Chicago, Illinois professional event & portrait photographer, Jason Kaczorowski, serves Chicagoland and the surrounding metropolitan communities in addition to traveling the world for destination weddings, events and concert/festival photography. Visit www.jasonkaczorowski.com
Sunday, November 1st, 2009 Empire Polo Field - Indio, CA
Set One: Acoustic Water In The Sky Back On The Train Brian And Robert Invisible Strange Design Mountains in the Mist The Curtain With Army Of One Sleep Again My Sweet One Let Me Lie Bouncing Around The Room Train Song Wilson McGrupp And The Watchful Hosemasters Driver Talk Secret Smile
Set Two AC\DC Bag Rift Gotta Jibboo Heavy Things Reba The Wedge Guelah Papyrus Undermind Sparkle Split Open and Melt
Set Three Tweezer > Maze Free Sugar Shack Limb By Limb Theme From The Bottom Mike's Song > 2001 > Light > Slave To The Traffic Light Encore Grind Esther Tweezer Reprise
Most of Phish's 40,000 fans strolled in Sunday morning to hear their first ever full-length unplugged set and were treated not only to great music by the band but also complimentary coffee and donuts shaped in the form of an 8.
Phish guitarist, Trey Anastasio warned fans “we’re gonna play a lot of mellow tunes” and encouraged them to sit down beneath the baking southern California sun which reached 90 degrees without a cloud in the sky during the 18 song set. Anastasio later apologized for asking everyone to sit while he admitted, “I have ADHD, I can’t sit either,” before closing the set with the classic “McGrupp & the Watchful Hosemasters.”
(above) The sun peeks in from behind the baracade that seperates the audience from the stage
(above) Mmmmmmmm, Festival 8 Donuts. This happen to be the last batch of donuts distributed for free to the afternoon audience.
(above) A fan dresses as her favorite donut.
(above) Police surround a man who was rumored to have eaten the last free donut.
(above) 40,000 fans collectively take their seats beneath the blazing 90 degree sun.
The band returned to the stage at 5:30 pm and again at 8:30 pm Sunday evening to complete their eighth full set of music over the 3 day festival.
Saturday, October 31st, 2009 Empire Polo Field - Indio, CA
Phish performed three sets Saturday, October 31st, 2009, covering the Rolling Stones’ famed 1972 release "Exile On Main Street" as part of its Halloween tradition of covering another artist’s album in its entirety.
The band broke the news by handing out a “Phishbill” - a riff on a traditional theater playbill - to 40,000+ fans as they entered the concert area of the band’s Festival 8 site Saturday afternoon.
Sharon Jones, the lead singer of the Dap-Kings, sang backup with the group in addition to Manhattan native, Dave Guy on trumpet, David Smith on trombone, Tony Jarvis on sax and Saundra Williams on back-up vocals supporting the group during its double album set.
Set One Sample In A Jar The Divided Sky Lawn Boy Kill Devil Falls Bathtub Gin The Squirming Coil Runaway Jim > Possum Run Like An Antelope
Set Two Rocks Off Rip This Joint Shake Your Hips Casino Boogie Tumbling Dice Sweet Virginia Torn and Frayed Sweet Black Angel Loving Cup Happy Turd On The Run Ventilator Blues > I Just Want To See His Face Let It Loose All Down The Line Stop Breaking Down Shine A Light Soul Survivor
Set Three Backwards Down the Number Line > Fluffhead Ghost When the Circus Comes You Enjoy Myself
(above) Thousands of costumed fans pushed through the security gates that lead into the festival grounds on Halloween.
(above) Phish poster artist, Jim Pollock and his son, who's beginning to look a lot like his dad.
(above) Brave crusader, Fred Hosman, prepares to battle.
(above) View from on top of the Ferris Wheel looking out over the concert grounds as Phish prepares to take the stage as its musical costume for the evening as the Rolling Stones album, "Exile on Mainstreet".
(above) This video, created by Eclectic Method, played on giant projection screens before the band took the stage.
Burble (above) floats above spectators in response to infra-red signals and its immediate environment, changing color as pulses of light controlled by the public creating coherent patterns across its surface. It's a spectacular, futuristic sculpture made from helium-filled balloons packed with LEDs and infrared sensors and strapped to a hexagonal grid.
Each of the 140 hexagons has seven large helium balloons attached to it. These contain the sensors, LEDs and microcontrollers that enable the balloons to converse with each other and the participants below to create patterns of color across the honeycomb grid.
The grid is assembled on the ground, then tethered as the balloons are inflated. When the rope is cut, the whole structure floats upwards, anchored by a 30m long handlebar, which the participants hold on to.
Participants then “interact” with Burble by twisting, turning, pulling or pumping the handle, resulting in pulses of colour spreading throughout the floating structure.
Inside each of the balloons, you’ll find a circuit board with six LEDS — two each of red, green and blue — and two batteries to power it. The circuit board has been programmed to generate colour sequences in the LEDs from signals received by an attached infrared sensor which is in “conversation” with both the other balloons and the handlebar below. This has been embedded with a number of sensors — like the one used in the Nintendo Wii video game controller that translates physical movement into a signal. That signal, in turn, creates a corresponding light pulse in the balloons overhead.
The color and the duration of the luminance depends on the spatial position of each balloon, in that each one reacts differently depending on how close it is to other balloons, as well as its history of previous responses to signals already received. In essence, each balloon has a memory, and this governs its behaviour, along with environmental factors.
At the entrance to the concert field was an elevated area partially covered by peaked tents that looked out onto the lush concert field ringed in palm trees that Phish lighting designer Chris Kuroda would individually illuminate at night. Here at "The Overlook" attendees got the chance to enjoy a Bloody Mary Bar, a movie area showing vintage Halloween classics, archival Phish video - not to mention The World Series and NFL games - a massive 100 foot Ferris Wheel and an internet cafe.
Between The Overlook and the stage was The Coil (above) - a large swirled snake structure that hosted multiple art installations, interactive works and performance art.
(above) Performance artists perform "L8SICK" Surgery behind a curtain on a patient which is projected on the wall and video screens.
(above & below) The outskirts of The Coil hosted an explosive group of fire artists which featured fused metal scultputes that breathed fire and life into the cold desert air at night.
Friday, October 30th, 2009 Empire Polo Field - Indio, CA
Set 1 7:30 pm
Party Time Chalk Dust Torture The Moma Dance NICU Stealing Time From The Faulty Plan Stash I Didn't Know Poor Heart Cavern Beauty Of A Broken Heart Ocelot Time Turns Elastic
Set 2 10:00 pm
Punch You in the Eye > Down With Disease > Prince Caspian > Wolfman's Brother > Piper > Joy David Bowie Harry Hood Golgi Apparatus
Encore: Chracter Zero
Phish in 3D AEG Network Live filmed all eight Phish sets for a 3D movie that will be released theatrically in 2010. The release comes after the company that is a division of the firm promoting Festival 8 releases another 3D concert film of the Dave Matthews Band Dec. 11-17 in major theater chains including Regal Cinemas that are equipped to show 3D movies. That film will include additional performances by Ben Harper and Gogol Bordello. Matthews, Harper and Bordello were filmed at the 2009 Austin City Limits, All Points West and Lollapalooza festivals, but John Rubey, executive producer and president of Network Live, said his crew is getting so much good footage at Festival 8, and Phish has such a large following, that Phish will be the lone artist in its concert film. AEG's Tim Cannon said "it might be a challenge to get all of this weekend's footage into just one film". (above & below)
On June 26th, the Burlington, Vermont jamband Phish confirmed what had been circulating as speculation among fans for weeks... they intended to host a 3-day Halloween Festival October 30th to November 1st in Indio, California.
Having personally attended well beyond 100 Phish concerts over the past 15 years (my God, has it been that long!) - 20+ shows this year alone - I wasn't gonna miss this weekend for the world. My wife and I have attended most of their seven previous festivals starting with "The Clifford Ball", their first weekend-long event. Those concerts took place on August 16 and 17, 1996 on the site of a former Air Force base in Plattsburgh, New York. 70,000 people fans attended making the event Phish's largest concert up to that point and the largest rock concert in the United States in that year.
The Great Went was the sequel to The Ball, taking place on August 16 and 17, 1997 at the Loring Air Force Base in Limestone, Maine. As with all their festivals, art and amazement are always everywhere. Photographer Spencer Tunick captured over 1,000 concertgoers posed nude as part of his fifty-state nude photography tour. Throughout the weekend, the members of the audience each painted their own individual piece of art. The resultant pieces of fan artwork were attached to one another to create a tower that was eventually several stories high. Backstage, the band also created their own piece of art and, during a jam on the final night, the band passed their artwork through the audience. To create a connection between audience and band, the band's artwork was attached to the fan artwork. A giant matchstick was lit that came cascading down burning the tower to the ground that culminated the weekend. 75,000+ people attended, making the event Phish's largest concert up to that point and the top-grossing rock concert in the United States in the summer of 1997. Fans camped out on-site in tents making Limestone the largest city in Maine that weekend.
Lemonwheel was the third festival hosted by the band, taking place on August 15 and 16, 1998 again at Loring Air Force Base in Limestone, Maine.
July 17 and 18, 1999, at the Oswego County Airport in Volney, New York, a small rural upstate town, Phish hosted over 65,000 attendees at "Camp Oswego". I got severly sun-burned and ended up in a hospital in all places "Painsville" Ohio driving back home afterwards but that's a story for another time.
Big Cypress was the fifth and largest weekend-long Phish festival yet to date. The event took place on the eve of the millennium - December 30 and 31, 1999 at the Big Cypress Indian Reservation near the Big Cypress National Preserve in southern Florida. 85,000 people attended, making it the largest Millennium Eve concert on earth that night. It was also the longest Phish concert ever which culminated in a seven-and-a-half hour set of continual music from midnight on New Year's Eve to sunrise New Year's Day. Phish was the only band at the event and performed five sets of music - nearly sixteen hours - over just two nights.
"IT" took place on August 2 and 3, 2003, at the Loring Air Force Base in Limestone, Maine, just miles from the Canadian border. 60,000 people attended. Phish again was the only band at the event, performing seven sets of music over two nights, including a late night ambient set on top of the air traffic control tower at 2:30AM after the first night's concert.
Coventry was set to be the bands final performance ever and took place on August 14 and 15, 2004 at a farm in the small town of Coventry, Vermont. 110,000 people were expected to attend. It was simulcast to thousands more in movie theaters across America. The event was also simulcast on XM Satellite Radio. Unfortunately, a week of rain had flooded the concert field to the point where people were turned away, causing gridlock on the highway and roads leading to the site. The band had made use of a local radio station with live reports requesting patience from concert goers. However when Phish Bassist Mike Gordon came on he announced that the field and venue were in a state of disaster and that no more vehicles would be allowed into the venue. Rumor spread up and down the traffic lines that Phish would play another concert, since less than 20,000 fans had made it into the venue. Instead of turning away, tens of thousands parked their cars on highway medians, in breakdown lanes, and on the sides of roads. They then hiked in to the concert venue, some walking as far as 30 miles to the venue.
This brings us to 8. With lush green fields and palm trees, and surrounded by vistas of California’s majestic Santa Rosa mountains, the festival site has been called simply breathtaking. And for the first time ever, Phish will combine two of its most cherished traditions – a multi-day camping festival and performing on Halloween – in a glorious three-day celebration.
The band plans to perform eight sets over the next three nights including a new "musical costume" on Halloween. The tradition began on Halloween 1994 with Phish covering The Beatles’ The White Album. In subsequent years, they covered The Who’s Quadrophenia, Talking Heads’ Remain in Light and the Velvet Underground’s Loaded.
Over the past several weeks the band has hosted an animated flash gallery on their website which featured a spooky gallery of 99 albums, each a possibility for the musical costume, and each a possible victim of an unfortunate demise (91 albums have so far found arrows shot into them, axes tossed at them and knives plunged through them). As of today, the concerts gates are open, tens of thousands of fans are streaming into the concert fields at this very moment and there's only eight albums remaining on their website. Which will it be?
1. David Bowie | Hunky Dory 2. Genesis | The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway 3. Jimi Hendrix | Electric Ladyland 4. King Crimson | Larks' Tongues In Aspic 5. MGMT | Oracular Spectacular 6. Prince | Purple Rain 7. Radiohead | Kid A 8. Rolling Stones | Exile on Main Street
My money has been on The Rolling Stones, "Exile on Main Street".
Phish Festival 8 Performance Schedule
Friday (10/30)
7:30 pm Set 1 10:00 pm Set 2
Saturday (10/31)
3:00 pm Set 1 7:30 pm Halloween Set 10:00 pm Set 3
Hey, everybody, before we launch into some fabulous new and recent back-to-school books, I have to shout out my good news! It's time to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the publication of the real-life diary of my first year of teaching in the Chicago Public Schools, EDUCATING ESMÉ! My publisher has just reissued the book to include a brand new guide I wrote for first year teachers, "Hit the Ground Running," featuring 25 pieces of practical advice and a "new teacher shopping list." The reissue also includes a new foreword by Katherine Paterson, legendary author of classic books such as BRIDGE TO TEREBITHIA and THE GREAT GILLY HOPKINS and the soon-to-be-released DAY OF THE PELICAN (yes, I know, I'm breathing into a paper bag this very minute about it). In honor of the reissue I will also be launching a separate blog especially for new and high-spirited k-5 teachers, where in the coming weeks there will be conversation about the teaching experience, helpful hints, giveaways, inspiring artwork, links both useful and unique, book recommendations (well, of course!) and probably some things to eat (it's still me, after all). Hope you'll check it out and tell your teacher friends. Meanwhile, what could be a more apropos celebration than a merry stack of new back-to-school recommendations?
(above) Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor performs with Peter Murphy of Bauhaus (considered the first gothic rock group) in front of a sold out audience Friday night at Chicago's Aragaon Ballroom. Reznor announced this tour would be the last stop ever in Chicago for the band which also features Robin Finck, Justin Meldal-Johnsen and Ilan Rubin.
Friday, August 28th, 2009 Aragon Ballrom Chicago, IL
Pinion Wish Last Discipline March of the Pigs Something I Can Never Have The Frail The Wretched Closer Terrible Lie Head Down Banged and Blown Through Burn Gave Up La Mer The Fragile Non Entity Gone, Still Lights in the Sky Eraser The Downward Spiral 1,000,000 Letting You Survivalism Down in It Atmosphere w/ Peter Murphy (Joy Division Cover) Dead Souls w/ Peter Murphy (Joy Division Cover) Kick in the Eye w/ Peter Murphy (Bauhaus Cover) Hand That Feeds Head Like a Hole Hurt
Kevin Heinz and Jill Peterson have captured the attention of the world and become viral video sensations with their incredible wedding processional in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Though the newlyweds have only been married a few weeks, the video, which was posted on YouTube July 19, landed them a spot with Matt Lauer on The Today Show where their entire wedding party of seven bridesmaids, five groomsmen and four ushers gave an encore performance to Chris Brown’s “Forever”.
In an interview on Minnesota’s WCCO-TV, the couple said they plan on dancing through life happily-ever-after.
Congratualtions to these two overnight sensation. I hope their lives are filled forever with as much fun, joy and exciting as the way the started their unity together.
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