So this single-set Bonnaroo show is just weird. And generally not in a good way, either (though there are a few exceptions).
The first few songs are on point, but none of them are particularly special. The early "Divided Sky" is an eyebrow-raiser as a setlist choice, but it's hardly a unique or top-shelf take on the song. A decent "Possum" leads into an early 17-minute "Disease," but while the jam features a sudden left turn into Funk City around the 9:00 mark, nothing much happens of note afterward, sans some nice texture-y playing from Page. It's one of the few (and maybe only) long jams of 3.0 so far that really just fell flat for me, which is unfortunate because it would have been great to hear another Hampton III-esque "Disease" here.
The 14-minute "Stash" that comes shortly after falls into a similar trap: rather than getting all fun and exploratory or patient and build-y like the first few "Stash"s of 3.0, this one is just Trey whale-ing away for about ten minutes, and about six minutes too long. It's not at the playing is bad, mind you, it's just that it's boring, and they've already shown in the few shows since March that they can do a lot better.
The "KDF" that follows shortly after the "Stash" is one of those fence-straddlers for me. I've listened to it a number of times, and half the time I think it's a brilliant piece of improv while the other half of the time I think it's an over-abstract piece of noise-garbage that never coalesces around anything long enough to be meaningful. This listen didn't clear anything up for me: Trey drives the song off a Type 2 cliff around the 9:00 mark, the rest of the band refuses to follow immediately, but eventually gives in, and Something Happens afterward, but again, I'm not certain if it's bad or good. The song ends in an ambient washout and a nice segue into "Free," but of course "Free" is "Free." Seriously, is there a single good live version of this song in existence?
The "Hood" is nice, though it more or less directly channels the "Hood" from 6/10, and the "Highway To Hell"/"2001" pairing is just weird, but oddly satisfying.
Maybe the highlight of the set is the "YEM" > "Wilson" > "YEM" sandwich, which sounds gimmicky as all hell, but actually features two well-executed segues and some great "Foxy Lady"-esque action from Trey in the short "Wilson" jam. I really can't stress enough how nice the second segue is here: the band goes off into "Wilson" just as the main "YEM" funk jam is about to start, and when "Wilson" ends, they melt right back into the jam as if nothing ever happened. It's so seamless that it imparts a sort-of dream quality to the "Wilson." Did it actually happen? Was it just spliced in from some other tape?
Aside from the novelty of this closing sandwich and the (maybe) rewarding weirdness of the "KDF," though, there's not much here worth a relisten. I'm oddly looking forward to 6/14, though...
Jan 31, 2013
Jan 30, 2013
2009-06-10 Thompson-Boling Arena
If 6/9 was characterized by strange song choices and setlist flow that were eventually overpowered by the band's sheer enthusaism, 6/10 is its opposite: a pretty much perfect setlist (by my standards, at least) that's dampened a bit by workmanlike-only playing throughout. I say "a bit" because this is still a decent show, but definitely 6/7 > 6/9 > 6/10.
We get a great set of opening songs right off in the first set, though none of them deviate much beyond what you'd expect, except for "Foam," which features a surprisingly minimalist middle section to its jam before spiraling back up into madness for the conclusion. Next is "Train Song," which is one of my favorite short, sweet Phish songs, and the version of "Undermind" that follows is clever, with a really funky jam that features some strange Trey chording. The buns of the Mike's Groove sandwich aren't really anything to write home about, but the sloooooooowed down "Hydrogen" smushed in-between works really well. I don't know if the band was really going for something different here or Trey was just worried about playing the song too fast and missing notes; either way, though, this take is worth a listen if you like "Hydrogen."
Like the first set, the second looks magical on paper, but doesn't translate quite as well on tape. "Back on the Train" is a truncated version that features a full stop before the first "Waves" of 3.0. Most of "Waves" is straightforward, but the last few minutes feature a minimal outro jam with some harmonizing on the song's ending refrain. This turns into a neat segue into "ASIHTOS," which is probably the best moment of the show.
Unfortunately, "ASIHTOS" doesn't really follow through on the segue's promise, devolving into another generic guitar jam.
The setlist never ceases to be amazing, as there's a "Bowie," "Army Of One," "Reba," and "Hood" to come still, among others, but still, there's something missing here. The "Bowie" is solid and the "Army of One" is a nice surprise. The majority of the show remaining after these is a series of quiet, slowly building jams, each of which (throughout "Reba," "Julius," and "Hood") are primarily led with Trey noodling. If you're a big fan of the "patient"-style "Hood" jam, you'll probably love this part of the set. To me, the playing wasn't engaging enough to make the builds worthwhile (minus, maybe the "Hood," which is pretty awesome).
Overall, this show is pretty fun for the setlist (if you like all the same songs that i like), but you're not going to get a lot of mileage out of it beyond that.
On to Bonnaroo!
We get a great set of opening songs right off in the first set, though none of them deviate much beyond what you'd expect, except for "Foam," which features a surprisingly minimalist middle section to its jam before spiraling back up into madness for the conclusion. Next is "Train Song," which is one of my favorite short, sweet Phish songs, and the version of "Undermind" that follows is clever, with a really funky jam that features some strange Trey chording. The buns of the Mike's Groove sandwich aren't really anything to write home about, but the sloooooooowed down "Hydrogen" smushed in-between works really well. I don't know if the band was really going for something different here or Trey was just worried about playing the song too fast and missing notes; either way, though, this take is worth a listen if you like "Hydrogen."
Like the first set, the second looks magical on paper, but doesn't translate quite as well on tape. "Back on the Train" is a truncated version that features a full stop before the first "Waves" of 3.0. Most of "Waves" is straightforward, but the last few minutes feature a minimal outro jam with some harmonizing on the song's ending refrain. This turns into a neat segue into "ASIHTOS," which is probably the best moment of the show.
The setlist never ceases to be amazing, as there's a "Bowie," "Army Of One," "Reba," and "Hood" to come still, among others, but still, there's something missing here. The "Bowie" is solid and the "Army of One" is a nice surprise. The majority of the show remaining after these is a series of quiet, slowly building jams, each of which (throughout "Reba," "Julius," and "Hood") are primarily led with Trey noodling. If you're a big fan of the "patient"-style "Hood" jam, you'll probably love this part of the set. To me, the playing wasn't engaging enough to make the builds worthwhile (minus, maybe the "Hood," which is pretty awesome).
On to Bonnaroo!
Jan 28, 2013
2009-06-09 Asheville Civic Center
Well, coming right after my early contender for show of 2009, 6/9 was never going to emerge from Camden's shadow...but it still ended up being a better show than most of 3.0 before it (sans Camden, of course). I was surprised, and pleased to find that this was a surprisingly consistent show, and topped by the third of three excellent "Ghost"s since Hampton.
Considering it's an early version, the "KDF" that opens this show is punchier than it has any right to be. This momentum carries right through the first few songs and into a "Stash" that doesn't rewrite the rulebook by any means, but features a lot of nice tension-and-release action that resolves eventually into "Dog-Faced Boy." Afterward, Trey shares that he wrote the song based off of snooping around in Fish's journal when they were roommates, and that two more songs came from the same source: "Gumbo" and "Tube." The band proceeds to play both back-to-back. This is a fun, gimmicky first-set segment, and the mini-jam in "Tube" is actually top-tier stuff.
Fish closes his "journal segment" with an acapella version of "Lengthwise" that features some great audience assistance, even on the SBD. Back in serious-land, the band rips apart "Divided Sky," for an exceptional version, and then raps up the set with a Mike cover ("When the Cactus is in Bloom") and "Axis." All in all, it's a set that holds together better than it has any right to.
The second set opens with a brief but fiery "Number Line" that ends suddenly, then restarts in the form of a weird ambient jam (it's possible that the song doesn't actually stop here, but someone was still playing softly and I just didn't have the volume up high enough). The ambient passage quickly and smoothly transitions into "Ghost," and we're off on a space-funk rocket ride for the third time already in 3.0. The first few minutes of this jam are of the wacky, abstract variety (as per my notes: "Oh, yikes...this Ghost is on fucking droooogs"), but then things quickly take a turn toward Peak City and Trey keeps the song there for way longer than should actually be effective. Somehow, though, 6-7 minutes of this shredding is not too much, as the rest of the band builds on the back of Trey's hose-down. Think the Prague '98 "Ghost," but less "once in a lifetime" and more "2-3 times per tour." Same style, less genius, but ultimately a highlight of the tour so far. And someone has a video!
After the "Ghost" ends, the rest of the set plays out much like the back end of set one: weird song choices, strange flow, but rather than sinking, the whole thing floats on the band's energy. "FEFY" is one of my favorite Phish ballads, and it oozes out of the end of "Ghost" beautifully here. Halley's is always welcome as well, and this one starts to actually take off into a pretty interesting jamspace for a minute or so after the song proper ends, but then...MAZE'D.
I don't normally get down on "ripcording" the way a lot of Phish fans do; I'm a fan of just as many 2-3 minute jams as I am 20-30 minute ones, and I think a balance of the two is best (unless we're talking '97 of course). Generally, I think that if the band aborts a jam, it's probably for good reason...they're probably out of ideas and want to move on. That's usually fine. Here, though, I actually yelped out loud at how suddenly the promise of a slowly unfolding "Halley's" jam turned into "Maze" in an instant. This was especially galling considering that "Maze" is one of the few Phish songs that I don't like that much. But, honestly, this version ain't bad. It features extra-clever work on the organ by Page, layered above some staccato chording from Trey and it builds to a good (if somewhat whale-y) peak. None of the rest of the songs on the setlist are barnburners by nature, but the boys do a number on each one (even "Golgi"!) and again, the back half of a set which shouldn't have really worked that well comes off as satisfying.
It's no Camden, but come for the "Number Line" > "Ghost" and stay for (pretty much all) the rest.
Note: I'm not sure if they've actually improved, or I've finally just hit an EQ goldmine, but the last few SBDs (Camden and Asheville) sound a lot better than the previous muddy, distant-sounding atrocities that I complained about awhile back.
Considering it's an early version, the "KDF" that opens this show is punchier than it has any right to be. This momentum carries right through the first few songs and into a "Stash" that doesn't rewrite the rulebook by any means, but features a lot of nice tension-and-release action that resolves eventually into "Dog-Faced Boy." Afterward, Trey shares that he wrote the song based off of snooping around in Fish's journal when they were roommates, and that two more songs came from the same source: "Gumbo" and "Tube." The band proceeds to play both back-to-back. This is a fun, gimmicky first-set segment, and the mini-jam in "Tube" is actually top-tier stuff.
The second set opens with a brief but fiery "Number Line" that ends suddenly, then restarts in the form of a weird ambient jam (it's possible that the song doesn't actually stop here, but someone was still playing softly and I just didn't have the volume up high enough). The ambient passage quickly and smoothly transitions into "Ghost," and we're off on a space-funk rocket ride for the third time already in 3.0. The first few minutes of this jam are of the wacky, abstract variety (as per my notes: "Oh, yikes...this Ghost is on fucking droooogs"), but then things quickly take a turn toward Peak City and Trey keeps the song there for way longer than should actually be effective. Somehow, though, 6-7 minutes of this shredding is not too much, as the rest of the band builds on the back of Trey's hose-down. Think the Prague '98 "Ghost," but less "once in a lifetime" and more "2-3 times per tour." Same style, less genius, but ultimately a highlight of the tour so far. And someone has a video!
It's no Camden, but come for the "Number Line" > "Ghost" and stay for (pretty much all) the rest.
Note: I'm not sure if they've actually improved, or I've finally just hit an EQ goldmine, but the last few SBDs (Camden and Asheville) sound a lot better than the previous muddy, distant-sounding atrocities that I complained about awhile back.
Jan 18, 2013
2009-06-07 Camden
This show is the super-megopticopolis. I do not know what that means, but it's still what this show is regardless.
This is a fucking PHISH show, fuckers. I'll sit here and wait while you go listen to it right now.
Now that you're back, let's talk details.
The first set is easily the best first set thus far of 3.0. Anytime since Hampton that the band has brought the improv in the first set, it's been a pleasant surprise, but here it really really works. After a average-great "Chalkdust" opener, we immediately get a "Fee" with an outro jam, and it's by no means just a novelty move: this jam is only a few minutes long, but it moves around a lot in those few minutes and actually reminds me a bit of the "Roses" outro jam from 6/8/12. "Wolfman's" is a strong (and long), funky version in the three spot, "Guyute" is played with more energy than usual, and "46 Days" and "Lizards" are both strong. "The Wedge" receives a surprising and satisfying outro jam a la "Fee," and then there's "Strange Design," which is one of my favorite Phish/Page ballad tunes. The set ends with a "Tube"/"First Tube" combo (Trey, after "Tube": I guess we'd better play this one next...") that serves as the perfect peak for a first set that's not just notable for its energy, but also for its song choice, flow, and quality improv that pops up mostly in unexpected places. I'd be happy with a mediocre second set after something like this, but "alas," it was not to be...
Okay, so first, there's a 22 minute "Sand" right off the bat. Now, granted, 22 minutes is a lot of space to move around in (or, if it's 2.0, play the same three notes over and over and over in, but I digress), but the boys still manage to fit more "movements" into this jam than seem possible. It's reminiscent of the JB "Ghost" in the way the entire band moves effortlessly through varied soundscapes that all add up in the end to a satisfying whole. There's a lot more tonal shifts and changes going on here, though, and it would take a bit too long to describe them all. Just go download the show and listen to it already. Again, if you listened to me the first time. Generally, we start off with some typical "Sand" funk highlighted by Mike's bass and Trey's surprisingly minimal, murky playing, then we veer into a bit of space funk, and right when it seems that the jam is going to devolve into the weird, neo-Floyd abstractness that's been the highlight of most of the early 3.0 jams so far, the whole band turns on a dime and bursts into a blissed-out section that finds Trey's playing in old-school form. Eventually, he latches on to an improvised riff and the rest of the band follows, and the results are just amazing. So amazing, in fact, that Trey teases the improvised riff at the beginning of "Suzy." Now they're just showing off.
"Suzy" is an especially strong version, as is "Limb By Limb." If there's a weak spot in the show, it's another shaky "Horse" > "Silent" pairing followed by the butchered debut of "Sugar Shack" (maybe my favorite song from "Joy"). That's over quickly enough, though, and then we're into a muddy, dirty, just flat-out disgusting "Character Zero" (and I mean that in a good way), which segues into..."Tweezer." Yeah. Nearly three hours into this show, the guys just start playing a fifteen-minute "Tweezer." On the tape, you can actually hear the crowd slowly realize that this isn't an accidental early "Reprise," but the real deal. And there's never any hesitation, either: the guys take it deep fast, with Trey picking out another improvised riff soon after, and again the results are incredible as everyone builds on the riff, as a group, for five or so minutes. This "Tweezer" is up there with the already-excellent "Tweezer"s from Hampton and Fenway, and it might even be better. And it's the last song of the second set. Then they come back for a four song encore. And one of them is "Antelope."
Early 3.0 is making me a believer in "Antelope" again. This version is pure fire from the onset, and it's hard to believe that these guys have already been playing for three hours at this point. They rip through it like nothing, and segue perfectly into Tweeprise, and by this point, listening at home on my shitty, tinny headphones, I was literally hopping up and down in my chair, air guitaring my ass off, without consciously realizing I'd started.
This show is so good it hypnotized me and convinced me to make an ass of myself in front of people whose opinions of me I deeply respect.
You should check it out at all costs. ALL COSTS
This is a fucking PHISH show, fuckers. I'll sit here and wait while you go listen to it right now.
Now that you're back, let's talk details.
The first set is easily the best first set thus far of 3.0. Anytime since Hampton that the band has brought the improv in the first set, it's been a pleasant surprise, but here it really really works. After a average-great "Chalkdust" opener, we immediately get a "Fee" with an outro jam, and it's by no means just a novelty move: this jam is only a few minutes long, but it moves around a lot in those few minutes and actually reminds me a bit of the "Roses" outro jam from 6/8/12. "Wolfman's" is a strong (and long), funky version in the three spot, "Guyute" is played with more energy than usual, and "46 Days" and "Lizards" are both strong. "The Wedge" receives a surprising and satisfying outro jam a la "Fee," and then there's "Strange Design," which is one of my favorite Phish/Page ballad tunes. The set ends with a "Tube"/"First Tube" combo (Trey, after "Tube": I guess we'd better play this one next...") that serves as the perfect peak for a first set that's not just notable for its energy, but also for its song choice, flow, and quality improv that pops up mostly in unexpected places. I'd be happy with a mediocre second set after something like this, but "alas," it was not to be...
Okay, so first, there's a 22 minute "Sand" right off the bat. Now, granted, 22 minutes is a lot of space to move around in (or, if it's 2.0, play the same three notes over and over and over in, but I digress), but the boys still manage to fit more "movements" into this jam than seem possible. It's reminiscent of the JB "Ghost" in the way the entire band moves effortlessly through varied soundscapes that all add up in the end to a satisfying whole. There's a lot more tonal shifts and changes going on here, though, and it would take a bit too long to describe them all. Just go download the show and listen to it already. Again, if you listened to me the first time. Generally, we start off with some typical "Sand" funk highlighted by Mike's bass and Trey's surprisingly minimal, murky playing, then we veer into a bit of space funk, and right when it seems that the jam is going to devolve into the weird, neo-Floyd abstractness that's been the highlight of most of the early 3.0 jams so far, the whole band turns on a dime and bursts into a blissed-out section that finds Trey's playing in old-school form. Eventually, he latches on to an improvised riff and the rest of the band follows, and the results are just amazing. So amazing, in fact, that Trey teases the improvised riff at the beginning of "Suzy." Now they're just showing off.
"Suzy" is an especially strong version, as is "Limb By Limb." If there's a weak spot in the show, it's another shaky "Horse" > "Silent" pairing followed by the butchered debut of "Sugar Shack" (maybe my favorite song from "Joy"). That's over quickly enough, though, and then we're into a muddy, dirty, just flat-out disgusting "Character Zero" (and I mean that in a good way), which segues into..."Tweezer." Yeah. Nearly three hours into this show, the guys just start playing a fifteen-minute "Tweezer." On the tape, you can actually hear the crowd slowly realize that this isn't an accidental early "Reprise," but the real deal. And there's never any hesitation, either: the guys take it deep fast, with Trey picking out another improvised riff soon after, and again the results are incredible as everyone builds on the riff, as a group, for five or so minutes. This "Tweezer" is up there with the already-excellent "Tweezer"s from Hampton and Fenway, and it might even be better. And it's the last song of the second set. Then they come back for a four song encore. And one of them is "Antelope."
Early 3.0 is making me a believer in "Antelope" again. This version is pure fire from the onset, and it's hard to believe that these guys have already been playing for three hours at this point. They rip through it like nothing, and segue perfectly into Tweeprise, and by this point, listening at home on my shitty, tinny headphones, I was literally hopping up and down in my chair, air guitaring my ass off, without consciously realizing I'd started.
This show is so good it hypnotized me and convinced me to make an ass of myself in front of people whose opinions of me I deeply respect.
You should check it out at all costs. ALL COSTS
Jan 17, 2013
2009-06-06 Comcast Center
The Good: I'm really ripping through these shows the last few days.
The Bad: None of them are really very good.
The Comcast Center show is, honestly, better in a lot of ways that nearly all of the Jones Beach run, but there's just nothing to sink your teeth into, and that's frustrating. And I'm not talking about 20-minute, multi-tiered space jams. There's not even any smaller bits of brilliance (a la JBIII's "Twist" > "Piper") to spice things up. It's just a nice rock show. Just.
I was happy to hear "Nothing" early on, but that's because it's one of my favorites. If this doesn't apply to you, you aren't missing a noteworthy version. "Train" through "Sparkle" are played with a lot of energy, and this is one of those sections where I can feel the dissonance between tape and what it was (probably) like to be there, in the June sun, while the boys ripped through these numbers. It was probably ecstatic. Here, it just sounds flat and a little faster than usual. "Jibboo" is a little extended, and easily the first set highlight, featuring some strange but strong soloing from Trey. Also: "Lawn Boy" and "Let Me Lie" is about the worst late-set song pairing in history, and I say that as someone who likes both songs.
The "Seven Below" opener for the second set got my hopes up quite a bit. This is one of my favorite jam songs and I loved the Hampton "DWD" > "Seven Below" pairing. This version doesn't do much but noodle around for 12 minutes, though. It's a solid Type 1 jam, and worth a listen, but if you come to it from the setlist imagining an abstract throwdown, you'll be disappointed. The highlight of the set (and possibly the show, oddly enough) is "Scent of a Mule." Page extends his piano solo section a bit, and in some really interesting ways, and when Trey comes in he adds to the fun by messing around a bit with his usual riff (this sounds like it starts as a mistake, but he builds off the mistake in a great way, and when he finally latches back onto the riff you know he was supposed to be playing in the first place, it's a great tension-releasing moment). "Heavy Things" actually packs quite a punch in its short running time, and I have to admit I love any show that brings a good "Heavy Things" and/or "Jibboo." I just do. And this show has both. The "Hood" is a long, patient, building version here, and really the last thing worth mentioning. It's not on the level of the JB version, but it's worth a listen, for sure. This is the second time in eight shows that the band has closed a mediocre show with a rather stratospheric "Hood." Hmm...
One more show before a night off. My hopes aren't that high at this point.
The Bad: None of them are really very good.
The Comcast Center show is, honestly, better in a lot of ways that nearly all of the Jones Beach run, but there's just nothing to sink your teeth into, and that's frustrating. And I'm not talking about 20-minute, multi-tiered space jams. There's not even any smaller bits of brilliance (a la JBIII's "Twist" > "Piper") to spice things up. It's just a nice rock show. Just.
I was happy to hear "Nothing" early on, but that's because it's one of my favorites. If this doesn't apply to you, you aren't missing a noteworthy version. "Train" through "Sparkle" are played with a lot of energy, and this is one of those sections where I can feel the dissonance between tape and what it was (probably) like to be there, in the June sun, while the boys ripped through these numbers. It was probably ecstatic. Here, it just sounds flat and a little faster than usual. "Jibboo" is a little extended, and easily the first set highlight, featuring some strange but strong soloing from Trey. Also: "Lawn Boy" and "Let Me Lie" is about the worst late-set song pairing in history, and I say that as someone who likes both songs.
One more show before a night off. My hopes aren't that high at this point.
Jan 16, 2013
2009-06-05 Jones Beach III
So far in my yet-brief review of 3.0, there have been three kinds of shows:
1. Average shows that, while solidly played, don't contain any moments that make them worthy of a relisten above any of Phish's many other average shows.
2. Shows that are like (1), except with the addition of a standout jam or two.
3. Shows that are legitimately unique and worth a relisten all the way through (with the possible exception of a song here or there).
Jones Beach III doesn't really fall into any of these categories. It sits somewhere between (1) and (3), with absolutely no movement toward (2) at all. In the end, I found it very dissatisfying, but there were a lot of well-played songs. Something didn't sit well with me, but at the same time I could easily see this being someone else's favorite show of early summer '09. It's weird.
Anyway, there's probably somebody who really likes this first set. I am not that person. "KDF" has a little extra mustard on it in the guitar area, but nothing worth tuning in for really happens until "Ya Mar," which is the seventh song. This is a really playful version of the song, with Trey improvising some fun lines introducing Leo's solo, and then doing the same for Mike. Mike steps up with a solid and suitably wacky bass solo, and things seem like they might finally be about to pick up. The band moves into "Theme" next, though, and unlike the Hampton version, this one is botched to high heaven, killing any leftover momentum. "Boogie On" is always a winner in 3.0, but this one doesn't do anything exceptionally interesting, and then we've got "SOaM" to close the set. One of my great failings as a Phish fan is, I'm certain, that I have almost never gotten the point of a "SOaM" jam. I love the song, but the jam almost always just loses me and tempts me with hitting the "Next" button. This version isn't any different: it's spacey, and dark, and abstract...and falls totally flat. Again, though, I could see this jam being the highlight of someone's summer...just not me.
Things are a bit better in the second set, though the highlights don't come from the part of the setlist you'd expect. They start off with "DWD," and based on the show's previous Hampton outing, it seems like we might be off on a magic carpet ride right away. Instead, the 12-minute version is mostly a Trey wankfest, albeit a solid one. It's in the smooth, brilliant segue into "Twist" that really gets things going, though. If you're a jam "purist" who needs something to be 20 minutes long to be worth your time, you can move along at this point, but I'm a firm believer in 3.0's mid-length jam brilliance, and here's a great early embodiment of it in the following "Twist" > "Piper" combination. Both songs cover a lot of ground in a short period, with "Twist" entering almost calypso/Caribbean territory and "Piper" blending the spaceyness and the funk of some of the bigger Hampton jams into an uptempo throwdown that's just 3-4 minutes of straight awesome. There's no real ">" to speak of from "Piper" to "Number Line," but this early "Number Line" is an interesting version, with some thoughtful and varied soloing from Trey. "Free" is "Free": it's one of the few Phish songs where the album version is always going to sound better than anything done live (more or less). This version does nothing to change my mind. I had high hopes for "Twenty Years" > "2001" > "Slave," but there's not much to say about it except another short and extra juicy "2001" a la the Hampton version and a little interesting whale-y action from Trey in the "Slave." "A Day In the Life" is one of my favorite Phish covers, so that was nice to hear at the end, I guess...
As you can probably tell, I'm less than enthused here. Plus, there's no real decent videos on YouTube of this show.
My favorite show of this run is the "Hood" and the "Ghost." Just those, over and over, for three hours. Nothing else, please. Moving on.
1. Average shows that, while solidly played, don't contain any moments that make them worthy of a relisten above any of Phish's many other average shows.
2. Shows that are like (1), except with the addition of a standout jam or two.
3. Shows that are legitimately unique and worth a relisten all the way through (with the possible exception of a song here or there).
Jones Beach III doesn't really fall into any of these categories. It sits somewhere between (1) and (3), with absolutely no movement toward (2) at all. In the end, I found it very dissatisfying, but there were a lot of well-played songs. Something didn't sit well with me, but at the same time I could easily see this being someone else's favorite show of early summer '09. It's weird.
Anyway, there's probably somebody who really likes this first set. I am not that person. "KDF" has a little extra mustard on it in the guitar area, but nothing worth tuning in for really happens until "Ya Mar," which is the seventh song. This is a really playful version of the song, with Trey improvising some fun lines introducing Leo's solo, and then doing the same for Mike. Mike steps up with a solid and suitably wacky bass solo, and things seem like they might finally be about to pick up. The band moves into "Theme" next, though, and unlike the Hampton version, this one is botched to high heaven, killing any leftover momentum. "Boogie On" is always a winner in 3.0, but this one doesn't do anything exceptionally interesting, and then we've got "SOaM" to close the set. One of my great failings as a Phish fan is, I'm certain, that I have almost never gotten the point of a "SOaM" jam. I love the song, but the jam almost always just loses me and tempts me with hitting the "Next" button. This version isn't any different: it's spacey, and dark, and abstract...and falls totally flat. Again, though, I could see this jam being the highlight of someone's summer...just not me.
Things are a bit better in the second set, though the highlights don't come from the part of the setlist you'd expect. They start off with "DWD," and based on the show's previous Hampton outing, it seems like we might be off on a magic carpet ride right away. Instead, the 12-minute version is mostly a Trey wankfest, albeit a solid one. It's in the smooth, brilliant segue into "Twist" that really gets things going, though. If you're a jam "purist" who needs something to be 20 minutes long to be worth your time, you can move along at this point, but I'm a firm believer in 3.0's mid-length jam brilliance, and here's a great early embodiment of it in the following "Twist" > "Piper" combination. Both songs cover a lot of ground in a short period, with "Twist" entering almost calypso/Caribbean territory and "Piper" blending the spaceyness and the funk of some of the bigger Hampton jams into an uptempo throwdown that's just 3-4 minutes of straight awesome. There's no real ">" to speak of from "Piper" to "Number Line," but this early "Number Line" is an interesting version, with some thoughtful and varied soloing from Trey. "Free" is "Free": it's one of the few Phish songs where the album version is always going to sound better than anything done live (more or less). This version does nothing to change my mind. I had high hopes for "Twenty Years" > "2001" > "Slave," but there's not much to say about it except another short and extra juicy "2001" a la the Hampton version and a little interesting whale-y action from Trey in the "Slave." "A Day In the Life" is one of my favorite Phish covers, so that was nice to hear at the end, I guess...
As you can probably tell, I'm less than enthused here. Plus, there's no real decent videos on YouTube of this show.
My favorite show of this run is the "Hood" and the "Ghost." Just those, over and over, for three hours. Nothing else, please. Moving on.
Jan 11, 2013
2009-06-04 Jones Beach II
Ah, a bit of redemption thanks to night two of Jones Beach after night one ran a flawless campaign for Worst Phish Show I've Listened To In Like Two Years.
Not only a breath of fresh air after two shitshows in a row, Jones Beach II is also the rare Phish show that has a better first set than a second set and yet still stands up as a great overall show that's worth a listen.
SO, HEY, THAT FIRST SET, HUH? "Grind" opener is always cute, especially when it runs right into a rip-roaring "Divided Sky" that even features a legitimately interesting mini-jam that rises above the "usual" outro treatment the band gives the song on most nights. "Ocelot" is, as I always say, just "Ocelot," but this version has a little extra fire, and this punch follows through into "Squirming Coil," which, like "Divided Sky" has an above-average outro jam. Trey (and everyone else) butchers "Punch You In the Eye," but they rumble through with aplomb and move on to a beautiful "Dirt," which is one of my favorite Phish songs. "NICU" is a bit of a mess, but the band is obviously having a great time, and so the flubs fly by with a smile this time. The ending combination of "Ghost" and "Antelope" is what really makes the set, though.
"Ghost" isn't, by any means, in the upper echelon of "Ghost"s, but it's probably the fourth best jam of 3.0 so far after the Hampton I "Tweezer," Hampton II "Ghost," and Hampton III "Disease" > "Seven Below." It starts off with pretty imaginative funk highlighted by Mike banging away in the background, and the funk gets spacey fast. After a few great minutes of space-funk, around the 7:00 mark the jam opens up into that more melodic, blissful register that the band so excels at. After some legit Trey-machine-gun-action, the space-funk re-rears its ugly (not ugly) head around 11:30, only to splash away into a gorgeous ambient washout with a psychedelically-powered Mike-bass underneath...and finally the song wraps up with a return to the opening riff. There are a lot of sections to this jam, stuffed into a short amount of time, but somehow they all work and the transitions between the movements (especially at 7:00) have that creepy, telepathic quality that all good Phish has. In fact, now that I'm writing more about it, I might like this better than the Hampton "Ghost."
I don't like "Antelope" as much as most Phish fans do, but Trey plays around with this intro in a really engaging way, and the energy from the "Ghost" bleeds over to make the rest of this version 1.0-intense.
There's not as much to say about set two. There's a nice, lazy "Water In The Sky," "Drowned" is one of my favorite Phish covers and this version features a drawn-out jam at the end. Though somewhat uninspired for the first few minutes, it eventually evolves into a play on the "Jumpin' Jack Flash" riff and then into a more ambient space, again highlighted by Mike's space-bass and some Trey wah-action...and then an AMAZING, patient segue in "Meatstick," of all things. The downfall of this set is that "TTE" and "YEM" pairing AGAIN, this time separated by only one song ("Waste"). After filling most of the previous 60 minutes with some pretty impressive improv, it's a bummer to hear these two (great but composed) songs back-to-back for nearly 40 minutes, and then the show ends.
The "Rock and Roll" encore, though a unique choice, really isn't anything exciting and things end with a thud.
I'll still take Hampton II and III over anything since, but now I'm looking forward to hearing Jones Beach III, at least.
Not only a breath of fresh air after two shitshows in a row, Jones Beach II is also the rare Phish show that has a better first set than a second set and yet still stands up as a great overall show that's worth a listen.
SO, HEY, THAT FIRST SET, HUH? "Grind" opener is always cute, especially when it runs right into a rip-roaring "Divided Sky" that even features a legitimately interesting mini-jam that rises above the "usual" outro treatment the band gives the song on most nights. "Ocelot" is, as I always say, just "Ocelot," but this version has a little extra fire, and this punch follows through into "Squirming Coil," which, like "Divided Sky" has an above-average outro jam. Trey (and everyone else) butchers "Punch You In the Eye," but they rumble through with aplomb and move on to a beautiful "Dirt," which is one of my favorite Phish songs. "NICU" is a bit of a mess, but the band is obviously having a great time, and so the flubs fly by with a smile this time. The ending combination of "Ghost" and "Antelope" is what really makes the set, though.
There's not as much to say about set two. There's a nice, lazy "Water In The Sky," "Drowned" is one of my favorite Phish covers and this version features a drawn-out jam at the end. Though somewhat uninspired for the first few minutes, it eventually evolves into a play on the "Jumpin' Jack Flash" riff and then into a more ambient space, again highlighted by Mike's space-bass and some Trey wah-action...and then an AMAZING, patient segue in "Meatstick," of all things. The downfall of this set is that "TTE" and "YEM" pairing AGAIN, this time separated by only one song ("Waste"). After filling most of the previous 60 minutes with some pretty impressive improv, it's a bummer to hear these two (great but composed) songs back-to-back for nearly 40 minutes, and then the show ends.
I'll still take Hampton II and III over anything since, but now I'm looking forward to hearing Jones Beach III, at least.
2009-06-02 Jones Beach I
Well, this was just really bad. I hope nights two and three are better, because it actually hurt me to listen to this, I think. In fact, I'm so disgusted that instead of writing an actual review, I'm just going to paste my notes below:
runaway jim, foam pairing not as awesome as it looks. trey seems lost finding notes for solos
stealing time - meh, except for the fact that it's a debut
happy to hear timber here, but there are better versions.
cities devolves into a standard funk jam
i like driver!
trey totally mutilates the fugue section of reba, and not in a good way. the jam is really sparse for the first few minutes, might actually be interesting if you're into that sort of thing.
everyone forgets how to play farmhouse
weird version of if i could, with fishman playing a marching beat instead of the usual. song proper is played poorly, but the jam is maybe the show highlight.
mike's song has some decent shredding, but the segue into simple is fugly.
simple is kinda pretty.
nevermind, this mike's groove is an abortion.
amazing AMAZING ambient hood jam, why the hell did this have to close such a terrible show?! this should definitely go on some best-of '09 mix, if i make one.
Yes, the "Hood" is the business, and you should check it out at all costs. The "If I Could" is a curiosity, but otherwise...just stay away from this one.
runaway jim, foam pairing not as awesome as it looks. trey seems lost finding notes for solos
stealing time - meh, except for the fact that it's a debut
happy to hear timber here, but there are better versions.
cities devolves into a standard funk jam
i like driver!
trey totally mutilates the fugue section of reba, and not in a good way. the jam is really sparse for the first few minutes, might actually be interesting if you're into that sort of thing.
everyone forgets how to play farmhouse
weird version of if i could, with fishman playing a marching beat instead of the usual. song proper is played poorly, but the jam is maybe the show highlight.
mike's song has some decent shredding, but the segue into simple is fugly.
simple is kinda pretty.
nevermind, this mike's groove is an abortion.
amazing AMAZING ambient hood jam, why the hell did this have to close such a terrible show?! this should definitely go on some best-of '09 mix, if i make one.
Yes, the "Hood" is the business, and you should check it out at all costs. The "If I Could" is a curiosity, but otherwise...just stay away from this one.
Jan 8, 2013
2009-05-31 Fenway Park
I remember this show as having been very disappointing. On relisten, it's not so much "disappointing" as it is "mostly workmanlike." When you have a repertoire like Phish's "workmanlike" can be either praise or insult: their songs are so complex just plain good that a straightforward, by-the-numbers show is still better than most live music on earth; at the same time, there are so many Phish shows with brilliantly creative and unique musical moments in them, why would you ever settle for a "normal" one?
Thus, I probably won't be listening to the band's only Fenway Park show again any time soon, save for maybe the "Tweezer" > "Light" sequence.
As the seventh set of 3.0, the first set of Fenway is definitely the worst so far. Song selection and flow are not up to par with any of the Hampton nights, and most of the songs are, again, workmanlike. There's nothing terrible here, but you don't have to look far to find better versions of everything. The a capella "Star Spangled Banner" opener is fun, but the harmonies are also off in a few places, which makes the whole thing a little uncomfortable. As always, "Moma Dance" is a first set highlight, "Chalkdust" is maybe a little more fiery than usual, and "Ocelot" is, well, "Ocelot," even in its debut incarnation. "Limb by Limb" and a late-set "Disease" are slightly extended, but neither goes much beyond your basic Type I Trey-shredding, and his straightforward soloing is nowhere near as engaging as it was during Hampton II or III. "Destiny Unbound" is a nice bust-out, and features maybe the best playing (a little mini funk jam) of the set.
"Tweezer" > "Light" is easily this show's highlight. It's no Hampton I "Tweezer," but it's still a pretty fascinating beast, with some "Theme" elements wound up in the jam, and a few minutes of abstract soundscapes at the end that melt perfectly into the first-ever "Light." This is the old "Light," not the huge jam vehicle the song's become, and it's actually neat to hear it this way. There's a quick solo from Trey and then a vocals-only outro and then the song just ends, in just over five minutes. It works, even if it's weird to not hear a 20-minute version in the post-'11 era. It would actually be really fun if the band would occasionally truncate these jam vehicles like this nowadays, while elevating usual, non-jam songs to 10 or 15 minute heights from time to time ("Tube" or "Halley's" anyone?), but I digress.
The "Gin" is serviceable here and features Trey playing around with the outro melody a bit, to great effect, but again, it doesn't top the Hampton version. "Bowie" is the silver medal highlight of the night; it's well-played and the jam is a lot less dark than usual. The rest of the set is sort of bogged down by the one-two punch of "Time Turns Elastic" and "YEM," minus a nice "Curtis Loew," a song I've been a huge fan of since I saw the cover it at Blossom '10. Don't get me wrong here; I actually love both "TTE" and "YEM," but they're very long, very composed songs, and you really only want one of them at a time in a set or maybe even only one at a time in an entire show. Neither song is known for its improvisation or its jamming, and whenever either one starts, you've got a pretty good idea of what's going to happen for the next twenty or twenty-five minutes...so yeah, having them nearly back-to-back is not so good.
The triple encore is pretty fun, though.
Quick note: I remember hearing at the time that lots of people thought that the '09 Summer Tour LivePhish mixes were shit, and now that I'm listening to them again...yeah, they're shit. Hampton was great, but this Fenway show sounds like it was recorded in the parking lot, through a huge wall of wet sponges, and for some reason the vocals are pushed pretty dramatically to the fore. Because that's what we all see Phish for: the vocals.
Anyway, I'm really excited to move into '09 tour proper...for me, after Fenway this is pretty uncharted territory. I listened intently to the second leg of Summer '09, but everything else (including the Fall and Winter tours) is going to be mostly new. Whoo!
Thus, I probably won't be listening to the band's only Fenway Park show again any time soon, save for maybe the "Tweezer" > "Light" sequence.
As the seventh set of 3.0, the first set of Fenway is definitely the worst so far. Song selection and flow are not up to par with any of the Hampton nights, and most of the songs are, again, workmanlike. There's nothing terrible here, but you don't have to look far to find better versions of everything. The a capella "Star Spangled Banner" opener is fun, but the harmonies are also off in a few places, which makes the whole thing a little uncomfortable. As always, "Moma Dance" is a first set highlight, "Chalkdust" is maybe a little more fiery than usual, and "Ocelot" is, well, "Ocelot," even in its debut incarnation. "Limb by Limb" and a late-set "Disease" are slightly extended, but neither goes much beyond your basic Type I Trey-shredding, and his straightforward soloing is nowhere near as engaging as it was during Hampton II or III. "Destiny Unbound" is a nice bust-out, and features maybe the best playing (a little mini funk jam) of the set.
The triple encore is pretty fun, though.
Quick note: I remember hearing at the time that lots of people thought that the '09 Summer Tour LivePhish mixes were shit, and now that I'm listening to them again...yeah, they're shit. Hampton was great, but this Fenway show sounds like it was recorded in the parking lot, through a huge wall of wet sponges, and for some reason the vocals are pushed pretty dramatically to the fore. Because that's what we all see Phish for: the vocals.
Anyway, I'm really excited to move into '09 tour proper...for me, after Fenway this is pretty uncharted territory. I listened intently to the second leg of Summer '09, but everything else (including the Fall and Winter tours) is going to be mostly new. Whoo!
Jan 6, 2013
2009-03-08 Hampton Coliseum
Holy shit, night three. How I ever thought night two was the highlight of this run is beyond me. Upon relistening, I actually think I prefer this show to a few (though not many) '11 or '12 shows.
While the first set doesn't have the near-perfect song choice and setlist flow that night two's opening frame did, every single song is played with an energy and certainty that was a bit lacking in the more tenative 3/6 and 3/7 shows. Trey and Fishman are especially hot here. This is the first Trey Show of 3.0.
"Sanity" > "Wilson" is a great way to open the show and a solid "Foam" in the third does little to cool things down. An especially Trey-y "Gin" follows, and this is the Trey that can play a ten-minute "Gin" without wandering out of the song structure at all and still be throwing compelling licks around at the ten minute mark. Much of the rest of the set, especially the "Bag" > "My Friend, My Friend," "Army of One," "Tube," "Cars Trucks Buses," and "Free" sees the band playing around in small ways with the songs' traditional structures (read: not screwing up and then covering their asses, but legitimately improvising in satisfying ways on a small scale), and to me, there aren't many things better about this band except for the big jams.
Well, the big jams show up right off the bat in set two, with a huge "Disease" that runs for twenty-two minutes, split evenly between Trey shredding and some more of the proto-plinko and abstract jamming we heard for a few minutes during night two. The segued "Seven Below" is a concise but excellent jam, and in fact much of the second set is what it is because of Trey's ability to improvise affective melodies (something that, despite the band's general jamming prowess these days, is sadly missing), which is what happens here as well as during "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "Velvet Sea," and "Slave." "The Horse" > "Silent" pairing out of "Seven Below" is badly biffed by pretty much everyone at some point in the song(s), but (big jamming and great melody lines aside) the follow-up "Twist" > "2001" is maybe the highlight of the set. Again, here, we get something you don't hear nearly as much these days: the band experimenting with a lot of different tones and effects to create and ambient wall of sound that's maybe not as consistent as, but definitely more compelling than something like, say, the Tahoe "Light." The segue here is great, with Fishman making the change while the rest of the band stick with the ambient "Twist" jam for another minute or so. Great, great stuff that moves quickly into a fiery version of one the more consistent mid-length songs of 3.0, "Moma Dance."
On to Fenway! And "Time Turns Elastic"! Err...
While the first set doesn't have the near-perfect song choice and setlist flow that night two's opening frame did, every single song is played with an energy and certainty that was a bit lacking in the more tenative 3/6 and 3/7 shows. Trey and Fishman are especially hot here. This is the first Trey Show of 3.0.
Jan 4, 2013
2009-03-07 Hampton Coliseum
This, night two of the comeback run, is just a fun show. I vaguely remembered, thinking back to playing these three shows ad nauseum between March and June '09 after getting them as free (!) downloads from livephish.com, that this had been my favorite of the three nights. I have yet to give night three a replay, but I can already see why I loved this night so much. Impeccable song choices, great setlist flow for both sets, and a lot of great little moments. The only thing this show is really lacking is a huge, spotlight jam for everything else to coalesce around. If night one was a technical triumph with the "Fluffhead" and "Divided Sky" one-two punch, night two is a triumph of good music, played well, for almost three hours.
The first set is largely song-based, and starts off with versions of "Back on the Train" and "Runaway Jim" that are each propelled by fiery Trey solos. No whale pedal here. It's fun to hear "Heavy Things," "Gumbo," and "Mexican Cousin," and "Reba" is a solid, though not earth-shattering version. I'm a sucker for "Beauty of a Broken Heart," so that might be have been the set highlight for me.
Set two was obviously meant to go deep. I mean, "Rock and Roll" > "Limb By Limb", followed by "Ghost" > "Piper" > "Birds"? That's a full, 90-minute set right there by '90s standards. Here, it doesn't flow quite as nicely as it looks on paper, but there are still some highlights. The last few minutes of the "RnR" jam are spacey as all hell and the segue into "LxL" is pretty magical. In fact, this is probably the highlight of the whole show for me. "Ghost" is a close second, though, with a proto-plinko jam that turns into a shredfest near the end. For the first "Ghost" of 3.0, it's a keeper, for sure. The segue into "Piper" is shaky, and the song doesn't really go anywhere, but again, just as Trey starts some rapid-fire funk strumming, the band transitions really naturally into "Birds," which turns out to be an average-great version, if a bit short. I can't understate how great it is to hear these smooth segues, though; even at the band's current (arguably much higher) level of playing, they don't segue like this very often. They really sell the first and third transitions in this set, and it's exciting.
The great song choices continue with "Wolfman's" and "Prince Caspian," which are both solid versions as well, but nothing to mail an entire letter home via the Post Office about. "Mike's" is a surprisingly entertaining whale-y shred, though Trey drops the ball toward the end. He recovers nicely for "Hydrogen" and "Weekapaug" has a few machine-gun guitar moments worth hearing. The show wraps up with a swampier-than-usual "Zero" and "A Day in the Life," which is maybe my all-time Phish encore song.
So yeah: a really fun show with a lot of well-played songs that would definitely be on my "want" list for a three-night run all crammed into one show in a way that works. If you're looking for something deeper, though, this probably isn't your show.
The first set is largely song-based, and starts off with versions of "Back on the Train" and "Runaway Jim" that are each propelled by fiery Trey solos. No whale pedal here. It's fun to hear "Heavy Things," "Gumbo," and "Mexican Cousin," and "Reba" is a solid, though not earth-shattering version. I'm a sucker for "Beauty of a Broken Heart," so that might be have been the set highlight for me.
The great song choices continue with "Wolfman's" and "Prince Caspian," which are both solid versions as well, but nothing to mail an entire letter home via the Post Office about. "Mike's" is a surprisingly entertaining whale-y shred, though Trey drops the ball toward the end. He recovers nicely for "Hydrogen" and "Weekapaug" has a few machine-gun guitar moments worth hearing. The show wraps up with a swampier-than-usual "Zero" and "A Day in the Life," which is maybe my all-time Phish encore song.
Jan 3, 2013
2009-03-06 Hampton Coliseum
So this is me sticking my toes in the water, hoping it'll lead to lots of Phish-listening goodness over the next six months or so. I'm starting from the very beginning of the 3.0 era, listening to and then writing short reviews of each show. So without further ado, some thoughts on the first night of the 2009 Hampton run...
This run (and this show in particular, perhaps) requires a bit of a different perspective than the many that have come since. In the almost four years since, pretty much everything worth saying about the significance of these shows has been said, so I won't repeat what others have said better here. Suffice to say, these shows were in part about resurrecting the magic of the Phish live experience, but they were also in large part about the band proving that their return wasn't a cynical money grab or simply an attempt to play middling-quality versions of old songs while resting on (admittedly well-deserved) laurels.
With those concerns in mind, this show is worth listening to for the thunderous crowd response to the opening two songs ("Fluffhead" and "Divided Sky") alone. The roar that greets the first notes of each of these songs, as well as the near-pitch-perfect renditions that the band turns in in response are one of those moments of live music history that are worth hearing for the historical value as much as anything else. The band nails both of these compositionally-complex pieces, and it's a great "fuck you" moment to anyone who might have doubted that they'd return at less than full power...aside from that, though (yeah, aside from ALL THAT) they're pretty standard versions.
Much of the show continues in this vein: well-played, fun songs that prove the band can still play them and have a good time while they're at it. This was never going to be a show that went deep in terms of improvisation. That said, there's almost a ridiculous amount of songs in the first set and a few bright spots worth mentioning. Immediately after "Divided Sky" ends, the "Chalkdust Torture" > "Sample in a Jar" pairing packs a lot more punch than usual, Fishman's drum work especially makes these normally-rote songs worth a listen. The "Stash" is also pretty interesting, too, if you're not one of those people who immediately skips to the next track when you hear Trey's whale pedal kick in (and if you are, you might as well skip to mid 2010 now...). I'm of the opinion that this guitar effect is in fact way overused during '09 and '10, but there are some moments where it's used effectively; unfortunately, those moments tend to get overshadowed as they're surrounded by lots of potentially good jams that get ruined by the whale call. This "Stash" is one of those good moments, if a bit brief. There's only a short-ish jam after the composed part of the song here, but it features some good playing by Trey, and then two minutes or so of some really abstract whale calling madness underlaid by the rest of the band playing more or less straight. It's a neat effect, and worth a listen.
The second set opens with a totally botched (though first-time-played) "Number Line," and then jumps to what is definitely the highlight of the show, if not the whole run: "Tweezer." This might be the band's first night back, but this "Tweezer" begins with some ridiculous, syrupy funk that definitely belongs in a bygone era (or maybe 2012). The second half of the jam features Trey picking out a soaring melody line and playing with it for a few minutes while Mike continues to work the funk underneath him. The final two minutes or so is a little more abstract, led by some excellent work by Page on what sounds like the piano. The whale shows its head in here, but it won't ruin your day, I promise. Page ends the song by leading the band in a great segue into "Taste" (which Trey sort-of subsequently destroys, unfortunately). This "Tweezer" is, though, as they say, fo' real.
The only other real moments of note here are well-played versions of "Theme" and "First Tube"; there's nothing really unique here, but these are two of my favorite songs and both often get flubbed all to hell. You can hear some extensive practice time in these versions, and it's nice.
I'm going to resist the urge to give this show a rating, and make a note to write a hell of a lot less next time...on to night two!
This run (and this show in particular, perhaps) requires a bit of a different perspective than the many that have come since. In the almost four years since, pretty much everything worth saying about the significance of these shows has been said, so I won't repeat what others have said better here. Suffice to say, these shows were in part about resurrecting the magic of the Phish live experience, but they were also in large part about the band proving that their return wasn't a cynical money grab or simply an attempt to play middling-quality versions of old songs while resting on (admittedly well-deserved) laurels.
With those concerns in mind, this show is worth listening to for the thunderous crowd response to the opening two songs ("Fluffhead" and "Divided Sky") alone. The roar that greets the first notes of each of these songs, as well as the near-pitch-perfect renditions that the band turns in in response are one of those moments of live music history that are worth hearing for the historical value as much as anything else. The band nails both of these compositionally-complex pieces, and it's a great "fuck you" moment to anyone who might have doubted that they'd return at less than full power...aside from that, though (yeah, aside from ALL THAT) they're pretty standard versions.
Much of the show continues in this vein: well-played, fun songs that prove the band can still play them and have a good time while they're at it. This was never going to be a show that went deep in terms of improvisation. That said, there's almost a ridiculous amount of songs in the first set and a few bright spots worth mentioning. Immediately after "Divided Sky" ends, the "Chalkdust Torture" > "Sample in a Jar" pairing packs a lot more punch than usual, Fishman's drum work especially makes these normally-rote songs worth a listen. The "Stash" is also pretty interesting, too, if you're not one of those people who immediately skips to the next track when you hear Trey's whale pedal kick in (and if you are, you might as well skip to mid 2010 now...). I'm of the opinion that this guitar effect is in fact way overused during '09 and '10, but there are some moments where it's used effectively; unfortunately, those moments tend to get overshadowed as they're surrounded by lots of potentially good jams that get ruined by the whale call. This "Stash" is one of those good moments, if a bit brief. There's only a short-ish jam after the composed part of the song here, but it features some good playing by Trey, and then two minutes or so of some really abstract whale calling madness underlaid by the rest of the band playing more or less straight. It's a neat effect, and worth a listen.
The only other real moments of note here are well-played versions of "Theme" and "First Tube"; there's nothing really unique here, but these are two of my favorite songs and both often get flubbed all to hell. You can hear some extensive practice time in these versions, and it's nice.
I'm going to resist the urge to give this show a rating, and make a note to write a hell of a lot less next time...on to night two!
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