Eric Wyman

Review: Fantastic Effort From Phish in Mansfield

Words: Eric Wyman

Phish @ Great Woods, June 7

As the geographic center of Phish’s original fanbase, shows in Massachusetts have always held a special reverence. Located in Mansfield, the Comcast Center (formerly known as Great Woods) has long been the New England summer destination of choice. With historic shows spanning 15 dates and including a legendary Gamehendge performance in 1994, it’s hard to find a fan who doesn’t have at least one epic story from Great Woods. With the modern era, gone are the weekend blowouts in favor of the less desirable Tuesday night slot. Guaranteed to be a good draw on an otherwise dead night, performances in the past two years have been lackluster to say the least. On Tuesday night, Phish took the stage in their old stomping grounds ready to write anther page in their Great Woods story.

[Photo by Parker Harrington]


Opening with the high energy Llama, a song that opened that Gamehendge performance of 7/8/1994 they immediately recaptured some of the magic from that summer 17 years ago. Carrying the frenetic energy through the beginning of the first set with Moma Dance, (yet another) Possum and some good Cities improv, Phish finally slowed down with their version of John Lennon’s “Instant Karma”. Picking right back up into David Bowie, the band took the first steps on to an off the beaten path jam route that would explode in the second set. The Phish debut of Al Green’s “Rhymes”, a song you may have heard via Scott Murawski and the Mike Gordon Band, showcased Mike’s remarkably improved vocals. Seriously, go back and listen to a late 90’s show. Mike has really worked on his voice and now has the range to carry a wide array of songs. What happened next though, would define the set.

When the opening notes of Divided Sky found the air, I for one was ready for 13 uneventful minutes. Boy was I wrong. Well executed through the composed section, a far different result from its last performance over the weekend, Trey unleashed a unique melody employing the staccato feel we’ve all grown so accustomed to in a manner that was certainly not expected in this arena. Unique and powerful, Trey led the band through an extended outro that will partly define this show and has to be added to the song’s long history. A perfectly acceptable exclamation point to the set, Phish was set to close with even more energy via Stealing Time From The Faulty Plan. READ ON for more about Phish’s latest Great Woods show…

Read More

Wyman’s Words: The Avett Brothers “Arrive” In New England

The Avett Brothers @ State Theatre – June 2

Please welcome back Eric Wyman, a longtime friend of Hidden Track, to share his thoughts on last night’s Avett Brothers show…

The Avett Brothers have arrived in New England. Sure their most recent record I & Love & You was lauded by critics and the public. Sure they appeared on national television performing at the Grammys with Bob Dylan. Sure they’re now a highly billed act on the festival circuit. But being a band with southern roots and a similar fan base, I knew they had arrived in New England when the first song found the entire crowd singing.


Previous shows in New England have been fine, but on this night there was an increased energy from the crowd. Not as if they were there to check out a band they heard was good, or because they went with some friends, but rather because they were fans themselves.

The brothers really know how to compose a setlist that rides the peaks and valleys of their musical energy to the fullest. On this night they started with a four song throwdown of high energy songs – And It Spread, Paranoia in b Flat, the bluegrass standard Blue Ridge Mountain Blues and Colorshow. The latter found the entire crowd completely engaged, screaming the callbacks to the band at full force while cellist Joe Kwon changed a string broken string on the fly. Compare this with the combo of Swept Away and When I Drink and you have both ends of the North Carolina band’s spectrum. When I Drink found the brothers, alone on stage, under a single spotlight, sharing a microphone, an environment evoking one of their greatest strengths as an acoustic duo.

Set: And It Spread, Paranoia, Blue Ridge Mt Blues, Colorshow, Swept Away, When I Drink, Tin Man, January Wedding, Shame, Go to Sleep, Sally’s Lover, Ballad of Love and Hate, The Fall, Murder in the city, HFOD, Talk on Indolence, Kick Drum Heart, InLnU

Encore: Laundry Room, Down in the Valley (Scott and Seth)

[via AvettBrothers.com Forum]

READ ON for more of Eric’s take on The Avett Brothers…

Read More

View posts by year

Recent Posts

New to Glide

Keep up-to-date with Glide

Twitter