This week’s mix tape goes out to all the folks out there to whom words like phyrigian, humbucker, and “Ingvay” actually mean something. That’s right, this week we’re paying dues
In June 2000, Phish played their only headlining tour through Japan. A few dozen American travelers joined several hundred newly initiated Japanese phans on a phenomenal seven-night run of intimate venues, resulting in a series of fiery shows, unique cultural exchanges and the birth of the Japanese Meatstick. Longtime fan Stanch had been living and teaching English in Japan for a year when Phish arrived. In honor of the 10-year anniversary of the tour, and with help from a detailed journal and inputs from his traveling companions, he recounts his memories of the tour’s first four shows.
06/13/00 Club Quattro, Naka-ku, Nagoya
While On Air East was surely my favorite shows of the Japan run, the show at Club Quattro was not far behind. Let’s start with the set up: Club Quattro is a tiny (maybe 350-400 people?) club in downtown Nagoya. How tiny? It was located on the seventh floor of a Parco shopping mall, and your event ticket came with a complimentary drink. As we entered a room the fraction of the size of your average Phish stage, it had more the feel of a townie bar than a music venue fit for arena touring behemoth, but at the front of the room sat Phish’s iconic stage set up (though things were a bit crunched to fit their gear on a stage no more than 15 feet wide). And much like the rest of the shows thusfar, like some strange dream, we waited only feet from Phish’s stage crew for the show to start, as they prepared to run the sound and lights from tiny setups toward the back of the room.
The Meat opener was slow, patient and extremely funky, and it was followed by an electric and frenetic Maze. Almost as if to jolt the crowd, Phish then reprised a Meat coda for a few moments, making Maze remind you of the role it played on Rift: an interlude between other more balanced offerings. This was a new city, and the Japanese crowd had turned over some from the Tokyo group, and that served as the moment many first-time viewers began to look at each other with that look: who the hell are these guys? The band continued with an extended Ya Mar that had a rare jam punctuated with tasteful interplay between Trey and Page. Fast Enough for You, Old Home Place and a dark Wilson would follow.
The band topped off the first set with a highlight of the run: a great Mike’s > Simple > Weekapaug. The explosive Mike’s peaked with round after round of dirty, screeching notes from Trey, and the band turned on a dime seamlessly into Simple. The melodic end of a subtle Simple jam kind of petered out into silence, as if it was moving away from you into the distance. And just as you realized it was over, the faintest traces of the funky Weekapaug guitar rift entered in its place. It was as if Simple had gone backstage and Weekapug had passed it in the hall, rushing into the room. Responding, the small crowd welcomed Weekapaug by clapping in unison on beat throughout the opening chords, and after Mike slapped a few hints of the line, the band came in hard and released a roaring first set closer.
READ ON for more from Stanch on Phish in Japan…
Welcome to back to Strange Brew our monthly column dedicated to – as you probably have already guessed – beer. Each month, we’ll take a close look at a new
The 2010 World Cup starts today in South Africa. As someone who has lived in Cape Town for two years, I’m so happy to see the country host this amazing tournament. If you ever have a chance to visit South Africa in your lifetime, do it! It is one of the most beautiful places on this planet.
Here are two places in NYC worth checking out during the World Cup tournament:
Socially Superlative shared that Paradou (located at 8 Little West 12th Street) will be doing $35 Prix Fixe menus for each of the next 4 weeks.
Here is the lowdown on the menus from their article:
Paradou will feature a different special menu for each of the 4 weeks of the World Cup. The menus will reflect the continents participating in the World Cup. There are five continents participating; Australia, Africa, Asia, The Americas and Europe. The menus will be slightly modern takes on classic dishes from those regions. The menus will be 3-course prix fixe. The price is $35. Our menus will be focusing on the following:
Week 1 – Australia
Week 2 – Africa/Asia
Week 3 – The Americas
Week 4 – Europe
READ ON for more of this week’s Fridays For the Foodies…
This week’s videos feature bands you should check out at Bonnaroo… While Bob Marley may have become the biggest name in reggae music history, it’s Jimmy Cliff that really deserves
If you missed Arcade Fire’s appearance on Austin City Limits in 2007, you’ll get a chance to catch the encore showing this weekend on PBS. The Montreal-based band recently treated
A year ago the name Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros would have attracted a big “huh?” Today, they are selling out club sized venues quite easily, and are destined to the breakout band of the summer festival season. Although the band is relatively young in history, (their first show as a full band was played 7/18/07), they are experienced, as the ensemble is led by Alex Ebert, former vocalist of the power pop group Ima Robot. Along with a crew of seasoned musicians – that is not unlike what the Polyphonic Spree were doing years back (without the white robes), Edwards Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros appear to be motivated by something bigger than themselves.
7 Walkers – The Fox Theater – Boulder, CO – 6/5/10
Boulder’s original hippie generation came out in full force Saturday night to see 7 Walkers, the latest of Grateful Dead spawns to emerge into our musical scene. This time, it’s drummer Bill Kreutzmann giving the band its fuel for publicity, while Louisiana bluesman Papa Mali takes the reigns on stage. Unlike many of the other Dead spinoffs and reincarnations, who rely heavily on the vast catalog they already have, 7 Walkers takes it a step further. They have teamed up with legendary songwriter Robert Hunter on a slew of new songs for their upcoming album, to be released later this year.
When 7 Walkers took the stage, it was surprising to note that The Fox was not at capacity, especially with the name “Bill Kreutzmann” in huge red letters on the marquis outside. This, however, did not upset anyone, as there was now enough room for everyone to sway and spin to the music. An abbreviated Space that worked its way into a bluesy Sugaree kicked off the evening with a familiar spark. Mali, who was raised playing the blues, brings a southern flavor to the San Francisco vibe, much like Warren Haynes though without the same ferocity. From there it was Death Don’t Have No Mercy and He’s Gone, which the mostly older crowd sang along to happily. Bertha came later with a fiery guitar solo from Mali that settled into the ever-comforting Wharf Rat.
Now that the crowd had settled in, it was time for the quartet to break into a new original Hunter tune, appropriately titled 7 Walkers. This is perhaps the song that will define the band for more reasons than that they share a name. It fits perfectly alongside the Dead repertoire but stands out in that the melody is new, lyrics fresh and meaningful, and has a distinct southern blues feel. Another 7 Walkers original, The New Orleans Crawl, played early in the second set, easily settled in and allowed the crowd to bop along in true Bayou style.
READ ON for more from Kos on 7 Walkers at the Fox…
In June 2000, Phish played their only headlining tour through Japan. A few dozen American travelers joined several hundred newly initiated Japanese phans on a phenomenal seven-night run of intimate venues, resulting in a series of fiery shows, unique cultural exchanges and the birth of the Japanese Meatstick. Longtime fan Stanch had been living and teaching English in Japan for a year when Phish arrived. In honor of the 10-year anniversary of the tour, and with help from a detailed journal and inputs from his traveling companions, he recounts his memories of the tour’s first four shows.
06/10/00 Zepp, Koto-ku, Tokyo
The second show of the 2000 Japan run was actually an add-on – there had originally only been six scheduled shows, but unanticipated interest and hot ticket sales had seen the promoters schedule an additional gig in Odaiba – a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay that was an odd combination of Coney Island and Disney’s Tomorrowland.
[Photo via JohnGreene.org]
Odaiba itself seems more memorable to me than the actual gig. Accessible by a futuristic Sky-Tram, the glow of lights from its many billboards and giant blue Daikanransha Ferris Wheel was visible for the last several minutes of the approach to the island. Once we departed the Tram, we made our way to Zepp, at the time Tokyo’s newest and hottest club. In comparison to some of the other sub-500 capacity venues from the tour, Zepp was a virtual colossus that held 2,700 people. It sure didn’t seem like they squeezed only 2,700 people in there – I still remember the general admission show as uncomfortably packed and topping out at what felt like 110 degrees.
- 10 Years Later: Phish in Japan Pt. 1, Pt. 2
The show itself was solid, though I remember it as the least compelling of the first four nights I saw. The setlist was very standard for 2000, including several oft-played tunes from the newly released Farmhouse. The first set was punctuated by a Disease and Piper that totaled about 50 minutes, 42 of which were quiet and spacey (possibly induced by the dreaded day four jetlag). I am all for folks choosing their own Phish adventure, but that version of Phish is not the one that has had me coming back for the last 17 years, and thus maybe colors my memory of the show. That said, my jaded ho-hum attitude aside, some folks were having an amazing time; the best part of the Zepp show was watching our new Japanese friends enjoy certain parts of the gig so much. READ ON for more from Stanch on Phish’s tour of Japan…
I had two options for this week’s piece. I could do what I normally do – create as diverse a list of artists as possible or I could just say fuck it and make this one all about Warren Haynes. I have gone with the latter. What we have here is audio from four different sets at this past weekend’s Mountain Jam all of which feature Haynes on every track. Next week we will return to our regularly scheduled programming, this week – it’s all about Warren.
[Thanks to edtyre for this week’s photo]
And we continue to take all the selected tracks, normalize them, create some simple fades and put it into one easy to download MP3 for you.
Click here to download the Last Week’s Sauce Podcast
Artist & Title: Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Band – Coming Home
Date & Venue: 2010-06-05 Mountain Jam – Hunter, NY
Taper & Show Download: edtyre
This band has two sets of brothers: Derek & Duane Trucks and Oteil and Kofi Burbridge. Add Nigel Hall and Susan Tedeschi and it’s a pretty ridiculous lineup. Warren joined the band for the Delaney & Bonnie classic Coming Home. The Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi band next play July 2nd at the Cape Cod Melody Tent.
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/dereksauce.mp3]And there is video:
READ ON for tracks from Gov’t Mule, Les Claypool, and Levon Helm…
