Unofficial Setlist (by Jeremy Welsh):
Find The Cost of Freedom, Gold Dust Woman, Take Me to the River
– Warren, Grace Potter, Will Lee, Booker T., Russo
The Morning of the Magicians
– Rose Hill Drive with Rob Marscher, Matisyahu, Aaron Dugan
I’m Going Down, Mississippi Queen
– Rose Hill Drive with Leslie West; Grace Potter on Going Down
Cadillac, You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman, Sweet Home Alabama
– just Keller Williams for Cadillac; then Keller with Chevy Chase on piano
Taught To Be Proud, Sister Sweetly
– Tea Leaf Green with Todd Park Mohr and Allie Kral
Pulling Mussels (From The Shell), Tempted
– Teal Leaf Green with Ally, Glen Tillbrook; with Warren on Tempted
Magilla, Cars Trucks and Buses
– Page, Roy Haynes, Nick Payton, Christian McBride, and James Carter
Hip Hug-Her, Born Under A Bad Sign, Think Back, Rap Medley
– Galactic, then with Sharon Jones, then Chali 2na, and then Doug E. Fresh
Come Together, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Everybody’s Got Something to Hide
– The Fab Faux with Joan Osbourne; then Trey came halfway through While My Guitar and stayed on stage
Wilson > Run Like An Antelope > 2001, Maze
– Jake, Brownstein, Barber, Joe Russo, Kyle Hollingsworth; with Magner for Maze
Highlights:
- I got a kick out of Danny Clinch’s speech about Phish. Clinch spoke about the wonderful world he walked into when he met the band, and told a few interesting anecdotes. Danny was a terrific choice to introduce the band. Each member of Phish spoke quickly and directly, until Trey took the mic. The Bad Lieutenant went on about what an incredible experience it was for him to be in the middle of the Phish experience. He said it was like being in a movie. The members of the band showed their love for the fans, and also thanked every member of their crew starting with the recently maligned Jon Paluska. Trey also broke the sad news that Ernie Stires passed away, before mentioning how important his mentor’s teaching were to Phish’s distinct sound. All in all it was terrific to see the band standing together, joking with each other, shooting the shit and generally enjoying being together again.
- Co-Hosts Warren Haynes and Grace Potter opened the show backed by a ridiculously tight supergroup, which included Joe Russo, Booker T. and Will Lee. They fired up intense versions of Find The Coast of Freedom and Gold Dust Woman, as well as a funky Take Me To The River. Many of the impromptu bands that were put together tonight were pretty good, but this band could be absolutely dangerous playing a full show. More please.
- Keller opened with Song of the Year Cadillac before welcoming Chevy Chase for a bizarre cover of You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman. Chase is a much better piano player than talk show host.
- Tea Leaf Green got a plumb spot just as the show was heating up. They came out accompanied by Big Head Todd and the Monster’s Todd Park Mohr, Squeeze’s Glen Tillbrook and Cornmeal’s Allie Kral. After a quick run through 2006’s song of the year, Taught To Be Proud, TLG let Mohr lead them through a silky version of Big Head Todd’s Sister Sweetly. BHT&tM were one of the first jambands, while TLG is part of the most recent movement so it was cool to see them wank with each other. But the clear highlight of the TLG mini-set came at the end when Squeeze’s Tillbrook lent his distinctive voice and staccato guitar playing to Pulling Muscles From A Shell and Tempted. It was pretty fucking cool to see him sing those songs. Kudos to TLG for the tight backing jobs that allowed both of those gentlemen to do their thing.
- Page put together quite the jazz band to play Magilla and Cars Trucks Buses. That was another band that deserves more time together.
- The Headcount Allstars showed major testicular fortitude when they brought the show to a close with a set of Phish tunes. It didn’t help that they came on right after Phish left the stage to a standing ovation. The rhythm section of Marc Brownstein and Joe Russo sounded great the whole set, while the others had their moments. By far the best tune the jambanders played was their jawdropping version of Maze. Barber nailed the rapid-fire composed sections at the beginning of the tune, while Jake Cinninger finally let loose for a mindbending shredfest during what is usually Trey’s solo. The band was a bit tentative during Antelope, but they finally relaxed for an Untz-y 2001 that had a D.U.M.B. vibe. Pretty unimpressed by Kyle Hollingsworth, who was very low in the mix.
- Grace Potter did an amazing job both co-hosting the show and playing with the supergroup, as well as sitting in with Rose Hill Drive and Leslie West of Mountain (Mississippi Queen was sick!). She gets an A+ on the slinky dress that showed off her never ending legs. She also gave a brief heart-felt speech about growing up in Phish’s Vermont. For those keeping track at home Potter changed outfits three times.
- Speaking of speeches about Phish, Matisyahu also gave one about the quartet. Matis talked about what a great time he had after accepting a friend’s last minute invitation to see Phish in Worcester. Next, he told the story of Bonnaroo ’05 when he begged Trey to let him sit-in only to get shot down. Trey relented and asked Matis if he knew any Marley tunes.
- Galactic’s set was hit and miss. Doug E. Fresh and Jurassic 5 came out to rap over some New Orleans funk. The best part was when Fresh and Stanton Moore did a call and response bit. Moore absolutely crushed his responses to Fresh’s beatboxing. Another great moment was when Sharon Jones joined Galactic for Born Under A Bad Sign.
- Finally, we get to the 10 minutes of sheer bliss: The Fab Faux’s set. When Trey’s guitar tech, Brian Brown, came out to set up Trey’s rig I knew it was time to buckle my seatbelt. The Faux brought out Joan Osborne for Come Together before welcoming Big Red for While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Will Lee and Jimmy Vivino egged Trey on to deliver a blistering solo that ended with a double guitar meltdown featuring Trey and Jimmy trading licks.
- Next, the smile on my face reached unhealthy proportions when the Faux and Trey started Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except For Me and Monkey. I’ve been waiting 14 years to see Trey play that song! TOTALLY worth the wait. Anastasio showed sobriety hasn’t hindered his ability to play these quick, beautifully melodic runs that brings the crowd to their feet. He seemed happy and healthy, and got a big kick out of Will Lee’s rooster struts and dance moves. As you can imagine it was tough for the Headcount Allstars to follow Trey and the Faux. Trey didn’t look as malnourished as in year’s past, and seems to have ditched the Armani threads.
Lowlights: Matisyahu and Rose Hill Drive just didn’t do it for me. I just couldn’t get into the Antelope, and a few of the speeches went on too long.
But overall the flow of the show was awesome, and I never felt bored. Major kudos to everyone involved for an exciting affair. I thought The Jammys would be a complete shitshow, which it wasn’t.
30 Responses
Great time last night. It was interesting mingling with Mike in the audience while Phish covers were played. FYI, the Lips tune was “Flight Test,” and the first Galactic song was “Hip Hug-Her.”
Great recap, Scott.
TLG with Squeeze — I’d have LOVED to have seen that.
Thanks for the review Scott! I’ve posted a link to your review on my website.
Actually, I believe the Flaming Lips song covered was In the Morning of the Magicians.
sounds like a great time, nice synopsis – first show in a while i may go out of my way to DL
Awesome review Scott, thank you. The Chevy Chase part was great. What a fun night – with so much speculation going on I didn’t know what we would get – but it turned out better than I had hoped. Doug E Fresh was the bomb!
Great Scotty. Bummed I had to miss out.
Great job Scotty. Bummed I had to miss out.
Did anybody catch that Andy Gadiel was one of the presenters?
old skool.
thanks, b… you rule.
Doug E. Fresh and Jurassic 5 ruled. I love those moments when hip hop artisits realize that our scene kicks ass.
wilson>antelope>2001, maze is a nasty set list for anyone to play. is there any chance that there might be a recording of this show in circulation soon?
I was so thrilled to see Andy Gadiel up there! Best phish site ever! ((andy))
Sister Sweetly over Bittersweet? Bunk.
/crusty old fan rant from 1993
The jazz set was one of the highlights for me: Christian McBride, Nicholas Peyton, and whoever the other two dudes were freakin’ nailed it. Getting up there with those cats was extremely ballsy for Page, but he held his own.
Chevy Chase is the best ever.
super good time and well put together. but it was far from a super throw down that it could be. some people in the audience were also very bitchy. perhaps it was the long speeches. but about four times i was asked to stop dancing.
The 300 levels were more lax, but I was also surprised at how buttoned-up the crowd was in the 200 level.
Can someone fill me in on what “the recently maligned Jon Paluska” means?
Page took a shot at Paluska in a recent interview. Don’t remember off the top of my head the exact quote.
as fanboy as this sounds, I’d like to hear the Trey speech when that makes the interwebs
update: found it on youtube: https://youtube.com/watch?v=NQLtAQEo07E
Yeah, I was up in the 300’s and we were having chilled out relaxing good time up there.
Hehe… the Lips tune was In The Morning Of The Magicians. Pulling Mussels was awesome.
Great Recap of the evening Scotty, especially for those of us out of the area and not able to attend. Sounds like a very fun evening with more than a few suprises.
thanks for all you do Scotty !