This show is, for my money, the show that the band was working toward playing on 7/16 and 7/25. It's got great segues, (mostly) solid playing throughout, and a big jam sequence to anchor it all. Basically, there's something for everybody and after I was done listening I didn't wish there'd be more of this or more of that: everything in its right place.
S1 isn't anything stellar, but it has a consistent momentum, the song selection is great, and the Trey-Mike interplay in "Roggae" is excellent. Sure, there have been more interesting first sets this year, but this one's nothing to sneeze at.
S2 is pretty magical, with a "Carini" that goes deep, and though it never really gets that weird, the jam space the guys carve out is really brilliant in a straight-rock-and-roll sort of way. The "Ghost" that follows is one of those where Trey latches on to a riff that's so catchy you're sure you've heard it before, and then the band follows him on a weird Rolling Stones/hair metal odyssey for a few minutes before a funk space sets up a segue to "Steam." "Steam" is notable here for its "second jam" that comes after the outro lyrics and is brief but all kinds of weird. Next is the segue-of-the-night into "Mango Song." There's a bit of a lull, including an extended "Light" that is perfectly serviceable but doesn't really live up to the jam-standards of 2014, before the set closes with an amazingly powerful "Hood" that potentially dethrones 7/1's version as the best of the year.
The Live Review:
7/26/14: Sample opener. REAL ORIGINAL, GUYS
7/26/14: Funk time as they follow Sample with Moma, Wombat.
7/26/14: Short but sweet Wombat.
7/26/14: Early Number Line.
7/26/14: Roggae next! Like 7/25, this is a rote-played set so far buoyed by great song selection.
7/26/14: Trey going a little whale-heavy on this Roggae jam, but Mike is going to town in a good way.
7/26/14: Trey ditches the whale, starts straight-up rocking. Good Roggae jam all the way around. Injects a bit of the jam into S1.
7/26/14: Short Wedge (by 7/20 standards), and then back to the funk with Wolfman's.
7/26/14: Nellie Kane!
7/26/14: Monster of a bass solo from Cactus in Lawn Boy.
7/26/14: This set's developing a little of that mid-set sag. I blame The Line, which is a great song but tricky to place.
7/26/14: Stash gets broken waaaaay down. Super mellow jam. Lots of whale and piano.
7/26/14: Set's not over yet! Suzy time! Page with a mini-talkbox-solo.
7/26/14: Pretty mellow Suzy, except for Page, who apparently thinks it's the encore right now.
7/26/14: This Carini is developing really nicely into gooey rock mess.
7/26/14: Feedback build now.
7/26/14: Back out of the distortion haze with a driving riff from Trey.
7/26/14: Neat segue into Ghost. Probably could have been done a little bit more patiently, but still cool. Great Carini jam.
7/26/14: Really Rolling-Stones-style jam coming your way from this Ghost. Cool.
7/26/14: Transitioning from hair metal-pop jam to funk now.
7/26/14: Once again, and almost-fabulous-but-still-decent segue, this time into Steam.
7/26/14: Echo-y, plinko-style jam *after* Steam. Steam 'second jam'?!
7/26/14: Trey just goddamn nailed a segue into Mango Song. Great goats!
7/26/14: Mango Song was slightly extended, and led into the best live version of Sing Monica so far.
7/26/14: Late-set Light.
7/26/14: First few minutes of solid Type I Trey soloing, now we're in the chords-and-electric-piano space that the band loves lately.
7/26/14: Manteca-sounding piano from Page now.
7/26/14: This jam has chosen 'sexy swagger' as its direction and is sticking to it.
7/26/14: Page teasing 2001...and here we goooooooo
7/26/14: 2001 >
7/26/14: Trey digging into a riff here early on in the jam. Great interplay between him and Mike.
7/26/14: Trey developing the riff. This is EXACTLY what I was complaining about him not doing anymore yesterday. So happy now.
7/26/14: This shit might dethrone the 7/1 Hood for best of the year.
7/26/14: OH MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN YOU'RE KIDDING ME
7/26/14: Longest, if not most intense, Hood peak in the universe?
7/26/14: YOU CAN FEEL GOOD ABOUT HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD
#2000Tweets #phish
7/26/14: @phish, can we have a Hood like this one in Eugene, please? Thanks!
7/26/14: Julius'd, but who cares after that Hood?
7/26/14: Probably should have planned ahead and made tweet number 2001 happen during 2001.
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