished when Mike took the lead at the end. A nice and jammed out “Prince Caspian” led directly into “Fluffhead,” and it’s safe to say that the Garden crowd ended the set on the highest of notes. “Frankenstein” served as the encore, which was a fun ending to a rather unspectacular Phish show. But if you place this show in the middle of any typical tour, it will be talked about as a highlight for years to come. That’s how spoiled we have become during these 13 nights.

Setlist via Phish.net

Set 1: See That My Grave Is Kept Clean[1], Punch You In the Eye > Party Time, Big Black Furry Creature from Mars, Dinner and a Movie, Ocelot,Poor Heart, Winterqueen, Bold As Love, First Tube

Set 2: Dem Bones, No Men In No Man’s Land > Everything In Its Right Place[1], What’s the Use? > Scents and Subtle Sounds[2] > Prince Caspian >Fluffhead

Encore: Frankenstein[3]

[1] Phish debut.
[2] No intro.
[3] Page on keytar.

On Night 9 of Phish’s Baker’s Dozen residency, Maple was the donut theme of the night and with that came jams that slowly dripped out from Phish’s tap, leaving 4 nights to go and not a single song repeated thus far.

A tribute to our Maple loving neighbors to the north started the show, with a spotlight on the Canadian flag and one on Trey as he tore into ‘O Canada!’ A dozen songs followed through in the set, with nothing overly ambitious or stretched out like the previous 8 nights but the band dove into their catalog for fan favorites and rarer tunes. Highlights included the upbeat “Daniel Saw the Stone” that felt like a church revival as the lights brightened the entire arena; “Guelah Papyrus” which included Page performing Scott Joplin’s ragtime classic “Maple Leaf Rag” in between sections; “McGrupp” and a firey “Walk Away” capped the set of a full Baker’s Dozen of songs.

Set 2 brought out a usual jam vehicle “Golden Age” that stretched for 20 minutes and could have been the jam of the night if it were not for the latter half of “Swept Away” > “Steep” which took a spacey spin for 12 minutes and grew into an improvisational jam that has been a staple of the residency. Growing from “Steep” was a trio of heaters: “46 Days,” the long awaited (but not slow built) “Piper” followed by “Possum” made for 35 minutes of firey rock n roll to cap the show. An encore of Bowie’s “Rock and Roll Suicide” didn’t have the emotional impact that the debut during Halloween in Las Vegas had, but Trey singing the Ziggy Stardust coda still packs an emotional punch.

Holes is the theme for tonight’s 10th show of the Baker’s Dozen. Could Phish pay tribute to the late Chris Cornell with “Black Hole Sun?”

Setlist via Phish.net

Set 1: O Canada[1], Crowd Control, Sugar Shack, When the Circus Comes, Daniel Saw the Stone, Army of One, The Wedge, Guelah Papyrus, Maple Leaf Rag[2], Guelah Papyrus, McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters > Limb By Limb > Walk Away

Set 2: Golden Age, Leaves, Swept Away > Steep > 46 Days > Piper > Possum

Encore: Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide

[1] Phish debut; instrumental.
[2] Phish debut; performed solo by Page