After a high-energy performance filled with classic compositions and a permagroove-laden Tweezer, Phish returns to Madison Square Garden for the second of three shows at the venue.
[Photo by Andy Hill]
I’ll be tweeting live from MSG for @YEMblog. READ ON for tonight’s setlist…
Fresh off a two-night stand in Worcester, Phish pulls in to Madison Square Garden in NYC for the quartet’s 17th – 19th performances at the “World’s Most Famous Arena” tonight, tomorrow and on New Year’s Day.
[Limited Edition Subway Tokens via Phish Facebook]
Follow @YEMblog for live commentary from the show thanks to Josh Korin. If you don’t have tickets, you can stream the show live thanks to Phish’s official Pay-Per-View. READ ON for tonight’s setlist…
Phish @ DCU Center (The Centrum), December 27th
Phish kicked off a five-show NYE Run tonight at the DCU Center in Worcester, MA. At the group’s first of two performances at the venue formerly known as The Centrum, Phish delivered two mostly standard sets filled with songs that referenced the previous day’s weather, which made getting to the show difficult for many fans.
[Photo by Andy Hill]
The quartet came out of the gates with Sample In A Jar and Funky Bitch before dusting off Cool It Down (Velvet Underground) for the first time since November 28, 2009. Phish also offered the second version of the Mike Gordon-penned What Things Seem, which was debuted in Broomfield, CO back in October. There wasn’t much in the way of jams during the first set of the run and the second set featured more of the same.
12/27/2010 DCU Center
Set 1: Sample in a Jar, Funky Bitch, Cool It Down, Roggae, Heavy Things, What Things Seem, Roses Are Free > It’s Ice, Mountains in the Mist, Julius
Set 2: Mike’s Song > Mound, Weekapaug Groove, Farmhouse, Seven Below > What’s the Use? > Twenty Years Later, Wading in the Velvet Sea, Possum > Cavern > David Bowie
Encore: Loving Cup,
[via Phish.net]
Smack dab in the middle of Mike’s and Weekapaug for the first time in the song’s history, Mound reappeared after 74 shows and continued a Winter Theme trend started by Cool It Down and It’s Ice. Speaking of winter-themed songs, Seven Below featured a nice bit of improvisation before seguing into What’s The Use? A string of heavy rotation originals – Wading in the Velvet Sea, Possum, Cavern and David Bowie ended the second stanza. Cavern contained a lyric change as Trey subbed in “boots” for “shoes” in the “whatever you do, take care of your shoes” line.
Filling the encore slot for the 11th time since Hampton was a cover of Loving Cup by the Rolling Stones. Phish returns to the DCU Center tomorrow night.
Did you hit this show? What did you think of the run opener?
We continue our look back at the year that was by listing 10 Music-Related Trends We Loved in 2010. Let’s hope all of these trends continue in 2011.
1. When Musicians Stop Being Polite And Start Getting Real
Phil Lesh on the message boards, Josh Clark doing whatever it is that he does, etc. We don’t think engaging your fanbase on the message boards is a WISE decision, but boy does it make for great fodder for us bloggers.
2. Bands Get More Revenue, Fans Get More Music
Gov’t Mule and the String Cheese Incident were among the bands we cover who started archival series in 2010. SCI’s Rhythm of the Road Vol. 1 kicked ass and Mule’s Mulennium brought back fond memories of that group’s power trio days. Most acts keep an archive of old recordings, so why not give the fans what they want by selling some of the gems in their vaults? Let’s have more of where these came from please.
READ ON for eight more music trends we loved in 2010…
Prince kicked off his long-awaited Welcome 2 America tour last night at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, NJ. The Purple One filled his set with material from throughout his career including a few medleys and a cover of Sarah McLachlan’s Angel. He closed out the main set with Purple Rain before returning for a lengthy encore that featured Kiss and Diamonds and Pearls.
Head over to the newly re-designed RollingStone.com to read Rob Sheffield’s review of the show. Here’s a look at last night’s setlist…
Prince
December 15, 2010
Izod Center
East Rutherford, NJSet: Laydown, Black Muse, The Beautiful Ones, Medley: Uptown / Raspberry Beret / Cream, Medley: Cool / Let’s Work, U Got The Look, Shhh, Angel (Sarah McLachlan cover), Nothing Compares 2 U, She’s Always In My Hair, If I Was Your Girlfriend, Insatiable, Scandalous, Adore, Purple Rain
Encore: Kiss, Sometimes It Snows In April, Diamonds And Pearls, Medley: All The Critics Love U In New York / Controversy / Sexy Dancer / Le Freak (Chic cover) / Housequake
[via RollingStone.com]
Jazz bassist/vocalist Esperanza Spalding and R&B artist Lalah Hathaway opened last evening’s concert. Prince returns to the Izod Center tomorrow along with jazz performer Cassandra Wilson and funk saxophonist Maceo Parker.
For the 22nd year in a row, the Warren Haynes Christmas Jam returned to the guitarist’s hometown of Asheville, NC last night with this year’s event taking place at the Asheville Civic Center. Yesterday’s event saw the debut of the Warren Haynes Band and sets from Missing Cats featuring JoJo Hermann and Sherman Ewing, prog-jammers Umphrey’s McGee, classic rockers the Steve Miller Band, Widespread Panic frontman John Bell, the Gregg Allman Band and a late-night thrown down from the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.
[All photos by Rob Chapman]
Haynes offered tracks from his upcoming soul album backed by Ron Johnson on bass, Ivan Neville on keys and vocals, Ron Holloway on sax, Terrance Higgins on drums and Ruthie Foster on vocals. Bassist George Porter Jr., keyboardist Ian McLagan and drummer Raymond Weber were featured on the album according to the Relix article announcing the band but did not perform with Warren last night. Warren’s set included a cover of Sneakin’ Sally, which you can check out right here…
Warren Haynes Band – Sneakin’ Sally
[via Jambands.com]
There were plenty of guest spots throughout the evening including John Bell adding vocals to Umphrey’s version of Ain’t No Sunshine, Andy Farag and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band Horns sitting in at points with the Warren Haynes Band, Haynes returning the favor by joining the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and the Steve Miller Band. Also, South American harpist Carlos Reyes sat in with the Steve Miller Band, Ron Holloway and the DDBB Horns added brass to Gregg Allman’s Just Another Rider, while John Bell joined the horn section for Allman’s take on Guilded Splinters before Steve Miller sat in on Lost Highway.
READ ON for the complete Christmas Jam setlist, a slew of videos from nearly all of the acts and more photos from last night’s show…
The typical Saturday Night Live musical guest usually performs two songs on the long-running NBC program. Former Wings lead singer Paul McCartney proved once again (he played three songs in 1993) that he is far from the typical musical guest as he was given the opportunity to play a record five songs for the cameras and treated audience members to an additional two songs. Here’s a rundown of Macca’s performances…
Jet
Band on the Run
READ ON for the rest of Paul McCartney’s sizzling SNL hits…
Our look at the best releases of the year continues with an annual traditional around these parts that we don’t see elsewhere – a list of the best archival releases from the past 12 months. These are all albums which feature music (mostly live tracks) that was pulled from the artists’ archives and had never been officially released until 2010.
This year was another great one for archival releases as a number of bands kicked off new series (String Cheese Incident and Gov’t Mule) and many other acts kept releases for older series (Road Trips, Live Phish, Barko-Swill Zappa, Bootleg Series) flowing. I’ve included releases which feature both CDs and DVDs on our Best Concert DVDs of 2010 list, so don’t expect to see them here. Also, a release must feature music at least five years old to qualify for this list. Enough of the small talk, let’s get down to business…
10. Grateful Dead – Road Trips Vol. 3, No. 3
2010 was another banner year for Grateful Dead archival releases and my favorite of the bunch was Road Trips Vol. 3 No. 3 featuring most of the Dead’s early and late shows at the Fillmore East on May 15, 1970. Forty years after Workingman’s Dead came out, this release gives a look into where the band was at this important time in their history and contains a number of acoustic gems that have never been included on an official release before.
Where You Can Sample This Release: Dead.Net Listening Party
- Previously on HT: Best Concert DVDs of 2010, Best Archival Releases of ’09, Best Archival Releases of ’08
READ ON for Scotty’s top nine archival releases of 2010…
As we saw our first snow flakes here in New York City yesterday, there is nothing that gets us through the winter faster and thinking about the warm months ahead, than the constant barrage of music festival lineup announcements. Last Friday, the fine folks behind Summer Camp revealed the first round of artists that will take to the stages and tents at Three Sisters Park in Chillicothe, IL next Memorial Day Weekend.
Now in its 11th year, the jam-friendly festie will once again be hosted by moe. and Umphrey’s McGee, who will be joined by The Avett Brothers, Girl Talk, Keller Williams, STS9, Bela Fleck & The Flecktones, Cypress Hill, Lotus, EOTO, Cornmeal, Big Gigantic, Daedelus, Family Groove Company and the Ryan Montbleau Band. Look for additional artists to be announced over the next few months.
If you’re can’t make it out to Chillicothe next summer, then maybe you’ll be interested in hitting one of these recently announced tours…
Finally, as we countdown the days towards Phish’s three-night New Years run at the World’s Most Famous Arena, we wanted to point you in the direction of a number of post shows happening around around the Big Apple for those adventurous souls looking to keep the party going into the wee hours, or as an alternative for those that got shut out on tickets.
Night one (December 30th) will feature shows from the Rebirth Brass Band with High & Mighty Brass at Le Possion Rogue, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe at BB Kings, The New Deal at the Highline Ballroom and Wyllys & the New York Hustler Ensemble at Sullivan Hall. Night two (December 31st) brings us Zac Deputy at City Winery, Anders Osborne at Sullivan Hall, and The New Deal moving their party on over to BB Kings. While the final night of the run (January 1st), sees Zac Deputy returning to City Winery, as well as the aforementioned Sullivan Hall 3rd Anniversary show featuring Steve Kimock, Nigel Hall, George Porter Jr. and Bill Kreutzmann. With all these options, what will you be hitting?
Earlier this year Deer Tick released their third full-length record The Black Dirt Sessions
McCauley will now get a chance to showcase those tunes in a different setting from Deer Tick’s usual rowdy and raucous shows, as he has scheduled an eight-date acoustic tour. McCauley will be joined by his band mate Ian O’Neil on guitar and vocals for a string of gigs that will feature a mix of Deer Tick tunes, covers and songs from Middle Brother – his project with Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes) and Matt Vasquez (Delta Spirit).
If you’re not into a night with the duo from Deer Tick, than maybe you’ll be interested in hitting one of these recently announced tours…
Finally, after battling ongoing addiction and marital problems over the last few years, it’s look like Amy Winehouse may finally be on her way back from being just a punchline. The oft-troubled Winehouse has scheduled a handful of dates in Brazil, as part of their Summer Soul Festival for early next year, marking her first proper live shows since 2008. Joining the soul and R&B singer for these dates will be Janelle Monáe and Mayer Hawthorne.
On July 20 and 21 of 1991, Phish played a two-day stand at Arrowhead Ranch in Parksville, NY, which was part of a short tour where the band was joined by the Giant Country Horns for the first time on the road.
Next Wednesday night, Phab Phour tribute act Strange Design will take the stage at HT’s favorite NYC venue Brooklyn Bowl to recreate one of the two shows – which will remain a surprise until showtime. The band will be joined by The Big Apple Horns to complete the full experience. Tickets for the gig will run you just $5 in advance, $7 day of. We can’t think of a better way to spend our Pre-Thanksgiving night then reliving these historic shows.
If you can’t make it out to Brooklyn next week, than maybe you’ll be to hit one of these recently announced tours…
Finally, for the last six years Michael Dorf has presented an annual charity tribute concert with 100% of the proceeds going to a number of music-based charities. The seventh edition, which will take place on Feb. 10th at New York’s famed Carnegie Hall, will feature a night celebrating the music of legendary singer-songwriter Neil Young. Among the artists who will tackle selections from Mr. Young’s famed songbook will be Patti Smith, The Roots, Joan Osbourne, Keller Williams and Pete Yorn, with Larry Campbell set to anchor the house band. Tickets are currently on-sale, along with a limited number of VIP tickets that include an artist after-party at City Winery.
During a relatively brief tour of just 15 shows, Phish packed many highlights into the run that concluded in Atlantic City on Halloween. Phish kicked off the tour with a festival show in Texas, three consecutive nights in Colorado, two in the South, six at old school locations in the Northeast and a triumphant three night run in Atlantic City. The buzz throughout the last week or so of the tour was palpable with several shows destined to go down in the history books and be re-visited many times for years to come.
So what did everyone think?
[CLICK ON IMAGES FOR FULL-SIZE VIEW]
In the most lopsided of question of not only this survey, but all the prior ones as well, the resounding majority certainly felt that this was THE tour since the reunion. As Phish nears the 100 show mark since Hampton, it’s hard to argue that several of these fifteen were not among the best.
Overall Grade for Fall Tour
Solid again, with a much larger percentage of fans scoring a B+ or higher than previous tours. Only 10% scored a B or lower. For three of you, we’ll catch you at the next WSP show.
READ ON for more results from our Fall Tour Survey…
As Yo La Tengo gears up for the start of their semi-annual eight-night Hannukah run at Maxwell’s, which gets underway on December 1, the Hoboken-based band has announced a unique twist for their winter tour. The iconic indie-rock trio will split their nights into two sets, with the first 45 minutes of music to be determined by a spin on a Wheel Of Fortune. The wheel will feature eight distinct themes, which include The Freewheeling Yo La Tengo, Condo Fucks, Sitcom Theater and Songs Starting With S – full descriptions of each can be found on the band’s website.
If you’re not into a night with YLT, then maybe you’ll be interested in hitting one of these recently announced tours…
Finally, in our never ending quest to keep you up to date on the seemingly non-stop festival lineup announcements we’ve got news for the roots and bluegrass fans out there, as the initial artist announcement for the 24th edition of Merlefest had been revealed. The three day festie, which will take place April 28 – May 1 on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkes, NC, will be hosted by Doc Watson, will feature sets from the likes of Sam Bush, Emmitt-Nershi Band, Peter Rowan, Del McCoury Band and more.
Another day and another story about our favorite psychedelic rock band from Oklahoma, as The Flaming Lips have announced via their Twitter account that they will be playing their 1999 critically acclaimed break through album The Soft Bulletin
If you can’t make it to Oklahoma, City for New Year’s Eve this year, than maybe you’ll be able to hit one of these recently announced tours…
Finally, in an effort to expand their growing empire of hip destination-based curated micro-festivals, the folks behind All Tomorrow’s Parties have announced that they will be headed to the Far East for their first-ever event in Japan. The one-day festie dubbed I’ll Be Your Mirror – which was the B-Side to VU’s All Tomorrow’s Parties – will take place at Studio Coast in Tokyo, Japan on Sunday, February 27 in 2011.
ATP organizers have also announced that Animal Collective will be curating their flagship event next spring that will take place from May 13-15 at the Butlins Holiday Centre in Minehead. Among the acts joining AC on the the initial line up are Gang Gang Dance, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, as well as The Meat Puppets performing Up On The Sun and The Frogs who will perform It’s Only Right & Natural.
After 16 years, Phish finally returned to New Hampshire tonight for a performance at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester.
Tonight’s first set was filled with bust outs and tour debuts. In fact, Curtain With and It’s Ice were the only tunes performed during the opening stanza that the band had previously played this month. Coming out of the gate with After Midnight for the first time since Cypress, the “anything can happen” vibe continued after Sloth with Alumni Blues > Letter to Jimmy Page > Alumni Blues followed by a cover of Bob Marley’s Mellow Mood.
Mike Gordon’s Undermind-era tune Access Me saw its first action since Miami and the now rare Llama continued the streak of tour debuts along with the ballad All of These Dreams. Speaking of Undermind, A Song I Heard The Ocean Sing disappeared after two plays in June ’09…until tonight. While it wasn’t quite as jammed out as some of the ’04 versions it was quite a treat in a set full of them. Even Round Room got some love with only the second Walls of the Cave since Hampton. Overall, according to Phish.net, the average song gap for the set was a ridiculous 46.31.
10/26/2010 Verizon Wireless Arena
Set 1: After Midnight, The Sloth, Alumni Blues > Letter to Jimmy Page > Alumni Blues, Mellow Mood, Access Me, Llama, All of These Dreams, The Curtain With, Scent of a Mule, A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing, It’s Ice, Walls of the CaveSet 2: Possum, Light > Mike’s Song > Simple > Makisupa Policeman -> Night Nurse -> Makisupa Policeman > The Wedge, Ghost -> The Mango Song > Weekapaug Groove -> Llama
Encore: Show of Life
Notes: After Midnight was played for the first time since December 31, 1999 (206 shows). This show featured the Phish debut of Night Nurse; original artist Gregory Isaacs passed away the night before, October 25, 2010. Weekapaug Groove featured lyrics from Ghost and Night Nurse as well as a Can’t You Hear Me Knocking jam and was left unfinished.
[via Phish.net]
Set Two focused on more familiar territory with heavy rotation standards Possum, Light and Mike’s all getting a spin. There were still surprises in store as the group worked Gregory Isaacs’ Night Nurse into the middle of Makisupa Policeman in tribute to the reggae legend who passed away on Monday. The second Ghost of the tour was notable for a sweet segue into Mango Song that was patient, focused and well executed. Once Mango segued into Weekpaug more madness ensued as the quartet worked quotes of the Ghost lyrics and a Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’ jam into the song’s outro before transitioning into the end of Llama – a tune they performed in the first set. Phish heads to Atlantic City for three shows starting on Friday.
