Live Review: Phish, Jones Beach, Long Island, NY

She Hate Me checks in with a very awesome review of Phish. Enjoy!

Ahhh, Phish in 2009. I love seeing people’s knowing smiles and head shakes when their name pops up. Everyone has a story about Phish, good or bad, even if you never saw a show. It’s safe to say that most music fans aged 25 – 40 years old fall into one of the following categories:

1) “I am taking a week off of work, buying 2 boxes of glow sticks and driving up to the Wappinger’s Falls Big Day Out Fest to see them play from 8pm to 5am. It’s gonna be amaaaaaazing…”

2) “I’ve seen them 30 times and will likely see them 30 more times, as long as I can get home in time to get up for work the next day.”

3) “Those clowns are still around? I didn’t know the market for jaaam bands playing Cartoon Network sing-a-longs was still so strong.”

4) “You have an extra ticket to Phish? Seriously? I’d like to go, but I am seeing John Mayer in New Haven tonight instead.”

5) “I haven’t seen them since 1995, when someone from college dragged me to a show, but I like to drink brews and rock, so wouldn’t mind getting some perspective on what they are up to these days.”

In short, you either loved them or hated them and much of that opinion had to do with the circus that surrounded them – the dirty hippies selling $5 Sierras on Shakedown Street, the Trustafarians following them around while on a semester break from Hobart College, or the college kids looking for a cannabis-friendly scene to identify with.

Strangely, I never loved nor hated these guys and I still don’t, which is why I was happy to sit on the roof of Jones Beach amphitheatre for the new and improved, sober version of Phish, Mach 2. (Side note: Jones Beach’s music venue gets a bit of an undeserved bum rap. Sitting up top as the sun is setting over the ocean, the bay and inlets all in full view, on a June night, is pretty unbeatable. The main missing ingredient? No alcohol allowed inside. I’m not sure how I didn’t follow my own “How to: Smuggle Whiskey”, but I digress.)

What has kept me from loving Phish for all these years is the lyrics, or more specifically, the horrendousness of the lyrics. I know the lyrics in a Phish song are basically just meant to accompany the music and I know some people might say that “Salt Peanuts” isn’t the most mind-bending lyrical masterpiece ever written either. By focusing on the lyrics I am not missing the “point” of a Phish song. I am saying that the lyrics are generally so bad that it is hard to even listen to a recording of many of their songs.

That said, the fact that they have endured this long and been this successful as a live rock band is a testament to how good the actual MUSIC they play is. As with The Grateful Dead, you can’t judge Phish on anything but their live show. Anything else is just a neutered version of what they are all about. And in the live setting Phish is just a really good rock band. What I realized the other night that I don’t think I got in the mid 90s is that Phish is a ROCK BAND that jams out their songs, not the other way around. For me this is a big distinction, because I don’t remember this being the case when I saw them on the Aquarium Tour in 1994. (The other time I saw them was Halloween 1995 in Chicago, when they covered Quadrophenia, which pretty much freakin’ destroyed the Rosemont Horizon).

Strangely, I see Phish as something very similar to Pearl Jam at this point. I know that's a weird comparison, but both of their live shows are basically just very good club rock that is too rocking to NOT be arena rock. Hearing “Reba” is not really the same as hearing Pearl Jam play “Alive” but it does give you the same sense of nostalgia – like, “I remember listening this song on that tape that was stuck in my 1991 Toyota Corolla hatchback”. Or, “I hate that I can’t even walk down the hall of my dorm without hearing that fucking song”. It’s funny to say this, but “Reba” and “Alive” are basically from the same time and place and yet these two bands were on completely opposite ends of the spectrum in 1991. And while I never got caught up in neither the Pearl Jam frat boy scene nor the hippy dippy Phish hysteria of the early 90s, I grew to like and enjoy both of these bands as time went by and my perceptions of the bands and their respective fan bases became more…how you say…tolerable to me.

Everything gets a tag attached to it, but at their core, Pearl Jam and Phish are classic rock bands with modern tweaks. And so both of these groups, after 20 years of constant touring, have kind of met in the middle. Pearl Jam is much more of a “jam band” than anyone would ever have thought, both with the way their fans follow their tours and sing every word to their songs and with the way they stretch out the tunes live. Phish will always be tagged as a “jam band” and it’s easy to dismiss them and their merry crew of Trustafarians, but that would ignore their place as a damn good live rock band.

The show at Jones Beach was excellent, with truly great moments. Any fan of rock n roll will have a hard time denying the awesomeness of Trey’s overuse of the sustain pedal, bending out the solos and hitting his absurd peaks and shredding through the great lights that accompany their jams. I had seen them twice before and there were always parts of the show that, well, put me to sleep. Not last night. I don’t follow this band very much at all, and I know there has been all sorts of drama and crack addictions and stuff, but the break-up seems to have given them some perspective on their sound. It's now just this really tight rock show, all for the better. My advice: buy a Nitrous balloon, gets some whiskey in your head, and see these guys one last time before you settle in to a constructive summer of Hold Steady and Yeah Yeah Yeahs shows.

Setlist:

Set I:

Runaway Jim

Foam

Stealing Time From The Faulty Plan*

Timber

Cities (Talking Heads)

Driver

Reba**

Possum

Farmhouse

If I Could

Set II:

Mike’s Song>

Simple>

Wolfman’s Brother>

Weekapaug Groove

When the Circus Comes (Los Lobos)

Kill Devil Falls*

Harry Hood

Loving Cup (Rolling Stones)

Encore:

Suzy Greenberg

* Debut

** - w/ Whistling

Live Review: Animal Collective – 1/21/09 – Bowery Ballroom, NYC

She Hate Me is back with a new review. It's important to note that this review contains both Dickey Betts references and threats of violence, both of which are always appreciated here.

Have you guys heard that Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavillion is the best album of 2009?  No?  No, really, Stereogum and other like-minded blogs are giving this the “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” treatment.  The reviews are off the charts.  From a fan perspective, these guys are starting to feel a little like the indie rock version of Phish in the mid-90s – “They are so AMAZING, maaan”.  They also seem to be poised for the inevitable Strokes-style backlash.  No worries.  We like to think we are somewhat unaffected by the hype.  If it’s good, it’s good.  If not, you’ll see a post here deriding it as such, with a reference to ball-punching thrown in, though I’m not sure why this is a recurring theme.  Maybe because buying a Grizzly Bear record and having Luis Castillo as your 2^nd basemen are both as brutal as the pit you get in your solar plexes after being punched in the huevos.  But I digress.

Speaking of a kick to the ‘nads, some punk sold me counterfeit tickets, which made for a long and painfully freezing process of actually getting myself into this insanely hyped and sold out show. I did finally get in as the third song was coming to an end and basically was immediately engulfed by a huge wave of tribal beats, percussion, electronic blips, samples, fuzzy guitar and keyboard sounds.  And somewhere in the background there were all these sweet, Brian Wilson style pop melodies with two guys (Panda Bear singing as the smoove soprano and Avey Tare rocking the mic by using a more plain-spoken style) basically harmonizing with each other.  It’s a pretty wild sound that basically translates into a danceable and melodic trance that is not that different from dub or other types of world music.  But it has a lot more stuff than just that going on – elements of hip hop, indie pop and electronica are all thrown in.  

It goes on and on.  These guys have a sound that’s hard to categorize, so I will spare you the tired Rolling Stone-style comparisons, like “Kraftwerk meets the Beach Boys in an open field”.  You get the idea.  Point is:  these guys are the real deal.  Go see them.  The music really draws you in and doesn’t let you out.  They have sing-along verses (“I want to walk around with you…” from “Summertime Clothes" immediately comes to mind) that then veer off into this wild electronic interlude and then back into the verse and chorus, like Dickey Betts does with his blues guitar on “Whipping Post”.  Only there’s no blues here.  It’s all basically electronic, yet it still manages to have a warm, improvisational vibe to it.  You can see why people call them a jam band, you can see why the indie kids love them and you can definitely see them being a huge attraction on the festival circuits in the late-night tents. 

Aside from the wild sound, one of the coolest aspects of the live show is the fact that 3 guys are all basically sitting in front of samplers, keyboards and drum kits, switching from one to the other while harmonizing over the rhythm tracks.  Avey Tare sometimes takes the mic and dances around and sometimes he plays guitar (like he did throughout “Fireworks”, which is one of the better live songs I have seen since Arcade Fire rocked out “Wake Up”), Panda Bear stands in front of his keyboard / sampler and sings throughout and Geologist just mans the sampler and lays down the beats while rocking a sweet head lamp.  Sometimes they use their voices as instruments, sometimes they are very much lost in the mix (as was the case on “Lost in a Coma”), blending in as just another weird sound.  Half way through each song you start to wonder how they even arrive at the overall sound, and then the song switches and goes off in another direction.

This is all along-winded way of saying that: (1) the guy that sold me the fake tickets is a complete asshole, (2) the new album is indeed awesome, and (3) you need to check these guys out at some point real soon. 

Setlist:

Also Frightened

My Girls

Blue Sky

Slippi

Leaf House

Summertime Clothes

Guy’s Eyes

Fireworks

Lion in a Coma

Brothersport

--------

Winter’s Love

Comfy In Nautica (Panda Bear)

Live Review: Oasis & Ryan Adams at Madison Square Garden, NYC 12/17/2008

This week it's another review from She Hate Me, and another incredibly awesome fucking show, apparently:

This show reminded me of the Pearl Jam MSG show this past June.  You are as impressed by the large nature of these songs – the “big” sound, the anthems, the sing-alongs, the fact that everyone knows every word to many of the songs – as you are surprised by those same things.  In many ways, this is a function of getting old.  All the sudden, it’s 14 years since “Definitely Maybe” effectively stole rock n roll back from Seattle.  And in that time, Oasis has had one great creative spurt (Definitely Maybe, What’s the Story, Morning Glory and Be Here Now, as well as The Masterplan b-sides LP), one prolonged burn out (1998-2004) and another creative resurgence (the last two records). 

So, it’s been a while since many of us have really rocked out to “Slide Away”, but not that long since we’ve listened to “Lyla” on our monthly playlists.  And so while the latter impressed with the fact that it has become a proper anthem unto itself (even hardcore Oasis fans can’t help but feel that, although the last two albums have been quite good, Oasis is somewhat irrelevant – at least in the U.S. -- in the grand scheme of things), the former completely blew you away with the things that made you love Oasis in the first place – the hooks, the sneer, the non-stop references to alcohol, the lead guitar riffs and, most of the all, the chorus.  By the time they got to “Supersonic” you had already adjusted to the early 90s flashbacks and were just enjoying these songs for what they were – drunken anthems that neatly bundled the best of The Jam, The Beatles, The Stones and The Smiths.  But what makes the new songs so refreshing is that Oasis has actually stopped aping their heroes and developed a sound unique to themselves.

I find it very natural that the opening act, the superb Ryan Adams, took a similar path to the same place – not in the sense that his songs take you back to 1994, but in the sense that his most recent record seems to effectively encapsulate all the great sounds he has aped over the years – the garage rock of the Strokes, the twang of Gram Parsons, the sad sack posturing of Morrissey and the give and take guitar licks of The Dead.  Adams’ new record is not necessarily his best, but when it all comes together as it did last night on “Fix It”, it is probably as good as anything he has done.  And while we would all prefer seeing Adams destroy The Town Hall like he did a few years back, having to fill out expanses of The Garden served him well. 

He was forced to amp up The Cardinals and marry up their soft rock / Dead-style vibe with the treble we saw on “Rock n Roll”.  The result was a very loud, very rocking show that was also very measured and very much in control.  By the time he got to “Come Pick Me Up” – with the pedal steel replacing the harmonica and Adams’ band gelling as well as any time I have heard it since 2001 – he had whipped through the best songs from the new LP and impressed the whole way through.  He made them sound different, but distinguishable and he took away the soft-rock and replaced it with a mean edge that has come to define The Cardinals in the live setting.  It could have been an incredible set, obviously, if he had two hours and chose to play the hits, but instead it was just an excellent set of new songs, with some really great moments thrown in.  He rocked out The Garden, nuff said.

When Oasis took the stage and ripped through the aforementioned new album and the old hits, they did it with the same trademark swagger that they had the first time I saw them in 1996.  They always seem like they are singing to 100,000 people, whether it’s at the Aragon Ballroom or Madison Square Garden or Knebworth.  That’s what makes them so great – the songs soar, they don’t end, Noel keeps playing, he keeps hooking you back in…and Liam just stands there the whole time.  The whole formula works so well and it made for a great night that was not as much nostalgic as it was fun.  For all their absurd rock star attitude, Oasis lacks pretension – they are what they are and they do it well. 

Great time all around at The Garden last night.

Ryan Adams Setlist

Cobwebs

Crossed Out Name

Everybody Knows

Fix It

Off Broadway

Go Easy

Sink Ships

Natural Ghost

Come Pick Me Up

Magick

Oasis Setlist

Rock 'n' Roll Star

Lyla

The Shock Of The Lightning

Cigarettes & Alcohol

The Meaning Of Soul

To Be Where There's Life

Waiting For The Rapture

The Masterplan

Songbird

Slide Away

Morning Glory

Ain't Got Nothin'

The Importance Of Being Idle

I'm Outta Time

Wonderwall

Supersonic

Encore:

Don't Look Back In Anger

Falling Down

Champagne Supernova

I Am The Walrus

Concert Review: My Morning Jacket 6/20/08 at Radio City Music Hall, NYC

This week our man on the scene She Hate Me writes in with a review of MMJ's incredibly fucking awesome show at Radio City from earlier this year. We're just getting this thing up to speed, so a few of these will be posted later than they should be. I'm assured that a review of the upcoming Ryan Adams/Oasis show is coming shortly. 

And now, a word from Mr. Hate Me:

All in all, probably one of the best rock concerts anyone could hope to see.  These guys were always known for their great live shows, but this one topped all others.  The sound was huge, the lights were bigger, the set list was long and the atmosphere was that of a huge party.  MMJ managed to make Radio City feel like a small club all while making everyone there feel like they were watching a band blow the roof off of Madison Square Garden.  

The whole show was full of amazing moments, but Jim James playing guitar from the rafters has to be at the top, followed closely by the absolute mayhem of “One Big Holiday” as the closing song.  “I’m Amazed” sounded like a huge mid tempo anthem from 1975, “Touch Me I'm Going to Scream, Pt. One” just threw everyone for a loop with Jim James donning a cape and creating a very MDMA-influenced dance vibe, “The Way That He Sings” brought in some nostalgia amongst the litany of new songs and the last five songs of the first set just went one into the other, with the aforementioned from-the-rafters guitar solo of “Steam Engine” blowing things apart.  Every song seemed to top the last one throughout the night. The set ended with “Touch Me, Pt. 2”  -- a disco ball filling radio city and Jim James singing over and over again: “Ohhh, this feeling is wonderful, don’t you ever turn it off…”

Set 2 started with a spine tingling version of “Bermuda Highway”, James’ voice filling the room like only his can.  The rest of the set was mostly guitar heroics and freak outs, old school MMJ-style jams and a light show that rivals that of a hair metal act.  James stole the show but the band shined throughout, mixing in elements of 70s folk and soul, 80s synth pop, 60s and 70s southern rock, 80s and 90s style Prince, and elements from every era of rock n roll, from The Band to Motley Crue.  It was a magical performance and if this isn’t the best show I have ever seen, I am having trouble knowing what could have made it better.  

Everything lined up:  the band hitting its stride by performing new, fresh songs in a great venue that was perfect for their sound, an unreal light show, a great, laid back college-style party crowd (and everything that comes with that) and the ability to play a 3 hour show on a Friday night.  MMJ has impressed me in a huge way every time I have seen them, but this was the culmination of everything I have seen from the Bowery on forward.  As I said, the day after the show, it was an “insane arena rock extravaganza at Radio City”. This show announced them as one of the best live bands on the planet.

Setlist

Evil Urges

Off the Record

I'm Amazed

Highly Suspicious

What a Wonderful Man

Touch Me Pt. 1

Sec Walkin

Golden

Thank You Too

The Way That He Sings

Two Halves

Phone Went West

Aluminum Park

Steam Engine

Smokin From Shootin

Touch Me Pt. 2

Encore:

Bermuda Highway

Librarian

Wordless Chorus

It Beats 4 U

Dondante

The Bear

Lay Low

Run Thru

Anytime

One Big Holiday