Before getting into the gritty details, I'll apologize in advance for the increasing lack of videos in these posts, and the posts to come in the future. One of the things that really inspired me to get started on this blog was mkdevo's YouTube channel, which made available just about every highlight of 3.0 in wonderful video quality. I loved the idea of writing reviews but being able to break up the walls of text by including video of the best bits of each show, and his channel (and others like it, to a lesser degree) made that possible. As you likely know, said channel was shut down by Phish, Inc. awhile back, and so now there are much fewer videos available to link to. When possible, I'll still try to include a highlight here or there, but for the most part, I'm now stuck putting out the "wall of text" by default. Phishtracks is a great resource, and I plan to use it as much as possible...but yeah. It's a shitty situation. Anyway, sorry for the lack of moving pictures (and probably a lot of dead video links now in my older reviews). It sucks.
That said, on with the show(s)!
11/18 is a flat-out rocker almost all the way through, with a few surprisingly solid jams sprinkled into the batter. It's derailed a bit by some seriously weird setlist choices (though 11/20 has it beat by far for early Weirdest Setlist of Tour), which slow things down at just the wrong moment, a few times. Though it's not near as good as some of the best late Summer '09 shows, the boys' enthusiasm is infectious and Cobo works great as a solid tour opener.
Things kick off with a "Bag" that features a more melodic and varied Trey solo than usual, culminating in an a full-out rock-out that carries on into "Foam" and "Stealing Time." This opening trifecta is the first of a number of blasts of high-energy rock that characterize the majority of this show. "Bouncing" slows things down necessarily, but it's a small speed bump en route to high-energy versions of "Sample" and "Kill Devil Falls." Lest you think this first set is all about the rock, though, a well-played version of "It's Ice" and an electric take of Fest 8 standout "Mountains in the Mist" cool things down a bit, but in a satisfying way. "46 Days" is the clear winner in this set, cranking the rock back up for a few minutes but then dissolving, not in the usual '09 ambient noise-wall, but an interesting and multilayered plinko-type jam that segues slowly into the opening of "Bowie." This version won't win any awards, but it's a solidly-played first set closer. Aside from the "46 Days," there's nothing in this set to sink your teeth into, but for the first set of tour, it's a high energy affair and gets things started with a bang, a few oddly-placed slower songs notwithstanding.
The setlist weirdness gets more extreme in the second set, but there are some great moments here, too. The opening "Jim" is an ante-up on the first set's rock vibe, all Trey guitar pyrotechnics and trilling and whatnot. The "Disease" that follows seems primed for a major-key noodling explosion, but at about the 9:00 mark, things get strange and the jam that follows is full of bizarre modulations and eastern-sounding scales. It's a melange of a few of the jamming styles the band was playing with early in the year, and as unique as it is, it's over way too fast after about five minutes. Definitely the show highlight, though, and one I'll be keeping in the back of my head as a measuring stick as the fall tour rolls on. There's a neat segue into "Free," but in my opinion, "DWD" -> "Free" has never worked as well since "Free" has become a Mike vehicle. If you're going to segue into it out of a huge jam, you've gotta have that fiery riff exploding to the fore right away, especially at a show like this where Trey has dominated the tone of most songs. I love the idea of this pairing, but there's a big difference between the old "Free" and the new one, and it's most obvious at moments like this.
Setlist head-scratching begins in earnest soon after "Free," with a wonderfully discordant, bizarro-world take on "Taste" surrounded by "Waste," "Bug," and "Wading." I love each of these songs, but as three of a four-song pack? Late in a second set? No thanks.
The guys seemingly try to reclaim the lost energy they were easily summoning for much of the show with a late Mike's Groove, complete with "Hydrogen," but it's a pretty standard take all the way around. There's a really globular "Zero" to close, and the enthusiasm's definitely still there after a few hours of music, but this feels through and through like an tour-opening show: all energy and no exploration. The show borders on being one of those rare post-95 instances where the rock-and-roll fire just blazes nonstop for 150 minutes, making up for the fact that none of the songs are really "going anywhere." But some weird setlist choices rob the music of its momentum a few times, most noticeably in the middle of the second set. Cobo's just fine, but unless you have a hankering for yet another mostly energetic, technically well-played Phish show, you can just check out the "46 Days" and "Disease" and move on happily.
