The ethos of Phish music has always been connected to the divine. Trey has spoken at length throughout his career about attaining a musical proficiency in which the band can get out of the way and become invisible, allowing the music to pass through them and speak for itself.
In a interview with Steve Silberman, he explained this point of view:. The way I look at it is like being a filter. The audience that we have is open to that. They understand that conversational transfer of energy.
Their being open to it makes it easier for the energy to pass through. This dynamic has provided Phish and their fans countless spiritual experiences over the past 38 years. It is this very magic that motivates us to go to so many shows—the feeling of transcending ourselves and tapping into mysteries far bigger that any one of us.
These experiences provide the goosebumps when thinking back on those powerful moments that have colored our lives so vibrantly for so many years. I could create an endless laundry list of these special instances, but Sunday night took things to an entirely different level. What took place was profound beyond words, but language is our medium of communication, so I will attempt to use words to point to the truth that unfolded. Some saw it happen, some found out at setbreak, and others not until after the show.
I found out at setbreak—about ten minutes before the show was set to resume. Naturally, it shook me up. First I was startled, then I was scared, and then I was sad. But Phish was about to step on the stage. What was even going to happen? What was supposed to happen? I had no idea. I felt confused. But I decided that my only choice was to embrace the reality of what transpired, let go, and give myself over completely to the experience of what was to come.
Told from the perspective of the divine creator, the lyrical couplet that concludes the song details the entrance of human beings into the cosmos and their struggle with earthly entanglements that are ultimately insignificant in the face of the eternal truth—. As this jam progressed, it moved from an upbeat space to a dark, heavy and abstract sonic realm. In my silent and thoughtless meditative state, an understanding emerged from within—this music represented the transitional, intermediary state that souls navigate between this dimension of life and the next dimension of existence after death.
All faiths describe this liminal stage in different ways—Buddhists speak of the Bardo, Islam calls it Barzakh, Christianity espouses Purgatory. These words describe the ephemeral nature of life on earth and the truth of the beyond.
There is nothing to lose—we are infinite beings whose consciousness exits in human form for only a brief blip of time and upon transitioning, re-merges with the One energy from which we all came. The music built into an extended, celebratory and uplifting excursion that depicted the arrival of the departed soul into the never-ending bliss of infinite existence—or in western terms—heaven. The heaviness of this set-long metaphysical journey arrived in deliverance—a liberation into the dimension of purity and truth, our eternal home steeped in serenity and wonder.
This was so much more than music. This was about divine light that lives within us all. This light is what the essence of Phish has always been about, but never had it come so face to face with an actual event in which a soul moved through the stages of existence in the presence of, and to the knowledge of, the band and so many in attendance.
With their performance, Phish musically communed with the departed soul present in the room, shepherding it on its inter-dimensional journey into infinity. Death is a sad occurrence on the earthly plane because no longer can people enjoy that particular soul in human form. That was a complete fucking blowout. Phish dropped the gauntlet on Sunday night in AC, staging a two-set musical showcase that put a indelible exclamation point on their first tour since Fall Played with purpose with two beautifully flowing sets of music, the tour closer on the beach illustrated what can happen when all the elements of a show fall into place.
This night brought a crescendo to the weekend in in the beach, as Phish appears to be in a superb place as they look towards a brief leg two of summer and a longer fall tour down the road.
This gentle passage provided a mellow interlude in the larger musical statement while keeping the improvisational vibes flowing. This piece represents experimental Phish at its finest. But when he subtly slipped into a groove adding a backbeat to his work, the music transformed into some abstract, psychotic Phish grooves—inject this stuff into my veins!
Extending the funk number into an earnest, out-of-structure improvisation, Phish had clearly come to play in their concluding show of tour. I really hope that this Atlantic City beach party becomes a bi-annual affair, as the set up is just perfect and very hassle free. The sound is great throughout the massive venue and it seems that everyone found a spot that they liked. It really worked out great from all aspects. And thus concludes leg one of Summer What a run it has been!
When Phish announced this summer tour, I really hoped they would come out with a new sound to their improvisation. I had felt that had grown somewhat stagnant and they needed some sort of sonic shift to keep things moving forward—and, boy, did they bring one! The band sounds refreshed and rejuvenated from their forced time off and the rest of the year—pandemic provided—looks to contain quite a lot of musical adventure.
Phish is back to pushing the envelope with fresh-sounding jams and breaking ground with experimental interplay—and this, my friends, is how we like IT. Fluffhead, Backwards Down the Number Line. Atlantic City [Jake Silco via Phish]. Although the band was clearly listening and responding to each other meticulously, the resulting conversation presented as a single piece of abstract art.
In this astounding arrival, Trey favored repetition and darker tones in creating a drone-based and meditative mantra. Whether or not it will transpire remains to be seen, but the past two shows have provided a plethora of extraordinary music and a whole lot of fun amidst a massive beach party down the shore. Atlantic City [Scott Harris]. The band laid waaay back as they dropped into the jam, creating an epically gooey, open air soundscape that I would pay good money to reside in.
Fish and Mike lock into a filthy, spacious groove as Trey and Page slowly drip in sonic layers like food coloring slowly spinning into a glass of water. This section—before Trey even plays a lead melody—is the stuff of my Phish dreams. And then when Trey slides into the mix with perfectly calculating leads in his menacing, new-school tone—forget about it. Lemme mainline this shit forever. And so it was. With one show down and two to go, I suspect the Atlantic City set we will be the buzz of the weekend is yet to unfold.
Hersheypark Stadium [Rene Huemer via Phish]. It did not take long to realize that Phish meant business tonight. Welcome to the th edition of Phish. Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the final and most difficult puzzle of September - shout-out to sumac22 for one of the clips!
The winner will receive an MP3 download code courtesy of our friends at LivePhish. To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of all three mystery clips, which are connected by a theme. Each person gets one guess to start — if no one answers correctly in the first 24 hours, I'll post a hint. Stay safe! Hint: Not a single jam from would have fit with this week's theme, but three previous MJM clips would have. Answer: Pencils down! The blog has won for the first time in a year and for only the 29th time ever.
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The Mockingbird Foundation is a non-profit organization founded by Phish fans in to generate charitable proceeds from the Phish community. Toggle navigation. Net Site Legal Phish. Score: 3. I have no clue where to start!
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