Phish – Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco, CA 10/27/14 (Night One Highlights/Lowlights)

Last night, Phish played their seventh ever show at San Francisco’s Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. Stepping to the stage for show seven in the midst of a twelve-show fall tour, the band rolled into the Bay Area lacking that one heavy hitting highlight evening that fans have been looking forward too for months. Although last night failed to deliver a top-tier show, there were some definite highlights that far outweighed the lowlights. With San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee ensuring that Game 6 of the World Series- featuring an opportunity for the San Francisco Giants to win it all just before the lights drop for Tuesday’s show-will be shown on a jumbotron screen at Civic Center, which is essentially the middle of the lot scene, the epic potential for show two of the three show run is through the roof.

Highlights

1. Three song request signs were seen upon walking into last nights show. One sign asked for “Winterqueen” (played in the encore), the other two simply said “Walfredo”. While both songs were played, “Walfredo” was a specific request from a crew of fans that wanted to honor their fallen brother, Adam Berger. You can read more about the story of Adam here (http://bob-osborn.blogspot.com/2014/10/now-when-i-think-back-on-you-walfredo.html). Walfredo hadn’t been played in the last 186 shows. It’s a great offering to start a three-night run where all four-band members play an original tune where they switch up their instruments, not to mention they were specifically honoring a fallen fan. Phish is a class act. To make a request like this happen for a member of their fan base speaks directly to the integrity of the band.
2. Although “Party Time” didn’t go into extreme Type II territory, the Jon Fishman penned tune boasted a unique depth and jam that set up a high energy run through “46 Days” to close the first set. Add in a tight “Stash” that preceded “Party Time” and the trifecta of selections made for 24 minutes of quality Phish to finish off set one.
3. What to say about “Ghost”? Did they start off key on purpose? Was it a major flub? Was the band having fun? Regardless of identifying what went down in absolute terms, “Ghost” offered the deepest improvisation of the evening. It’s not an all-time version by any means, but as offered in the lowlights, big improvisation has been sorely lacking this fall tour. Phish is looking for it, and hopefully they find it. However, the exploration in “Ghost” last evening gives hope that something unique and special might be in store over the next five shows.
4. In many show attendees minds “Seven Below” was last nights highlight. Sure “Ghost” had the most exploratory properties of any song last evening, but “Seven Below” had a melodic jam that in person felt much longer than the mere ten minutes of the songs actual length. Too many Phish fans are completely lost on how long individual songs are played for, and while in all fairness there is some degree of truth to wanting to hear songs drawn out since that’s where the band is able to insert their own special take on any given song on any given night, there are times when a ten minute offering like last night’s “Seven Below” is as good, if not better than a 20+ minute directionless offering of improvisational music.
5. “2001 (Also Sprach Zarathustra)” was straight fire. The Echoplex pedal employed by lead guitarist/vocalist Trey Anastasio was nothing short of an on point, funk juggernaut that had every person in the sold out Bill Graham Civic Auditorium getting down. While in the 3.0 era of Phish “2001” continues to be played in a much shorter time frame than in years past, last nights take had something else to it. The instant dance party right from the beginning of note one is nothing new, but give this version another listen today and experience it for yourself. It was a fresh take on an old heavy rotation classic and the result showcased something many hope will surface again through the last five shows of the tour.

Other notable highlights from night one in San Francisco include a three-song encore starting off with “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”. It really took up less than one minute of playing time, but once again gives support to potential for tonight as local Bay Area folks LOVE their Giants. “A Day in the Life” is always special no matter when or where it’s played, and to choose to play that for the first time since last fall tour in Hampton, VA to close the show was a great selection. Ten songs were debuted last night as well, making sure everyone in attendance knows the doors are completely wide open for the remainder of tour.

Lowlights

1. It’s a recurring theme and something many longtime Phish fans feel is the ticket for the band to continue a trajectory of growth after having played thousands of shows over an illustrious thirty-year career. Phish must stop playing first sets that lack improvisation, don’t take chances, and ultimately have a majority of those who regularly listen to the band solely anticipate “the goods” of any given show to take place in set two. It’s far from the type of atmosphere that caused so many show goers to get hooked on the band in the first place. Not knowing if the highlight of a given show would take place in the first song of the first set, or really wherever-the completely open landscape that was once a given at every Phish show is something that if returned too, might change the whole current layout of what Phish is offering in 2014.
2. “Chalk Dust Torture”. For a song like this that has in recent shows/tours been a Type II improvisational machine, to get dropped so late in the second set and never even remotely breach out of conventional territory was unfortunate. Of course the energy gets high every time the song is played, and yes that’s a good thing, but to stay so safe in such a place, at such a point in the tour and such a place in the second set where another big jam might have really pointed the show in a new direction was a missed opportunity.
3. The current theme of Phish’s 2014 Fall Tour is a lack of interesting, big, jams. It’s simple. At this stage in their career the band knows that part of their allure is that any song on any given night can take a form that no one has ever heard before, that no one will ever hear played in the same way again. Shows like Saturday’s energy driven, no jam second set at Sleep Train Amphitheatre in Chula Vista, CA have their place. However, what many feel is sorely needed sometime over the next five shows, hopefully sooner than later, is a masterful jam that helps breath identity into the tour as a whole. It was already evident in the Eugene, OR show, and it certainly came alive in the LA Forum’s “Down with Disease”. But the question for now is will Phish shed expectations and just start taking more chances over the next few shows? Or will there be small offerings of improvisation sprinkled amongst a host of diverse song offerings? Only time will tell, and although cohesion has been lacking this tour, there have been many moments of brilliance. That said, the door is both literally, and figuratively wide open for the band to leave their mark in a very real, lasting way this fall.