Earlier this evening, part of Phish’s soundcheck from Festival 8 was streamed over The Bunny through 959jackfm.com on the eve of the band’s first two sets at the beautiful Empire Polo Fields in Indio, CA.

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The quartet originally took the stage in the early afternoon for an acoustic soundcheck that included Back On The Train and Let Me Lie that wasn’t broadcast, but around 9:45 The Bunny came alive with the sounds of Phish.

After starting this “electric soundcheck” with an intense jam the group moved onto a typically funky version of the title track from 2004′s Undermind. Trey picked up on the similarities between Undermind and Mitch Rydell’s Devil With A Blue Dress and the rest of the band followed him for a quick run through the chorus and a half a verse of so.

READ ON for more from Scotty on the soundcheck…

A quick jam on one of the themes from Yes’ Starship Trooper followed. After the Starship Trooper jam, Phish performed their first version of a song debuted in Brooklyn by Classic TAB – Gone. It was clear the band had been rehearsing that one as they tore through it nicely.

As good as Gone came off, the song of the night was the last tune of the broadcast – Liquid Time off of Phish’s Party Time album that will go out at some point in the future with the Joy Boxes. The jam out of Liquid Time was fierce as this tune leaves plenty of room for improvisation. They even worked in a tease of MGMT’s Kids just to show how loose and how much fun they are having these days. Liquid Time will be a welcome addition to the repertoire.

The Bunny went back into their “regular” programming a little after 10:30. Overall the soundcheck was an extremely enjoyable listen. The boys sounded loose but turned it on when the songs called for it. Festival 8 is off to a great start and there are still eight sets to go. Set one kicks off around 7:30 PM PDT / 10:30EDT. We’ll be here with a live blog, so come join us.

Acoustic Soundcheck Setlist: Water In The Sky, Sleep Again, Let Me Lie, Invisible, Back On The Train, Driver

Electric Soundcheck Setlist: Jam, Undermind > Devil With a Blue Dress Jam, Starship Trooper Jam, Gone, Liquid Time

Scott Bernstein

Scott Bernstein co-founded Hidden Track in October 2006 and was managing editor until taking over as EiC in January 2008. Scotty also writes for Relix Magazine and curates YEMblog.com.

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