Phish ~ Festival 8 ~ Saturday, October 31st, 2009 ~ Halloween

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All photographs © 2009 Jason Kaczorowski Photography

Phish

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.