Phish Rocks the House at Super Ball IX

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Phish Rocks the House at Super Ball IXByGreg M. Schwartz22 July 2011

The American rock festival season has a wide menu of options here in the early 21st century,dispelling any trite notions that rock is dead. But there seems to be only one band that has thededicated fan base to stage its own mega-festival with no supporting acts, and that band is the

Phish from Vermont. No one besides Peter Jennings and out of touch parents seriously refer to

the jam rock titans with a the, but its become a running inside joke for fans ever since

Jennings referred to the band that way on the ABC 2000 broadcast (which featured Heavy

Things from Phishs Big Cypress festival on December 31, 1999, the largest ticketedmillennium party on the planet with 80,000 revelers for the legendary all-night performance in

the Everglades).

Inside jokes are part of what helps Phish endear themselves to their dedicated followers evenmore, enhancing a soul connection that most bands can only dream of. Such humor was on

display throughout the Super Ball IX festival, including how it was billed as the Biggest. Ball.

Ever. The bands ninth festival was not technically its largest in size if attendance is the

measuring factoras in fact it was the smallest with around 30,000 tickets sold. But theVermont quartet delivered a monumental series of performances (seven scheduled sets over three

days plus one bonus set of experimental late night action at the Ball Square) that conjured a ScottPilgrim vs the World statusan epic of epic epicness. In comparing the Super Ball to previous
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Phish festivals, there was a general agreement amongst those in attendance that the musical

consistency level across the weekend was at an all-time high.

The spiritual power of Phish can be hard to describe to the uninitiated. For most of their fans,Phish is the best rock n roll band on the planet and no one else is even in the same league (saveperhaps for the Grateful Dead). Utilizing names of some of the songs played, one could describe

the Super Ball as a Soul Shakedown Party where Birds of a Feather could Run like an

Antelope in a new Golden Age teeming with Scents and Subtle Sounds and find their

Destiny Unbound. If this sounds like a Phish show is more than just a concert, thats because it

is. Theres a metaphysical journey involved and the skys the limit when it comes to potential

gonzo adventures and even fairy tale romance. Phish plays a key role in keeping the New Left

counterculture of the 60s alive, having inherited the cosmic torch from the Grateful Dead in the

mid-90s. This didnt happen by design, but by destinyPhish was simply in the right place atthe right time.

The advanced skills of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon, keyboardist Page

McConnell and drummer Jon Fishman as tone scientists parallel the avant-garde jazz pioneer

Sun Ra, a major influence on the band. In Sun Ra biography Space is the Place, author John F.

Szwed wrote a passage that would resonate with many Phish fans too: With music he wouldreach across the border of reality with myth; with music he could build a bridge to another

dimension, to something better; dance halls, clubs, and theaters could be turned into sacred

shrines, the sites of dramas and rituals. And though people would be drawn to hear the music, itwas they who would become the instrument on which it would resonate, on which he would

create the sound of silhouettes the images and forecasts of tomorrow all of it disguised as

jazz.

As with all past Phish festivals, the Super Ball festival grounds were tricked out with an array of

colorful scenery and diversions so as to create a sense of an alternate reality Phish-topia. There

was a sense that almost anything could happen, best illustrated by first-time bust-outs of the

Rolling Stones Monkey Man, AC/DCs obvious but obligatory Big Balls and a rare and

coveted performance of Colonel Forbins Ascent on the final day of the festival. The latter is

one of the key songs in Anastasios legendary Gamehendge cycle, a mythological conceptalbum of sorts about the peaceful lizard people who are forced to mount a revolution against the

evil King Wilson and his foul domain of avarice and greed. The ever rare appearance of the

song used to be accompanied by a narrative story from Anastasio, generally tying in some

current event or local scenery with the ongoing revolutionary efforts in Gamehendge. But since

the bands most welcome return from a five-year breakup in 2009, Anastasio had held out on

delivering the narration the few times the song has been played.


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Anticipation built as the band moved through the songwould there be a story? When the musicslowed and Anastasio began weaving his latest tale, there was a mass celebration amongst the

faithful. One fan was even seen being triumphantly held in the air by another, almost like apitcher and catcher celebrating together after getting the final out of a no-hitter. Story time with

Trey has indeed become that rare, for the stats would show that this was the first ColonelForbins narration since Anastasios memorable birthday show in Las Vegas on September 30,

2000.

The red-headed virtuoso pulled out another mind-bender, weaving a tale from the bands earlydays regarding a breakdown of their Plymouth Voyager in the area near Watkins Glen, while on

their way to play shows in Colorado in 1988. He told of how the band had to find a storage space

to put the vehicle in so that their gear wouldnt get stolen, but how they were accidentally locked

into the storage space and had nothing to do except jam until someone got them out. The jamsgot longer and weirder he said, until they finally started to realize that they could control reality

through music and that the Super Ball was a mental projection through music that they started in

1988! The story hinted at the seemingly Jedi-like abilities of the quartet to telepathicallycommunicate with each other during their exploratory jams. This skill is probably more

attributable to years of dedicated practice, but that hasnt stopped Trey is a Jedi stickers fromappearing in the lots.

The festivals overall vibe was also enhanced by the plethora of extracurricular activities

arranged for further fan fun. This ranged from a Wiffle Ball tournament, a 5K road race and a

bull run to a pinball lounge and movie screen at the Ball Square showing live sports and classic


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flicks like Talladega Nights, Team America, Caddyshack, Boogie Nights, Scarface, Jaws and the

Talking Heads Stop Making Sense. The Ball Square also featured a trilogy of time zoneinstallations devoted to an early American settlement, the industrial revolution and the future.

Then there was the perennially popular ferris wheel as well as a human sized hamster wheel. The

latter was it in psychedelic fashion and provided the opportunity for some hilarious hijinks.

The Wiffle Ball tournament saw most teams show up with special t-shirts designed just for thefestival as their uniforms. One squad even had their own cheerleaders, the colorful Team Ma

Craw, dressed in vibrant blue, green and purple tie-dies. Their cheerleaders had pom-poms in thesame colors and trash talked opposing hitters with salacious sexual innuendos that caught some

of those opposing players off guard. This helped Team Ma Craw score a 2-1 win the first day,

although they were knocked out by some ringers on Saturday. Team Ma Craw offers one of the

more inspiring stories from the Phish Nation, for the name is based around raising awarenessabout the plight of fan Judi Crawford, who has a rare form of leukemia and is in need of a blood

stem cell transplant. Daughters Rina and Laurel got Ma Craw into Phish a few years back, and

now when Ma Craw goes in for chemo treatments, the family puts on a version of Phish anthemDown with Disease and dances the the session away.

There are over nine million people registered with the Be the Match donor registry but no match

has yet been found for Judi Crawford. Rina Crawfords participation in the burgeoning School ofPhish group on Facebook led to other fans joining the cause to raise awareness about the Be the

Match registry, hence the Team Ma Craw Wiffle Ball team. Im so glad to have a team, says

Judi Crawford, who couldnt make it to the Super Ball but plans to be in the front row hoping for


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an epic Down with Disease at Phishs next show on August 5 at The Gorge Amphitheater.

Team Ma Craw passed out business cards to curious fans at the Super Ball, quoting from Phishs

Tube with the line, But rather give myself to science I felt that I could help. Those thatwould like to offer themselves to science as potential donors (in a process similar to giving

blood) can join the Be the Match registry at:http://www.bethematch.org.

Another worthy cause being promoted at the Super Ball came from The Coalition to Protect New

York. The grassroots organization was selected by Phish to promote their opposition tohydrofracking, the controversial natural gas drilling method that appears to be endangering water

supplies across America due to the undisclosed chemical formula used in the drilling process

(undisclosed due to a 2005 loophole known amongst environmentalists as the Halliburton

exemption, which then Vice President Dick Cheney helped push through Congress so hisindustry pals wouldnt have to disclose their so-called proprietary formula.) The Coalition was

also to receive a donation from The Waterwheel Foundation, which oversees Phishs charitable

activities.

The music seemed to get better and better each day...

Unlike many festivals (talking to you Outside Lands, Austin City Limits and Jazzfest) Super BallIX did not sell out beer rights to corporate titans like Heineken or Miller Lite. Attendees had

stellar beer options like Magic Hat, Hoegaarden, Sierra Nevadas Foam and many more.

But of course all the extracurriculars at the Super Ball wouldnt count for nearly as much if they

werent merely the icing on a stupendous musical cake from Vermonts finest. The musicseemed to get better and better each day, with the energy building from one peak to another and

each set seemingly more climactic than the last. An early highlight during the festivals first set

on Friday evening was the Rolling Stones Torn and Frayed, a nod to Festival 8, the bands

previous festival over Halloween weekend in 2009 where they donned the Stones Exile on MainStreet as their musical costume.

Vigorous workouts on fan favorites like Moma Dance, Bathtub Gin and WolfmansBrother signaled that the band was on and in it to win it, as did a huge set closing jam on Bob

Dylans Quinn the Eskimo, easily Phishs greatest performance of the song. The second set

featured a gorgeous jam on Simple, which segued into a music of the spheres teaser jam onJimi Hendrixs Third Stone From the Sun that seemed truly channeled from the heavens. This

segued into Bug, one of the bands more spiritual tunes, which was jammed in monumentalfashion with Anastasio ripping off crescendo-ing trills at the end that recalled Jerry Garcia on the

climax of a Morning Dew.

Saturdays afternoon set open with a scheduled beach ball war that went into instant overdrive

when Phish opened with Tube, which features one of the most electrifying grooves in rockhistory and whose rare appearance in the show opener slot is a known inside indicator of a barn-

burner to come. This was also the set that ended with the smoking first time bust-out of Monkey

Man, dipping further back into the Stones catalogue to 1969sLet It Bleed.
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The second set opened with Runaway Jim, where Anastasio introduced the winners of the

101st Running of the First Annual Runaway Jim Memorial 5K. The set closed with a brilliant

quadrilogy, starting with The Mango Song, another rarity long beloved for its unique melodicand lyrical catharsis. It received more jam treatment than usual, with McConnell stepping up

beautifully on piano before segueing into the title track from 1993s Rift. This led to a

magnificent Scents and Subtle Sounds, an underrated track from 2004s Undermind. The songfeatures some of the bands most illuminating lyrics and most majestic harmonies, carrying the

Phish Nation to yet another mountaintop (even conjuring a few screams of joy when the tune

reached its climax.) Phish then capped off the monster set with a scintillating rendition of Run

Like an Antelope, one of the bands most beloved jam vehicles. The tune set off a massive

glowstick war in the crowd to raise the energy level higher still, as full psychedelia was activated

(a phenomenon that spontaneously began at Phishs Great Went festival in 1997 and which hasbeen a Phish tradition ever since).

It all set the table for one of the weekends grandest moments, when the band opened the days

third set with just the fourth version of their uplifting cover of TV on the Radios Golden Age.

For any fans who ever liked to feel that Phish is helping to create a better and more harmoniousworld through music (perhaps in conjunction with the looming conclusion of the Mayan calendarin 2012), this song seemed to be confirmation of just such designs All light beings. Come onnow make haste. Clap your hands. If you think youre in the right place The age of miracles.The age of sound. Well theres a Golden Age. Comin round, comin round, comin round!

Debuted by Phish in the fall of 2009, the song seems to be a thematic extension connecting back

to the Halloween 98 show in Las Vegas. It was there that the bands musical costumeperformance of the Velvet UndergroundsLoadedincluded a stirring performance of New

Age.


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Phish took Golden Age into a groovy syncopated jam that had the entire concert field gettingdown in harmonious bliss. Another highlight was the neo-classic Backwards Down the Number

Line, from 2009s comeback albumJoy. For any die-hard who may have experienced a momentof existential crisis at some point about why they were still seeing this band 100 times, 200 times

or even 400 (!), the song provides the answer. The lyrics hint at how the Phish experience is not

just about a quest for transcendent music, but also the transcendent friendships made along the

tour trail.

The high energy third set set was scheduled to conclude the evenings festivities, but word had

made it around earlier in the evening that fans should proceed directly to the Ball Squareafterward for more fun. It was there that the band delivered an hour long bonus set of mysterious

and ambient experimental jams in full surround sound. The band was not even fully visible, but

silhouettes could be seen here and there inside one of the buildings as Phish engaged in one oftheir famous instrument changing jams. The experimental set finally concluded with a mostpsychedelic rendition of Sleeping Monkey, the only official song of the set.


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After the top quality of the first two days, anticipation ran extremely high for the festivals third

and final day. Phish came out swinging for the fences by opening with their ultra-rare cover of

Bob Marleys Soul Shakedown Party, just the sixth performance in Phishtory. This was soonfollowed by Anastasios story about controlling reality through music in Colonel Forbins

Ascent, which was followed by companion song The Famous Mockingbird and another rare

treat with Destiny Unbound. This set off yet another mass celebration that was boosted stillhigher when Mike Gordon used his Lovetone Meatball bass effect to push the groove into

overdrive for what again felt like an all-time greatest version. Big Black Furry Creature From

Mars then saw actual friendly moshing take place, as fans reveled in the hardcore psyche-punk

song. A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing was another highlight from 2004s Undermind, with the

band hooking up for one of their trademark hose jams, where the music blissfully flowed over

the crowd. Jam staples Reba and David Bowie combined for a half hour of groove ecstasy toclose the set, with the former even featuring the now rare whistling section, much to the delight

of the assembled.

The Super Balls final set kicked off with a moment everyone had been waiting for when

drummer Jon Fishman took the mic for a raucous rendition of AC/DCs Big Balls. This servedas prelude to a stellar jam on Down with Disease, which has arguably become thequintessential Phish song. The jam segued beautifully into an electrifying cover of Led

Zeppelins No Quarter, where McConnells psychedelic keys and vocals led the way. Theclimactic final set ultimately concluded with an acappella rendition of The Star Spangled

Banner followed by a galactic cowboys riding into the sunset encore of First Tube, completewith a magnificent fireworks show.


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When it was all over, the blissed out crowd just sat and reveled in the moment before amblingover to the Ball Square and out into a raging campground scene that partied all night and into thedawn. Phish may not be jamming in quite as deep and exploratory manner as they were in the

mid-to-late 90s, but the band is riding a high and powerful wave of energy and enthusiasm that

has most fans feeling like the golden age of Phish is now. The bands uncanny knack for topping

themselves exhibited itself once again at the Super Ball, leaving most in attendance feeling likethis was not just one of the greatest events of the year, but one of the greatest weekends of their

entire lives.

Phish Rocks the House at Super Ball IX

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