As Phish kicks off the next leg of its summer tour, we look back a few weeks to Super Ball IX

Phish pioneered the modern American music festival. With eight past experiences dating back to The Clifford Ball in 1996, the Vermont quartet had a definitive blueprint to draw upon in planning Super Ball IX. The roughly 30,000 people who visited Central New York this past weekend would attest to the bands immense success in making its ninth jubilee one to remember. Gone were the maddening traffic jams that had historically plagued Phish’s East coast gatherings, as the staff of the host racetrack was accustomed to dealing with over 100,000 people. The weather was perfect, the crowd was relatively small, and – most importantly – the music was sublime.

Six of the twelve songs in Friday’s opening set were covers, establishing a pattern that would permeate the weekend. The increasingly-less-rare “Peaches En Regalia,” a Frank Zappa tune revered by fans, was trumped by the first version of David Bowie’s “Life On Mars?” since 2003. As they had done throughout the first leg of their summer tour, the band members locked into a tight union on each number, immediately justifying any high expectations. The playful second set contained spacey jams out of Talking Heads’ “Crosseyed & Painless” and the original classic “Simple,” the latter of which eventually wound into a shimmering take on “Bug” that featured blazing guitar work from Trey Anastasio. Night one indicated that the engines were running strong at Watkins Glen.

Saturday boasted a trifecta of official sets and some nice surprises. The band powered through a heavy dose of funk under the hot midday sun, closing the afternoon out with their debut of The Rolling Stones’ “Monkey Man.” At sunset they resurrected the full version of “Scents & Subtle Sounds” before cranking things up with “Run Like An Antelope.” The third set opened with “Golden Age” by TV On The Radio and contained a generous amount of improvisation in songs like “Piper,” “Tweezer,” and “Twist.” The real treat of the day came in the form of a widely-rumored “secret” set that got underway at 1:30am. Performing behind screens within one of the many art installations on the main concert field, Phish jammed an hour’s worth of pointedly trippy music that culminated in an unusual version of “Sleeping Monkey.” The fans that were lucky enough to witness this most recent incarnation of a festival tradition were appropriately blown away.

Sunday opened promisingly with Bob Marley’s “Soul Shakedown Party,” commonly a harbinger of good things to come. Set one contained the scantily-played “Big Black Furry Creature From Mars” and “Mound” and an atypical jam in “Wilson.” The last stanza opened in vintage Phishy fashion, as drummer Jon Fishman sang a tongue-in-cheek cover of AC/DC’s “Big Balls” to commemorate the event. The eerie jam spawned by “Down With Disease” eventually melted into the second-ever version of “No Quarter” by Led Zeppelin. As had been a refreshing trend all weekend long, the audience remained hushed and attentive during the quieter sections of music – allowing the band to relax and explore. Once midnight had officially ushered in the 4th of July, an a capella offering of “The Star Spangled Banner” closed the final set.

An encore of “First Tube” was the crowning exhibit of what had been an enchanting three days. The performers and audience members grinned and danced through the waning minutes of their shared time as the page turned on another triumph for the biggest jamband on the planet. Each time Phish has put on one of their exclusive one-act parties, they have managed to make certain aspects better while retaining the magic and wonder of their original vision. Followers can only hope that another lap around the track at Watkins Glen is in store for next summer.