The Verdict:
While just about every show lately, especially during fall tour, has skewed more toward "weird" than "good," some have managed to be weird in a good way, though most have been weird in a "meh" way. This show is one of the weird-good ones.
Sorry if that last sentence is confusing. I'm food coma-ing mightily at the moment.
So, the first set is absolutely full of friggin' songs. There are thirteen of them. And almost every one is a song that would make you raise an eyebrow in surprise if you heard the band start it up. It's like they just picked a shitload of songs they hadn't played in a long time and threw them all at the wall the see what stuck. That's the good news and the bad news: the good news is if you get super jacked about rare songs being played, this will blow up your brain; the bad news is that that novelty's about all you get. The performances range from standard-great to "Which one of us wrote this song and how the hell do we play it again?", as you might expect.
Set two is a lot stronger, though less consistent than all the segues on the setlist might lead you to believe. "Possum" doesn't go anywhere special despite opening the set, but the band absolutely hammers it nonetheless. The "Light" jam is serious business, with a section I'm calling "space calypso," a "Manteca"-style jam, and a smooth ambient wind-down into a "Mike's" that recalls the "Possum"'s rock-rage. Things get more straightforward after the "Light," but they don't stay that way as there's a "Makisupa" -> "Night Nurse" -> "Makisupa" sandwich in the middle of the set. Then the "Ghost" joins the hallowed company of many a great late-show mega-jam: it's short, but incredibly powerful and "gets there" with plenty of time to spare. Highly recommended for many reasons, not least of which being the great segue into "The Mango Song." The set-closing "Groove" also gets weirder than usual before transitioning through a "CYHMK?" jam into a reprise of "Llama" from the first set.
There are a few strange snags in the flow of this set, but it's still one of the more interesting and one of the (mostly) best-played sets the band has put together in fall 2010, at least.
The Live Review:
10/26/10: So, this show opens with the first After Midnight since Big Cypress.
10/26/10: The Sloth is next. Sounding great out of the gates.
10/26/10: Alumni Blues is next and also has some serious swagger. This bodes well for some actually interesting music...
10/26/10: I spoke just in time. Alumni > Jimmy Page > Alumni, but with a neat little blues outro jam tacked on to the end.
10/26/10: Sounds like the early 90s in here.
10/26/10: Mellow Mood! Also gets extended a bit. Mike is going to town.
10/26/10: After a long conference, the band settles on Access Me next. Nobody knows the words, but hey.
10/26/10: Llama next. I'm loving the results of this setlist weirdness...mostly.
10/26/10: Another long conference, and then All of These Dreams.
10/26/10: The Curtain!
10/26/10: With!
10/26/10: This S1 so far deserves some special attention just because of the setlist.
10/26/10: After Midnight, The Sloth, Alumni > Jimmy Page > Alumni, Mellow Mood, Access Me, Llama, All of These Dreams, The Curtain With
10/26/10: Not a single one of those is a song I'd even remotely expect to hear at a typical Phish show.
10/26/10: Extra-good Page solo in this Scent of a Mule.
10/26/10: A Song I Heard The Ocean Sing is getting a little extended, too.
10/26/10: It's Ice! This is a weird first set. It's like they've just abandoned the entire 'Play the same songs we always play well' mode.
10/26/10: Instead, they're playing a lot of rarer songs, with absolutely no respect for flow or whether they remember how to play them.
10/26/10: But somehow, it all works really well.
10/26/10: Walls of the Cave closes the first frame.
10/26/10: There isn't anything in that set that deserves a relisten...
10/26/10: ...but if you like first sets with unpredictable setlists, it doesn't get much better in '09-'10.
10/26/10: Second set opens with Possum. Early jam is really broken-down and minimal.
10/26/10: That was a HUGE rock and roll Possum. No legit jamming, but just about the best S2-opening version you could hope for w/o it.
10/26/10: Light is next. Been some great versions lately, so it has a lot to live up to.
10/26/10: I feel bad about this, but at this point in my Phish life, I just sit back and wait for the Light arpeggio jam to...
10/26/10: ...transition into the interesting part without really paying attention to it.
10/26/10: Some loops from Trey and then Mike drives the jam into a deeper, loops-and-synth-filled space.
10/26/10: Is there a jam style called 'Galactic Calypso' yet?
10/26/10: Super-Manteca vibe now.
10/26/10: Really smooth transition into it, too.
10/26/10: Someone really needs to start screaming 'CRAB IN MY SHOEMOUTH' any time now.
10/26/10: Jam winds down > Mike's. Fantastic version of Light even if I didn't get my full transition into Manteca :)
10/26/10: Super heavy version of Mike's > Simple.
10/26/10: A typically gorgeous Simple jam gives way to Makisupa Policeman.
10/26/10: Makisupa -> Night Nurse > Makisupa. Very cool.
10/26/10: The Wedge gets a slightly extended jam, too.
10/26/10: Very late-set Ghost. Well, shucks.
10/26/10: This Ghost exploded hella early. Eleven minutes of SERIOUS GHOST HERE, FOLKS
10/26/10: Perfect transition into a great blissed-out space with repeating Trey riff. Building again now...
10/26/10: Outro bliss-riff and Mango Song riff interchanged with one another. That was amazingly
cool.
10/26/10: Mango Song outro gets buttslammed into Weekapaug!
10/26/10: Circular jam emerging from the end of Groove.
10/26/10: Ghost lyrics over the jam, now.
10/26/10: Night Nurse lyrics now.
10/26/10: Can You Hear Me Knocking jam now.
10/26/10: Full-on Llama reprise now.
10/26/10: Egregious misuse of the Show of Life encore after ending the second set in such a spectacular fashion :)
May 28, 2015
2010-10-24 Mullins Center II
The Verdict:
If the first night of the Mullins Center run was interesting and provided jams in unexpected places, the second night...really doesn't do either of those things. But not for lack of trying.
There are a lot of great song choices here, both sets hang together really well, and the energy's high throughout (and Trey's in his usual 2010 form). But what you end up with is basically two really good first sets. In the first set, the "Ride Captain Ride" cover is great, "Stash" gets extended in interesting ways, and there's a brief harmonics jam at the end of "Fee" that leads perfectly into "TTE"...and that adds just enough novelty and variety to offset the jukeboxiness of the rest of the set.
Set two is a similar deal. "Seven Below" opens but doesn't go anywhere, there's a great first-set "Wolfman's" jam, and the rest is all show-opening fare except for the typically great "Roggae" and a surprisingly varied "Bowie" to close the set.
The Live Review:
10/24/10: Time for a super early review this morning. Yay?
10/24/10: Bag to open the second Mullins Center show.
10/24/10: Some relatively understated guitar work from Trey in the build-up of this Bag.
10/24/10: Camel Walk is second, with an extra-weird bridge in the middle.
10/24/10: Divided Sky next. Usually a sign that it's going to be a composed-epic-heavy setlist.
10/24/10: Ride Captain Ride!
10/24/10: Stash. Really minimal breakdown to start the jam.
10/24/10: Trey switches modes mid-solo. Stash getting a little weird.
10/24/10: Extended Stash doesn't ever get more than just a little weird, but a strong version. Now,
megaphone sirens and Fee.
10/24/10: Extended the harmonics-based outro 'jam' of Fee a bit.
10/24/10: Sirens and synth coming in now.
10/24/10: Electric piano.
10/24/10: 10/24/10: -> TTE. I think that's the first time I've ever been excited to hear TTE start. Great segue.
10/24/10: I think that Fish is switching up the beats a bit in this version it's neat.
10/24/10: TTE was TTE. Cavern next.
10/24/10: Cavern > Antelope.
10/24/10: That S1 was weird. 4 songs at 10+ minutes, 2 at 15+, and yet nothing really of interest to speak of.
10/24/10: The Stash was a little weird, so check that out if you're a Stash jam completist, I guess.
10/24/10: S2 starts with Seven Below!!!
10/24/10: So far, Seven Below jam is just a huge rock and roll jam. Looping, screaming guitars.
10/24/10: 'Just' a huge rock and roll jam :)
10/24/10: Return to main riff @ the end of the song, > Wolfman's.
10/24/10: Another excellent Wolfman's. Continues to be one of the standout tunes of 2010, despite mostly being deployed in the first set.
10/24/10: Wolfman's, Number Line, Alaska. All high-octane versions but no real jams on the horizon again tonight.
10/24/10: Seems like 10/19, 10/20, and to a lesser degree 10/22 were an anomaly rather than a resurgence.
10/24/10: Put Free in that category, too.
10/24/10: The Lizards is next, though, which is nice.
10/24/10: 10/24/10: Brother > Roggae. At least the setlist is getting interesting even if the playing isn't.
10/24/10: Great Roggae jam. Fantastic runs from Mike throughout.
10/24/10: Fluid segue into Taste from out of the Roggae jam.
10/24/10: Taste > Waste. Fun with setlists!
10/24/10: Waste fades into the Bowie intro.
10/24/10: really interesting Bowie jam so far. Kinda moving toward a bliss space there for a minute or two, then back into the typical mode.
10/24/10: I typically try to avoid the whole 'for 3.0' qualifier when I can, but Bowie is perhaps the song most neutered by the comeback.
10/24/10: That said, that was a better version than most, 'for 3.0.' Now Quinn.
10/24/10: Trey playing more melody than rhythm in Quinn, even during the vocals. Was unique, but seemed to throw the band off a bit.
10/24/10: So, CDT is a weird encore choice. But there it is.
10/24/10: That was one of those shows that just felt like a whole bunch of songs. Good songs, well played, but nothing to get excited about.
If the first night of the Mullins Center run was interesting and provided jams in unexpected places, the second night...really doesn't do either of those things. But not for lack of trying.
There are a lot of great song choices here, both sets hang together really well, and the energy's high throughout (and Trey's in his usual 2010 form). But what you end up with is basically two really good first sets. In the first set, the "Ride Captain Ride" cover is great, "Stash" gets extended in interesting ways, and there's a brief harmonics jam at the end of "Fee" that leads perfectly into "TTE"...and that adds just enough novelty and variety to offset the jukeboxiness of the rest of the set.
Set two is a similar deal. "Seven Below" opens but doesn't go anywhere, there's a great first-set "Wolfman's" jam, and the rest is all show-opening fare except for the typically great "Roggae" and a surprisingly varied "Bowie" to close the set.
The Live Review:
10/24/10: Time for a super early review this morning. Yay?
10/24/10: Bag to open the second Mullins Center show.
10/24/10: Some relatively understated guitar work from Trey in the build-up of this Bag.
10/24/10: Camel Walk is second, with an extra-weird bridge in the middle.
10/24/10: Divided Sky next. Usually a sign that it's going to be a composed-epic-heavy setlist.
10/24/10: Ride Captain Ride!
10/24/10: Stash. Really minimal breakdown to start the jam.
10/24/10: Trey switches modes mid-solo. Stash getting a little weird.
10/24/10: Extended Stash doesn't ever get more than just a little weird, but a strong version. Now,
megaphone sirens and Fee.
10/24/10: Extended the harmonics-based outro 'jam' of Fee a bit.
10/24/10: Sirens and synth coming in now.
10/24/10: Electric piano.
10/24/10: 10/24/10: -> TTE. I think that's the first time I've ever been excited to hear TTE start. Great segue.
10/24/10: I think that Fish is switching up the beats a bit in this version it's neat.
10/24/10: TTE was TTE. Cavern next.
10/24/10: Cavern > Antelope.
10/24/10: That S1 was weird. 4 songs at 10+ minutes, 2 at 15+, and yet nothing really of interest to speak of.
10/24/10: The Stash was a little weird, so check that out if you're a Stash jam completist, I guess.
10/24/10: S2 starts with Seven Below!!!
10/24/10: So far, Seven Below jam is just a huge rock and roll jam. Looping, screaming guitars.
10/24/10: 'Just' a huge rock and roll jam :)
10/24/10: Return to main riff @ the end of the song, > Wolfman's.
10/24/10: Another excellent Wolfman's. Continues to be one of the standout tunes of 2010, despite mostly being deployed in the first set.
10/24/10: Wolfman's, Number Line, Alaska. All high-octane versions but no real jams on the horizon again tonight.
10/24/10: Seems like 10/19, 10/20, and to a lesser degree 10/22 were an anomaly rather than a resurgence.
10/24/10: Put Free in that category, too.
10/24/10: The Lizards is next, though, which is nice.
10/24/10: 10/24/10: Brother > Roggae. At least the setlist is getting interesting even if the playing isn't.
10/24/10: Great Roggae jam. Fantastic runs from Mike throughout.
10/24/10: Fluid segue into Taste from out of the Roggae jam.
10/24/10: Taste > Waste. Fun with setlists!
10/24/10: Waste fades into the Bowie intro.
10/24/10: really interesting Bowie jam so far. Kinda moving toward a bliss space there for a minute or two, then back into the typical mode.
10/24/10: I typically try to avoid the whole 'for 3.0' qualifier when I can, but Bowie is perhaps the song most neutered by the comeback.
10/24/10: That said, that was a better version than most, 'for 3.0.' Now Quinn.
10/24/10: Trey playing more melody than rhythm in Quinn, even during the vocals. Was unique, but seemed to throw the band off a bit.
10/24/10: So, CDT is a weird encore choice. But there it is.
10/24/10: That was one of those shows that just felt like a whole bunch of songs. Good songs, well played, but nothing to get excited about.
May 14, 2015
2010-10-23 Mullins Center I
The Verdict:
This show is weird-good. It might even be weird great. What the fuck am I talking about? Read on to find out!
Well, I guess what I'm trying to say is that you can, for example, describe a show like 10/20 in a few sentences and it immediately becomes clear why it's great. "There's a lot of fun teases in the first set, there's that weird seguefest/space jam at the end of the second set." These things are 1) weird, 2) technically impressive, and 3) unique. Describing a show like 10/19, on the other hand, doesn't really get across why it's so damn good ("There are some dark jams that are neat."), and yet I'd argue that both shows are equally awesome.
I bring this up because I think 10/23 falls into the latter category. It's hard to explain what it is that makes it a notable show, but it is one.
The first set starts off in pretty standard way, but pretty quickly turns interesting with a far-out "Tweezer" that never quite takes off entirely, but falls into that "Type 1.5" realm that elevates beyond most first set versions. The set winds up with a Phish-weird "BBFCFM" > "HYHU" > "Love You" > "HYHU" sequence and a hilarious and surprising "Tweeprise" closer that features the "Meatstick" opener's chorus vocals instead of the usual "Tweezer" vocals. There's nothing hugely impressive going on here improvisationally, but it's just fun, and it's one of Those Sets.
The guys play "Disease" for the second night in a row to open S2, but that's fine because this version packs a punch, getting strange quick and then morphing into a Tahoe "Tweezer"-like bliss rock jam before segueing into, of all things, "MFMF." The "Disease" jam itself is a highlight, but probably the best part of the show is, believe it or not, the "MFMF" -> "Caspian" -> "Halfway" -> "Boogie On" sequence. That sounds weird, and it sort of is, but the "Caspian" jam is weird and unique, "Halfway" is a stark take on the tune with alternate (unfinished) lyrics, and "Boogie On" features some extra loops and effects throughout the last few minutes that culminate in a great "Maze." Oh, and the segues are all pretty much perfect. Check this out, for sure.
Lastly, like many "Hood"s this year, the "Hood" is awesome, though it stays in the usual mode and doesn't wander like many '14 versions do. And the "YEM" that follows is the first show-closing "YEM" in awhile that feels like it's really deserved. Great show.
The Live Review:
10/23/10: While 10/19 and 10/20 were great shows, 10/22 was a return to form, so to speak. Will
10/23 suck balls? Let's find out!
10/23/10: Meatstick opener. It's like past Phish read my last tweet and responded.
10/23/10: Party Time is second. Serious bass work from Mike early on, and Page is laying down a
great organ solo now.
10/23/10: Golgi in the third spot, KDF in the fourth. Very first-setty so far.
10/23/10: Tweezer! Either the mix is different on this recording, or Mike is on fucking fire tonight.
10/23/10: Mike is driving the jam, Trey adding some neat harmonics. Page on the electric piano.
10/23/10: Mega mellow funk space in Tweezer. Mike still creating most of the notes.
10/23/10: Now a whale-y, noodly dream sequence.
10/23/10: This jam never strays too far away from Type I With Tone Changes (Type 1.5), but it's got great momentum. And in S1!
10/23/10: Studio-style wind-down at the end of the Tweezer.
10/23/10: Lawn Boy, lots of growls from someone (Page?) during Mike's solo.
10/23/10: Lawn Boy, Sparkle, BBFCFM. Definitely weird setlist flow during this show. With exception of that Tweezer, sort of a goofy set.
10/23/10: Some guy in the crowd is just SCREAMING 'THE SLOOOOOTH!' over and over again. #crowdbanter
10/23/10: Page starts up HYHU while Trey exhorts Fish to sing a song by chanting 'Henrietta! Henrietta!'
10/23/10: Fish sings half of Love You, ad libs some lyrics about the Electrolux, then attacks it face-first.
10/23/10: Band drops out, absolutely horrible-sounding solo from Fish on the vacuum now.
10/23/10: So, that was fun. Tweezer and BBFCFM > HYHU > Love You > HYHU break up the monotony of an otherwise standard fall 2010 S1.
10/23/10: Speaking of monotony, here comes Possum!
10/23/10: Very tension-and-release-filled Possum, actually. Great version.
10/23/10: Tweeprise?! Crowd is confused, no cheering.
10/23/10: I'm imagining that they're struck with the sudden fear of 'Oh shit, what if I bought a ticket to a single-set show?'
10/23/10: Okay, if you weren't confused enough yet, Tweeprise features the lyrics from the Meatstick chorus.
10/23/10: I love this band pretty much all the time.
10/23/10: Might not have been the most musically adventurous set of music ever, but Phish having fun on stage makes up for a lot of that.
10/23/10: Dude is still screaming for The Sloth. Also, someone just screamed 'PSYCHO KILLER!!!' right into the recording mic.
10/23/10: DWD opens the second set and gets weird pretty much off the bat. And I mean really weird. This is exciting.
10/23/10: Lots of loops and echoes. Trey laying out a rock solo over them.
10/23/10: Transition into bliss-mode rock. Sort of Tahoe Tweezer-ish for a minute or two.
10/23/10: Bliss rock shifts back to the loopy madness.
10/23/10: Loopy section is petering out a bit, though Mike is still laying down some excellent lines.
10/23/10: Trey pulls off a decent segue into MFMF instead of pushing for a second wind.
10/23/10: Welp, whatever else happens in this show, we've had a serious jam out of both Tweezer and Disease in one night.
10/23/10: What the hell is going to go into the jam slot tomorrow night guys? BET YOU DIDN'T THINK OF THAT AHEAD OF TIME.
10/23/10: MFMF -> Caspian. Trey started up the Caspian intro during the MFMF outro. Weird, but...unexpected, I guess?
10/23/10: This is almost more like a Simple jam than a Caspian jam. Very cool.
10/23/10: Sounds a bit like a WTU? tease from Trey. Would be a great segue.
10/23/10: Oh, shit! It's a Halfway To the Moon tease, actually. Great segue!
10/23/10: MFMF -> Caspian -> Halfway. Weird but notable sequence.
10/23/10: Instrumentation on this version is sparse.
10/23/10: Alternate lyrics from Page.
10/23/10: ...aaaaaaand -> Boogie On. Great string of segues, and some unexpected S2 songs, and a great Caspian jam. Awesome.
10/23/10: Loops at the end of Boogie > Maze. Not quite a ->, but almost keeps the streak alive.
10/23/10: Some extra machine-gun Trey at the end of that Maze. Now Wading.
10/23/10: A little spacey jamming at the end of this Piper. Definite Maze teases from Mike.
10/23/10: Just as Piper is developing (maybe), Fish hits the Hood beat. Nice, succinct version, though.
10/23/10: Hood for set closer?
10/23/10: Even as grumpy about 2010 as I am, there've been a LOT of good Hoods this year.
10/23/10: And Trey is currently dominating the 'slow build' part of this one.
10/23/10: Yup, good peak too.
10/23/10: YEM! Guess this ain't over yet.
10/23/10: Nice little Wilson-y jam in YEM, and a super-size Mike and Fish rhythm breakdown.
10/23/10: At the end of the vocal jam, someone screams 'FUCK YEAH!' #crowdbanter
10/23/10: Shine a Light encore.
This show is weird-good. It might even be weird great. What the fuck am I talking about? Read on to find out!
Well, I guess what I'm trying to say is that you can, for example, describe a show like 10/20 in a few sentences and it immediately becomes clear why it's great. "There's a lot of fun teases in the first set, there's that weird seguefest/space jam at the end of the second set." These things are 1) weird, 2) technically impressive, and 3) unique. Describing a show like 10/19, on the other hand, doesn't really get across why it's so damn good ("There are some dark jams that are neat."), and yet I'd argue that both shows are equally awesome.
I bring this up because I think 10/23 falls into the latter category. It's hard to explain what it is that makes it a notable show, but it is one.
The first set starts off in pretty standard way, but pretty quickly turns interesting with a far-out "Tweezer" that never quite takes off entirely, but falls into that "Type 1.5" realm that elevates beyond most first set versions. The set winds up with a Phish-weird "BBFCFM" > "HYHU" > "Love You" > "HYHU" sequence and a hilarious and surprising "Tweeprise" closer that features the "Meatstick" opener's chorus vocals instead of the usual "Tweezer" vocals. There's nothing hugely impressive going on here improvisationally, but it's just fun, and it's one of Those Sets.
The guys play "Disease" for the second night in a row to open S2, but that's fine because this version packs a punch, getting strange quick and then morphing into a Tahoe "Tweezer"-like bliss rock jam before segueing into, of all things, "MFMF." The "Disease" jam itself is a highlight, but probably the best part of the show is, believe it or not, the "MFMF" -> "Caspian" -> "Halfway" -> "Boogie On" sequence. That sounds weird, and it sort of is, but the "Caspian" jam is weird and unique, "Halfway" is a stark take on the tune with alternate (unfinished) lyrics, and "Boogie On" features some extra loops and effects throughout the last few minutes that culminate in a great "Maze." Oh, and the segues are all pretty much perfect. Check this out, for sure.
Lastly, like many "Hood"s this year, the "Hood" is awesome, though it stays in the usual mode and doesn't wander like many '14 versions do. And the "YEM" that follows is the first show-closing "YEM" in awhile that feels like it's really deserved. Great show.
The Live Review:
10/23/10: While 10/19 and 10/20 were great shows, 10/22 was a return to form, so to speak. Will
10/23 suck balls? Let's find out!
10/23/10: Meatstick opener. It's like past Phish read my last tweet and responded.
10/23/10: Party Time is second. Serious bass work from Mike early on, and Page is laying down a
great organ solo now.
10/23/10: Golgi in the third spot, KDF in the fourth. Very first-setty so far.
10/23/10: Tweezer! Either the mix is different on this recording, or Mike is on fucking fire tonight.
10/23/10: Mike is driving the jam, Trey adding some neat harmonics. Page on the electric piano.
10/23/10: Mega mellow funk space in Tweezer. Mike still creating most of the notes.
10/23/10: Now a whale-y, noodly dream sequence.
10/23/10: This jam never strays too far away from Type I With Tone Changes (Type 1.5), but it's got great momentum. And in S1!
10/23/10: Studio-style wind-down at the end of the Tweezer.
10/23/10: Lawn Boy, lots of growls from someone (Page?) during Mike's solo.
10/23/10: Lawn Boy, Sparkle, BBFCFM. Definitely weird setlist flow during this show. With exception of that Tweezer, sort of a goofy set.
10/23/10: Some guy in the crowd is just SCREAMING 'THE SLOOOOOTH!' over and over again. #crowdbanter
10/23/10: Page starts up HYHU while Trey exhorts Fish to sing a song by chanting 'Henrietta! Henrietta!'
10/23/10: Fish sings half of Love You, ad libs some lyrics about the Electrolux, then attacks it face-first.
10/23/10: Band drops out, absolutely horrible-sounding solo from Fish on the vacuum now.
10/23/10: So, that was fun. Tweezer and BBFCFM > HYHU > Love You > HYHU break up the monotony of an otherwise standard fall 2010 S1.
10/23/10: Speaking of monotony, here comes Possum!
10/23/10: Very tension-and-release-filled Possum, actually. Great version.
10/23/10: Tweeprise?! Crowd is confused, no cheering.
10/23/10: I'm imagining that they're struck with the sudden fear of 'Oh shit, what if I bought a ticket to a single-set show?'
10/23/10: Okay, if you weren't confused enough yet, Tweeprise features the lyrics from the Meatstick chorus.
10/23/10: I love this band pretty much all the time.
10/23/10: Might not have been the most musically adventurous set of music ever, but Phish having fun on stage makes up for a lot of that.
10/23/10: Dude is still screaming for The Sloth. Also, someone just screamed 'PSYCHO KILLER!!!' right into the recording mic.
10/23/10: DWD opens the second set and gets weird pretty much off the bat. And I mean really weird. This is exciting.
10/23/10: Lots of loops and echoes. Trey laying out a rock solo over them.
10/23/10: Transition into bliss-mode rock. Sort of Tahoe Tweezer-ish for a minute or two.
10/23/10: Bliss rock shifts back to the loopy madness.
10/23/10: Loopy section is petering out a bit, though Mike is still laying down some excellent lines.
10/23/10: Trey pulls off a decent segue into MFMF instead of pushing for a second wind.
10/23/10: Welp, whatever else happens in this show, we've had a serious jam out of both Tweezer and Disease in one night.
10/23/10: What the hell is going to go into the jam slot tomorrow night guys? BET YOU DIDN'T THINK OF THAT AHEAD OF TIME.
10/23/10: MFMF -> Caspian. Trey started up the Caspian intro during the MFMF outro. Weird, but...unexpected, I guess?
10/23/10: This is almost more like a Simple jam than a Caspian jam. Very cool.
10/23/10: Sounds a bit like a WTU? tease from Trey. Would be a great segue.
10/23/10: Oh, shit! It's a Halfway To the Moon tease, actually. Great segue!
10/23/10: MFMF -> Caspian -> Halfway. Weird but notable sequence.
10/23/10: Instrumentation on this version is sparse.
10/23/10: Alternate lyrics from Page.
10/23/10: ...aaaaaaand -> Boogie On. Great string of segues, and some unexpected S2 songs, and a great Caspian jam. Awesome.
10/23/10: Loops at the end of Boogie > Maze. Not quite a ->, but almost keeps the streak alive.
10/23/10: Some extra machine-gun Trey at the end of that Maze. Now Wading.
10/23/10: A little spacey jamming at the end of this Piper. Definite Maze teases from Mike.
10/23/10: Just as Piper is developing (maybe), Fish hits the Hood beat. Nice, succinct version, though.
10/23/10: Hood for set closer?
10/23/10: Even as grumpy about 2010 as I am, there've been a LOT of good Hoods this year.
10/23/10: And Trey is currently dominating the 'slow build' part of this one.
10/23/10: Yup, good peak too.
10/23/10: YEM! Guess this ain't over yet.
10/23/10: Nice little Wilson-y jam in YEM, and a super-size Mike and Fish rhythm breakdown.
10/23/10: At the end of the vocal jam, someone screams 'FUCK YEAH!' #crowdbanter
10/23/10: Shine a Light encore.
2010-10-22 Dunkin' Donuts Center
The Verdict:
After the excellent 10/19 and 10/20 shows, 10/22 is definitely a step back. That said, it's still better than the vast majority of post-Berkeley Phish shows thus far. The first set is really nothing to write home (or at all) about, so I won't. It's a completely standard affair aside from a setlist that fits together really well and doesn't let up. Much.
The second set actually follows a bit of a 10/19 blueprint at first: the last few minutes of the "Rock and Roll" dissolve into some legit evil jamming. "Carini" follows and goes immediately evil -> rock peak. It's one of those excellent short-but-sweet jams and even though Trey prematurely kills it for "My Problem Right There," somehow even that song works in the next slot because the boys are on a roll.
The "Sanity" in between "Mike's" and "Weekapaug" gets a great sort-of-jam, sort-of-noise-wall extended outro, complete with lots of weird screaming and keening, and a late-set "Light" gets taken for a long walk. Had this "Light" really worked, I think this could have been elevated quite easily from an average-great set to an excellent one, but, for me at least, the jam is pretty pedestrian. There's not a lot going on beside the usual Trey-peggios and it never really develops beyond that.
That said, there are some gems in this second set worth checking out, and hope for the FUTURE.
The Live Review:
10/22/10: Four shows left until Halloween. Can they nail three shows in a row?
10/22/10: Disease opener.
10/22/10: Standard Disease to open, slanky Funky Bitch following.
10/22/10: Fluffhead. Weird placement.
10/22/10: Rough landing at the end of Fluff. Roses Are Free is next.
10/22/10: THAT PUMPKIN = MY DESTINY
10/22/10: Rift! What is this, summer of 2014?
10/22/10: Actually, a much solider version than most 2014 takes.
10/22/10: Moma. We're definitely in '2010 First Set' mode tonight. Hoping for a surprise or two, though.
10/22/10: Moma followed by Ocelot, NICU.
10/22/10: Ocelot solo was a lot more rock and roll and peakey than usual, but otherwise nothing to see here yet.
10/22/10: Sample, Julius to close set one.
10/22/10: Julius got extended a little, but just longer than usual, no surprises.
10/22/10: S2 opens with Rock and Roll!
10/22/10: As an aside, LivePhish's use of '[PlaceName] Jam' tracks for 2010 shows is really weird and inconsistent.
10/22/10: It happened with most serious jams in summer 2009, has been really patchy since, and if I remember, is gone by '11.
10/22/10: We've gone from 'Rock and Roll' to 'Providence Jam' now, but it's definitely just more Trey soloing.
10/22/10: Getting darker now, about two minutes into the jam.
10/22/10: Dark ambient space now. Really damn cool. Almost 8/5/11-ish.
10/22/10: It was sorta winding down anyway, but Trey killed it with a > Carini.
10/22/10: Trey pulls out a great little riff here and drives this Carini into the stratosphere. This is crazy-guitar-peak city right here.
10/22/10: Trey just killed the Carini space jam for a segue into My Problem Right There.
10/22/10: It was a decent segue, but man, he's be vicious to jams in the last few shows.
10/22/10: Rock and Roll darkness jam > Carini darkness jam > My Problem Right There doesn't make a lot of sense in general.
10/22/10: I actually really like My Problem Right There in a weird way, just strange placement.
10/22/10: Mike's is next.
10/22/10: Trey has conjured another great riff and everyone is running with it. Neat to hear a Mike's jam with a little structure.
10/22/10: Welp, now we're back to Rock Noodling Mode.
10/22/10: Mike's -B Sanity. That's weird.
10/22/10: Sanity lyrics are especially hilarious this time around.
10/22/10: Extended vocal and then instrumental outro on Sanity. I wouldn't call it a 'jam,' but it's neat. Loops now.
10/22/10: Drum and bass jamming out of the feedback noise now...dying out...transition into Groove!
10/22/10: Above-average Groove to close out that weird and fun sequence. Suzy is next.
10/22/10: Monster piano solo from Page.
10/22/10: Suzy > Light.
10/22/10: Slowing down from the typical jam-opening arpeggios at around 6:00.
10/22/10: Fish and Mike are pushing around for something interesting, but Trey's not taking the bait.
10/22/10: Back to the vocal outro now.
10/22/10: ZERO'D
10/22/10: Trey playing a weird, dissonant solo in Zero. The band catches on, and now there's a full-on wind-down -> outro peak. Cool!
10/22/10: Zero > 2001.
10/22/10: The 2001s lately have been short, but surprisingly interesting. This one definitely follows suit.
10/22/10: Loving Cup, end set.
10/22/10: First Tube puts a punctuation mark on a pretty straightforward and uninteresting sentence.
10/22/10: Shades of the last few shows here, though, definitely not a backslide into the Dark Times of Really Recently.
After the excellent 10/19 and 10/20 shows, 10/22 is definitely a step back. That said, it's still better than the vast majority of post-Berkeley Phish shows thus far. The first set is really nothing to write home (or at all) about, so I won't. It's a completely standard affair aside from a setlist that fits together really well and doesn't let up. Much.
The second set actually follows a bit of a 10/19 blueprint at first: the last few minutes of the "Rock and Roll" dissolve into some legit evil jamming. "Carini" follows and goes immediately evil -> rock peak. It's one of those excellent short-but-sweet jams and even though Trey prematurely kills it for "My Problem Right There," somehow even that song works in the next slot because the boys are on a roll.
The "Sanity" in between "Mike's" and "Weekapaug" gets a great sort-of-jam, sort-of-noise-wall extended outro, complete with lots of weird screaming and keening, and a late-set "Light" gets taken for a long walk. Had this "Light" really worked, I think this could have been elevated quite easily from an average-great set to an excellent one, but, for me at least, the jam is pretty pedestrian. There's not a lot going on beside the usual Trey-peggios and it never really develops beyond that.
That said, there are some gems in this second set worth checking out, and hope for the FUTURE.
The Live Review:
10/22/10: Four shows left until Halloween. Can they nail three shows in a row?
10/22/10: Disease opener.
10/22/10: Standard Disease to open, slanky Funky Bitch following.
10/22/10: Fluffhead. Weird placement.
10/22/10: Rough landing at the end of Fluff. Roses Are Free is next.
10/22/10: THAT PUMPKIN = MY DESTINY
10/22/10: Rift! What is this, summer of 2014?
10/22/10: Actually, a much solider version than most 2014 takes.
10/22/10: Moma. We're definitely in '2010 First Set' mode tonight. Hoping for a surprise or two, though.
10/22/10: Moma followed by Ocelot, NICU.
10/22/10: Ocelot solo was a lot more rock and roll and peakey than usual, but otherwise nothing to see here yet.
10/22/10: Sample, Julius to close set one.
10/22/10: Julius got extended a little, but just longer than usual, no surprises.
10/22/10: S2 opens with Rock and Roll!
10/22/10: As an aside, LivePhish's use of '[PlaceName] Jam' tracks for 2010 shows is really weird and inconsistent.
10/22/10: It happened with most serious jams in summer 2009, has been really patchy since, and if I remember, is gone by '11.
10/22/10: We've gone from 'Rock and Roll' to 'Providence Jam' now, but it's definitely just more Trey soloing.
10/22/10: Getting darker now, about two minutes into the jam.
10/22/10: Dark ambient space now. Really damn cool. Almost 8/5/11-ish.
10/22/10: It was sorta winding down anyway, but Trey killed it with a > Carini.
10/22/10: Trey pulls out a great little riff here and drives this Carini into the stratosphere. This is crazy-guitar-peak city right here.
10/22/10: Trey just killed the Carini space jam for a segue into My Problem Right There.
10/22/10: It was a decent segue, but man, he's be vicious to jams in the last few shows.
10/22/10: Rock and Roll darkness jam > Carini darkness jam > My Problem Right There doesn't make a lot of sense in general.
10/22/10: I actually really like My Problem Right There in a weird way, just strange placement.
10/22/10: Mike's is next.
10/22/10: Trey has conjured another great riff and everyone is running with it. Neat to hear a Mike's jam with a little structure.
10/22/10: Welp, now we're back to Rock Noodling Mode.
10/22/10: Mike's -B Sanity. That's weird.
10/22/10: Sanity lyrics are especially hilarious this time around.
10/22/10: Extended vocal and then instrumental outro on Sanity. I wouldn't call it a 'jam,' but it's neat. Loops now.
10/22/10: Drum and bass jamming out of the feedback noise now...dying out...transition into Groove!
10/22/10: Above-average Groove to close out that weird and fun sequence. Suzy is next.
10/22/10: Monster piano solo from Page.
10/22/10: Suzy > Light.
10/22/10: Slowing down from the typical jam-opening arpeggios at around 6:00.
10/22/10: Fish and Mike are pushing around for something interesting, but Trey's not taking the bait.
10/22/10: Back to the vocal outro now.
10/22/10: ZERO'D
10/22/10: Trey playing a weird, dissonant solo in Zero. The band catches on, and now there's a full-on wind-down -> outro peak. Cool!
10/22/10: Zero > 2001.
10/22/10: The 2001s lately have been short, but surprisingly interesting. This one definitely follows suit.
10/22/10: Loving Cup, end set.
10/22/10: First Tube puts a punctuation mark on a pretty straightforward and uninteresting sentence.
10/22/10: Shades of the last few shows here, though, definitely not a backslide into the Dark Times of Really Recently.
May 11, 2015
2010-10-20 Utica
The Verdict:
Two great shows in a row in 2010 is nothing to sneeze at, though I gotta say that if I had a time machine I'd go back and insist that 10/19 get the DVD release instead of 10/20.
That gripe expressed, the first set is one of my favorite first sets in post-2000 memory. In fact, it works better as a second set than the actual second set does. "My Soul" and "Vultures" are both stand-out versions, the "Wolfman's" -> "Cities" sequence stands up to the same sequence as it's found on Slip, Stitch, and Pass, and "Guyute" kicks off a back half of the set that sees "Guyute," "Bowie," and "Wilson" all played within and around each other in a major yarn ball of teases. "McGrupp" and a short-but-sweet "Saw It Again" set up a big set-closing "Antelope." Words don't really do justice the amount of playing around the band does in this set and how loose they sound while doing it. Just listen to the whole thing.
The second set, unfortunately, doesn't really live up to the promise of the first set. Trey absolutely beheads the opening "Drowned" jam just as it's taking off, and minus a few minutes of interesting "Sand"-based jamming, things never really recover until "Split" kicks on. Granted, what follows there is a great "Split" -> "Have Mercy" -> "Jam" > "Piper" -> "Split" sequence that, put together with 10/19's mid-S2 sequence almost makes up for the majority of fall tour suckage singlehandedly. But this set is more Great Jam Sequence Surrounded By Standards than Great Set All Around.
Either way, though, I'm damned happy to listen to these two shows in a row and I'm looking forward to wrapping up fall tour on a positive note, now.
The Live Review:
10/20/10: Trying to fit a review of the whole Utica show into the last three hours of work. Whooo!
10/20/10: My Soul to open. Slow tempo, extra blues. Mike is up in the mix.
10/20/10: My Soul was great, now an extra-spicy version of Stealing Time.
10/20/10: Trey sounds like he's trying to start up PYITE at the beginning of Stealing Time, and then again after, but Page starts Vultures.
10/20/10: That's weird and doesn't happen often. On the other hand, fucking VULTURES. One of my favorite Phish songs.
10/20/10: When they played it in SF in '13, I'm pretty sure I didn't stop screaming the entire time. Which I suppose defeated the point.
10/20/10: POTATO TO THE THROAT
10/20/10: Proto-'Woo' jam at the end of Vultures.
10/20/10: Wolfman's, complete with vocal/guitar jam.
10/20/10: Only clav and vox now. Awesome.
10/20/10: This is one of those jams that just makes me want to hug everyone in the band because it is just so awesome and happy.
10/20/10: It just keeps going. S1 Wolfman's is my favorite jam of fall tour so far.
10/20/10: Nine minutes, but it blows away anything longer. That's what she said. #sorry
10/20/10: -> Cities!!!
10/20/10: 'A lot of ghosts in Birmingham...bridges.' Hilarious flub.
10/20/10: Great Wolfman's -> Cities combo. > Guyute.
10/20/10: This isn't the cleanest Guyute around, but it's fast and high-energy, so that can be forgiven.
10/20/10: Guyute > Bowie. Band playing Guyute outro riff over Fish's Bowie beat.
10/20/10: This is extremely creepy.
10/20/10: Synth now. Guyute outro vocals from Trey.
10/20/10: Dave-Guy Bowyute.
10/20/10: Trey teases Guyute in Bowie breakdown.
10/20/10: Wilson tease in the jam. Crowd chanting 'Wilson!'
10/20/10: 'Bouncing like a newborn elf' from the band, 'Wilson!' from the crowd, layering over each other. Amazing stuff right here.
10/20/10: Another Wilson-chant-bit near the end of the jam.
10/20/10: End of Bowie -> Guyute reprise -> Wilson.
10/20/10: If 10/19 and 10/20 are an apology for every other show of fall tour, apology accepted.
10/20/10: Guyute teases in Wilson.
10/20/10: More Guyute teases.
10/20/10: 'I must inquire Guyute, can you still have any fun?'
10/20/10: Guys cracking up on the outro vocals.
10/20/10: > McGrupp!
10/20/10: What the hell is this band and what has it done with 2010 Phish?
10/20/10: This would be an incredible first set in 2014.
10/20/10: McGrupp > Saw It Again. Weird, but that's okay. Two great songs.
10/20/10: Guyute teases at the end of Saw It Again, with creepy 'Saw it again!' vocals.
10/20/10: Trey starting up Antelope over Page's synth effects.
10/20/10: Of course, more Guyute teases in the Antelope intro.
10/20/10: Great, high-octave tension bit in the Antelope jam proper.
10/20/10: Okay, I'm only going to get to one set today. Sorry!
10/20/10: S2 review and thoughts on 10/19 and 10/20 tomorrow.
10/20/10: Best S1 in recent memory, S2 starts with Drowned.
10/20/10: Drowned is actually sort of anemic compared to the first set. Standard Type I jam transitioning into some funk chording.
10/20/10: Moving into a darker space, Mike and Page driving.
10/20/10: And Trey just pulled out a massive ripcord > Sand. That was a bad one.
10/20/10: That moment when you can just feel them starting to gel perfectly and Trey hauls off and punches you right in the fucking nuts.
10/20/10: Trey's laying way back in this jam. Clav and bass up front.
10/20/10: Maybe he's ashamed of himself, AS HE SHOULD BE. BAD TREY! BAD!
10/20/10: Standard rock jam > some weird alien-sounding high-octave shit. I like this Sand.
10/20/10: Crazy loop effects > Theme. Loops over the Theme intro.
10/20/10: Axila I after a standard Theme. S2 is weird so far, barring a great Sand.
10/20/10: Birds. This might be one of those rare shows with a strong S1/weak S2 combo.
10/20/10: Extremely...umm...'loose' version of Tela is next.
10/20/10: Late-set Split.
10/20/10: Trey just modulated the hell out of something and now we're Type II. About 5:30 in.
10/20/10: Looping space into something almost ambient.
10/20/10: Trey singing lyrics to Have Mercy over the cacophony. Band fades out, comes back in.
10/20/10: Playing slowly morphs into a reggae beat.
10/20/10: Beat quickly fades back out into another dreamy jam sequence.
10/20/10: Jam sounded a little like Steam there for a minute.
10/20/10: Jam gets more and more driving...closes with Fish starting up what sounds like the Groove drumbeat, then immediately fading.
10/20/10: Trey starts Piper. Relatively long build to lyrics.
10/20/10: Page and Mike push the jam into rapid-fire territory at around 4:30.
10/20/10: Electric piano washes are really making this mellow jam space work, now.
10/20/10: Effortless move into more funk. Sounds like Birds.
10/20/10: Oh, it is. Trey is playing the melody line from Birds.
10/20/10: Fish building up the drums. Mike definitely teasing My Soul.
10/20/10: -> Split reprise.
10/20/10: Split > Slave.
10/20/10: The mellow part of that Slave featured some extra-good Trey and Mike interplay. End set.
10/20/10: GTBT to close a show where, indeed, the first set was better than the second. That Split -> Have Mercy > Piper -> Split...
10/20/10: ...was something else, though, for sure.
Two great shows in a row in 2010 is nothing to sneeze at, though I gotta say that if I had a time machine I'd go back and insist that 10/19 get the DVD release instead of 10/20.
That gripe expressed, the first set is one of my favorite first sets in post-2000 memory. In fact, it works better as a second set than the actual second set does. "My Soul" and "Vultures" are both stand-out versions, the "Wolfman's" -> "Cities" sequence stands up to the same sequence as it's found on Slip, Stitch, and Pass, and "Guyute" kicks off a back half of the set that sees "Guyute," "Bowie," and "Wilson" all played within and around each other in a major yarn ball of teases. "McGrupp" and a short-but-sweet "Saw It Again" set up a big set-closing "Antelope." Words don't really do justice the amount of playing around the band does in this set and how loose they sound while doing it. Just listen to the whole thing.
The second set, unfortunately, doesn't really live up to the promise of the first set. Trey absolutely beheads the opening "Drowned" jam just as it's taking off, and minus a few minutes of interesting "Sand"-based jamming, things never really recover until "Split" kicks on. Granted, what follows there is a great "Split" -> "Have Mercy" -> "Jam" > "Piper" -> "Split" sequence that, put together with 10/19's mid-S2 sequence almost makes up for the majority of fall tour suckage singlehandedly. But this set is more Great Jam Sequence Surrounded By Standards than Great Set All Around.
Either way, though, I'm damned happy to listen to these two shows in a row and I'm looking forward to wrapping up fall tour on a positive note, now.
The Live Review:
10/20/10: Trying to fit a review of the whole Utica show into the last three hours of work. Whooo!
10/20/10: My Soul to open. Slow tempo, extra blues. Mike is up in the mix.
10/20/10: My Soul was great, now an extra-spicy version of Stealing Time.
10/20/10: Trey sounds like he's trying to start up PYITE at the beginning of Stealing Time, and then again after, but Page starts Vultures.
10/20/10: That's weird and doesn't happen often. On the other hand, fucking VULTURES. One of my favorite Phish songs.
10/20/10: When they played it in SF in '13, I'm pretty sure I didn't stop screaming the entire time. Which I suppose defeated the point.
10/20/10: POTATO TO THE THROAT
10/20/10: Proto-'Woo' jam at the end of Vultures.
10/20/10: Wolfman's, complete with vocal/guitar jam.
10/20/10: Only clav and vox now. Awesome.
10/20/10: This is one of those jams that just makes me want to hug everyone in the band because it is just so awesome and happy.
10/20/10: It just keeps going. S1 Wolfman's is my favorite jam of fall tour so far.
10/20/10: Nine minutes, but it blows away anything longer. That's what she said. #sorry
10/20/10: -> Cities!!!
10/20/10: 'A lot of ghosts in Birmingham...bridges.' Hilarious flub.
10/20/10: Great Wolfman's -> Cities combo. > Guyute.
10/20/10: This isn't the cleanest Guyute around, but it's fast and high-energy, so that can be forgiven.
10/20/10: Guyute > Bowie. Band playing Guyute outro riff over Fish's Bowie beat.
10/20/10: This is extremely creepy.
10/20/10: Synth now. Guyute outro vocals from Trey.
10/20/10: Dave-Guy Bowyute.
10/20/10: Trey teases Guyute in Bowie breakdown.
10/20/10: Wilson tease in the jam. Crowd chanting 'Wilson!'
10/20/10: 'Bouncing like a newborn elf' from the band, 'Wilson!' from the crowd, layering over each other. Amazing stuff right here.
10/20/10: Another Wilson-chant-bit near the end of the jam.
10/20/10: End of Bowie -> Guyute reprise -> Wilson.
10/20/10: If 10/19 and 10/20 are an apology for every other show of fall tour, apology accepted.
10/20/10: Guyute teases in Wilson.
10/20/10: More Guyute teases.
10/20/10: 'I must inquire Guyute, can you still have any fun?'
10/20/10: Guys cracking up on the outro vocals.
10/20/10: > McGrupp!
10/20/10: What the hell is this band and what has it done with 2010 Phish?
10/20/10: This would be an incredible first set in 2014.
10/20/10: McGrupp > Saw It Again. Weird, but that's okay. Two great songs.
10/20/10: Guyute teases at the end of Saw It Again, with creepy 'Saw it again!' vocals.
10/20/10: Trey starting up Antelope over Page's synth effects.
10/20/10: Of course, more Guyute teases in the Antelope intro.
10/20/10: Great, high-octave tension bit in the Antelope jam proper.
10/20/10: Okay, I'm only going to get to one set today. Sorry!
10/20/10: S2 review and thoughts on 10/19 and 10/20 tomorrow.
10/20/10: Best S1 in recent memory, S2 starts with Drowned.
10/20/10: Drowned is actually sort of anemic compared to the first set. Standard Type I jam transitioning into some funk chording.
10/20/10: Moving into a darker space, Mike and Page driving.
10/20/10: And Trey just pulled out a massive ripcord > Sand. That was a bad one.
10/20/10: That moment when you can just feel them starting to gel perfectly and Trey hauls off and punches you right in the fucking nuts.
10/20/10: Trey's laying way back in this jam. Clav and bass up front.
10/20/10: Maybe he's ashamed of himself, AS HE SHOULD BE. BAD TREY! BAD!
10/20/10: Standard rock jam > some weird alien-sounding high-octave shit. I like this Sand.
10/20/10: Crazy loop effects > Theme. Loops over the Theme intro.
10/20/10: Axila I after a standard Theme. S2 is weird so far, barring a great Sand.
10/20/10: Birds. This might be one of those rare shows with a strong S1/weak S2 combo.
10/20/10: Extremely...umm...'loose' version of Tela is next.
10/20/10: Late-set Split.
10/20/10: Trey just modulated the hell out of something and now we're Type II. About 5:30 in.
10/20/10: Looping space into something almost ambient.
10/20/10: Trey singing lyrics to Have Mercy over the cacophony. Band fades out, comes back in.
10/20/10: Playing slowly morphs into a reggae beat.
10/20/10: Beat quickly fades back out into another dreamy jam sequence.
10/20/10: Jam sounded a little like Steam there for a minute.
10/20/10: Jam gets more and more driving...closes with Fish starting up what sounds like the Groove drumbeat, then immediately fading.
10/20/10: Trey starts Piper. Relatively long build to lyrics.
10/20/10: Page and Mike push the jam into rapid-fire territory at around 4:30.
10/20/10: Electric piano washes are really making this mellow jam space work, now.
10/20/10: Effortless move into more funk. Sounds like Birds.
10/20/10: Oh, it is. Trey is playing the melody line from Birds.
10/20/10: Fish building up the drums. Mike definitely teasing My Soul.
10/20/10: -> Split reprise.
10/20/10: Split > Slave.
10/20/10: The mellow part of that Slave featured some extra-good Trey and Mike interplay. End set.
10/20/10: GTBT to close a show where, indeed, the first set was better than the second. That Split -> Have Mercy > Piper -> Split...
10/20/10: ...was something else, though, for sure.
2010-10-19 Augusta Civic Center
The Verdict:
This might be the very first show since the Greek run where I didn't roll my eyes at any point. In the grand scheme of things, it's not a fantastic show, but it's a welcome return to form in any case and features a few highlights that I'll definitely be listening to again in the near future.
The first set is mostly high-energy, song-based fare, but it sets itself apart from the millions of sets of that type that the boys have laid down lately by featuring a tight-but-exploratory Type II "Gin," and extra-hot "JJLC," and a bombastic "46 Days."
It's really the second set that delivers the goods, and precisely in the way that's been missing in so many shows lately. There's a "Fuck Your Face" opener that gets teased and arguably reprised in the "Mike's" that follows. That sets up a "Light" that's the sinister sister of the 8/7 version, and then a "Twenty Years Later" that features a legitimate darkness jam in the outro, that in turn lands beautifully in "Fast Enough For You." The rest of the set is mostly jukebox stuff, minus a mellow "Hood" that is super mellow and stays that way even for the "peak," which isn't really a peak here, but more of a speed bump. I really liked this version, but you may find it to be a buzzkill.
But. That mid-set sequence is one of the best pieces of music the band has put together in 2010. Granted, there haven't been many entrants on that list as all, compared to other years, but the ones that are on there are serious jams, so you should go listen to the "Light" -> "Twenty Years Later" > "FEFY" immediately.
Oh! And I almost forgot that the encore "Reba" features a dark jam as well. Goddamn.
The Live Review:
10/19/10: Sweet mother of god, please give me something to not complain about in this show.
10/19/10: Ye have appeased me with yon CDT opener.
10/19/10: Uptempo BOTT is next.
10/19/10: That solo was pure, distilled summer-on-the-lawn right there.
10/19/10: Torn and Frayed!
10/19/10: Torn + Frayed is one of those songs the band always seems to struggle with, but I don't really mind b/c it's a top 10 Stones song.
10/19/10: Gin is next. Is it just me, or have they been repeating A LOT of songs very often lately?
10/19/10: Never really felt all the whining over repeats in '14, but could get on board with that complaint here.
10/19/10: Unexpected and neat tension section in Gin. Very cool!
10/19/10: This is an immediate highlight reel inclusion.
10/19/10: Hasn't reached Serious Jam status yet, but is interesting and exciting for a song that doesn't get much variation these days.
10/19/10: Wasn't really that the tension section was amazing, but more the effortless way they dipped into and back out of it.
10/19/10: Seems to have lit a fire under Trey, too. He's shredding for his life, now.
10/19/10: Gumbo > super-fast DSky.
10/19/10: Fishman is drumming like it's 1994.
10/19/10: Pretty standard though fast DSky, followed by JJLC. Great version.
10/19/10: Excellent Page vocals, and Trey's soloing is more straight-up blues than usual.
10/19/10: Nellie Kane next. Losing some setlist flow here, but the playing is a bit more inspired than the usual fall 2010 fare.
10/19/10: 46 Days. Everybody forgot the lyrics.
10/19/10: The lyrical flubs can be forgiven thanks to a few moments of MASSIVE shredding in the middle of the song.
10/19/10: Sudden end to 46 Days, > Possum.
10/19/10: End set.
10/19/10: FYF S2 opener. Okay, then.
10/19/10: FYF > Mike's -> FYF!
10/19/10: Awesome Mike's -> FYF -> Mike's there.
10/19/10: Hahahaha...another -> FYF at the end of Mike's. Then, > Light.
10/19/10: Light starts off as the usual arpeggio-fest, then develops into...a more intense arpeggio-fest.
10/19/10: Trey switching to chords, Page over to the organ.
10/19/10: Fish is driving now, with some seriously weird drumming. Synth effects and loops on top.
10/19/10: Similar space to the 8/7 Light now.
10/19/10: Appropriate, since this is the first legitimate jam the band has played since then.
10/19/10: Arguable -> Twenty Years after that fantastic jam.
10/19/10: Grinding, dark jam coda. Sounds like a ASIHTOS jam, sort of.
10/19/10: Nice sort-of -> FEFY.
10/19/10: So, in case you're keeping score, so far we've got FYF -> Mike's -> FYF -> Mike's -> FYF > Light -> Twenty Years -> FEFY.
10/19/10: In other words: 'Wow, where did this band suddenly come from?'
10/19/10: The solo section of the song is really muted. More Mike than Trey, really. Neat.
10/19/10: Here comes the Groove.
10/19/10: Nice little funk breakdown in a short Weekapaug.
10/19/10: Halley's seems like a weird choice next, but hey, it's still Halley's.
10/19/10: Quick Halley's -B Free.
10/19/10: Free is a totally standard version. Hood next.
10/19/10: Really slow building, delicate beginning to the jam. Really liking this version. Page on electric piano.
10/19/10: If you like mellow Hoods, then that was definitely your jam. Not even a real peak, per se. Just chill the whole time.
10/19/10: Golgi makes a nice contrast.
10/19/10: A Day In The Life is probably the set closer.
10/19/10: Reba encore!
10/19/10: Composed portion plays really well, esp. considering this is the encore of a three-hour show.
10/19/10: Trey is throwing out some pretty great little melodies here.
10/19/10: Page just moved over the piano and things are getting weird.
10/19/10: So here we have a dark, dissonant Reba jam. In an encore.
10/19/10: This kind of shit is the reason that the last 20 or so lackluster shows pissed me off. This is amazing.
10/19/10: In the middle of a completely un-Manteca jam, Fish sings the words to Manteca.
10/19/10: From there, Trey steers everyone back into a standard Reba build, but man, that was cool.
10/19/10: Hell yes. Now they're SLAYING Number Line. I'm so happy to finally be listening to a great show again.
10/19/10: I just spent two minutes drumming on my desk without realizing I was doing it. That's what listening to Phish is normally like.
10/19/10: And I already know 10/20 is a great show because I own the DVD. Two in a row!
10/19/10: I should have reviewed all the 3.0 shows in reverse order and called the blog Backwards Down The Number Line.
This might be the very first show since the Greek run where I didn't roll my eyes at any point. In the grand scheme of things, it's not a fantastic show, but it's a welcome return to form in any case and features a few highlights that I'll definitely be listening to again in the near future.
The first set is mostly high-energy, song-based fare, but it sets itself apart from the millions of sets of that type that the boys have laid down lately by featuring a tight-but-exploratory Type II "Gin," and extra-hot "JJLC," and a bombastic "46 Days."
It's really the second set that delivers the goods, and precisely in the way that's been missing in so many shows lately. There's a "Fuck Your Face" opener that gets teased and arguably reprised in the "Mike's" that follows. That sets up a "Light" that's the sinister sister of the 8/7 version, and then a "Twenty Years Later" that features a legitimate darkness jam in the outro, that in turn lands beautifully in "Fast Enough For You." The rest of the set is mostly jukebox stuff, minus a mellow "Hood" that is super mellow and stays that way even for the "peak," which isn't really a peak here, but more of a speed bump. I really liked this version, but you may find it to be a buzzkill.
But. That mid-set sequence is one of the best pieces of music the band has put together in 2010. Granted, there haven't been many entrants on that list as all, compared to other years, but the ones that are on there are serious jams, so you should go listen to the "Light" -> "Twenty Years Later" > "FEFY" immediately.
Oh! And I almost forgot that the encore "Reba" features a dark jam as well. Goddamn.
The Live Review:
10/19/10: Sweet mother of god, please give me something to not complain about in this show.
10/19/10: Ye have appeased me with yon CDT opener.
10/19/10: Uptempo BOTT is next.
10/19/10: That solo was pure, distilled summer-on-the-lawn right there.
10/19/10: Torn and Frayed!
10/19/10: Torn + Frayed is one of those songs the band always seems to struggle with, but I don't really mind b/c it's a top 10 Stones song.
10/19/10: Gin is next. Is it just me, or have they been repeating A LOT of songs very often lately?
10/19/10: Never really felt all the whining over repeats in '14, but could get on board with that complaint here.
10/19/10: Unexpected and neat tension section in Gin. Very cool!
10/19/10: This is an immediate highlight reel inclusion.
10/19/10: Hasn't reached Serious Jam status yet, but is interesting and exciting for a song that doesn't get much variation these days.
10/19/10: Wasn't really that the tension section was amazing, but more the effortless way they dipped into and back out of it.
10/19/10: Seems to have lit a fire under Trey, too. He's shredding for his life, now.
10/19/10: Gumbo > super-fast DSky.
10/19/10: Fishman is drumming like it's 1994.
10/19/10: Pretty standard though fast DSky, followed by JJLC. Great version.
10/19/10: Excellent Page vocals, and Trey's soloing is more straight-up blues than usual.
10/19/10: Nellie Kane next. Losing some setlist flow here, but the playing is a bit more inspired than the usual fall 2010 fare.
10/19/10: 46 Days. Everybody forgot the lyrics.
10/19/10: The lyrical flubs can be forgiven thanks to a few moments of MASSIVE shredding in the middle of the song.
10/19/10: Sudden end to 46 Days, > Possum.
10/19/10: End set.
10/19/10: FYF S2 opener. Okay, then.
10/19/10: FYF > Mike's -> FYF!
10/19/10: Awesome Mike's -> FYF -> Mike's there.
10/19/10: Hahahaha...another -> FYF at the end of Mike's. Then, > Light.
10/19/10: Light starts off as the usual arpeggio-fest, then develops into...a more intense arpeggio-fest.
10/19/10: Trey switching to chords, Page over to the organ.
10/19/10: Fish is driving now, with some seriously weird drumming. Synth effects and loops on top.
10/19/10: Similar space to the 8/7 Light now.
10/19/10: Appropriate, since this is the first legitimate jam the band has played since then.
10/19/10: Arguable -> Twenty Years after that fantastic jam.
10/19/10: Grinding, dark jam coda. Sounds like a ASIHTOS jam, sort of.
10/19/10: Nice sort-of -> FEFY.
10/19/10: So, in case you're keeping score, so far we've got FYF -> Mike's -> FYF -> Mike's -> FYF > Light -> Twenty Years -> FEFY.
10/19/10: In other words: 'Wow, where did this band suddenly come from?'
10/19/10: The solo section of the song is really muted. More Mike than Trey, really. Neat.
10/19/10: Here comes the Groove.
10/19/10: Nice little funk breakdown in a short Weekapaug.
10/19/10: Halley's seems like a weird choice next, but hey, it's still Halley's.
10/19/10: Quick Halley's -B Free.
10/19/10: Free is a totally standard version. Hood next.
10/19/10: Really slow building, delicate beginning to the jam. Really liking this version. Page on electric piano.
10/19/10: If you like mellow Hoods, then that was definitely your jam. Not even a real peak, per se. Just chill the whole time.
10/19/10: Golgi makes a nice contrast.
10/19/10: A Day In The Life is probably the set closer.
10/19/10: Reba encore!
10/19/10: Composed portion plays really well, esp. considering this is the encore of a three-hour show.
10/19/10: Trey is throwing out some pretty great little melodies here.
10/19/10: Page just moved over the piano and things are getting weird.
10/19/10: So here we have a dark, dissonant Reba jam. In an encore.
10/19/10: This kind of shit is the reason that the last 20 or so lackluster shows pissed me off. This is amazing.
10/19/10: In the middle of a completely un-Manteca jam, Fish sings the words to Manteca.
10/19/10: From there, Trey steers everyone back into a standard Reba build, but man, that was cool.
10/19/10: Hell yes. Now they're SLAYING Number Line. I'm so happy to finally be listening to a great show again.
10/19/10: I just spent two minutes drumming on my desk without realizing I was doing it. That's what listening to Phish is normally like.
10/19/10: And I already know 10/20 is a great show because I own the DVD. Two in a row!
10/19/10: I should have reviewed all the 3.0 shows in reverse order and called the blog Backwards Down The Number Line.
May 2, 2015
2010-10-16 North Charleston II
The Verdict:
The first song of this show is a fiery, interesting "KDF," which indicates right off the bat that at least N2 in North Charleston won't be more of the same. I'm not sure if this show is any better, objectively, than any of the other recent shows, but it's different.
The first set is both different and better than most recent S1s. Where the novelty of the Good Songs, Played Well first set wore off sometime around, oh, July, they manage to infuse that approach with new energy in this show thanks in part to an exceptionally well-paced set of excellent song choices, complicated just a bit by an excellent "The Curtain With" an extended "Sand," and a great "Cavern" -> "Bowie" segue.
The bad news is that after a great first set, the second set is underwhelming. You have a long "Crosseyed" to open the set, but it's basically a solid Type I jam, then a typical ambient breakdown, and then a slow reprise of the song's verse progression that, while cool, doesn't end up going anywhere. So, yeah, it's better than nothing, but calling it a Type II jam would be a bit of a stretch, so at fifteen minutes it ends up feeling a little long rather than exciting. The rest of the set is bracketed by "Fluffhead" and "YEM," which always makes me feel like a second set's been wasted. Sure, those songs are great, but very rarely these days does any impressive improv emerge from either of them. In between them, though, "2001" and "Tweezer" are both great-though-short takes.
All in all, it feels a bit like the second set doesn't deliver on the promise of the first, but on the other hand, backhanded compliment though it is, I feel like this is the hardest the band's pushed to create something compelling since Berkeley. And even the fact that they're trying is a good sign, even if they're not completely succeeding.
The Live Review:
10/16/10: Here we go again.
10/16/10: The dulcet shrieking-cat squeals of KDF kick off the show.
10/16/10: Okay, I'll put part of my foot in my mouth: that was an excellent version of KDF, and I don't know if I've ever said that before.
10/16/10: Guelah Papyrus! Clearly, my request for more versions of this song in 2010 got tweeted back through time somehow.
10/16/10: The Curtain With!
10/16/10: And they more or less have nailed it so far.
10/16/10: Nice, driving jam at the end of The Curtain With.
10/16/10: The Mango Song, Sand. This is a great set! So excited to be able to say that.
10/16/10: Sand is staying Type I, but with some interesting little departures. Great Trey and Page interplay.
10/16/10: A surprisingly delicate version of LxL followed Sand. Sally is up next.
10/16/10: They've been playing this a ton lately, too, which is great.
10/16/10: Sally had a little vox breakdown and a great Trey solo. Now, Uncle Pen! It's like this setlist is built just for me :)
10/16/10: Pebbles and Marbles! They're really going for the rarer compositional pieces today.
10/16/10: Finishing the set with Cavern -> Bowie.
10/16/10: So far, this Bowie is surprisingly exploratory.
10/16/10: Really great tension segment now.
10/16/10: Great S1. Be back w/ S2 later after I bike up to work.
10/16/10: S2 starts off with Crosseyed! So far, this is a great setlist apology for the last few weeks of tour :)
10/16/10: Languid tempo. Maybe a groove jam coming up?
10/16/10: Great solo to start, Trey machine-gunning it now.
10/16/10: Excellent Type I jam just keeps building, then fades out at 12:00.
10/16/10: After a few minutes of ambient, sound Trey and then the full band build back into the verse progression of C+P. Pretty cool.
10/16/10: The 'reprise' there faded out right quick, though. Dead stop, and then Dirt.
10/16/10: The outro is gorgeous, as usual. Though a little bit flubby.
10/16/10: Fluffhead! Yay, but also probably means no more jamming tonight. If C+P could even be called that.
10/16/10: Fluffhead comes to a complete close, then the band starts up a weird feedback jam. Runs for about a minute before -> 2001.
10/16/10: It took Trey two minutes to play the actual riff. I think that's a Patience Record for 3.0. Then he hit the wrong opening note.
10/16/10: Win some, lose some.
10/16/10: Really solid (if short) 2001 here.
10/16/10: Trey starts up Tweezer out of the 2001 fadeout.
10/16/10: Sans 2001, so far I've actually enjoyed S1 way more than S2, but this might change my mind.
10/16/10: The Tweezer jam got really dark and heavy there for a few minutes. Now it's teetering on the
edge of plinko territory.
10/16/10: The last bit of the jam is an interesting funk-rock hybrid.
10/16/10: As in, half the band is playing rock while the other half is playing funk.
10/16/10: Out-of-key-Show-of-Life'd.
10/16/10: There are parts of this song that are great, and touching.
10/16/10: But Christ, 'It's a limited time / that we exist / as we make our way / into the mist' and...
10/16/10: ...'Just like the blind imagine / what it is to have sight / we slowly take a stroll / into the night' are the worse lines.
10/16/10: Literally my least favorite two couplets of #phish lyrics. And they have, what, 4 million songs?
10/16/10: ...aaaand YEM will close the set.
10/16/10: Not a bad show in the grand scheme of Everything Since 2009, really, but...
10/16/10: After a ripping, fun, and fairly INTERESTING S1, it's a little disappointing to see them fall back on composed stuff in S2.
10/16/10: 2001 and Tweezer were well-done. C+P was long, but really only because of the fadeout -> reprise.
10/16/10: Otherwise, it was just a solid Type I jam. So yeah, nothing really interesting here, but still the best show since the Greek.
10/16/10: Bringing you passive aggressive reviews of 2010 #phish shows since 8/7/10.
10/16/10: The ending YEM jam is solid, like most of the guitar-driven Type I stuff during this show.
10/16/10: I love-hate the necessarily cheesy intro to I Been Around live :)
10/16/10: Encore wraps up with Quinn > Tweeprise.
The first song of this show is a fiery, interesting "KDF," which indicates right off the bat that at least N2 in North Charleston won't be more of the same. I'm not sure if this show is any better, objectively, than any of the other recent shows, but it's different.
The first set is both different and better than most recent S1s. Where the novelty of the Good Songs, Played Well first set wore off sometime around, oh, July, they manage to infuse that approach with new energy in this show thanks in part to an exceptionally well-paced set of excellent song choices, complicated just a bit by an excellent "The Curtain With" an extended "Sand," and a great "Cavern" -> "Bowie" segue.
The bad news is that after a great first set, the second set is underwhelming. You have a long "Crosseyed" to open the set, but it's basically a solid Type I jam, then a typical ambient breakdown, and then a slow reprise of the song's verse progression that, while cool, doesn't end up going anywhere. So, yeah, it's better than nothing, but calling it a Type II jam would be a bit of a stretch, so at fifteen minutes it ends up feeling a little long rather than exciting. The rest of the set is bracketed by "Fluffhead" and "YEM," which always makes me feel like a second set's been wasted. Sure, those songs are great, but very rarely these days does any impressive improv emerge from either of them. In between them, though, "2001" and "Tweezer" are both great-though-short takes.
All in all, it feels a bit like the second set doesn't deliver on the promise of the first, but on the other hand, backhanded compliment though it is, I feel like this is the hardest the band's pushed to create something compelling since Berkeley. And even the fact that they're trying is a good sign, even if they're not completely succeeding.
The Live Review:
10/16/10: Here we go again.
10/16/10: The dulcet shrieking-cat squeals of KDF kick off the show.
10/16/10: Okay, I'll put part of my foot in my mouth: that was an excellent version of KDF, and I don't know if I've ever said that before.
10/16/10: Guelah Papyrus! Clearly, my request for more versions of this song in 2010 got tweeted back through time somehow.
10/16/10: The Curtain With!
10/16/10: And they more or less have nailed it so far.
10/16/10: Nice, driving jam at the end of The Curtain With.
10/16/10: The Mango Song, Sand. This is a great set! So excited to be able to say that.
10/16/10: Sand is staying Type I, but with some interesting little departures. Great Trey and Page interplay.
10/16/10: A surprisingly delicate version of LxL followed Sand. Sally is up next.
10/16/10: They've been playing this a ton lately, too, which is great.
10/16/10: Sally had a little vox breakdown and a great Trey solo. Now, Uncle Pen! It's like this setlist is built just for me :)
10/16/10: Pebbles and Marbles! They're really going for the rarer compositional pieces today.
10/16/10: Finishing the set with Cavern -> Bowie.
10/16/10: So far, this Bowie is surprisingly exploratory.
10/16/10: Really great tension segment now.
10/16/10: Great S1. Be back w/ S2 later after I bike up to work.
10/16/10: S2 starts off with Crosseyed! So far, this is a great setlist apology for the last few weeks of tour :)
10/16/10: Languid tempo. Maybe a groove jam coming up?
10/16/10: Great solo to start, Trey machine-gunning it now.
10/16/10: Excellent Type I jam just keeps building, then fades out at 12:00.
10/16/10: After a few minutes of ambient, sound Trey and then the full band build back into the verse progression of C+P. Pretty cool.
10/16/10: The 'reprise' there faded out right quick, though. Dead stop, and then Dirt.
10/16/10: The outro is gorgeous, as usual. Though a little bit flubby.
10/16/10: Fluffhead! Yay, but also probably means no more jamming tonight. If C+P could even be called that.
10/16/10: Fluffhead comes to a complete close, then the band starts up a weird feedback jam. Runs for about a minute before -> 2001.
10/16/10: It took Trey two minutes to play the actual riff. I think that's a Patience Record for 3.0. Then he hit the wrong opening note.
10/16/10: Win some, lose some.
10/16/10: Really solid (if short) 2001 here.
10/16/10: Trey starts up Tweezer out of the 2001 fadeout.
10/16/10: Sans 2001, so far I've actually enjoyed S1 way more than S2, but this might change my mind.
10/16/10: The Tweezer jam got really dark and heavy there for a few minutes. Now it's teetering on the
edge of plinko territory.
10/16/10: The last bit of the jam is an interesting funk-rock hybrid.
10/16/10: As in, half the band is playing rock while the other half is playing funk.
10/16/10: Out-of-key-Show-of-Life'd.
10/16/10: There are parts of this song that are great, and touching.
10/16/10: But Christ, 'It's a limited time / that we exist / as we make our way / into the mist' and...
10/16/10: ...'Just like the blind imagine / what it is to have sight / we slowly take a stroll / into the night' are the worse lines.
10/16/10: Literally my least favorite two couplets of #phish lyrics. And they have, what, 4 million songs?
10/16/10: ...aaaand YEM will close the set.
10/16/10: Not a bad show in the grand scheme of Everything Since 2009, really, but...
10/16/10: After a ripping, fun, and fairly INTERESTING S1, it's a little disappointing to see them fall back on composed stuff in S2.
10/16/10: 2001 and Tweezer were well-done. C+P was long, but really only because of the fadeout -> reprise.
10/16/10: Otherwise, it was just a solid Type I jam. So yeah, nothing really interesting here, but still the best show since the Greek.
10/16/10: Bringing you passive aggressive reviews of 2010 #phish shows since 8/7/10.
10/16/10: The ending YEM jam is solid, like most of the guitar-driven Type I stuff during this show.
10/16/10: I love-hate the necessarily cheesy intro to I Been Around live :)
10/16/10: Encore wraps up with Quinn > Tweeprise.
2010-10-15 North Charleston I
The Verdict:
There are a lot of songs in this show. Or at least, that's what it felt like. S1 starts hot, with a "PYITE" > "Possum," "Gin" sequence that includes generous helpings of the mustard all the way around, but after that things fade back into the usual-for-2010 category quickly. Unless you want to hear Page's dad sing a song for the novelty value, there isn't much that really stands out about this set except for parts of the "Gin" and a legitimately interesting jam in "Stash."
The second set starts with "Disease," and it gets stretched out a bit. Though the boys don't really do anything interesting with the jam space, they make really fluid transitions between a few (recycled) ideas that honestly makes this one of more interesting jams I've heard from them post-Berkeley. And yes, that's backhanded praise, but praise nonetheless. The short-but-sweet "Twist" is probably worth a listen as well, but the rest of the set after that is pure jukebox.
The Live Review:
10/15/10: Alright, here's hoping we're getting an improvement over Broomfield.
10/15/10: PYITE opener helps.
10/15/10: Rough-ish version of PYITE leads into Possum.
10/15/10: A little extra blues on that Possum. Gin is third.
10/15/10: Nice, slow build in this Gin.
10/15/10: That was the epitome of an average-great Gin right there, yes siree.
10/15/10: Jack McConnell making an appearance on stage as 'the world's greatest tap dancer.'
10/15/10: Jack singing Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home now.
10/15/10: Boogie On, Destiny.
10/15/10: Happy with the frequency with which Destiny is getting played this summer.
10/15/10: Short Destiny, short Number Line. Nothing really to see here.
10/15/10: Okay, playing Bouncing next makes it seem like they're trying to be boring on purpose.
10/15/10: Stash! This will force them to do something interesting...right? RIGHT?!
10/15/10: Really dark, rolling bit to this Stash, driven by Fish.
10/15/10: Seems like every time something cool happens lately, it's just because of Fish entirely.
10/15/10: Which is just fine.
10/15/10: Trey is building some serious tension now. This actually sounds like not-asleep-at-the-wheel Phish!
10/15/10: Rough landing at the end, but what the hell.
10/15/10: Of course they have to follow with Joy because THE UNIVERSE SEEKS BALANCE
10/15/10: Buffalo Bill!
10/15/10: Antelope. End of a really weird set.
10/15/10: Strong start, absolutely no flow, teeny-tiny improv in Stash, everything else play-by-numbers.
10/15/10: Jack's appearance was cool, though.
10/15/10: Slightly extended murky intro to DwD to start S2.
10/15/10: Solid Type I jam until about 9:00, when there's a seamless move into organ-powered funk territory.
10/15/10: A synth-y, more ambient sound now.
10/15/10: This jam really just reused ideas we've heard a bunch of times before instead of coming up with anything new...
10/15/10: ...but damn were those ideas stitched together well.
10/15/10: Arguably a -> into Caspian.
10/15/10: Caspian moves toward a driving space...and Trey whips out Twist.
10/15/10: It's really weird how quick the band is to jump into another song as soon as a jam starts to change from Type I.
10/15/10: I've said this before, but it almost seems as if the goal of this year is to just play as many songs as possible.
10/15/10: Really cool electric piano and guitar interplay at the start of this jam.
10/15/10: That was short, but neat. Now, Roses!
10/15/10: MFMF > My Problem Right There. We might be back in jukebox mode alright. That's a shame.
10/15/10: Mike's! Sorta late for it
10/15/10: REALLY hot Mike's, pretty much out of nowhere.
10/15/10: So, MIke's > The Horse > Silent. That's weird.
10/15/10: Mexican Cousin for fun, before they dive into Groove.
10/15/10: Nice solo from Trey in Groove. > Suzy.
10/15/10: For the most part, this show has been More Of The Same, but there's also that Stash and bits of the Disease to think about.
10/15/10: Suzy, then Slave. Sorry for the boring review. It's a bit of a boring show.
10/15/10: I feel like a jerk spending an entire year's worth of review essentially ripping on my favorite band.
10/15/10: But, after 34 2010 shows, there have been about 6-7 that I wouldn't describe as 'mediocre at best.'
10/15/10: And that's even applying 2009 or 2011-2012 expectations, not just 2013-2014 or 1997-1998 expectations.
10/15/10: All complaining aside, though, this is a really slow and delicate take on Slave. So, that's purty at least.
10/15/10: Zero'd for the encore. That seems appropriate.
There are a lot of songs in this show. Or at least, that's what it felt like. S1 starts hot, with a "PYITE" > "Possum," "Gin" sequence that includes generous helpings of the mustard all the way around, but after that things fade back into the usual-for-2010 category quickly. Unless you want to hear Page's dad sing a song for the novelty value, there isn't much that really stands out about this set except for parts of the "Gin" and a legitimately interesting jam in "Stash."
The second set starts with "Disease," and it gets stretched out a bit. Though the boys don't really do anything interesting with the jam space, they make really fluid transitions between a few (recycled) ideas that honestly makes this one of more interesting jams I've heard from them post-Berkeley. And yes, that's backhanded praise, but praise nonetheless. The short-but-sweet "Twist" is probably worth a listen as well, but the rest of the set after that is pure jukebox.
The Live Review:
10/15/10: Alright, here's hoping we're getting an improvement over Broomfield.
10/15/10: PYITE opener helps.
10/15/10: Rough-ish version of PYITE leads into Possum.
10/15/10: A little extra blues on that Possum. Gin is third.
10/15/10: Nice, slow build in this Gin.
10/15/10: That was the epitome of an average-great Gin right there, yes siree.
10/15/10: Jack McConnell making an appearance on stage as 'the world's greatest tap dancer.'
10/15/10: Jack singing Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home now.
10/15/10: Boogie On, Destiny.
10/15/10: Happy with the frequency with which Destiny is getting played this summer.
10/15/10: Short Destiny, short Number Line. Nothing really to see here.
10/15/10: Okay, playing Bouncing next makes it seem like they're trying to be boring on purpose.
10/15/10: Stash! This will force them to do something interesting...right? RIGHT?!
10/15/10: Really dark, rolling bit to this Stash, driven by Fish.
10/15/10: Seems like every time something cool happens lately, it's just because of Fish entirely.
10/15/10: Which is just fine.
10/15/10: Trey is building some serious tension now. This actually sounds like not-asleep-at-the-wheel Phish!
10/15/10: Rough landing at the end, but what the hell.
10/15/10: Of course they have to follow with Joy because THE UNIVERSE SEEKS BALANCE
10/15/10: Buffalo Bill!
10/15/10: Antelope. End of a really weird set.
10/15/10: Strong start, absolutely no flow, teeny-tiny improv in Stash, everything else play-by-numbers.
10/15/10: Jack's appearance was cool, though.
10/15/10: Slightly extended murky intro to DwD to start S2.
10/15/10: Solid Type I jam until about 9:00, when there's a seamless move into organ-powered funk territory.
10/15/10: A synth-y, more ambient sound now.
10/15/10: This jam really just reused ideas we've heard a bunch of times before instead of coming up with anything new...
10/15/10: ...but damn were those ideas stitched together well.
10/15/10: Arguably a -> into Caspian.
10/15/10: Caspian moves toward a driving space...and Trey whips out Twist.
10/15/10: It's really weird how quick the band is to jump into another song as soon as a jam starts to change from Type I.
10/15/10: I've said this before, but it almost seems as if the goal of this year is to just play as many songs as possible.
10/15/10: Really cool electric piano and guitar interplay at the start of this jam.
10/15/10: That was short, but neat. Now, Roses!
10/15/10: MFMF > My Problem Right There. We might be back in jukebox mode alright. That's a shame.
10/15/10: Mike's! Sorta late for it
10/15/10: REALLY hot Mike's, pretty much out of nowhere.
10/15/10: So, MIke's > The Horse > Silent. That's weird.
10/15/10: Mexican Cousin for fun, before they dive into Groove.
10/15/10: Nice solo from Trey in Groove. > Suzy.
10/15/10: For the most part, this show has been More Of The Same, but there's also that Stash and bits of the Disease to think about.
10/15/10: Suzy, then Slave. Sorry for the boring review. It's a bit of a boring show.
10/15/10: I feel like a jerk spending an entire year's worth of review essentially ripping on my favorite band.
10/15/10: But, after 34 2010 shows, there have been about 6-7 that I wouldn't describe as 'mediocre at best.'
10/15/10: And that's even applying 2009 or 2011-2012 expectations, not just 2013-2014 or 1997-1998 expectations.
10/15/10: All complaining aside, though, this is a really slow and delicate take on Slave. So, that's purty at least.
10/15/10: Zero'd for the encore. That seems appropriate.
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