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Lesson 5 - Stage antics & visuals
Lesson 5 - Stage antics & visuals
After a webinar I led on play in summer 2002, I made a realization - I'd made it before, but it came back to me. I love this band so much because they know how to play. Not play music (duh), but play. They are playful, creative, innovative, and so grateful in everything they do. They find ways to be both professional and silly at the same time. Case in point: Fishman, the drummer, is about the best on a kit you'll ever hear, and he wears the same donut dress on stage every night. Sometimes plays the electrolux vacuum during Purple Rain or Cracklin Rosie or Jennifer Dances. But that's for another time...
All of the members of Phish know how to play. They keep it light, and they execute like motherfuckers. So for this session, I want to share with you some examples of Phish's more playful side. If you don't want to you don't have to watch all the videos, and I'll point out where the relevant parts are. Let's begin with the aforementioned trampolines:
You Enjoy Myself, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, 7/8/12 - watch the song you love in full, or fast forward to 10:50 to see the trampolines (and hear the church-organ-ish bit). Notice that when they rotate, sometimes Mike goes 90 degrees clockwise and Trey goes 270 degrees counterclockwise. Around 15:45 you can see Trey take off his guitar and start his trademark white guy dance.
Remember Punch You in the Eye? Here's the video version of the audio clip I shared with you from Madison Square Garden, 12/31/95. Just after 4:30 they start the "Landlady dance" - short but brief. Trey also has a little drum set on stage (he started out playing drums and still does), he plays it here just after 6:50.
Glide is a silly song where they start out light and happy and throw in some metal for good measure. They used to do a dance during it with gliders (how meta is that?). But they don't anymore. They hardly play the song anymore. Here's a clip from some time in 1993 - Trey & Mike start gliding about 2:40.
Chess match - Phish really likes their community and finds ways to interact with them at all turns. This was one of the most fun and innovative collaborations they've ever done with the audience. The boys love to play chess, and back in 95, when they were still driving around in a bus, they'd play it all the time. So they decided they'd find a way to play the audience. I was at the show where they unveiled the concept (9/30/95 Shoreline), and they played White Rabbit in the background. They invited an audience member up on stage each night of the tour to make a move. At Shoreline, in one of those moments where us Phishheads feel a connection with the band, I was feeling that after the chess move a transition into Reba would be perfect. And that's what they did (yes, I am often prescient at shows). They ended up playing two games with the audience - they won the first one, the audience won the second. Here's a clip from West Palm Beach, FL 11/16/95 (Unrelated: at this show, Jimmy Buffet came out for the encore to sing Brown Eyed Girl with them).
Big Ball Jam, Orange County Fairgrounds, 7/21/93 (part of the H.O.R.D.E. fest) - they used to play this "song" and one of their road managers would throw three big inflatable balls out into the audience. Fishman would play a fast drumbeat, and Trey, Mike, and Page would each take a ball - the music they'd play would correspond to what was happening with the ball in the audience at the time. At the end of the song, Trey, Mike and the road manager would join hands, making a hoop, and the audience would hit the ball back onstage. This song never made for very good music, but it was great fun for the audience (so I hear, I've never been present for a BBJ).
The Flying Hot Dog, Boston Garden,12/31/94 - in the first of what would become many New Year's "pranks," the boys flew in a Hot Dog over the Boston Garden - that hot dog is now in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Their NYE stunts would continue to get more elaborate over time, and culminated with 2020's "Send in the Clones" stunt. An auspicious way to start the year.....
Tweezer Reprise / Rescue Squad, Madison Square Garden, 12/31/19 - ok, we're in 3.0 land here, but it's ok to digress. I tend to do it frequently. Their stunt had a Send in the Clones theme, in which multiple performers dressed in blue, green, red & yellow - to match the band's outfits - danced all over the stage in sync with the music. The band was suspended in individual rigs above the stage. The rigs moved up and down during the night, but at one point, it became clear that Trey was stuck. This was both hilarious and terrifying at the same time. But where other performers might have thrown a shit-fit, the manner in which Trey handled the moment - with such grace and poise and humor - illustrates why he's not only such a great professional, but just a good guy. The music's fantastic, but it's worth it to watch the video from 4:30 until the end, when Trey is stuck. This moment is now the stuff of Phish legend, and "Rescue Squad" has become one of the most requested Phish songs since then. When Trey went on tour with his own band after this show, he referenced getting stuck by playing "I'm Down" by the Beatles. Then, in the fall of 2020, when he brought his music to the Beacon Theater in NY, his friend Don Hart found four talented string musicians who were out of work and arranged the canon for the quartet. They are now known as the Rescue Squad Strings.
Watch these clips, then go find a cozy Phish-shaped rabbit hole to dig into!
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