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.
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