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.
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