Phish's new jams soar at Centrum November 29, 1997 - Worcester Telegram & Gazette By Scott McLennan While many settled for turkey leftovers yesterday, a capacity crowd at the Worcester Centrum Centre was served up plenty of fresh Phish. In the first of three sold-out shows at the Centrum, Phish dug into many new, unrecorded songs, including an epic funk jam called "Ghost" and the melodic "Farm House," which the band aired nationally earlier in the week on the "Conan O'Brien" TV show. But since Phish is a band that spreads the word via fan gossip and the study of bootlegged tapes recorded with the group's permission at each concert, many of the diehards in the crowd were familiar with the new material. And hearing so much of it in one night drew rave reactions from the tour-hearty Phish Phans seated around us. The band's two hourlong sets were packed with lengthy jams, at times leaving the impression that the quartet was really the spirit of a jazz combo trapped inside a rock "n' roll band. The old favorite "You Enjoy Myself" meandered for a long time, sometimes losing sight of where it was heading. Even the bump-and-grind of the above-mentioned "Ghost" needed editing at times. Maybe Phish should woodshed with Funkadelic for a weekend to tighten up the song and make it a real classic. Still when the band was on all cylinders, it was capable of hitting highs few bands can claim to on the concert stage. In the first set, a frenetic reading of "Maze" was brilliant. The song had the right balance of tension and release to give it real cinematic scope. In the second set, the top-song honors went to "Slave to the Traffic Light." The band instinctively worked through passages that shifted in tempo and volume to create a spellbinding audio journey. But even when the band failed to recognize any boundaries, it was still fun to watch. Guitarist Trey Anastasio, bass player Mike Gordon, piano player Page McConnell and drummer Jon Fishman deserve credit for being willing to stretch out every night they are on stage. The chops are easy to hear in each player and their sense of abandon is admirable in this day and age of the hit-single-or-die rule most bands operate under. A decade of grass-roots touring has made Phish a phenomenon, and the longtime faithful were rewarded with readings of "Curtain" and "Timber Ho" (a real logger jam), which opened each set respectively. Newer fare such as "Theme From the Bottom," "Limb by Limb" and the sweeping instrumental "Black Eyed Katy" flashed the band's improving songwriting skills. And as for Phish's sense of classicism, the band quoted Jimi Hendrix in the middle of "You Enjoy Myself," covered Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode," the Clifton Chenier||Eric Clapton tune "My Soul," the bluegrass standard "Rocky Top" and aforementioned "Timber Ho." But again, we emphasize, even when the songs are older or originally done by someone else, Phish manages to keep the whole package pretty fresh on stage. Article © 1997 Telegram & Gazette