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?
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