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.
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