HAMPTON, VA
I thought about a lot of things inside the Hampton Coliseum tonight. Some of them even had to do with the astonishing, gorgeous, triumphant sounds that Phish was playing. The rest of my thoughts had less to do with music. I thought about how lucky I am that life put me in a position to capitalize on this opportunity to see Phish again. I thought about all the incredible people I am surrounded by every day who helped get me to this perfect time and place. I thought about the camp counselors who got me into Phish. I thought about everyone I’ve ever been to a Phish show with and what they mean to me. I thought about an old girlfriend who I sang “Waste” with. I watched the people around me giving long hugs to old friends and losing the fight against tears throughout the night. I received texts from 31 different people today, easily the highest of my life.
Why was this so much more than a concert? It is because Phish is the origin and primary driving factor of a large portion of the lifestyle of most fans. If I really boil it down, probably ¾ of my friends and half of what I do can be directly or indirectly traced back to Phish. This is normal amongst Phish fans. The only people who have had more of an impact over where my life has gone than Phish are my parents. When Phish quit on us, it was like becoming estranged from your parents; you could still do all the things that make you happy and talk to all the people you enjoy despite the loss, but the basis of all of it was gone. Phish coming back in a huge way was like getting back together with your estranged parent and having a great time with them all over again. It was that emotional.
Thank you to everybody in my life for helping to align me to be in the Hampton Coliseum tonight. I love you.
Now then, speaking of coming back in a huge way, let’s get down to the nitty gritty! That enormous “thud” you heard at 7:58 PM was the sound of thousands of Phish fans sitting at home falling out of their chairs when they read that the first song out of the gates was “Fluffhead.” This opening call goes much deeper than the notes themselves. This was a statement song, and the message was very loud and very clear: “We are back and we’re not here to *&$^ around.” What a call. They managed to come up with a colossal bustout that very few people had thought of. And they didn’t just play “Fluffhead,” they nailed it to the freaking wall. All of the notes, all the dynamics, the lights, the mix: owned. After such a mind-blowing debut, I thought they would take it easy with something a little more on the verse/chorus tip. Nope. Forget it. “Divided Sky.” Holy 1989. Nobody could believe what they were seeing. It was like God was a Phish fan and was writing the setlist. Huge props to Trey for not only sticking both songs, but for taking on the pressure of playing that much composed music right from the get-go.
The rest of the set carried on with classic after classic after classic. It really was like one of those tongue-in-cheek dream setlists you write or talk about when you’re horsing around with your Phish friends. Besides “Farmhouse” and “Water In The Sky,” every song could have been played in ‘94 or earlier. At 16 songs and just under two hours it is quantifiably one of the most incredible first sets the band has ever played. The vocals on “Horn,” “Rift,” and “Train Song” were energizing, poignant, and urgent. By the time “Bowie” was closing it out, I had started to wonder if perhaps they had pulled the best-kept secret in Phish history by eliminating setbreaks from the program. They aced everything; vocals, changes, jams (especially exiting jams on the way back into songs), selection, lights, everything. The band was obviously well rehearsed if not just a bit deliberate. It seemed like most songs were played a half-notch slower than usual. Despite the pinch of perceived cautiousness, every song was fried to a perfect golden brown and served extra crispy. We are going to be talking about this set for a long, long time.
Second set featured many more brilliant moments and also eliminated the word “perfect” from the conversation for the show as a whole, which is fine. “Backwards Down the Number Line” is a good new tune, though the placement as second set opener was questionable. The song has some straightforward early verse/chorus before the vocals break into a round a la ”Bouncing Around The Room.” The strong part of the tune comes in Trey’s solo section over some nice changes where he was able to elevate the song. “Tweezer,” “Taste,” and “Possum” all were spectacular. “Theme From The Bottom” has so much going on but they still managed to keep on top of it. “Hood” featured some fantastic new disco ball-like lights that were hanging all throughout the room, sending a spaghetti bowl of thin white beams to all points of the arena. “Hood” and “YEM” were the only times Trey had some struggles, but he got through them okay. Some errors are funny and some aren’t and we got a great example of each during “You Enjoy Myself.” Restarting your signature song isn’t funny, although at this point in the show it was very easily forgiven. Funny is when Trey sings “Boy. Man. Shit.” during YEM, forgetting that “God.” comes third, then coming back with “God….shit.” on the fourth word. That has everyone in stitches. Overall, “YEM” was played very well once they got it going, and I thought the vocal jam might be the best I have ever seen.
The encore left nothing to be desired either. Three-song encores are extremely rare for Phish, so getting an extra twenty minutes or so to enjoy this night was the icing on this welcome-back cake. “Grind” was completely reworked and featured some classic Phish humor with each member singing how many days old they are. “Bouncing” featured another Phish move: the giant balloons that had been hanging from the rafters all night were cut down and allowed to bounce around the room until they popped. These things were big enough that about 20 people could touch them at once, and though most popped very quickly, there was one trooper balloon that made it to the end of the song. “Loving Cup” was a wonderful way to end a glorious night, and let’s not forget that one of the most interesting parts of the encore was the song that wasn’t played: “Tweezer Reprise.”
Overall, this landmark show bagged all the groceries and cooked them, too. The average price paid per fan to get into this show was almost surely the highest in Phish history, so Phish really had some pressure to deliver on and boy man god shit did they deliver the goods. Ticket values are going nowhere but up if they keep playing like this.
Well, it’s getting light out . . . looks like I’ve spilled the beans with you ‘til dawn. Thank you Phish for pulling it back together, thank you to everyone in my life, past and present, who helped me get to this show tonight, and thank you to all Phish fans for understanding.
Until tomorrow,
Seth Wolfman
Setlists
Friday, March 6 setlist
Saturday, March 7 setlist
Sunday, March 8 setlist
Write-ups
Check out our review of Saturday’s Phish Hampton show.
Or read our Sunday Phish Hampton review/photos.
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Ugh. Paste’s profile of Free Energy made me kind of hate them. So does your review. It’s this unctuous defense of good-time rock-and-roll ("we’re just here to party, and we’re awesome!") that seems more self-serving than fun-loving.
by beth on Wed Mar 17, 2010 at 09.41 pm from the entry: Foreign Born + Free Energy - The Knitting Factory (Brooklyn, NY; Mar. 12, 2010)
that inescapable feeling you are referring to, is that like when you hear something and you could have sworn you heard it before because of the nostalgic catchy quality? or is is like when you’ve heard a band exactly like said band?
great post by the way!
by paul on Wed Mar 17, 2010 at 03.15 pm from the entry: The Novel Ideas - "The Sky Is A Field" - Borrow It
Whoa! I had no idea she was enegaged. You would never know with the way she behaves! Wow!
by art on Wed Mar 17, 2010 at 09.48 am from the entry: Nikki Darlin and John McCauley: 1+1=1
This comment stream is so meta. Great review Kelly.
by chris on Tue Mar 16, 2010 at 07.50 pm from the entry: Flying Lotus - "Cosmogramma" - Buy It
no prob. The whole album is excellent, combining some of the harder sonics of Los Angeles with the meat of his debut and obviously difficult to summarize in only 50 words… 
I’d say it’s on par with the debut, but better than Los Angeles.
by kelly on Tue Mar 16, 2010 at 06.23 pm from the entry: Flying Lotus - "Cosmogramma" - Buy It
By the way, I really liked the mp3 posted. Thanks.
by Joshua H on Tue Mar 16, 2010 at 06.17 pm from the entry: Flying Lotus - "Cosmogramma" - Buy It
WHO WROTE THIS...PUKE ! “WHO WROTE THIS...PUKE ! “Picture yourself coasting your bike past space funk palm trees, homeless harpists, vintage video arcades, electronic drum circles, and 60s psychedelic singers who’re waiting for the bus. Cosmogramma is kinda like that if someone suddenly tripped you just as you’re starting to enjoy the ride. But in a good way.””
by Joshua H on Tue Mar 16, 2010 at 06.17 pm from the entry: Flying Lotus - "Cosmogramma" - Buy It
Sounds like an awesome show!! Oh, how I wish I were there. Great review!!!!!!!!!!!
They opened with f#@king Fluffhead!!! OMG, my head would’ve exploded! That totally IS I joked about, yeah dude, they’re gonna open with Fluffhead! You’re right, that was a dream phirst set.
it must have been an amazing energy to feel there… you could hear the electricity at the opening, even on the recordings. definitely a monster set, but they definitely felt unsure of their footing at a number of moments, which i suppose is to be expected. it felt like they settled in a bit more for set 2. i’m really looking forward to hearing what comes out of the next two nights - it remains to be seen whether they can work out the kinks and get back into solid form. time will tell. have a phenomenal next two nights.
I thought the restart in YEM was an intentional in-joke referencing the YEM they had to restart when they played Hampton back in 2003.
will have to listen to the tape again.
@Soylent… I considered that too, and it may be so, but Trey’s in the wrong key to start off with.
I thought his quasi-recovery on the “boy...man...shit...god, shit” line was quasi-incredible.
Seth,
I was lucky enough to go the first two nights as well. Great reviews, still can’t believe the feeling at 7:58, a pretty great moment in the history of rock and roll.
zadh
Utterly fantastic to have them back.
Also, the Rolling Stone story implied (or did it outright confirm?) that the YEM was deliberately messed up as a joke.
I was there. Definitely, it was a great experience for me.