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
No comments:
Post a Comment