Miami II is, frankly, the show that I've been waiting for Phish to play since I started listening to fall tour.
It's not my favorite of the year. It's not even my favorite of fall/NYE for sure, but it's one of the only late '09 shows I've heard so far (if not the only one) that's well-played throughout, features excellent song choices, willingness to push the edges of a jam, and a little Phish-y silliness all rolled into one. This kind of thing was coming along much more frequently than I expected during the summer and has now been coming along a lot less frequently than I expected during the fall. It's good to have a return to form, especially after the monumental bummer of 12/28.
The first frame is wall-to-wall goodness, and even manages to stretch beyond the usual set one limitations a bit. "Golgi" is a high energy opener that moves directly into "Maze," a surprise in the two-spot. This "Maze" is red-hot, especially Trey's sporadic, frenetic chording over Page's solo. "Driver" is a necessary cool-down after, and it's followed but a studio-perfect rendition of "The Connection." As I've mentioned before, I love me some live Undermind, and this scratches that itch with four or so minutes of precisely-played power-pop (alliteration!).
Next is a surprisingly-placed "Wolfman's" that slowly stretches toward a peak in the standard way, but with a little more fire than usual. At this point, for me, the energy was through the roof. So if there's one misstep in this set, it's the "Ocelot" that comes next. "Ocelot" already usually slows things down with its muddy, plodding tempo, but here, on the tails of an incendiary "Wolfman's," it's even more disappointing than usual. The boys are still exploring the song at this point, and Trey "whales" away on it for a few minutes before starting up "Reba."
"Reba" would be the show highlight were it not for the ridiculous "Tweezer" that comes along in the second set. This is my favorite "Reba" in awhile, and the only real memorable one I've heard so far in '09. It starts off with Trey soloing softly over really gorgeous flourishes from Page before building into a great melodic groove that features parallel playing from Trey and Page that produces a weird echo effect (forgive my lack of music theory knowledge). This lasts from about 9:00 to 10:30, and then we get a few minutes of building to a blistering peak. This one's a keeper.
"Access Me" and "Cavern" are both a bit rough at the end of the set, but they sandwich a great "Divided Sky," so you won't hear me complaining. In all, a great set with a few legitimately interesting musical moments and a lot of energy.
The second set opens with a standard take on "KDF" that slams right into the intro riff to "Tweezer." And this "Tweezer" is an absolute monster. In a year that featured a lot of fantastic "Tweezer"s, including even one at Hampton, this one might be my favorite. It starts off in an unusually slow tempo, which makes the early jam's foray into murky, burbling funk even more rewarding. Trey latches on to a blocky riff, and eventually the band starts a vocal jam built around it! From there, Trey maintains the riff, but he and Mike switch to spacier tones, changing the jam space, oddly, without changing the notes that they're playing. The effect is great. Delay loops (and a bit of "Dave's Energy Guide") feature shortly thereafter, and the whole thing eventually collapses beautifully into an ambient space. But this isn't just any '09 ambient space; instead, it's anchored by some gorgeous melodic bass playing from Mike, followed closely by Trey, who interweaves his notes with Mike's brilliantly. There really isn't a dull moment in this thing's 16-minute run time, and in that it recalls '13-era jams more than '09. But I'm glad it's here. The "Caspian" that follows it is more straightforward than I would have preferred, coalescing out of the Tweeze-murk as it does. But it's alright.
The goofball highlight of the show comes in a "Jibboo" > "Wilson" -> "Jibboo" sandwich, which works more on audacity than on technical skill, but is still worth a listen for the uncharacteristic hard-rock "Jibboo" jam that eventually leads to the "Wilson" segue. "Jibboo" then ->s into "Heavy Things," which is an absolute '99-era barn-burner of a version. A surprisingly full "2001" and a standard-great "Slave" fill out the set. The "Jibboo" sandwich is a nice touch in this set, mixing some interesting jamming with straight-up goofiness. In any other set, it would seem a bit like a missed opportunity for a jaw-dropping segue, but following this "Tweezer," it hardly matters. The boys have already shown their chops, and they deserve to have a little fun.
"Sleeping Monkey" > "Tweeprise" close out the show.
Like I said above, there's a little bit of everything in this show. The first set is classic '09 first-set fare, and the second set is consistently good, and interesting. Tag on to that a great version of "Reba" and a legendary "Tweezer" and you've got a contender for the best show of late '09.
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