Whatever You Do, Take Care Of Your Shoes

That’s a question I’ll leave you to decide.  But, after giving these Super Bal IX sets a few listens over the past few weeks, I have my own opinions on that.  The bar was set pretty high even before the boys descended onto Watkins Glen for their July 4th festival spectacular.  The first leg of this summer’s tour had been a strong one, seeing the band pick right up where they left off January 1 and most of late 2010.  So, naturally looking forward to this festival, expectations were large and many speculated that the best was yet to come.

So what’s my take?  Super Ball IX was a good festival.  Nothing mind blowing, but from a playing perspective and a song choice perspective, Phish delivered a solid weekend of quality playing for those willing to make the trek out to Watkins Glen.  While lacking musically from past fest’s like The Clifford Ball, Great Went, and Lemonwheel, this one will surely go down in history as a quality event.  Moments like July 1st’s  ”Bathtub Gin,” the Phish debut of Mike’s “Suskind Hotel,” the long awaited return of “Scents And Subtle Sounds” (with intro!), and the final set’s “Waves > What’s The Use?” all stick out for me as musical highlights.  And the covers?  A great balance of old and new, as the boys dropped great versions of “Crosseyed And Painless” (which I have dubbed the song of the tour so far, “Torn And Frayed,” “Time Loves A Hero,” “Peaches En Regalia,” “Life On Mars?,” a humorous yet appropriate rendition of AC/DC’s “Big Balls;” and one of my other favorite moments of the festival, the first set closing “Monkey Man” debut on July 2nd.

And there was the storage jam.  I think many of us called a mystery set before the festival even occurred.  Bringing back an old tradition, Phish emerged in the middle of the night on Saturday to play an hour long improv set, this time choosing their venue to be a storage facility erected in the town square.  The jam was certainly an interesting one, featuring instrument rotation from each band member as they played behind tinted windows that only allowed for their silhouettes to be visible.  The ambient jam was very reminiscent of past mystery sets including IT’s Tower Jam and the Lemonwheel Ambient Jam.  A large part of this set was the visuals; something that simply can’t translate onto the recordings.  As the boys dove deep into murky waters here, they closed out the madness with a spooky (and easily the strangest) version of “Sleeping Monkey” to date.

So, in total, I think Super Ball IX stands on its own, and held up nicely against other 3.0 events.  We’ve seen better playing and song choices for sure, but we’ve also seen sloppier performances.  As I sit and listen to these sets again and again, I get a satisfied feeling that I’m sure those in attendance also felt.

images courtesy of Dave Vann and Brantley Gutierrez.