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.
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