Concert Review: Phish @ the Hollywood Bowl

Concert Review: Phish @ the Hollywood Bowl
August 8, 2011
By Tom Ruff

It will be hard for many to understand it when I say that I've considered Phish to be one of my favorite bands since around 2000, and yet for over a decade, seeing them live has managed to elude me time after time.

This might be an absurd concept to some, especially those who knows my love of going to shows (In full disclosure I have seen DMB 41 times, and various offshoots of the modern Dead about 15 times), but there are very good reasons for how I ended up at this point. First of all, by the time I was ready to go to my first show the band went on the hiatus. When they came back I had moved to LA, a city where they played less frequently, and found myself missing every show I had an opportunity to see. When the band announced the permanent breakup in 2004, I worked through virtually every show in the tour and thought I had missed out forever. For years I had to live off my vast collection of live releases, official bootlegs, DVDs, and audience recordings, and the occasional visit from various Trey solo bands (the 70 Volt Parade, the Undectet, and finally Classic Tab) When the band finally came back in March of 2009, I knew I would finally get my chance at some point, and yet the band chose to avoid LA like the plague for the next 2 1/2 years. They did play Festival 8 at the Coachella site, a 3 night stand that I did have tickets to, but once again working forced me to have to miss the event. It's true that there were east coast shows I probably could have traveled to, but being freelance makes it impossible to plan sometimes, and so it took until last night, one night at the Hollywood Bowl, well over a decade after I first started listening to the band to finally make it to a show.

I went into this show with my usual pessimism about all things Hollywood Bowl, expecting a casual fan friendly set filled with songs like Sample In a Jar, but equally excited just to be seeing the band in person. The first set opened with rocker Down With Disease and continued through 13 songs that explored the band's more rock side. Less jamming, but all intense, well-executed, and exciting. Personal highlights were Possum, Tube, Back On the Train and a killer Split Open and Melt. I was also very excited and surprised to see the Frank Zappa cover Peaches En Regalia, and the Talking Heads cover Cities. It was also fun to see Page McConnell take the mic and walk around the stage, carrying the room in true Sinatra lounge singer fashion, during Lawn Boy.

Set two was a little more experimental and more jam heavy, opening with a rendition of Carini and continuing on through a non-stop segment that included an epic Crosseyed and Painless, Twist, Mike's Song, and a Weekapaug Groove section that saw Trey take over seemlessly for John Fishman on Drums, who then proceeded to move to a smaller drumset that had been set up at the foot of the stage, where he then stole the show with his rendition of Paul Simon's 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover. This cover segued seamlessly back to Weekapaug before the band closed the set with the crowd pleasing Character Zero and Bob Dylan rocker Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn).

The encore consisted of a personal new favorite, Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan, and the crowd pleasing Julius. The show clocked out at just under three hours of music time, and far exceeded expectations for the often lackluster Hollywood Bowl. As I've already said, I have a vast collection of live shows, and while this wasn't one of the best shows I've ever heard, it was excellent. What it lacked in extended "type II jamming" it made up for with rocking intensity and fun. I also was unprepared for just how blown away I would be by the lighting show, and truth be told, I don't think I've ever looked less at a projection screen at a show where I was that far back. If I have only one complaint, from the back of the venue I felt that all of the vocals, but Trey in particular, were way too low, but I am going to chalk that up to the overrated Bowl acoustics. This was countered by Mike Gordon's bass, which was so well mixed, I found myself paying a lot more attention to his playing then usual. I don't know how other people would rate this show, and I didn't want to bring myself down by looking, but for a Hollywood show, and for my first show, I couldn't have possibly left happier. Phish will be playing at the Outside Lands Festival this weekend, and I only wish I could go.

SET 1:
Down With Disease, Cavern, Possum, Cities, Peaches En Regalia, Kill Devil Falls, Lawn Boy, Tube, Back On the Train, Wilson, Axilla I, Split Open and Melt, Backwards Down the Number Line

SET 2:
Carini > Crosseyed and Painless > Twist > Piper > Mike's Song > Joy > Weekapaug Groove > 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover > (Hold Your Head Up) > (Weekapaug Groove), Character Zero

ENCORE:
Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan, Julius