I have been thinking about how to write about a two show run with Phish. Do I pick apart every song, hit the highs and lows, do a sociological analysis of the entire phenomenon? So many choices. I'll probably just mix it up a bit. Cincinnati is a town of my youth with strong memories of Cincinnati Reds games, Rock n Roll concerts and nights of heavy drinking with my old college roommate. Things there have changed quite a bit, Riverfront Stadium is no more, newer buildings have risen. This creates a weird jumble in my brain as I walk to the show.
I arrive at the Millennium Hotel to meet up with my friends and it is awash in Phish fans. I can see why recession hit cities must love Phish coming through as there are lots of out-of-towners who come to spend their cash. As we walk to the elegantly named U.S Bank Arena, I realize that downtown Cinci has been overtaken as well. While there was a fun aspect of this (finding a good veggie burrito on the way for instance) it was a bit freaky seeing throngs of people buying Nitrous Oxide balloons on the street a few hundred yards from the venue. My first thought was that the economic hard times must have hit Cinci so hard that the powers that be do not what to alienate Phish from coming here. Perhaps the police were just clueless.
It is strange being here also because it brings back memories of seeing shows in this place as a teenager. Probably my favorite Rock'N'Roll concert from the Seventies was seeing the Who here in December, 1975. The Who was one of the three biggest bands of that time (along with Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones). This was the era of "Festival" seating, meaning that you were fighting for your best spot. With popular acts, this got quite scary. At the Who show in 1975, a high school friend, Karen Blake, who did not ride to the show with us was hanging out with me and my bunch. She was a lovely and petite lass, who I would have asked out if I had not been so painfully shy at that time. When the few doors opened, there was a mad push for the doors and it got seriously scary, especially for this 5'2", 110 pound girl surrounded by mostly drug and alcohol addled guys. We did survive and saw a rock show for the ages, complete with ringing ears for the next two days. And yes, this is the same venue where 11 Who fans were crushed to death in 1979. I was not at that show but knew folks that were. Ghostly memories aside, I was thankful that Phish Phans are a decidedly more agreeable bunch than Who fans from the 70's.
The first set on Friday really encapsulates what is great about Phish. 1. Rock'n'Roll (Chalkdust Torture), 2. Dance Trance (The Moma Dance), 3. Beautiful Art Rock (The Divided Sky), 4. Shuffling Roots Rock (Alaska), 5. Upbeat Country Rock (Water in the Sky), 6. Ballad (Fast Enough for You), 7. New aged tinged art rock (Time Turns Elastic), 8. Funky nonsense (Gotta Jibboo), 9. Prog rock anthem (Fluffhead). The band seemed to be saying to us, yes we can do all of these things, and well. I do want to comment about how the set finished. This was the third time I have heard Time Turns Elastic. It's a long song (17 minutes) and starts slowly and quietly. After the ballad, the crowd seemed quite restless for the beginning (bathroom break, beer run song). I was determined to give it a close listen as I was still unsure about how much I liked it. By the end, they had built to a big climax, winning over me and engaging the crowd. Gotta Jibboo kept up the intensity with some killer bass work by Mike Gordon. Fluffhead maintained that intensity through it's fifteen minutes and had the crowd on it's feet shouting Fluffhead with all it's might.
The second set continued the variety-fest. Punch You In The Eye is not always played to open a set though, by chance, it has been in the three of four times I have seen it. For me, it is the quintessential opener, short, intense, and in itself encapsulating the variety that Phish brings - thumping, visceral bass opening, piano fueled rumba dance in the middle, Santana-esque clean concise electric guitar solos. Tweezer is as monolithic as songs come for Phish, thumping bass and rhythm guitar and piano as a percussion instrument. Light as the name implies is as light as Tweezer is heavy. Light is well played and uplifting. Back on the Train is a straight forward up tempo rock song. Possum, country rock with the expectation of big guitar climaxes at the end of a linear progression delivered well. Slave to the Traffic Light, is a 180 shift yet again, broad, slow, delicate. You Enjoy Myself is a generous set closer. What can you say about this unique musical invention? Fiendishly difficult composed opening, visceral build to an enigmatic climax, nonsense lyrics, synchronized trampoline jumping over a keyboard solo and an improvised vocal jam to close the set.
The encore underscores my theme of variety being the spice of life. Joy is a wistful ballad, Golgi Apparatus a rousing crowd pleaser complete with Flamenco guitar climax and Tweezer reprise with it's visceral build to a big stomping crescendo.
Overall excellent if not transcendent (but you can't experience that all the time or it would not be thus).
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
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