The Verdict:
Well, my review of the 8/14 show was meant to be the positive one...so I guess you already know what I'm going to say about this one. Really, it's hard to tell at this point whether Alpine II is particular bad, or if I'm just so sick of listening to same-y shows that it's just average and my frustration is just boiling over. Either way, I didn't like it that much.
First off, any time there's no ">"s or "->"s in any of my review tweets, that's a bad sign.
Second, this show made me mad because it opens with "Tweezer," giving the indication that something interesting might be coming, and then follows that opener up with the same old, same old rote S1 we've been getting all tour. This time, there's an "On Your Way Down" in the mix, which I loved, but otherwise we've seen all this before. Recently. The version of "David Bowie" that closes the set is technically well-played, but would work well on a greatest hits album of Phish songs for people who had never heard Phish before.
The second set opens with "Ghost," and it's a version that is subjected to all kinds of Trey-guitar histrionics but still manages to stay firmly in the box, depositing us politely in "Theme" at the end. Once again, Trey dominates the second set, seemingly burying everyone else in the process. This "YEM" seemed like the most perfunctory version I've heard in a long time, and "Piper" can only muster up a weak ambient fade for its final few minutes to do anything outside of the guitar-soloing box. The final seven songs could all be encore songs, but only the last four really are.
The Live Review:
8/15/10: Well...spring break is over. Time to review Alpine II to 'celebrate.'
8/15/10: Slow-tempo Tweezer to open the show. Interesting.
8/15/10: Mike's leading the way into the jam section.
8/15/10: Trey builds in Mike's foundation for a great little rock jam. Song ends with a wind-down and a return to the main riff.
8/15/10: A really hot Bag (that sounds gross, I guess) follows Tweezer. Then...On Your Way Down!!!
8/15/10: I really like this song, in case you couldn't tell.
8/15/10: Ooh, another early Divided Sky is next.
8/15/10: Stealing Time makes sure this set is staying firmly in the usual summer 2010 S1 mold, despite that Tweezer opener.
8/15/10: Moma just confirmed that opinion for me :)
8/15/10: Farmhouse. Audible groans from the crowd. That made me laugh.
8/15/10: Crowd-groaning aside, that was a pretty rock and roll solo from Trey. Interesting version of Farmhouse.
8/15/10: Well, if you have to drop a Farmhouse in there, it's probably best to follow with a Bowie.
8/15/10: That was an excellent S1-ending Bowie. Take that as you will.
8/15/10: Ghost opens S2!
8/15/10: Trey building up another huge rock jam here in this Ghost.
8/15/10: The Ghost stays rock and roll Type I the entire time, makes a fuzz-induced segue to Theme.
8/15/10: Trey is shredding the hell out of this Theme. That's sort of a surprise.
8/15/10: Theme >
8/15/10: Mid-S2 seems like a weird place for a YEM.
8/15/10: Maybe it's just because I'm in a bad mood today, but this show seems to be all over the place and boring both at once.
8/15/10: Trey is playing well, but playing over everyone else, no real jams, setlist flow is funky...
8/15/10: I mean, how do you open S1 with Tweezer and S2 with Ghost and I'm still bored? Yet, they've managed it.
8/15/10: Neat segue from the vocal jam >
8/15/10: Trey is at the helm now for a seriously crazy Type I Piper.
8/15/10: Fadeout around 9:00.
8/15/10: Three minutes of sort of aimless, weird noises dissolves into 2001.
8/15/10: As pissy as I'm being about this show right now, I'll point out again that 2010 2001s have way more swagger to them than today's.
8/15/10: Still My Guitar Gently Weeps. Still Trey Cannot Hit The High Note In The Chorus.
8/15/10: Okay, I got so bored by this show I fell asleep. But now I'm back.
8/15/10: Character Zero is next, after WMGGW.
8/15/10: Oh! Sweet Nuthin'...if there was a cover song to cheer me up about what's essentially a S2 full of encore songs, it's this one.
8/15/10: Cavern just ended with what sounded like Fish starting up the drumbeat for Hood when Trey cut him off with Joy.
8/15/10: That pretty much sums up my reaction to this show.
8/15/10: Band just launched in Tweeprise like they'd been playing an amazing show for the last 2.5 hours.
8/15/10: *into
Mar 30, 2015
2010-08-14 Alpine I
The Verdict:
I think I've already summed up my feelings on this show pretty well in my last two tweets below: by "normal" Phish standards, Alpine I isn't anything special: solidly-played, uninteresting S1 followed by one major jam in S2 and then a bunch of jukebox-type song choices. It's sort of the band's "default" mode on off nights. But here, in the context of the really dry shows that are making up Summer II 2010 (minus the Greek run), this is a standout.
Make no mistake, in a summer that keeps raising the bar for the high-energy, by-the-book first set, this is another bar-raiser. There's a great variety of songs on display, and even a surprisingly great "Reba" that hints at the band's ability to improvise in the first set (someday, far in the future, maybe).
The second set is, like many recent second sets, to a large degree just another first set, with Trey driving every "jam." He's playing guitar during these shows in a way that I wish he would/could still play these days, but it seems to discourage the rest of the band from stepping up to the plate with anything interesting. The one highlight, though, is the "Disease" -> "WTU?" sequence: the segue is great, and "What's The Use?" actually gets stretched out a bit beyond its usual boundaries.
I suppose the "Mike's Groove" deserves a mention for having "Dirt" > "Sally" as the middle of its sandwich, but I'm scrambling for praise at this point.
The Live Review:
8/14/10: So this is weird. I'm reviewing a show that I've already seen on DVD.
8/14/10: But that was a long time ago, I suppose. I remember it being pretty good.
8/14/10: Tube opener. Mike doesn't need to warm up, clearly.
8/14/10: Oh Kee Pah -B Suzy.
8/14/10: Mike is crazy on this Suzy, too. Wonder if the mix is different or if Mike is just having a great night.
8/14/10: Funky Bitch!
8/14/10: Great version of Funky Bitch. Great playing from everyone. Reba is next.
8/14/10: Really jazzy, assertive start to the Reba jam from Trey.
8/14/10: This is a great version of Reba. Trey putting together some excellent melodic lines, Page adding piano accents.
8/14/10: Fuck Your Face might be my favorite possible follow-up to Reba.
8/14/10: Alaska might be my least favorite possible follow-up to Fuck Your Face.
8/14/10: That Alaska was better than most, thanks to a totally filthy Trey solo.
8/14/10: BOTT at what sounds like a much faster tempo than usual.
8/14/10: Fantastic, sustained soloing from Trey during BOTT, too. Taste next.
8/14/10: Taste is a bit shaky but certainly not lacking in the energy department.
8/14/10: Taste is followed by a good version of When the Circus Comes. Outro is a little extended, with some great organ touches by Page.
8/14/10: Lawn Boy, Sparkle. Weird song choices in the back half of this set.
8/14/10: Gumbo! Is it just me, or is this the longest first set ever?
8/14/10: Antelope might finally close this set!
8/14/10: I can see why this S1 works well for a DVD release, though. Tons of varied songs, super high energy typical of summer 2010...
8/14/10: ...and a few songs that, while not jammed, get great extended, improvised passages (Reba, BOTT).
8/14/10: If I was trying to turn someone on to #phish, that wouldn't have been a bad set to start with.
8/14/10: Crazy Antelope, featuring 'Marco Benevento' and some snake hissing before 'spike.'
8/14/10: The Sloth opener for S2.
8/14/10: Awesomely rock The Sloth. Lots of feedback squeals from Trey. Disease is next.
8/14/10: The first few minutes of the Disease jam is pure guitar fire.
8/14/10: Fish switching up the beat around 8:00. Things getting a little tangly.
8/14/10: Full-ahead go rock and roll coming out of the tension-y section.
8/14/10: Circular jam space coming up.
8/14/10: Lightspeed funk now.
8/14/10: Things slowing down a bit, becoming more sparse...then speeding back up.
8/14/10: Neat jam, though the only thing really consistent about it is the FRIGGIN' ENERGY.
8/14/10: Developing into a droning, noise-rock sort of segment now.
8/14/10: Trey playing around with the What's the Use? riff at the end of the noise-rock barrage. Great transition by everyone else.
8/14/10: That -> was some serious telepathy.
8/14/10: After the initial blast into WTU, now things are mellowing out. It's nice to hear them play with the song a little.
8/14/10: Nice sort-of -> Scent, there.
8/14/10: Really evil build in the duel section of SOAM.
8/14/10: Mike's song is next.
8/14/10: Weird transition out of a hot Mike's into Dirt, but it's great to hear the song, especially in the middle of a Groove.
8/14/10: Sally's next? Okay, this Groove is getting weird.
8/14/10: More great Trey soloing, with a nice vocal breakdown sandwiched in their for good measure.
8/14/10: The band doesn't really have any right to be playing like this 2+ hours into the show.
8/14/10: HUGE Weekapaug to close off that sequence.
8/14/10: This show isn't much different, really, than the last few shows I poo-poo'd. But the small differences really make it work.
8/14/10: Namely, a few songs that actually go somewhere slightly interesting in S1, a big jam in S2, and an interesting Groove.
8/14/10: Rock and roll Bug to close S2. Quinn encore.
8/14/10: By 'normal' standards, this show is a bit of a flash in the pan...
8/14/10: But by the standards of summer 2010 (minus the Greek run), it's fantastic.
I think I've already summed up my feelings on this show pretty well in my last two tweets below: by "normal" Phish standards, Alpine I isn't anything special: solidly-played, uninteresting S1 followed by one major jam in S2 and then a bunch of jukebox-type song choices. It's sort of the band's "default" mode on off nights. But here, in the context of the really dry shows that are making up Summer II 2010 (minus the Greek run), this is a standout.
Make no mistake, in a summer that keeps raising the bar for the high-energy, by-the-book first set, this is another bar-raiser. There's a great variety of songs on display, and even a surprisingly great "Reba" that hints at the band's ability to improvise in the first set (someday, far in the future, maybe).
The second set is, like many recent second sets, to a large degree just another first set, with Trey driving every "jam." He's playing guitar during these shows in a way that I wish he would/could still play these days, but it seems to discourage the rest of the band from stepping up to the plate with anything interesting. The one highlight, though, is the "Disease" -> "WTU?" sequence: the segue is great, and "What's The Use?" actually gets stretched out a bit beyond its usual boundaries.
I suppose the "Mike's Groove" deserves a mention for having "Dirt" > "Sally" as the middle of its sandwich, but I'm scrambling for praise at this point.
The Live Review:
8/14/10: So this is weird. I'm reviewing a show that I've already seen on DVD.
8/14/10: But that was a long time ago, I suppose. I remember it being pretty good.
8/14/10: Tube opener. Mike doesn't need to warm up, clearly.
8/14/10: Oh Kee Pah -B Suzy.
8/14/10: Mike is crazy on this Suzy, too. Wonder if the mix is different or if Mike is just having a great night.
8/14/10: Funky Bitch!
8/14/10: Great version of Funky Bitch. Great playing from everyone. Reba is next.
8/14/10: Really jazzy, assertive start to the Reba jam from Trey.
8/14/10: This is a great version of Reba. Trey putting together some excellent melodic lines, Page adding piano accents.
8/14/10: Fuck Your Face might be my favorite possible follow-up to Reba.
8/14/10: Alaska might be my least favorite possible follow-up to Fuck Your Face.
8/14/10: That Alaska was better than most, thanks to a totally filthy Trey solo.
8/14/10: BOTT at what sounds like a much faster tempo than usual.
8/14/10: Fantastic, sustained soloing from Trey during BOTT, too. Taste next.
8/14/10: Taste is a bit shaky but certainly not lacking in the energy department.
8/14/10: Taste is followed by a good version of When the Circus Comes. Outro is a little extended, with some great organ touches by Page.
8/14/10: Lawn Boy, Sparkle. Weird song choices in the back half of this set.
8/14/10: Gumbo! Is it just me, or is this the longest first set ever?
8/14/10: Antelope might finally close this set!
8/14/10: I can see why this S1 works well for a DVD release, though. Tons of varied songs, super high energy typical of summer 2010...
8/14/10: ...and a few songs that, while not jammed, get great extended, improvised passages (Reba, BOTT).
8/14/10: If I was trying to turn someone on to #phish, that wouldn't have been a bad set to start with.
8/14/10: Crazy Antelope, featuring 'Marco Benevento' and some snake hissing before 'spike.'
8/14/10: The Sloth opener for S2.
8/14/10: Awesomely rock The Sloth. Lots of feedback squeals from Trey. Disease is next.
8/14/10: The first few minutes of the Disease jam is pure guitar fire.
8/14/10: Fish switching up the beat around 8:00. Things getting a little tangly.
8/14/10: Full-ahead go rock and roll coming out of the tension-y section.
8/14/10: Circular jam space coming up.
8/14/10: Lightspeed funk now.
8/14/10: Things slowing down a bit, becoming more sparse...then speeding back up.
8/14/10: Neat jam, though the only thing really consistent about it is the FRIGGIN' ENERGY.
8/14/10: Developing into a droning, noise-rock sort of segment now.
8/14/10: Trey playing around with the What's the Use? riff at the end of the noise-rock barrage. Great transition by everyone else.
8/14/10: That -> was some serious telepathy.
8/14/10: After the initial blast into WTU, now things are mellowing out. It's nice to hear them play with the song a little.
8/14/10: Nice sort-of -> Scent, there.
8/14/10: Really evil build in the duel section of SOAM.
8/14/10: Mike's song is next.
8/14/10: Weird transition out of a hot Mike's into Dirt, but it's great to hear the song, especially in the middle of a Groove.
8/14/10: Sally's next? Okay, this Groove is getting weird.
8/14/10: More great Trey soloing, with a nice vocal breakdown sandwiched in their for good measure.
8/14/10: The band doesn't really have any right to be playing like this 2+ hours into the show.
8/14/10: HUGE Weekapaug to close off that sequence.
8/14/10: This show isn't much different, really, than the last few shows I poo-poo'd. But the small differences really make it work.
8/14/10: Namely, a few songs that actually go somewhere slightly interesting in S1, a big jam in S2, and an interesting Groove.
8/14/10: Rock and roll Bug to close S2. Quinn encore.
8/14/10: By 'normal' standards, this show is a bit of a flash in the pan...
8/14/10: But by the standards of summer 2010 (minus the Greek run), it's fantastic.
Mar 19, 2015
2010-08-13 Noblesville II
The Verdict:
The Live Review:
8/13/10: Noblesville II kicks off with CDT. Please god let it be more interesting than Noblesville I.
8/13/10: Guelah Papyrus is next. As per summer 2010 part deux, CDT was pure guitar fire.
8/13/10: My Sweet One getting slightly extended.
8/13/10: Axila I, followed by I Didn't Know. Old school feel to the set so far.
8/13/10: Trey ordering Fish to 'Suck that thing!'
8/13/10: Nowadays, Walls seems like a weird choice for the middle of the first set.
8/13/10: Maybe Stash will allow them to stretch a little bit.
8/13/10: Neat, if perfunctory bit of tension-and-release in Stash. Train Song next.
8/13/10: This Number Line would have worked just as well for the studio version. It's short(ish) and
basically note perfect. Great solo.
8/13/10: Ocelot next. It would be just about right if Ocelot was playing when tour was announced...
8/13/10: There is nothing about this Ocelot that makes it different from any other Ocelot ever played.
8/13/10: On the other hand, they followed it up with Curtis Loew.
8/13/10: Great little piano solo from Page in the middle of the song. Don't remember that usually being there.
8/13/10: Hilarious Van Halen guitar from Trey during the Wilson breakdown.
8/13/10: Oh, sorry. Wilson was after Curtis Loew.
8/13/10: Possum set closer? Unless this goes Type II, this is officially the 2010 First Set-iest of all 2010 First Sets.
8/13/10: That's to say while I'm sure this was fun to hear live, it's boring as hell to listen to on tape.
8/13/10: In a way, I guess it's the perfect #phish show to grade final exams to, though.
8/13/10: Halley's is opening S2.
8/13/10: Great, high-octane -B Light.
8/13/10: First few minutes of the jam are the requisite arpeggios, but then things depart for a somewhat darker space.
8/13/10: Page on organ, with a No Quarter-y tone.
8/13/10: Trey drops back, Mike and Page take over.
8/13/10: Tempo slows waaaaay down.
8/13/10: Really interesting space now. What circus music would sound like in hell.
8/13/10: Trey bringing back the main riff. Too bad, that was neat.
8/13/10: After the 'outro' vocals, back into a weird, rhythmless space.
8/13/10: Fade into 46 Days next. I think that 2-3 minutes of weirdness in Light is our helping of improv for the night, folks.
8/13/10: 46 Days winding to a weird, organ-based end, actually. Another 45 seconds of jamming!
Waiting until 12 to see if dates go up, then I'm back off to work.
8/13/10: Fuzzy ending lands nicely in Maze.
8/13/10: Maze, Meatstick.
8/13/10: Noblesville has almost had two complete shows in a row without a second set...
8/13/10: Trey starts up Mango, and there's some interplay between Meatstick and Mango.
Mangostick?!
8/13/10: Fluffhead next, as our no-jam consolation prize.
8/13/10: Julius rounds out a very well-played but very uneventful S2.
8/13/10: Slave encore!
8/13/10: Oops, there was a Contact in there first.
8/13/10: No offense to anyone, but my final verdict on Noblesville is that it's the most boring run of shows I've heard in a long time.
8/13/10: All the more baffling considering it was less than a week after the Greek run...
8/13/10: ...which could go toe-to-toe with a lot of the great shows of the last two years.
I could probably start my review of the second night in Noblesville by just pasting in the first few paragraphs from the review of last night's show. But I won't, because HYPERLINK TECHNOLOGY.
Anyway, this is mostly more of more of the same. Except where 8/12 had at least a solid "Drowned" jam and a wacky last third of S2 and encore, 8/13 is lacking even that.
As I keep saying every night, this first set, from the standpoint of technical playing alone, is pure fire. They could have substituted this version of "Number Line" for the one on Joy and nobody would have known the difference; it's that tight. But no one ever so much as places one toe outside the box here.
The second set is about as close as they come to a second first set, except for the final few minutes in "Light" (which are quickly truncated by Trey, buttslamming the band into "46 Days"), and a suddenly brilliant segue from "Meatstick" -> "The Mango Song." It's one of those out-of-nowhere moments of excellence that is, in a weird way, reassuring: even if they aren't playing anything interesting right now, they're obviously still able to. They just don't seem to want to. For some reason.
Anyway, this is mostly more of more of the same. Except where 8/12 had at least a solid "Drowned" jam and a wacky last third of S2 and encore, 8/13 is lacking even that.
As I keep saying every night, this first set, from the standpoint of technical playing alone, is pure fire. They could have substituted this version of "Number Line" for the one on Joy and nobody would have known the difference; it's that tight. But no one ever so much as places one toe outside the box here.
The second set is about as close as they come to a second first set, except for the final few minutes in "Light" (which are quickly truncated by Trey, buttslamming the band into "46 Days"), and a suddenly brilliant segue from "Meatstick" -> "The Mango Song." It's one of those out-of-nowhere moments of excellence that is, in a weird way, reassuring: even if they aren't playing anything interesting right now, they're obviously still able to. They just don't seem to want to. For some reason.
The Live Review:
8/13/10: Noblesville II kicks off with CDT. Please god let it be more interesting than Noblesville I.
8/13/10: Guelah Papyrus is next. As per summer 2010 part deux, CDT was pure guitar fire.
8/13/10: My Sweet One getting slightly extended.
8/13/10: Axila I, followed by I Didn't Know. Old school feel to the set so far.
8/13/10: Trey ordering Fish to 'Suck that thing!'
8/13/10: Nowadays, Walls seems like a weird choice for the middle of the first set.
8/13/10: Maybe Stash will allow them to stretch a little bit.
8/13/10: Neat, if perfunctory bit of tension-and-release in Stash. Train Song next.
8/13/10: This Number Line would have worked just as well for the studio version. It's short(ish) and
basically note perfect. Great solo.
8/13/10: Ocelot next. It would be just about right if Ocelot was playing when tour was announced...
8/13/10: There is nothing about this Ocelot that makes it different from any other Ocelot ever played.
8/13/10: On the other hand, they followed it up with Curtis Loew.
8/13/10: Great little piano solo from Page in the middle of the song. Don't remember that usually being there.
8/13/10: Hilarious Van Halen guitar from Trey during the Wilson breakdown.
8/13/10: Oh, sorry. Wilson was after Curtis Loew.
8/13/10: Possum set closer? Unless this goes Type II, this is officially the 2010 First Set-iest of all 2010 First Sets.
8/13/10: That's to say while I'm sure this was fun to hear live, it's boring as hell to listen to on tape.
8/13/10: In a way, I guess it's the perfect #phish show to grade final exams to, though.
8/13/10: Halley's is opening S2.
8/13/10: Great, high-octane -B Light.
8/13/10: First few minutes of the jam are the requisite arpeggios, but then things depart for a somewhat darker space.
8/13/10: Page on organ, with a No Quarter-y tone.
8/13/10: Trey drops back, Mike and Page take over.
8/13/10: Tempo slows waaaaay down.
8/13/10: Really interesting space now. What circus music would sound like in hell.
8/13/10: Trey bringing back the main riff. Too bad, that was neat.
8/13/10: After the 'outro' vocals, back into a weird, rhythmless space.
8/13/10: Fade into 46 Days next. I think that 2-3 minutes of weirdness in Light is our helping of improv for the night, folks.
8/13/10: 46 Days winding to a weird, organ-based end, actually. Another 45 seconds of jamming!
Waiting until 12 to see if dates go up, then I'm back off to work.
8/13/10: Fuzzy ending lands nicely in Maze.
8/13/10: Maze, Meatstick.
8/13/10: Noblesville has almost had two complete shows in a row without a second set...
8/13/10: Trey starts up Mango, and there's some interplay between Meatstick and Mango.
Mangostick?!
8/13/10: Fluffhead next, as our no-jam consolation prize.
8/13/10: Julius rounds out a very well-played but very uneventful S2.
8/13/10: Slave encore!
8/13/10: Oops, there was a Contact in there first.
8/13/10: No offense to anyone, but my final verdict on Noblesville is that it's the most boring run of shows I've heard in a long time.
8/13/10: All the more baffling considering it was less than a week after the Greek run...
8/13/10: ...which could go toe-to-toe with a lot of the great shows of the last two years.
2010-08-12 Noblesville I
The Verdict:
Same old, same old is the verdict here. The epic Greek run is starting to look more and more like a weird anomaly in a summer that's skewed almost entirely toward shows that feature consistently sky-high energy and great setlists, but have second sets that are almost indistinguishable from first sets. In other words, if Phish was a rock and roll bar band, summer 2010 would be a banner year. If you care about improv at all, though, pickings have been pretty slim.
I don't know if there's anything particularly bad about the Noblesville run in this regard, or if I'm just getting frustrated and this was a convenient peak, but...blargh. Night one's first set is par for the course: "Cars Trucks Buses" gets extended slightly past its usual running time, and "Roggae" goes more rock and less melody in its jam, but aside from those changes, you've heard all this before.
The second set makes it through a "Drowned" that recalls "Waiting All Night" in the tail end of its jam, but the first two-thirds of the set is otherwise flat unless you count a clever segue out of "Jibboo" into "Gin." There's no real improv to speak of in the last third of the set, still, but the "Split" is an especially intense version and is the easy highlight of the show, while the "Hood" is nice and languid.
The encore is weird but fun, as Trey strings together the end of "Fee," then "NO2," and then "Kung" with his megaphone's siren before the full band ricochets through a rough version of "Fire" to end the show.
The Live Review:
8/12/10: Jim opener.
8/12/10: Really hot start from Trey in particular on the Jim jam.
8/12/10: PYITE is second.
8/12/10: Man! I totally HATE that 'Hey!' jam with the crowd in PYITE. Totally takes me out of the
moment, man.
8/12/10: /sarcasm
8/12/10: Trey repeats a verse of PYITE then mutters 'Sorry!' quickly in-between lines. That was really hilarious to me, for some reason.
8/12/10: Shit, serious issues all the way around with this PYITE.
8/12/10: Roggae third. Trey is laying down some soaring licks rather than staying in the background.
8/12/10: Not a complaint, just different than how this jam seems to unfold more recently.
8/12/10: 'Intense' is not normally a word that I'd associate with Roggae, but there you go.
8/12/10: Cars Trucks Buses!!
8/12/10: CTB getting extended a little bit with band members trading solos. Trey is putting down a particularly weird one.
8/12/10: Even Sample featured a mistimed drop from Trey. The guys sound surprisingly shaky tonight.
8/12/10: Especially considering how they've been NAILING S1s lately.
8/12/10: Horn is next. Playing might be a little weird, but the guys are at least working their S1 setlist magic as per usual.
8/12/10: Setlist fun continues with Sugar Shack. This one is about a 5.0 on the Trey-Falls-Apart Scale.
8/12/10: Wolfman's Brother is next. Page to the clav right after vocals.
8/12/10: Kind of a plinko feel, now.
8/12/10: At least from everyone but Trey.
8/12/10: Plinko call was a little premature. Standard Wolfman's > TTE.
8/12/10: *Looking askance across table in a dark room* It's been awhile for you and me, TTE.
8/12/10: Everybody sound rusty tonight, for some reason. Must have been a hell of a trip from CO to IN. It usually is, I guess.
8/12/10: Riding home for 'setbreak.' There better be some damn #phish dates by the time I get there :)
8/12/10: Well, there are worse ways to start a second set than with Drowned.
8/12/10: Trey shredding for all he's worth in the first few minutes of this jam.
8/12/10: Sudden tone shift. Page to organ, then electric piano.
8/12/10: Lots of synth now from Page. Shuffling beat from Fish.
8/12/10: Sort of a logical extension of Ye Olde Ambient Fade-Out.
8/12/10: Kind of neat, but no particular direction emerging.
8/12/10: Odd part that sounded weirdly like Waiting All Night there for a minute.
8/12/10: Actually this sounds a hell of a lot like Waiting All Night.
8/12/10: Sudden move into Jibboo. Not sure if I'd call it a ripcord, though, because the jam wasn't really going anywhere.
8/12/10: Page and Trey playing off of each other well in this Jibboo. It's not doing anything beyond Type I, but worth a listen anyway.
8/12/10: Really neat -> Gin. Just as it was starting to sound like Type 2 Jibboo was coming...
8/12/10: ...but I think that might have just been the setup for the Gin.
8/12/10: I call no ripcord.
8/12/10: GREAT rock peak in the Gin jam.
8/12/10: MFMF is next.
8/12/10: Okay, so they not only played Buffalo Bill, they played it in a second set.
8/12/10: Twist is next, and the jam goes mellow almost immediately.
8/12/10: Trey shreds (Twist) again...the template for 'jamming' since the Greek seems to just be starting off Type I mellow...
8/12/10: ...and having Trey just play more and more notes until his guitar ejaculates, > next song.
8/12/10: In this case, the post-coital choice is The Horse.
8/12/10: Sloppy-but-fast Silent > Split.
8/12/10: Especially abstract and weird Split jam. This is the first really interesting thing that's happened since the 8/10 Carini.
8/12/10: Really atypical Type 2 segment now.
8/12/10: Abstract, no sustained rhythm, though Fish is playing.
8/12/10: So weird. Aborted really quickly, though, for a decent -> Dog Faced Boy.
8/12/10: HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD
8/12/10: Really mellow, slow building Hood. More so than usual, I mean.
8/12/10: Peak sort of comes out of nowhere. Solid version, though, in the usual pre-'14 mold.
8/12/10: Or, rather, the pre-Hollywood Hood mold.
8/12/10: Golgi set closer?
8/12/10: Fee for the encore.
8/12/10: Really rough Fee.
8/12/10: So Trey just used the megaphone siren to pull off a -> NO2.
8/12/10: First and only siren-driven segue in #phish history?
8/12/10: Siren still going, end of Fee -> NO2 -> Kung.
8/12/10: So that's fun :)
8/12/10: Fire!
8/12/10: Well, that encore belonged to be paired to a much better show...
8/12/10: *with
8/12/10: Siren again at the end of Fire.
Same old, same old is the verdict here. The epic Greek run is starting to look more and more like a weird anomaly in a summer that's skewed almost entirely toward shows that feature consistently sky-high energy and great setlists, but have second sets that are almost indistinguishable from first sets. In other words, if Phish was a rock and roll bar band, summer 2010 would be a banner year. If you care about improv at all, though, pickings have been pretty slim.
I don't know if there's anything particularly bad about the Noblesville run in this regard, or if I'm just getting frustrated and this was a convenient peak, but...blargh. Night one's first set is par for the course: "Cars Trucks Buses" gets extended slightly past its usual running time, and "Roggae" goes more rock and less melody in its jam, but aside from those changes, you've heard all this before.
The second set makes it through a "Drowned" that recalls "Waiting All Night" in the tail end of its jam, but the first two-thirds of the set is otherwise flat unless you count a clever segue out of "Jibboo" into "Gin." There's no real improv to speak of in the last third of the set, still, but the "Split" is an especially intense version and is the easy highlight of the show, while the "Hood" is nice and languid.
The encore is weird but fun, as Trey strings together the end of "Fee," then "NO2," and then "Kung" with his megaphone's siren before the full band ricochets through a rough version of "Fire" to end the show.
The Live Review:
8/12/10: Jim opener.
8/12/10: Really hot start from Trey in particular on the Jim jam.
8/12/10: PYITE is second.
8/12/10: Man! I totally HATE that 'Hey!' jam with the crowd in PYITE. Totally takes me out of the
moment, man.
8/12/10: /sarcasm
8/12/10: Trey repeats a verse of PYITE then mutters 'Sorry!' quickly in-between lines. That was really hilarious to me, for some reason.
8/12/10: Shit, serious issues all the way around with this PYITE.
8/12/10: Roggae third. Trey is laying down some soaring licks rather than staying in the background.
8/12/10: Not a complaint, just different than how this jam seems to unfold more recently.
8/12/10: 'Intense' is not normally a word that I'd associate with Roggae, but there you go.
8/12/10: Cars Trucks Buses!!
8/12/10: CTB getting extended a little bit with band members trading solos. Trey is putting down a particularly weird one.
8/12/10: Even Sample featured a mistimed drop from Trey. The guys sound surprisingly shaky tonight.
8/12/10: Especially considering how they've been NAILING S1s lately.
8/12/10: Horn is next. Playing might be a little weird, but the guys are at least working their S1 setlist magic as per usual.
8/12/10: Setlist fun continues with Sugar Shack. This one is about a 5.0 on the Trey-Falls-Apart Scale.
8/12/10: Wolfman's Brother is next. Page to the clav right after vocals.
8/12/10: Kind of a plinko feel, now.
8/12/10: At least from everyone but Trey.
8/12/10: Plinko call was a little premature. Standard Wolfman's > TTE.
8/12/10: *Looking askance across table in a dark room* It's been awhile for you and me, TTE.
8/12/10: Everybody sound rusty tonight, for some reason. Must have been a hell of a trip from CO to IN. It usually is, I guess.
8/12/10: Riding home for 'setbreak.' There better be some damn #phish dates by the time I get there :)
8/12/10: Well, there are worse ways to start a second set than with Drowned.
8/12/10: Trey shredding for all he's worth in the first few minutes of this jam.
8/12/10: Sudden tone shift. Page to organ, then electric piano.
8/12/10: Lots of synth now from Page. Shuffling beat from Fish.
8/12/10: Sort of a logical extension of Ye Olde Ambient Fade-Out.
8/12/10: Kind of neat, but no particular direction emerging.
8/12/10: Odd part that sounded weirdly like Waiting All Night there for a minute.
8/12/10: Actually this sounds a hell of a lot like Waiting All Night.
8/12/10: Sudden move into Jibboo. Not sure if I'd call it a ripcord, though, because the jam wasn't really going anywhere.
8/12/10: Page and Trey playing off of each other well in this Jibboo. It's not doing anything beyond Type I, but worth a listen anyway.
8/12/10: Really neat -> Gin. Just as it was starting to sound like Type 2 Jibboo was coming...
8/12/10: ...but I think that might have just been the setup for the Gin.
8/12/10: I call no ripcord.
8/12/10: GREAT rock peak in the Gin jam.
8/12/10: MFMF is next.
8/12/10: Okay, so they not only played Buffalo Bill, they played it in a second set.
8/12/10: Twist is next, and the jam goes mellow almost immediately.
8/12/10: Trey shreds (Twist) again...the template for 'jamming' since the Greek seems to just be starting off Type I mellow...
8/12/10: ...and having Trey just play more and more notes until his guitar ejaculates, > next song.
8/12/10: In this case, the post-coital choice is The Horse.
8/12/10: Sloppy-but-fast Silent > Split.
8/12/10: Especially abstract and weird Split jam. This is the first really interesting thing that's happened since the 8/10 Carini.
8/12/10: Really atypical Type 2 segment now.
8/12/10: Abstract, no sustained rhythm, though Fish is playing.
8/12/10: So weird. Aborted really quickly, though, for a decent -> Dog Faced Boy.
8/12/10: HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD
8/12/10: Really mellow, slow building Hood. More so than usual, I mean.
8/12/10: Peak sort of comes out of nowhere. Solid version, though, in the usual pre-'14 mold.
8/12/10: Or, rather, the pre-Hollywood Hood mold.
8/12/10: Golgi set closer?
8/12/10: Fee for the encore.
8/12/10: Really rough Fee.
8/12/10: So Trey just used the megaphone siren to pull off a -> NO2.
8/12/10: First and only siren-driven segue in #phish history?
8/12/10: Siren still going, end of Fee -> NO2 -> Kung.
8/12/10: So that's fun :)
8/12/10: Fire!
8/12/10: Well, that encore belonged to be paired to a much better show...
8/12/10: *with
8/12/10: Siren again at the end of Fire.
Mar 17, 2015
2010-08-10 Telluride II
The Verdict:
When the band plays as technically well as they have been for most of the first sets in 2010 but never attempt any real improv, the only way to tell sets apart is through song choice. All these first sets are "high energy," and they're all lacking in improvisation. So that only leaves one question "Did they play good songs?" Obviously, this makes reviewing said sets pretty fucking objective. For my money, most (though not all) of Telluride N1S1 was boring because the song choices were predictable. The second night's S1 is way more interesting in terms of song choice. That's the good news. The bad news is that for the second set, Phish decided to play a second first set. So...it's a draw?
S1 features some excellent song "flow," some rarities, a minimalist reading of "Let Me Lie" that I actually thought was awesome, "Divided Sky," and a few minutes of absolute destruction in the "Antelope" closer...but besides it all being put together very well, it's also nothing you've never heard before, except maybe the "Let Me Lie."
S2, as I said, is basically a second S1. The band never really lifts off in the way you expect them to do in a second frame. "Crosseyed" is great...for a version that stays Type I for its entire running time. "Destiny Unbound" is nice to hear, but just confirms the feeling that the band is in jukebox mode for this whole set. "Carini" gets weird for a few minutes...like, really weird...but then we're just back on the rails for the rest of the show. "YEM" deserves a mention for featuring a bit more legitimate jamming than usual and an extra-weird vocal jam, but this set does nothing to change my mind from thinking Telluride is an entirely tepid outing.
The Live Review:
8/10/10: Coil opener!
8/10/10: imo, Coil always sort of loses something when they don't all leave stage except for Page.
8/10/10: As usual, fantastic interplay between Trey and Page on the outro. Mike picking it up now, too.
8/10/10: End of Coil to Stealing Time = very quiet
8/10/10: Ya Mar!!!
8/10/10: Stealing Time was very short, very high-energy, and featured a surprising amount of Mike.
8/10/10: Typically great Ya Mar > Timber.
8/10/10: This Timber gets hot and twisted almost right away.
8/10/10: That comment made me want to buy and eat a hot pretzel.
8/10/10: One of the many arrangements of Let Me Lie is next.
8/10/10: Piano and drums only, Page and Trey harmonizing (maybe Mike, too?).
8/10/10: Almost no guitar on this version. It's actually quite good.
8/10/10: Last verse is just Page on piano.
8/10/10: This is how this song should always be played.
8/10/10: Trey comes in at the end for a brief solo.
8/10/10: Divided Sky!
8/10/10: Great set so far. Really well-constructed, and even the 'flop' song turned out to be a really great version.
8/10/10: When I woke up this morning, I did not expect to be live-tweeting my conversion to the Church of Let Me Lie today. #phish
8/10/10: Standalone Walk Away!
8/10/10: Page comes in early on vocals! That never happens!
8/10/10: ROSES
8/10/10: I'm hoping this set isn't designed to distract me from a boring S2.
8/10/10: BECAUSE IT'S WORKING
8/10/10: Distortion at the end of Roses gives way to LxL.
8/10/10: LxL gets ripped apart by Trey as well. > Bouncin'.
8/10/10: I'm gonna go off the deep end here: 2010 Trey is flat-out better at Phish noodle-solo-rock than 2014 Trey.
8/10/10: Now these shows aren't as impressive in terms of improv (usually) than more recent shows.
8/10/10: But the shreddy-jukebox parts of the shows are WAY more interesting, simply because Trey blasts fucking fire from his fingers.
8/10/10: A frenzied Antelope closes another fireball of a first set. Party Time kicks off S2.
8/10/10: Standard reading of Party Time > Mike's.
8/10/10: Super distorted, crazy Mike's. Still staying in the box, but slaying while they're at it.
8/10/10: Really rough start to what I think is going to be Crosseyed.
8/10/10: Yup.
8/10/10: Crosseyed stays Type I for a 9-minute shredfest, but a neat transition into the Groove-appropriate I Am Hydrogen.
8/10/10: Really languid Hydrogen. Suited for sunset behind a summer shed.
8/10/10: This is going to shock you, but Trey is annihilating this Weekapaug.
8/10/10: Destiny Unbound!
8/10/10: This show is basically two first sets. But they're both great first sets. There's yer silver lining.
8/10/10: Okay, so there's like 2-3 minutes of really abstract noise shit at the end of this Carini that
counts as 'jamming.'
8/10/10: It's actually really dark and scary.
8/10/10: Bass-led version, as per 3.0 usual, but Page gets a little bit of a spotlight in the midst of the bass breakdown.
8/10/10: Some weird LP file tracking shit happening with Carini and Free, but it doesn't seem like I missed much of either song. Oh well.
8/10/10: Heavy Things is next, keeping up the second set one vibe.
8/10/10: YEM. This is the second recent YEM that's come, oddly, at the end of a somewhat lackluster show.
8/10/10: It's sort of losing its 'victory lap' status.
8/10/10: 97 funk style interlude in this YEM. That's pretty cool.
8/10/10: Serious solo throwdown from Trey now.
8/10/10: MASSIVE Mike bass solo next.
8/10/10: YEM was a pretty exceptionally great version.
8/10/10: Neat story about '88 CO 'tour' from Trey before Shine a Light encore.
When the band plays as technically well as they have been for most of the first sets in 2010 but never attempt any real improv, the only way to tell sets apart is through song choice. All these first sets are "high energy," and they're all lacking in improvisation. So that only leaves one question "Did they play good songs?" Obviously, this makes reviewing said sets pretty fucking objective. For my money, most (though not all) of Telluride N1S1 was boring because the song choices were predictable. The second night's S1 is way more interesting in terms of song choice. That's the good news. The bad news is that for the second set, Phish decided to play a second first set. So...it's a draw?
S1 features some excellent song "flow," some rarities, a minimalist reading of "Let Me Lie" that I actually thought was awesome, "Divided Sky," and a few minutes of absolute destruction in the "Antelope" closer...but besides it all being put together very well, it's also nothing you've never heard before, except maybe the "Let Me Lie."
S2, as I said, is basically a second S1. The band never really lifts off in the way you expect them to do in a second frame. "Crosseyed" is great...for a version that stays Type I for its entire running time. "Destiny Unbound" is nice to hear, but just confirms the feeling that the band is in jukebox mode for this whole set. "Carini" gets weird for a few minutes...like, really weird...but then we're just back on the rails for the rest of the show. "YEM" deserves a mention for featuring a bit more legitimate jamming than usual and an extra-weird vocal jam, but this set does nothing to change my mind from thinking Telluride is an entirely tepid outing.
The Live Review:
8/10/10: Coil opener!
8/10/10: imo, Coil always sort of loses something when they don't all leave stage except for Page.
8/10/10: As usual, fantastic interplay between Trey and Page on the outro. Mike picking it up now, too.
8/10/10: End of Coil to Stealing Time = very quiet
8/10/10: Ya Mar!!!
8/10/10: Stealing Time was very short, very high-energy, and featured a surprising amount of Mike.
8/10/10: Typically great Ya Mar > Timber.
8/10/10: This Timber gets hot and twisted almost right away.
8/10/10: That comment made me want to buy and eat a hot pretzel.
8/10/10: One of the many arrangements of Let Me Lie is next.
8/10/10: Piano and drums only, Page and Trey harmonizing (maybe Mike, too?).
8/10/10: Almost no guitar on this version. It's actually quite good.
8/10/10: Last verse is just Page on piano.
8/10/10: This is how this song should always be played.
8/10/10: Trey comes in at the end for a brief solo.
8/10/10: Divided Sky!
8/10/10: Great set so far. Really well-constructed, and even the 'flop' song turned out to be a really great version.
8/10/10: When I woke up this morning, I did not expect to be live-tweeting my conversion to the Church of Let Me Lie today. #phish
8/10/10: Standalone Walk Away!
8/10/10: Page comes in early on vocals! That never happens!
8/10/10: ROSES
8/10/10: I'm hoping this set isn't designed to distract me from a boring S2.
8/10/10: BECAUSE IT'S WORKING
8/10/10: Distortion at the end of Roses gives way to LxL.
8/10/10: LxL gets ripped apart by Trey as well. > Bouncin'.
8/10/10: I'm gonna go off the deep end here: 2010 Trey is flat-out better at Phish noodle-solo-rock than 2014 Trey.
8/10/10: Now these shows aren't as impressive in terms of improv (usually) than more recent shows.
8/10/10: But the shreddy-jukebox parts of the shows are WAY more interesting, simply because Trey blasts fucking fire from his fingers.
8/10/10: A frenzied Antelope closes another fireball of a first set. Party Time kicks off S2.
8/10/10: Standard reading of Party Time > Mike's.
8/10/10: Super distorted, crazy Mike's. Still staying in the box, but slaying while they're at it.
8/10/10: Really rough start to what I think is going to be Crosseyed.
8/10/10: Yup.
8/10/10: Crosseyed stays Type I for a 9-minute shredfest, but a neat transition into the Groove-appropriate I Am Hydrogen.
8/10/10: Really languid Hydrogen. Suited for sunset behind a summer shed.
8/10/10: This is going to shock you, but Trey is annihilating this Weekapaug.
8/10/10: Destiny Unbound!
8/10/10: This show is basically two first sets. But they're both great first sets. There's yer silver lining.
8/10/10: Okay, so there's like 2-3 minutes of really abstract noise shit at the end of this Carini that
counts as 'jamming.'
8/10/10: It's actually really dark and scary.
8/10/10: Bass-led version, as per 3.0 usual, but Page gets a little bit of a spotlight in the midst of the bass breakdown.
8/10/10: Some weird LP file tracking shit happening with Carini and Free, but it doesn't seem like I missed much of either song. Oh well.
8/10/10: Heavy Things is next, keeping up the second set one vibe.
8/10/10: YEM. This is the second recent YEM that's come, oddly, at the end of a somewhat lackluster show.
8/10/10: It's sort of losing its 'victory lap' status.
8/10/10: 97 funk style interlude in this YEM. That's pretty cool.
8/10/10: Serious solo throwdown from Trey now.
8/10/10: MASSIVE Mike bass solo next.
8/10/10: YEM was a pretty exceptionally great version.
8/10/10: Neat story about '88 CO 'tour' from Trey before Shine a Light encore.
2010-08-09 Telluride I
The Verdict:
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Telluride shows fail to match the highs of the Greek run, but it's surprising how dramatically they fail at it. There are a few bright spots here, but for the most part, we're back to the technically precise but uninteresting playing of much of late '09 and early '10.
The first half of the first night's first set features some interesting song choices, but even that novelty disappears in the back half of the set. The playing is precise and fiery throughout, and it's worth noting the number of high-energy S1s the band has managed to string together in a row...but that's all that's worth noting.
Much of the second set continues in the same vein. There's an extended "Sand," but it's all Type I funk-rock (albeit great Type I funk-rock). "Number Line" and "Caspian" get shredded to pieces, and the "Tweezer" is solid, though the highlight of it is the slow segue into "Boogie On." The marquee jam, such as it is, is the "Piper," and though it leans a bit toward the tried-and-now-boring early '09 jamming style, it's a decent excursion, buoyed by the perfectly-placed "Mountains in the Mist" follow-up.
And that's about it for Telluride I. Really.
The Live Review:
8/9/10: First Telluride show kicks off with DwD.
8/9/10: Fast tempo. Fish is a monster.
8/9/10: Camel Walk in the two-slot. Guys having a bit of fun with the vocals.
8/9/10: Ocelot next. Seems sort of like a natural extension of the end of Camel Walk, actually.
8/9/10: Trey combining trilling and the whale during this solo. The efficacy of the results are debatale.
8/9/10: Debatable, even.
8/9/10: Light Up or Leave Me Alone!
8/9/10: Don't think the crowd knows it.
8/9/10: Aww, Summer of '89. What a nice song. I wouldn't mind hearing this live someday. Just
once, though.
8/9/10: Mix seems weird on this SBD. Can hardly hear harmonies. Mike is quiet. Crowd is near-nonexistent.
8/9/10: Sounds like a different mix than the Greek tapes.
8/9/10: Regardless, Stash is next.
8/9/10: Page building some serious tension with pairs of alternating chords on the piano.
8/9/10: Pretty standard-but-intense tension-and-release Stash.
8/9/10: Nothing really breaking the mold early in the show here, but like 8/6 and 8/7 some great
energy and weird-good setlist choices.
8/9/10: Cavern, complete with Trey lyrical gaffes!
8/9/10: Lyrically, Cavern is Trey's great white whale. In terms of guitar lines, it's definitely Sugar Shack.
8/9/10: Don't know why
8/9/10: MUD RAT DETECTORS AND RIBBON REFLECTORS
8/9/10: The Wedge -B Possum.
8/9/10: Setlist is maybe getting a little less interesting, but they're still ripping through the songs like there's no tomorrow.
8/9/10: A really ripping Possum leads into Julius, which (I think) will be the set closer.
8/9/10: S2 starts with what sounded like Trey beginning the Ghost riff, and then Sand drops. That was a little weird.
8/9/10: Nonetheless, friggin' Sand!
8/9/10: Mellow jam space early on, except for Trey playing overtop with a heavily distorted guitar tone.
8/9/10: So many of these songs that just go mega-funky right away now are neat to hear from a few years ago, when that wasn't an assumption.
8/9/10: Rock and roll Sand, with some Mike space-bass.
8/9/10: Extended Sand staying Type I throughout, but damn is it a hot version anyway.
8/9/10: Nothing comes of a little navel-gazing at the end of the song, so instead Trey counts off Number Line.
8/9/10: Troy just absolutely dominated that Number Line. Seriously.
8/9/10: Feedback haze coalesces into Caspian.
8/9/10: Trey is just soloing the song's main melody over and over. Now that's interesting.
8/9/10: I wasn't being sarcastic. He doesn't usually do that.
8/9/10: Neat drone-y section now.
8/9/10: Fish with a sinister, marching beat.
8/9/10: I think Trey was trying for a -> Tweezer there, but got the > instead.
8/9/10: Tweezer jam takes a turn for the funky...Mike takes the lead...and a -> Boogie On!
8/9/10: That was a really patient, premeditated segue. A little rough in execution, but clever.
8/9/10: The Boogie, as usual, is really Mike-centric.
8/9/10: There wasn't really anything developing there with the Boogie On jam, but Trey's > Piper
was still a little jarring.
8/9/10: First few minutes of Piper just straightforward shredding.
8/9/10: Page to the organ at 5:30.
8/9/10: It's a woo jam without woos! So 2010.
8/9/10: Chaotic guitar-loops-and-piano segment.
8/9/10: Ah, ye olde ambient fade-out. So 2009.
8/9/10: Neat last few minutes of that jam, though.
8/9/10: Difference between '10 and '14, though? It took 6-7 minutes of rock noodling to get there.
8/9/10: Ooh! Mountains in the Mist emerging from the mist (of feedback)!
8/9/10: Bowie emerges from the end of Mist.
8/9/10: There is no plan, here, in this setlist for the second set, but the playing is solid across the board.
8/9/10: It sort of reminds me of the feeling I had after 7/16/14.
8/9/10: Page's piano is playing a surprisingly prominent role in this Bowie jam.
8/9/10: A blistering Bowie. A Day in the Life seems like an appropriate follow-up.
8/9/10: Encore'd with Quinn and Tweeprise. Quinn's such a great cover. Glad to hear it.
8/9/10: Overall, the show's all over the map. Incredible energy and great set construction for the first 75% or so.
8/9/10: No improv to really grab onto for more than a minute or two at a time, but plenty of valiant attempts.
8/9/10: Basically, this was an 'average-great' show, but not for lack of effort.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Telluride shows fail to match the highs of the Greek run, but it's surprising how dramatically they fail at it. There are a few bright spots here, but for the most part, we're back to the technically precise but uninteresting playing of much of late '09 and early '10.
The first half of the first night's first set features some interesting song choices, but even that novelty disappears in the back half of the set. The playing is precise and fiery throughout, and it's worth noting the number of high-energy S1s the band has managed to string together in a row...but that's all that's worth noting.
Much of the second set continues in the same vein. There's an extended "Sand," but it's all Type I funk-rock (albeit great Type I funk-rock). "Number Line" and "Caspian" get shredded to pieces, and the "Tweezer" is solid, though the highlight of it is the slow segue into "Boogie On." The marquee jam, such as it is, is the "Piper," and though it leans a bit toward the tried-and-now-boring early '09 jamming style, it's a decent excursion, buoyed by the perfectly-placed "Mountains in the Mist" follow-up.
And that's about it for Telluride I. Really.
The Live Review:
8/9/10: First Telluride show kicks off with DwD.
8/9/10: Fast tempo. Fish is a monster.
8/9/10: Camel Walk in the two-slot. Guys having a bit of fun with the vocals.
8/9/10: Ocelot next. Seems sort of like a natural extension of the end of Camel Walk, actually.
8/9/10: Trey combining trilling and the whale during this solo. The efficacy of the results are debatale.
8/9/10: Debatable, even.
8/9/10: Light Up or Leave Me Alone!
8/9/10: Don't think the crowd knows it.
8/9/10: Aww, Summer of '89. What a nice song. I wouldn't mind hearing this live someday. Just
once, though.
8/9/10: Mix seems weird on this SBD. Can hardly hear harmonies. Mike is quiet. Crowd is near-nonexistent.
8/9/10: Sounds like a different mix than the Greek tapes.
8/9/10: Regardless, Stash is next.
8/9/10: Page building some serious tension with pairs of alternating chords on the piano.
8/9/10: Pretty standard-but-intense tension-and-release Stash.
8/9/10: Nothing really breaking the mold early in the show here, but like 8/6 and 8/7 some great
energy and weird-good setlist choices.
8/9/10: Cavern, complete with Trey lyrical gaffes!
8/9/10: Lyrically, Cavern is Trey's great white whale. In terms of guitar lines, it's definitely Sugar Shack.
8/9/10: Don't know why
8/9/10: MUD RAT DETECTORS AND RIBBON REFLECTORS
8/9/10: The Wedge -B Possum.
8/9/10: Setlist is maybe getting a little less interesting, but they're still ripping through the songs like there's no tomorrow.
8/9/10: A really ripping Possum leads into Julius, which (I think) will be the set closer.
8/9/10: S2 starts with what sounded like Trey beginning the Ghost riff, and then Sand drops. That was a little weird.
8/9/10: Nonetheless, friggin' Sand!
8/9/10: Mellow jam space early on, except for Trey playing overtop with a heavily distorted guitar tone.
8/9/10: So many of these songs that just go mega-funky right away now are neat to hear from a few years ago, when that wasn't an assumption.
8/9/10: Rock and roll Sand, with some Mike space-bass.
8/9/10: Extended Sand staying Type I throughout, but damn is it a hot version anyway.
8/9/10: Nothing comes of a little navel-gazing at the end of the song, so instead Trey counts off Number Line.
8/9/10: Troy just absolutely dominated that Number Line. Seriously.
8/9/10: Feedback haze coalesces into Caspian.
8/9/10: Trey is just soloing the song's main melody over and over. Now that's interesting.
8/9/10: I wasn't being sarcastic. He doesn't usually do that.
8/9/10: Neat drone-y section now.
8/9/10: Fish with a sinister, marching beat.
8/9/10: I think Trey was trying for a -> Tweezer there, but got the > instead.
8/9/10: Tweezer jam takes a turn for the funky...Mike takes the lead...and a -> Boogie On!
8/9/10: That was a really patient, premeditated segue. A little rough in execution, but clever.
8/9/10: The Boogie, as usual, is really Mike-centric.
8/9/10: There wasn't really anything developing there with the Boogie On jam, but Trey's > Piper
was still a little jarring.
8/9/10: First few minutes of Piper just straightforward shredding.
8/9/10: Page to the organ at 5:30.
8/9/10: It's a woo jam without woos! So 2010.
8/9/10: Chaotic guitar-loops-and-piano segment.
8/9/10: Ah, ye olde ambient fade-out. So 2009.
8/9/10: Neat last few minutes of that jam, though.
8/9/10: Difference between '10 and '14, though? It took 6-7 minutes of rock noodling to get there.
8/9/10: Ooh! Mountains in the Mist emerging from the mist (of feedback)!
8/9/10: Bowie emerges from the end of Mist.
8/9/10: There is no plan, here, in this setlist for the second set, but the playing is solid across the board.
8/9/10: It sort of reminds me of the feeling I had after 7/16/14.
8/9/10: Page's piano is playing a surprisingly prominent role in this Bowie jam.
8/9/10: A blistering Bowie. A Day in the Life seems like an appropriate follow-up.
8/9/10: Encore'd with Quinn and Tweeprise. Quinn's such a great cover. Glad to hear it.
8/9/10: Overall, the show's all over the map. Incredible energy and great set construction for the first 75% or so.
8/9/10: No improv to really grab onto for more than a minute or two at a time, but plenty of valiant attempts.
8/9/10: Basically, this was an 'average-great' show, but not for lack of effort.
Mar 11, 2015
2010-08-07 Greek Theater III
The Verdict:
Amazingly, I think any of these three Greek shows would be received pretty positively by our spoiled asses here in 2015. Sure, some people would have some complaints, and those might not be unfounded, but this is one of those timeless runs that's just so good it doesn't really deserve any qualifiers like "for '10" or "for 3.0." And the third show is the best of the bunch.
S1, much like 8/6's first frame, is a great assortment of weird song choices that somehow hangs together. It doesn't hurt that the band plays every song like it's the last time they ever will, and Trey retains (mostly) the technical precision and creative fire he's shown for the whole run. The opening "Bag" is bonkers, and there's a legit -> into "Foam." "Gotta Jibboo" gets extended, and though it stays Type I, it gets developed slowly and patiently - a theme for the whole show. "Sleep Again" gets a fantastic Phish treatment, and "Army of One" pokes its head up. The rest of the set is more straightforward, but that spark never leaves.
S2 is an absolute monster. A fiery "Wilson" leads right into an absolutely transcendent "Light," the easy highlight jam of the run, and for my money, of summer '10 so far. It lands in a dark "Twenty Years," which drops right into a fifteen-minute, slow-burning "Hood." A few clever song choices late in the set yield, among others, a patient "2001," a "Suzy" with a second jam (yeah), and a set closing "Slave" that is one of the most slowly-developing versions I've heard since the 90s.
If that wasn't enough, the run closes with a "Lizards" > "First Tube" encore.
I've been throwing a lot of superlatives around in the last two reviews, but I think this run deserves it. For as down on the band as I've been through most of the late '09 shows and early '10 shows, this run deserves mention with any of the greats, and even more so for how out-of-nowhere it seems. Right now I'm just going to enjoy it a bit before moving on to Telluride. I love finding gems like this.
The Live Review:
8/7/10: Bag opener. Trey is extremely bluesy during the mini-jam.
8/7/10: That was a legitimate Bag -> Foam segue. Fish started up Foam drums while Trey was finishing Bag. Cool.
8/7/10: Trey having a little trouble with Foam, but otherwise it sounds great.
8/7/10: Great opening pair. Jibboo now. Jam starts with some squealing loops, then drops into a typical melody solo from Trey.
8/7/10: Jibboo was an old-school version: all Trey, slow build, lots of melodic noodling. Now Reba.
8/7/10: That composed section seemed especially tight.
8/7/10: Not a transcendent version by any means, but way better than it probably deserves to be as the fourth song of the night.
8/7/10: Sleep Again! Mike's bass sounds great on this tune.
8/7/10: Page taking the lead with some brilliant piano during the Sleep Again outro.
8/7/10: Army of One! I miss this song.
8/7/10: Poor Heart is next. Particularly tight version.
8/7/10: -B 46 Days!
8/7/10: The 46 Days is of the short, shreddy variety. But good.
8/7/10: Brief sort of slowed-down, drone-y segment, > Tube.
8/7/10: Zero set closer featuring a particularly distorted guitar tone from Trey.
8/7/10: Super-punch Wilson to start S2. Nice landing into Light. Argument could be made for a ->, prolly not though.
8/7/10: First few minutes of jam are the typical early-version-of-Light arpeggios, but Trey is now building some interesting tension.
8/7/10: Band's in serious lockstep.
8/7/10: Slowdown/move to a more muted space at 8:15.
8/7/10: Trey lays down one of my favorite improvised melodies every starting at 9:20. Mike backing him up. I love this version of Light.
8/7/10: Suppose I should have mentioned that before. I've heard this at least fifteen or so times already.
8/7/10: The song, not the whole show.
8/7/10: Moving on to the darkness-funk section.
8/7/10: Decent landing in Twenty Years, too.
8/7/10: I love this song.
8/7/10: Slightly extended, if by-the-book jam at the end > Hood.
8/7/10: Neat bit in this Hood jam that recalls the Simple jam from 8/6. Hearing bits of the earlier Light jam, too.
8/7/10: That was a really extended, spacey Hood in an era when I don't really remember them being so experimental. Very cool.
8/7/10: Theme! Did not see that coming.
8/7/10: I think that was the first time I've heard Theme just flat-out end in awhile. No segue. 2001 next.
8/7/10: Really uptempo 2001. Funky as hell.
8/7/10: Really loving this 2001. All three of these shows have featured a lot of tremendously patient playing. It's awesome.
8/7/10: Fish is having tons of fun with this Suzy.
8/7/10: Okay, Suzy's getting an extended jam. After the vocals. What the fuck.
8/7/10: I'm just going to call this the best show of the summer and not review any more of them.
8/7/10: I always sort of expect Suzy outros to go into Jumpin' Jack Flash, but this one more so than usual.
8/7/10: Insane tension segment at the end > Slave!
8/7/10: MY GOD.
8/7/10: Really slow, patient build here, like the earlier Hood.
8/7/10: Mind blown. The Lizards encore.
8/7/10: So, that show was ridiculous...and then they added a Lizards > First Tube encore.
Amazingly, I think any of these three Greek shows would be received pretty positively by our spoiled asses here in 2015. Sure, some people would have some complaints, and those might not be unfounded, but this is one of those timeless runs that's just so good it doesn't really deserve any qualifiers like "for '10" or "for 3.0." And the third show is the best of the bunch.
S1, much like 8/6's first frame, is a great assortment of weird song choices that somehow hangs together. It doesn't hurt that the band plays every song like it's the last time they ever will, and Trey retains (mostly) the technical precision and creative fire he's shown for the whole run. The opening "Bag" is bonkers, and there's a legit -> into "Foam." "Gotta Jibboo" gets extended, and though it stays Type I, it gets developed slowly and patiently - a theme for the whole show. "Sleep Again" gets a fantastic Phish treatment, and "Army of One" pokes its head up. The rest of the set is more straightforward, but that spark never leaves.
S2 is an absolute monster. A fiery "Wilson" leads right into an absolutely transcendent "Light," the easy highlight jam of the run, and for my money, of summer '10 so far. It lands in a dark "Twenty Years," which drops right into a fifteen-minute, slow-burning "Hood." A few clever song choices late in the set yield, among others, a patient "2001," a "Suzy" with a second jam (yeah), and a set closing "Slave" that is one of the most slowly-developing versions I've heard since the 90s.
If that wasn't enough, the run closes with a "Lizards" > "First Tube" encore.
I've been throwing a lot of superlatives around in the last two reviews, but I think this run deserves it. For as down on the band as I've been through most of the late '09 shows and early '10 shows, this run deserves mention with any of the greats, and even more so for how out-of-nowhere it seems. Right now I'm just going to enjoy it a bit before moving on to Telluride. I love finding gems like this.
The Live Review:
8/7/10: Bag opener. Trey is extremely bluesy during the mini-jam.
8/7/10: That was a legitimate Bag -> Foam segue. Fish started up Foam drums while Trey was finishing Bag. Cool.
8/7/10: Trey having a little trouble with Foam, but otherwise it sounds great.
8/7/10: Great opening pair. Jibboo now. Jam starts with some squealing loops, then drops into a typical melody solo from Trey.
8/7/10: Jibboo was an old-school version: all Trey, slow build, lots of melodic noodling. Now Reba.
8/7/10: That composed section seemed especially tight.
8/7/10: Not a transcendent version by any means, but way better than it probably deserves to be as the fourth song of the night.
8/7/10: Sleep Again! Mike's bass sounds great on this tune.
8/7/10: Page taking the lead with some brilliant piano during the Sleep Again outro.
8/7/10: Army of One! I miss this song.
8/7/10: Poor Heart is next. Particularly tight version.
8/7/10: -B 46 Days!
8/7/10: The 46 Days is of the short, shreddy variety. But good.
8/7/10: Brief sort of slowed-down, drone-y segment, > Tube.
8/7/10: Zero set closer featuring a particularly distorted guitar tone from Trey.
8/7/10: Super-punch Wilson to start S2. Nice landing into Light. Argument could be made for a ->, prolly not though.
8/7/10: First few minutes of jam are the typical early-version-of-Light arpeggios, but Trey is now building some interesting tension.
8/7/10: Band's in serious lockstep.
8/7/10: Slowdown/move to a more muted space at 8:15.
8/7/10: Trey lays down one of my favorite improvised melodies every starting at 9:20. Mike backing him up. I love this version of Light.
8/7/10: Suppose I should have mentioned that before. I've heard this at least fifteen or so times already.
8/7/10: The song, not the whole show.
8/7/10: Moving on to the darkness-funk section.
8/7/10: Decent landing in Twenty Years, too.
8/7/10: I love this song.
8/7/10: Slightly extended, if by-the-book jam at the end > Hood.
8/7/10: Neat bit in this Hood jam that recalls the Simple jam from 8/6. Hearing bits of the earlier Light jam, too.
8/7/10: That was a really extended, spacey Hood in an era when I don't really remember them being so experimental. Very cool.
8/7/10: Theme! Did not see that coming.
8/7/10: I think that was the first time I've heard Theme just flat-out end in awhile. No segue. 2001 next.
8/7/10: Really uptempo 2001. Funky as hell.
8/7/10: Really loving this 2001. All three of these shows have featured a lot of tremendously patient playing. It's awesome.
8/7/10: Fish is having tons of fun with this Suzy.
8/7/10: Okay, Suzy's getting an extended jam. After the vocals. What the fuck.
8/7/10: I'm just going to call this the best show of the summer and not review any more of them.
8/7/10: I always sort of expect Suzy outros to go into Jumpin' Jack Flash, but this one more so than usual.
8/7/10: Insane tension segment at the end > Slave!
8/7/10: MY GOD.
8/7/10: Really slow, patient build here, like the earlier Hood.
8/7/10: Mind blown. The Lizards encore.
8/7/10: So, that show was ridiculous...and then they added a Lizards > First Tube encore.
2010-08-06 Greek Theater II
The Verdict:
After diverting from 2010 tour to review all of 2014, I returned to '10 the other day, starting with the band's second night at the Greek. I was pretty partial to the first night, and this night is of a similar caliber, if not better. After being admittedly bored by a lot of fall '09 and most of early summer '10, the first Greek show was music to my ears (literally and figuratively), but how would the run stack up after listening to a lot of the band's work in '13 and '14?
Well, there are definite differences, the primary one being that Trey sounds like he's in the driver's seat approximately 95% of the time in the '10 jams, while things are quite a bit more democratic-sounding nowadays. But I could spend all day talking about differences. What's really important is that Greek '10 Phish still sounds good.
S1 features a lot of fantastic song choices, including an early "Guyute" and "It's Ice." "Cities" gets a first-set jam treatment, as it gets legitimately extended into a chill funk jam, one of many instances in this run where the band as a whole shows a lot more patience than they're usually apt to show these days. Whether or not this is a good thing is up to you, but this jam doesn't go on long enough that the lack of variation really shows.
The same might not be said of S2's centerpiece jam, the "Simple." This version goes deep and abstract, and then...just stays there. For a really long time. It's really an experiment in minimalism, not in the sense that there's minimal notes being played, but there are only slight variations within the jam for minutes at a time. To me, this is great, and this jam is more interesting than pretty much everything the band has done since early fall '09. But it's also possible, I'm sure, to find it boring and repetitive.
The second set also features an extended "Rock and Roll" that can't really find a place to land, but hits a few interesting high points during its search, a "Ghost" that's very near rock and roll transcendent before Trey ripcords it into "Mike's," and a fantastic "Seven Below" -> "Groove" segue.
There's a lot to like here in both sets, and there's more jamming and more interesting moments than in most 3-4 show stretches between November '09 and July '10. And night three is even better!
The Live Review:
8/6/10: Chalkdust Torture opener.
8/6/10: I'm surprised to find that Trey actually sounds a bit more dexterous in his soloing here than in much of '14.
8/6/10: Lots of little tension-and-release bits and trilling in the CDT that you just wouldn't hear these days.
8/6/10: Anyway, great opener.
8/6/10: Second song Guyute! I also forgot how weird setlists could be in early 3.0. What happened to that?
8/6/10: Solid Guyute leads into a languid Ocelot.
8/6/10: Ocelot was a pretty standard take, but featured some precise shredding from Trey.
8/6/10: It's Ice!
8/6/10: Minus Ocelot, loving the song selection here.
8/6/10: Love that bridge section It's Ice. Creepy Page piano.
8/6/10: Cities! We all know the Berkeley Cities, but I'm excited to hear it again.
8/6/10: Page on electric piano, rest of the band going into minimalist-funk mode.
8/6/10: Trey doing some looping (I think). Mike driving a bit more.
8/6/10: While I love that jam, it wasn't really going anywhere beyond where it started. Good call on
the drop into Moma.
8/6/10: Gin is next.
8/6/10: Eleven-or-so minute Gin, but it's primarily a guitar vamp, all Type I.
8/6/10: I say that like it's a bad thing :) But I'm spoiled since '14.
8/6/10: Stealing Time rounds out a set that featured a solid song selection throughout and an excellent Cities jam.
8/6/10: S2 opens with a classic early-3.0 opener in Rock and Roll.
8/6/10: A few minutes of rock shredding from Trey takes a really quick left turn as Fishman shifts up the beat. Page to the organ.
8/6/10: Funk-style chords from Trey, but Page is laying down a nice piano melody overtop. Interesting juxtaposition.
8/6/10: Piano steers Trey into a more introspective mode.
8/6/10: Ricocheting around different tones/spaces now.
8/6/10: This is pretty cool, but it makes me really appreciate how intentional so many later 3.0 jams sound by comparison.
8/6/10: Spacey Rock and Roll just head-on crashed into Ghost. But hey, Ghost!
8/6/10: This Ghost has some legs. Mike is laying down a really distorted bass...base that Page and Trey are trading riffs over.
8/6/10: Very rock-and-roll style outro to the jam.
8/6/10: Building a bit...still building...
8/6/10: Disco beat from Fish.
8/6/10: And oh shit, Trey just DERAILED that jam. Audible boos from the crowd.
8/6/10: That was the opposite of a buttslam segue. That was the feeling of someone slamming a door
shut on your balls.
8/6/10: Old school drop into Simple out of the end of a very loud Mike's.
8/6/10: Lyrical gaffe in the composed section, but the move to the jam is smooth and a bit more energetic than usual.
8/6/10: So far, a typical Simple jam with much better melodic interplay than usual and more notes per usual.
8/6/10: Sounds crowded, but in a good way.
8/6/10: Almost a Who-sounding space now.
8/6/10: They're drawing this jam space out a lot further than they (Trey) usually have the patience for.
8/6/10: Trey and Fish coming in a bit harder now.
8/6/10: Jam builds nicely over a few minutes and then -> Number Line. Incredibly patient bit. Loved it.
8/6/10: One thing '10 Phish can do that '14 can't: jam in the same space for 5-6 minutes with little variation.
8/6/10: Breaking the Number Line jam down a bit. Mike-heavy. Fish switching up the usual beat.
8/6/10: Trey using a fair bit of whale, but it's not making me want to instantly die...yet.
8/6/10: Show of Life keeps the Mike's Groove going. Seven Below is next. Shaky start, but interesting song choice.
8/6/10: Incomplete Seven Below jam because of an AWESOME -> Weekapaug.
8/6/10: Great old school shredfest from Trey here.
8/6/10: YEM set closer to top it all off.
8/6/10: Trey stringing some serious runs together during this YEM jam. Now on to the Mike's Bass Destroys Everything portion of the show.
8/6/10: Gonna Take You Higher quotes in the vocal jam.
8/6/10: GTBT encore.
8/6/10: Trey is wringing every last ounce of shreddage out of this version. It's great!
8/6/10: Honestly hard to think about reviewing this alongside '14, but there's a lot of interesting jamming in the second frame. More later.
After diverting from 2010 tour to review all of 2014, I returned to '10 the other day, starting with the band's second night at the Greek. I was pretty partial to the first night, and this night is of a similar caliber, if not better. After being admittedly bored by a lot of fall '09 and most of early summer '10, the first Greek show was music to my ears (literally and figuratively), but how would the run stack up after listening to a lot of the band's work in '13 and '14?
Well, there are definite differences, the primary one being that Trey sounds like he's in the driver's seat approximately 95% of the time in the '10 jams, while things are quite a bit more democratic-sounding nowadays. But I could spend all day talking about differences. What's really important is that Greek '10 Phish still sounds good.
S1 features a lot of fantastic song choices, including an early "Guyute" and "It's Ice." "Cities" gets a first-set jam treatment, as it gets legitimately extended into a chill funk jam, one of many instances in this run where the band as a whole shows a lot more patience than they're usually apt to show these days. Whether or not this is a good thing is up to you, but this jam doesn't go on long enough that the lack of variation really shows.
The same might not be said of S2's centerpiece jam, the "Simple." This version goes deep and abstract, and then...just stays there. For a really long time. It's really an experiment in minimalism, not in the sense that there's minimal notes being played, but there are only slight variations within the jam for minutes at a time. To me, this is great, and this jam is more interesting than pretty much everything the band has done since early fall '09. But it's also possible, I'm sure, to find it boring and repetitive.
The second set also features an extended "Rock and Roll" that can't really find a place to land, but hits a few interesting high points during its search, a "Ghost" that's very near rock and roll transcendent before Trey ripcords it into "Mike's," and a fantastic "Seven Below" -> "Groove" segue.
There's a lot to like here in both sets, and there's more jamming and more interesting moments than in most 3-4 show stretches between November '09 and July '10. And night three is even better!
The Live Review:
8/6/10: Chalkdust Torture opener.
8/6/10: I'm surprised to find that Trey actually sounds a bit more dexterous in his soloing here than in much of '14.
8/6/10: Lots of little tension-and-release bits and trilling in the CDT that you just wouldn't hear these days.
8/6/10: Anyway, great opener.
8/6/10: Second song Guyute! I also forgot how weird setlists could be in early 3.0. What happened to that?
8/6/10: Solid Guyute leads into a languid Ocelot.
8/6/10: Ocelot was a pretty standard take, but featured some precise shredding from Trey.
8/6/10: It's Ice!
8/6/10: Minus Ocelot, loving the song selection here.
8/6/10: Love that bridge section It's Ice. Creepy Page piano.
8/6/10: Cities! We all know the Berkeley Cities, but I'm excited to hear it again.
8/6/10: Page on electric piano, rest of the band going into minimalist-funk mode.
8/6/10: Trey doing some looping (I think). Mike driving a bit more.
8/6/10: While I love that jam, it wasn't really going anywhere beyond where it started. Good call on
the drop into Moma.
8/6/10: Gin is next.
8/6/10: Eleven-or-so minute Gin, but it's primarily a guitar vamp, all Type I.
8/6/10: I say that like it's a bad thing :) But I'm spoiled since '14.
8/6/10: Stealing Time rounds out a set that featured a solid song selection throughout and an excellent Cities jam.
8/6/10: S2 opens with a classic early-3.0 opener in Rock and Roll.
8/6/10: A few minutes of rock shredding from Trey takes a really quick left turn as Fishman shifts up the beat. Page to the organ.
8/6/10: Funk-style chords from Trey, but Page is laying down a nice piano melody overtop. Interesting juxtaposition.
8/6/10: Piano steers Trey into a more introspective mode.
8/6/10: Ricocheting around different tones/spaces now.
8/6/10: This is pretty cool, but it makes me really appreciate how intentional so many later 3.0 jams sound by comparison.
8/6/10: Spacey Rock and Roll just head-on crashed into Ghost. But hey, Ghost!
8/6/10: This Ghost has some legs. Mike is laying down a really distorted bass...base that Page and Trey are trading riffs over.
8/6/10: Very rock-and-roll style outro to the jam.
8/6/10: Building a bit...still building...
8/6/10: Disco beat from Fish.
8/6/10: And oh shit, Trey just DERAILED that jam. Audible boos from the crowd.
8/6/10: That was the opposite of a buttslam segue. That was the feeling of someone slamming a door
shut on your balls.
8/6/10: Old school drop into Simple out of the end of a very loud Mike's.
8/6/10: Lyrical gaffe in the composed section, but the move to the jam is smooth and a bit more energetic than usual.
8/6/10: So far, a typical Simple jam with much better melodic interplay than usual and more notes per usual.
8/6/10: Sounds crowded, but in a good way.
8/6/10: Almost a Who-sounding space now.
8/6/10: They're drawing this jam space out a lot further than they (Trey) usually have the patience for.
8/6/10: Trey and Fish coming in a bit harder now.
8/6/10: Jam builds nicely over a few minutes and then -> Number Line. Incredibly patient bit. Loved it.
8/6/10: One thing '10 Phish can do that '14 can't: jam in the same space for 5-6 minutes with little variation.
8/6/10: Breaking the Number Line jam down a bit. Mike-heavy. Fish switching up the usual beat.
8/6/10: Trey using a fair bit of whale, but it's not making me want to instantly die...yet.
8/6/10: Show of Life keeps the Mike's Groove going. Seven Below is next. Shaky start, but interesting song choice.
8/6/10: Incomplete Seven Below jam because of an AWESOME -> Weekapaug.
8/6/10: Great old school shredfest from Trey here.
8/6/10: YEM set closer to top it all off.
8/6/10: Trey stringing some serious runs together during this YEM jam. Now on to the Mike's Bass Destroys Everything portion of the show.
8/6/10: Gonna Take You Higher quotes in the vocal jam.
8/6/10: GTBT encore.
8/6/10: Trey is wringing every last ounce of shreddage out of this version. It's great!
8/6/10: Honestly hard to think about reviewing this alongside '14, but there's a lot of interesting jamming in the second frame. More later.
Mar 7, 2015
Fall and NYE '14 Tour Wrap-Up
Fall and NYE '14 was, in some ways, a logical extension of Summer '14. The band is still jamming with a fluidity and looseness that I've literally never heard them achieve so consistently, even during the high-water times in the 90s. Often, first sets don't do anything interesting, but they're executed consistently with technical prowess and an energy that you really can't fault in any way other than by greedily wishing for yet more space jams. It's everything that made '13 a great year for Phish, but even better, plus two new albums' worth of music (Fuego and the surprise Halloween set). While I'm partial to bits of Fall '13 and the back half of Summer '13, Fall '14 really completes an impregnable case for a band that's still progressing and is, objectively speaking, making a lot of my cherished Summer '13 highlights looking like growing pains by comparison.
That said, Fall '14 didn't really live up to the hype for me. I'd heard so many amazing things before listening that perhaps this was inevitable, but there it is. The 10/17 opener is amazing, and is probably my favorite single show that I've ever seen live, but then things really drop off (in general) until N2 of the BGCA run. From there, it's six shows in a row that are just jaw-droppingly amazing, maybe the best six-show run the band has ever put together, to my knowledge. But then the middle two shows of the NYE run are just boring, save for one "Weekapaug." And then the tour ends with the stupefyingly good 1/3 show. So, yeah. The highs are very, very high, but about half of the tour is just average by '13-'14 standards, and the middle of the NYE run belongs somewhere in '10 or '11. Best tour is Phishtory, as many have said? I dunno, I have to listen to Fall '13 first. But there are definitely a lot of great moments and overall it's the feeling a band still (somehow) on the rise. Which is why I'm currently sitting here refreshing phish.net over and over again, reading summer tour rumors.
10/17: Spectacular opening show. The second half of the first set is more like a second set, with some short but engaging jams. Everything in S2 except for "Halfway To the Moon" is interesting, but the clear highlights are "Carini" -> "Plasma," "Hood," and the "Crosseyed," which is on my short list for jam of the year.
10/18: Lackluster show after 10/17. One of the relatively new "jamlets 'n' segues" variety of show, there are some really compelling bits of improvisation, but never anything more than bits. The "Disease" is worth a listen, as is the "Sand," but you really could just listen to the "Light" -> "Cities" combo and call it a day without missing much.
10/21: Uncomfortably shaky S1. Amazing mellow & melodic "CDT" -> "Ghost" pair to start S2 is on par with anything else from the tour. The "Tweezer" isn't upper-echelon, but worth a listen anyway.
10/22: No single highlights in S1, but it's a vast improvement over 10/21's first frame; high energy and fun. "Drowned" -> "Theme" is a great pair, as "Theme" even features an outro jam, but then the rest of the set sees the band in jukebox mode (albeit a high-energy, fun version). Well-played show all the way around, but aside from the opening of S2, you'll miss the jamming.
10/24: S1 is again excellent, and there's a little improv poking out in "Gin" and a rare first-set "Ghost." The second set is mostly forgettable but for great, weird versions of "Hood" and "Disease." This "Disease" obviously isn't going to dethrone the Miami version, but it's one of the better ones of the year.
10/25: The first set is split between rotation staples played well (including a "Wolfman's" that really belongs in a second set) and rarities played like crap. Take that as you will. The second set has a great single jam in "Golden Age," but then falls into "jamlets 'n' segues" mode again. As I wrote in the review: ""Carini" > "Piper" > "Caspian" > "Tweezer" sequence is great, but you'll have to wince every few minutes when they switch songs, which takes some of the fun out of it."
10/27: Great song choices in the first set, but overall things don't quite mesh. That always-elusive "flow" is missing. The second set jamming is all segue-based again, and the only real jam of note that comes out of this is the "Ghost."
10/28: The show where an incredible six-show run of incredibleness begins. The first set sags in the middle, but starts off strong and finishes with a fantastic "Gumbo" -> "Sanity," with a legit "Gumbo" jam. The second set I described originally as "beautifully melodic" and "perfect." It's finally a great use of the band's segue-jamming style, moving effortlessly from song to song and stringing a greater thematic sequence together out of disparate songs through their improvisation alone. That said, "Twist" is the easy highlight.
10/29: S1 is, again, high-energy, but there's nothing really notable about it this time, other than the fact that "Wolfman's" continues to evolve and at this point is screaming to be jammed out, along with "555," "Wombat," and "Plasma." The second set is a head-scratcher at times, but features highlights in "Disease," "Light," and "Split." Probably the weakest show of the six-song run of Phish Destroying Everything, but it's still a great show.
10/31: This is one of the better shows of fall tour even without the set of all-new music. S1 is well-constructed and "Ghost" and "Scents" both go surprisingly deep. Rather than the usual laurel-resting-on that happens in Phish third sets, this one features a fantastic "Golden Age" an above-average "Tweezer," and, near the end, an 18-minute "Sand"! Oh, and of course in the middle of these great sets is an incredible instrumental hour of music. This trend of not wasting a set in a three-set show will continue into NYE.
11/1: Almost beats 10/31 with one less set to work with, it's so good. The first set doesn't do much beyond a "Roggae" to raise eyebrows, but the setlist is just brilliantly put-together. Pretty much the entire second set is worth a mention, but first and foremost it's the "Crosseyed" > "Light" -> "The Dogs" -> "Lengthwise" > "Twist" portion that makes this a contender for Set of the Year.
11/2: S1 here reminds me of the 10/17 S1 in the sense that about halfway through a standard set, the band decides to start S2 early. There's a great "Gin," some "Martian Monster" teases in the "Free," and a great "Walls" closer. The "CDT" -> "Piper" that opens S2 is 10/21 S2's opening pair leveled up, and the rest of the set is top-notch even before ending in a huge "YEM" that involves an extended jam section and Trey chasing Mike around the stage with a megaphone siren.
12/31: This is another three-set show that doesn't take any breaks. The first set, honestly, gets by on energy alone. There's no real improv, and in terms of organization, it's a mess. But, damn, the band is on fire. The "Ghost" > "Theme" -> "Cities" sequence in S2 threatens to unseat 11/1's masterful sequence it's so good, though, and S2 ends with "Martian Monster." S3 starts with the gag segueing into "The Dogs," and also contains a legitimate "Tweezer" jam and starts with a great "Simple" jam that gets ripcorded into jukebox territory; however, this show still offers an incredible amount of quality music and jamming, though it might be hard-pressed to stand up to 10/31.
1/1: The six-show run of destruction comes to an end here during N2 of NYE. The first set is actually really, really good in the way that many of the best S1s have been throughout the tour. There's no particular highlight, but just consistent energy and great organization throughout. The second set is of the segue-jamming variety, and it doesn't work so well. There's a few great song choices that don't seem to achieve their potential, and then an interesting "Twenty Years" > "Winterqueen" pair that would probably feel like more of a highlight if it wasn't the only one of the set.
1/2: This show is even more pedestrian than 1/1, but the "Mike's Groove" that opens S2, and especially the way-out-there "Weekapaug," are great. Just listen to that sequence and skip the rest. One of the few times I've been able to say something like that about a '14 show.
1/3: What a note to end the year on. The first set is a cohesive, high-energy affair throughout, and features a "Divided Sky," a legitimate "Split" jam, a short-but-intense "Scent," and the return of "Plasma." The second set is primarily about the amazing easily-best-of-year "Disease" that recalls the Tahoe Tweezer in its best moments. But not to close the year on a jukeboxy note, the band then puts together an amazing "Light" -> "Sally," a shredded "Sand," and one final exploratory "Hood" before calling it a tour.
That said, Fall '14 didn't really live up to the hype for me. I'd heard so many amazing things before listening that perhaps this was inevitable, but there it is. The 10/17 opener is amazing, and is probably my favorite single show that I've ever seen live, but then things really drop off (in general) until N2 of the BGCA run. From there, it's six shows in a row that are just jaw-droppingly amazing, maybe the best six-show run the band has ever put together, to my knowledge. But then the middle two shows of the NYE run are just boring, save for one "Weekapaug." And then the tour ends with the stupefyingly good 1/3 show. So, yeah. The highs are very, very high, but about half of the tour is just average by '13-'14 standards, and the middle of the NYE run belongs somewhere in '10 or '11. Best tour is Phishtory, as many have said? I dunno, I have to listen to Fall '13 first. But there are definitely a lot of great moments and overall it's the feeling a band still (somehow) on the rise. Which is why I'm currently sitting here refreshing phish.net over and over again, reading summer tour rumors.
10/17: Spectacular opening show. The second half of the first set is more like a second set, with some short but engaging jams. Everything in S2 except for "Halfway To the Moon" is interesting, but the clear highlights are "Carini" -> "Plasma," "Hood," and the "Crosseyed," which is on my short list for jam of the year.
10/18: Lackluster show after 10/17. One of the relatively new "jamlets 'n' segues" variety of show, there are some really compelling bits of improvisation, but never anything more than bits. The "Disease" is worth a listen, as is the "Sand," but you really could just listen to the "Light" -> "Cities" combo and call it a day without missing much.
10/21: Uncomfortably shaky S1. Amazing mellow & melodic "CDT" -> "Ghost" pair to start S2 is on par with anything else from the tour. The "Tweezer" isn't upper-echelon, but worth a listen anyway.
10/22: No single highlights in S1, but it's a vast improvement over 10/21's first frame; high energy and fun. "Drowned" -> "Theme" is a great pair, as "Theme" even features an outro jam, but then the rest of the set sees the band in jukebox mode (albeit a high-energy, fun version). Well-played show all the way around, but aside from the opening of S2, you'll miss the jamming.
10/24: S1 is again excellent, and there's a little improv poking out in "Gin" and a rare first-set "Ghost." The second set is mostly forgettable but for great, weird versions of "Hood" and "Disease." This "Disease" obviously isn't going to dethrone the Miami version, but it's one of the better ones of the year.
10/25: The first set is split between rotation staples played well (including a "Wolfman's" that really belongs in a second set) and rarities played like crap. Take that as you will. The second set has a great single jam in "Golden Age," but then falls into "jamlets 'n' segues" mode again. As I wrote in the review: ""Carini" > "Piper" > "Caspian" > "Tweezer" sequence is great, but you'll have to wince every few minutes when they switch songs, which takes some of the fun out of it."
10/27: Great song choices in the first set, but overall things don't quite mesh. That always-elusive "flow" is missing. The second set jamming is all segue-based again, and the only real jam of note that comes out of this is the "Ghost."
10/28: The show where an incredible six-show run of incredibleness begins. The first set sags in the middle, but starts off strong and finishes with a fantastic "Gumbo" -> "Sanity," with a legit "Gumbo" jam. The second set I described originally as "beautifully melodic" and "perfect." It's finally a great use of the band's segue-jamming style, moving effortlessly from song to song and stringing a greater thematic sequence together out of disparate songs through their improvisation alone. That said, "Twist" is the easy highlight.
10/29: S1 is, again, high-energy, but there's nothing really notable about it this time, other than the fact that "Wolfman's" continues to evolve and at this point is screaming to be jammed out, along with "555," "Wombat," and "Plasma." The second set is a head-scratcher at times, but features highlights in "Disease," "Light," and "Split." Probably the weakest show of the six-song run of Phish Destroying Everything, but it's still a great show.
10/31: This is one of the better shows of fall tour even without the set of all-new music. S1 is well-constructed and "Ghost" and "Scents" both go surprisingly deep. Rather than the usual laurel-resting-on that happens in Phish third sets, this one features a fantastic "Golden Age" an above-average "Tweezer," and, near the end, an 18-minute "Sand"! Oh, and of course in the middle of these great sets is an incredible instrumental hour of music. This trend of not wasting a set in a three-set show will continue into NYE.
11/1: Almost beats 10/31 with one less set to work with, it's so good. The first set doesn't do much beyond a "Roggae" to raise eyebrows, but the setlist is just brilliantly put-together. Pretty much the entire second set is worth a mention, but first and foremost it's the "Crosseyed" > "Light" -> "The Dogs" -> "Lengthwise" > "Twist" portion that makes this a contender for Set of the Year.
11/2: S1 here reminds me of the 10/17 S1 in the sense that about halfway through a standard set, the band decides to start S2 early. There's a great "Gin," some "Martian Monster" teases in the "Free," and a great "Walls" closer. The "CDT" -> "Piper" that opens S2 is 10/21 S2's opening pair leveled up, and the rest of the set is top-notch even before ending in a huge "YEM" that involves an extended jam section and Trey chasing Mike around the stage with a megaphone siren.
12/31: This is another three-set show that doesn't take any breaks. The first set, honestly, gets by on energy alone. There's no real improv, and in terms of organization, it's a mess. But, damn, the band is on fire. The "Ghost" > "Theme" -> "Cities" sequence in S2 threatens to unseat 11/1's masterful sequence it's so good, though, and S2 ends with "Martian Monster." S3 starts with the gag segueing into "The Dogs," and also contains a legitimate "Tweezer" jam and starts with a great "Simple" jam that gets ripcorded into jukebox territory; however, this show still offers an incredible amount of quality music and jamming, though it might be hard-pressed to stand up to 10/31.
1/1: The six-show run of destruction comes to an end here during N2 of NYE. The first set is actually really, really good in the way that many of the best S1s have been throughout the tour. There's no particular highlight, but just consistent energy and great organization throughout. The second set is of the segue-jamming variety, and it doesn't work so well. There's a few great song choices that don't seem to achieve their potential, and then an interesting "Twenty Years" > "Winterqueen" pair that would probably feel like more of a highlight if it wasn't the only one of the set.
1/2: This show is even more pedestrian than 1/1, but the "Mike's Groove" that opens S2, and especially the way-out-there "Weekapaug," are great. Just listen to that sequence and skip the rest. One of the few times I've been able to say something like that about a '14 show.
1/3: What a note to end the year on. The first set is a cohesive, high-energy affair throughout, and features a "Divided Sky," a legitimate "Split" jam, a short-but-intense "Scent," and the return of "Plasma." The second set is primarily about the amazing easily-best-of-year "Disease" that recalls the Tahoe Tweezer in its best moments. But not to close the year on a jukeboxy note, the band then puts together an amazing "Light" -> "Sally," a shredded "Sand," and one final exploratory "Hood" before calling it a tour.
Mar 5, 2015
2015-01-03 Miami IV
The Verdict:
WOW.
I'm just going to leave that in bold because, seriously, fuck. This is a fantastic show, and beautiful to hear as a capstone on a fantastic year. The "Disease" is obviously the centerpiece, an only-slightly-lesser twin to the Tahoe Tweezer and probably better than the recent Dick's Simple. But just about everything else is great, too. From the perfectly-planned first quarter ("Maze," "Bag," "DSky," "Cavern," and "Scent") to the "Plasma" to the old-school "Split" jam, the first set is great. Sure, it sags a little in the middle, but only really in terms of song choice. Even those "weaker" songs are played with more than the usual panache.
Then there's the "Stealing Time" that's the least likely version to every be played by anyone ever again, because next is the Miami Disease, a transcendent, brilliant jam that you should probably just read my response to in the tweets, or, better yet, just watch at the link below. But, like the best second sets, the band doesn't rest on its laurels here. Instead, the launch a great "Light" -> "Sally" sandwich, wherein each song has its own few minutes of notable jamming. Then there's a pitch-perfect Type I "Sand," and they seal the deal with the last "Hood" of the year, a chordy, driving thing that carries through with the momentum-based jamming that already ran through "Disease," "Light," and "Sally" earlier in the set.
This is one of my favorite sets of music in a long, long time. We're not talking a great 2-3 song run, but just a solid set all the way through. What a way to go, '14 tour.
The Live Review:
1/3/15: Time to finish off '14 tour!
1/3/15: Maze opener!
1/3/15: That opening Maze was waaay hotter than it had any business being. Bag next.
1/3/15: Trey is on fire already. That's a great sign. Though I hope the rest of the band doesn't just give him the reins as a result.
1/3/15: Usually way more interesting when that DOESN'T happen, no offense to Trey :)
1/3/15: Whoa! Bag > DSky!
1/3/15: Slow-ish tempo on Divided Sky, but a gorgeous version.
1/3/15: Cavern followed the Divided Sky. Great setlist choices so far.
1/3/15: Scent is next. Trey is sprinkling some great bluegrass fills around in the verses of the song.
1/3/15: Smoke on the Water tease from Trey during the Duel section.
1/3/15: Short version of Mule (no marimba weirdness, etc.) but really high-energy.
1/3/15: Plasma! So glad that this wasn't a one-off. High on my list of monster-jam contenders for summer '15, right next to 555.
1/3/15: Uptempo Devotion follows Plasma.
1/3/15: Trey integrating some of his chord-based jamming into Water in the Sky now.
1/3/15: Weird sort of flow in the back half of this set, but the songs are still super-solid. Split gets us back on track (hopefully).
1/3/15: This one takes after the last few Split jams: lots of loops, a decent amount of empty space, Fish deconstructing the beat.
1/3/15: In other words, the new Split mini-Renaissance continues. Nothing super-special, but darker and better than many earlier 3.0 takes.
1/3/15: Zero'd!
1/3/15: Really muddy tone again from Trey on the Zero jam. Makes it a teeny tiny bit different than usual, I guess.
1/3/15: Overall, S1 is excellent for the energy and little sparks of brilliance throughout.
1/3/15: Most of the awesomeness happens in the first half, but Plasma, Scent, and Split are worth a mention, too.
1/3/15: Okay, so S2 starts with my least favorite set opener (Stealing Time)...
1/3/15: ...but this version is sort of slow and seems a lot more mellow than usual. More Page in the mix.
1/3/15: Well, that version was slightly more palatable than most. Lands in Disease.
1/3/15: Disease seems slow, too. Maybe they wore themselves out in that first set? :)
1/3/15: Trey is stringing together a great melody solo. Page on piano, Fish is raining down hi-hat blows like crazy.
1/3/15: Trey on chords, now. This thing has some serious momentum. Fish is a champ.
1/3/15: Sort of Jumpin Jack Flash there for a second.
1/3/15: Flashback to 6/27/10 :)
1/3/15: Slow down, fade, but then back into a different jam space. That is NEVER a bad sign.
1/3/15: The Phish that pushes through that weird wind-down moment and keeps playing is always the best Phish.
1/3/15: This second part is more Mike-heavy. Page on clav, Trey adding touches.
1/3/15: Mike bass bomb drives things in a more speculative direction. Fish is still riding the high hat.
1/3/15: Page on electric piano, now.
1/3/15: Another wind down, under some heavy Fish drumming. Reminds me of a Round Room outtake jam.
1/3/15: Trey coming back with a great melody. Page has got the synth(s?) going.
1/3/15: Trey harmonizing with his looped guitar line. Yeah, that actually happened.
1/3/15: Blues version of Manteca. If that makes any sense. Heading into more open blues jam.
1/3/15: If the Tahoe Tweezer had a younger, mellower little sister, it would be this jam.
1/3/15: It has that same effortlessness to it.
1/3/15: Trey just wailing on the blues-Manteca riff now.
1/3/15: He's clearly working up to that insane exploda-thon guitar moment that needs to appear soon.
1/3/15: Nevermind...they're winding it down.
1/3/15: But Trey just pulled a little chording thing out of nowhere. New jam space!
1/3/15: Sounds like a half-tempo Boogie On, now. Would make for an AMAZING ->.
1/3/15: Loops, abstraction. Fishman rules this jam. Hands down. Without him, this didn't happen.
1/3/15: Page and Trey conjuring electronic spiders. They attack.
1/3/15: Hahahaha...Trey just ripcorded a 25 minute jam. He couldn't take it anymore.
1/3/15: It doesn't matter because that was incredible...but still probably could have made a better transition to Light after THAT.
1/3/15: This Light jam could be a reprise of the first part of the Disease jam. I meant that in a good way.
1/3/15: I'm not really sure how to describe what's going on in the second half of this Light jam, but it's great.
1/3/15: Makes me think of Undermind, but with fuzzier tones.
1/3/15: Trey's guitar sounds like one of those Tesla generators in Frankenstein.
1/3/15: Page and Trey both pulled a -> Sneakin' Sally. Woo!
1/3/15: Sally jam is going in surprisingly rock n roll direction.
1/3/15: Weird ambient fadeout with a scary chord progression from Page on piano underneath.
1/3/15: -B Sand.
1/3/15: Ah, the buttslam segue. I haven't gotten to use that one for awhile.
1/3/15: This Sand is ALL Trey. But that's okay because it's great. He's getting one more guitar-god moment out before the end of tour :)
1/3/15: Stays funk, Type I, throughout.
1/3/15: Sand winds down into the intro to Hood. If they nail this Hood, this is going to be an incredible run of songs.
1/3/15: Happy birthday tease from Trey in the Hood intro.
1/3/15: Trey is going back one more time to the chord-jam here in the Hood. Again recalls the earlier Disease/Light jams.
1/3/15: This is by no means one of the weirdest or most interesting Hoods of the year, but it's still a great version.
1/3/15: Suzy set closer. Trey biffs the lyrics, Fish screams, Page sneaks one final 'They attack!' in during the chorus...
1/3/15: GTBT encore! Haven't heard that one in awhile.
1/3/15: Well, that S2 was absolutely insane. Without thinking too hard, it might be Best of Year material.
1/3/15: Rarely does Phish put a stamp on a huge period of growth that obviously. I love it.
WOW.
I'm just going to leave that in bold because, seriously, fuck. This is a fantastic show, and beautiful to hear as a capstone on a fantastic year. The "Disease" is obviously the centerpiece, an only-slightly-lesser twin to the Tahoe Tweezer and probably better than the recent Dick's Simple. But just about everything else is great, too. From the perfectly-planned first quarter ("Maze," "Bag," "DSky," "Cavern," and "Scent") to the "Plasma" to the old-school "Split" jam, the first set is great. Sure, it sags a little in the middle, but only really in terms of song choice. Even those "weaker" songs are played with more than the usual panache.
Then there's the "Stealing Time" that's the least likely version to every be played by anyone ever again, because next is the Miami Disease, a transcendent, brilliant jam that you should probably just read my response to in the tweets, or, better yet, just watch at the link below. But, like the best second sets, the band doesn't rest on its laurels here. Instead, the launch a great "Light" -> "Sally" sandwich, wherein each song has its own few minutes of notable jamming. Then there's a pitch-perfect Type I "Sand," and they seal the deal with the last "Hood" of the year, a chordy, driving thing that carries through with the momentum-based jamming that already ran through "Disease," "Light," and "Sally" earlier in the set.
This is one of my favorite sets of music in a long, long time. We're not talking a great 2-3 song run, but just a solid set all the way through. What a way to go, '14 tour.
The Live Review:
1/3/15: Time to finish off '14 tour!
1/3/15: Maze opener!
1/3/15: That opening Maze was waaay hotter than it had any business being. Bag next.
1/3/15: Trey is on fire already. That's a great sign. Though I hope the rest of the band doesn't just give him the reins as a result.
1/3/15: Usually way more interesting when that DOESN'T happen, no offense to Trey :)
1/3/15: Whoa! Bag > DSky!
1/3/15: Slow-ish tempo on Divided Sky, but a gorgeous version.
1/3/15: Cavern followed the Divided Sky. Great setlist choices so far.
1/3/15: Scent is next. Trey is sprinkling some great bluegrass fills around in the verses of the song.
1/3/15: Smoke on the Water tease from Trey during the Duel section.
1/3/15: Short version of Mule (no marimba weirdness, etc.) but really high-energy.
1/3/15: Plasma! So glad that this wasn't a one-off. High on my list of monster-jam contenders for summer '15, right next to 555.
1/3/15: Uptempo Devotion follows Plasma.
1/3/15: Trey integrating some of his chord-based jamming into Water in the Sky now.
1/3/15: Weird sort of flow in the back half of this set, but the songs are still super-solid. Split gets us back on track (hopefully).
1/3/15: This one takes after the last few Split jams: lots of loops, a decent amount of empty space, Fish deconstructing the beat.
1/3/15: In other words, the new Split mini-Renaissance continues. Nothing super-special, but darker and better than many earlier 3.0 takes.
1/3/15: Zero'd!
1/3/15: Really muddy tone again from Trey on the Zero jam. Makes it a teeny tiny bit different than usual, I guess.
1/3/15: Overall, S1 is excellent for the energy and little sparks of brilliance throughout.
1/3/15: Most of the awesomeness happens in the first half, but Plasma, Scent, and Split are worth a mention, too.
1/3/15: Okay, so S2 starts with my least favorite set opener (Stealing Time)...
1/3/15: ...but this version is sort of slow and seems a lot more mellow than usual. More Page in the mix.
1/3/15: Well, that version was slightly more palatable than most. Lands in Disease.
1/3/15: Disease seems slow, too. Maybe they wore themselves out in that first set? :)
1/3/15: Trey is stringing together a great melody solo. Page on piano, Fish is raining down hi-hat blows like crazy.
1/3/15: Trey on chords, now. This thing has some serious momentum. Fish is a champ.
1/3/15: Sort of Jumpin Jack Flash there for a second.
1/3/15: Flashback to 6/27/10 :)
1/3/15: Slow down, fade, but then back into a different jam space. That is NEVER a bad sign.
1/3/15: The Phish that pushes through that weird wind-down moment and keeps playing is always the best Phish.
1/3/15: This second part is more Mike-heavy. Page on clav, Trey adding touches.
1/3/15: Mike bass bomb drives things in a more speculative direction. Fish is still riding the high hat.
1/3/15: Page on electric piano, now.
1/3/15: Another wind down, under some heavy Fish drumming. Reminds me of a Round Room outtake jam.
1/3/15: Trey coming back with a great melody. Page has got the synth(s?) going.
1/3/15: Trey harmonizing with his looped guitar line. Yeah, that actually happened.
1/3/15: Blues version of Manteca. If that makes any sense. Heading into more open blues jam.
1/3/15: If the Tahoe Tweezer had a younger, mellower little sister, it would be this jam.
1/3/15: It has that same effortlessness to it.
1/3/15: Trey just wailing on the blues-Manteca riff now.
1/3/15: He's clearly working up to that insane exploda-thon guitar moment that needs to appear soon.
1/3/15: Nevermind...they're winding it down.
1/3/15: But Trey just pulled a little chording thing out of nowhere. New jam space!
1/3/15: Sounds like a half-tempo Boogie On, now. Would make for an AMAZING ->.
1/3/15: Loops, abstraction. Fishman rules this jam. Hands down. Without him, this didn't happen.
1/3/15: Page and Trey conjuring electronic spiders. They attack.
1/3/15: Hahahaha...Trey just ripcorded a 25 minute jam. He couldn't take it anymore.
1/3/15: It doesn't matter because that was incredible...but still probably could have made a better transition to Light after THAT.
1/3/15: This Light jam could be a reprise of the first part of the Disease jam. I meant that in a good way.
1/3/15: I'm not really sure how to describe what's going on in the second half of this Light jam, but it's great.
1/3/15: Makes me think of Undermind, but with fuzzier tones.
1/3/15: Trey's guitar sounds like one of those Tesla generators in Frankenstein.
1/3/15: Page and Trey both pulled a -> Sneakin' Sally. Woo!
1/3/15: Sally jam is going in surprisingly rock n roll direction.
1/3/15: Weird ambient fadeout with a scary chord progression from Page on piano underneath.
1/3/15: -B Sand.
1/3/15: Ah, the buttslam segue. I haven't gotten to use that one for awhile.
1/3/15: This Sand is ALL Trey. But that's okay because it's great. He's getting one more guitar-god moment out before the end of tour :)
1/3/15: Stays funk, Type I, throughout.
1/3/15: Sand winds down into the intro to Hood. If they nail this Hood, this is going to be an incredible run of songs.
1/3/15: Happy birthday tease from Trey in the Hood intro.
1/3/15: Trey is going back one more time to the chord-jam here in the Hood. Again recalls the earlier Disease/Light jams.
1/3/15: This is by no means one of the weirdest or most interesting Hoods of the year, but it's still a great version.
1/3/15: Suzy set closer. Trey biffs the lyrics, Fish screams, Page sneaks one final 'They attack!' in during the chorus...
1/3/15: GTBT encore! Haven't heard that one in awhile.
1/3/15: Well, that S2 was absolutely insane. Without thinking too hard, it might be Best of Year material.
1/3/15: Rarely does Phish put a stamp on a huge period of growth that obviously. I love it.
2015-01-02 Miami III
The Verdict:
The absolute highlight of the third night in Miami is the "Weekapaug Groove," and it's one of my favorite jams in a long time. But the fact remains that if you take that jam away, this show becomes a clunker on the level of 1/1. The "Mike's" > "46 Days" combo that leads up to the "Groove" gets a little bit out there, but the only reason it's worth mentioning is precisely because it leads into such a great jam. The rest of the show, frankly, is in average-great territory.
I say this not because I enjoy dissing Phish shows; I don't, and I actually really enjoy the opposite. But, in the corners of the internet where I read about Phish, at least, this run was talked up as the run, and so I guess I was a little excited about the idea of a better-than-usual SF run, followed by an incredible Halloween run, followed by an even-better NYE run. But the reality is that the middle of this run, at least, is run-of-the-mill, save for the first half of this show's second set. It is, as I say below, a good '11 or '12 show at best. Trey pushes the band through a decent first half of S1, but then when he falls back, nobody else steps up to fill the gap. The "Groove" is great, but immediately after the band enters jukebox mode and stays there for the rest of the night. I don't know if this makes it better or worse that 1/3 is just amazing.
The Live Review:
1/2/15: N3 in Miami starts off with a REALLY muted Free.
1/2/15: That was probably the tiredest-sounding version of Free I've heard in a long time.
1/2/15: In response, Trey calls for Moma Dance, the ultimate deck-clearer.
1/2/15: They're audibly pulling it together throughout the course of this Moma. Nice to hear.
1/2/15: Possum in the three-slot, and at this point the band is sounding like its usual self.
1/2/15: Trey has been soloing basically since the beginning of the song (including under Mike's vocals). It's interesting.
1/2/15: Roggae!
1/2/15: Trey leading early in the jam with a long melodic solo. Mike picking up with accents on the melody.
1/2/15: Roggae jam stays Trey-centric until the final build. Nice version, > Stash.
1/2/15: Really compact Stash, also almost entirely Trey-led.
1/2/15: This set is much better than the opening Free indicated, but it's improved b/c of Trey just taking over everything so far.
1/2/15: Moma, Possum, Roggae, Stash is a great run of songs, but I'd like to hear the rest of the band a little more.
1/2/15: That said, Trey driving isn't such a bad thing when he's playing so damn well. He's currently dominating BOTT, now.
1/2/15: Sugar Shack! The ultimate test of Trey's ability to play ahead of the rest of the band :)
1/2/15: On a scale of 'Disaster' > 'Uncomfortably Awkward' > 'Charming' > 'Good' > 'Legitimately Well Done,' that was Uncomfortably Awkward.
1/2/15: You're not going to win me over with the second half of a set that's BOTT, a rough Sugar Shack, The Line, Ocelot, and Coil.
1/2/15: Would prefer this set to have just been Moma, Moma, Possum, Possum, Roggae, Roggae, Stash, Stash, Coil.
1/2/15: I guess.
1/2/15: Let's just roll this set into the lackluster 1/1 show and move on for 1/2 S2 and all of 1/3, shall we?
1/2/15: Wow. Trey just absolutely butchered The Line outro solo. I mean, like, it sounded like me when I take a solo. That bad.
1/2/15: I mean, it's not a huge knock against the show or anything, 15 seconds or so of music, but it just surprised me.
1/2/15: Ocelot contains a pretty intense rock peak after a few minutes of the usual Ocelot-style jam. Worth a listen.
1/2/15: I think someone just yelled 'Take your clothes off!' on the SBD, after Ocelot. #crowdbanter
1/2/15: I'm not sure who I hope they're talking about. Page, I guess? Fish? #crowdbanter
1/2/15: Neat interplay between Trey and Page in the Coil outro. Crowd responds with a roar.
1/2/15: Pretty sure someone just screamed 'Thunder Road!' at the beginning of S2 on the SBD. #crowdbanter
1/2/15: That would be a HILARIOUS and amazing cover to bust out. #crowdbanter
1/2/15: The big question is, who does the vocals? #crowdbanter
1/2/15: Trey's guitar playing that outro horn line would probably be just about the best thing ever. #crowdbanter
1/2/15: Okay, so Mike's to open the second set. Good?
1/2/15: Immediately a bit of a funk swing feel to the Mike's jam. I'm liking this.
1/2/15: A lot like the Dick's Mike's, but a little heavier, if that makes any sense.
1/2/15: That was a really hot version and multifaceted. I hate to say 'for 3.0,' but, you know, when it comes to Mike's...
1/2/15: 46 Days next. Really fast tempo.
1/2/15: Loops coming in during the 46 Days jam.
1/2/15: Mashup of plinko and Manteca-style jamming now.
1/2/15: Quick synth breakdown, then Fish-led, sort-of -> Groove.
1/2/15: Clav mania ensues immediately in the Groove.
1/2/15: Really kinetic Groove jam. Trey is putting down some excellent '14-style chording.
1/2/15: Woo jam bit. I can feel people who hate fun cringing.
1/2/15: THEY ATTACK
1/2/15: Second Weekapaug jam! Loop city, Fish has a fantastic beat going.
1/2/15: No idea what's going on now, but someone who isn't Trey is playing the guitar. I imagine it's Mike. Someone's on the marimba.
1/2/15: Definitely watching this on YouTube later.
1/2/15: That was awesomely weird, but also never stopped being a legitimately quality jam. Wow.
1/2/15: Fuego after that fantastic Mike's Groove.
1/2/15: Fuego goes the usual jam-on-the-riff-to-ambient-fade route, although it almost sounded like it was going to -> Slave at one point.
1/2/15: Oh. Well, after the song ends, we get a > Slave instead. I guess that's almost as good.
1/2/15: Standard take on Slave > chordy 2001.
1/2/15: Walls set closer!
1/2/15: That was definitely a Trey Shredz, set-closing Walls, and not a normal Walls. Rock and roll!
1/2/15: Sleeping Monkey encore!
1/2/15: Okay, Rocky Top is a perfect follow-up to Sleeping Monkey for the encore.
1/2/15: Weird show in general, though. Hot/cold S1, no surprise songs or jammed tunes.
1/2/15: S2 Mike's Groove is incredible, the rest of the show is pure jukebox. Almost like a really good '11 or '12 show, here.
The absolute highlight of the third night in Miami is the "Weekapaug Groove," and it's one of my favorite jams in a long time. But the fact remains that if you take that jam away, this show becomes a clunker on the level of 1/1. The "Mike's" > "46 Days" combo that leads up to the "Groove" gets a little bit out there, but the only reason it's worth mentioning is precisely because it leads into such a great jam. The rest of the show, frankly, is in average-great territory.
I say this not because I enjoy dissing Phish shows; I don't, and I actually really enjoy the opposite. But, in the corners of the internet where I read about Phish, at least, this run was talked up as the run, and so I guess I was a little excited about the idea of a better-than-usual SF run, followed by an incredible Halloween run, followed by an even-better NYE run. But the reality is that the middle of this run, at least, is run-of-the-mill, save for the first half of this show's second set. It is, as I say below, a good '11 or '12 show at best. Trey pushes the band through a decent first half of S1, but then when he falls back, nobody else steps up to fill the gap. The "Groove" is great, but immediately after the band enters jukebox mode and stays there for the rest of the night. I don't know if this makes it better or worse that 1/3 is just amazing.
The Live Review:
1/2/15: N3 in Miami starts off with a REALLY muted Free.
1/2/15: That was probably the tiredest-sounding version of Free I've heard in a long time.
1/2/15: In response, Trey calls for Moma Dance, the ultimate deck-clearer.
1/2/15: They're audibly pulling it together throughout the course of this Moma. Nice to hear.
1/2/15: Possum in the three-slot, and at this point the band is sounding like its usual self.
1/2/15: Trey has been soloing basically since the beginning of the song (including under Mike's vocals). It's interesting.
1/2/15: Roggae!
1/2/15: Trey leading early in the jam with a long melodic solo. Mike picking up with accents on the melody.
1/2/15: Roggae jam stays Trey-centric until the final build. Nice version, > Stash.
1/2/15: Really compact Stash, also almost entirely Trey-led.
1/2/15: This set is much better than the opening Free indicated, but it's improved b/c of Trey just taking over everything so far.
1/2/15: Moma, Possum, Roggae, Stash is a great run of songs, but I'd like to hear the rest of the band a little more.
1/2/15: That said, Trey driving isn't such a bad thing when he's playing so damn well. He's currently dominating BOTT, now.
1/2/15: Sugar Shack! The ultimate test of Trey's ability to play ahead of the rest of the band :)
1/2/15: On a scale of 'Disaster' > 'Uncomfortably Awkward' > 'Charming' > 'Good' > 'Legitimately Well Done,' that was Uncomfortably Awkward.
1/2/15: You're not going to win me over with the second half of a set that's BOTT, a rough Sugar Shack, The Line, Ocelot, and Coil.
1/2/15: Would prefer this set to have just been Moma, Moma, Possum, Possum, Roggae, Roggae, Stash, Stash, Coil.
1/2/15: I guess.
1/2/15: Let's just roll this set into the lackluster 1/1 show and move on for 1/2 S2 and all of 1/3, shall we?
1/2/15: Wow. Trey just absolutely butchered The Line outro solo. I mean, like, it sounded like me when I take a solo. That bad.
1/2/15: I mean, it's not a huge knock against the show or anything, 15 seconds or so of music, but it just surprised me.
1/2/15: Ocelot contains a pretty intense rock peak after a few minutes of the usual Ocelot-style jam. Worth a listen.
1/2/15: I think someone just yelled 'Take your clothes off!' on the SBD, after Ocelot. #crowdbanter
1/2/15: I'm not sure who I hope they're talking about. Page, I guess? Fish? #crowdbanter
1/2/15: Neat interplay between Trey and Page in the Coil outro. Crowd responds with a roar.
1/2/15: Pretty sure someone just screamed 'Thunder Road!' at the beginning of S2 on the SBD. #crowdbanter
1/2/15: That would be a HILARIOUS and amazing cover to bust out. #crowdbanter
1/2/15: The big question is, who does the vocals? #crowdbanter
1/2/15: Trey's guitar playing that outro horn line would probably be just about the best thing ever. #crowdbanter
1/2/15: Okay, so Mike's to open the second set. Good?
1/2/15: Immediately a bit of a funk swing feel to the Mike's jam. I'm liking this.
1/2/15: A lot like the Dick's Mike's, but a little heavier, if that makes any sense.
1/2/15: That was a really hot version and multifaceted. I hate to say 'for 3.0,' but, you know, when it comes to Mike's...
1/2/15: 46 Days next. Really fast tempo.
1/2/15: Loops coming in during the 46 Days jam.
1/2/15: Mashup of plinko and Manteca-style jamming now.
1/2/15: Quick synth breakdown, then Fish-led, sort-of -> Groove.
1/2/15: Clav mania ensues immediately in the Groove.
1/2/15: Really kinetic Groove jam. Trey is putting down some excellent '14-style chording.
1/2/15: Woo jam bit. I can feel people who hate fun cringing.
1/2/15: THEY ATTACK
1/2/15: Second Weekapaug jam! Loop city, Fish has a fantastic beat going.
1/2/15: No idea what's going on now, but someone who isn't Trey is playing the guitar. I imagine it's Mike. Someone's on the marimba.
1/2/15: Definitely watching this on YouTube later.
1/2/15: That was awesomely weird, but also never stopped being a legitimately quality jam. Wow.
1/2/15: Fuego after that fantastic Mike's Groove.
1/2/15: Fuego goes the usual jam-on-the-riff-to-ambient-fade route, although it almost sounded like it was going to -> Slave at one point.
1/2/15: Oh. Well, after the song ends, we get a > Slave instead. I guess that's almost as good.
1/2/15: Standard take on Slave > chordy 2001.
1/2/15: Walls set closer!
1/2/15: That was definitely a Trey Shredz, set-closing Walls, and not a normal Walls. Rock and roll!
1/2/15: Sleeping Monkey encore!
1/2/15: Okay, Rocky Top is a perfect follow-up to Sleeping Monkey for the encore.
1/2/15: Weird show in general, though. Hot/cold S1, no surprise songs or jammed tunes.
1/2/15: S2 Mike's Groove is incredible, the rest of the show is pure jukebox. Almost like a really good '11 or '12 show, here.
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