Four shows into Fall '09, with 11/20 set 2 the only real bit of music worth noting (except maybe bits of 11/18), listening to all this old Phish when there's so much good new Phish to revisit was starting to become a bit of a drag. 11/24 isn't a vast improvement by any means, but it's a perfectly average-great Phish show, and for that I'm thankful. At least for now.
Most of what's worth hearing here, even from an average-great frame of reference, happens in the second set. "Chalkdust" always succeeds or fails as an opener based on the amount of punch it brings. When the band comes out ready to kick ass, you hear it right away in a song like this. When they come out to play some songs and have a good time, you don't get that punch, and this "Chalkdust" falls into the second category, unfortunately. It's followed immediately by a long "Gin," but despite the length, it's a standard reading. "Cities" is pretty tepid as well, but it's the first time I really noticed how much Mike stands out in this show. I don't know if he's playing with even more verve than usual here or if it was just the mix, but he sounded like he was everywhere during this show, and it saved a number of songs that would have otherwise been just "meh."
Anyway, "Cities" is all Mike, then there's a really loose and fun take on "Camel Walk" that leads into "The Curtain With." This song seems to be everywhere lately when I listen to Phish, and so it was nice to hear. It's a solid version, but really only novel because of its relative rarity. Mike comes back to the fore on "Moma" and the "Reba" is a great choice for late in a first set, but again, doesn't really stack up to any of the far superior high-end 3.0 versions. All in all, a really standard set with some good song choices, but at least fall tour first sets seem to have finally hit a good balance between interesting song choices and steady execution.
In a way, I think "Possum" is the highlight of this show. No, seriously. Stop laughing. It opens the second set with the energy that "Chalkdust" was lacking, and Trey is playing some interesting leads for the first time in the show. Mike, still, is just going straight-up nuts on bass, and it feels like maybe the show has started over, in a good way. I guess whether this transition is really a transition for the better depends on how you feel about this "Disease." I'm conflicted. It rocks in a typical Trey-led way for the first ~9 minutes, then Trey tries a change of guitar tone and there's a slight move toward a more blissy jamming space. This falls apart quickly, though, and Trey tries to default to the usual '09 mid-jam funk zone. Fortunately, Fish and Mike fucking refuse to allow this to happen, keeping the rhythmic momentum going and pushing the jam into a more interesting soundscape. We get some great little Page bits around 1230 as the momentum starts to wind down, and then a really brief section of something at 1430 that I'm going to call "space-blues." It's awesome and lasts for far too short a time. Overall, this "Disease" is a bit disjointed and not necessarily that excited as a whole, but there are a few neat ideas that hint at something beyond the second-song-second-set jam structure we're getting accustomed to here late in the year. The neat segue into "Twenty Years Later" doesn't hurt, either.
This "Hood" is wonderful. It's short, but nice and noodly, with a slow build that blasts into a great climax. It doesn't do anything special, but it does its thing really, really well. The momentum builds into a neat little jam in "Mango Song" with Mike taking the lead again.
Unfortunately, "Mike's" is short and just about as plain as you can get. The segue into "Simple" is solid, and there's pretty much never a "Simple" jam I don't like, but this one is aborted way too quickly in favor of "Slave." This "Slave," though, follows the pattern of the earlier "Hood," and is a great version for it. The peak is absolutely explosive, and it leads into a really wacky "Groove" wherein Fish switches up the usual beat about two minutes in to something much slower and, somehow funkier. What results is a cowfunk jam right out of 1997, closing the show proper with the kind of energy and invention that would have been nice to hear for the first 75% of the show. But I'm griping. If you can't get enough of '09 "Disease" jams, this one won't disappoint you. The "Hood" is boilerplate "Hood," but in the best way, and the "Simple" > "Slave" > "Groove" run is a great omen for the remainder of the tour. I hope.
Oh, the "Day In The Life" closer doesn't hurt either. I'm feeling optimistically hopeful for 11/25.
Oct 15, 2013
Oct 10, 2013
2009-11-22 War Memorial
Ugh. These last few shows have been the blandest stretch of Phish since I started listening for the purposes of reviewing shows on this blog. After a pretty bang-up end to Summer Tour '09, I'd hoped that momentum would carry over into big things for the fall. Maybe there's just a lot of rust to knock off or something, but things just aren't clicking along at the level that they were for, say, Red Rocks, or the Gorge, or the last few shows of summer. And besides, the band was knocking of five years of rust at Hampton, and so far I prefer that run to anything in Fall '09, honestly.
Again, it's not that much has been bad (more on that in a minute), it's just boring. Much like the Western conception of society, I like to work on the assumption that Phish is always innovating, always improving, always progressing. There will be parts of each era that are worth listening to on their own, but they'll always also be stepping-stones to future greatness. This feels like whatever the opposite of greatness is, minus the zaniness that rescued many a shitty show in 1.0 and the sheer experience and musicianship that rescued many a shitty show in 2.0. I can't even say "At least Phish is back!" because they've been back now almost as long as they were gone.
Anyway, I'm pretty bummed about Fall '09 so far. Except for that second set of 11/20. Holy shit.
Nonetheless, watch me tread my way through 11/22!
Well, there's a "Bowie" opener, which keeps up with the run's "Setlist surprises but no interesting jamming" theme. It's a pretty standard version, and the transition into the ending gets flubbed pretty badly, and while I'm not a huge stickler for missed notes, especially post-'94 or so, when you miss that incredible, fist-pumping transition into the closing "Bowie" riff, it hurts me right in the heart because it's always so good when it works.
"Julius" has a little extra heat on it for this run-through, and "Boogie On" features the usual excellent Mike-centric parts. "Beauty of a Broken Heart" is a great tune, and it's good to see it pop up. Largely, though, the first set goes by without anything of note. Incidentally, it should be illegal to play "Heavy Things" without the guitar loop. I mean, really.
"Stash" is actually a great version, continuing 11/21's tradition of a boring first set with one absolute monster of a jam. The jam style is pretty standard, but it's a perfectly executed loooooong build in tension, with a blistering release at the end.
That's really the last we see of Trey, though, until the end of the second set. A few songs in the second set, depending on your preferences, either Could Be Standout Versions If Trey Had Played On Them or Are Standout Versions Because Trey Stays In The Background.
The "Drowned" > "Twist" > "Piper" > "BBFCFM" run would probably seem great if I wasn't a little burnt out on the stereotypical '09 jamming style. "Drowned" features a nice little rock and roll jam for the opening few minutes, and then, literally as I said out loud "here comes the space-funk part," the band transitioned into a spacier segment with Trey strumming the usual funk chords over Page's organ. Then, of course, we have the ambient melt-down at the end, that's also predictable at this point. The most interesting bits of this jam are the ones where Mike takes over and drives the band in some interesting directions briefly. "Twist" features a mellow jam that's also Mike- and Page-led, with Trey sticking to the background still (since pretty much the 7:00 or so mark in "Drowned"), and while the band sounds sort of incomplete this way, the results are, at least, interesting. Toward the end, the jam implodes (in a good way) a la 11/21's "Rock and Roll" and segues into "Piper" which, again, shines in its last few minutes as Mike takes the lead with a ridiculous driving bass riff the Page plays off of to perfection.
"BBFCFM" is funny, including some Trey-speak regarding Fishman and Fishman's dad's dental patients, "Maze" is pretty much Trey-less, which allows Page to shine even more than usual, and a few of the late songs "Theme," "GTBT" could have been good versions, but they're so filled with Trey's missed notes that it really takes you out of the song.
At this point, I'm sort of feeling like I'm writing just to write, and I imagine you got the picture already: I didn't much like this show. I like the opening segment of the second set because it's weird but it's not necessarily anything you haven't heard before if you've listened to the tour up to this point. The "Stash" is pretty impeccably played, but we're also in the middle of a year when you could hit Shuffle on a playlist of every song since Hampton and land on an amazing "Stash" in a few clicks. So. Hrm.
Here's hoping for more variation (both from me and the band) with 11/24.
Again, it's not that much has been bad (more on that in a minute), it's just boring. Much like the Western conception of society, I like to work on the assumption that Phish is always innovating, always improving, always progressing. There will be parts of each era that are worth listening to on their own, but they'll always also be stepping-stones to future greatness. This feels like whatever the opposite of greatness is, minus the zaniness that rescued many a shitty show in 1.0 and the sheer experience and musicianship that rescued many a shitty show in 2.0. I can't even say "At least Phish is back!" because they've been back now almost as long as they were gone.
Anyway, I'm pretty bummed about Fall '09 so far. Except for that second set of 11/20. Holy shit.
Nonetheless, watch me tread my way through 11/22!
Well, there's a "Bowie" opener, which keeps up with the run's "Setlist surprises but no interesting jamming" theme. It's a pretty standard version, and the transition into the ending gets flubbed pretty badly, and while I'm not a huge stickler for missed notes, especially post-'94 or so, when you miss that incredible, fist-pumping transition into the closing "Bowie" riff, it hurts me right in the heart because it's always so good when it works.
"Julius" has a little extra heat on it for this run-through, and "Boogie On" features the usual excellent Mike-centric parts. "Beauty of a Broken Heart" is a great tune, and it's good to see it pop up. Largely, though, the first set goes by without anything of note. Incidentally, it should be illegal to play "Heavy Things" without the guitar loop. I mean, really.
"Stash" is actually a great version, continuing 11/21's tradition of a boring first set with one absolute monster of a jam. The jam style is pretty standard, but it's a perfectly executed loooooong build in tension, with a blistering release at the end.
That's really the last we see of Trey, though, until the end of the second set. A few songs in the second set, depending on your preferences, either Could Be Standout Versions If Trey Had Played On Them or Are Standout Versions Because Trey Stays In The Background.
The "Drowned" > "Twist" > "Piper" > "BBFCFM" run would probably seem great if I wasn't a little burnt out on the stereotypical '09 jamming style. "Drowned" features a nice little rock and roll jam for the opening few minutes, and then, literally as I said out loud "here comes the space-funk part," the band transitioned into a spacier segment with Trey strumming the usual funk chords over Page's organ. Then, of course, we have the ambient melt-down at the end, that's also predictable at this point. The most interesting bits of this jam are the ones where Mike takes over and drives the band in some interesting directions briefly. "Twist" features a mellow jam that's also Mike- and Page-led, with Trey sticking to the background still (since pretty much the 7:00 or so mark in "Drowned"), and while the band sounds sort of incomplete this way, the results are, at least, interesting. Toward the end, the jam implodes (in a good way) a la 11/21's "Rock and Roll" and segues into "Piper" which, again, shines in its last few minutes as Mike takes the lead with a ridiculous driving bass riff the Page plays off of to perfection.
"BBFCFM" is funny, including some Trey-speak regarding Fishman and Fishman's dad's dental patients, "Maze" is pretty much Trey-less, which allows Page to shine even more than usual, and a few of the late songs "Theme," "GTBT" could have been good versions, but they're so filled with Trey's missed notes that it really takes you out of the song.
At this point, I'm sort of feeling like I'm writing just to write, and I imagine you got the picture already: I didn't much like this show. I like the opening segment of the second set because it's weird but it's not necessarily anything you haven't heard before if you've listened to the tour up to this point. The "Stash" is pretty impeccably played, but we're also in the middle of a year when you could hit Shuffle on a playlist of every song since Hampton and land on an amazing "Stash" in a few clicks. So. Hrm.
Here's hoping for more variation (both from me and the band) with 11/24.
Oct 8, 2013
2009-11-21 Cincinnati, OH II
Well, after 11/20's stellar second set, I was really looking forward to diving into this show. Apparently, this run is widely considered a jewel of the 2009 Fall Tour...but I must just be in a curmudgeonly mood because really only 1 of the run's 4 sets seems worth talking about at all to me. That's my long way of saying 11/21 is in the running for the Least Interesting Show of 2009.
As I feel like I'm often saying about shows like this, it's not bad, per se, and there aren't really any cringeworthy moments or blood-boiling ripcords. It's just boring. Some great setlist calls ease the pain a bit, but these are all novelties more than they are legitimate points of interest.
Anyway, here's my shitty, bitter response to 11/21. Yeah!
Now maybe I've been listening to too much '12 and '13 Phish lately, but Fall '09 first sets have seemed really stale, generally speaking. I'm not looking for a first set to do much other than be fun, but a lot of these first sets so far do feel a bit like that "nostalgia band" thing everyone was whining about when Phish first got back together. Obviously, at this point in Phish history, there's no real way to make a case that the guys are creatively stagnant. Summer '09 even made this seem like a laughable claim. Fall '09 first sets, though, are starting to sound like a really technically proficient cover band to me.
In this set we get "NICU," a melodically pretty "Wolfman's," "Torn and Frayed," "Strange Design," "Ginseng Sullivan," "Albuquerque," and "Dirt." It's like the band decided to play an entire set of great, rarely-played, five-minute-or-less songs. Had I been at this concert as part of a run, I probably would have loved this (BGCA2's first set from this year comes to mind as a similar situation). However, on tape I don't know why I need to hear more standard versions of these songs not really broken by anything.
But then there's the "Melt." If there's anything that comes close to redeeming this snoozefest of a show, it's this first set "Melt." The jam starts very Trey-led, with an almost blissful, slow feel to it as opposed to the usual frenzied pace of "Melt" jams. Things start to get atonal at about the 10:00 mark, and eventually degenerate to the point that Trey is playing with a really interesting dissonant tone and style by 11:30 and the rest of the band is following suit on a really unique descent into madness. Shortly after, there's a return to the usual "Melt" riff, but man, this is a keeper of a jam. In fact, it's probably the only thing I'm keeping for my highlight reel mixtape from this show.
The second set starts promisingly enough with "Rock and Roll" and some solid Trey Shreds (TM) action, but it soon dissolves into the standard '09-era jam template. Maybe I'm just too far into '09 at this point and I'm over-jammed, or maybe it was reading this piece from Miner the other day, but I'm getting sick of the whole Rock Guitar Solo > Minimalist Funk > Ambient Breakdown thing that happens during every jam. During the summer it was fresh, and the band played through jams like they felt like it was fresh. Now, we've heard the same thing about 20 times, the band seems like they're sort of bored but sticking to the template for safety's sake, and as a result "Rock and Roll" is boring.
"Ghost" sticks to a typical Type 1 script, and though solid versions of "Suzy" and "Sleeping Monkey" happen later in the set, there's really nothing to recommend from this frame, honestly.
Got my fingers crossed for Syracuse, though I'm about halfway through the first set, and despite a surprise "Bowie" opener and some seriously good Mike Gordon action just in general, it seems like another short-hits-slog. Hrm.
As I feel like I'm often saying about shows like this, it's not bad, per se, and there aren't really any cringeworthy moments or blood-boiling ripcords. It's just boring. Some great setlist calls ease the pain a bit, but these are all novelties more than they are legitimate points of interest.
Anyway, here's my shitty, bitter response to 11/21. Yeah!
Now maybe I've been listening to too much '12 and '13 Phish lately, but Fall '09 first sets have seemed really stale, generally speaking. I'm not looking for a first set to do much other than be fun, but a lot of these first sets so far do feel a bit like that "nostalgia band" thing everyone was whining about when Phish first got back together. Obviously, at this point in Phish history, there's no real way to make a case that the guys are creatively stagnant. Summer '09 even made this seem like a laughable claim. Fall '09 first sets, though, are starting to sound like a really technically proficient cover band to me.
In this set we get "NICU," a melodically pretty "Wolfman's," "Torn and Frayed," "Strange Design," "Ginseng Sullivan," "Albuquerque," and "Dirt." It's like the band decided to play an entire set of great, rarely-played, five-minute-or-less songs. Had I been at this concert as part of a run, I probably would have loved this (BGCA2's first set from this year comes to mind as a similar situation). However, on tape I don't know why I need to hear more standard versions of these songs not really broken by anything.
But then there's the "Melt." If there's anything that comes close to redeeming this snoozefest of a show, it's this first set "Melt." The jam starts very Trey-led, with an almost blissful, slow feel to it as opposed to the usual frenzied pace of "Melt" jams. Things start to get atonal at about the 10:00 mark, and eventually degenerate to the point that Trey is playing with a really interesting dissonant tone and style by 11:30 and the rest of the band is following suit on a really unique descent into madness. Shortly after, there's a return to the usual "Melt" riff, but man, this is a keeper of a jam. In fact, it's probably the only thing I'm keeping for my highlight reel mixtape from this show.
The second set starts promisingly enough with "Rock and Roll" and some solid Trey Shreds (TM) action, but it soon dissolves into the standard '09-era jam template. Maybe I'm just too far into '09 at this point and I'm over-jammed, or maybe it was reading this piece from Miner the other day, but I'm getting sick of the whole Rock Guitar Solo > Minimalist Funk > Ambient Breakdown thing that happens during every jam. During the summer it was fresh, and the band played through jams like they felt like it was fresh. Now, we've heard the same thing about 20 times, the band seems like they're sort of bored but sticking to the template for safety's sake, and as a result "Rock and Roll" is boring.
"Ghost" sticks to a typical Type 1 script, and though solid versions of "Suzy" and "Sleeping Monkey" happen later in the set, there's really nothing to recommend from this frame, honestly.
Got my fingers crossed for Syracuse, though I'm about halfway through the first set, and despite a surprise "Bowie" opener and some seriously good Mike Gordon action just in general, it seems like another short-hits-slog. Hrm.
Oct 1, 2013
2009-11-20 Cincinnati, OH I
After hearing an above-average show get derailed by weird setlist choices in Detroit, I wasn't exactly thrilled when the band's first of two nights in Cincy opened with one of the strangest first sets I've come across in awhile. Luckily, this show's excellent second set more than makes up for its opening idiosyncrasy.
As I've been fond of pointing out in the past, while I love Phish's more intricate composed works in theory, hearing 3 or 4 of them in one show (or even just 2, sometimes) really throws things off for me. So I was ready to be displeased when I looked at the setlist for 11/20 and saw "Divided Sky," "TTE," "Fluffhead," and "YEM" all in the same show.
Things start with sloppy but energetic readings of "Chalkdust" and "Moma," and then, honestly, the rest of the first set passes more or less as you'd imagine it would based on the setlist. There's a little bit of noodly fun in "Jibboo" and "FEFY" is a nice (and nicely-played) surprise, but otherwise there's nothing here that you can't hear on a million other Phish recordings. This is probably my shortest-ever first set review, but there it is.
The second set stumbles out of the gate with a sloppy take on "PYITE," and at this point I was clicking through to the setlist for the next few shows, looking for a light at the end of the tunnel...when this "Tweezer" just exploded right in my damn face. This is an amazing version in a year full of amazing versions; I'd be willing to put it up there with the best summer takes. At this point in the show, Trey gets very "riffy." That is, he starts channeling that amazing power he has of picking an excellent riff up out of nowhere and leading the rest of the band into a great jam space based on that riff. This happens once at around 5:45 and happens again at 8:30, with the help of a heavily distorted, fuzzy tone that lends a little extra oomph to this space-funk romp. The band takes a left turn into pure space for the last minute or so of the song, but unlike the typical Summer '09 ambient meltdown/segue, this one has a little more momentum as Fishman keeps things rolling. This sets up a nice segue into a short "Light," which morphs in turn into "BOTT" slowly and sublimely. The take on this song is extra-short, but that's okay because it changes into "Possum" seamlessly and on a dime and this "Possum" is just absolutely incendiary. We get a bit of a breather with an average-great "Slave," and then one of my favorite "YEM"s in awhile hits. The composed sections are played almost perfectly and with serious verve, and the jam goes minimalist-funk, recalling the set's earlier "Tweezer," just without the distortion. Trey latches on to another great riff here and the band follows him for a few minutes, setting up a vocal jam wherein all four members harmonize on the guitar riff for a few more minutes. It's one of those perfectly clever Phish moments that made me sit back for a minute, listen, and grin, even in the middle of a long day at work. The set sputters to an end on "Joy" and "Golgi" fumes, but it's one of my favorite '09 Phish second sets in awhile. If you can handle a pretty standard take on "Slave" (and I love the song, so I can), the "Tweezer" > "Light" -> "Back On The Train" -> "Possum," "Slave To The Traffic Light," "You Enjoy Myself" run in this set is one of the better pieces of music these guys have put together throughout '09 and is pure Phish magic, not "just for '09," but for any year. Definitely worth a few listens.
Song choices for 11/21 look amazing. Looking forward to it.
As I've been fond of pointing out in the past, while I love Phish's more intricate composed works in theory, hearing 3 or 4 of them in one show (or even just 2, sometimes) really throws things off for me. So I was ready to be displeased when I looked at the setlist for 11/20 and saw "Divided Sky," "TTE," "Fluffhead," and "YEM" all in the same show.
Things start with sloppy but energetic readings of "Chalkdust" and "Moma," and then, honestly, the rest of the first set passes more or less as you'd imagine it would based on the setlist. There's a little bit of noodly fun in "Jibboo" and "FEFY" is a nice (and nicely-played) surprise, but otherwise there's nothing here that you can't hear on a million other Phish recordings. This is probably my shortest-ever first set review, but there it is.
The second set stumbles out of the gate with a sloppy take on "PYITE," and at this point I was clicking through to the setlist for the next few shows, looking for a light at the end of the tunnel...when this "Tweezer" just exploded right in my damn face. This is an amazing version in a year full of amazing versions; I'd be willing to put it up there with the best summer takes. At this point in the show, Trey gets very "riffy." That is, he starts channeling that amazing power he has of picking an excellent riff up out of nowhere and leading the rest of the band into a great jam space based on that riff. This happens once at around 5:45 and happens again at 8:30, with the help of a heavily distorted, fuzzy tone that lends a little extra oomph to this space-funk romp. The band takes a left turn into pure space for the last minute or so of the song, but unlike the typical Summer '09 ambient meltdown/segue, this one has a little more momentum as Fishman keeps things rolling. This sets up a nice segue into a short "Light," which morphs in turn into "BOTT" slowly and sublimely. The take on this song is extra-short, but that's okay because it changes into "Possum" seamlessly and on a dime and this "Possum" is just absolutely incendiary. We get a bit of a breather with an average-great "Slave," and then one of my favorite "YEM"s in awhile hits. The composed sections are played almost perfectly and with serious verve, and the jam goes minimalist-funk, recalling the set's earlier "Tweezer," just without the distortion. Trey latches on to another great riff here and the band follows him for a few minutes, setting up a vocal jam wherein all four members harmonize on the guitar riff for a few more minutes. It's one of those perfectly clever Phish moments that made me sit back for a minute, listen, and grin, even in the middle of a long day at work. The set sputters to an end on "Joy" and "Golgi" fumes, but it's one of my favorite '09 Phish second sets in awhile. If you can handle a pretty standard take on "Slave" (and I love the song, so I can), the "Tweezer" > "Light" -> "Back On The Train" -> "Possum," "Slave To The Traffic Light," "You Enjoy Myself" run in this set is one of the better pieces of music these guys have put together throughout '09 and is pure Phish magic, not "just for '09," but for any year. Definitely worth a few listens.
Song choices for 11/21 look amazing. Looking forward to it.
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