The Verdict:
So, the band's incredible six-show run of absolute classics came to an end during Miami II. It had to happen sometime, and the sheer amount of amazing music we got before any sort of serious lull arose to break the flow is still sort of stupefying to me. This band is thirty-one years old, for god's sake!
Anyway, as I said in the tweets below, this show is the epitome of the "segues 'n' jamlets"-style show (see 7/16, 7/25, other chunks of late summer tour before Dick's). Very occasionally a show like this turns into, say, a Tweezerfest and goes down in history. Generally speaking, though, it ends up being underrated and underappreciated because there aren't any big jam anchors or consistent, deep exploration. And I get it. I'm a big jam guy, through and through. Had I been at this show I would have walked away disappointed. On tape, I can be a little more objective. And, like most '14 shows of this type, there's (slightly less than) a lot to like here, if you take a minute to dig in. So let's do that instead of just bitching about how short and how boring the show was.
First off, the first set is bonkers-good in that first-set sort of way. I saw someone comment on phish.net that if this show's first set was paired with 12/31's S2 and S3, it would have been the best show of the year. I might agree. The song choices are great, the "flow" is flowy, there's a solid "Bowie" in the three-slot, and the "Gin" at the end recalls the Prague "Ghost" (though, admittedly lacking the absolute maniacal fervor of the late 90s). It's real good.
The second set can either be a series of missed opportunities or the band trying something different, depending on how you want to see it. There's a few great moments of "Twist" jamming, a few great minutes of "Piper" jamming, some legitimately "Caspian" shredding, and potentially great arguments on both sides of the fence as to whether each of these jams were brutally ripcorded into the next song or had reached their natural end and were euthanized before falling into an aimless ambient fade. "Twenty Years" > "Winterqueen" is probably not the show highlight you want, but the outro jam of "Twenty Years" gets extended into a strange, "Split"-jam-type space for a few minutes, and the "Winterqueen" jam has way more verve and bounce to it than any version yet, and ends, somehow, with a triumphant rock peak. "Wading," a short "Antelope," and perfunctory "Rock and Roll" definitely left me thinking "Wait, that's the whole set?!" but there are some nuggets of gold here if you want to dig for them...and isn't that what we do?
The Live Review:
1/1/15: Three more shows. Let's do this!
1/1/15: So, Tube is a pretty great opener choice.
1/1/15: Slightly extended version of Gumbo in the two-slot. Trey's soloing is especially hot, already. Who needs warm-ups?
1/1/15: Band comes back in for a short blues jam after the Page-solo-piano part at the 'end' of the song.
1/1/15: Bowie?! Alright, sure.
1/1/15: Nice, mellow-ish Bowie until the peak, which has no business being in the first quarter of a show.
1/1/15: Lawn Boy. Page just acknowledged 'Page side,' to huge roars from the crowd.
1/1/15: Really driving version of Undermind. Don't usually get to say that.
1/1/15: Ooh, Yarmouth Road.
1/1/15: Well, they've definitely got their setlist-building mojo back after 12/31's S1.
1/1/15: Trey is taking the Wingsuit outro for an extended walk here.
1/1/15: Gin is next. Trey's got a fair bit of blues swagger going on early in the jam.
1/1/15: Oh, there was a Poor Heart between Wingsuit and Gin.
1/1/15: Trey is shredding the crap out of this Gin. Build and increase in tempo reminds me of the Prague Ghost.
1/1/15: Not on the same level, of course, but same idea. And still really, really cool.
1/1/15: And apparently that's it for the set. That seemed really short.
1/1/15: I am not the only one to notice this, apparently.
1/1/15: Anyway, second set starts with a Twist that has a surprisingly straightforward jam for most of its 9 minute length.
1/1/15: Last minute or two sees Trey putting a really dirty tone on his guitar.
1/1/15: Then an intermingled Twist outro/Piper intro space for a bit. Then Trey starts Piper at double tempo.
1/1/15: Seriously, what is with Trey pulling off an awesome segue then ruining it by starting the song proper twice as fast?
1/1/15: Seems to happen a lot.
1/1/15: Anyway, woo-hoo for Piper!
1/1/15: Piper jam goes loopy (literally) almost right away. Really major momentum to this one.
1/1/15: Lots of ambient sound and electric piano now, Fish is driving.
1/1/15: Another 'interesting' segue from Piper jam to Caspian.
1/1/15: Depending on how cynical you want to be, two huge ripcords out of two potentially great monster jams.
1/1/15: Could make a case in both...cases...though that the jam was petering out.
1/1/15: Either way, if either of those segues was a little smoother, it would feel brilliant instead of like 'Huh?!'
1/1/15: Another pretty-cool-but-awkward segue into Twenty Years Later.
1/1/15: That jam had definitely run its course, though.
1/1/15: Trey playing some seriously muddly, distorted guitar on the extended Twenty Years outro.
1/1/15: Sort of like an old-school ASIHTOS jam.
1/1/15: Really spacey, weird jam. If this happened during a Split, everyone would be jacking off over it.
1/1/15: Fadeout, and a nice > Winterqueen.
1/1/15: Really jazzy, rock-like instrumental section in Winterqueen!
1/1/15: That was super cool. Lands in Velvet Sea.
1/1/15: In defense of the Velvet Sea call, it was a really shreddy outro solo.
1/1/15: Antelope next. End set already?
1/1/15: Nope. REALLY late-set Rock and Roll.
1/1/15: Short, rocked-out version with an actual ending...how often has that happened lately?
1/1/15: Meatstick for the encore.
1/1/15: That's that. Shortest Antelope and shortest S2 EVAR?!
1/1/15: Well you know what they say, it's not the length that matters, it's how you use it.
1/1/15: That being said, 1/1 is a bit of a bummer after six consecutive incredible shows, but the lull had to happen sometime.
1/1/15: First set is actually very good for a first set, and even for a '14 first set.
1/1/15: Second set is the epitome of the 7/16, 7/25-type show: they tried to do more with segues and momentum than with BIG JAMS
1/1/15: There's a lot to like in 2-3 minute spurts in a lot of these songs, I just tend to gravitate toward the big jams myself.
1/1/15: So I can appreciate a show like this objectively, but it's hard to be excited about it subjectively.
Feb 19, 2015
Feb 17, 2015
2014-12-31 Miami I
The Verdict:
I came into this show not expecting much other than to hear a shitload of Phish music. I don't typically think of a NYE show as featuring hard-hitting jams and extended improvisation. Welp, I was surprised by this one.
That said, the first set didn't stick with me much. It's a high-energy affair, but unlike a lot of recent first sets, it's just a grab bag of random (and mostly frequently played) songs. So, it doesn't do much to rise above the standard '14 first set. The "Wolfman's" get a bit deeper of a funk treatment than usual, and the set-closing "ASIHTOS" deserves mention for a mellow interlude that explodes into a better-than-usual rock peak, but otherwise this set could be from any show, any time.
Not so with set two.
The set-opening "Birds" is heavier than usual, with Trey taking control and displaying some serious 90s chops. But that doesn't really matter because what comes next is, on first listen at least, better than the 7/13 "Chalkdust" > "Light" > "Tweezer," 7/18's second set, or 11/1's "Crosseyed" > "Light" -> "The Dogs" -> "Lengthwise" > "Twist" -> "Wading." The "Ghost" > "Theme" -> "Cities" sequence here is just amazing, and you should just watch it. And if that isn't enough, after a short "CDT" breather, the set closes with "Martian Monster"!
The anything-goes feeling continues after the NYE gag, as the gag leads directly to "The Dogs," and then an expansive "Tweezer" that is an absolutely legitimate third set jam. I'm not sure this stands up to the heavy-hitter "Tweezer"s of the year, but it's no slouch, and coming so late after so much music is a great surprise.
If I have one complaint at this point, it's that, after playing something like 90 minutes of just perfect music, Trey suddenly yanks the band out of an evolving "Simple" jam for a cursory "Limb By Limb." After that, everything settles into jukebox mode and the band rides it till the end. Had the "Simple" evolved further into something like, say, the Dick's version, this stops being a best-of-year contender and starts being something even more serious. But alas.
As it is, it's an incredibly strong show for being in a slot that usually ends up being more of a party show than anything else. Hell, it's an incredibly strong show for any day of the year. Three more days of this!
The Live Review:
12/31/14: Second monster show in the last two weeks. Sample opener!
12/31/14: Super-tight Sample. The Wedge is next.
12/31/14: Might be because I have my player plugged into the big speakers today, but 555 sounds great, too.
12/31/14: Heavy Things.
12/31/14: Great clav-funk interlude in Wolfman's. More rhythm, less guitar than usual.
12/31/14: Trey finishes with a great build. That's about as good as Wolfman's gets without going Type II.
12/31/14: Halfway To the Moon > Bouncing. First set has a bit a jukeboxy feel to it so far.
12/31/14: Not was interesting or inventive as the Halloween run S1s. Fantastically tight playing, though.
12/31/14: An extremely enthusiastic KDF is next.
12/31/14: Train Song!!!!!
12/31/14: Train Song > WAN would be a great pairing IF TREY REMEMBERED HOW TO PLAY WAN.
12/31/14: Nah, it's all good.
12/31/14: Axila I. What a weird, basically baffling selection of songs in this set.
12/31/14: ASIHTOS. So weird.
12/31/14: Page over to electric piano, Trey dropping back.
12/31/14: Trey comes out of the mellow part of the 'jam' with a shredfest. Sort of like Wolfman's earlier.
12/31/14: Again, about as good as this song gets without a trip down the rabbit hole in earnest. Neat to hear.
12/31/14: Birds, now. This seems like a long set.
12/31/14: Really rocking Birds > Ghost?!
12/31/14: Are they seriously playing Ghost in the first set of the whole run? That's sort of a bummer.
12/31/14: D'oh! Clearly I'm focusing too much on grading. Birds > Ghost was the S2 opening pair.
12/31/14: S1 ended with the extended ASIHTOS. Life makes much more sense now.
12/31/14: Jam starts with some slanky Trey chords.
12/31/14: Seamless move into a bliss jam with repeating riff reminiscent of...something? It's going to drive me nuts.
12/31/14: Trey is driving a pretty amazing jam right now.
12/31/14: Fadeout -> Melody Jam -> Mike's playing the Ghost bass riff -> coda of the song -> Trey rock solo over verse progression.
12/31/14: Holy hell.
12/31/14: The Halloween run was quite possibly my favorite run of 3.0, but it didn't have a jam like this.
12/31/14: The madness finally fades into Theme.
12/31/14: Trey is pushing out of the usual Theme peak. Not sure if it's because he's being weird or because he forgot the chords.
12/31/14: Sounds cool, though.
12/31/14: Okay, Mike just started a funk-woo jam in the middle of the Theme vocal breakdown.
12/31/14: 'They Attack!' from someone during the Theme jam.
12/31/14: I think it might be the original sample...yes, it is.
12/31/14: Typing 'Theme jam' just made me smile. Oh, and by the way, there's a goddamn perfect -> Cities at the end of the Theme jam.
12/31/14: Instant, dense, plinko-like space at the end of Cities.
12/31/14: Quick, gorgeous transition to a bliss-jam space. Is this really happening?!
12/31/14: Hood-like jam now.
12/31/14: Transition to CDT is a little wobbly in midair, but sticks the landing.
12/31/14: If they take this CDT deep, I'm not even sure if I'm going to live through it.
12/31/14: Trey starts the breakdown at the end of CDT early, futzes everyone up. Oh well, S2 until now was The Best.
12/31/14: Martian Monster voiceover starts up, crowd loses it.
12/31/14: I think Trey is using loops a bit more during Martian Monster this time.
12/31/14: Having heard about but not seen the 'gag' at the beginning of S3, this is probably going to be a bit weird.
12/31/14: Starting with an a capella Dem Bones is already pretty weird.
12/31/14: Vacuum cleaner is 'stuck' to Fish's face.
12/31/14: Right after the gag, > The Dogs.
12/31/14: Quick The Dogs > Tweezer.
12/31/14: This Tweezer is challenging the taboo against jamming in the third set.
12/31/14: This Tweezer is in serious calypso-jam territory. It's making me want to grab my shoe
mouth, is what I'm saying.
12/31/14: Now, a slow, fuzzy build.
12/31/14: I'm getting spoiled because that epic Tweezer jam barely made a dent in my palate.
12/31/14: Simple is up after that surprisingly deep Tweezer.
12/31/14: Okay, so that was weird. After a show of seamless jams, a budding Simple jam just got
totally garroted into Limb By Limb.
12/31/14: Trey's had enough of this awesome improvisation, dammit! Time for the 'crowd pleasers,' which don't actually please anyone!
12/31/14: That was a S1 LxL in terms of energy. Bug is next.
12/31/14: Backwards Down the Number Line. Probably no more to see here tonight, folks.
12/31/14: Incredible show, though, especially considering I didn't expect much except for the gag.
12/31/14: Greedy part of me wonders what might have happened has that Simple not been cut.
12/31/14: But that's like Scrooge McDuck complaining that his vault doesn't have a foot more of gold in it.
12/31/14: The Horse on piano.
12/31/14: What wind-down would be complete without Julius?
12/31/14: What but Golgi > Tweeprise could close this amazingly epic show?
I came into this show not expecting much other than to hear a shitload of Phish music. I don't typically think of a NYE show as featuring hard-hitting jams and extended improvisation. Welp, I was surprised by this one.
That said, the first set didn't stick with me much. It's a high-energy affair, but unlike a lot of recent first sets, it's just a grab bag of random (and mostly frequently played) songs. So, it doesn't do much to rise above the standard '14 first set. The "Wolfman's" get a bit deeper of a funk treatment than usual, and the set-closing "ASIHTOS" deserves mention for a mellow interlude that explodes into a better-than-usual rock peak, but otherwise this set could be from any show, any time.
Not so with set two.
The set-opening "Birds" is heavier than usual, with Trey taking control and displaying some serious 90s chops. But that doesn't really matter because what comes next is, on first listen at least, better than the 7/13 "Chalkdust" > "Light" > "Tweezer," 7/18's second set, or 11/1's "Crosseyed" > "Light" -> "The Dogs" -> "Lengthwise" > "Twist" -> "Wading." The "Ghost" > "Theme" -> "Cities" sequence here is just amazing, and you should just watch it. And if that isn't enough, after a short "CDT" breather, the set closes with "Martian Monster"!
The anything-goes feeling continues after the NYE gag, as the gag leads directly to "The Dogs," and then an expansive "Tweezer" that is an absolutely legitimate third set jam. I'm not sure this stands up to the heavy-hitter "Tweezer"s of the year, but it's no slouch, and coming so late after so much music is a great surprise.
If I have one complaint at this point, it's that, after playing something like 90 minutes of just perfect music, Trey suddenly yanks the band out of an evolving "Simple" jam for a cursory "Limb By Limb." After that, everything settles into jukebox mode and the band rides it till the end. Had the "Simple" evolved further into something like, say, the Dick's version, this stops being a best-of-year contender and starts being something even more serious. But alas.
As it is, it's an incredibly strong show for being in a slot that usually ends up being more of a party show than anything else. Hell, it's an incredibly strong show for any day of the year. Three more days of this!
The Live Review:
12/31/14: Second monster show in the last two weeks. Sample opener!
12/31/14: Super-tight Sample. The Wedge is next.
12/31/14: Might be because I have my player plugged into the big speakers today, but 555 sounds great, too.
12/31/14: Heavy Things.
12/31/14: Great clav-funk interlude in Wolfman's. More rhythm, less guitar than usual.
12/31/14: Trey finishes with a great build. That's about as good as Wolfman's gets without going Type II.
12/31/14: Halfway To the Moon > Bouncing. First set has a bit a jukeboxy feel to it so far.
12/31/14: Not was interesting or inventive as the Halloween run S1s. Fantastically tight playing, though.
12/31/14: An extremely enthusiastic KDF is next.
12/31/14: Train Song!!!!!
12/31/14: Train Song > WAN would be a great pairing IF TREY REMEMBERED HOW TO PLAY WAN.
12/31/14: Nah, it's all good.
12/31/14: Axila I. What a weird, basically baffling selection of songs in this set.
12/31/14: ASIHTOS. So weird.
12/31/14: Page over to electric piano, Trey dropping back.
12/31/14: Trey comes out of the mellow part of the 'jam' with a shredfest. Sort of like Wolfman's earlier.
12/31/14: Again, about as good as this song gets without a trip down the rabbit hole in earnest. Neat to hear.
12/31/14: Birds, now. This seems like a long set.
12/31/14: Really rocking Birds > Ghost?!
12/31/14: Are they seriously playing Ghost in the first set of the whole run? That's sort of a bummer.
12/31/14: D'oh! Clearly I'm focusing too much on grading. Birds > Ghost was the S2 opening pair.
12/31/14: S1 ended with the extended ASIHTOS. Life makes much more sense now.
12/31/14: Jam starts with some slanky Trey chords.
12/31/14: Seamless move into a bliss jam with repeating riff reminiscent of...something? It's going to drive me nuts.
12/31/14: Trey is driving a pretty amazing jam right now.
12/31/14: Fadeout -> Melody Jam -> Mike's playing the Ghost bass riff -> coda of the song -> Trey rock solo over verse progression.
12/31/14: Holy hell.
12/31/14: The Halloween run was quite possibly my favorite run of 3.0, but it didn't have a jam like this.
12/31/14: The madness finally fades into Theme.
12/31/14: Trey is pushing out of the usual Theme peak. Not sure if it's because he's being weird or because he forgot the chords.
12/31/14: Sounds cool, though.
12/31/14: Okay, Mike just started a funk-woo jam in the middle of the Theme vocal breakdown.
12/31/14: 'They Attack!' from someone during the Theme jam.
12/31/14: I think it might be the original sample...yes, it is.
12/31/14: Typing 'Theme jam' just made me smile. Oh, and by the way, there's a goddamn perfect -> Cities at the end of the Theme jam.
12/31/14: Instant, dense, plinko-like space at the end of Cities.
12/31/14: Quick, gorgeous transition to a bliss-jam space. Is this really happening?!
12/31/14: Hood-like jam now.
12/31/14: Transition to CDT is a little wobbly in midair, but sticks the landing.
12/31/14: If they take this CDT deep, I'm not even sure if I'm going to live through it.
12/31/14: Trey starts the breakdown at the end of CDT early, futzes everyone up. Oh well, S2 until now was The Best.
12/31/14: Martian Monster voiceover starts up, crowd loses it.
12/31/14: I think Trey is using loops a bit more during Martian Monster this time.
12/31/14: Having heard about but not seen the 'gag' at the beginning of S3, this is probably going to be a bit weird.
12/31/14: Starting with an a capella Dem Bones is already pretty weird.
12/31/14: Vacuum cleaner is 'stuck' to Fish's face.
12/31/14: Right after the gag, > The Dogs.
12/31/14: Quick The Dogs > Tweezer.
12/31/14: This Tweezer is challenging the taboo against jamming in the third set.
12/31/14: This Tweezer is in serious calypso-jam territory. It's making me want to grab my shoe
mouth, is what I'm saying.
12/31/14: Now, a slow, fuzzy build.
12/31/14: I'm getting spoiled because that epic Tweezer jam barely made a dent in my palate.
12/31/14: Simple is up after that surprisingly deep Tweezer.
12/31/14: Okay, so that was weird. After a show of seamless jams, a budding Simple jam just got
totally garroted into Limb By Limb.
12/31/14: Trey's had enough of this awesome improvisation, dammit! Time for the 'crowd pleasers,' which don't actually please anyone!
12/31/14: That was a S1 LxL in terms of energy. Bug is next.
12/31/14: Backwards Down the Number Line. Probably no more to see here tonight, folks.
12/31/14: Incredible show, though, especially considering I didn't expect much except for the gag.
12/31/14: Greedy part of me wonders what might have happened has that Simple not been cut.
12/31/14: But that's like Scrooge McDuck complaining that his vault doesn't have a foot more of gold in it.
12/31/14: The Horse on piano.
12/31/14: What wind-down would be complete without Julius?
12/31/14: What but Golgi > Tweeprise could close this amazingly epic show?
2014-11-02 MGM III
The Verdict:
So the third night of the MGM run was my least favorite of the three, but it's really like comparing (golden) apples to (golden) oranges. It's not as much to my preferences as the other two nights, but it's great enough Phish to cement this run as one for the ages.
The first set starts off in the "good-not-great" category, with high-energy playing but without the absolutely bonkers song choices of the previous two nights. It takes a turn for the 10/17 S1, though, right around "Gin," which is a 14 minute monster in the style of what I'm calling "Type 1.5" at the moment: it never departs completely from the typical "Gin" structure, but it gets weird enough that it warrants more notice than the occasional "average-great" version. Next up is a "Free" chock full of "Martian Monster" quotes from the band, and a flaming-hot "Walls" featuring more of the same. Granted, the last third of this set is bolstered more by S2-style goofiness than S2-style playing, but it ups the quality of the set by quite a bit nonetheless.
The "CDT" > "Piper" pair that opens the second set is like 10/21's "CDT" > "Ghost" on steroids. Really, really mellow steroids. It's easily the show highlight, and a quintessential example of the band's new favorite jamming style (at least during fall). "Piper" lands beautifully in "Theme," "Wombat" features Fishman screaming about "Australian assless chaps," and "Bowie" achieves a level of destruction atypical in the last few years. It's one of those sets. To cap it off, you've got a fantastic "YEM" that not only has a longer-than-usual, more-exploratory-than-usual jam section, it also has Trey wielding the "Fee" megaphone while he chases Mike around the stage, and a four-person percussion jam...before the weird-as-hell vocal jam, which, strangely, does not feature any Halloween album quotes.
It's ridiculous when this show is the worst show of the weekend. I've set it before, but I'll say it again: if there was still any doubt that New Phish is at least as interesting and talented and just plain fun as Old Phish, it should be gone now. Or you don't have ears, maybe?
The Live Review:
11/2/14: Time to see if this already-classic run can finish off in style. Jim opener suggests yes.
11/2/14: Great, old-school Jim > Foam pair to start off.
11/2/14: Mexican Cousin! Actual, audible, synchronized laughter from the crowd as the song starts.
11/2/14: Am I in bed, or in a hearse?
11/2/14: Ocelot is next after Mexican Cousin. Trey slaps a little extra mustard on this one toward the end of the solo/jam.
11/2/14: Pretty good...for Ocelot
11/2/14: Sugar Shack! Really liking the song selection so far (again).
11/2/14: ASIHTOS next. This S1 doesn't really have the same verve as the last two, but...
11/2/14: ...it does have some great song choices and solid playing, even from Trey on Sugar Shack.
11/2/14: Compact, but very well shredded version of ASIHTOS. Sad that it doesn't get the jam treatment these days, but it's great in S1 too.
11/2/14: Gin! Opportunity for the set to shift from 'good' to 'interesting'?
11/2/14: Slowly, gooey rock solo starting off the Gin jam.
11/2/14: Trey playing over some loops now. Still usual Gin structure.
11/2/14: Fish speeding up a bit, departing slightly from the usual Gin structure now. Trey playing over loops again.
11/2/14: Kind of a neat 'Type 1.5' jam there in Gin, lands nicely in Free.
11/2/14: Martian Monster vocal quotes from just about everyone. Fishman losing his mind.
11/2/14: Super extensive Martian Monster quotes throughout Free. Crowd is losing it.
11/2/14: Walls of the Cave to close (?)! If so, great last chunk of the set here.
11/2/14: Walls ends with Fish bellowing 'YOUR. TRIP. IS. SHOOOOOORT.'
11/2/14: Well, those shenanigans really upped the quality of that set. Nicely done.
11/2/14: CDT opens S2. Almost immediately, Page goes to the electric piano after the lyrics.
11/2/14: Hard to describe jam. Everyone is mellow except for Fish, who's drumming to save his life. Interesting effect.
11/2/14: Sort of sounds like a jam outtake from Round Room, or the Victor Disc.
11/2/14: Serious echoplex/clav action here, but not funk, sort of like space-jazz. From the 50s.
11/2/14: Okay, the last two minutes or so of this are SUPER COOL.
11/2/14: Really expansive and weird CDT jam fades nicely into Piper, which heads to a Birds-like jam almost right away.
11/2/14: Fall tour is really the tour for huge, expansive mellow jams. Which is totally fine with me.
11/2/14: Page is back over the electric piano and Fish slows things down. Real purty stuff comin' outta them instruments.
11/2/14: This is like the Chalkdust > Ghost I loved so much on 10/21, but the bigger, better sequel.
11/2/14: Fantastic Piper jam lands in Theme.
11/2/14: Sudden drop into Wombat at the end of Theme. Nicely done again.
11/2/14: Wombat is super meaty. Between Fish and Mike, they've almost made the jam sound like disco instead of funk. Really cool.
11/2/14: Trey: 'Cuddly but muscular, it's the thunder from down under.' Fish: 'BLIMEY!'
11/2/14: Fish: 'Australian assless chaps!'
11/2/14: Bowie!
11/2/14: This Bowie is a little less paint-by-numbers and more playful than the typical post-Hampton version. I appreciate this.
11/2/14: Martian Monster vox from Trey during the Bowie peak. That was great.
11/2/14: Really, really weird spot for The Line.
11/2/14: Okay, well, when it's followed by YEM, I can't complain much.
11/2/14: This YEM has serious swing to it.
11/2/14: All sorts of weird noises and crowd screaming. I think this is probably one of those things you need to see the video for.
11/2/14: Regardless, the jamming is departing pretty radically from the usual YEM funk jam.
11/2/14: Now someone's playing the damn siren...on the megaphone?
11/2/14: It's moments like this where the tape fails you.
11/2/14: Sounds like multiple people on the kit now, or else Fish is an octopus.
11/2/14: Off to the vocal jam, now.
11/2/14: Monster YEM. Moma closer. Good times.
11/2/14: Slave!
11/2/14: This is going to go down as the worst night of the Halloween run, but still one of the better shows of the year.
11/2/14: Goes to show how amazingly good this run has been.
11/2/14: This is not a shoddy show-ending Slave. Trey's doing a great job of the slow build.
So the third night of the MGM run was my least favorite of the three, but it's really like comparing (golden) apples to (golden) oranges. It's not as much to my preferences as the other two nights, but it's great enough Phish to cement this run as one for the ages.
The first set starts off in the "good-not-great" category, with high-energy playing but without the absolutely bonkers song choices of the previous two nights. It takes a turn for the 10/17 S1, though, right around "Gin," which is a 14 minute monster in the style of what I'm calling "Type 1.5" at the moment: it never departs completely from the typical "Gin" structure, but it gets weird enough that it warrants more notice than the occasional "average-great" version. Next up is a "Free" chock full of "Martian Monster" quotes from the band, and a flaming-hot "Walls" featuring more of the same. Granted, the last third of this set is bolstered more by S2-style goofiness than S2-style playing, but it ups the quality of the set by quite a bit nonetheless.
The "CDT" > "Piper" pair that opens the second set is like 10/21's "CDT" > "Ghost" on steroids. Really, really mellow steroids. It's easily the show highlight, and a quintessential example of the band's new favorite jamming style (at least during fall). "Piper" lands beautifully in "Theme," "Wombat" features Fishman screaming about "Australian assless chaps," and "Bowie" achieves a level of destruction atypical in the last few years. It's one of those sets. To cap it off, you've got a fantastic "YEM" that not only has a longer-than-usual, more-exploratory-than-usual jam section, it also has Trey wielding the "Fee" megaphone while he chases Mike around the stage, and a four-person percussion jam...before the weird-as-hell vocal jam, which, strangely, does not feature any Halloween album quotes.
It's ridiculous when this show is the worst show of the weekend. I've set it before, but I'll say it again: if there was still any doubt that New Phish is at least as interesting and talented and just plain fun as Old Phish, it should be gone now. Or you don't have ears, maybe?
The Live Review:
11/2/14: Time to see if this already-classic run can finish off in style. Jim opener suggests yes.
11/2/14: Great, old-school Jim > Foam pair to start off.
11/2/14: Mexican Cousin! Actual, audible, synchronized laughter from the crowd as the song starts.
11/2/14: Am I in bed, or in a hearse?
11/2/14: Ocelot is next after Mexican Cousin. Trey slaps a little extra mustard on this one toward the end of the solo/jam.
11/2/14: Pretty good...for Ocelot
11/2/14: Sugar Shack! Really liking the song selection so far (again).
11/2/14: ASIHTOS next. This S1 doesn't really have the same verve as the last two, but...
11/2/14: ...it does have some great song choices and solid playing, even from Trey on Sugar Shack.
11/2/14: Compact, but very well shredded version of ASIHTOS. Sad that it doesn't get the jam treatment these days, but it's great in S1 too.
11/2/14: Gin! Opportunity for the set to shift from 'good' to 'interesting'?
11/2/14: Slowly, gooey rock solo starting off the Gin jam.
11/2/14: Trey playing over some loops now. Still usual Gin structure.
11/2/14: Fish speeding up a bit, departing slightly from the usual Gin structure now. Trey playing over loops again.
11/2/14: Kind of a neat 'Type 1.5' jam there in Gin, lands nicely in Free.
11/2/14: Martian Monster vocal quotes from just about everyone. Fishman losing his mind.
11/2/14: Super extensive Martian Monster quotes throughout Free. Crowd is losing it.
11/2/14: Walls of the Cave to close (?)! If so, great last chunk of the set here.
11/2/14: Walls ends with Fish bellowing 'YOUR. TRIP. IS. SHOOOOOORT.'
11/2/14: Well, those shenanigans really upped the quality of that set. Nicely done.
11/2/14: CDT opens S2. Almost immediately, Page goes to the electric piano after the lyrics.
11/2/14: Hard to describe jam. Everyone is mellow except for Fish, who's drumming to save his life. Interesting effect.
11/2/14: Sort of sounds like a jam outtake from Round Room, or the Victor Disc.
11/2/14: Serious echoplex/clav action here, but not funk, sort of like space-jazz. From the 50s.
11/2/14: Okay, the last two minutes or so of this are SUPER COOL.
11/2/14: Really expansive and weird CDT jam fades nicely into Piper, which heads to a Birds-like jam almost right away.
11/2/14: Fall tour is really the tour for huge, expansive mellow jams. Which is totally fine with me.
11/2/14: Page is back over the electric piano and Fish slows things down. Real purty stuff comin' outta them instruments.
11/2/14: This is like the Chalkdust > Ghost I loved so much on 10/21, but the bigger, better sequel.
11/2/14: Fantastic Piper jam lands in Theme.
11/2/14: Sudden drop into Wombat at the end of Theme. Nicely done again.
11/2/14: Wombat is super meaty. Between Fish and Mike, they've almost made the jam sound like disco instead of funk. Really cool.
11/2/14: Trey: 'Cuddly but muscular, it's the thunder from down under.' Fish: 'BLIMEY!'
11/2/14: Fish: 'Australian assless chaps!'
11/2/14: Bowie!
11/2/14: This Bowie is a little less paint-by-numbers and more playful than the typical post-Hampton version. I appreciate this.
11/2/14: Martian Monster vox from Trey during the Bowie peak. That was great.
11/2/14: Really, really weird spot for The Line.
11/2/14: Okay, well, when it's followed by YEM, I can't complain much.
11/2/14: This YEM has serious swing to it.
11/2/14: All sorts of weird noises and crowd screaming. I think this is probably one of those things you need to see the video for.
11/2/14: Regardless, the jamming is departing pretty radically from the usual YEM funk jam.
11/2/14: Now someone's playing the damn siren...on the megaphone?
11/2/14: It's moments like this where the tape fails you.
11/2/14: Sounds like multiple people on the kit now, or else Fish is an octopus.
11/2/14: Off to the vocal jam, now.
11/2/14: Monster YEM. Moma closer. Good times.
11/2/14: Slave!
11/2/14: This is going to go down as the worst night of the Halloween run, but still one of the better shows of the year.
11/2/14: Goes to show how amazingly good this run has been.
11/2/14: This is not a shoddy show-ending Slave. Trey's doing a great job of the slow build.
Feb 12, 2015
2014-11-1 MGM II
The Verdict:
Well, as I said at the beginning of this listen, I couldn't imagine an 11/1 show that could fill the shoes of that amazing 10/31 show. This one, somehow, almost does it anyway. If these guys can turn in an 11/2 that's on par with the first two shows, this might become my favorite run Of All Time. Seriously.
It's especially odd that I'm so into this show when you consider that the first set really doesn't include much improv to speak of other than a brief but intense passage in "Roggae" and a clever "The Birds" tease in "Birds of a Feather." But just look at that setlist. There is literally a "Dog-Faced Boy," "Fuck Your Face," "Horn" > "Frankie Says" > "MFMF," "Roses" in there. And all the new songs, old songs, and in-between songs are played with consistently through-the-roof energy, and Trey plays throughout with a precision and intentionality that makes it the great kind of Trey Set and not the bad kind.
Despite opening with a (90s shredded) "Possum," S2 is just bonkers. "Crosseyed" and "Light" both boast multifaceted, weird jams, "Light" segues brilliantly into "The Dogs," (!) which fades into a "Lengthwise" which gets overlapped with the beginning of "Twist." The "Twist" jam is just out-of-this-world weird, but also with the boys very obvious mind-melding with each other on a beyond-post-1999-Phish level. Oh, and there are "Manteca" shenanigan in the middle of the song. The first half-ish of this set, minus the "Possum," might be the sequence of the year for me. For sheer inventiveness, this beats the hell out of the Randall's N3S2 sequence.
The rest of the set calms down...a little. "Twist" ->'s into "Wading" thanks to a great Page piano solo, and the "Hood" is short, but manages to go plinko-y for a few minutes before exploding into a great peak. "Golgi" is a great exclamation point, and even though "Number Line" maybe isn't the idea set-closing song here, Trey keeps his night-long shredfest intact for one last go-round.
Maybe the best praise I can give this show is this: the encore contains "Waiting All Night" and "Sing Monica," and it's still the best non-Halloween show of the year. It probably takes the Best Second Set of the Year title away from 7/18, too.
The Live Review:
11/1/14: Whatever happens here, it's going to be in the shadow of 10/31. Not a show I envy anyone having to play :)
11/1/14: Fuego opener. Very cool start.
11/1/14: Standard-but-awesome Fuego to start. Now, My Soul! Love this tune.
11/1/14: Trey's been spot-on throughout the first two songs. Not like he's usually not, but he sounds better than 'average.'
11/1/14: BOTT
11/1/14: High-energy so far. Band sounding really tight. 555 is next. Trey has really gotten better at adding background textures to this.
11/1/14: Dog-Faced Boy! Holy shit!
11/1/14: Really minimal version. Maybe no percussion/rhythm.
11/1/14: Fuck Your Face! Crowd screams 'FUCK YOUR FACE!' and Gordo laughs.
11/1/14: Dog Faced Boy, FYF, Horn, Frankie Says. What the hell? What a weird setlist. But great.
11/1/14: I think Fish is playing a slightly different beat than on the studio Frankie. Great piano solo from Page.
11/1/14: My Friend, My Friend and then Roses Are Free! It's like they just sat down and thought of all the great songs they haven't played.
11/1/14: *in a long time.
11/1/14: Trey almost seems like he's going to jam out the end of Roses again, but then they stop and start up Roggae. Can't really complain.
11/1/14: This Roggae jam builds from a weird space right away instead of building on the usual riff from the start.
11/1/14: Major rock peak. Unique version of Roggae in a few ways. Very cool.
11/1/14: Birds! Not a rarity, but loving all the SoaG songs.
11/1/14: Might just be the mix, but Fish has been kicking ass this whole show.
11/1/14: THEY ATTACK! vocals from the band during Birds. Crowd goes apeshit.
11/1/14: Wingsuit to close a ridiculous first set.
11/1/14: I love when sets end with the drill.
11/1/14: Second set starts with Possum. Could tonight be the night of the 20+ minute SPACE POSSUM?! Probably not.
11/1/14: Trey is seriously working this Possum over.
11/1/14: Super high-energy continuing from first set. Crosseyed is just rolling along like it's 1996, for god's sake.
11/1/14: Really intense, building jam in Crosseyed. Not like the usual funk direction at all.
11/1/14: Really unique Crosseyed jam > Light. Might have been the first legit ripcord in awhile.
11/1/14: Hard to tell w/o video if the jam had hit its natural ending or was euthanized before its time.
11/1/14: Trey doing some tension-building stuff in the early parts of this Light.
11/1/14: ANGRY SPACE JAM
11/1/14: I think that the jam just featured what was supposed to be dog barks from Fishman.
11/1/14: Yeah, it's definitely not a separate LP track, but they're absolutely playing The Dogs. Light -> The Dogs.
11/1/14: Also, according to my dog, Fish's dog barks sound exactly like a real dog.
11/1/14: Okay, now my dog is 'jamming' with the band, right in my ear.
11/1/14: Fantastic Light/The Dogs jam lands in Lengthwise.
11/1/14: These last two shows just sound like a completely different, even better band. Can't wait to see if it carries over into Miami.
11/1/14: Someone making the Lengthwise clock sound with their mouth.
11/1/14: Twist starts with a Lengthwise vocal tease. This is fucking nuts.
11/1/14: If there's one thing that I miss from old 'versions' of Phish that doesn't happen nowadays, it's looseness like this.
11/1/14: Overall, 3.0 is my favorite already, but I wouldn't complain if there was more of this kind of thing.
11/1/14: Twist -> Manteca -> Twist w/ The Dogs barks from Fish.
11/1/14: It's worth mentioning that outside of the hijinks, all three jams so far in this set have been top-notch.
11/1/14: Twist jam winding up with loops from Trey while Page solos overtop. Then, Page-only -> Wading.
11/1/14: Biggest cheer I've heard for Wading in a long time :)
11/1/14: Harry!
11/1/14: Really cool and (surprise!) unique jam in Hood. This time almost in plinko territory!
11/1/14: Golgi is a perfect follow-up to that Hood peak.
11/1/14: Okay, putting Number Line at this point in such a great set seems like a dick move, but really Trey is just shredding it to hell.
11/1/14: Very late-set WAN. Weird choice. No weirder than the Eugene opener, though, I guess.
11/1/14: It makes me tremendously sad when Mike misses that first bass bomb in WAN.
11/1/14: Sing Monica as the encore? I hope they play it better than they normally do.
11/1/14: Whatever Superpowered Cat Juice they fed Fishman before the show, I hope they have more of it for tomorrow night.
11/1/14: Yeah, okay, this is way better than usual.
11/1/14: Did these guys somehow take two weeks off to practice between BGCA and MGM?! #timey-wimey
11/1/14: The Star Spangled Banner closer? What the hell?
11/1/14: Okay, that was a SERIOUS #phish show.
11/1/14: I don't know if I've ever had this much fun listening to #phish not-live. 10/31 and 11/1, ftw.
Well, as I said at the beginning of this listen, I couldn't imagine an 11/1 show that could fill the shoes of that amazing 10/31 show. This one, somehow, almost does it anyway. If these guys can turn in an 11/2 that's on par with the first two shows, this might become my favorite run Of All Time. Seriously.
It's especially odd that I'm so into this show when you consider that the first set really doesn't include much improv to speak of other than a brief but intense passage in "Roggae" and a clever "The Birds" tease in "Birds of a Feather." But just look at that setlist. There is literally a "Dog-Faced Boy," "Fuck Your Face," "Horn" > "Frankie Says" > "MFMF," "Roses" in there. And all the new songs, old songs, and in-between songs are played with consistently through-the-roof energy, and Trey plays throughout with a precision and intentionality that makes it the great kind of Trey Set and not the bad kind.
Despite opening with a (90s shredded) "Possum," S2 is just bonkers. "Crosseyed" and "Light" both boast multifaceted, weird jams, "Light" segues brilliantly into "The Dogs," (!) which fades into a "Lengthwise" which gets overlapped with the beginning of "Twist." The "Twist" jam is just out-of-this-world weird, but also with the boys very obvious mind-melding with each other on a beyond-post-1999-Phish level. Oh, and there are "Manteca" shenanigan in the middle of the song. The first half-ish of this set, minus the "Possum," might be the sequence of the year for me. For sheer inventiveness, this beats the hell out of the Randall's N3S2 sequence.
The rest of the set calms down...a little. "Twist" ->'s into "Wading" thanks to a great Page piano solo, and the "Hood" is short, but manages to go plinko-y for a few minutes before exploding into a great peak. "Golgi" is a great exclamation point, and even though "Number Line" maybe isn't the idea set-closing song here, Trey keeps his night-long shredfest intact for one last go-round.
Maybe the best praise I can give this show is this: the encore contains "Waiting All Night" and "Sing Monica," and it's still the best non-Halloween show of the year. It probably takes the Best Second Set of the Year title away from 7/18, too.
The Live Review:
11/1/14: Whatever happens here, it's going to be in the shadow of 10/31. Not a show I envy anyone having to play :)
11/1/14: Fuego opener. Very cool start.
11/1/14: Standard-but-awesome Fuego to start. Now, My Soul! Love this tune.
11/1/14: Trey's been spot-on throughout the first two songs. Not like he's usually not, but he sounds better than 'average.'
11/1/14: BOTT
11/1/14: High-energy so far. Band sounding really tight. 555 is next. Trey has really gotten better at adding background textures to this.
11/1/14: Dog-Faced Boy! Holy shit!
11/1/14: Really minimal version. Maybe no percussion/rhythm.
11/1/14: Fuck Your Face! Crowd screams 'FUCK YOUR FACE!' and Gordo laughs.
11/1/14: Dog Faced Boy, FYF, Horn, Frankie Says. What the hell? What a weird setlist. But great.
11/1/14: I think Fish is playing a slightly different beat than on the studio Frankie. Great piano solo from Page.
11/1/14: My Friend, My Friend and then Roses Are Free! It's like they just sat down and thought of all the great songs they haven't played.
11/1/14: *in a long time.
11/1/14: Trey almost seems like he's going to jam out the end of Roses again, but then they stop and start up Roggae. Can't really complain.
11/1/14: This Roggae jam builds from a weird space right away instead of building on the usual riff from the start.
11/1/14: Major rock peak. Unique version of Roggae in a few ways. Very cool.
11/1/14: Birds! Not a rarity, but loving all the SoaG songs.
11/1/14: Might just be the mix, but Fish has been kicking ass this whole show.
11/1/14: THEY ATTACK! vocals from the band during Birds. Crowd goes apeshit.
11/1/14: Wingsuit to close a ridiculous first set.
11/1/14: I love when sets end with the drill.
11/1/14: Second set starts with Possum. Could tonight be the night of the 20+ minute SPACE POSSUM?! Probably not.
11/1/14: Trey is seriously working this Possum over.
11/1/14: Super high-energy continuing from first set. Crosseyed is just rolling along like it's 1996, for god's sake.
11/1/14: Really intense, building jam in Crosseyed. Not like the usual funk direction at all.
11/1/14: Really unique Crosseyed jam > Light. Might have been the first legit ripcord in awhile.
11/1/14: Hard to tell w/o video if the jam had hit its natural ending or was euthanized before its time.
11/1/14: Trey doing some tension-building stuff in the early parts of this Light.
11/1/14: ANGRY SPACE JAM
11/1/14: I think that the jam just featured what was supposed to be dog barks from Fishman.
11/1/14: Yeah, it's definitely not a separate LP track, but they're absolutely playing The Dogs. Light -> The Dogs.
11/1/14: Also, according to my dog, Fish's dog barks sound exactly like a real dog.
11/1/14: Okay, now my dog is 'jamming' with the band, right in my ear.
11/1/14: Fantastic Light/The Dogs jam lands in Lengthwise.
11/1/14: These last two shows just sound like a completely different, even better band. Can't wait to see if it carries over into Miami.
11/1/14: Someone making the Lengthwise clock sound with their mouth.
11/1/14: Twist starts with a Lengthwise vocal tease. This is fucking nuts.
11/1/14: If there's one thing that I miss from old 'versions' of Phish that doesn't happen nowadays, it's looseness like this.
11/1/14: Overall, 3.0 is my favorite already, but I wouldn't complain if there was more of this kind of thing.
11/1/14: Twist -> Manteca -> Twist w/ The Dogs barks from Fish.
11/1/14: It's worth mentioning that outside of the hijinks, all three jams so far in this set have been top-notch.
11/1/14: Twist jam winding up with loops from Trey while Page solos overtop. Then, Page-only -> Wading.
11/1/14: Biggest cheer I've heard for Wading in a long time :)
11/1/14: Harry!
11/1/14: Really cool and (surprise!) unique jam in Hood. This time almost in plinko territory!
11/1/14: Golgi is a perfect follow-up to that Hood peak.
11/1/14: Okay, putting Number Line at this point in such a great set seems like a dick move, but really Trey is just shredding it to hell.
11/1/14: Very late-set WAN. Weird choice. No weirder than the Eugene opener, though, I guess.
11/1/14: It makes me tremendously sad when Mike misses that first bass bomb in WAN.
11/1/14: Sing Monica as the encore? I hope they play it better than they normally do.
11/1/14: Whatever Superpowered Cat Juice they fed Fishman before the show, I hope they have more of it for tomorrow night.
11/1/14: Yeah, okay, this is way better than usual.
11/1/14: Did these guys somehow take two weeks off to practice between BGCA and MGM?! #timey-wimey
11/1/14: The Star Spangled Banner closer? What the hell?
11/1/14: Okay, that was a SERIOUS #phish show.
11/1/14: I don't know if I've ever had this much fun listening to #phish not-live. 10/31 and 11/1, ftw.
Feb 11, 2015
2014-10-31 MGM I
The Verdict:
So...I was the last Phish fan on earth to listen to the Halloween show. What did I think? Well, first and foremost, I'm going to have to listen to that second set a bunch more times before coming to a final verdict. On first listen, I found the instrumentals to be a lot more varied in tone and style than I'd expected. I thought that Page's sound samples really added a lot to the jamming beyond just being goofy jokes. And, wow. An hour or so of new, somewhat-structured jams that have since poked back into the band's sets a few times. It's all good. At this point, it's just a question of how good. But I'll worry about that later.
Yes, S2 is fantastic, and you can see my reaction below if you're really interested. The second most important piece of news about this show, though, is that it's one of the better shows of fall tour without the second set. Only Eugene and BGCA II really compare, as far as I'm concerned.
The first set's sort-of Halloween theme pushes the band into playing a lot of songs we don't normally hear, and the results are great. "Ghost" and "Scent" both feature legitimate jams, and while the rest of the set features little improv, there's a "Reba" in there and a few rarities to keep the energy flowing.
The third set, far from being the comedown it usually is at three-set shows, blows the roof off. After a standard "PYITE" opener, "Golden Age" is a fantastic, delicate jam, "Tweezer" is a mesmerizing if efficient exploration, and even "Heavy Things" is a great reading, benefiting from a perfect segue out of "Tweezer." "Guyute" is a great surprise, and things wrap up with an amazing 18-minute "Sand" that ends with another ideal ->, this time in "Tweeprise."
So, yeah. Basically 2/3rds of this show are perfect, and the other third is perfect for a first set. Brilliant!
The Live Review:
10/31/14: Okay, so this review is finally happening. #phish
10/31/14: Halloween-appropriate Buried Alive opener.
10/31/14: Ghost in the second slot. Sensing some spook-themed songs in this first setlist.
10/31/14: Really mellow, gooey Ghost jam. Trey putting in some interesting bends and loops.
10/31/14: Not mind-blowing, but better than you'd expect at the start of the show.
10/31/14: They actually played the coda/end to Ghost. I feel like that hasn't happened for awhile.
10/31/14: Scent of a Mule!
10/31/14: Mike lyric biff! Now THAT'S the scariest part of this Halloween show so far.
10/31/14: Some marimba lumina vs. Trey action going on now.
10/31/14: Trey conjuring demons on guitar while Fish switches back to drums.
10/31/14: A little extra mustard on Sample. Reba next.
10/31/14: It's actually sort of frustrating to see how good of a first set the band will play during a 'themed' show.
10/31/14: I.e. Halloween, Dick's N1, etc.
10/31/14: Clearly, they CAN play interesting first sets, they just normally don't bother.
10/31/14: The Reba is really well-played and builds to a satisfying peak. The melodic parts didn't grab me as much as many other takes, tho.
10/31/14: 46 Days!
10/31/14: Standard-rock take on 46 Days, but then...BIG BLACK FURRY CREATURE FROM MARS
10/31/14: BBFCFM > Lawn Boy is a hilarious pairing.
10/31/14: Fish gets a drum solo during Lawn Boy. Saw It Again next!
10/31/14: Short I Saw It Again, > Tube.
10/31/14: That was the fastest and most standard Tube in a really long time.
10/31/14: Saw It Again tease at 2:45, though.
10/31/14: Wolfman's is a little less funk and a little more rock than it has been lately. One of the more solid go-to S1 songs of '14.
10/31/14: S2 time. Haven't heard this yet, so I'm pretty excited.
10/31/14: The 'Intro' track sounds like something from an 80s horror movie.
10/31/14: Cool to hear #phish playing something that's a bit out of their element, sound-wise.
10/31/14: Of course, at this point, there isn't much that IS out of #phish's element, sound-wise.
10/31/14: Okay, first real song is a particularly dark, Trey-led jam with lots of screaming voices in the background.
10/31/14: I thought that the sound effects would be cheesy, but it's actually really creepy and suits the music well.
10/31/14: Second tune is a bit more upbeat. Weirdly enough, it reminds me a little of an Allman Brothers tune so far.
10/31/14: The Dogs has a pretty amazing swagger to it. Probably my favorite so far.
10/31/14: Timber is really dirty-sounding blues. Really like what Page is doing.
10/31/14: If I HAD to complain about something here, it's that Trey seems to be driving all the songs. Of course, it's only my first listen.
10/31/14: And they're great songs :)
10/31/14: Your Pet Cat is super-cool. The interplay between Trey's riff and the cat sounds is pretty amazing.
10/31/14: I think Page just took a cat solo.
10/31/14: Shipwreck is the coolest so far. Multi-part instrumental, with some backwards-speaking voice samples and loops.
10/31/14: Okay, Mike is definitely driving The Unsafe Bridge.
10/31/14: Each of these songs is so different from the others.
10/31/14: The Chinese Water Torture is a very Phish-y jam. Almost plinko-style in parts.
10/31/14: Intro to The Birds is really bluesy, too.
10/31/14: Page is using 'THEY ATTACK!' as the 'Woo!' part of a woo-jam.
10/31/14: Martian Monster mega-funk jam!
10/31/14: YOU'RE ABOUT TO BLAST OFF
10/31/14: I think this is the Phishiest part of the set.
Set III in a bit...gotta meeting.
10/31/14: Okay, so it's a little hard to react appropriately to S2, as it's just an entire set of new Phish music.
10/31/14: But I was really surprised at how varied it was, how tight the playing was throughout, and how well the samples worked.
10/31/14: Overall, really cool. Can't wait to watch the video sometime soon.
10/31/14: S3 set opener: PYITE.
10/31/14: Sounds like Trey might have actually practiced Golden Age :)
10/31/14: Trey's got a little repetitive riff going in the jam. Page is laying down electric piano textures overtop. Very minimalist.
10/31/14: Very minimalist, chill jam in general. Trey adding some loops at the end.
10/31/14: Page to clav...Trey to Tweezer.
10/31/14: Trey is totally on top of the Tweezer jam, leading with some clever melodic stuff. At about 7:45 he switches over to rhythm.
10/31/14: Stop-start type jam now.
10/31/14: Trey's locked on to a bliss-rock riff now. A couple great spaces in this jam and excellent transitions between 'em.
10/31/14: Ooh, sounds like a great -> Heavy Things is coming...and yes!
10/31/14: Guyute! Didn't see that coming. Heavy Things was short and sweet, and ended before the band started Guyute.
10/31/14: Band sounds off time-wise a few times during Guyute. But it's still AWESOME.
10/31/14: Late set three Sand! It makes me extremely happy to say that.
10/31/14: Early jam funk, moving into a Trey-led section. Trey is controlling all jams tonight.
10/31/14: His playing has been top-notch throughout, so no complaints; I just sort of miss the other guys. Feels like an early 90s show.
10/31/14: Trey is absolutely shredding the shit out of this section.
10/31/14: Plinko section coming out of the Trey-gasm's ashes.
10/31/14: Mike's bass tone is amazing.
10/31/14: Loops and echoes abound over Page's arrhythmic clav foundation.
10/31/14: Obligatory woo section to the jam, since it's 15+ minutes.
10/31/14: As someone who was in Tahoe for The Tweezer, it still makes me smile. Woo away.
10/31/14: Distorted spacey madness reminiscent of Dick's N3S2 right now...and sudden turn into straight-up blues?! Whoa!
10/31/14: That transition was about as sudden and perfect as the *planned* one that happens at the end of Tube.
10/31/14: And that HUGE Sand ends with a FUCKING -> TWEEPRISE. How often is there a segue like that into Tweeprise?! Wow, what a set.
10/31/14: Any night w/o the Halloween set and people and freaking out about this S3. As it is, it's just the cherry on top.
10/31/14: Finally finishing the encore this morning :)
10/31/14: Is This What You Wanted is right up there with Garden Party when it comes to tongue-in-cheek Phish comments on their audience.
10/31/14: It's funny AND theme-appropriate.
10/31/14: Frankenstein closer. Been awhile. Sounds like Page on keytar?
So...I was the last Phish fan on earth to listen to the Halloween show. What did I think? Well, first and foremost, I'm going to have to listen to that second set a bunch more times before coming to a final verdict. On first listen, I found the instrumentals to be a lot more varied in tone and style than I'd expected. I thought that Page's sound samples really added a lot to the jamming beyond just being goofy jokes. And, wow. An hour or so of new, somewhat-structured jams that have since poked back into the band's sets a few times. It's all good. At this point, it's just a question of how good. But I'll worry about that later.
Yes, S2 is fantastic, and you can see my reaction below if you're really interested. The second most important piece of news about this show, though, is that it's one of the better shows of fall tour without the second set. Only Eugene and BGCA II really compare, as far as I'm concerned.
The first set's sort-of Halloween theme pushes the band into playing a lot of songs we don't normally hear, and the results are great. "Ghost" and "Scent" both feature legitimate jams, and while the rest of the set features little improv, there's a "Reba" in there and a few rarities to keep the energy flowing.
The third set, far from being the comedown it usually is at three-set shows, blows the roof off. After a standard "PYITE" opener, "Golden Age" is a fantastic, delicate jam, "Tweezer" is a mesmerizing if efficient exploration, and even "Heavy Things" is a great reading, benefiting from a perfect segue out of "Tweezer." "Guyute" is a great surprise, and things wrap up with an amazing 18-minute "Sand" that ends with another ideal ->, this time in "Tweeprise."
So, yeah. Basically 2/3rds of this show are perfect, and the other third is perfect for a first set. Brilliant!
The Live Review:
10/31/14: Okay, so this review is finally happening. #phish
10/31/14: Halloween-appropriate Buried Alive opener.
10/31/14: Ghost in the second slot. Sensing some spook-themed songs in this first setlist.
10/31/14: Really mellow, gooey Ghost jam. Trey putting in some interesting bends and loops.
10/31/14: Not mind-blowing, but better than you'd expect at the start of the show.
10/31/14: They actually played the coda/end to Ghost. I feel like that hasn't happened for awhile.
10/31/14: Scent of a Mule!
10/31/14: Mike lyric biff! Now THAT'S the scariest part of this Halloween show so far.
10/31/14: Some marimba lumina vs. Trey action going on now.
10/31/14: Trey conjuring demons on guitar while Fish switches back to drums.
10/31/14: A little extra mustard on Sample. Reba next.
10/31/14: It's actually sort of frustrating to see how good of a first set the band will play during a 'themed' show.
10/31/14: I.e. Halloween, Dick's N1, etc.
10/31/14: Clearly, they CAN play interesting first sets, they just normally don't bother.
10/31/14: The Reba is really well-played and builds to a satisfying peak. The melodic parts didn't grab me as much as many other takes, tho.
10/31/14: 46 Days!
10/31/14: Standard-rock take on 46 Days, but then...BIG BLACK FURRY CREATURE FROM MARS
10/31/14: BBFCFM > Lawn Boy is a hilarious pairing.
10/31/14: Fish gets a drum solo during Lawn Boy. Saw It Again next!
10/31/14: Short I Saw It Again, > Tube.
10/31/14: That was the fastest and most standard Tube in a really long time.
10/31/14: Saw It Again tease at 2:45, though.
10/31/14: Wolfman's is a little less funk and a little more rock than it has been lately. One of the more solid go-to S1 songs of '14.
10/31/14: S2 time. Haven't heard this yet, so I'm pretty excited.
10/31/14: The 'Intro' track sounds like something from an 80s horror movie.
10/31/14: Cool to hear #phish playing something that's a bit out of their element, sound-wise.
10/31/14: Of course, at this point, there isn't much that IS out of #phish's element, sound-wise.
10/31/14: Okay, first real song is a particularly dark, Trey-led jam with lots of screaming voices in the background.
10/31/14: I thought that the sound effects would be cheesy, but it's actually really creepy and suits the music well.
10/31/14: Second tune is a bit more upbeat. Weirdly enough, it reminds me a little of an Allman Brothers tune so far.
10/31/14: The Dogs has a pretty amazing swagger to it. Probably my favorite so far.
10/31/14: Timber is really dirty-sounding blues. Really like what Page is doing.
10/31/14: If I HAD to complain about something here, it's that Trey seems to be driving all the songs. Of course, it's only my first listen.
10/31/14: And they're great songs :)
10/31/14: Your Pet Cat is super-cool. The interplay between Trey's riff and the cat sounds is pretty amazing.
10/31/14: I think Page just took a cat solo.
10/31/14: Shipwreck is the coolest so far. Multi-part instrumental, with some backwards-speaking voice samples and loops.
10/31/14: Okay, Mike is definitely driving The Unsafe Bridge.
10/31/14: Each of these songs is so different from the others.
10/31/14: The Chinese Water Torture is a very Phish-y jam. Almost plinko-style in parts.
10/31/14: Intro to The Birds is really bluesy, too.
10/31/14: Page is using 'THEY ATTACK!' as the 'Woo!' part of a woo-jam.
10/31/14: Martian Monster mega-funk jam!
10/31/14: YOU'RE ABOUT TO BLAST OFF
10/31/14: I think this is the Phishiest part of the set.
Set III in a bit...gotta meeting.
10/31/14: Okay, so it's a little hard to react appropriately to S2, as it's just an entire set of new Phish music.
10/31/14: But I was really surprised at how varied it was, how tight the playing was throughout, and how well the samples worked.
10/31/14: Overall, really cool. Can't wait to watch the video sometime soon.
10/31/14: S3 set opener: PYITE.
10/31/14: Sounds like Trey might have actually practiced Golden Age :)
10/31/14: Trey's got a little repetitive riff going in the jam. Page is laying down electric piano textures overtop. Very minimalist.
10/31/14: Very minimalist, chill jam in general. Trey adding some loops at the end.
10/31/14: Page to clav...Trey to Tweezer.
10/31/14: Trey is totally on top of the Tweezer jam, leading with some clever melodic stuff. At about 7:45 he switches over to rhythm.
10/31/14: Stop-start type jam now.
10/31/14: Trey's locked on to a bliss-rock riff now. A couple great spaces in this jam and excellent transitions between 'em.
10/31/14: Ooh, sounds like a great -> Heavy Things is coming...and yes!
10/31/14: Guyute! Didn't see that coming. Heavy Things was short and sweet, and ended before the band started Guyute.
10/31/14: Band sounds off time-wise a few times during Guyute. But it's still AWESOME.
10/31/14: Late set three Sand! It makes me extremely happy to say that.
10/31/14: Early jam funk, moving into a Trey-led section. Trey is controlling all jams tonight.
10/31/14: His playing has been top-notch throughout, so no complaints; I just sort of miss the other guys. Feels like an early 90s show.
10/31/14: Trey is absolutely shredding the shit out of this section.
10/31/14: Plinko section coming out of the Trey-gasm's ashes.
10/31/14: Mike's bass tone is amazing.
10/31/14: Loops and echoes abound over Page's arrhythmic clav foundation.
10/31/14: Obligatory woo section to the jam, since it's 15+ minutes.
10/31/14: As someone who was in Tahoe for The Tweezer, it still makes me smile. Woo away.
10/31/14: Distorted spacey madness reminiscent of Dick's N3S2 right now...and sudden turn into straight-up blues?! Whoa!
10/31/14: That transition was about as sudden and perfect as the *planned* one that happens at the end of Tube.
10/31/14: And that HUGE Sand ends with a FUCKING -> TWEEPRISE. How often is there a segue like that into Tweeprise?! Wow, what a set.
10/31/14: Any night w/o the Halloween set and people and freaking out about this S3. As it is, it's just the cherry on top.
10/31/14: Finally finishing the encore this morning :)
10/31/14: Is This What You Wanted is right up there with Garden Party when it comes to tongue-in-cheek Phish comments on their audience.
10/31/14: It's funny AND theme-appropriate.
10/31/14: Frankenstein closer. Been awhile. Sounds like Page on keytar?
Feb 3, 2015
2014-10-29 BGCA III
The Verdict:
If N1 of BGCA was a bit disappointing and N2 was fantastic, the final night of the run stands somewhere in between...I think. It's such a weird show that it's hard to tell. Well, it's a weird half of a show. The first set is high energy, but in terms of song selection it's about as first-setty as it gets. The only wink of weirdness is the last few minutes of the set-closing "Wolfman's," which is a Fish Rhythm Party that's worth a listen.
Oh, yeah, and there's that only-with-Phish moment where the Giants win the World Series during the show, so the guys segue from "Moma" into "We Are the Champions" and then perfectly back into "Moma."
The second set starts, already weirdly, with "First Tube" before moving into a "Disease" that's worth mention in a year full of 'em. This one goes into bliss-rock-progression territory after a few minutes of creepy squeals and roars from Trey's guitar looper, but the bliss jam never peaks a la Every Other Bliss Jam Ever. Instead, it stays mellow and understated until a fadeout/segue into "Theme."
The rest of the set is just as weird as it looks on paper. The "Split" is noteworthy for some more excellent Fishman work that hearkens back to the song's younger days, and the "Light" absolutely throws down a few minutes of freakishly weird tones from Trey and Mike before segueing into "Possum." These songs are broken up by a few absolutely bizarre choices like "Heavy Things" and the aforementioned "Possum." It's not bad, it's just strange. And there's enough here to sink your teeth into that it's a great second set, just one that might have you scratching your head at times.
The Live Review:
10/29/14: Stealing Time is maybe my least favorite opening song. It's so screechy.
10/29/14: Extra-filthy Moma in the two-spot. That's better.
10/29/14: Huge crowd roar during Moma for some reason.
10/29/14: Ah. Segue into We Are the Champions. Most have been the end of the World Series. Perfect -> Moma.
10/29/14: Free next. That segue in Moma really loosened them up a bit.
10/29/14: Back On the Train next. No surprises song-wise yet, but a little extra mustard on everything so far.
10/29/14: Yarmouth Road! That's how you get on my good side during a first set.
10/29/14: Nice, mellow reggae outro jam from Trey there instead of just repeating the main riff endlessly. Good version.
10/29/14: Strange Design > Taste.
10/29/14: The Wedge, followed by a 'Let's go, Giants!' chant from the crowd.
10/29/14: Page getting flack from the crowd now for being a Mets fan and watching games on his phone during shows.
10/29/14: Page just introduced The Line with 'This song is about...sports.'
10/29/14: Late set Wolfman's. Always a good sign. Maybe there'll be a long train to Funkytown in the near future?
10/29/14: Neat little slightly-deconstructed part a few minutes into the jam. Otherwise pretty standard so far.
10/29/14: Okay, still really rhythmically weird. Fish is song MVP. Slowly working back to the usual beat, but this is really cool.
10/29/14: Wolfman's ends the set. Only real highlight was the last few minutes of it. The rest of the set was good ol' 'average-great.'
10/29/14: First Tube opens the second set?! That's weird.
10/29/14: Neat, murky segue into Disease.
10/29/14: Disease is going to electric-piano-and-chording space land.
10/29/14: Squealy guitar loops over a bed of Mike Gordon bass buzz. Made the dog jump up from his nap.
10/29/14: Loop madness turning into a mellow, but slowly builiding BLISS ROCK progression.
10/29/14: Interestingly, this bliss-rock segment is staying super-mellow. That doesn't normally happen. It's pretty cool.
10/29/14: Winds down into Theme. Neat.
10/29/14: Trey's been having a better time lately with that walk-up-ish riff that leads into the Theme jam. That makes my happy.
10/29/14: Fish is a drum monster again on the post-vocal fadeout here.
10/29/14: Split! When was the last S2 Split?
10/29/14: Really slow, gooey jam developing. Fish getting to show off his weird drumming that he's been throwing here and there all night.
10/29/14: Really confident and weird Split.
10/29/14: Heavy Things? A weird choice.
10/29/14: Ooh! Hammond-and-chords breakdown on Heavy Things. No rhythm section!
10/29/14: Light! What a weird setlist all of a sudden.
10/29/14: This Light jam is going the Evil Space Funk route.
10/29/14: Trey is stringing together some neat noodling bits now. Strange how all the chording makes the noodling seem new all of a sudden.
10/29/14: Synth effects from Page now. Recalling the middle of the earlier Disease jam.
10/29/14: Bass-heavy almost-plinko jam now. Great transition out of space instead of just dropping the jam.
10/29/14: Someone (Mike? Trey?) just busted out a hilariously overprocessed synth tone. Holy shit this is weird and fantastic.
10/29/14: That was some serious TRON shit there for a minute, followed by a half-brilliant, half-sloppy -> Possum.
10/29/14: What an absolutely fucking WEIRD second set. Not sure what to make of it, but moments of brilliance for sure.
10/29/14: Contact encore!
10/29/14: Extra funk-style breakdown at the end of Contact. Extended it past the usual.
10/29/14: Trey sings a bit of 'All About That Bass' at the end of Contact. Nice!
10/29/14: mEaTSTIck!
10/29/14: > Zero.
If N1 of BGCA was a bit disappointing and N2 was fantastic, the final night of the run stands somewhere in between...I think. It's such a weird show that it's hard to tell. Well, it's a weird half of a show. The first set is high energy, but in terms of song selection it's about as first-setty as it gets. The only wink of weirdness is the last few minutes of the set-closing "Wolfman's," which is a Fish Rhythm Party that's worth a listen.
Oh, yeah, and there's that only-with-Phish moment where the Giants win the World Series during the show, so the guys segue from "Moma" into "We Are the Champions" and then perfectly back into "Moma."
The second set starts, already weirdly, with "First Tube" before moving into a "Disease" that's worth mention in a year full of 'em. This one goes into bliss-rock-progression territory after a few minutes of creepy squeals and roars from Trey's guitar looper, but the bliss jam never peaks a la Every Other Bliss Jam Ever. Instead, it stays mellow and understated until a fadeout/segue into "Theme."
The rest of the set is just as weird as it looks on paper. The "Split" is noteworthy for some more excellent Fishman work that hearkens back to the song's younger days, and the "Light" absolutely throws down a few minutes of freakishly weird tones from Trey and Mike before segueing into "Possum." These songs are broken up by a few absolutely bizarre choices like "Heavy Things" and the aforementioned "Possum." It's not bad, it's just strange. And there's enough here to sink your teeth into that it's a great second set, just one that might have you scratching your head at times.
The Live Review:
10/29/14: Stealing Time is maybe my least favorite opening song. It's so screechy.
10/29/14: Extra-filthy Moma in the two-spot. That's better.
10/29/14: Huge crowd roar during Moma for some reason.
10/29/14: Ah. Segue into We Are the Champions. Most have been the end of the World Series. Perfect -> Moma.
10/29/14: Free next. That segue in Moma really loosened them up a bit.
10/29/14: Back On the Train next. No surprises song-wise yet, but a little extra mustard on everything so far.
10/29/14: Yarmouth Road! That's how you get on my good side during a first set.
10/29/14: Nice, mellow reggae outro jam from Trey there instead of just repeating the main riff endlessly. Good version.
10/29/14: Strange Design > Taste.
10/29/14: The Wedge, followed by a 'Let's go, Giants!' chant from the crowd.
10/29/14: Page getting flack from the crowd now for being a Mets fan and watching games on his phone during shows.
10/29/14: Page just introduced The Line with 'This song is about...sports.'
10/29/14: Late set Wolfman's. Always a good sign. Maybe there'll be a long train to Funkytown in the near future?
10/29/14: Neat little slightly-deconstructed part a few minutes into the jam. Otherwise pretty standard so far.
10/29/14: Okay, still really rhythmically weird. Fish is song MVP. Slowly working back to the usual beat, but this is really cool.
10/29/14: Wolfman's ends the set. Only real highlight was the last few minutes of it. The rest of the set was good ol' 'average-great.'
10/29/14: First Tube opens the second set?! That's weird.
10/29/14: Neat, murky segue into Disease.
10/29/14: Disease is going to electric-piano-and-chording space land.
10/29/14: Squealy guitar loops over a bed of Mike Gordon bass buzz. Made the dog jump up from his nap.
10/29/14: Loop madness turning into a mellow, but slowly builiding BLISS ROCK progression.
10/29/14: Interestingly, this bliss-rock segment is staying super-mellow. That doesn't normally happen. It's pretty cool.
10/29/14: Winds down into Theme. Neat.
10/29/14: Trey's been having a better time lately with that walk-up-ish riff that leads into the Theme jam. That makes my happy.
10/29/14: Fish is a drum monster again on the post-vocal fadeout here.
10/29/14: Split! When was the last S2 Split?
10/29/14: Really slow, gooey jam developing. Fish getting to show off his weird drumming that he's been throwing here and there all night.
10/29/14: Really confident and weird Split.
10/29/14: Heavy Things? A weird choice.
10/29/14: Ooh! Hammond-and-chords breakdown on Heavy Things. No rhythm section!
10/29/14: Light! What a weird setlist all of a sudden.
10/29/14: This Light jam is going the Evil Space Funk route.
10/29/14: Trey is stringing together some neat noodling bits now. Strange how all the chording makes the noodling seem new all of a sudden.
10/29/14: Synth effects from Page now. Recalling the middle of the earlier Disease jam.
10/29/14: Bass-heavy almost-plinko jam now. Great transition out of space instead of just dropping the jam.
10/29/14: Someone (Mike? Trey?) just busted out a hilariously overprocessed synth tone. Holy shit this is weird and fantastic.
10/29/14: That was some serious TRON shit there for a minute, followed by a half-brilliant, half-sloppy -> Possum.
10/29/14: What an absolutely fucking WEIRD second set. Not sure what to make of it, but moments of brilliance for sure.
10/29/14: Contact encore!
10/29/14: Extra funk-style breakdown at the end of Contact. Extended it past the usual.
10/29/14: Trey sings a bit of 'All About That Bass' at the end of Contact. Nice!
10/29/14: mEaTSTIck!
10/29/14: > Zero.
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