Clone:
Suggested placement: Mid first-set, in the Poor Heart slot.
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/clone.mp3]
In addition to having one of the best ever versions of The Moma Dance ever, the first set of Worcester 2003 was noteworthy because it featured four original song debuts all stemming from the band member’s various solo projects. Trey led the band through a great rendition of Drifting, Page brought along Final Flight from the Vida Blue repertoire, Fishman’s contribution was a bluegrass ditty from Pork Tornado’s catalog titled Blue Skies and the first one of the night was the title track from Leo Kottke & Mike Gordon’s 2002 debut album Clone. Though it’s not included in the audio embedded above, Clone actually started to seep in via the vocal jam of the show opening You Enjoy Myself. Clone was without a doubt the best fit for Phish of these four tunes. Trey has a slight hiccup as he starts his guitar interlude but otherwise a perfect rendition of this song.
Glide II:
Suggested placement: Mike’s Song – > Glide II > Weekapaug Groove
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/glideii.mp3]
The “Voters For Choice” benefit that took place in Lowell 1995 featured five brand new Phish originals that would forever stay in rotation, and they were: Ha Ha Ha, Spock’s Brain, Strange Design, Theme From the Bottom and Free. The sixth original however was destined to just get the one performance, and though I’ve got a friend who insists on calling the song “Flip Flip Flip”, it’s actually called Glide II. We have not heard the last from this Lowell ’95 show in this B List, as they also debuted a whole slew of new covers as well and we’ll be getting to one of those shortly.
You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere
Suggested placement: Mid first-set seems to work.
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/nowhere.mp3]
The first set of 7/30/2003 was essentially the third set from Starlake the night before as Phish continued to pull song after song off the shelf. You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere was debuted in this first set sandwiched in between a monster version of Scents & Subtle Sounds and the bustout of Spock’s Brain. Trey snickered as he sung the line “We’ll climb that mountain no matter how steep when we get up to IT” a reference to the festival in Limestone set to happen just a couple days later. Phish did a great job with this Bob Dylan cover, no issues with lyrics and a very nice guitar solo between verses two and three.
Who Loves the Sun?
Suggested placement: Show opener a la the Bonner Springs 2000 Everybody’s Got Something To Hide…
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/sun.mp3]
Perhaps it’s a bit selfish to ask for another Velvet Underground song in the rotation as Phish 3.0 has already graciously added Oh! Sweet Nuthin’ to the cover encore rotation, but I don’t care – Who Loves The Sun? needs to get another play on the ‘ol Phish jukebox. Festival 8 has brought us a bunch of great new video, even if it is people holding their point-and-shoots to a projected image.
Sweet Black Angel:
Suggested Placement: Mid second-set, ballad slot.
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/sweetblack.mp3]
Phish now has at least four of the tunes from Exile On Main Street in the rotation. Loving Cup has been a standard for years. Over the past year, Shine A Light found its way into the encore slot a number of times, and Sweet Virginia and Torn & Frayed both got one extra play after Festival 8. Trey’s acoustic has not been making many appearances on the Phish stage in recent years. In fact, the only time it has been used in Phish “3.0” is during the all acoustic set in Indio. Before that I think you need to go back to Shoreline 2000 and the last Phish performance of The Inlaw Josie Wales. Sweet Black Angel, complete with Trey on acoustic, would be my selection for the next Exile song to get a second chance. Horns optional.
Windy City
Suggested placement: After a long section of Trey tunes.
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/windy.mp3]
Halfway To The Moon would be making this list (and Idea for that matter) if more time had passed, but I’ll give the band another tour before I start asking for those brand new songs to get a repeat play. In general, I want to see more from Page & Mike in terms of songwriting – the two of them seem to have no problem filling albums worth of material on their solo albums, so why is it so rare that we see a new Phish song from the two of them? Windy City would be a great one, but it got just the one performance last summer in Chicago.
Mock Song
Suggested placement: As a standalone encore song. A mock encore. Maybe not.
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/mock.mp3]
The good folks over at phish.net have been doing a great job with the site, adding great features like the ability to sort based on last time played. They are also continually adding new song histories and the entry for Mock Song is worth a read, if for no other reason to remind you of the fantastic lyric genius of, “Will you dance on grave?”
Gold Soundz:
Suggested placement: Mid-set would work or maybe an out-of-left-field 2nd set opener.
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/gold.mp3]
“Thanks. That was a song by Pavement that I’ve been wanting to play. I’m kind of [pissed?], I feel like I skipped a verse but maybe I didn’t…” Well Trey, that’s why we tape these things and I can tell you that you didn’t technically miss a verse, but you definitely didn’t sing a lot of the words from the second one. All the more reason to play it again! When Phish covered Neutral Milk Hotel this past summer, comparisons were instantly drawn to this Indie Rock cover the band covered in 1999 at Star Lake in Burgettstown, PA.
I’ll Come Running:
Suggested placement: Deep in the first set. Either to close or 2nd to last song. Preferably with Trey talking over the outro like in this version, love a nice Trey thank you speech while there is still music going.
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/running.mp3]
Told you we’d get back to the Lowell ’95 show. Man what a set for us setlist nerds. I think it’s safe to say that Brian Eno has had a strong impact on the guys in Phish or at a minimum, on Mike Gordon. As phish.net points out, Eno has a producer credit on Remain In Light and it is believed that he is the “Brian” in Brian and Robert (longtime Eno guitarist Robert Fripp being the “Robert”).
Tomorrow’s Song:
Suggested Placement: David Bowie > Tomorrow’s Song > David Bowie
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/tomorrow.mp3]
It is not a popular opinion, but I think Phish’s 2004 album Undermind is underrated. The title track, A Song I Heard The Ocean Sing and Scents and Subtle Sounds should be monsters in the Phish repertoire. And slow tunes Two Versions Of Me and Nothing are some of the best tunes of that tempo in the catalog. But the album’s material has been overall underplayed since Phish has been back. One huge surprise in Albany last fall was the debut of Tomorrow’s Song, which came out of a Piper jam, a live debut that took over five years after the record was first released.
You think Mike or Fish ever want to smack that look off of Trey’s face that he shoots over around the 40 second mark in this video?
Golden Age:
Suggested Placement: Anywhere as long as it’s in North Charleston or Atlantic City, my friend George has got to be there
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/goldenage.mp3]
And speaking of Albany 2009, I think everyone wants to see a repeat of this TV On The Radio cover as Phish really did a great job making it their own. Maybe for the second performance, Trey can ditch the lyric sheets so he can really focus on getting out the song’s fast-paced lyrics. I do hope that my friend Guitar George can be at the second ever Phish cover of this tune as he won’t stop talking about it, and has even made t-shirts for it. Now I don’t normally endorse cover-related lot t-shirts, but for him I made an exception.
All audience recordings courtesy of the Phish Spreadsheet except 10-31-2009 and 11-27-2009
Place your votes for your favorite three below. And feel free to let your voice be heard in the comments section. Think Remain In Light got the shaft on this list? Would Guy Forget have been a better pick than Tomorrow’s Song? Let us know.
36 Responses
Parts of Glide II ended up in Guyute, which is played regularly, relegating this, in my mind, to Landlady territory: it’s been superseded, so unlikely to be seen again. A shame really, it’s a very nice song.
Great list, love that clone, golden age made this list!
I’d love to see sweet jane and let it loose on this list, unless sweet Jane has been played again.
Also sea and sand needs to get another play – it’s been too long!
🙂
There goes my afternoon. Nice job Dave.
Flip Flip Flip…
Sweet Jane has been played more than once.
I say add 5:15 and Layla (with a second guitar player guest again, maybe God himself?) to this list
Mock Song to the fucking dome. Hands down.
Also, Naive Melody. Mainly because every band EVER should cover that song.
As Adam astutely mentioned, much of Glide II (like Leprechaun) is now part of Guyute, which is why they shelved it most of that year and the song came back tweaked on Halloween.
I always thought they should play another tune off of Loaded but rather than Who Loves the Sun? which is cool, I’d love to see New Age…thought they killed that tune in Vegas.
Glide II is still fair game. If The Curtain With and Rift can co-exist in the repertoire, so can Glide II and Guyute. And Leprechaun for that matter [played 3 times or it also would have made this list]
Wow. This is a tough choice.
Gotta go with Golden Age. It’s the best song with potential. Amoreena is a great song, but I’ll hold out hope for a Goodbye Yellow Brick Road halloween album.
Tomorrow’s Song and Mock Song are also good choices.
First off – great list.
I know the band has rocked it twice, but I would love to see Cinnamin Girl to be busted out again.
How about Guy Forget?
golden age…kuroda….holy shit
Nice article Dave and a needed one. I like the choices, but the one I would have added is “Born Under Punches”.
Amoreena has always been a personal favorite, as well as, Who Loves the Sun. But I NEED that Golden Age. The age of Miracles, the Age of Sound!
Really anything of Loaded that hasnt been repeated. I second New Age and one of my favorite songs is “I Found a Reason.”
One more that I always loved is “I’m So Tired”. Not sure if it was the last time they did it, but it was done in Charleston 95. So maybe a flashback on Oct.15/16th would be cool.
Great work DaveO. Golden Age actually came up on shuffle today on the iPod and I was thinking they should definitely bring that one into rotation its got a lot of potential to be a big song.
Amoreena is another great choice too. Loved it when Page played with Vida Blue.
Sorry for taking over the comment section, but damn that golden age video just got me fired the f*** up. My final thought is a shout out for “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea”. I have listened to that tune SOOOO many times since Merriweather and thought they did a tremendous job with it. Just a gorgeous tune. Period.
“Cold Water” was bad ass in Portsmouth too. “Ain’t nothing sweeter than a ridin the rails!” Ok I’m done.
Sea and Sand and Life on Mars? Would be very much appreciated if they were to make they way back into the rotation…COME ON BOYS!!!
Sea and Sand and Life on Mars? have both been played more than once.
The premise here was songs that the band has only played ONE TIME.
Definitely Golden Age, but I’m hoping that they’ll handle the vocals a la Limb By Limb, Trey & Page alternating lines to ease up the pace. Or maybe Mike & Page alternating the quasi-falsetto lines, with Trey singing the “Love….” bridge. This needs to happen.
(also, I’ve been longing to hear an It’s Ice > Clone > It’s Ice ever since I heard the first Mike & Leo album)
I’d love to hear Phish play another Happiness Is A Warm Gun,
“A soap impression of his wife which he ate
And donated to the National Trust”
::cue badass guitar riff::
Honestly, how is Gold Soundz not getting more votes?
And Guitar George, I agree with you — Born Under Punches would be fantastic. Ever since they busted out Oh! Sweet Nuthin’ last summer while hyping up their upcoming Halloween show at the 8 I figured they’d want to revisit other albums gone past. And my pick to return was that song. Would be awesome.
I totally F’d up the whole point of this post…but would really like to Sea and Sand and Life on Mars? return to the rotation. As for tunes only played once…along with Amoreena, I would really love to see another Let It Loose and Houses in Motion attempted
A section of Glide II found its way into Guyute, so every time they play Guyute, you get a little Glide II, too.
I should really read before I post….Oh well
Gold Soundz isn’t getting any love because they butchered it, pretty badly.
The Pavement version is perfect, covering it is pointless.
I join the “Golden Age” masses. But I yearn for “Maggie’s Revenge” to be debuted in the middle of a nasty set that may include (Chalkdust, DWD, F.Y.Face, Carini, Rocko William, Free, etc…)
Maybe through in a Maggie’s Farm as well?
Great list…I would have added one more:
Them Changes, the Buddy Miles tune from 11-30-97 encore. Now that was FIRE!
“Don’t You Wanna Go” – from the Lowell 95 (94?) show. Listened to that tape about 1,000 times when I was a freshman and sophomore at Umass.
You totally get lost in Tomorrow’s Song. What a beauty!
I agree Born Under Punches would be insane. Ughh what about Terrapin Station by that band … what were they called? Oh yeah the Grateful FUCKIN Dead. really surprised nobody has brought that up.
Where can I get one of those t-shirts mentioned at the end of the article? Cool idea. PLEASE SEND ME AN EMAIL if they are available somewhere. Thanks. Cool article, by the way.
Mister Completely bust out in Salt Lake 2003 I believe was nasty. Could stand to see that played…
Hey Sean,
Thanks for the interest in the Golden Age-T. However, Dave was a little misleading in his article as this was not a ‘lot’ shirt. I only made one. I was never selling them. I thought about making a bunch, but then remembered I don’t hang out on the lot, so… However a Fall Tour edition may be necessary, changing the back to “Ah, Blowing Up like a Ghetto Blaster”.
HA, I was just trying to create some viral buzz for ‘ya George! Not really, thought you made a bunch. Golden Age is crushing in the voting.
who among us does NOT want to see “killing in the name of” again? that was just ridiculous…
C’mon, where’s the love for the 10/1/00 Piper>Guy Forget? Guy Forget needs another serve.