During rowjimmy.com’s little “break” since Festival 8, there was a little thing that we like to call Phish Fall Tour 2009. Your lovable and reliable bloggers (sophist and rowjimmy) managed to take in a couple shows apiece and listen to the rest diligently. Someone’s got to do it, right? So now, we present to you a run down of the entire tour, night by night, for your entertainment and reference.
11.18.09 Cobo Arena, Detroit, MI
rowjimmy:
Strong tour opener. Great Kill Devil Falls. 46 Days has a good jammed ending that, to some, seemed to cut off too soon but really ends before it get tedious. The only Runaway Jim of tour opens set two but it’s the Down With Disease that’s worth checking out.
sophist:
This was the sleeper show of the tour in my opinion. I was expecting them to not catch fire until Syracuse, but they came out firing on all cylinders. The 46 Days jam is sick though it is cut short. The second set is fire with that DWD. Solid playing and a great setlist.
11.20.09 U.S. Bank Arena, Cincinnati, OH
sophist*:
Up and down first set with a TTE. Great Div’d Sky in the first set, and the second set has my favorite YEM of the tour; however, it just doesn’t flow and it isn’t nearly as good as most of the other shows from this tour.
rowjimmy:
Set one is fine; Gotta Jiboo being my highlight. (Wow. Never thought I’d type that.) PYITE and Fluffhead are sloppy and choppy. Fast Enough For You is a beauty. As for set two, Tweezer > Light > GBOTT > Possum is very entertaining though not groundbreaking. As for YEM, it’s always a good sign when Mike is leaning on the bell.
[youtube width=”560″ height=”340″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2OFTs9MoRU[/youtube]
11.21.09 U.S. Bank Arena, Cincinnati, OH
rowjimmy:
Set One for me is all about the Split Open and Melt. It’s not a rager, it’s twisted in a good way. Set two blows the doors out with a Rock & Roll > Ghost > If I Could opener that pretty much sets the bar too high for the rest of the set (which is a fine set anyway…)
sophist*:
Huge first set bust outs. I love this version of Torn and Frayed, I can’t stop listening to it. Great second set too. The Rock and Roll -> Ghost made my weekend.
11.22.09 War Memorial at Oncenter , Syracuse, NY
sophist:
I think this show is overrated. Flat out. It can be sloppy at times and the Drowned jam is the only thing that saves it in my opinion. The Stash is good and worth a listen.
rowjimmy:
The first set opener, David Bowie, is solid, Kill Devil Falls rocks, and Stash is mint. Drowned > Twist Around > Piper is great and the BBFCFM is wild fun but not required listening. After a high energy combo of Theme From The Bottom > Maze, the helium seeps out of the balloon and the set doesn’t recover…
11.24.09 Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, PA
rowjimmy:
Nice, driving, groove to Bathtub Gin but it doesn’t really go anywhere. Cities is breezy and into a nice Camel Walk as a bonus. Set Two has a decent Down With Disease and The Mango Song is a nice treat but the um… Weekapaug Groove is best left as an oddity on the shelf.
sophist:
I love this setlist, and the playing is well, but it looks better on paper than it actually sounds. Curtain (with) and Reba fall short for me.
11.25.09 Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, PA
sophist:
What can you do after night one of Philly? This is still great Phish but it falls to wayside because of the last few shows of the tour.
rowjimmy*:
Strong set 1 in spite of Sugar Shack rearing its ugly head. The electric debut of Sleep Again was nice. Set two features nice jamming in Birds of a Feather, an all-rock Tweezer (typical 2009) a good You Enjoy Myself and Esther. Time Turns Elastic killed it for many but Tweezer Reprise and the encore of Oh! Sweet Nuthin’ save the ending of the show.
11.27.09 Times Union Center, Albany, NY
rowjimmy:
Nice Maze followed by the autopilot pairing of Driver and My Mind’s Got A Mind Of Its Own. The bluegrass isn’t exactly on-point yet, though. Cavern > Light is an odd way to end a set but I like it (just this once!) The TV on the Radio song, Golden Age is pretty good for what, so far, is a one-off performance. Pair that with the rare On Your Way Down and, aside from a flubbed Fluffhead you’re on your way to a great set.
sophist:
Good show. It was a warm up for the next night. It’s funny this show will be overlooked because of the next night but it is solid Phish.
11.28.09 Times Union Center, Albany, NY
sophist:
This show gets the top nod for being atypical for 3.0. In that it has two monster jams in the second set. This coming after a solid first set. While I feel that this show doesn’t have a best version of tunes that were played multiple times on fall tour, overall it has that old school vibe to it. I do feel the jams meander a bit at times, but like Trey has said, sometimes you have wade through the shit to get to the moments of brilliance.
rowjimmy:
This show struggles to rise above the level of average succeeding almost exclusively in the second set. Set one has a ripping Vultures and Sanity is a treat, of course. Split Open and Melt is a botch. Set two strives to make up for the weak first by delivering a 40+minute combo of Seven Below > Ghost. The jams have their highs and lows and make great casual listening. Cool It Down > Gotta Jibbo are strong enough to earn a ring of the bell from Mike. The YEM encore is, as expected, pretty great too.
11.29.09 Cumberland County Civic Center, Portland, ME
rowjimmy:
First set opens well and the Stash, Meat, Undermind, Mike’s Groove are all good. Set two is all about Rock & Roll > Light > Crimes of the Mind. The jam out of Rock & Roll is slamming and the Dudeless Crimes Of The Mind is surprisingly great.
sophist:
Same deal as with Syracuse. Portland does have a solid setlist but it is saved by the bust outs in my opinion. Remove those and it’s forgettable.
12.02.09 Madison Square Garden , New York, NY
sophist:
Good show in my opinion, but it’s the weakest of the tour to me. It looks almost epic on paper, and I was really psyched about it, but it fell way flat to me.
rowjimmy:
Loved this Ocelot. Peaches en Regalia is cool and the Divided Sky is nice. Light > Slave To The Traffic Light is great, too.
12.03.09 Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
rowjimmy:
Stash is serious business in the first set but the second set has some heat. Down With Disease > Piper is killer. The set rolls along nicely after that wrapping up with a tight David Bowie.
sophist:
Sick second set after a standard first set. Jam wise very little stands out to me. I put this show over Albany I because I like the flow of the show more. Playing wise they are about the same to me.
[youtube width=”560″ height=”340″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhMLHWAXvZI[/youtube]
12.04.09 Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
sophist:
Feels good to finally see Phish playing well at the Garden again, but it did take two nights to warm up. What grabbed me here was the First Tube to close set I. I think in certain ways they had been missing this energy with a lot of the set closers this year, and this reset the bar in my opinion. The second set of this show is just money. Great playing.
rowjimmy:
This one has a decent (for 2009) Glide, a soaring Reba and a great Dinner And A Movie. Maze is pretty good too. Set two thrilled some with Scents and Subtle Sounds but I’m pretty much only going to skip to the Mike’s Song > I Am Hydrogen and the You Enjoy Myself.
12.05.09 John Paul Jones Arena, Charlottesville, VA
rowjimmy*:
Standard rock openers followed by a naked guy in Ya Mar. Solid David Bowie and a ripping Bold as Love to close set one. Set two does not mess around either. Tweezer > Light > Piper > Free contains some excellent jamming with the jam into Piper containing some next level deep disco space. Add to that a hot and silly Run Like An Antelope and you have a solid show.
sophist:
Best jam of the tour came out of this version of Light. Pretty sick Tweezer too. Some nice standards thrown in the mix as well. How about that Sally? I enjoyed the hell out of that. What puts this show in the upper ranking is the Light and Tweezer jams. Outside of that it is just tight Phish, which is a good thing but nothing special.
*the reviewer actually attended this show so beware of bias!
Special thanks to Shawn Williams aka liquidgoggles for the great photos.
The not-so-great photo at the top was taken by rowjimmy.