After a slow summer here, the point was made about how important everybody's contributions are. True stoke is too vital to be restricted though. Time to turn the flow back on high.

This post is about Jones Beach, NY, with some local VT history, including Sugarbush, so it was hard to decide where to put it in the forums. If it happened at the mountain, does it belong there? Anyway, these existential decisions are not mine to make, finer minds are at work on it.

My apologies in advance for the photo quality. Taking cellphone pictures in low light is more like painting than photography.


Who's got my extra?

Hannah and I recently spent some time rockin' out with VT's Phab Phour at the Jones Beach summer tour closer. The intimate scenic theatre is right on the water, geese paddled behind the band. As we entered on the final night, a double rainbow appeared, which ended on both sides of the stage, pot of gold territory.


Straight as an arrow, no joking.

I started listening to the boys back in '89 and saw my first show at a tiny bar in Buffalo '91. Even more fun, I worked security at the famous Amherst Roller Rink show that fall, where Trey rollerbladed through the audience while jamming.

They were part of what drew me to VT a year later. Soon I became the events coordinator at Sugarbush and started lobbying hard to get Phish to play at the mountain. The first Mount Ellen show in '94 was a watershed moment for the fans and the band. So important, it was immortalized as LivePhish Volume Two.

That night was when everybody knew they were truly going huge, ready to take on the world. By '95, they were already a little too big for outdoors in VT, and those two Sugarbush shows were the last outdoor concerts in the state until Coventry in '04.

But that's the distant past and what's important is the near past. The whole 2010 summer tour was fiery, the band played with a fervor unseen in many years.


Floating between land and water. Amphibious Phish!

Commonly known as Phish 3.0, this incarnation is beyond expectations. They took creative chances, but also nailed the intricate composed pieces. Old songs were enthusiastically reinterpreted, peaks and valleys shifted, poly-rhythms, time changes, melodies and harmonies added, plus new songs and hot covers ... a whole lot of fresh funk from the trunk. The shows were total marathons, averaging close to three hours of playing.



The first night was a slab of straight rock and roll. A massive Mike's> Simple> BackwardsDown> Caspian> RockandRoll> Groove filled a lot of the second set. There were covers from the Talking Heads, Joe Walsh, the Rolling Stones and the Velvet Underground. We were blown away by the sustained energy, obvious practice and refined communication in the band.

The final night was a little less energetic, but just as adventurous. Everybody was on their toes, Mike ripped big bass lines, Page played and sang his heart out, Trey plotted and flowed, Fish drove it all home. It was highlight after highlight, but the best for me were the careening Chaulk Dust and solid Harry Hood.



What a treat to have Phish back and charging hard again.




John

Seen on car in the lot, "This Car Climbed Mount Iculus, GH"