
When Phish announced the tour dates for their 2009 Fall Tour, I immediately requested tickets for the two Albany shows since they were the two that I could feasibly get to. I was hopeful that we would get tickets to both shows and worried we wouldn’t get any. Thankfully I lucked out and won tickets to one of the shows, the first of the two nights. So last night my Dad, Charlie, and I all got together for the 2 and a half hour drive to upstate New York.
The venue, by the time the show started, was absolutely packed and the energy was palpable. Our seats were located directly behind the stage. At first I thought it would suck being behind the stage but it was actually a very cool experience that I had no problems with. Sure it’s not as exciting as being on the floor 20 feet from Trey, but it was still a blast. I had an excellent view of the whole band, especially Page.
The band opened up the first set with “AC/DC Bag” and “Maze”, which together made up a killer opening. The last three songs of the set were also incredible (a great jam in “Limb by Limb”, “Cavern”, and “Light”). “Light” in particular was interesting, with the band creating essentially a huge wall of sound and letting it drone for the last minute of the song.
As fun as the first set was, the second set is where things got really interesting. The highlight for me was an impressive “Fluffhead” into “Piper” that together made up some of the most interesting jams of the night. The crowd went absolutely crazy during “Suzy Greenberg”, which was another highlight of the night (and I believe the picture at the top of the page is from that song). Page gave us a great treat during “The Squirming Coil”. The band had left the stage for the encore break but Page just kept playing. And playing. And playing. He jammed for at least a couple minutes before the rest of the band finally came back on stage to play one more number with him before leaving together for the encore. They ended the show with a cover of the Jimi Hendrix song “Fire”.
All in all it was an incredible night. The setlist was quite interesting, playing some songs for the first time (like a cover of the TV on the Radio song “Golden Age”) and bringing out some rarities. That coupled with excellent jams and an excited audience made this a night to remember.
Set 1:
- AC/DC Bag
- Maze
- Driver
- My Mind’s Got a Mind of Its Own
- Gumbo
- Bouncing Around the Room
- It’s Ice
- Two Versions of Me
- Timber
- Limb by Limb
- Cavern
- Light
Set 2
- My Friend, My Friend
- Golden Age
- On Your Way Down
- Fluffhead
- Piper
- Tomorrow’s Song
- Prince Caspian
- Harry Hood
- Suzy Greenberg
- The Squirming Coil
- I Been Around
Encore: Fire
Posted by Kevin
Posted by Kevin
Posted by Kevin