Suns Out, Bust Outs

Woop Woop! 

I'm going to attempt to do some writing this tour, sharing my experiences and reviewing a couple of shows. As tour goes on the regularity (and length - got a little carried away here) of posts will likely drop off. So while this is my initial post of summer tour 2016, there is a chance it's also the last. 

As always these posts share a lot of personal experiences and stories geared towards friends and phamily. If you don't know or don't care about the non phish part of my tour and want my thoughts on the show skip down to the "Phishing Report" section. Or if the opposite is true do what my sister does and skip only that section. 

Status

We are on the road, Destiny Unbound, from St. Paul to Chicago. Tour bro Gormley at the wheel, new friend Ana in the back. We will be doing a lot of driving this tour so he rented a nice SUV. Great driver, good buddy, but we disagree on tour music. Gormley = all Phish all the time. Fink = prefers to not listen to Phish while on tour. While I'm of the school the driver always selects the music, I'll still try to sneak in some non-Phish tunes. (Busting balls - he was very accommodating to my music selections.)

Minnesota 

I flew into Minneapolis / St. Paul the morning of the show. There were no heads on my flight from SD to Denver, saw a few including a couple of buddies but not as many as expected flying from the Phish capital of the west to Minneapolis. 

I decided to take public transportation from the airport to our hotel in downtown St. Paul. I'm a big fan of public transportation, especially considering the lack of decent options in Southern California. I also liked the cost: $1.75. While I consider myself only jew"ish" I still love to save money (mostly so I can blow it all on tour). This involved a light rail and then a city bus. What an interesting experience. Extra large people, bag ladies, crazies muttering to themselves, inebriated, stinky folks and an angry bus driver. On a percentage basis there were more wooks on the city bus than at the show last night. The whole time I kept thinking that Jar would not approve. 

I arrived at the doubletree around 2:00 pm and started running into my people. The best part about tour is hanging with phamily. Seeing my community, my friends and loved ones, giving and receiving heart to heart hugs - my favorite part of tour. Saw a bunch of people I knew and some others that I pretended to know. 

A quick note about St. Paul - what a funky city. The downtown was a little sketchy, I got the sense that it's the bastard little brother of Minneapolis. Old buildings trying to be made over, deserted buildings, strange people all over. I kind of liked it. 

They also have a skywalk connecting all the downtown buildings. This reminded me of the Houston downtown but the skywalk in St. Paul is for the cold and Houston's is for the heat. For some reason this fascinated me - probably because in San Diego even the malls are outdoors. 

Grinds

We ate our requisite one meal of the day at the hotel bar/restaurant. The second of three bars I have been to in Minnesota that had bubble hockey. This was the first bar I've been to in a long time that didn't have any San Diego beers on tap. I always drink the local brews when I travel but just an observation. Not that it mattered anyway because I was into the bourbon yesterday (and it isn't even panic tour). 

The meal at the restaurant was average but we met some local-ish folks in town for the show and I got a full on lesson about cheese curds. I learned that the people of Minnesota reluctantly admit they were invented in Wisconsin but claim they were perfected in Minnesota. And they have to be white cheese, not yellow. And fried. Then on the drive to Chicago out of nowhere Ana starts talking about cheese curds. She says they need to be the non refrigerated ones delivered direct and should always be plain, flavored curds are for suckers. They take their curds seriously here in the Midwest and I haven't even gotten into the dipping sauce arguments - ranch vs ketchup.

Curds seem like an aggressive pre-show meal but they offered me one and of course I tried one. Fried cheese - what's not to like? As an aside, a nice example of what it's like to be on tour with our community - strangers stopping strangers just so they can share their curds. 

This morning we had a pretty good (if overpriced) breakfast at The Buttered Tin. Not much to report there. 

Tee Shirt Time 

On the flight I wore my green Home of the Best Band in the World Vermont shirt. I like this shirt because it's subtle - either you know or you don't. I was having some fun with it because a few different times people acknowledged the shirt with a hell yeah or something along those lines so I would respond with an extra excited "YOU LOVE TWIDDLE TOO???YES!!!!"

For the show I went with my purple Harris Phish shirt. I have a general rule that I don't wear the shirt of the band I'm going to see to the show. I made an exception to this rule because my wardrobe is light in the purple department and there was a movement to wear purple to the show for Prince. It was cool to see so many people in purple. I wonder if it was noticeable by everyone or only those that knew. 

Speaking of said rule, I have been debating with my tee shirt advisors - yes, I have tee shirt advisors; well I ask their open and they roll their eyes at me. Is it cool to wear the shirt of the band you are going to see if at a festival or does this violate my policy? This came up because at Jazzfest I couldn't decide if I should wear my Jacket shirt as support during the festival even though I was going to see them at the festival. FTR I didn't, although I doubt anyone cares. 

Phishing Report

We got to the lot and hung out a bit. There wasn't quite a shakedown but people were hanging out. There was the typical guerrilla vending but the cops seemed to be paying close attention to everything except the balloons. Ballon prices are inflating at a rate similar to college tuition. Maybe Bernie can promise balloons to everyone. Speaking of, loved the new Fishman Bernie dress. I'm glad at least one of the boys in Phish is using his platform to fight the good fight. 

Ran into a few different friends, more heart to heart hugs, laughs, great energy and that general tour is staring giddiness was all around. I especially enjoyed catching up with Greg, Wallace and the lake people. At this point the whiskey buzz was on and I was in joyous Fink mode. I'm at my best on tour. 

We had GA floor; for the first set we ended up about 20 feet in front of the soundboard. The first set crew was Todd, Custy Jeni, Lasker and some of their friends. The sound was great. Second set we were Mike side near the aisle, about even with the soundboard. Another nice spot. Plenty of room on the floor, we were getting down, never felt crowded. Both spots the people were respectful, cool and quiet. Props to the phans. People were very nice, as were the local Minneapolis people. Fine Midwestern folks. 

If you have read this far you probably are aware of the new light rig and stage set up.  My thoughts are as follows:

• I've always known this but I was extremely aware of it last night... I mostly listen to phish with my eyes closed. As such the lights generally don't have an impact on my show experience. 

• I don't mind that CK is trying something new. Much like the band and the world: evolve or die. 

• I saw a Martin Garrix set at Coachella a few years ago in the infamous EDM Sahara tent. The light show blew me away - it wasn't until a week after the show I learned CK did the lights. There are some parallels here; Beiber isn't the only influence. (CK at Coachella: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PKWrpL2EdJ8)

• People online seem to be hating... If you don't like it shut your eyes. 

• From the floor and being on the short side I couldn't really see the lights and when I did look I didn't care for what I saw in the first set.

• The second set started and I was in the seats socializing so got a better view from above. They also expanded the top LED lights out and it looked better. Second set lights seemed better to me. 

• I will give it a few shows before passing full judgement on the lights but for now I'm lukewarm.

The lights dropped and Phish opened with... Pigtail! What an interesting song selection - only the second time ever played by Phish. I knew this immediately because I wrote a piece for Mr. Miner's blog in March 2013 called "One and Done" listing my top 10 songs only played once by Phish that I would like to hear again. 3 years later and Pigtail is the first song on that list to be played again. http://phishthoughts.com/2013/03/20/readers-picks-josh-finkenberg/ 

One of the only reasons I am even blogging is because Mr. Miner, Pauly from Coventry, and even Zach don't write much about Phish anymore. I'm basically the equivalent of people going on Dave Matthews tour when Phish took a hiatus. Hopefully those guys come back and I can go back to reading instead of writing. 

Pigtail was a huge bust out (theme of the night) and well played. Band was tight from the start. 

Wolfmans in the two spot, always a good song for the boys to find their jamming "legs". I feel like Wolfman's is a safe song that helps the band find a pocket. Again tight and well played. 

Another busty followed in Daniel Saw the Stone. Then Dogs. Bust outs, new songs, staples. Nice mix right away. Dogs was a meaningful song for me as I always think about the boys but tonight was thinking about Oakley. I received a text on the flight that my goddaughter's dog died (yes, I'm a Jewish godfather - Friendship is everything). I was in tears for ten minutes on the plane and then again during the show. Dogs aren't our whole life but they make our lives whole. 

Love me some Undermind. Always. Hasn't gotten much play recently. Also appeared last time Billy Breathes made an appearance. I'm a fan of that album, glad to see some songs like scents getting more play. 

In the every other song is a bust out pattern in the first set, we then got a beautiful and moving Dear Prudence. Like the dedicated Phish geek that I am I knew they had sound checked it so wasn't totally surprised but still a joy and treat to hear in person. I was in Glenn Falls a few years ago but not in 94. What a touching song; the tears from dogs came back. 

A pretty standard Stash, solid but not spectacular, preceded Round Room. In the set list game Round Room was my bust out call for MSG (based on the Mock Song from Magnaball). While it seems like a long time ago (because it was), I was only off by 4 shows. Really like this song and enjoyed this version. (Not many to choose from but Vegas 2003 is the best version ever -  http://www.phishtracks.com/shows/2003-02-16/round-room). 

I don't remember Horn at all, then the every other bust out up next was Uncle Pen. I now associate that with FYF. Well played, band sounded tight. 

Walls of the Cave has become a regular first set closer. The last 15 times played Walls has closed the set. And everytime Trey is bouncing up and down at the end with a huge shit eating grin on his face. It always seems that Walls is one of Trey's favorite songs to play.

I really dug the first set. The song selection had a nice variety, tons of bust outs and in a surprise move no new songs. Phish may not be touring but it sure sounds like they have been playing and practicing. 

Second set started with Down with Disease. Except it didn't. I was convinced that's where they were going but instead it was a solid (and true) Mike's Groove. Mike's Groove is only Mike's -> Hydrogen -> Paug. I thought this was extremely well played and most enjoyable. It was also interesting because it was old school. All the talk about the changes in the lighting set up, the new songs / album, etc and yet this show had a lot of old school and bust out songs. Phish is evolving but still know who they are at the core. 

I feel like the show really lost some steam after the Mike's Groove. I think this is because the band got tired. They haven't been playing / touring and don't have their tour stamina. I don't have much to say about the Bouncing, the highlight of the Ghost was that for a tour opener the drop was pretty good (again the band was tight) and the Line is (unfortunately) here to stay. Shit they played it in a hockey arena. Wouldn't an It's Ice have been more appropriate? How about a return of Sing Monica? Simple into what I thought was a new song, but rather another monster bust out / only second time played Velvet's I Found a Reason. Another nod to Halloweens past - is there an Easter egg here?

I felt like the band sounded tired / slow for No Men. Billy Breathes is a very special song. Last night I think it was played in honor of Bill Woytovich who was part of the Phish security team who recently died. Fuck cancer. Bill was a great guy who always cared about the phans. This isn't a Soundcheck, tomorrow is not guaranteed, live your liphe and choose happiness. I also immediately thought of the last time I heard Billy Breathes standing next to Grant at Portsmouth - a special song for my brother from another. Right after that they played a late second set Bathtub (loving the moving around of Gin since Atlanta). Good personal segue because I always do the Gin shuffle with Grant. I was still doing the shuffle (lots of room on the floor), but doing it solo. The Gin was starting to sound good but then got the ripcord. 

I think it was during Dear Prudence when Trey broke a guitar string and switched from his brand new Languedoc to the old Koa axe. This led to Trey coming out for the encore and telling a story (I love it when big red speaks) about playing this guitar primarily from 96-03 including Big Cypress. Then Phish played a beautiful song that always makes me think of that special weekend, Water in the Sky. I also believe this was their subtle nod to Prince: Everyone is covering Purple Rain, Mike said in an article that they don't like to do what everyone else is doing, Phish says Purple Rain is simply water in the sky. Standard Zero (tired band) sent everyone home happy. 

DJ Phink

I've posted this album before but will do so one more time because it's that good and we were in Minnesota. Prince. 19 years old. Loring Park Sessions. Jammed it outside the hotel after the show. Fitting tribute. 

http://www.mediafire.com/?j3x86ib55613h8s

Summary

Wow I can't believe how long this review has become, but I had time during a beautiful 6 hour drive from St. Paul to Chicago. Thank you to the 3 people that actually read this far. 

Like a box of mushroom chocolates, you never know what you are going to get with a tour opener. This was a super solid tour opener; exceeded my expectations and I believe sets us up for an awesome summer tour. Bust outs, tributes, varied set lists and most of all very well played. Are the bust outs a one off show or are we going to have a year similar to 2011 (with what seemed like a bust out every show)? Time will tell but I am expecting at least 3 new songs in Chicago. Hope to see y'all on tour. 

#liveyourliphe