The Verdict:
As I've made pretty clear through my tweets, Broomfield is easily the worst three-show run I've encountered in 3.0. Hell, it might well be the worst ever - at least some of the drugged-out 2.0 runs of a similar "caliber" had some weird-ass freakout jams in them. While they're certainly not quite there, and through 2011-2014 show that they never do get there, this is the closest this band has come to embracing the infamous "nostalgia act" label. It's been a long, slow, and weird decline since the heights (relative to later 3.0 years, of course) of summer '09, but ever since that initial tour ended, the guys have relied more and more on just playing songs straight and playing them well instead of on exploring, on building weird setlists instead of building weird jams, of maintaining flow instead of pulling out exciting segues. Maybe this is an essential part of the rebuilding process. Maybe this is what allowed them to move from the jam-by-numbers approach in 2009 to something more organic in 2011, to the amazingness that's come about in the last few years. I don't know. What I do know is that I've never been this bored listening to Phish in my fifteen or so years of doing so. Yet I soldier on, hoping that Broomfield is the real nadir and we get back to better shows very, very soon.
The above complaint/observation is something that applies to all three shows, so that's my general "verdict." A few notes about each show will follow, but I don't have much to say that I haven't already said.
As far as N1 goes, we've got a show that harkens back to 2009 in a way: it follows the tried-and-true single-jam-early-in-S2 approach. While the rest of the show surrounding said jam is pretty much rote, hey, at least we get a jam, right? To be fair, the first set is packed with greatest-hits-type songs (in a good way), but also to be fair, none of it is anything you haven't heard before.
"Mike's" > "Simple" is a strong, if plain, beginning to the second set, but it's the "Ghost" that's the centerpiece. It doesn't reinvent the wheel by any means, but it's an interesting version and worth a listen.
The Live Review:
10/10/10: Alright, here comes the first full show of fall. CDT opener.
10/10/10: Well, Trey hasn't lost much of his shredding power over the break.
10/10/10: Second song is an even-slower-than-usual-Ocelot, but next is It's Ice, so that softens the blow somewhat.
10/10/10: Particularly weird middle section of the song, led by Page. This is one of my favorite S1 songs.
10/10/10: Bouncin'! Some neat old-school song choices here.
10/10/10: Funky Bitch! Well, the guys have not lost their ability to craft excellent, high-energy sets.
10/10/10: *excellently-built.
10/10/10: But we've known that since 6/11. Can they do anything else is the question.
10/10/10: The onslaught of older tunes continues with AC/DC Bag.
10/10/10: Bag > NICU
10/10/10: Moma Dance and Horn continue the hit parade here in S1.
10/10/10: Stash is next. Rough path to jam, but once we're there, Page takes the lead.
10/10/10: Trey hints really, really briefly at a blissful, weird space in Stash, but then everyone rockets straight to the peak.
10/10/10: If you like hot, guitar-heavy Stashes, though, this one might be worth a listen for you.
10/10/10: Golgi. Probably set closer.
10/10/10: S2 starts with Mike's Song, featuring a particularly nasty breakdown into the jam.
10/10/10: Hopes are getting up.
10/10/10: Really hot Mike's Song gets slammed, old-school style, into Simple.
10/10/10: Simple jam staying crowded, rock and roll-y, rather than breaking down like usual.
10/10/10: Right as I type that, the band fades out.
10/10/10: Breakdown gets pushed by Trey into > Ghost.
10/10/10: Mellow Ghost jam turns a bit more rock at 8:00.
10/10/10: Rock build drops away to a funk jam at 11:30.
10/10/10: Neat kind of drone-y, whiny effect from Trey. Mike and Page dropping synth bombs.
10/10/10: Breaking into plinko land, now.
10/10/10: Fish with a Bowie beat...
10/10/10: No takers. Starts up Groove instead.
10/10/10: As you might expect at this point, Trey dominates the Groove.
10/10/10: I think the last few minutes of that Ghost might have been our daily allotted serving of Interesting.
10/10/10: Trey kicks off Fee with some megaphone siren.
10/10/10: Short, spacey, Fee outro jam punctuated by megaphone siren howls.
10/10/10: Trey crashes the Fee jam into Makisupa Policeman.
10/10/10: Fun version of Makisupa followed by Trey introducing My Problem Right There.
10/10/10: Really brief reprise of Makisupa after My Problem Right There, and then Slave.
10/10/10: Succinct and to-the-point version of Slave. It's what I suppose the kids would call a 'rager.'
10/10/10: Slave is followed by Strange Design. Okay, that's really weird.
10/10/10: Julius'd.
10/10/10: End set.
10/10/10: Loving Cup encore.
10/10/10: By returning to the '09 template of standard S1/one jam in S2, this show is 'average' where most of summer '10 is just 'boring.'
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