Phish Festival 8 Halloween Cover Album Teaser

ziggy just bit the dust, stardust to be exact

Ziggy got DUSTED!!!

Anybody else want to weigh in on the supposed confirmation of King Crimson via Bands That Jam?

http://twitter.com/BandsThatJam/statuses/5238907154

i can’t wait.  heading to stay at a friend’s house near JFK.  flying out on virgin at 9:30 to LAX. see you all there.  hoping for bowie or stones.  be good and travel safely.

I’m with Ficus, Hoping for Graceland, with a great horn section.  Can’t see the costume much though…

My guess is that as someone posted earlier the top eight will all have one song played from them.

The final three I believe will be Ziggy Stardust, Exile on Main Street and Thriller.

I think they will do a tripped out Harpua/Frankenstein with a Michael Jackson is alive theme before going into Thriller with half of the audience psyched and the other half bummed, before cutting out and saying “PSYCH”.  They will then play Exile on Mainstreet in it’s entirety with accompaniment from Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings.  I think there is a great chance a song from Astral Weeks gets covered during Sundays acoustic jam.  It’s anyone’s bet now but I think Bowie and the Stones are the favorites now that Zappa bit the dust.

is it just me, or is one of the ladies in the new/original Ladyland cover holding Ziggy sideways?

An idea about Mike’s message… could there be a double album, in which they kill the 1st part of it, but they play the 2nd part?

A comment about Thriller… this would be my least favorite out of all of them left, but would still be fun.  Its a costume - which could reveal their inner character, or could just be whimsical.  I’d rather see Thriller this year (because its timely) than any other year.  That way, I could dismiss it as whimsy.  The biggest downside for Thriller IMO, is that it could possibly attract people who do not get Phish.  In addition, I grew up with MJ and other pop stars, but once I discovered The Who in high school, the Grateful Dead (and Phish) in college, I did not turn back.  Soooo (although my next words might not be perfectly chosen), I would feel a little betrayed if Phish decided to go in what would appear to be a more commercial direction.

Finally, no offense to anyone, but I will not participate in this Flash Mob BS.  I am going to a phish festival and plan to dance my ass off any time I want to (like, ALL the time), and the only people I will listen to to do something is the band itself.  Sorry, but I just do not think that that is the right thing to be trying to do at a Phish show.

Listening to Purple Rain right now and imagining Fishman singing “The Beautiful Ones.” That would be awesome! Even if you don’t think so, give Let’s go Crazy a listen and get pumped up for what’s coming!

Seriously though…I know Trey has referenced Exile when talking about his reasons for building the barn in VT and wanting to recreate that vibe for the band. He thinks a lot of that album. That’s truly the one I’m hoping for, all speculation aside.

Thanks Todd for this site and all the good people posting all these weeks…has made me very happy to be going and sharing in the groove!
I just relistened to my first show…HORDE tour 93 in Richmond, VA and they opened with 2001…blew me away then and I can’t wait to feel that feeling again this weekend. Safe travels everyone…keep it between the lines!

The twitpic that Todd linked to definitely shows the “oil derrick light platforms” in the stage area that the leaked map mentioned…

@pint

interesting, but i’d say there there will be very few casual fans. If you live in L.A. and know who phish is, you are by definition, not casual.  Sure there will be some party kidz there, but all my phriends that live in SoCal are as old skool as they come and trek’d all the way to Big C and Coventry and MSG, way back when, faithfully.  My guess would be that there will be relatively few “local’s” going.  Colorado and San Francisco might be sending more then LA and San Diego.  I’m hearing ~60k; My guess was 50 at best.  Anyone hear different?
of course, I have no real clue what I’m talking about, but giving how low the attendance numbers have always been for Shoreline/LA and any other SoCal venue, I think i’m close.

I can see it now….an army of Jamtopia Todds wandering the grounds…

@matt from chicago - re: did anyone remeber the post where i typed that they had aready learned the lamb and then decided to play quadrophenia

I do.  You and I were early advocates of the Lamb.  I had heard that they learned Joe’s Garage, but changed last minute to Quad.

Lamb would be my favorite… but methinks it’s a stretch given how few of us old Genesis fans can still make a trip like this.  Exile makes the most sense. KC would be awesome, but I haven’t heard anyone answer my questions about how in hell they do all the violin parts on that LP.

If they do cover Lamb, then they will be by far the coolest band to ever exist and my phishhead passion will leap into the stratosphere.  That is such a great LP, it was Genesis’ peak.  I’d almost feel a personal sense of pride if they covered it.  God, I love this band.

Anyone have a link to the Festival map?  I CANT FIND ONE!

@Jeff Schwartz

But here is an amendment to that - They actually start playing “Wanna Be Starting Something” the first track of Thriller to trick the audience then stop playing that and bust into the real cover album, whatever that may be.  Now, that would be a good trick.

They did that!  On 10/31/95 the song started playing over the speakers as the band was coming out for Set II.  Then they launched into Quadrophenia.

Similarly, they began playing “Breathe/Speak to Me” over the speakers at the beginning of 10/31/94 Set II, which then cut into the Ed Sullivan intro for the Beatles. 

I don’t recall a similar fake-out at ‘96 Halloween.

In ‘98 there was no gimmick…they actually handed out Phishbills and announced the tracklist for Loaded.

WAAAH I’M PACKING!!!

- Markah

I am voting for Let it Bleed.
But whatever it is it won’t matter. 
Every show this year has been better than the last.  Hampton then Fenway then Mansfield then Hartford.  That second set at Hartford was the best I have heard yet.  Can;t wait.

@Todd
Thanks man for helping me waste many hours of my life.  You should have a checklist for each of the fifty types of beer and we will take turns buying your way through the checklist over the weekend.

Astral Weeks with Sharon Jones on vocals and a flautist.

Where did you get that map, what am I missing?

PiNT,

This will be my first festival, but it won’t be easy. I live in California, but it’s still a 500 drive. I hope my festival n00bishness doesn’t ruin your weekend…oh, and I’ve only been seeing the band since ‘92.

“I might turn off comment moderation during my flight.”

All Hell’s gonna break loose!!!!

@Jeff in LA

Great minds think alike!!!(re:my previous post)

They’re gonna be startin something alright!

“HERE’S THE TRICK….”

Mike must be masterminding this.

or undermining it!!!! AGGGGgggggghhhhgaghahahaha

Here’s another teaser pic of the festival grounds from @tmeyeratplay...

http://twitpic.com/narqo

Hot damn, look at that finely manicured lawn!

Trick:  They play one tune from each of the final 8 on Halloween.  Starting with “Time to Pretend”.
Treat:  Acoustic Astral Weeks on Sunday

@phunguy - No problem, I just can’t believe how hyper sensitive everyone in these parts have been, I have been going through pains to make it ‘not personal’.  I’ve unbunched my panties…

But this does speak to a larger point,  its safe to assume that since this festival is within an hour’s drive of the 2nd largest metropolitan area in the US, that there are alot of attendee’s that are going that would not have gone to any of the previous festivals.  I just can’t help but sense that there are going to be a larger percentage of ‘casual’ fans at this festival.  If you’ve been to prior festival’s… this was not the case, the majority of people there went through great pains to go… the festival was only attractive to people willing to put up with the trip to go.  (Okay, you could argue that cypress was convenient for residents in south florida… but the ‘la boca vista’ crowd wasn’t really in attendance there).

This one is a bit different in that everyone who’s ever been to Coachella can make a case for going to the Phish festival (Coachella is a blast… let’s go to this too!).  I’m not saying if that’s good or bad…. just different.  I’ll reserve judgement until after the fest whether it was good or bad. 

But based on the number of people hoping for the ‘Top 40’, ‘pop culture’ commercially successful LP’s (MJ, Prince, MGMT,Kiss, etc…);  I can’t help but think there’s alot of ‘non-hardcore’ fans going.  If they’d have e

did anyone remeber the post where i typed that they had aready learned the lamb and then decided to play quadrophenia

the killer album= Paul Simon’s Graceland

@gaber re: i’m gonna make a JAMTOPIA t-shirt and write TODD on the back so people buy me free beers all wknd!  ;)

If you do this I will be the first to buy you a beer.

@PiNT re: will the site post updates after you get on your flight?  Or are we ‘on our own’ after tomorrow at noon?

I’m still trying to figure this out.

I might turn off comment moderation during my flight.

I’ve also got a new post for the actual Festival recap that’ll probably go live some time tomorrow. Will be similar in nature to my past recaps with setlists, videos, aud/sbd links, etc.

@pint

Phorgive me, I was responding to this overbroad generalism:

It seems the ‘I hope its Thriller’ crowd seems to post thier messages late, indicating they are more ‘west coast’ residents (and perhaps going to this show because it’s a relatively short drive.

The “there’s no way its Thriller” voices seem to post earlier and be from the East coast (myself included), and may be more familiar with the band over a long time.”
>>>
Does that NOT imply if you are posting from the West Coast you are likely less familiar with the band?
If you are “more familiar”, as most that even read this blog likely are, then you should realized that PHISH can play anything, and “there’s no way…” is just wrong.  I don’t want Thriller, but if that was what they played, i’m sure it would be awesome.  I guess one could say the same thing for MGMT as I think they would only put on a costume that was Phish worthy.  (It’s not).  If I was placing a bet, it would be for Ziggy, but King C is making a Dark Horse late push…

Sorry your panties were bunched, I’m just smack talking

JUST FIGURED OUT MY HALLOWEEN COSTUME! i’m gonna make a JAMTOPIA t-shirt and write TODD on the back so people buy me free beers all wknd!  ;)

26 minute “Beat It” soundcheck?

@TEDFTED: No one consulted me and asked my opinion!!!Phish needs to ask ME what they should play!

Allister from Chicago….

Almost all Phish songs are covers???  U are a moron.  You obviously only know their covers….

Tony from Chicago || Oct. 28, 2009 at 02:33 PM | #

Instead of 2 albums I think that this is a reference to Thriller…the one album they started playing…with beat it and never finished.

IMHO

Well, this could also apply to Led Zeppelin I - they play Good Times Bad Times, but have never finished the album.

I’d be happy with any of the albums left except forThriller, but really I just want to see them play HARPUA!!!

@allister
what pills are you on that makes you think a majority of phish songs are covers. Yes the do play quite a few covers but a majority your nuts.
hopes its Ladyland land in the end voodoo child would be nuts

@Tony at Chicago

You may have something with Thriller being started.  I thought it would be funny if Phish gave a nod to their first ever show where they got drowned out by Thriller and for the Halloween set they played “Fire” or something from their first show over the PA system and then came on stage to play Thriller, thus drowning themselves out a la their first show.

But here is an amendment to that - They actually start playing “Wanna Be Starting Something” the first track of Thriller to trick the audience then stop playing that and bust into the real cover album, whatever that may be.  Now, that would be a good trick.

My folks are huge Yes fans, so a bit bummed about that death, but it was to be expected.

Less than 24 hours till I am in the f’n desert.

YES!!!!

Just to recap…

There are now only 5 albums not listed on what seems to be a more and more legitimate map…

Zep 1
Ziggy
MGMT
Thriller
Astral Weeks

If the map really is legit, then one of these five is the next to go.  I’m betting it’s Astral Weeks.  Any takers?

The Wall is missing from the full chronological list of killed albums on this site.  I now know which musical costume Todd will be playing Halloween night. :-)

As a Phish 1.0 Chicago to SF transplant with 3 fests in my belt (Went, Big Cypress, Coventry), I have to say that Thriller speculation/hopes is not limited to “casual” fans.  On the other hand, there are a LOT of folks calling for Thriller locally, far more then the proportions I see represented in these boards. 

It’s the biggest selling pop/rock album of all time—thus cannot be summarily dismissed.  And if you think only “classic rock” albums are possibilities, no matter how many shows you’ve been to, your conception of Phish is overly narrow IMHO.

Dark Horse Pick: Chocolate and Cheese (Ween on ‘Ween!)

Joy all;
dusty

YES   just got the ax

yes yes yes yes, oh no

Yes album is out!

No Yes, Yes noooooooooooo.
shit guess the map was real, wish I never saw that dang map:(

Later YES.

Yes is dead

yes is dead.

leaving Humboldt in 2 hours

are we there yet are we there yet are we there yet?

Yes is dead.

no! yes!

YES, You are dead!

Yes is gone!!!

Leaving from Utah @ 3pm. Going to get there at 3 AM or actually 2 AM. Due to the gaining an hour thing. How’s the line/scene looking. We’ll be stalking the site for a place to crash until it opens. Just to be clear it opens and noon tomorrow not midnight tonight right?

The Yes Album is dead!  Bummer; but I’m glad to see progress on the killings… 

:-)  26 hours, can’t wait!

Yes???

NO!  another one falls…and then there were 12….

see you all there

YES? NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

@Marty from NOLA || Oct. 28, 2009 at 02:07 PM | #

“In Mike’s message, he wants us to figure out the trick, the idiosyncrasy of why sometimes he has 99 new messages or sometimes he has 100 new messages.

He speculates that this may be due to him listening to one message, and not deleting it or saving, which causes to him to have that extra message.

He provokes us to figure out why….Mike, you already know!  When you listen to one message , but end it prematurely, it gets added to your pile of 99 messages, and you have room for one more message.

When you listen to one album, but don’t finish it, you have room for one more album.”

Instead of 2 albums I think that this is a reference to Thriller…the one album they started playing…with beat it and never finished.

IMHO

@CoachellaGodzilla..

your a Turd. Did u say phish has been on Hiatus since 1996? maybe u been on Hiatus w/ some DMB fans or something but.. 1997-2000 was the “second Coming!” with (1992-1994 being the first….) Phat halloween album.. Loaded ‘98.. Big Cypress ‘99, Europe ‘97… Multiple nights @ Deer Creek..97, 99, and 2000… I’m not saying that they were all great nights.. but 12/6 and 12/7 1997 are arguably two of the best Phish Concerts E-V-E-R… oh well,.. U Can put a fish in the water but u can’t make him be a nose with feet.

And to the dude suggesting little Feat.. THAT"D be SWEEEET!!!

@ARAPP from man on the mountain :

You do realize the majority of Phish songs are covers right? And alot of those covers come from the records they listed. I mean, tech. the whole weekend will be mostly covers. But what makes them sick is Phish puting thier own Phishiness to it.  So really, them playing one song for each of the 99 would mean new Phish.  And I love it when I hear new Phish.  Hell I love it when I hear old Phish.  And present Phish. And future Phish. And Phish from another galaxy Phish.

I do not think they will be revealing the album before Saturday. I think the album that is killing the other albums will be revealed right before or as they go on stage on some sort of big screen.

WillEd11 re: Any word yet on where they are going to sell the posters?

Nothing official.

My best advice would be to get as close to the gate for the concert field as you can be when the doors open. And make sure your shoes are strapped on tight.

@Jeff Schwartz - hehehe… my head would indeed explode.  Like MJ in the pepsi commercial!

Quite an appropriate Halloween stunt, but it might freak out my kids.

I’ve got a hotel room that I am not using if anyone is looking for it.

It’s one of the Motor Lodges that is as close as you can get.  They won’t let me out of the charge so I figured I would try to help someone out.

Email me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Cheers

should mentioned that Electriclady land and King Crimson might have a Hunky Dory time at the show.

my bad

I think Mike’s message implies that a killed album is coming back.

damn. why did I call? why did I call?????

this is all giving me a headache.

Hey Todd—- will the site post updates after you get on your flight?  Or are we ‘on our own’ after tomorrow at noon?

Either way, you enjoy, and thanks again for this very entertaining and (actually enlightening) website.  You done good, methinks you won’t be having to buy too many beers yourself.

@ Bigfoot_Mike from Seattle, WA
 

I’ve come to the discouraging feeling that really, I have no idea what they’re gonna do for the Halloween set.

Isn’t this the fun part?  Do any of us REALLY want to know?  No!  Someone said it before, but it’s like opening your presents before Xmas.  It’s fun to think you know…but it sucks to really know (especially if we KNEW it was MJ or MGMT—-then that would REALLY suck!).

Thanks to all for all the fun in guessing! Thanks Todd for maintaining this site for our fun and speculation!

Today may get very interesting.  It stands to reason that when they killed Apostrophe there was a technical glitch and they removed The Wall and Exile, which are the next two that will be killed.  Now that the Wall is dead, Exile should be next and if so, it is the first of the campground albums to die - which means it’s all up for grabs at that point.  When Exile goes, I’m hoping for Ziggy or Zep I.  Or Thriller - just to see PINT’s head explode.  :-)

In Mike’s message, he wants us to figure out the trick, the idiosyncrasy of why sometimes he has 99 new messages or sometimes he has 100 new messages.

He speculates that this may be due to him listening to one message, and not deleting it or saving, which causes to him to have that extra message. 

He provokes us to figure out why….Mike, you already know!  When you listen to one message , but end it prematurely, it gets added to your pile of 99 messages, and you have room for one more message.

When you listen to one album, but don’t finish it, you have room for one more album.

2 albums on Saturday. 

Wanna be Startin Something opener!—then gasp…a diff album in full!!!!

Epic-City!!!!!!!

Yes,
the rumors are true Kid A is in Exile on Main Street

but word on the street is that when Ziggy Stardust is in town LAmbslay down on Broadway (go figure)

just a tip:  if you ride the Zepplin I there might be a chance of Purple Rain

is it true that catching Oracular Spectacular is such a Thriller ?

if King Crimson isn’t careful he just might have a Hunky Dory good time at the show….

Well it feels like Astral Weeks til Halloween.

correction: I said Peaches and Cream, I meant Peaches and Regalia obvsiously. I’ve got food on the mind…

@phunguy - Please do your research before you get all high and mighty, huh?  I posted that it was a trend and was wondering if anyone saw the same thing.  Replying without taking the time to learn what someone meant is a sure sign of making yourself seem pretty shallow. 

Think, then act.

Check out the link here, and stop jumping to conclusions, its a bad reflection of your personality.

http://jamtopia.com/blog/phish-festival-8-cover-album-teaser/#comment-3014

@ Todd

Any word yet on where they are going to sell the posters? I’ve been looking at twitter per your advice… and I’m sure they haven’t updated it yet since the festival is still a few days away, but just wanted to check in and see if you’d heard anything. One and a half more days at the office… then it’s goooood bye Texas hello Cali.

@allister re: the looping background music

There was a comment last week from Horstman pointing out that the background loop sounds suspiciously like Phish playing Ravine from Lamb Lies Down on Broadway…

http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/song/Ravine/169230

Please also note that Grooveshark just released a major update making it feel more like a desktop app. So far I think it’s a huge improvement.

They’ll tease MJ during the first 3 sets, when the jam is available, prior to the cover set.  Then it’ll be the 100th album; they’re not going to reveal the actual album before it happens (or even provide you with honest choices).  “Let it Bleed”, etc., good theory, but it could be anything.

Ready for mid-80s and 8 sets??  This is awesome.  Thanks Todd for the hard work these past few weeks, checking this site has been key to getting so excited!

People like Allister from Chicago confuse the hell out of me.  Don’t we all want to share in the groove to a nasty Possum or a funkified Funky Bitch?  How “sick” would it be to hear 8 sets of cover songs?  I personally would be furious to a degree that I may never be able to forgive the boys.  The fact that I am respnding to this message seems silly for there is not a chance in hell they play a weekend full of covers, but come on guys love Phish for Phish, not for the covers, though I wouldn’t mind a mean Ya Mar!

Speaking of Junta I realllllly hope they play Fee, man I love that song I can get enough of it.  And Esther too.  And Fluffhead. And Sanity. But espeically Fee, that poor guy, I’m always sitting there cheering for him.

Well guys, I have 1/2 day of work left then I’m home to pack and jumping on a plan Thursday morning.

It’s been fun guessing with you.

Camping and chilling if you guys want to meet up.

FREEZE AT THE 2ND SONG OF THE COSTUME SET!

Can barely wait any longer.

See you there.

Wow, TL.  First this awesome site and now free drinks!  You are the gift that keeps on giving.

Safe travels to you and to all!!!

The Gallery is all back up now with all pre- dead albums still dead.  Little glitch there updating the flash or the data… maybe it tipped their cards, maybe not… we’ll know soon!

Where is this supposed map?

Tear down the wall….

The list is back to ‘normal’ now.

I hope Thriller is killed after everyone is in the festival so those who think it’s going to be MJ don’t know it won’t be played until the show starts.  Rubes!

@duck
“does anyone else on this thread think it may even be remotely possible for them to play all 7 map albums?”

Not remotely. We want to hear some Phish too, right?

They’ll play one record, though I wouldn’t be too surprised to see a new cover or two, especially an MJ cover.

Getting packed - getting ever more stoked. Kid A still sucks so bad.

I don’t know what everybody’s talking about.  There must have been a “blip” on the site or something.  I never saw just “finalists” on my computer.  All of the covers are still there.  What the dealy-o?

YAT (Yet Another Theory):

ELP’s Pictures is about them taking classical pieces and covering them with a rock style.

What If… What If… follow me here…

Phish just does a butt ton of cover hits from each of the 99 records?  How freaking sick would that be?

I know I’d rather have them cover an entire record myself but still it would kick ass and confuse everyone and then eveyrone would be like “oh man it was so obvious”.

yesyesyes would be core, anything that plays at this point will be bliss. come on and thank you! this is a great post and i am really excited, see you kids there…

http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&rlz=1T4GGIH_enUS261US261&resnum=0&q=genesis&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv#q=genesisselling+&hl=en&view=2&emb=0

@phunguy

I might be kind of slow up the uptake here, but there are loads of people on the Left coast who have seen Phish 15+ years…I started with Halloween 94, so this show will be my 15th anniversary of sorts…true, not as many peeps into them out here as back in the NE, but LA is a city of transplants for sure, and we like to bring good tunes with us.  After Coventry and NY2K, I"m pumped about the fact they’re only expecting about 50k people at 8. 

My vote has been and continues to be with Ziggy…

@ noknowno

On another note, why is a 12 year old saying “420 4 eva?”  Fuck I’m old.

@ Gregg

Are you really asking what Junta is?

duh guys

the 100th album is Notorious BIG “Life After Death”

it is a double disc after all

Exile on Main Street or something we didn’t expect…I just can’t see them doing MJ

not that it matters but the only 2 left with altered album covers are Jimi and Stones

Let’s say that one version of the site with everything dead is off the wall was right.  Cause The Wall just got knocked down.  And someone said Exile was missing.  So could the lead runner Exile be knocked out? Seems kinda phishy to me.  If they did indeed hire the Dap Kings to play for them, and they wanted everyone to think Exile, why would they knock out Exile so early?

And Trey has said in the past there’s a 100th record killing off all the other records, that we can’t see.  Of course you have to take everything Trey says with a grain of salt.  Some statement like that stated so directly usually means he’s lying threw his teeth.

But this wall does look a hell of a lot like ELP: Pictures in an Exhibition artwork.  And mimicing the artwork is one thing Phish would do in a heartbeat as a clue.

I think the phone line clue refers to the looping background music.  That if you could somehow undistort the music you’d hear the winning record playing, or the killing 100th record playing.

And to the person that said “finally zappa dead” you have no clue.  Zappa is one of Phish’s biggest influence. I’m hoping sometime this weekend they play Peaches and Creame.

Well did ya hear about the midnight gambler?
Well honey its no rock-in’ roll show
Well I’m talking about the midnight gambler
The one you never seen before

Still likin’ the Let It Bleed theory.

Sorry folks, but the Wall is dead.

might wanna update that

I don’t know what you’re all talking about… must have been a glitch; Exile and The Wall are still there, ALTHOUGH, The Wall just got the axe!!!

Looks like the map is real!

the Wall is back but dead, bet Exile dies next.

The website is back to normal… DOWN GOES THE WALL!!
For awhile it was 13 left..missing 2! WTF happened?

Just saw The Wall get the axe.

the wall is dead

Exile’s back, suckas!

Exile still shows up alive for me.

OK now it looks the same and they just killed the Wall. This makes my brain hurt. And exile is back up? Is it Friday yet.