Never Miss a Tuesday

Never Miss a Tuesday

Prior to the Dayton show last week, I told the tale below. Based upon what we witnessed last night, it bears repeating.

My buddy Jonny ran into Trey in NY a few weeks before the Bakers Dozen. Trey asked him how many of the 13 shows he was attending. Jonny said all of them. Trey laughed and responded "Never miss a Tuesday."

Johnny is part of the new generation of hardcore phans. One of the things I have noticed about Phish is that the fan base is regenerating. There is an entire generation of younger people that have fallen hard for the Phish. It seems that there are as many, if not more, of the younger generation doing the full tour. Unlike just about every other band I have loved for a long time, our base has a new wave of fans coming in. I see so many more younger kids that get IT at Phish. This is such an important component of what makes Phish great today - young, new, fresh, optimistic, healthy and eager energy. It's good for the community, the Phish geezers (including myself) and most of all the band. Bravo 3.0ers (Fink 3.0, Evan, the Philly brothers, Tim, Sam, etc)! As they say in NY you are the straw(berry) that stirs the drink. 

Never Miss a Sunday has been a thing for a long time, the thinking being that the more serious fans come out on Sunday (vs Friday and especially Saturday). Well Tuesday night, middle of the week, early part of the Bakers Dozen run...this was not going to be amateur hour. Additionally ticket sales seem to have been a little soft, at least softer than they had been for the weekend. The seats behind the stage on all levels were closed and there was a black curtain behind the band. I heard that some people that had purchased seats behind the stage were moved to awesome house seats. Pro tip for mid week shows: buy behind the stage on the secondary market and you might be moved to prime time seats if the same as last night. Not a Fink guarantee however. 

In addition the band broke from what had been form for the first 3 shows of the Bakers Dozen and announced the donut theme a full two days before the show (as opposed to hours before the previous shows). The capitalist in me thought that this was probably an attempt to drum up ticket sales. The optimist in me was Phish telling everyone out there that they were going to throw down an insane night of jams so get your ass to NY. Phish is giving you fair warning and an extra day to travel.

That's right, the donut for night 4 of the Bakers Dozen was a jam filled donut. As has become custom, everyone was making predictions. Would we get a mountain jam? I was sure we would based upon the tease in the Chicago hood - once again I was wrong. Would we get a drive in/hourglass single set of music? Would we get honey songs? Raspberry songs (very cool that Raspberry Beret was the walk out music after the show)?  There was a feeling in the air amongst the phans that whatever it was was going to be something special. And special it was. And it has been. And it will be. It's a special time to be a fan of the P fish. 

Side bar: Federal Donuts, the suppliers of the donuts for the Bakers Dozen, is based out of Philadelphia. Everyone was kind of wondering why they didn't use a NY donut shop. Well we have the answer! (I want to give credit to the person that told me but truth be told I totally forgot who it was. Shoot me a text if you read this and I will credit in my next post). 

It turns out a woman from Federal Donuts (maybe the owner?) is a hard core fan that has seen something like 300 shows. Phish reached out to a pastry chef in NY who connected them with Federal Donuts and the deal was sealed because Federal Donuts would send the band donuts every time they played Philadelphia and the band and crew loved them. Per my philadelphia peeps, they are a solid company, use organic ingredients, environmentally conscious, really good people and real phans so it's a nice match. This will no doubt be quite a boom to their deserving business! 

I have introduced Phish to a lot of people throughout the years. One of those is my buddy John who I first met at Fare the Well Santa Barbara. Sometimes when you meet someone you immediately know you will have a friend for life, someone that you respect and admire and vibe with immediately. John and I had a bromance from the start. Fare the Well was his first jam band community type of concert and he loved it. I told him if he thought this was good then Phish would melt his mind. John said he was in and came out to dicks to see Phish for the first time in 2015. Phish had "hooked" another. He has seen most of the Dozen shows. It is fun to watch a friend fall in love with Phish after you have introduced them. 

John is an EVP for MSG so he dialed us up big time for the show last night. We met and entered the venue via some secret entrance and ended up heading to the suite from backstage where we walked past and greeted Page before the show. We were in the MSG corporate suite for the show. It was bomb - bathroom, bar, all the typical suite fixings and you pop right out to the first few rows of the floor. Thanks bud! That was epic. 

We get settled into the seats, the lights come down... and then magic happens. 

Sample in a Jar to open the show. 4th straight show/every show of the Bakers Dozen to date where the opener begins with the letter S. Coincidence or purposeful? If sugar shack opens tonight's show it might be the latter. 

Right away in sample - before we even get to the first verse - there is an extended jam early in the song. This wasn't going to be a straightforward sample. I love sample because it always makes me think of my best bud Jar. Another friend who I introduced to Phish and now loves them so much he is flying out from San Diego for one show next week. About 7 minutes into the sample opener I was starting to believe that the jam donuts actually did signify that the band was going to JAM!!! Was it going to be opener -> jam -> closer? How many songs were they going to play? What is happening? How fucking incredibly lucky am I to be in the building? Literally from the first song I felt in my bones this was going to be a super special night of music. 

Then Page came out for Lawnboy - hmm, did I totally misread that? During sample I was convinced the band was going to jam all night but how can Phish jam out lawnboy? Wow oh wow how indeed can Phish jam out Lawnboy. 

Part of me thinks Phish asked themselves what's the hardest possible song for us to jam out and came up with Lawnboy. Page doesn't even play an instrument on the tune, the music isn't complicated, it's just a pretty straightforward Page lounge lizard song with a nice solo from Cactus. Once again positive to get Gordon involved early. 

Well Phish is the best band in the world and they proved last night they can jam out anything. I'm still not sure what happened. When they brought the keytar out for Page I thought weird, Frankenstein doesn't fit here. But no it was just the kick off to the Bakers Dozen All Star Jam session. That was insane. I really don't think there was much of "Lawnboy" in that jam. But either way it was spacey and weird and out there and long and extended. It was interesting because at times there were some lulls - that's what happens when you jam without a net - but the band never pulled out, kept exploring deeper and trying new things. Each member was leading at different times. Tempos and themes were changing. The band was patient and exploring each opportunity. I really thought Mike and Fish were locked in last night (more on this later). I heard some weekapaug, seven below, rock n roll amongst other tunes. It was SO awesome. Not only did they put it out there and go deep for 30 minutes, they executed and had some really special moments during the jam. Post tour this will require a really deep dive and exploration. Right now I'm looking in the black mirror wondering what just happened. 

40 minutes into the show the band has played two songs!!! What could possibly happen next? A transition into My Friend My Friend, candidly not my favorite Phish song. Also extended beyond 10 minutes but not my favorite part of the show. 

Stash was pretty awesome. Always love the Santana sound in the song. We also had a with us a dude who was at his first phish show. I encouraged him to clap, get involved. He was digging it but definitely overwhelmed during the first set. Talk about diving into the deep end of the pool! I imagine this would be a difficult introduction to Phish. Funk I was overwhelmed and this wasn't my first rodeo. 

Gin is a favorite of mine, always seems to fit well in the set closer roll. It was also featured in a recent 5 song set (set 2 at the mann 2015). Speaking of can anyone tell me the last 5 song first set? Or second - was it Mann? McNichols 97 comes to mind for first sets but I'm sure there has to be a more recent one. Anyway I loved this gin. I was feeling so happy and excited. I just kept thinking to myself holy shit Phish is at their peak powers, taking chances, jamming, locked in, happy. When they are done and we discuss and look back at the history of Phish, the Bakers Dozen will hold a very important place. It's happening now. We are living it. I felt so lucky to be alive and where I was at that exact moment. It's crazy to know you are witnessing and a part of a special history of something that means so much to you. Fuck yeah Phish!!!

What a set of music. Musically what do I want Phish to do? I want them to JAM! 5 song first set, every song at least 10 minutes, a 30 minute Lawnboy (dubbed Lawn "Man" by custy Jeni)...that's what I'm talking about! I had put the over/under at 11 songs before the show started. At set break I was thinking the under was a lock. Not so fast...

Fuego to open the second set. I was surprised by the call (was still convinced Mountain Jam was going to be played). Nice version, like everything extended out, of course I said "In San Diego, we keep it rolling." Don't really remember much about the Fuego jam but I was into it, locked in, enjoying it. 

Up next was Thread. I really liked this tune the first time I heard it, thought it had potential. Didn't enjoy it quite as much as the first time but I had a moment where I truly appreciated how much the band cares about Phish, pushing forward, creating new music. Here we are in one of the all time great shows and Phish drops a recent tune to open the set and a brand new song in the 2 spot. Creatives need to keep creating to stay fresh, phish is creating new music, staying fresh. 

Then, for me, the NBA Michael Jordan JAM of the night. When crosseyed started up, I was a little concerned that the band was going to be doing the typical cross eyed thing where they go in and out of it, tease songs in it and then tease crosseyed the rest of the show. They did not do that. What they did was lay down one of the greatest 33 minutes of music I have ever heard. Gordon and Fishman were locked in and laying down this groovy beat for a good chunk of the jam. Fishman was an absolute beast the entire jam. MVP of the night. It was so sick. The groove foundation allowed Trey and Page to dance around and jam and experiment and get weird. I loved this jam so much. So many peaks, lights going up, crowd going nuts with their hands in the air. I had multiple cases of jamnesia. This was incredible. Wow. Funking PHISH!!!

I think they blew their load a bit on the crosseyed. Makiaupa was standard but a drop into a tune that candidly I had no idea what it was. Have since discovered it was End of Sessions, the last song on Story of the Ghost. Looking forward to revisiting that song post tour. What other band can drop a song never played from a 20 year old album? 

Tuesday on Tuesday again, Cavern to close, I think the band was a little out of gas by the end. Julius was good but it's still Julius. But then the cherry on top of the jam donut - the return into LawnMAN to close out the show. 

What a night of music in the middle of the week in the middle of an amazing and all time run of music. Seriously, Who has it better than us? We are at peak Phish. For me they have never been better.

✌🏼❤️🎼🐠🍩🤙🏼

#liveyourliphe

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#enjoyeverysandwich