Last night, Phish broke out “Dinner And A Movie”. This might go under the radar compared to the “Esther” breakout almost two weeks ago, as it was last played in 2004 (compared to Esther’s 2000), but something struck me as I listened to the recording of the show; Phish played all of “Junta” this year. (I’m not counting the CD’s bonus tracks, especially since that would mean they’d have to play “Union Federal” ever).
This is kind of significant. First off, it’s the first time since 1996 that this has happened (mainly a result of the absence of Dinner or Esther). This year is also the twentieth since it hit stores.
On top of that, I can only think of a few albums that have had every song on them played in the space of a year: “Lawn Boy” (every year since 1989), “A Picture Of Nectar” in 1992, “Hoist” in '94 and '95 (but only if you ignore Riker’s Mailbox, and only '94 if you count it as Buffalo Bill), “Farmhouse” in '99 and '00, and “Round Room” in '03.
Making it even more special, some albums have songs that were never ever played to this day; “Billy Breathes”, “Story Of The Ghost”, “Undermind”, and currently “Joy” (unless I’ve Been Around shows up soon).
In conclusion, hooray for statistics and hooray for Junta.