Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh
11/13/94, Erie, PA, Warner Theatre
The concept of a Phish bustout is a real mixed bag. On one hand, it’s fun to stumble into a song — or occasionally, an entire set of songs — that hasn’t been played in a few hundred shows. Like a lot of Phish pleasures, it’s a special reward for obsessive fandom, and a unique experience that you can’t get from bands with shorter histories, shallower catalogs, or lazier setlist practices. But on the other hand, for some bustouts, the scarcity value far outstrips the value of the song itself. In other words, some songs are on the shelf for a reason.
A natural experiment in this phenomenon occurred in the most recent Great Phish Show, as of presstime, on 7/14/19. While this show is primarily known for its mammoth version of Ruby Waves in the second set, the first set was full of bustouts, boasting several show gaps in the triple figures. The most impressive revival was Olivia’s Pool/Oblivious Fool, which hadn’t been played in 692 shows and nearly 22 years. People, naturally, freaked out.
But the funny thing is 1) Olivia’s Pool is nothing special as far as Phish songs go, about the laziest blues-rocker they could come dream up, and 2) There’s actually a far more interesting arrangement of the same song: Shafty, which is also a rarity (having only appeared 5 times total), but with a much smaller show gap — “only” 288 shows. Still impressive, but not quite as Twitter-breaking as the big number posted by Olivia’s Pool.
Back in 1994, Trey starts off the encore by saying, “Ok, you guys want to hear Funky Bitch, you’re there every night yelling Funky Bitch. This is for you, this song is for you, and also for this guy over here.” I can’t tell if he’s referring to a regular group of rail riders or just Phish fans in general (EDIT: mystery solved, see below!), but it’s a sentiment that makes my eyes roll — you have Trey’s ear, and the song you ask for is Funky Bitch?
Don’t get me wrong, Funky Bitch is fine, apart from containing a word I’m uncomfortable saying out loud, or even typing, in 2019. I’ve seen Phish play it a bunch, and I was even lucky enough to see Son Seals play it a couple times; once at Camp Oswego, and once at a small suburban Chicago brewery, where every Phish fan in attendance laughed reflexively at how much better it sounded in the original songwriter’s hands. And while it’s about as common-grade a Phish song as you can get nowadays, in the early 90s it was a certified rarity, only played once every 30-50 shows.
Still, Funky Bitch, that’s what we’re going with, 1994 Phish fans? With all the things Phish can do, even at this relatively early stage, you want to hear them play 12-bar blues? Sure, sometimes you just want to hear Trey or Page rip a blues solo, or Mike hold a note for an extremely long time. But there’s a reason why Funky Bitch is a frequent soundcheck song of Phish throughout their history: it’s an easy warm-up for them, a song they can basically play on auto-pilot, a throwback to their day as a bar band, music for eating gravy fries. It’s a song that has been played 216 times but sports a jam chart of two (2) entries, and yes, I know one of those is coming up next week, but that’s the ol’ exception that proves the rule rule.
So on the occasion of this kinda dull Fall 94 show’s anniversary, I hereby propose The Enlightened Phish Fan Rule For Requesting Bustouts. Don’t make your choices based on numbers alone, ask for rarities that push the band out of their comfort zone. The generic blues-rock of Olivia’s Pool? “No Thanks” Drake. The minimalist, atmospheric, creepy funk of Shafty? “That’s The One” Drake.
Give me strange, out-of-nowhere Halloween album deep cuts (Spanish Moon, I Found A Reason) or White Tape oddities (if they can play NO2 and Fuck Your Face, they can bring back Aftermath or Minkin) or forgotten instrumentals (Leprechaun, My Left Toe). It doesn’t need to lead to a jam, it just needs to provide a flavor that other songs in the vast Phish catalog don’t. It’s unfair to apply the bustout ethics of today to the fans of a very different time, but we can do better in the 21st century. Don’t chase stats, chase songs that break the status quo.
EDIT: Turns out at least one of the people requesting Funky Bitch on this night in 1994 follows me on Twitter — got to be careful what you say in the small world of online Twitter!
[Stub from Golgi Project]