Hidden Track Staff

Last month, our own Ryan Dembinsky started a new tradition here on Hidden Track by detailing the first leg of Phish’s Summer Tour 2010 from A – Z.

[Photo by Adam Kaufman]

Today, we present a new list breaking down the recently completed second leg of the tour from A -Z. Take a look…

A is for Alpine – The most well-rounded two-night stand on the tour, the Alpine run had it all from jams to transitions to Fuck Your Face to Trey machine gunning the hell out of the massive venue. There’s a reason the band keeps coming back to East Troy each summer.

B is for Burn that Bridge – The band continued the trend started in Leg 1 of soundchecking this song regularly while refraining from playing it live during the show. There were at least three instances during Leg 2 where the Anastasio/Amanda Green penned tune was played to an empty house.

C is for Cities – Possibly the song of tour, Cities was not only slayed at the Greek and at Jones Beach but was soundchecked in Telluride. The Greek version ranks among the best jams of summer.

D is for Deer Creek – Phish’s Midwest home away from home, Deer Creek once again provided hallowed ground for the band to work its magic. The first set of the first night was a trainwreck but by the end of the show the boys had restored all faith in them and the power of the venue. Night 2, their 20th show there, ranks up there with the best of them from Noblesville. READ ON for more of our look at Phish Tour…

Words and Images: Jason Gershuny

SCI @ Horning’s Hideout Festival, August 1

Shaking the cobwebs out was a little more difficult than in days past, but that is to be expected after a few days and nights of full throttle frolicking in our wooded playground of Horning’s Hideout. But the party was not done, and there was still some amazing music to see.

After another large dose of caffeine, and a little personal time in front of a laptop to write this blog, I knew I needed to kick it back into gear to catch all the music I had on my itinerary.

I made it just in the nick of time to catch Col. Bruce Hampton’s full band set, which was just a beautiful site to behold. He has so much soul and his stage presence and mannerisms lend themselves perfectly for a Sunday afternoon in the sunshine. I then headed to the main stage to check out the Travelin’ McCourys, who enlisted Scott Law on guitar for the entire set. There was some sweet picking going on during that set that gave a little foreshadowing of the collaboration that was to come.

• SCI @ Horning’s Hideout: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

I headed home for the last camp run of the night, and I got back before the start of the String Cheese Incident set. When I arrived I was happy to notice a few extra microphones set up on stage. Bob Horning came out with the musicians and introduced the boys this set. He made mention of doing this all over again next year, which got a huge round of applause. Along side Bob was a full SCI/ Travelin’ McCourys lineup that jumped into a smoking pick session for the first six songs of the set.

READ ON for more from Jason on Sunday @ Horning’s…

Words and Images: Jason Gershuny

SCI @ Horning’s Hideout, July 31

There is always a unique feeling in the air at Horning’s Hideout on Saturday night. It is almost like there is this collective giddiness to what is about to transpire, and everyone has a little extra skip to their step and a little extra umph to their already enormous smiles. There was still a ton of music to see before the nighttime extravaganza, and I for one was not going to let the anticipation of nighttime fun stand in the way of enjoying the day.

Once I got my needed cup or eight of coffee, and stepped away from the laptop I bee-lined it to Col. Bruce Hampton’s Outstructional Workshop. He was playing with his guitarist and bassist, and it was a casual and thought provoking good time. It was great seeing him in this relaxed format, and his smooth, soulful singing was a heck of a way to start my day. From there I headed to the Everyone Orchestra, which had a packed stage of 14 musicians all bringing their own unique style to the collective mix.

It occurred to me that with any form of music, practice leads to steady improvement, and I have to say that Matt Butler’s performance as the conductor of this ensemble showed his own growth through the years. It must be a challenge to be able to organize and inspire musicians that don’t often play together on the fly, and Matt did an excellent job. They offered a great version of David Bowie’s Fame and really were tight for a group that doesn’t get to practice and play together as a band.

READ ON for more from Jason on Saturday at Horning’s…

Words: Jason Gershuny
Images: Benjamin Slayter

Good afternoon wishes from the heart of the wooded wondrous wilderness of Horning’s Hideout. This incredible festival hosted by the String Cheese Incident is off and running and is cruising along at full speed. Words can’t properly describe the true depth of the artistic collaboration of all forms that join together to create a brilliant and organic ambiance palpable throughout this wooded paradise.

This year’s festival has evolved to include: multiple ornately decorated stages chock full of all sorts of styles and perspectives of music, informative workshops and discussion panels that bring issues like “Activism in the Music Industry”, and “Being Honest with Your Kids” to light, and artistic pockets of creations throughout the woods that the adventurous explorer may come across with just a little wandering spirit. You could even find yourself surrounded by a mossy wooded backdrop and a southing flowing stream deep in the woods with a world famous Voodoo doughnut in your hand from the Cascadia coffee house. There is so much to see and do here, that the term eye candy may need to be revamped to all five sense candy just to be fair to all of your senses.

Thursday’s at Horning’s Hideout in past years has been a day to greet friends, set up camp and ground oneself to prepare for the upcoming party with less of a focus on big stage music. This year was different, and on behalf of all the music lovers in the crowd, I thank you for it. To kick things off we had four sets of String Cheese Incident side projects that got the party fully started a day early. READ ON for more of Jason’s thoughts & Ben’s pictures…

Back on Thursday we spread the word that Gorillaz’s Escape to Plastic Beach World Tour 2010 would hit North America in October. While we’re still awaiting confirmation of exactly which venues the tour will stop at, Murdoc Niccals, self-proclaimed “King of Gorillaz,” has been tweeting up a storm lately and sharing clues about the cities his band will play.

Our pal and HT contributor Andy Kahn has been keeping track of Niccals’ tweets and shares his guesses about which city the tweet refers to…

Guess the City USA Clue: I’m the real Green Monster, what is this imposter in Boston? We may have to pay him a visit.

Boston

Guess the City USA Clue: Headed to the Big Apple to make the most famous venue on earth way, way more famous.

New York City – MSG

Guess the City USA Clue: Murdoc is dead-set on streaking across Michele’s lawn. We should try to make his dream come true

DC

UPDATE [07/27 9:45AM]: The full list of North American Tour Dates has been confirmed…

10/03 – Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
10/05 – Wallingford, CT @ Oakdale Theatre
10/06 – Boston, MA @ Agganis Arena
10/08 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
10/10 – Camden, NJ @ Susquehanna Bank Center
10/11 – Fairfax, VA @ Patriot Center
10/13 – Detroit, MI @ Fox Theatre
10/14 – Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre
10/16 – Chicago, IL @ UIC Pavilion
10/17 – Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center
10/19 – Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
10/20 – Dallas, TX @ Verizon Theatre
10/22 – Austin, TX @ Frank Erwin Center
10/24 – Denver, CO @ Wells Fargo Theatre
10/26 – Phoenix, AZ @ Dodge Theatre
10/27 – Los Angeles, CA @ Gibson Amphitheatre
10/30 – Oakland, CA @ Oracle Arena
11/02 – Seattle, WA @ Key Arena
11/03 – Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena

READ ON for the rest of Murdoc’s tweets our guesses…