My (very much belated) 13 Highlights from Phish’s Baker’s Dozen
Phish’s Baker’s Dozen was over 2 months ago, and while I know it’s been written about to death, I’d belatedly like to share my highlights from the legendary run. I was fortunate to attend 6 of these legendary 13 shows — Velvet, Jam, Powdered, Jimmies, Maple, and Holes — and keeping in the spirit of the run, here are my 13 personal highlights from the shows.
13. Home (Jimmies)
An unexpected way to kick off this list right? But this was my favorite song off of “Big Boat” that I hadn’t yet seen live (it’s only been played 4x!) and was fortunate to catch it.
12. Rock n’ Roll Suicide (Maple)
A very fitting encore to Night 9. While I’m admittedly a bigger “Starman” and “Moonage Daydream” fan, I loved the Bowie set that they played in Vegas and any song from Ziggy Stardust is always a welcome treat.
11. Tuesday (Jam)
When Phish debuted my favorite Trey Anastasio Band song the week prior to the Baker’s Dozen, I tweeted:
So when we got it exactly one week later I was understandably thrilled:
10. Tube (Powder)
A jammed out Tube, and easily the best in 3.0.
9. Harpua, Esther, Forbin’s (Jimmies)
This was only my 2nd career time catching Harpua (having last seen Harpua 71 shows ago) and only my 2nd time catching Esther (having last seen Esther 86 shows ago). While this happened to be my 4th Forbin’s, it still doesn’t diminish its rarity. Catching any one of these at show is a cause for celebration. But to get ALL 3 of these mega-bustouts at the same show? I mean…
8. The Very Long Fuse (Powder)
I missed the Halloween ’14 show where Phish performed Disney’s “Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House,” and this was one of 2 songs from that album that made it to the rotation that I hadn’t yet heard (the other one being “The Birds”). I was really chasing this song and was actually supposed to be in San Francisco for the July 20, 2016 show at BGCA where I would’ve seen it — but at the last minute had a change of plans. Thankfully I caught it at the Baker’s Dozen and it was superb, flubs and all.
7. It’s Ice (Velvet)
It’s always special seeing my all-time favorite Phish song live, even if it’s for the 11th time. Oh and did I mention that out of 241 career performances, this 15+ minute “It’s Ice” is the longest version ever played?
6. Sample In A Jar (Jam)
This tweet says it all. This was the Night 4 opener, and right at the 3:02 mark when Trey usually goes back into the Sample solo he instead broke off and started this sick jam. It was precisely at this moment that I looked at my gf and with an ear-to-ear grin said “we’re in for a long night :).” #jamnight
5. Cars, Trucks, Buses (Powder)
There’s one pet peeve I have when it comes to seeing Phish and that is to always be in the venue BEFORE the opener. Some people don’t really care about this and I never understood it. Besides the fact that the opener usually sets the tone for the show, if you show up late to a show you run the risk of missing a real gem. For example: I attended the 6.19.11 show in Portmouth, VA. Had I not been there on time I would’ve missed the Harpua opener.
What does this have to do with “Cars, Trucks, Buses?” Glad you asked.
In 2013 I planned to go to Phish show on October 29th in Reading, PA, and true to my pet peeve, of course I was planning to get there with enough time to spare. However, a friend asked for a ride to the show and I told him I could take him. For whatever reason, my friend was running an hour late and I got really annoyed and nervous we’d be late, even though he insisted we wouldn’t. Lo and behold we were, and I missed the first half of “Cars, Trucks, Buses” — which was supremely annoying since it had never caught it before. Finally, 4 years later, I FINALLY caught “Cars, Trucks, Buses” it in its entirety.
4. Carini => Mr. Completely (Powder)
This is truly a sick jam, but what I really love about it and what makes it stand out is how towards the end of “Carini” Fishman was really pushing for “Mr. Completely.” He started the “Mr. Completely” beat about 4 min in advance until the rest of the band finally relented and played it. Most bands are led by the guitarist or lead singer but in Phish even their drummer can lead the band.
3. Meat (Holes)
“Meat” was of the last songs I’d been chasing, and I wanted it for a VERY long time. “Meat” is usually only a once-a-year occurrence, and I’ve been sure to tweet my annoyance about missing it for the past several years (see 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016). Thankfully I finally caught it at the Baker’s Dozen! Song-wise, this was the biggest bustout that I caught during the run.
Which also led me to say:
2. The 2nd Jam in Mike’s (Holes)
Ever since @drewphish’s epic 8.4.15 story about how he convinced Trey to play the 2nd jam in “Mike’s Song”, anytime Phish launched into Mike’s I always held my breath knowing that a 2nd jam was now a possibility. While the next time they played Mike’s it also had a 2nd jam (Alpine Valley 8.9.2015), the 13 subsequent renditions of Mike’s did not have the 2nd jam. The hallowed 2nd jam remained dormant… that is until the Baker’s Dozen. When they launched into it on 8.2.17 I felt like this might be a possibility now and had my fingers crossed:
and then when we got it at 9:02 in the track you can hear an audible cheer as they launched into the 2nd jam!
The return of the 2nd jam and getting the longest Mike’s since ‘96? Now THAT’S an all-timer.
1.Lawn Boy (Jam- of course :)
The jam of the night, run, year, and one of the best of all time. This jam embodied the whole run, and was even referenced by Page on the last night. An added bonus was that it was my girlfriend Katie’s first show. Usually the first set is for more structured, standard songs. But this was no standard show. With an extended “Sample in a Jar” opener it was clear this wouldn’t be a standard 1st set. Being her Phish show, 20+ minutes into “Lawn Boy” Katie asked me:
Little did Katie know that her question would become the meme of the run, with Trey even sporting a shirt during an encore.
