On August 15th, 2004, on a muddy and overcrowded farm in Coventry, Vermont, Phish played what everyone thought would be their last notes together. The song was “The Curtain With,” and it ended on a prolonged ambient drone. The music died down tenuously, though it was strangely appropriate that they not go out with a bang, and the band seemed as reluctant as the audience to really truly let Phish be over with. In the years that followed, phans moved to other bands, be they the Disco Biscuits, String Cheese Incident, moe., and any number of other up-and-coming jambands. Meanwhile, a whole new drove of Phish fans began to form. Kids started going to college, getting stoned, and having their own moments with the quartet.
It’s not as though the world was without Phish-y music, though: all four members went on to enjoy their own solo work: Trey Anastasio, Page McConnell, and Mike Gordon have all put out solo albums at one time or another, and Jon Fishman played with a number of bands. In fact last year’s Rothbury festival just happened to feature three of them (Page was not in attendance), and so attendees were treated with a sort of mini reunion. But, of course, Phish is clearly the only thing that will do when one is looking for Phish. And so, it was no surprise that phantasytour.com, arguably the central hub for Phisheads (as well as several other jambands) to convene, completely crashed and burned under the extreme traffic that ensued as rumors of Phish’s reunion began to really pick up steam. And then in October, after having performed at their former tour manager’s wedding, the announcement came: Phish would be getting back together, starting with a three-night stint at the Hampton Coliseum, in Virginia, March 6, 7, and 8, 2009.
Now, the Hampton Coliseum is a bit of a storied venue for this band. They have performed there fifteen times, including Hampton Comes Alive in 1998, and their first return show after a hiatus in 2003. Phish always seems to bring their best game to the Mothership, so it’s no surprise that it would be the place for them to begin anew once again.
Tickets for Hampton sold out literally within seconds, much to the chagrin of yours truly, and many were unwilling to pay the five-hundred dollar price that scalpers were pushing for. That said, LivePhish.com was kind enough to provide the soundboards of each show for free within hours of the shows being done. In addition, fan sites set up live streams of fairly high-quality, so those who couldn’t be there could enjoy a “No Spoilers” stream of the concert live from their own computers. A number of Phish reunion parties undoubtedly took place.
Phish has since done an entire tour, which just finished this past Sunday, and musically they have far surpassed pretty much anything that took place in March, but in the interest of a full retrospective, let’s have a look at some of the highlights of what went down.
March 6, 2009
Set I
Fluffhead
The Divided Sky
Chalkdust Torture
Sample In A Jar
Stash
I Didn’t Know
Oh Kee Pa Ceremony >
Suzy Greenberg
Farmhouse
NICU
Horn
Rift
Train Song
Water In The Sky
The Squirming Coil
David Bowie
Set II
Backwards Down The Number Line
Tweezer
Taste
Possum
Theme From The Bottom
First Tube
Harry Hood
Waste
You Enjoy Myself
Encore
Grind
Bouncing Around The Room
Loving Cup
If this seems like a lengthy setlist, it’s because that’s exactly what it is. Rather than throwing down lengthy exploratory jams, Phish used Hampton as an opportunity to give the fans pretty much any song they would want to hear. And what song did phans want to hear the most? That would be “Fluffhead.” See, “Fluffhead” has been a favorite of Phisheads for the longest time, and yet the band went four years (nine including the hiatus years) not playing it, the last time being September 29, 2000, in spite of fans’ best attempts at getting them to play it. So when Trey started noodling the opening passage, the excitement in the Coliseum went even further through the roof. Even not having been there, yours truly couldn’t help but shiver joyously as the crowd erupted in ecstasy as they realized what they were hearing. It should be said that “Fluffhead” is a pretty difficult tune, too: Phish loves their prog, and this song has some pretty complex rhythmic work going on. Even in just one song of eighty-five or so (over three nights), people were able to tell what Phish’s intentions were. This wasn’t four has-beens just touring around for the money – they were ready to bring just as much musicality to 2009 as they did fifteen years ago.
Fluffhead: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Fluffhead’s peak: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
The rest of the evening was relatively innocuous, by Phish standards. We got some great tunes out of the evening, sure, but like I said, it wasn’t particularly adventurous or anything like that. The band did give a performance of “Backwards Down The Number Line,” a cut from their upcoming new album, which had previously never been heard, which was pretty cool, though to be fair the entire album has since been previewed throughout the summer – not to mention the band’s tendency to try out new songs in a live setting before putting them in the studio anyway – so I wouldn’t chalk that up as one of Phish’s greatest live moments. “Bouncing Around The Room” was a pretty perfect encore, a whimsical and relatively simple song, and also a very content one. Trey even cracked up a little at one point.
I’d like to say more about Hampton, but really, the rest of the tour has pretty much overshadowed the run by now. Suffice it to say, it was about as great as phans could have hoped for. Really, the “Fluffhead” alone was worth the price of admission. It was a pretty severe bummer to those who hadn’t managed to get in to see the shows, but we on the outside were at least partially contented to sit back knowing Phish was back, and would be in full-on touring mode soon enough.
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