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.
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