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Head Held High

Music/Lyrics: Lou Reed

Vocals: Trey (lead), All (backing)

Original Artist: The Velvet Underground

Original Album: Loaded (1970)

Albums: Live Phish 16

Debut: 1998-10-31

Historian: Mark Toscano

The Velvet Underground original is a fun, grating rock n’ roller featuring some unusual instrumental flourishes and bridges, some uncharacteristic double guitar work, and typically invigorating Reed vocals that level off somewhere around a dull roar.

For their 10/31/98 Loaded set, Phish covered the tune well – even faithfully – beginning with the song’s odd false-start vocal refrain. Though Trey’s voice doesn’t quite have Reed’s growly scouring-pad sound, he did an admirable job, capturing at least the slightly manic, half-drunk feeling found in the original. Phish’s version clocked in at a little over a minute longer than the original studio version owing to some extended slamming on the tune’s closing chorus. Altogether, a fun, faithful performance that got a huge crowd reaction.

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