I've said pretty much everything I've ever wanted to say about 2010 in general and fall/winter tour in particular over and over again throughout individual reviews and don't feel compelled to repeat myself at length yet again here.
Quantity over quality. Lots of songs, played well. No jamming. Interesting setlists. High energy. Solid segues. S2s that could easily be confused for S1s. And so on. If there's any real difference between late 2010 and early 2010 (and I'm not convinced that there is), it's that the Trey-dominated nature of the band's playing slowly becomes less about his running roughshod over everyone else during every potential jam and more about him playing so damn well that the rest of the band has no choice but to hold on for dear life. Occasionally, there's an October (10/22, 10/23, 10/30, 10/31) or December (12/27, 12/30, 12/31) show where this is a virtue. Even more occasionally, there's a show where the band actually improvises together (10/19, 10/20, 10/26).
Let's hope for more of that last category in 2011.
10/8: Strong entry, for a festival show. Three hours worth of energy in a 90 minute show. Only notable improv, though, is a great "Hood" -> "Light" sequence.
10/10: The beginning of the worst three-show run of Phish I've ever listened to. This show takes on the early-3.0 template of single-jam-early-in-S2 by following a decent "Mike's" > "Simple" combo with a strong "Ghost." And that's about it.
10/11: I hesitate to call any Phish show "bad," but this one is definitely a not-good one. There's a rare Phish take on Mike's "What Things Seem," and a few interesting minutes in "Twist." Otherwise, this is basically a Boring First Set > Boring First Set Reprise.
10/12: Really weird song choices in the first set, in a way that might make it interesting to someone out there. There's an early version of "Halfway To The Moon" that's worth a listen for the novelty value. And maybe the "best" part of the run, a short-but-sweet "Carini" that pulls off a hilariously weird -> into a "Bowie" that is, unfortunately, just standard.
10/15: Better than Broomfield. Strong opening to S1 and an interesting "Stash" near the end. The "Disease" jam is nothing new, but at this point it's just nice to hear even old jam ideas recycled into new forms. "Twist" continues to evolve...a little.
10/16: S1 still doesn't wander very far out of the box, but "The Curtain With" and "Sand" are strong and the setlist in general adds some spice. The second set seems underwhelming after starting with a hot "Crosseyed," despite containing "Fluffhead," "Tweezer," and "YEM." Sign of the times, I guess.
10/19: A few heavy-hitter Type I songs in the first set are overshadowed by a Type II "Gin" of all things. The second set opens with a "Mike's"/"FYF" mashup, and then a legitimate jam (the first since 8/7, IMHO) in the dark, angry "Light" that extends the sinister tone into "Twenty Years Later." The "Hood" is unique in its mellowness and likely worth a listen as well. The first show of the tour that I was legitimately excited about.
10/20: Obviously a top-notch show here, hence the DVD release. First set is very strong without even considering the "Guyute"/"Bowie"/"Wilson" mashup and the scathing "Antelope" to close. The second set doesn't stand up to the first, but there is the late "Split" -> "Have Mercy" > "Piper" -> "Split" sequence which beats the hell out of anything so far this tour except for bits of 10/19 for sheer quality of improv.
10/22: Like 10/19's "Light" > "Twenty Years" sequence, "Rock and Roll" > "Carini" start off the second set here with a fantastic burst of EVIL. Also of note is the "Sanity," which gets "jammed" a bit and is weirder even than the standard version. The rest of the show is stridently standard-great.
10/23: This show is one of those weird-but-good ones for me. For example, the first set features an out-there "Tweezer" as well as a "Tweezer Reprise" with "Meatstick" lyrics substituted in, for apparently no real reason. Though the second set starts off with a great bliss-jammed "Disease," the highlight is probably the "MFMF" -> "Caspian" -> "Halfway" -> "Boogie On." I told you it was a weird one.
10/24: Like 10/11, this one plays like two first sets, but at least these are interesting first sets. And there's a mini-jam out of "Fee" that sets up a great segue into "TTE," of all things.
10/26: Absolutely weird first set full of rare songs. If you like the setlist, you'll dig hearing these songs together. If not, you won't find anything musically new here. The second set is stronger, with another fantastic "Light," a "Makisupa" -> "Night Nurse" -> "Makisupa" sandwich, a short-but-sweet "Ghost," and an amazing "Groove" that moves into "Can't You Hear Me Knocking?" territory before seguing into a "Llama" reprise. Whew. Up there with 10/19 and 10/20.
10/29: Highlights of an otherwise standard S1 are a great solo from Trey on "Light Up Or Leave Me Alone," and a sudden, on-a-dime "Moma" > "Cities" transition. In the second set, "Sand" doesn't get weird, but is another excellent Type I take on the tune. "Carini" "gets there" quickly again, "Corinna" is gorgeous and unexpected, and "Piper" is an overachiever in its sub-seven-minute running time.
10/30: TweeZeppelin is obviously the big news in this show, but the first set is one of the better opening frames of the tour, too. Even aside from the excellent "CDT" -> "Whole Lotta Love" -> "CDT" preface to the second set, there are a lot of great song choices, and a fantastic "Wolfman's" that moves like butter into "Undermind." Barring a bit of a premature wind-down at the end, the second set is strong across the board. Of course the Zeppelin medley is the best part, but "Possum" has some Zeppelin jamming, too, "2001" is longer and stronger than the typical 3.0 take, and "Bowie" is a great close (to the interesting part of the set).
10/31: I'm not terribly familiar with Little Feat, so I found this show to be a bit lower on the scale than the 10/30 show. That said, the difference between the Halloween run and, say, the Bloomfield run is night and day. S1 features another strong "Stash," but the real story is the "Ghost" -> "Spooky" sequence, which is just pure Halloween setlist fun. The third set is by no means just a "landing pad" set this time around, and features excellent takes on "Disease," "Hood," and "YEM," along with a jammed-out "Wilson." This would have been one of the stronger shows of fall even without the covers set.
12/27: On paper, this show falls into the lackluster 2010 mold, but I liked it for some reason I have a hard time explaining. The band's quantity-over-quality approach to S1 works here, I think, because they hit on a combination of songs that just works so well together. The second set starts off slow, but the guys save it from wandering too far into Jukebox land with an excellent "Seven Below" -> "What's The Use?" pair and then some great work from Trey on "Twenty Years Later," "Farmhouse," and "Wading" (yeah, you read that right).
12/28: In terms of organization and (lack of) jamming, this show is really similar to 12/27, but the setlist doesn't work as well at distracting me from the lack of interesting tidbits as it did on the previous night. "Birdwatcher" and "Pigtail" are both neat debuts to hear, and "Stash" continues to turn in jam after jam in denial of the band's general jamless tendency this tour (and this year). "Carini" continues to evolve as a second set vehicle, and though this version isn't going on any year-end lists, I like it because it's weird in a year that's lacking greatly in that quality. And oh man, check out the plinko-style "Hood."
12/30: Follows the 2009 template of one big jam at the onset of S2. That jam is "Tweezer," and it's a really strong bit of improv, especially considering the obvious lack of such in most of this tour's shows. Outside the jam, there's nothing to really write home (or on this blog) about, but the jam itself hints toward greater things to come in 2011.
12/31: S1 is a good warm-up set, and rarities "Burn That Bridge" and "Gone" are worth a listen, if you're into that sort of thing. Lots of jam vehicles pop up in the second set, but the only one that really goes anywhere is the "Ghost," which is a pretty easy shoe-in for Jam of the Year. The following "YEM" -> "Manteca" -> "YEM" would be at the top of the highlight reel on any other night. S3, unfortunately, is just a cooldown set, but you're not going to care at all after hearing S2.
1/1: This one makes me think "hangover show." Everyone sounds either mellow or tired, based on how forgiving you're being. The first set is a really mellow affair with some great song choices including the long-missing "Round Room," and a great "Reba." The second set starts with a "Crosseyed" that becomes a clinic in Trey Shredding, but never moves beyond Type I. The only big takeaway from this show is the "Simple," which combines the typical "Simple" jam structure with the guitar pyrotechnics that have characterized 2010 for one last go-round.
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