The Verdict:
12/27 is the first show of a five-show NYE run (two in Worcester, three at MSG), and I can't quite pin it down. I've been complaining throughout pretty much all of 2010 at this point about the band's quantity-over-quality approach to shows, and the disturbing frequency with which they are willing to engage Jukebox Mode, not only during first sets, but often for the vast majority of the second set. On paper, Worcester is basically yet another one of these shows, and you'd think that especially coming off the heels of a strong(er) Halloween run this would be disappointing. But for some reason that I can't fathom, I really enjoyed this show and found that it rose above many of its 2010 brethren.
It might very well just be Trey. Despite my problems with the general direction of the boys' playing this year, Trey has been pure fire throughout, and somehow he's even leaps and bounds better than usual in this show. Previously, I'd suggested that it's actually been his proficiency this year that has pushed the rest of the band away from stepping up. Generally speaking, from my perspective at least, that's a bad thing. But, is it possible that Trey can have such a strong show that it ends up not mattering that he's pushed the rest of the group into the position of backing band? That seems to be what's going on here.
The first set is another weird-but-good 2010 S1, with "Cool It Down" showing up and showing a bit of legs, an early "Roggae" hitting some squealing peaks that are above the song's pay grade, Mike's "What Things Seem" getting jammed out a little bit, and an especially delicate "Mountains in the Mist" setting up the "Julius" set-closer. Again, there's nothing positively interesting here, but the set hangs together extremely well and Trey makes it all work through sheer force of will while simultaneously sort of riding over everyone else except on the rare occasion that Page can keep up with him.
The second set starts off slow, with the only real notable thing about the "Mike's Groove" being the fact that "Mound" is the meat of that sandwich. Right about when you can feel the jukebox coming out, though, a fantastic "Seven Below" jam starts getting laced through with the "What's the Use?" riff, setting up an excellent pairing followed by a solid "Twenty Years Later" landing pad. None of these three songs go too far off the reservation, but they flow along so well that it's still one of my favorite sequences in a long time. Don't turn up your nose at the "Farmhouse" before or the "Wading" after, either: Trey's domination extends to a beautifully delicate, melodic outro solo in both cases. The rest of the show is pretty standard, but the middle of the second set transcends the usual 2010 good-but-straightforward feeling to make a legitimate highlight.
The Live Review:
12/27/10: Sample opens the pre-MSG Worcester pair.
12/27/10: Funky Bitch is second, Page on fire.
12/27/10: Great take on Funky Bitch. Ends with a sudden stop, and I mean sudden.
12/27/10: Cool It Down is next!
12/27/10: Swanky little jam out of Cool It Down here.
12/27/10: Roggae is a weird choice this early, but I'm not complaining.
12/27/10: Mike jumps into rapid-fire bass right away. Trey jumps on the pile shortly after.
12/27/10: Now Page adding some excellent accents. This is definitely an above-average version.
12/27/10: Getting surprisingly bombastic by Roggae standards.
12/27/10: Interesting, peaky Roggae > Heavy Things.
12/27/10: Trey having a little trouble with the loop timing.
12/27/10: Great Heavy Things. Fantastic Trey/Page passage toward the end.
12/27/10: It really seems like 2011 Phish started sometime during the Halloween run. I'm happy for that.
12/27/10: What Things Seem!!!!
12/27/10: Love hearing the Moss-era Mike songs reinterpreted by Phish. Next up is Roses.
12/27/10: I just read 'It's Ice' on my phone as 'Let's Be Nice.' I think that should be the new title of the song. #phish
12/27/10: By the way, What Things Seem was a little rough and is probably better as an MGB tune, but had a nice grungy outro jamlet.
12/27/10: Rough run-through of It's Ice but with a nice extended Page lead-in to the instrumental section.
12/27/10: Mountains in the Mist is next.
12/27/10: Julius. Hey, isn't that a repeat from 10/31?! No fair!
12/27/10: Okay, so you know that I'm not a huge fan of Julius, but Trey and Page just obliterated that version.
12/27/10: S2 kicks off with Mike's.
12/27/10: Standard rock-god Mike's, but a nice landing in Mound, of all things.
12/27/10: Slam into a high-speed Groove follows.
12/27/10: Nothing particularly noteworthy is happening in this show, but I'm having a hell of a good time listening to it.
12/27/10: Don't really know if there's some unquantifiable fun factor to this vs. lots of other rote 2010 shows...
12/27/10: ...or if it's just because I haven't listened to Phish in two weeks.
12/27/10: Either way, I'm digging it, missing jams and all.
12/27/10: Loopgasm to close out the Groove
12/27/10: Trey is losing his damn mind.
12/27/10: Or maybe I should say that he's loosing his damn mind.
12/27/10: Farmhouse is the cooldown tune.
12/27/10: Trey is actually laying down a pretty amazing solo at the end of this Farmhouse.
12/27/10: Farmhouse > Seven Below.
12/27/10: Staccato chords from Trey, then an almost half-time Timber section.
12/27/10: This is a fantastic jam. Really ethereal, but Mike and Fish are keeping it driving at the same time. Great.
12/27/10: Trey is playing WTU riff in the Seven Below jam.
12/27/10: If they transition I'm going to fucking die.
12/27/10: Well, they did it, but it was more of a > than a ->.
12/27/10: The rare case where the boys aren't picking up what Trey's putting down and ripcord him instead of the other way around.
12/27/10: Still, badass Seven Below > WTU? combo.
12/27/10: Great landing in Twenty Years Later.
12/27/10: I just find this song fucking mesmerizing and always have. The Number Line > Twenty
Years combo at Blossom '10 did it.
12/27/10: Wow. Mesmerizing, Simple-jam-like ending to Wading.
12/27/10: The highlights of this show are coming in the weirdest, mellowest places.
12/27/10: I COME FROM TACO MOUNTAIN, BABY
12/27/10: Cavern > Bowie to follow a strong Possum.
12/27/10: Strong, standard version of Bowie with some extra Trey Juice ends set 2.
12/27/10: Loving Cup closer.
Jun 29, 2015
2010-10-31 Boardwalk Hall III
The Verdict:
After late fall 2010 saw the band get interesting for the first time since 2009 (minus a few small exceptions sprinkled throughout summer '10), the Halloween run is a true, long-awaited return to greatness that will hopefully continue throughout the NYE run in December. The 2010 Halloween show proper pales a bit in comparison to the 10/30 show, but that might just be because I'm not really a Little Feat fan.
The first set is a strong one, and features an obvious Halloween theme for its first half or so, including an early "Ghost" that makes a great transition into "Spooky." The highlight of the set is the "Stash," which departs into a bliss space reminiscent of a typical "Simple" jam for a few solid minutes before returning to its usual form.
Not being familiar with the cover album, I don't have a lot to say directly about the second set, but you can read some thoughts related to the evolution of Phish's Halloween tradition below in the original review.
Set three finished the run well, with a short-but-sweet "Disease," a jammed-out "Wilson," a delicate and gorgeous "Hood," and a typically strong "YEM," before the encore brings back some of the brass from set two to take on "Julius" for the encore.
Ultimately, this would have been one of the stronger, more consistent shows of fall even lacking a major centerpiece jam without the covers set, so that's just the icing on the cake.
The Live Review:
10/31/10: Opening with Frankenstein. Very thematically appropriate.
10/31/10: BBFCFM following.
10/31/10: And now, Ghost! Full-on Halloween theme, here.
10/31/10: Ghost has a surprisingly good momentum to it for the first set.
10/31/10: Staying Type I, but rolling along nicely.
10/31/10: Awesome Ghost -> Spooky transition.
10/31/10: Halloween-y segment followed by an uptempo Divided Sky.
10/31/10: Roses Are Free is next. Back on the Halloween theme? PUMPKINS
10/31/10: Roses > Funky Bitch.
10/31/10: Neat Funky Bitch > Boogie On combo is next.
10/31/10: Strong S1, here.
10/31/10: Stash comes up next, and pretty quickly departs on an interesting bliss jam. Sounds a bit like a Simple jam.
10/31/10: After about four minutes, moving slowly back into the typical Stash jam.
10/31/10: Unique version, for sure.
10/31/10: No end set yet, Character Zero next.
10/31/10: I should say before we get to S2 that I've never heard a Little Feat song and don't know this album at all.
10/31/10: So, basically, it's going to be really cool for me to hear the set, but my review is gonna suck :)
10/31/10: Okay, Zero ends the set.
10/31/10: So, rather than reviewing covers of a bunch of tracks I don't know at all, here are a few thoughts during S2.
10/31/10: These songs are really well played, and the horns are neat, and I'm definitely going to check out this Little Feat album...
10/31/10: ...after I'm done listening to this show.
10/31/10: On the other hand, I feel pretty much the same way about this set as I did about the Exile set, and I'm glad that the band has...
10/31/10: ...stopped doing Halloween covers as of the last two years.
10/31/10: What made the musical costumes one of the best parts of Phish lore for me was not just that they were cool sets/albums, but...
10/31/10: ...that later on in the year(s), you could see how learning and covering a particular album affected their sound going forward.
10/31/10: Maybe not so much with the White Album, but with Quadrophenia, Remain in Light, and Loaded, for sure.
10/31/10: The old Halloween shows sort of felt like we were getting a glimpse into the future.
10/31/10: More recent shows just seem like sort of a fun gimmick.
10/31/10: I mean, I don't hear elements of Exile seeping into the band's music post-'09 or Little Feat post-'10.
10/31/10: On the other hand, there are obvious connections to the band's evolution happening at the '13 and '14 Halloween shows.
10/31/10: So, yeah. 'Fun but not essential' is sort of how I'm feeling about this set, and that's why.
10/31/10: S3 kicks off with more songs I know :)
10/31/10: Major flub at the beginning of Disease. Restart required. Some funny banter between Trey and Fish results.
10/31/10: 'We're allowed to mess up someone else's album, but this is *our* album!'
10/31/10: Smooth transition into some space funk about seven minutes into the Disease.
10/31/10: Neat, loop-heavy section now.
10/31/10: Short but sweet jam peters out naturally. > BOTT.
10/31/10: This BOTT > Jibboo pairing is like the recent Moma > Cities or Wolfman's -> Undermind, only boring.
10/31/10: Okay, I'll admit that this Jibboo is slightly more interesting than most. Probably worth your ten minutes.
10/31/10: Fuzzed-out ending to a weird but good Jibboo, and now Camel Walk.
10/31/10: I like late-show Camel Walks, but they often seem to indicate a switch over to ye olde jukeboxe.
10/31/10: Suzy being next pretty much confirms my hypothesis.
10/31/10: So the Wilson that follows actually has an extended outro jam based on a descending guitar riff from Trey.
10/31/10: Hood.
10/31/10: Extra-delicate Hood jam beginning.
10/31/10: This Hood is staying super-mellow. Mike and Trey interplay now. I really dig this.
10/31/10: Kind of weird peak section, but hey it's about the journey, right?
10/31/10: THE HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORSE
10/31/10: Hey, this is The Horse with piano instead of guitar! Thought that was a '14 thing!
10/31/10: YEM for the set closer!
10/31/10: Julius encore with extra percussionist and horns. Drum solo and some neat horn lines so far.
10/31/10: Minimal sort of breakdown section now.
10/31/10: Well, that was an extremely strong conclusion to an extremely boring and sometimes shitty tour.
10/31/10: I'm excited to move on to the NYE run, though. And from there, knock out a little bit of '11 before summer starts!
After late fall 2010 saw the band get interesting for the first time since 2009 (minus a few small exceptions sprinkled throughout summer '10), the Halloween run is a true, long-awaited return to greatness that will hopefully continue throughout the NYE run in December. The 2010 Halloween show proper pales a bit in comparison to the 10/30 show, but that might just be because I'm not really a Little Feat fan.
The first set is a strong one, and features an obvious Halloween theme for its first half or so, including an early "Ghost" that makes a great transition into "Spooky." The highlight of the set is the "Stash," which departs into a bliss space reminiscent of a typical "Simple" jam for a few solid minutes before returning to its usual form.
Not being familiar with the cover album, I don't have a lot to say directly about the second set, but you can read some thoughts related to the evolution of Phish's Halloween tradition below in the original review.
Set three finished the run well, with a short-but-sweet "Disease," a jammed-out "Wilson," a delicate and gorgeous "Hood," and a typically strong "YEM," before the encore brings back some of the brass from set two to take on "Julius" for the encore.
Ultimately, this would have been one of the stronger, more consistent shows of fall even lacking a major centerpiece jam without the covers set, so that's just the icing on the cake.
The Live Review:
10/31/10: Opening with Frankenstein. Very thematically appropriate.
10/31/10: BBFCFM following.
10/31/10: And now, Ghost! Full-on Halloween theme, here.
10/31/10: Ghost has a surprisingly good momentum to it for the first set.
10/31/10: Staying Type I, but rolling along nicely.
10/31/10: Awesome Ghost -> Spooky transition.
10/31/10: Halloween-y segment followed by an uptempo Divided Sky.
10/31/10: Roses Are Free is next. Back on the Halloween theme? PUMPKINS
10/31/10: Roses > Funky Bitch.
10/31/10: Neat Funky Bitch > Boogie On combo is next.
10/31/10: Strong S1, here.
10/31/10: Stash comes up next, and pretty quickly departs on an interesting bliss jam. Sounds a bit like a Simple jam.
10/31/10: After about four minutes, moving slowly back into the typical Stash jam.
10/31/10: Unique version, for sure.
10/31/10: No end set yet, Character Zero next.
10/31/10: I should say before we get to S2 that I've never heard a Little Feat song and don't know this album at all.
10/31/10: So, basically, it's going to be really cool for me to hear the set, but my review is gonna suck :)
10/31/10: Okay, Zero ends the set.
10/31/10: So, rather than reviewing covers of a bunch of tracks I don't know at all, here are a few thoughts during S2.
10/31/10: These songs are really well played, and the horns are neat, and I'm definitely going to check out this Little Feat album...
10/31/10: ...after I'm done listening to this show.
10/31/10: On the other hand, I feel pretty much the same way about this set as I did about the Exile set, and I'm glad that the band has...
10/31/10: ...stopped doing Halloween covers as of the last two years.
10/31/10: What made the musical costumes one of the best parts of Phish lore for me was not just that they were cool sets/albums, but...
10/31/10: ...that later on in the year(s), you could see how learning and covering a particular album affected their sound going forward.
10/31/10: Maybe not so much with the White Album, but with Quadrophenia, Remain in Light, and Loaded, for sure.
10/31/10: The old Halloween shows sort of felt like we were getting a glimpse into the future.
10/31/10: More recent shows just seem like sort of a fun gimmick.
10/31/10: I mean, I don't hear elements of Exile seeping into the band's music post-'09 or Little Feat post-'10.
10/31/10: On the other hand, there are obvious connections to the band's evolution happening at the '13 and '14 Halloween shows.
10/31/10: So, yeah. 'Fun but not essential' is sort of how I'm feeling about this set, and that's why.
10/31/10: S3 kicks off with more songs I know :)
10/31/10: Major flub at the beginning of Disease. Restart required. Some funny banter between Trey and Fish results.
10/31/10: 'We're allowed to mess up someone else's album, but this is *our* album!'
10/31/10: Smooth transition into some space funk about seven minutes into the Disease.
10/31/10: Neat, loop-heavy section now.
10/31/10: Short but sweet jam peters out naturally. > BOTT.
10/31/10: This BOTT > Jibboo pairing is like the recent Moma > Cities or Wolfman's -> Undermind, only boring.
10/31/10: Okay, I'll admit that this Jibboo is slightly more interesting than most. Probably worth your ten minutes.
10/31/10: Fuzzed-out ending to a weird but good Jibboo, and now Camel Walk.
10/31/10: I like late-show Camel Walks, but they often seem to indicate a switch over to ye olde jukeboxe.
10/31/10: Suzy being next pretty much confirms my hypothesis.
10/31/10: So the Wilson that follows actually has an extended outro jam based on a descending guitar riff from Trey.
10/31/10: Hood.
10/31/10: Extra-delicate Hood jam beginning.
10/31/10: This Hood is staying super-mellow. Mike and Trey interplay now. I really dig this.
10/31/10: Kind of weird peak section, but hey it's about the journey, right?
10/31/10: THE HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORSE
10/31/10: Hey, this is The Horse with piano instead of guitar! Thought that was a '14 thing!
10/31/10: YEM for the set closer!
10/31/10: Julius encore with extra percussionist and horns. Drum solo and some neat horn lines so far.
10/31/10: Minimal sort of breakdown section now.
10/31/10: Well, that was an extremely strong conclusion to an extremely boring and sometimes shitty tour.
10/31/10: I'm excited to move on to the NYE run, though. And from there, knock out a little bit of '11 before summer starts!
Jun 9, 2015
2010-10-30 Boardwalk Hall II
The Verdict:
I'd heard the "TweeZeppelin" (or whatever you want to call it) set before, of course, but I was surprised at how much I liked it this time around. And, in fact, the whole show is really good.
Though I'd heard the second set a few times, I'd never actually heard the first set, and I'm glad I finally have now, because it's a great first set. Despite opening with "KDF," my least favorite opening song in history, the song choice is otherwise fantastic: "Foam," a "Guelah" featuring an extended pause a la "Divided Sky," "Ha Ha Ha," "Walk Away," and another strong take on "Gin." In addition, there's the "CDT" with a flawless segue into and back out of "Whole Lotta Love" that kicks off the whole Zeppelin thing, and a probably-Type II "Wolfman's" that segues effortlessly into "Undermind." Whew.
And that's the set before the big Zeppelin medley. The thing that really struck me about the medley section this time was how short it actually is. It's about sixteen minutes total, and it's awesome, and one of the highlights of the year, but the rest of the set around it (and there's a lot left) is also really good and worth some attention. The early-set "Possum" is a great version, bolstered by another "Whole Lotta Love" jam in the middle, and after the Zeppelin-fest a strong "Halley's" that transitions strangely but effectively into "2001." This "2001" is my favorite version in a long time, because it does something other than just fills the space between the iterations of the famous riff with some music. There's a lot of solid funk and it runs for over ten minutes before seguing perfectly into another excellent late-2010 "Bowie."
As I complain about below, the rest of the show sort of rolls along on cruise control from there, but man, the last bit is really only frustrating because the rest of the show is so damn good.
The Live Review:
10/30/10: I'm gonna go ahead and start 10/30, but I likely won't finish today.
10/30/10: Ah, KDF. My least favorite opener ever.
10/30/10: I almost feel like I don't need to bother reviewing the second set of this show, anyway.
10/30/10: It's Tweezer and Led Zeppelin. That's pretty much all you need to know.
10/30/10: Anyway, back in the first set...after KDF, Cavern and Foam have both been solidly played and awesome.
10/30/10: Guelah Papyrus! Some interesting bass parts from Mike and Trey playing around with the usual guitar lines.
10/30/10: Long DSky-like pause before the drop in Guelah.
10/30/10: CDT next. This is one of those shows where either the mix is favoring Mike or he's just destroying everything.
10/30/10: He starts a weird circular jamming space that Trey follows him into right as I tweet that.
10/30/10: Weird, tense build now. Explodes back into the normal solo space.
10/30/10: Out of the usual drop at the end of CDT, double-time Whole Lotta Love jam.
10/30/10: Okay, so I've never actually heard the first set of this show before. That was awesome.
10/30/10: Whole Lotta Love lyrics from Trey now.
10/30/10: Page joining in now.
10/30/10: Seamless transition back into CDT.
10/30/10: This is not my ruined transition! This is not my boring Phish from 2010! This is not my calmly sitting in my chair!
10/30/10: Ha Ha Ha next.
10/30/10: This will always take me back to the Lushington set at Dick's now. :)
10/30/10: Ha Ha Ha ends with a Whole Lotta Love tease, then slams into Walk Away. This is some serious energy right here.
10/30/10: Walk Away is its typically epic self. Now Wolfman's finally slows things down a bit.
10/30/10: They've been doing the Wolfman's vocal jam a lot lately, but this one is above and beyond. Melts finally into a calypso space.
10/30/10: We're right on the lip of a plinko jam without totally falling over.
10/30/10: Okay, this is awesome.
10/30/10: Perfect segue into Undermind!
10/30/10: This Undermind jam is the perfect complement to that Wolfman's. Great pairing.
10/30/10: A very jaunty Gin starts up next.
10/30/10: Strong Gin with some Whole Lotta Love teases at the end. End set?
10/30/10: Nope. Coil.
10/30/10: Now I will finish my review. Sorry, it's been a hell of a week.
10/30/10: Rain Song and Thank You teases in Page's solo. Awesome.
10/30/10: Err...the set-ending Coil solo, I mean.
10/30/10: Tube opens the second set. So that's weird. I sincerely doubt we're going to get the massive Tube jam we deserve :)
10/30/10: Now Possum. They have this weird thing lately of starting off second sets with Possums. Not necessarily bad, just weird.
10/30/10: Whole Lotta Love jam in Possum.
10/30/10: I suppose I should have seen that coming :)
10/30/10: Typically strong Possum with another Whole Lotta Love quote at the end.
10/30/10: Here comes the Tweezer.
10/30/10: The glee with which Trey launched into that Whole Lotta Love riff in Tweezer was hilarious.
10/30/10: He has clearly been waiting for at least two hours already tonight to do EXACTLY that.
10/30/10: > Heartbreaker (w/ lyrics).
10/30/10: Fishman is barely managing to hang on to the caboose of Trey's crazy train at this point.
10/30/10: Tweezer -> Whole Lotta Love > Heartbreaker -> Tweezer so far.
10/30/10: Sounds like Mike lead the -> Ramble On there.
10/30/10: Great Page -> Thank You.
10/30/10: Really quick -> into Tweezer before -> Stairway.
10/30/10: For as awesome as that sequence is, I always forget how short it is. About 16 minutes today.
10/30/10: *total
10/30/10: That's shorter than Time Turns Elastic
10/30/10: Halley's is next. Solid version until a weird moment late in the song.
10/30/10: Can't tell if it was a mistake that eventually ended in a slow, ambient transition to 2001, or a key change setting up 2001...
10/30/10: ...that just came off sounding weird.
10/30/10: There's some legit funk jamming happening in this 2001, not just space-filling until the next riff.
10/30/10: 2001 -> Bowie. Trey throwing out what I assume are supposed to be Robert Plant screams over the intro.
10/30/10: Another awesome Bowie. We're having a little mini-Bowie-renaissance here in late Fall 2010.
10/30/10: Fantastic 2001 -> Bowie pairing, and then Show of Life'd.
10/30/10: Backwards Down the Number Line. This is going to be one of those great sets that should have ended earlier.
10/30/10: End this sucker at Bowie and you've got an amazing second set. But for the sake of some extra music...now it's getting boring.
10/30/10: I remember really feeling that way about 8/5/11. Flawless first 2/3rds of the second set, and then a totally lackluster...
10/30/10: ...Show of Life > Julius > Character Zero to finish. I remember even thinking at the show, 'Come on guys, shut the fuck up!'
10/30/10: YOU HAD IT IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND AND YOU COULDN'T JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP
10/30/10: Having insanely ranted about that, in the meantime Trey was turning the Number Line jam interesting. Am chagrined, now.
10/30/10: GTBT to close the set. Could it have been anything else? :)
10/30/10: Sleeping Monkey, Tweeprise encore.
10/30/10: Except for the brief lull toward the end, that S2 was excellent.
10/30/10: Sure, the Tweezep stuff is the highlight, but the rest is no slouch, either.
10/30/10: I say it all the damn time, but Tweeprise is the best four minutes of live music you can ever experience in life.
10/30/10: Hahahaha...full on Whole Lotta Love reprise there at the end.
I'd heard the "TweeZeppelin" (or whatever you want to call it) set before, of course, but I was surprised at how much I liked it this time around. And, in fact, the whole show is really good.
Though I'd heard the second set a few times, I'd never actually heard the first set, and I'm glad I finally have now, because it's a great first set. Despite opening with "KDF," my least favorite opening song in history, the song choice is otherwise fantastic: "Foam," a "Guelah" featuring an extended pause a la "Divided Sky," "Ha Ha Ha," "Walk Away," and another strong take on "Gin." In addition, there's the "CDT" with a flawless segue into and back out of "Whole Lotta Love" that kicks off the whole Zeppelin thing, and a probably-Type II "Wolfman's" that segues effortlessly into "Undermind." Whew.
And that's the set before the big Zeppelin medley. The thing that really struck me about the medley section this time was how short it actually is. It's about sixteen minutes total, and it's awesome, and one of the highlights of the year, but the rest of the set around it (and there's a lot left) is also really good and worth some attention. The early-set "Possum" is a great version, bolstered by another "Whole Lotta Love" jam in the middle, and after the Zeppelin-fest a strong "Halley's" that transitions strangely but effectively into "2001." This "2001" is my favorite version in a long time, because it does something other than just fills the space between the iterations of the famous riff with some music. There's a lot of solid funk and it runs for over ten minutes before seguing perfectly into another excellent late-2010 "Bowie."
As I complain about below, the rest of the show sort of rolls along on cruise control from there, but man, the last bit is really only frustrating because the rest of the show is so damn good.
The Live Review:
10/30/10: I'm gonna go ahead and start 10/30, but I likely won't finish today.
10/30/10: Ah, KDF. My least favorite opener ever.
10/30/10: I almost feel like I don't need to bother reviewing the second set of this show, anyway.
10/30/10: It's Tweezer and Led Zeppelin. That's pretty much all you need to know.
10/30/10: Anyway, back in the first set...after KDF, Cavern and Foam have both been solidly played and awesome.
10/30/10: Guelah Papyrus! Some interesting bass parts from Mike and Trey playing around with the usual guitar lines.
10/30/10: Long DSky-like pause before the drop in Guelah.
10/30/10: CDT next. This is one of those shows where either the mix is favoring Mike or he's just destroying everything.
10/30/10: He starts a weird circular jamming space that Trey follows him into right as I tweet that.
10/30/10: Weird, tense build now. Explodes back into the normal solo space.
10/30/10: Out of the usual drop at the end of CDT, double-time Whole Lotta Love jam.
10/30/10: Okay, so I've never actually heard the first set of this show before. That was awesome.
10/30/10: Whole Lotta Love lyrics from Trey now.
10/30/10: Page joining in now.
10/30/10: Seamless transition back into CDT.
10/30/10: This is not my ruined transition! This is not my boring Phish from 2010! This is not my calmly sitting in my chair!
10/30/10: Ha Ha Ha next.
10/30/10: This will always take me back to the Lushington set at Dick's now. :)
10/30/10: Ha Ha Ha ends with a Whole Lotta Love tease, then slams into Walk Away. This is some serious energy right here.
10/30/10: Walk Away is its typically epic self. Now Wolfman's finally slows things down a bit.
10/30/10: They've been doing the Wolfman's vocal jam a lot lately, but this one is above and beyond. Melts finally into a calypso space.
10/30/10: We're right on the lip of a plinko jam without totally falling over.
10/30/10: Okay, this is awesome.
10/30/10: Perfect segue into Undermind!
10/30/10: This Undermind jam is the perfect complement to that Wolfman's. Great pairing.
10/30/10: A very jaunty Gin starts up next.
10/30/10: Strong Gin with some Whole Lotta Love teases at the end. End set?
10/30/10: Nope. Coil.
10/30/10: Now I will finish my review. Sorry, it's been a hell of a week.
10/30/10: Rain Song and Thank You teases in Page's solo. Awesome.
10/30/10: Err...the set-ending Coil solo, I mean.
10/30/10: Tube opens the second set. So that's weird. I sincerely doubt we're going to get the massive Tube jam we deserve :)
10/30/10: Now Possum. They have this weird thing lately of starting off second sets with Possums. Not necessarily bad, just weird.
10/30/10: Whole Lotta Love jam in Possum.
10/30/10: I suppose I should have seen that coming :)
10/30/10: Typically strong Possum with another Whole Lotta Love quote at the end.
10/30/10: Here comes the Tweezer.
10/30/10: The glee with which Trey launched into that Whole Lotta Love riff in Tweezer was hilarious.
10/30/10: He has clearly been waiting for at least two hours already tonight to do EXACTLY that.
10/30/10: > Heartbreaker (w/ lyrics).
10/30/10: Fishman is barely managing to hang on to the caboose of Trey's crazy train at this point.
10/30/10: Tweezer -> Whole Lotta Love > Heartbreaker -> Tweezer so far.
10/30/10: Sounds like Mike lead the -> Ramble On there.
10/30/10: Great Page -> Thank You.
10/30/10: Really quick -> into Tweezer before -> Stairway.
10/30/10: For as awesome as that sequence is, I always forget how short it is. About 16 minutes today.
10/30/10: *total
10/30/10: That's shorter than Time Turns Elastic
10/30/10: Halley's is next. Solid version until a weird moment late in the song.
10/30/10: Can't tell if it was a mistake that eventually ended in a slow, ambient transition to 2001, or a key change setting up 2001...
10/30/10: ...that just came off sounding weird.
10/30/10: There's some legit funk jamming happening in this 2001, not just space-filling until the next riff.
10/30/10: 2001 -> Bowie. Trey throwing out what I assume are supposed to be Robert Plant screams over the intro.
10/30/10: Another awesome Bowie. We're having a little mini-Bowie-renaissance here in late Fall 2010.
10/30/10: Fantastic 2001 -> Bowie pairing, and then Show of Life'd.
10/30/10: Backwards Down the Number Line. This is going to be one of those great sets that should have ended earlier.
10/30/10: End this sucker at Bowie and you've got an amazing second set. But for the sake of some extra music...now it's getting boring.
10/30/10: I remember really feeling that way about 8/5/11. Flawless first 2/3rds of the second set, and then a totally lackluster...
10/30/10: ...Show of Life > Julius > Character Zero to finish. I remember even thinking at the show, 'Come on guys, shut the fuck up!'
10/30/10: YOU HAD IT IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND AND YOU COULDN'T JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP
10/30/10: Having insanely ranted about that, in the meantime Trey was turning the Number Line jam interesting. Am chagrined, now.
10/30/10: GTBT to close the set. Could it have been anything else? :)
10/30/10: Sleeping Monkey, Tweeprise encore.
10/30/10: Except for the brief lull toward the end, that S2 was excellent.
10/30/10: Sure, the Tweezep stuff is the highlight, but the rest is no slouch, either.
10/30/10: I say it all the damn time, but Tweeprise is the best four minutes of live music you can ever experience in life.
10/30/10: Hahahaha...full on Whole Lotta Love reprise there at the end.
2010-10-29 Boardwalk Hall I
The Verdict:
The opening show of the 2010 Halloween run is a strongly-played show with just enough glimpses of weirdness to keep it interesting. "Interesting for 2010" only, sure, but still, it's better than a lot of shows this year.
S1 is a typical opening frame for the year, that goes above and beyond in two cases. First, there's a fantastic bit of shredding from Trey in "Light Up Or Leave Me Alone," and second, a pretty standard "Moma" gets slammed with no warning into "Cities" mid-jam. This "Cities" goes above and beyond the normal, getting into a dark and spacey section and an ambient section before Trey ripcords it into "46 Days."
The second set is maybe not quite as awesome as it looks on paper, but there are still some strong moments. For example, putting "Sand" in the jam slot doesn't make it the Type II jam you might hope for, but this is a thoroughly developed, 13-minute Type I take nonetheless. "Carini" is short but sweet, featuring a lot of bass-led jamming before a totally predictable > "Caspian." "Corinna" is a surprise to hear, and features studio-precise interplay throughout, and "Piper" is the best sub-seven-minute version I've heard. After that, it all gets pretty rote, but if you like "Slave" and "Fluffhead," there are worse ways to finish a show.
The Live Review:
10/29/10: Inexplicably, the show starts off with the Star Spangled Banner.
10/29/10: My Soul is next, with an excellent Page piano solo.
10/29/10: Extra-spicy version of Bag. Now Ocelot.
10/29/10: I know I keep banging on about the repetitiveness of these sets, and they are, but Trey's shred-fu has been strong all year.
10/29/10: Maybe there's a connection there? Trey's doing more driving, so there's less improv from the whole band?
10/29/10: As if to prove my point, Trey lays down a fantastic Ocelot solo.
10/29/10: 'Who needs jams when I can play all these notes so fast, right guys?'
10/29/10: As if somehow hearing my snarkiness all the way back in the past, Trey starts up Sample next.
10/29/10: 'Oh, you want some notes? Here are some notes!'
10/29/10: Light Up Or Leave Me Alone!
10/29/10: A hell of a solo there by Trey.
10/29/10: Sugar Shack is next. It's no 10/26 setlist, but at least it's starting to get interesting.
10/29/10: Great version of Timber follows, then Bouncin'.
10/29/10: Axila I, Rift. Energy still high. Trey did a decent job on Rift. Pure 2010-style S1 here.
10/29/10: That Light Up might be a legit highlight though. Worth another listen.
10/29/10: Moma Dance gets buttslammed into Cities. That was pretty cool. Crowd loved it.
10/29/10: Cities jam more piano-based and less funk than usual. Interesting.
10/29/10: Darkier, spacier section now.
10/29/10: Trey starts up his go-to ripcord jam of the fall, 46 Days.
10/29/10: In Trey's defense, this is a pretty ripping 46 Days.
10/29/10: End set. Fourteen songs! That's a lot of songs! Light Up solo was great, Cities jam was good for a S1 song. Worth a listen.
10/29/10: S2 opens with PYITE. Always one of my favorite set openers since my first listen to 12/31/95.
10/29/10: SAND
10/29/10: Sand jam begins with some serious funk accented by organ washes. High hopes for this one.
10/29/10: This is staying Type I so far, but it's a fantastic funk jam nonetheless.
10/29/10: I gotta say I'm disappointed (a little) that things didn't get weird in this jam, but damn it's good nonetheless.
10/29/10: Neat, almost AC/DC Bag style jam to close out Sand.
10/29/10: Trey teases Carini, tries to set up a -> Carini, but it doesn't totally work. Still, Carini!
10/29/10: Neat, bass-driven jamming in Carini.
10/29/10: Ambient fade > Caspian. That seems to be the landing pad for many a would-be space jam lately.
10/29/10: Corinna! I love Phish's take on this song. It sort of sounds like a S/T-era TAB outtake.
10/29/10: Gorgeous little instrumental in the middle of the song. Like, studio-recording precise. Good stuff.
10/29/10: Piper gets delightfully spacey at about the 4:00 mark.
10/29/10: That was definitely the most interesting sub-7-minute Piper you'll hear today.
10/29/10: Band passes on a potential -> Taste and goes for > Theme instead.
10/29/10: Weird version of Theme, with Trey's guitar sort of absent for much of it. Tech issues or was he just taking a break? Huh.
10/29/10: Weird placement for Golgi.
10/29/10: Golgi > Slave.
10/29/10: Really mellow but solid version of Slave.
10/29/10: Slave > Fluffhead!
10/29/10: FLUFF-HEN?!
10/29/10: That outro solo for Fluff was definitely a worthy set-closer.
10/29/10: Loving Cup encore.
10/29/10: Once again, nothing really in the way of jamming in that second set. BUT.
10/29/10: It all hung together really well and there were some glimpses of weirdness. Sort of reminded me of, say, DTE or Charlotte from '14.
The opening show of the 2010 Halloween run is a strongly-played show with just enough glimpses of weirdness to keep it interesting. "Interesting for 2010" only, sure, but still, it's better than a lot of shows this year.
S1 is a typical opening frame for the year, that goes above and beyond in two cases. First, there's a fantastic bit of shredding from Trey in "Light Up Or Leave Me Alone," and second, a pretty standard "Moma" gets slammed with no warning into "Cities" mid-jam. This "Cities" goes above and beyond the normal, getting into a dark and spacey section and an ambient section before Trey ripcords it into "46 Days."
The second set is maybe not quite as awesome as it looks on paper, but there are still some strong moments. For example, putting "Sand" in the jam slot doesn't make it the Type II jam you might hope for, but this is a thoroughly developed, 13-minute Type I take nonetheless. "Carini" is short but sweet, featuring a lot of bass-led jamming before a totally predictable > "Caspian." "Corinna" is a surprise to hear, and features studio-precise interplay throughout, and "Piper" is the best sub-seven-minute version I've heard. After that, it all gets pretty rote, but if you like "Slave" and "Fluffhead," there are worse ways to finish a show.
The Live Review:
10/29/10: Inexplicably, the show starts off with the Star Spangled Banner.
10/29/10: My Soul is next, with an excellent Page piano solo.
10/29/10: Extra-spicy version of Bag. Now Ocelot.
10/29/10: I know I keep banging on about the repetitiveness of these sets, and they are, but Trey's shred-fu has been strong all year.
10/29/10: Maybe there's a connection there? Trey's doing more driving, so there's less improv from the whole band?
10/29/10: As if to prove my point, Trey lays down a fantastic Ocelot solo.
10/29/10: 'Who needs jams when I can play all these notes so fast, right guys?'
10/29/10: As if somehow hearing my snarkiness all the way back in the past, Trey starts up Sample next.
10/29/10: 'Oh, you want some notes? Here are some notes!'
10/29/10: Light Up Or Leave Me Alone!
10/29/10: A hell of a solo there by Trey.
10/29/10: Sugar Shack is next. It's no 10/26 setlist, but at least it's starting to get interesting.
10/29/10: Great version of Timber follows, then Bouncin'.
10/29/10: Axila I, Rift. Energy still high. Trey did a decent job on Rift. Pure 2010-style S1 here.
10/29/10: That Light Up might be a legit highlight though. Worth another listen.
10/29/10: Moma Dance gets buttslammed into Cities. That was pretty cool. Crowd loved it.
10/29/10: Cities jam more piano-based and less funk than usual. Interesting.
10/29/10: Darkier, spacier section now.
10/29/10: Trey starts up his go-to ripcord jam of the fall, 46 Days.
10/29/10: In Trey's defense, this is a pretty ripping 46 Days.
10/29/10: End set. Fourteen songs! That's a lot of songs! Light Up solo was great, Cities jam was good for a S1 song. Worth a listen.
10/29/10: S2 opens with PYITE. Always one of my favorite set openers since my first listen to 12/31/95.
10/29/10: SAND
10/29/10: Sand jam begins with some serious funk accented by organ washes. High hopes for this one.
10/29/10: This is staying Type I so far, but it's a fantastic funk jam nonetheless.
10/29/10: I gotta say I'm disappointed (a little) that things didn't get weird in this jam, but damn it's good nonetheless.
10/29/10: Neat, almost AC/DC Bag style jam to close out Sand.
10/29/10: Trey teases Carini, tries to set up a -> Carini, but it doesn't totally work. Still, Carini!
10/29/10: Neat, bass-driven jamming in Carini.
10/29/10: Ambient fade > Caspian. That seems to be the landing pad for many a would-be space jam lately.
10/29/10: Corinna! I love Phish's take on this song. It sort of sounds like a S/T-era TAB outtake.
10/29/10: Gorgeous little instrumental in the middle of the song. Like, studio-recording precise. Good stuff.
10/29/10: Piper gets delightfully spacey at about the 4:00 mark.
10/29/10: That was definitely the most interesting sub-7-minute Piper you'll hear today.
10/29/10: Band passes on a potential -> Taste and goes for > Theme instead.
10/29/10: Weird version of Theme, with Trey's guitar sort of absent for much of it. Tech issues or was he just taking a break? Huh.
10/29/10: Weird placement for Golgi.
10/29/10: Golgi > Slave.
10/29/10: Really mellow but solid version of Slave.
10/29/10: Slave > Fluffhead!
10/29/10: FLUFF-HEN?!
10/29/10: That outro solo for Fluff was definitely a worthy set-closer.
10/29/10: Loving Cup encore.
10/29/10: Once again, nothing really in the way of jamming in that second set. BUT.
10/29/10: It all hung together really well and there were some glimpses of weirdness. Sort of reminded me of, say, DTE or Charlotte from '14.
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