hotel carack: Jimmy the Mod vs. Jimmy and Poster Nutbag: Halloween 95' Phish covers The Who's masterpiece, "Quadrophenia" Another in Grateful Music's Halloween retrospectives as Vegas gets closer

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Jimmy the Mod vs. Jimmy and Poster Nutbag: Halloween 95' Phish covers The Who's masterpiece, "Quadrophenia" Another in Grateful Music's Halloween retrospectives as Vegas gets closer

On Halloween in Chicago, after one of my favorite shows ever in Louisville, Phish tried on it's second musical costume, The Who's Quadrophenia in 1995.

After one of my favorite shows ever, that included "Kung" and "Shaggy Dog", Phish took the party to Rosemont Horizon in Chicago. It was in 95' and Phish was destroying America like The Who destroyed it's instruments. After a fan vote to play Zappa, the band decided not to play the fan's choice due to the complexity of the music, possibly offensive lyrics, and Zappa's own wishes not to have those songs played again, Phish went to the second place winner and donned the costume of those mod monsters, The Who, and covered Quadrophenia.

Quadrophenia was The Who's sixth studio album and following two massive albums, including Tommy, was another album of a hugely ambitious scale. It was released in 1973 and was widely considered a great album and has only grown in regard since then. Phish was on a tour that was one of the most amazing fall tour's in their history. They completed the year with a triumphant run at MSG and released an album of the NYE show that is considered one of their best live albums.

The album Quadrophenia is about a mod named Jimmy who searches and struggles to find his identity and make his way in the world. Each of the members of the band had their own theme. For Keith Moon, he was the bell boy. In concert, crew member Leigh Fordham, of ""46 Days" fame, came out and sang the theme for Keith Moon, "The Bell Boy". The Who's album came out after Tommy, so Pete Townshend was looking to make a bigger statement and break new ground. The album, produced by Glyn Johns of Rolling Stones fame, did this in spades. Utilizing new studio techniques and writing some of the best instrumentals of his career, Townshend made an album so good, it almost couldn't be reproduced onstage at the time. Phish took on the challenge and with an all-star horn section behind them, like Dave Grippo, managed to stage it just fine, now that technology had caught up to Pete Townshend.

Phish performed the whole album after a first set of teases and hints, opening the show with "Icculus" and just getting better from there. When the "om-pa-pa" finally rang out, Mike told a wild story about raccoons and then after a "Beat It" tease from Thriller Trey mentioned Jimmy was listening to the Halloween album and then during setbreak they played "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" leaving the fans wondering if they were going to get pranked like last year's Dark Side bells before the White Album. But it wasn't to be, Phish came out and played the whole Quadrophenia album, with the help of a horn section and at the end of the show, during a slower, Phish-ier version of"My Generation" Trey and Fish destroyed their instruments, like The Who used too. This was followed by a crew member bringing out a plunger and after it was pushed down, an explosion went off backstage. Before we go to the tape, this was the time in Phishtory when the band was still playing chess and the costume contest winner, a Wookie, had stage fright and couldn't make the move.

The third set is famous for the forty-minute YEM. It was absolutely one of the highlights of this highlight-filled show and set the bar for YEM's like the Memphish "Tweezer"did for that song. "You Enjoy Myself" was also followed by a smoking "Jesus Left Chicago" and the show went into the books as one of Phish's greatest moments. I'm not a huge Who fan but after Louisville, I kidnapped my rider and made him go to Chicago with me. We bought insanely expensive tickets for a hundred dollars each but we got on the floor and looking back, the scalping situation has only gotten worse but the show made us forget everything. Now for the main event:

Greg Heffelfinger

this is an audio only version but it is SBD and is the whole show

Soundcheck: Guyute, Suzy Greenberg (x2), Jam, Suzy Greenberg, Jesus Just Left Chicago, Jam

SET 1: Icculus, Divided Sky, Wilson > Ya Mar, Sparkle > Free, Guyute, Run Like an Antelope, Harpua[1]

SET 2: I Am the Sea[2], The Real Me[2] > Quadrophenia[2], Cut My Hair[2], The Punk Meets the Godfather[2], I'm One[2], The Dirty Jobs[2] > Helpless Dancer[2], Is It In My Head?[2], I've Had Enough[2], 5:15[2], Sea and Sand[2], Drowned[2], Bell Boy[3], Doctor Jimmy[2] > The Rock[2], Love, Reign O'er Me[2]

SET 3: You Enjoy Myself , Jesus Just Left Chicago [4], A Day in the Life > Suzy Greenberg[5]

ENCORE: My Generation[6]

[1] Narration from Mike about raccoons.
[2] Phish debut; Dave Grippo on alto saxophone, Don Glasgo on trombone, Joey Sommerville on trumpet and Alan Parshley on French horn.
[3] Phish debut; Dave Grippo on alto saxophone, Don Glasgo on trombone, Joey Sommerville on trumpet and Alan Parshley on French horn, Leigh Fordham sang Keith Moon's original part.
[4] Dave Grippo on alto saxophone.
[5] Dave Grippo on alto saxophone, Don Glasgo on trombone, and Joey Sommerville on trumpet.
[6] Phish debut; acoustic.

(courtesy of phish.net)

Also, do yourself a favor and listen to this show as well. My first shows, my mind had a mind of it's own and this was the "one" that I really got it.