So, despite every awesome thing happening in San Francisco and Phish Couch Tour calling my name, I ended up disconnected a bit on New Year’s Eve night and ended up spending my time with friends in the redwoods in Northern California. Life is good.
In case you haven’t found your way over to Phish.net yet, here’s how the New Year’s Eve show went down for my friends in attendance for Phish NYE:
Set 1: AC/DC Bag > Wolfman’s Brother, Scent of a Mule, Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan, Lawn Boy, Gotta Jibboo, Farmhouse, Pebbles and Marbles, Ocelot > Fluffhead[1]
Set 2: Party Time, Light -> Golden Age > Theme From the Bottom, Heavy Things > Ghost > Sneakin’ Sally through the Alley > 46 Days > Suzy Greenberg
Set 3: Cavern, Steam > Auld Lang Syne > Down with Disease[2], The Wedge, Alaska, Wading in the Velvet Sea, First Tube
Encore: Slave to the Traffic Light
[1] Auld Lang Syne tease from Trey.
[2] Unfinished.Notes: Fluffhead contained an Auld Lang Syne tease from Trey. Prior to Steam, a steam kettle and hot plate went off on stage, with Trey acting like he was attempting to put out the steam. Shortly after the song began, steam also came from the floor near the soundboard area. An amp (with the steam kettle on it), a keytar, a bass, a vacuum, and a few lights were then lifted off the stage. A woman in the front of the stage tossed a “Steam” sign into the front row, then rose with a barricade and security guard before eventually being lifted up over the band. Several other aerialists (clothed in various casual attire, equipped with black backpacks emitting smoke and lights on their backs) subsequently rose up from the crowd and ascended and descended several times. The first aerialist counted down to midnight, at which point balloons were released from the ceiling. The aerialists later returned with lights in their hands for Down with Disease, which also featured Trey and Mike being raised up and back down a few times before finally rising several feet on hydraulic lifts. Disease was unfinished.
[via Phish.net]
Here’s a video of the band’s NYE gag:
Given that I haven’t heard the shows or seen them with my own two eyes and ears, I really don’t have any opinion other than the fact that the community was clearly divided on how to take these shows in. On the one hand, many left unimpressed and the other hand, everyone went to a Phish show on NYE and enjoyed themselves immensely. It’s amazing the expectations we all have for this band and when it even falls just a little short of that how divisive the sentiment can be online. Twitter has been annoying for the past couple days as a result.
