Wade’s World: Open Door For Classic Tour

Next stop is Telluride, a quaint little mountain town with a Phishing problem, for two days anyway. Colorado and the Fly Me To The Moon Saloon have been nearly as integral in Phish’s upbringing as Burlington, VT. The site, the history and the difficult travel from ANYWHERE make these two nights a must see for the tour. Now, I have as much faith in this being a mellow two nights as I do of the shows turning into a rage cage given the band’s propensity for stepping back when the fans think they should be doing Gamehenge>The White Album. Either way the band decides to go, these will be the most special two nights of tour.

Last Time Through…

Monday, 10/28/1991 Elk Ballroom, Telluride, CO

Set 1: The Curtain > Runaway Jim, Cavern, Poor Heart, Reba, I Didn’t Know, Tube, The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony > Foam, Fee -> David Bowie

Set 2: The Divided Sky, Wilson > Dinner and a Movie > Stash, Paul and Silas, Bathtub Gin, You Enjoy Myself, The Squirming Coil, Harpua, Hold Your Head Up > Whipping Post > Hold Your Head Up, Highway to Hell
Encore: Horn, Rocky Top

And how could it be a summer tour without Alpine and Deer Creek in the mix? The Midwest has always been kind to the fearsome foursome and there are a vast number of people only traveling to these shows giving them a very unique vibe that only middle America can provide. As my crazy Indiana friends would say: Eeeeuuuuuuuuupppppp!

Last Time Through Deer Creek…

Friday, 06/19/2009 Verizon Wireless Music Center, Noblesville, IN

Set 1: Backwards Down the Number Line, AC/DC Bag, Limb By Limb, The Moma Dance, Water in the Sky, Split Open and Melt, Lawn Boy, The Wedge, Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan, The Connection, Ocelot, Fluffhead

Set 2: A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing > Drowned > Twist, Let Me Lie, Tweezer -> Also Sprach Zarathustra > Suzy Greenberg -> Possum
Encore: Sleeping Monkey > Tweezer Reprise

Last Time Through Alpine…

Sunday, 06/21/2009 Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, WI

Set 1: Brother, Wolfman’s Brother, Funky Bitch > The Divided Sky, Joy, Back on the Train, Taste, Poor Heart, The Horse > Silent in the Morning, The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday > Avenu Malkenu > The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday, Time Turns Elastic

Set 2: Crosseyed and Painless -> Down with Disease > Bug > Piper > Wading in the Velvet Sea, Boogie On Reggae Woman, Slave to the Traffic Light
Encore: Grind, Frankenstein

Finally, the tour concludes at Jones Beach, the beer-less, lawn-less, cop-laden concrete slab in the Long Island Sound. Why they chose to end the summer here is beyond me. However, Phish has been Mt Crushmore with the tour closers in 3.0, so I can see some spirited playing here, having been warmed up from a cross country jaunt.

Last Time Through…

Friday, 06/05/2009 Nikon at Jones Beach Theater, Wantagh, NY

Set 1: Wilson, Buried Alive, Kill Devil Falls, AC/DC Bag, I Didn’t Know, My Friend, My Friend, Ya Mar, Theme From the Bottom, Boogie On Reggae Woman, Split Open and Melt

Set 2: Down with Disease -> Twist > Piper > Backwards Down the Number Line, Free, Twenty Years Later > Also Sprach Zarathustra > Slave to the Traffic Light
Encore: A Day in the Life

The Music

Out of all the bust outs from the first leg one leaves the door wide open for anything to happen, and that song is Fuck Your Face. You always had to think Alumni would get played at some point, but Fuck Your Face takes the bust out craze to a whole new level.

That song alone means that all our craziest, stupidest bust out wishes could possibly come true. Not that they will. I mean, they are probably going to play Mikes through Weekapaug  four times this tour and it’s only 11 shows long. But…oh the things that COULD happen.

This ability to go somewhere we didn’t think was possible is what was missing last summer. Yes, we’re still waiting on more Type 2. Yes, we’re still looking for different second set openers – as much as I love Drowned, Rock and Roll, Light, Mike’s, Disease let’s switch it up to start the second set already. Yet the dusting off of Fuck Your Face means now we can actually call Prep School Hippie and not be totally joking about it.

Thanks to The Phish for getting back into our lives and giving us hope for an unpredictable future, even though the present is swimming in nothing but familiarity. Everyone travel safe and have a great tour. See you at the tour closer in Jones Beach.

-Wade Ellis “Wyllys” Wilby The Phirst