, attached to 2015-07-03
When the surviving members of the Grateful Dead announced a weekend of concerts in Chicago to mark their 50th anniversary m’lady and I knew that the celebration/reunion was going to be a pretty big deal. And considering that Trey Anastasio would be playing with them for the run (along with Bruce Hornsby and Jeff Chimenti) we knew that we would be going, and we did.
With a nod to their olde-schoole pre-internet ticketing mayhem, the band decided to reintroduce their chaotic and archaic mail order system, a hoop-jumping hippie-sieve that involved hard-copy postal money orders, #10 envelopes, secret mantras, and the touching together of magical healing crystals. If I’m not mistaken, they even re-hired their former ticket manager who promptly started stuffing hundreds of thousands of envelopes into Rubbermaid containers, stacks of which quickly filling the spare bedroom of her bungalow.
Classic Dead, and still months before a note was played.
Not to be outdone, m’lady olde-schooled right back at ‘em, hand-decorating both of our ticket request envelopes with super-awesome art. On one she drew the ocelot from Trey’s guitar tussling with the tiger from Jerry’s guitar and on the other she traced the Chicago skyline, with Soldier Field (the venue for the concerts) featuring prominently. We both pulled GA floors for all three shows.
I’d like to say that our level of excitement well-exceeded m’lady’s crushing disappointment but I don’t think that would be true. What disappointment, you ask? Well, the Dead eventually announced that they would be preceding the Chicago weekend with a two-nighter in Santa Clara, and I told m’lady that there was no way I was going to California for them. It’s something we still don’t talk about around the house.
I spent the week between runs steadfastly avoiding everything to do with those Santa Barbara shows. I didn’t check the setlists, I didn’t listen to a single note or watch any youtube videos…heck, I would leave the room if anyone started talking about them. I knew that Trey had been working for months to integrate himself into these old songs and I wanted to experience it in its entirety for the first time live, in person. It made for a difficult week, but I made it.
So, following a wonderful Ottawa Canaday (evidenced by the fact that the fête escapes my memory entirely) m’lady, myself, and our good friend Kyla drove a dozen or so hours from Ottawa to almost-Chicago where we hunkered down for a Duty Free nightcap, a budget sleep, and a cellophane-wrapped breakfast. And so it was that on July 3rd, 2015 we pulled into Chicago nice and early, absolutely champing at the bit for the weekend to get started.
I think we drove downtown first. Kyla was in the coffee biz back then and there was a certain coffeeshop she was hankering to visit so we went. I distinctly recall an eye-opening dearth of available parking, such that independent entrepreneurs operating free-roaming valet services ultimately became our only option. I crossed my fingers and handed some dude my keys.
Was this the time that I visited the Bean? I recall the huge amorphous mirror-sculpture being basically across the street from our destination. Whether it was this trip or one to see Phish a couple of years earlier, I loved it. Who doesn’t? Rare is it that a piece of art is so undeniably and universally engaging that it can’t not be a hit, but the Bean (the piece is actually called “Cloud Gate”) is exactly that, easily fitting in alongside such achievements as Jeff Koons’ “Rabbit”, Michelangelo’s work in the Sistine Chapel, and the Hollywood-esque sign that Jimmy Kimmel erected on the hill that looms above the town of Dildo, Newfoundland.
There were cool fountains too, and lots of fun things for kids to do. I noted lots of tie-dyes and smiles.
We had a double room booked at the Hyatt basically next door to Soldier Field. We pulled up and found the entire hotel staff decked out in Grateful Dead t-shirts. The lobby was piping live shows through a beefed-up speaker system and they had booked Dead-themed bands to play at a number of free pool parties over the course of the weekend. The staff was very, very happy to see their hotel overrun by hard-partying hippies and they were showing it.
Amazing how much had changed. It used to be you brought street clothes to wear specifically for checking in to hotels.
After settling in we headed out, discovering that it was a walk through the park to get from the hotel to the venue. A long walk, sure, but through nothing but park the whole way. I bee-lined to the poster booth and was excited to see about a half-dozen excellent prints for sale. I hummed and hawed between a realistic skeleton on a ghost ship by Justin Helton and a cartoonish Uncle Sam riding his chopper into the horizon drawn by Mike DuBois. I went with the ship and I still can’t believe I didn’t just grab both of them. Although investment-wise it seems I chose correctly; as of this writing the Helton is selling for around $650US while the DuBois last sold for precisely $76. My Helton is on the wall, enveloped in a rather pricey frame-up job. I can see it from where I’m sitting.
I don’t remember if I ran the poster back to the hotel or not but regardless, after a bare minimum of merry-making in and around the lot outside the show it was soon time for us to make our way in.
Somehow, some way, we weren’t where we were supposed to be when the music began. I had spent a week running out of rooms with my hands held over my ears specifically so I would be on the floor a few dozen feet from the stage when I heard Trey playing with the Grateful Dead for the very first time. As it was, the band kicked things off with [i]Box of Rain[/i] and there I was stuck halfway up the stands in a wristband fiasco staffed by shoulder-shrugging teenagers who were so overwhelmed in every regard that their only efficiency seemed to be bottlenecking every possible entry to the floor. Did I mention that there were over 70,000 people there? Matter-of-fact, according to wikipedia, with 70,764 people through the gate this concert set attendance records for the venue that still stand today. But back to me standing in a useless line well out of sight of the stage during the first few minutes of the concert:
I was freaking out, like jumping up-and-down with nerves. I still hyperventilate when I think about it. Give me a second…I just have to breathe…breathe…
I made it to a solid patch of floor just in time for the second song – [i]Jack Straw[/i] – shaking my astounded head free in exasperation. By the end of the song I was fine. Trey sang the next one (Bertha) and another later in the set, both of which got an enthusiastic roar from the crowd and were really great. I always find it funny when they end a set with [i]The Music Never Stopped[/i] and they did here. The ascent off the floor during setbreak rivalled the human dam that got us down there in the first place, as tens of thousands of us made for the stairs at the same time. M’lady and I got squeezed into a friend of a friend from back in Canada. “Hey Darren…it’s Todd…you know, friend of Dave’s back in Ottawa…yeah, that’s right! Cool man, have a great show.” Small world.*
Eventually we spilled up the stairs, filled up on concessions and spilled back down again. The rest of the show was super-fantastic – my gosh the music was just so freakin’ great – and they sent us out of there with an acoustic-tinged [i]Ripple[/i] that saw the vocals getting thrown around the stage between Phil, Bobby, Trey, and even Bruce Hornsby (who calmly understated his role as probably the best musician on stage for the entire weekend).
Back at the hotel it was all yes-sir, no-sir, how-was-the-show-sir as post-concert revelry poured out of every available nook and cranny. Hours later from our room I was amazed to see that the city en masse had dedicated its skyline to our cause. Every skyscraper was lit in the Dead’s colours: Red, white and blue. The fact that we were several hours in to Independence Day by the time I lay myself down to rest for the night had completely escaped me.
*There’s not a single solitary way that I agree with the sentiment “small world” and I don’t here either, but it scans well in this instance so I used it. To my mind this is not a small world by any perceivable metric. Even (especially?) from space the place looks huge. Not that I’ve been to space, but I’ve seen the pictures. In fact, when people say “small world” what they really mean to say is “what a coincidence!” but sometimes the coinciding elements just aren’t worthy of exclamation, you know? So you get “small world.”
To which I invariably respond: “You might not have been expecting to see me here, but that doesn’t make this Lilliput. Buddy.”
https://toddmanout.com/
Review by toddmanout
When the surviving members of the Grateful Dead announced a weekend of concerts in Chicago to mark their 50th anniversary m’lady and I knew that the celebration/reunion was going to be a pretty big deal. And considering that Trey Anastasio would be playing with them for the run (along with Bruce Hornsby and Jeff Chimenti) we knew that we would be going, and we did.
With a nod to their olde-schoole pre-internet ticketing mayhem, the band decided to reintroduce their chaotic and archaic mail order system, a hoop-jumping hippie-sieve that involved hard-copy postal money orders, #10 envelopes, secret mantras, and the touching together of magical healing crystals. If I’m not mistaken, they even re-hired their former ticket manager who promptly started stuffing hundreds of thousands of envelopes into Rubbermaid containers, stacks of which quickly filling the spare bedroom of her bungalow.
Classic Dead, and still months before a note was played.
Not to be outdone, m’lady olde-schooled right back at ‘em, hand-decorating both of our ticket request envelopes with super-awesome art. On one she drew the ocelot from Trey’s guitar tussling with the tiger from Jerry’s guitar and on the other she traced the Chicago skyline, with Soldier Field (the venue for the concerts) featuring prominently. We both pulled GA floors for all three shows.
I’d like to say that our level of excitement well-exceeded m’lady’s crushing disappointment but I don’t think that would be true. What disappointment, you ask? Well, the Dead eventually announced that they would be preceding the Chicago weekend with a two-nighter in Santa Clara, and I told m’lady that there was no way I was going to California for them. It’s something we still don’t talk about around the house.
I spent the week between runs steadfastly avoiding everything to do with those Santa Barbara shows. I didn’t check the setlists, I didn’t listen to a single note or watch any youtube videos…heck, I would leave the room if anyone started talking about them. I knew that Trey had been working for months to integrate himself into these old songs and I wanted to experience it in its entirety for the first time live, in person. It made for a difficult week, but I made it.
So, following a wonderful Ottawa Canaday (evidenced by the fact that the fête escapes my memory entirely) m’lady, myself, and our good friend Kyla drove a dozen or so hours from Ottawa to almost-Chicago where we hunkered down for a Duty Free nightcap, a budget sleep, and a cellophane-wrapped breakfast. And so it was that on July 3rd, 2015 we pulled into Chicago nice and early, absolutely champing at the bit for the weekend to get started.
I think we drove downtown first. Kyla was in the coffee biz back then and there was a certain coffeeshop she was hankering to visit so we went. I distinctly recall an eye-opening dearth of available parking, such that independent entrepreneurs operating free-roaming valet services ultimately became our only option. I crossed my fingers and handed some dude my keys.
Was this the time that I visited the Bean? I recall the huge amorphous mirror-sculpture being basically across the street from our destination. Whether it was this trip or one to see Phish a couple of years earlier, I loved it. Who doesn’t? Rare is it that a piece of art is so undeniably and universally engaging that it can’t not be a hit, but the Bean (the piece is actually called “Cloud Gate”) is exactly that, easily fitting in alongside such achievements as Jeff Koons’ “Rabbit”, Michelangelo’s work in the Sistine Chapel, and the Hollywood-esque sign that Jimmy Kimmel erected on the hill that looms above the town of Dildo, Newfoundland.
There were cool fountains too, and lots of fun things for kids to do. I noted lots of tie-dyes and smiles.
We had a double room booked at the Hyatt basically next door to Soldier Field. We pulled up and found the entire hotel staff decked out in Grateful Dead t-shirts. The lobby was piping live shows through a beefed-up speaker system and they had booked Dead-themed bands to play at a number of free pool parties over the course of the weekend. The staff was very, very happy to see their hotel overrun by hard-partying hippies and they were showing it.
Amazing how much had changed. It used to be you brought street clothes to wear specifically for checking in to hotels.
After settling in we headed out, discovering that it was a walk through the park to get from the hotel to the venue. A long walk, sure, but through nothing but park the whole way. I bee-lined to the poster booth and was excited to see about a half-dozen excellent prints for sale. I hummed and hawed between a realistic skeleton on a ghost ship by Justin Helton and a cartoonish Uncle Sam riding his chopper into the horizon drawn by Mike DuBois. I went with the ship and I still can’t believe I didn’t just grab both of them. Although investment-wise it seems I chose correctly; as of this writing the Helton is selling for around $650US while the DuBois last sold for precisely $76. My Helton is on the wall, enveloped in a rather pricey frame-up job. I can see it from where I’m sitting.
I don’t remember if I ran the poster back to the hotel or not but regardless, after a bare minimum of merry-making in and around the lot outside the show it was soon time for us to make our way in.
Somehow, some way, we weren’t where we were supposed to be when the music began. I had spent a week running out of rooms with my hands held over my ears specifically so I would be on the floor a few dozen feet from the stage when I heard Trey playing with the Grateful Dead for the very first time. As it was, the band kicked things off with [i]Box of Rain[/i] and there I was stuck halfway up the stands in a wristband fiasco staffed by shoulder-shrugging teenagers who were so overwhelmed in every regard that their only efficiency seemed to be bottlenecking every possible entry to the floor. Did I mention that there were over 70,000 people there? Matter-of-fact, according to wikipedia, with 70,764 people through the gate this concert set attendance records for the venue that still stand today. But back to me standing in a useless line well out of sight of the stage during the first few minutes of the concert:
I was freaking out, like jumping up-and-down with nerves. I still hyperventilate when I think about it. Give me a second…I just have to breathe…breathe…
I made it to a solid patch of floor just in time for the second song – [i]Jack Straw[/i] – shaking my astounded head free in exasperation. By the end of the song I was fine. Trey sang the next one (Bertha) and another later in the set, both of which got an enthusiastic roar from the crowd and were really great. I always find it funny when they end a set with [i]The Music Never Stopped[/i] and they did here. The ascent off the floor during setbreak rivalled the human dam that got us down there in the first place, as tens of thousands of us made for the stairs at the same time. M’lady and I got squeezed into a friend of a friend from back in Canada. “Hey Darren…it’s Todd…you know, friend of Dave’s back in Ottawa…yeah, that’s right! Cool man, have a great show.” Small world.*
Eventually we spilled up the stairs, filled up on concessions and spilled back down again. The rest of the show was super-fantastic – my gosh the music was just so freakin’ great – and they sent us out of there with an acoustic-tinged [i]Ripple[/i] that saw the vocals getting thrown around the stage between Phil, Bobby, Trey, and even Bruce Hornsby (who calmly understated his role as probably the best musician on stage for the entire weekend).
Back at the hotel it was all yes-sir, no-sir, how-was-the-show-sir as post-concert revelry poured out of every available nook and cranny. Hours later from our room I was amazed to see that the city en masse had dedicated its skyline to our cause. Every skyscraper was lit in the Dead’s colours: Red, white and blue. The fact that we were several hours in to Independence Day by the time I lay myself down to rest for the night had completely escaped me.
*There’s not a single solitary way that I agree with the sentiment “small world” and I don’t here either, but it scans well in this instance so I used it. To my mind this is not a small world by any perceivable metric. Even (especially?) from space the place looks huge. Not that I’ve been to space, but I’ve seen the pictures. In fact, when people say “small world” what they really mean to say is “what a coincidence!” but sometimes the coinciding elements just aren’t worthy of exclamation, you know? So you get “small world.”
To which I invariably respond: “You might not have been expecting to see me here, but that doesn’t make this Lilliput. Buddy.”
https://toddmanout.com/
, attached to 2015-07-05
Fare Thee Well
[i]In the attics of my life
Full of cloudy dreams; unreal
Full of tastes no tongue can know
And lights no eye can see[/i]
On July 5th, 2015 I was in Chicago. I had spent the late morning and early afternoon in the grandly ornate ballroom of the downtown Hilton enjoying brunch and a set of music played by David Grisman and his fantastic bluegrass band along with 1,500 like-minded souls. M’lady and I and our friend Kyla were in town for Fare Thee Well, a three-night Celebration of the Grateful Dead at Soldier Field. We had two fantastic nights under our belts at this point and were thrilled to be anticipating a third consecutive night of astoundingly great music at the hands of Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, Trey Anastasio, Bruce Hornsby and Jeff Chimenti.
[i]When there was no ear to hear
You sang to me[/i]
Soldier Field was the venue where the Grateful Dead played their final concert, back in 1995. That proved to be Jerry Garcia’s last show. Sigh. I saw them there two years before that; it had been my third Dead show (of just six). It’s a massive stadium, and on this final night as we stood on the floor saying goodbye to one of the most important musical entities in modern history – a band that had gone a long way towards shaping all of our lives – we were surrounded by more than 70,000 fellow celebrants, all of our journeys, all of our dreams and histories once again coming together under the magical umbrella of beautiful music.
[i]I have spent my life
Seeking all that's still unsung
Bent my ear to hear the tune
And closed my eyes to see
When there were no strings to play
You played to me[/i]
The first set opened with [i]China Cat Sunflower[/i] into an [i]I Know You Rider [/i]that seemed to purge our collective soul. 70,000 hearts opened wide, singing “…Gonna miss me when I’m gone…” in ecstatic celebration. Glorious. And that was only two songs in. Then came [i]Estimated Prophet[/i], [i]Built to Last[/i], and Bobby singing a killer [i]Samson and Delilah[/i] before they slowed us all down with the poignant ballad [i]Mountains of the Moon[/i]. The set ended with what I used to call my favourite Grateful Dead song: [i]Throwing Stones[/i], a Bobby-led straight-up rocker that ushered in an upbeat setbreak full of melancholic smiles and heartfelt hippie handshakes.
After opening with a surprising cascade of eye-popping fireworks the second set kept the rock rolling with [i]Truckin’[/i] , one of only two songs the band repeated over their two-city six-night run. They had opened with it on night one back in Santa Clara but of course they had to play it again here on the final night. For now that we were in the final set of what the remaining members claimed would be their last time playing together we could now all exclaim with rapturous accuracy: “What a long strange trip it’s BEEN…” Past tense. Oh, the feels.
After a brilliant [i]Cassidy[/i] and Trey singing [i]Althea[/i] we were treated to the Dead’s epic meandering mini-opera [i]Terrapin Station[/i].
“…Counting stars by candlelight all are dim but one is bright
The spiral light of Venus rising first and shining best
On, from the northwest corner of a brand new crescent moon
While crickets and cicadas sing a rare and different tune…”
Man, those guys (and Robert Hunter) could sure write a tune. Inspiration, indeed.
After [i]Drums[/i]>[i]Space[/i] (which I always really, really dig) came [i]Unbroken Chain[/i] and a [i]Days Between[/i] that went into a mass singalong set-closing [i]Not Fade Away[/i] that brought all of us together once more, a huge singing collection of love, a multi-legged amoeba of patchouli and tie-dyes that refuses to fade away as long as there is a song to sing, a place to dance, and a capacity to cherish this precious life that we share. If there is a God overseeing the world then they have surely blessed the Grateful Dead and all who follow them.
When the band left the stage 140,000 hands kept clapping the Bo Diddley beat, creating a sound that must have travelled for miles. It was a wonderful thing to be a part of. And so was the encore, which was nothing short of perfect.
Personally, [i]Touch of Grey [/i]was the first Grateful Dead song I’d ever heard, back when it was a staple on MTV. I remember watching it and thinking “this is the Grateful Dead?!?” The whisper of mythos I had heard about them combined with their ominous-sounding name had led me to believe their music would’ve landed somewhere between Black Sabbath and odd atonal druggie music. But there they were standing on stage in street clothes playing a synth-heavy radio-friendly pop song about growing old.
And now here I was at the end of my road with the Grateful Dead – twenty-eight years of mind-expanding life, love, and travel later – and the band was bringing me right back to the Junction Club, where I was taking a surreptitious break from my dishwashing job and sticking my head out of the kitchen to watch [i]Touch of Grey[/i] on the TV screen in the nightclub’s empty dining lounge. After nearly three decades “I will get by, I will survive” meant something different. I’m sure many of the people around me felt similar.
[i]In the book of love's own dreams
Where all the print is blood
Where all the pages are my days
And all my lights grow old[/i]
But of course the band couldn’t close there. No, they needed to end with a hymn, and they did. [i]Attics of My Life[/i], an angelic canticle somehow written by the earthbound Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter. We were all one.
[i]When I had no wings to fly
You flew to me
You flew to me
In the secret space of dreams
Where I dreaming lay amazed
When the secrets all are told
And the petals all unfold
When there was no dream of mine
You dreamed of me[/i]
Fare thee well.
https://toddmanout.com/
Review by toddmanout
Fare Thee Well
[i]In the attics of my life
Full of cloudy dreams; unreal
Full of tastes no tongue can know
And lights no eye can see[/i]
On July 5th, 2015 I was in Chicago. I had spent the late morning and early afternoon in the grandly ornate ballroom of the downtown Hilton enjoying brunch and a set of music played by David Grisman and his fantastic bluegrass band along with 1,500 like-minded souls. M’lady and I and our friend Kyla were in town for Fare Thee Well, a three-night Celebration of the Grateful Dead at Soldier Field. We had two fantastic nights under our belts at this point and were thrilled to be anticipating a third consecutive night of astoundingly great music at the hands of Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, Trey Anastasio, Bruce Hornsby and Jeff Chimenti.
[i]When there was no ear to hear
You sang to me[/i]
Soldier Field was the venue where the Grateful Dead played their final concert, back in 1995. That proved to be Jerry Garcia’s last show. Sigh. I saw them there two years before that; it had been my third Dead show (of just six). It’s a massive stadium, and on this final night as we stood on the floor saying goodbye to one of the most important musical entities in modern history – a band that had gone a long way towards shaping all of our lives – we were surrounded by more than 70,000 fellow celebrants, all of our journeys, all of our dreams and histories once again coming together under the magical umbrella of beautiful music.
[i]I have spent my life
Seeking all that's still unsung
Bent my ear to hear the tune
And closed my eyes to see
When there were no strings to play
You played to me[/i]
The first set opened with [i]China Cat Sunflower[/i] into an [i]I Know You Rider [/i]that seemed to purge our collective soul. 70,000 hearts opened wide, singing “…Gonna miss me when I’m gone…” in ecstatic celebration. Glorious. And that was only two songs in. Then came [i]Estimated Prophet[/i], [i]Built to Last[/i], and Bobby singing a killer [i]Samson and Delilah[/i] before they slowed us all down with the poignant ballad [i]Mountains of the Moon[/i]. The set ended with what I used to call my favourite Grateful Dead song: [i]Throwing Stones[/i], a Bobby-led straight-up rocker that ushered in an upbeat setbreak full of melancholic smiles and heartfelt hippie handshakes.
After opening with a surprising cascade of eye-popping fireworks the second set kept the rock rolling with [i]Truckin’[/i] , one of only two songs the band repeated over their two-city six-night run. They had opened with it on night one back in Santa Clara but of course they had to play it again here on the final night. For now that we were in the final set of what the remaining members claimed would be their last time playing together we could now all exclaim with rapturous accuracy: “What a long strange trip it’s BEEN…” Past tense. Oh, the feels.
After a brilliant [i]Cassidy[/i] and Trey singing [i]Althea[/i] we were treated to the Dead’s epic meandering mini-opera [i]Terrapin Station[/i].
“…Counting stars by candlelight all are dim but one is bright
The spiral light of Venus rising first and shining best
On, from the northwest corner of a brand new crescent moon
While crickets and cicadas sing a rare and different tune…”
Man, those guys (and Robert Hunter) could sure write a tune. Inspiration, indeed.
After [i]Drums[/i]>[i]Space[/i] (which I always really, really dig) came [i]Unbroken Chain[/i] and a [i]Days Between[/i] that went into a mass singalong set-closing [i]Not Fade Away[/i] that brought all of us together once more, a huge singing collection of love, a multi-legged amoeba of patchouli and tie-dyes that refuses to fade away as long as there is a song to sing, a place to dance, and a capacity to cherish this precious life that we share. If there is a God overseeing the world then they have surely blessed the Grateful Dead and all who follow them.
When the band left the stage 140,000 hands kept clapping the Bo Diddley beat, creating a sound that must have travelled for miles. It was a wonderful thing to be a part of. And so was the encore, which was nothing short of perfect.
Personally, [i]Touch of Grey [/i]was the first Grateful Dead song I’d ever heard, back when it was a staple on MTV. I remember watching it and thinking “this is the Grateful Dead?!?” The whisper of mythos I had heard about them combined with their ominous-sounding name had led me to believe their music would’ve landed somewhere between Black Sabbath and odd atonal druggie music. But there they were standing on stage in street clothes playing a synth-heavy radio-friendly pop song about growing old.
And now here I was at the end of my road with the Grateful Dead – twenty-eight years of mind-expanding life, love, and travel later – and the band was bringing me right back to the Junction Club, where I was taking a surreptitious break from my dishwashing job and sticking my head out of the kitchen to watch [i]Touch of Grey[/i] on the TV screen in the nightclub’s empty dining lounge. After nearly three decades “I will get by, I will survive” meant something different. I’m sure many of the people around me felt similar.
[i]In the book of love's own dreams
Where all the print is blood
Where all the pages are my days
And all my lights grow old[/i]
But of course the band couldn’t close there. No, they needed to end with a hymn, and they did. [i]Attics of My Life[/i], an angelic canticle somehow written by the earthbound Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter. We were all one.
[i]When I had no wings to fly
You flew to me
You flew to me
In the secret space of dreams
Where I dreaming lay amazed
When the secrets all are told
And the petals all unfold
When there was no dream of mine
You dreamed of me[/i]
Fare thee well.
https://toddmanout.com/
, attached to 2015-07-04
It’s always fun to be pretty much anywhere in America on Independence Day, but of all the awesome cities and towns south of the border the only place for me to have been on July 4th, 2015 was Chicago.
Though the whole city was decked out in red, white and blue for the holiday weekend it looked to me like Chicago was flying the colours of The Grateful Dead, and they would have had considerable reason to. Being selected as the city (ultimately one of two cities) to host the Fare Thee Well Grateful Dead 50th Anniversary shows was an honour that brought tens of thousands of tie-dyed revellers to town for the weekend, and I was pretty happy to count myself among them. The city was rolling out the red carpet for us, with pre-parties and aftershows everywhere and countless of bars and restaurants flying their freak flag for the weekend in an effort to draw in all those old hippy dollars.
My hotel was going above-and-beyond, even hiring a Dead-based bluegrass band to play free concerts in the courtyard. I went down for the afternoon set and made a bunch of new friends, all of us bopping away to the familiar bouncy tunes and getting primed for the evening courtesy of the cash bar and barbecue the hotel had set up. To their credit the hotel was cool with people bringing drinks down from their rooms and a good time was had by all.
It was a pretty quick stroll from the hotel to the lot, and after the prerequisite walkabout I headed into the venue. I was happy to see that the bracelet fiascos of opening night had been ironed out and I made it onto the floor with no trouble at all.
It very exciting to stand in the middle of so much anticipation. As the minutes went on upwards of 70,000 waited and waited for the magical first notes of what was predetermined to be an unforgettable evening. When the band walks onstage the sound of the crowd is nothing short of empowering, almost overshadowing the opening notes of [i]Shakedown Street[/i].
And theeey’re off!
I spent much of the first set circling around and scanning the enormous crowd. From my vantage point near the stage it looked like 360 degrees of blurry, pulsating energy, a wash of humanity on their feet dancing and swaying in uncommon time. Word was that these were the biggest crowds every to squeeze into this Herculean stadium, and no doubt one of the happiest.
I had GA floors for all three nights so at the setbreak I opted for a change of scenery. I was concerned that being close to the stage might not be the best view of the inevitable Fourth Of July fireworks so I headed up into the seats.
I found a couple of empty seats in the front row of a random section in the 100 level and spent the setbreak chatting away with m’lady. At shows like this it’s common to just grab any seat that’s available. Lots of people never see their actual seat at a Dead show, and if they do come back for their seat they’ll usually just find somewhere else or at least be pretty cool about the whole situation.
So I was surprised when behind me I heard a gruff voice coming towards me “Hey, what are you two doing in our seats! You lousy seat-stealers!”
I turn around and coming towards us with mock anger is Dan and Mark, two friends from Ottawa. Remarkably, the seats we had selected were theirs. I didn’t even know they would be in Chicago for these shows, and here in a crowd of 70,000 people we were sitting in their seats. What an amazing coincidence.
Better still they told us that the two seats next to them had been empty for the entire first set so we moved over two places and the four of us enjoyed the second set together.
The fireworks were indeed quite spectacular, and though our view would have been better if we had found different random seats my appreciation for serendipity made me pretty happy to be sitting where I was for the second half of the evening.
I shunned the many aftershows opting to celebrate with friends in and around the hotel (mine or theirs, I don’t recall).
https://toddmanout.com/
Review by toddmanout
It’s always fun to be pretty much anywhere in America on Independence Day, but of all the awesome cities and towns south of the border the only place for me to have been on July 4th, 2015 was Chicago.
Though the whole city was decked out in red, white and blue for the holiday weekend it looked to me like Chicago was flying the colours of The Grateful Dead, and they would have had considerable reason to. Being selected as the city (ultimately one of two cities) to host the Fare Thee Well Grateful Dead 50th Anniversary shows was an honour that brought tens of thousands of tie-dyed revellers to town for the weekend, and I was pretty happy to count myself among them. The city was rolling out the red carpet for us, with pre-parties and aftershows everywhere and countless of bars and restaurants flying their freak flag for the weekend in an effort to draw in all those old hippy dollars.
My hotel was going above-and-beyond, even hiring a Dead-based bluegrass band to play free concerts in the courtyard. I went down for the afternoon set and made a bunch of new friends, all of us bopping away to the familiar bouncy tunes and getting primed for the evening courtesy of the cash bar and barbecue the hotel had set up. To their credit the hotel was cool with people bringing drinks down from their rooms and a good time was had by all.
It was a pretty quick stroll from the hotel to the lot, and after the prerequisite walkabout I headed into the venue. I was happy to see that the bracelet fiascos of opening night had been ironed out and I made it onto the floor with no trouble at all.
It very exciting to stand in the middle of so much anticipation. As the minutes went on upwards of 70,000 waited and waited for the magical first notes of what was predetermined to be an unforgettable evening. When the band walks onstage the sound of the crowd is nothing short of empowering, almost overshadowing the opening notes of [i]Shakedown Street[/i].
And theeey’re off!
I spent much of the first set circling around and scanning the enormous crowd. From my vantage point near the stage it looked like 360 degrees of blurry, pulsating energy, a wash of humanity on their feet dancing and swaying in uncommon time. Word was that these were the biggest crowds every to squeeze into this Herculean stadium, and no doubt one of the happiest.
I had GA floors for all three nights so at the setbreak I opted for a change of scenery. I was concerned that being close to the stage might not be the best view of the inevitable Fourth Of July fireworks so I headed up into the seats.
I found a couple of empty seats in the front row of a random section in the 100 level and spent the setbreak chatting away with m’lady. At shows like this it’s common to just grab any seat that’s available. Lots of people never see their actual seat at a Dead show, and if they do come back for their seat they’ll usually just find somewhere else or at least be pretty cool about the whole situation.
So I was surprised when behind me I heard a gruff voice coming towards me “Hey, what are you two doing in our seats! You lousy seat-stealers!”
I turn around and coming towards us with mock anger is Dan and Mark, two friends from Ottawa. Remarkably, the seats we had selected were theirs. I didn’t even know they would be in Chicago for these shows, and here in a crowd of 70,000 people we were sitting in their seats. What an amazing coincidence.
Better still they told us that the two seats next to them had been empty for the entire first set so we moved over two places and the four of us enjoyed the second set together.
The fireworks were indeed quite spectacular, and though our view would have been better if we had found different random seats my appreciation for serendipity made me pretty happy to be sitting where I was for the second half of the evening.
I shunned the many aftershows opting to celebrate with friends in and around the hotel (mine or theirs, I don’t recall).
https://toddmanout.com/
, attached to 1992-05-16
It's been a long time but what I absolutely remember from this show is that we were not allowed outside at intermission. We had seen Phish at Keene a few times, and they always let us outside at intermission. As I remember it, EVERYONE was heading for the doors at intermission to go out for a smoke, and we a huge crowd of tripping balls people were stuck jammed together with no idea why we there and it was un-nerving until we finally figured out that we were not going to be allowed out. We had come down from Peterborough NH for this one, and I'm pretty sure we drove back after. This show doesn't seem to get the best reviews but I remember having a pretty good time.
Review by Jose_Pozuelo
It's been a long time but what I absolutely remember from this show is that we were not allowed outside at intermission. We had seen Phish at Keene a few times, and they always let us outside at intermission. As I remember it, EVERYONE was heading for the doors at intermission to go out for a smoke, and we a huge crowd of tripping balls people were stuck jammed together with no idea why we there and it was un-nerving until we finally figured out that we were not going to be allowed out. We had come down from Peterborough NH for this one, and I'm pretty sure we drove back after. This show doesn't seem to get the best reviews but I remember having a pretty good time.
, attached to 2023-09-13
On September 13th, 2023 I woke up in a surprisingly clean but otherwise overtly dingy Days Inn where I thoroughly did not enjoy the worst tin-tray scrambled eggs and always-weird sausage I’ve thus far discovered in my long history of hot-breakfast-included budget hotel stays. I tossed the uneaten slop in the garbage can and instead overflowed myself with much of a loaf of twice-toasted bread, each slice lathered with its own tiny square of Kraft peanut butter.
The location was Fredericton; the occasion was the Harvest Music Festival. In a feat of convenience I had managed to couple a couple of festival concerts with a family visit to Moncton, a happenstance that also allowed me the further convenience of free access to my mom’s car, which I had driven to the aforementioned Inn the day before in time for a sublime opening-night concert starring Daniel Lanois.
This second day would be significantly more packed. With my belly full of bread and nutty bears I spent the bulk of the morning wandering through Fredericton’s very fantastic Beaverbrook Art Gallery with my jaw fully agape before heading to the Fredericton airport to meet my friend Dave, who was flying in from Ottawa. His flight was about a half-hour late and I wanted to be extra sure to be on time so I swallowed my pride and let the car’s GPS guide me to the airport. I had only used the GPS once before and it had gotten me lost trying to find the hotel when I’d arrived in Fredericton just twenty hours earlier. Well, the thing remained consistent, leading me to a total of three consecutive dead-ends* (one road turned into a paved walking path before vanishing altogether in a field of tall grass) before delivering me to YFC a full half-hour late for Dave’s half-hour late flight. He had his arms crossed and was shaking his head in semi-mock disgust as I pulled up.
“Dammit Snelgrove, get a damn cellphone already!”
By the time we got back to the hotel all was forgiven. Dave even bought me lunch (supper? Sunch) at a restaurant across the street and after a few beers back at the room we accidentally split an uber down to the fest with a couple from Moncton and their two teenagers. (They were a family of massive Phish heads; they had even named their youngest son Trey and while he was the biggest fan of them all, he wasn’t there. The Harvest Festival tent is strictly 19+ and young Trey was strictly only sixteen years old.)
Our friend Chris was slated to arrive from PEI at some point during the evening, after detouring through Halifax where he was picking up his brand-spanking new Tesla Model S. He had sprung for Dave’s festival pass and he had sent Dave a message explaining that he had an extra Ultimate Pass for me too if I wanted it. I figured a pass with such a fancypants name would come with some perks so I took it. Dave and I walked to a nearby mall where we found Will Call inside the festival’s popup office. We picked up all of Chris’ tickets and headed to the big tent where the show was slated to take place.
Turns out the Ultimate Pass is just what they call the regular full-festival pass, but regardless I stood out front for a half-hour trying to sell my original ticket for any amount of beer money I could get. But I couldn’t; it was too early in a long night for anyone to be showing up without a ticket. However, while I was waiting I ran into a handful of old jamband acquaintances who, like me, had crawled out of the geographical woodwork for the show. I watched a tide of good people walk through the turnstiles and as soon as the first act started up I ate my extra ticket and went inside, bee-lining it straight to the beer ticket kiosk. Tickets in hand, I then found a contingent of old and new PEI friends bellied up to the beer-laden tables. I delivered a mile of high-fives, filled my mitts with beerses and went to find Dave pressed up against the stage, grooving to the opening act.
We had listened to a bit of Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country over those hotel beers earlier and every time I shrugged my shoulders in indifference Dave stuck both his thumbs up and cast a look of shamed astonishment at me. I mean, sure, Donato was a pretty solid player who led a band that kinda sorta lived up to its lame-ish name, but it all seemed so [i]pedestrian[/i].
Here, let me look that up. [i]pə-‘de-strē-ən[/i] (adj) commonplace; unimaginative. Thank-you, Merriam.
The band helped the festy beers go down pretty good, so in addition to not being very exciting they were costing me a bunch of money, so I stepped back outside to see if I could even give away my extra ticket. I found an old member of the Ottawa jamband crew and his just-turned thirteen-year-old sitting in lawnchairs listening to the show. I offered up my ticket but the kid was much too young-looking to even think about getting past the steadily vigilant 19+ security crew, though when Dave poked his head out to see what I was up to he insisted that we try. The kid was smart enough to chicken out.
I was back inside when the second act of the evening, Neal Francis, started up. If I had to guess, I suppose I would have to join the cliché-clinching crowd and assume that the flailing keyboard player/lead vocalist was Neal but really, it could have been the astoundingly solid drummer (who turned out being the best drummer of the evening) and should have been the gum-chewing guitar player who stood tall and stoic on stage left with his head permanently cocked and his eyes rolled sideways towards some invisible television screen flickering in the corner. After a few songs of close scrutiny from a nearby vantage point it was clear that this guy was the band-leader. He was cueing changes with quick glances, directing jams with a turn of his head, and setting tempos with short nods at the top of every song. And always with the gum chewing. Damn good guitar player too.
I never thought that the bass player was Neal Francis. Sure he was good, but he was the bass player in a three-chord high-energy rock band. Unless he was stepping up to the mic there was no way it was his name on the poster.
Great band. They even did an encore. Like, how often does an opening band get away with playing an encore? I would definitely go see Neal Francis again, whoever he is.
I certainly know who Trey Anastasio is though, and I suspect that you do too. I’ve been to a heck of a lot of Phish concerts and I had pretty good-slash-great seats at plenty of them, but when he emerged onto the small stage in the Coors Light Blues Tent (I kid you not) I had to marvel…It had been a [i]loooong[/i] time since I had been [i]this[/i] close to Trey at a show, if ever. By this point I had backed a couple of bodies off of the rail but I was still no more than a dozen feet from one of my favourite living rock guitar players. And my hands full of beerses no less!
The band opened with a one-two of standard Phish tunes in [i]Blaze On[/i] and [i]Back on the Train[/i]. It was awesome. Blissful even. Aside from three or four Trey songs the whole show was Phish Phish Phish. [i]Wolfman’s Brother[/i], [i]Shade[/i], [i]46 Days[/i], [i]Gotta Jibboo[/i]…my gawd, it was all so great. I didn’t recognize the drummer and with the 2021 passing of longtime TAB bassist Tony Markellis Trey had a new, young bass player whom I had never seen before. With the even more recent death of sax player James Casey there were no horns in the band at all (Casey died at the age of forty after an extended battle with cancer just two weeks before this show). I did, however, recognize the keyboard player from Trey’s weekly run of online covid concerts from the Beacon Theatre. His name is Ray Paczkowski and he’s fan-freakin’-tastic.
Late in the show I noticed something rather cool that I had never noticed before. I think it might have been during [i]Sand[/i] that I noticed Trey soloing along with [i]himself[/i]. I believe it was after an extended bass solo, during which time Trey had been silently soloing along into his looper pedal. When it was his time to solo he brought the volume up on his hitherto unheard riffing and spent the whole solo trading riffs with himself. To be honest, if I had been farther back in the crowd I probably wouldn’t have caught what he was doing, which makes me wonder how many times I’ve probably heard Trey do this before.
After a killer set top-to-bottom the band encored with recent Phish fan-favourite [i]Everything’s Right[/i]. It was long and tasty and a nice sentiment to end what had been a great night of music, vibes, and old friends.
But wait! There’s more!
Yes, after the shortest of waits an aftershow featuring Texas quartet White Denim started up right there on the same stage. And though they were really good and totally rockin’ and worthy of much attention and many good words, by the time they got their set rolling I was as drunk as this post is long. Which is: much. So while I stuck with White Denim to the bitter end from my spot near the front with my fists still full of bottomless beerses I can really only say with much accuracy or good conscience:
Good band, and good night.
*When I returned to Moncton I went straight to the hospital to visit my mother, where she was slowly recovering from a brain injury. I mentioned to her that the GPS in her car kept getting me lost when I was in Fredericton. “It was like it didn’t recognize that there was a highway right behind my hotel,” I said. “Maybe the software is old and it’s a new highway or something?”
“No…no…” she started, shaking her finger and staring at me in an effort to remember. “Oh right…I have it set to ’No Highways’!”
“B-b-but…why would you do that?!?!?” I cried.
“Well, as you know we were supposed to be going to Europe next week and in Europe I never drive on the highways, “ she said, as if that explained it.
“But you were flying to Europe!”
https://toddmanout.com/
Review by toddmanout
On September 13th, 2023 I woke up in a surprisingly clean but otherwise overtly dingy Days Inn where I thoroughly did not enjoy the worst tin-tray scrambled eggs and always-weird sausage I’ve thus far discovered in my long history of hot-breakfast-included budget hotel stays. I tossed the uneaten slop in the garbage can and instead overflowed myself with much of a loaf of twice-toasted bread, each slice lathered with its own tiny square of Kraft peanut butter.
The location was Fredericton; the occasion was the Harvest Music Festival. In a feat of convenience I had managed to couple a couple of festival concerts with a family visit to Moncton, a happenstance that also allowed me the further convenience of free access to my mom’s car, which I had driven to the aforementioned Inn the day before in time for a sublime opening-night concert starring Daniel Lanois.
This second day would be significantly more packed. With my belly full of bread and nutty bears I spent the bulk of the morning wandering through Fredericton’s very fantastic Beaverbrook Art Gallery with my jaw fully agape before heading to the Fredericton airport to meet my friend Dave, who was flying in from Ottawa. His flight was about a half-hour late and I wanted to be extra sure to be on time so I swallowed my pride and let the car’s GPS guide me to the airport. I had only used the GPS once before and it had gotten me lost trying to find the hotel when I’d arrived in Fredericton just twenty hours earlier. Well, the thing remained consistent, leading me to a total of three consecutive dead-ends* (one road turned into a paved walking path before vanishing altogether in a field of tall grass) before delivering me to YFC a full half-hour late for Dave’s half-hour late flight. He had his arms crossed and was shaking his head in semi-mock disgust as I pulled up.
“Dammit Snelgrove, get a damn cellphone already!”
By the time we got back to the hotel all was forgiven. Dave even bought me lunch (supper? Sunch) at a restaurant across the street and after a few beers back at the room we accidentally split an uber down to the fest with a couple from Moncton and their two teenagers. (They were a family of massive Phish heads; they had even named their youngest son Trey and while he was the biggest fan of them all, he wasn’t there. The Harvest Festival tent is strictly 19+ and young Trey was strictly only sixteen years old.)
Our friend Chris was slated to arrive from PEI at some point during the evening, after detouring through Halifax where he was picking up his brand-spanking new Tesla Model S. He had sprung for Dave’s festival pass and he had sent Dave a message explaining that he had an extra Ultimate Pass for me too if I wanted it. I figured a pass with such a fancypants name would come with some perks so I took it. Dave and I walked to a nearby mall where we found Will Call inside the festival’s popup office. We picked up all of Chris’ tickets and headed to the big tent where the show was slated to take place.
Turns out the Ultimate Pass is just what they call the regular full-festival pass, but regardless I stood out front for a half-hour trying to sell my original ticket for any amount of beer money I could get. But I couldn’t; it was too early in a long night for anyone to be showing up without a ticket. However, while I was waiting I ran into a handful of old jamband acquaintances who, like me, had crawled out of the geographical woodwork for the show. I watched a tide of good people walk through the turnstiles and as soon as the first act started up I ate my extra ticket and went inside, bee-lining it straight to the beer ticket kiosk. Tickets in hand, I then found a contingent of old and new PEI friends bellied up to the beer-laden tables. I delivered a mile of high-fives, filled my mitts with beerses and went to find Dave pressed up against the stage, grooving to the opening act.
We had listened to a bit of Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country over those hotel beers earlier and every time I shrugged my shoulders in indifference Dave stuck both his thumbs up and cast a look of shamed astonishment at me. I mean, sure, Donato was a pretty solid player who led a band that kinda sorta lived up to its lame-ish name, but it all seemed so [i]pedestrian[/i].
Here, let me look that up. [i]pə-‘de-strē-ən[/i] (adj) commonplace; unimaginative. Thank-you, Merriam.
The band helped the festy beers go down pretty good, so in addition to not being very exciting they were costing me a bunch of money, so I stepped back outside to see if I could even give away my extra ticket. I found an old member of the Ottawa jamband crew and his just-turned thirteen-year-old sitting in lawnchairs listening to the show. I offered up my ticket but the kid was much too young-looking to even think about getting past the steadily vigilant 19+ security crew, though when Dave poked his head out to see what I was up to he insisted that we try. The kid was smart enough to chicken out.
I was back inside when the second act of the evening, Neal Francis, started up. If I had to guess, I suppose I would have to join the cliché-clinching crowd and assume that the flailing keyboard player/lead vocalist was Neal but really, it could have been the astoundingly solid drummer (who turned out being the best drummer of the evening) and should have been the gum-chewing guitar player who stood tall and stoic on stage left with his head permanently cocked and his eyes rolled sideways towards some invisible television screen flickering in the corner. After a few songs of close scrutiny from a nearby vantage point it was clear that this guy was the band-leader. He was cueing changes with quick glances, directing jams with a turn of his head, and setting tempos with short nods at the top of every song. And always with the gum chewing. Damn good guitar player too.
I never thought that the bass player was Neal Francis. Sure he was good, but he was the bass player in a three-chord high-energy rock band. Unless he was stepping up to the mic there was no way it was his name on the poster.
Great band. They even did an encore. Like, how often does an opening band get away with playing an encore? I would definitely go see Neal Francis again, whoever he is.
I certainly know who Trey Anastasio is though, and I suspect that you do too. I’ve been to a heck of a lot of Phish concerts and I had pretty good-slash-great seats at plenty of them, but when he emerged onto the small stage in the Coors Light Blues Tent (I kid you not) I had to marvel…It had been a [i]loooong[/i] time since I had been [i]this[/i] close to Trey at a show, if ever. By this point I had backed a couple of bodies off of the rail but I was still no more than a dozen feet from one of my favourite living rock guitar players. And my hands full of beerses no less!
The band opened with a one-two of standard Phish tunes in [i]Blaze On[/i] and [i]Back on the Train[/i]. It was awesome. Blissful even. Aside from three or four Trey songs the whole show was Phish Phish Phish. [i]Wolfman’s Brother[/i], [i]Shade[/i], [i]46 Days[/i], [i]Gotta Jibboo[/i]…my gawd, it was all so great. I didn’t recognize the drummer and with the 2021 passing of longtime TAB bassist Tony Markellis Trey had a new, young bass player whom I had never seen before. With the even more recent death of sax player James Casey there were no horns in the band at all (Casey died at the age of forty after an extended battle with cancer just two weeks before this show). I did, however, recognize the keyboard player from Trey’s weekly run of online covid concerts from the Beacon Theatre. His name is Ray Paczkowski and he’s fan-freakin’-tastic.
Late in the show I noticed something rather cool that I had never noticed before. I think it might have been during [i]Sand[/i] that I noticed Trey soloing along with [i]himself[/i]. I believe it was after an extended bass solo, during which time Trey had been silently soloing along into his looper pedal. When it was his time to solo he brought the volume up on his hitherto unheard riffing and spent the whole solo trading riffs with himself. To be honest, if I had been farther back in the crowd I probably wouldn’t have caught what he was doing, which makes me wonder how many times I’ve probably heard Trey do this before.
After a killer set top-to-bottom the band encored with recent Phish fan-favourite [i]Everything’s Right[/i]. It was long and tasty and a nice sentiment to end what had been a great night of music, vibes, and old friends.
But wait! There’s more!
Yes, after the shortest of waits an aftershow featuring Texas quartet White Denim started up right there on the same stage. And though they were really good and totally rockin’ and worthy of much attention and many good words, by the time they got their set rolling I was as drunk as this post is long. Which is: much. So while I stuck with White Denim to the bitter end from my spot near the front with my fists still full of bottomless beerses I can really only say with much accuracy or good conscience:
Good band, and good night.
*When I returned to Moncton I went straight to the hospital to visit my mother, where she was slowly recovering from a brain injury. I mentioned to her that the GPS in her car kept getting me lost when I was in Fredericton. “It was like it didn’t recognize that there was a highway right behind my hotel,” I said. “Maybe the software is old and it’s a new highway or something?”
“No…no…” she started, shaking her finger and staring at me in an effort to remember. “Oh right…I have it set to ’No Highways’!”
“B-b-but…why would you do that?!?!?” I cried.
“Well, as you know we were supposed to be going to Europe next week and in Europe I never drive on the highways, “ she said, as if that explained it.
“But you were flying to Europe!”
https://toddmanout.com/
, attached to 2014-02-11
On February 11th, 2014 I had the great pleasure of seeing the Trey Anastasio Band (“TAB” to all the neo-hippies out there) at the House of Blues in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
Though this wasn’t my first time seeing TAB (nor my first visit to one of Dan Aykroyd’s House of Blues franchises) it was definitely my first time at this specific venue. If Lake Buena Vista sounds a bit unfamiliar to you, well, it sounds wholly unfamiliar to me as well. As far as I was concerned this concert was at something called Downtown Disney, Walt Inc.’s offsite opportunity for people to spend gads of money without having to pay an admission fee. Don’t look for it, it’s not there anymore.
When it was there, Downtown Disney was a pedestrian complex rife with large franchise-esque restaurants and shops designed to suck you in and eat as much of your expendable cash as possible. Obviously they weren’t overly efficient in this regard, otherwise the place would still be open. For our part I believe m’lady and I stopped into a restaurant designed to mimic a large paddle steamer for a slice of key lime pie (her Scooby-snack equivalent) and a beer (mine) and spent the rest of our time shunning Disney’s constant warm and fuzzy sales pitches.
Getting to the show, this was probably the first time (and only time, as I have yet to see them since) that I really, really enjoyed the band on their own terms. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve appreciated every other TAB show I’ve seen and then some, but for the most part I would be waiting for the ubiquitous snippets of Phish that Trey would include in his concerts. But even then - despite the massive amount of talent Trey would always have with him on stage - these musical nuggets would usually pale in comparison to the mightier Phish versions (in my mind, at least).
So it’s fair to say that I generally enjoy TAB as a Phish-light sort of experience, and given the option I would rather be at an actual Phish concert every time.
And while I won’t say that isn’t true in this case, I will say that it didn’t take very long for me to become completely mesmerized by the band on this night. Gosh, he had such a great band with him, most notably the horn players. Sure, Trey actually played a considerable chunk of Phish tunes, but the songs I remember the most vividly and the ones that really knocked me out were ones I hadn’t heard before, and tunes that featured his side-players quite heavily.
The smash-hit jaw-dropper of the night was when Trey’s trombone player (Natalie “Chainsaw” Cressman) sang a cover song I had never heard before called [i]1977[/i]. She sang it in Spanish (as the original goes, apparently) and it was just chest-explodingly great.
It was quite interesting for me to notice how differently Trey conducts himself guitar-wise when he plays with TAB versus his regular gig with Phish, something that hadn’t consciously clicked in my brain before. I wouldn’t say that he was more restrained, though that would probably be accurate, but he seemed to completely defer to others when it was their time to shine. Like, when Page takes a solo with Phish Trey still tends to keeps his guitar pretty busy, while with TAB it seemed like when he threw the attention over to someone else he really threw it over.
Maybe that’s why I wasn’t as crazy about TAB before, but this time I really dug it. Maybe I had finally seen enough Phish shows to fully appreciate non-Phish Trey? If so: what a costly trajectory.
An added fun bonus to this show was randomly discovering our Miami-based friend Steve at the concert, flapping his magically dancing hands around from his favourite spot at any show, just a little left of centre and about a quarter of the way back on the floor. It’s a good feeling when shows become reunions without even trying.
This is something that started happening to me more and more with every jamband-related tour and I tell you, it’s fun. And another reason to just keep on truckin’.
https://toddmanout.com/
Review by toddmanout
On February 11th, 2014 I had the great pleasure of seeing the Trey Anastasio Band (“TAB” to all the neo-hippies out there) at the House of Blues in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
Though this wasn’t my first time seeing TAB (nor my first visit to one of Dan Aykroyd’s House of Blues franchises) it was definitely my first time at this specific venue. If Lake Buena Vista sounds a bit unfamiliar to you, well, it sounds wholly unfamiliar to me as well. As far as I was concerned this concert was at something called Downtown Disney, Walt Inc.’s offsite opportunity for people to spend gads of money without having to pay an admission fee. Don’t look for it, it’s not there anymore.
When it was there, Downtown Disney was a pedestrian complex rife with large franchise-esque restaurants and shops designed to suck you in and eat as much of your expendable cash as possible. Obviously they weren’t overly efficient in this regard, otherwise the place would still be open. For our part I believe m’lady and I stopped into a restaurant designed to mimic a large paddle steamer for a slice of key lime pie (her Scooby-snack equivalent) and a beer (mine) and spent the rest of our time shunning Disney’s constant warm and fuzzy sales pitches.
Getting to the show, this was probably the first time (and only time, as I have yet to see them since) that I really, really enjoyed the band on their own terms. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve appreciated every other TAB show I’ve seen and then some, but for the most part I would be waiting for the ubiquitous snippets of Phish that Trey would include in his concerts. But even then - despite the massive amount of talent Trey would always have with him on stage - these musical nuggets would usually pale in comparison to the mightier Phish versions (in my mind, at least).
So it’s fair to say that I generally enjoy TAB as a Phish-light sort of experience, and given the option I would rather be at an actual Phish concert every time.
And while I won’t say that isn’t true in this case, I will say that it didn’t take very long for me to become completely mesmerized by the band on this night. Gosh, he had such a great band with him, most notably the horn players. Sure, Trey actually played a considerable chunk of Phish tunes, but the songs I remember the most vividly and the ones that really knocked me out were ones I hadn’t heard before, and tunes that featured his side-players quite heavily.
The smash-hit jaw-dropper of the night was when Trey’s trombone player (Natalie “Chainsaw” Cressman) sang a cover song I had never heard before called [i]1977[/i]. She sang it in Spanish (as the original goes, apparently) and it was just chest-explodingly great.
It was quite interesting for me to notice how differently Trey conducts himself guitar-wise when he plays with TAB versus his regular gig with Phish, something that hadn’t consciously clicked in my brain before. I wouldn’t say that he was more restrained, though that would probably be accurate, but he seemed to completely defer to others when it was their time to shine. Like, when Page takes a solo with Phish Trey still tends to keeps his guitar pretty busy, while with TAB it seemed like when he threw the attention over to someone else he really threw it over.
Maybe that’s why I wasn’t as crazy about TAB before, but this time I really dug it. Maybe I had finally seen enough Phish shows to fully appreciate non-Phish Trey? If so: what a costly trajectory.
An added fun bonus to this show was randomly discovering our Miami-based friend Steve at the concert, flapping his magically dancing hands around from his favourite spot at any show, just a little left of centre and about a quarter of the way back on the floor. It’s a good feeling when shows become reunions without even trying.
This is something that started happening to me more and more with every jamband-related tour and I tell you, it’s fun. And another reason to just keep on truckin’.
https://toddmanout.com/
, attached to 2026-02-05
I was very lucky to attend this show in person; I hadn't any version of the group before, so JMP's empathetic genre-crossing jazz fusion was a joyful surprise! I can't offer comparisons between JMP shows, so here's my general impression/intro: Masefield's singular jacked-in mandolin provides a startling variety of thick upper-atmosphere electro-textures, new guy 'Mad Dog' Mavridoglou alternately surrounds the rhythm churn with tasty keyboard effects and rips off trumpet solos and dialogues with Masefield, and Fishman is, well, the best rock drummer of his generation totally in his freewheeling element, that familiar smile beaming out every time he returns from the outer regions. In THE PHISH BOOK(?) he commented that he doesn't enjoy playing rock drum solos, but will throw down in a jazz context; with JMP he proves it, breaking up the time and pushing the other players left and right. His reputation as a wild man is a fascinating contrast with his precisely controlled drumming in Phish, so I loved seeing him cut loose with JMP. The biggest surprise of the night for me (as I didn't know his résumé) was Danton Boller on upright bass, who grounded the heady stuff with a huge bottom end then got into upper-register knifework whenever space opened up, 100% locked in with Fishman; the bass/drums hookup was the highlight of the show for me.
I walked out of the Paradise floating on air. If the phrase 'gorp jazz' weren't intolerable, I'd use it here, and would say JMP is [i]exactly[/i] what I want from the groovy-weirdo region of the new-music spectrum -- it took some restraint on my part to not track down Brooklyn Bowl tickets on the cab ride home. Let's hope we don't have to wait as long for the next reunion. They're a really good band, YA DAMN RIGHT.
Review by waxbanks
I was very lucky to attend this show in person; I hadn't any version of the group before, so JMP's empathetic genre-crossing jazz fusion was a joyful surprise! I can't offer comparisons between JMP shows, so here's my general impression/intro: Masefield's singular jacked-in mandolin provides a startling variety of thick upper-atmosphere electro-textures, new guy 'Mad Dog' Mavridoglou alternately surrounds the rhythm churn with tasty keyboard effects and rips off trumpet solos and dialogues with Masefield, and Fishman is, well, the best rock drummer of his generation totally in his freewheeling element, that familiar smile beaming out every time he returns from the outer regions. In THE PHISH BOOK(?) he commented that he doesn't enjoy playing rock drum solos, but will throw down in a jazz context; with JMP he proves it, breaking up the time and pushing the other players left and right. His reputation as a wild man is a fascinating contrast with his precisely controlled drumming in Phish, so I loved seeing him cut loose with JMP. The biggest surprise of the night for me (as I didn't know his résumé) was Danton Boller on upright bass, who grounded the heady stuff with a huge bottom end then got into upper-register knifework whenever space opened up, 100% locked in with Fishman; the bass/drums hookup was the highlight of the show for me.
I walked out of the Paradise floating on air. If the phrase 'gorp jazz' weren't intolerable, I'd use it here, and would say JMP is [i]exactly[/i] what I want from the groovy-weirdo region of the new-music spectrum -- it took some restraint on my part to not track down Brooklyn Bowl tickets on the cab ride home. Let's hope we don't have to wait as long for the next reunion. They're a really good band, YA DAMN RIGHT.
, attached to 2026-01-31
Attended this amazing show.. During ASIHTOS from ~13 min in for the next ~9 min I heard Michael Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel” being jammed, listening back, I still hear it.. epic version .. the Beneth a Sea of stars that followed was also beautiful and and amidst listen,.
great show, amazing weekend
I’ve now attended 5 Phish Mexico’s..
The vibes were incredible from year one, but the music has caught up with the experience the last few years. I’ve seen phish in all peak settings - MSG, new years, festivals, sphere, etc, this is amongst the very best .. arguably the best , no joke.
See you in Vegas .. weekend 2 for me
Review by Alpine96
Attended this amazing show.. During ASIHTOS from ~13 min in for the next ~9 min I heard Michael Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel” being jammed, listening back, I still hear it.. epic version .. the Beneth a Sea of stars that followed was also beautiful and and amidst listen,.
great show, amazing weekend
I’ve now attended 5 Phish Mexico’s..
The vibes were incredible from year one, but the music has caught up with the experience the last few years. I’ve seen phish in all peak settings - MSG, new years, festivals, sphere, etc, this is amongst the very best .. arguably the best , no joke.
See you in Vegas .. weekend 2 for me
, attached to 2026-01-31
[url=https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vT9bzdgLEfV3TWstklT139KBew0B7ZInuE5PiA2qJnfeKqHZigPJtE62NuUilsnH8_I8rolNb-klriI/pubhtml?gid=1894490282&single=true][b]Moon Palace 1/31/26 SANTOS Scorecard[/b][/url]
This show has a SANTOS score of 100 (epic!). The 3 longest versions of songs puts this one over the top.
Review by SetlistAssNTrkOrgSystem
[url=https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vT9bzdgLEfV3TWstklT139KBew0B7ZInuE5PiA2qJnfeKqHZigPJtE62NuUilsnH8_I8rolNb-klriI/pubhtml?gid=1894490282&single=true][b]Moon Palace 1/31/26 SANTOS Scorecard[/b][/url]
This show has a SANTOS score of 100 (epic!). The 3 longest versions of songs puts this one over the top.
, attached to 2026-01-30
[url=https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vT9bzdgLEfV3TWstklT139KBew0B7ZInuE5PiA2qJnfeKqHZigPJtE62NuUilsnH8_I8rolNb-klriI/pubhtml?gid=2092521661&single=true][b]Moon Palace 1/30/26 SANTOS Scorecard[/b][/url]
This show has a SANTOS score of 54 (below average). The debut of Simeon during the encore keeps it from being very bad.
Review by SetlistAssNTrkOrgSystem
[url=https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vT9bzdgLEfV3TWstklT139KBew0B7ZInuE5PiA2qJnfeKqHZigPJtE62NuUilsnH8_I8rolNb-klriI/pubhtml?gid=2092521661&single=true][b]Moon Palace 1/30/26 SANTOS Scorecard[/b][/url]
This show has a SANTOS score of 54 (below average). The debut of Simeon during the encore keeps it from being very bad.
, attached to 2026-01-30
[url=https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vT9bzdgLEfV3TWstklT139KBew0B7ZInuE5PiA2qJnfeKqHZigPJtE62NuUilsnH8_I8rolNb-klriI/pubhtml?gid=2092521661&single=true][b]Moon Palace 1/30/26 SANTOS Scorecard[/b][/url]
This show has a SANTOS score of 54 (below average). The debut of Simeon in the encore keeps it from being very bad.
Review by SetlistAssNTrkOrgSystem
[url=https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vT9bzdgLEfV3TWstklT139KBew0B7ZInuE5PiA2qJnfeKqHZigPJtE62NuUilsnH8_I8rolNb-klriI/pubhtml?gid=2092521661&single=true][b]Moon Palace 1/30/26 SANTOS Scorecard[/b][/url]
This show has a SANTOS score of 54 (below average). The debut of Simeon in the encore keeps it from being very bad.
, attached to 2026-01-29
[url=https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vT9bzdgLEfV3TWstklT139KBew0B7ZInuE5PiA2qJnfeKqHZigPJtE62NuUilsnH8_I8rolNb-klriI/pubhtml?gid=1036664554&single=true][b]Moon Palace 1/29/26 Scorecard[/b][/url]
This show has a SANTOS score of 83 (very good!). Both sets and encore were above average. Both sets had high Jam scores and the Dancing in Midair debut during the encore result in a high overall score.
Review by SetlistAssNTrkOrgSystem
[url=https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vT9bzdgLEfV3TWstklT139KBew0B7ZInuE5PiA2qJnfeKqHZigPJtE62NuUilsnH8_I8rolNb-klriI/pubhtml?gid=1036664554&single=true][b]Moon Palace 1/29/26 Scorecard[/b][/url]
This show has a SANTOS score of 83 (very good!). Both sets and encore were above average. Both sets had high Jam scores and the Dancing in Midair debut during the encore result in a high overall score.
, attached to 2026-01-28
This show has a SANTOS score of 63. The first set was above average with the bustout of Breath and Burning and debut of Fling Your Head. [url=https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vT9bzdgLEfV3TWstklT139KBew0B7ZInuE5PiA2qJnfeKqHZigPJtE62NuUilsnH8_I8rolNb-klriI/pubhtml?gid=201151448&single=true]Moon Palace - 1/28/26 SANTOS Scorecard[/url]
Review by SetlistAssNTrkOrgSystem
This show has a SANTOS score of 63. The first set was above average with the bustout of Breath and Burning and debut of Fling Your Head. [url=https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vT9bzdgLEfV3TWstklT139KBew0B7ZInuE5PiA2qJnfeKqHZigPJtE62NuUilsnH8_I8rolNb-klriI/pubhtml?gid=201151448&single=true]Moon Palace - 1/28/26 SANTOS Scorecard[/url]
, attached to 2026-01-28
Laid back opening show, I’m always ok with that. Set 1 starts out funky with Hey Stranger and Moma. Pretty nice Roggae. We get a new Mike song! Set 2 is ok. It’s really all about the Mercury jam. Very laid back but a nice groove and the ending chaos to Boogie On is super tasty. Nothing much else in the 2nd set. Encore leaves you satisfied with a Dog Faced Ghost 1-2 punch. I can’t complain! So to tally up folks: we get two bust-outs and a debut. I’m sure the peeps in attendance had a wonderful time. I was listening from polar vortex Crapchester NY so there ya have it. Darien Lake 93 this show is not but in Phish we trust. I deem thee to be a 3.0 and a breezy wheezy good time.
Review by jaosnlikesphun
Laid back opening show, I’m always ok with that. Set 1 starts out funky with Hey Stranger and Moma. Pretty nice Roggae. We get a new Mike song! Set 2 is ok. It’s really all about the Mercury jam. Very laid back but a nice groove and the ending chaos to Boogie On is super tasty. Nothing much else in the 2nd set. Encore leaves you satisfied with a Dog Faced Ghost 1-2 punch. I can’t complain! So to tally up folks: we get two bust-outs and a debut. I’m sure the peeps in attendance had a wonderful time. I was listening from polar vortex Crapchester NY so there ya have it. Darien Lake 93 this show is not but in Phish we trust. I deem thee to be a 3.0 and a breezy wheezy good time.
, attached to 2026-01-31
If this show happened at MSG, you can bet your sweet ass it would be rated at least a 4.4-something. It was awesome, Moon Palace is awesome, the band is locked in and playing as tight as ever and can do more with their instruments than ever. It was disappointing to see so many of these rich trustfundafarians being served by all these hard workers at the Moon Palace and not even give a tip. They don’t tip cuz they’re dirtbags. And they act like everybody is there to watch their drunk ass perform. No, Karen, we don’t even want to look at your stupid ass.
Review by LSDemon
If this show happened at MSG, you can bet your sweet ass it would be rated at least a 4.4-something. It was awesome, Moon Palace is awesome, the band is locked in and playing as tight as ever and can do more with their instruments than ever. It was disappointing to see so many of these rich trustfundafarians being served by all these hard workers at the Moon Palace and not even give a tip. They don’t tip cuz they’re dirtbags. And they act like everybody is there to watch their drunk ass perform. No, Karen, we don’t even want to look at your stupid ass.
, attached to 2026-01-31
Phish capped off the Mexico Run with an unforgettable show. Rating bias is still present, which is a shame.
The first set starts with a focused version of Mikes. Halleys and Paug were pretty standard. MFMF is the first mega jam on the night (more would come) - as Phish reached deep to give us a spectacular 25 min version. Must hear stuff. Rest of the first set goes by smoothly. Drift as a first set closer does not bother me at all.
2nd set , oh baby. How about one of the longest Phish jams ever? The longest song the ocean ever sang. a 40 min powerhouse that makes me wish I was on a beach in Cancun and financially stable. This even topped the Ruby Waves from earlier in the run, although bot are their own special type of beast.
We weren't done. Sea of Stars was delicate and kept us occupied for 19 more minutes. Another mind melting, thought provoking type jam. Phish kept their momentum going.... what a set I was starting to tell myself.
Meatstick comes in, and who could complain about that? Its one of the most fun songs ever. It got a good, non abberviated version of 9 mins. No meatstick should be under 7.Golden age also rocked hard. At this point I knew this was one hell of a set of phish
Double encore of fan favorites. Hood = Bliss.
Hell of a show, I am already re-listening. If you didnt give it 5 stars, we get it, you wish you were in Mexico. If this show happened in MSG it would rank amongst their best there. Signed someone who has seen more MSG shows than anywhere else by far.
Set One: B+
Set Two: A+ 4.5
Review by DownWithSteam
Phish capped off the Mexico Run with an unforgettable show. Rating bias is still present, which is a shame.
The first set starts with a focused version of Mikes. Halleys and Paug were pretty standard. MFMF is the first mega jam on the night (more would come) - as Phish reached deep to give us a spectacular 25 min version. Must hear stuff. Rest of the first set goes by smoothly. Drift as a first set closer does not bother me at all.
2nd set , oh baby. How about one of the longest Phish jams ever? The longest song the ocean ever sang. a 40 min powerhouse that makes me wish I was on a beach in Cancun and financially stable. This even topped the Ruby Waves from earlier in the run, although bot are their own special type of beast.
We weren't done. Sea of Stars was delicate and kept us occupied for 19 more minutes. Another mind melting, thought provoking type jam. Phish kept their momentum going.... what a set I was starting to tell myself.
Meatstick comes in, and who could complain about that? Its one of the most fun songs ever. It got a good, non abberviated version of 9 mins. No meatstick should be under 7.Golden age also rocked hard. At this point I knew this was one hell of a set of phish
Double encore of fan favorites. Hood = Bliss.
Hell of a show, I am already re-listening. If you didnt give it 5 stars, we get it, you wish you were in Mexico. If this show happened in MSG it would rank amongst their best there. Signed someone who has seen more MSG shows than anywhere else by far.
Set One: B+
Set Two: A+ 4.5
, attached to 2026-01-31
I'm not one prone to hyperbole, but Trey kept walking us down pathways all show... Beautiful interactions between crowd energy and band energy... Both matched perfectly under a sea of stars...
I thought the entire run wasa workout, two new decided and a personal fave an extended Ruby Waves had me licked in on receive for everything the boys were transmitting!! Extended esoteric jams were some legendary face-melting material. The Mike's song opener on night four set up a fun bounce through the setlist, Julius was off the chart funk... The guys brought an intense energy this year with virtuoso skills and an undeniable connection to the crowd
Review by MikeReen
I'm not one prone to hyperbole, but Trey kept walking us down pathways all show... Beautiful interactions between crowd energy and band energy... Both matched perfectly under a sea of stars...
I thought the entire run wasa workout, two new decided and a personal fave an extended Ruby Waves had me licked in on receive for everything the boys were transmitting!! Extended esoteric jams were some legendary face-melting material. The Mike's song opener on night four set up a fun bounce through the setlist, Julius was off the chart funk... The guys brought an intense energy this year with virtuoso skills and an undeniable connection to the crowd
, attached to 1997-12-22
I was recently scouring the web to find the 12/22/97 Zambiland Orchestra show because it was one of the coolest and most unique live concert experiences I’ve had. I couldn’t even find a complete set list. I recorded that night off another guy’s mics and have the full 3 sets. My DAT players are no longer functional and I don’t recall the sound quality. Any chance any of you could point me to someone who can circulate this masterful event? Possibly even remaster?
Review by Chadpadams
I was recently scouring the web to find the 12/22/97 Zambiland Orchestra show because it was one of the coolest and most unique live concert experiences I’ve had. I couldn’t even find a complete set list. I recorded that night off another guy’s mics and have the full 3 sets. My DAT players are no longer functional and I don’t recall the sound quality. Any chance any of you could point me to someone who can circulate this masterful event? Possibly even remaster?
, attached to 2026-01-30
Fun start. Gin really start to get things moving with a nice Most Events which honestly is becoming one of my favorite "new" tunes. Carini was amazing, was sooo close to getting insanely down right dirty and they moved into light. At the time I was bummed they didn't stretch out Carini more but the Light was super solid. I am always 100% game for a Frankie Says I love that tune. This one didn't disappoint. Miami Frankie in '03 was insane in person, so I was pleased to see it taken for a ride. Life Saving Gun has been delivering and this was no exception. First Tube is easily one of my favorite set closers and they gave this one a little extra grease. My tinnitus even this morning is a testament to the version, true Trey rock god exposition.
Encore debut of Simeon was fun. I'm down for whatever they play but getting a new tune to consume is always great in my opinion. ALBTD always brings the feels in this position and if felt like they really played it for the crowd and meant it. Tonight is going to be bittersweet as we head back to our normal lives, but I'll never trade anything for time in the sun with my favorite band.
Onward and upward or whatever keeps you going.
Review by sirkeeb
Fun start. Gin really start to get things moving with a nice Most Events which honestly is becoming one of my favorite "new" tunes. Carini was amazing, was sooo close to getting insanely down right dirty and they moved into light. At the time I was bummed they didn't stretch out Carini more but the Light was super solid. I am always 100% game for a Frankie Says I love that tune. This one didn't disappoint. Miami Frankie in '03 was insane in person, so I was pleased to see it taken for a ride. Life Saving Gun has been delivering and this was no exception. First Tube is easily one of my favorite set closers and they gave this one a little extra grease. My tinnitus even this morning is a testament to the version, true Trey rock god exposition.
Encore debut of Simeon was fun. I'm down for whatever they play but getting a new tune to consume is always great in my opinion. ALBTD always brings the feels in this position and if felt like they really played it for the crowd and meant it. Tonight is going to be bittersweet as we head back to our normal lives, but I'll never trade anything for time in the sun with my favorite band.
Onward and upward or whatever keeps you going.
, attached to 2026-01-30
Couch toured this one from cold and snowy Michigan, wishing I was on a warm beach down in Mexico. Thank goodness for these live streams! I’ve been catching one night of Phish in Mexico at home for years and it’s always a nice little mid-winter treat.
A bit surprised at the ratings as I thought there was great playing all around. I particularly enjoyed Wolfman’s, Tube, Gin from the first set and honestly all of the second set. Light after Carini was a nice pairing. LSG jammed hard. Wowza! I felt thoroughly rinsed by percussion. Encore was on the tamer side but I have a huge soft spot for A Life Beyond The Dream as anyone who has read my comments knows, so I went to bed happy. Hope everyone there is having a great time!
Review by Tuna_Belly
Couch toured this one from cold and snowy Michigan, wishing I was on a warm beach down in Mexico. Thank goodness for these live streams! I’ve been catching one night of Phish in Mexico at home for years and it’s always a nice little mid-winter treat.
A bit surprised at the ratings as I thought there was great playing all around. I particularly enjoyed Wolfman’s, Tube, Gin from the first set and honestly all of the second set. Light after Carini was a nice pairing. LSG jammed hard. Wowza! I felt thoroughly rinsed by percussion. Encore was on the tamer side but I have a huge soft spot for A Life Beyond The Dream as anyone who has read my comments knows, so I went to bed happy. Hope everyone there is having a great time!
, attached to 2026-01-30
Another solid show down in Mexico. First set had a nice tube, and also a cool version of gin. All in all decent songs picked.
Set two goes deep once again. Carini was a marathon of music, while there has been some sick versions over the years, this jam had a unique taste. It got picked up by Light which I thought was a good choice. It blended into Frankie Says which was a welcome sight. Ide have preferred if that got stretched.
Jam of the night though goes to Life Saving Gun. Its a raucous affair of balls to the walls action. I think most Phish fans have got to have grown to like that song.
Encore here gives us 2 slower tunes to send us off. Not how ide do it. I actually a fan that loved LBTD when it first appeared but the over-playment has made it lose a bit of luster for me. Just my 2 cents. Simeon isn't terrible but belongs in like a first set.
All in all I think anyone who was worried about Phish starting to "stink" is being laughed at.
Set One: C+
Set Two: A-
Rating: 3.9
Review by DownWithSteam
Another solid show down in Mexico. First set had a nice tube, and also a cool version of gin. All in all decent songs picked.
Set two goes deep once again. Carini was a marathon of music, while there has been some sick versions over the years, this jam had a unique taste. It got picked up by Light which I thought was a good choice. It blended into Frankie Says which was a welcome sight. Ide have preferred if that got stretched.
Jam of the night though goes to Life Saving Gun. Its a raucous affair of balls to the walls action. I think most Phish fans have got to have grown to like that song.
Encore here gives us 2 slower tunes to send us off. Not how ide do it. I actually a fan that loved LBTD when it first appeared but the over-playment has made it lose a bit of luster for me. Just my 2 cents. Simeon isn't terrible but belongs in like a first set.
All in all I think anyone who was worried about Phish starting to "stink" is being laughed at.
Set One: C+
Set Two: A-
Rating: 3.9
, attached to 2026-01-30
And here we are again, our 9th Mexico run and our 9th set of low rated shows. The show rating mafia wins again! Disregard all ratings for this run (and the others as well). Just listen and enjoy. Not show bias, actually never been to Phish in Mexico.
The first night was definitely a great show, those that don't like breath and burning, sigma oasis (farmhouse, etc, etc) .... might be a good time to find a new band. I was dead set on the dead in the 90s and luckily found phish. It all worked. don't be afraid to walk away.
N2, also a solid show. Second set is great, WGTYM jam is a slam dunk for me.
And of course, this show. Like the other two nights, it's a great first set with solid songs and playing. Followed by what we all love- a jammed out second set. This is great Phish no doubt about
Review by 90MinuteJam
And here we are again, our 9th Mexico run and our 9th set of low rated shows. The show rating mafia wins again! Disregard all ratings for this run (and the others as well). Just listen and enjoy. Not show bias, actually never been to Phish in Mexico.
The first night was definitely a great show, those that don't like breath and burning, sigma oasis (farmhouse, etc, etc) .... might be a good time to find a new band. I was dead set on the dead in the 90s and luckily found phish. It all worked. don't be afraid to walk away.
N2, also a solid show. Second set is great, WGTYM jam is a slam dunk for me.
And of course, this show. Like the other two nights, it's a great first set with solid songs and playing. Followed by what we all love- a jammed out second set. This is great Phish no doubt about
, attached to 2026-01-30
Show starts with a standard Blaze On, then some fluff with Bouncing and Evolve, get an above average Wolfmans, a nice Tube, fantastic Water in the Sky and then things start to take off when we hit the Gin. And then came the second set. This one was a face melter. Extremely psychedelic and the flow of this set is just perfect, notably the segue from Light to Frankie Says which was just ridiculous. Kinda dumb they followed up that set with a snoozer encore, but hey, can’t win em all can you?
Review by LSDemon
Show starts with a standard Blaze On, then some fluff with Bouncing and Evolve, get an above average Wolfmans, a nice Tube, fantastic Water in the Sky and then things start to take off when we hit the Gin. And then came the second set. This one was a face melter. Extremely psychedelic and the flow of this set is just perfect, notably the segue from Light to Frankie Says which was just ridiculous. Kinda dumb they followed up that set with a snoozer encore, but hey, can’t win em all can you?
, attached to 2026-01-29
Phish returned to the stage in Mexico after a show which people gave a sub 3 rating to. (I gave that show 3.75 and i will stand by a decent rating there) So it's safe to say some people were paying close attention tonight
After this show - a show which absolutely fucked - I am glad to see the rating bias is toned down a bit.
The first set had great song selection. Gumbo is a great way to get us going. Oblivion went pretty deep after coming out of Caspian. The stash was our first major HELL YEAH moment. 15 mins of good stuff there. Not a ton else in this set to rave about, but it was fine and an improvement from the night prior.
Set two takes you where you want to go. A 4-song set usually means the songs stretched their legs well , and that was definitely the case for WoH and Ruby Waves. 2 great jam vehicles here. Perhaps none with a stronger track record than Ruby Waves as of the past few years - and it highlighted the show again - as it got real weird and stayed strong for 20+ mins That kind of mind melting jam is the stuff that turns an average show into a burner. That turns a novice phish phan into a full on wook.
Lonely trip isn't my thing and i feel like that slot deserved better. But alas, in came a WGTYM to get us up and dancing hard again. This song is [i]special [/i]and I know many of you agree. A solid version took us home and capped off a set that deserves to be relistened to.
Another debut came in the encore, and it was a soothing tune. Page had some cool vocals. All in all I can say I didnt hate "dancing in midair". But I certainly liked antelope more. It didn't quite come crashing down like the version at MSG, but that place is also pretty damn [i]special[/i].
Set One: B-
Set Two: A-
Rating: 4.30
Review by DownWithSteam
Phish returned to the stage in Mexico after a show which people gave a sub 3 rating to. (I gave that show 3.75 and i will stand by a decent rating there) So it's safe to say some people were paying close attention tonight
After this show - a show which absolutely fucked - I am glad to see the rating bias is toned down a bit.
The first set had great song selection. Gumbo is a great way to get us going. Oblivion went pretty deep after coming out of Caspian. The stash was our first major HELL YEAH moment. 15 mins of good stuff there. Not a ton else in this set to rave about, but it was fine and an improvement from the night prior.
Set two takes you where you want to go. A 4-song set usually means the songs stretched their legs well , and that was definitely the case for WoH and Ruby Waves. 2 great jam vehicles here. Perhaps none with a stronger track record than Ruby Waves as of the past few years - and it highlighted the show again - as it got real weird and stayed strong for 20+ mins That kind of mind melting jam is the stuff that turns an average show into a burner. That turns a novice phish phan into a full on wook.
Lonely trip isn't my thing and i feel like that slot deserved better. But alas, in came a WGTYM to get us up and dancing hard again. This song is [i]special [/i]and I know many of you agree. A solid version took us home and capped off a set that deserves to be relistened to.
Another debut came in the encore, and it was a soothing tune. Page had some cool vocals. All in all I can say I didnt hate "dancing in midair". But I certainly liked antelope more. It didn't quite come crashing down like the version at MSG, but that place is also pretty damn [i]special[/i].
Set One: B-
Set Two: A-
Rating: 4.30
, attached to 2026-01-29
This rating is skewed and just shows how petty and childish the community can be. You can be mad that you can’t afford to go or don’t get to see Phish on a beach, but how can you not say this is some of the best they’ve ever played??? I guess the setlist could get some hate if you’re that jaded, although the first set was a 1.0 dream. This is without a doubt a 4.5+/5 show. It’s nearly flawless from start to finish. That Ruby Waves was simply greatness and another magnum opus of the bands relentless drive to push the boundaries of what is capable with music. This show encompasses every single era of phish. You have early 90s 1.0, late 90s 1.0, dark gritty 2.0 jams, and the exploration of 3.0/4.0. 37 shows deep and somehow they still find a way to put my jaw on floor.
Review by MrThreePoint0
This rating is skewed and just shows how petty and childish the community can be. You can be mad that you can’t afford to go or don’t get to see Phish on a beach, but how can you not say this is some of the best they’ve ever played??? I guess the setlist could get some hate if you’re that jaded, although the first set was a 1.0 dream. This is without a doubt a 4.5+/5 show. It’s nearly flawless from start to finish. That Ruby Waves was simply greatness and another magnum opus of the bands relentless drive to push the boundaries of what is capable with music. This show encompasses every single era of phish. You have early 90s 1.0, late 90s 1.0, dark gritty 2.0 jams, and the exploration of 3.0/4.0. 37 shows deep and somehow they still find a way to put my jaw on floor.
, attached to 2026-01-28
It's night one of a standalone 4 night run. I'm seeing Phish! :-) But there's rust :-( The first set was up and down. Sand and Chalk Dust Torture are worth a look. The flow in the second half of the first set was odd. It felt like the rhythm was off.
Second set was much better. Waves was nice. Fuego was excellent, but it could have gone on even longer. No Man's seemed a bit like a ripcord or indecision on Trey's part. Nice to hear, not much to say. Mercury was fairly standard until after the Marimba Lumina segment, but then turned into a nice & reasonably extended jam, probably the highlight of the night for me. Not much to say about the rest of the set, it was enjoyable and nice to get the Zero out of the way. One tease is fun, but not going to make me actually want to see Zero. I liked the encore. Ghost doesn't have to try and go way out there, but can just be the song in the encore slot.
Yay for Phish, more to come, this show will remain an opener.
Review by mikey
It's night one of a standalone 4 night run. I'm seeing Phish! :-) But there's rust :-( The first set was up and down. Sand and Chalk Dust Torture are worth a look. The flow in the second half of the first set was odd. It felt like the rhythm was off.
Second set was much better. Waves was nice. Fuego was excellent, but it could have gone on even longer. No Man's seemed a bit like a ripcord or indecision on Trey's part. Nice to hear, not much to say. Mercury was fairly standard until after the Marimba Lumina segment, but then turned into a nice & reasonably extended jam, probably the highlight of the night for me. Not much to say about the rest of the set, it was enjoyable and nice to get the Zero out of the way. One tease is fun, but not going to make me actually want to see Zero. I liked the encore. Ghost doesn't have to try and go way out there, but can just be the song in the encore slot.
Yay for Phish, more to come, this show will remain an opener.
, attached to 2026-01-28
Different strokes for different folks but after listening to it live last night on SiriusXM and especially just after the relisten I feel like I heard an average great/4 or thereabouts show that I would have been happy to have attended and danced my skinny ass off to like I did in the comforts of my living room for most of last night and this morning. The 1st set was groovy with Fishman leading the way. Roggae was outstanding to these ears, Fling Your Head was a breezy swampy Mike debut and CDT was an unexpected jam vehicle to end the 1st set.
Yeah Waves was too short and evidently served as the "TV" song but it took 25 minutes to finally douse the Fuego that followed that by its end I had forgotten what song it was and ditto for the 24 minute Mercury, separated by a ten minute NMINML. True, Backwards and Zero sounded ragged but Ghost was a well jammed out version for its closing ten minutes. Great show, nope but good enough opening show of a four show run, imho deserves "better" than the current 3.1 rating, my 2 cents worth.
Peace,
Alex
Review by ajcmixer
Different strokes for different folks but after listening to it live last night on SiriusXM and especially just after the relisten I feel like I heard an average great/4 or thereabouts show that I would have been happy to have attended and danced my skinny ass off to like I did in the comforts of my living room for most of last night and this morning. The 1st set was groovy with Fishman leading the way. Roggae was outstanding to these ears, Fling Your Head was a breezy swampy Mike debut and CDT was an unexpected jam vehicle to end the 1st set.
Yeah Waves was too short and evidently served as the "TV" song but it took 25 minutes to finally douse the Fuego that followed that by its end I had forgotten what song it was and ditto for the 24 minute Mercury, separated by a ten minute NMINML. True, Backwards and Zero sounded ragged but Ghost was a well jammed out version for its closing ten minutes. Great show, nope but good enough opening show of a four show run, imho deserves "better" than the current 3.1 rating, my 2 cents worth.
Peace,
Alex
, attached to 2026-01-28
I joked with my friends after the show that the mic smack moment was the Nod to Bobby we were all watching for. (A reference to Weirwolf’s even more violent disregard for a mic stand up at The Gorge years ago, iykyk). Fun show, great vibes and dancing space Page side for me and my crew. Have fun yall and see ya out there later ✌️
Review by FluffHead418
I joked with my friends after the show that the mic smack moment was the Nod to Bobby we were all watching for. (A reference to Weirwolf’s even more violent disregard for a mic stand up at The Gorge years ago, iykyk). Fun show, great vibes and dancing space Page side for me and my crew. Have fun yall and see ya out there later ✌️
, attached to 2026-01-28
I’m a little confused about the poor ratings / vibes on this one…
While first nights in Mexico are often relatively placid warm ups designed more to welcome than to awe, I thought there was a palpable desire to push it throughout last night.
Both sand and chalk dust were phenomenal versions that deserve a listen, and Fuego from set II was easily as wide ranging and stirring as last years, which id bet many would rank as a top 3 jam from that run. Yes, mercury was a little languid, but the boys taking a breath during a 20+ minute jam in the fourth quarter is not the same as, say, a misplaced Mountains in the Mist or Halfway to the Moon is (no disrespect you know what I’m saying)
Also, did anyone else see Trey smack his mic halfway thru set II? Seemed like a sound issue but my man was animated! Makes me 100% sure this will be an all time set of shows on the beach, hope to see everyone there tonight.
Also, did anyone notice Teeh
Review by MacDre
I’m a little confused about the poor ratings / vibes on this one…
While first nights in Mexico are often relatively placid warm ups designed more to welcome than to awe, I thought there was a palpable desire to push it throughout last night.
Both sand and chalk dust were phenomenal versions that deserve a listen, and Fuego from set II was easily as wide ranging and stirring as last years, which id bet many would rank as a top 3 jam from that run. Yes, mercury was a little languid, but the boys taking a breath during a 20+ minute jam in the fourth quarter is not the same as, say, a misplaced Mountains in the Mist or Halfway to the Moon is (no disrespect you know what I’m saying)
Also, did anyone else see Trey smack his mic halfway thru set II? Seemed like a sound issue but my man was animated! Makes me 100% sure this will be an all time set of shows on the beach, hope to see everyone there tonight.
Also, did anyone notice Teeh
You can still access archived Phish.net reviews
Phish.net
The Mockingbird Foundation
Review by emacho