It's too bad that the band's final night at Northerly Island doesn't pay for all. It's a far better show than the first two nights, and with two more nights like this, the run could have trumped SPAC, Randall's, and maybe even Dick's. N3 likely won't end up being my best show of the year, but it's got that special something to it that's missing even in a lot of the heavyweight shows.
S1 is by turns solid-standard and interesting. The song selection more than makes up for the more rote parts, though. We lead off with "Gumbo," "Jim," and "Tela," for example. "Scent of a Mule" is even weirder than usual, eschewing the typical Fish marimba solo for a full-band marimba jam with Trey on drums and Page on candles (yeah, you read that right). The wackiness on display here is the highlight of the set, but rock-solid versions of "Gin," "Maze," "Walls of the Cave," and a charmingly mellow "Ocelot" round out the typically-weak back half of the set.
S2 actually starts off a bit slow. The "Disesase" that opens is less sprawling than other recent versions, but more interesting, as it takes a spacey, almost-dissonant tack and runs with it for the entire jam rather than jumping from "movement" to "movement." "Winterqueen," "Theme," and "Mike's" all have a little extra mustard on them but they're standard tunes...fortunately, just when it seems the set is about to fall into greatest-hits territory, the guys drop a Type II "The Wedge" (yeah, you read that right) that's not just a surprise, but also one of the more effortless and interesting jams of the summer. It's a jazz-funk synthesis that never really lets up until Trey leads the guys back to the typical "Wedge" coda. As if that wasn't enough, "Ghost" is great, too, going the blues-rock route before a perfect segue into "Groove." "Groove" conjures a bit of the old show-off-Phish magic as the band jumps back into "Ghost" for a few seconds and then into "Stash," a song which wasn't even played earlier in the night. All in all, a wonderfully solid entry and a sign of great things to come, as the band is meshing huge jams with smooth transitions with seemingly effortless abandon.
7/20/14: Gumbo opener is a good sign.
7/20/14: Holy third-slot Tela! And after solid takes on Gumbo and Jim no less. Will this be the first non-shitty Northerly Island '14 S1?
7/20/14: Love that little (big) gasp that rolls through the crowd at the onset of an early-set Tela. Or any Tela at all, really.
7/20/14: I like The Line and all, but it sort of mucked up the magic of the set. Scent is next though.
7/20/14: Scents rolls along on some great Trey chording to a marimba/bass jam from Fish/Mike. Trey joining in now.
7/20/14: This is much cooler than the Fishman marimba solos from other recent Scents.
7/20/14: Scent B> Gin.
7/20/14: Trey teases the jam portion of Scent in Gin.
7/20/14: Solid Silent, Trey flubs lyrics sheepishly in Maze.
7/20/14: Really neat, almost-'Woo!' jam in the middle of Maze there for a second.
7/20/14: Super slow and mellow Ocelot. Sort of suits things after that Maze.
7/20/14: Walls! Presumably this is the set closer, since this set has been like 2 hours long.
7/20/14: Somewhere between the Gorge and Los Angeles last summer this became one of my favorite #phish songs.
7/20/14: Overall, that set was solid in a way that's been lacking in the other S1s of this run.
7/20/14: Great song selection, great Mule, interesting Ocelot (!), strong finish.
7/20/14: S2 DwD opener. Easy to forget that there's been some very good Disease jams so far this summer, mixed in w/ all the surprises.
7/20/14: Trey bringing his chording fetish to this Disease jam early, to great effect.
7/20/14: Page leading here on electric piano. Trey adding great accents.
7/20/14: That was a really sustained, interesting jam (i.e., no quick style shifts like many longer recent jams). I like it. > Winterqueen.
7/20/14: Short-but-sweet take on Winterqueen.
7/20/14: Theme, then Mike's. Already disappointed by this Mike's at 0:44, because it's not 8/31.
7/20/14: Fond remembrances of Dick's aside, Trey is tearing this Mike's solo apart.
7/20/14: Mike's > Wedge? Bold move, guys.
7/20/14: Okay, shit. Wedge just went Type II.
7/20/14: Really great jazz/funk melange going on here.
7/20/14: And Trey manages to wrap it all back around to the typical Wedge ending. Great Scott!
7/20/14: Now it's time for some fuckin' GHOST.
7/20/14: Blues-rock jam growing some momentum. Fishman stole the steering wheel.
7/20/14: Lot of awesome guitar echoes from Trey. If this was at a lower tempo, it would be a great Floyd jam.
7/20/14: Truly wild noises coming from Trey's area now. Space bass, too.
7/20/14: Holy shit, perfect -> into Groove, just as Page nails a gorgeous descending piano run.
7/20/14: Groove -> Ghost!!!
7/20/14: Quick Ghost -> Groove. I don't normally use this word because I'm old, but that was sick.
7/20/14: Trey just teased the Stash riff, too, which is a song they haven't even played tonight.
7/20/14: First Tube with Trey on oddly subdued guitar. Not sloppy, just muted.
7/20/14: Often don't take the time to appreciate Page's organ washes in First Tube properly.
7/20/14: Every show this tour has been great, but this joins 7/1, 7/3, 7/5, 7/8, 7/11, 7/12, and 7/13 as amazing shows with two great sets.
7/20/14: As I hit enter on that, the band Zero'd me on the encore. Doesn't matter, though. Still awesome.
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