Fenway Park: Tour Happens

In the world of Phish, you never know how the tour is going to materialize, especially its start, until you’re at the membrane of it all, ready to burst with the energy that comes with renewed hope in 2009.  And so, it was fitting that one became two, and two became four, and then there was a fifth… before you know it, we knew dozens of people who were in from all parts of the country.

Our voyage to Boston began out of Chicago with me (Matt), Butter Roomer Eugene, and our friends David and Logan.  Our other Chicago resident, Joel, decided on Thursday morning that he too would join the fun and caught a ride out to Boston. We arrived in Rochester, NY (home of the delicious 12.11.97 variety) late Friday night, and were back on the road Saturday afternoon to Boston.

Saturday night we enjoyed some great seafood in Cambridge, and met up with friends of friends for a large pre-show brunch Sunday morning.  For many in the group it would be their first 3.0 experience, or a spur of the moment commitment rooted in the possibilities of what Phish can and has been. Whatever the case, Boston was buzzing - surprisingly more for Phish than Dave Matthews Band who occupied the stadium Friday and Saturday.

In typical Phish fandom, guesses for the tour opener were rampant, as were rumors of DMB sit-ins.  However, as we walked up the stairs of the Kenmore ‘T’ stop, it became apparent that four guys from Vermont were all that really mattered. Major sidewalks swelled with fans from one block to the next, vendors and tour rats interacting where normally the spectacle would be of the sporting variety.

We ducked off into a private bar party hosted by Shannon, whose crew was gracious enough to invite us in.  It was very nice to meet up with some of the community pre-show and get a drink when you wanted it.  Walking into Fenway with a nice buzz, we found ourselves face to face with the Green Monster.  The stadium filled as rain once again appeared with the sun tucked behind thick clouds, and Phish came out at 6:40 PM… to the mound where they sang the Star Spangled Banner (video below)

Phish - Star Spangled Banner @ Fenway from The Butter Room on Vimeo.

About ten minutes later, Phish emerged on-stage to a rowdy welcome from the Boston crowd and launched into Sample In a Jar, playing a fairly standard version with

Anastasio firing off some quick, dirty solos.  Moma Dance followed, getting super funky with some extra Gordo bombs before heading into the jam.  Moma was

contained to about 7 minutes, and quickly segued into Chalkdust Torture which wa

s again - in what’s becoming typical 3.0 style - to the point. Perhaps the coolest part of the Chalkdust was the rainbow that emerged over the park, bringing smiles to the faces of almost 35,000 fans!

Following Chalkdust, Phish played their second new tune since returning and their first of the summer tour, Ocelot.  This song has a lot of potential, although I’m on the fence about the Dear Prudence refrain of “wont you come out to play.”  The jam gave Trey an opportunity to open up and fire up the machine gun before landing and kicking into Stash (a fairly forgettable version).

With such a large crowd and playing such a historic and high profile venue, it was reasonable to expect some of Phish’s more accessible songs, such as Bouncing Around The Room.  This version was the standard fare, which I’m rather indifferent to.  Luckily, the rest of the set just started to pour out of the band.  I was

able to catch my first Poor Heart, last played 12.29.03 (a show I had a ticket to but couldn’t attend), and a solid Limb by Limb started to loosen the band up before another slower, yet equally meaningful song, Wading In The Velvet Sea, dropped.

What came next though gave hope to the summer and meaning to being a Phish fan. Down With Disease was the first time I really felt the band was BACK, that Trey Anastasio was back. As he peaked the jam, I finally felt one of those collective moments where we were all riding the energy straight off Trey’s back.  It was bliss, and that euphoria carried over for me as Destiny Unbound started to echo off the walls of Fenway. Character Zero brought an end to the first set of the summer, albeit in a slightly different arrangement than in the past.  It’s worth checking out if you are a fan of the song.

Set two was one of those Phish sets that took you from one end of the spectrum to the other, and did so in just two songs!  Tweezer kicked off the set, with a dark, twisted funk to it, spiraling deeper into the darkness that had descended upon the crowd, and finally allowing Kuroda to break free from the confines of a setting sun.  Perhaps in response, the band moved into Light, a new tune that also was heavily led by Anastasio.  Crowd favorites Bathtub Gin and David Bowie were then played back to back, with solid but concise jams, focusing on the power of the songs rather than how far away from their original structures they could be taken.  In a way this style is refreshing.  It brings emphasis back to the material itself, the beauty and originality that went into their creation, and really kept the set flowing.

Time Turns Elastic made its debut, although at this point it seems most fans aren’t too comfortable with the meandering 13+ minute composition in the rotation.  The ending of the jam was very solid though, and brought everyone back onto the same page as the band got ready to lay down the gauntlet with a Cactus-driven Free.  Then, out of the middle of nowhere, Skynard’s Curtis Loew emerged, fully dusted off and played to perfection after almost 16 years on the shelf.  A bust-out of very large proportions for Phish fans!  How do you follow that up?  Drop your biggest song on the crowd to end the set: YEM!!!  Trey hit the solo, there were no distracting flubs, and Gordo had one of his longest and funkiest bass solos to bring it on home.  The encore didn’t disappoint either, with Cavern (a song I had been waiting for since 3.6.09), Zeppelin’s Good Times, Bad Times (you know we’ve had our share), and the obligatory but much needed Tweeprise release.

Overall I would give Set 1 a B- and Set 2 a B+, for an overall B show.  Phish has always been a band that thrives on practicing, playing, and getting their groove on the road from playing show after show.  For the tour opener, they brought more precision, energy, and attention to detail than I (and probably most phans) were expecting. It was a show to drop the curtain on what is bound to be an extremely memorable tour, and a new chapter in one of rock and roll’s most storied live acts.