Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians (Louis Armstrong's favourite band) popularized Auld Lang Syne

Before Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve rang in the New Year and the Big Apple dropped "Mr. New Year's Eve"  was, and always has been, Guy Lombardo. The London, Ontario native popularized the playing of Auld Lang Syne, a traditional Scottish poem by Robbie Burns set to the tune of an ancient melody, at New Years' owing in no small part to the number of Scots throughout the Golden Horseshoe.

Gaetano Alberto Lombardo was born on June 19, 1902, in London, to Gaetano and Lena Lombardo. Lombardo senior, a first generation Italian immigrant who worked as a tailor, was an amateur musician with a baritone voice. The large family of seven children lived in a small house on Queens Avenue.  Lombardo always credited his father, who insisted all of his children receive a musical education, with the birth of the group then later their sound.  

Lombardo's parents insisted that their children not speak Italian at home, feeling in a country steeped in prejudice that they would be better able to assimilate into the culture of pre-World War I Canada. The former Lombardo house has long since been demolished, by Labatt's Brewing oddly enough- a major employer in the area- though an elaborate plaque stands in it's place should old acquaintance be forgot.

As the eldest of the five children, Carmen, Lebert, Victor, and Rose Marie, Guy received violin lessons as is tradition. Since the violin player was always the band leader, Guy would hold that role for the rest of his life. By their early teens, both Guy and his younger brother Carmen were already performing at church and various socials around London. The family members were soon joined by other talented London natives and a band was created. 

Some of their earliest performances were at the Wonderland Gardens, which has also long since been torn down, with a museum standing in it's place. Similarly South Grove Street was renamed to Guy Lombardo Avenue and the marina where he kept his boat was renamed in his honor. 

Their first gig was in 1914 when Guy on violing was joined by his brother Carmen, then playing flute, to perform a duet for the local Mother's Club. Over time their brother Lebert joined the group, then shortly thereafter pianist Freddie Kreitzer.

From the mid-teens to the mid-40's there were dancehalls and pavilions dotting the shoreline of many of the great lakes. Countless bands did a large circuit that would have included resorts further inland such as the dancing pavilion at the Bigwin Inn on Lake of Bays. In Port Stanley on Lake Erie was the Stork Club.

There was a string of such dancehalls all along the Canadian side of Lake Erie and Lake Huron.  Along the Lake Huron coast which ran in a belt where the Bluewater Highway (21) stands today were a string of venues. Moving southward there was a dancehall in Point Farms; the Goderich Pavillion; then Harbour Light; Danceland was a bit south of Bayfield; the Lakeview Casino in Grand Bend; Ipperwash Casino; Starlite Garden in Port Edward; then Kenwick Terrace in Sarnia below that. 

George Eccleston, a grocer from London, had a vision for Grand Bend when he bought up 45 acres of beach front property smack dab between Lambton and Huron County. Interestingly, on the issue of liquor, in 1951 the Village of Grand Bend was incorporated and the people by way of plebiscite chose to join Lambton County which was "wet" instead of Huron County which was "dry".

Though the first dancehall in Grand Bend opened in 1895, when some young people were said to be happy to "ride twenty miles in an open cutter for a good dance", it wasn't until July 29th, 1917, when Eccleston built a platform, enclosed it with a tent, on the same site that the Lakeview Casino officially opened. Cars, including Model T's, Model A's, Buicks even the occasional Stanley Steamer and Barkers, a type of electric car, full of summer residents and young people crowded the dirt paved roads. In those days roads, not cars, were in fact one of the few things holding back further development in the area. 

Right up until the 1940's dancehalls had what was known as Jitney dancing. Casino patrons, though there wasn't actually any gambling, purchased a general admission ticket for fifteen cents, which afforded them entry only as far as the promenade surrounding the dance floor. Once inside there was a pay-as-you-go system known as jitney dancing. People purchased additional tickets for five cents, each entitling them to one dance. After every number boys would come out into the middle of the dancefloor with a long white string and slowly clear the dancefloor from side to side. Only after the tickets had been collected for the next tune and the couples assembled on the dance floor, would the bandleader strike up the band again. More often than not there was a strict dress code of jackets and ties for men and formal wear for ladies.

Acts like Jimmy Namaro and his 12 piece orchestra played the midnight to 3 A.M. dances, changing from a black tuxedo to a white one half-way through his show to thrill the audience. Over the years everyone from Tommy Dorsey and Rudy Vallee to the Glenn Miller Orchestra played at Lakeview. Even Black acts like McKinney's Chocolate Dandies, billed as 'That Hot Detroit Colored Band', and Louis Armstrong himself played there.  All told 53 different Canadian bands & 15 U.S. bands played at Lakeview. But lest people get an egalitarian notion, Jewish people most definitely were not welcome. A prominent sign at the entrance to the Lakeview Casino proclaimed 'Gentiles Only'.

On June 22, 1919, the Lombardo's, billed as the London Italian Orchestra were scheduled to play their first professional gig at the Lakeview Casino, but when the club's owner refused to give the band members an hour off for dinner - claiming that his customers paid to hear the band peform, not to watch them eat- Gaetano Sr. took his sons home and told them to find another line of work. The group quickly got on track though and within a few months the Lombardo bothers had quit school and were working as full-time musicians. Their hard working father could find no fault having always told them that "music is a light load to carry."

In the spring of 1923 the Lombardo brothers were hired as the house band for the Hopkins Casino at Port Stanley on Lake Erie. Carmen Lombardo, who was by this time playing the saxophone with a Detroit band, quit so he could rejoin his brothers. Now 21 years old, after the band started its second season at London, Ontario's Winter Gardens, Guy decided that the group was wasting its time in Canada. He obtained the name of a booking agent in Cleveland, Ohio and within a few weeks he'd talked his way into a one-night stand at an Ohio Elk's Club. He told his friends back home that he'd booked an American vaudeville tour. 

After the band's final performance in London, Ontario, on November 24, 1923, the 10-member group 100 well-wishers saw them off at the train station.  The Lombardo's odds of making it in the fiercely competitive music industry in the states were slim to none. The members of the group were talented musicians but to make it stateside they would need a unique, distinctive sound which was precisely what they lacked. 

Recalling his father's advice to play music that people can "sing, hum, or whistle", Guy and his two brothers began to focus on performing dance music with pronounced melodies but without either arrangement or improvisation. During the post-war ebullience of the roaring 1920's their style of music went over like gangbusters, and, according to legend with Prohibition era gangsters as well.

The band was, by then, a tight knit group of the three older brothers Guy, Carmen and Lebert later joined by their younger brother Victor. It was while playing the El Club in Cleveland, that their agent suggested wearing Mountie uniforms, to which they refused, as well as a name change, which they accepted, becoming known as  "Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians."

The name change may have been an easier sell than the change of style of music to at least some of the band members. The Lombardo brothers knew without a doubt that, particularly given the competition, they would never succeed by trying to play the same sort of beat-heavy, improvised Dixieland jazz that so many other groups were doing so well. Though some band members felt their creative abilities were being stifled by switching to dance music, Lombardo soon won them over. Knowing they needed a promotional edge Lombardo paid for airtime on U.S. radio, a gamble which paid off when their regular live broadcasts soared in popularity attracting people to their concerts.

By the time Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians arrived at the Granada playhouse in Chicago in the fall of 1927, they were no longer a London, Ontario, group. After playing the Granada they landed an engagement at the Palace Theatre, a gig which paid $4,000 a week. It was there, in Chicago, that a music critic for the Herald & Examiner described the ensemble as "the sweetest jazzmen on any stage this side of Heaven."

Though meant as high praise, at least at first, "sweet jazz" would come to be a pejorative term. Although interestingly, based on a handful of sides for Decca, it's clear the group was more than capable of playing "hot jazz".  Lombardo was knicknamed everything from "Gooey Lumbago" to the "King of Corn", "Shmaltz King" to the "Prince of Wails".  While he had no shortage of detractors, Bing Crosby for one said his whole career was based on a single arrangement, their focus on pure melody won them many fans as well including legends like Louis Prima, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong himself counted themselves. The Guy Lombardo Orchestra would even set an attendance record at Harlem's Savoy Ballroom.

Though Lombardo was already, by then, a known commodity, Louis Armstrong may have become familiar with him in the summer of 1949 by way of the English jazz critic and record producer Leonard Feather for one of his famous "blindfold tests" which he was then conducting for Metronome magazine. The way the blindfold tests worked was that Feather would get together with a prominent jazz performer, play a series of unidentified records, and ask the performer to comment on each and give it a rating from one to five stars. Armstrong said that he couldn’t give any record less than two stars, because he loved all music, blindfolded or not, he showed a particular fondness for Lombardo and the Royal Canadians.

In a collection of essays Jazz/Not Jazz: The Music and Its Boundaries, Elijah Wald in an article titled "Louis Armstrong Loves Guy Lombardo" breaks it down as thus:

"Louis Armstrong often referred to Guy Lombardo's Royal Canadians as his favorite band, but this fact is rarely cited and almost never pursued. Critics and historians who celebrate African American music tend to dismiss Lombardo's music as boring, mainstream pap, unworthy to be treated alongside the masterpieces of Armstrong or Duke Ellington. Thus, while celebrating Armstrong, they ignore his musical opinion—and that of the public, which made Lombardo's orchestra the most popular dance band not only of white America, but also at Harlem's Savoy Ballroom. How have such prejudices affected our views of the past? How has our understanding of black musicians been limited by an insistence that they fit modern definitions of hipness or authenticity?"

If the Lombardo sound was defined by two things it would be the very focus on pure melody and a second discovery which Guy had been particularly enthused about. Guy had realized that his younger brother Carmen had a unique tone that blended extremely well with the sound of the group's two other sax players creating a vibratto effect. In their heyday Lombardo had managed to popularize himself by creating a unique Big Band sound that was characterized by this exaggerated saxophone vibrato, clipped brass phrases, and a unique vocal styling that was the band leader's own. 

In 1929 Lombardo's band made its first appearance at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, which would later become the home of its live broadcasts on the CBS radio network. The broadcasts eventually moved, originating from New York's Waldorf-Astoria. For many years the Roosevelt Grill was the Lombardo's homebase though on a brief layoff they appeared at the Coconut Grove in Los Angeles where a number of movie stars came to dance (leading to three movie roles for Guy).

In 1942 youngest sister Rose Marie Lombardo joined the band as a song stylist. A few years later vocalist Kenny Gardner married Elaine Lombardo. Meanwhile Joseph Lombardo, one of the few siblings who had not become a musician, was hired to redecorate New York's Roosevelt Hotel, where the band wintered for 33 years. However, another member of the family made running a family business more than a challenge. Victor Lombardo, the youngest of the musical brothers, constantly provoked fights with Guy and on several occasions he left the Royal Canadians to form his own band. Guy proved long-suffering; he repeatedly took Victor back into the fold after each of the younger Lombardo's failed Big Band ventures.

The band's first New Year's Eve radio broadcast was in 1928; within a few years, they were heard live on the CBS Radio Network before midnight Eastern Time, then on the NBC Radio Network after midnight. The Lombardo orchestra played at the Roosevelt Grill in the Roosevelt Hotel every New Years from 1929 ("radio's first nationwide New Year's Eve broadcast") to 1959. On December 31, 1956, the Lombardo band did their first New Year's TV special on CBS; the program (and Lombardo's 20 subsequent New Year's Eve TV shows) included a live segment from Times Square. In 1959 they took up their residency at the Waldorf Astoria where they played on New Year's until 1976. Live broadcasts (and later telecasts) of their performances were a large part of New Year's celebrations across North America; millions of people watched the show with friends at house parties. Because of this popularity, Lombardo was called "Mr. New Year's Eve".

Guy explained to LIFE magazine in 1965 how he made the song a New Year’s Eve staple, “…Auld Lang Syne is our theme song—and was long before anyone ever heard us on the radio. In our particular part of western Ontario, where there’s a large Scottish population, it was traditional for bands to end every dance with Auld Lang Syne. We didn’t think it was known here. When we left Canada we had no idea we’d ever play it again.”

Although CBS carried most of the Lombardo New Year's specials, there were a few years in the late 1960's and early 1970's when the special was syndicated live to individual TV stations instead of broadcast on a network. By the middle 1970's though, the Lombardo TV show was facing competition, especially for younger viewers thought the group was particularly square, from Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, but Lombardo still remained famous among viewers, especially older ones. 

Between 1929 and 1952 Lombardo's band charted a minimum of one hit per year, 21 of which were number-one songs. As late as 2000, the Royal Canadians remained the only dance band in the world to sell more than 100 million records.  It's estimated in their twenty year life span, the band in association with Decca Records sold over 300 million records. Though he scored major hits with "Charmaine," "Sweethearts on Parade," "You're Driving Me Crazy," "By the River St. Marie," "(There Ought to Be) A Moonlight Saving Time," "Too Many Tears," "Paradise", "We Just Couldn't Say Goodbye," "The Last Round-up," "Stars Fell on Alabama," "What's the Reason (I'm Not Pleasin' You)," "Red Sails in the Sunset," "Lost," "When Did You Leave Heaven?," "September in the Rain," "It Looks like Rain in Cherry Blossom Lane," "So Rare," "Penny Serenade," "The Band Played On," "It's Love-Love-Love," "Managua, Nicaragua," and "The Third Man Theme", Lombardo became best known for his hits "Boo-Hoo" and his trademark rendition of "Auld Lang Syne".

To generations of Americans, the New Year's Eve radio broadcasts by Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians playing "Auld Lang Syne" become an annual tradition; a tradition which is by now a global one. But the Italian Canadian bandleader from London, Ontario who popularized the song, based on the words of a Scottish language poem written by Robert Burns in 1788, set to the tune of a folk song, was not the first to toy with the melody. 

"Auld Lang Syne" translates into English variously as  "old long since" or, less literally, "long long ago", "days gone by", or "old times". Consequently, "For auld lang syne", as it appears in the first line of the chorus, might be loosely translated as "for the sake of old times". But that phrase "Auld Lang Syne" was used in similar poems extending back to Robert Ayton (1570–1638), Allan Ramsay (1686–1757), and James Watson (1711), as well as older folk songs which predated Burns.

When Burns sent a copy of the original song to the Scots Musical Museum in 1788 he included the remark, "the following song, an old song, of the olden times, and which has never been in print, nor even in manuscript until I took it down from an old man." Some of the lyrics were indeed "collected" rather than composed by the poet; the ballad "Old Long Syne" printed in 1711 by James Watson shows considerable similarity in the first verse and the chorus to Burns' later poem, and is almost certainly derived from the same "old song". It's a fair supposition though to attribute the rest of the poem to Burns himself. 

Singing the song on Hogmanay or New Year's Eve very quickly became a Scots custom that soon spread to other parts of the British Isles. As Scots (not to mention English, Welsh and Irish people) emigrated around the world, they took the song with them. The tune to which "Auld Lang Syne" is commonly sung is a pentatonic Scots folk melody, probably originally a sprightly dance in a much quicker tempo. There is some doubt as to whether the melody used today is the same one Burns originally intended, nonetheless it is widely used in Scotland and in the rest of the world.

"Auld Lang Syne" begins by posing a rhetorical question: Is it right that old times be forgotten? The answer is generally interpreted as a call to remember long-standing friendships. Alternatively, "Should" may be understood to mean "in the event that referring to a possible event or situation. Generally the first verse and chorus are only used:

Should old acquaintance be forgot,

and never brought to mind?

Should old acquaintance be forgot,

and auld lang syne?

Chorus:

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

For centuries composers have used and quoted the "Auld Lang Syne" melody as the English composer Wiliam Shield did briefly at the end of the overture of his opera Rosina, which may be its first recorded use. There's some debate as to whether Burns borrowed the melody from Shield, but it seems more likely that both took the tune from a common source, possibly a strathspey, a type of dance tune in 4/4 time, a reel played at a slightly slower tempo, with slightly more emphasis on certain beats, called "The Miller's Wedding" or "The Miller's Daughter".  Even Ludwig Van Beethoven himself wrote an arrangement of Auld Lang Syne in the original brisk strathspey rhythm, published as part of his 12 Scottish Folksongs (1814).

Musicologists have pointed out that it is hard to be definitive given that tunes based on the same set of dance steps necessarily have a similar rhythm, and even a superficial resemblance in melodic shape may cause a very strong apparent similarity in the tune as a whole. For instance, Burns' poem "Comin' Thro' the Rye" is sung to a tune that might also be based on the "Miller's Wedding". The origin of the tune of "God Save the Queen" presents a very similar problem and for just the same reason, as it is also based on a dance measure. During World War I, British soldiers in the trenches sang "We're Here Because We're Here" to the tune of "Auld Lang Syne".

By now the ancient Scottish melody, by way of Lombardo's Royal Canadians and so many others, has become a part of American popular culture venacular. The tune was even used briefly in the 1930 Mickey Mouse cartoon The Chain Gang. Elvis Presley, in his late period, played a rousing version recorded live at the Civic Center Arena in Pittsburgh on December 31, 1976. The Beach Boys have a particularly charming version, with a spoken word Christmas greeting from Dennis Wilson. But the best version bar none is a piano side duet with Aretha Franklin and Billy Preston the "Fifth Beatle". 

As far as the best live version of Auld Lang Syne goes that's probably got to go to Phish who  have rang in the New Year at Madison Square Garden most years since 1995 with a blistering instrumental version to a balloon drop before playing a third full set of music. 

But the version of Auld Lang Syne which plays every year to this day when the big ball drops in Times Square, then broadcast digitally around the world, is the version by Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians from 1947 distinguishable by it's fluttering saxophones and it's simple, hummable melody.

Northern Heads celebrates 60,000 visitors

Northern Heads began as northernheads.com (a very lo-fi website, essentially a proto-blog covering largely Canadian improvisational 'jam' based music) from 2001-2005.   The website was founded by Canadian Luke Bowden and American Abe Robins and might best be described as jambands.com meets The Onion on ketamine.  

After some dark and hairy times Northern Heads was revived by Luke Bowden as a blog at first primarily focused on Detroit Hip Hop.  The notion behind this limited focus at the outset was that there are countless general interest blogs and music blogs out there and the world of music is so vast that once one starts down a path (say Blues from the 1920's) you could literally spend a lifetime trying to understand that little niche.  From an initial focus on the preternatural J Dilla, his protege Black Milk and many in his camp including Elzhi, Guilty Simpson, Sean Price and (Hybrid-era) Danny Brown the scope of coverage has grown.

Gradually the focus of the blog dilated to include its namesake the Grateful Dead, Phish and the immortal Prince - but more importantly progressive improvisational groups such as The Slip (now The Barr Brothers) as well as a variety of Electronic musicians influenced by a deep musicality (The Gaslamp Killer, Flying Lotus etc.).   Swinging to the other end of the spectrum my other area of specialization is Roots and Americana music with a fervent interest in Canadian groups with spine and spirit such as The Golden Dogs and their kin Zeus. 

As a freelance music writer I have always operated on the margins of Canada's nepotistic and clingy world of music journalism.  As a rule I do not feature any music which I am not deeply passionate about- setting a standard of requisite craftsmanship rarely present in the glut of releases pumped out on a daily basis.  Put plainly I listen to all the shit so that you don't have to.

As the New Year approaches we'll be highlighting the best of 2014's releases as well as highlighting long form interviews from the past year originally published on No Depression (the Roots music authority since 1995).  Thanks for reading and coming back - if you don't currently follow the blog please consider following it in the future.  I promise to bring you more music, more diverse music and insights, and more frequent updates over the coming year.

sincerely,

Luke C. Bowden

Phish - Halloween Las Vegas, NV (MGM Grand, 10.31.14)

Phish
Las Vegas, NV
MGM Grand Arena
10.31.14

Set 1: Buried Alive > Ghost, Scent of a Mule, Sample in a Jar, Reba, 46 Days, Big Black Furry Creature from Mars, Lawn Boy, Saw It Again > Tube, Wolfman's Brother

Set 2: The Haunted House^[1], The Very Long Fuse^[1], The Dogs^[1], Timber^[1], Your Pet Cat^[1], Shipwreck^[1], The Unsafe Bridge^[1], The Chinese Water Torture^[1], The Birds^[1], Martian Monster^[1]

Set 3: Punch You In the Eye > Golden Age > Tweezer -> Heavy Things, Guyute, Sand -> Tweezer Reprise

Encore: Is This What You Wanted^[2], Frankenstein<sup>[3]

[1] Debut.
[2] Phish debut.
[3] Page on keytar.

Note: For the second year in a row Phish has broken with their musical tradition (dating to 1994 and their full rendition of the Beatles White Album as a 'musical costume' during the second set, followed by the Who's Quadrophenia in '95 and perhaps their finest accomplishment The Talking Heads Remain In Ligh in '96) of covering an album from classic rock history in its entirety as the entire second set of a 3 set concert.  Last year fans were greatly disappointed when instead of following tradition they broke the social contract and debuted their new album (of largely awful material) Fuego.  

This year the band loosely based their sound around the 1964 Disneyland album Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House as reported on Phish.net:</sup>

^{"Prior to the start of Set II, the stage was cleared of all band equipment, and a graveyard set was brought out.  At the start of the set, smoke filled the stage, and zombies appeared behind the gate.  When the gate opened, a large haunted house with the band inside was brought to the front of the stage.  The sound effects and narration were played on the PA, while an undead narrator would emerge from a crypt inscribed with "ESTHER" prior to each song for the introduction.  At the end of The Fuse, the sides of the house came down while sounds of an explosion were heard, and the band was revealed inside, dressed in white tuxedoes and with zombie face paint.  Several zombies came to the front of the stage and danced during Martian Monster.  At the conclusion of the set, the band members came down from the Haunted House riser, slowly walked to the front of the stage, and took bows, along with the entire cast of zombies.  All songs during the second set were debuts, with the titles taken from the first ten tracks of Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House.  Is This What You Wanted (Leonard Cohen) was a Phish debut.  Page performed Frankenstein on keytar, which was played for the first time since July 1, 2012 (100 shows)."}

Phish - Chula Vista 10.25.14 download (Sleep Train Ampitheatre)

Poster Art by LandLand

Phish
Sleep Train Ampitheatre
Chula Vista, CA
10.25.14
(download) 

Set 1: Devotion, AC/DC Bag, My Sweet One , MOMA, Halleys, Funky Bitch,Wolfmans, Destiny Unbound, Timber, Tela, Wingsuit

Set 2: Free, Golden Age > Jibboo, Carini > Piper > Caspian > Tweezer > Rock & Roll > YEM

E: Suzy, Tweezer Reprise

Phish - Santa Barbara 10.22.14 download (Santa Barbara Bowl night 2)

Phish 
Santa Barbara, CA
Santa Barbara Bowl (night 2)
10.22.14
(download)

Set 1: Soul Shakedown Party, The Wedge, Undermind, Horn, Ya Mar, Jesus Left Chicago, A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing, Winterqueen, My Friend, My Friend, Split Open and Melt, Walls of the Cave

Set 2: Drowned > Theme from the Bottom > Steam > Waves > Twenty Years Later > Scent of a Mule > 2001 > Mike's Song > Runaway Jim > Weekapaug Groove

E: The Horse > Silent in the Morning, Run Like an Antelope

Phish - Santa Barbara 10.21.14 download (Santa Barbara Bowl)

Poster Art by Ken Taylor

Phish 

Santa Barbara Bowl

Santa Barbara, CA 

10.21.14

(download)

Set 1: Stash, Possum, Ocelot, NICU, Back on the Train, Limb By Limb, Waiting All Night, Yarmouth Road, When the Circus Comes to Town, Heavy Things, Stealing Time from the Faulty Plan

Set 2: Chalkdust > Ghost > Birds of a Feather, Wombat, Tweezer > Julius > Piper > Velvet Sea, Suzy Greenberg

E: Boogie On Reggae Woman > Tweezer Reprise

Chalkdust Torture > Ghost (27:55)

  

Phish - Seattle 10.18.14 download (Key Arena)

Phish 
Key Arena 
Seattle, WA 
10.18.14
(download)

Set 1:  Cavern, Wilson, Rift, Moma Dance, The Line, Sugar Shack, Lawn Boy, Kill Devil Falls, Wolfman's Brother, Sparkle, Bathtub Gin

Set 2:  Down with Disease > Golden Age > Fuego > Light > Cities > 46 Days > Sand > Backwards Down the Number Line, Bold as Love

E:  Meatstick, Character Zero

photo @ seattlemusicinsider.com

Phish - Eugene 10.17.14 download (Matthew Knight Arena)

Poster Art by Rich Kelly

Phish
Matthew Knight Arena
Eugene, Oregon OR
(download)

Set 1: Waiting All Night, Free, Poor Heart, Sample in a Jar, Strange Design, 555, Bouncin', Reba, Roggae, Simple, Maze, The Squirming Coil

Set 2:  Carini > Plasma, Farmhouse, Halfway to the Moon, Twist > Crosseyed & Painless, Harry Hood, Rocky Top

E: Wingsuit, Sleeping Monkey, Mighty Quinn

photo @ treehugger.com

Phish 07.22.2013 - Toronto, ON (Molson Canadian Ampitheatre) setlist

Phish, Molson Canadian Ampitheatre, Toronto, ON  07.22.13

Set 1: The Moma Dance, Chalkdust Torture, Undermind, Army of One, Halley's Comet> Twist*, Bouncing Round The Room, Stash, Yarmouth Road, Tube, Ocelot, Suzy Greenberg

Set 2: Down With Disease> Also Sprach Zarathustra> Free> Piper> Tweezer> Silent In The Morning, Backwards Down The Number Line> Cavern> David Bowie

Encore: Loving Cup, The Squirming Coil, Tweezer Reprise

* Oye Como Va tease



There is a good review of this show on Jambase.com

One commentator known simply as funkbeard described the show as such:

This show is a perfect crystalization of what Phish have been working towards all these years. Actually makes many of their previous great performances drop into the shadows of obscurity. I don't believe I've ever heard them achieve this level of creative lucid clarity at any previous time in their career. A monumental musical achievement here. Way to go!

Phish 07.09.2013 - Toronto, ON (Molson Canadian Ampitheatre) setlist

Phish, Molson Canadian Ampitheatre, Toronto, ON 07.09.13
show cancelled and rescheduled due to 97 mm of rainfall the previous day and partial power in the venue.  This is only the second time in Phish' history that they've cancelled a show.  The first was 20 years ago due to low ticket sales.

The show has been rescheduled to:

Phish, Molson Canadian Ampitheatre, Toronto, ON 07.22.13

Phish 07.07.2013 - Saratoga Springs, NY (SPAC) setlist

Phish, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY 07.07.13

Soundcheck: Beauty of a Broken Heart 

Set 1: AC/DC Bag, Back on the Train, Divided Sky, Free, ICE, Mound, Maze, Limb by Limb, Walls of the Cave

Set 2: DWD > Ghost > Piper^ > Velvet Sea* , Antelope# > Meatstick > YEM

Encore: Loving Cup

Notes: 
^ DEG teases
# With "Meatstick" keyword and lyrics replacing Antelope with "meatstick"

Phish 07.06.2013 - Saratoga Springs, NY (SPAC) setlist

Phish, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY 07.06.13

Soundcheck: It's Ice, Architect, 20 Years Later

Set 1: Crowd Control > Chalk Dust Torture, The Wedge, Funky Bitch, Heavy Things, Bug, Bouncing Around the Room, Tube > Julius, Split Open and Melt

Set 2: Backwards Down the Number Line > Tweezer > Sand > Carini -> Architect*, Wilson > Boogie On Reggae Woman > Possum

Encore: Show of Life > Tweezer Reprise

* First time played

Notes: Online response to the second night (in particular the second night) at SPAC has been tepid.  Although these critiques were coming from individuals streaming the show on 'couch tour'. 

all links to HD, high quality audio youtube clips from this show

Phish 07.05.2013 - Saratoga Springs, NY (SPAC) setlist

photo and setlist courtesy of LiveMusicBlog

Phish, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY 07.05.13

Set 1: Kill Devil Falls, The Moma Dance > Sample in a Jar, Roses Are Free, Birds of a Feather, Yarmouth Road[1], Bathtub Gin, Nellie Kane, Army of One > My Friend, My Friend[2] > Cities -> David Bowie

Set 2: Energy[3] > Light -> The Mango Song[4] > 46 Days -> Steam > Drowned[5] > Slave to the Traffic Light
Encore: Character Zero[6]

[1] Debut.
[2] No “Myfe” ending.
[3] Apples In Stereo cover.  First time played.
[4] Light teases from Trey.
[5] Divided Sky tease from Trey.
[6] Jean Pierre tease from Trey.
 
Notes: After Birds of a Feather, Page pointed out Ian in the crowd from “Ian’s Farm” fame and waxed nostalgic about playing there while also noting that SPAC was one of the band’s favorite venues.

One of the more knowledgeable and long term reviewers of Phish - Mr. Miner (of the blog PhishThoughts) - in a long review titled simply Umm has heralded the first night at SPAC as nothing less then one of the finest shows of the modern era and anticipates this summer tour going down as one of legend.

"Phish has raised the bar again. On only the second night of Summer Tour, the band threw down a mind-boggling second labyrinth that blew anything they’ve played in this era straight out of the water. In fact, with a more macroscopic lens, the second set of SPAC was one of the finest musical statements that Phish has ever performed. Period. Playing with as much bravado and confidence as their mid-90s selves, while pulling sonic elements from all of their staple eras, the band wove the an incredibly fresh and unconventional musical odyssey that belongs in the loftiest of conversations."

Phish 07.03.2013 - Bangor, ME (Darling's Waterfront) setlist

Photo courtesy of James D. McCallister (full review here)

Phish,  Darling's Waterfront Pavilion, Bangor, ME 07.03.2013

Soundcheck: Blues Jam, Corona, Funky Instrumental, Yarmouth Road (new Mike song debuted at SPAC), Frost, My Soul, Jam (15+min)
 
Set I: Possum > Runaway Jim, Stash, NICU > Wolfman's Brother, Rift, Theme From The Bottom > Chalk Dust Torture, Mike's Song > Silent In The Morning > Weekapaug Groove

Set II: Golden Age* > Twist > Backwards Down The Number Line, Ocelot, Rock And Roll > 2001 > Cavern > Run Like An Antelope

Encore: Harry Hood#

* TV On The Radio cover, Manteca tease

# Divided Sky Tease

all links to HD, high quality audio youtube clips from Darling's Waterfront

Phish Halloween '96 - Talking Heads Remain In Light (complete show)

As a band Phish were/are known for their penchant of course for improvisation but also for all manner of tricks to have a laugh with and sometimes at their audience.  There is their secret language of musical cues (the Simpsons theme is followed by the audience going "Doh!") which they would employ in their early days mid-improvisation presumably baffling those who weren't in on the trick.  Then there became their series of traditions including their Holiday Run of 4 shows leading up to a 3 set New Years Eve, their self-mounted elaborate festivals - Clifford Ball, The Great Went, Lemonwheel, IT and finally Coventry - their return to Vermont and dismal soaked, half baked and wet exit from their touring and foreseeable recording life.  This is now referred to as the 'first hiatus'.  Some wonder whether Phish (post-'second hiatus') is something more like Phish 2.0 - a really good nostalgia act covering the material (with the identical band members!) of their more prolific and far more sober younger selves.  In particular Trey Anastasio seems to be thriving in his personal recovery and there's ample evidence to show that is spilling over into their current live shows which showcases music from throughout their career but delivers often pared down versions (still with ample improvisation) of songs coveted from their songbook by documentarian fans.

Their other tradition and perhaps finest has been turning their annual Halloween concert (since 1994) into a 3 set affair with the second set being a complete cover of a classic rock album ostensibly chosen by the fans and the band.  The first years White Album floored audiences for its intricacy, I gratefully was metres from the horn section in 1995 when they launched into the opening montage of the Who's Quadrophenia demolishing the upper risers of Chicago's then Rosemont Horizon.  Then in 1996 during the setbreak between the first and second set no one could have had any clue what the opening notes would be.  AC/DC's Highway To Hell appeared in the first set (as Michael Jackson's Beat It had the previous year) as a sort of Trick or Treat for the addled minds of their evening's attendees.  It's hard to convey the level of sheer exhilaration and expectancy that surrounded the band's chose of songs during those days and the sense of rareness and being 'in on something' which that conveyed to the band's core adherents.

Remain In Light, as you can see and hear, proved to be the perfect foil for the band's predeliction for note-perfect renditions of artists that inspired them.  For all of the comparisons to the Grateful Dead, and there are many, largely in the similar nature of their diverse repertoire and fanbases, Phish has always had a lot in common with the Talking Heads (as drummer and namesake Jon Fishman has remarked himself in interviews).  The concert which took place at The Omni in Atlanta, Georgia on of course Oct. 31/1996, required some additional personnel in the form of percussionist Karl Perazzo (of Santana's band) who joined the group for a string of dates on that fall tour and longtime collaborators Gary Gazaway (trumpet) and Dave 'The Truth' Grippo - members of the Giant Country Horns essentially Phish' horn section in the early days.

This as most all of Phish' performances have been recorded for posterity by their fans (with permission and taper tickets allocated by the band).  This performance, the groups personal favourite Halloween concert got a proper live release as Live Phish Volume 15.

From the opening notes of Born Under Punches into Crosseyed and Painless (now a staple of their repertoire at large) it was clear the material and it's peculiar union of David Byrne's and Brian Eno's orbits lent itself well to the bands style of fluid, modular improvisations.  By Houses In Motion it became clear that the group had given themselves some license to improvise the outros of the songs and create segues from track to track.  On Seen and Not Seen guitarist Trey Anastasio takes over bass duties as bassist Mike Gordon took over vocal duties (whilst rocking in a lazyboy chair) capturing perfectly the sardonic wit of David Byrne's lyrics:

He would see faces in movies, on T.V., in magazines, and in books....
He thought that some of these faces might be right for him....And
through the years, by keeing an ideal facial structure fixed in his
mind....Or somewhere in the back of his mind....That he might, by
force of will, cause his face to approach those of his ideal....The
change would be very subtle....It might take ten years or so....
Gradually his face would change its' shape....A more hooked nose...
Wider, thinner lips....Beady eyes....A larger forehead.
He imagined that this was an ability he shared with most other
people....They had also molded their faced according to some
ideal....Maybe they imagined that their new face would better
suit their personality....Or maybe they imagined that their
personality would be forced to change to fit the new appear-
ance....This is why first impressions are often correct...
Although some people might have made mistakes....They may have
arrived at an appearance that bears no relationship to them....
They may have picked an ideal appearance based on some childish
whim, or momentary impulse....Some may have gotten half-way
there, and then changed their minds.
He wonders if he too might have made a similar mistake

Kung> Chalkdust Torture> Auld Lang Syne (Phish, MSG, 12/31/12)

For their ringing in the New Year theatric, an annual tradition, Phish this year staged an entire Runaway Golfcart Marathon during Chalkdust Torture.  They had opened the set apocryphally with Kung, one of the most obscure songs of their repertoire and more of a Spinal Tapish chant at that.  It contains the lyrics:

Can we stand?
Can we stare?
We can stage a runaway golfcart marathon!

Stand up
Stand up
Stand up on your heels and call
From the hills
From the hills

Given the popularity of golfcarts as mode of travel at their various solo band festivals the golfcart and the runaway golfcart marathon has a unique place in Phish lore.  This particular staged Runaway Golfcart Marathon, although played to the tune of a righteous Chalkdust Torture> Auld Lang Syne with a phenomenal balloon dropped that proceeded into cannons launching ping pong balls all the while what seemed like the cast of a community theatrical production did some sort of stage number involving golf clubs.  Regrettably Phish was joined onstage for Tweezer Reprise by one Carrie Manolakos and some (good) backup singers.  Dressed as an operatic diva Manolokos, who revealed in a recent interview she had no relationship to the band rather the 'gag's musical arranger Carmel Dean, sang in a high, wailing (and bad voice) apparently meant to emulate the Floyd song Great Gig Of The Sky.

Trey Anastasio explains his guitar rig, pedals & effects. Parts 1 & 2

Much to the delight of his fans Trey Anastasio a youtube video has been released explaining his guitar rig, pedals & effects.  The footage was played during the setbreaks of the 12/28 and 12/29 web streams of their vaunted shows at Madison Square Garden.

Anastasio begins with describing with glee his current hollow body Paul Languedoc guitar (the fourth from this luthier he has used throughout his career) with a beautiful Ocelot inlay referencing the song of the same title.  For casual fans it's nice to see a healthy and hale Trey excitedly taking his fans through his basic rig which hasn't as it happens changed too much over the years.

 

Phish - MSG New Years Run (12/28,29,30,31) setlists

Phish - 12/28/2012, Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

Set 1: Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan, The Moma Dance, Funky Bitch, Army of One, Tube >Stash, Nellie Kane, Kill Devil Falls, Free, Wolfman’s Brother -> The Little Drummer Boy -> Wolfman’s Brother
Set 2: Tweezer -> Maze, Twist^[1] > Theme From the Bottom -> Fluffhead, David Bowie
Encore: Bouncing Around the Room, Good Times Bad Times

[1] Little Drummer Boy teases and quotes
Notes: The Little Drummer Boy was played for the first time since April 16, 2004 (187 Shows).  Twist contained multiple Little Drummer Boy teases as well as quotes from Trey, referring to Fishman.
(ed.) Official setlists have overlooked the real significance of their teasing Little Drummer Boy. To my knowledge Little Drummer Boy was played for the first time on 12/28/94 the first night of that years holiday run (the second in existence) in Philadelphia at the Civic Centre.  I recall having attended all the shows on the run.

Phish - 12/29/12 - Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

Set 1: Crowd Control, Mound, ACDC Bag, Rock and Roll, Sugar Shack, Reba, Halley's Comet, Limb by Limb, Velvet Cheese, Bathtub Gin

Set 2: Golden Age* > Waves > Prince Caspian , Boogie On Reggae Woman, Suzy Greenberg, Bug, Cavern, 46 Days

Encore: Coil, Grind, First Tube

* TV On The Radio cover

Phish - 12/30/12 - Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

1:Runaway Jim, Cities, Divided Sky, Back on the Train, Ride Captain Ride, Ocelot, YaMar, Horn, My Friend My Friend, Run Like An Antelope

2: Down With Disease > Twenty Years Later > Carini* > Backwards Down The Number Line, Julius, Slave To The Traffic Light

Encore: Harry Hood, Show of Life 

* Download.  Rated by Mr. Miner #6 top jam of 2012

Phish - 12/31/12 - Madison Square Garden

Set 1: Garden Party^[1], Possum, Roses Are Free, Rift > Sample in a Jar, Alaska, Mike's Song > Walk Away, Weekapaug Groove, Character Zero
Set 2: Birds of a Feather, Ghost > Piper > Light^[2] > Also Sprach Zarathustra > The Horse > Silent in the Morning, You Enjoy Myself^[3]
Set 3: Party Time, Kung > Chalk Dust Torture > Auld Lang Syne > Tweezer Reprise^[4] > Sand > The Wedge > Fly Like an Eagle^[5] > Wilson, Lawn Boy^[6]
Encore: Driver, Iron Man^[7]

[1] Phish debut.
[2] Auld Lang Syne tease
[3] Birds of a Feather tease
[4] With backup singers.
[5] Steve Miller cover, first time played
[6] a capella
[7] First Phish performance in full.
Notes: Arena floor and stage appear to be covered by a green lawn of live grass. Preshow webcast shows fans playing garden sports like badminton and mini-golf.

Third set song selection seems to reflect golf and the overall theme of a Garden Party: Sand, Wedge, Fly Like An Eagle, Wilson, Lawn Boy, Driver, Iron Man.   They did everything short of a 'Top Flite' jam in the middle of Piper.  Notably absent is the ultra-obscure Dog Log which contains the notable lyrics 'walking cross the lawn lawn lawn lawn'.  Perhaps if the song were called Dog Leg.

More to the point does a New Years celebration- built as it has been on an extended 3 set concert typically laced with obscure fan favourites and extended ultra-psychedelic and funk improvisations- with a golf motif seem a little bit middling?
 

Perhaps Phish in it's 3.0 configuration (same core membership several hiatus and one actual retirement later) is truly a renaissance act- a Phish cover band. As always the tapes and tales will tell.  Although staging a Runaway Golf Cart Marathon onstage at MSG was an adventurous enough idea and one that tipped the cap to their own lyrics and collective madcap history.

For a band that began the New Years Run tradition in Boston in 1993 with a flying hot dog containing the band that 'rode' around the venue a setlist built around golf motifs seems to be two things; entirely age and lifestyle appropriate for the band and most of its members and a good reflection of the median income of its core adherents.

Trey Anastasio aids victims swept away by Hurricane Sandy

A photographer for The Gothamist happened to spot Phish frontman Trey Anastasio in Red Hook, Brooklyn distributing diapers and batteries in front of  the flooded 158-year-old Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church.  Anastasio was apparently in the area helping a friend whose "house is under water. I've spent the day helping him, pulling out dry wall. It's really bad here. Really bad."

Justin Beiber - Phish (setlists)

Multiple sources are reporting on basically two stories related to Phish and St. Catherine's, Ontario native Justin Beiber.   On Wednesday August 15 (08/15/12 as it would appear on a live recording) Bieber, his girlfriend Selena Gomez and guitarist/ musical director Dan Kanter took in what would be called in the parlance of a Phish head the first night of the second leg of summer tour.  Phish has always played well in California delighting their west coast fans with their east coast antics.   Not surprisingly Kanter was the long time fan of the bunch and had been pressing Bieber to take in a concert for some time.  As the Hollywood Reporter, citing insiders, puts it it also helped that Bieber was finally 18.

Bieber and crew got some face time with the members of Phish (first Mike Gordon and then Trey Anastasio) and perhaps more importantly their kids got some face time with the pop duo.  The above photo taken at the time is credited to Brad Sands, Phish' longtime road manager (and hopefully one day author of tell-all biography).  Kanter notably got to meet his guitar god and Bieber and Anastasio apparently found common ground talking about music and most interestingly Phish' lighting director Chris Kuroda - who is considered so much a member of the band (likely moreso than any lighting director ever) that a group of fans CK5 have revered him for years.

In the accompanying clip from Justin's tourstop in the lovely city of Fresno, California (10/04/12) you can clearly hear the strains of  Divided Sky (around 13:40) an enduring touchstone for Phish fans.

The next night in the Grateful Dead and Crips capital of Oakland, CA (10/05/12) Kanter led the group in a blending of Love Me Like You Do (a Bieber delux edition number) into She Don't Like The Lights (more Bieber) dropping riffs from typically-huge-not-boy-size Phish instrumentals Sand (4:32) and First Tube (5:35).

The most interesting news to come out of all of this is not that Bieber went to a Phish show, participated in a glowstick war, or that his band is dropping Phish cues in concert but that Chris Kuroda will be designing the lighting for Bieber's next tour.