06/05/09 Phish @ Jones Beach Amphitheater, Wantagh, NY

Set 1: Wilson, Buried Alive, Kill Devil Falls, AC/DC Bag, I Didn't Know, My Friend My Friend, Ya Mar, Theme from the Bottom, Boogie On Reggae Woman, Split Open and Melt
Set 2: Down With Disease > Twist, Piper > Backwards Down The Number Line, Free, Twenty Years Later, Also Sprach Zarathustra, Slave to the Traffic Light
Encore: A Day in the Life

Great show, horrible weather. I remember thinking the rising waters were going to consume us all during the oceanic tunes Theme and Melt. Other highlights included Buried Alive, I Didn't Know, the debut of the appropriately dreary Twenty Years Later, and 2001.

06/04/09 Phish @ Jones Beach Amphitheater, Wantagh, NY

Set 1: Grind, The Divided Sky, Ocelot, The Squirming Coil, Punch You in the Eye, Dirt, NICU, Ghost, Run Like An Antelope
Set 2: Water in the Sky, Birds of a Feather, Drowned > Meatstick, Time Turns Elastic, Waste, You Enjoy Myself
Encore: Rock and Roll

The second night of the Jones Beach run featured one of my favorite songs in the opening slot, played much better than the last time I saw it at Coventry. Ghost, Drowned > Meatstick and the Rock & Roll encore were the highlights of the night.

06/03/09 Mike Gordon, Bill Kreutzmann and Scott Murawski @ City Winery, New York, NY

On the day off between Jones Beach shows, Mike Gordon celebrated his birthday at Tribeca's City Winery with an impromptu performance featuring Scott Murawski of  Max Creek and the Mike Gordon Band, and Bill Kreutzmann of the Grateful Dead and the 7 Walkers (who actually had a gig scheduled that night). The first set was reportedly short and sparsely attended, but as word spread, the crowd swelled (I drove in from Queens in record time!) and was treated to classics like "Quinn the Eskimo," "Express Yourself," Come Together" and "Peggy-O," as well as the debut of Page's gift to Mike - the fire bass, which would emerge sporadically at Phish performances of "Frankenstein" throughout the remainder year.

06/02/09 Phish @ Jones Beach Amphitheater, Wantagh, NY

1: Runaway Jim, Foam, Stealing Time From The Faulty Plan1, Timber (Jerry the Mule), Cities, Driver, Reba, Possum, Farmhouse, If I Could2

2: Mike's Song > Simple > Wolfman's Brother > Weekapaug Groove, When the Circus Comes to Town, Kill Devil Falls1, Harry Hood, Loving Cup

Encore: Suzy Greenberg

1First Time Played

2Last Played 6/28/2000 (101 Shows)

It didn't take too long into Phish's return to catch a local run. As luck would have it, they booked three nights at the site of my first concert ever, with this first date being added to the initial summer tour dates on the same day that Fenway was announced. Like Fenway, the first night at Jones featured a pre-show rainbow. This was my dad's first show, and they encored with a song whose lyrics he likes to bring up when diminishing the band. He and his buddy, Deadheads from way back, enjoyed the show, despite both taking a brief nap midway through the second set.

05/26/09 Gang Gang Dance/Soft Circle/PackFM & others @ Lehman Lawn, Barnard College New York, NY

It was a nice treat to see local psych dance rock group Gang Gang Dance up close and personal on a university quad. The earlier part of the schedule lulled a bit, so we crossed over to the Columbia campus and stumbled upon a sparsely attended folk festival.

05/23/09 Star ’69 (Dead tribute) & others @ private party, Queens, NY

Baller BBQ V: One More Saturday Night featured local Dead tribute band Star '69 and a bunch of my friends jamming in the backyard. Good times as always.

05/12/09 Chris Barron, John Popper, Mike Gordon & Joe Russo @ National Underground, New York NY

Acting on an tip from Phantasy Tour, I hightailed it to the Lower East Side and walked in just in time to see Joe Russo and Mike Gordon jam with Chris Barron of 1990s downtown jam darlings The Spin Doctors. Later on, John Popper of fellow radio-friendly jammers Blues Traveler sat in on the Doctors' ubiquitous "Two Princes." Not bad for a Tuesday night.

05/03/09 Kid Koala/Adira Amram @ Le Poisson Rouge, New York, NY

Kid Koala, also known as Your Mom's Favorite DJ, is one of the best turntable technicians out there and one of the most exuberant performers to watch on stage. Adira Amram is a spandex-clad diva hilariously spoofing '80s pop.

05/01/09 Future Rock/Shout Out Out Out Out Out @ Le Poisson Rouge, New York, NY

This was a solid night of quality livetronica downtown with both Chicago and Edmonton represented.

04/07/09 King Britt/Derek Plaslaiko/Zemi17/etc @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple, Brooklyn, NY

Though slightly past its prime, The Danger still knew how to put on a spectacle. This party brought ice sculptures and banh mi to the cavernous Brooklyn Masonic Temple, along with an eclectic line up. Things got a little weird.

04/13/09 Mission: On Mars @ Zebulon, Brooklyn, NY

I always thought this Indian classical fusion group deserved a little more love. Both the band and two of my favorite Williamsburg spots at which I saw them are now defunct.

04/11/09 Orchard Lounge/The Indobox @ Sullivan Hall, New York, NY

I think this was a Lotus afterparty. The late night was especially sloppy. I was denied admittance to the venue between acts and eventually ejected for the first time in nearly a decade.

03/13/09 2020 Soundsystem/Ralph Lawson DJ Set/JDH & Dave P. @ Le Poisson Rouge, New York, NY

Ralph Lawson's live band project seemed poised for big things at one point.

02/19/09 Medeski Martin & Wood w/Cyro Baptista @ City Winery, New York, NY

For the final night of this run, for which I believe each venue was a personal first, the trio was joined by eccentric percussionist Cyro Baptista.

02/18/09 Medeski Martin & Wood @ Le Poisson Rouge, New York, NY

The second night of this run was part of the Radiolarians album series which honed compositions through live performance.

02/17/09 Medeski Martin & Wood @ 92Y Tribeca, New York, NY

The newest of the bunch, this southern outpost of the 92nd street Y featured organic IPAs and overpriced grilled cheese to accompany stellar sight lines and acoustics. Medeski plucking the inside strings of the piano provided a lasting audiovisual impression.

03/22/08 Orchard Lounge/Pet Cemetery/The Indobox/Digital Frontier @ Paul Robeson Theater, Brooklyn, NY

Despite all the raucous behavior one would expect when allowing crunchtronica heads upwards of a 30 pack each in a dirt-floored church basement, the most memorable aspect of this was when my non-scene friend saw some kidz going gaga over some heady crystals in the bathroom light.

02/07/09 Soulive @ The Bell House, Brooklyn, NY

Seeing a favorite band in a smaller, brand new venue is always a treat. This night started at a friends' Park Slope apartment and took an adventurous turn to local funk ensemble HeyLady's practice space for a drunk and disorderly jam session after party. LISTEN HERE!

01/24/09 Electric Junkyard Gamelan/ATTN: @ Rubulad, Brooklyn, NY

This go-round at the expansive play land of Rubulad featured a couple of local acts. We came for the aesthetic allure of Electric Junkyard Gamelan's DIY twist on the traditional Indonesian ensemble, and we discovered the 8-bit beats of the eminently un-Googleable ATTN:.

01/24/09 Lachi @ National Underground, New York, NY

After this record release party, I believe my drummer friend was asked to leave the group.