It's the weekend-eve of Phish's summer 2014 tour and in anticipation of hitting the road, here are some of the top 5 reasons to be excited about summer tour.
1. A new album = lots of practice during off season
As we all know, the first studio album since Joy, was released last Tuesday and as far as Phish album's go, it's pretty darn good. Last fall when the boys unleashed the new tracks on a mixed-pleased crowd in Atlantic City in place of the typical cover band set, the band made it clear they intended to head right in to the studio directly after new years to finish recording their to-be named new album. In years past the break between new years and summer tour mainly meant that the foursome would primarily go home to spend time with their families and head out on tour with their respective solo projects. But this year it also included playing new music together in a studio. Someone smells a strong home opener abrewing let alone a strong tour from front to end.
2. Letterman
It had been since 2000 when they played "Heavy Things" on the Letterman show. This past week they returned to the Letterman stage. In the era of the live stream, instead of just pleasing the masses with a single song during the regular Letterman show, they played a full on set, compact as it was. The crowd, amped. The band, pumped. Trey, estatic. I don't think I've seen him bounce as high as he did at the end of Character Zero to close out the set. You can tell how excited he was and when Trey is excited, so goes the band. Look out Great Woods.
3. World Cup
The US men's soccer team will take on Belgium on opening day this coming Tuesday. Game starts at 4 PM so get your plans and gear ready for that lot streaming. If the US can keep things going, could add more fuel to the standard band/fan fire. One very memorable World Cup moment didn't come during the men's tournament but rather the women's back in 1999. During the Camden show Trey came out wearing Mia Hamm's jersey in appreciation of the women's team doing their thing that tournament and for those setlist junkies, you probably remember the epic "Chalkdust Torture" in the first set. So in other words, keep an eye out for those jerseys.
4. Another Dick's
Last year may have made it officially a tradition but 4 years in a row makes it a dynasty. With what seems to be no hesitation, Phish once again have slotted their final show of the summer for the Colorado venue just outside of Denver in Commerce City. From the first time they played in 2010 to last year, they have always started out the weekend by playing a joke on the fans. First it was the all 'S' show where every song played started with the letter 'S'. Then the "Fuck Your Face" show in 2012 and last year's backwards spelling of "MOST SHOWS SPELL SOMETHING". Will they fourpeat the joke show?
5. It's the summer, no matter how old you are
The moment you graduate from college and step in to the real world, summer never is the same again. The seasons bleed in to each other. You get married. Have kids. But there's something about Phish summer tour that still makes you feel like you can, well, "live while you are young". There's a whole new appreciation for us aging fanbase. Every show is special in it's own right and whether they play an epic 30 minute "Tweezer" or simply play fan favorites, we are just happy to be back seeing our favorite band play live and playing at the top of their game.
Have a good show and tour everyone. I'll be at Great Woods and The Mann shows. Will most likely hold out to see what sort of plans they have in store for fall and cash my chips on a show or two out west, especially since I missed all of fall tour last year.
