5-15-00 -- Y100 Phish Sonic Session

Date: Mon, 15 May 2000 19:50:17 EDT
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Y100 Phish Sonic Session
 
To whom it may concern,
    Today, Monday May 15 2000, I attended the Y100 Phish Sonic Session in
Philadelphia.  If you're not familiar with a sonic session, it is a small,
intimate show of about 50 people in a tiny recording studio.  Philadelphia's
radio station, WPLY (Y100), produces these with tons of bands.  I love Phish,
but not a Phish head, and they were amazing.  I literally stood 2 feet from
Trey and the band, and the furthest person was 15 feet from them.  They
played for 75 minutes, and the set list is posted  on Gadiel's Phish page.  I
had the opportunity to speak with the band, and they were happy to do the
show because they never do small shows anymore, and probably won't for a long
time.  It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and an experience I'll never
forget.  After the show, they took a 2 hour break, the first crowd left, and
another station came in for their show with a new crowd.  I stayed for both
because Phish called Y100, the station that I work for, and said they needed
some volunteers to be a roadie for the day, so I jumped at it, and unloaded
and loaded the truck.  It was a great time.  Just thought I'd let you guys
know.  See ya.
 
Scott

Date: Tue, 16 May 2000 18:30:05 -0400
From: Ryan Paul [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: review of Phish Sonic Session 5-15-00

I was fortunate enough to attend the Y100 Sonic Session in Philly and
offer the following.

Set List:
First Tube, Farmhouse, Twist Around*, Heavy Things, Get Back On The Train,
Piper, Inlaw Josie Wales**, Bug, Gotta Jibboo

* The crowd did the "Whooo!" and this cracked Trey up
** Played on an Acoustic Guitar; Trey goofed up twice and said "that's
why we're in  a recording studio, we
         can do this all over again"

The studio was a small, very, very intimate setting.  The band was
arranged in a 'corner' with the crowd of about 50 in a semi-circle around
them.  At first when we entered the studio some(approx.) 1/2 the people
were sitting, which stopped with my row, because as dedicated phans we
refused to sit and intended to dance our &%#^* off, even when told to do
so by someone. They were met with many cheers and applause after a brief
set of rules; no pictures, no recording and be cool, we're in a studio.
Once the band took the stage Trey, I think, said something to the effect
of, "You can stand!"

They all took their places and after some polite banter with the crowd the
broke into the beautiful First Tube.  Trey's guitar sounded sweet in this
small setting, the sounds just completely encapsulated my head. You could
see Trey mouthing the notes as he played them. So cool !!! Farmhouse was
fun, what a chance to really hear Trey's voice in this most intimate of
settings.  Twist was very cool, they moved through Heavy Things and Back
on the Train quickly with what I recall as not much deviation from the
recorded version, except a small jam in Back on the Train.

Once they started Piper I knew it would be good....they took it all they
way up there playing harder and harder and faster and faster they REALLY
rocked this one out!  They were tight as can be and on each plateau they
would get back to the central melody and then take it one step faster.
They were having a good time!  What a jam that was!!!!  After Piper they
slowed it down a bit with The Inlaw Josie Wales, for which Trey traded the
electric for the acoustic and let his sweet fingers go to work.  The
beginning messed him up a few times though (twice) and he had to restart
remarking that this is what happens in a recording studio (he is ever the
perfectionist) How cool to actually see his fingers move on that beautiful
song!  Bug was ok, although it is not a favorite of mine then came Jiboo.  
WOW they really funked it out and as my friend M. Stiener would say "threw
out a buffet of scintillating tunes so digity dank that it was virtual
audio opium"

I was glad I was able to attend, even if it was my friend, who wishes to
remain nameless, that threw out the terribly long joke that will live in
infamy. In his defense he was nervous as we are the biggest Phish geeks of
all......

It was so much fun to have interaction from the band in between each song
people were shouting out songs like Harpua, the Curtain, Ghost etc.....

Of course someone yelled out Cheesecake to which Fishman said "we need a
new word" Trey suggested Fishman and chanted it "Fishman Fishman", a
little angry like he told us to be NYE.  Then Page suggested Cheesesteak
which Fishman thought was so geographical.  Someone yelled out Fishcake
which was a favorite of mine!

The entire day was just amazing...they lived up to all my expectations. I
wish they had played some songs that aren't on the new album, but I guess
it was a promotional gig, as Trey eluded when he asked if we noticed a
theme to the songs being played (all from the new album). Among the other
things that were yelled out to the band was "When's the last time you
played for 50?"  to which Trey playfully replied "$50 dollars?

What an experiance.  I CAN'T WAIT FOR RADIO
CITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ryan

After about 1 hour of playing Trey asked how much time was left and a
production person replied 25 minutes....we were all psyched...someone
yelled out, while others were suggesting the last few songs, "play a 25
minute tweezer"  that got a rise out of Trey and the other band menbers
also!!


05/15/00 Y100 Sonic Session, Philadelphia, PA

First Tube, Farmhouse, Twist Around*, Heavy Things, Get Back On The Train,
Piper, Inlaw Josie Wales**, Bug, Gotta Jibboo

* The crowd did the "Wooo!" and this cracked Trey up
** Trey goofed up twice and said "that's why we're in  a recording studio, we
can do this all over again" 

Notes: Approximately 50 people were in attendance.  Took a while for them to
figure out each song they were going to play. People would yell things like
"Harpua" etc during the time they were trying to figure out what to play and
Trey said something like "Don't you notice the theme going on here?" ;-)

Someone also of course yelled "CHEESECAKE!" and Fishman said, "I think we need
a new word...that one's getting old." Trey said our new word is "Fishman" Page
came on and said, "How about the new word is CHEESESTEAK!" Fishman replied
"Oh, thats very geographical of you!"

Also, while they were flipping the tape, Trey asked the audience if someone
wanted to tell a joke. They went to Fishman for a joke but Fishman didn't have
anything, so an audience member started to tell a joke, but it was taking him
a really long time, he couldn't get it right, he screwed up, so Trey said
"this better be a good one" because the kid was rambling, but he finally got
it out and Trey made a "bad joke riff" WA WAA WAAA WAAAAAA (the best i could
do typing a sound effect).

---a note from the guy that told the bad joke------
Andy Wharhol never said that your 15 minutes of fame had to be good fame. As
the person who bribed and begged his way into the Sonic Sessions in Philly, I
was naturally excited and somewhat overwhelmed by seeing my favorite band
(greatest hobby and probably my only true passion) playing 8 feet in front of
my face.  With over half the crowd actually anticipating sitting down for the
session and not knowing any of the tunes, I really wanted to make the
experience as good for everyone (including the band) as I could. So when Trey
asked for a joke and the audience didn't respond and Fishman didn't have one
and the DJ from the radio station who Trey specifically asked for a little
entertainment during the changing of the tape did not step up to the plate, I
decided to jump on the grenade.  Now, I will admit that my nerves and
enthusiasm got the best of me, but the description below of the experience is
not reflective of what actually happened. Despite rambling my way through a
lawyer joke where the lawyer was part of the punch line and I put him in the
middle of the joke -- the audience including Trey laughed both during my
enthusiastic presentation where I stopped myself twice with -- Oh I screwed up
but....  which definitely got more laughs than the punch line but taking
inventory of friends and neighbors, I am confident that the overall experience
was definitely better than the silence of no one responding to Trey's request.
Now if I had to do it all over again, this is what I would have said:
 
"All right since no one is responding, I'll jump on it. But Trey, if I make
you laugh, can I get a permanent Laminant?"
 
Two professional hockey players, one a rookie and one a veteran, are in New
Orleans for Jazz fest when they go to a bar to see George Porter Play and
notice Jon Fishman and his girlfriend sitting in a corner. When Fishman goes
up on stage to play with Porter, the rookie decides to make his move.  He
walks up to the young woman and starts to hit on her only to be rebuked. He
scampers back over to his friend who asks what happened? " The rookie says "
you know things were going great until she asked me what I did for a living
and I told her I was a hockey player" [this is where I nervously inserted
lawyer].  The veteran says -- "Hey rook. you don't tell him you are a hockey
player [again a nervous insert of lawyer occurred much to the laughter of the
crowd when I announced I screwed up again] You need to tell him you are a
professional. Tell them you are a lawyer a doctor -- anything but don't tell
them you are a hockey player." So the rookie decides to try it again and walks
up to a beautiful blond sitting alone and the next thing you know they are
having a great conversation and before you know it they go back to her place
and before you know it they are getting undressed and in no time they are
having sex and the rookie can't stop thinking to himself, "This is great, I
have only been a lawyer for 2 hours and already I screwed someone".
 
Now, that's a long joke that gets remarkably longer when you present it the
way I did, but my hope by sending you this email is to clear the record and
spread the word to the community that if I get my 15 minutes of fame back, I
will definitely strive to make a better showing. :)
----------------------------------------------

According to phish.com, The Session is tentatively scheduled to air on Y100
and online on Memorial Day Weekend. Also, a DJ at Y100 said on the air it will
be airing on a "Sunday to be announced."  So I would say it seems pretty
likely that Sunday on Memorial Day weekend is the day (5/28), however, I can't
stress enough we don't know for sure yet!

Thanks to Tina (via Dave) and Phans.Com for the setlist!

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