Best set ever?
February 27If you've ever talked to someone who has seen Phish live, you've probably heard, "Dude, you HAVE to go see them. They changed my life," or some variation on that. Wednesday night, I finally heeded those words of wisdom and headed down to the Worcester Centrum Centre to experience Phish for myself. Founded in 1983, Phish has made a name for themselves as one of the premier live acts in the country. After a two-year hiatus, beginning in 2000, which allowed the band members to pursue side projects, they reunited and began a country-wide tour this month. The Centrum show sold out minutes after tickets went on sale, and the place was a circus. With the "heightened security concerns," each attendee was thoroughly frisked, and then let into the concert. While this is standard operating procedure, they only had a couple friskers at each door, and five or six security guards looking lethargically over the crowd. The result: a drunken, stoned, smelly mob that taunted the guards and yelled to be let in. We arrived at 7 p.m., and it took a good 45 minutes to get inside. Since the show was scheduled to begin at 7:30, this caused a great deal of worry, but luck was on our side. Phish took the stage at 8:20, presumably because it took that long for the guards to verify that there wasn't anyone who posed a "security concern." The concert was worth the wait. Phish started off slowly, building the tension up for the first few minutes. They kicked it off with "You Enjoy Myself" from Junta, which segued into "Clone," written by bassist Mike Gordon as part of his solo project. The inclination to sample from the members' solo careers continued during the first set, with "Drifting," by guitarist Trey Anastasio and "Blue Skies," from drummer and namesake Jon Fishman's band Pork Tornado. For all their attempts to be inclusive, the first set was somewhat mediocre, especially when compared to the incredible line-up of the second set. "They sorta lost some of their energy by sticking in four tunes from the band members' solo albums," said sophomore Stephen Lloyd. "The minute long breaks also helped to dissipate some of the momentum." However, Lloyd said, the band "began with an incredible energy... so much as I almost couldn't make out the notes they were playing." After a half-hour break, Phish brought it back with "Stash," and followed that with some of their best-loved songs. "Ghost," "Prince Caspian," and "Ya Mar" all made showings, much to the delight of the crowd. After hearing a couple that I knew quite well, an interesting phenomenon came to my attention. While the songs I didn't recognize were certainly interesting, the real fun came from those I could follow. The way that Phish took the original recording and expanded upon it, jamming out and messing with its chords, was a beautiful thing to observe. My recommendation to those who think they might want to see Phish, but haven't had the chance yet: learn their catalog. If you already know a few of their songs, good work, you've only got 190 or so to go. If that seems like too steep an order, study up on what they've been playing recently, and learn that. Phish is certainly one of the best live acts (the best, according to many), but their true strength lies in not which songs they play (however excellent they are), but how they play them in concert.
