Phish finished off a three-night run this weekend in my hometown of Chicago, and it really looked like a tough set of shows for both the band and the fans to get through. A strong line of thunderstorms forced the early evacuation and ultimately the cancellation of Friday night’s show, which resulted in an epic three-set show on Saturday night, but last night was also fraught with storm issues when the band started “Run Like An Antelope” to end the first set before stopping way short to take a setbreak to wait out another line of storms rolling through the area. The big news from last night wasn’t the storm, though, it was the band’s second set, where they came out and made right for the fans with a 15 minute version of their new cover from The Apples in Stereo, “Energy,” and all accounts (via Twitter) painted this as one of the jams of the weekend. But sadly the LivePhish.com streamed had been knocked out at the end of the band’s first set and didn’t return until halfway through “Lizards,” making the “Energy > Ghost” segment largely unseen by the folks on Couch Tour at home. Hopefully the band can release that as their official video from Sunday so we can see what went down.
Soon after the stream returned, the band played “Harpua” which lead into a segment about signs and how fans hold up signs that the band doesn’t quite understand. “Poster Nutbag the ‘right’ way” was the sign they chose, which turned out to be just an intro for a planted improv skit by the famed cast at The Second City, a Chicago institution and the crew that hosted Mike a few nights while he was in town. Somehow they busted into a rap about Al Gore, got a quick laugh mentioning a woman’s right to choose, and then Trey eventually kicked them off the stage. The band remarked publicly, then went on with the set and told the story about how Poster Nutbag going out to see some blues and ultimately ending up at The Second City. Classic Phish quirk and a great cap to the weekend of craziness in Chitown.
The band plays tonight in Toronto as a make-up for the show cancelled earlier this month. Here’s some other links for your Monday to catch you up:
[list type=”numlist”]
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The Second City joins Phish for “Harpua”
If you want to see The Second City improv-ing on stage with Phish as I mentioned above, someone filled their webcast and it’s on YouTube here. Only partially cringe inducing; the band’s reaction on stage is definitely hilarious. “I thought it was odd.”
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New Tour Dates from Built to Spill, The Head and the Heart
Built to Spill have announced a fall tour taking them all over the country but starting and ending in Salt Lake City, UT. The Head and the Heart have announced a fall tour starting on the East Coast. Starting in Asheville, NC and ending with a two-night run in Austin, TX.
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JamBase “acquires” Hidden Track Team
In case you missed it, our friend Scott Bernstein, the esteemed Editor-in-Chief over at Hidden Track, starts a full-time gig with JamBase today, a move he announced a few weeks back. We couldn’t be more excited for Scotty here; both parties won big with this decision and we can’t wait to see what comes out of the new JamBase Editorial Team in the coming months.
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New MGMT Album Cover Revealed…
…in animated gif format. Here’s the whole thing spliced together.
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Civic Theatre in New Orleans Announces Fall Schedule
A great fall schedule has been announced for the Civic Theatre in New Orleans, a newly renovated venue that just re-opened earlier this year. Two nights with The Black Crowes, Bonobo, Galactic on Halloween night — totally stacked, if you ask me. http://www.civicnola.com/
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Finally, if you read this and like what you see make sure you follow Live Music Blog on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for more stuff like this day in and day out. We’ve got some exciting updates coming from our team as well. Stay tuned for more announcements this week…
