The Oak Mountain show falls into the same category as many of these late-tour shows: basically, the first set is pretty rote and boring, the first half of the second set has some extra-high highlights, and then the fourth quarter settles into jukebox mode. It hearkens back to the standard show layout in earlier 3.0 shows, but with higher highs and just about similar lows. There's a much looser feel to the improvisation in these shows though, which almost makes it more frustrating when they yield such lackluster results, especially compared to pretty much all of the rest of '13 and '14.
The S1 Reba is better than average, and really the song selection and flow (I hate that word) throughout both sets is really consistent, the band is playing confidently and well throughout...but if you're listening to the whole tour, the only thing here to really note is the Carini > Ghost. But it's really damn good, so note the hell out of it.
The Live Review:
8/2/14: Bag opener in Pelham!8/2/14: Solid but short Bag, with a weirdly awkward segue into Poor Heart. Would have been cool if it'd worked :)
8/2/14: Cities! It's the second song in a row that Trey has started in the wrong key, but hey, it's Cities.
8/2/14: Trey mentions waiting to play Cities in/near Birmingham.
8/2/14: Trey is super excited. Maybe this will translate into something interesting in the first set?
8/2/14: Reba will do :)
8/2/14: Rote Possum > Sample. The guys have a strange way of showing excitement. Only notable bit so far is first few minutes of Reba jam.
8/2/14: Maze! Still walking the straight and narrow here, but Maze should give us a jolt of energy.
8/2/14: There was a pretty standard Funky Bitch in there, too.
8/2/14: Maze is one of those songs that just keeps getting better somehow.
8/2/14: And then there's Ocelot.
8/2/14: Ocelot doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it's a better version than most. If you're into that sort of thing.
8/2/14: Sparkle and Poor Heart are the new S1 staples, apparently.
8/2/14: Cavern.
8/2/14: Major duh moment in Cavern. Alas, no 'took our my cock' alternate lyrics.
8/2/14: *out
8/2/14: Wingsuit closer? Nice!
8/2/14: Am listening with ProjectM visualizations running in my second monitor. If I stop tweeting, it's because I had an epileptic seizure.
8/2/14: First time I heard Wingsuit, I was driving up into the Trinity Mountains to climb Mt. Eddy. Always think of that moment now.
8/2/14: Love Wingsuit, but S1 was flat-out boring. Carini opener in S2. Cranking volume to unacceptable levels, hoping for jamz.
8/2/14: Page injects a sick electric piano part into the jam just as ProjectM oozes black ink onto the screen. Neat!
8/2/14: This jam is oozing all over the place in the best way. Why do they even play first sets anymore when they can do this at will?
8/2/14: Nice > Ghost. Not quite a ->, but almost.
8/2/14: Oh shit this Ghost jam
8/2/14: Holy mother of Ghost, this is good.
8/2/14: Amazing Ghost jam gets butt-slammed by a Simple tease, but then goes into Mike's. Huh.
8/2/14: Shades of the Dick's Mike's jam here. Iiiiiinteresting.
8/2/14: THERE'S the Simple!
8/2/14: Simple jam is like almost all Simple jams, but I love this style so much it's okay. Mike is dominating this set.
8/2/14: Nice segue into Joy, even though it's Joy.
8/2/14: Short Groove, now Julius. It's going to be another one of those fourth quarters, isn't it?
8/2/14: Why does nobody ever cheer when Sand starts? That bassline alone deserves a scream or two.
8/2/14: Trey is leading the way here with some inventive soloing. Oh, now Page is adding some synth tones.
8/2/14: Pretty standard Sand, though, all told.
8/2/14: Neat little Page-segue into Wading.
8/2/14: Part of Trey's Velvet Sea solo was remarkably similar to one of my solos on a song I recorded a few years ago. That was weird.
8/2/14: Yay for YEM
8/2/14: Fantastic third quarter in this show, but I don't think this YEM is going to redeem the show at large, or even all of S2.
8/2/14: Weirdly, the YEM is pretty flat, but the vocal jam is amazing.
8/2/14: Quinn closer! Well, I loved about 30% of this show, then :)
8/2/14: 'Page, you're my hero!' on SBD at the end of Quinn. #crowdbanter #phish
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