The first-ever 311 Pow Wow Festival completes its lineup by announcing the final five acts added to the bill. Scheduled for Aug. 4-6 at the Spirit Of Suwanne Music Park
We’ve reached the home stretch of the first leg of Phish Summer Tour 2011. Tonight the quartet returned to Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Alpharetta, GA for the second of two shows at the fan-friendly shed.
[Screenshot of Live Phish webcast]
Once again Phish opened the show with a rare bluegrass cover and this time it was Paul and Silas getting the call. Tonight’s take on the traditional tune was only the fifth version in the past 15 years. Standard takes on Back On The Train and Foam followed along with the slow version of Water in the Sky which was in reference to the thunderstorms that enveloped the area around the venue both before the show and during the first set. Runaway Jim didn’t quite reach the heights of Bethel, but the harmonics section was extended nicely tonight as well. Page McConnell’s Army of One saw its first action of 2011 and featured some of Trey’s best work of the set. A pair of covers – Roses Are Free and Timber (Jerry) – came next and were joined together by a quick and painless transition.
It’s not very often that Phish is forced off the stage by bad weather. Notable instances in the past include Deer Creek ’09 and Polaris ’00. Fans must’ve been thinking about those times when members of Phish’s crew emerged during only the fifth Mound since 1997. Trey took to the mic and told the audience that a nasty storm was about to hit and that the band needed to leave the stage. He promised there would be more music soon as the shortened Mound came to a close.
Forty-nine minutes later Phish returned to the stage and finished Mound. Tweezer came complete with a lyric change of “cold” to “wet” in honor of the downpours. Just as Tweezer was getting good Trey started playing the Julius intro and hopes for a long excursion were dashed. While the Slave to the Traffic Light that followed did provide some fine interplay between the band members, Gotta Jibboo was the clear improvisational highlight of the closing set. McConnell in particular helped to push the jam to an interesting place shortly after killing his Suzy Greenberg solo. At the end of the set, the acapella mics came out for the first time all tour and Phish delivered a zany version of Birdwatcher and an acapella Kung led by Anastasio and Fishman with help from Page and Mike.
When Phish dropped jaws with a near 25-minute Down With Disease in Clarkston, MI back on June 3 hopes were high for more extended jams this tour. With just three shows to go on this leg we’re still waiting.
READ ON for the setlist and The Skinny…
Tonight Phish plays the second of two sold-out performances at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park in Alpharetta, Georgia, which will also be the second and final night of official couch tour. Like last evening, tonight’s show will be webcast via LivePhish.com allowing fans to experience couch tour at its finest.
We took to @Hidden_Track and asked fellow webcasters and followers to tweet pictures of their #couchtour (or #couchtore as @phish put it) set-up with the winning submission receiving a copy of the Live In Utica 2-DVD/2-CD box set. Check out last night’s contestants below and send us a picture of your couch tour operation for tonight. Tomorrow, head over to our Facebook page and “like” your favorite set-up with the winner announced later this week.
READ ON for a look at the Couch Tour set-ups…
There’s a good chance that you’re already familiar with the music of Noah & The Whale, though you may not even know it, as the band’s music has appeared in
So, after pulling double-duty this week and reviewing Phish’s Camden show, I decided for this Postcards From Page Side to do something that anyone who knows me thinks is a physical impossibility: stop talking. Instead, I have a jamband-heavy playlist to celebrate the summertime, and the now norm, “everywhere-you-turn-there-is-a-new-festival” mentality.
For a quick recap of what this playlist entails, let me say just a few words (I told you it’s tough for me to stop chatting). What better way to kick off the Summertime Serenade than with a Hot Air Balloon ride? That is exactly what we will do courtesy of the Disco Biscuits, who will be hosting their Tenth Annual Camp Bisco in upstate New York next month. Contrasting that with a live rendition of Bruce Hornsby’s beautiful tale of heartbreak, Mandolin Rain, I follow him up with a choice cut, Rebubula by moe. I figured both were appropriate in back-to-back slots since Hornsby was recently added to the moe.down lineup, traditionally one of the summer’s last festivals.
Next up is the first of a few tracks from My Morning Jacket, Golden, for a few few reasons. First, they are seemingly playing a ton of the big festivals this year, and secondly, this band deserves a few tunes in this playlist for simply being at the top of their game at this time, with the recent release of their new album, Circuital. Ween is another band that gets the double-dip here, with one of my favorite tunes, The Mollusk, and a dark, parting anthem, Buenos Tardes Amigo. Ween is headlining High Sierra Music Festival – one of the most well guarded secrets not only on the festival circuit, but all of the western hemisphere.
READ ON for more of this week’s Postcards From Page Side…
Much like how Desmond Hume was Daniel Faraday’s constant, the same could be said about Bonnaroo and Widespread Panic. The Southern jam- titans have a long history with the fest,
Phish fans raved about the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Alpharetta, GA after the band’s two performances there last summer. Tonight, Phish returned to the venue for the first of two shows. If you can’t make it to Alpharetta you can watch all the action live through a Live Phish webcast.
[Screen Grab from Webcast]
As with each of the past three shows Phish picked a sign in the audience to provide the name of the opening song. This time for the fitting Dinner and a Movie got the call. Moma Dance followed and led into the sixth Possum of the tour. There were other rotation staples a plenty in the opening stanza including Cities, Fluffhead, Ocelot and Kill Devil Falls. The band also dipped into their catalog for a bluegrass cover, Norman Blake’s Ginseng Sullivan, which saw live action for the first time in 50 shows. While the start of the 87-minute set didn’t contain much improvisation, the end was a different story. Bathtub Gin came to a big climax similar to the version from two nights earlier at Merriweather and a cover of Traffic’s Light Up or Leave Me Alone featured an extended solo filled with firey work from guitarist Trey Anastasio that was the clear highlight of the set.
Carini may have been a jam vehicle for Phish in 2010 but in 2011 each version has been of the straightforward variety and tonight’s set two opener quickly segued into Sand in what seemed like a surprise to every member of the band except Trey. Sand has had a fine tour thus far and tonight’s take was no exception. Down With Disease once again featured out of the box exploration for a spell before the band deftly worked their way towards Maze. Anastasio and Page McConnell were both in fine form technically throughout the light on improv second set, so Maze was a good choice to give them each a chance to shine. A sequence of well-played, heavy rotation stalwarts followed to close the set – Meatstick > Also Sprach Zarathrustra > Bug > A Day in the Life > Run Like An Antelope leading to a Quinn The Eskimo encore. Phish returns to Alpharetta tomorrow night.
READ ON for the setlist and The Skinny…
You’ve got to give credit to the moe. camp for the diversity of acts they’ve brought to their moe.down festival over the years and that wide range of artists will
Continuing a Hidden Track tradition started last summer, today we break down Phish’s recently completed two-show run at Merriweather Post Pavilion with a look at the performances from A – Z.
A is for Access Me – Mike Gordon’s Access Me was dusted off for the first time in 2011 on Saturday night and in this writer’s opinion it was the best version of the Undermind tune yet. It wasn’t a perfect rendition (as pointed out by DaveO) but far surpasses the flub-laden versions from Alpine ’04, Miami ’09 and Manchester ’10.
B is for Badass Boogie On – Following on a trend started at Bethel, Phish had fun with the outro of this Stevie Wonder cover on Sunday night making for quite the interesting take on the tune. We’ve reached the point where we’re excited to hear Cactus kick on his micro synth signaling the start of Boogie On after a few years of mostly standard versions.
C is for Crab Cakes – I stumbled upon a small crab cake stand at the venue and was so hungry that I didn’t care about the $15 price tag. I was shocked when I took my first bite and realized this was no ordinary crab cake. It was all killer crab and very little filler and quite honestly was the best venue food I’ve ever eaten.
READ ON for more about Phish at Merriweather Post Pavilion…
[Originally Published: May 25, 2010]
Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, off his 1984 album Various Positions, is one of those songs that seems ubiquitous but the original version rarely heard. The song plays out as an epic saga and has a seemingly endless supply of lyrics that never drag on if delivered properly. It’s been covered nearly as many times as there are verses. Countless times it’s appeared on soundtracks to films and television shows as a poignant backdrop to directors’ attempts at tugging on heartstrings. While what follows are each great renditions, I implore you to start with the original done by a maestro and true craftsman of song.
The Contestants:
Jeff Buckley: Buckley’s hauntingly dramatic version from his 1994 debut Grace is the best known cover of Hallelujah. It’s one of the best known covers of any song ever. Many people who love the Buckley version have no idea Cohen was the originator – I know I’ve met more than a few.
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/hallelujahbuckley.mp3]READ ON for the scoop on the rest of this week’s contestants…
