2014-10-18 Seattle

The Verdict:
Maybe it's because it was a little underwhelming as my last show of the year in a year that included a fantastic Dick's run and the previous night's outstanding Eugene show, but the Seattle show was underwhelming for me live. I've come to appreciate it a little more after a relisten, but it falls pretty hard into that category that I put 7/16 and 7/25 in. Basically, it's a perfectly well-played show where the band seems to focus more on clever segues, interesting one-off songs, and weird, short jam spaces. Really, if you have no stake in hearing the band play huge, wide-ranging explorations, this should be a pretty great show, much like 7/16 or 7/25. Unfortunately, the playing here is uneven enough that it really accentuates the lack of a showcase jam to eclipse the rough parts. That's not to say there aren't some neat bits, because there are, but definitely not a triumphant end to my 2014 touring.

The "Cavern" opener is neat. "Wilson" is a bit a letdown, considering the history behind the song, Phish, and Seattle at this point. I wasn't really expecting a 20 minute version or anything, but some banter from Trey or something would have been nice.

The rest of the set is really straightforward and predictable, and, frankly, sloppier than you'd expect with all of these rotation songs getting played and none of them really stretching into anything interesting. "Sugar Shack" is an interesting exception, and in this version Trey even nails his parts. The closing "Gin" stays Type I, but bounces around in its cage in some interesting ways. A little of Dick's-style funk in the "Wolfman's" gives the set just enough bite to entice you back for more in the second set.

I like the "Disease" jam, honestly. It's short, but pokes out in a few interesting directions. Then Trey swings the jam into "Golden Age" and proceeds to butcher it. From here, the guys spend most of the rest of the set bouncing from idea to idea with little to show for it. "Fuego," "Light," "46 Days," and "Sand" all have fun little mini-jams, but none of them get space to develop. If that's enough for you, then this will likely be a hot set. None of the improv here is bad, but it's hard for me to avoid having that "What if?" response when I hear something like the "Sand" outro jam.

The obvious highlight here is the segue from "Light" -> "Cities," and the ensuing weird version of "Cities." But even that is a bit of a bummer, as the band obviously tries to finish the "Light" -> "Cities" -> "Light" sandwich at the end of the song, but Trey rides right over them to start "46 Days." It's sort of painful to hear and again raises that "What if?" question. That pretty much sums up this show for me, honestly.

The Live Review:
10/18/14: Here we (finally) go with a Cavern opener!
10/18/14: Think I might have actually just heard a Mike's Drill opener before Cavern.
10/18/14: Cavern is sort of weird as an opener. Everytime I hear it, I hear a set or show closing.
10/18/14: Trey struggling a bit with Wilson.
10/18/14: Kind of an anticlimactic take on Wilson, considering it's Seattle and all.
10/18/14: Rift!
10/18/14: Trey's struggling with Rift, too. Everyone sounds really tired. Maybe it's just the mix?
10/18/14: I do remember this show getting off to a slow start, fwiw. So maybe it just sucks.
10/18/14: Maybe Moma will get Trey back on track. It usually does.
10/18/14: Standard Moma with Trey dragging out a loop a bit at the end. Next up, The Line.
10/18/14: Eugene 1st quarter was standard but interesting song choices. This is just kinda boring.
10/18/14: Little bit o' heat in that outro jam. Maybe things'll pick up a bit now?
10/18/14: SUGAR SHACK. Seems like a big risk considering Trey's playing so far. We'll see.
10/18/14: They're...actually...doing...it! A nearly perfect live version of Sugar Shack!
10/18/14: Monster Lawn Boy solo from Cactus.
10/18/14: Kill Devil Falls. This first set isn't really worthy of 2014 so far. More like 2009 or 2011.
10/18/14: The years of first set purgatory. 2010, I'm learning, was the year of second set purgatory :)
10/18/14: Okay, after having said that, I have to admit that the KDF has a little extra oomph to it this time around.
10/18/14: Non-jam standout of the summer is next: Wolfman's.
10/18/14: Rhythm section leading in this Wolfman's jam. Trey's echoplex in play.
10/18/14: Sounds like Dick's funk in here all of a sudden.
10/18/14: Typical rock peak to end the jam. Good version, though.
10/18/14: Sparkle: the other song (with Rift and Wolfman's) that's been played during 4,000 first sets this year.
10/18/14: Gin.
10/18/14: Jam off to a mellow start.
10/18/14: Really neat almost Simple-like section starting at 8:00. Doesn't last long, though.
10/18/14: Smooth build into a great rock peak. Nothing revolutionary, but a solid somewhat-jammed-out version.
10/18/14: The last few songs of this set are more up to 2014 S1 standards, thankfully.
10/18/14: End set.
10/18/14: Disease opener for S2.
10/18/14: Trey ripping into the jam with some great melody lines. Mike backing up. Band sounds totally different from S1.
10/18/14: Trey just snuck a bit of the Fuego riff into the jam, maybe totally by accident. Going minimalist now.
10/18/14: Some solid loop/chord action in this jam.
10/18/14: Now Fish is driving. Trey adding some space-age licks.
10/18/14: Trey just sort of hit part of the riff for Golden Age and then suddenly >'d that fucker like it was gonna get away.
10/18/14: Neat Disease jam, though.
10/18/14: Trey's guitar isn't really featuring at all on this Golden Age. And when it does, it's a bum note. Now he forgot the lyrics.
10/18/14: Maybe not the best segue decision.
10/18/14: Really neat, very short jam space with some Page piano, Mike bass driving, and Trey sending out weirder echoes than usual.
10/18/14: Page-led > Fuego.
10/18/14: Type I jam only out of Fuego, but it's a good one.
10/18/14: Heavy loop-based outro. Some drill, too. Spooky.
10/18/14: Here comes Light!
10/18/14: Trey stringing together some great little rhythm runs here in this Light.
10/18/14: End of the Light almost sounds like Mike is trying to start a -> Cars Trucks Buses.
10/18/14: Instead it's a great -> Light.
10/18/14: Shit! On relisten, just realized the rest of the band was going -> Light after Cities. Trey derailed with a stupid > 46 Days.
10/18/14: It shouldn't piss me off in retrospect, but it does. Light -> Cities -> Light would have been fantastic.
10/18/14: 46 Days is the S1 version, or the version they play near the end of the show when they're resting on their laurels.
10/18/14: Unfortunately, not a lot of laurels for this show.
10/18/14: Mellow move from 46 Days to Sand.
10/18/14: Sand is in full-on funkland mode.
10/18/14: Funk moves smoothly into a blissed-out type space.
10/18/14: This is gonna shock you, but premature > Number Line.
10/18/14: Pretty weird, rhythm-y Number Line jam instead of the usual noodle-fest.

10/18/14: Bold As Love closer is location-appropriate.
10/18/14: Encore is Meatstick (yay!) > Zero (boo!).
10/18/14: Of course since I've been ragging on Zero all year, they'd close with it at the last show I attended for the year.

2014-10-17 Eugene

The Verdict:
At the time, I'd said that this Eugene show might be my favorite Phish show that I've seen. After a relisten, I stand by that assessment. I've seen a lot of huge shows (at least post-2009), so why this one? Well, a lot of shows I've seen had much higher highs (especially one particular one that took place in Tahoe a year or so ago), but I haven't seen another show that was as frighteningly consistently high-quality as this one before. Plus there's a huge encore, plus there are shenanigans, plus there are great setlist choices, plus there are some great little jams and a pristine segue into a Phish debut, plus there's a jam that stands up against any of the summer's best. For my money, this show is vastly underrated, even within the context of a mostly-fantastic fall tour.

The first half of the first set is pretty standard, honestly, but it's played with energy and swagger, and then all of a sudden the second set starts early (so to speak) with "Reba" and continues on for the rest of the set. "Roggae" and "Simple" are brief but complex, "Maze" is an explosion, and "Coil" is the perfect exclamation point.

The best part of the second set "Carini" is that it sets up a perfect -> "Plasma," but the jam itself is no slouch, despite being a bit short. "Farmhouse" goes a sort of jazzy route, which makes it more than just setlist filler, and "Halfway To the Moon" is still new enough that it's always fun to hear. "Twist" is another serious, if short jam, and then "Crosseyed" explodes into the (funk) stratosphere. The "Hood" is another weird version that deviates in interesting ways from the usual plan, and the three-song encore is just perfect, including Trey dedicating "Sleeping Monkey" to Page and the band having the audience sing a turn on the chorus.

There's not really anything to dislike here. Listen to the whole thing, at least from "Reba" on, if nothing else.

The Live Review:
10/17/14: Okay, gotta admit: I loved the WAN tour opener. Unexpected call, but they pulled it off well.
10/17/14: Trey taking a back seat to Mike in this version. Mike is nailing this song to the wall.
10/17/14: Trey never quite finds his footing in this version, but the rest of the band rocks it.
10/17/14: Free next. Band apparently really wants to put the harmonies to the test tonight.
10/17/14: Mike is driving here, too. Trey's playing is very minimal.
10/17/14: Harmonies sound decent.
10/17/14: Seem to remember that the show started pretty late. Reason for the Waiting All Night opener, maybe?
10/17/14: Pretty standard Free, there. Poor Heart kicks up the energy quite a bit, though.
10/17/14: Page destroys his solo. So good.
10/17/14: Trey does a number on Sample. Maybe he'll shred a bit in this show after all.
10/17/14: Oddly, just after finally building some energy with that Poor Heart, Sample combo we jump to Strange Design.
10/17/14: Love the song, just seems like weird placement.
10/17/14: 555 next. It's almost as if each band member is getting a spotlight here. If you count Poor Heart as a Fish spotlight song.
10/17/14: Which I totally do, because YOU'RE GOIN' TO JAIL
10/17/14: This is such a great song. But dear god it needs a good jamming.
10/17/14: Everyone sounds a lot more in step now, finally.
10/17/14: Great little outro jam in 555, > Bouncin'.
10/17/14: I remembered this first quarter as being exactly like this. Really *weird* setlist choices, but somehow it all hangs together.
10/17/14: It's not really *interesting* at all, per se, but it's a weirdly effective intro to a great show.
10/17/14: As I remember, things start to get REALLY interesting really soon.
10/17/14: rEbA
10/17/14: The Chase section of Reba is remarkably well done in this version.
10/17/14: This is definitely an above-average version of Reba if you like your Rebas melodic and Trey-centric.
10/17/14: This Roggae jam is beautiful. But aren't they all? Mike is king, still.
10/17/14: Standalone Simple!
10/17/14: Awesome loopy mini-jam in this Simple. Wow.
10/17/14: Mike bombs. Great -> Maze.
10/17/14: Page/Trey interplay in this Maze is just crazy.
10/17/14: Coil is a great closer for a first set that's been half great first set and half second set. Everything from Reba on = fire.
10/17/14: Back with that Coil set closer this morning.
10/17/14: Super-high vocals at the end of Coil. Yes!
10/17/14: Great Page outro in a set that Page has just owned (Poor Heart, Strange Design, Maze, Coil, etc.).
10/17/14: CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII. Commence cranking volume.
10/17/14: Don't remember this jam at all. Looking forward to hearing it again.
10/17/14: Trey with some interesting leads early on.
10/17/14: Trey seems to have a very particular idea of what he wants to play here, but his fingers aren't keeping up with his brain.
10/17/14: Really purposeful, melodic soloing though, not just shredding to get to the 'real jam' part like sometimes happens.
10/17/14: Decisive break out of the melodic-solo mode, now.
10/17/14: Okay, this is badass.
10/17/14: Loops and Trey chording gives a great background for Page to play with. Electronic piano goo.
10/17/14: Moving naturally into some loop-inflected funk now. Setting up for the awesome -> Plasma.
10/1714: I sort of wish I hadn't read that they'd soundchecked Plasma before the show when I was there.
10/17/14: If I hadn't suspected it was coming already, this segue would have blown my brain off.
10/17/14: Anyway, friggin' -> Plasma. One of my favorite live moments of the year. Love Phish's take on this song.
10/17/14: The only way this could have been better was if they'd played a 20 minute monster jam in it. If wishes were Phishes...
10/17/14: Whoa! Trey sung the right lyrics and everyone else sung the wrong ones. I don't that's EVER happened before!
*think
10/17/14: Jam never really breaks from the song's structure, but it's a short-but-great little rocked-out jam nonetheless.
10/17/14: Overall, Carini -> Plasma pairing even better than I remembered, not just a novelty.
10/17/14: Cool, kinda unique Farmhouse jam. Got a jazzy feel to it.
10/17/14: I *like* the Farmhouse, Halfway breather here. Like the first half of S1, it's just a setup for the awesome to come.
10/17/14: Really languid, bluesy intro to this Twist. Loving it.
10/17/14: Mike is even more up-front than usual here. Sounding great.
10/17/14: Really mellow, Type 1.5-style jam in this Twist. Trey taking over with an almost Reba-like melody line.
10/17/14: Crosseyed! Easily my favorite Phish cover. Was so happy when they started it up.
10/17/14: My only other version was the weirdly chunky version at Gorge '13.
10/17/14: Fucking funk machine kicks on at 6:30. Yes.
10/17/14: Yes yes yes yes...Mike driving the jam under a bunch of loops from Trey. Moving into rock mode now. So goddamn good.
10/17/14: I clearly didn't appreciate this jam enough in person.
10/17/14: Sinister now.
10/17/14: Little bit of a jam based on what sounds like the back half of the Fuego main riff.
10/17/14: Someone (Fish?) making weird vocal noises. Now the loops are coming. And suddenly we're back at Dick's.
10/17/14: I'm biased, because I was there, but this just became jam of the year for me. Better than Dick's Simple. Which I also saw, ftr.
10/17/14: 'Still waiting' vocal reprise over the loops.
10/17/14: Why not more talk about this Crosseyed?! One of the #phish jams of the year, for my money. So driven, and varied, and brilliant.
10/17/14: Nice > Hood.
10/17/14: So happy that the crowd noise from the glowstick war made it on the SBD. One of my favorites to have been a part of.
10/17/14: Hood off to a solid, driving start.
10/17/14: Trey has stuck with the same riff-thing for like 3-4 minutes now. Very old school. Like it a lot.
10/17/14: Hell, this Hood is fantastic.
10/17/14: Really patiently developed but powerful peak. Page starts the outro chords a few measures before Trey, while Trey still rocks.
10/17/14: Great effect.
10/17/14: Rocky Top to close. We're officially having fun, now.
10/17/14: End set.
10/17/14: Love Wingsuit in the encore slot.
10/17/14: Trey: Sleeping Monkey is Page's favorite song! Fish: I didn't know that!
10/17/14: Trey dedicates Monkey to Page.
10/17/14: YES! THE AUDIENCE VERSE IS AUDIBLE ON THE SBD!
10/17/14: I'm a little happy about that :)
10/17/14: Mighty Quinn is not a cover that I usually relish, but this version is just wonderfully energetic and fun.
10/17/14: After the Eugene show, I'd said that it might be my favorite single Phish show I've attended. After a relisten, I stand by that.
10/17/14: I've been to a lot of shows that have way higher highs before, but few shows that are this great front-to-back.

10/17/14: Only real lull is in the first quarter, and the song choices there make up for it.

Summer I 2010 Wrap-Up

So, I never did a wrap-up post for Summer I 2010, despite the fact that I finished reviewing the individual shows in June. I'm going to do one now, but be aware that it's not coming much from memory of having listened to the shows recently, but more just from re-reading my reviews.

What I do remember of Summer I 2010 (and what re-reading reviews confirms) is that during this period, Phish pretty much abandoned the idea of jamming in its entirety, save for the occasional fifteen minute song that took the usual Type I > Funk > Rock > Ambient Fadeout structure of most of '09's big jams. They focused instead on high energy playing, great song choices, and just having fun. Many of these shows, on their own, are really fun, exciting listens. After a whole tour of it, though, I sort of wanted to blow my brains out. Yes, we get it. You can play these songs. But the improv, the thing that makes live Phish most interesting, is almost entirely missing after the first few shows. Fortunately, things pick up rather quickly during Summer II, so I guess there's that. Anyway, here are the highlights, such as they are:

6/11: The first three or so shows of the tour are actually pretty fantastic. The first set of the opener is ninety minutes in nine songs, and it's all a huge, high-energy affair. The second set has a few legit jams in "Light," and "Ghost" > "Limb By Limb."

6/12: Interesting version of "Stash" and a strange, mini-jammed "Groove" set closer in the first set. The second set opens with a monster "Rock and Roll" that's frankly kind of boring despite its length. Fortunately, the extended "Hood" that follows is "above-average-good," and the "Number Line" after that is one of the best jams of the year, even though it's really only the last five minutes or so that get crazy.

6/13: Consistently energetic show with some great setlist choices. The "Melt" at the end of the first set gets briefly interesting. The second set's "Drowned" > "Tweezer" -> "Twist" > "Piper" sequence is worth a listen, though it's the beginning of a move from legit jams to segues and weird setlist turns that hangs over most of the rest of this leg of tour.

6/15: Totally jamless. Weird "Bag" that's maybe worth a listen. There's a bit of "Gin" toward the end that gets interesting. Otherwise, totally rote show.

6/17: Great first set, in a first set sort of way. Trey destroys "Walk Away" and "Divided Sky." "Stash" is sufficiently weird and the jam gets a little "Melt"-y. "Sand" from the second set is worth a mention, as it sounds shockingly like a 2013 jam, like you literally turned on shuffle without realizing it and we jumped a few years into the future. But much of the rest of the show is the band giving Trey the reins and Trey sort of shrugging awkwardly.

6/18: This is about as good as a Phish show can get without a marquee jam. Everything's played well, the setlist is fantastic, etc. "Light" -> "Billy Breathes" is gorgeous, even if the "Light" is short. The "Tweezer" is worth a listen, though I'm not sure it quite qualifies as a "marquee jam" to offset the rest of the (really good) jukebox playing.

6/19: First set is amazing within the confines of a usual first set. Fantastic Type I "Gin" jam, fantastic song selection, Page destroys the "Suzy" closer. "Rock and Roll" opens the second set on a high note, but the rest of the set devolves back into "rocking out the first set" territory.

6/20: Consistent but straightforward first set with a "Roggae" highlight. "Drowned" -> "Swept Away" -> "Steep" is masterful, but that's about all that's worth noting from another mostly rote show.

6/22: The first set is all Trey Shredz and "Dr. Gabel." "Sally" -> "Light" -> "46 Days" is a great second set sequence, but that's the extent of the highlights.

6/24: The epitome of jamless, high energy 2010 Phish. Strong "Bowie" opener, strange "Timber" sort-of jam...and "The (fucking) Rover"! And it's a great cover. The second set is a bit weird and inconsistent, and settles into a composed-song groove for the last 45 or so minutes, but before that there's a bit of an interesting "Twenty Years" jam > a solid "Hood."

6/25: Finally somewhat of a strange show! Lots of very old songs and very new songs in the first set. The second set "CDT" goes deep (shades of '14) though it's a bit hollow for all its length. The "highlight" of the set is a "2001"/Michael Jackson seguefest that, like most seguefests, was probably way better live than it is on tape. On tape, it's a rickety, sort of goofy affair that fortunately lands in a "Light" that actually goes somewhere interesting. Inconsistent show, but one with some improvisational high points, finally.

6/26: Set one is standard-great in the mold of most of the summer 2010 first sets so far: solid playing, great song choices, nothing interesting.  The second set is a bunch of old-school songs rocked out in old-school fashion, including a fantastic "Rock and Roll" jam and one of the better "Tweezer"s of the season.

6/27: The first set is a weird but effective mix of eccentric songs like "Walfredo," "Tela," and "Mellow Mood." In the second set, a rocking "Meatstick" leads into "Saw It Again," which we do in fact see again (and again) throughout the rest of the set. "Piper" -> "Ghost" is gorgeous, and the halfhearted "Jumpin' Jack Flash" that follows is icing on the weirdly satisfying cake. One of my favorites of the leg, for sure.

6/29: Back down into the doldrums in this show, from the heights of the previous 2-3. The whale pedal is absolutely out of control here, and the songs suffer for it. No highlights really, save for a few minutes of the "Simple" and a bit of funky space in "Groove."

7/1: Lack of energy makes the usual paint-by-numbers 2010 S1 boring. All that's really worth mentioning is a brief-but-thorough "Light."

7/2: Back to the usual "fun" 2010 first set here. Great moments in the second set including a vocal jam in "46 Days," a dark "Twenty Years Later," and more vocal jamming in "YEM," but alas, still very little improv.

7/3: Lots of old and rare songs in yet another good-but-boring first set. There is a long jam here in "Rock and Roll," but it's a clunker. The highlight of the show is probably the "Caspian" > "Tweezer" sequence.

7/4: Yet more oldies-but-goodies in this first set. The second set is one of the better ones of tour, which honestly isn't saying much after this leg. For example, there's a high-octane "Disease" > "Piper" > "Ghost" sequence, but across all three of those songs, there's no Type II to be seen. Oh well.

Summer '14 Wrap-Up

Summer '14 was, pretty clearly, the absolute best Phish since...well, for my money, since ever. There were some specific jams and idea spaces that came up in '13 that I liked better, and I haven't listened to Fall '13 yet, but for a tour where the band can go there at will and play just about anything on their catalog with technical precision in the meantime, in addition to there being a new album of songs to develop...well, let's just say there's a reason I jumped to reviewing this tour before finishing up summer '10. It's fantastic.

But there really wouldn't be much point in reviewing all of these shows if they were perfect, so here's my wrap-up post for summer '14.

6/24: Hour long show for Live On Letterman. Varied setlist surprisingly light on Fuego material, including a solid "Undermind." Only real jam (and there is one!) is "Twist."

7/1: Fantastic tour opener. Lots of Fuego songs in a high-energy first set, and a real highlight in a blissful "Stash." The second set is mostly an excellent "Mike's" > "Simple" > "Free," "Waiting All Night" > "Ghost" -> "Groove." The "Ghost" is the highlight here, at least until what's probably my favorite "Hood" of the entire summer.

7/3: The first set is another high-energy affair with some great song choices, including an "Ocelot" I actually like as well as a great "Mound," "Roggae" pairing. Three huge jams including a "Gin" -> "Limb By Limb" where both songs go Type II and a later "Tweezer" make the second set a winner, too.

7/4: This show has higher highs and lower lows than the first two shows. The first set is a clunker, but a great "Reba" and a great, loop-filled "Melt" almost make up for it. Similarly, the back half of the second set sags, but the first half is a sonic wonder, moving from a 20-minute "Fuego" to a brilliant "Disease," into a bluesy "Twist" and then ending up on darkly funky "Light." It's a great sequence.

7/5: The first set has a little bit of everything, including a marimba lumina jam, a "Foam," and the first live "Wombat." If you like composed epics, the second set has your number. The "Carini" -> "Waves" pairing is a great start to the set, "Piper" is just fantastic, and the show also contains "Fluffhead," "YEM," and "Divided Sky."

7/8: First set has great song choices, but no standout performances except for a short "Tube" jam. A huge "Fuego" is the jam centerpiece here, obviously, but the "Tweezer" -> "Ghost" is no slouch, either, especially because of a really weird "Ghost" jam.

7/9: The first set is a disaster in set construction, but strong versions of "Stealing Time" and "Alaska" (yes, you read that right) as well as takes on "McGrupp" and "Antelope" make it palatable. Set two is like 7/8's second set in that there are a few great jams (in this case "Chalkdust" and "Twist") while the rest of the set is just filler.

7/11: Set one is a rockfest topped off by a great "Stash"; that is, if you completely discount the amazing "Gin," which comes out of nowhere with a 15 minute version that at its best recalls the effortlessness of the Tahoe "Tweezer." Set two is all about the "Steam" > "Disease." "Steam" gets super-weird. The rest of the set is pretty standard.

7/12: The first set is way more consistent than the last few shows'. "Antelope" is a loopy highlight. The second set's main attraction is the "Carini" > "Ghost" pair, but like 7/1 there's another notable "Hood" that veers off the tracks, this time for a blues jam, of all things. One of the better shows of the tour so far, along with 7/3 and 7/8.

7/13: Set one is better than most. Solid first quarter, then a Page-ified "Possum," loopy-heavy "Jim," and a wild "Melt" to close. Set two's "CDT" > "Light" > "Tweezer" makes this the best show of the year so far, though the rest of the show after is a rote "victory lap" sequence.

7/15: One of the few clunkers of tour. Check out the "Disease," but that's about it.

7/16: While it doesn't stand up to the '14 juggernauts, this show seems a bit underrated. Solid first set, with an excellent funk-laden take on "It's Ice." In the second set, "Ghost," "Groove," "Piper," and "Possum" actually all get quite weird, but none of them stay weird for long, giving the impression (via tracklength) that nothing's going on. Interesting transition show, for my money.

7/18: First set is really flat, save for a great Trey-led "Reba." I still haven't heard anyone really talk this up, but this is one of my favorite second sets of the year. Darkness, funk, consistent jamming, weird song choices...it's all happening. Great "Golden Age" jam. The chorded-out "Mango Song." The transition from a white-hot "Sand" into "Piper," into some crazy "Piper"-jam/"Halley's" mashup into a fucking jammed-out "Wombat." Absolutely deranged. I love it.

7/19: Definitely a trough after the peak of 7/18 S2. First set is standard, though with good song choices. The second set is much the same: the "Hood" gets weird again in a good way, but falls apart near the end. Similarly to 7/15, I can really recommend one song here ("Light," in this case), and you won't miss much leaving the rest alone.

7/20: A great setlist, rock-solid playing, and a candles-jam from Page on "Mule" make for an excellent first set. "Disease" opens S2 in an interesting but inconsistent way, and things seem to be moving into jukebox territory for a bit before the boys break into a jam out of "The Wedge" that is one of the best of the summer, and not just because of shock value. The "Ghost" follow-up is great, and the "Groove" is a mini-seguefest. Weird, but satisfying show.

7/25: The first set is pretty rote here, though the extended "Winterqueen" is worth mentioning. The "CDT" jam is unique in a summer's worth of "CDT" jams because of its consistent minimalist/dark feel. After that, though, the show wraps up with some little jamlets like the 7/16 show did. The highlight post-"CDT" is definitely the "Twist" -> "Circus" pairing. Another weird-but-great show.

7/26: Consistently first set, though not necessarily interesting. Great version of "Roggae" (like most of them). The second set is pretty much front-to-back amazing (I'm looking at you, "Sing Monica," for that "pretty much"). "Carini" -> "Ghost" > "Steam" is a monster, and the "Hood" is possibly a better version than the 7/1 take. Great show.

7/27: Some heresy, here, but I prefer 7/26 to 7/27. Sure, seguefests are fun, but they're way less fun when you already know the setlist and know what's coming. The first set is either normal songs being played normally or surprise songs being underwhelming in practice. The Tweezerfest is pretty awesome, and fun, but again I'd rather look to the big jams and interesting improv of the summer when I'm thinking about relistens. Had I seen this live, it probably would have been my show of the year. But I didn't.

7/29: Early 3.0-style show: rote first set, big jam to kick off second set, then a slow grind to the finish. Actually, though the S2 "CDT" goes deep, it's probably my least favorite version of the summer, which makes the show highlight the first set "Melt," of all things...

7/30: Another rote first set here, but because the song selection is so weird, it might just win you over anyway. The second set is a rocket. There's a funk suite of sorts with "Fuego," "Meatstick," and "Piper" all jumping on board before "Billy Breathes" comes out of hibernation to serve as a landing pad. That's the end of the serious improv for the set, but "Seven Below," "First Tube," and "The Lizards" keep things interesting.

8/1: Absolutely boring first set, incredible second. The "Disease" is 20 minutes of pure energy, the "Tweezer" jam is great, the mini-"Fuego" jam picks up where "Tweezer" left off, and the set closes with a "Boogie On," "Antelope" mash-up. Great stuff.

8/2: Like many of the weaker shows this tour, we're mostly in jukebox mode here except for the third quarter, when "Carini" > "Ghost" blows the damn roof off.

8/3: Fantastic tour closer. Bookends really well with 7/1, actually. The first set features great performances of a great setlist, with a few bones thrown out to hint at greater things to come. "Vultures" is extended a bit, "Gumbo" gets a funk jam, etc. Yet another great "CDT" kicks off the second set, "Scents" and "Twist" are short-but-great takes, and the "Light" > "Hood" pair is just magical, and includes one of the best, if not the best "Hood" in a tour full of great ones.

8/29: S1 is great because of the setlist gag. It forces the band to play songs that don't usually show up here ("Guyute") or at all ("Llama," "Ha Ha Ha"), and they play them well enough that it works despite nothing really notable happening in terms of improv. The monster "Simple," probably my favorite single jam since Tahoe, is the big takeaway from the second set. But the "Ghost" that follows is great, the late "Hood" is another weird-but-good '14 take, and, frankly "46 Days" was well into an amazing jam before it got seriously ripcorded.

8/30: The first set is long, and packed with great songs played well. The second set's "Disease" -> "WTU?" pair is the highlight; the "Disease" jam is one of the better ones this year, and the segue is just flawless and well done. "Carini" and "Light" are both great despite their runtimes and the encore is just a blast of Phishiness.

8/31: Only slacker of a first set at Dick's. "Wombat" and "Wolfman's" are great, but the rest is pretty standard, and without the flow of N1 or N2 to pick it up. S2, though, is an absolute monster. It depends a bit, actually, on your interpretation of a minimalist and strange "CDT" jam: brilliant or tepid? "Tweezer" > "Sand" -> "Tweezer" (double speed) > space jam > "Piper" is right up there with 7/18 and 7/26 in terms of a "themed set" that really works together. In this case, the theme is "deep space funk," and it's awesome. "Mike's" gets a serious echo-funk treatment, too, and then we coast to a stop with "Sally" > "Groove." A better first set, and this could easily be Show of the Year. As it is, it's a great close to a run that might (I still haven't decided) beat out Randall's for Run of the Year.

2014-08-31 Dick's III

The Verdict:
Night three at Dick's is a very strong close to the only run of the summer that could compete (and possibly beat) Randall's. I was sure Dick's was better as I was seeing it unfold in person, but after a relisten, I'm less sure, and it's mostly because this third show is weaker than I remembered.

It's pretty much just the first set. After a gimmicky and interesting S1 on N1, and a sprawling, buffet-line S1 the second night, this set just falls flat due to its more or less gaping holes between a few very bright spots. Specifically, "Wombat" and "Wolfman's" are both top-notch versions, and hint at the funk to come in the second set. But the middle section of the set sags considerably, and though I love both "Waiting All Night" and "Winterqueen," pairing them right before a ripping "Funky Bitch," "Tube" > "Possum" is a mistake.

With the removal of a questionably-placed "Joy" and a standard "Twist" > "Wedge" combo (two songs that have done interesting things recently and thus hit with a thud here in their boring incarnations), this becomes a perfect set. "CDT" gets stretched out yet again, this time going to a surprisingly minimalist place and staying there for a long time. I'm still not sure if this is a great jam, or a "We're lost! Let's just fake it!" jam, but you can be the judge.

The "Tweezer" is a satisfying-but-straight funkfest...until it segues into "Sand," which moves back into a double-speed "Tweezer" before heading out to deep space. "Piper" starts up next but immediately returns to the same space, and then there's "Joy" "Mike's," which gets jammed out in the same space-funk fashion and is arguably the highlight of the night aside from the last five minutes of "Sand."

"Sally" > "Groove" is a great way to coast to the finish line, ending one of the more cohesive and satisfying sets of the year so far. A better first set, and this show would be discussed with the phrase "...of the year" coming up a lot more.

The Live Review:
8/31/14: Wrapping up the summer with a Curtain opener.
8/31/14: Mike bass bombs during the outro composed part.
8/31/14: With was great. Great start to what I remember as being a fantastic show live.
8/31/14: Solid clav-funk jam in Wombat. Great start to the first set.
8/31/14: A bit hard to hear Mike over Trey in these headphones, but it sounds to me like Mike is really shining so far.
8/31/14: Loops now. Could probably argue this is a Type II jam at this point.
8/31/14: The KDF intro riff is always a little grating. More so when Trey totally biffs it.
8/31/14: I'm having a resurgence of enthusiasm for Bouncin' lately. Which is good, since it shows up after KDF here.
8/31/14: As someone who wants ASIHTOS to go back to its 2.0 monster-jam role, it's sort of sad seeing it take up a S1 spot lately.
8/31/14: But it's still a great song.
8/31/14: Now Lawn Boy. This is lagging a bit post-Wombat.
8/31/14: Super-dense funk in this Wolfman's jam.
8/31/14: Strong, extended version of Wolfman's > Waiting All Night.
8/31/14: I'm not going to apologize for how much I love WAN when it's placed well, like now.
8/31/14: Trey struggles a bit with the solo, but otherwise it's a strong version. > Winterqueen.
8/31/14: This is a weird set. Lots of borderline boring takes on slower songs, punctuated by moments of brilliance (Wombat, Wolfman's).
8/31/14: Funky Bitch finally picking up the energy level a bit.
8/31/14: After some cool chording from Trey to close out Bitch, Tube.
8/31/14: This Tube jam needs a disco ball. Awesome. Way too short, of course :)
8/31/14: Mostly standard Possum to close the set. A little heavier on the Mike than usual.
8/31/14: Very weird, inconsistent set with some very high highs but mostly just sort of a muddle of songs. Probably worst S1 of the run.
8/31/14: CDT to kick off what should be a monster S2.
8/31/14: Trey switches to an ASIHTOS tone early in the jam, Fish switches up the beat to something faster.
8/31/14: Strangely spacey, drone-y sort of jam. For awhile, nobody really playing any melody. Fish still slamming away.
8/31/14: Guitar echoes dominate. Shifting spaces now.
8/31/14: This stays really minimalist for a LONG time. Really interesting. Not sure if it's good, but it's at least different.
8/31/14: Jam stays murky and weird until > Twist. Definitely going to listen to that one again.
8/31/14: No weird, minimalist Twist tonight. Standard version > The Wedge.
8/31/14: Okay, that was a pretty standard Wedge, too, but I like the way that it swings right into Tweezer.
8/31/14: Tweezer immediately goes into a chord-driven funk jam.
8/31/14: Page just did a brilliant, building electric piano thing. Jam mellowing a little now.
8/31/14: Trey getting into a really swinging rock solo now.
8/31/14: Page uses the piano to kick off a start-stop sounding jamlet.
8/31/14: Trey starts up Sand, with a guitar loop from the jam overtop the main riff.
8/31/14: Smoove move into Sand.
8/31/14: There's a lot more standard Type I shredding in this Sand than I remember.
8/31/14: That said, Trey's on top of his guitar game...as evidenced by the drop into a double-speed Tweezer tease.
8/31/14: Not sure why this isn't Tweezer -> Sand -> Tweezer, but it's fantastic. Heading into space now.
8/31/14: This is so good. Space-plinko? Mike bombing out overtop of it.
8/31/14: Bass drone, now.
8/31/14: That was a cleaner > Piper than I remembered.
8/31/14: Awesome What's the Use? tease in Piper.
8/31/14: Piper's getting loopy at the 6:30 mark.
8/31/14: Really eerie ambient jam now.
8/31/14: Why the hell Trey decided to -> Joy out of that I have no idea.8/31/14: Mike's is heading in a funky direction.
8/31/14: EchoFunk time!
8/31/14: Sally keeps the funk train rolling all the way to the station.
8/31/14: Great vocal jam in Sally, minute Sand tease from Trey.
8/31/14: Weekapaug was pretty satisfying chordy madness. Loving Cup, Tweeprise encore.
8/31/14: S1 was weaker by far than I remembered it being, but S2 was just as amazing (almost) on tape. Great set.
8/31/14: 8/29 had the weekend's marquee jam, but some of the songs in S2 here go to far more interesting places for a few minutes.

2014-08-30 Dick's II

The Verdict:
The second night at Dick's suffers a little from middle-night syndrome: with no huge standout jam like N1 and no monster of a second frame like N3, it pales a bit by comparison. But taken on its own, it's a really strong show.

The first set is long, and filled with a lot of well-played songs. While its setlist isn't nearly as eccentric as N1's first set, it's still strong enough to keep this mostly by-the-book set from coming off as "Been there, done that."

The "Free" opener is played better than "Free" usually gets in 3.0, and the run of (admittedly jukeboxy) songs up through "Rift" > "Sample" are played with high energy, and a few seem to be played even a bit faster than usual. "Devotion" gets stretched out to great effect, Trey shines for once on "Yarmouth Road," and the "Cavern" > "Bowie" pairing ends the set in style.

"DWD" opens the second set with a great, underrated jam that moves from rolling rock to 2.0 jazz, into a perfect -> "WTU?" segue. Neither "Carini" or "Light" is any kind of slouch either, though both jams barely pass the 10+ minute mark. The rest of the set, on paper, doesn't really communicate how effective it is. "Fuego" is pretty standard, but "Slave" is a beautifully melodic version, and the one-two punch of "Meatstick" and "Bold As Love" is a great close to the set.

This, of course, sets up the weird-but-great piano-only "The Horse," > "Silent," Trey's chat about and then brief tease of "In A Hole," and finally another "Fluffhead" encore.

There's no notably big moments to point to in this show like N1 and N3 have, but the show's overall effect is pretty darn near perfect.

There aren't really any good standalone videos of this show, so here, have the entire second set plus the encore:



The Live Review:
8/30/14: Free opener. Good times.
8/30/14: And the harmonies aren't totally terrible!
8/30/14: If you're going to open w/ Free, that's how you do it. High energy, > Moma.
8/30/14: Trey's soloing is extra-on tonight.
8/30/14: High tempo Moma, just like Free. Sounds good, though.
8/30/14: Halley's!
8/30/14: Actually really excited to relisten to this show. 8/29 and 8/31 I remember as being incredible, but I remember 8/30 less.
8/30/14: Funk echo from Trey on Halley's chords.
8/30/14: Fish switches up the beat to a rock-ier one, and the Halley's jam arguably goes Type II here for a minute or so. Neat.
8/30/14: > Stealing Time.8/30/14: Solid Stealing Time > 555.8/30/14: Trey sounds really on-point during this set. I don't really remember that from the show, but I'm happy about it.
8/30/14: > Rift!8/30/14: Rift > Sample is pretty cliche, but I love it anyway.
8/30/14: I'm never happy live when Devotion To a Dream starts up, but it always wins me over by the end.
8/30/14: No cheers for Yarmouth Road. Don't get it. Such a great song.
8/30/14: Trey's finally starting to find something to do in Yarmouth Road. Sparkle is next.
8/30/14: Okay, Sparkle, Wingsuit is a really weird pairing.
8/30/14: Seemed like the set would end here, but there's still a solid Bowie > Cavern to go, if I remember correctly.
8/30/14: NIce interplay between Trey and Mike at the beginning of the jam.
8/30/14: Trey doing a good job of building tension here, even if nobody else is working with him.
8/30/14: Okay, Fish is on board now.
8/30/14: Serious Cavern lyrical flubs. I love that Trey can't remember the words to this song, of all the songs.
8/30/14: High energy, LONG S1 there. Nothing to really complain about, but no notable standout performances either.
8/30/14: Did really like the song selection, though.
8/30/14: Call To the Post noodling > DWD to start S2.8/30/14: Don't remember this Disease jam at all. So far, Trey is propelling it in a bouncy rock direction.
8/30/14: Great Type I shredfest here.
8/30/14: Trey chording now, trying to drive the jam into a different direction. ASIHTOS-style tone.
8/30/14: Now it's a jazzy, almost 2.0-sounding jam. Love Fish's drumming.
8/30/14: Heavy WTU? teases.
8/30/14: And a butt-slam into What's the Use? So awesome. I'd forgotten about this, and that just shows how great Dick's must have been.
8/30/14: CAAAAAARIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
8/30/14: Aside from all the obvious awesome jamming, one of my favorite things about '13-'14 Phish is the liberal use of Carini. So good.
8/30/14: Mike is laying into this one early.
8/30/14: Lots of heavily distorted Type I guitar coming out of Trey here. Now a building riff.
8/30/14: Carini isn't getting super-weird, but Trey is conducting a really soaring melodic solo overtop of the usual.
8/30/14: Almost a fast Cities-sounding space now.
8/30/14: Trey jumps into Light, and Fish ALMOST keeps the jam beat going over it for awhile but succumbs. That would have been awesome.
8/30/14: Pretty standard Light jam gets weird at 7:30, as Fish drives it into a darker space and the others follow.
8/30/14: Trey on the echoplex things getting even weirder.
8/30/14: Blues-woo jam now.
8/30/14: Great arrhythmic close to the jam and > Fuego. Both that Carini and Light had standout sections worth hearing.
8/30/14: Pretty spotless transition into Slave, there, from Fuego.
8/30/14: Trey has a great melody line going early on in this Slave. The build is coming and going in waves. Mike is also on (melodic) fire.
8/30/14: Compact but really effective Slave there. The first one that's really stood out to me melodically for awhile.
8/30/14: MOET-STAQUE, GIMME IT
8/30/14: Meatstick gets butt-slammed perfectly into Bold As Love.
8/30/14: This is another one of those Phish shows where there isn't a standout moment, but the overall effect is pretty perfect.
8/30/14: Trey just shredded the hell out of that set-ending Bold As Love. Wow.
8/30/14: Piano version of The Horse, with Trey on vocals. I almost like this arrangement better.
8/30/14: Piano Horse, Silent, In A Hole banter, Fluff = great encore.

8/30/14: Between this and the Eugene encore, I've gotten some great ones this year.

2014-08-29 Dick's I

The Verdict:
This year's Dick's run was easily the best run of shows I've been to thus far. So I was excited to relisten and see how much of my enthusiasm was justified and how much didn't hold up on the tape. For night one, at least, it's just about as good as I remember it.

S1 works because the "LUSHINGTON" set gag forces some interesting songs into the mix and shuffles up the song order you'd typically expect. There aren't any really interesting musical highlights, but the unexpected song choices and the high energy makes it a solid first set. One big jam ("Gin," maybe?) would have put it into the higher echelon of great first sets like some we've seen already this year, but there are plenty of shows out there that just have high-energy first sets with weird song choices. That said, I'm partial to this one. Early "Stash," a S1 "Guyute," a short-but-sweet "Undermind," a rocked-out "The Line," and a "Llama" opener...it's hard to complain much. On top of that, the highlights for me was an out-of-leftfield "No Quarter" and the "Suzy." "Suzy" is surprisingly rough, considering that they must have practiced with the horns before the show...but still, "Suzy" even with slightly-scatterbrained horns is better than "Suzy" without any horns at all, so...

S2 is all about the "Simple." Sure, there's a lot else going on here, most notably a short but shockingly great "Ghost" rock-jam and an interesting (and sadly ripcorded) "46 Days" opener. "Number Line" is hot, and "Hood" goes the weird-but-great route yet again in '14. But it's really all about the "Simple." Which is easily my favorite jam since the Tahoe "Tweezer." Just watch it.

There are a few slight lulls in the second set, but for the second show in a row, the band delivers what's pretty much a top-shelf show from front to back, and this time they include not one, but two best-of-summer jams. So yeah. This one lived up to the hype.








The Live Review:
8/29/14: Kicking off the Dick's run (first of five con420utive shows I caught this year) with Llama.
8/29/14: I love the rare Undermind jam, but it's also a great choice for a second song slot.
8/29/14: Great too to see the setlist gag make Stash show up so early in the show. Trey pretty restrained in the jam, Page taking lead.
8/29/14: Halfway To the Moon gets extended a bit more than usual here. Trey rocking out.
8/29/14: I Didn't Know...'Here to suck...at Dick's...'
8/29/14: This was my first vacuum solo, so I remember it fondly.
8/29/14: Nellie Kane. Seems faster than usual.
8/29/14: Forgot that there was a Guyute in there :)
8/29/14: Great-sounding Guyute. Now a particularly swinging version of The Line.
8/29/14: Ah, Ocelot, in all its note-bending and whale-pedal 'glory.'
8/29/14: Actually hearing Phish play No Quarter live at this show was one of my top 5 live music moments ever. Favorite rock song.
8/29/14: Post-euphoria, the intro is a little rough, but Trey totally nails the tone and style of that awesome riff.
8/29/14: Page laying into the piano for the middle jamlet.
8/29/14: Pretty sure I enjoyed hearing Ha Ha Ha more than I would have enjoyed Lushington. Because I know how it goes.
8/29/14: Suzy sounds remarkably disorganized for what must have been a premeditated guest appearance.
8/29/14: That said, Suzy with horns is ALWAYS better than Suzy without.
8/29/14: I absolutely loved S1 live. On tape, it's strong because of great and rare song choices. Only real interesting moment is Suzy.
8/29/14: Not to be outdone by horns, Page has a great piano solo with the horns layered over the back half of it.
8/29/14: 46 Days S2 opener.
8/29/14: Trey going dark and Mike following at 6:00 in this jam.
8/29/14: Jam is sort of an evil version of Manteca.
8/29/14: Page to electric piano = awesome.
8/29/14: Really badass space jam now with arrhythmic Trey chording. Aaaand that ripcord > BOTT was just as bad as I remembered.
8/29/14: They end up making it up with the Simple > Ghost, of course, but Jesus, that was terrible.
8/29/14: 46 Days jam wasn't even fading out yet and Trey just killed it.
8/29/14: Bitching aside, it's a solid version of BOTT.
8/29/14: Butt-slammed into Simple.
8/29/14: Nice interplay between Trey and Page at 5:00 in Simple.
8/29/14: Neat rhythm work from Trey to drive the jam away from the usual Simple space.
8/29/14: Things are getting angrier now.
8/29/14: Really great Trey-led jam section starting at 11:30. Mike is setting down an awesome foundation.
8/29/14: The middle section of this jam reminds me a lot of many of the better sections of the Tahoe Tweezer.
8/29/14: A bit of a lull in the jam now. That's okay, just gives you a second to stop and think 'What the hell song was this again?!'
8/29/14: Move into funk space. And thus the weekend of Dick's funk begins in earnest.
8/29/14: Loving this seriously deep clav-funk.
8/29/14: Mike pushes for some more complex funk. Trey adds loops to the mix.
8/29/14: Good transition into Ghost. Not perfect, but good. And it's fucking Ghost, so hell yes.
8/29/14: This slowly building rockfest of a Ghost would be amazing normally. Coming on the heels of that Simple it's just HOLY SHITAFIAODUFE
8/29/14: That 9:26 moment during this Ghost is just ridiculous. Why don't people talk about this jam more?
8/29/14: Giant Mike bomb to end the Ghost jam. Trey misses his chance to pull a -> Number Line and does a > Number Line instead.
8/29/14: Short but interesting Number Line, with Trey working in some neat rhythm sections.
8/29/14: HOOOOOOOOD
8/29/14: Minimal flourishes from Trey and Page here. Mike driving the jam. Pretty interesting.
8/29/14: It's actually sort of amazing how little Trey is featuring in this jam. Fish is a monster.
8/29/14: I like the new, weird Hood jams as long as they don't mess with the peak. This one survives pretty intact.
8/29/14: Nice -> Wading from Page.8/29/14: S2 closer = Antelope. E = Zero. Doesn't get more cliche than that. Nice Antelope, though, and great show overall.

8/29/14: S2 close is a little flat, and I still wonder wtf happened with the 46 Days jam, but a fantastic first night otherwise.

2014-08-03 Alpharetta

The Verdict:

I saw this show "live" on the free webcast when it happened and a relisten just reinforced my original opinion: it's a great tour-closing show in that it showcases a lot of different sides of what makes Phish such a great band and leaves off with an incredibly strong finish.

The first set features strong playing throughout and a better-than-average setlist. "Gin," "555," "The Line," "Vultures," and "BOTT," all stay within their usual confines, but are definitely notable versions despite that. "Gumbo" gets a neat little funk mini-jam, and hearing "FEFY" at all is just fantastic.

Compared to other "CDT"s this year, this one is noticeably short, but arguably gets further in less time than its forebears. It's really dark at first, and features some great melodic work from Page on electric piano before building momentum in a really satisfying way and becoming of my favorite "CDT"s in a year full of great ones. The segue into "Scents" is a bit abrupt, but the short jam that comes out of it is just breathtakingly delicate and great. "Twist" continues the tradition of minimalist, bluesy "Twist"s that's run for most of this year, and "Light" > "Harry Hood" is fantastic, first for the top-notch space jam in "Light" and second for the interplay between Trey and each other band member in "Hood," a version that also takes a unique path to the conclusion while finishing strong.

Then of course, just in case this show wasn't already a near-perfect balance of hits, technical prowess, serious jams, and awesome camaraderie, "Fluffhead" is in the encore slot. I couldn't help but think of Hampton '09 as they played and how far the music has come since then. Great stuff.

The Live Review:

8/3/14: Alright, last #phish show of summer tour '14 proper. Let's do this!

8/3/14: I remember watching this show on the free webcast and loving it. Let's hope the impression sticks through a relisten.

8/3/14: My Soul opener is a good start.

8/3/14: Trey and Page on fire during the opener.

8/3/14: Pretty satisfying Type I jam from Gin in the two-spot so far. Trey sounds a bit tentative.

8/3/14: Trey and Gin finish strong. Hot version of 555, now. Trey adding some interesting touches.

8/3/14: PEBLES AND MERBLES

8/3/14: Pebbles gets a few good licks from Trey based on the melody line.

8/3/14: The Line is next.

8/3/14: Particularly strong outro jam out of The Line, driven by Fishman.

8/3/14: Vultures!!!

8/3/14: Great outro jam here, too. Fish tearing it up.

8/3/14: Woo jam combined with Fish drum solo-ish. Pretty awesome.

8/3/14: FEFY. God damn, I love this song. Such great song selection here.

8/3/14: BOTT is next.

8/3/14: Trey and Page have some nice early interplay and then Trey shreds the shit out of the end of the jam. Solid version.

8/3/14: Taste is cool. I feel like this hasn't been as major of a player this year as it usually is. This version is just standard.

8/3/14: Gumbo is getting a nice little funk jam tagged on to the end.

8/3/14: Great jam, weird ending.

8/3/14: Solid take on Halfway To the Moon > Stealing Time. Starting to get a little jukeboxy, but still an above-average S1.

8/3/14: Trey just tossed some Stealing Time lyrics into Suzy.

8/3/14: What else would the last S2 of summer open with but CDT?

8/3/14: CDT jam starts heading off into the deep at 5:00.

8/3/14: Really gorgeous electric piano-led section starting around 7:30.

8/3/14: Really dark, building section at 10:00. Super cool. Mike is jumping on board.

8/3/14: Now building some excellent momentum out of the darkness. This is better than some of the longer CDTs from this year.

8/3/14: Trey sort of ripcorded that, but it's into Scents, so we'll call it even.

8/3/14: Really short but gorgeous Scents jam.

8/3/14: Twist!

8/3/14: Another one of those lazy, bluesy Twist jams. Love it.

8/3/14: Trey with some awesome rhythm work > great solo. Short but sweet version.

8/3/14: Perfect drop into a flubby Fuego intro.

8/3/14: Standard, sort-of-rough Fuego > The Wedge.

8/3/14: No giant Wedge jam, unfortunately. Nice version nonetheless with seamless > Light.

8/3/14: Light jam is benefiting from Trey's spooky chording. Now Mike it taking the wheel.

8/3/14: Darkness funk laden with Mike bombs. Perfect.

8/3/14: Got to admit I'm biased in already loving the shit out of this Hood. Relistening won't change anything.

8/3/14: Watching the band members trade solos during the webcast is my biggest #phish goosebumps moment so far while not at a live show.

8/3/14: My biggest while *at* a show was something like 11:00-36:00 of the Tahoe Tweezer :)

8/3/14: After the solo-trading, this becomes the most 'normal' Hood jam they've played in awhile. I don't mean that in a bad way.

8/3/14: Great peak, too.

8/3/14: First Tube is an excellent closer.

8/3/14: Gotta love the tour-closing Fluffhead.

8/3/14: Show was about how I remembered it. Above-average S1, S2 could have been jammed more, but ultimately satisfying.

8/3/14: CDT is quality, Scents and Twist are short but go some interesting places. Light is an average-great space jam, and the Hood is A+.

8/3/14: Okay, so maybe there's enough jamming and it's just a great show :)

8/3/14: The lack of focus on one HUGE jam as opposed to small moments of improv presages what's worked (and not) in fall tour, it seems.

2014-06-24 Live On Letterman

The Verdict:
I wanted to review this "show" despite it not being a full two-set performance because it turned out that Phish didn't just show up and play Fuego tunes for an hour like I expected them to. Sure, it's still mostly Phish-lite, but there are some neat tidbits here that deserve acknowledgment.

Listening at the end of October, it's amazing how much tighter the Fuego songs have gotten live since this performance. "The Line" is well done, but the others all have their shares of wince-inducing moments that are mostly worked out now, a few months down the road.

The highlights here, though, are the "Undermind" (for its usually weird mini-jam), "Carini" (for its energy and surprise placement during this kind of performance), and "Twist" (which actually unfolds into a legit jam and signals the coming of the minimalist, blues-inflected "Twist"s that would show up again and again throughout the summer.

You can see the whole thing here, if you want.

The Live Review:
6/24/14: Gonna take on the Live on Letterman performance real quick, because why not?
6/26/14: We start with that stripped-down-sounding approach to 46 Days.
6/24/14: There clearly hasn't been enough Undermind this year, now that I think about it.
6/24/14: Undermind is one of those songs that works really well in the 'mini-jam' format.
6/24/14: Halfway To the Moon sounds SO MUCH BETTER NOW than it did in June.
6/24/14: Yeah, that was awful. Carini next was a great surprise, though.
6/24/14: Fish just switched beats in this jam in a really jarring way.
6/24/14: Page has some great fills, though, and now Mike is driving toward the conclusion.
6/24/14: Nice trilly outro jam to Devotion.
6/24/14: Surprisingly hot mini-jam out of 555, there.
6/24/14: Twist starts off in a minimalist mode much like 46 Days did.
6/24/14: This is the version that convinced me that they were gonna take Twist deep this summer. I was wrong, but I'm still a believer.
6/24/14: Zero'd.
6/24/14: Zero is Zero and The Line is The Line. The end.
6/24/14: Solid versions of The Line, 46 Days, and 555. Surprise Carini was decent. Undermind was better than usual in its short form.
6/24/14: Love that Twist, though. Worth the free price of admission itself. Rewatching on YouTube: https://t.co/FdPC7ChNwX #phish

2014-08-02 Oak Mountain

The Verdict:
The Oak Mountain show falls into the same category as many of these late-tour shows: basically, the first set is pretty rote and boring, the first half of the second set has some extra-high highlights, and then the fourth quarter settles into jukebox mode. It hearkens back to the standard show layout in earlier 3.0 shows, but with higher highs and just about similar lows. There's a much looser feel to the improvisation in these shows though, which almost makes it more frustrating when they yield such lackluster results, especially compared to pretty much all of the rest of '13 and '14.

The S1 Reba is better than average, and really the song selection and flow (I hate that word) throughout both sets is really consistent, the band is playing confidently and well throughout...but if you're listening to the whole tour, the only thing here to really note is the Carini > Ghost. But it's really damn good, so note the hell out of it.

The Live Review:

8/2/14: Bag opener in Pelham!
8/2/14: Solid but short Bag, with a weirdly awkward segue into Poor Heart. Would have been cool if it'd worked :)
8/2/14: Cities! It's the second song in a row that Trey has started in the wrong key, but hey, it's Cities.
8/2/14: Trey mentions waiting to play Cities in/near Birmingham.
8/2/14: Trey is super excited. Maybe this will translate into something interesting in the first set?
8/2/14: Reba will do :)
8/2/14: Rote Possum > Sample. The guys have a strange way of showing excitement. Only notable bit so far is first few minutes of Reba jam.
8/2/14: Maze! Still walking the straight and narrow here, but Maze should give us a jolt of energy.
8/2/14: There was a pretty standard Funky Bitch in there, too.
8/2/14: Maze is one of those songs that just keeps getting better somehow.
8/2/14: And then there's Ocelot.
8/2/14: Ocelot doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it's a better version than most. If you're into that sort of thing.
8/2/14: Sparkle and Poor Heart are the new S1 staples, apparently.
8/2/14: Cavern.
8/2/14: Major duh moment in Cavern. Alas, no 'took our my cock' alternate lyrics.
8/2/14: *out
8/2/14: Wingsuit closer? Nice!
8/2/14: Am listening with ProjectM visualizations running in my second monitor. If I stop tweeting, it's because I had an epileptic seizure.
8/2/14: First time I heard Wingsuit, I was driving up into the Trinity Mountains to climb Mt. Eddy. Always think of that moment now.
8/2/14: Love Wingsuit, but S1 was flat-out boring. Carini opener in S2. Cranking volume to unacceptable levels, hoping for jamz.
8/2/14: Page injects a sick electric piano part into the jam just as ProjectM oozes black ink onto the screen. Neat!
8/2/14: This jam is oozing all over the place in the best way. Why do they even play first sets anymore when they can do this at will?
8/2/14: Nice > Ghost. Not quite a ->, but almost.
8/2/14: Oh shit this Ghost jam
8/2/14: Holy mother of Ghost, this is good.
8/2/14: Amazing Ghost jam gets butt-slammed by a Simple tease, but then goes into Mike's. Huh.
8/2/14: Shades of the Dick's Mike's jam here. Iiiiiinteresting.
8/2/14: THERE'S the Simple!
8/2/14: Simple jam is like almost all Simple jams, but I love this style so much it's okay. Mike is dominating this set.
8/2/14: Nice segue into Joy, even though it's Joy.
8/2/14: Short Groove, now Julius. It's going to be another one of those fourth quarters, isn't it?
8/2/14: Why does nobody ever cheer when Sand starts? That bassline alone deserves a scream or two.
8/2/14: Trey is leading the way here with some inventive soloing. Oh, now Page is adding some synth tones.
8/2/14: Pretty standard Sand, though, all told.
8/2/14: Neat little Page-segue into Wading.
8/2/14: Part of Trey's Velvet Sea solo was remarkably similar to one of my solos on a song I recorded a few years ago. That was weird.
8/2/14: Yay for YEM
8/2/14: Fantastic third quarter in this show, but I don't think this YEM is going to redeem the show at large, or even all of S2.
8/2/14: Weirdly, the YEM is pretty flat, but the vocal jam is amazing.
8/2/14: Quinn closer! Well, I loved about 30% of this show, then :)

8/2/14: 'Page, you're my hero!' on SBD at the end of Quinn. #crowdbanter #phish

2014-08-01 Orange Beach

The Verdict:
A bit like 7/30, the Orange Beach show is a show that starts off with a lackluster S1, but is redeemed in the end by an excellent second set.

That said, where the 7/30 S1 at least has a few novel songs to recommend from it, this S1 is pretty much full-on jukebox mode. There's another one of those recent and weird mini-explorations in "Tube," "Wolfman's" features some clever use of Trey's guitar loops, and "Curtis Loew" makes an appearance, but otherwise, there's nothing you haven't heard before.

S2 opens with a "Disease" that's just all energy. The band moves through a few distinct spaces in this jam, but Fish keeps the momentum rolling throughout, and they manage to create a 20 minute rock monster that, amazingly, doesn't really flag in energy for a second of its running time. Highly recommended.

There's a short but amazingly sweet "Tweezer" that's built mostly around a great improvised Trey riff but fades in the last few minutes into a really melodic coda. It's also a great version, and when we come back from a brief cool-down break, "Fuego" picks up the same riff and runs with it! It's pretty amazing. It ends with a great segue into "Slave," and the "Slave" > "2001" pair does a great job of setting up what eventually turns into a "Boogielope" mashup that just needs to be heard instead of described. Give this show a better first set and it's a contender for best of the year.

The Live Review:
8/1/14: CDT opener. I know they won't but how funny would it be if they jammed this for twenty minutes?

8/1/14: Moma Dance is S1, song two in the #phish show that plays eternally in heaven, I'm sure.

8/1/14: 555. Goddamn I love this song.

8/1/14: Oh, there was a Heavy Things in there, too, with some decent organ stuff.

8/1/14: Another solid-ish version of Rift here. Playing it all summer has obviously made them a bit better at hitting all the notes.

8/1/14: Page's fills have started to remind me more and more of '93 instead of '03.

8/1/14: Of course, just as I write that, Trey totally bombs out for 10-15 seconds :)

8/1/14: 46 Days next. So far, very jukebox-y setlist, but songs are being played with a little extra energy than usual.

8/1/14: I'm loving the little funk departures in Tube lately.

8/1/14: Devotion, Wolfman's. Still a fun S1, but weird to see such a plain setlist after some great song distribution in the last few shows.

8/1/14: Neat little echo bit from Trey in this Wolfman's.

8/1/14: Curtis Loew! That's better.

8/1/14: Curtis Loew aside, I'm pretty sure that closing with Free > Character Zero makes this a Normal First Set.

8/1/14: The whole thing is played with a consistent energy, but there's nothing here you haven't heard twenty times before.

8/1/14: S2 starts with Disease. Even the jam slot is a jukebox song :)

8/1/14: First few minutes of Disease jam is Type I, but awesomely kinetic. If they keep this momentum up, this jam is going to be fantastic.

8/1/14: Descending into some really spacey Mike-based territory, but Fish is keeping the beat rolling.

8/1/14: Great switch to all-out rock mania now. Awesome, awesome.

8/1/14: Wow, they really did just stick with that all the way through. Great jam.

8/1/14: I think Trey tried to pull a clever > Theme and it didn't work that well.

8/1/14: Tweezer! Is there such a thing as a jukebox S2? :)

8/1/14: Okay, this Tweezer is no joke. Building on a great Trey riff.

8/1/14: Really, really cool melodic coda tagged on to the end of this Tweezer jam. Back into another build...

8/1/14: Okay, I've been forgiving with the ripcords this year, but that > Caspian was fucking murder. Tweezer jam was going places still.

8/1/14: Waiting All Night. Love this song, too.

8/1/14: FuEGo! Can a show be a jukebox show and have awesome jams simultaneously? My worldview trembles in the shadow of Orange Beach!

8/1/14: Fuego jam reprises the riff Trey made up for Tweezer. Yes!

8/1/14: EXCELLENT segue into Slave immediately after.

8/1/14: Smooth Slave > 2001 transition.

8/1/14: Boogie!

8/1/14: Strange Boogie/Antelope hybrid rearing its head.

8/1/14: I'm going to insist that this goes on the setlist as Boogie On -> Antelope -> Boogie On -> Antelope -> Boogie On -> Antelope.

8/1/14: Way extended tease of something I didn't recognize.

8/1/14: For some reason, I find Bouncin' encores charming instead of annoying. All that time spent listening to 90s tapes, maybe?

8/1/14: Someone singing something during Tweeprise. Fish? Can't tell what he's saying.


8/1/14: So...that second set was better than it looked on paper. Wow.

2014-07-30 Portsmouth II

The Verdict:
On the second night in Portsmouth, the song selection partially saves the first set. There's a exceptionally well-played "Gin" opener, and the rest is pretty by-the-book. If you love "It's Ice,"  "Mountains in the Mist," "Meat," "Yarmouth Road," and "Guelah Papyrus" like I do, you'll enjoy it. If not, it's just another first set.

The second set starts off with another monster "Fuego." This one goes the darkness-funk route, sounding almost like an old-school TAB trio jam for awhile before making a break for rock-bliss-woo territory. It's a great addition to the jammed-out "Fuego" collection. "Meatstick" gets extended into a funk jam which segues nicely into a "Piper" funk jam. Sort of like the through-theme of the 7/18 show or the 8/31 show, all these songs hang on the funk and it's a great run of songs for it. "Piper" eventually gets loopy and weird, and then lands in "Billy Breathes," which just makes my goddamn day. The rest of the set is jamless, but there are still some gems: "Seven Below," "First Tube," and a "Lizards" encore. All in all, some excellent jams and continued song selection make this an excellent set and more than makes up for the lackluster first half.

The Live Review:
7/30/14: Second night in Portsmouth. Gin opener.

7/30/14: Pretty swanky Type I jam emerging here.

7/30/14: Devotion gets nicely extended with a Dead-esque jam.

7/30/14: One of the better live Yarmouth Roads by Phish there.

7/30/14: Early Guelah Papyrus is a nice setlist surprise.

7/30/14: Alaska is Alaska. Another cool funk breakdown in It's Ice.

7/30/14: MOUNTAINS IN THE MIST

7/30/14: I sort of like this song in case that wasn't obvious.

7/30/14: Mellow Mountains jam > Meat. Loving the setlist here.

7/30/14: They threw a Stealing Time at me just because I said that.

7/30/14: David Bowie, presumably to close the set.

7/30/14: Nothing really interesting or weird in this Bowie, but Trey leading the way in a solid Type I version.

7/30/14: Bowie has been a bit of a slacker this summer; this is one of the better versions. Still trouble getting to the peak, though.

7/30/14: If they'd nailed the Bowie, this could have been an exceptional S1. As it is, still quite good. Nice song selection, solid playing.

7/30/14: S2 kicks off with Fuego. I'm still not sick of this song.

7/30/14: Early on, Trey is playing with the Fuego riff to great effect.

7/30/14: Turn to evil darkness funk on a dime at 9:00.

7/30/14: Fish playing a big role here. Like where this is going.

7/30/14: Page on clav now.

7/30/14: This is almost like a TAB jam. But with Fish on drums.

7/30/14: Late in the jam, Trey pulls a happy little riff out of the air and suddenly everyone's in almost-woo mode.

7/30/14: That last bit didn't get developed much. Fade out now, > Jibboo.

7/30/14: Don't think I've heard a crowd cheer that much for Jibboo since the early 2000s.

7/30/14: MEetStACk

7/30/14: Meetstack takes an immediate left turn into a filthy funk jam. Nice!

7/30/14: Mike teases Fuego riff in the funk jam.

7/30/14: Big build now.

7/30/14: Sort of weird segue into Piper. Jam was fading out, though.

7/30/14: Piper goes straight back into the funk. This set is reminding me of 8/31.

7/30/14: This jam sounds like a Maze jam now.

7/30/14: Trey's doing some seriously wild and cool stuff with loops in this jam.

7/30/14: Another late-jam turn into bliss space, thanks this time to Page's organ.

7/30/14: Fadeout lands in Billy Breathes! One of my absolute favorite #phish rarities.

7/30/14: Seven Below! It's like they're reading my personal greatest hits list.

7/30/14: Staying Type I, but great work from Trey. Might also just be the EQ, but Mike is dominating on the last few songs.

7/30/14: Right into Waste, which is nice.

7/30/14: Number Line. We're getting an excess of lyrical schmaltz here at the end of the set. Not that I mind, really.

7/30/14: Trey is powering the Number Line jam with that high-powered strumming he's been using in this song lately.

7/30/14: First Tube is getting more play lately. Good to see.
Gonna take another review vacation soon. Gotta relisten to the Island Tour. it's been too long.

7/30/14: A Lizards encore is the best encore.

7/30/14: Probably sacrilege, I know, but I might like this second set better than 7/27's.

7/30/14: Great centerpiece jam, consistent funk theme throughout the first half, great song choices, solid finish, no slacking on any song.

2014-07-29 Portsmouth I

The Verdict:
This show definitely falls in the same company as CMAC and Northerly II for me. It's an early-3.0-style show in the sense that it's mostly well-played, straightforward takes on "greatest hits"-type songs, with one big jam thrown in at the beginning of the second set. It's certainly not a bad show when it comes to shows of this type, but it feels like we've moved a bit beyond this template this far into 2014, and as a result 7/29 feels like a regression.

S1 has some interesting setlist choices ("Timber" opener, "GTBT" to close), but what you see is what you get, except for the "Melt," which deviates from the typical style outro jam to deliver something a little more smoothly undulating and strange. This is actually probably the jam highlight of the night.


The second set is, at first glance, all about the "Chalkdust," which is another monster version. For whatever reason, though, in a summer packed with extended "Chalkdust"s, this one didn't do much for me. It starts off promisingly enough, but then falls into that change-styles-every-three-minutes trap, and as a result it never develops in an interesting way. If the show ever elevates beyond the "Not very good" level of 7/15 or 7/19 to the "Not quite good enough" level of 7/16 or 7/25, though, it's in the rest of this set. "If I Could" features a short, beautiful outro jam, "ASIHTOS" breaks into a funk beat of all things near the end, and the "Caspian" > "Waves" sandwich inside of "Mike's" is more interesting than it has any right to be, considering the short running time of both songs. "Groove" lives up to its name and goes straight to yet another funk jam, and the encore is brilliantly chosen. If you can appreciate the little jamlets the guys have been recently throwing into shorter songs without needing a super-deep big jam to anchor the set, you might actually really enjoy this one. To me, it's still a backward step, but it's by no means uninspired.

The Live Review:
7/29/14: Timber opener. Is it just me, or are setlists way more interesting this year than anytime lately?

7/29/14: I mean, there are a lot of repeats, sure, but also lots more songs in unexpected places.

7/29/14: Nice Page and Trey interplay for an opening song. Good sign.

7/29/14: Straightforward Undermind. Trey providing some nice guitar lines, though.

7/29/14: Mellow-y beginning to 555. Bluesier than usual?

7/29/14: I have not tweeted for awhile because Divided Sky is happening. Solid, up-tempo, rolling version.

7/29/14: Once again, nothing great happening here, but good song selection. Like 7/27 S1 all over again. Halfway To the Moon is next.

7/29/14: There was an Ocelot in there somewhere, too.

7/29/14: So far, it sounds like trey might have finally learned how to stay the hell out of the way during a Page song.

7/29/14: I like Ocelot and KDF in theory, but when they both show up in the same set...bad news, man.

7/29/14: Split! Redemption for this immaculate-but-boring set?

7/29/14: Melt jam getting satisfactorily loopy (literally).

7/29/14: Once again, they've left behind the usual Split outro, which make-a me happy.

7/29/14: And now, back to it for the exciting conclusion!

7/29/14: Having a great jam like this at the end almost makes a set like this more frustrating.

7/29/14: GTBT set closer. What's with using all these show-ending songs at the end of the first set lately? Like it.

7/29/14: S2 opens with CDT. Haven't heard this version yet.

7/29/14: Trey conjures up a neat, bouncy riff almost right away as the jam starts.

7/29/14: Continuing at length here in the 'bouncy' vein. Lots of organ/electric piano. Slowly switching to Trey-chording.

7/29/14: Mike leading a funk-like section now with his bubble-bass.

7/29/14: Fade out. I'll be honest, compared to some of the others from this year, that didn't do much for me.

7/29/14: Not coherent, too many sections. Some nice interplay, but generally just sort of all over the place.

7/29/14: > If I Could, though, which is awesome!

7/29/14: Great little jam here, with Trey and Page riffing off of the outro part.

7/29/14: The Line is probably not the best follow-up to If I Could.

7/29/14: Birds of a Feather. I haven't called the 'jukebox set' for awhile, but I think we might hit it here.

7/29/14: Every time the guys start ASIHTOS and they all start singing in the wrong key, my blood pressure spikes.

7/29/14: Mini space jam in Birds and some interesting chording in ASIHTOS is keeping this from being firmly in greatest hits territory.

7/29/14: Okay, this is a pretty neat melodic jam in Caspian, too.

7/29/14: Waves has an interesting fade-out, with a nice sort-of segue into Groove.

7/29/14: Immediate funk jam in Groove, with 'Shock the Monkey!' lyrics.

7/29/14: CAEVRON!.

7/29/14: Golgi next. We've fully embraced the jukebox at this point.

7/29/14: I'm going out on a fucking limb and guessing that they're going to close with Antelope.

7/29/14: STUNNAR

7/29/14: First time for Wingsuit in the encore slot?

7/29/14: Wingsuit > Coil.

7/29/14: A bit conflicted on this show. More thoughts later on the blog.

2014-07-27 MPP II

The Verdict:
So, I finally got to the much-hyped 7/27 show. I "watched" this show unfold live over Twitter and have since wondered if it could possibly be as amazing as those reacting live made it sound.

Well, it's not. I imagine this has a lot to do with the fact that seguefest-style shows are always more amazing in the moment, and a huge part of what makes them amazing is the surprise. Knowing what's coming next, seeing that after 1:43 of "BOTT" there's going to be more "Tweezer," makes it less awesome and less mysterious to listen to on tape than seeing "23:20" after "Disease" and being excited to play the track and see what happens during the jam, even if someone on Twitter already told you it's a badass funk jam.

So, yeah. S2 is clever, and fun. I honestly expected tunes like "BOTT" and "Free" to get full run-throughs, and it was hilarious to hear how little of them were played before the band jumped back into "Tweezer." Most of the segues were excellently done, and the only ones that seemed a bit forced were a few of the ones that came up after it was clear that Tweezerfest was going to be a thing, so it's hard to be put off by that. Wrapping back around to finish "Free" after abandoning it for "Tweezer" was brilliant. The eight-minute "Tweezer" jam before "Waiting All Night" was great. "Slave" was a great landing pad for the entire thing, and "Disease -> NICU" was short but surprisingly sweet, with a great segue and then the sudden funk jam that begins the closing goofball sequence. This section in particular was just sort of silly and awkward on tape, but it's hard to imagine it wasn't amazing as it was playing out. I mean, "Jennifer Dances," even a butchered, half-ass version with Fish rhyming "this song" with "my dong"? The playing is top-notch throughout this set, too, and the band definitely doesn't just coast to the finish, as "Boogie On" in the encore slot is given a weird, spacey treatment, at least from Trey.

The opening frame drags things down a bit, as the guys' setlist experimentation went a little awry for me. Lots of great song choices, but it still felt a bit like the first time I tried to drive a stick shift. "Sand" is probably the improvisational highlight from the set, and hearing "YEM" to close was a nice surprise. But, for the most part, these are normal songs being played normally, and the setlist surprises aren't as good as they look on paper ("The Curtain With" is flub-heavy, for example, and "Saw It Again" clocks in under four minutes).

For me, this show has one of the weaker S1s in awhile, and while the setlist shenanigans are neat, when the boys are jamming as well as they've been lately, it's actually sort of disappointing to see a whole second set given over to setlist antics. They've melded the jamming and segueing well a few times recently, and I think I would have been happier if we'd gotten another of those shows. That said, there's no doubt in my mind that if I'd made it to MPP in person this year, this set would have been my hands-down favorite moment of the summer.

The Live Review:
7/27/14: Fee to open.

7/27/14: Trey, over the megaphone, at the end of the song 'Wait, I think I forgot the nectarine line...' Band obliging plays it through.

7/27/14: Curtain!

7/27/14: Trey struggling a bit with this version, but With is still always nice.

7/27/14: Early 46 Days is next.

7/27/14: I haven't listened to any #phish in a few days and this is a good reminder of how awesome 555 is.

7/27/14: My Sweet One. So far, loving the song selection.

7/27/14: Loopy-weird Sand. If this gets some traction, it's going to make this set even more awesome.

7/27/14: Okay, a pretty mellow Sand that stretched just slightly out there. But a good sign for things to come nonetheless.

7/27/14: Bouncin' comes next, of all things. But then a standalone Saw It Again!

7/27/14: Short Saw It Again, quick > Fuego from Page.

7/27/14: Short Fuego, but then...first set YEM?! What's going on?

7/27/14: Great Trey and Mike interplay on the YEM outro jam. Now Trey playing with his megaphone siren w/ the vocal jam.

7/27/14: Wilson > Tweezer to start what I'm sure will be a glorious second set.

7/27/14: Weird little funk break at 2:15. Back to the Tweezer riff and verse.

7/27/14: Fish initiates a great segue into a high-tempo BOTT.

7/27/14: Just one verse of BOTT, then back into Tweezer.

7/27/14: Aaaaaand right back into BOTT. Crowd goes nuts. Love it.

7/27/14: Trey cracking up.

7/27/14: Another verse of BOTT and straight into the Tweezer jam.

7/27/14: Loopy, Mike-heavy jam developing now.

7/27/14: This is developing really well. Page building volume, Trey putting some great chording together.

7/27/14: Now they've hit on some bizarre reggae/salsa/space robot hybrid jam space.

7/27/14: Great placement of Waiting All Night at the end of that jam fadeout.

7/27/14: Right at the beginning of the Free jam, Trey goes back into Tweezer. Nice quick adjustment by Page to make that make sense.

7/27/14: Trey just fucking butt-slammed into Simple. Awesome.

7/27/14: Simple breakdown. Page on electric piano. Sounds great.

7/27/14: Now Mike's running the show...and a build back into Tweezer!

7/27/14: Mike leads a segue back into Free! What the hell is going on?!

7/27/14: Free is not the end...Trey keeps strumming the last chord...and...Catapult!

7/27/14: Catapult > Slave.

7/27/14: Slave is the perfect breather at the end of this madness.

7/27/14: Late-set Disease initiated by Mike. Interested to see if they do anything with this after the seguefest.

7/27/14: Disease jam does an interesting slowdown, then lurches back up to speed as Fishman takes over.

7/27/14: Clavs and drums.

7/27/14: Brilliant segues just keep on coming as Disease -> NICU.

7/27/14: Not sure if Fish is doing something weird with the drums here or if he's just gotten lost.

7/27/14: Based on his previous track record, I'll suspect the former.

7/27/14: Trey is now trying to start an NICU jam. Like, a real one. This show just doesn't stop.

7/27/14: Little Under Pressure action going on here.

7/27/14: This 'jam' is slowly morphing into HYHU!

7/27/14: Fish is out on the carpet, now. He knows no words to anything b/c he forgot to practice 'any songs.'

7/27/14: Fish sings the first two lines of Jennifer Dances, then 'That's all the words I know to this song / Uh...my dong.'

7/27/14: Chorus now being sung over a vacuum solo. Clearly the Tweezerfest propelled the guys all the way back to '93. > HYHU.

7/27/14: Banter leads into I Been Around.

7/27/14: Little Tweezer tease at the end of I Been Around.

7/27/14: Boogie On for the encore!

7/27/14: Some surprisingly weird, spacey, loopy guitar from Trey on Boogie On. Mike holds down the funk end. Neat juxtaposition.

7/27/14: > Tweeprise, of course.

7/27/14: Hate to harp on 'flow,' whatever that is, but despite great song selections, S1 is totally lacking it. Sand, YEM highlights.

7/27/14: Tweezerfest was fun and nicely executed, but probably more exciting live than on tape. Missed the jams hiding under the surface.