As if Phish fans didn’t have enough reasons to light up and enjoy the jamband greats. Now they even have their own 3-D movie.
Phish 3-D opened at theaters nationwide on April 30 for a brief, one-week run. The nearly two-and-a-half-hour film features footage from the band’s epic three-day “Festival 8” at the Coachella Music Festival grounds in Indio, California. A total of 18 songs captured in stunning 3-D from the 2009 Halloween weekend were used in the film.
Opening with a straight hour of heavy jam tunes, including Phish staples like “AC/DC Bag” and “Tweezer;” the film also offers a glimpse into newer Phish songs, such as “Undermind” and “Stealing Time from the Faulty Plan.”
The 3-D effects complement the concert-film genre perfectly. The added depth gives the viewer the vantage point of a fly buzzing around the stage, gracefully zooming past Trey Anastasio’s guitar neck, around Jon Fishman’s shimmering cymbals and through the audience. Beach balls and balloons float out of the screen, and Chris Kuroda’s dazzling light show becomes an enveloping spectacle of its own. It’s an experience that ought to leave viewers wondering why all concert films aren’t shot in 3-D.
The first set ends with a 15-minute rendition of “Maze,” featuring mind-bending frenetic cuts between the band members as the song builds to a fevered pitch. Switching gears, the film then transitions to selections from day two of the festival, including highlights from Phish’s first full-length acoustic set.
Opening the acoustic set was a bluesy version of “Get Back on the Train.” But don’t let the term ‘acoustic’ fool you — these songs were anything but calm or stripped-down. An impressive version of “The Curtain With” showed a band firing on all cylinders.
The film runs for at least an hour and a half before the band breaks from the stage for five minutes of crowd and rehearsal footage of their Halloween “musical costume” of the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main Street. This brief interlude is the only portion of the film that features any sort of behind-the-scenes or off-stage footage. It is this lack of intimacy that keeps Phish 3-D from ranking among such concert-film greats as The Band’s The Last Waltz or Concert for Bangladesh.
After the brief rehearsal footage, the film launches headfirst into performance selections from Exile on Main Street. Fit with a brass section and soulful back-up singers (including Sharon Jones), Phish executes pristine covers of “Loving Cup” and “Soul Survivor.”
Truly a must-see for any Phish fan, Phish 3-D is a rousing film that should be a welcome addition to any concert-film aficionado’s collection. Just beware, the next concert film you see after Phish 3-D might be a bit of a disappointment.