I saw this show "live" on the free webcast when it happened and a relisten just reinforced my original opinion: it's a great tour-closing show in that it showcases a lot of different sides of what makes Phish such a great band and leaves off with an incredibly strong finish.
The first set features strong playing throughout and a better-than-average setlist. "Gin," "555," "The Line," "Vultures," and "BOTT," all stay within their usual confines, but are definitely notable versions despite that. "Gumbo" gets a neat little funk mini-jam, and hearing "FEFY" at all is just fantastic.
Compared to other "CDT"s this year, this one is noticeably short, but arguably gets further in less time than its forebears. It's really dark at first, and features some great melodic work from Page on electric piano before building momentum in a really satisfying way and becoming of my favorite "CDT"s in a year full of great ones. The segue into "Scents" is a bit abrupt, but the short jam that comes out of it is just breathtakingly delicate and great. "Twist" continues the tradition of minimalist, bluesy "Twist"s that's run for most of this year, and "Light" > "Harry Hood" is fantastic, first for the top-notch space jam in "Light" and second for the interplay between Trey and each other band member in "Hood," a version that also takes a unique path to the conclusion while finishing strong.
Then of course, just in case this show wasn't already a near-perfect balance of hits, technical prowess, serious jams, and awesome camaraderie, "Fluffhead" is in the encore slot. I couldn't help but think of Hampton '09 as they played and how far the music has come since then. Great stuff.
The Live Review:
8/3/14: Alright, last #phish show of summer tour '14 proper. Let's do this!
8/3/14: I remember watching this show on the free webcast and loving it. Let's hope the impression sticks through a relisten.
8/3/14: My Soul opener is a good start.
8/3/14: Trey and Page on fire during the opener.
8/3/14: Pretty satisfying Type I jam from Gin in the two-spot so far. Trey sounds a bit tentative.
8/3/14: Trey and Gin finish strong. Hot version of 555, now. Trey adding some interesting touches.
8/3/14: PEBLES AND MERBLES
8/3/14: Pebbles gets a few good licks from Trey based on the melody line.
8/3/14: The Line is next.
8/3/14: Particularly strong outro jam out of The Line, driven by Fishman.
8/3/14: Vultures!!!
8/3/14: Great outro jam here, too. Fish tearing it up.
8/3/14: Woo jam combined with Fish drum solo-ish. Pretty awesome.
8/3/14: FEFY. God damn, I love this song. Such great song selection here.
8/3/14: BOTT is next.
8/3/14: Trey and Page have some nice early interplay and then Trey shreds the shit out of the end of the jam. Solid version.
8/3/14: Taste is cool. I feel like this hasn't been as major of a player this year as it usually is. This version is just standard.
8/3/14: Gumbo is getting a nice little funk jam tagged on to the end.
8/3/14: Great jam, weird ending.
8/3/14: Solid take on Halfway To the Moon > Stealing Time. Starting to get a little jukeboxy, but still an above-average S1.
8/3/14: Trey just tossed some Stealing Time lyrics into Suzy.
8/3/14: What else would the last S2 of summer open with but CDT?
8/3/14: CDT jam starts heading off into the deep at 5:00.
8/3/14: Really gorgeous electric piano-led section starting around 7:30.
8/3/14: Really dark, building section at 10:00. Super cool. Mike is jumping on board.
8/3/14: Now building some excellent momentum out of the darkness. This is better than some of the longer CDTs from this year.
8/3/14: Trey sort of ripcorded that, but it's into Scents, so we'll call it even.
8/3/14: Really short but gorgeous Scents jam.
8/3/14: Twist!
8/3/14: Another one of those lazy, bluesy Twist jams. Love it.
8/3/14: Trey with some awesome rhythm work > great solo. Short but sweet version.
8/3/14: Perfect drop into a flubby Fuego intro.
8/3/14: Standard, sort-of-rough Fuego > The Wedge.
8/3/14: No giant Wedge jam, unfortunately. Nice version nonetheless with seamless > Light.
8/3/14: Light jam is benefiting from Trey's spooky chording. Now Mike it taking the wheel.
8/3/14: Darkness funk laden with Mike bombs. Perfect.
8/3/14: Got to admit I'm biased in already loving the shit out of this Hood. Relistening won't change anything.
8/3/14: Watching the band members trade solos during the webcast is my biggest #phish goosebumps moment so far while not at a live show.
8/3/14: My biggest while *at* a show was something like 11:00-36:00 of the Tahoe Tweezer :)
8/3/14: After the solo-trading, this becomes the most 'normal' Hood jam they've played in awhile. I don't mean that in a bad way.
8/3/14: Great peak, too.
8/3/14: First Tube is an excellent closer.
8/3/14: Gotta love the tour-closing Fluffhead.
8/3/14: Show was about how I remembered it. Above-average S1, S2 could have been jammed more, but ultimately satisfying.
8/3/14: CDT is quality, Scents and Twist are short but go some interesting places. Light is an average-great space jam, and the Hood is A+.
8/3/14: Okay, so maybe there's enough jamming and it's just a great show :)
8/3/14: The lack of focus on one HUGE jam as opposed to small moments of improv presages what's worked (and not) in fall tour, it seems.
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