Photo by Nicholas Stock

JoJo Hermann, Booker T. Jones, John Medeski and Herbie Hancock were among the other names The Meter Men considered to replace Art Neville during the group’s most recent touring venture, but likely none of the aforementioned talents could have summoned the droves to the Ogden Theater in Denver quite like Phish’s Page McConnell. The demand was high enough that the show’s promoter, AEG, added a second night to accommodate the overflow of supporters from Friday’s sold-out performance.

Saturday was comfortably packed, not quite sold out, in the roughly 1,700-person venue where three-quarters of the original Meters – Leo Nocentelli on guitar, George Porter Jr. on bass and Zigaboo Modeliste on drums – closed out their spring tour, which included stops along the East Coast and Jazz Fest in New Orleans.

The lighting was simple yet effective, aided perhaps by the slow-moving haze that permeated around the stage in the Mile High City, where for the third straight year Phish is scheduled to close out its summer tour over Labor Day Weekend. As one might expect, McConnell was the recipient of the crowd’s loudest ovation as he strolled across the stage to occupy the unfamiliar stage left side.

“[McConnell] was the first one that we contacted and it kind of stuck,” said Nocentelli in a phone interview two days after the show. “And it just kind of worked out. He grew up listening to Meters, Phish did, everybody in Phish. It was almost like a no-brainer that he play with us.”

The boys came out swinging with “Fire on the Bayou,” during which there was immediate interaction between Porter Jr., and McConnell. The senior band members proceeded to “get into some stuff from the 70s,” as Porter Jr. announced. By the time they hit “Funkify Your Life” and “Hey Pocky A-Way” the elders granted the Phish keyboardist license to bring his own style and experience to the show.

“He came up studying the Meters,” said Nocentelli. "I wouldn’t say his style overall is [the same as] Art’s style. But he knows the songs, and that’s one thing. As an extra addition to what he does on the songs are his personal talents [that go] into the songs The Meters play.
“I think you never stop evolving, regardless of who you play with. I personally believe that I evolve every time I pick up the instrument. For the Meters in general, you know, we’ve been doing it for so long, man, it all depends on the vibe of each one of us to determine the overall strength. It takes all four people to make those songs happen. Sometimes, we’re all on the same page and sometimes we not.”

Concertgoers who were lucky enough to catch a show in Denver and the set at Jazz Fest a week earlier noticed the performances in Colorado were quite a bit more experimental, exploratory and improvised, compared to the more basic rundown of greatest hits in New Orleans. Nocentelli agreed and said there’s a simple explanation: “It was more experimental in Denver because we had more time. When you do something like Jazz Fest, you got about 45 minutes. You plan everything that you can into 45-60 minutes, whereas you could experiment a little more in two hours. That’s the difference.”

The roughly two-hour set wrapped up with a “Cissy Strut” featuring Nocentelli’s strongest solo of the night and a stirring, more mellow jam before the group closed it out in raging fashion. “Colorado got this shit going on,” said Modeliste. The band returned for a lengthy encore that included perhaps the funkiest-ever rendition of the Happy Birthday Song, directed toward the keyboardist McConnell, who appeared absolutely giddy when he finally exited the stage, almost tripping over a speaker as he turned to acknowledge the crowd one last time.

“In general, the highlight of the show was really the audience, the way the audience received The Meter Men,” said Nocentelli. “The songs, we’ve played them so many times. We enjoy playing the songs, but the highlight is really what the audience gets out of the songs.”

The Meter Men including McConnell have booked their next show for after Phish’s summer tour at the Catskill Chill Music Festival in Hancock, N.Y. on Sept. 6. Where it goes from there is still up in the air, but Nocentelli expects McConnell will continue to be a major part of the band, not necessarily for all of its shows, but certainly when the schedule permits.