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.
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