2010-07-03 Alpharetta I

Verdict:
The first set is the typically well-played, well-constructed set we've gotten (almost too) used to throughout this tour, made even a bit more effective than usual thanks to "Zero" opener and a set of rare and older songs that shift it from a "If you like these songs..." sort of affair to a "Since you definitely like these songs..." sort of affair.

The S2-opening "Rock and Roll" jam is forgettable, following the tired old early-3.0 jam template as it does. The easy highlight of the show, though is "Caspian" > "Tweezer." "Caspian" gets off to a slow, whaley start but quickly moves into a loop-filled nearly-percussion-free space that highlights Trey and Mike's collective melodic playing for some of the more interesting exploration thus far this summer. The "Tweezer" is not exploratory at all, but it's no slouch, and a segue into a cleverly mellow and melodic "Slave" doesn't hurt, either.

Overall, though, despite some excellent setlist choices, the show is sabotaged a bit by its predictability (at this point in the tour) and over-reliance on the whale pedal (seriously, it's an effect, not a consistent tone).

Review:
7/3/10: Alright, time for the last run of Summer I in Alpharetta!

7/3/10: Zero as show opener. I think I vastly prefer it as an opener than a closer. Except at Gorge '13, of course.

7/3/10: Actually, I might take that back. Zero as a slower, warm-up song is a little weird.

7/3/10: 1,000th tweet for what I believe is the second Destiny Unbound of 3.0 (first on was Gorge '09).

7/3/10: Wow. Trey usually botches Rift, but this was above and beyond. He dropped out completely for a good 30 seconds at one point.

7/3/10: Rough start to McGrupp (!), but a nice Page-led, salsa-jazz style jam in the middle makes up for it.

7/3/10: Early(ish) Gin. Trey singing along with Page's piano.

7/3/10: This Gin is extended and blessedly empty of whale pedal (for the most part). Trey slowly easing into his usual solid shredding.

7/3/10: Follow-up with Mountains in the Mist. The usual great set construction, but with a rarities flavor. Liking it so far.

7/3/10: Mountains in the Mist is pretty much made for a whale solo, but I've heard it used so much lately there's no novelty to it.

7/3/10: NICU next, with a solo from 'Leon.'

7/3/10: Gumbo, and My Sweet One with a 'bluegrass bass' solo from Mike.

7/3/10: As is becoming usual, there's no outstanding moments in this set, but it's solid front-to-back so far (minus some Rift issues).

7/3/10: Stealing Time was a pretty strong mixture of whale-jamming and normal rock shredding.

7/3/10: Strange Design! I know I usually talk up the great song choices in these 2010 S1s, but this one is extra great.

7/3/10: Good mix of rarities and older songs, with the occasional, well-placed newer song.

7/3/10: SANITY! Trey gets the lyrics for the second verse from the audience. Some particularly insane
laughter between verses.

7/3/10: Yes, I just reviewed the quality of the laughter in Sanity.

7/3/10: What else do you close a mostly-oldies S1 with? Antelope, of course.

7/3/10: S2 kicks off with Rock and Roll. Pretty standard Type I business with a few Mike and Page flourishes thrown in for good measure.

7/3/10: Last minute of the jam transitions into the tried-and-true distorted space-funk that pops up so often in these early 3.0 jams.

7/3/10: Quick segue into Caspian.

7/3/10: Trey's putting the whale pedal to decent effect here in Caspian.

7/3/10: Mellows out around 6:00, Trey starts up some guitar loops.

7/3/10: Fish has dropped out completely, maybe Mike too.

7/3/10: Really neat jam space here. Would love about ten minutes of this.

7/3/10: That's okay, a > Tweezer is a good enough consolation prize :)

7/3/10: Some serious funk riffage from Trey and Mike in the early bit of this Tweezer.

7/3/10: Wow. This Tweezer doesn't go anywhere weird, but it's a perfect funk-rock, 'standard' version. Really, really solid.

7/3/10: Oh, and if that wasn't enough, we end with a great little fade-out -> Slave.

7/3/10: Great, super mellow Slave jam with a 45 second (?) sustained note from Trey.

7/3/10: Bouncin' now. Great Caspian > Tweezer -> Slave, but I think that might be it for the jamming for the night.

7/3/10: Perfectly serviceable late-set Possum, followed by Number Line.

7/3/10: Number Line's good, too, albeit a bit too whaley. I just get a little frustrated when S2s coast to a stop like this, I guess.

7/3/10: Really great Trey and Mike interplay at the beginning of this Hood jam.

7/3/10: Really great melodic playing, similar to the earlier Slave.

7/3/10: Really great Really great aaaagh I'm tweeting too much about shows that all sort of sound the same help

7/3/10: The whale is seriously calling here at the peak of this Hood.

7/3/10: Very similar to the Slave: great, mellow melodic build, but then a messy, disjointed peak.

7/3/10: Trey's bringing the house down on this Loving Cup, too. Maybe I should give up and accept the Summer of Shredding.

7/3/10: Welp, Sleeping Monkey, Tweeprise encore'll wrap this one up. One bright spot early in the second set, but otherwise typical 2010.

2010-07-02 Charlotte

Verdict:
This show starts off with a first set that's more like what we've come to expect from Summer 2010 first sets and less like what we've gotten the last two nights. There's no real standout jam or song here, but the entire set flows nicely, and there are little surprises ("Mexican Cousin," the mini-jam in "Bag," the alternate lyric in "Vultures") that make it clear that the guys are having fun. The don't sound like they're trying to stay awake throughout the set like they did on 7/1.

The second set is weird (for a second set), but is good unless you want to belabor the lack of a marquee jam. "Drowned" goes long but doesn't really go deep...and that's about it. "46 Days" and "Twenty Years Later" both deviate slightly from their typical direction (vocal jam and 2.0 darkness jam, respectively). The "Carini" > "Fuck Your Face" segue is just ridiculous, and couldn't have happened with a better pair of songs. The "YEM" is 23 minutes long and features nearly full versions of "Proud Mary" and "Get Back" in the vocal jam. So, much like the first set, there's a lot of energy here and some fun playing around. Which is par for the course for a solid Summer 2010 show so far. Just no jams, still.


Phish - 7/2/10 "You Enjoy Myself" from Phish on Vimeo.

Live Review:
7/2/10: Doing 7/2 now. Probably going to hit 1,000 tweets, too. There might even be one semi-decent jam or something to get excited about!

7/2/10: Buried Alive opener! I'll be happy to eat my words if this show turns out to be a barn burner.

7/2/10: AC/DC Bag next. Sounds a bit more energetic already than last night. Hopefully the guys got some sleep/caffeine.

7/2/10: Trey and Page Buried Alive tease in Bag.

7/2/10: Weird, synth-y tones from both Trey and Mike during the mini-jam.

7/2/10: Vultures! It's like they're reading my mind.

7/2/10: 'Like a potato to the throat' alternate lyric.

7/2/10: The outro jam is...wait for it...Trey noodling with the whale pedal. SURPRISE

7/2/10: Wolfman's, with a full-on Mike takeover about halfway through. I'm already liking this way better than either of the last 2 shows.

7/2/10: Trey soloing over some almost-plinko funk from Mike and Page now.

7/2/10: Goes all-out rock and roll for the peak. Great bit.

7/2/10: BOTT next. I don't know why, but I never get sick of this song in first sets. Same (mostly) with Wolfman's.

7/2/10: This is some serious Marty-McFly-At-The-Enchantment-Under-The-Sea-Dance guitar solo shit here.

7/2/10: Trey's shredding The Wedge again. This always freaks me out. His playing is something like 400% better than last night.

7/2/10: MEXICAN COUSIN!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHA

7/2/10: Okay, now that I've calmed down a bit, the obligatory late-S1 Stash.

7/2/10: Subtle, mellow section slowly building to higher tension in the middle of this jam. Page with some great piano work.

7/2/10: Great Stash, even though it didn't deviate much from the 3.0-usual Composed > Mellow Tension > Rock Tension > Peak structure.

7/2/10: Looks like Sparkle, CDT to close.

7/2/10: CDT is yet more totally ridiculously good Trey shredding. Is this a different guitarist than last night? Is Trey a alien?

7/2/10: About 9 minutes into Drowned, the guys move from typical Type I to a Page-led funk jam.

7/2/10: Now Page and Mike are stacking arpeggios on top of each other. Pretty neat.

7/2/10: 46 Days with vocal jam outro > Twenty Years Later.

7/2/10: The outro on this version seems more drawn-out and distorted than usual. Very 2.0-sounding, to me.

7/2/10: Super-uptempo Lizards is next. Page is owning his piano solo.

7/2/10: Trey struggling a little bit with his chosen instrument, the guitar, here in this particular version of LIZARDS

7/2/10: Late-set Carini! This is during one of those periods when Carini wasn't allowed out to play for long. Nice to hear it, regardless.

7/2/10: Oh, amazing-as-all-hell Carini -> FYF. BOOM

7/2/10: Feedback gives way to > 2001.

7/2/10: This is by no means an old-school 2001, but it's got some legs.

7/2/10: YEM time. This second set has finished really strongly for a 2010 show.

7/2/10: Trey and Mike tease FYF in YEM.

7/2/10: Trey hits another great rock peak at around 14:00, and Mike follows up with a SERIOUS bubble-
bass solo.

7/2/10: Proud Mary in the vocal jam.

7/2/10: Now Get Back.

7/2/10: Day in the Life encore.

7/2/10: Well, that show doesn't win any awards for balls-to-the-wall jamming. But, it's much better than either of the last two shows.

7/2/10: And better than most of Summer I before Merriweather and Camden. High energy, good song choices and solid playing throughout.

7/2/10: Didn't make it to 1,000 tweets, though. I'll have to come back for 7/3 soon.

2010-07-01 Raleigh

Verdict:
So I thought that this show was a bit of an improvement over CMAC, but not by much. The first set, while built with the same brilliance as most 2010 S1s so far, is marred by a pretty serious dip in energy compared to previous shows. The whole precise, predictable, workmanlike approach to S1s only really works when there's the enthusiasm to back it up, and it's mostly lacking here.

The energy comes back a bit in the second set, but it ends up being more like another first set, so I don't know how much of a consolation that is. A promising "Halley's" makes a great -> into a "Light" that explores a space that melds '09 ambient jamming with '10 loop-jamming pretty brilliantly, if briefly. "Light Up Or Leave Me Alone" features an excellent Trey solo, and the band finally gets back on their usual track...oh, right around the "Boogie On" encore.

Live Review:
7/2/10: I usually find 3.0 Llamas pretty tepid, and this one isn't much different, but Mike's doing his best to hearken back to the 90s.

7/2/10: Always glad to hear Roses, but this version is a bit flat. Hope this isn't a sign of things to come.

7/2/10: Okay, there's a little swagger peeking through in this KDF solo.

7/2/10: Time Loves a Hero cover next.

7/2/10: Not too familiar with this tune, but I like Fish's drumming quite a bit.

7/2/10: Now Alaska. The guys sound tired. Not sloppy, just tired.

7/2/10: Fast Water in the Sky!

7/1/10: Ah, crap. Last few tweets should obviously be 7/1/10, not 7/2/10.

7/1/10: Standard S1 Jim, Moma. So far it's an average set lacking the usual '10 energy that boosts it to slightly above average.

7/1/10: Maybe this Divided Sky will help kick things up a notch.

7/1/10: This DSky jam is whale-ful. The composed part was pretty sharp, though.

7/1/10: Looks like Cavern to close S1. This set has been pretty underwhelming.

7/1/10: Really, all that's really saved many of the paint-by-numbers S1s lately has been the band's energy. Even that's gone tonight.

7/1/10: S2 opens with Number Line. Trey is whale-shredding the crap out of it. At the very least, the guys sound a bit more awake now.

7/1/10: Solid Halley's with a neat -> Light.

7/1/10: Well, there's a fair amount of whale-wanking until the 7:00 mark, when Trey pulls everyone else into space with feedbacked chords.

7/1/10: Page has a nice piano riff going here, Mike playing something angular and dark on top of it.

7/1/10: Really neat rhythm-heavy jam space here. Trey and Page playing delicately on top of it.

7/1/10: At the 12:00 mark, Trey brings back the Light riff out of the ambient space. Neat jam.

7/1/10: Average-great Fluffhead. The > Have Mercy is awesome, though. Love this cover.

7/1/10: Light Up Or Leave Me Alone mega-bustout features some absolutely SERIOUS Trey soloing. First time he's sounded like himself tonight.

7/1/10: Pretty typical Mike-based Free > Velvet Sea. Weird time for the setlist to get jukeboxy, but there it is.

7/1/10: Coil, Suzy to finish S2. Really weird end to a weird set.

7/1/10: Light > Fluff > Have Mercy, Light Up was a great run in the middle of the set.

7/1/10: But the beginning was standard S1 fare and the second half is one of those shows where they play like 4 'closer' songs in a row.

7/1/10: To be fair, this is a pretty hoppin' version of Suzy. Page is nuts, and Fish is having a great time with his screaming parts.

7/1/10: Extended Boogie On as the encore eases the pain a bit.

7/1/10: This is what the majority of most '10 shows sound like, which is what makes the lack of jamming palatable.

7/1/10: In this show, though, they pretty much saved it for the encore.

2010-06-29 CMAC

The Verdict:
So the CMAC show was a pretty big letdown after the previous four shows. Here there is no long-form jamming to speak of, no shenanigans, not even a smooth segue to drool over. We get yet another "well-played" 2010 show, but at this point I'm starting to feel as if that's not enough. There's a lot of energy here, but just about every potentially interesting passage in the show ends up boiling down to Trey wielding his whale pedal and wanking off with it for between two and ten minutes.

As I've said before, I don't mind the pedal on principle, but it should be used as it's designed: as an effects pedal, not as a consistent "tone" throughout the show. And this show sees the most egregious use of it (literally almost every song) of any show since 3.0 began. So, generally speaking, yuck.

I suppose that the back half of the "Mike's Groove" is worth a mention, containing as it does a pretty interesting ambient mini-jam in "Simple" and then one of more interesting, '97-funk-laden "Groove" jams I've heard since Hampton.

The Live Review:

6/29/10: Fastest way to my heart: The Connection opener. I'm a sucker for Undermind songs. This one has a slightly extended introduction.

6/29/10: The Connection is extended a bit, but it stays Type I throughout. Sort of like a sloppy, straight-up Jibboo jam.

6/29/10: DWD in the two-spot. It's a short one, with the focus entirely on whale-inflected Type I shredding. Standard, all the way around.

6/29/10: That said, good energy so far by everyone involved. Sample is next, keeps the momentum rolling.

6/29/10: Ocelot is fourth. Another whale-solo. So far, so standard. But Reba's next. And it's a very high tempo version.

6/29/10: Despite the tempo, the composed section goes off w/o a hitch. Trey leads the opening of the jam w/ Page including organ accents.

6/29/10: Now Mike takes over, and Trey echoes his riffs. Neat. Page over to the piano with some jazz chords.

6/26/10: Really nice mid-jam there, with everyone listening to each other. Now Trey pushes for the peak with more whale, sort of ruins it.

6/29/10: Horn, then Funky Bitch. As usual, Page tearing up the organ on this one.

6/29/10: Undermind!

6/29/10: Jam starts off with a bluesy Page solo on the piano. Trey chording overtop.

6/29/10: Out of nowhere, Trey is taking over this jam with an absolutely hairy solo. Using the whale to good effect in some places.

6/29/10: Not sure where that came from, but I hope that there's more of it.

6/29/10: The Ballad of Curtis Loew is always welcome in my first set.

6/29/10: Bowie to close S1.

6/29/10: This Bowie seems faster than usual, too. Might be my imagination, though.

6/29/10: Trey starts off the jam with some really solid melodic playing, just like with the Reba earlier.

6/29/10: Rest of the jam is a pretty rote path to the peak. S1 in general has serious energy going for it, but same-old otherwise.

6/29/10: S2 opens with a slow(ish) Possum.

6/29/10: No surprises from Possum, though the 'jam' (i.e. Trey shredding) was a little hotter than usual. Mike's now.

6/29/10: I've probably heard that drop into THE bassline in Mike's between 500 and 1000 times in my life now. Still goosebumps, though.

6/29/10: Mike's is another Trey-fest, albeit with the easy but always pleasing-to-the-ears > Simple.

6/29/10: So far this is another 'solid' show, but it really seems like every jam is just a space for Trey to play rock licks for 2-7 mins.

6/29/10: Save for the middle of that Reba, there hasn't been much interesting participation by any of the other band members.

6/29/10: And Trey isn't playing well enough to pull off a great show by himself. We might just be on cruise control for tonight.

6/29/10: Which is a damn shame after the last four shows, and especially right after Merriweather.

6/29/10: Despite all my grumbling, this Simple goes into a neat, loop-filled ambient space after a few minutes of the usual Simple jam.

6/29/10: Neat little piano outro from Page at the end of the jam > I Am the Walrus, which is an awesome cover for Phish to play, obviously.

6/29/10: Serious feedback/loop action at the end of Walrus.

6/29/10: Trey employing the whale with some positive effect (affect?) in the follow-up Weekapaug.

6/29/10: Fast-paced funk jam now, with Mike reprising his playing from the song's intro.

6/29/10: It just got all 1997 up in here.

6/29/10: Really brief Type II space here at the end of the funk jam. Like Trey's looking for a song to >.

6/29/10: Fish tries to start up the 'Paug drumbeat and is REJECTED. Trey finally settles on LxL as the jam peters out.

6/29/10: LxL is another Trey-whale jaunt. Man, I vastly prefer shows where the whale makes limited, effective appearances.

6/29/10: Ah, Joy. The Pace Picante salsa of second-set #phish.

6/29/10: Harry Hood, w/ synth bass intro from Mike.

6/29/10: Yet more whale-wanking here in Hood.

6/29/10: A strong Golgi to close S2 and a spectacularly noisy First Tube to end a largely flat show.

6/29/10: Did like the last two minutes of Simple > Groove, though.

Construction Ahead

Just a quick post to say that at least for the near future I'm going to stop writing an essay-style review for each show that I listen to and that these blog posts are instead just going to serve as archives for my live tweets about each show.

I've really enjoyed the live tweeting aspect of these reviews since I started doing them six or so months ago, and as I've tried with each review to both tweet during the show and do a long write-up after the show, I've come to realize two things: a) the essay-style reviews have come to resemble a summary of the impressions I've already tweeted and b) it takes too damn long to write both types of review for each and every show and it's actually making me want to listen to new shows less, knowing that afterward I have to take thirty minutes to write up an essay about it.

So, for now at least, I'm just going to paste the content of my tweets into each post, and probably include a paragraph or so of impressions and the occasional video. But I think getting rid of the full-on essay reviews will make me enjoy this a lot more and make me way more likely to keep reviewing in the future.

2014-04-26 Jazz Fest

So, here's a new thing. After all the community hubbub about Phish's Jazz Fest performance last week, I thought I'd go back and give the show a listen using the Live Phish mobile app, and in the process ended up having a bit of fun tweeting as I was listening. So, I thought I'd convert my thoughts into an actual review. This being a one-off show, I feel like I can do that without shattering the rules of the space-time continuum.

So, first off, I have to say that considering that this is a festival show featuring 3.0 Phish, this is a great, great show. In the last few years, the boys have of course played your Bonnaroos, your Outside Landses, and so on, and in the process have gathered a bit of a reputation for playing these shows safe, not bringing a lot of improv and sticking to rotation staples throughout. Presumably they do this partially in the interest of non-fans, to give them some fun, not overly weird music to dance to, and because, at least when it comes to one-off festival shows, I imagine it's fun to just get up on stage and play a big, dumb goofy rock show and have a good time with your bandmates.

Of course, the idea that the band and/or non-Phish fans might be having fun at a show at the expense of the ever-looming 55-minute "Carini" enrages a certain portion of Phish fandom more than the Holocaust. So, rather than having a fun spring show to enjoy, by the time there've been 19 million snarky conversations about who saw Phish in the 80s more and therefore who is more qualified to decide what everyone else is allowed to enjoy, a bonus show ends up seeming like a chore.

But, I'm happy to report, that if you can ignore all the (non) hype, this is a very good show.

Sure, the first set is about as typical as you can get when it comes to song selection. But, the opening one-two punch of "KDF" and "Moma" is all fire, and it's obvious to hear that the boys are having a great time, even if the fans in the audience are rolling their eyes and streaming Hampton '97 on their phones. I do have to nitpick on "Rift," though, because it's absolutely one of those songs where the joy is in the spontaneous, effortless execution of its composed parts (for me, at least), and Trey just can't Go There anymore. He doesn't really seem to have this problem with any other song, but this one always just falls apart partway through and I'd almost be happier if they just stopped playing it and left us to our memories. Ironic for me to say that after what I was just bitching about earlier, I guess, but there it is.

"Wolfman's" is just lawn-perfect, slow funk. If you like your "Wolfman's" uncomplicated, but full of molasses, this one's for you. There's a mid-set "Party Time" surprise to put just enough distance between "Wolfman's" and "Ocelot" to mask the fact that "Ocelot" is obviously just "Wolfman's Shuffle," and this "Ocelot" deserves extra mention for MVP-of-the-night Fishman and his fleet flying all over the kit.

"Funky Bitch" features the Page solo to end all Page solos (as it usually does), and then we're on to a notable (if short) take on "46 Days." This version features all kinds of Fishman acrobatics during the intro, and then much of the rest of the song (including the jam) has a surprisingly minimalist feel to it. I can't describe it, really, but other people mentioned it during the stream, so I don't think I'm crazy. It sounds very stripped down, reliant on percussion, almost like it might sound if played during a Trey Trio show in the early 2000s. It's worth a listen for that reason alone, notwithstanding some solid Trey Shredz action late in the song.

This was my first time hearing "The Line," and I really enjoyed the melody. The outro jam is Page-led, too, and reaches for (and almost achieves) the sound of one of the many great mid-90s ballad outro jams. The set closes with a standard "Zero."

The S2 opening "Disease" wastes no time at all getting into a weird space. This isn't one of those 15+ minute jams where you can skip directly to the 9:00 mark and not miss anything. Like they did in much of late '13, the boys dive into the deep end right away, and the ideas come fluidly and fast. Even though it doesn't end up being as effective as many of the best jams of '13 overall, the technique and mind-meld that created all those jams is obviously still at work, warding off any concerns of rust over the long break.

Trey and Page share the lead early on, with sparse, mellow melodic parts that are juxtaposed with Fish's driving beat. Page takes control shortly, and Trey backs him up with some whale that made me wonder if I was hearing a '10 show instead of a '14 one. As if the comparisons to '10 weren't already easy to make, the next space in this jam is a loop-based one, building out of a Page piano riff that Trey develops into a full-on jam.

Maybe it was just the stream on the app I was using, but for me, this jam ends with a perfect on-a-dime stop > "Birds." The "Birds" itself is pretty boilerplate, but when "Twist" starts up next, Trey weaves the "Birds" melody into the slow, syrupy intro to the song in that effortless way that makes us all love the best Phish so much. Fishman is in full force during what turns out to be a slow, bluesy sort of "Twist" jam.

"Sparkle" and "Free" follow, and both are just about as you would expect them to be. They aren't bad, but if there's a lull in the second set, it's right here.

Fortunately "Light" comes in next, and goes further than you might expect from a mid-set jam. It starts off whale-heavy again, but quickly makes a turn into darker territory that becomes reminiscent of a slower "Timber" jam. Then there's another, beautifully organic change to a blissful ambient space that hovers for a bit before resolving into "Sand."

This "Sand," like the "46 Days" in the first set, sounds different to me, for whatever reason. It sounds stripped-down, and smaller, but in a way that really lets the guys get at the heart of the song in a way that they can't do as well when the sound is fuller...if that makes any sense. In this case, the heart of "Sand" is slow, dirty, and funky. And it's great.

Now, I'll have to give this "Hood" a relisten because while I agree it's not the best version of the song I've ever heard, I don't understand why it's gotten the hate it has over the last week or so. Sure, it's whale-y, sure, it doesn't follow the usual "Hood" jam pattern very well...but it's not, to my ears, badly played. It strikes me as strange that many Phish fans will complain about the lack of new songs because all the old ones get played the same every time, but then those same fans will pile on a "Hood" like this for...not sounding like it usually does. How does that make sense?

Anyway, it sounds like the boys are just trying to switch up how they play some of these older songs ("46 Days," "Sand," "Hood") a little, and I don't think that's a bad thing.

After "Hood," the show wraps up with a straightforward "Cavern," the always-charming "Grind," and the venue-appropriate "Julius."

Really, when you consider that this show features two pretty serious 2013-style jams and three oldies-but-goodies played in interesting new ways, along with a solid performance and great song selection overall, I don't see why this wouldn't fit in perfectly well in the middle of summer '13 tour. It's a great show, and it's bizarre to me that people aren't enjoying it as such. Ah, well. Maybe by the time Dick's rolls around they'll all remember that we're having fun...

Note: I'll try to remember to go back and add video to this post as it becomes available.

2010-06-27 MPP II

Here we go. Here is The Phish. Thirteen shows into summer tour, they've finally managed to string two supremely interesting and clever shows together back-to-back, and now I am excited.

6/26 was a satisfying mix of solid S1 song choices and a S2 that was basically Amazing Version of Rock and Roll > A Bunch of Old-School '94-Sounding Phish Music. 6/27 puts together a really unique arrangement of songs in S1 and then blows S2 out of the water with a "Saw It Again" suite/seguefest.

First off, when a show starts with "Walfredo," you know that shit's about to get heavy (in the funnest way possible). This "Walfredo" is the first since 2000, and it's a joy just to hear it. Mike even gets a little guitar jam in at the end of the song. "Mellow Mood" is a great second-slot choice, and then, lest you think the set needs more energy, there's a short but sweet version of "Stealing Time" that features some great bass runs from Mike throughout.

A fast-tempo "Divided Sky" rounds out the first quarter, and though its outro jam is a little more whale-y than usual, the "Tela" that follows more than makes up for it. There's a point during "Tela" where Trey just completely loses the thread of the song for about thirty seconds, so if you're a stickler for precision on the composed pieces (as I often am), that'll bug you...but otherwise it's a beautiful rendition of a song that's not played often enough.

The trifecta of "My Soul," "Ginseng Sullivan," and "Sample" that follows plays out pretty much exactly like you'd imagine it would, and is really only notable for the continuously great song selection and pacing and yet another monster 2010 version of "Sample."

"Gin" finds the band stretching their legs a little, though this version can still pretty much be summed up by "A Few Minutes of Boring Whale Pedal > Great Rock and Roll Peak." "Brian and Robert" is a nice surprise, as I love the song, and Trey works its main riff back in to the beginning of the set-closing "Antelope" brilliantly.

In a move that should totally happen more often, "Wilson" opens the second set, and "Meatstick" emerges from the feedback buzz at the end of the first song. This version is notable in that it has a bit more of a rock feel to it than the usual funk swing; that is, until the 8:00 mark or so, when the funk finally hits. The song ends with a slow, patient, extremely enjoyable -> "Saw It Again" that for the life of me sounds like Trey sort of half-starting up "Saw It Again" and doggedly keeping at it for about twenty seconds before finally Page figures out what he's trying to play and starts up the song on the keys. Regardless of how it happened, though, I'm glad it happened.

After about five minutes, "Saw It Again" dissolves into a hectic noise jam, with the band screaming the refrain at random intervals over the sound. "Piper" emerges from this cacophony and takes off on a 16-minute journey. There's not much I can (coherently) say about this "Piper" jam. Here are a few things you should know, though:

1. It's pretty darn good.
2. It includes some blissed-out rock jamming early on.
3. It includes some syrupy space-funk early on.
4. Later on, it somehow includes both of 2 and 3 intertwined.
5. There's a part where everyone else builds a murky bed of sounds for Page to play a spooky organ part over.
6. There's a part where Trey has a lot of loops going and everyone is playing very circular-sounding bits on their instruments.
7. There's a final part that's a dark ambient jam reminiscent of the Brooklyn '04 "Moma" jam.

"Piper" is also the first of many songs in which Trey will interject "Saw It Again" vocal quotes for the rest of the night.

The dark, ambient jam eventually resolves into a -> "Ghost" that is average-great, with some more "Saw It Again" vocal quotes and a jam that's more like your typical "Slave" or "Hood" jam than a "Ghost" jam. The best part, though, is that accidentally (?), in the midst of this jam's peak, the band manages to -> "Jumpin' Jack Flash!" This reminds me of the "Takin' Care of Business" segue from late '13: it's a pretty amazingly spontaneous and fun moment, but it doesn't really hold up if you want to take it as a "serious" part of the show. It's clear they didn't practice the song, nobody really knows all the words...but hell, it's a really clever moment just getting to the song out of "Ghost," and the fact that they followed up and played the whole thing, complete with a mini-jam at the end, is pure Phish. But it's not over because they then make one last -> into a "Saw It Again" coda of sorts. If 6/26's "Tweezer" brought the jamming style of '94 back from the grave, the middle of this S2 brings the good old '94 wackiness right back with it.

"Contact" is the penultimate S2 song here, and a "Saw It Again"-tease-ridden "YEM" closes the show proper. Great moments here include: "Boy, man...I saw it again!," a "Jumpin' Jack Flash" tease after the tramps section, and the crowd chanting "I saw it again!" during the vocal jam. It makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, doesn't it?

"Fire," the sealing stamp on many a great Phish show (Gorge '13, I'm looking at you) wraps things up. Wow.