Phish Summer 2010 Leg One: From A to Z

C is for Canandaigua – While this was an old stomping ground for Phish, it had been a long time. Everybody I met really loved this venue, call it the second favorite of the summer. With a beautiful “skeletal” pavilion that makes for great sightlines both in the lawn and the pavilion, a beautiful view of Lake Canandaigua, and grass like a putting green, this venue is a gem. The only downside here is that they only have Porta-Jons inside the venue for the restrooms.

D is for Don’t Wanna Be a… Something? – This one goes out to Trey forgetting the lyrics to Waste and making it more of a humorous moment than a folly. This tune felt like a nod to the person who opted for a random “Waste” sign on July 3rd amongst the sea of much more heady “Harpua,” “Peaches” and ‘Forbin’s” signs in Alpharetta. He should have sang, “Don’t Waste your poster board.” Just kidding; Waste is always a welcome addition to a set.

[Photo by Adam Kaufman]

E is for those Endless Summer Nights – Between keeping with the relatively high proportion of 7 pm start times, venue curfews, and a state park or two, the sun seemed to stay out forever. One of the great things about shows in late June and and early July is we saw barely any rain and quite a bit of really nice weather. Even in the deep south, the temperatures were not all that bad (especially compared to this week’s blazing heat). The brutal summer rains of the late ’90s Columbus shows, the famous Walnut Creek storm and last year’s Jones Beach trifecta were nowhere to be found.

F is for F*ck Your Face – It’s hard to beat a bust out with a gap of 1,400+ shows. In fact, the stat geeks were a-twitterin’ for this one as Phish delivered its biggest bust out in the history of the band. Not surprisingly, with the exception of a few savvy vets, hardly anybody recognized the magnitude of this huge treat until the actual title lyrics came out. Once everybody heard them and the reverie took hold, the fans in Charlotte went bananas foster.

G if for Gamehendge –The standout show on July 4^th came closer than any other show (Colonel Forbin’s, Famous Mockingbird, PYITE, Tela, and Harpua), since the last full Gamehendge performance back at Great Woods in 1994, and over the course of the second half of Summer Tour 2010, Phish played virtually every song in the Gamehendge saga (save for The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday). It seems at this point, the band has pretty much everything dusted off and at the ready, so who knows; it may happen yet again, despite repeated iterations that they will never play the entirety again.

H is for Harpooning the Whale – The first leg of Summer Tour 2010 kicked off to widespread acclaim at Chicago’s Toyota Park, but the doubters quickly spoke up in the subsequent early-run shows, as they felt the so-called “Whale Call” effect was omnipresent and annoying. Call it a coincidence, but shortly thereafter, around the time of SPAC, Trey seemed to tone down the Whale  (aka, the Digitech Whammy) and for the most part and the shows seemed to pick up momentum quickly thereafter.

I is for Incredulity – Phish is, and always has been, about surprise, but this run really broke down all the boundaries. Rarities were played on a daily basis, setlists took on shapes we’ve never seen before, and some classic bust outs became more common than the songs about which people used to piss and moan. As one friend of mine said, “Would you have ever believed me if I told you I’ve seen three Destiny Unbound’s in my last seven shows?” At this point, the world is truly upside down.

J is For Joni Mitchell – Of the most random covers in what’s being called Jukebox Tour II around these parts, Phish tackled Joni Mitchell’s Free Man in Paris with Mike on lead vocals for just one of many big surprises.

K is for Killing in the Name – We all know this story. Smack in the middle of a monster second set that opened with an improv-heavy segment of Down with Disease, Piper and Ghost, the band took a fun turn in the midst of Mike’s sandwich, opting to go to Gamehendge for Tela and Harpua with a rafter-bending cover of Rage Against the Machine’s most well-known anthem. In a summer full of surprise covers, this one will probably go down in history as the most memorable and merits its forthcoming years of TLC.

L is for Lizards – Over the course of the final weekend of leg one of Summer 2010, the Lizards bust out proved to be perhaps the most polarizing topic for debate. Sure, most people will take a Lizards any way they can get it – particularly as the inflatable lizard rafts flew (or, more like sunk) through the air show after show, many with some type of “Lizards” marker written on them – but Trey did make a fairly jarring mistake in the composed segment, which as we all know tends to bring out the complainers in droves. Still, it’s Lizards, people. Come on!

M is for Mike’s Groove – Everyone knows about the now legendary Mike’s Groove on the 4^th of July that contained both Tela and Harpua, but for the best example of a well-played version of Mikes, Simple and Weekapaug, direct your ears to the second set of Canandaigua. Pound for pound, the second set at this killer venue represents one of the best sets of straightforward Phish of the summer – despite a rather plaintive first set. Overall, the band seems to finally be hitting their stride with the Mike’s Grooves and using them as a vehicle for both dark, funky jams as well as trickery and fun setlists. They still buried their fair share of quickies deep in some sets, but the Canandaigua and Alpharetta versions point to a bright future for the sandwich.

N is for Neutral Milk Hotel – This was one of my personal favorite bust outs of Summer Tour 2010, as Phish tackled the title track off this longtime HT favorite album – one that is regularly cited as one of the best indie rock records of all-time. Surprisingly, hardly anybody at Merriweather Post Pavilion knew this cover, and in fact, many fans actually left the pavilion and headed for the bathrooms and beer stands. Well, that’s part of the beauty of Phish; they expose their fans to all sorts of different music, so I’m sure lots of folks who didn’t previously know NMH have been discovering it since then.

O is for Oldies – In what now almost seems like a dichotomous tour, with the first chunk of shows resembling those of 2009 and incorporating a good amount of newer material both in the form of both debuts and Joy material, the band almost entirely stuck with the oldies in the latter part of the first leg. While we always try to have an open mind around here toward the newer material, there’s no denying that it’s sure fun and makes for great shows when the setlists really hit on the best old stuff.

P is for “The Pit” – As mentioned above, the Pit at Alpharetta is sure to go down as a favorite fan spot for many a summer show from here on out. The whole venue offers nice seating options, but the pit is pretty special. It’s an entirely general admission, all standing room section right up front with plenty of room and great sight lines. It’s tough to get down without a wristband, but if you’re creative, it’s not impossible (think poster board and Crayola markers).

[Photo by Jess Nadler]

Q is for Quit Complaining – Can the haters stop whining yet? What more do you want? We saw more jams, more covers, new setlists, long awaited bust outs, a double Tweezer Reprise encore, and just about everything else in between. Hate to say it, but if you’re still complaining, it might be time to move on.

R is for Room for Improvement – I think if there is one thing that I would point to as an area of improvement, it would be Harry Hood. The band seems to have the composed sections down after taking a few spills in 2009, but the end jams don’t quite have the gusto back yet. I think part of it seems to be related to tone. My favorite Hoods tend to be the ones where Trey uses mainly distortion for the end soloing (circa ’93 and ’94), whereas these days he seems to favor other spacier, reverb-heavy tones. He’s gone back to playing distorted leads more often lately and to much avail, as evidenced at the end of Back on the Train (SPAC II, Charlotte). So, here’s hoping.

S is for Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs – Now that Phish, and Trey in particular, has made it known that they take requests, the signs are freaking everywhere, often to an annoying degree. All these requests are a ton of fun, and some are just brilliant (like the Peaches one in Georgia), but when people hold up signs for the entire show it can be detrimental to people’s view. I have an entire camera full of pictures of the same sign one night. The band can see you folks, you don’t have to hold it up there the entire show. The better idea is to write your request on those giant balloons and bounce ’em around so they stay out of people’s way, yet they also stay up in the air where everybody can see them. The folks with the McGrupp balloon at SPAC had this going perfectly (even if it did take a few days for the response).

[Photo by Jess Nadler]

T is for Time Turns Invisible – Despite being one Phish’s most complicated new pieces of music – and one the band clearly spent a lot of time mastering – the fans did not respond en masse. Hence, in what seems like a signal that the band does take notice of its fanbase’s likes and dislikes, they shelved it for the last seven shows of the run and played it just twice in the eighteen shows, a material decline.

U is for Underrated Jams – Just off the top of my head, here’s a few of my favorite slightly under the radar jams: the Hershey Twist, Canandaigua Simple, Toyota Park Wolfman’s, SPAC II Back on the Train, Alpharetta II Bowie, Alpharetta I Slave, Charlotte YEM and Vocal Jam, Raleigh Suzy Greenberg, MPP II Meatstick, Portsmouth Gin and Camden Boogie On. As for the overachiever song of the tour, the Wolfman’s seemed to really be clicking. Surely, there’s plenty more, so feel free to chime in.

V is for Vultures – While the bust outs of Lizards and F*ck Your Face stole the show in Charlotte, a nice Vultures highlighted a sunny first set that otherwise included a Buried Alive opener and the now rare Mexican Cousin. I would have thought that since many people became more familiar with Vultures from the Walnut Creek DVDs that came out a couple years ago, that they would have performed this song in Raleigh, but it’s close enough, so North Carolina still owns it. This is also the show somebody left a big pile of brown vomit in our pavilion seats before the show even started. Nice work Carolina.

W is for We Don’t Need No Stinking Badges – In nine shows this summer, I tried numerous times to get a look at these new limited edition merit badge collector’s items. I have to say, these seemed pretty dorky when I first heard about them, but I also never once got to the merch table in time to get one, and now I secretly kind of want ’em. They sold out in a flash every day, so who’s laughing now?

[via ExpressoBeans]

X is for Experimental – Phish 2010 still may have a way to go before it’s back to full on explorations like some of the more popular jam eras in year’s past, but the improvisation is no doubt coming along by leaps and bounds. Fans who come out solely for the jams might not be entirely satisfied just yet, but for my money it’s all smiles. With the way things are going and the setlist experimentation more than making up for playing some songs closer to the vest, it still feels like a band playing without a net.

Y is for Years – As in, it’s been roughly seven years since Phish stormed the deep south of Atlanta, and the locals surely appreciated the visit.  Phish undoubtedly returned the favor for the long wait with arguably the best show of 3.0 to date.

Z is for Zero – The number of times before the July 3^rd Alpharetta show that Character Zero opened a show; just one of the many surprises in a tour chock full of them.

• Previously on HT: Summer Tour 2010 – Just The Facts, Summer Tour 2010 – Survey Results