S1 of the first night at the Mann features some fantastic song choices, but no real notable performances minus a top-shelf short-but-weird "Tube." Definitely lacking the energy of many other '14 S1s, but if you like what you see on the setlist, it's worth a listen.
S2 should be all about the 26-minute "Fuego" that winds around and around and moves effortlessly between all kinds of weird spaces before transitioning into "The Line." But really, the "Tweezer -> Ghost" combination is notable here as well, for a short-but-sweet "Tweezer" and loop-filled "Ghost" that's just downright weird. I might prefer the 7/4 "Fuego" for its purposefulness, but this one's just so huge it's impossible to dislike it.
The Live Review:
7/8/14: Axilla I is a quality opener. Though I often wonder what happened to Axilla II.
7/8/14: I prefer I, but it'd be fun to see II pop up every once in awhile.
7/8/14: Gumbo is one of those songs, like Moma, that I'll never get sick of in the first set. This one has a particularly good outro jam.
7/8/14: Trey seems to have some trouble with Taste these days. Still, nice early-show choice.
7/8/14: Unlike Gumbo, I'm sad to see 555 apparently relegated to a first-set, non-jam slot.
7/8/14: This hasn't been as high-energy as some S1s so far in 2014, but the song choices are great. Trey using loops now in Tube.
7/8/14: Post-2.0, Tube isn't one of those songs with 'recommended versions,' but this one is a recommended version.
7/8/14: Next is one of the stronger live versions of Halfway To the Moon so far.
7/8/14: Camel Walk! Pretty sure I heard some guy yelling for it earlier in the show.
7/8/14: Any S1 with Tube and Halley's in it almost makes me forget my sadness at the lack of Tube and Halley's jams :)
7/8/14: Great old-school segue from Halley's to It's Ice!
7/8/14: Nothing to say next except that Phish played Ocelot.
7/8/14: S1 closes w/ an uneven but high-energy Walls. S2 opens with some dude screaming 'VULTURES!!' at the top of his lungs, then 46 Days.
7/8/14: 'Warm up' version of 46 Days, similar to the one they played on Letterman.
7/8/14: Fuego in the second spot. Heard a lot about this version, looking forward to hearing it.
7/8/14: Things taking a dark turn at 9:30.
7/8/14: Great combination of the Taxi theme and Pink Floyd here.
7/8/14: Really great combo of bliss-jamming by Trey and Page and space-bass by Mike.
7/8/14: Jam reminiscent of Free now. Sort of.
7/8/14: Fishman driving everyone ahead of him with a flurry of beats.
7/8/14: Really interesting funk space now, featuring Page with a killer organ solo.
7/8/14: Very jazzy outro-type section now.
7/8/14: > The Line
7/8/14: Great jam, in the sense that there were a lot of discrete sections that all flowed naturally into one another.
7/8/14: My only complaint is that it was lacking any real 'it' moment (or moments). But hey, it was a 26-minute Fuego!
7/8/14: The Line > Number Line. I can only imagine an epic amount of pisses were taken during this segment by packs of jaded 'fans.'
7/8/14: Phish apologizes for the previous sequence with a Tweezer.
7/8/14: Tweezer jam goes for the throat right away with an awesome, high-speed funk jam.
7/8/14: Great, slow, Trey-versus-the-band segue into Ghost.
7/8/14: If you wanted to grumble, you could make the argument that Mike was about to take the jam somewhere cool and Trey derailed.
7/8/14: Ghost jam picks up pretty much where the Tweezer jam left off. Pretty cool.
7/8/14: That was a really unique, loopy Ghost jam. Started in one place and 10 minutes later was still there.
Unsure if it was good or not.
7/8/14: Nice segue into 2001.
7/8/14: Love how they've been playing with the Hood intro a little bit lately.
7/8/14: This Hood jam has a lot more interplay than most. Trey laying back, playing some more abstract stuff. Nice build.
7/8/14: Definitely not a 7/1 Hood here, but it's a good cap to a great set.
7/8/14: Hood gets butt-slammed into Tweeprise!
7/8/14: I really need to come up with a symbol that means 'butt-slammed' to go along with > and ->
7/8/14: Hood B> Tweeprise? I like it.
7/8/14: Ah, there's that junk-kicking combo of Tweeprise to close second set and Possum to encore that we all know and 'love.'
7/8/14: Pretty sure someone on the SBD yells 'I am the devil!' just before Possum starts. Awesome.
7/8/14: What S1 lacked in verve, it made up for in song choice.
7/8/14: S2 sagged a bit in the middle, but was a monster nonetheless. Tweezer -> Ghost would have been a highlight by itself.
7/8/14: But then there's that 26 minute Fuego. Which was the best.
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