If Randall's N2 was best-of-year-so-far material, N3 raises the bar even further, leaving the first two nights in the dust and making Randall's the easy choice for best run so far in a summer full of great runs. I add that last "so far" because I just got back from Dick's and it was even better, but we'll get to that in a few weeks.
S1 here opens with a surprise "Sand" that doesn't do anything really unexpected but is an excellent Type I take on the song. What follows is a lot more great setlist choices ("excellent flow," as the kids say), including a great version of the new "Winterqueen." A Page-heavy "Possum" followed by Trey drenching "Jim" in loops makes for a great second half of the set, and the whole thing comes home on an especially weird and atonal "Melt" jam that abandons the format of the typical outro jam for something far superior.
As usual, though, the second set is where the magic happens. Specifically, the "CDT" > "Light" > "Tweezer" combo that opens the set is one of the best sustained "suites" of improvisational music the boys have put together in 2-3 great years of such things. The "CDT" is the winner in terms of track length, but it does lack a bit in terms of momentum; it moves in lurches, and while there are some great moments in there (especially thanks to Mike), the real highlight is the "Light" > "Tweezer" pairing. Check it all out.
If there's one gripe I have about this show, it's that it falls victim to the problem most shows with hugely front-loaded second sets seem to have: the second half of the set seems like the band fulfilling an obligation instead of taking a victory lap. "Wading" is a nice landing pad out of the huge jam-suite, but from there it's all rote, up through the "Number Line" > "Tweeprise" encore.
But, hell! Randall's run!
The Live Review:
7/13/14: Sand opener? Well, that's exciting.
7/13/14: Page stays on the clav and Trey contributes some mellow melodic work early in the jam.
7/13/14: Warm up? Who needs to warm up? That was awesome. Just started laughing in the middle of the coffee shop.
7/13/14: Winterqueen sounds like they've been playing it for 20 years.
7/13/14: Great extended Winterqueen > Reba.
7/13/14: A little fugue trouble, but otherwise the composed section comes off magically.
7/13/14: Reba starts off with some interesting melodic leads, but the build to the climax is pretty standard > whistling ending.
7/13/14: Satisfyingly shreddy Birds > Water in the Sky.
7/13/14: Great little Page solo sort of ruined by Trey's weird chording.
7/13/14: C'mon Trey, there are only three chords. This was one of the first songs I ever learned on guitar before I even knew barre chords.
7/13/14: I COME FROM TACO MOUNTAIN BABY
7/13/14: Page is running this Possum with some organ soloage. Would be sort of neat if this turned out to be a Page-heavy show.
7/13/14: Great Possum > Jim.
7/13/14: Loop-heavy Jim jam > Bouncin'.
7/13/14: Firing on all cylinders again with Maze.
7/13/14: If they stick this Melt jam, this will pretty much be a perfect first set.
7/13/14: Trey is definitely on the atonal, weird side early on in this jam. Mike has the steering wheel firmly in hand(s).
7/13/14: I love Melt jams like this where they actually abandon the 'duh-duh-DUH!' instead of jamming over it for 12 minutes.
7/13/14: Trey singing along with his loop?!
7/13/14: Whoa.
7/13/14: Trey loops and Fish beats just killing this jam. Melt outro slowly working its way back into the fray.
7/13/14: Great first set. That in an of itself would be an 'average-great' #phish show.
7/13/14: CDT kicks off S2 and wastes no time going way deep (5:30).
7/13/14: This is amazing and there are almost 20 minutes still to go. Fish drumming around a descending scale Trey keeps repeating.
7/13/14: Trey returning to the brief theme he started the jam with.
7/13/14: Things getting darker and a bit of stop-start action about 16:00. Darkness Wooing?!
7/13/14: Page taking the reins at 21:00.
7/13/14: Heading into a transitional space now...or they were, until Fish took over with the heavy drums.
7/13/14: Mike has a serious bassline going now. My favorite part of the jam.
7/13/14: Huge jam finally drops into Light.
7/13/14: Feel a bit about the CDT as I do about the monster Fuego from Mann: great work keeping the improv interesting and going that long.
7/13/14: That said, there have been way more interesting (albeit way briefer) jam spaces this year in other songs (Limb, SPAC Fuego, Steam).
7/13/14: Many more than that, just the first three that came to mind.
7/13/14: Trey does an interesting inversion of the Light riff to kick off a chord-based jam at about 5:30.
7/13/14: Almost a Hood-type jam there for a minute until Mike took over again.
7/13/14: This Light has already explored more interesting spaces than the CDT jam did and it's only on minute 9.
7/13/14: Shit, this thing just went nuclear. Sounds a bit like the end of a Bowie jam.
7/13/14: Actually, sounds like they're jamming on the chords to Waiting All Night.
7/13/14: Unexpected B> Tweezer!
7/13/14: Tweezer jam kicks off with a downshift in tempo into some seriously syrupy funk.
7/13/14: Then ANOTHER drop in tempo...then back up. Awesome.
7/13/14: Really slowly building up into a blues-bar sort of jam.
7/13/14: Slow build to rock and roll madness, like the SPAC Fuego.
7/13/14: Wow. After the online chatter, I expected to be blown away by that CDT > Light > Tweezer.
7/13/14: I did NOT expect the best part to be the Light > Tweezer.
7/13/14: But yes, it was amazing. Pretty sure that just secured Randall's > SPAC for me.
7/13/14: Wading seems like the perfect cool-down song after that jam trifecta.
7/13/14: That Wading solo was a little more muted than usual. Sort of an interesting effect. Wonder if it was on purpose?
7/13/14: Sing Monica is next.
7/13/14: They must realize that they blew that jam out of the park if they're willing to follow it with Wading, Monica.
7/13/14: Sing Monica would be a lot better live if Trey would just accept that it's Tuesday from TAB and solo on it as such.
7/13/14: They actually nailed the harmony > slam back into the solo this time, though. That helps.
7/13/14: Trey's a little screechy early on in this Slave, but settles into the slow build nicely in the jam. Interesting melodies.
7/13/14: As if he heard me taunting him for screeching, Trey just peaked the shit out of that Slave shit.
7/13/14: Short Number Line, Tweeprise to end. Somewhat weak ending to a fantastic set and fantastic run. One of the best runs of 3.0.
7/13/14: Would say best run of the summer if Dick's hadn't just blown it out of the fucking water.
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