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.
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