Live Phish 13- 10/31/94Phish had played Halloween shows before 1994, but it was this year that their true Halloween tradition started. For the '94 and '95 shows, they let fans vote on an album; whichever one garnered the most votes, they would perform it, live, on Halloween as a 'musical costume', sandwiched between the usual two sets of music. For the '94 show, The White Album by the Beatles won.
The '94 show is legendary for a few notable reasons. The first is that it was, up to that point, the longest Phish concert ever. With the summer festivals and the epic nine hour set at the turn-of-the-millennium Big Cypress, this was surpassed. Regardless, the '94 show is also memorable for the lengthy first set, with a Halloween-themed story during 'Harpua' about playing a Barney the Dinosaur record backwards to hear Black Sabbath's 'War Pigs.' As for the performance of that Beatles double album masterpiece, well, it's done pretty well. Phish performed the songs faithfully, adding their own twist here or there ('Glass Onion' references a Phish song or two instead of the Beatles; 'Don't Pass Me By' is played faster; 'Helter Skelter' features a sweet barbershop harmony on the "I got blisters on me fingers!!" yell) to try to make it their own. Oh, and drummer Jon Fishman got naked on stage during the portion of 'Revolution 9' where Yoko says "If you become...naked."
The third set begins with a tease of Led Zeppelin's 'Custard Pie', jokingly suggesting that they were about to perform the Zep's double album Physical Graffiti. Otherwise, though, I would argue that this show is mostly noteworthy for the sheer spectacle and unique-ness of the event. Musically, the band has played much better shows. Certainly the first set 'Reba' is rightfully considered one of the best ever, and there is tight/interesting playing as per the typical '94 show, but improvisationally, there isn't a lot going on here.
The '94 show is legendary for a few notable reasons. The first is that it was, up to that point, the longest Phish concert ever. With the summer festivals and the epic nine hour set at the turn-of-the-millennium Big Cypress, this was surpassed. Regardless, the '94 show is also memorable for the lengthy first set, with a Halloween-themed story during 'Harpua' about playing a Barney the Dinosaur record backwards to hear Black Sabbath's 'War Pigs.' As for the performance of that Beatles double album masterpiece, well, it's done pretty well. Phish performed the songs faithfully, adding their own twist here or there ('Glass Onion' references a Phish song or two instead of the Beatles; 'Don't Pass Me By' is played faster; 'Helter Skelter' features a sweet barbershop harmony on the "I got blisters on me fingers!!" yell) to try to make it their own. Oh, and drummer Jon Fishman got naked on stage during the portion of 'Revolution 9' where Yoko says "If you become...naked."
The third set begins with a tease of Led Zeppelin's 'Custard Pie', jokingly suggesting that they were about to perform the Zep's double album Physical Graffiti. Otherwise, though, I would argue that this show is mostly noteworthy for the sheer spectacle and unique-ness of the event. Musically, the band has played much better shows. Certainly the first set 'Reba' is rightfully considered one of the best ever, and there is tight/interesting playing as per the typical '94 show, but improvisationally, there isn't a lot going on here.
Live Phish 14- 10/31/95It says a lot about Phish--and their fans--that rather than the better known Tommy, the choice for the Halloween '95 musical costume was Quadrophenia. A better all around album than Tommy in some people's estimation, Quadrophenia is both more ambitious than Tommy and more accessible. Which, really, fits in well with the Phish modus operandi.
As with the '94 show, the first set is full of great playing and Halloween fun, including another 'Harpua' narration about a dream which bassist Mike Gordon had about raccoons (even naming one as 'Rocky', in reference to the song 'Rocky Raccoon' from The White Album) as well as a set opening 'Icculus' in which "evil Halloween spirits" beat up 'The Helping Friendly Book.' With some improvisational meat in the 'Run Like An Antelope' and 'Free', I honestly think this is the best first set of the four Halloween shows.
The Quadrophenia performance is very straightforward. It was during this time in Phish's career that they were trying to write simpler and more direct material, resulting in the release of Billy Breathes in 1996. The band had always struggled to play ballads and at the same time, they were growing in popularity and playing ever-larger venues. So, in that regard, Quadrophenia was like a crash course in how to do both of those things. I'm not overly familiar with Quadrophenia, but it packs as much punch as it does introspective pause. At any rate, the addition of The Giant Country Horns (Phish's sometime backing brass section) makes this performance feel bigger and fuller than it really is.
The third set gets off to a roaring start with an epic 40 minute version of 'You Enjoy Myself.' 1995 was a huge year for Phish, improvisationally speaking, particularly for this song, which saw many "best ever" versions throughout the course of the year. This one gets really spacey and out there, so listener beward. Beyond that, it's a fairly standard set, though the addition of the Horns is always a treat. The encore for the show included an acoustic rendition of The Who's 'My Generation', after which the band ceremoniously trashed their instruments. Nice.
As with the '94 show, the first set is full of great playing and Halloween fun, including another 'Harpua' narration about a dream which bassist Mike Gordon had about raccoons (even naming one as 'Rocky', in reference to the song 'Rocky Raccoon' from The White Album) as well as a set opening 'Icculus' in which "evil Halloween spirits" beat up 'The Helping Friendly Book.' With some improvisational meat in the 'Run Like An Antelope' and 'Free', I honestly think this is the best first set of the four Halloween shows.
The Quadrophenia performance is very straightforward. It was during this time in Phish's career that they were trying to write simpler and more direct material, resulting in the release of Billy Breathes in 1996. The band had always struggled to play ballads and at the same time, they were growing in popularity and playing ever-larger venues. So, in that regard, Quadrophenia was like a crash course in how to do both of those things. I'm not overly familiar with Quadrophenia, but it packs as much punch as it does introspective pause. At any rate, the addition of The Giant Country Horns (Phish's sometime backing brass section) makes this performance feel bigger and fuller than it really is.
The third set gets off to a roaring start with an epic 40 minute version of 'You Enjoy Myself.' 1995 was a huge year for Phish, improvisationally speaking, particularly for this song, which saw many "best ever" versions throughout the course of the year. This one gets really spacey and out there, so listener beward. Beyond that, it's a fairly standard set, though the addition of the Horns is always a treat. The encore for the show included an acoustic rendition of The Who's 'My Generation', after which the band ceremoniously trashed their instruments. Nice.
Live Phish 15- 10/31/96Most Phish fans have their favorite Halloween performance, but it would be hard to argue that any of the four are more important for the band than this one. During the course of '96, the band admittedly struggled with transitioning their improvisational style from frantic, spacey, and experimental rock to a more rhythm based groove/funk style. While this funkier direction wouldn't truly crystalize until 1997, it was with this musical costume performance of Remain In Light by the Talking Heads that things started to shape up.
The first set of this show is suitably Halloween-y, with an opening 'Sanity' that quickly segues into 'Highway To Hell' before settling into 'Down With Disease', which, along with 'You Enjoy Myself', is evidence of the move toward a funkier style. A rare 'Colonel Forbin's Ascent'/'Fly Famous Mockingbird' performance has a narration about a giant David Byrne and an evil mockingbird.
The Remain In Light cover is exceptionally well done. Reportedly the band were exhausted and hadn't rehearsed it as much as they would have liked. Some shakiness is evident in the beginning of 'Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)', but once things get cooking, they never let up. The Giant Country Horns return from the '95 Halloween musical costume along with the addition of percussionist Karl Perrazo, then with Santana. While remaining faithful to the album, Phish still manages to add their new sense of groove, best demonstrated by the sublime segue from 'Houses In Motion' into 'Seen and Not Seen.' They end with a colossal, experimental version of 'The Overload', adding in loops, vacuum cleaner, an electric drill, and a random roadie saying "where my coffee?!"
Set three has an exuberance that is almost palpable. They knew they had nailed the musical costume and now they could just have fun. A ripping 'Brother' and lengthier-and-funkier-than-usual '2001' (a song the band would continue to stretch out over the course of 1997) set the stage. 'Simple', the star jam vehicle for most of '96, gets a good funky jam before the rest of the set falls into neat place. A 'Frankenstein' encore may seem a bit obvious, but who cares??
The first set of this show is suitably Halloween-y, with an opening 'Sanity' that quickly segues into 'Highway To Hell' before settling into 'Down With Disease', which, along with 'You Enjoy Myself', is evidence of the move toward a funkier style. A rare 'Colonel Forbin's Ascent'/'Fly Famous Mockingbird' performance has a narration about a giant David Byrne and an evil mockingbird.
The Remain In Light cover is exceptionally well done. Reportedly the band were exhausted and hadn't rehearsed it as much as they would have liked. Some shakiness is evident in the beginning of 'Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)', but once things get cooking, they never let up. The Giant Country Horns return from the '95 Halloween musical costume along with the addition of percussionist Karl Perrazo, then with Santana. While remaining faithful to the album, Phish still manages to add their new sense of groove, best demonstrated by the sublime segue from 'Houses In Motion' into 'Seen and Not Seen.' They end with a colossal, experimental version of 'The Overload', adding in loops, vacuum cleaner, an electric drill, and a random roadie saying "where my coffee?!"
Set three has an exuberance that is almost palpable. They knew they had nailed the musical costume and now they could just have fun. A ripping 'Brother' and lengthier-and-funkier-than-usual '2001' (a song the band would continue to stretch out over the course of 1997) set the stage. 'Simple', the star jam vehicle for most of '96, gets a good funky jam before the rest of the set falls into neat place. A 'Frankenstein' encore may seem a bit obvious, but who cares??
Live Phish 16- 10/31/98The band took a year off from Halloween shenanigans, largely due to tour scheduling. However, it's fascinating to see the development of the band from that '96 show to now. 1997 saw the fruits of the labor of 1996; now, the band was effortlessly playing funky music and ballads in large arenas, and it sounded great. In fact, '97 is widely considered one of their 'best ever' years so it's kind of a shame that they didn't perform a musical costume that year. And while many people seem to love 1998, I think, generally speaking, that it's a sloppy and uninspired year. My evaluation of a great Phish show is based on the improvisation, and in that regard, '98 is mostly a letdown. The funk of '97 continued, but by the summer tour it had become watered down and a strange combination of funk, ambient, and arena rock became the jamming style for the year. It's not that I dislike this style, it's just that I don't feel like improvisation was the focus for '98.
The first set is a good example of '98 Phish, with a flashy setlist and interesting segues but little true 'meat.' The 'Sneaking Sally Through The Alley' jam and subsequent segue into 'Chalk Dust Torture' is novel, but, unfortunately, sounds like many other '98 jams. In the end, this is a well played but surprise-free set, and there's absolutely nothing Halloween-y about it. In my opinion, it's the weakest of the first sets of the Halloween shows.
For the musical costume this year, Phish chose Loaded by the Velvet Underground. Band members have admitted in interviews that they couldn't decide on an album to perform this year, so they chose Loaded because they were familiar with some of the songs. I think this is indicative of the borderline-laziness of Phish during this era. You get the impression that they weren't taking their music especially seriously, and I would argue shows suffered for it. This musical costume also happens to be the most Phish-ified one, with the band adding improvisational jams in places where there were none, beefing up a 40 minute album into something almost twice as long. This is oddly thrilling, I have to admit, because Loaded isn't an especially good fit for Phish in its original form, at least in my estimation. It's certainly the oddest choice, since Loaded is a straightforward, unchallenging, and yet great rock and roll album. Lou Reed has flat out admitted that Loaded was his bald faced attempt to write pop songs to appeal to radio, while the album itself is a strange beast since it didn't have the Velvets's drummer, Maureen Tucker, on it at all, and featured Doug Yule more prominently than he should have been. Yule, of course, would take over the band after Reed left, which still irks fans to this day. But I digress. If Phish had done a straight reading of Loaded, it would have been boring. Much as fans might not agree, they don't excel at this kind of straight-forward, carefree rock and roll.
While I may be mixed on the musical costume, the third set for '98 is easily my favorite of the four Halloween shows. It's such a strange set for the year and for Phish in general, with a Halloween-appropriate 'Wolfman's Brother' that goes all over the place for a half hour before segueing into a decent 'Piper', a song that would see much greater performances in the years to come. The 'Ghost' that follows is incredibly bizarre. I'm positive that it's the shortest 'Ghost' ever, and those at the show claim that guitarist Trey Anastasio made a signal to the rest of the band and walked off. No one is sure whether he was angry about something or if it was the venue's curfew.
The Live Phish release includes a disc of music from the 10/30/98 show. This is actually some really good stuff, though it's funny because the band played it with the idea that their first show was performed for a Halloween dance on 10/30/83. Unfortunately, later it would be revealed that their first show actually took place in December '83. So much for a 15th anniversary.
If you're a fan of the band, you really owe it to yourself to get these shows. Even if you can't find the Live Phish releases, the tapes still circulate and shouldn't be hard to track down. Of the four shows, I would have to say that the '96 one is the best all around. I prefer bits and pieces of all four years but in retrospect the '94 show is probably my least favorite. It's a special and unique show for its time, but there's just not enough improvisational meat for me to hang my hat on.
Anyway, Happy Halloween everybody!! Whiskey Pie will return to normal programming on Monday. If you want to check out all of my month-long Halloween posts, just click the 'Halloween' tag at the bottom of this one to get them all.
The first set is a good example of '98 Phish, with a flashy setlist and interesting segues but little true 'meat.' The 'Sneaking Sally Through The Alley' jam and subsequent segue into 'Chalk Dust Torture' is novel, but, unfortunately, sounds like many other '98 jams. In the end, this is a well played but surprise-free set, and there's absolutely nothing Halloween-y about it. In my opinion, it's the weakest of the first sets of the Halloween shows.
For the musical costume this year, Phish chose Loaded by the Velvet Underground. Band members have admitted in interviews that they couldn't decide on an album to perform this year, so they chose Loaded because they were familiar with some of the songs. I think this is indicative of the borderline-laziness of Phish during this era. You get the impression that they weren't taking their music especially seriously, and I would argue shows suffered for it. This musical costume also happens to be the most Phish-ified one, with the band adding improvisational jams in places where there were none, beefing up a 40 minute album into something almost twice as long. This is oddly thrilling, I have to admit, because Loaded isn't an especially good fit for Phish in its original form, at least in my estimation. It's certainly the oddest choice, since Loaded is a straightforward, unchallenging, and yet great rock and roll album. Lou Reed has flat out admitted that Loaded was his bald faced attempt to write pop songs to appeal to radio, while the album itself is a strange beast since it didn't have the Velvets's drummer, Maureen Tucker, on it at all, and featured Doug Yule more prominently than he should have been. Yule, of course, would take over the band after Reed left, which still irks fans to this day. But I digress. If Phish had done a straight reading of Loaded, it would have been boring. Much as fans might not agree, they don't excel at this kind of straight-forward, carefree rock and roll.
While I may be mixed on the musical costume, the third set for '98 is easily my favorite of the four Halloween shows. It's such a strange set for the year and for Phish in general, with a Halloween-appropriate 'Wolfman's Brother' that goes all over the place for a half hour before segueing into a decent 'Piper', a song that would see much greater performances in the years to come. The 'Ghost' that follows is incredibly bizarre. I'm positive that it's the shortest 'Ghost' ever, and those at the show claim that guitarist Trey Anastasio made a signal to the rest of the band and walked off. No one is sure whether he was angry about something or if it was the venue's curfew.
The Live Phish release includes a disc of music from the 10/30/98 show. This is actually some really good stuff, though it's funny because the band played it with the idea that their first show was performed for a Halloween dance on 10/30/83. Unfortunately, later it would be revealed that their first show actually took place in December '83. So much for a 15th anniversary.
If you're a fan of the band, you really owe it to yourself to get these shows. Even if you can't find the Live Phish releases, the tapes still circulate and shouldn't be hard to track down. Of the four shows, I would have to say that the '96 one is the best all around. I prefer bits and pieces of all four years but in retrospect the '94 show is probably my least favorite. It's a special and unique show for its time, but there's just not enough improvisational meat for me to hang my hat on.
Anyway, Happy Halloween everybody!! Whiskey Pie will return to normal programming on Monday. If you want to check out all of my month-long Halloween posts, just click the 'Halloween' tag at the bottom of this one to get them all.
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