Phish 7/3 Spactral Analysis
A Song of Strife and an Urge to Resolve
To me there is nothing more American than Phish. They truly embody the original spirit of this great national union that we all form. This is why I have chased July 4th runs since I was old enough to have the ability to go. Last night’s show was all about freedom and integration. It was a tale of Dark Horses — underdogs — rising above their previously allotted positions. A tale of newcomers being given equal seating at the table of Phish and a chance to rise to their glorious potential. The American Dream incarnate.
Last night’s show wove a tapestry of life and death — of old and new (but mostly new) — of the next phase of the noble quest we all share with our favorite band.
Perhaps in a way SPAC is a “Farmhouse” of sorts and this resonance was felt as they initiated our Saratoga 2014 experience with the classic welcoming song of heartache and abandonment. The first set followed the narrative of life to death. From the olden tale of the “Wolfman’s Brother” and that fated knock upon the door many year ago now Phish prefaced a tale of struggle mirroring life that seemed to elicit that exact emotional response from those so queued in.
“Maze’s” narrator’s embarrassment and failure leads to the unrequited love of “Yarmouth Road” and the melancholy and forlorn message once again of abandonment. “Strange Design” took a more distant vantage, illuminating the idea that we are not alone in our sorrow. We are all in this together, this beautiful yet ever-difficult quest of life. “Devotion to a Dream” reminded us that this is now and the past is something to be released and forgotten and “Ocelot” further emphasized the message of peace in group unity by urging us not to go the way of the Ocelot. Our only sustainable path in life is together. It’s the only way we can temper the hardships we do and will inadvertently face. Phish urges us as American’s and fans to band together. United we stand — divided we fall.
“Chalk Dust Torture” asks us each a question — will we allow ourselves to fully live in the present? Will we dwell in the past to the expenses of the moment? It’s today, this is now. Let us not be like the old man in “Mound”, let us be unbroken by the stressful memories of the past and what could have been. “Roggae” reminds us of the impermanence of all that we see and “Possum” reminds us to look both ways to avoid the fate of the creature who was run over while crossing the road of life. It also reminds us to avoid the fate of the the boy who cried wolf. Don’t play dead, because one day you will be.
In contrast to set 1 which consists of isolated songs all separated by pauses set 2 is all interconnected musically save the deftly placed “the Line” which seemed to clearly divide the first and second halves of set 2. This is artistically very sound as the first set seems to refer to isolation as it breaks us down and set 2 refers to cohesion as it build us up.
“Bathtub Gin”, which has not opened a second set since Hampton 1998, was the opening salvo of the next chapter of our nightly book. This supercharged 15 plus minute “Gin” was a pure declaration of the American spirit. We’re all in this together! And we love to take a bath. We can all benefit from the spiritual cleansing that working together offers. Where set one showed us how we were broken, set two shows us how we can be fixed. Leaving “Gin” unfinished served as a sign that our unification is an ongoing process without punctuation.
The most exploratory “Limb by Limb” I can remember emerged right from the long distance runaround that “Gin” prompted. “I come unglued while in mid-air and land to reform” “Limb by Limb” shows us that sometimes in the process of breaking down we are saved. It is that breaking down that allows us to re emerge a more stalwart entity. Sometimes we must break before we can build. Yet this statement is left unfinished as well as “Limb by Limb’s” far reaching voyage flows right into the enigmatic and virtually unexplored terrain of “Winterqueen” which perhaps foreshadows the coming “Prince Caspian” with it’s contrasting Prince of silence and Prince of music. “Winterqueen” illustrates the concept of “the grass is always greener on the other side” with it’s opposing winter and summer queens each wishing for what the other has. The solo section on on “Winterqueen” absolutely soars to the heaven earning this song a place as one of the most fruitful vehicles of the new material.
“the Line” took on new meaning to me last night. I pictured Phish as that lone basketball shooter who tries so to hope for the best but realizes that time is compromising his shooting accuracy as he psychs himself out. “the Line” certainly served as a demarcation in this setting dividing new and old, winterqueen and summer queen — “with your past and your future precisely divided, am I at that moment? I haven’t decided”
“Tweezer” brings us back to our “previously scheduled broadcast” which strings together more classic Phish material for a closing salvo — fully conjoining the old and new. A reintegration ritual of sorts — a reorientation.
“Sparkle” imparts a new twist on the “Limb by Limb” and first set themes of falling apart. From this vantage one can only laugh. We are together now and that previous self-imposed isolation seems but a joke.
“Run Like an Antelope” serves as an adrenaline shot to this set and reminds us to live hard with vigor and passion but not to seek control. It reminds us that someone’s desire for control landed us in that isolating “Maze” of set 1.
The encore served to confirm our suspicion that it was a relationship that caused the turmoil illustrated in the opening chapters of this show, just as it was in Rift. “Sing Monica” is a direct address to the other in that relationship that caused all this strife. Monica is urged to continue to be but wonders “can you admit that you were wrong?” and urges her to “Go back home where you belong”. It was Monica for severed the narrators limbs at the knees in “Limb by Limb”—who abandoned our protagonist at Yarmouth Road. Monica is to keep singing but she also is urged to “land to reform” and reexamine her role in the conflict and for her own sake attempt to correct her flaws.
“Tweezer Reprise” is the exclamation point that closes this passionate tale. My guess is now that we got the drama out in the open it’s now officially time to #STFUDance. We came to get down — let’s party!
