So, if you've read any of my reviews of the shows from this leg, you know how I feel about it. It's easily the least interesting Phish tour since they came back. It's the low point of an overall tendency toward precision-over-improv playing. They're playing too well and with too much energy for this to qualify as "nostalgia act" status, but most of these shows are only worth a listen if you haven't heard Phish before or if a particular setlist contains a lot of your favorite songs.
So far, the height of improv and jamming for 3.0 has been summer '09. Since then, the band seems to have backed off with an interest toward streamlining and perfecting their performances of individual songs, and only occasionally does an interesting idea float to the top. With this tour specifically, the problem seems to me to be Trey's dominance of pretty much every song. This might very well be the best, most fiery, and most consistent Trey's playing has been across 3.0 (including '13-'14), but the unfortunate side to this is that the shows have increasingly taken on the worst aspect of the less interesting early-90s shows: Trey plays over every one, and buried underneath his Curtain of Shred, nobody else seems inclined to contribute ideas. If you like the Phish where Trey plays all the notes over top of what is essentially a backing band, this might be your favorite tour since '93...but for me, it's just boring. Mostly. Except for the Greek run.
8/5: The beginning of what's easily the best three-night run so far in 3.0. The first set is just absolutely shredded. S2 contains a great "Disease" > "Free" segment, and a great late-set "Tweezer".
8/6: Things get really interesting during N2, with the two big jam staples out of the way already. The S1 list is unpredictable in a good way, and the highlight is "Cities" getting to go for a second-set-style walk. In addition to a transcendent "Simple" jam, the second set features great takes on "Rock and Roll," "Ghost," and a great "Seven Below" -> "Groove" sandwich.
8/7: Third time pays for all, and this third show is the best of the bunch. Like N2, the first set is a collection of weird songs that hangs together perfectly. "Gotta Jibboo" gets extended. And, as I said in my review: "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." The run closes with an encore of "The Lizards" > "First Tube."
8/9: There's a huge drop-off in quality here after 8/7. Both sets are guitar-led fire, but the improv just isn't there. There's a nice segue in the "Tweezer" -> "Boogie On" sequence, and a furious "Piper" into "Mountains in the Mist" makes for a nice late-set pairing.
8/10: The first set is mostly by-the-book, while the second set is like a high-quality first set. Nothing really gets stretched out, except for a few interesting minutes of "Carini." Nothing else here that you haven't heard before.
8/12: Another really straightforward show. The "Drowned" jam deserves a mention for the primordial "Waiting All Night" jam that emerges from it. The late-show "Split" is a setlist surprise and is vicious. Probably worth a listen.
8/13: Features an oddly perfect, Type I version of "Number Line." Like the 8/10 "Carini," "Light" gets almost accidentally interesting for a few minutes before Trey strangles it with a ripcord. The "Meatstick" -> "Mango Song" segue is excellent. And that's all.
8/14: At this point in the tour, I was grateful to find a show that follows the "usual" blueprint of a fun first set, and a second set that is basically One Big Jam -> Jukebox Mode. At least there's One Big Jam. The first set is first-setty: both pure fire and boring. The second set is "Disease" -> "WTU?" and then some filler. But damn, that jam is solid.
8/15: The show opens with "Tweezer," getting your hopes up, and then continues on to be possibly the most rote show of the tour.
8/17: If there's one thing that S1s and shreddy-Trey have been good for on this tour, it's excellent "Reba"s. There's another here. There are some excellent song choices, too, and Trey takes his "Wilson" solo on a toy guitar. And, as I said about S2 in my review: "The entirety of the Mike's Groove is probably the best and most interesting bit of playing that the guys have put together since the Greek. There have been a few one-off jams that have been better, but the middle of this set is weird, and in a good way. "Mike's" > "Simple" > "Number Line" > "Caspian" > "Rock and Roll" > "Groove" is a great sequence...for this tour at least." So there's that, at least.
8/18: A pretty lackluster tour closer. "Destiny Unbound" gets a nice little funk jam, which is cool. Like 8/13's version, "Light" has a great few final minutes, and there's another solid "Hood" late in the second set. The last set of the tour ends with yet another "YEM," a victory lap song without an obvious victory.
I feel shitty being this snarky about my favorite band, so I should note that I enjoyed listening to at least parts of lots of these shows very much, and probably more than I would have enjoyed listening to most other music. It's just well below what these guys can do, and well below what they were doing for most of '09. I'm not sure what's happened since, say, Toyota Park and/or Blossom in June, but it's getting hard to be excited about. Hopefully fall is a little more interesting.
No comments:
Post a Comment