October 1, 2008

When I heard Phish was breaking up I was on a condo bed in Falmouth, MA listening to Tortoise’s opus It’s All Around You. The windows and doors were open to let the sea air in. The sky was foreboding grey, a hue that would loom over Cape Cod for the duration of that day. I will never forget how I felt that moment. And like today, October 1 2008, I will never forget the barrage of texts I got at 8:01 am when I turned my phone on. The air was crisp and really starting to feel like the fall. The White Sox clinched a playoff birth the night before with a very dramatic finish at The Cell. The election was in full swing with a focus on our ever diminishing economy. Our community was ready for some good news which is exactly what we got.

And this news took me way back. Back to my living room window in the fall of ’96. My sister saw a Fed Ex truck park in front of my house and took off running out the front door to basically tackle the driver for our Fall ’96 tour tickets. She hits a spot of wet leaves at full speed and takes a mean digger. The driver knew this sort of behavior to be the norm at the Wilby house when tickets were arriving but hit the ground laughing all the same. There is just a feeling of anticipation you can’t describe.

That is the innocence of “The Presale”. Not one note has been played. Hotel rooms start getting booked. Travel plans start their evolution towards full blown ragers. Old friends are telephoned to rehash war stories and lay plans for the wars on the horizon. For all we know and truly believe in our hearts…these are the best shows they will ever play. The boys are getting back together and that, for this interval of innocence, is the ONLY thing that matters. You can’t get this moment of time back. Once those first notes are hit, the inevitable hate train will go back on course, ready to chastise the band at every wrong note or blown transition. But now….now is the golden age of anticipation. All is good. All is forgiven.

READ ON for more of Wade’s thoughts on the comeback of Phish…

It’s clear that for improvisational artists certain rooms inspire them more than others. Take the case of prog-jammers U-Melt and New York City’s Highline Ballroom: The quartet first visited the

After a long hiatus and some considerable urging of Scotty, thought it was time to revive a column we seem to reference a lot, but have not seen a new entry from since mid-March – Better Than Noodling. So with that out of the way, let’s dig in with probably the best music act to come out of the great state of Idaho since Paul Revere & The Raiders (yup I just referenced a band that wore tri-corner hats and dressed in 1770s colonial garb, deal with it) some 40+ years ago – folk singer Josh Ritter.

Besides being a native of the 43rd state, Ritter probably holds the distinction as the only singer/songwriter out there who studied neuroscience, before switching to a self-created major of American History Through Narrative Folk Music. A move I’m sure that probably didn’t sit too well with his parents at first – who both happen be neuroscientists themselves, but has paid dividends in Ritter’s song craft as his work is loaded with literary and historical references. READ ON for more on Ritter’s folk-rock…

We tried to warn you, so hopefully you’ve book your hotel rooms and malnourished your dog. It’s official as of 3:20AM EDT, Phish will play it’s first public show in 4 years, 6 months, 19 days on March 6 at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia as part of a three night stand at the magical venue. Now comes the hard part: securing tickets to be one of the 13,800 standing inside when they hit the stage to kickoff the post-Breakup era.

PHISH HAMPTON 2009 from Phish on Vimeo.

Trey, Mike, Page and Fish are sensitive to the fragile state of the economy and have priced tickets at an incredibly reasonable $49.50 each. Tickets go onsale on October 18 at 10AM via Ticketmaster and “ticket requets” are currently available at this site. The band plans to announce additional touring in 2009 early next year.

So we’ve got roughly 22 weeks. Or 5 Months & 6 Days. 157 days etc. before Phish will play shows 13, 14 and 15 at the Hampton Coliseum.

Most played song at Hampton? Mike’s Song, Harry Hood & Weekapaug Groove share that honor with 5.

Most common songs not yet played at Hampton? Golgi Apparatus, Suzy Greenberg, Reba, The Lizards, Fee, Sample in a Jar, My Sweet One, Uncle Pen and Fluffhead.

READ ON for the setlists and some video footage from every Phish show played at Hampton…