Summer 2010 keeps going strong with the third show of the tour. Where 6/11 was a solid show with a few big highlights and 6/12 was an uneven but mostly-solid show with a few monster highlights, 6/13 comes across as the most consistent yet, but with no real central jam or highlight to latch on to. All in all, it's been a fun run so far, and a great change of pace from the drudgery of many of the fall '09 shows. Each show has been a little different, all have had their good points...but, that said, I'd by lying if I wasn't always hoping for the next show to be that show, you know? But then, I guess if I didn't feel that way all the time, I wouldn't have committed myself to reviewing hundreds of Phish shows in my spare time in the first place...
The show opens with a heaping helping of whale, as might be expected. It sort of mars what would have otherwise been a nice "Jibboo" opener mini-jam, but then Trey employs it to interesting, tension-y effect on the following "Chalkdust." "Fluffhead" is in the three-spot, and played at an extra-fast clip, and then everyone nails "Funky Bitch." There's a nice interlude featuring Mike and Page playing off one another, then a full-on shred from Trey that covers a lot of ground in ninety or so seconds to end the song.
The "Jim" > "NICU" > "Horn" portion of the set continues with great song selection, but there's not really anything to dig into here. "It's Ice" is similar to "Fluffhead" in that it's a fast-tempo version but is otherwise standard, save for a bit of neat haunted-house piano from Page during the interlude. "Bouncin'" and "Sparkle" set up a "Melt" that's mostly like the "Jibboo" opener: standard Type I solo plus whale pedal. However, around the 8:00 mark Page and Fish start trying to push things into a weirder space, and they finally succeed about a minute later, setting up some interesting whale-plus-loop moments that don't last nearly long enough before the song returns to the main riff. End set.
Set two opens with "Drowned," and Fish trying to pound through his drums, or at least that's how it sounds. Much like the "Melt" jam, this one stays on the rails for the most part, though this time it's Mike who's clearly trying to do something different. In the final few minutes, though, the band makes two quick transitions: first, there's a point where Fish starts playing some "tribal" sounding drum beats while Trey solos softly and melodically over them, and then shortly after they transition into what I'm currently calling "space shuffle." Both of these spaces are really interesting and probably warrant a lot more exploration than they get, because shortly after the second one starts, there's a sudden > "Tweezer."
The "Tweezer," like a few of the jammier songs in this show, has some interesting moments, but they don't really coalesce into one coherent jam. After the composed part here, the band immediately goes into some deep, dark, almost-ambient space a lot like the end to 6/12's "Number Line." Unfortunately, this only lasts for a brief time before Trey defaults into the typical Type I rock "Tweezer" mode. This lasts for most of the body of the song, while the very end features ye olde '09 ambient fadeout into "Twist."
Everybody takes a minimalist approach to this "Twist" except for Mike, who slams away pretty much alone, stringing together fusillades of bass-bombs while everything else stays in the background. It's an interesting experiment in contrast. "Piper" is yet another song in this show that takes almost its entire running time to get to an interesting jam space, which is then cut off before it can really develop, this time > "Free."
We wrap up, more or less, with a whale-laden "Wading" solo and a fast-tempo "YEM" featuring a particularly intense rock peak from Trey, but not much else to speak of.
So, another solid outing here, and the "Drowned" > "Tweezer" -> "Twist" > "Piper" is a solid string of segues, though, again, all parts of it are kept from being really exceptional by the fact that the segues seem to keep coming right when things are about to get interesting.
Feb 27, 2014
Feb 19, 2014
2010-06-12 Blossom
So I should admit right out front that I'm a little biased against this Blossom show. It was my third-ever Phish show after the Gorge '09 run, and, quite frankly, it didn't really compare, quality-wise. It was the only show I was able to see in 2010 because of my travel schedule, and so I came in already despondent that I wasn't catching any more of the midwest shows. And it fell on the night before my girlfriend and I were going to leave on a 3,000 mile drive across the country in my rusted-out sedan, so obviously I had more on my mind than just the show.
So, even now when I think back on the fifteen shows I've seen since Phish came back in 2009, Blossom is the only one I'm not totally over the moon about. Whether that was because of the circumstances surrounding the show, or the quality of the show itself, or both I don't know. So it was nice to sit down again with the recording and try to listen objectively.
After the relisten, I'm happy to say that the show as a whole has more highlights than I remember, but overall it's still largely how I remember it: sort of like one of those pizzas with a cracker crust, where the only stuff worth paying attention to happens in the middle, and the edges are disappointing.
We start off the night with "Look Out Cleveland," a thematically appropriate opener, but the beginning of Phish's summer 2010 habit of busting out half-baked, one-off covers, which is clever in theory but not my favorite thing in practice, at least not on tape. This is a pretty spare take on The Band's song, in part because Trey doesn't seem to know what to play so he just stays in the background until the lyrics are over. The outro features a killer bass riff from Mike though, that forms the spine of a neat little mini-jam.
"Ocelot" is next, which is probably my least favorite Phish song to hear live. Add some early '10 whale pedal and I'll pass. Trey's playing on the solo is solid, don't misunderstand me, but I only need a few versions of Ocelot to stay happy, and there are many better ones out there.
Fortunately, the "Water in the Sky" that follows is an uptempo version with what seems to be a slightly extended jam/instrumental section. There's some brilliant Trey/Page interplay here, featuring (believe it or not) some sparse, clever use of the whale pedal from Trey. I don't often find myself considering creating a "Best Of..." playlist for versions of "Water in the Sky," but if I ever did, this would likely be on there. It's really sharp in a technical sense, but also it's just purty.
The early-set "Stash" is slightly crippled by the whale, but thanks to Fish's insistent, frantic drumming, the band moves into a more abstract space around the 8:00 mark and that gives Trey a chance to brilliantly lead them out of the tangle and back to the song's main riff. After a '09 full of great takes on this song, it's good to hear it maintain much of its verve.
"Curtis Loew" was a standout moment at the show because at the time (at least I thought) it was a huge bustout. It was a 625-show bustout...when they played it at Fenway in '09. Oh well. Trey plays around a bit more than usual with "Sample," and there's about thirty seconds at the end of pure guitar overdrive/feedback madness that's usually badly lacking in 3.0 versions of the song. "TTE" is "TTE"; there's nothing much else to say about it. I was happy to hear it live at the time, because I never had before, and it is a really interesting, good song. But every version is more or less like every other version, so there's little to see here if you've heard it before.
The first set closes with an old-school "Mike's Groove" that's the first bite into the middle of the pizza. "Mike's" is not particularly interesting, but everyone's playing throughout is fiery. The "Hydrogen" is slow, patient, and gorgeous as a result. "Weekapaug" is the really interesting part, though. A short way into the jam, Page starts pushing for a plinko-style space, and Trey eventually accedes. This leads to a slow build into a song-ending rock peak, but with Trey's tone still set in plinko-mode. The effect is really bizarre and unique.
The second set kicks off with "Rock and Roll" that basically follows the blueprint of 2009 mega-jams that I was getting so cranky about by the end of fall tour: a few minutes of noodling, a transition into space-funk around the 9:00 mark, then about two minutes' worth of ambient fadeout before the transition into the next song. On one hand, this is old, hackneyed, and boring by this point. On the other hand, the next song is "Harry Hood"!
The "Hood" is nothing special, necessarily, but it's no slouch. Long by 3.0 standards at fifteen minutes, it features a really sustained, patient build (a theme with this show, it seems). Whatever the next step above "average-great" is, that's where this "Hood" sits. But then, the "Number Line." Oh, my.
Again, I'm likely biased since I was there, but this "Number Line" > "Twenty Years Later" is probably my favorite segment of 2010, excepting maybe the Berkeley "Light." That it starts off with a few minutes of somewhat rough, whale-y noodling speaks to how fantastic the last few minutes of the jam are. From the moment that Trey pushes everyone into dark, atonal weirdness right before the 8:00 mark, the rest is pure bliss. Or, at least, bliss for the listener. The jam itself is really quite dark, which is part of the reason I like it. Trey hits the first part of a great riff he'll weave throughout the rest of the jam right before 9:45, then Page kicks over to what I think of as the "No Quarter" organ tone, and it's all just amazing from there. My only regret about this near-perfect jam is that after Mike's massive bass attack at 12:00, Trey lays down an amazing, low riff that easily would have had 5-6 more minutes' worth of jamming on it if this had been 2012 or 2013 or the 90s. But here it peters out after a few seconds...but that sets up a great segue to "Twenty Years Later," which is a pitch-perfect rendition. Great segment. Just watch it.
As I mentioned above, the rest of the set after this is about as underwhelming as the beginning of the first set. There certainly nothing wrong with the guys' playing here, but it's more first-set material than second. And for some reason, "Coil" always bugs me as a show closer, unless it's an early night in a multi-night run. This is an especially punchy version, and the outro from Page is great...but for a single night in Cleveland it would have been nice to close with a noise-explosion instead of solo piano.
Anyway, it's definitely a step down in quality from Toyota Park in general, but the "Number Line" > "Twenty Years Later" combo is best-of-year material. I'd recommend the "Groove" too, if you're into that kind of thing already.
Next time, it's back to shows I haven't seen before!
So, even now when I think back on the fifteen shows I've seen since Phish came back in 2009, Blossom is the only one I'm not totally over the moon about. Whether that was because of the circumstances surrounding the show, or the quality of the show itself, or both I don't know. So it was nice to sit down again with the recording and try to listen objectively.
After the relisten, I'm happy to say that the show as a whole has more highlights than I remember, but overall it's still largely how I remember it: sort of like one of those pizzas with a cracker crust, where the only stuff worth paying attention to happens in the middle, and the edges are disappointing.
We start off the night with "Look Out Cleveland," a thematically appropriate opener, but the beginning of Phish's summer 2010 habit of busting out half-baked, one-off covers, which is clever in theory but not my favorite thing in practice, at least not on tape. This is a pretty spare take on The Band's song, in part because Trey doesn't seem to know what to play so he just stays in the background until the lyrics are over. The outro features a killer bass riff from Mike though, that forms the spine of a neat little mini-jam.
"Ocelot" is next, which is probably my least favorite Phish song to hear live. Add some early '10 whale pedal and I'll pass. Trey's playing on the solo is solid, don't misunderstand me, but I only need a few versions of Ocelot to stay happy, and there are many better ones out there.
Fortunately, the "Water in the Sky" that follows is an uptempo version with what seems to be a slightly extended jam/instrumental section. There's some brilliant Trey/Page interplay here, featuring (believe it or not) some sparse, clever use of the whale pedal from Trey. I don't often find myself considering creating a "Best Of..." playlist for versions of "Water in the Sky," but if I ever did, this would likely be on there. It's really sharp in a technical sense, but also it's just purty.
The early-set "Stash" is slightly crippled by the whale, but thanks to Fish's insistent, frantic drumming, the band moves into a more abstract space around the 8:00 mark and that gives Trey a chance to brilliantly lead them out of the tangle and back to the song's main riff. After a '09 full of great takes on this song, it's good to hear it maintain much of its verve.
"Curtis Loew" was a standout moment at the show because at the time (at least I thought) it was a huge bustout. It was a 625-show bustout...when they played it at Fenway in '09. Oh well. Trey plays around a bit more than usual with "Sample," and there's about thirty seconds at the end of pure guitar overdrive/feedback madness that's usually badly lacking in 3.0 versions of the song. "TTE" is "TTE"; there's nothing much else to say about it. I was happy to hear it live at the time, because I never had before, and it is a really interesting, good song. But every version is more or less like every other version, so there's little to see here if you've heard it before.
The first set closes with an old-school "Mike's Groove" that's the first bite into the middle of the pizza. "Mike's" is not particularly interesting, but everyone's playing throughout is fiery. The "Hydrogen" is slow, patient, and gorgeous as a result. "Weekapaug" is the really interesting part, though. A short way into the jam, Page starts pushing for a plinko-style space, and Trey eventually accedes. This leads to a slow build into a song-ending rock peak, but with Trey's tone still set in plinko-mode. The effect is really bizarre and unique.
The second set kicks off with "Rock and Roll" that basically follows the blueprint of 2009 mega-jams that I was getting so cranky about by the end of fall tour: a few minutes of noodling, a transition into space-funk around the 9:00 mark, then about two minutes' worth of ambient fadeout before the transition into the next song. On one hand, this is old, hackneyed, and boring by this point. On the other hand, the next song is "Harry Hood"!
The "Hood" is nothing special, necessarily, but it's no slouch. Long by 3.0 standards at fifteen minutes, it features a really sustained, patient build (a theme with this show, it seems). Whatever the next step above "average-great" is, that's where this "Hood" sits. But then, the "Number Line." Oh, my.
Again, I'm likely biased since I was there, but this "Number Line" > "Twenty Years Later" is probably my favorite segment of 2010, excepting maybe the Berkeley "Light." That it starts off with a few minutes of somewhat rough, whale-y noodling speaks to how fantastic the last few minutes of the jam are. From the moment that Trey pushes everyone into dark, atonal weirdness right before the 8:00 mark, the rest is pure bliss. Or, at least, bliss for the listener. The jam itself is really quite dark, which is part of the reason I like it. Trey hits the first part of a great riff he'll weave throughout the rest of the jam right before 9:45, then Page kicks over to what I think of as the "No Quarter" organ tone, and it's all just amazing from there. My only regret about this near-perfect jam is that after Mike's massive bass attack at 12:00, Trey lays down an amazing, low riff that easily would have had 5-6 more minutes' worth of jamming on it if this had been 2012 or 2013 or the 90s. But here it peters out after a few seconds...but that sets up a great segue to "Twenty Years Later," which is a pitch-perfect rendition. Great segment. Just watch it.
As I mentioned above, the rest of the set after this is about as underwhelming as the beginning of the first set. There certainly nothing wrong with the guys' playing here, but it's more first-set material than second. And for some reason, "Coil" always bugs me as a show closer, unless it's an early night in a multi-night run. This is an especially punchy version, and the outro from Page is great...but for a single night in Cleveland it would have been nice to close with a noise-explosion instead of solo piano.
Anyway, it's definitely a step down in quality from Toyota Park in general, but the "Number Line" > "Twenty Years Later" combo is best-of-year material. I'd recommend the "Groove" too, if you're into that kind of thing already.
Next time, it's back to shows I haven't seen before!
Feb 12, 2014
2010-06-11 Toyota Park
Though Fall '09 tour ended on a high note with some satisfyingly weird moments in Miami, it was mostly underwhelming after the brilliance of much of the Summer '09 comeback tour. So, coming in to Summer 2010, I was hoping to see the boys hit the reset button, as it were. I was at 6/12 live, and know it's a good show, but how would the tour opener on 6/11 be? Reports suggested it was the best tour opener since the 90s. I haven't listened to everything in-between to be able to make a comparison, but it's a damn good show, and a great place for the band to start (over).
How better to open a summer tour than with a "Disease"? This is the first song I ever heard Phish play live, so I'm partial to it being put in the opening slot. Besides, it's not like we didn't get enough of 'em in the early second set Monster Jam slot in '09. This version is not jammed, of course, but it's everything you could want in a 9-minute "Disease": great runs from Trey, little tension-and-release builds, and a perfect rock peak. "Wolfman's" is short as well, but the playing around the band does within its compressed structure comes as close to outright jamming as possible before descending from minimalist, plinko-y funk back into more Trey shredding. Trey especially stays on point through "Possum," linking together very purposeful but speedy lead playing that sounds much more attentive than most of his playing during the previous fall.
The hits just keep on coming with "Boogie On" and "Reba." The "Reba" features the first overt use of the whale pedal of the tour, which is a bit of a turnoff for me (I like it applied tastefully, but not broadly because of how it smudges the usual Trey tone, which sounds out of place on classic songs like "Reba"), but it's still a solid jam. "Jesus Just Left Chicago" is surprisingly light on Page, and is an odd version because of how much Mike dominates the instrumental sections. Worth a listen.
"Divided Sky" is pure energy, and the "Golgi" > "Bowie" set closer doesn't let up, either. "Bowie" starts off with a mellow, slow, melodic noodle-jam, but eventually the whale rears its head...so I'm probably not qualified to comment at length on the quality of what occurs in the main part of the jam. Like "Reba," it's well-played...Trey's guitar just sounds out of place.
Anyway, it's a near 90-minute first set in nine songs, the entire thing hangs together really well, and the energy never lets up. After largely lackluster first sets in the fall, things are looking up here. And it only gets better in the second set.
We start with a "Light" jam full of whalepeggios...but eventually it settles down into a darker space, and, led by Page and Mike, we get a preview of the "Number Line" jam coming up tomorrow night in Blossom. There's a solid -> into "Maze," which features some extra-special Trey/Page action. The meat of this short(ish) second set, though, is "Ghost" -> "Limb By Limb."
The "Ghost" jam starts off with some neat tempo-shifting action from the rhythm section before moving into more standard noodling territory for a few minutes. Eventually the whale rears its head, but in this case it's deployed pretty responsibly, and the effect is what I immediately began thinking of as "dark whale" jamming. This still isn't my favorite thing ever, but it's an interesting listen. But then, just as we reach the point in the jam that would have meant a definite ambient dissolve in '09, Trey takes this "Ghost" to an absolutely obscene peak. Like, "you have no right jamming like this on opening night" good. The wind-down after sets up a perfect -> "LxL," and the "Limb" itself features, rather than the typical Type I solo "jam," an actual mini jam that features all four players pretty prominently, ended with an impromptu vocal jam. It's an excellent segment of what's already a great show even without it.
This set's a little front-loaded in the sense that the rest after the "Limb" is basically just a winding-down. But, the energy never wavers, and it's more just that the first half of the set was so good, making the second part seem slow by comparison. Anyway, "Caspian" is surprisingly Mike-centric, the "Silent" is well-played, and the "Antelope" is back in early '09, massive-peak form. The "Julius" closer is another version of the song that's so good it's threatening to make me actually enjoy hearing it.
So yeah. Great tour opener after all. Great setlist construction, some patient segues, excellent jamming, and great all-around, high-energy playing throughout. Throw a vacuum solo in here somewhere and you've got the perfect Phish show. I still have some whale-related reservations about this tour, but here's hoping it keeps on rolling!
How better to open a summer tour than with a "Disease"? This is the first song I ever heard Phish play live, so I'm partial to it being put in the opening slot. Besides, it's not like we didn't get enough of 'em in the early second set Monster Jam slot in '09. This version is not jammed, of course, but it's everything you could want in a 9-minute "Disease": great runs from Trey, little tension-and-release builds, and a perfect rock peak. "Wolfman's" is short as well, but the playing around the band does within its compressed structure comes as close to outright jamming as possible before descending from minimalist, plinko-y funk back into more Trey shredding. Trey especially stays on point through "Possum," linking together very purposeful but speedy lead playing that sounds much more attentive than most of his playing during the previous fall.
The hits just keep on coming with "Boogie On" and "Reba." The "Reba" features the first overt use of the whale pedal of the tour, which is a bit of a turnoff for me (I like it applied tastefully, but not broadly because of how it smudges the usual Trey tone, which sounds out of place on classic songs like "Reba"), but it's still a solid jam. "Jesus Just Left Chicago" is surprisingly light on Page, and is an odd version because of how much Mike dominates the instrumental sections. Worth a listen.
"Divided Sky" is pure energy, and the "Golgi" > "Bowie" set closer doesn't let up, either. "Bowie" starts off with a mellow, slow, melodic noodle-jam, but eventually the whale rears its head...so I'm probably not qualified to comment at length on the quality of what occurs in the main part of the jam. Like "Reba," it's well-played...Trey's guitar just sounds out of place.
Anyway, it's a near 90-minute first set in nine songs, the entire thing hangs together really well, and the energy never lets up. After largely lackluster first sets in the fall, things are looking up here. And it only gets better in the second set.
We start with a "Light" jam full of whalepeggios...but eventually it settles down into a darker space, and, led by Page and Mike, we get a preview of the "Number Line" jam coming up tomorrow night in Blossom. There's a solid -> into "Maze," which features some extra-special Trey/Page action. The meat of this short(ish) second set, though, is "Ghost" -> "Limb By Limb."
The "Ghost" jam starts off with some neat tempo-shifting action from the rhythm section before moving into more standard noodling territory for a few minutes. Eventually the whale rears its head, but in this case it's deployed pretty responsibly, and the effect is what I immediately began thinking of as "dark whale" jamming. This still isn't my favorite thing ever, but it's an interesting listen. But then, just as we reach the point in the jam that would have meant a definite ambient dissolve in '09, Trey takes this "Ghost" to an absolutely obscene peak. Like, "you have no right jamming like this on opening night" good. The wind-down after sets up a perfect -> "LxL," and the "Limb" itself features, rather than the typical Type I solo "jam," an actual mini jam that features all four players pretty prominently, ended with an impromptu vocal jam. It's an excellent segment of what's already a great show even without it.
This set's a little front-loaded in the sense that the rest after the "Limb" is basically just a winding-down. But, the energy never wavers, and it's more just that the first half of the set was so good, making the second part seem slow by comparison. Anyway, "Caspian" is surprisingly Mike-centric, the "Silent" is well-played, and the "Antelope" is back in early '09, massive-peak form. The "Julius" closer is another version of the song that's so good it's threatening to make me actually enjoy hearing it.
So yeah. Great tour opener after all. Great setlist construction, some patient segues, excellent jamming, and great all-around, high-energy playing throughout. Throw a vacuum solo in here somewhere and you've got the perfect Phish show. I still have some whale-related reservations about this tour, but here's hoping it keeps on rolling!
Feb 11, 2014
Fall and NYE Run '09 Wrap-up
I've been sharing my ambivalence about fall tour '09 and the NYE run throughout my reviews, so I don't feel like it's really necessary to do much of an essay-form retrospective. Let's just say that I was surprised at how good summer '09 actually was, not just in the context of a band getting their footing after five years apart, but simply as a Phish summer tour compared against any other. There were goofy antics, unexpected segues, great jams, and of course technical prowess of the kind rarely seen since the 90s. I started this project as a bit of a joke to myself and 5-6 shows into tour, I'd created a blog and started tweeting based entirely on the strength of those shows and my resulting interest in hearing all of 2009 tour.
Well now I have, and I can truthfully say that my original enthusiasm only lasted about a third of the way into fall tour. It was in most ways a definite step back, save for a few outliers (11/20 S2, 11/28 S2, 12/4, 12/5, 12/29 and 12/30). Festival 8 was a great novelty, featuring an excellent cover and an amazingly engaging acoustic set, but it failed for the most part as a festival, the one situation in which Phish typically defies expectations by cutting loose in front of their die-hardest fans. What tricks there were were mostly stolen from summer '09, were retreads of already-explored territory. Most new innovation went awry, and by the end of the NYE run, I'd had much more than I'll ever need of jams that feature Type I guitar solos until the 9:00 or 9:30 mark, then segue into a few minutes of space-funk before dissolving into generic ambient textures.
It's certainly not like this part of the project was a total wash: this is still Phish, the songs are still great, and honestly some of the fall '09 setlists were the most ingenious I've ever seen just for sheer set construction. And these guys on their worst day are still better than any other band I've ever seen. But, after having my expectations transcended pretty dramatically in the summer, this was a bit of a let down. That said, I am looking forward to summer '10 and following the continued evolution of the band on a show-by-show basis.
And there were some highlights in fall tour, for sure. Like these, for instance...
10/30: The first night of Festival 8, the only Phish festival that's more about the novelty sets than the jamming. Features a typically great '09 "Stash," and a wonderful "Wolfman's" > "Piper," but is otherwise standard-good.
10/31: The highlight here is definitely the Exile set, especially the unexpected set-best "Ventilator Blues -> I Just Want To See His Face > Let It Loose." The first set is rough and the third isn't much better.
11/1: Definitely the highlight of Festival 8. The acoustic set necessitates the playing of some songs that rarely see the light of day normally, and there are a few stripped-down surprises like "The Curtain (With)" and "McGrupp." The rest of the day is average-great except for "Undermind" and "Light," which are just plain great-great.
11/18: Infectiously energetic show, but kept from being truly special by some weird setlist choices. Electric "Mountains in the Mist" and a plinko-y "46 Days" are the highlights of the first set. "Disease" features some interesting eastern inflections and other interesting jamming. Solid tour opener.
11/20: Show packed way too full of composed pieces, but there's a great "Tweezer" with a few distinct movements in its jam. In fact, 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. With better setlist choices outside of the late second set, this would have been one of the '09 greats. As it is, it's still just below Albany and a few of the Miami shows when it comes to best-of fall.
11/21: In the running for my Least Interesting Show of 2009. Listen to the "Melt," though. It's a keeper.
11/22: If you're not burnt out on the typical "Rock > Space-Funk > Ambient Jam" style of '09 jamming yet, you'll like the "Drowned" > "Twist" > "Piper" > "BBFCFM." It was pretty stale to me, as was the rest of the show.
11/24: Average in the grand scheme of things, but better by far than the previous two nights. "Disease" is wonderfully weird, and there's a "Simple" > "Slave" > "Groove" run that ends with some 90s cowfunk jamming.
11/25: The second set is bogged down a little bit by the "YEM," "Esther," and "TTE" combination, but the "YEM" is great, and a weird, long, burbling "Birds" jam and a great arena-rock "Tweezer" round out the set nicely. We won't talk about the first set because there's not really anything to say.
11/27: Great setlist and excellent "song-based" playing. No jams to be found. Maybe they were storing them up for 11/28? Light has a neat, brief ambient space and "Piper" > "Tomorrow's Song" is worth a listen.
11/28: This show gets talked up, and rightly so, because of the "Seven Below" > "Ghost" combo. At around 40 minutes, it's goddamn amazing. And the "Melt" was a big part of '09 tour remaking me into a "Melt" believer. The rest of the show, though, is more of the boilerplate, jam-by-numbers stuff that I've been lamenting for most of the fall.
11/29: Interesting setlist (including "Crimes of the Mind" and a "Freebird," "Carini," "Waste" encore), but no real improv to speak of. The highlight of the show is probably a short first-set "Meat" that ends with a space jam instead of the usual funk vamp.
12/2: Features a really interesting, "Timber"-inflected "Light," as well as a satisfyingly rocked-out Type I "Tweezer," but otherwise doesn't break the usual "average-good" fall '09 mold.
12/3: Very up and down show, with a long trainwreck of a "Stash" jam in the first frame and a great, second-set "Disease" jam that creates an ambient-dissolve space that's still legitimately original and interesting after about fifty of them since Hampton. Otherwise, not much to write home about.
12/4: Consistently energetic, interesting show that despite lacking a marquee jam is one of the better all-around shows of the fall. The "YEM" has a multi-part (plinko, "Shafty" funk, etc.) jam that's worth a listen.
12/5: Similar to 12/4 in its consistency, but again there's little improv to speak of. Slow out of the gate but ultimately a very strong, Mike-driven first set. "Tweezer" -> "Light" > "Piper" -> "Free" is the highlight of set two, and maybe the post-Albany part of tour, but we also get a fiery "Antelope" later on, with antics that reference the streaker earlier on in the show.
12/28: Underwhelming even by fall '09 standards. Lots of mistakes, a disaster of a "Stash" jam, and all-around tepidness makes it a less-than-stellar start to the run. "Mike's" > "Light" is the only real highlight here.
12/29: Excellent combination of Phishy antics, great improv, excellent setlist choices, and all-around solid playing. "Reba" and "Tweezer" are probably best-of-year material. There's also a fun "Jibboo" > "Wilson" > "Jibboo" sandwich that features some heavy-metal "Jibboo" jamming.
12/30: Great highlights, but both sets sag pretty badly in the middle. First set with "Corrina" and "Dixie Cannonball," a standalone "WTU?" and a ridiculous "Bowie." The second set opens with a "Sand" that picks up right where the "Bowie" left off, and has as a centerpiece a fifteen minute long ambient "Back On The Train." Yeah, you read that right.
12/31: Like most NYE shows, this is more about quantity than quality. Early, extra-hot jukebox action leads to "Guyute," "Swept Away" > "Steep," and "Demand" > "Seven Below." "Piper" > "Simple" is probably the show highlight, followed closely by "Ghost" > "NO2."
Well now I have, and I can truthfully say that my original enthusiasm only lasted about a third of the way into fall tour. It was in most ways a definite step back, save for a few outliers (11/20 S2, 11/28 S2, 12/4, 12/5, 12/29 and 12/30). Festival 8 was a great novelty, featuring an excellent cover and an amazingly engaging acoustic set, but it failed for the most part as a festival, the one situation in which Phish typically defies expectations by cutting loose in front of their die-hardest fans. What tricks there were were mostly stolen from summer '09, were retreads of already-explored territory. Most new innovation went awry, and by the end of the NYE run, I'd had much more than I'll ever need of jams that feature Type I guitar solos until the 9:00 or 9:30 mark, then segue into a few minutes of space-funk before dissolving into generic ambient textures.
It's certainly not like this part of the project was a total wash: this is still Phish, the songs are still great, and honestly some of the fall '09 setlists were the most ingenious I've ever seen just for sheer set construction. And these guys on their worst day are still better than any other band I've ever seen. But, after having my expectations transcended pretty dramatically in the summer, this was a bit of a let down. That said, I am looking forward to summer '10 and following the continued evolution of the band on a show-by-show basis.
And there were some highlights in fall tour, for sure. Like these, for instance...
10/30: The first night of Festival 8, the only Phish festival that's more about the novelty sets than the jamming. Features a typically great '09 "Stash," and a wonderful "Wolfman's" > "Piper," but is otherwise standard-good.
10/31: The highlight here is definitely the Exile set, especially the unexpected set-best "Ventilator Blues -> I Just Want To See His Face > Let It Loose." The first set is rough and the third isn't much better.
11/1: Definitely the highlight of Festival 8. The acoustic set necessitates the playing of some songs that rarely see the light of day normally, and there are a few stripped-down surprises like "The Curtain (With)" and "McGrupp." The rest of the day is average-great except for "Undermind" and "Light," which are just plain great-great.
11/18: Infectiously energetic show, but kept from being truly special by some weird setlist choices. Electric "Mountains in the Mist" and a plinko-y "46 Days" are the highlights of the first set. "Disease" features some interesting eastern inflections and other interesting jamming. Solid tour opener.
11/20: Show packed way too full of composed pieces, but there's a great "Tweezer" with a few distinct movements in its jam. In fact, 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. With better setlist choices outside of the late second set, this would have been one of the '09 greats. As it is, it's still just below Albany and a few of the Miami shows when it comes to best-of fall.
11/21: In the running for my Least Interesting Show of 2009. Listen to the "Melt," though. It's a keeper.
11/22: If you're not burnt out on the typical "Rock > Space-Funk > Ambient Jam" style of '09 jamming yet, you'll like the "Drowned" > "Twist" > "Piper" > "BBFCFM." It was pretty stale to me, as was the rest of the show.
11/24: Average in the grand scheme of things, but better by far than the previous two nights. "Disease" is wonderfully weird, and there's a "Simple" > "Slave" > "Groove" run that ends with some 90s cowfunk jamming.
11/25: The second set is bogged down a little bit by the "YEM," "Esther," and "TTE" combination, but the "YEM" is great, and a weird, long, burbling "Birds" jam and a great arena-rock "Tweezer" round out the set nicely. We won't talk about the first set because there's not really anything to say.
11/27: Great setlist and excellent "song-based" playing. No jams to be found. Maybe they were storing them up for 11/28? Light has a neat, brief ambient space and "Piper" > "Tomorrow's Song" is worth a listen.
11/28: This show gets talked up, and rightly so, because of the "Seven Below" > "Ghost" combo. At around 40 minutes, it's goddamn amazing. And the "Melt" was a big part of '09 tour remaking me into a "Melt" believer. The rest of the show, though, is more of the boilerplate, jam-by-numbers stuff that I've been lamenting for most of the fall.
11/29: Interesting setlist (including "Crimes of the Mind" and a "Freebird," "Carini," "Waste" encore), but no real improv to speak of. The highlight of the show is probably a short first-set "Meat" that ends with a space jam instead of the usual funk vamp.
12/2: Features a really interesting, "Timber"-inflected "Light," as well as a satisfyingly rocked-out Type I "Tweezer," but otherwise doesn't break the usual "average-good" fall '09 mold.
12/3: Very up and down show, with a long trainwreck of a "Stash" jam in the first frame and a great, second-set "Disease" jam that creates an ambient-dissolve space that's still legitimately original and interesting after about fifty of them since Hampton. Otherwise, not much to write home about.
12/4: Consistently energetic, interesting show that despite lacking a marquee jam is one of the better all-around shows of the fall. The "YEM" has a multi-part (plinko, "Shafty" funk, etc.) jam that's worth a listen.
12/5: Similar to 12/4 in its consistency, but again there's little improv to speak of. Slow out of the gate but ultimately a very strong, Mike-driven first set. "Tweezer" -> "Light" > "Piper" -> "Free" is the highlight of set two, and maybe the post-Albany part of tour, but we also get a fiery "Antelope" later on, with antics that reference the streaker earlier on in the show.
12/28: Underwhelming even by fall '09 standards. Lots of mistakes, a disaster of a "Stash" jam, and all-around tepidness makes it a less-than-stellar start to the run. "Mike's" > "Light" is the only real highlight here.
12/29: Excellent combination of Phishy antics, great improv, excellent setlist choices, and all-around solid playing. "Reba" and "Tweezer" are probably best-of-year material. There's also a fun "Jibboo" > "Wilson" > "Jibboo" sandwich that features some heavy-metal "Jibboo" jamming.
12/30: Great highlights, but both sets sag pretty badly in the middle. First set with "Corrina" and "Dixie Cannonball," a standalone "WTU?" and a ridiculous "Bowie." The second set opens with a "Sand" that picks up right where the "Bowie" left off, and has as a centerpiece a fifteen minute long ambient "Back On The Train." Yeah, you read that right.
12/31: Like most NYE shows, this is more about quantity than quality. Early, extra-hot jukebox action leads to "Guyute," "Swept Away" > "Steep," and "Demand" > "Seven Below." "Piper" > "Simple" is probably the show highlight, followed closely by "Ghost" > "NO2."
Feb 6, 2014
2009-12-31 Miami IV
Well, here we are. The end of 2009. It was momentous show for Phish at the time (who had just completed their first year together after "breaking up" in 2004), and it's a momentous show for me now, as I've spent the last year (including a few serious lapses to while I was, you know, following 2013 Phish around the country) reviewing every show from 2009 in painstaking, sometimes repetitive detail. In the end, the experience was absolutely worth it, both because I now have a much better sense of where Phish was at in 2009 in the context of the rest of their career and because I found a lot of amazing jam-gems that I otherwise never would have heard, let alone put on "highlight reel" CDs and listened to over and over again in the last few months. But more on that in my wrap-up post later on this week.
So, the last show of the year. Is it a fitting sendoff? Well, it's sort of unrealistic to have high expectations for a NYE show in the modern age of Phish. With the exception of 2013, which was fucking amazing, the days of 12/31/95 are long gone, and I came to this show expecting a solid three-set revisitation of the things that made '09 tour better than I'd expected it to be. And that's what I got: not a sonic revelation, but a great coda to the year.
Night four of the Miami run features some great setlist choices and some solid playing (mostly) all the way around. There aren't any "...of the year" type jams to be had here, or even "...of the tour" jams, but there are a few that come satisfyingly close.
The night starts off with a solid "Bag" that segues nicely into a "46 Days" that features more than its fair share of blues swagger. The fast version of "Water in the Sky" follows, then there's a too-short "Gin" that nonetheless features some great rhythm work from Fish and a slow, rocking build from Trey during its abbreviated length. "PYITE" > "Moma" is another great pairing, but I'm a little biased as I'm obsessed with both songs.
Up until this point, we've had a jukebox show, but a jukebox show with a little more energy and flair than you might expect. "Moma" would be a perfect jumping-off point into some weirder territory...and "Guyute" sort of qualifies. I mean, there's little to no room for improvisation here, but a first-set "Guyute" in a three-set show is pretty exciting stuff. It's followed by "Swept Away" > "Steep," on which the guys hit all the right (singing) notes, though Trey struggles a bit with the ballad-y outro solo.
Then: "Demand." What a great surprise. This comes totally out of nowhere, and in all honesty, it's been so long since I've heard the studio version of the song, I really can't speak to whether they nail it or not. But it's great to see it played at all, and it gets butt-slammed decisively into "Seven Below," which is my current favorite Phish song. This version unfortunately sort of blows the potential of its awesome segue set-up, though, by taking the same route the recent Bill Graham version did: namely, Trey totally biffs the song's main riff. The song's jam is played through in typical Type I fashion by three members of the band, but Mike goes absolutely fucking nuts and carries on as if it's the last song he's ever going to play. It's one of those moments where you'd expect another band member to pick up what he's putting down and eventually change the jam to build on it, but in this case it just goes on for something horribly awkward like four minutes until the song just ends.
"Julius" is absolutely the opposite of my favorite Phish song, at least when played live, but this version is surprisingly strong to close the first set.
All the fun (at least on tape) happens in set two. "Rock and Roll" gets us off to a stereotypical '09 start: it's an eight minute rock jam that tapers off into ambient space in the last minute or so to segue into another song. Real original, right?! But, the "Piper" that follows is probably the best part of this show. There's a standard bit of funk at the beginning of the jam, something sort of "Birds"-like, at least in terms of what Trey's playing. Then it takes a quick left turn into space-funk territory with a change of guitar tone. If anyone's ever wondered what the hell I'm talking about when I talk about "space-funk," the second phase of this jam is it. There's some great Page/Trey layering on the way out of the funk jam, and then a sudden > into "Simple."
There's not really anything special about this "Simple," but like most times the song is jammed, it features a lot of light, airy, textured playing that in this case winds down to just Page playing and then segueing into "Theme." The third of this three-song run is a pretty standard version, but overall this is the highlight of the show for my money.
"Ghost" -> "NO2" is a close second, though. Mike runs things for awhile in the "Ghost" jam, until about the 7:00 mark, when Trey comes in with some light melody stylings. There's a tone change again, and suddenly we're back in a jam space that sounds very much like the earlier "Piper." This builds momentum for a bit before winding down into dissonant hissing that, of course, "resolves" in "NO2."
I'm sure the NYE gag was a fun time for all involved, but on tape we don't really get to anything worth noting again until "Fluffhead," starring Fish as "Sarah." In keeping with his impersonation of a "bad" drummer, Fish biffs the rhythm a few times and absolutely destroys a few fills in a ham-handed rock drummer sort of way near the beginning of the song, but otherwise there's not much to differentiate this "Fluff" from any of the other ones this year.
"Coil" works well to set up the inevitable "YEM" that's coming at the end of the set, but the outro jam, usually my second-favorite mellow jam after "Simple," is cut short in favor of...getting to "YEM" early, I guess? Page only plays his solo outro for about 45 seconds, if that.
The "YEM" itself is surprisingly average-great. Or maybe not surprisingly, considering this is the last night of a four night run and the last of three sets on the evening. But anyway, we close the show (and the year) with a touching/hilarious spoken/sung "thank you" from Trey over Page and then eventually the rest of the band playing "Blue Moon," then a strong "Loving Cup" finisher that sounds a lot less mailed in than many of the more recent versions.
While all the meat of this show is really in the second set, the other two sets feature some great song choices and solid playing (mostly)...and who really expects the post-NYE set to blast off into orbit anyway?
Not me. So, I'm satisfied. At least until I go back to write my fall review post and remember all the things I'm unsatisfied about :)
So, the last show of the year. Is it a fitting sendoff? Well, it's sort of unrealistic to have high expectations for a NYE show in the modern age of Phish. With the exception of 2013, which was fucking amazing, the days of 12/31/95 are long gone, and I came to this show expecting a solid three-set revisitation of the things that made '09 tour better than I'd expected it to be. And that's what I got: not a sonic revelation, but a great coda to the year.
Night four of the Miami run features some great setlist choices and some solid playing (mostly) all the way around. There aren't any "...of the year" type jams to be had here, or even "...of the tour" jams, but there are a few that come satisfyingly close.
The night starts off with a solid "Bag" that segues nicely into a "46 Days" that features more than its fair share of blues swagger. The fast version of "Water in the Sky" follows, then there's a too-short "Gin" that nonetheless features some great rhythm work from Fish and a slow, rocking build from Trey during its abbreviated length. "PYITE" > "Moma" is another great pairing, but I'm a little biased as I'm obsessed with both songs.
Up until this point, we've had a jukebox show, but a jukebox show with a little more energy and flair than you might expect. "Moma" would be a perfect jumping-off point into some weirder territory...and "Guyute" sort of qualifies. I mean, there's little to no room for improvisation here, but a first-set "Guyute" in a three-set show is pretty exciting stuff. It's followed by "Swept Away" > "Steep," on which the guys hit all the right (singing) notes, though Trey struggles a bit with the ballad-y outro solo.
Then: "Demand." What a great surprise. This comes totally out of nowhere, and in all honesty, it's been so long since I've heard the studio version of the song, I really can't speak to whether they nail it or not. But it's great to see it played at all, and it gets butt-slammed decisively into "Seven Below," which is my current favorite Phish song. This version unfortunately sort of blows the potential of its awesome segue set-up, though, by taking the same route the recent Bill Graham version did: namely, Trey totally biffs the song's main riff. The song's jam is played through in typical Type I fashion by three members of the band, but Mike goes absolutely fucking nuts and carries on as if it's the last song he's ever going to play. It's one of those moments where you'd expect another band member to pick up what he's putting down and eventually change the jam to build on it, but in this case it just goes on for something horribly awkward like four minutes until the song just ends.
"Julius" is absolutely the opposite of my favorite Phish song, at least when played live, but this version is surprisingly strong to close the first set.
All the fun (at least on tape) happens in set two. "Rock and Roll" gets us off to a stereotypical '09 start: it's an eight minute rock jam that tapers off into ambient space in the last minute or so to segue into another song. Real original, right?! But, the "Piper" that follows is probably the best part of this show. There's a standard bit of funk at the beginning of the jam, something sort of "Birds"-like, at least in terms of what Trey's playing. Then it takes a quick left turn into space-funk territory with a change of guitar tone. If anyone's ever wondered what the hell I'm talking about when I talk about "space-funk," the second phase of this jam is it. There's some great Page/Trey layering on the way out of the funk jam, and then a sudden > into "Simple."
There's not really anything special about this "Simple," but like most times the song is jammed, it features a lot of light, airy, textured playing that in this case winds down to just Page playing and then segueing into "Theme." The third of this three-song run is a pretty standard version, but overall this is the highlight of the show for my money.
"Ghost" -> "NO2" is a close second, though. Mike runs things for awhile in the "Ghost" jam, until about the 7:00 mark, when Trey comes in with some light melody stylings. There's a tone change again, and suddenly we're back in a jam space that sounds very much like the earlier "Piper." This builds momentum for a bit before winding down into dissonant hissing that, of course, "resolves" in "NO2."
I'm sure the NYE gag was a fun time for all involved, but on tape we don't really get to anything worth noting again until "Fluffhead," starring Fish as "Sarah." In keeping with his impersonation of a "bad" drummer, Fish biffs the rhythm a few times and absolutely destroys a few fills in a ham-handed rock drummer sort of way near the beginning of the song, but otherwise there's not much to differentiate this "Fluff" from any of the other ones this year.
"Coil" works well to set up the inevitable "YEM" that's coming at the end of the set, but the outro jam, usually my second-favorite mellow jam after "Simple," is cut short in favor of...getting to "YEM" early, I guess? Page only plays his solo outro for about 45 seconds, if that.
The "YEM" itself is surprisingly average-great. Or maybe not surprisingly, considering this is the last night of a four night run and the last of three sets on the evening. But anyway, we close the show (and the year) with a touching/hilarious spoken/sung "thank you" from Trey over Page and then eventually the rest of the band playing "Blue Moon," then a strong "Loving Cup" finisher that sounds a lot less mailed in than many of the more recent versions.
While all the meat of this show is really in the second set, the other two sets feature some great song choices and solid playing (mostly)...and who really expects the post-NYE set to blast off into orbit anyway?
Not me. So, I'm satisfied. At least until I go back to write my fall review post and remember all the things I'm unsatisfied about :)
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