The Verdict:
I always find it a little difficult to review a three-set show just because there's so much music to listen to and the expectations are always significantly different than they are for a typical two-set show. So it's even more difficult to try to review a four-set show...but I'll try anyway.
So the really short version is that this is a day's worth of monster Phish, and calling it anything other than amazing by the standards of any era would be understating the case. The slightly longer version is that the first set is about ninety minutes of Jukebox-Mode letdown after 8/21's awesome start. But then things get good quick after that and stay that way all the way up through the mind-boggling Drive-In Jam.
There isn't much to say about S1 that isn't already in the review below. The "Divided Sky" opener is a nice touch, and the out-of-the-box "Antelope" that closes the set is a taste of things to come. A lot of what's between is rarities, but the set flows so oddly that every moment of high-energy playing is sapped almost immediately by a bewildering setlist call. All in all, it doesn't hold a candle to 8/21's S1.
S2 starts off slowly, actually, but gets rolling with a "46 Days" that's one of my favorite jams of the year. It follows the now-typical loops -> build -> bliss jam structure, but does so at a slower tempo and with some interesting variations on the theme. Obviously, the other highlight is the "Tweezerpants" that closes the set. Honestly, I didn't find as much to like in this as I did in the "46 Days" or the "Blaze On" from S3, but who's to complain about an echo-funk'd "Tweezer" followed by a legitimate jam out of "Caspian"?
There are a lot of shows where the band just sort of fades out during the third set, presumably because it's real damn hard to play awesome music for over four hours. But this show isn't one of those. As if S2 wasn't already one of the best - if not the best - set of the year, S3 brings the year's best "Blaze On" jam, which sets up a great loop 'n' echo jam style that then gets carried through into "Possum," "Cities," and, to a lesser degree, a monster "Light." The set ends in typical fashion, but it's easily the equal of S2, probably better. Then there's the Drive-In Set. You can start S3 at 2:54:00 in the video below:
The Drive-In Set is probably best recounted by just reading the tweet review. Suffice to say that it's over fifty minutes of mostly dark, sometimes creepy Phish, with some added samples from (I assume) Page that we haven't heard before, a lot of weird vocal jamming, and a lot of exploration of the sound that began in Bend with "Simple."
Small complaints about the opening set aside, this show is an embarrassment of riches. There's no other way to put it.
The Live Review:
8/22/15: Definitely not going to make it all the way through this marathon show today, but I can at least get started!
8/22/15: Divided Sky opener. That's a good omen.
8/22/15: A little slower than usual, but seems appropriate.
8/22/15: DSky openers in the summer should be a little languid.
8/22/15: Extra-long pause.
8/22/15: Extended outro jam, too, with lots of Trey chording after what seemed like it was going to be the end.
8/22/15: Now that everyone's well and truly fired up...the Moma Dance.
8/22/15: I really like Trey's addition of the echo effect to Moma.
8/22/15: Now Fish messing w/ the outro vocals.
8/22/15: I'm going to Go There and say MSG or '16 Moma Dance will get at least one serious jam.
8/22/15: Just feels like they're begging to bust this one open.
8/22/15: Don't know if they can outdo this one, though: https://t.co/vHqgB9yLVf
8/22/15: > Mound.
8/22/15: Army Of One! Great song!
8/22/15: Scabbard! I love this song, but have to admit that it sounds a little bare when Phish plays it.
8/22/15: Though the electric outro is neat, as opposed to the acoustic one on the album and w/ TAB.
8/22/15: Trey is having serious trouble playing the song right now, which is sort of a problem.
8/22/15: Tiny little solo from Trey during the outro, then > Sample.
8/22/15: Tuuuuube...
8/22/15: Tube going in the now-typical echo-funk direction.
8/22/15: Would like to make a comp of all the echo-funk jams from Dick's '14 on. Maybe over Christmas.
8/22/15: And all the jams from this year that spawned from the Bend Simple. Echo-funk comp and EVIL comp.
8/22/15: Halfway To the Moon. Weird...this set started strong, but is just sort of falling into Usual Set Mode.
8/22/15: Err...Usual S1 Mode.
8/22/15: Camel Walk!
8/22/15: A few neat songs in the second half of this set, but is pretty much just a grab-bag set post-Mound.
8/22/15: Or post-the-opener, if you want to be a little more cynical.
8/22/15: How Many People Are You? Love it! Wanna see this getting jammed, too.
8/22/15: Great outro with a Trey solo and Mike/Fish overlapping vocals.
8/22/15: When The Circus Comes is next.
8/22/15: Undermind w/ echo chords.
8/22/15: Page going to friggin' town on the organ.
8/22/15: Undermind > Antelope.
8/22/15: Angry build in Antelope. Interesting.
8/22/15: Now getting loopy and bubbly, sort of like the Dick's SOAM.
8/22/15: Quickly back out, and now back into the normal Antelope jam.
8/22/15: Where was the band that's playing this Antelope come from and where is the band that played the first 90% of this set buried?
8/22/15: *did
8/22/15: Loop build now.
8/22/15: That was a weird set. Really long. Lots of neat song choices. But absolutely no flow whatsoever. Totally weird.
8/22/15: The Antelope was really the only thing that will be getting a relisten.
8/22/15: But, now it's time for MF'N set two.
8/22/15: S2 kicks off with Wolfman's.
8/22/15: Echo funk Wolfman's jam!
8/22/15: This is awesome. Sometimes it sort of seems like the guys are leaning on 2-3 jam styles for all the '15 jams, but...
8/22/15: ...they're so good I don't care that much.
8/22/15: Halley's is next. Standard version, Trey seemed to be trying to do something with the end. Light, maybe?
8/22/15: Either way, full stop and landing in 46 Days.
8/22/15: Pitch-shifted semi-madness is going on in this jam.
8/22/15: This is not your older brother's 46 Days.
8/22/15: We're only six minutes in and we've explored two legitimately weird spaces already.
8/22/15: Jam is mellowing a little, but Trey is keeping his bizarro tone.
8/22/15: Now super chilled out, Trey and Mike adding some melody lines over a synth buzz.
8/22/15: Gorgeous guitar riff from Trey.
8/22/15: Doing the usual mellow-to-bliss jam thing, but more slowly than usual.
8/22/15: Wind-down finally lands in Number Line.
8/22/15: Fantastic jam. Listening to that again on the way home.
8/22/15: Number Line sounds more like an '09 or '10 version instead of the usual high-neck noodling jams that have been happening lately.
8/22/15: Nevermind. Here we go.
8/22/15: > Tweezer. I've been waiting to hear this for a LOOOONG time.
New review: 2015-08-21 Magnaball I https://t.co/e0LmDM2MTo #phish #summer2015 #magnaball
8/22/15: Jam starts all funky and rubber-bandy. That's literally the best way I can explain it right now. I had a long night.
8/22/15: In case anyone was wondering when Phish would get around to applying the echo funk jam to Tweezer, today's your day.
8/22/15: Moving from the funk into something more fast-paced and lighter. Page jazzing it up on the piano.
8/22/15: Great playing from Trey propels the jam a bit, keeps that slow build from becoming *too* slow.
8/22/15: Wind down from another great jam.
8/22/15: > Caspian
8/22/15: Some more noodling from Trey after the usual Caspian ending.
8/22/15: Now fading a bit with a blues riff.
8/22/15: Trey funking out his tone.
8/22/15: Really deconstructed echo-funk going on now.
8/22/15: It's sort of like the usual type, but more distorted and approaching arrhythmic.
8/22/15: Coming out of the funk now, into an awesome Trey solo.
8/22/15: Massive descending riff and synth bombs now. Holy shit that got big fast.
8/22/15: Huge wind-down to end the Tweezer > Caspian sequence.
8/22/15: Short set, but end of S2. I'll be back later with the rest. I'm tired.
8/22/15: Marathon show continues. Meatstick opener for S3.
8/22/15: Slow-build Meatstick intro. That was fun.
8/22/15: Blaze On next.
8/22/15: Outro jam to Blaze On. Sort of sounds like an Undermind jam. Page tearing it up on the piano.
8/22/15: Getting a little spacier. Trey hits on a neat riff that propels Page over to the electric piano.
8/22/15: Building into some dark funk now. I like where this is going.
8/22/15: This is sort of like an evil reprise of the Blaze On progression, with Page laying down a fantastic electric piano solo over it.
8/22/15: Stop-start jam now. Suprised at the lack of woos.
8/22/15: *Surprised
8/22/15: Pitch shifter has arrived.
8/22/15: This jam is definitely going on the 2015 highlight reel.
8/22/15: Surprised to hear so much about the Tweezerpants and so little about this. I like this way better.
8/22/15: God, it's like I'm Willy Wonka on that fucking boat.
8/22/15: This is my review of this jam. https://t.co/X2Mpo3Lr2Z
8/22/15: This is the second part of my review. https://t.co/YRzHdt71Ps
8/22/15: NICE landing in Possum, somehow.
8/22/15: Trey teasing the Blaze On jam in the Possum intro. The. Fuck.
8/22/15: Another great turn on the piano for Page during Possum.
8/22/15: Great call-and-response between Trey and Page now.
8/22/15: This is my favorite Possum in a really long time. Don't let the length fool you.
8/22/15: > Cities!
8/22/15: Actually, that was more of a -B Cities.
8/22/15: More rock and less funk than usual in this Cities.
8/22/15: Wouldn't be surprised to see the jam go the echo-funk route.
8/22/15: Nope, they're bringing back the loops from Blaze On, and we're back on Wonka's boat.
8/22/15: Jam winds down on an angry note sort of similar to the 6/17/04 Moma Dance.
8/22/15: Trey makes the logical > Light. Thought I wish they would have drawn out that anger-jamming a bit more.
8/22/15: Trey almost completely avoids the Endless Arpeggios section of the Light jam this time and starts w/ melody soloing.
8/22/15: Oh, okay. The Endless Arpeggios were just delayed, not cancelled.
8/22/15: Almost sounds like Blaze On now.
8/22/15: Now it's Space Manteca.
8/22/15: Loops from the previous set's jams come back in a big way.
8/22/15: Reminds me a little of 8/31/14 S2.
8/22/15: Only better.
8/22/15: Fade out leads into 555, which seems like just the weirdest goddamn song choice ever right here.
8/22/15: Unless they're going to jam it for fifteen minutes, that is.
8/22/15: Standard 555 with slightly more echo and some extra mustard on the outro solo.
8/22/15: Velvet Sea.
8/22/15: Gorgeous, gorgeous version of Velvet Sea. Wow. Trey's solo more like a Reba solo.
8/22/15: Piano-only segue > Walls.
8/22/15: There might have been a little extra shredding at the end of that Walls.
8/22/15: Boogie On(core)!
8/22/15: Pretty standard, slightly echo-y Boogie On > Tweeprise.
I'll do the Drive-In Jam later. Gotta go hand out an exam.
8/22/15: Okay, here we go with S4. I imagine I'm missing a bit by not watching the video, but for now I'm just reviewing based on audio.
8/22/15: Eerie synth and bass to start. Could be like an extended Bowie intro from the 90s.
8/22/15: More creepy droning.
8/22/15: I'm not sure where these sounds are coming from, but I hope nobody in the crowd is on drugs.
8/22/15: Because I would be shitting myself.
8/22/15: I sure hope nobody is on drugs at this Phish concert.
8/22/15: Screaming samples and carnival music. Hold me.
8/22/15: Water samples. Processed vocals from the band now.
8/22/15: Slowly becoming a little melodic at the 10 minute mark.
8/22/15: Circular riff from Mike, melody from Trey, Fish picking up with a clear rhythm.
8/22/15: This could sort of be an extended WTU? jam. Sounds similar to it.
8/22/15: Mike taking the lead now.
8/22/15: Brass bell samples.
8/22/15: Mike's bass has the same tone as the bass in the background music for Doom 2.
8/22/15: Tempo picking up now.
8/22/15: This has been twenty minutes of straight evil so far. Not the direction I expected them to go at all.
8/22/15: But I'm digging it.
8/22/15: Getting more rock-like now, but with creepy Fish screams.
8/22/15: Bell samples keep coming in at odd times. Maybe the weirdest part of this whole set.
8/22/15: More driving riff now, over the bells.
8/22/15: Page on organ now. Almost sounds like 2001.
8/22/15: Getting a little spacier around 37:00.
8/22/15: Lots of Bend Simple-style drone chords from Trey throughout this jam.
8/22/15: More vocal jamming now.
8/22/15: Cool! The jam is ending more or less the same way that it started.
Dec 9, 2015
Dec 8, 2015
2015-08-21 Magnaball I
The Verdict:
The guys waste no time whatsoever, and as a result the first show of Magnaball is one of the best of the year.
It starts with my favorite first set of the year so far, and that starts with a legitimate "Simple" jam. Rather than sticking in the usual "Simple" space, it gets dark quick and stays there for a few satisfying minutes. Then, there's a full "The Dogs," and a "TMWSIY" > "Avenu" > "TMWSIY" sequence. The middle of the set is pretty standard, minus a rough-but-fun "Mock Song," and then a 23-minute "Gin" that could make an easy argument for most interesting jam of the year comes the fuck out of nowehere. And that's just the first set.
The second set doesn't exactly stand in the upper echelon from this year, but it's close. The opening "Chalkdust" is almost a reprise of the "Gin" jam, with a little more darkness tingeing its edges. "Ghost" is absolutely weird, but I really enjoyed it. It gets almost atonal in the way that the 8/16 "Light" did, and is really unique even amongst the tall pile of huge jams this year. "Rock and Roll" doesn't build a trifecta of Out There jams, but it's an impressive shredfest up until a tiny funk bit that gets tacked on to the end, which keeps the energy going until "Hood," which features a staccato Type II section in the tradition of the best "Hood"s of last year. The rest of the set stays in predictable territory, but, damn, a show that's absolutely off the wall for its first three quarters is worth a spot on The 2015 List. Looking forward to the rest of the festival!
I linked to the third video below because you should totally just watch at least the first half of the second set. If you want to, skip ahead to 1:26:00.
The Live Review:
8/21/15: Simple opener. Nice choice.
8/21/15: Fuzz jam building underneath normal Simple jam. Holy shit, they're getting started early.
8/21/15: Now a really cool beat from Fish is propelling a moody, dark jam.
8/21/15: Winds down into > The Dogs.
8/21/15: Full version of The Dogs.
8/21/15: Holy. Shit. TMWSIY. Holy. Shit.
8/21/15: > Avenu Malkenu
8/21/15: I already understand why everyone thought Magnaball was better than Dick's.
8/21/15: > TMWSIY.
8/21/15: Free is next. Standard Free, afterward, Trey welcomes everyone to the festival.
8/21/15: Aww, crowd singing Happy Birthday to Eliza.
8/21/15: The Wedge.
8/21/15: Pretty standard The Wedge, but now Mock Song! One of my absolute favorite Phish rarities.
8/21/15: High tempo version.
8/21/15: It's fun to hear Mike forget lyrics for once :)
8/21/15: In his defense, they're playing the song *really* damn fast.
8/21/15: Neat replacement lyrics about Phish festivals.
8/21/15: Rough version of Mock Song, but still great to hear it. Now Roggae.
8/21/15: Typically great 2015 Roggae > Rift.
8/21/15: For a song that they've continued to play + struggle with despite having admitted that they continue to play + struggle with it...
8/21/15: ...that was a fun Rift.
8/21/15: Gin! Jam is already getting dirty early on.
8/21/15: Out of the dirty jam now and into an almost jazzy space. Page on electric piano.
8/21/15: We're only halfway through the running time of this jam and it's already highlight-reel stuff.
8/21/15: Holy shit, premature video post: https://t.co/VvXRPx9g9u
8/21/15: A Weekapaug-like groove (heh) emerging now.
8/21/15: Now Mike is driving. There are all sorts of spaces in this jam, but the transitions between them are pure butter.
8/21/15: Big, energetic peak build now. This is some Tahoe Tweezer shit.
8/21/15: Easy top-ten-of-2015 jam here.
8/21/15: Might be willing to go top-five if you gave me a few hours to do relistens :)
8/21/15: End set.
8/21/15: Second set opens with Chalkdust.
8/21/15: Trey going almost immediately to the song-ending riff.
8/21/15: Jam starts after the song 'end,' like is has a few times this year.
8/21/15: Trey laying down an awesome melody solo over some jazzy rhythm work.
8/21/15: Pitch-shifted soloing now.
8/21/15: Angry space into hard-edged rock now. The way they're shifting spaces quickly is similar to the Gin jam.
8/21/15: Echo-funk time!!!
8/21/15: Extended wind-down jam now. Sort of reminds me of 2009, but better.
8/21/15: That CDT was Diet Jamming compared to S1's Gin, but it's still a great entry in the massive log of great jams from this year.
8/21/15: Trey might have just teased WTU?
8/21/15: Well, whether he did or not, he pulls a > Ghost instead.
8/21/15: Trey is already riding the echo, even in the composed part of the song.
8/21/15: That drop was...joyously mangled.
8/21/15: Almost sounds a bit like No Quarter now.
8/21/15: Really distorted, echo-y jam.
8/21/15: I'm hearing WTU? teases again, but that might just be me.
8/21/15: Almost atonal now. Really, really weird.
8/21/15: Whoa. This is a really weird, broiling sort of sound now.
8/21/15: The Gin, CDT, and esp. Ghost have been great not just because they are long jams...
8/21/15: ...but also b/c the guys are obviously trying to push beyond even the 'typically' great types of jams they've been playing all year
8/21/15: Whoa! Great building jam at the end there, and a perfect segue into Rock and Roll.
8/21/15: Rock and Roll is just a flat-out shredfest.
8/21/15: Okay, now we're in a soupy funk space. The speed that they're moving from one idea to another today is amazing.
8/21/15: > Hood. A sort-of segue. Had they taken it a little slower, could have been ->
8/21/15: So far, this is a 'normal' Hood jam.
8/21/15: Some staccato chording now.
8/21/15: Chord jam fades out, then fades back in with the Hood outro chords, a la the end of the Hollywood Hood.
8/21/15: Neat fade-out at the end of Hood instead of the usual power-rock ending.
8/21/15: > Waste.
8/21/15: Nicely placed cooldown song.
8/21/15: Waste > No Men!
8/21/15: UUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAH
8/21/15: Is the excited noise I make whenever No Men starts up.
8/21/15: FUNK MUSCLES ACTIVATE
8/21/15: The beginning of the No Men jam is always the same, but I always love it.
8/21/15: CLAVNOODLING
8/21/15: I MIGHT HAVE EATEN A LOT OF COFFEE TODAY
8/21/15: Long take on No Men, but it stays mostly in the box.
8/21/15: Ambient fade-out.
8/21/15: Opening chords of Slave over the wash.
8/21/15: If the last Slave was super-high-energy, this one is the exact opposite. Languid, slow build.
8/21/15: Lots of missed notes by pretty much everyone, but otherwise I'm liking how long they're taking to build it up.
8/21/15: Trey is laying down a great descending riff during the build to the peak.
8/21/15: It's pretty much always a good second set when you get Hood and Slave together.
8/21/15: Oh, and end set.
8/21/15: So, Magnaball N1 is definitely on the top-shelf list of shows for the year.
8/21/15: The first set is maybe my favorite opening frame of the year with that Gin being the obvious highlight.
8/21/15: S2 has a really interesting CDT as a sister jam to the Gin, then weird-good takes on Ghost and Hood and a strong setlist overall.
8/21/15: There have been better S2s in some of the other really strong shows, but none of 'em are as good from start to finish, really.
8/21/15: Farmhouse for the encore.
8/21/15: The guys have laid down a few really swinging, beautiful Farmhouse mini-jams this year though.
8/21/15: This is one of them.
8/21/15: FRIST TUBOE!
8/21/15: You know what I mean.
8/21/15: I'm sorry but I can't ever hear First Tube anymore without remember the Trey & Symphony version I heard last year. SO GOOD.
8/21/15: End show. Two more of these, eh?
The guys waste no time whatsoever, and as a result the first show of Magnaball is one of the best of the year.
It starts with my favorite first set of the year so far, and that starts with a legitimate "Simple" jam. Rather than sticking in the usual "Simple" space, it gets dark quick and stays there for a few satisfying minutes. Then, there's a full "The Dogs," and a "TMWSIY" > "Avenu" > "TMWSIY" sequence. The middle of the set is pretty standard, minus a rough-but-fun "Mock Song," and then a 23-minute "Gin" that could make an easy argument for most interesting jam of the year comes the fuck out of nowehere. And that's just the first set.
The second set doesn't exactly stand in the upper echelon from this year, but it's close. The opening "Chalkdust" is almost a reprise of the "Gin" jam, with a little more darkness tingeing its edges. "Ghost" is absolutely weird, but I really enjoyed it. It gets almost atonal in the way that the 8/16 "Light" did, and is really unique even amongst the tall pile of huge jams this year. "Rock and Roll" doesn't build a trifecta of Out There jams, but it's an impressive shredfest up until a tiny funk bit that gets tacked on to the end, which keeps the energy going until "Hood," which features a staccato Type II section in the tradition of the best "Hood"s of last year. The rest of the set stays in predictable territory, but, damn, a show that's absolutely off the wall for its first three quarters is worth a spot on The 2015 List. Looking forward to the rest of the festival!
I linked to the third video below because you should totally just watch at least the first half of the second set. If you want to, skip ahead to 1:26:00.
The Live Review:
8/21/15: Simple opener. Nice choice.
8/21/15: Fuzz jam building underneath normal Simple jam. Holy shit, they're getting started early.
8/21/15: Now a really cool beat from Fish is propelling a moody, dark jam.
8/21/15: Winds down into > The Dogs.
8/21/15: Full version of The Dogs.
8/21/15: Holy. Shit. TMWSIY. Holy. Shit.
8/21/15: > Avenu Malkenu
8/21/15: I already understand why everyone thought Magnaball was better than Dick's.
8/21/15: > TMWSIY.
8/21/15: Free is next. Standard Free, afterward, Trey welcomes everyone to the festival.
8/21/15: Aww, crowd singing Happy Birthday to Eliza.
8/21/15: The Wedge.
8/21/15: Pretty standard The Wedge, but now Mock Song! One of my absolute favorite Phish rarities.
8/21/15: High tempo version.
8/21/15: It's fun to hear Mike forget lyrics for once :)
8/21/15: In his defense, they're playing the song *really* damn fast.
8/21/15: Neat replacement lyrics about Phish festivals.
8/21/15: Rough version of Mock Song, but still great to hear it. Now Roggae.
8/21/15: Typically great 2015 Roggae > Rift.
8/21/15: For a song that they've continued to play + struggle with despite having admitted that they continue to play + struggle with it...
8/21/15: ...that was a fun Rift.
8/21/15: Gin! Jam is already getting dirty early on.
8/21/15: Out of the dirty jam now and into an almost jazzy space. Page on electric piano.
8/21/15: We're only halfway through the running time of this jam and it's already highlight-reel stuff.
8/21/15: Holy shit, premature video post: https://t.co/VvXRPx9g9u
8/21/15: A Weekapaug-like groove (heh) emerging now.
8/21/15: Now Mike is driving. There are all sorts of spaces in this jam, but the transitions between them are pure butter.
8/21/15: Big, energetic peak build now. This is some Tahoe Tweezer shit.
8/21/15: Easy top-ten-of-2015 jam here.
8/21/15: Might be willing to go top-five if you gave me a few hours to do relistens :)
8/21/15: End set.
8/21/15: Second set opens with Chalkdust.
8/21/15: Trey going almost immediately to the song-ending riff.
8/21/15: Jam starts after the song 'end,' like is has a few times this year.
8/21/15: Trey laying down an awesome melody solo over some jazzy rhythm work.
8/21/15: Pitch-shifted soloing now.
8/21/15: Angry space into hard-edged rock now. The way they're shifting spaces quickly is similar to the Gin jam.
8/21/15: Echo-funk time!!!
8/21/15: Extended wind-down jam now. Sort of reminds me of 2009, but better.
8/21/15: That CDT was Diet Jamming compared to S1's Gin, but it's still a great entry in the massive log of great jams from this year.
8/21/15: Trey might have just teased WTU?
8/21/15: Well, whether he did or not, he pulls a > Ghost instead.
8/21/15: Trey is already riding the echo, even in the composed part of the song.
8/21/15: That drop was...joyously mangled.
8/21/15: Almost sounds a bit like No Quarter now.
8/21/15: Really distorted, echo-y jam.
8/21/15: I'm hearing WTU? teases again, but that might just be me.
8/21/15: Almost atonal now. Really, really weird.
8/21/15: Whoa. This is a really weird, broiling sort of sound now.
8/21/15: The Gin, CDT, and esp. Ghost have been great not just because they are long jams...
8/21/15: ...but also b/c the guys are obviously trying to push beyond even the 'typically' great types of jams they've been playing all year
8/21/15: Whoa! Great building jam at the end there, and a perfect segue into Rock and Roll.
8/21/15: Rock and Roll is just a flat-out shredfest.
8/21/15: Okay, now we're in a soupy funk space. The speed that they're moving from one idea to another today is amazing.
8/21/15: > Hood. A sort-of segue. Had they taken it a little slower, could have been ->
8/21/15: So far, this is a 'normal' Hood jam.
8/21/15: Some staccato chording now.
8/21/15: Chord jam fades out, then fades back in with the Hood outro chords, a la the end of the Hollywood Hood.
8/21/15: Neat fade-out at the end of Hood instead of the usual power-rock ending.
8/21/15: > Waste.
8/21/15: Nicely placed cooldown song.
8/21/15: Waste > No Men!
8/21/15: UUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAH
8/21/15: Is the excited noise I make whenever No Men starts up.
8/21/15: FUNK MUSCLES ACTIVATE
8/21/15: The beginning of the No Men jam is always the same, but I always love it.
8/21/15: CLAVNOODLING
8/21/15: I MIGHT HAVE EATEN A LOT OF COFFEE TODAY
8/21/15: Long take on No Men, but it stays mostly in the box.
8/21/15: Ambient fade-out.
8/21/15: Opening chords of Slave over the wash.
8/21/15: If the last Slave was super-high-energy, this one is the exact opposite. Languid, slow build.
8/21/15: Lots of missed notes by pretty much everyone, but otherwise I'm liking how long they're taking to build it up.
8/21/15: Trey is laying down a great descending riff during the build to the peak.
8/21/15: It's pretty much always a good second set when you get Hood and Slave together.
8/21/15: Oh, and end set.
8/21/15: So, Magnaball N1 is definitely on the top-shelf list of shows for the year.
8/21/15: The first set is maybe my favorite opening frame of the year with that Gin being the obvious highlight.
8/21/15: S2 has a really interesting CDT as a sister jam to the Gin, then weird-good takes on Ghost and Hood and a strong setlist overall.
8/21/15: There have been better S2s in some of the other really strong shows, but none of 'em are as good from start to finish, really.
8/21/15: Farmhouse for the encore.
8/21/15: The guys have laid down a few really swinging, beautiful Farmhouse mini-jams this year though.
8/21/15: This is one of them.
8/21/15: FRIST TUBOE!
8/21/15: You know what I mean.
8/21/15: I'm sorry but I can't ever hear First Tube anymore without remember the Trey & Symphony version I heard last year. SO GOOD.
8/21/15: End show. Two more of these, eh?
Nov 20, 2015
2015-08-16 MPP II
The Verdict:
It's appropriate, I suppose, that in a year where the only real wrong Phish can do is to repeatedly fail to put together a consistent run of shows in one location, they would play both the best and worst show of the tour at the same venue within a day of each other. Yin and Yang. MPP 1 and MPP 2.
It's not that this show is bad, of course, and not even just because It's A Phish Show (TM); there are some worthwhile, compelling moments here. It's that, in the context of this tour, it's hard to hear a show like this and not be disappointed. I've been thinking of shows from this year as falling into one of three categories: 1) Top-tier shows that are legitimate highlights across Phish's career, 2) Very, very good shows that would have been a highlight of most previous 3.0 tours but here fall short of category 1, and 3) Pretty darn good shows that would have been well received during most previous 3.0 tours, but here stand out in their relative shittiness.
When I started reviewing this tour, based on the shows I'd seen live and the chatter about the rest of the tour, I expected it to be an awesome tour. And it has been. But I expected it to be awesome because there would be a significant amount of category 1 shows, when in reality I can count the category 1 shows on one hand. What makes this tour great, really (as I'm coming to realize), is the huge percentage of category 2 shows. And that's interesting.
I've spent more time than most people likely have at this point listening to entire Phish tours. And the thing is, when you listen to any tour, you begin to realize that even the "great" tours aren't consistently mind-blowing. Most shows are pretty darn good, a few are excellent, and then there are some clunkers. This makes sense, because most tours have upwards of twenty or thirty or more shows, and really, even Phish at their peak(s) aren't going to bring a show like 8/15/15 or 11/17/97 a bunch of nights in a row. It's like expecting lightning to strike in the same place ten or twenty times. Even most of the "great" shows from "great" tours feature a few strong jams or interesting moments and then lots of what equates to filler for someone who's heard "Golgi" or "Horn" probably close to a thousand times now. That's part of why I was so excited about 8/15/15; almost every single song of the show had compelling moments. And even in the greatest tour, you're lucky to get 2-3 shows like that.
So, excellence comes from turning in really good, category 2-style shows regularly instead. And that's fine. Over twenty-five shows, if twenty or so of them are category 1 or 2, that's pretty incredible. You aren't going to get much better than that. Having a great tour is about consistency, not about blowing the roof off every night. And I actually never realized this until I was listening to MPP 2 and coming to grips with the fact that such a strong show could strike me as so boring only because by consistently playing great shows this year, Phish made "just" very good seem normal. But I don't think they, or anyone else, will ever consistently play transcendent shows (like 8/15 or, say, Mann 2, or at least the second set of Shoreline) because there are just too many shows to play to keep up that level of quality. I've listened to most of Fall '13, the only recent tour mentioned in the same reverent tones as Summer '15, and honestly I don't find it nearly as good. I think that the only reason it's remembered so well is because there were so fewer shows as compared to most tours. There were less than half of the amount of shows that there are in Summer '15. And as the band has shown from Mann on through Dick's, it's actually capable of maintaining an extremely high level of quality for 12 or so shows...almost. Over twice that many? Not so much.
Anyway, this show is (relatively) a blemish on a great tour, and a weird note to end the "regular season" portion of the tour on. The show starts off in Jukebox Mode, and continues that way for half of the first set, before a series of four straight set-ender songs hit, in "No Men," a minimal and languid "Stash," an extended "David Bowie," and a "Possum" that features some fun Trey/Page interplay. The flow is strange in the second half of this set, the last three songs are all worth a listen.
When it comes to the second set, "Disease" is notable, I guess, for running for twelve minutes and never deviating from the Type I mold. The jam features a nice segue into "Slave," and actually playing "Slave" this early in the set seems to give it an energy that's rare for the song. "Light" goes to a near-atonal place, and is one of those compact-but-fascinating jams that 2015 Phish excels at, there's another great segue into "Twist," and then just as its jam seems to be winding up to something interesting, it suddenly peters out. We spend the rest of the set more or less circling the drain. Even the "YEM" sounds a little worn-out.
So again, this isn't a bad show, and the highlights are legit, it's just an anomaly in the consistently great (but not consistently transcendent) tour of 2015.
The Live Review:
8/16/15: MPP2 right here, right now, folks!
8/16/15: YES! Trey starting up Sleeping Monkey again!
8/16/15: Fish adds the ending harmony vocals that they joked about last night.
8/16/15: Not the full song, just Trey playing the progression through a few more times.
8/16/15: Golgi opener.
8/16/15: Golgi gets butt-slammed into Undermind.
8/16/15: Undermind is the typically short, ooey-gooey version of the song the guys have been playing this year.
8/16/15: In short: awesome.
8/16/15: Okay, so I still feel the same as I always do about Julius, but I AM surprised to hear it in a first set.
8/16/15: Slanky version of 555 coming up after Julius.
8/16/15: Solid playing so far, but the most interesting part was that Sleeping Monkey 'opener.'
8/16/15: Not comparing favorably with last night's strong S1.
8/16/15: Nothing is a nice surprise. Definitely should show its head in S1s more often.
8/16/15: No Men! That should pick the energy level up a bit.
8/15/16: Clav-driven jam gets rolling, much to the delight of the crowd.
8/15/16: Short take on No Men's leads into Stash.
8/15/16: Stash went a little more muted in the jam, similar to the 8/12 version.
8/15/16: Sounds like we might get a Bowie set closer. Spooky ambient noise building under Fish's drumming.
8/15/16: This is probably as close as we've gotten to a legitimate Bowie opening since...2004? I don't know.
8/15/16: Okay, so that Bowie was longer than the usual these days, but it still pretty much followed the template.
8/15/16: Except for the spooky intro :)
8/15/16: Not end set. Possum.
8/16/15: So this has been a weird set. The first half was pretty rote, the second half is just a pile of set-closer songs in a row.
8/16/15: Also, ignore all the tweets I began with '8/15/16.' IT IS NOT THE FUTURE.
8/16/15: Neat back-and-forth between Trey and Page in this Possum jam.
8/16/15: Weird, sort-of-Frankenstein set finally ends.
8/16/15: S2 opens with Disease.
8/16/15: Trey having trouble with the opening chords to Disease, changes lyric to be about the demons 'Dancing in Mike's head.'
8/16/15: Super-extended Type I soloing from Trey in this version. It's really good, but definitely stays in the box. Weird way to open S2.
8/16/15: 2009-style wind-down now.
8/16/15: Trey makes a pretty natural segue into Slave. Weird placement for this guy!
8/16/15: I don't know if it's just because it's earlier in the set, but this Slave seems particularly jaunty to me.
8/16/15: Slave > Light.
8/16/15: Some wild pitch-shifted soloing from Trey here, backed by calypso piano from Page. Really weird.
8/16/15: Mike taking over now. This has the potential for some serious evil.
8/16/15: Evil Space Loops descending!
8/16/15: Page is on the electric piano and trying to move to a bliss space, but Trey is blaring over him.
8/16/15: Nice -> Twist. Great assist by Fishman.
8/16/15: More neat loops worming into this Twist jam.
8/16/15: Oops. It sort of fell apart right after that.
8/16/15: Shine a Light!
8/16/15: This is a decent 2015 Phish show so far, and that last jam was awesome...
8/16/15: ...but I have to say that this is probably the worst I've heard Trey ever play over the course of 2 or so hours.
8/16/15: He's not playing at all about 20% of the time, and when he does play, he's hitting bad chords/notes like crazy.
8/16/15: He's completely biffed on Shine a Light many times already, and it's basically a four chord song.
8/16/15: This is one of those cases where the bum notes are actually making it harder to enjoy the show because there are so many of them.
8/16/15: Fuego!
8/16/15: The entire Fuego jam was basically just Trey holding a single note for sixty seconds.
8/16/15: Drone fades into Sneakin' Sally.
8/16/15: Trey is unleashing the echo-funk on Sally.
8/16/15: Echo funk winds down, but instead of a breakdown, > YEM.
8/16/15: In the year of unearned YEMs, this might be the least-deserved one.
8/16/15: I'm pretty sure Trey just yelled 'MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTHER FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKER' at the beginning the YEM vocals.
8/16/15: If so, hilarious.
8/16/15: So the YEM is pretty pedestrian, but, and this won't surprise you, the funk jam has a little extra spice in it.
8/16/15: Sigh-based vocal jam turns into screaming, turns into Sleeping Monkey vocal teases.
8/16/15: Number Line encore.
8/16/15: Typically strong 2015 Number Line, with the high-velocity Trey chording and whatnot.
8/16/15: That was a totally weird show, especially considering it was technically the tour-closer.
8/16/15: Gotta say, I don't feel too good about it.
8/16/15: However, 8/15 might have been my favorite show of the year. So there's that.
8/16/15: More thoughts in the long-form reviews coming hopefully tomorrow.
It's appropriate, I suppose, that in a year where the only real wrong Phish can do is to repeatedly fail to put together a consistent run of shows in one location, they would play both the best and worst show of the tour at the same venue within a day of each other. Yin and Yang. MPP 1 and MPP 2.
It's not that this show is bad, of course, and not even just because It's A Phish Show (TM); there are some worthwhile, compelling moments here. It's that, in the context of this tour, it's hard to hear a show like this and not be disappointed. I've been thinking of shows from this year as falling into one of three categories: 1) Top-tier shows that are legitimate highlights across Phish's career, 2) Very, very good shows that would have been a highlight of most previous 3.0 tours but here fall short of category 1, and 3) Pretty darn good shows that would have been well received during most previous 3.0 tours, but here stand out in their relative shittiness.
When I started reviewing this tour, based on the shows I'd seen live and the chatter about the rest of the tour, I expected it to be an awesome tour. And it has been. But I expected it to be awesome because there would be a significant amount of category 1 shows, when in reality I can count the category 1 shows on one hand. What makes this tour great, really (as I'm coming to realize), is the huge percentage of category 2 shows. And that's interesting.
I've spent more time than most people likely have at this point listening to entire Phish tours. And the thing is, when you listen to any tour, you begin to realize that even the "great" tours aren't consistently mind-blowing. Most shows are pretty darn good, a few are excellent, and then there are some clunkers. This makes sense, because most tours have upwards of twenty or thirty or more shows, and really, even Phish at their peak(s) aren't going to bring a show like 8/15/15 or 11/17/97 a bunch of nights in a row. It's like expecting lightning to strike in the same place ten or twenty times. Even most of the "great" shows from "great" tours feature a few strong jams or interesting moments and then lots of what equates to filler for someone who's heard "Golgi" or "Horn" probably close to a thousand times now. That's part of why I was so excited about 8/15/15; almost every single song of the show had compelling moments. And even in the greatest tour, you're lucky to get 2-3 shows like that.
So, excellence comes from turning in really good, category 2-style shows regularly instead. And that's fine. Over twenty-five shows, if twenty or so of them are category 1 or 2, that's pretty incredible. You aren't going to get much better than that. Having a great tour is about consistency, not about blowing the roof off every night. And I actually never realized this until I was listening to MPP 2 and coming to grips with the fact that such a strong show could strike me as so boring only because by consistently playing great shows this year, Phish made "just" very good seem normal. But I don't think they, or anyone else, will ever consistently play transcendent shows (like 8/15 or, say, Mann 2, or at least the second set of Shoreline) because there are just too many shows to play to keep up that level of quality. I've listened to most of Fall '13, the only recent tour mentioned in the same reverent tones as Summer '15, and honestly I don't find it nearly as good. I think that the only reason it's remembered so well is because there were so fewer shows as compared to most tours. There were less than half of the amount of shows that there are in Summer '15. And as the band has shown from Mann on through Dick's, it's actually capable of maintaining an extremely high level of quality for 12 or so shows...almost. Over twice that many? Not so much.
Anyway, this show is (relatively) a blemish on a great tour, and a weird note to end the "regular season" portion of the tour on. The show starts off in Jukebox Mode, and continues that way for half of the first set, before a series of four straight set-ender songs hit, in "No Men," a minimal and languid "Stash," an extended "David Bowie," and a "Possum" that features some fun Trey/Page interplay. The flow is strange in the second half of this set, the last three songs are all worth a listen.
When it comes to the second set, "Disease" is notable, I guess, for running for twelve minutes and never deviating from the Type I mold. The jam features a nice segue into "Slave," and actually playing "Slave" this early in the set seems to give it an energy that's rare for the song. "Light" goes to a near-atonal place, and is one of those compact-but-fascinating jams that 2015 Phish excels at, there's another great segue into "Twist," and then just as its jam seems to be winding up to something interesting, it suddenly peters out. We spend the rest of the set more or less circling the drain. Even the "YEM" sounds a little worn-out.
So again, this isn't a bad show, and the highlights are legit, it's just an anomaly in the consistently great (but not consistently transcendent) tour of 2015.
The Live Review:
8/16/15: MPP2 right here, right now, folks!
8/16/15: YES! Trey starting up Sleeping Monkey again!
8/16/15: Fish adds the ending harmony vocals that they joked about last night.
8/16/15: Not the full song, just Trey playing the progression through a few more times.
8/16/15: Golgi opener.
8/16/15: Golgi gets butt-slammed into Undermind.
8/16/15: Undermind is the typically short, ooey-gooey version of the song the guys have been playing this year.
8/16/15: In short: awesome.
8/16/15: Okay, so I still feel the same as I always do about Julius, but I AM surprised to hear it in a first set.
8/16/15: Slanky version of 555 coming up after Julius.
8/16/15: Solid playing so far, but the most interesting part was that Sleeping Monkey 'opener.'
8/16/15: Not comparing favorably with last night's strong S1.
8/16/15: Nothing is a nice surprise. Definitely should show its head in S1s more often.
8/16/15: No Men! That should pick the energy level up a bit.
8/15/16: Clav-driven jam gets rolling, much to the delight of the crowd.
8/15/16: Short take on No Men's leads into Stash.
8/15/16: Stash went a little more muted in the jam, similar to the 8/12 version.
8/15/16: Sounds like we might get a Bowie set closer. Spooky ambient noise building under Fish's drumming.
8/15/16: This is probably as close as we've gotten to a legitimate Bowie opening since...2004? I don't know.
8/15/16: Okay, so that Bowie was longer than the usual these days, but it still pretty much followed the template.
8/15/16: Except for the spooky intro :)
8/15/16: Not end set. Possum.
8/16/15: So this has been a weird set. The first half was pretty rote, the second half is just a pile of set-closer songs in a row.
8/16/15: Also, ignore all the tweets I began with '8/15/16.' IT IS NOT THE FUTURE.
8/16/15: Neat back-and-forth between Trey and Page in this Possum jam.
8/16/15: Weird, sort-of-Frankenstein set finally ends.
8/16/15: S2 opens with Disease.
8/16/15: Trey having trouble with the opening chords to Disease, changes lyric to be about the demons 'Dancing in Mike's head.'
8/16/15: Super-extended Type I soloing from Trey in this version. It's really good, but definitely stays in the box. Weird way to open S2.
8/16/15: 2009-style wind-down now.
8/16/15: Trey makes a pretty natural segue into Slave. Weird placement for this guy!
8/16/15: I don't know if it's just because it's earlier in the set, but this Slave seems particularly jaunty to me.
8/16/15: Slave > Light.
8/16/15: Some wild pitch-shifted soloing from Trey here, backed by calypso piano from Page. Really weird.
8/16/15: Mike taking over now. This has the potential for some serious evil.
8/16/15: Evil Space Loops descending!
8/16/15: Page is on the electric piano and trying to move to a bliss space, but Trey is blaring over him.
8/16/15: Nice -> Twist. Great assist by Fishman.
8/16/15: More neat loops worming into this Twist jam.
8/16/15: Oops. It sort of fell apart right after that.
8/16/15: Shine a Light!
8/16/15: This is a decent 2015 Phish show so far, and that last jam was awesome...
8/16/15: ...but I have to say that this is probably the worst I've heard Trey ever play over the course of 2 or so hours.
8/16/15: He's not playing at all about 20% of the time, and when he does play, he's hitting bad chords/notes like crazy.
8/16/15: He's completely biffed on Shine a Light many times already, and it's basically a four chord song.
8/16/15: This is one of those cases where the bum notes are actually making it harder to enjoy the show because there are so many of them.
8/16/15: Fuego!
8/16/15: The entire Fuego jam was basically just Trey holding a single note for sixty seconds.
8/16/15: Drone fades into Sneakin' Sally.
8/16/15: Trey is unleashing the echo-funk on Sally.
8/16/15: Echo funk winds down, but instead of a breakdown, > YEM.
8/16/15: In the year of unearned YEMs, this might be the least-deserved one.
8/16/15: I'm pretty sure Trey just yelled 'MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTHER FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKER' at the beginning the YEM vocals.
8/16/15: If so, hilarious.
8/16/15: So the YEM is pretty pedestrian, but, and this won't surprise you, the funk jam has a little extra spice in it.
8/16/15: Sigh-based vocal jam turns into screaming, turns into Sleeping Monkey vocal teases.
8/16/15: Number Line encore.
8/16/15: Typically strong 2015 Number Line, with the high-velocity Trey chording and whatnot.
8/16/15: That was a totally weird show, especially considering it was technically the tour-closer.
8/16/15: Gotta say, I don't feel too good about it.
8/16/15: However, 8/15 might have been my favorite show of the year. So there's that.
8/16/15: More thoughts in the long-form reviews coming hopefully tomorrow.
2015-08-15 MPP I
The Verdict:
As much as I want to hold on to the dream of being able to make a case for a show I attended being the best show of the tour (in this case, Shoreline), the first MPP show forced me to give up on that wonderful illusion. Because this is almost certainly the best show of the year for me. Something from Magnaball might unseat it, because I haven't listened to that yet, but damn. This show's crazy, and outclasses the "easy" pick for best show, Mann 2, by simply being better at more things than it is.
First off, the first set is one of the best first sets of the year. There isn't a surprise big jam here like there is in many of the other great S1s of this year, but the playing from the opening "Simple" pretty much all the way through is spotless, the setlist choices are impeccable, the "BBFCFM" > "Your Pet Cat" > "BBFCFM" sandwich is fun as hell and perfectly placed, and right as a great set seems to end on a rote note with "Antelope," the boys jam it out a bit for the first time since, oh, maybe Utica '10? There are probably opening frames I like better from this year, but not many and then OH MAN THAT SECOND SET.
This is the set that Phish has been trying to play for two years. All of those shows during '14 and '15 where they passed up monster jams in obvious places to work in clever segues and neat little 2-3 minute jamlets never quite seemed to land right because there just wasn't the right balance between deep jamming and segue-based improv. When you come for the jams, it's hard to swallow "only" the song-to-song momentum and brief flickers of occasional brilliance in their place. But this set has both, and in perfect balance.
"Halley's" doesn't really belong in this set because "46 Days" is where the magic starts. This is the peak (so far, at least) of the Bend "Simple"-style jamming that the guys have been flirting with all tour. This "46 Days" is nasty, then takes a now-predictable but still gorgeous turn to Bliss Town before landing in a perfect segue into "Bug," of all things. A short "Steam" follows, which segues perfectly into "What's the Use?" before heading back into "Steam" to finish the final verse and then segue into "Piper." "Piper" is easily the best version of the year, moving from a lurching, grinding, murky jam into straight-up rock territory which leads to a flawless "Tweezer" segue, and "Tweezer" proper features a heavy funk jam that gets spacey enough for Mike to perform "NO2" over it while the rest of the band continues to jam "Tweezer." Yeah. Fuck.
"Walls" closes the set in typical fashion, and the banter-laden "Sleeping Monkey" > "Tweeprise" is the perfect encore. This is the show, folks. It's not as if we haven't had an embarrassment of riches this tour, but this show feels like a culmination. If Magnaball is anywhere near this good, I've got plenty of A+ Phish to get me through my holiday travels...
I am so serious about how good this show is, instead of posting select videos, I'm just posting the entire show below. Click through to YouTube to be able to select particular tracks in the video description.
The Live Review:
8/15/15: Alright, time to knock out the MPP run!
8/15/15: Simple opener. Now that's interesting.
8/15/15: Fantastic Simple solo from Trey to open the show. Page beating up on the keys.
8/15/15: Glide!
8/15/15: Now that was neat to hear.
8/15/15: Buried Alive! So far, another great setlist for S1.
8/15/15: Great little solo in Buried Alive. Trey is on fire. Next up is McGrupp.
8/15/15: Roggae! I love it!
8/15/15: Great version. I didn't get as peaky as some other recent versions, but stayed muted and gorgeous the entire time.
8/15/15: Pretty standard but energetic take on LxL next.
8/15/15: When I get up for work, I try to kill youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
8/15/15: WHY
8/15/15: BBFCFM gets mashed up with a Your Pet Cat sample. Then, 'Why am I running?!' > Your Pet Cat.
8/15/15: > BBFCFM!
8/15/15: Well, that was fun. Now, Horn.
8/15/15: Quick Horn > Blaze On.
8/15/15: Straightforward Blaze On, but with a loopy fade-out that lands in Antelope.
8/15/15: Nice little Trey/Page breakdown in the middle of this Antelope.
8/15/15: Antelope is nowhere near one of my favorite Phish songs, but I love it about 1000% more when it breaks away from the usual pattern.
8/15/15: Now, it's a soupy, note-bendy little jam that's sort of a Type 1.5 space...and moving back into usual Antelope territory.
8/15/15: End set.
8/15/15: S2 opens with Halley's Comet. I sure doubt that this'll be the one that goes deep, but one can always hope.
8/15/15: Typical Halley's gets butt-slammed into 46 Days.
8/15/15: Trey laying down a nasty, distorted solo. Sort of 2003-2004.
8/15/15: After vocal refrain, we're headed almost immediately into a Bend Simple-like EVIL jam.
8/15/15: Page plinking out rapid notes on the piano, now over to the clav.
8/15/15: Trey keeping the distortion coming, and now Mike it taking over.
8/15/15: I'm pretty sure that bass-led Phish jams are the best Phish jams.
8/15/15: Fadeout w/ loop foundation. Might be doing one of those patented '15 bliss-jam transitions here.
8/15/15: If so, this is one of my favorite iterations of it so far this year.
8/15/15: Blissed out over here. Trey laying down a solo now. First real, clean melody playing he's done in the entire jam.
8/15/15: Trey teases Bug during the outro, then -> Bug. Nice segue.
8/15/15: Bug fades into Steam. Interesting.
8/15/15: Straightforward rock solo from Trey out of the lyrics, backed by creepy screaming from who I assume is Fish.
8/15/15: Awesome sort-of -> What's the Use?
8/15/15: > Steam! Back to finish the remaining verses, I guess.
8/15/15: Trey interweaving Piper's opening with the Steam progression now. Fish switching over.
8/15/15: Interesting organ-driven Piper jam right now.
8/15/15: Now we're in space-funk territory.
8/15/15: Murky jam space blossoming into a rock throwdown.
8/15/15: Nasty Piper jam -> Tweezer. Holy shit, what a segue.
8/15/15: Starting to think...could this be...better than the Mann show?!
8/15/15: Pretty sure, yeah.
8/15/15: This Tweezer is definitely of the loop-heavy funk variety.
8/15/15: Loop is almost a siren now.
8/15/15: Or maybe it's Mike's drill?
8/15/15: Hoooooooly shit. Mike starts lyrics for NO2 over the Tweezer jam.
8/15/15: This is my favorite fucking thing.
8/15/15: Show of tour, folks. *Slams book*
8/15/15: Back into the Tweezer jam. Dying over here.
8/15/15: Oooh...they end the jam almost immediately. Taking that jam deep would have made this show literally incomprehensibly good.
8/15/15: But we'll have to settle for Walls instead )
8/15/15: If there's a song that's going to get me to play air guitar in my office 100% of the time, it's the last few minutes of Walls.
8/15/15: Website that rated Phish songs didn't include Page's favorite song at #1.
8/15/15: (It's Sleeping Monkey)
8/15/15: I love this ongoing thing about Page loving Sleeping Monkey.
8/15/15: Sleeping Monkey > Tweeprise.
As much as I want to hold on to the dream of being able to make a case for a show I attended being the best show of the tour (in this case, Shoreline), the first MPP show forced me to give up on that wonderful illusion. Because this is almost certainly the best show of the year for me. Something from Magnaball might unseat it, because I haven't listened to that yet, but damn. This show's crazy, and outclasses the "easy" pick for best show, Mann 2, by simply being better at more things than it is.
First off, the first set is one of the best first sets of the year. There isn't a surprise big jam here like there is in many of the other great S1s of this year, but the playing from the opening "Simple" pretty much all the way through is spotless, the setlist choices are impeccable, the "BBFCFM" > "Your Pet Cat" > "BBFCFM" sandwich is fun as hell and perfectly placed, and right as a great set seems to end on a rote note with "Antelope," the boys jam it out a bit for the first time since, oh, maybe Utica '10? There are probably opening frames I like better from this year, but not many and then OH MAN THAT SECOND SET.
This is the set that Phish has been trying to play for two years. All of those shows during '14 and '15 where they passed up monster jams in obvious places to work in clever segues and neat little 2-3 minute jamlets never quite seemed to land right because there just wasn't the right balance between deep jamming and segue-based improv. When you come for the jams, it's hard to swallow "only" the song-to-song momentum and brief flickers of occasional brilliance in their place. But this set has both, and in perfect balance.
"Halley's" doesn't really belong in this set because "46 Days" is where the magic starts. This is the peak (so far, at least) of the Bend "Simple"-style jamming that the guys have been flirting with all tour. This "46 Days" is nasty, then takes a now-predictable but still gorgeous turn to Bliss Town before landing in a perfect segue into "Bug," of all things. A short "Steam" follows, which segues perfectly into "What's the Use?" before heading back into "Steam" to finish the final verse and then segue into "Piper." "Piper" is easily the best version of the year, moving from a lurching, grinding, murky jam into straight-up rock territory which leads to a flawless "Tweezer" segue, and "Tweezer" proper features a heavy funk jam that gets spacey enough for Mike to perform "NO2" over it while the rest of the band continues to jam "Tweezer." Yeah. Fuck.
"Walls" closes the set in typical fashion, and the banter-laden "Sleeping Monkey" > "Tweeprise" is the perfect encore. This is the show, folks. It's not as if we haven't had an embarrassment of riches this tour, but this show feels like a culmination. If Magnaball is anywhere near this good, I've got plenty of A+ Phish to get me through my holiday travels...
I am so serious about how good this show is, instead of posting select videos, I'm just posting the entire show below. Click through to YouTube to be able to select particular tracks in the video description.
The Live Review:
8/15/15: Alright, time to knock out the MPP run!
8/15/15: Simple opener. Now that's interesting.
8/15/15: Fantastic Simple solo from Trey to open the show. Page beating up on the keys.
8/15/15: Glide!
8/15/15: Now that was neat to hear.
8/15/15: Buried Alive! So far, another great setlist for S1.
8/15/15: Great little solo in Buried Alive. Trey is on fire. Next up is McGrupp.
8/15/15: Roggae! I love it!
8/15/15: Great version. I didn't get as peaky as some other recent versions, but stayed muted and gorgeous the entire time.
8/15/15: Pretty standard but energetic take on LxL next.
8/15/15: When I get up for work, I try to kill youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
8/15/15: WHY
8/15/15: BBFCFM gets mashed up with a Your Pet Cat sample. Then, 'Why am I running?!' > Your Pet Cat.
8/15/15: > BBFCFM!
8/15/15: Well, that was fun. Now, Horn.
8/15/15: Quick Horn > Blaze On.
8/15/15: Straightforward Blaze On, but with a loopy fade-out that lands in Antelope.
8/15/15: Nice little Trey/Page breakdown in the middle of this Antelope.
8/15/15: Antelope is nowhere near one of my favorite Phish songs, but I love it about 1000% more when it breaks away from the usual pattern.
8/15/15: Now, it's a soupy, note-bendy little jam that's sort of a Type 1.5 space...and moving back into usual Antelope territory.
8/15/15: End set.
8/15/15: S2 opens with Halley's Comet. I sure doubt that this'll be the one that goes deep, but one can always hope.
8/15/15: Typical Halley's gets butt-slammed into 46 Days.
8/15/15: Trey laying down a nasty, distorted solo. Sort of 2003-2004.
8/15/15: After vocal refrain, we're headed almost immediately into a Bend Simple-like EVIL jam.
8/15/15: Page plinking out rapid notes on the piano, now over to the clav.
8/15/15: Trey keeping the distortion coming, and now Mike it taking over.
8/15/15: I'm pretty sure that bass-led Phish jams are the best Phish jams.
8/15/15: Fadeout w/ loop foundation. Might be doing one of those patented '15 bliss-jam transitions here.
8/15/15: If so, this is one of my favorite iterations of it so far this year.
8/15/15: Blissed out over here. Trey laying down a solo now. First real, clean melody playing he's done in the entire jam.
8/15/15: Trey teases Bug during the outro, then -> Bug. Nice segue.
8/15/15: Bug fades into Steam. Interesting.
8/15/15: Straightforward rock solo from Trey out of the lyrics, backed by creepy screaming from who I assume is Fish.
8/15/15: Awesome sort-of -> What's the Use?
8/15/15: > Steam! Back to finish the remaining verses, I guess.
8/15/15: Trey interweaving Piper's opening with the Steam progression now. Fish switching over.
8/15/15: Interesting organ-driven Piper jam right now.
8/15/15: Now we're in space-funk territory.
8/15/15: Murky jam space blossoming into a rock throwdown.
8/15/15: Nasty Piper jam -> Tweezer. Holy shit, what a segue.
8/15/15: Starting to think...could this be...better than the Mann show?!
8/15/15: Pretty sure, yeah.
8/15/15: This Tweezer is definitely of the loop-heavy funk variety.
8/15/15: Loop is almost a siren now.
8/15/15: Or maybe it's Mike's drill?
8/15/15: Hoooooooly shit. Mike starts lyrics for NO2 over the Tweezer jam.
8/15/15: This is my favorite fucking thing.
8/15/15: Show of tour, folks. *Slams book*
8/15/15: Back into the Tweezer jam. Dying over here.
8/15/15: Oooh...they end the jam almost immediately. Taking that jam deep would have made this show literally incomprehensibly good.
8/15/15: But we'll have to settle for Walls instead )
8/15/15: If there's a song that's going to get me to play air guitar in my office 100% of the time, it's the last few minutes of Walls.
8/15/15: Website that rated Phish songs didn't include Page's favorite song at #1.
8/15/15: (It's Sleeping Monkey)
8/15/15: I love this ongoing thing about Page loving Sleeping Monkey.
8/15/15: Sleeping Monkey > Tweeprise.
Nov 6, 2015
2015-08-14 Walnut Creek
The Verdict:
So, the Walnut Creek show is in an unenviable spot, sitting as it does between the Mann run and the MPP run. But it shouldn't be overlooked: it's certainly not one of the better shows of the year, but there's a lot here to enjoy nonetheless.
Note: I'm pasting in audio-only "videos" for this show because for some reason it's missing from phishtracks, and there are almost no quality videos from the show.
The first set starts off with the awesome slow "Llama." I really enjoyed this retooling of a classic and am hoping that we might see more of this done with other S1 mainstays next year. There aren't really any more surprises in the opening frame, but the playing is strong and kinetic up until "Maze"...but then things just sort of sputter out. It's not that the playing is bad or anything, but there are just too many "sit down" songs in a row, and then when the band ramps back up, they do so with a tepid version of "Wolfman's," a song that's been revived to the point where a monster S1 jam is a given...usually.
The weirdness continues when S2 opens with "The Wedge," which stays completely in the lines. Luckily, next is "Golden Age," and like the 8/4 and 9/4 versions, it gets pretty far Out There. This guy goes after the echo-funk jam first, before eventually segueing into a "Split"-soundalike space that carries through for a few minutes. Ultimately, we get a fadeout into "Reba." The rare second-set "Reba" is choppy through the composed section, but Trey leads the band through the jam to a typically strong 2015 version.
The "Mike's" that follows sort of sums up the rest of the show: incredible energy, but no big jam. The second "Mike's" jam is apparently a thing of the past already, but this version is a powerful, guitar-led ride nonetheless. The "Ghost" goes the way of the Bend "Simple," with evil echoes and loops filling most of its running time until a great segue into "No Quarter." This is the hardest-rocking and cleanest version of the band's cover of the Led Zeppelin song yet, and the "Groove" that closes off the Mike's sandwich returns to the guitar pyrotechnics that started this sequence. Especially compared to Mann 2, there's nothing here that jams on that level, but this closing sequence is fantastic anyway, and that "Golden Age" ain't too shabby either. Don't write this one off.
The Live Review:
8/14/15: Slow Llama to start. Awesome.
8/14/15: Dear @phish, please play Llama like this more often.
8/14/15: Great opener. Chalkdust next.
8/14/15: Re-envisioning some of the classic S1 songs might be a way to keep opening sets fresh.
8/14/15: I imagine it's not terribly hard for consummate musicians to say 'Let's just play a funk version of Llama tonight.'
8/14/15: Moma Dance third. Trey MuTroning it up during the intro.
8/14/15: Trey trying to do something different with the outro solo. It's not really working.
8/14/15: On the other hand, this is one of those days when it's just really fun to be listening to Phish while I work.
8/14/15: Yarmouth Road! Nobody will ever stop me from loving this song. It is GOOD.
8/14/15: This one keeps the little jam before the bridge lyrics, like the version in Bend.
8/14/15: Tuuuuuuuube.
8/14/15: Bouncin'. They've been playing this a lot this year. Kind of neat.
8/14/15: Bouncin' > Maze.
8/14/15: Another day, another great Maze.
8/14/15: Waiting All Night next. Setlist flow is a little herky-jerky now, but loving the song choices.
8/14/15: Lawn Boy.
8/14/15: Devotion is next. Considering how this set started, this is starting to feel a little saggy.
8/14/15: Wolfman's now. This set seems long.
8/14/15: Rather than going the funk direction with this one, the guys take it in a more straight-up rock direction.
8/14/15: Compact but peaky version there.
8/14/15: Suzy Greenberg next. This set refuses to end!
8/14/15: Pretty sure Fish just screamed 'Forgotten my name, huh?! My name is MAX!!!'
8/14/15: So, S2 starts with The Wedge. It's a little weird to me how often they've been throwing this in early in S2s.
8/14/15: There's never really any pretense toward jamming it, either. It just sits there.
8/14/15: Setlist weirdness aside, that was a great Wedge solo from Trey.
8/14/15: Golden Age!
8/14/15: Trey has the ability to either play the guitar correctly or get the lyrics right.
8/14/15: He keeps alternating between each approach.
8/14/15: This tune is responsible for a few of the more interesting jams of the tour. I wish they'd practiced it more.
8/14/15: Page over to the organ right away to start the jam.
8/14/15: That was fucking slick.
8/14/15: I think I like Golden Age jams almost all the time because the basic Type I beat Fish plays is just awesome.
8/14/15: Time for some echo-funk jamming!
8/14/15: Mike is laying down a hell of a bassline for this jam.
8/14/15: SOAM-like jam emerging now.
8/14/15: Page keeping the descending chord jam going while Trey solos over it.
8/14/15: Creepy echo-y fadeout.
8/14/15: > Reba.
8/14/15: That moment when Trey leads the segue into the next song and then can't start the song correctly.
8/14/15: Like the S2 Reba call, though.
8/14/15: Okay, Trey just played the end of the song during the beginning of the chase sequence.
8/14/15: Maybe there's just too many songs in there. Maybe the break before MSG will knock the GD songs out and make room.
8/14/15: Well, gripes about the composed part aside, Trey is laying down a great 2015-style Reba jam.
8/14/15: This song has been consistently great this year.
8/14/15: Mike's Song jam starts off with some chunky Trey chording. Now seamless move into a rock solo.
8/14/15: I think they're playing it a little faster than usual. Feels really kinetic.
8/14/15: Trey's doing some really wild stuff during this Mike's jam.
8/14/15: No second jam in Mike's. Loopy ending leads to Ghost instead.
8/14/15: Stop-start, weird opening to Ghost. I like it.
8/14/15: Last two Ghosts have had beginnings that are more playful, like Bowie or Hood. It's cool.
8/14/15: Totally evil Ghost jam. Reminiscent of Bend Simple.
8/14/15: Rock solo emerging from the fuzz, now.
8/14/15: Serious blues rock happening now.
8/14/15: Trey picking the outro riff up, but Page moving to the organ.
8/14/15: Angry chords mixing with a gorgeous Page melody now.
8/14/15: NO QUARTER
8/14/15: My favorite Zeppelin song, and will never forget screaming my damn head off when Page started it at Dick's '14.
8/14/15: I could not believe it. Thought for sure the 'N' was going to be 'Nothing.'
8/14/15: That was probably the hardest-rocking and 'best' (whatever that means) No Quarter yet.
8/14/15: > Groove.
8/14/15: Groove is a bit uptempo.
8/14/15: Trey laying down a hell of a little solo already.
8/14/15: Trey is teasing something and I'm going to fucking freak out if I can't figure out what.
8/14/15: Oh, duh. No Quarter. It's been a long day, folks.
8/14/15: Well, that was fun. A huge Mike's Groove powered almost entirely by Trey's insane rock and roll guitar.
8/14/15: For as great as the whole band has been playing lately, that sort of guitar domination doesn't happen very often post-2010 or so.
8/14/15: Frist Tbue!
8/14/15: Just checking to see if you were paying attention.
8/14/15: First Tube was super hot. Farmhouse encore, though? Weird.
(Sorry, forgot to review the encore last night)
8/14/15: Page piano solo in Farmhouse!
8/14/15: No offense to Trey, but this immediately became one of the prettiest Farmhouses I've heard in a long time.
8/14/15: Fire! Well, that's an interesting pair of songs for an encore.
8/14/15: Some drill there at the end of Fire.
So, the Walnut Creek show is in an unenviable spot, sitting as it does between the Mann run and the MPP run. But it shouldn't be overlooked: it's certainly not one of the better shows of the year, but there's a lot here to enjoy nonetheless.
Note: I'm pasting in audio-only "videos" for this show because for some reason it's missing from phishtracks, and there are almost no quality videos from the show.
The first set starts off with the awesome slow "Llama." I really enjoyed this retooling of a classic and am hoping that we might see more of this done with other S1 mainstays next year. There aren't really any more surprises in the opening frame, but the playing is strong and kinetic up until "Maze"...but then things just sort of sputter out. It's not that the playing is bad or anything, but there are just too many "sit down" songs in a row, and then when the band ramps back up, they do so with a tepid version of "Wolfman's," a song that's been revived to the point where a monster S1 jam is a given...usually.
The weirdness continues when S2 opens with "The Wedge," which stays completely in the lines. Luckily, next is "Golden Age," and like the 8/4 and 9/4 versions, it gets pretty far Out There. This guy goes after the echo-funk jam first, before eventually segueing into a "Split"-soundalike space that carries through for a few minutes. Ultimately, we get a fadeout into "Reba." The rare second-set "Reba" is choppy through the composed section, but Trey leads the band through the jam to a typically strong 2015 version.
The "Mike's" that follows sort of sums up the rest of the show: incredible energy, but no big jam. The second "Mike's" jam is apparently a thing of the past already, but this version is a powerful, guitar-led ride nonetheless. The "Ghost" goes the way of the Bend "Simple," with evil echoes and loops filling most of its running time until a great segue into "No Quarter." This is the hardest-rocking and cleanest version of the band's cover of the Led Zeppelin song yet, and the "Groove" that closes off the Mike's sandwich returns to the guitar pyrotechnics that started this sequence. Especially compared to Mann 2, there's nothing here that jams on that level, but this closing sequence is fantastic anyway, and that "Golden Age" ain't too shabby either. Don't write this one off.
The Live Review:
8/14/15: Slow Llama to start. Awesome.
8/14/15: Dear @phish, please play Llama like this more often.
8/14/15: Great opener. Chalkdust next.
8/14/15: Re-envisioning some of the classic S1 songs might be a way to keep opening sets fresh.
8/14/15: I imagine it's not terribly hard for consummate musicians to say 'Let's just play a funk version of Llama tonight.'
8/14/15: Moma Dance third. Trey MuTroning it up during the intro.
8/14/15: Trey trying to do something different with the outro solo. It's not really working.
8/14/15: On the other hand, this is one of those days when it's just really fun to be listening to Phish while I work.
8/14/15: Yarmouth Road! Nobody will ever stop me from loving this song. It is GOOD.
8/14/15: This one keeps the little jam before the bridge lyrics, like the version in Bend.
8/14/15: Tuuuuuuuube.
8/14/15: Bouncin'. They've been playing this a lot this year. Kind of neat.
8/14/15: Bouncin' > Maze.
8/14/15: Another day, another great Maze.
8/14/15: Waiting All Night next. Setlist flow is a little herky-jerky now, but loving the song choices.
8/14/15: Lawn Boy.
8/14/15: Devotion is next. Considering how this set started, this is starting to feel a little saggy.
8/14/15: Wolfman's now. This set seems long.
8/14/15: Rather than going the funk direction with this one, the guys take it in a more straight-up rock direction.
8/14/15: Compact but peaky version there.
8/14/15: Suzy Greenberg next. This set refuses to end!
8/14/15: Pretty sure Fish just screamed 'Forgotten my name, huh?! My name is MAX!!!'
8/14/15: So, S2 starts with The Wedge. It's a little weird to me how often they've been throwing this in early in S2s.
8/14/15: There's never really any pretense toward jamming it, either. It just sits there.
8/14/15: Setlist weirdness aside, that was a great Wedge solo from Trey.
8/14/15: Golden Age!
8/14/15: Trey has the ability to either play the guitar correctly or get the lyrics right.
8/14/15: He keeps alternating between each approach.
8/14/15: This tune is responsible for a few of the more interesting jams of the tour. I wish they'd practiced it more.
8/14/15: Page over to the organ right away to start the jam.
8/14/15: That was fucking slick.
8/14/15: I think I like Golden Age jams almost all the time because the basic Type I beat Fish plays is just awesome.
8/14/15: Time for some echo-funk jamming!
8/14/15: Mike is laying down a hell of a bassline for this jam.
8/14/15: SOAM-like jam emerging now.
8/14/15: Page keeping the descending chord jam going while Trey solos over it.
8/14/15: Creepy echo-y fadeout.
8/14/15: > Reba.
8/14/15: That moment when Trey leads the segue into the next song and then can't start the song correctly.
8/14/15: Like the S2 Reba call, though.
8/14/15: Okay, Trey just played the end of the song during the beginning of the chase sequence.
8/14/15: Maybe there's just too many songs in there. Maybe the break before MSG will knock the GD songs out and make room.
8/14/15: Well, gripes about the composed part aside, Trey is laying down a great 2015-style Reba jam.
8/14/15: This song has been consistently great this year.
8/14/15: Mike's Song jam starts off with some chunky Trey chording. Now seamless move into a rock solo.
8/14/15: I think they're playing it a little faster than usual. Feels really kinetic.
8/14/15: Trey's doing some really wild stuff during this Mike's jam.
8/14/15: No second jam in Mike's. Loopy ending leads to Ghost instead.
8/14/15: Stop-start, weird opening to Ghost. I like it.
8/14/15: Last two Ghosts have had beginnings that are more playful, like Bowie or Hood. It's cool.
8/14/15: Totally evil Ghost jam. Reminiscent of Bend Simple.
8/14/15: Rock solo emerging from the fuzz, now.
8/14/15: Serious blues rock happening now.
8/14/15: Trey picking the outro riff up, but Page moving to the organ.
8/14/15: Angry chords mixing with a gorgeous Page melody now.
8/14/15: NO QUARTER
8/14/15: My favorite Zeppelin song, and will never forget screaming my damn head off when Page started it at Dick's '14.
8/14/15: I could not believe it. Thought for sure the 'N' was going to be 'Nothing.'
8/14/15: That was probably the hardest-rocking and 'best' (whatever that means) No Quarter yet.
8/14/15: > Groove.
8/14/15: Groove is a bit uptempo.
8/14/15: Trey laying down a hell of a little solo already.
8/14/15: Trey is teasing something and I'm going to fucking freak out if I can't figure out what.
8/14/15: Oh, duh. No Quarter. It's been a long day, folks.
8/14/15: Well, that was fun. A huge Mike's Groove powered almost entirely by Trey's insane rock and roll guitar.
8/14/15: For as great as the whole band has been playing lately, that sort of guitar domination doesn't happen very often post-2010 or so.
8/14/15: Frist Tbue!
8/14/15: Just checking to see if you were paying attention.
8/14/15: First Tube was super hot. Farmhouse encore, though? Weird.
(Sorry, forgot to review the encore last night)
8/14/15: Page piano solo in Farmhouse!
8/14/15: No offense to Trey, but this immediately became one of the prettiest Farmhouses I've heard in a long time.
8/14/15: Fire! Well, that's an interesting pair of songs for an encore.
8/14/15: Some drill there at the end of Fire.
2015-08-12 Mann II
The Verdict:
The second Mann show was just about as good as everyone online made it out to be. As has been the case this year, mostly because of the band's high level of playing in general, what really sets the shows with strong S2s apart from the pack is a good S1. And this one achieves top-tier status in exactly this way.
Unlike the S1s of the last few shows, none of the songs here are tunes we haven't heard a few times already this tour. But, the flow and song choice are impeccable, there's a "Martian Monster" jam in "Free" as a throwback to the previous night's show, and a smooth-as-hell funk jam in "It's Ice." Oh, and legitimate jams in "Cities" and "Stash." The "Cities" jam falls into what I'm calling the "echo-funk" genre of jams, a la "Mike's" from Dick's '14, the 8/9 "Tweezer" or the 8/5 "Sand." The "Stash" is a bit more pedestrian, but opens with a few minutes of Mike-led jamming that's unique for a "Stash" jam. Worth a listen.
The second set, then, is where the magic really happens. There's two things that need to be said about this set. First off, it's only five songs long. The caveat to that is that "Gin," "No Men's," and "Hood" are all long, but really 2015-average. I don't bring this up to be a dick, but to just point out that as awesome as this set is, I've heard better jams out of each of these three songs already this year, so these performances aren't necessarily the be-all-end-all of jamming as some might have you believe. They're great takes, though, and you should probably listen to them.
The second, and more important thing about this second set is that "Twist" and "Scents" are two of the best jams of the year so far, and they happen back-to-back. So definitely listen to that shit. In the end, it adds up to a second set that matches, and probably defeats heavy-hitters like 7/24 or 8/7. It's very, very good.
The Live Review:
8/12/15: Finally checking this show out.
8/12/15: Bag opener. Always a good sign.
8/12/15: That was a great little version of Bag. Fish is a monster. Hopefully that continues throughout the show.
8/12/15: Bag > Free.
8/12/15: Martian Monster tease during the Free breakdown. Now samples. I love that this is carrying over from last night.
8/12/15: Legit MM jam now.
8/12/15: -> Free.
8/12/15: Ya Mar!
8/12/15: Sample is next.
8/12/15: THINK OF LONDON SMALL CITY
8/12/15: DARK
8/12/15: (It's Cities next)
8/12/15: Echo-funk a la Mike's at Dick's last year or 8/9 'Tweezer' or 8/5 'Sand.'
8/12/15: Mike's taking more of a lead here, though.
8/12/15: YESSSSSS THIS IS RAD
8/12/15: This is Phish, folks. Trey adding a solo overtop now.
8/12/15: That was fantastic. Jam naturally comes to an end.
8/12/15: Stash, the quintessential 'We're jamming but not' S1 song. Let's see if that changes this time around.
8/12/15: Awesome beginning to the Stash jam. Mike is an alien.
8/12/15: After the initial bass jam in Stash, the song follows the typical build structure, but it's a particularly good one nonetheless.
8/12/15: Trey really laying down some serious licks.
8/12/15: Birds of a Feather is next.
8/12/15: When will we finally get the inevitable Birds -> The Birds -> Birds sequence?
8/12/15: Trey is losing his damn mind on the guitar over here and the rest of the band can't figure out when he's going to end this Birds.
8/12/15: The Line. Boom.
8/12/15: It's Ice. Everyone's standing up again.
8/12/15: Superfunk breakdown in It's Ice again.
8/12/15: End set with a rambunctious Zero.
8/12/15: Set two starts off with Gin.
8/12/15: Nice building progression starts the Gin jam off right away.
8/12/15: Great melody soloing now from Trey over the new progression.
8/12/15: Fantastic soloing now from Trey. Fish picking up the tempo.
8/12/15: Huge peak now...return to the Gin riff afterward.
8/12/15: Page throws in a Rhapsody in Blue tease during the sound explosion at the end of the song.
8/12/15: No Men's.
8/12/15: Loopy funk time!
8/12/15: Big ol' sloppy ropes of funk just slapping you in the fuckin' face
8/12/15: Okay, I've had enough of myself.
8/12/15: Evil breakdown around 9:00 mark.
8/12/15: Neat jam developing here, returning, sort of, to typical No Men's realm after the breakdown but strong rock soloing by Trey.
8/12/15: TWIST
8/12/15: Major minimalist breakdown early in Twist.
8/12/15: Page working the electric piano, Trey over to a No Quarter-y tone.
8/12/15: Fish is being amazing with cymbals during this breakdown.
8/12/15: Foundation and bass bombs from Mike while Trey lays down an eerily distorted melody solo.
8/12/15: They're staying in this weird space for a LONG time. It's good.
8/12/15: Holy shit, whale pedal!
8/12/15: I'm having 2010 reviewing flashbacks NOOOOOOOOOOooooooo
8/12/15: He's using it to some pretty great effect here, though.
8/12/15: Jam still staying pretty low-key. Mike is driving now. About 13 mins in.
8/12/15: Transitioning into something new now. Something like a cross between Manteca and the Mule Duel.
8/12/15: Picking up the pace now. Heading into bliss-jam territory.
8/12/15: Build leads back into the Twist riff.
8/12/15: After 19 minutes.
8/12/15: That was pretty fantastic. Maybe not the weirdest jam Phish has played lately, but definitely the longest Weird Jam in some time.
8/12/15: Long pause, now.
8/12/15: SCENTS
8/12/15: Intro first. I think. I can't remember.
8/12/15: This has always been one of my favorite Phish jam launchpads, for as little as it's really been played.
8/12/15: Maybe we'll hear it more often in 2016.
8/12/15: So far, Trey is just noodling, but hey, I'm still jazzed to hear this song at all.
8/12/15: Okay, space rock time now.
8/12/15: Trey has been repeating the same distorted rock riff over and over for a few minutes while the jam builds. Really cool.
8/12/15: Return to the vocal refrain at the end of the jam. Fade out. So good.
8/12/15: Hood is next. Setlist reminds me a bit of the Shoreline show.
8/12/15: Hood jam goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
8/12/15: Great staccato interplay between Mike and Trey near the beginning of the jam here.
8/12/15: Really great build going on right now.
8/12/15: Only thing I don't like about Hoods lately is that Page always starts the outro riff on piano before the rest of the band does.
8/12/15: Vastly prefer when they all suddenly bust into it at once.
8/12/15: Trey is doing a fantastic job of building tension right now while crawling toward the outro patiently.
8/12/15: Page just prematurely ejaculated again.
8/12/15: Held note from Trey.
8/12/15: There she blows.
8/12/15: Trey: 'Thank you. Your trip is short.'
8/12/15: Loving Cup encore. Seems appropriate.
8/12/15: Hell of a solo by Trey to close the show.
8/12/15: Well, that was a great show. Upper-echelon for sure. In competition with 7/24 and 8/7, and probably better than them in some ways.
8/12/15: Great first set, two legit S1 jams, then the back-to-back-to-back madness of S2.
8/12/15: For all the screaming about this show, though, I didn't find it notably better than many other great shows this summer.
8/12/15: Second set was only five songs, but there have been more interesting versions of Gin, No Men's and Hood already for sure.
8/12/15: Nice to hear them stretched out, nonetheless, though.
8/12/15: Twist > Scents was frigging awesome, though.
The second Mann show was just about as good as everyone online made it out to be. As has been the case this year, mostly because of the band's high level of playing in general, what really sets the shows with strong S2s apart from the pack is a good S1. And this one achieves top-tier status in exactly this way.
Unlike the S1s of the last few shows, none of the songs here are tunes we haven't heard a few times already this tour. But, the flow and song choice are impeccable, there's a "Martian Monster" jam in "Free" as a throwback to the previous night's show, and a smooth-as-hell funk jam in "It's Ice." Oh, and legitimate jams in "Cities" and "Stash." The "Cities" jam falls into what I'm calling the "echo-funk" genre of jams, a la "Mike's" from Dick's '14, the 8/9 "Tweezer" or the 8/5 "Sand." The "Stash" is a bit more pedestrian, but opens with a few minutes of Mike-led jamming that's unique for a "Stash" jam. Worth a listen.
The second set, then, is where the magic really happens. There's two things that need to be said about this set. First off, it's only five songs long. The caveat to that is that "Gin," "No Men's," and "Hood" are all long, but really 2015-average. I don't bring this up to be a dick, but to just point out that as awesome as this set is, I've heard better jams out of each of these three songs already this year, so these performances aren't necessarily the be-all-end-all of jamming as some might have you believe. They're great takes, though, and you should probably listen to them.
The second, and more important thing about this second set is that "Twist" and "Scents" are two of the best jams of the year so far, and they happen back-to-back. So definitely listen to that shit. In the end, it adds up to a second set that matches, and probably defeats heavy-hitters like 7/24 or 8/7. It's very, very good.
The Live Review:
8/12/15: Finally checking this show out.
8/12/15: Bag opener. Always a good sign.
8/12/15: That was a great little version of Bag. Fish is a monster. Hopefully that continues throughout the show.
8/12/15: Bag > Free.
8/12/15: Martian Monster tease during the Free breakdown. Now samples. I love that this is carrying over from last night.
8/12/15: Legit MM jam now.
8/12/15: -> Free.
8/12/15: Ya Mar!
8/12/15: Sample is next.
8/12/15: THINK OF LONDON SMALL CITY
8/12/15: DARK
8/12/15: (It's Cities next)
8/12/15: Echo-funk a la Mike's at Dick's last year or 8/9 'Tweezer' or 8/5 'Sand.'
8/12/15: Mike's taking more of a lead here, though.
8/12/15: YESSSSSS THIS IS RAD
8/12/15: This is Phish, folks. Trey adding a solo overtop now.
8/12/15: That was fantastic. Jam naturally comes to an end.
8/12/15: Stash, the quintessential 'We're jamming but not' S1 song. Let's see if that changes this time around.
8/12/15: Awesome beginning to the Stash jam. Mike is an alien.
8/12/15: After the initial bass jam in Stash, the song follows the typical build structure, but it's a particularly good one nonetheless.
8/12/15: Trey really laying down some serious licks.
8/12/15: Birds of a Feather is next.
8/12/15: When will we finally get the inevitable Birds -> The Birds -> Birds sequence?
8/12/15: Trey is losing his damn mind on the guitar over here and the rest of the band can't figure out when he's going to end this Birds.
8/12/15: The Line. Boom.
8/12/15: It's Ice. Everyone's standing up again.
8/12/15: Superfunk breakdown in It's Ice again.
8/12/15: End set with a rambunctious Zero.
8/12/15: Set two starts off with Gin.
8/12/15: Nice building progression starts the Gin jam off right away.
8/12/15: Great melody soloing now from Trey over the new progression.
8/12/15: Fantastic soloing now from Trey. Fish picking up the tempo.
8/12/15: Huge peak now...return to the Gin riff afterward.
8/12/15: Page throws in a Rhapsody in Blue tease during the sound explosion at the end of the song.
8/12/15: No Men's.
8/12/15: Loopy funk time!
8/12/15: Big ol' sloppy ropes of funk just slapping you in the fuckin' face
8/12/15: Okay, I've had enough of myself.
8/12/15: Evil breakdown around 9:00 mark.
8/12/15: Neat jam developing here, returning, sort of, to typical No Men's realm after the breakdown but strong rock soloing by Trey.
8/12/15: TWIST
8/12/15: Major minimalist breakdown early in Twist.
8/12/15: Page working the electric piano, Trey over to a No Quarter-y tone.
8/12/15: Fish is being amazing with cymbals during this breakdown.
8/12/15: Foundation and bass bombs from Mike while Trey lays down an eerily distorted melody solo.
8/12/15: They're staying in this weird space for a LONG time. It's good.
8/12/15: Holy shit, whale pedal!
8/12/15: I'm having 2010 reviewing flashbacks NOOOOOOOOOOooooooo
8/12/15: He's using it to some pretty great effect here, though.
8/12/15: Jam still staying pretty low-key. Mike is driving now. About 13 mins in.
8/12/15: Transitioning into something new now. Something like a cross between Manteca and the Mule Duel.
8/12/15: Picking up the pace now. Heading into bliss-jam territory.
8/12/15: Build leads back into the Twist riff.
8/12/15: After 19 minutes.
8/12/15: That was pretty fantastic. Maybe not the weirdest jam Phish has played lately, but definitely the longest Weird Jam in some time.
8/12/15: Long pause, now.
8/12/15: SCENTS
8/12/15: Intro first. I think. I can't remember.
8/12/15: This has always been one of my favorite Phish jam launchpads, for as little as it's really been played.
8/12/15: Maybe we'll hear it more often in 2016.
8/12/15: So far, Trey is just noodling, but hey, I'm still jazzed to hear this song at all.
8/12/15: Okay, space rock time now.
8/12/15: Trey has been repeating the same distorted rock riff over and over for a few minutes while the jam builds. Really cool.
8/12/15: Return to the vocal refrain at the end of the jam. Fade out. So good.
8/12/15: Hood is next. Setlist reminds me a bit of the Shoreline show.
8/12/15: Hood jam goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
8/12/15: Great staccato interplay between Mike and Trey near the beginning of the jam here.
8/12/15: Really great build going on right now.
8/12/15: Only thing I don't like about Hoods lately is that Page always starts the outro riff on piano before the rest of the band does.
8/12/15: Vastly prefer when they all suddenly bust into it at once.
8/12/15: Trey is doing a fantastic job of building tension right now while crawling toward the outro patiently.
8/12/15: Page just prematurely ejaculated again.
8/12/15: Held note from Trey.
8/12/15: There she blows.
8/12/15: Trey: 'Thank you. Your trip is short.'
8/12/15: Loving Cup encore. Seems appropriate.
8/12/15: Hell of a solo by Trey to close the show.
8/12/15: Well, that was a great show. Upper-echelon for sure. In competition with 7/24 and 8/7, and probably better than them in some ways.
8/12/15: Great first set, two legit S1 jams, then the back-to-back-to-back madness of S2.
8/12/15: For all the screaming about this show, though, I didn't find it notably better than many other great shows this summer.
8/12/15: Second set was only five songs, but there have been more interesting versions of Gin, No Men's and Hood already for sure.
8/12/15: Nice to hear them stretched out, nonetheless, though.
8/12/15: Twist > Scents was frigging awesome, though.
Nov 1, 2015
2015-08-11 Mann I
The Verdict:
This show reminds me a lot of 8/8, plus the first set from 8/9. Like 8/9, S1 is full of rarities and unexpected songs...and two satisfying jams. For my money, it's pretty easily the best first set of the year so far. The entire thing is peppered with "Martian Monster" references, including a brilliant "Martian Monster" > "Axila I" > "Skin It Back" -> "Martian Monster" -> "Skin It Back" sequence. "Dog Faced Boy" gets a slowed-down, minimal take that's, frankly, just gorgeous. "Bowie" features a short jam that's nonetheless one of the better ones the guys have put together in awhile, and "Ghost" starts off with...umm..."ghost noises" from Fish and samples from Page before continuing on to features a pretty satisfying first set jam. Oh, and in-between "Bowie" and "Ghost" is a "Scent" anchored by the most interesting marimba lumina solo Fish has put on yet. So...yeah. It's a good set. Honestly, if you want to listen to anything from the first set, you should just listen to the entire first set, so here you go:
The second set is the third in a row that falls into that one-big-jam-then-many-small-seguey-jams category, and fortunately it's more in the mold of 8/8 than 8/9. That is to say, while none of the songs after "Fuego" really Go Deep, but there's some great momentum and each song offers up at least a minute or two of something unique and interesting. But first, the "Fuego." It reminds me instantly of the Dick's "Disease": a standard-strong Trey-led jam that smoothly moves into a blissful progression that builds to a really effective and composed-sounding peak. I prefer the "Disease," personally, but if you're only going to have one long jam in a set, you could do worse than this one.
Afterward, the "Rock and Roll" offers up a little space-funk, "46 Days" is dirty as all hell, "Taste" even gets slightly extended interestingly, and "Sand" is yet another strong Type I entry in two years' worth of them at this point. The second half of the set post-"Sand" falls into serious Jukebox Mode territory, but there are plenty of riches before that. Overall, this is one of my favorite shows of the year so far aside from the obvious 7/24 and 8/7. Below those two, though, I'd list a second tier of 7/31, 8/1, 8/4, and this show.
The Live Review:
8/11/15: Okay, so I'm hungover as hell today, so if I'm crabbier than usual, that's why.
8/11/15: Crowd Control opener.
8/11/15: Trey starts out rough, but is nailing a nice little solo now.
8/11/15: I'm keeping an ear on him after 8/9 :)
8/11/15: MARTIAN MONSTAH
8/11/15: Martian astronauts getting crunched real good. Crunchy crunchy astronaut bones.
8/11/15: MM > Axila I. Great transition.
8/11/15: Okay, well Trey is definitely not in any better shape than he was during 8/9 I.
8/11/15: Great setlist so far, though.
8/11/15: Skin It Back! Hot damn!
8/11/15: Woo! -> Martian Monster!
8/11/15: Okay, so that was Martian Monster > Axilia I > Skin It Back -> Martian Monster (w/ Skin It Back jam).
8/11/15: Rad.
8/11/15: Vultures! Crazy S1 for the second show in a row!
8/11/15: If we got a serious jam in here somewhere, that would be $$$.
8/11/15: Personally, I'm hoping for a potato to the throat.
8/11/15: YES. #potato #throat
8/11/15: Love the 'Woo's at the end of Vultures.
8/11/15: Dog-Faced Boy! Guys, we need more S1s like this.
8/11/15: Beginning of the song is primarily Page on piano instead of guitar.
8/11/15: Slower tempo than the studio version. Nice harmonies.
8/11/15: Bowie! I think that actually counts as a rarity this year, sadly.
8/11/15: Martian Monster sample during intro.
8/11/15: Jam starts off with some chording and then a nice mellow melody solo from Trey. Nice momentum so far.
8/11/15: Now Trey, Mike, and Page all echoing the same riff.
8/11/15: Lots more Mike up front in the jam section than usual. Nice.
8/11/15: Really compact Bowie, but a nice little jam in dere.
8/11/15: Long break post-Bowie.
8/11/15: Farmhouse.
8/11/15: Nice little broken-down, piano-led jam here in Farmhouse.
8/11/15: Scent!
8/11/15: Martian Monster sample from Page in the middle of his Mule Duel solo. Mike (?) synth bomb,
8/11/15: Could be the marimba lumina? Fuck if I know.
8/11/15: Yeah, it is.
8/11/15: Martian Monster chewing samples on top of Fish's marimba solo. This is hilariously weird.
8/11/15: Ghost! Fish (?) making hilarious ghost noises during the intro.
8/11/15: Wind samples from Page.
8/11/15: That was the most fun I've had during the first two minutes of Ghost in a long time.
8/11/15: Martian Monster tease before the drop, and then they NAIL it. Who the fuck are these guys?!
8/11/15: More MM jamming and samples.
8/11/15: Really neat Ghost jam developing now. Trey laying down a great solo, driving beat from Fish. Page echoing Trey on electric piano.
8/11/15: Trey head-fakes toward making the typical 2015 Bliss Jam turn, and then digs deeper into his original soloing.
8/11/15: Very Twist-like jam now. If this set hadn't already been 115 minutes long, they totally could have pulled off a great -> there.
8/11/15: Instead, drop back into Ghost coda.
8/11/15: Wind-down now.
8/11/15: Fuego to open S2!
8/11/15: Echo-y goodness from Trey in a really minimalist start to what seems like a legit Fuego jam.
8/11/15: Slow-burning bliss progression.
8/11/15: This is a bit Hood-y or Slave-y.
8/11/15: Neat peak to the jam now.
8/11/15: Jam reminds me a bit of the Dick's Disease.
8/11/15: > Rock and Roll.
8/11/15: Standard Rock and Roll, but now Trey is chording some funk shit.
8/11/15: Really neat, really muddy jam happening now, after vocal reprise.
8/11/15: Improbably, that ended in 46 Days.
8/11/15: 46 Days...46 Days...46 Days...and this battle station will be quite operational when your friends arrive.
8/11/15: Really dirty 46 Days solo leads a deconstruction jam. Weird beat by Fish, Trey chording arrhythmically, heavy echo effects.
8/11/15: Noodly outro riff turns the interesting-but-short 46 days jam -> Taste.
8/11/15: Trey even throwing some funk chording into the Taste outro 'solo.' Neat.
8/11/15: I think Fish just faked us out with the Split beat...maybe? Into 2001 instead, anyway.
8/11/15: This 2001 has a little meat on its bones.
8/11/15: Neat wind-down ending to 2001 lands directly in Sand.
8/11/15: Echo-and-clav-based jam here.
8/11/15: This jam isn't treading any new ground, but it's pure, distilled funk.
8/11/15: At the end of the Sand jam, Trey plays the opening chords of The Horse, and then Page picks it up for a piano version. > Silent.
8/11/15: Cavern. I think we're in safe mode the rest of the night. Pretty great set, though.
8/11/15: Number Line starts over the last chord of Cavern.
8/11/15: I've been liking the new noodly style Trey's been laying on Number Line lately. Let's see if it comes up tonight.
8/11/15: End set.
8/11/15: Julius closes. I can't stand this song as an encore choice, but I'm glad lots of other people enjoy it.
8/11/15: It's a fun song, and a catchy one, but also the epitome of mid-tempo, rote Phish. Which is a bad thing for encores.
This show reminds me a lot of 8/8, plus the first set from 8/9. Like 8/9, S1 is full of rarities and unexpected songs...and two satisfying jams. For my money, it's pretty easily the best first set of the year so far. The entire thing is peppered with "Martian Monster" references, including a brilliant "Martian Monster" > "Axila I" > "Skin It Back" -> "Martian Monster" -> "Skin It Back" sequence. "Dog Faced Boy" gets a slowed-down, minimal take that's, frankly, just gorgeous. "Bowie" features a short jam that's nonetheless one of the better ones the guys have put together in awhile, and "Ghost" starts off with...umm..."ghost noises" from Fish and samples from Page before continuing on to features a pretty satisfying first set jam. Oh, and in-between "Bowie" and "Ghost" is a "Scent" anchored by the most interesting marimba lumina solo Fish has put on yet. So...yeah. It's a good set. Honestly, if you want to listen to anything from the first set, you should just listen to the entire first set, so here you go:
The second set is the third in a row that falls into that one-big-jam-then-many-small-seguey-jams category, and fortunately it's more in the mold of 8/8 than 8/9. That is to say, while none of the songs after "Fuego" really Go Deep, but there's some great momentum and each song offers up at least a minute or two of something unique and interesting. But first, the "Fuego." It reminds me instantly of the Dick's "Disease": a standard-strong Trey-led jam that smoothly moves into a blissful progression that builds to a really effective and composed-sounding peak. I prefer the "Disease," personally, but if you're only going to have one long jam in a set, you could do worse than this one.
Afterward, the "Rock and Roll" offers up a little space-funk, "46 Days" is dirty as all hell, "Taste" even gets slightly extended interestingly, and "Sand" is yet another strong Type I entry in two years' worth of them at this point. The second half of the set post-"Sand" falls into serious Jukebox Mode territory, but there are plenty of riches before that. Overall, this is one of my favorite shows of the year so far aside from the obvious 7/24 and 8/7. Below those two, though, I'd list a second tier of 7/31, 8/1, 8/4, and this show.
The Live Review:
8/11/15: Okay, so I'm hungover as hell today, so if I'm crabbier than usual, that's why.
8/11/15: Crowd Control opener.
8/11/15: Trey starts out rough, but is nailing a nice little solo now.
8/11/15: I'm keeping an ear on him after 8/9 :)
8/11/15: MARTIAN MONSTAH
8/11/15: Martian astronauts getting crunched real good. Crunchy crunchy astronaut bones.
8/11/15: MM > Axila I. Great transition.
8/11/15: Okay, well Trey is definitely not in any better shape than he was during 8/9 I.
8/11/15: Great setlist so far, though.
8/11/15: Skin It Back! Hot damn!
8/11/15: Woo! -> Martian Monster!
8/11/15: Okay, so that was Martian Monster > Axilia I > Skin It Back -> Martian Monster (w/ Skin It Back jam).
8/11/15: Rad.
8/11/15: Vultures! Crazy S1 for the second show in a row!
8/11/15: If we got a serious jam in here somewhere, that would be $$$.
8/11/15: Personally, I'm hoping for a potato to the throat.
8/11/15: YES. #potato #throat
8/11/15: Love the 'Woo's at the end of Vultures.
8/11/15: Dog-Faced Boy! Guys, we need more S1s like this.
8/11/15: Beginning of the song is primarily Page on piano instead of guitar.
8/11/15: Slower tempo than the studio version. Nice harmonies.
8/11/15: Bowie! I think that actually counts as a rarity this year, sadly.
8/11/15: Martian Monster sample during intro.
8/11/15: Jam starts off with some chording and then a nice mellow melody solo from Trey. Nice momentum so far.
8/11/15: Now Trey, Mike, and Page all echoing the same riff.
8/11/15: Lots more Mike up front in the jam section than usual. Nice.
8/11/15: Really compact Bowie, but a nice little jam in dere.
8/11/15: Long break post-Bowie.
8/11/15: Farmhouse.
8/11/15: Nice little broken-down, piano-led jam here in Farmhouse.
8/11/15: Scent!
8/11/15: Martian Monster sample from Page in the middle of his Mule Duel solo. Mike (?) synth bomb,
8/11/15: Could be the marimba lumina? Fuck if I know.
8/11/15: Yeah, it is.
8/11/15: Martian Monster chewing samples on top of Fish's marimba solo. This is hilariously weird.
8/11/15: Ghost! Fish (?) making hilarious ghost noises during the intro.
8/11/15: Wind samples from Page.
8/11/15: That was the most fun I've had during the first two minutes of Ghost in a long time.
8/11/15: Martian Monster tease before the drop, and then they NAIL it. Who the fuck are these guys?!
8/11/15: More MM jamming and samples.
8/11/15: Really neat Ghost jam developing now. Trey laying down a great solo, driving beat from Fish. Page echoing Trey on electric piano.
8/11/15: Trey head-fakes toward making the typical 2015 Bliss Jam turn, and then digs deeper into his original soloing.
8/11/15: Very Twist-like jam now. If this set hadn't already been 115 minutes long, they totally could have pulled off a great -> there.
8/11/15: Instead, drop back into Ghost coda.
8/11/15: Wind-down now.
8/11/15: Fuego to open S2!
8/11/15: Echo-y goodness from Trey in a really minimalist start to what seems like a legit Fuego jam.
8/11/15: Slow-burning bliss progression.
8/11/15: This is a bit Hood-y or Slave-y.
8/11/15: Neat peak to the jam now.
8/11/15: Jam reminds me a bit of the Dick's Disease.
8/11/15: > Rock and Roll.
8/11/15: Standard Rock and Roll, but now Trey is chording some funk shit.
8/11/15: Really neat, really muddy jam happening now, after vocal reprise.
8/11/15: Improbably, that ended in 46 Days.
8/11/15: 46 Days...46 Days...46 Days...and this battle station will be quite operational when your friends arrive.
8/11/15: Really dirty 46 Days solo leads a deconstruction jam. Weird beat by Fish, Trey chording arrhythmically, heavy echo effects.
8/11/15: Noodly outro riff turns the interesting-but-short 46 days jam -> Taste.
8/11/15: Trey even throwing some funk chording into the Taste outro 'solo.' Neat.
8/11/15: I think Fish just faked us out with the Split beat...maybe? Into 2001 instead, anyway.
8/11/15: This 2001 has a little meat on its bones.
8/11/15: Neat wind-down ending to 2001 lands directly in Sand.
8/11/15: Echo-and-clav-based jam here.
8/11/15: This jam isn't treading any new ground, but it's pure, distilled funk.
8/11/15: At the end of the Sand jam, Trey plays the opening chords of The Horse, and then Page picks it up for a piano version. > Silent.
8/11/15: Cavern. I think we're in safe mode the rest of the night. Pretty great set, though.
8/11/15: Number Line starts over the last chord of Cavern.
8/11/15: I've been liking the new noodly style Trey's been laying on Number Line lately. Let's see if it comes up tonight.
8/11/15: End set.
8/11/15: Julius closes. I can't stand this song as an encore choice, but I'm glad lots of other people enjoy it.
8/11/15: It's a fun song, and a catchy one, but also the epitome of mid-tempo, rote Phish. Which is a bad thing for encores.
2015-08-09 Alpine II
The Verdict:
The second Alpine show wasn't quite as satisfying as the first for me, though it seems like the general opinion on phish.net would disagree with me.
Admittedly, the first set is great from a setlist perspective. The song choices are just fantastic, including a "Very Short Fuse" opener, a "Forbin's" > "Mockingbird" sequence with some fun bird-shit-related narration, and a spacey "Brian and Robert." The problem, as I expressed during the live review below, is that Trey, and to a lesser extent the rest of the band, struggle with a lot of these rarities to the point that it sort of took me out of the show a bit. I'm sure that this set was incredibly fun live, and it's easier to be more critical when you can hear the details at home on the SBD, but there it is. It doesn't help either that the set closes with a "Split" that, in a year with some great versions, follows a completely predictable path.
Set 2 starts off with "Antelope," which is pretty weird, and other than that it actually follows a pretty similar path to 8/8's second set; it just doesn't have the same energy or flow, which makes it seem a bit pale by comparison. Pretty much everything in this set, with the exception of "Tweezer" and the second jam in "Mike's" is played completely straight. Fortunately, the second jam in "Mike's," although emerging in the weird 2015 way instead of the more organic "original" way, is totally weird in one of those "I've never heard Phish make these sounds before!" ways, and "Tweezer" is a phenomenal version that, in any other year, would be near the top of everyone's list for the whole summer. So you've got a little to dig into there. Honestly, though, the first set is better than the second, and the degree to which you'll appreciate the show overall has a lot to do with how much you enjoy setlist rarities and how much you can overlook some pretty serious flubs over the course of a 90 minute set.
The Live Review:
8/9/15: Noodling from Trey pre-opener. Now some clav.
8/9/15: Fuse sample. Crowd goes nuts. Very Long Fuse first.
8/9/15: Forgot how mellow this tune is. Awesome.
8/9/15: Holy shit, Forbin's.
8/9/15: Trey narration referencing how short his narrations are these days, and story about sleeping in the lot overnight.
8/9/15: Trey got shit on by a bird. Threatens audience with vengeance from the 'second shitter' on the 'grassy knoll.'
8/9/15: Trey struggling mightily with the arpeggios here. Great narration, though.
8/9/15: Brian and Robert! No way!
8/9/15: Lots of loops and echoes Fish using a different beat than the studio version.
8/9/15: Saw It Again! Holy this setlist!
8/9/15: Second solo plus insane shouting after the 'end' of Saw It Again.
8/9/15: Long pause after Saw It Again.
8/9/15: Esther! Holy crap.
8/9/15: Trey struggling a little again here, but great to hear this tune nonetheless.
8/9/15: Weigh is next.
8/9/15: 'Woo's during Weigh.
8/9/15: The Sloth!
8/9/15: Sanity is next. The hits just keep on coming.
8/9/15: This is fantastic setlist, but it's worth mentioning that this is the sloppiest I've heard Trey sound in a long time.
8/9/15: Almost definitely, it's because of the rare songs, but it takes a little bit of the piss out of the set.
8/9/15: Fuse samples and loops in the Sanity 'jam.'
8/9/15: Split maybe as the set closer?
8/9/15: Slow, really syrupy jamming to start.
8/9/15: Jam is sort of hinting at some of the darker, angrier Splits from later in the summer, but not quite getting there yet.
8/9/15: Second set opens with Antelope. That's weird.
8/9/15: Pretty pedestrian Antelope. Great peak, though.
8/9/15: Carini is next. Some typical soloing fuzzes out into something softer. Page to electric piano. Mike building a great bassline.
8/9/15: Not much happening here. Trey pulls the cord and moves to Waves.
8/9/15: Short Waves, but an ambient outro that sounds like Trey is starting up Tweezer a minute or two early.
8/9/15: Nice segue out of Waves, there.
8/9/15: Lots of echo-y goodness from Trey early on in this jam.
8/9/15: Tweezer is getting the Dick's Mike's Song '14 treatment here. Plus some synth from Page.
8/9/15: Page actually leading a little now on the electric piano.
8/9/15: Really driving, bliss-y progression emerging now.
8/9/15: This is badass.
8/9/15: Jam lands in Dirt. Second Dirt of the season, I think.
8/9/15: Mike's getting a bass solo. Neat!
8/9/15: Late-show Mike's to follow Dirt.
8/9/15: Manteca-y solo from Trey in an absolutely filthy tone to start.
8/9/15: Rest of the first jam is pretty straightforward. Second jam starts weirdly, like in Nashville. BUT IT STARTS
8/9/15: Page to clav. Money time.
8/9/15: Funk jam with staccato chords. Really hard to describe but Oh Shit awesome.
8/9/15: Crowd filling in with 'Woo's.
8/9/15: I've said it before, and I'll say it again: he who fears the 'Woo' has no real joy in his heart.
8/9/15: Jam fades out, > Blaze On.
8/9/15: Standard Blaze On, but nice to see it in the Mike's sandwich.
8/9/15: Extremely short but hot Groove.
8/9/15: Reprise to close the set.
8/9/15: Forgot to mention last night that the encore was Contact, Frankenstein.
8/9/15: Weird, weird show. If you're a 'repetitive setlist' complainer, you'll love it.
8/9/15: S1 setlist was totally out there, but so was Trey. I typically point out flubs just because I feel compelled to as a reviewer...
8/9/15: ...but they don't usually bother me. His playing was so rickety on all the rarities in S1, though, that it took away from the fun.
8/9/15: Like 8/8's S2, this S2 had great flow and energy, but not nearly as much to dig into.
8/9/15: The Tweezer was really special, and so was the second Mike's jam, but everything else was pretty rote.
8/9/15: Frankenstein closer sounded like Trey had never played it before.
8/9/15: Band was clearly loving being in Alpine, but just listening on tape it was one of my least favorite shows of tour so far.
The second Alpine show wasn't quite as satisfying as the first for me, though it seems like the general opinion on phish.net would disagree with me.
Admittedly, the first set is great from a setlist perspective. The song choices are just fantastic, including a "Very Short Fuse" opener, a "Forbin's" > "Mockingbird" sequence with some fun bird-shit-related narration, and a spacey "Brian and Robert." The problem, as I expressed during the live review below, is that Trey, and to a lesser extent the rest of the band, struggle with a lot of these rarities to the point that it sort of took me out of the show a bit. I'm sure that this set was incredibly fun live, and it's easier to be more critical when you can hear the details at home on the SBD, but there it is. It doesn't help either that the set closes with a "Split" that, in a year with some great versions, follows a completely predictable path.
Set 2 starts off with "Antelope," which is pretty weird, and other than that it actually follows a pretty similar path to 8/8's second set; it just doesn't have the same energy or flow, which makes it seem a bit pale by comparison. Pretty much everything in this set, with the exception of "Tweezer" and the second jam in "Mike's" is played completely straight. Fortunately, the second jam in "Mike's," although emerging in the weird 2015 way instead of the more organic "original" way, is totally weird in one of those "I've never heard Phish make these sounds before!" ways, and "Tweezer" is a phenomenal version that, in any other year, would be near the top of everyone's list for the whole summer. So you've got a little to dig into there. Honestly, though, the first set is better than the second, and the degree to which you'll appreciate the show overall has a lot to do with how much you enjoy setlist rarities and how much you can overlook some pretty serious flubs over the course of a 90 minute set.
The Live Review:
8/9/15: Noodling from Trey pre-opener. Now some clav.
8/9/15: Fuse sample. Crowd goes nuts. Very Long Fuse first.
8/9/15: Forgot how mellow this tune is. Awesome.
8/9/15: Holy shit, Forbin's.
8/9/15: Trey narration referencing how short his narrations are these days, and story about sleeping in the lot overnight.
8/9/15: Trey got shit on by a bird. Threatens audience with vengeance from the 'second shitter' on the 'grassy knoll.'
8/9/15: Trey struggling mightily with the arpeggios here. Great narration, though.
8/9/15: Brian and Robert! No way!
8/9/15: Lots of loops and echoes Fish using a different beat than the studio version.
8/9/15: Saw It Again! Holy this setlist!
8/9/15: Second solo plus insane shouting after the 'end' of Saw It Again.
8/9/15: Long pause after Saw It Again.
8/9/15: Esther! Holy crap.
8/9/15: Trey struggling a little again here, but great to hear this tune nonetheless.
8/9/15: Weigh is next.
8/9/15: 'Woo's during Weigh.
8/9/15: The Sloth!
8/9/15: Sanity is next. The hits just keep on coming.
8/9/15: This is fantastic setlist, but it's worth mentioning that this is the sloppiest I've heard Trey sound in a long time.
8/9/15: Almost definitely, it's because of the rare songs, but it takes a little bit of the piss out of the set.
8/9/15: Fuse samples and loops in the Sanity 'jam.'
8/9/15: Split maybe as the set closer?
8/9/15: Slow, really syrupy jamming to start.
8/9/15: Jam is sort of hinting at some of the darker, angrier Splits from later in the summer, but not quite getting there yet.
8/9/15: Second set opens with Antelope. That's weird.
8/9/15: Pretty pedestrian Antelope. Great peak, though.
8/9/15: Carini is next. Some typical soloing fuzzes out into something softer. Page to electric piano. Mike building a great bassline.
8/9/15: Not much happening here. Trey pulls the cord and moves to Waves.
8/9/15: Short Waves, but an ambient outro that sounds like Trey is starting up Tweezer a minute or two early.
8/9/15: Nice segue out of Waves, there.
8/9/15: Lots of echo-y goodness from Trey early on in this jam.
8/9/15: Tweezer is getting the Dick's Mike's Song '14 treatment here. Plus some synth from Page.
8/9/15: Page actually leading a little now on the electric piano.
8/9/15: Really driving, bliss-y progression emerging now.
8/9/15: This is badass.
8/9/15: Jam lands in Dirt. Second Dirt of the season, I think.
8/9/15: Mike's getting a bass solo. Neat!
8/9/15: Late-show Mike's to follow Dirt.
8/9/15: Manteca-y solo from Trey in an absolutely filthy tone to start.
8/9/15: Rest of the first jam is pretty straightforward. Second jam starts weirdly, like in Nashville. BUT IT STARTS
8/9/15: Page to clav. Money time.
8/9/15: Funk jam with staccato chords. Really hard to describe but Oh Shit awesome.
8/9/15: Crowd filling in with 'Woo's.
8/9/15: I've said it before, and I'll say it again: he who fears the 'Woo' has no real joy in his heart.
8/9/15: Jam fades out, > Blaze On.
8/9/15: Standard Blaze On, but nice to see it in the Mike's sandwich.
8/9/15: Extremely short but hot Groove.
8/9/15: Reprise to close the set.
8/9/15: Forgot to mention last night that the encore was Contact, Frankenstein.
8/9/15: Weird, weird show. If you're a 'repetitive setlist' complainer, you'll love it.
8/9/15: S1 setlist was totally out there, but so was Trey. I typically point out flubs just because I feel compelled to as a reviewer...
8/9/15: ...but they don't usually bother me. His playing was so rickety on all the rarities in S1, though, that it took away from the fun.
8/9/15: Like 8/8's S2, this S2 had great flow and energy, but not nearly as much to dig into.
8/9/15: The Tweezer was really special, and so was the second Mike's jam, but everything else was pretty rote.
8/9/15: Frankenstein closer sounded like Trey had never played it before.
8/9/15: Band was clearly loving being in Alpine, but just listening on tape it was one of my least favorite shows of tour so far.
Oct 25, 2015
2015-08-08 Alpine I
The Verdict:
This is one of those shows that's hard to review because it's a really good Phish show, but not for the reasons I typically really enjoy a show. So on one hand, I look at a lot of the second set and wish that it had more Shoreline- or Blossom-style jams, but if you're not too locked into that way of thinking, there's a whole lot here to sink your teeth into.
The first set is a bit unique. It starts off strong, as many 2015 S1s do. This time, it's "No Men" and "Stealing Time" that provide the opening one-two punch before the now-customary fumbling around happens during the middle of the set. "Frankie Says" is a nice bustout that gets us back on track, and the guys play around a bit with the usual tones used for the song, giving it a more ominous feel (and hinting at the "WTU?" to come?). The rest of the set is mostly made up of longer composed pieces, but maybe not the ones you'd expect: "Maze," "Mercury," and "Reba." We close with a strong "Possum." So, I think that whether you see this set as falling into the stronger pile of S1s we've gotten this year or the weaker pile depends a lot on how you feel about "Maze," "Mercury," and "Reba." "Maze" and "Reba" have been extra-good lately, and these versions are no exception, and I love "Mercury" in general. So, for my money, this is a somewhat uneven but ultimately satisfying set.
The second set is anything but uneven, but if you're insistent on monster jams, you might be a little disappointed. "Disesase" opens, and actually does a good job of Going There as far as I'm concerned: it doesn't do anything that we haven't heard the boys do already this summer, but it combines a few comfortable jamming ideas so well and with such verve that it's hard not to love. "Halley's" gets slightly extended with a funk jam, "Twist" stays Type I but with some fun MuTron soloing, "Light" echoes the blissful, "Hood"-like Gorge '09 version before melting nicely into "WTU?", and even "Number Line" and "Slave" have a little extra juice to them. "Fuego" is really the only song in the entire set that doesn't have at least a few notable moments in it. How much you like this show probably depends on how much you can put off your lust for huge jams and just appreciate consistently strong, mildly innovative playing. It's definitely a show that I feel like deserves to be liked more than I can like it. If that makes sense.
The Live Review:
8/8/15: Slow-tempo No Men's to open. I like it.
8/8/15: Strong leads from Trey to start.
8/8/15: There might some pretty rote first sets this year, but the opening song or two each show has been a LOT stronger than in years past.
8/8/15: Stealing Time is in the two-slot.
8/8/15: Some nice Trey/Page interplay here.
8/8/15: Poor Heart. Page goes to town on the piano for an extended solo.
8/8/15: Julius next.
8/8/15: Yeah! Frankie Sez.
8/8/15: Page is playing the clav (I think) instead of whatever he usually plays on Frankie Says. It sounds great.
8/8/15: Nice fadeout from a flanger-y Frankie ending into Maze.
8/8/15: Mission: Impossible tease from Page at the beginning of the organ solo. Neat.
8/8/15: Maze was its usual 2014-2015 badass self. Lots of chording and a great organ solo.
8/8/15: Extended noodling break after Maze. Sounds a bit like WTU?
8/8/15: Mercury! Hell yes.
8/8/15: Once they finally settle on how to play this, it's going to be fantastic. So happy to still hear new songs like this and Fuego.
8/8/15: Middle Trey jam needs to be a little more dynamic instead of just being him hitting random notes for awhile.
8/8/15: I love the marimba solo and the move back into the funk-style mode of the song afterward.
8/8/15: Reba!
8/8/15: Trey starts off with a pretty compelling melodic lead here.
8/8/15: FTW helped Trey's Reba skills. They've all been good this year so far. Shoreline is my favorite and this one is just as good.
8/8/15: Whistling ending.
8/8/15: Possum set closer?
8/8/15: Glad they've brought Possum back just because Trey's been doing such a great job of shredding it.
8/8/15: Disease opens the second set. Curious to see what they can do with this that they haven't already.
8/8/15: Disease has been consistently great for a long time as a jam vehicle, but there comes a point where you start to wonder...
8/8/15: ...if using a comfortable song as a launch pad starts leading to similar jams.
8/8/15: Of course, CDT and Tweezer both kicked ass on 8/7, so what do I know.
8/8/15: Typical noodling, but with some loops as background.
8/8/15: Great move into funk space. So far this jam is like Coca-Cola: totally predictable and incredibly satisfying.
8/8/15: Oh shit bass party.
8/8/15: Ooh, Trey is putting together a really need melody solo now.
8/8/15: Really neat Disease jam that honestly probably benefited from not getting stretched beyond its natural length. > Halley's.
8/8/15: Trey starting the funk chording early in Halley's, during the vocals.
8/8/15: Holy Halley's funk jam! Is it 1997 in here?!
8/8/15: Loops! Clav! MADNESS!
8/8/15: Okay, so that Halley's jam still had some serious legs, but how can you argue with the Twist segue? So smoooooth
8/8/15: Trey is dirtying it up. Page to electric piano, then clav.
8/8/15: Totally Type I Twist, but really fun nonetheless.
8/8/15: Light, the table resetter of S2s everywhere, is next.
8/8/15: Almost a Hood feel to this Light jam. Reminds me of the '09 Gorge version a little.
8/8/15: YES! Awesome landing in WTU?
8/8/15: Grungier WTU? than usual, if that's possible. > Fuego.
8/8/15: Fuego is surprisingly rocky.
8/8/15: Neat, short, drone-y ending to Fuego.
8/8/15: Number Line is next. Trey is doing the trilling style of solo he's been doing for this song lately.
8/8/15: Slave to close the set.
8/8/15: Awesome extended peak in this Slave.
8/8/15: Meatstick encore!
8/8/15: Frank Herbet said that fear is the mind-killer. I'd argue that Character Zero is the mind-killer.
8/8/15: Anyway, that show was a sort of combination of traits that we've seen in 'average-great' 2015 shows...
8/8/15: High energy S1 with a great setlist but all in-the-box playing, and S2 with a bunch of interesting, short jams that segued nicely.
8/8/15: Perfectly fine show, but missing the two things I love most about 2015: first set surprises and multiple BIG jams.
8/8/15: Both happened on 8/7, but not tonight.
8/8/15: Reba was notable, I suppose, in S1.
8/8/15: Just about every song in S2 had something interesting about it. Just nothing to compare to the real behemoths of the summer so far.
This is one of those shows that's hard to review because it's a really good Phish show, but not for the reasons I typically really enjoy a show. So on one hand, I look at a lot of the second set and wish that it had more Shoreline- or Blossom-style jams, but if you're not too locked into that way of thinking, there's a whole lot here to sink your teeth into.
The first set is a bit unique. It starts off strong, as many 2015 S1s do. This time, it's "No Men" and "Stealing Time" that provide the opening one-two punch before the now-customary fumbling around happens during the middle of the set. "Frankie Says" is a nice bustout that gets us back on track, and the guys play around a bit with the usual tones used for the song, giving it a more ominous feel (and hinting at the "WTU?" to come?). The rest of the set is mostly made up of longer composed pieces, but maybe not the ones you'd expect: "Maze," "Mercury," and "Reba." We close with a strong "Possum." So, I think that whether you see this set as falling into the stronger pile of S1s we've gotten this year or the weaker pile depends a lot on how you feel about "Maze," "Mercury," and "Reba." "Maze" and "Reba" have been extra-good lately, and these versions are no exception, and I love "Mercury" in general. So, for my money, this is a somewhat uneven but ultimately satisfying set.
The second set is anything but uneven, but if you're insistent on monster jams, you might be a little disappointed. "Disesase" opens, and actually does a good job of Going There as far as I'm concerned: it doesn't do anything that we haven't heard the boys do already this summer, but it combines a few comfortable jamming ideas so well and with such verve that it's hard not to love. "Halley's" gets slightly extended with a funk jam, "Twist" stays Type I but with some fun MuTron soloing, "Light" echoes the blissful, "Hood"-like Gorge '09 version before melting nicely into "WTU?", and even "Number Line" and "Slave" have a little extra juice to them. "Fuego" is really the only song in the entire set that doesn't have at least a few notable moments in it. How much you like this show probably depends on how much you can put off your lust for huge jams and just appreciate consistently strong, mildly innovative playing. It's definitely a show that I feel like deserves to be liked more than I can like it. If that makes sense.
The Live Review:
8/8/15: Slow-tempo No Men's to open. I like it.
8/8/15: Strong leads from Trey to start.
8/8/15: There might some pretty rote first sets this year, but the opening song or two each show has been a LOT stronger than in years past.
8/8/15: Stealing Time is in the two-slot.
8/8/15: Some nice Trey/Page interplay here.
8/8/15: Poor Heart. Page goes to town on the piano for an extended solo.
8/8/15: Julius next.
8/8/15: Yeah! Frankie Sez.
8/8/15: Page is playing the clav (I think) instead of whatever he usually plays on Frankie Says. It sounds great.
8/8/15: Nice fadeout from a flanger-y Frankie ending into Maze.
8/8/15: Mission: Impossible tease from Page at the beginning of the organ solo. Neat.
8/8/15: Maze was its usual 2014-2015 badass self. Lots of chording and a great organ solo.
8/8/15: Extended noodling break after Maze. Sounds a bit like WTU?
8/8/15: Mercury! Hell yes.
8/8/15: Once they finally settle on how to play this, it's going to be fantastic. So happy to still hear new songs like this and Fuego.
8/8/15: Middle Trey jam needs to be a little more dynamic instead of just being him hitting random notes for awhile.
8/8/15: I love the marimba solo and the move back into the funk-style mode of the song afterward.
8/8/15: Reba!
8/8/15: Trey starts off with a pretty compelling melodic lead here.
8/8/15: FTW helped Trey's Reba skills. They've all been good this year so far. Shoreline is my favorite and this one is just as good.
8/8/15: Whistling ending.
8/8/15: Possum set closer?
8/8/15: Glad they've brought Possum back just because Trey's been doing such a great job of shredding it.
8/8/15: Disease opens the second set. Curious to see what they can do with this that they haven't already.
8/8/15: Disease has been consistently great for a long time as a jam vehicle, but there comes a point where you start to wonder...
8/8/15: ...if using a comfortable song as a launch pad starts leading to similar jams.
8/8/15: Of course, CDT and Tweezer both kicked ass on 8/7, so what do I know.
8/8/15: Typical noodling, but with some loops as background.
8/8/15: Great move into funk space. So far this jam is like Coca-Cola: totally predictable and incredibly satisfying.
8/8/15: Oh shit bass party.
8/8/15: Ooh, Trey is putting together a really need melody solo now.
8/8/15: Really neat Disease jam that honestly probably benefited from not getting stretched beyond its natural length. > Halley's.
8/8/15: Trey starting the funk chording early in Halley's, during the vocals.
8/8/15: Holy Halley's funk jam! Is it 1997 in here?!
8/8/15: Loops! Clav! MADNESS!
8/8/15: Okay, so that Halley's jam still had some serious legs, but how can you argue with the Twist segue? So smoooooth
8/8/15: Trey is dirtying it up. Page to electric piano, then clav.
8/8/15: Totally Type I Twist, but really fun nonetheless.
8/8/15: Light, the table resetter of S2s everywhere, is next.
8/8/15: Almost a Hood feel to this Light jam. Reminds me of the '09 Gorge version a little.
8/8/15: YES! Awesome landing in WTU?
8/8/15: Grungier WTU? than usual, if that's possible. > Fuego.
8/8/15: Fuego is surprisingly rocky.
8/8/15: Neat, short, drone-y ending to Fuego.
8/8/15: Number Line is next. Trey is doing the trilling style of solo he's been doing for this song lately.
8/8/15: Slave to close the set.
8/8/15: Awesome extended peak in this Slave.
8/8/15: Meatstick encore!
8/8/15: Frank Herbet said that fear is the mind-killer. I'd argue that Character Zero is the mind-killer.
8/8/15: Anyway, that show was a sort of combination of traits that we've seen in 'average-great' 2015 shows...
8/8/15: High energy S1 with a great setlist but all in-the-box playing, and S2 with a bunch of interesting, short jams that segued nicely.
8/8/15: Perfectly fine show, but missing the two things I love most about 2015: first set surprises and multiple BIG jams.
8/8/15: Both happened on 8/7, but not tonight.
8/8/15: Reba was notable, I suppose, in S1.
8/8/15: Just about every song in S2 had something interesting about it. Just nothing to compare to the real behemoths of the summer so far.
2015-08-07 Blossom
The Verdict:
This one's up there with the two Atlanta shows and Shoreline as one of my favorites of the year so far. My Twitter review is a bit scattered for chemically-induced reasons, and maybe watching the video of the show rather than just listening to it made me more able to be tuned in to what was going on on screen, but hot damn, this was a fun show.
The first set, in what's becoming a surprising trend considering the buzz about this tour, is pretty rote. Nothing really happens that's out-of-the-box unless you count the strong "Type 1.5" "Gin" that closes the set. Oh, and Trey's "Timber" solo. That's worth a listen. Nothing else really stands out, but it's a really well-organized set that never really lets up and features a lot of songs you might like to hear in a "typical" first set and none that you wouldn't.
The second set, though, is pretty magical. It's not just the "Chalkdust" that opens and goes on to become one of the best (if not the best) jam of the year so far, or the "Tweezer" that immediately follows that's arguably even better. It's the fact that, like Shoreline, the quality never really lets up from there. There is no Jukebox Mode or fourth-quarter cooldown. Instead, we get "The Lizards" as a great segue from the "Tweezer" jam, a quick "Makisupa" with some excellent bass work from Mike, a surprise "Ghost" that's short but is still strong enough to be the keystone jam of any "normal" show, and then a "Hood" that maybe isn't as structurally interesting as most but features a beautiful take-charge solo from Trey that almost makes this more of a "Reba"-style jam than a "Hood" one. Fantastic set. I'm just going to link to the whole thing below instead of the highlights:
The Live Review:
8/7/15: ASIHTOS opener.
8/7/15: Weird to see Blossom on video. Used to go there as a kid to see DMB. Only saw one show there since 2002.
8/7/15: That was the 2010 Number Line show.
8/7/15: Trey laying down a solid solo here. Nice start.
8/7/15: Fish going to town now, too.
8/7/15: My Sweet One at number two.
8/7/15: Super-high tempo. Page destroys solo.
8/7/15: Wilson for number three. Energy level is through the roof.
8/7/15: Timber! Nice!
8/7/15: Immediate advantage to webcasts: you can actually watch Fish play, because he is a monster.
8/7/15: Trey fills are definitely at 2015 levels so far.
8/7/15: Watching a webcast also makes me think about how when I actually get to see the band live I waste a bunch of time worrying...
8/7/15: ...about stupid setlist shit and jam length. Would much rather be seeing a mediocre Phish show live than watching this.
8/7/15: Roses! Damn, great setlist so far :)
8/7/15: That Roses jam from '12 is still one of the neatest things.
8/7/15: Rift teasing. Then Trey commands Ween to get back together.
8/7/15: Rift.
8/7/15: Solid uptempo Rift. Some boobs being shaken vigorously in the front row.
8/7/15: Couch tour style advantage: you can slam a homemade Yumm Bowl and then eat a bunch of ice cream and it's all free.
8/7/15: Moma Dance is next. For some reason, that made me stand up and yell 'ZEUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUS!'
8/7/15: To my dog, who's trying to convince my other dog to play: 'No one on Earth wants to play with you. You have a bad personality.'
8/7/15: THE MOMENT ENDS THOUGH I FEEL WINDS
8/7/15: I'm just going to get high as hell and type the lyrics to all the songs in all caps in real time.
8/7/15: THE MOMA DANCE THE MOMA DANCE
8/7/15: THE MOMENT ENDS THE MOMENT ENDS
8/7/15: MUHAMMAD ANTS MUHAMMAD ANTS
8/7/15: Trey and Mike talking. Trey is like: 'Balzac?' and MIke is like: 'Sartre.'
8/7/15: Nellie Kane, fuck yes.
8/7/15: Mike's orange belt is freaking me the hell out, guys.
8/7/15: This song is actually Ginseng Sullivan. It only took me sixty seconds to realize that. Morning is gonna suck.
8/7/15: Long pause after Ginseng. I mean, I think it was long.
8/7/15: Somewhere between five seconds and 5-10 minutes.
8/7/15: Wingsuite
8/7/15: For when your wings deserve a rest.
8/7/15: I knew Trey's guitar would turn into that pink toothpaste before it happened.
8/7/15: Trey is drawing out the ending solo. End set?
8/7/15: I swear to god the drill just like flew up out of the ground and Mike grabbed it.
8/7/15: It's Ice!
8/7/15: Trey's struggling with the composed section. But that's okay, so am I.
8/7/15: I'm glad that the funk breakdown in It's Ice has become a regular thing.
8/7/15: Trey is teasing something. Thought it was No Men's but no.
8/7/15: For the Love of Money.
8/7/15: Gin! If this closes the set, it's a great choice.
8/7/15: Trey is going to melody town, here.
8/7/15: Fish slowly picking up the pace.
8/7/15: When I let myself think, I realize: 'Uh-oh.'
8/7/15: Great chording transition into a good ol' Type 1.5 Gin.
8/7/15: Nice use of CK5 firework effects on the backdrop.
8/7/15: He's alternating those with the lights that scared the shit out of me during the Dick's SOAM.
8/7/15: Fish is groovin'.
8/7/15: Soloing for the last 2-3 minutes has been absolutely nuts.
8/7/15: Drop back into Gin. Fantastic not-quite-wacky-jammed version.
8/7/15: A couple false 'last note's there before the real one. Guys having fun. I AM ALSO HAVING FUN
8/7/15: I'll be back in less than fifteen minutes, for real. DON'T DO ANYTHING I WOULDN'T DO
8/7/15: LIKE DRUGS FOR EXAMPLE
8/7/15: Second set time.
8/7/15: I'm ready to absorb this Chalkdust.
8/7/15: Oh man. How the serious fuck does ice cream taste so good?
8/7/15: Trey is using his 'guitar' to play many 'chords.'
8/7/15: When played in a particular sequence, they make a 'song.' #pomo
8/7/15: Red is the Keystone Light of colors.
8/7/15: I contributed to this jam by inhaling a lethal amount of weed right at the moment of the transition from Type > Type II #5thmember
8/7/15: Trey has an angry, aggressive look on his face during this solo. It scares me. #frownofdeath
8/7/15: Chalkdust second jam! #ripmikessecondjam #newhighlander
8/7/15: Crazy pitch-shifted soloing almost immediately.
8/7/15: Whoa, this jam is green and sticky. Now, moving to bliss jam.
8/7/15: Holy shit, CK5's lights are insane. I HAVE to try this at an actual concert sometime.
8/7/15: Really great rising progression from Trey. Fish picking up steam.
8/7/15: Jesus, every thing is sizzling warm and all orange.
8/7/15: In, like, a good way.
8/7/15: Trey reprising the progression during his solo. Holy COW
8/7/15: Brief, robotic interlude. Now getting darker.
8/7/15: Trey starts up another riff...teasing Tweezer now.
8/7/15: Band seges perfectly. -> Tweezer. God damn
8/7/15: LOOK WHO'S IN THE FREEZER...THE SHROUD OF TURIN!
8/7/15: Oh man, this jam immediately went purple.
8/7/15: Trey is laying down a super-funky Manteca-y riff and everyone's jamming on it. This is the best thing that's ever happened to us.
8/7/15: Being really patient about this languid funk jam. So cool.
8/7/15: Page using almost Meatstick tone now.
8/7/15: Trey is soloing in some fucking weirdo scale
8/7/15: But actually this is really good
8/7/15: Build out of that long jam finally moves into funk/loop/echo zone.
8/7/15: I bet Mike Gordon is a bass player in real life.
8/7/15: Slow, circular jam now, backed by creepy loops.
8/7/15: Okay, so these are two of the better jams of the year so far, if not the two best, and they're in the same set.
8/7/15: Camera is doing a weird 80s music video mirror effect now. At least, I hope it's the camera that's doing that.
8/7/15: Page over to clav.
8/7/15: Whoa. Extremely pretty outro jam.
8/7/15: Trey accidentally or on purpose hits on The Lizards' riff, and off we go!
8/7/15: What a landing from a great jam sequence.
8/7/15: Eat a huge bowl of ice cream, remember you're lactose intolerant minutes later.
8/7/15: See? Weed is goddamn dangerous!
8/7/15: Mike is glowing in the dark.
8/7/15: This is a reggae song. It is called 'I Want Pie Now.'
8/7/15: Nah, it's just Makisupa. Maybe the keyword will be 'Pie.'
8/7/15: Maybe I'm having trouble being objective right now, but I swear Mike pulled off an amazing solo in Makisupa.
8/7/15: I'm at that point where you can only have one eye open at a time.
8/7/15: Slow reggae jam out of Makisupa > Ghost by Trey.
8/7/15: GUYS, THE KITCHEN IS A PLACE
8/7/15: Mike is dressed like a character from the fucking Jetsons. Come on, man
8/7/15: The part in my neck feels like a cool mint Oreo
8/7/15: Jam now. Page over to electric piano.
8/7/15: Mike is going to town.
8/7/15: Ghost roars right from the usual Type I rock to FunkyTime in an eyeblink. Serious jam here all of a sudden.
8/7/15: Noise rock breakdown.
8/7/15: Hood! This S2 setlist is *perfect*.
8/7/15: Sometimes Page, while innocently singing, just makes horrible R.L. Stein monster faces.
8/7/15: Trey out in front with a solo at the start of the jam.
8/7/15: Really beautiful and awesome Hood solo from Trey.
8/7/15: Hood seemed a little short, but damn was that guitar playing for the ages. Emotive, too, not just shredding.
8/7/15: Tweeprise within S2.
8/7/15: GTBT encore. Hot damn.
8/7/15: This show is not FUCKING AROUND
This one's up there with the two Atlanta shows and Shoreline as one of my favorites of the year so far. My Twitter review is a bit scattered for chemically-induced reasons, and maybe watching the video of the show rather than just listening to it made me more able to be tuned in to what was going on on screen, but hot damn, this was a fun show.
The first set, in what's becoming a surprising trend considering the buzz about this tour, is pretty rote. Nothing really happens that's out-of-the-box unless you count the strong "Type 1.5" "Gin" that closes the set. Oh, and Trey's "Timber" solo. That's worth a listen. Nothing else really stands out, but it's a really well-organized set that never really lets up and features a lot of songs you might like to hear in a "typical" first set and none that you wouldn't.
The second set, though, is pretty magical. It's not just the "Chalkdust" that opens and goes on to become one of the best (if not the best) jam of the year so far, or the "Tweezer" that immediately follows that's arguably even better. It's the fact that, like Shoreline, the quality never really lets up from there. There is no Jukebox Mode or fourth-quarter cooldown. Instead, we get "The Lizards" as a great segue from the "Tweezer" jam, a quick "Makisupa" with some excellent bass work from Mike, a surprise "Ghost" that's short but is still strong enough to be the keystone jam of any "normal" show, and then a "Hood" that maybe isn't as structurally interesting as most but features a beautiful take-charge solo from Trey that almost makes this more of a "Reba"-style jam than a "Hood" one. Fantastic set. I'm just going to link to the whole thing below instead of the highlights:
The Live Review:
8/7/15: ASIHTOS opener.
8/7/15: Weird to see Blossom on video. Used to go there as a kid to see DMB. Only saw one show there since 2002.
8/7/15: That was the 2010 Number Line show.
8/7/15: Trey laying down a solid solo here. Nice start.
8/7/15: Fish going to town now, too.
8/7/15: My Sweet One at number two.
8/7/15: Super-high tempo. Page destroys solo.
8/7/15: Wilson for number three. Energy level is through the roof.
8/7/15: Timber! Nice!
8/7/15: Immediate advantage to webcasts: you can actually watch Fish play, because he is a monster.
8/7/15: Trey fills are definitely at 2015 levels so far.
8/7/15: Watching a webcast also makes me think about how when I actually get to see the band live I waste a bunch of time worrying...
8/7/15: ...about stupid setlist shit and jam length. Would much rather be seeing a mediocre Phish show live than watching this.
8/7/15: Roses! Damn, great setlist so far :)
8/7/15: That Roses jam from '12 is still one of the neatest things.
8/7/15: Rift teasing. Then Trey commands Ween to get back together.
8/7/15: Rift.
8/7/15: Solid uptempo Rift. Some boobs being shaken vigorously in the front row.
8/7/15: Couch tour style advantage: you can slam a homemade Yumm Bowl and then eat a bunch of ice cream and it's all free.
8/7/15: Moma Dance is next. For some reason, that made me stand up and yell 'ZEUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUS!'
8/7/15: To my dog, who's trying to convince my other dog to play: 'No one on Earth wants to play with you. You have a bad personality.'
8/7/15: THE MOMENT ENDS THOUGH I FEEL WINDS
8/7/15: I'm just going to get high as hell and type the lyrics to all the songs in all caps in real time.
8/7/15: THE MOMA DANCE THE MOMA DANCE
8/7/15: THE MOMENT ENDS THE MOMENT ENDS
8/7/15: MUHAMMAD ANTS MUHAMMAD ANTS
8/7/15: Trey and Mike talking. Trey is like: 'Balzac?' and MIke is like: 'Sartre.'
8/7/15: Nellie Kane, fuck yes.
8/7/15: Mike's orange belt is freaking me the hell out, guys.
8/7/15: This song is actually Ginseng Sullivan. It only took me sixty seconds to realize that. Morning is gonna suck.
8/7/15: Long pause after Ginseng. I mean, I think it was long.
8/7/15: Somewhere between five seconds and 5-10 minutes.
8/7/15: Wingsuite
8/7/15: For when your wings deserve a rest.
8/7/15: I knew Trey's guitar would turn into that pink toothpaste before it happened.
8/7/15: Trey is drawing out the ending solo. End set?
8/7/15: I swear to god the drill just like flew up out of the ground and Mike grabbed it.
8/7/15: It's Ice!
8/7/15: Trey's struggling with the composed section. But that's okay, so am I.
8/7/15: I'm glad that the funk breakdown in It's Ice has become a regular thing.
8/7/15: Trey is teasing something. Thought it was No Men's but no.
8/7/15: For the Love of Money.
8/7/15: Gin! If this closes the set, it's a great choice.
8/7/15: Trey is going to melody town, here.
8/7/15: Fish slowly picking up the pace.
8/7/15: When I let myself think, I realize: 'Uh-oh.'
8/7/15: Great chording transition into a good ol' Type 1.5 Gin.
8/7/15: Nice use of CK5 firework effects on the backdrop.
8/7/15: He's alternating those with the lights that scared the shit out of me during the Dick's SOAM.
8/7/15: Fish is groovin'.
8/7/15: Soloing for the last 2-3 minutes has been absolutely nuts.
8/7/15: Drop back into Gin. Fantastic not-quite-wacky-jammed version.
8/7/15: A couple false 'last note's there before the real one. Guys having fun. I AM ALSO HAVING FUN
8/7/15: I'll be back in less than fifteen minutes, for real. DON'T DO ANYTHING I WOULDN'T DO
8/7/15: LIKE DRUGS FOR EXAMPLE
8/7/15: Second set time.
8/7/15: I'm ready to absorb this Chalkdust.
8/7/15: Oh man. How the serious fuck does ice cream taste so good?
8/7/15: Trey is using his 'guitar' to play many 'chords.'
8/7/15: When played in a particular sequence, they make a 'song.' #pomo
8/7/15: Red is the Keystone Light of colors.
8/7/15: I contributed to this jam by inhaling a lethal amount of weed right at the moment of the transition from Type > Type II #5thmember
8/7/15: Trey has an angry, aggressive look on his face during this solo. It scares me. #frownofdeath
8/7/15: Chalkdust second jam! #ripmikessecondjam #newhighlander
8/7/15: Crazy pitch-shifted soloing almost immediately.
8/7/15: Whoa, this jam is green and sticky. Now, moving to bliss jam.
8/7/15: Holy shit, CK5's lights are insane. I HAVE to try this at an actual concert sometime.
8/7/15: Really great rising progression from Trey. Fish picking up steam.
8/7/15: Jesus, every thing is sizzling warm and all orange.
8/7/15: In, like, a good way.
8/7/15: Trey reprising the progression during his solo. Holy COW
8/7/15: Brief, robotic interlude. Now getting darker.
8/7/15: Trey starts up another riff...teasing Tweezer now.
8/7/15: Band seges perfectly. -> Tweezer. God damn
8/7/15: LOOK WHO'S IN THE FREEZER...THE SHROUD OF TURIN!
8/7/15: Oh man, this jam immediately went purple.
8/7/15: Trey is laying down a super-funky Manteca-y riff and everyone's jamming on it. This is the best thing that's ever happened to us.
8/7/15: Being really patient about this languid funk jam. So cool.
8/7/15: Page using almost Meatstick tone now.
8/7/15: Trey is soloing in some fucking weirdo scale
8/7/15: But actually this is really good
8/7/15: Build out of that long jam finally moves into funk/loop/echo zone.
8/7/15: I bet Mike Gordon is a bass player in real life.
8/7/15: Slow, circular jam now, backed by creepy loops.
8/7/15: Okay, so these are two of the better jams of the year so far, if not the two best, and they're in the same set.
8/7/15: Camera is doing a weird 80s music video mirror effect now. At least, I hope it's the camera that's doing that.
8/7/15: Page over to clav.
8/7/15: Whoa. Extremely pretty outro jam.
8/7/15: Trey accidentally or on purpose hits on The Lizards' riff, and off we go!
8/7/15: What a landing from a great jam sequence.
8/7/15: Eat a huge bowl of ice cream, remember you're lactose intolerant minutes later.
8/7/15: See? Weed is goddamn dangerous!
8/7/15: Mike is glowing in the dark.
8/7/15: This is a reggae song. It is called 'I Want Pie Now.'
8/7/15: Nah, it's just Makisupa. Maybe the keyword will be 'Pie.'
8/7/15: Maybe I'm having trouble being objective right now, but I swear Mike pulled off an amazing solo in Makisupa.
8/7/15: I'm at that point where you can only have one eye open at a time.
8/7/15: Slow reggae jam out of Makisupa > Ghost by Trey.
8/7/15: GUYS, THE KITCHEN IS A PLACE
8/7/15: Mike is dressed like a character from the fucking Jetsons. Come on, man
8/7/15: The part in my neck feels like a cool mint Oreo
8/7/15: Jam now. Page over to electric piano.
8/7/15: Mike is going to town.
8/7/15: Ghost roars right from the usual Type I rock to FunkyTime in an eyeblink. Serious jam here all of a sudden.
8/7/15: Noise rock breakdown.
8/7/15: Hood! This S2 setlist is *perfect*.
8/7/15: Sometimes Page, while innocently singing, just makes horrible R.L. Stein monster faces.
8/7/15: Trey out in front with a solo at the start of the jam.
8/7/15: Really beautiful and awesome Hood solo from Trey.
8/7/15: Hood seemed a little short, but damn was that guitar playing for the ages. Emotive, too, not just shredding.
8/7/15: Tweeprise within S2.
8/7/15: GTBT encore. Hot damn.
8/7/15: This show is not FUCKING AROUND
Oct 21, 2015
2015-08-05 Starlight Amphitheater
The Verdict:
The Starlight show, surprisingly, sees us back yet again in one-jam land. Despite the reputation of this tour, I'm finding a lot of these less consistent shows as I listen through. 8/5 is definitely more reminiscent of 8/2, 7/29, 7/28, or 7/21 than one of the stronger entries thus far this year.
I guess if you like the composed classics, you get "Divided Sky" and "YEM" here. Otherwise you get a first set that has a 2010-era half and a 2015-era half, each bolstered by even-better-than-usual-for-2015 Trey solos, but also never interested in making any moves out of the usual first set box. Unless you count the Phish debut of Mike's "The Last Step," which was oddly placed in the set but really well played and suited to the band, I thought.
The second set is extra weird. It starts with Type I takes on "Jibboo" and "Twist" (huh?) before dropping "The Wedge" to ensure jamming blue balls. Then, out of nowhere, there's a monster "Disease" that's long and patiently developed and doesn't predictably freak out into a peak at the last second. It's definitely worth a listen. The "Sand" that follows is short, but is in the mold of last year's "Mike's" from Dick's. I really love this kind of jamming, but it leans entirely on the echo effect for the length of the jam, so your mileage will vary. The second set ends with a particularly-unearned-seeming "YEM," and though of course it's a strong version, it doesn't exactly bring anything new to the table.
Starlight isn't a bad show by any means, and I'd be happy to have it in 2014 or any previous year. But it seems a bit out of character for 2015, where none of the qualities that have characterized the many great moments of the tour so far (improvisation in strange places, clever segues, unexpected setlist choices, unexpected jam vehicles, multiple deep jams per show) are on display. You should listen to the "Disease" and the "Sand," though. Here they are:
The Live Review:
8/5/15: After a somewhat uneven 8/4 (albeit with an awesome finish), it's time for 8/5!
8/5/15: Trey noodling something at the opening. Sounded sort of like The Horse but in a major key.
8/5/15: 'They Attack!' sample from Page.
8/5/15: Really slow Gumbo to start.
8/5/15: Really liking the slow-down, actually.
8/5/15: Clav solo outro with some interesting drumming from Fish.
8/5/15: KDF next.
8/5/15: Trey is destroying this KDF.
8/5/15: In a good way, I mean.
8/5/15: Back on the Train. What is it about this song that makes it seem like the most predictable of predictable songs?
8/5/15: It's actually really catchy, but every time it pops up, I immediately think 'Oh, this shit again.'
8/5/15: Except this time: https://t.co/rErltddPIU
8/5/15: I love that the only real jammed-out BOTT is a fucking ten-minute-long ambient jam.
8/5/15: Makes no sense, and that's why it's great.
8/5/15: Okay, despite my bitching, that was an excellent Trey-heavy BOTT.
8/5/15: Bouncin', Divided Sky.
8/5/15: I feel like this first set, so far at least, is a sort of 2009-2010 set, in terms of song choices.
8/5/15: It reminds me of reviewing a 2010 show, though with MUCH stronger playing from everyone.
8/5/15: Here's a fun fact: DSky has been playing once every four shows on average. I've seen 29 shows and heard it once. #phish #cursed
8/5/15: *played
8/5/15: Holy crap! The Last Step!
8/5/15: The Phish version of the song seems more sinister for some reason.
8/5/15: That was surprisingly well-played.
8/5/15: Blaze On!
8/5/15: Nice in-the-box Blaze On.
8/5/15: Seems like a weird placement for WAN.
8/5/15: Rock-heavy 46 Days to close the set. Trey is losing his mind.
8/5/15: That first set was pretty weird. First half = 2010, second half = 2015. Both halves were clearly assembled using a dart board.
8/5/15: Some great Trey solos in BOTT, Blaze On, and 46 Days, though.
8/5/15: Now the second set opens with Jibboo. Even weirder.
8/5/15: One thing that I do always love about Jibboo is Mike's bass.
8/5/15: Jibboo > Twist.
8/5/15: Trey just shredded Twist into the ground. Sure, it's another Type I solo in the usual jam slot, but it's a good 'un.
8/5/15: The Wedge: the surprise S2 blue-baller of 2015.
8/5/15: Standard The Wedge > Pop Goes The Weasel tease from Mike > DWD.
8/5/15: Maybe 2015 Phish (not just Trey) will finally make an appearance here tonight.
8/5/15: Disease jam getting interesting around 8 mins. Loops coming in and Trey playing melody around them.
8/5/15: Really mesmerizing, loopy bassline from Mike. Now Page over to electric piano.
8/5/15: Trey and Mike playing off of each other.
8/5/15: Trey has a nice riff going now.
8/5/15: Droning synth from Page.
8/5/15: This is staying pretty mellow. At 14 mins. now. Trey chording. Page back on piano.
8/5/15: Turning darker now.
8/5/15: How Trey is containing himself from doing a > Rift is beyond me.
8/5/15: Trey's got a rising chord pattern going now. Fish is picking up steam. Should be a strong ending to the jam.
8/5/15: Pure guitar rage now.
8/5/15: Trey over to the loops AND the pitch-shifter now.
8/5/15: Sand!
8/5/15: Echo-funk chording a la the Dick's Mike's in 2014.
8/5/15: This is great.
8/5/15: Joy. The Disease > Sand pair was the 1st part of the show that really seemed to have a lot of momentum, so that's sort of a bummer.
8/5/15: YEM, out of friggin' nowhere.
8/5/15: I mean, I love YEM, obviously, but it seems like one of those coup de grace songs.
8/5/15: It's weird to hear it at the end of a show that has been pretty underwhelming (at least by 2015 standards).
8/5/15: Though two old school, composed monsters in one show is nice, I suppose.
8/5/15: Maybe I'm just experiencing Magnaball > Dick's syndrome since listening to the Atlanta run, though.
8/5/15: Maybe I'm shitting on (most of) 8/4 and (all of) 8/5 not because they're bad but because Atlanta was so good.
8/5/15: Pretty badass YEM jam going on here.
8/5/15: One thing's for sure: YEM might be a rarity lately, and might show up in weird places, but the YEM jams have been great.
8/5/15: Bug encore.
8/5/15: Woo! Eight more shows till Magnaball!
The Starlight show, surprisingly, sees us back yet again in one-jam land. Despite the reputation of this tour, I'm finding a lot of these less consistent shows as I listen through. 8/5 is definitely more reminiscent of 8/2, 7/29, 7/28, or 7/21 than one of the stronger entries thus far this year.
I guess if you like the composed classics, you get "Divided Sky" and "YEM" here. Otherwise you get a first set that has a 2010-era half and a 2015-era half, each bolstered by even-better-than-usual-for-2015 Trey solos, but also never interested in making any moves out of the usual first set box. Unless you count the Phish debut of Mike's "The Last Step," which was oddly placed in the set but really well played and suited to the band, I thought.
The second set is extra weird. It starts with Type I takes on "Jibboo" and "Twist" (huh?) before dropping "The Wedge" to ensure jamming blue balls. Then, out of nowhere, there's a monster "Disease" that's long and patiently developed and doesn't predictably freak out into a peak at the last second. It's definitely worth a listen. The "Sand" that follows is short, but is in the mold of last year's "Mike's" from Dick's. I really love this kind of jamming, but it leans entirely on the echo effect for the length of the jam, so your mileage will vary. The second set ends with a particularly-unearned-seeming "YEM," and though of course it's a strong version, it doesn't exactly bring anything new to the table.
Starlight isn't a bad show by any means, and I'd be happy to have it in 2014 or any previous year. But it seems a bit out of character for 2015, where none of the qualities that have characterized the many great moments of the tour so far (improvisation in strange places, clever segues, unexpected setlist choices, unexpected jam vehicles, multiple deep jams per show) are on display. You should listen to the "Disease" and the "Sand," though. Here they are:
The Live Review:
8/5/15: After a somewhat uneven 8/4 (albeit with an awesome finish), it's time for 8/5!
8/5/15: Trey noodling something at the opening. Sounded sort of like The Horse but in a major key.
8/5/15: 'They Attack!' sample from Page.
8/5/15: Really slow Gumbo to start.
8/5/15: Really liking the slow-down, actually.
8/5/15: Clav solo outro with some interesting drumming from Fish.
8/5/15: KDF next.
8/5/15: Trey is destroying this KDF.
8/5/15: In a good way, I mean.
8/5/15: Back on the Train. What is it about this song that makes it seem like the most predictable of predictable songs?
8/5/15: It's actually really catchy, but every time it pops up, I immediately think 'Oh, this shit again.'
8/5/15: Except this time: https://t.co/rErltddPIU
8/5/15: I love that the only real jammed-out BOTT is a fucking ten-minute-long ambient jam.
8/5/15: Makes no sense, and that's why it's great.
8/5/15: Okay, despite my bitching, that was an excellent Trey-heavy BOTT.
8/5/15: Bouncin', Divided Sky.
8/5/15: I feel like this first set, so far at least, is a sort of 2009-2010 set, in terms of song choices.
8/5/15: It reminds me of reviewing a 2010 show, though with MUCH stronger playing from everyone.
8/5/15: Here's a fun fact: DSky has been playing once every four shows on average. I've seen 29 shows and heard it once. #phish #cursed
8/5/15: *played
8/5/15: Holy crap! The Last Step!
8/5/15: The Phish version of the song seems more sinister for some reason.
8/5/15: That was surprisingly well-played.
8/5/15: Blaze On!
8/5/15: Nice in-the-box Blaze On.
8/5/15: Seems like a weird placement for WAN.
8/5/15: Rock-heavy 46 Days to close the set. Trey is losing his mind.
8/5/15: That first set was pretty weird. First half = 2010, second half = 2015. Both halves were clearly assembled using a dart board.
8/5/15: Some great Trey solos in BOTT, Blaze On, and 46 Days, though.
8/5/15: Now the second set opens with Jibboo. Even weirder.
8/5/15: One thing that I do always love about Jibboo is Mike's bass.
8/5/15: Jibboo > Twist.
8/5/15: Trey just shredded Twist into the ground. Sure, it's another Type I solo in the usual jam slot, but it's a good 'un.
8/5/15: The Wedge: the surprise S2 blue-baller of 2015.
8/5/15: Standard The Wedge > Pop Goes The Weasel tease from Mike > DWD.
8/5/15: Maybe 2015 Phish (not just Trey) will finally make an appearance here tonight.
8/5/15: Disease jam getting interesting around 8 mins. Loops coming in and Trey playing melody around them.
8/5/15: Really mesmerizing, loopy bassline from Mike. Now Page over to electric piano.
8/5/15: Trey and Mike playing off of each other.
8/5/15: Trey has a nice riff going now.
8/5/15: Droning synth from Page.
8/5/15: This is staying pretty mellow. At 14 mins. now. Trey chording. Page back on piano.
8/5/15: Turning darker now.
8/5/15: How Trey is containing himself from doing a > Rift is beyond me.
8/5/15: Trey's got a rising chord pattern going now. Fish is picking up steam. Should be a strong ending to the jam.
8/5/15: Pure guitar rage now.
8/5/15: Trey over to the loops AND the pitch-shifter now.
8/5/15: Sand!
8/5/15: Echo-funk chording a la the Dick's Mike's in 2014.
8/5/15: This is great.
8/5/15: Joy. The Disease > Sand pair was the 1st part of the show that really seemed to have a lot of momentum, so that's sort of a bummer.
8/5/15: YEM, out of friggin' nowhere.
8/5/15: I mean, I love YEM, obviously, but it seems like one of those coup de grace songs.
8/5/15: It's weird to hear it at the end of a show that has been pretty underwhelming (at least by 2015 standards).
8/5/15: Though two old school, composed monsters in one show is nice, I suppose.
8/5/15: Maybe I'm just experiencing Magnaball > Dick's syndrome since listening to the Atlanta run, though.
8/5/15: Maybe I'm shitting on (most of) 8/4 and (all of) 8/5 not because they're bad but because Atlanta was so good.
8/5/15: Pretty badass YEM jam going on here.
8/5/15: One thing's for sure: YEM might be a rarity lately, and might show up in weird places, but the YEM jams have been great.
8/5/15: Bug encore.
8/5/15: Woo! Eight more shows till Magnaball!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)