The Verdict:
The second night at Dick's suffers a little from middle-night syndrome: with no huge standout jam like N1 and no monster of a second frame like N3, it pales a bit by comparison. But taken on its own, it's a really strong show.
The first set is long, and filled with a lot of well-played songs. While its setlist isn't nearly as eccentric as N1's first set, it's still strong enough to keep this mostly by-the-book set from coming off as "Been there, done that."
The "Free" opener is played better than "Free" usually gets in 3.0, and the run of (admittedly jukeboxy) songs up through "Rift" > "Sample" are played with high energy, and a few seem to be played even a bit faster than usual. "Devotion" gets stretched out to great effect, Trey shines for once on "Yarmouth Road," and the "Cavern" > "Bowie" pairing ends the set in style.
"DWD" opens the second set with a great, underrated jam that moves from rolling rock to 2.0 jazz, into a perfect -> "WTU?" segue. Neither "Carini" or "Light" is any kind of slouch either, though both jams barely pass the 10+ minute mark. The rest of the set, on paper, doesn't really communicate how effective it is. "Fuego" is pretty standard, but "Slave" is a beautifully melodic version, and the one-two punch of "Meatstick" and "Bold As Love" is a great close to the set.
This, of course, sets up the weird-but-great piano-only "The Horse," > "Silent," Trey's chat about and then brief tease of "In A Hole," and finally another "Fluffhead" encore.
There's no notably big moments to point to in this show like N1 and N3 have, but the show's overall effect is pretty darn near perfect.
There aren't really any good standalone videos of this show, so here, have the entire second set plus the encore:
The Live Review:
8/30/14: Free opener. Good times.
8/30/14: And the harmonies aren't totally terrible!
8/30/14: If you're going to open w/ Free, that's how you do it. High energy, > Moma.
8/30/14: Trey's soloing is extra-on tonight.
8/30/14: High tempo Moma, just like Free. Sounds good, though.
8/30/14: Halley's!
8/30/14: Actually really excited to relisten to this show. 8/29 and 8/31 I remember as being incredible, but I remember 8/30 less.
8/30/14: Funk echo from Trey on Halley's chords.
8/30/14: Fish switches up the beat to a rock-ier one, and the Halley's jam arguably goes Type II here for a minute or so. Neat.
8/30/14: > Stealing Time.8/30/14: Solid Stealing Time > 555.8/30/14: Trey sounds really on-point during this set. I don't really remember that from the show, but I'm happy about it.
8/30/14: > Rift!8/30/14: Rift > Sample is pretty cliche, but I love it anyway.
8/30/14: I'm never happy live when Devotion To a Dream starts up, but it always wins me over by the end.
8/30/14: No cheers for Yarmouth Road. Don't get it. Such a great song.
8/30/14: Trey's finally starting to find something to do in Yarmouth Road. Sparkle is next.
8/30/14: Okay, Sparkle, Wingsuit is a really weird pairing.
8/30/14: Seemed like the set would end here, but there's still a solid Bowie > Cavern to go, if I remember correctly.
8/30/14: NIce interplay between Trey and Mike at the beginning of the jam.
8/30/14: Trey doing a good job of building tension here, even if nobody else is working with him.
8/30/14: Okay, Fish is on board now.
8/30/14: Serious Cavern lyrical flubs. I love that Trey can't remember the words to this song, of all the songs.
8/30/14: High energy, LONG S1 there. Nothing to really complain about, but no notable standout performances either.
8/30/14: Did really like the song selection, though.
8/30/14: Call To the Post noodling > DWD to start S2.8/30/14: Don't remember this Disease jam at all. So far, Trey is propelling it in a bouncy rock direction.
8/30/14: Great Type I shredfest here.
8/30/14: Trey chording now, trying to drive the jam into a different direction. ASIHTOS-style tone.
8/30/14: Now it's a jazzy, almost 2.0-sounding jam. Love Fish's drumming.
8/30/14: Heavy WTU? teases.
8/30/14: And a butt-slam into What's the Use? So awesome. I'd forgotten about this, and that just shows how great Dick's must have been.
8/30/14: CAAAAAARIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
8/30/14: Aside from all the obvious awesome jamming, one of my favorite things about '13-'14 Phish is the liberal use of Carini. So good.
8/30/14: Mike is laying into this one early.
8/30/14: Lots of heavily distorted Type I guitar coming out of Trey here. Now a building riff.
8/30/14: Carini isn't getting super-weird, but Trey is conducting a really soaring melodic solo overtop of the usual.
8/30/14: Almost a fast Cities-sounding space now.
8/30/14: Trey jumps into Light, and Fish ALMOST keeps the jam beat going over it for awhile but succumbs. That would have been awesome.
8/30/14: Pretty standard Light jam gets weird at 7:30, as Fish drives it into a darker space and the others follow.
8/30/14: Trey on the echoplex things getting even weirder.
8/30/14: Blues-woo jam now.
8/30/14: Great arrhythmic close to the jam and > Fuego. Both that Carini and Light had standout sections worth hearing.
8/30/14: Pretty spotless transition into Slave, there, from Fuego.
8/30/14: Trey has a great melody line going early on in this Slave. The build is coming and going in waves. Mike is also on (melodic) fire.
8/30/14: Compact but really effective Slave there. The first one that's really stood out to me melodically for awhile.
8/30/14: MOET-STAQUE, GIMME IT
8/30/14: Meatstick gets butt-slammed perfectly into Bold As Love.
8/30/14: This is another one of those Phish shows where there isn't a standout moment, but the overall effect is pretty perfect.
8/30/14: Trey just shredded the hell out of that set-ending Bold As Love. Wow.
8/30/14: Piano version of The Horse, with Trey on vocals. I almost like this arrangement better.
8/30/14: Piano Horse, Silent, In A Hole banter, Fluff = great encore.
8/30/14: Between this and the Eugene encore, I've gotten some great ones this year.
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