Features

Phish: Back on The Train Part Two (Relix Revisited)

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At some point though, the band decided to book a room and put things in motion. How long was that planned?

There were moments early on that we didn’t follow through with. Maybe someone said, “Can we play New Year’s ‘08?” Or maybe [it was] earlier—New Year’s ’07? I definitely would have said no because I was busy. There are always a million ideas floating around. We had this one idea to go around the country and play in revolving restaurants or only play in mom-and-pop music stores. So the idea for Hampton, I don’t know when the moment would have been. I think it was Trey saying it would always be good to have something on the calendar rather than just talking about it ambiguously.

The four of you were at Hampton a few days prior to the first show. Can you describe the preparation that took place at the venue?

We had 36 days of practice scheduled from November until the shows and then we were in there for three days, playing all day. We kept reviewing the hard stuff—the stuff with a lot of memorized compositions—but we were trying to get used to everything: jamming and songs and compositions in the context of being back on the big stage in an echoey room.

For the first few hours, maybe the whole first day, it was really difficult for me to just get used to the echo. You get used to these rooms by growing into them and it was a sea of echo where every note that everyone played lasted for five seconds. You know how it is hard to talk when a cell phone is giving you an echo of your own voice? That’s what it was like. But we were just going through everything exhaustively.

What led you to revert back to your original stage configuration? [Ed note: Until 1999, all four musicians lined up across the stage, with Page and Fishman serving as bookends, while Trey and Mike stood in the middle. Then Fishman moved to the center behind Mike with Trey at stage left. In 2002 when the group returned from hiatus, Trey and Mike switched places, which brought Trey back to the center.]

I think Trey saw a picture. I really like it because even though it’s nice for everyone in the band to hear the drums from a closer distance, which was the reason for the changing it the other way, I really like being nestled in the middle with the instruments that take a wider footprint on the side. Plus, everyone is able to see Fish a little better. A lot of decisions are Trey’s, a lot of ideas are Trey’s—but I was really happy about that.

What is your critical assessment of the music at Hampton?

The first night, overall, wasn’t my favorite. The second two nights, I loved. The first night was a bit mental for me because we were playing so many of the songs that have so many composed parts all clustered together and that was symbolic of the mental aspect. I said that to [producer] Steve Lillywhite after the second night. I came up to him and said, “That was better. I thought the first night felt a little mental.” Then he pointed to his head and said, “The first night seemed as if it was from here.” Then he moved to his chest and said, “It felt like the second night was more from here.” And I said, “Yeah, if the third night can be from the butt, we’ll be in good shape.”

The first night was also a little troublesome, with getting used to the sound again and just thinking too much rather than just allowing myself to get absorbed. All of the second two nights felt great to me, with incredible energy and incredible flow—where it didn’t matter what song we were playing, it just felt like part of this big flowing animal. And it wasn’t about intoxication because all the band members were sober—no wine, no anything—and it wasn’t about anything else except the flow of the songs. I was really impressed with how it felt those second two nights.