Living in the Southeastern part of
the United States does not offer nearly as many
short-trip chances to see Phish as living in the
Northeastern region. But fortunately, since their
return from hiatus in 2009, Phish has been giving the
South at least a few shows each year. The second leg of
Summer Tour 2012 allowed Phish and phans to visit two
legendary venues that hadn’t been played since before
hiatus, and that in itself was reason to celebrate.
While most concert-goers would “follow the lines going
south”, we loaded up the car and headed north up I-65
toward a small town called Pelham, AL, just outside of
Birmingham. On our way, we took advantage of the
summertime travel through Clanton, AL which grows some
of the most delicious peaches in the nation; we also
stopped at a little place called The Peach Pit (next to
Peach Park), where they make delectable homemade ice
cream with flavors like coconut, peach, cantaloupe, and
my personal favorite blueberry. With scrumptious cones
in hand we continued on, and arrived at Oak Mountain
Amphitheatre with enough time to greet longtime-unseen
friends in the lot.
Phish took the stage amidst the
roar of a rowdy crowd, opened with a rockin’ “Possum”,
and then gave a welcome nod to the locale in “Cities”,
with “…a lot of bridges in Birmingham.” Hearing “Timber
(Jerry)” was great, even without stepping outside the
box. After quickly getting “Back On The Train”, Trey
Anastasio addressed the audience with “Hey, man, it’s
good to be back here! It’s been like 13 years or
something; thank you for having us back, we’re really
happy to be here!” We then heard from Page McConnell
who said “I’m gonna send this one out to all the people
who are sitting right up along this edge that can’t
quite see me when I’m sitting here at my piano…”, and of
course we knew “Lawn Boy” would follow. When Trey then
mentioned “We’d like to send this next song out to the
people over there, on that tiny strip of lawn…”, and the
swirling bass notes of Mike Gordon signaled “Down With
Disease”, I became hopeful that this show would
transcend normalcy and get down to some serious jamming
business. That hope was abandoned as the shortest “DWD”
of all time ensued, sounding more like the album cut off
Hoist than what is typically a work horse for
crafting improvisation. The remainder of the first set
consisted of songs that are fun to hear, but which
passed by in the blink of an eye, though “Julius” did
provide ample reasons to dance. There was a notable
surprise when instead of ending the set with “Cavern”,
the band pressed forward with The Beatles’ “While My
Guitar Gently Weeps”, and Trey delivered the solo with
beauty and finesse.
The second set opened with one of
the common jam vehicles of Phish 3.0, The Velvet
Underground’s “Rock and Roll”, providing a 16-minute
groovy playground featuring a segment by Trey
reminiscent of “Live And Let Die”, and a slowed space
lovely outro jam that melted delightfully into
“Lizards”. A brief “Halley’s Comet” reminded me of the
last Oak Mountain Phish show in 1999, when a sign made
by my in-law siblings was responsible for the “Halley’s”
encore that night. “Sand” was standard fare, seguing
into a fun “Twist” with a definite “Oye Como Va”
extended section in the middle; a well-played “Birds Of
A Feather” was hot on its heels, with Jon Fishman’s
lightning-fast drum complexities. Stevie Wonder’s
“Boogie On Reggae Woman” is always a crowd pleaser, as
is the Chris Kuroda light extravaganza of “Also Sprach
Zarathustra”. The set ending “Waste” and “Slave To the
Traffic Light” were beautiful though sleepy. A brief
encore of Led Zeppelin’s “Good Times Bad Times” would
end the evening. The long-awaited return of Phish to
Oak Mountain resulted in a solid show, but was so packed
full of great-on-paper songs that the band never quite
got a chance to stretch out and create that timeless
musical space that Phish fans tend to crave.
Moving on to Atlanta, we took roads
that were less traveled to our hotel situated 30 miles
south of the city. Whilst on the highway, we drove past
a little shop that had an Elvis impersonator in full
white jumpsuit glory performing on its front porch! We
hypothesized that perhaps taking atypical backroads to
an atypically far-from-venue hotel would help Phish
manifest a unique inspired show. Upon discovering the
Jedi Master Yoda perched atop a van painted with dancing
bears in the lot, we felt certain that The Force would
be with us that night.
After a nine-year absence from
Lakewood Amphitheatre, Phish opened with the
instrumental “Cars Trucks & Buses”, marking the first
time the song was played in 2012, and adding to the
number of unique songs played by the band this year (210
thus far, which is impressive, but below their all-time
record of 251). Both “CTB” and the subsequent
“Wolfman’s Brother” reached nice peaks while staying
within bounds. In fact, peaking within bounds was a
fairly constant theme of the first set in Atlanta, with
songs like “Runaway Jim”, “Ya Mar”, and “Wilson” playing
out well. Hearing the blues of “My Soul” always feels
right down here, and perhaps being in the Dirty South
helped draw a bit of dirty groove out of “Alaska” and
the set-closing “Character Zero”. There was even an
injection of mid-set intensity as “Maze” grew out of
“Wilson” and sent energy levels soaring.
Set II in Atlanta was, for me, the
fruition of our roads-less-traveled hypothesis. Coming
out of the gates with “Kill Devil Falls”, the relaxation
of Fishman’s drumbeat allowed immediate entrance to jam
territory, and the band took advantage of the open door
and grooved for a while. A free-form transition point
melted into the driven and purposeful intro of “Golden
Age”, bringing an air of inspiration and hopefulness. A
dark dance session commenced, and then Chris Kuroda
added his spectacular light artistry to the mix, making
full use of the incredible light rig, as the band
twisted a spacey segue into the beauty that is “Free”.
Propelled by invisible yet tangible momentum, Phish
proceeded in the continuous set with a foray into
“Light”, allowing Kuroda to bathe the crowd in lovely
illumination. Melting into “Wading In the Velvet Sea”
provided a needed breather for band and crowd, and
Trey’s work was rendered tenderly. Once again ready to
rock, “Chalk Dust Torture” appeared, and unexpectedly
morphed into a truly distinctive jam that dared to tread
the road less traveled, easily earning my stamp of
approval. The segue into "What's The Use?” is
indicative of how far outside the box “Chalk Dust”
ventured. The band allowed one more breather with
heartfelt “Joy” before romping through a high-octane
“Run Like An Antelope” that certainly made for an
energy-laden end of show. A psychedelically peaking
encore of “A Day In The Life” worked well, and I left
the show satisfied with a Soul full of Phish.
To an extent Phish, perhaps more
than most other bands, gives its audience an experience
that is received quite subjectively. From the
atmosphere at each venue, to the showmates we travel or
meet up with, to the song selections, there are many
aspects that contribute to the level of enjoyment at a
Phish concert. For myself, Oak Mountain was a very
solid show, and Lakewood left me with a stellar
impression. Southern-Fried Phish may be an acquired
taste, but it is a taste I acquired long ago, and I look
forward to every opportunity to devour it with
gratitude.
Written and Edited by: Rosemary A.W. Roberts
