Live review: Phish at Empire Polo Club in Indio

The band's three-day Halloween weekend blowout leaves its loyal legion of fans heated up and happy.

Besides the Rolling Stones, U2 and Bruce Springsteen, it's hard to think of many rock acts that could crowd the Empire Polo Club in Indio for a three-day festival featuring no supporting acts or other live entertainment.

But the legendary Vermont jam titan Phish has long operated outside the realm of normalcy, with a rabid fan base closer to addicted acolytes than casual admirers.

When long-gestating message board rumors were finally confirmed months ago, Phish fanatics instantly began making preparations to trek to the site of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, where the band held its eighth festival -- the first in five years. This weekend's performances also marked the quartet's first return to the Southland since reuniting in March for a series of shows in Hampton, Va.

Naturally, the event's momentousness wasn't lost on the crowd (estimated by officials to be between 30,000 and 40,000) who hailed the band rapturously when it opened its first of eight sets with "Party Time," a lissome funk-workout portending surprises and fun to follow.

Indeed, the band's first night rarely disappointed, with the 26-year veteran delving into its back catalog to render favorites such as "Prince Caspian," "Wolfman's Brother," and "Down With Disease," with a rubbery danceability -- the Polo Field at times looking like a fluorescent wave of bobbing heads, twirling glow sticks and flailing limbs.

The following afternoon, the band ripped through cuts from its '90s songbook (typically considered its studio zenith), a thank-you of sorts to longtime fans willing to weather the vicissitudes of a storied saga filled with acrimony, addiction and sundry inconsistencies.

Yet throughout the sweltering Mojave afternoon, Phish seemed to conserve energy in preparation for Saturday night's second set, a start-to-finish rendition of the Rolling Stones' classic 1972 album, "Exile on Main Street."

It was the band's special Halloween Show, the first it's done in 11 years and only Phish's fifth such performance ever, following earlier versions of the Beatles' White Album, Talking Heads' "Remain in Light," the Who's "Quadrophenia," and the Velvet Underground's "Loaded."

Against the soft pink lights and palm trees, the band reworked the Stones' rotgut-blues opus with symphonic syncopated groove, backed by the celestial harmonies of Sharon Jones and Saundra Williams and a three-piece horns section.

It was a masterful stroke and contrasted with the band's acoustic set the previous afternoon, revealing a versatility surprising only those who haven't followed the band's career closely.

Though saddled with the pejorative implications of being a "jam band," Phish revealed that behind its goofy harmonies and giddy sessions, it brews an intoxicated funk music removed from its trappings and reappropriated to fit the group's earthy, laid-back Vermont origins and psychedelic inclinations.

Clearly in thrall to Frank Zappa and the Grateful Dead, the band inherited the legacy of the latter when Jerry Garcia died in 1995 and has rarely looked back over the course of 14 studio albums, thousands of live performances, and a fan base of old and young willing to follow it to the Earth's ends.

Songs are rarely just that, with nearly every tune boasting its own labyrinthine lineage. All weekend, cuts from the band's latest, "Joy," were interspersed with the vintage catalog and drew a positive but comparatively muted reception -- understandable considering  they lack the extensive road-testing and history.

The surroundings were arguably as compelling as the music, with both the band and event promoter Goldenvoice turning the grounds into a city unto itself -- complete with a cafe, movie screens showing vintage Halloween and horror films, a Bloody Mary bar and microbrewery, and a 100-foot Ferris wheel lighting up the cold, clear desert sky.

With an estimated 75% to 80% of festival-goers camping, the fields were a 24-hour hive of activity, with a joie de vivre and communal bond unimaginable to the unconverted: all-night campground dance parties, jam sessions and widespread amity.

(The band played two final sets Sunday night, ending too late for The Times' deadlines.)

-- Jeff Weiss

Photos: (Top) Bassist Mike Gordon, right, of Phish plays a special Halloween set for their fans, doing a cover of the Rolling Stones album "Exile on Main Street" during the Phish Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California over Halloween weekend. (Middle) Glowbot and Glow Witch fans listen as Phish plays a special Halloween set. (Bottom) More colorful fans.  Credit: Jamie Rector / For the Times.

Comments

[Kurt Vonnegut]

"It was a masterful stroke and contrasted with the band's acoustic set the previous afternoon, revealing a versatility surprising only those who haven't followed the band's career closely. "

-I can't believe someone who works for the LA times, and also, seemingly attended the concert could get their facts wrong. They are implying that the acoustic set was on Friday when in fact it was on Sunday. Towards the end of the article it also says that they play two sets on Sunday. When in fact they actually played three. Better Writers/Better Editors=A better reading experience. No wonder the newspaper business is virtually obsolete.

[redredworm]

ummm, not to knit-pick, but the Halloween set of "Exile on Main Street" was on Saturday night and the acoustic set was on Sunday afternoon. You have it wrong in the article:
[i]"It was a masterful stroke and contrasted with the band's acoustic set the previous afternoon,"[/i]

[Local person]

Just to let you know that the Coachella valley is NOT the Mojave.

[Kentalope]

One of the best weekends of my life. Phish absolutely destroyed Exile On Main Street. My favorite band playing one of my favorite albums under the desert sky = perfection. Dear Phish, please do this every year in Indio.

[milt]

The G Dead would pack it for twice as many shows, without advertising.........

[Tripp Magee]

I can't believe the reviewer was negligent enough to omit the fact that a spaceship landed over the Hunky Dory campground early Sunday morning, cleaned fourteen Port-O-Johns and flew off! From now on, I'm just going to get my facts from the Daily Show and the folks at Auto-Tune The News....

[gyorski23]

Outstanding article! This is one of the best I've read that captures what it's like to see Phish play live. it's hard to describe live music without sounding like a goof. I wasn't able to get up to Indio but between this article and the downloads and fifteen years of shows it's almost (well... unfortunately not really) like I was there. These downloads are sick though! Excellent blog!!!

[nathan stiles]

'Clearly in thrall to Frank Zappa and the Grateful Dead, the band inherited the legacy of the latter when Jerry Garcia died in 1995 and has rarely looked back over the course of 14 studio albums, thousands of live performances, and a fan base of old and young willing to follow it to the Earth's ends.'

You forgot the ears and urine.

AND you included a widespread nod??

i'm on to you, jeff weiss.

[nathan stiles]

'Pop & Hiss' is an obvious nitrous reference.

several negative connotations. it certainly appears as though you were working through your own bias from beginning to end, which can be a healthy exercise.

[David Zaoui]

Legend band, legend, music, legend performances! Phish rock out!

[serious phan]

the la times is one of the worst major newspapers still in existence. you guys suck so bad.

[parker]

Milt: "The G Dead would pack it for twice as many shows, without advertising........"

Loved the Dead too but what the Hell is that supposed to mean? Is this a pissing contest? Which band's fans have bigger dicks?