Roman Candle

7/4/99, Atlanta, GA, Lakewood Amphitheatre

SET 1: My Soul, Ya Mar, Farmhouse, The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony > AC/DC Bag, The Wedge, Vultures, I Didn't Know, Fast Enough for You, David Bowie

SET 2: Ghost -> Slave to the Traffic Light, The Horse > Silent in the Morning > What's the Use?, Wilson > Mike's Song > Sleeping Monkey > Weekapaug Groove

ENCORE: Carini > Meatstick Reprise

ENCORE 2: The Star-Spangled Banner

Listen

My head is pretty deep in Phish stats, but here’s one that surprised me: Phish had never played a 4th of July show until this one, 16 years into their existence. Earlier in the 90s, they had edged around it, playing the 3rd every year between 1994 and 1998 and the 5th in four of those years as well (oddly enough, all outside of the United States). But this was the first one to land precisely on America’s birthday. And so of course they paid noble tribute to their country by having their drummer play a vacuum solo in uncomfortably snug flag boxer briefs and introducing him as “Flagina.” I’d like to see Lee Greenwood match that for patriotism.

Now Phish are not a band that screams U-S-A in the same way as the Dead, with their U.S. Blues and Uncle Sam skeletons and songs evoking the deep, weird American past and whatnot. So it’s not exactly criminal that they had skipped the holiday up to this point. But there’s one 4th of July tradition that goes with Phish shows like hot dogs and Budweiser, and that’s fireworks. Big, booming pyrotechnic displays can sync right up with Phish in full-on arena-rock mode, and whenever circumstance allows, they let the sparks fly*.

But tonight, they hold the fireworks until most of the music is over, perhaps in deference to the folks under the roof at Lakewood Amphitheatre. And the accompaniment is as old-fashioned as it gets – the band’s a capella performance of the national anthem, well-honed in front of NBA and NHL crowds by this point. For those logistical reasons, the musical pyrotechnics would have to happen earlier in the show.

Yet despite the high party stakes of initiating a new holiday tradition, this show mostly keeps things pretty chill. In doing so, it starts fleshing out the first promising strand of the 1999 sound, one that seems in contrast to the density I was talking about yesterday. Instead of showering down fiery sparks, the highlights of this show are an incredibly patient segue and the debut of an uncharacteristically quiet Phish song, surrounded by subtle jamming and a whole lot of quirkiness – not too many bands would push their Stars & Stripes finale to a second encore so they could squeeze in Carini > Meastick Reprise.

Did Mike refuse to dress up?

The songy first set shows some early glimpses of this counterintuitive approach within the crowd-pleasing song selection. For the last 4 minutes of Ya Mar, Trey is barely playing notes, just shooting out little digital-effect laser beams while the band burbles contentedly behind him. Bowie has a proper long intro, with the band happy to play with its new gizmos and in no rush to get to the loud part, then settling back into a laid-back interplay for the first part of the jam. Similarly incendiary opportunities in the second set are waived – Wilson mostly sticks to one chord until briefly thrashing into “Pictures of Matchstick Men,” Mike’s implodes an increasingly minimal funk theme. 

But the most effective stretch of this introspective approach is the middle of the show. The Ghost that opens the second set promises a funky dance party for the fourth, but cowfunk is no longer the default move, and the jam is instead slightly ominous, thrown off kilter by ascending, harmonized Trey lines that refuse to resolve. A year ago, it might have decomposed into entropy, but instead a subtle shift in mood releases Trey from his perseveration and he gently, almost imperceptibly, guides the band into Slave.

Two songs later, the patient zero of this newly unhurried approach finally reveals itself. What’s The Use?, the second track to crossover from The Siket Disc, happens to be my favorite Phish song, and it emerges fully formed in its debut, a gorgeous melody (refractorally based on a jam based on a jam) played at a luxuriously slow pace. Just last month, Trey told Jordan Hoffman about how it was an instant success: “I didn’t even know what that song was, then we were watching the audience breathe with it, so we played it even slower next time.” While not as open-ended as My Left Toe, WTU, the composition leaves plenty of open space for the band to bask in as long as they like, providing an effective counter-balance against their default tendency to get fast and loud, particularly on a holiday. 

The band seems to share my enthusiasm for What’s The Use?, as it will go on to be a defining song of the summer tour, showing up frequently in the first half. Based on the patient jamming throughout the show, its influence also seems to be spreading in positive ways. Easing off the velocity helps balance out the new, denser sound discussed yesterday – a much better tape for this show helps too – and provides some fresh territory to explore in the year to come, an unhurried, textured sound that further iterates the breakthroughs of 1998. On the night where Phish finally got the chance to celebrate the birth of its country, they also threw a coming-out party for the sound of 1999, quietly launching their own barrage of fireworks.

* - They got an (I think) unprecedented and unequaled three opportunities this year, thanks to 4th of July and two outdoor festivals.