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Video: 10 Years Ago Jay Z & Phish Played Coney Island... Together
By
Jen Carlson
Published Jun 18, 2014
Modified Jun 18, 2014
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Jun 18, 2014
Modified Jun 18, 2014
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Ten years ago today Phish took the stage for their second show at Coney Island's KeySpan Park (it's now called MCU Park). It was the second night of what was supposedly their final tour—weeks earlier, frontman Trey Anastasio announced they'd be breaking up for good after two decades of performing together. (The band's seemingly permanent dissolution lasted four years.) Below, a few journalists based here in New York revisit the show, which famously featured a surprise appearance by Jay Z... who is still on hiatus from Phish.
Slade Sohmer, Editor-In-Chief at HyperVocal: The popular rock band Phish in Brooklyn before Brooklyn was Brooklyn. Phish on a baseball field. Phish with a view of the Coney Island Cyclone. Phish in the pouring rain, though, the only downside.
The first set was stellar, a 'My Sweet One' treat mixed into some hard rock—'Carini,'
'Zero,' and 'Tweezer'—to close the set. But the 'Brooklyn's own Jay Z' swerve in the second set, with a sheepish introduction from a freshly shorn Trey, was legendary. I'm not sure I've ever seen a crowd so pumped for a musical guest, nor so many people sing along to a song at a Phish show. Hard not to smile after 99 Problems when Jay Z looked at the boys and said, 'Goddamn, you guys was hiding all this, huh? I felt it, I felt it!'
Endorphins shot after Hova's exit, the rain still coming down in sheets, it didn't help that the rest of the second set was a big shruggie emoji. But that's a once-in-a-lifetime kind of moment (Kid Rock at Vegas 2000, too). That night offered a long, sniveling, hypothermia-fighting subway ride home, but the Letterman marquee show would only be days away. Magical month, June 2004.
Josh Sternberg, Writer: The 2004 Brooklyn run. My (soon-to-be) home. I was living in NJ while my girlfriend (now wife) was living in Brooklyn. We took the Q out to Coney Island. The first show, on June 17th, was a mess. We got their late. It rained. No, poured. BUT! It was the first show of their last tour ever. They had announced they were hanging up the trampoline for good. So they said. We—the fans—had just went through a 3-year hiatus (from 2000-2003 the band took a break), came back for a couple of years and now we were saying goodbye, again, to our band. That first night of their last tour was inside Key Span Park, a minor league ball stadium.
The second night of their last tour, the 18th, also at the ballpark, was one of the most exciting things I've witnessed at the countless Phish show's I've attended. The first set was good old Phish. The second set, well, that was something else.
For me, it sank in that the band that had the most impact on my musical life was retiring. And it came through in the second song of the second set. Down With Disease, a lengthy improvisational song. There was a lyrical moment that served as an emotional trigger.
The chorus: 'Waiting for the time/when I can finally say/this has all been wonderful/and now I'm on my way/But when I think it's time/to leave it all behind/I try to find a way/but there's nothing I can say/to make it stop.'
I teared up.
The song jams for about 5 minutes. And in between Disease and the next song, the guitarist, Trey Anastasio, says he's excited to play in Brooklyn and wants to bring out a friend of theirs: Jay-Z.
Holy shit. The crowd, naturally, goes nuts. Jay-Z's backing band starts playing 99 Problems and then Big Pimpin. But what was more interesting to me: the event staff, the concession staff, the security guards, all were going nuts. These are not Phish fans. They are, however, Jay-Z fans. They thought they were coming to work a hippie concert and all of a sudden, Jay-Z takes the stage. The smiles from everyone in attendance was incredible. I teared up, again, thinking "I won't get to experience this ever again." Of course, I was wrong. But that would take a summer tour of emotion (and sloppy playing), and then 5 years of quiet, followed by a new version of Phish. That's another story for another day.
John Del Signore, Managing Editor at Gothamist: I was lucky to score tickets to both nights for face value through Craigslist, and I've watched the DVD they later distributed from night one many times. That first night in Brooklyn was their first performance since announcing it was over, and the whole show was very emotionally-charged, which you can clearly see in the DVD as soon as Trey walks out on stage. That first set 'The Curtain With' is one of the most sublime experiences I've ever had at one of their concerts. Incredibly soulful.
I also thought it was remarkable to see a band that JUST broke up—amidst trash-talk that they were just a "nostalgia act"—open their last tour ever by debuting a new song they've never played live before, 'A Song I Heard The Ocean Sing,' which was such a perfect choice for many reasons. Hot damn, I love that first set. The whole show, in fact, stands the test of time—it was also simulcast in movie theaters nationwide, hence the first set "Dinner and a Movie" and excellent production values. Why don't they do concerts there anymore?
And yeah, Jay Z's surprise cameo the next night was fucking priceless, and classic Phish, the masters of the unexpected. Not that the mainstream media rock snobs ever gave them much credit for it, at least not back then.
Tagged
coney island
jay-z
oral history
phish
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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