2014-08-01 Orange Beach

The Verdict:
A bit like 7/30, the Orange Beach show is a show that starts off with a lackluster S1, but is redeemed in the end by an excellent second set.

That said, where the 7/30 S1 at least has a few novel songs to recommend from it, this S1 is pretty much full-on jukebox mode. There's another one of those recent and weird mini-explorations in "Tube," "Wolfman's" features some clever use of Trey's guitar loops, and "Curtis Loew" makes an appearance, but otherwise, there's nothing you haven't heard before.

S2 opens with a "Disease" that's just all energy. The band moves through a few distinct spaces in this jam, but Fish keeps the momentum rolling throughout, and they manage to create a 20 minute rock monster that, amazingly, doesn't really flag in energy for a second of its running time. Highly recommended.

There's a short but amazingly sweet "Tweezer" that's built mostly around a great improvised Trey riff but fades in the last few minutes into a really melodic coda. It's also a great version, and when we come back from a brief cool-down break, "Fuego" picks up the same riff and runs with it! It's pretty amazing. It ends with a great segue into "Slave," and the "Slave" > "2001" pair does a great job of setting up what eventually turns into a "Boogielope" mashup that just needs to be heard instead of described. Give this show a better first set and it's a contender for best of the year.

The Live Review:
8/1/14: CDT opener. I know they won't but how funny would it be if they jammed this for twenty minutes?

8/1/14: Moma Dance is S1, song two in the #phish show that plays eternally in heaven, I'm sure.

8/1/14: 555. Goddamn I love this song.

8/1/14: Oh, there was a Heavy Things in there, too, with some decent organ stuff.

8/1/14: Another solid-ish version of Rift here. Playing it all summer has obviously made them a bit better at hitting all the notes.

8/1/14: Page's fills have started to remind me more and more of '93 instead of '03.

8/1/14: Of course, just as I write that, Trey totally bombs out for 10-15 seconds :)

8/1/14: 46 Days next. So far, very jukebox-y setlist, but songs are being played with a little extra energy than usual.

8/1/14: I'm loving the little funk departures in Tube lately.

8/1/14: Devotion, Wolfman's. Still a fun S1, but weird to see such a plain setlist after some great song distribution in the last few shows.

8/1/14: Neat little echo bit from Trey in this Wolfman's.

8/1/14: Curtis Loew! That's better.

8/1/14: Curtis Loew aside, I'm pretty sure that closing with Free > Character Zero makes this a Normal First Set.

8/1/14: The whole thing is played with a consistent energy, but there's nothing here you haven't heard twenty times before.

8/1/14: S2 starts with Disease. Even the jam slot is a jukebox song :)

8/1/14: First few minutes of Disease jam is Type I, but awesomely kinetic. If they keep this momentum up, this jam is going to be fantastic.

8/1/14: Descending into some really spacey Mike-based territory, but Fish is keeping the beat rolling.

8/1/14: Great switch to all-out rock mania now. Awesome, awesome.

8/1/14: Wow, they really did just stick with that all the way through. Great jam.

8/1/14: I think Trey tried to pull a clever > Theme and it didn't work that well.

8/1/14: Tweezer! Is there such a thing as a jukebox S2? :)

8/1/14: Okay, this Tweezer is no joke. Building on a great Trey riff.

8/1/14: Really, really cool melodic coda tagged on to the end of this Tweezer jam. Back into another build...

8/1/14: Okay, I've been forgiving with the ripcords this year, but that > Caspian was fucking murder. Tweezer jam was going places still.

8/1/14: Waiting All Night. Love this song, too.

8/1/14: FuEGo! Can a show be a jukebox show and have awesome jams simultaneously? My worldview trembles in the shadow of Orange Beach!

8/1/14: Fuego jam reprises the riff Trey made up for Tweezer. Yes!

8/1/14: EXCELLENT segue into Slave immediately after.

8/1/14: Smooth Slave > 2001 transition.

8/1/14: Boogie!

8/1/14: Strange Boogie/Antelope hybrid rearing its head.

8/1/14: I'm going to insist that this goes on the setlist as Boogie On -> Antelope -> Boogie On -> Antelope -> Boogie On -> Antelope.

8/1/14: Way extended tease of something I didn't recognize.

8/1/14: For some reason, I find Bouncin' encores charming instead of annoying. All that time spent listening to 90s tapes, maybe?

8/1/14: Someone singing something during Tweeprise. Fish? Can't tell what he's saying.


8/1/14: So...that second set was better than it looked on paper. Wow.

2014-07-30 Portsmouth II

The Verdict:
On the second night in Portsmouth, the song selection partially saves the first set. There's a exceptionally well-played "Gin" opener, and the rest is pretty by-the-book. If you love "It's Ice,"  "Mountains in the Mist," "Meat," "Yarmouth Road," and "Guelah Papyrus" like I do, you'll enjoy it. If not, it's just another first set.

The second set starts off with another monster "Fuego." This one goes the darkness-funk route, sounding almost like an old-school TAB trio jam for awhile before making a break for rock-bliss-woo territory. It's a great addition to the jammed-out "Fuego" collection. "Meatstick" gets extended into a funk jam which segues nicely into a "Piper" funk jam. Sort of like the through-theme of the 7/18 show or the 8/31 show, all these songs hang on the funk and it's a great run of songs for it. "Piper" eventually gets loopy and weird, and then lands in "Billy Breathes," which just makes my goddamn day. The rest of the set is jamless, but there are still some gems: "Seven Below," "First Tube," and a "Lizards" encore. All in all, some excellent jams and continued song selection make this an excellent set and more than makes up for the lackluster first half.

The Live Review:
7/30/14: Second night in Portsmouth. Gin opener.

7/30/14: Pretty swanky Type I jam emerging here.

7/30/14: Devotion gets nicely extended with a Dead-esque jam.

7/30/14: One of the better live Yarmouth Roads by Phish there.

7/30/14: Early Guelah Papyrus is a nice setlist surprise.

7/30/14: Alaska is Alaska. Another cool funk breakdown in It's Ice.

7/30/14: MOUNTAINS IN THE MIST

7/30/14: I sort of like this song in case that wasn't obvious.

7/30/14: Mellow Mountains jam > Meat. Loving the setlist here.

7/30/14: They threw a Stealing Time at me just because I said that.

7/30/14: David Bowie, presumably to close the set.

7/30/14: Nothing really interesting or weird in this Bowie, but Trey leading the way in a solid Type I version.

7/30/14: Bowie has been a bit of a slacker this summer; this is one of the better versions. Still trouble getting to the peak, though.

7/30/14: If they'd nailed the Bowie, this could have been an exceptional S1. As it is, still quite good. Nice song selection, solid playing.

7/30/14: S2 kicks off with Fuego. I'm still not sick of this song.

7/30/14: Early on, Trey is playing with the Fuego riff to great effect.

7/30/14: Turn to evil darkness funk on a dime at 9:00.

7/30/14: Fish playing a big role here. Like where this is going.

7/30/14: Page on clav now.

7/30/14: This is almost like a TAB jam. But with Fish on drums.

7/30/14: Late in the jam, Trey pulls a happy little riff out of the air and suddenly everyone's in almost-woo mode.

7/30/14: That last bit didn't get developed much. Fade out now, > Jibboo.

7/30/14: Don't think I've heard a crowd cheer that much for Jibboo since the early 2000s.

7/30/14: MEetStACk

7/30/14: Meetstack takes an immediate left turn into a filthy funk jam. Nice!

7/30/14: Mike teases Fuego riff in the funk jam.

7/30/14: Big build now.

7/30/14: Sort of weird segue into Piper. Jam was fading out, though.

7/30/14: Piper goes straight back into the funk. This set is reminding me of 8/31.

7/30/14: This jam sounds like a Maze jam now.

7/30/14: Trey's doing some seriously wild and cool stuff with loops in this jam.

7/30/14: Another late-jam turn into bliss space, thanks this time to Page's organ.

7/30/14: Fadeout lands in Billy Breathes! One of my absolute favorite #phish rarities.

7/30/14: Seven Below! It's like they're reading my personal greatest hits list.

7/30/14: Staying Type I, but great work from Trey. Might also just be the EQ, but Mike is dominating on the last few songs.

7/30/14: Right into Waste, which is nice.

7/30/14: Number Line. We're getting an excess of lyrical schmaltz here at the end of the set. Not that I mind, really.

7/30/14: Trey is powering the Number Line jam with that high-powered strumming he's been using in this song lately.

7/30/14: First Tube is getting more play lately. Good to see.
Gonna take another review vacation soon. Gotta relisten to the Island Tour. it's been too long.

7/30/14: A Lizards encore is the best encore.

7/30/14: Probably sacrilege, I know, but I might like this second set better than 7/27's.

7/30/14: Great centerpiece jam, consistent funk theme throughout the first half, great song choices, solid finish, no slacking on any song.

2014-07-29 Portsmouth I

The Verdict:
This show definitely falls in the same company as CMAC and Northerly II for me. It's an early-3.0-style show in the sense that it's mostly well-played, straightforward takes on "greatest hits"-type songs, with one big jam thrown in at the beginning of the second set. It's certainly not a bad show when it comes to shows of this type, but it feels like we've moved a bit beyond this template this far into 2014, and as a result 7/29 feels like a regression.

S1 has some interesting setlist choices ("Timber" opener, "GTBT" to close), but what you see is what you get, except for the "Melt," which deviates from the typical style outro jam to deliver something a little more smoothly undulating and strange. This is actually probably the jam highlight of the night.


The second set is, at first glance, all about the "Chalkdust," which is another monster version. For whatever reason, though, in a summer packed with extended "Chalkdust"s, this one didn't do much for me. It starts off promisingly enough, but then falls into that change-styles-every-three-minutes trap, and as a result it never develops in an interesting way. If the show ever elevates beyond the "Not very good" level of 7/15 or 7/19 to the "Not quite good enough" level of 7/16 or 7/25, though, it's in the rest of this set. "If I Could" features a short, beautiful outro jam, "ASIHTOS" breaks into a funk beat of all things near the end, and the "Caspian" > "Waves" sandwich inside of "Mike's" is more interesting than it has any right to be, considering the short running time of both songs. "Groove" lives up to its name and goes straight to yet another funk jam, and the encore is brilliantly chosen. If you can appreciate the little jamlets the guys have been recently throwing into shorter songs without needing a super-deep big jam to anchor the set, you might actually really enjoy this one. To me, it's still a backward step, but it's by no means uninspired.

The Live Review:
7/29/14: Timber opener. Is it just me, or are setlists way more interesting this year than anytime lately?

7/29/14: I mean, there are a lot of repeats, sure, but also lots more songs in unexpected places.

7/29/14: Nice Page and Trey interplay for an opening song. Good sign.

7/29/14: Straightforward Undermind. Trey providing some nice guitar lines, though.

7/29/14: Mellow-y beginning to 555. Bluesier than usual?

7/29/14: I have not tweeted for awhile because Divided Sky is happening. Solid, up-tempo, rolling version.

7/29/14: Once again, nothing great happening here, but good song selection. Like 7/27 S1 all over again. Halfway To the Moon is next.

7/29/14: There was an Ocelot in there somewhere, too.

7/29/14: So far, it sounds like trey might have finally learned how to stay the hell out of the way during a Page song.

7/29/14: I like Ocelot and KDF in theory, but when they both show up in the same set...bad news, man.

7/29/14: Split! Redemption for this immaculate-but-boring set?

7/29/14: Melt jam getting satisfactorily loopy (literally).

7/29/14: Once again, they've left behind the usual Split outro, which make-a me happy.

7/29/14: And now, back to it for the exciting conclusion!

7/29/14: Having a great jam like this at the end almost makes a set like this more frustrating.

7/29/14: GTBT set closer. What's with using all these show-ending songs at the end of the first set lately? Like it.

7/29/14: S2 opens with CDT. Haven't heard this version yet.

7/29/14: Trey conjures up a neat, bouncy riff almost right away as the jam starts.

7/29/14: Continuing at length here in the 'bouncy' vein. Lots of organ/electric piano. Slowly switching to Trey-chording.

7/29/14: Mike leading a funk-like section now with his bubble-bass.

7/29/14: Fade out. I'll be honest, compared to some of the others from this year, that didn't do much for me.

7/29/14: Not coherent, too many sections. Some nice interplay, but generally just sort of all over the place.

7/29/14: > If I Could, though, which is awesome!

7/29/14: Great little jam here, with Trey and Page riffing off of the outro part.

7/29/14: The Line is probably not the best follow-up to If I Could.

7/29/14: Birds of a Feather. I haven't called the 'jukebox set' for awhile, but I think we might hit it here.

7/29/14: Every time the guys start ASIHTOS and they all start singing in the wrong key, my blood pressure spikes.

7/29/14: Mini space jam in Birds and some interesting chording in ASIHTOS is keeping this from being firmly in greatest hits territory.

7/29/14: Okay, this is a pretty neat melodic jam in Caspian, too.

7/29/14: Waves has an interesting fade-out, with a nice sort-of segue into Groove.

7/29/14: Immediate funk jam in Groove, with 'Shock the Monkey!' lyrics.

7/29/14: CAEVRON!.

7/29/14: Golgi next. We've fully embraced the jukebox at this point.

7/29/14: I'm going out on a fucking limb and guessing that they're going to close with Antelope.

7/29/14: STUNNAR

7/29/14: First time for Wingsuit in the encore slot?

7/29/14: Wingsuit > Coil.

7/29/14: A bit conflicted on this show. More thoughts later on the blog.

2014-07-27 MPP II

The Verdict:
So, I finally got to the much-hyped 7/27 show. I "watched" this show unfold live over Twitter and have since wondered if it could possibly be as amazing as those reacting live made it sound.

Well, it's not. I imagine this has a lot to do with the fact that seguefest-style shows are always more amazing in the moment, and a huge part of what makes them amazing is the surprise. Knowing what's coming next, seeing that after 1:43 of "BOTT" there's going to be more "Tweezer," makes it less awesome and less mysterious to listen to on tape than seeing "23:20" after "Disease" and being excited to play the track and see what happens during the jam, even if someone on Twitter already told you it's a badass funk jam.

So, yeah. S2 is clever, and fun. I honestly expected tunes like "BOTT" and "Free" to get full run-throughs, and it was hilarious to hear how little of them were played before the band jumped back into "Tweezer." Most of the segues were excellently done, and the only ones that seemed a bit forced were a few of the ones that came up after it was clear that Tweezerfest was going to be a thing, so it's hard to be put off by that. Wrapping back around to finish "Free" after abandoning it for "Tweezer" was brilliant. The eight-minute "Tweezer" jam before "Waiting All Night" was great. "Slave" was a great landing pad for the entire thing, and "Disease -> NICU" was short but surprisingly sweet, with a great segue and then the sudden funk jam that begins the closing goofball sequence. This section in particular was just sort of silly and awkward on tape, but it's hard to imagine it wasn't amazing as it was playing out. I mean, "Jennifer Dances," even a butchered, half-ass version with Fish rhyming "this song" with "my dong"? The playing is top-notch throughout this set, too, and the band definitely doesn't just coast to the finish, as "Boogie On" in the encore slot is given a weird, spacey treatment, at least from Trey.

The opening frame drags things down a bit, as the guys' setlist experimentation went a little awry for me. Lots of great song choices, but it still felt a bit like the first time I tried to drive a stick shift. "Sand" is probably the improvisational highlight from the set, and hearing "YEM" to close was a nice surprise. But, for the most part, these are normal songs being played normally, and the setlist surprises aren't as good as they look on paper ("The Curtain With" is flub-heavy, for example, and "Saw It Again" clocks in under four minutes).

For me, this show has one of the weaker S1s in awhile, and while the setlist shenanigans are neat, when the boys are jamming as well as they've been lately, it's actually sort of disappointing to see a whole second set given over to setlist antics. They've melded the jamming and segueing well a few times recently, and I think I would have been happier if we'd gotten another of those shows. That said, there's no doubt in my mind that if I'd made it to MPP in person this year, this set would have been my hands-down favorite moment of the summer.

The Live Review:
7/27/14: Fee to open.

7/27/14: Trey, over the megaphone, at the end of the song 'Wait, I think I forgot the nectarine line...' Band obliging plays it through.

7/27/14: Curtain!

7/27/14: Trey struggling a bit with this version, but With is still always nice.

7/27/14: Early 46 Days is next.

7/27/14: I haven't listened to any #phish in a few days and this is a good reminder of how awesome 555 is.

7/27/14: My Sweet One. So far, loving the song selection.

7/27/14: Loopy-weird Sand. If this gets some traction, it's going to make this set even more awesome.

7/27/14: Okay, a pretty mellow Sand that stretched just slightly out there. But a good sign for things to come nonetheless.

7/27/14: Bouncin' comes next, of all things. But then a standalone Saw It Again!

7/27/14: Short Saw It Again, quick > Fuego from Page.

7/27/14: Short Fuego, but then...first set YEM?! What's going on?

7/27/14: Great Trey and Mike interplay on the YEM outro jam. Now Trey playing with his megaphone siren w/ the vocal jam.

7/27/14: Wilson > Tweezer to start what I'm sure will be a glorious second set.

7/27/14: Weird little funk break at 2:15. Back to the Tweezer riff and verse.

7/27/14: Fish initiates a great segue into a high-tempo BOTT.

7/27/14: Just one verse of BOTT, then back into Tweezer.

7/27/14: Aaaaaand right back into BOTT. Crowd goes nuts. Love it.

7/27/14: Trey cracking up.

7/27/14: Another verse of BOTT and straight into the Tweezer jam.

7/27/14: Loopy, Mike-heavy jam developing now.

7/27/14: This is developing really well. Page building volume, Trey putting some great chording together.

7/27/14: Now they've hit on some bizarre reggae/salsa/space robot hybrid jam space.

7/27/14: Great placement of Waiting All Night at the end of that jam fadeout.

7/27/14: Right at the beginning of the Free jam, Trey goes back into Tweezer. Nice quick adjustment by Page to make that make sense.

7/27/14: Trey just fucking butt-slammed into Simple. Awesome.

7/27/14: Simple breakdown. Page on electric piano. Sounds great.

7/27/14: Now Mike's running the show...and a build back into Tweezer!

7/27/14: Mike leads a segue back into Free! What the hell is going on?!

7/27/14: Free is not the end...Trey keeps strumming the last chord...and...Catapult!

7/27/14: Catapult > Slave.

7/27/14: Slave is the perfect breather at the end of this madness.

7/27/14: Late-set Disease initiated by Mike. Interested to see if they do anything with this after the seguefest.

7/27/14: Disease jam does an interesting slowdown, then lurches back up to speed as Fishman takes over.

7/27/14: Clavs and drums.

7/27/14: Brilliant segues just keep on coming as Disease -> NICU.

7/27/14: Not sure if Fish is doing something weird with the drums here or if he's just gotten lost.

7/27/14: Based on his previous track record, I'll suspect the former.

7/27/14: Trey is now trying to start an NICU jam. Like, a real one. This show just doesn't stop.

7/27/14: Little Under Pressure action going on here.

7/27/14: This 'jam' is slowly morphing into HYHU!

7/27/14: Fish is out on the carpet, now. He knows no words to anything b/c he forgot to practice 'any songs.'

7/27/14: Fish sings the first two lines of Jennifer Dances, then 'That's all the words I know to this song / Uh...my dong.'

7/27/14: Chorus now being sung over a vacuum solo. Clearly the Tweezerfest propelled the guys all the way back to '93. > HYHU.

7/27/14: Banter leads into I Been Around.

7/27/14: Little Tweezer tease at the end of I Been Around.

7/27/14: Boogie On for the encore!

7/27/14: Some surprisingly weird, spacey, loopy guitar from Trey on Boogie On. Mike holds down the funk end. Neat juxtaposition.

7/27/14: > Tweeprise, of course.

7/27/14: Hate to harp on 'flow,' whatever that is, but despite great song selections, S1 is totally lacking it. Sand, YEM highlights.

7/27/14: Tweezerfest was fun and nicely executed, but probably more exciting live than on tape. Missed the jams hiding under the surface.