Let's spin !

by Yome NetSan 4. December 2015

After a great Fare The Well and a spectacular Summer tour, the end of the year sounded a little too quite. But that was before I received lots of good LPs to spin...

 

New Year's Eve 1995:
Live At Madison Square Garden

 

Originaly released on 3 CD in 2005, Phish's New Year's Eve 1995 show made its way again to independent record stores on 6 LPs during the Record Store Day on 18th april 2015. This huge boxset is limited to 4500 copies and costs an arm. Of course, no store in France had it and it popped pretty quickly on eBay. Due to its already hish-sky price, scalpers can't charge much more but I've been reluctant to buy one of them over here. I waited several month to see if it would appear on Dry Goods but in september, I've been told by my contact at Phish Inc. that it won't be sold there. Thanksfully, this person managed to got me one of the remaning copies and sold it to me ! I finally received it on the 20th november, around the same time as the other vinyls bellow. But surprisingly, it ended on the Phish merchandise site on 3th december ! Grab it while you can !

The boxset is rather simple but quite nice. With six 12" discs, it's huge and, of course, heavy. It's also my first and only 6 LPs boxset. My second biggest one is David Gilmour's Live in Gdansk with 5 LPs.
All pictures and texts are taken from the original CD boxset but re-arranged on six sleeves and a leaflet. A download card is also included and, if you're lucky (if you're the first one actually), you can use mine : just find it on the pictures. One strange thing : the image used by Phish in february to hint at this release (a green square with the words "Side K : you Enjoy Myself"), isn't part of the boxset at all. Actually, the only green things on it are the tittle's letters and side numbers on the outside of the box.

I haven't got the chance to isolate myself for more than three and a half hours yet to proper listen to the music. I haven't listened to the show for many year actually as I haven't been impressed the first time I heard it. Maybe my expectations were too high knowing that Rolling Stone Magazine named it one of the "Greatest Concerts of the '90s", or maybe I wasn't in a good mood...

 Continue reading...

Español Pinturas de Fuego - Exploring the Phish spanish theme

by Yome NetSan 16. May 2014

It's no news, the new Phish studio album has been announced back in october 2013 during the Halloween show (more from me about that soon). Tentatively titled Wingsuit, the Phishbill (downloadable here) explained the concept of an album "from the future". The band went in studio with Bob Ezrin in november and the final product, now called Fuego, has been announced last wednesday for a release date on the 24th june.

We can't really talk about the music right now except for what we heard on Halloween and the first song revealed, Waiting all night. In this new song, you can really hear the work done on the sound of the band and the voice harmonies. We also know which songs played in Atlantic City didn't make it to the record. A song like Snow is really difficult to play and sing on stage but can be a lovely tune if worked well in a studio. That's why I personnaly think they would have fit right. I hope for a future b-sides release like Party Time.
Anyway, I'm glade to read that the album will feature guest vocalists and horns. I'm all for a studio album that doesn't sound like the concert. I didn't really enjoyed Joy at the time because the songs were played just like on stage but missed the jams. It seems we won't have such things this time around.

But what stroke me is, of course, the cover art. At first glance, it looks like a photoshoped picture but after a closer look, it's a photo-realistic psychedelic painting of six giant men, standing around an enormous fire explosion in a country landscape. Before you see the tiny houses at the men's feet, you can't have a true sense of the scale of the image.

/image.axd?picture=/2014/5/Fuego/mini/Fuego Vinyl edition.jpg
Fuego Vinyl edition
/image.axd?picture=/2014/5/Fuego/mini/Paco Pomet 'The test' (Oil on canvas. 80x120cm. 2013).jpg
Paco Pomet 'The test' (Oil on canvas. 80x120cm. 2013)

The original painting is called The Test from the spanish artist Paco Pomet. His web site showcases his surrealistic work in high-resolutions scans. I really like his style, combining vintage-looking black and white imagery with funky colored strange event. As of today, we know he provided two more paitings for the record package and release merchandising (the vinyl record slipmat and the limited litograph). While browsing his gallery, I noticed several other paintings that could fit the theme like Blues and Deserción (2014) or Sin título and La tempestad (2012).

/image.axd?picture=/2014/5/Fuego/mini/Fuego Record Player Slipmat.jpg
Fuego Record Player Slipmat
/image.axd?picture=/2014/5/Fuego/mini/Paco Pomet 'Sunday' (Oil on canvas. 120x160cm. 2012).jpg
Paco Pomet 'Sunday' (Oil on canvas. 120x160cm. 2012)

Which ones do you think they'll use ? I'll try to give away a Fuego CD to one of you (randomly picked) who'd make a good guess.
This contest is for European fans only and suggestions must be made in the comments here before the 10th june (or before if the album package is released or leaked prior to this date).

/image.axd?picture=/2014/5/Fuego/mini/A lithograph taken from the album package.jpg
A lithograph taken from the album package
/image.axd?picture=/2014/5/Fuego/mini/Paco Pomet 'Eden' (Oil on canvas. 130x170cm. 2013).jpg
Paco Pomet 'Eden' (Oil on canvas. 130x170cm. 2013)

By the way, do you think we have a pattern or a theme here ? Fuego means fire in spanish and we have a spanish painter who likes to put fire explosions on old-looking pictures.

Too bad there won't be a release party in Barcelona this summer...

 

 

Can I go to Reading by bus ?!

by Yome NetSan 12. August 2013

I live near Lyon, France. And it looks like there's a direct bus from Lyon Station to downtown Reading, PA !
It's Route 22 from Batrabus.
Very convenient ;)

What dreams are made of

by Yome NetSan 11. August 2013

After the worst nightmare, I had the craziest dream come true.

Yesterday, after being laught at at work because of my lack of luck, I e-mailed TicketMaster to see if we can work something out for my Reading order. I asked for either a (partial) refund, a transfert to someone else's account, the ability to ship the ticket to someone in the US or for someone else to come retrieve it at the venue. The answer came later that day : the only option would be a refund of the face price and the "will call" option but only if the venue accept it. They made the request and I'll have to wait for the answer.

Meanwhile, I tried to find tickets for the Atlantic City run. I made a thread on phish.net. Another thread amoung all the other "ISO AC" threads from fans left over by the TicketMaster website. I add myself in a spreadsheet gathering all the fans who need tickets. I had a private message from a nice fan who has contact me before the public sale and who might has an extra for Halloween night. My new friend from Geneva also failed on TM for Halloween but bought his 3-day pass on Stubhub. I finaly wrote an e-mail which was like a big gamble, with very low hope it might give any positive result.

About 25 minutes later I got this answer :

I'll get you access to purchase a 3 day pass for AC. No worries. I'll set that up later today.

Thanks for staying with Phish over the years.

Wait a minute... WHAT ?!

I guess I'm the luckiest man in the world right now. Later that evening, I received another e-mail this a link to my dream.

In a time span of 24 hours, I went through all the emotional phases : stress, happyness, more stress, sadness, frustration, more happyness !

I don't know yet if my first show will be Reading or Halloween but I'll see my first Phish show in october 2013 !!

Worst than my worst nightmare

by Yome NetSan 8. August 2013

I knew it wouldn't be easy. After losing the lottery, I was getting ready for the public sale this thursday. I read a lot of pieces of advice from several forums and a good link given by Holger.

My TicketMaster account was ready with all the informations saved. I stayed at work later to be before a computer by 18 PM.

To "train" myself with the process, I logged at 17PM and tried to score a ticket for Reading, the show right before Halloween, on the 29th.
Last week, I toyed with the idea of going to this show too on my way to Atlantic City but the timing wasn't right with my Morocco trip and the flights to the USA.
After 10 minutes of "High demand! No match!" I'm finally offered 100 section seats, most of them behind the stage ! I'm still hiting the "search" button until I found General Admission floor tickets 15 minutes later. That's a good thing I tried before the Atlantic Run. I realized that I can have others tickets than the first offered.
I follow the process to see what's next, if I can get to the end and so on. And so I clicked one more time... and found myself too far than I thought.

I just bought my first Phish ticket.

But I'll have to go myself to the venue on the day of the show with my ID and the credit card to get it ! As an international buyer, I can't have the ticket printed or shipped to France ! And then I realize that I have a non-refundable ticket to a show I can't attend and I can't sell it because I can't go to the venue to retrieve it !

And then 18 PM arrive.

I click on the link for the 3-days pass, enter the quantity (just 1, I'm not greedy), select GA Floor and hit "Find Tickets".

And I waited...
And I waited...

20 minutes later, the "countdown" has already showed me "Please wait 15 minutes", "14 minutes", back to "15 minutes", "7", "4", "15", "3"... That's rather random if you ask me !

40 minutes later, after trying on the computer and on my phone at the same time (with the mobile site, not the application because it can't be installed on a french phone !)

A few minutes later, the Twitter account announced that the run was SOLD OUT.

 

 

 

How bittersweet. I paid a ticket that I won't ever see and didn't get the ones I wanted.

My options now are trying to get the AC tickets from extras. But let's see on Stubhub, the prices are insane.
I might find a fellow fan on phish.net but I'm not the only one who wants tickets.
I can do like this japanese fan who'll fly to the show and plan on finding tickets at the venue. I can't take that risk.
I can go to the Reading show only but that would be far too expensive for only one show.

I guess I fail at Phish.

No luck...

by Yome NetSan 7. August 2013

After spending all of yesterday checking my bank account every 10 minutes, I finally got the bad news with an email this morning : I didn't won the lottery. So I don't have tickets yet. My next move will be the public sale on thursday 12AM EST at TicketMaster. That's 18PM in France, a time when i'm usualy at the station, waiting for my train after my day job... I'll have to stay late at work or come back home very early.

Meanwhile, I got e-mails from two french speaking fans in less than 24 hours thanks to my website ! The first one is a french guy living in Toronto and the second is living in Geneva, Switzerland. Maybe will work things out to have their Phish-related stories on the blog and get tickets for Atlantic City...

From Berlin to Chicago : 3 wet nights of Phish

by Holger 31. July 2013

Will 2013 be finally THE year ?

by Yome NetSan 29. July 2013

When the fall tour 2013 has been announced last week, I read the news like any Phish tour announcement for sixteen years. Where will they play ? How many shows ? Basic stuffs. But when I saw that they'll play 3 days at Atlantic City from October 31th to November 2nd, I got pretty hyped : Halloween + 30th anniversary show during the same run ?! I HAVE TO GO !

Ok, I realized a few minutes later that their birthday was on December 2nd, not November 2nd...

Nevertheless, my brain was already on fire. The run will be at the very end of the Toussaint holidays in France. I already planned a family trip to Morocco but it won't last the 2 weeks. With one flight to the U.S.A., I could attend 3 shows, including a pretty rare Halloween 3-setter ! I talked about it to my wife and her answer was both encouraging and full of common sense : "How much would it cost ?"

Yes, the main concern will be the money, as it has always been.

The following day, I checked several websites for flights booking to have an idea of the grand total.
First surprise : Atlantic City International airport can't be reached from Europe. So I search for Philadelphia from Lyon, Paris or even Geneva. I found several possibilities with or without stopover for a price from 600€ to 700€. I can find cheaper with 2 stopovers but I don't want to spend 24 hours in planes and airports...
A 3 day ticket would be 180$ but I have to add the fee and shipping for a total of 217.10$.
I have also to count 4 hotel nights, a way to go from Philly to Atlantic City (it seems I won't be alone), food and pocket money.

OK so I have to find a 1200€ bill.

I could fight against my habits to buy countless video games or vinyls to finally save this amount until October. The problem is I have to spend most of it (tickets, plane and hotel) at least in august and I don't have it now. So, like many times before, I dug the idea...

 

On Saturday, I received a letter from my company about my annual bonus. Usually it's stuck on a special bank account for 5 years unless I get married, have a baby or buy a house, which is not planned. But for the first time, this year, I have the option to request the full amount to be paid immediately.

 

Wait a minute...

 

This morning, I did something I've been dreaming of for sixteen year : I request tickets for a Phish show on tickets.phish.com

Oh my. I'll go to a Phish show !

[Giveaway] Double combo ! Ventura + Star Lake

by Yome NetSan 14. June 2013

The new Phish live CD boxset called Ventura came earlier thanks to Phish Inc. and it is ready to go to YOUR house !

But it might come with a friend : Star Lake 98 dvd !

For a chance to win, comment this post with the answer of this question : "Where did Phish tour during summers 1997 and 1998 for the last time to date ?"

You can Tweet this to maximize your chance :

Giveaway of the new #Phish 6 CD boxset Ventura on http://www.bouncingaroundeuroom.eu @YomeNetSan

Don't forget to include the link to your tweet in your comment.

The winner will be randomly choosen among comments and tweets made between now and Friday 21th June 13:00 (France time). If the winner wants only one of the two prices or if he choose to let someone else win, I'll pick up a second winner for the remaining prize !

This contest is open to european residents only.

All new 6-CD box set featuring two complete live shows, recorded July 30, 1997 and July 20, 1998 at Ventura County Fairgrounds in Ventura, California, a general admission dirt racetrack between the Pacific Coast Highway and Surfers Point Park. Bits of the each show's Soundchecks are included at the end of both shows.

The new box set was fully remixed from the band's multitrack masters and mastered for release. July 30, 1997 was Phish's first Ventura stop since Trey learned to surf nearby in 1993. The show featured a number of must-hear performances including a bass-driven, syncopated "Wolfman's Brother" > "Chalk Dust Torture", a deep and spacey "Stash" and "Character Zero" in Set I. A "Free" > "David Bowie" > "Cities" > "David Bowie" combination dominated the show's second half with some of the summer's biggest jams. 

On July 20, 1998 Phish again encountered Ventura's breezy oceanside. Ventura '98 was characterized by some new songs and some bustouts. The first set included a "Bathtub Gin" opener, a new arrangement of "Water In The Sky", the swinging funk of "The Moma Dance" and a "Split Open And Melt" Set I closer. Set II exploded with a bass-and-drums-fueled "Drowned" > "Makisupa Policeman" pairing that utilized Page's synth stylings to seamlessly blend rock and reggae. "Maze" led to a perfectly placed "Sea And Sand". 

[Giveaway Results] Star Lake 98 DVD

by Yome NetSan 7. December 2012

Last week, I launch a simple contest to win 2 Phish dvd Star Lake 98.

The answer to the question was quite simple : The summer tour 98 was nicknammed "Summer of covers" because the band played a brand new and unique cover each night.

You were 4 to post the correct answer in the comments here. 2 more dvd were given on my french website Gamusik with the exact same question but there was no answer at all ! So instead of choosing 2 winners among the 4 who entered here, I declare everyone's a winner ! So Robert, Dan, Maui and Marko, you'll get an email from me soon.

Meanwhile, I watched the concert last sunday and it was a pleasure to seen my 3 years old son dancing to the music ! But I must admit he was better impressed by the cover art of the boxset. He thought the bridges was for trains and he tried to put the disc in the player on his own... The disc ended stuck really deep inside the player and I had to open it completely to get it back ! Hopefully the dvd wasn't broken and he really enjoyed the menu with the cars on the bridges !

Oh yeah, the show is great with a 35 minutes Runaway Jim and a marvelous Reba ! The video quality is better than you would expect from a VHS source and it's really band focused with very few full stage view.

I hope you winners will enjoy this dvd !

 




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