Here Comes The Flood - a weblog about music

Phish at Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, NV 2003/02/15
photo: Jay Blakesberg

Billboard.com has posted dates for the Phish summer tour:

On the heels of a three-night stand in early March in Hampton, Va., Phish has confirmed a host of additional tour dates this summer, its first since splitting in 2004. The tour begins June 4-5 at Jones Beach in Wantagh, N.Y..
Additional shows include Great Woods Amphitheatre outside Boston (June 6), Camden, N.J. (June 7), Asheville, N.C. (June 9), St. Louis (June 16), Burgettstown, Pa. (June 18), Noblesville, Ind. (June 19), and East Troy, Wis. (June 20-21).
The group is strongly rumored to be performing for the first time at the Bonnaroo festival in Manchester, Tenn., which will be held June 11-14. The lineup for the event will be announced Feb. 3.

All subject to change. Watch phish.com. Official dates are up!

A limited number of tickets are available directly through Phish Tickets' online ticketing system at phish.portals.musictoday.com . The ticketing request period is currently underway and will end on Saturday, January 17th at 11:59AM EST.

Tickets go on sale to the public beginning Friday, January 30th at 10AM EST. For full show and ticketing information, please visit the Tourdates page.

• 06/04 Wantagh, NY, Nikon Theatre at Jones Beach
• 06/05 Wantagh, NY, Nikon Theatre at Jones Beach
• 06/06 Mansfield, MA, Comcast Center
• 06/07 Camden, NJ, Susquehanna Bank Center
• 06/09 Asheville, NC, Asheville Civic Center
• 06/16 St. Louis, MO, Fox Theatre
• 06/18 Burgettstown, PA, Post Gazette Pavilion
• 06/19 Noblesville, IN, Verizon Wireless Music Center
• 06/20 East Troy, WI, Alpine Valley
• 06/21 East Troy, WI, Alpine Valley

MP3: Phish - Good Times Bad Times > Paul and Silas > Pig In A Pen
(live encore from At The Roxy - 1993/02/21 - w/ Jeff Mosier)
MP3: Phish - La Grange (23 East Cabaret, Ardmore, PA 1990-02-10)
MP3: Phish - Ghost (Lucerna Theatre, Prague, Czech Republic 1998-07-06)
MP3: Phish - AC/DC Bag (MSG, New York, NY 1997/12/30)
MP3: Phish - Frankenstein (Zeleste, Barcelona, Spain 1998-07-08)

» phish.com/tourdates
» billboard.com

New York band Murder Mystery released a pretty good album with the cumbersome title Are You Ready for the Heartache Cause Here it Comes in 2007. They have a new single which you can download for free. It was produced by the band and mixed by Roger Moutenot (Yo La Tengo, Lou Reed). Recommended if you are into the Velvets' third album.

MP3: Murder Mystery - The World

• 01/09 Mercury Lounge, New York, NY
• 02/12 lub NME at The Annex New York, NY

» murdermysterymusic.com
» myspace.com/murdermysterymusic

HCTF review of Are You Ready for the Heartache Cause Here it Comes.

A new road song by Neil Young is currently streaming from his website. It's called Fiork In The Road and it may be included on the rumored LincVolt album.

» neilyoung.com

(Thru Neil Young News)

Make it big: a 7-DVD box set documenting Phish at The Clifford Ball August 16 & 17, 1996 drops March 3:

Brand new 7-DVD box set documenting The Clifford Ball, a landmark concert event that drew more than 70,000 fans to upstate New York in August 1996. The Clifford Ball was the first of seven, two-day spectacles the band staged, including The Great Went a year later, followed by Lemonwheel in 1998. The Clifford Ball was held in Plattsburgh New York at a decommissioned air force base, where Phish played two marathon concerts. The band delivered a one-of-a-kind experience for concert goers, giving the military base a carnival-like atmosphere with rides, wandering jugglers and movies at night for campers.

The box set features nine hours of concert and event footage (with six complete sets of music recorded Live August 16 & 17, 1996 and bonus features including Phish’s extended soundcheck, its late night flatbed truck jam and a 30-minute featurette with exclusive behind-the-scenes footage and more. This regionless DVD set includes options for both stereo and 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound Audio (remixed and mastered from the band's multi-track tapes).

» Pre-order at Phish Dry Goods

Astral Weeks is a classic. Released in 1968 Van Morrison made his claim as a soul singer, with dark bizarre lyrics that don't tell stories a such, but invoke images that are haunting and sometimes beautiful. Over the years the album has been analyzed in-depth and it became the critical peak of his career.

Last year saw Van Morrison performing the album in full at the Hollywood Bowl on November 7 and 8, with original guitar player Jay Berliner as a prominent member of the live band. The best versions of those night have been been picked for Astral Weeks Live At The Hollywood Bowl. With no overdubs or technical wizardry to clean up things it is class A performance, with Van improvising and the band jamming on the songs, building upon the chords and motifs. Take note of the acoutic guitar going berserk on I Start Breaking Down . There are two bonus tracks: Listen To The Lion - The Lion Speaks and Common One.

Astral Weeks Live At The Hollywood Bowl is released on Manhattan Records. Release date: February 10. A DVD of the show is expected later this year.

1. Astral Weeks - I Believe I've Transcended
2. Besides You
3. Slim Slow Slider - I Start Breaking Down
4. Sweet Thing
5. The Way Young Lovers Do
6. Cyprus Avenue - You Came Walking Down
7. Ballerina
8. Madame George
9. Listen To The Lion - The Lion Speaks
10. Common One

Van Morrison will perform "Astral Weeks" again at the Theater at Madison Square Garden in NYC, February 27 & 28. Accompanied by two different bands, he will play two sets per show: one of "Astral Weeks" cover to cover, the other of rarely played classics.

» vanmorrison.com
» en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astral_Weeks