The Verdict:
This was the last show pre-Dick's that I caught this year, and though from a "just the music" standpoint, it's a little disappointing after the madness that was Shoreline S2, the energy in The Forum was incredible and it's an average-great show for 2015, which still means it's a pretty amazing listen.
Like many of the average-for-'15 S1s this year, this opening frame is strong on the ends and sags a bit in the middle. The first two songs are a shot of pure adrenaline and, for my money, Trey nails the "WAN" solo, making this one of my favorite versions of a song that I'm apparently in a small minority for really enjoying when it's placed correctly. "Heavy Things," "LxL," and "Ya Mar" are all strong versions, but let's face it, most people are going to see this part of the set as a downshift at this point in 3.0. The bar is just too high. The set ends nicely, though, with a great segue between "Fuego" and "Walls" and Trey absolutely taking "Walls" to town.
Like Shoreline, S2 starts with a new song going deep on its second-ever playthrough. This time it's "No Men," and though nothing really interesting happens until after the vocal refrain, there's a great loop-heavy funk jamlet to be had at that point. It almost seems like there's going to be a -> "Ghost," but instead the band drops into "Carini." "Carini" is interesting, but doesn't go long as Trey hits upon a slow transition to "Tweezer" that's just too good to pass up. The bummer in this show (if there is one) is that after a great start to a broken-down "Tweezer" jam that features Trey trading licks with Mike as the rest of the band drops out completely (a rarity), is that when they come back from the break down, Trey hits on a "MFMF"-like riff, which triggers another early segue.The most notable jam of the night might actually come from the "Roggae," which features a lot of the usual delicate interplay, but builds to a powerful peak, a bit unexpectedly.
The "YEM" encore features more Trey/Mike interplay, most notably Trey stacking his guitar on top of Mike's bass from behind and the two of them dancing around while playing like some weird two-headed guitar monster.
It's that kind of show. In 2015, it's a bit of a bummer to have a show that doesn't feature either a) a monster jam or b) a series of interesting smaller jams. On the other hand, the energy across this show is remarkable, the string of segues in the second set is smooth, and that encore is just hilarious.
The Live Review:
7/25/15: Love the Martian Monster opener.
7/25/15: Forum crowd lost it when Page started the sound sample.
7/25/15: DWD next.
7/25/15: Trey locked on a really cool riff @ 6 minutes.
7/25/15: Electric Type I jam in DWD, return to the outro.
7/25/15: Waiting All Night. Rough start w/ vocals.
7/25/15: Fantastic WAN solo from Trey.
7/25/15: Heavy Things w/ extended Page organ solo. Love it.
7/25/15: Short but great take on Heavy Things. Axila I next.
7/25/15: Rough take on 555 follows.
7/25/15: Some great Page/Trey interplay during this Limb By Limb.
7/25/15: Great guitar/piano peak to end the jam. Short but sweet.
7/25/15: S1 sags a bit in the middle, but LxL especially and Ya Mar are really strong takes. Fuego coming now.
7/25/15: Neat piano-only outro from Fuego leads to a great > Walls segue.
7/25/15: HUGE Walls from Trey to close S1. Holy crap.
7/25/15: S2 opens w/ No Men.
7/25/15: Really driving, rock Type I jam so far. Trey building tension.
7/25/15: Returning a bit to the funk feel now.
7/25/15: Vocal refrain now.
7/25/15: Like other versions, there's a second jam after the last refrain. Loops.
7/25/15: Didn't notice at the show, but it almost sounds like Trey is trying to -> Ghost at the end of this jam.
7/25/15: It doesn't really go anywhere, though, and the jam fizzles out. > Carini.
7/25/15: More great Trey/Page action during this Carini jam.
7/25/15: Great, interesting Carini jam, and too short by far...BUT. That slow segue into Tweezer was just fantastic.
7/25/15: Neat, broken-down Tweezer jam. Don't hear that very often. Getting softer and bluesier. -> Twist would have been great here.
7/25/15: Now moving to a more chordy, blissful build.
7/25/15: Trey makes a nice segue into MFMF from the Tweezer jam, but loses the rest of the band along the way.
7/25/15: Another neat piano outro for MFMF. > Roggae.
7/25/15: You know how sometimes your brain just decides on alternate lyrics for a song and then you can't stop thinking of it that way?
7/25/15: At some point, for me, the lyrics to Roggae became 'If life were easy and not so fast, I wouldn't have to kick your ass.'
7/25/15: I have no idea why.
7/25/15: I love Roggae.
7/25/15: This is a great version, too. Great build to a peak (which they've been doing more lately), and return to the outro.
7/25/15: Wish I could be happy just hearing great #phish songs at the show, instead of just thinking 'THIS HAD BETTER LAST FOR 20 MINUTES'
7/25/15: Here comes that Number Line you've been feeling looming over you all set.
7/25/15: That Number Line was above-average-rockin' tho.
7/25/15: Slave to close the set.
7/25/15: Massive peak at the end of a really nice build in Slave.
7/25/15: I realize that that can technically describe any Slave, but this one was especially good.
7/25/15: YEM encore is a great call.
7/25/15: Especially appreciated this call at the time to cap off my four-show run.
7/25/15: Trey struggling mightily with the opening arpeggios, though.
7/25/15: This was the YEM with the two-headed guitar/bass monster.
7/25/15: Even without the visual of the guitar monster, this YEM is badass on the SBD.
7/25/15: YEM ends show. Despite a great show, still a little sad that wasn't YEM > Tweeprise. Would've blown off the roof.
Sep 9, 2015
2015-07-24 Shoreline Amphitheater
The Verdict:
This was my 25th show, and it unseated last year's Eugene show as my all-time favorite pretty much as I was walking back to the car through the gates of Shoreline. After seeing Dick's 3 last weekend, it's a toss-up as to whether this show or that one is the newest all-time best, but that's an argument for a later review. For now, suffice to say that this is a fantastic show, and one of the best in a long, long time. It's also the beginning of this summer's trend of lots of S2 jamming spread out over a number of sub-20-minute songs instead of a focus on creating one 20-25 minute opus and then stumbling to the finish line with standard playing for the remaining 50 minutes of the show as we've seen so frequently since 2009.
Not saying by any means that that latter approach is a bad thing (Tahoe Tweezer, Miami Disease, I'm looking at you), but obviously this new approach has really paid dividends during this tour. I don't think anybody's going to argue with me about that.
Anyway, the show. The first set is pretty standard, and honestly this is what probably keeps this show from being considered in the absolute upper echelon of '15 shows (including ones I didn't see). I really like the new, slower "Yarmouth" arrangement and think it allows Trey especially to do a better job on a great song. This was the first time I heard it played this way. Also, the "Reba" is incredible, showcasing '15 Trey's fantastic melodic chops.
The second set is just pure destruction. There's no other way to put it. The second-ever "Blaze On" immediately goes into loop-driven terrain and after a lyrical reprise there's a darkness jam that sets up "Twist." "Twist" starts off similar to the Bend "Simple" before moving seamlessly into bliss territory for its last few minutes. "Light" is the third jam of the trifecta and best of the three, returning to the "Blaze On" jam's territory and infusing a bit of "Manteca" into the mix before landing in perhaps the first-ever not-buzzkill "Joy." The "Hood" features an angry Type II blues jam of its own (as if the first 45 minutes of the set wasn't good enough) before exploding into its peak. "Cavern" technically ends the set, but who cares? This shit is perfect. I like to pretend that the "Zero" encore is just a joke being played on me personally. Sure, let's play the best show ever, but open with "The Line" and close with "Character Zero, lol."
Here, just watch the "Twist" > "Light" and thank Phish afterward:
The Live Review:
7/24/15: Cracks me up that a show this good starts with The Line.
7/24/15: Trey is pretty messy here with the outro solo. I like The Line, but this version is not the best.
7/24/15: Hooray for Moma, the quintessential 'reset button' song.
7/24/15: KDF in the three-spot, and after a few flubs, Trey is starting to sound like '15 Trey again.
7/24/15: Slow take on Yarmouth Road. Funkier. Good. Trey takes a longer solo than usual before the bridge lyrics.
7/24/15: I really like that version of Yarmouth. Tempo suits the song, and two actually solid solos from Trey, one in an unexpected spot.
7/24/15: Undermind next.
7/24/15: Undermind, Free, both pretty standard. I remember this Reba as being pretty great, though.
7/24/15: Yeah, this is great. Really intentionally melodic throughout.
7/24/15: Yeah, that was a keeper, though they pretty badly biffed the whistling ending. 46 Days to close the set.
7/24/15: 46 Days seems faster than usual.
7/24/15: Okay, here comes the good stuff.
7/24/15: Blaze On S2 opener.
7/24/15: This is a damn catchy song. Can't wait to hear a studio version.
7/24/15: Trey soloing starts off strong, starts turning into something resembling an Undermind jam.
7/24/15: Descending riff now from Trey. Loops on in background.
7/24/15: Lyrical refrain about 11 minutes in. Song keeps rolling afterward.
7/24/15: Immediately into space after the refrain. Loops and electric piano.
7/24/15: Love that it's the second-ever version of the song and it's already going into darkness jam territory.
7/24/15: Trey's solo here sort of reminds me of that Blossom Number Line jam I love so much.
7/24/15: I guess maybe not the solo so much as the tone.
7/24/15: > Twist.
7/24/15: Trey with the grungy tone from the Bend Simple already at the 4 minute mark.
7/24/15: So far (9 minutes), we haven't technically departed from Type I, but they've been banging at the edges of the box for awhile now.
7/24/15: And suddenly we're in a really beautiful bliss jam. How the fuck did that even happen?!
7/24/15: Bliss jam peaking in a big way.
7/24/15: Weird, evil piano from Page after the peak. > Light.
7/24/15: Transition out of the usual arpeggio-based jam at 730. Chords from Trey. Could almost be continuation of the Blaze On jam.
7/24/15: Funny how often Light jams end up circling Manteca.
7/24/15: Awesome transition to a new space at 930. Crowd cheers audible on the SBD.
7/24/15: Definitely Blaze On-esque progression and beat here.
7/24/15: This is even more awesome than I remember. I remembered like the Twist the best, but Light jam is incredible.
7/24/15: Really just the effect of the first 45 minutes of the set being jamming was jaw-dropping overall.
7/24/15: Not to mention getting a jammed-out Blaze On and the Twist jam I'd been expecting since summer '14.
7/24/15: Trey teases Twist quickly before moving into Joy.
7/24/15: Not ashamed to say I love this Joy. So cathartic in that crowd after the previous 45 minutes.
7/24/15: Sure, the Blaze On > Twist > Light was great, but what really cemented this set for me was
that Hood was the song they chose...
7/24/15: ...to wrap it all up. Probably my favorite song and a much better exclamation point in my situations, imho, than YEM or Fluff.
7/24/15: *most*
7/24/15: This one isn't a bad version, either. Lots of slow building, with some angry, almost bluesy leads at times from Trey.
7/24/15: Bass bombs from Mike. Almost a Floyd-like feeling to it at this point.
7/24/15: Everyone but Fish drops out after angry jam and then comes back in with the Hood outro build. Wow.
7/24/15: Trey jamming over the outro chords a bit instead of just going straight for the throat.
7/24/15: Gorgeous piano at this point from Page.
7/24/15: Lands in Cavern.
7/24/15: Long pause with some wood block shenanigans from Fish mid-Cavern.
7/24/15: Pretty ironic that my probably-new-favorite show ends with Zero, huh?
7/24/15: They do pretty much nail this Zero to the wall tho
This was my 25th show, and it unseated last year's Eugene show as my all-time favorite pretty much as I was walking back to the car through the gates of Shoreline. After seeing Dick's 3 last weekend, it's a toss-up as to whether this show or that one is the newest all-time best, but that's an argument for a later review. For now, suffice to say that this is a fantastic show, and one of the best in a long, long time. It's also the beginning of this summer's trend of lots of S2 jamming spread out over a number of sub-20-minute songs instead of a focus on creating one 20-25 minute opus and then stumbling to the finish line with standard playing for the remaining 50 minutes of the show as we've seen so frequently since 2009.
Not saying by any means that that latter approach is a bad thing (Tahoe Tweezer, Miami Disease, I'm looking at you), but obviously this new approach has really paid dividends during this tour. I don't think anybody's going to argue with me about that.
Anyway, the show. The first set is pretty standard, and honestly this is what probably keeps this show from being considered in the absolute upper echelon of '15 shows (including ones I didn't see). I really like the new, slower "Yarmouth" arrangement and think it allows Trey especially to do a better job on a great song. This was the first time I heard it played this way. Also, the "Reba" is incredible, showcasing '15 Trey's fantastic melodic chops.
The second set is just pure destruction. There's no other way to put it. The second-ever "Blaze On" immediately goes into loop-driven terrain and after a lyrical reprise there's a darkness jam that sets up "Twist." "Twist" starts off similar to the Bend "Simple" before moving seamlessly into bliss territory for its last few minutes. "Light" is the third jam of the trifecta and best of the three, returning to the "Blaze On" jam's territory and infusing a bit of "Manteca" into the mix before landing in perhaps the first-ever not-buzzkill "Joy." The "Hood" features an angry Type II blues jam of its own (as if the first 45 minutes of the set wasn't good enough) before exploding into its peak. "Cavern" technically ends the set, but who cares? This shit is perfect. I like to pretend that the "Zero" encore is just a joke being played on me personally. Sure, let's play the best show ever, but open with "The Line" and close with "Character Zero, lol."
Here, just watch the "Twist" > "Light" and thank Phish afterward:
The Live Review:
7/24/15: Cracks me up that a show this good starts with The Line.
7/24/15: Trey is pretty messy here with the outro solo. I like The Line, but this version is not the best.
7/24/15: Hooray for Moma, the quintessential 'reset button' song.
7/24/15: KDF in the three-spot, and after a few flubs, Trey is starting to sound like '15 Trey again.
7/24/15: Slow take on Yarmouth Road. Funkier. Good. Trey takes a longer solo than usual before the bridge lyrics.
7/24/15: I really like that version of Yarmouth. Tempo suits the song, and two actually solid solos from Trey, one in an unexpected spot.
7/24/15: Undermind next.
7/24/15: Undermind, Free, both pretty standard. I remember this Reba as being pretty great, though.
7/24/15: Yeah, this is great. Really intentionally melodic throughout.
7/24/15: Yeah, that was a keeper, though they pretty badly biffed the whistling ending. 46 Days to close the set.
7/24/15: 46 Days seems faster than usual.
7/24/15: Okay, here comes the good stuff.
7/24/15: Blaze On S2 opener.
7/24/15: This is a damn catchy song. Can't wait to hear a studio version.
7/24/15: Trey soloing starts off strong, starts turning into something resembling an Undermind jam.
7/24/15: Descending riff now from Trey. Loops on in background.
7/24/15: Lyrical refrain about 11 minutes in. Song keeps rolling afterward.
7/24/15: Immediately into space after the refrain. Loops and electric piano.
7/24/15: Love that it's the second-ever version of the song and it's already going into darkness jam territory.
7/24/15: Trey's solo here sort of reminds me of that Blossom Number Line jam I love so much.
7/24/15: I guess maybe not the solo so much as the tone.
7/24/15: > Twist.
7/24/15: Trey with the grungy tone from the Bend Simple already at the 4 minute mark.
7/24/15: So far (9 minutes), we haven't technically departed from Type I, but they've been banging at the edges of the box for awhile now.
7/24/15: And suddenly we're in a really beautiful bliss jam. How the fuck did that even happen?!
7/24/15: Bliss jam peaking in a big way.
7/24/15: Weird, evil piano from Page after the peak. > Light.
7/24/15: Transition out of the usual arpeggio-based jam at 730. Chords from Trey. Could almost be continuation of the Blaze On jam.
7/24/15: Funny how often Light jams end up circling Manteca.
7/24/15: Awesome transition to a new space at 930. Crowd cheers audible on the SBD.
7/24/15: Definitely Blaze On-esque progression and beat here.
7/24/15: This is even more awesome than I remember. I remembered like the Twist the best, but Light jam is incredible.
7/24/15: Really just the effect of the first 45 minutes of the set being jamming was jaw-dropping overall.
7/24/15: Not to mention getting a jammed-out Blaze On and the Twist jam I'd been expecting since summer '14.
7/24/15: Trey teases Twist quickly before moving into Joy.
7/24/15: Not ashamed to say I love this Joy. So cathartic in that crowd after the previous 45 minutes.
7/24/15: Sure, the Blaze On > Twist > Light was great, but what really cemented this set for me was
that Hood was the song they chose...
7/24/15: ...to wrap it all up. Probably my favorite song and a much better exclamation point in my situations, imho, than YEM or Fluff.
7/24/15: *most*
7/24/15: This one isn't a bad version, either. Lots of slow building, with some angry, almost bluesy leads at times from Trey.
7/24/15: Bass bombs from Mike. Almost a Floyd-like feeling to it at this point.
7/24/15: Everyone but Fish drops out after angry jam and then comes back in with the Hood outro build. Wow.
7/24/15: Trey jamming over the outro chords a bit instead of just going straight for the throat.
7/24/15: Gorgeous piano at this point from Page.
7/24/15: Lands in Cavern.
7/24/15: Long pause with some wood block shenanigans from Fish mid-Cavern.
7/24/15: Pretty ironic that my probably-new-favorite show ends with Zero, huh?
7/24/15: They do pretty much nail this Zero to the wall tho
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)