The
calendars and stars have aligned once again: Phish will be dropping by the
Atlantic City Convention Center next week, for a string of late October shows,
including one on Halloween night. It’s Phish tradition to perform a complete
cover of another band’s classic work, and it’s time for some exceptional
speculation. In late August, Rolling Stone played up the hype in an article
that confirmed Trey and Genesis frontman Peter Gabriel had exchanged words
about joining forces in covering the classic 1974 cosmo-rock The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway; RS
confirmed, however, in their final paragraph, that Gabriel was on European tour
until 10/26, and was a “notorious perfectionist,” implying that he probably
couldn’t handle the unsteady ‘calm’ that is onstage at a Phish show. As we slog
headlong into the deepening autumn tour of 2013, setlists reflect a variety of
interesting choices of cover material, beyond the typical “Roses are Free”
(Ween) and “Bold as Love” (Hendrix): “Takin’
Care of Business” (BTO), “Crosseyed and Painless” (Talking Heads), “Rock and
Roll” (Zeppelin), and, last night in Glens Falls, a double shot of Beatles
(“Back in the USSR” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”). None of this is new
musical territory for Phish; their Halloween ‘costumes’ in the past have
consisted of:
1994. The Beatles' White Album.
1995. The Who's Quadrophenia.
1996. The Talking Heads' Remain in Light.
1999. The Velvet Underground's Loaded.
2009. The Rolling Stones' Exile on Main St.
1995. The Who's Quadrophenia.
1996. The Talking Heads' Remain in Light.
1999. The Velvet Underground's Loaded.
2009. The Rolling Stones' Exile on Main St.
Prior to
the last Phish Halloween show (in 2010, again the climactic third night of a
run at the AC Convention Center), my best guesses were Zeppelin’s “Physical
Graffiti,” or Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.” They chose
Little Feat’s Waiting for Columbus,
complemented by additional percussion. Either of my 2010 picks shouldn’t be
ruled out, but the 1970 Bowie classic probably isn’t as technically complicated
as Phish may desire. Other great yet flawed ideas: Workingman’s Dead (too archetypical; the world has lost its
ability, even at rock concerts, to achieve that mellow vibe), Live Rust or After the Gold Rush (Trey dwindling register couldn’t sustain for
the rest of the night, were he to sing even one Neil Young song), Led Zeppelin I, II, III, or IV
(simply too predictable). Pleasant and do-able surprises would be a
sparkling cover of Zappa’s One Size Fits
All, but would require as much diligent practice as Trey learning all the
passages to “Reba” 100 times over.
Guess #1: Chicago?
The 1969 Chicago Transit Authority album is a remarkable two-LP debut, full of Southern California Purples and impassioned existentialism (“Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is/Does Anyone Really Care?”). While the endeavor would require a small horn section, nothing sounds impossible: from the six minute instrumental “Introduction,” to the “Free Form Guitar” (6:47 on the original album), to the fifteen-minute closing cheer “Liberation.” There’s a smoothness and funky vibe to that album that Phish would handle nicely, and give everybody something to feel good about (“Beginnings”). Fishman sings “I’m A Man;” Mike drops the synth pedal in “Questions 67 and 68.” This material is extremely jammable—when Chicago wanted to release recordings of its own performances in the 1970s, the endless/priceless noodling took up six LPs.
Guess
#2: The Bruce?
A “Tenth-Avenue
Freeze Out” funk in the bitter Atlantic winds of the Boardwalk in late October?
After global tours earlier in the year, The Bruce and his band have been off
the road since late July, with an 11/6 gig coming right up at MSG in NYC. In
1999, when Springsteen decided to pull the E Street Band back together, The
Bruce and his crew took up residence at Atlantic City Convention Hall, for a
string of ‘rehearsal’ gigs; bootleg recordings of these shows are choice E
Street moments. If Phish chooses to cover an album by The Bruce, the audience
should be prepared to welcome more than just one epic lone frontman. My
educated guess from the Boss’ catalog would be The River (1980), as it’s a two-LP set—the size of Phish’s previous
Halloween undertakings-- and would allow for a creshendo in live performance,
from chanting the sublime and familiar anthem “Hungry Heart,” to perhaps
Fishman crooning “I Want to Marry You.” I would like best to hear how Phish
would handle “Jackson Cage” and “Independence Day,” a fine study of contrast in
defining pop styles: outright and barely meaningful, versus expressive and
downtempo. The River would end with a
giant singalong, featuring the whole huddled masses of South Jersey muttering
along to the album’s namesake song: “But lately there ain't been
much work on account of the economy/Now all them things that seemed so
important/Well mister they vanished right into the air/Now I just act like I
don't remember/Mary acts like she don't care […]We'd go down to the river/And
into the river we'd dive/Oh down to the river we'd ride”
#3: Sir Paul?
There had been a time when the top-grossing
tours were consistently jam bands: who could compete with the profit margin, of
another Grateful lineup, filling another stadium or venue with an
‘always-already’ audience? In late August, however, the Huffington Post
detailed the Pollstar data that declared Sir Paul as king of performance
profit: with individual tickets retailing at around $130/each, the Last Silver
Beatle has been jetting around the contiguous US, appearing not just onstage,
but in interviews (including a recent and tragically-brief appearance on the
Howard Stern Show). Could McCartney materialize, for a second-set romp with
Phish, perhaps wading in the disco-velvet sea that is Band on the Run?
Odds of McCartney appearing—let alone
collaborating—with Phish are pretty long; chances of a withered and unrehearsed
Peter Gabriel showing up in AC are still better than any odds offered by the
chiming Mr. Cashman video slots at the Showboat. But Sir Paul is on a break,
for another few weeks, and I’m sure Page and Mike could/have make/made
wonderful sense of “Jet,” “Let Me Roll It,” and much else. Maybe Sir Paul looks
on from sidestage, and joins the show for a “Live and Let Die” encore. With or
without the presence of McCartney, Phish would do well to cover a Sir Paul album,
if only to get closer to understanding the music-theory mysteries of pop bass and
banal lyrical bombast Paul is known for
(if I really thought they’d be covering RAM
next week, I’d be packing my bags, and checking on my room comps at the
Tropicana).
Wishing you all well!
