The Verdict:
There's more awesome Atlanta Phish to dig into on the second night of this run, though it's a bit more concentrated.
The first set has a lot fewer must-hear moments than the previous night, though there's a strong opening pair in "Runaway Jim" and "Undermind." the "Halfway," "Ocelot" pair smack-dab in the middle of the set might scream "Bathroom break!" but they're at the very least unique versions: Trey builds slowly to a crescendo from scratch in an interesting way in "Halfway" rather than just soloing and waiting out Page as he usually does, and "Ocelot" has another interesting build, that stays away from the song's usual blues-rock approach for some straight, harder rock instead. So, yeah, maybe check those out, but overall the set doesn't have the punch of the first night's opening frame.
The second set is pretty much all about the "Tweezer." The first half of this jam is some of the weirdest and yet most satisfying jamming I've heard in a long time from the band, and that's no small praise considering how they've been playing the last few years. I don't know that I'd call it the "best" anything, necessarily, but where even most of the band's top-shelf jams lately are really just particularly well-done variations on a particular theme or musical style, these 6-7 minutes are something I've never heard before at all. The second part of the jam settles into some more familiar territory, but is still solid for all that. Here, just watch it:
The rest of the set is strong 2015 playing, especially by Trey, but could easily be transported to a first set without anyone being the wiser...except for the Carini, which goes dark fast...and I mean dark:
So...yeah. Another great show, with some incredible highlights. Technically, it's a second-tier show for 2015, but that's just a backhanded compliment for how great 2015 has been in general.
The Live Review:
8/1/15: Second night of Atlanta coming your way. Slow-tempo Jim to open.
8/1/15: That was a very opener-y Jim. Very pleasant.
8/1/15: Curious to see if S1 of the second night can be as good as S1 of the first night.
8/1/15: Undermind next. Things are looking up.
8/1/15: Also slow tempo. Wouldn't mind a slow-tempo, ooey-gooey show, really.
8/1/15: Undermind floats along in a predictable way, though Mike is just blasting away in the background as if he's in a different song.
8/1/15: Some dude on the SBD is screaming for Skin It Back. #phish #crowdbanter
8/1/15: Nellie Kane instead.
8/1/15: Blaze On!
8/1/15: Short Blaze On. Now Halfway. Strong version, but I'm leery of setlist sag after the Texas shows. We'll see.
8/1/15: Unique Trey solo for this Halfway. Rather than just noodling along for a few minutes, he slowly builds from a small harmonics jam.
8/1/15: By the song's conclusion, he was shredding pretty seriously. I like that approach to the Halfway 'jam' better than the usual.
8/1/15: Fucking Ocelot.
8/1/15: Looking to make me eat my words, Trey and Fish are generating an interesting build here.
8/1/15: Trey's going to Melody Town. Gorgeous melody, but still building energy at the same time.
8/1/15: Well, that only slightly deviated from the usual Ocelot solo, but it's probably the most interesting take on the song I've heard.
8/1/15: Heavy Things, after an interlude of Fish drinking water and Trey exhorting the crowd to be more like Fish.
8/1/15: Messy Happy Birthday tease from Trey in Heavy Things. Not sure who for.
8/1/15: Theme!
8/1/15: Strong Theme, though no deviation from the usual...theme. Sorry.
8/1/15: Antelope to close the set. Hopefully it has some more balls than the Texas version.
8/1/15: Unless something magical happens in this Antelope, definitely S1N1 > S2N1.
8/1/15: We started off strong tonight with the first two songs, but everything else has been pretty typical.
8/1/15: Halfway and Ocelot were unique Type I versions, but that's about it.
8/1/15: End set. Gotta watch a video for work. brb.
8/1/15: Alright, S2 time.
8/1/15: Tweezer opener. The crowd loves it an appreciable amount.
8/1/15: Strong move into the jam, crowd loving it.
8/1/15: Distorted chords, beautiful keys from Page.
8/1/15: Trey laying down a great solo using the octave-shifter.
8/1/15: Slower, more melodic section now. Fish has a really interesting beat going.
8/1/15: This is wonderful. Holy shit.
8/1/15: I know I tend to be biased toward shows I've actually attended, but the KDF/Tweeze pair at Atlanta are better jams...
8/1/15: ...than anything I saw this summer.
8/1/15: Just fucking phenomenal. Dick's Disease is the only thing that's even close, but it's comparatively one-dimensional.
8/1/15: Where the hell are they even going with this thing? Making sounds I've never heard at a #phish show.
8/1/15: Just a little over halfway through, too!
8/1/15: Slow, buttery transition into rockland.
8/1/15: Trey going to town now.
8/1/15: Coming out of dark rock now, Page over to the clav.
8/1/15: Evil funk now. Mike with a great bassline.
8/1/15: Heavy drums now. Loops. Jam finally winding down. So good.
8/1/15: Trey ended on a gnarly loop that was begging to just have a Fee-style or '12 Roses-style jam tagged onto it.
8/1/15: Not like I'm complaining, though.
8/1/15: Jam lands in WAN. Perfect.
8/1/15: Number Line is next. I hope the rest of the at least contains some little gems, like 7/31 did. Even if not, though, DAT TWEEZER
8/1/15: Fantastically noodly Number Line gets BUTT-SLAMMED into CARINI
8/1/15: YOU TOLD ME OF A SECRET PLACE I SAW IT WHEN I MET YOU THE WALRUS ON YOUR FACE
8/1/15: This: https://t.co/RQuCdVTpqM
8/1/15: Lots of fucking screaming going into the jam. Fish is a champion screamer.
8/1/15: This is getting positively EVIL.
8/1/15: In the vein of the Bend Simple and Dick's Split.
8/1/15: Typing 'Dick's Split' admittedly made me wince a little.
8/1/15: This is nuts.
8/1/15: Oh. Waste. Interesting juxtaposition, but that felt like one of those 'strike while the iron is hot' moments. Oh well.
8/1/15: Guitar haze at the end of Waste > Sand.
8/1/15: Heavy funk time. Page -> clav.
8/1/15: That was an above-average typical version of Sand. If that makes any sense.
8/1/15: In other words: so good, but it didn't Go There.
8/1/15: Sand > Tweeprise.
8/1/15: End set. Rock and Roll encore!
8/1/15: Basically, both of these shows were just awesome. Slightly more pedestrian S1 tonight, and less on offer in S2 than N1.
8/1/15: That said, the Tweezer is even better than 7/31's KDF and probably the jam of the year so far for me.
8/1/15: Still prefer the Blaze On > Twist > Light, but I don't think that counts as one jam :)
8/1/15: Actually, I forgot the CDT from Texas was pretty damn good, too.
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