phish

Review: Phish @ The Gorge

Hidden Track Staff August 8, 2011 No Comments

Words and Photos: Jason Gershuny

Phish kicked off the second leg of their 2011 summer tour at the picturesque Gorge Amphitheatre, which served as the backdrop to two terrific shows, each with their own share of highlights. This was Phish’s 6th trip to the Gorge in the last 14 years, and I for one have to say that there are few other places that I would rather see this band.


For those who have never been, imagine camping in a sprawling high desert landscape with a visible horizon for miles around. Thousands of travelers from all over the country create their own colorful worlds with whatever materials they happened to bring with them. Friends congregate to create sprawling tapestry villages to get out of the heat. During the day, the sun is merciless and shade is at a premium. But the incredible payoff lies in the beauty of the amphitheater itself.

As you finally find your way out of your makeshift shade structure to head to see the music, you get your ticket scanned and you are faced with a relatively steep hillside that blocks your view. In cresting the pinnacle of that hill, the world opens up before your eyes to an expansive view that covers miles and miles of the wandering deep blue Columbia River carving elegantly through the rock of the Gorge. All this is before your eyes with the stage in the foreground of your view.

READ ON for more of Jason’s thoughts and photos from The Gorge…

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Phish Gorge Setlist & Skinny: Night Two

Scott Bernstein August 6, 2011 4 Comments

On Friday night at The Gorge, Phish delivered an impressive tour opening show that featured an otherworldly Rock and Roll jam, a Roggae that contends for the “best version ever” and a pair of interesting segues. Tonight, the group finished the two-night stand on the banks of the Columbia River.

[Photo via CampRevival]


Possum has taken a lot of heat for its role as the most-played song since Hampton and it looks like the Jeff Holdsworth-penned won’t be giving up its title after showing up as the opener tonight. A parade of staples came next, namely Moma Dance, Sample In A Jar, Limb By Limb and Poor Heart. Allen Toussaint’s On Your Way Down was quite a rarity from 1990 until the breakup as Phish only covered the tune normally associated with Little Feat four times over those years. However, since making its return in Albany back in 2009, the group has lit into the keys-heavy tune five times including tonight.

Wolfman’s Brother gave the quartet their first chance to stretch their improvisational legs and they took advantage of the chance displaying impressive interplay. Just as the jam peaked, guitarist Trey Anastasio threw in a few teases of Led Zeppelin’s Heartbreaker which his bandmates were quite willing to play along with. Anastasio was feeling his oats as Wolfman’s segued into Maze with his solo standing out as a highlight of the set. Phish blew out Wilson back at Super Ball IX, would they do it again for the first version since? No. It was a straight forward take that led into a tight Fluffhead to close.

READ ON for the setlist, tweets, The Skinny and much more…

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Phish Gorge Setlist & Skinny: Night One

Scott Bernstein August 5, 2011 3 Comments

Phish kicked off the second leg of their summer tour tonight at the iconic Gorge Amphitheatre in George, WA for the first of two shows. The quartet first performed at The Gorge in 1997 and has played a total of five two-night stands (’97, ’98, ’99, ’03 & ’09) leading up to this year. We’ll have a full review and photo set from Friday night’s show later this weekend, but in the meantime we’ve shared some facts, thoughts and images from the show.

The first set of the tour was heavy on the songs with 12 tunes performed in total and somewhat light on improv with Bathtub Gin, David Bowie and surprisingly Roggae standing out. Roggae was described by YEMblogger/HT staffer Andy Kahn as “the best Roggae ever” featuring a “minimal/blues/funk jam.” Phish stuck to heavy rotation favorites for the most part with Walk Away, a song they’ve already played this year, being the biggest bustout of the set with a 21-song gap since last played. According to Kahn it didn’t take long for the group to warm up having noted “no rust” and “patient jam(s)” in both Bathtub and Bowie. He felt guitarist Trey Anastasio was in fine form, “cocky in the best possible way.”

For the second set, Phish came out of the gates with another song from Joy to open and this time it was Backwards Down The Number Line. A 20-minute take on Velvet Underground’s Rock and Roll displayed some of the lessons the band learned during the Super Ball IX Storage Jam as Page McConnell took to the theremin leading the group to settle on what Kahn described as a “Moma Dance-esque groove.” All in all this most exploratory part of tonight’s show to Kahn was “ambient, dark [and] groovy” and showed that “patient jamming continues.” Eventually the ensemble landed in a jam space that was equal parts spacey, funky with disco overtones out of which Meatstick commenced.

This wasn’t a typical Meatstick as it was extended and showcased bassist Mike Gordon. Page returned to the clav, Mike kicked in his Akai Deep Impact bass synth and soon Phish completed a “great segue” into Boogie On Reggae Woman. The closing stanza had so much potential as Phish toyed and extended Boogie On. Rock and Roll -> Meatstick -> Boogie On Reggae Woman was clearly the biggest take-away sequence from the show and should be the first listen for fans who download/stream recordings of the tour opener. Two ballads followed (Farmhouse and Show of Life) before the group ended the set with two high-energy crowd pleasers (Julius and Character Zero). Phish went with a Stones cover in the encore slot – the sixth Loving Cup of 2011. Leg two of Summer Tour 2011 continues tomorrow night at The Gorge.

READ ON for the setlist, The Skinny and much more…

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Phish Lake Tahoe Webcast: 8/9 and 8/10

Scott Bernstein August 2, 2011 3 Comments

Following webcasts of sold out shows from Madison Square Garden and the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Alpharetta, Phish will once again offer pay-per-view broadcasts on Aug. 9 and 10 from

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Phish Super Ball IX Setlist & The Skinny: 7/1

Scott Bernstein July 1, 2011 No Comments

We’ve reached the start of Super Ball IX, the ninth Phish festival since 1996. The three-day concert takes place at Watkins Glen International racetrack in Watkins Glen, NY and kicks off with two sets this evening.

[Dusk after Soundcheck, Photo by Patrick Jordan]


Sam Davis of Dog Gone Blog will be reporting live from the event for @YEMblog, so be sure to follow along. You can also listen to tonight’s show on over Bunny Radio which will be simulcast over Sirius/XM’s Jam ON. READ ON for the setlist and The Skinny for Night One of Super Ball IX…

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Phish Super Ball IX: Soundcheck

Scott Bernstein June 30, 2011 11 Comments

The members of Phish took the stage just after 4PM for their Super Ball IX soundcheck at Watkins Glen International racetrack in Watkins Glen, NY. As with most past Phish

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Final Thoughts from Leg One Phish Survey

Parker Harrington June 29, 2011 No Comments

We had some pretty interesting results yesterday in the first part of our survey results about the first leg of Phish Summer Tour 2011. In addition to results on everything from fan perception of the songs, the shows, the runs, the prices, the stream, the jamming, who’s going to IX and many others, Hidden Track was thrilled to be recognized by fans so highly. Only Phish.net, Phish.com & YEMBlog ranked higher as a go-to source of information about Phish. So while we recognize the inherent advantage we had by running the survey, thanks for reading and recognizing the coverage Hidden Track provides.

[Photo by Kenny Pusey]


Now on to the business at hand…

The questions from the survey that remain to be answered are perception of the venues, three words to describe tour, general thoughts about tour and favorite moments and jams.

Three Words to describe Tour

As we did last summer, we created a Wordle from your responses. The larger the word, the more often it appeared in results. Though of course if someone answered “not much jams”, that would make “jams” a larger result. So while not scientifically accurate, this is fun nevertheless. We have included the individual responses below the graphic.

[Click To Enlarge]

fun but songy
Intense, Powerful, Funny
improved guitar playing
Rock And Roll
Blissful. Funk. Long-haul.
Pretty kick ass.
page rage
Brought the steam!
Brought Fire Fast
Shorten the setlists!!!
Too many repeats.
God Shit Man

READ ON for the rest of our survey results…

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