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.