[Thank you to user Aaron Presuhn for stepping up and recapping last night's show. -Ed.]

Fall tour. Indoors, dark, intimate, a completely different vibe than outdoor summer Phish. It was a chilly day, but the Times Union Center was HOT. Night one was amazing, and it set the tone for what I thought to be a great, well-played set of shows.

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[Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your point of view, an ordinarily reliable, clear-headed member of our team, and both a trusted and highly esteemed colleague, had so much deleterious fun at this fall's tour opener in Albany that he was mentally and physically unable to "recap" the show for this website. We therefore respectfully request that YOU "recap" the show in the Comments section below, but only if you attended it, lest you offend the more sensitive among us who believe a recap lacks credibility if the recapper is recapping based strictly on listening to a recording or viewing a webcast. -Ed.]

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Welcome back to From the Tapers’ Section! As in previous editions of FTTS, I've pulled some choice Phish performances from my catalog of tapes and performed some tasteful post-production work on the recordings to optimize the listening experience. But unlike previous editions of FTTS, instead of working on and sharing an entire show, I've followed the Live Bait model and am sharing a compilation of jams that @ucpete lovingly calls Stash the Wumbo. Like the jams featured in Kevin Shapiro's series, these jams were played in the same venues and locations the band will play during the upcoming Fall Tour, but unlike Live Bait, all the recordings featured in this compilation come from high quality, fan-made audience ("AUD") recordings. There’s a lot to digest here, so let’s dig in:

Albany, NY: 10/9/99 "Ghost," 12/1/03 "Tweezer"

Phish has a history of throwing down at Times Union Center (née Kickerbocker Arena, later known as the Pepsi Arena): the monstrous "Seven Below" -> "Ghost" from 11/28/09, the famous "You Enjoy Myself" with silent jam from 12/9/95, the culmination of cow funk from Fall Tour ’97. As this series is as much about embracing AUD culture as it is discovering the recesses of Phish’s catalog, I present to you two gems I never see discussed. Fall ’99 follows hot on the heels of a stellar summer tour; instead of the intense and fiery grooves of Summer ’99, the band patiently explores quieter ambient pastures in October ’99. The back half of this "Ghost" jam is a perfect example, as the band jumps into the deep end and propels us through a cloudy haze. To contrast this soft blanket of oozing warmth, I have yang’d the yin with the throaty 12/1/03 "Tweezer." This "Tweezer" has tense, aggressive bark throughout as waves upon waves of psychedelic teeth match Trey’s unabashed and compressor-free tone.

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[we'd like to thank Paul Jakus, @paulj, for his second deep dive into the statistice of Phish. - ed.]

Phish fans are famously obsessive about the band, and the setlists on .net reflect that obsession. Setlists on Phish.net are not simply a list of songs played; instead we are provided with a wealth of information about debuts, bustouts, narrations, and even notation denoting two types of segues. All of this information tries to characterize what happened at a concert (far more than just listing a bunch of songs) with the goal of pointing us to shows of particular interest.

But does this additional information have value? Does knowing the number of “->” segues, or that a song hasn’t been played in over 100 shows, truly correlate with how fans of the band perceive the quality of a given show? Can we look at an intriguing setlist from 10 or 15 years ago (or look at today’s setlists a decade from now) and use its content to determine whether or not to listen to the show? That is, do the elements of a Phish setlist relate to how we, the members of Phish.net, rate Phish shows?

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Welcome to the 347th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the third of five October single-clip MJMs. The winner will receive an MP3 download code courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of the mystery clip. Each person gets one guess to start – if no one answers correctly in the first 24 hours, a hint will be posted. After the hint, everyone gets one more guess before Wednesday at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Have fun!

Note: No n00b head start this week, so don't dawdle!

Author's Note: Hello, everybody! @wforwumbo here, this is the first time I am officially hosting MJM. After becoming an emeritus back in February, I have been working behind the scenes with @ucpete to construct puzzles, as well as apply studio production to the clips I use from my personal archive of tapes. I've had a lot of fun doing this, and am excited to become a regular staple as MJM host. I hope you enjoy these puzzles as much as I do when creating them, so let's have some fun with this. On another note, keep an eye on the blog as I'll have another of my taper-based treats for all of you within the next day to celebrate the kicking off of Fall Tour '18. Good luck!

Answer: Coming in hot a mere 37 minutes after initial posting, @lostboy01 picks up his sixth MJM win and his third in a row! He correctly identified, near its five year anniversary, the 10/26/13 Light - a jam that, characteristic for this tour, is an oft-forgotten buried gem as it gets overshadowed by bigger jams in the show. For his efforts he has received yet another download code, and he also now knocks on the door to the promised land of MJM emeritus status. Now the only question that remains for him is when, not if. Stay tuned for another single clip MJM next week, and in the meantime enjoy the Hampton run this weekend!

As everyone is getting ready for Fall Tour, we at HF Pod released a mini episode to let you know about a Halloween giveaway contest, the return of Couch Report, and a live event in Hampton. Oh, and a jam from Albany to get you in the mood for Fall Tour.

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Beyond the Pond is a bi-weekly podcast in which Brian Brinkman (@sufferingjuke) and David Goldstein (@daveg924) use the music of Phish as a gateway to introduce the listener to many other bands, the vast majority of which are not jambands. An episode generally begins with a deep dive into a designated portion of Phish improvisation, and then can spin off to any variety of musical themes and other acts, the overarching purpose being introducing the listener to as many new and different bands as possible.

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Welcome to the 346th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the second of five October single-clip MJMs. The winner will receive an MP3 download code courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of the mystery clip. Each person gets one guess to start – if no one answers correctly in the first 24 hours, a hint will be posted. After the hint, everyone gets one more guess before Wednesday at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Have fun!

Note: No n00b head start this week, so don't dawdle!

Answer: He's on fire! @lostboy01 did it again folks, this time reeling in his fifth overall MJM win. This week, he knew Page's synth noises weren't of the '17 - '18 variety, but rather were of the Europe '97 variety, and in a shade over a half hour he correctly identified the 7/10/97 "Llama." If you haven't heard the entire show, do so posthaste! MJM347 will be another single-clipper – have fun on Fall Tour!

Welcome to the 345th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, beginning a month of five consecutive single clip MJMs. The winner will receive an MP3 download code courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.net. To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of the mystery clip. Each person gets one guess to start – if no one answers correctly in the first 24 hours, a hint will be posted. After the hint, everyone gets one more guess before Wednesday at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Good luck!

Reminder: For the first MJM of each month, only folks who have never won an MJM are allowed to answer before the hint. If you have never won an MJM, please answer as a blog comment below. If you have previously won an MJM, but you'd like to submit a guess before the hint, you may do so by PMing me; once the hint has been posted, everyone should answer on the blog. If that's confusing to you, check out the handy decision tree I threw together to help guide you. If you're not sure if you've won before, check in the MJM Results spreadsheet linked below.

Hint: This was the hint, but I hadn't seen the correct answer PM'd to me until after I had posted it.

Note: Also, be sure to check out the new sheets and charts on the MJM Results spreadsheet – with thanks to @justino for the great idea. You can now view the jams we've used by song and by date, and see which songs, years, and songs-in-years have been played most in a graphical format. But remember: just because we've used a jam before doesn't mean we won't use it again!

Answer: Congrats once again to @lostboy01, the second MJMer in a row and third in the past 8 MJMs to cross the halfway mark to reaching the MJM HoF! This week, right before the hint, he figured out the ambient swells in the clip could mean only one thing: Summer Tour '98. This week's ambience comes from 7/20/98 "Makisupa Policeman," which drifts into a spacey, pulsing place before morphing into "Maze." I wonder if @lostboy01 will use his fourth code to download 7/20/98 from LivePhish.com? Stay tuned for MJM346 at 10 AM PT, where once again we'll drop a single clip puzzle for old times' sake.

The latest episode of the Helping Friendly Podcast features music and conversation about September 2000. Check it out!

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Welcome to the 344th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the final and most difficult of September, and a special edition: 8-time MJM winner and Hall of Famer @justino has chosen this week's jams and handed them off to fellow emeritus @wforwumbo (whose audio wizardry has been on full display for months) for beautification. The result? Some dope jams that make a fair MJM, but one not for the faint of heart. The winner will receive an MP3 download code courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.net. To win, be the first person to identify the songs and dates of the three mystery clips, which are connected by a theme that needn't be part of the correct answer. Each person gets one guess to start – if no one answers correctly in the first 24 hours, a hint will be posted. After the hint, everyone gets one more guess before Wednesday at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Good luck!

Hint:

Answer: Congrats to @HarborSeal on crossing the halfway mark to retirement with his fourth win – this time, with the "Tweezer" already in hand, he quickly realized that the baseball cards of three closers in the '90s hinted that these jams came from three tour closers in the '90s: 12/17/95 "Tweezer," 11/29/98 "Simple," and 12/13/97 "Vultures." Stay alert for MJM345, when we'll begin a month of single jam MJMs from across Phish's history.

Welcome to the 343rd edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the third of four September editions. The winner will receive a MP3 download code courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. To win, be the first person to identify the songs and dates of the three mystery clips, which are connected by a theme that needn't be part of the correct answer. Each person gets one guess to start – if no one answers correctly in the first 24 hours, a hint will be posted. After the hint, everyone gets one more guess before Wednesday at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Good luck!

Hint:

Answer: Congrats to second-time MJM winner @MikeThong, who wins for the first time in more than 5 years by recognizing the car from the cover of The Siket Disc and identifying this week's jams: 8/30/14 "Down with Disease", 7/24/99 "The Mango Song (> Jam)," and the 1/4/03 "Weekapaug Groove," each of which careens into a song from the aforementioned album like a potato to the throat. Stay tuned for MJM344 on Monday, when we'll have a special guest...

Beyond the Pond is a bi-weekly podcast in which Brian Brinkman (@sufferingjuke) and David Goldstein (@daveg924) use the music of Phish as a gateway to introduce the listener to many other bands, the vast majority of which are not jambands. An episode generally begins with a deep dive into a designated portion of Phish improvisation, and then can spin off to any variety of musical themes and other acts, the overarching purpose being introducing the listener to as many new and different bands as possible.

Read more...

Welcome to the 342nd edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the second of September. The winner will receive an MP3 download code courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. To win, be the first person to identify the songs and dates of the two mystery clips, which are connected by a theme that needn't be part of the correct answer. Each person gets one guess to start – if no one answers correctly in the first 24 hours, a hint will be posted. After the hint, everyone gets one more guess before Wednesday at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Good luck!

Answer: Congrats to @lostboy01 on his second win in three MJMs and third overall! This week, thanks to some help from another user, he identified the two SPAC 2012 jams: the 7/8/12 "Piper" and the 7/6/12 "Ghost." Stay tuned Monday for MJM343!

Welcome to the 341st edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday Tuesday (Happy Labor Day!), the first and easiest of September. The winner will receive an MP3 download code courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of the mystery clip. Each person gets one guess to start – if no one answers correctly in the first 24 hours, a hint will be posted. After the hint, everyone gets one more guess before Wednesday at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Good luck!

Reminder: For the first MJM of each month, only folks who have never won an MJM are allowed to answer before the hint. If you have never won an MJM, please answer as a blog comment below. If you have previously won an MJM, but you'd like to submit a guess before the hint, you may do so by PMing me; once the hint has been posted, everyone should answer on the blog. If that's confusing to you, check out the handy decision tree I threw together to help guide you. If you're not sure if you've won before, check in the MJM Results spreadsheet linked below.

Hint: This jam was played at a venue Phish also played this past summer.

Answer: Congrats to @experiencechuck on his second win in the past 97 MJMs – at his current pace, he'll reach the MJM HoF sometime after MJM800! But if he follows in the footsteps of previous multi-MJM winners, his win rate will accelerate and sometime next year he'll hit Lucky Seven. This week's MJM was the 7/3/00 "Runaway Jim," a song that has only been played one other time in a dozen Phish Phish visits to Camden. The hint was twofold: yes, Phish did play Camden this summer as well, but also, the SBD source I used for this week's MJM came from what fans know as the Past Summer Compilation. It always pays to pay attention! MJM342 takes us back to the Monday schedule...