The Verdict:
So, here we are at the second-to-last show of the year. Or if you're being pedantic, the last show of the year. It's been a few weeks since I actually listened to this because house-buying shenanigans and then (more importantly) the first four shows of summer tour 2015 derailed my rhythm. But I'll do my best to recap my "instant" impressions anyway.
The opening frame is, appropriately I suppose, a 2010-standard first set. It gives Trey a lot of opportunities to shred his way through classics in a rote but energetic fashion, and there are a few spices added to keep things interesting (in this case, "Burn That Bridge," which is maybe my favorite Phishified HoaHB song, and "Gone"). "Rock and Roll" is a strong choice for a closer, but really, we're still just warming up here.
In a S2 with "46 Days," "Sand," "Disease," and "Ghost," you'd be forgiven for thinking that there is a lot of jamming. You'd have to be forgiven because, of course, you'd be wrong. Pretty much everything in the second set is only a "jam" to the degree that a "jam" is an extension of Trey driving the entire band on guitar, which is pretty much what he's been doing all year, (often) to the music's detriment and (sometimes) to its improvement. In this case, though, the go-nowhere versions of a number of jam vehicles that get sacrificed at the altar of Machine Gun All The Time Trey don't matter much because The Holy Ghost is the apotheosis of all that is 2010 Trey, and it is beautiful and terrible.
How's that for a Mr. Miner sentence?
Anyway, the "Ghost" is incredible, and you should just watch the video if you've somehow never heard it before. It's followed by a pretty crazy "YEM" -> "Manteca" -> "YEM" mashup that starts as a musical mashup and extends into the vocal jam section of "YEM" in cool ways.
The third set cannot, of course, live up to this monstrosity. The "Meatstick" thing is probably cool if you were there, but is just a really long "Meatstick" on tape. Here, you can watch it if you want!
Also, "After Midnight" should just be the obligatory post-"Auld Lang Syne" song for every NYE show from now on.
Aaaaaand...that's about it. Really, the third set is all about the gag and maybe, if you like smooth segues like I do, the "Piper" -> "Free" combo. But like S1, everything else here is all about the benevolent dictatorship of Trey's shredding, and it's just a nice, loud, note-filled descent to the encore and the parking lot.
I say that like this was a bad show, but it's not. It's consistently average-for-Phish for three entire sets, which is more than you can say about many of their three-set shows. Add in the fantastic "Ghost," "YEM" -> "Manteca" -> "YEM" run and you've got an excellent NYE show.
The Live Review:
12/31/10: Probably not going to make it through this entire gargantuan show today, but I'm going to start.
12/31/10: Opening with PYITE is a ballsy move (12/31/95 opener).
12/31/10: Bag is second.
12/31/10: Trey is getting in one last burst of 2010 guitar mania here.
12/31/10: Bag -B Moma. Nice landing.
12/31/10: I think of all the songs that Phish plays Type I style ALL THE DAMN TIME, Moma is my
favorite.
12/31/10: Though as much as I love this song live, I think my favorite version might just be the one from SoaG. Moma -> Ghost reprise.
12/31/10: Can I just take a moment during this review to express how FUCKING PUMPED I am to be going to Bend in eight days?
12/31/10: 25th show, my birthday (the 22nd), in my backyard (2 hrs from my house), surrounded by mtns. I'll be climbing b/t shows.
12/31/10: Then hitting the road for SF, LA, and the Sierras right after. Taking a break until Dick's after.
12/31/10: KITTY FELT LASER BEAMS BEING FIRED AT HER HEAD
12/31/10: I might have just ingested a shitload of caffeine...or not. YOU DECIDE
12/31/10: THIS REVIEW IS GONNA BE SO FUN YOU GUYS
12/31/10: If you want to die of a cardiac infarction, turn to page 73.
12/31/10: If you want to get fired for raging to 12/31/10 S1 too hard at your new standing desk, turn to any of the other pages.
12/31/10: If this caffeine doesn't wear off b4 the Holy Ghost, I'm almost definitely gonna swanton bomb through my new desk.
12/31/10: Can you believe how good I am at pretending to be a Phish fan despite never having heard the 11/17/97 Ghost?
12/31/10: Debut (I think) of Burn That Bridge.
12/31/10: I think this song suits Phish a lot more than My Problem Right There.
12/31/10: Love me some Summer of '89, though.
12/31/10: Weight, Ocelot. S1 going as expected. Solid song choices, solid playing.
12/31/10: Honestly I'm having trouble really paying attention aside from just wanting to get to the Ghost.
12/31/10: Super mellow Ocelot jam so far.
12/31/10: Auld Lang Syne tease in Ocelot makes this my favorite Ocelot ever.
12/31/10: Beauty of My Dreams! The Obligatory Bluegrass Song selection lately has been impeccable.
12/31/10: Gone is next. Now that's a surprise.
12/31/10: I really like this song but wasn't a fan of the TAB arrangement of it I heard them play in Seattle in 2013.
12/31/10: It's a very TAB-style song, but I sort of like the minimal Phish arrangement better. Party Time version, ftw.
12/31/10: Studio version: https://t.co/g096Bg2qDe
12/31/10: Always seemed sort of like a landing pad for the hypothetical Light jam the guys laid down while recording Joy.
12/31/10: The studio versions of each really compliment each other, Light -> Gone.
12/31/10: Or maybe Gone -> Light?
12/31/10: Rock and Roll to close the first set.
12/31/10: Another huge Treygasm to close the first of three sets here in the Caffeine High Palace.
12/31/10: Quick Wilson > 46 Days to kick off the second set.
12/31/10: Sand! Oh yes. Yes. YES.
12/31/10: Trey is taking the train to Funk City pretty much immediately.
12/31/10: Diversion to Plinko Town in the works.
12/31/10: Sand got more standard and boring as it went on, but still a great version. NICU next.
Weird S2 choice.
12/31/10: Trey passes on what sounded like another Auld Lang Syne tease at the end of NICU for
> Disease.
12/31/10: Machine Gun Trey is losing his fucking mind on this Disease.
12/31/10: Neat little ambient/funk fade-out leads to the beginning of the Ghost.
12/31/10: Or should I say The Ghost.
12/31/10: Hard rock chords to start the jam. Page on clav.
12/31/10: Page to piano, tempo switching up around 7:00. Trey going to bliss-land.
12/31/10: Trey currently developing The Riff.
12/31/10: Never really realized how much Fish contributes to this jam ending up where it does.
12/31/10: Trey finally hits it at 10:10 and all hell is now breaking loose in the dopamine factory.
12/31/10: Man, that moment when he moves the riff up the neck rivals That Moment in the Tahoe Tweezer for my favorite Phish moment.
12/31/10: But being on the floor for the Tweezer and screaming in awe with 8,000 other people was pretty much the best thing ever.
12/31/10: This is totally nuts, though.
12/31/10: And the landing back into the Ghost riff is sooooo smoooooooth.
12/31/10: Immediately into YEM from there. My bet that that was an audible based on how much they just bashed Ghost into space.
12/31/10: Holy YEM -> Manteca!
12/31/10: Lyrics and all. -> YEM.
12/31/10: Manteca lyrics over YEM jam now. Sort of like a woo jam, only with 'Grabbin' my shoe mouth' instead.
12/31/10: Crab.
12/31/10: Fuck.
12/31/10: Vox continue throughout Mike solo.
12/31/10: Vocal jam interweaving typical 'lyrics' and Manteca lyrics.
12/31/10: Technically, I suppose the YEM lyrics aren't really any weirder than the Manteca ones.
12/31/10: Guessing YEM will end S2.
12/31/10: Yep. S3 kicks off with the Meatstick-O-Rama.
12/31/10: Okay, so like most Phish gags, this Meatstick is super weird to just listen to.
12/31/10: Okay guys, when it comes to the Meatstick, length isn't everything. At least that's what I've been told.
12/31/10: Auld Lang Syne > After Midnight. Which, come to think of it, should be obligatory every friggin' year.
12/31/10: Little funk interlude in the midst of Trey fireworks.
12/31/10: Number Line, and Trey is so excited I think he just cut off the last chorus by immediately jumping into the solo.
12/31/10: 'Fuck words! Who needs words when you have...THIS!?' *destroys Languedoc with fingers*
12/31/10: Trey just went all The Who on the end of Number Line.
12/31/10: Then forgets the chorus chords.
12/31/10: Guitar haze > Piper.
12/31/10: Piper building steam...and fizzing out...and Trey is maybe trying to pull off a ->
Free...yep!
12/31/10: That Piper seemed like it was going places, but hard to argue that that was a cool segue.
12/31/10: Pretty standard Free > Waste.
12/31/10: The back half of this set has been sort of weird, but closing it with Slave will help.
12/31/10: Piper -> Free > Waste sequence not really up to NYE standards, but that first segue really was cool.
12/31/10: Gave up on work early last night, hence I did not inform you that the encore was Grind, First Tube.
12/31/10: Okay, and there's a Auld Lang Syne tease in First Tube.
12/31/10: Like a lot of 3-set shows lately, the first two sets were very strong, but the last one sort of petered out.
12/31/10: Though I imagine if I'd seen the Meatstick performance in person, I would feel differently.
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