Review: #Phish Jones Beach Nights 1 and 2

All the shows I’ve seen in the great state of New York have been at the top of my list. There is only 3, but I don’t think you will disagree that Clifford Ball and Vernon Downs were fine shows. I didn’t come into Jones Beach expecting the same level of goodness, but I am leaving with confidence that Phish is rebuilding into a form similar to what I loved in the 90s.

We’ve picked up a lot of new visitors over this past week, and all of us who contribute to the site are very thankful and appreciative of your support. I thought it would be helpful to give you my Phish background, so you can keep that in mind while reading my review. Tuesday and Thursday nights were shows #28 and #29. My first show(s) was the Clifford Ball. I saw Halloween ‘96 and ‘98, along with the Dark Side of the Moon show, the Great Went, and Lemonwheel. I have never seen more than 3 shows in a row, but I caught most of my shows (18) from Summer ‘96 through Fall ‘98. I’m also a bit older than the average fan. I did not start seeing Phish until I was 26, so that would make me … (you can figure it out). I’ve seen 3 of the first 6 shows this year, and only caught 4 shows in 2003 and 2004. These will be the last shows I see this summer, maybe this year (unless they come to my hometown of Charlottesville in the fall).

Tuesday

Tuesday night got off to an ominous start. We were a bit concerned about the public transportation out to the venue, only because we were not familiar with it, but it was a breeze on the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) out to Freeport. After waiting for a bus that didn’t show and no one knew would show, we split a $22 cab ride out to the venue with a nice couple of peeps, and then the skies opened. We were not prepared, but luckily the Jones Beach parking lot, which is right next to the beach has a concessions stand. It was 5:00. Show started at 7:30. We ducked under an awning in front of the concession stand, and noticed that they sold beer. Bonus since we did not bring any. There was also a sign that read all beer sales stop 2 hours prior to show time. Then we ordered two beers and were told that beer sales have stopped. WTF? The powers that be had told them to stop selling 3 hours prior. Whatever - we were staying dry, and then we noticed that the beach side of the concession stand was completely covered with plenty of room. We made the dash to the backside, and ordered some chicken fingers and waters so that we weren’t loitering (fearing that they would kick us out). As time went on and the skies continued to pour buckets of rain, more people gathered in the area for cover. We ran into the couple that we shared a cab with, and bummed a PBR tall boy from them (thanks again). Then, a few bad apples ruined it for everyone as a couple obnoxious jackasses got us kicked out of the stand. They closed their doors and we were back out in the rain. Luckily there was more cover in the Jones Beach “Comfort Room”, aka the public restrooms.

The rain finally stopped and we ventured out into the lot. We meandered over to a village of tents, and saw a few heads get busted. After that scene died down, the village of tents was clearly shakedown, and it was a good one. Lots of good smells and vendors. It brought back some good memories since Hampton really did not have a lot scene this year. We met up with Butter Room Chicago and eventually headed toward the gates. For me, the lot scene on Tuesday was perfect - I give it an A.

Inside, we discovered a few surprises. First, no beer sales. Second, bottled water cost $6.50! That’s the most I’ve ever spent on water. Third, there were no covered seats at all. With a rainy forecast for both Thursday and Friday, we were not too fired up about the prospect of being soaked. I guess that’s what happens when you become an old fart like me. :) Fourth, the Jones Beach “orchestra pit” seats are not an orchestra pit. We were in Section H in the “orchestra pit” and about 50 rows from the stage. Still though, none of this dampened our spirits. It was nice to finally meet Scotty Bernstein from Hidden Track in Section H. He does absolutely great work, and I appreciate the content that Hidden Track puts out every day.

If you have read any of my posts, then you know that I am not a musician, and thus really only focus on highlights or low lights. I’m not going to give you a blow by blow account of each song. To start, the sound was a bit muddy at first. It got better about 4 songs in, and then seemed to increase in volume during second set. I got a laugh out of “Foam” because I never caught it in 22 shows pre-hiatus. Since then, I’ve caught “Foam” 4 times in 6 shows. I can now cross “Timber” off my list of songs I’ve never seen live. While it was nothing out of this world, nor would I expect it to be at this point in the comeback, it was a highlight of the show for me. A nasty “Cities” followed, which brought a lot of smiles. “Cities” and “Possum”, later in the set, were the musical highlights of the set for me. Bouncing back in the set, the technical portion of “Reba” was absolutely on target, but the jam never really took me to that special place. The set closer, “If I Could” was a nice surprise. They jammed it out a bit more than expected, and it was a nice mellow and unique way to end the set. Overall, I was pretty darn satisfied with what I had just heard. It wasn’t epic, but it was better than the Hampton Sunday show, which was the last show I caught.

Cities - Phish (6.2.09) from The Butter Room on Vimeo.

Second set had several peaks and valleys. Clearly, the band has some work to do on transitions, which is not a knock. I think it’s expected, and probably why these incredible set lists are quite void of transitions. The “Mike’s” into “Simple” transition was forced. A lyric flub in “Simple” got a laugh from Trey and the crowd, but the jam out of “Simple” was right on. It slowed down enough to transition nicely into “Wolfman’s Brother”, which I thought was the highlight of the four song string. There wasn’t anything unique about the jam, but it was tight, on target, with a nice peak. For the three shows I’ve caught since the comeback, that has been the focus of my ears. I do not expect any Type II jamming, not for a long time anyways. The awkward moment of the night was Fishman pushing ahead with “Weekapaug” when it appeared Trey, Page, and Mike were not there yet. It was another forced transition. After “When the Circus Comes”, Phish played “Kill Devil Falls” for the first time ever. The jam at the end was eerily similar to “Chalkdust”. How can you not enjoy that? “Harry Hood” was the highlight of the second set. Out of all the songs played on Tuesday and Thursday, this is where the boys really ventured outside the norm. As Trey stared up into the upper deck for several minutes, he took the jam to some interesting places and the foursome melded it nicely with the Hood climax. “Lovin’ Cup” was rocking as usual, and we left the venue during “Suzie”. Seen enough in my lifetime and I wanted to get back to the city.

Thursday

We decided ahead of time that we were going to cab it again from the LIRR, so we took the train all the way to Wantagh. This time around there were no cabs to be found! We ducked into a great local pub and had a couple of beers and some wings, caught that cab finally and hit Shakedown. The wook count was a bit higher than Tuesday. Clearly we were getting closer to the weekend.

The bad weather held off. We got a few raindrops here and there, but nothing that even this old man can complain about. After “Grind” (my apologies to our Twitter followers as I texted “Glide” on accident), “Divided Sky” put the first ear to ear grin on my face. This ear did not notice any flubs. I looked over at Graham and said that tonight is going to be better. They nailed “Sky” and it was only the second song of the night. Good sign. The remainder of the set was really well played. And that is all that I am looking for, scratch that, hoping for, at this point. I want Phish to show me they can still play the technical sections of songs like “Sky”, “Fluffhead”, “Guyute”, “Reba”, etc without issue night after night, and then construct tight jams that lead to a climax in a natural and unforced manner. They did that on Thursday, better than Tuesday. The “Antelope” closer fell a little short, but that’s one of those songs that might take a while to get back to epic status. Being a Red Sox fan, I loved Hidden Track’s Luke Sacks quote about “Antelope” from his review, “Perhaps it is the David Ortiz of the Phish catalog – always respected and revered even if unable to reach quite the same heights.”.

Squirming Coil > PYITE - Phish (6.4.09) from The Butter Room on Vimeo.

I was managing the stairs of the out of control aisles in section 11 as the slow version of “Water in the Sky” opened the second set. An unusual set opener, almost as unusual as an “If I Could” set closer. I’m not a “Birds of a Feather” fan, but once again, the boys nailed it last night. Then the surprises came out. “Drowned” into “Meatstick” was the set list highlight of the night. I thought Mike’s vocals were a bit too low during “Drowned”, but that’s my only complaint. It was great to see this cover again, and the transition into “Meatstick” was not that bad. Much better than the transitions on Tuesday. There was some chatter about “Fire in the Mountain” as they made their way into “Meatstick”, which created a brief period of mild hysteria, but most people knew what was coming. What I didn’t expect was a Japanese verse. While I, along with many other Phish fans, got tired of “Meatstick” rather quickly in 1999, it’s return last night was fantastic. It put a huge smile on my face to see the boys having fun during this one.

The only low light of the night was “Time Turns Elastic”. I respect those opinions that like this new one, but I just think there are too many turns and changes in the song to keep the audience engaged. In addition, I don’t like the second set placement. “Kill Devil Falls” was placed in this portion of the show on Tuesday and it was received better than TTE. It really sucked the energy out of the crowd after the “Drowned > Meatstick”. I dug the “Waste”, and then they surprised us again with “YEM” to end the set. It was a fantastic “YEM” to boot. Of the four band members, Trey made the biggest leap forward from Hampton to Jones Beach. While he is not taking the same risks he would often take in the 90s, his playing was more aggressive. He was the focus on Tuesday and Thursday night. Another reason for this was the song selection. Graham and I found it extremely odd and rare that the first Page song played of the run was the “Rock N Roll” encore on Thursday night. You can’t complain about the set lists though. They are incredible. The set lists played thus far are set lists we used to get at the Maine festivals. They are so much better than the set lists that took shape beginning in 1999. It is so refreshing to see the boys playing everything and anything in their catalog. Well, I take that back. Where is Round Room in all this? And Undermind? Even Farmhouse? It’s interesting to see the boys shying away from this material. I’m not complaining. Just making an observation.

Ghost - Phish (6.4.09) from The Butter Room on Vimeo.

As Graham and I took the LIRR back on both Tuesday and Thursday nights, I left with two different impressions. Tuesday night I felt a bit empty about what I had just seen. By no means was I disappointed. It was solid and enjoyable, but I still did not get the feeling that the boys could return to pre-hiatus form (and I’m not referring to 1994 or 1997 - I’m just hoping for 1999-2000). Thursday night changed all of that. I know they will get there, if they didn’t get there last night. It was the best Phish show I’ve seen in 10 years, and it’s only going to get better.