The Verdict:
I always find it a little difficult to review a three-set show just because there's so much music to listen to and the expectations are always significantly different than they are for a typical two-set show. So it's even more difficult to try to review a four-set show...but I'll try anyway.
So the really short version is that this is a day's worth of monster Phish, and calling it anything other than amazing by the standards of any era would be understating the case. The slightly longer version is that the first set is about ninety minutes of Jukebox-Mode letdown after 8/21's awesome start. But then things get good quick after that and stay that way all the way up through the mind-boggling Drive-In Jam.
There isn't much to say about S1 that isn't already in the review below. The "Divided Sky" opener is a nice touch, and the out-of-the-box "Antelope" that closes the set is a taste of things to come. A lot of what's between is rarities, but the set flows so oddly that every moment of high-energy playing is sapped almost immediately by a bewildering setlist call. All in all, it doesn't hold a candle to 8/21's S1.
S2 starts off slowly, actually, but gets rolling with a "46 Days" that's one of my favorite jams of the year. It follows the now-typical loops -> build -> bliss jam structure, but does so at a slower tempo and with some interesting variations on the theme. Obviously, the other highlight is the "Tweezerpants" that closes the set. Honestly, I didn't find as much to like in this as I did in the "46 Days" or the "Blaze On" from S3, but who's to complain about an echo-funk'd "Tweezer" followed by a legitimate jam out of "Caspian"?
There are a lot of shows where the band just sort of fades out during the third set, presumably because it's real damn hard to play awesome music for over four hours. But this show isn't one of those. As if S2 wasn't already one of the best - if not the best - set of the year, S3 brings the year's best "Blaze On" jam, which sets up a great loop 'n' echo jam style that then gets carried through into "Possum," "Cities," and, to a lesser degree, a monster "Light." The set ends in typical fashion, but it's easily the equal of S2, probably better. Then there's the Drive-In Set. You can start S3 at 2:54:00 in the video below:
The Drive-In Set is probably best recounted by just reading the tweet review. Suffice to say that it's over fifty minutes of mostly dark, sometimes creepy Phish, with some added samples from (I assume) Page that we haven't heard before, a lot of weird vocal jamming, and a lot of exploration of the sound that began in Bend with "Simple."
Small complaints about the opening set aside, this show is an embarrassment of riches. There's no other way to put it.
The Live Review:
8/22/15: Definitely not going to make it all the way through this marathon show today, but I can at least get started!
8/22/15: Divided Sky opener. That's a good omen.
8/22/15: A little slower than usual, but seems appropriate.
8/22/15: DSky openers in the summer should be a little languid.
8/22/15: Extra-long pause.
8/22/15: Extended outro jam, too, with lots of Trey chording after what seemed like it was going to be the end.
8/22/15: Now that everyone's well and truly fired up...the Moma Dance.
8/22/15: I really like Trey's addition of the echo effect to Moma.
8/22/15: Now Fish messing w/ the outro vocals.
8/22/15: I'm going to Go There and say MSG or '16 Moma Dance will get at least one serious jam.
8/22/15: Just feels like they're begging to bust this one open.
8/22/15: Don't know if they can outdo this one, though: https://t.co/vHqgB9yLVf
8/22/15: > Mound.
8/22/15: Army Of One! Great song!
8/22/15: Scabbard! I love this song, but have to admit that it sounds a little bare when Phish plays it.
8/22/15: Though the electric outro is neat, as opposed to the acoustic one on the album and w/ TAB.
8/22/15: Trey is having serious trouble playing the song right now, which is sort of a problem.
8/22/15: Tiny little solo from Trey during the outro, then > Sample.
8/22/15: Tuuuuube...
8/22/15: Tube going in the now-typical echo-funk direction.
8/22/15: Would like to make a comp of all the echo-funk jams from Dick's '14 on. Maybe over Christmas.
8/22/15: And all the jams from this year that spawned from the Bend Simple. Echo-funk comp and EVIL comp.
8/22/15: Halfway To the Moon. Weird...this set started strong, but is just sort of falling into Usual Set Mode.
8/22/15: Err...Usual S1 Mode.
8/22/15: Camel Walk!
8/22/15: A few neat songs in the second half of this set, but is pretty much just a grab-bag set post-Mound.
8/22/15: Or post-the-opener, if you want to be a little more cynical.
8/22/15: How Many People Are You? Love it! Wanna see this getting jammed, too.
8/22/15: Great outro with a Trey solo and Mike/Fish overlapping vocals.
8/22/15: When The Circus Comes is next.
8/22/15: Undermind w/ echo chords.
8/22/15: Page going to friggin' town on the organ.
8/22/15: Undermind > Antelope.
8/22/15: Angry build in Antelope. Interesting.
8/22/15: Now getting loopy and bubbly, sort of like the Dick's SOAM.
8/22/15: Quickly back out, and now back into the normal Antelope jam.
8/22/15: Where was the band that's playing this Antelope come from and where is the band that played the first 90% of this set buried?
8/22/15: *did
8/22/15: Loop build now.
8/22/15: That was a weird set. Really long. Lots of neat song choices. But absolutely no flow whatsoever. Totally weird.
8/22/15: The Antelope was really the only thing that will be getting a relisten.
8/22/15: But, now it's time for MF'N set two.
8/22/15: S2 kicks off with Wolfman's.
8/22/15: Echo funk Wolfman's jam!
8/22/15: This is awesome. Sometimes it sort of seems like the guys are leaning on 2-3 jam styles for all the '15 jams, but...
8/22/15: ...they're so good I don't care that much.
8/22/15: Halley's is next. Standard version, Trey seemed to be trying to do something with the end. Light, maybe?
8/22/15: Either way, full stop and landing in 46 Days.
8/22/15: Pitch-shifted semi-madness is going on in this jam.
8/22/15: This is not your older brother's 46 Days.
8/22/15: We're only six minutes in and we've explored two legitimately weird spaces already.
8/22/15: Jam is mellowing a little, but Trey is keeping his bizarro tone.
8/22/15: Now super chilled out, Trey and Mike adding some melody lines over a synth buzz.
8/22/15: Gorgeous guitar riff from Trey.
8/22/15: Doing the usual mellow-to-bliss jam thing, but more slowly than usual.
8/22/15: Wind-down finally lands in Number Line.
8/22/15: Fantastic jam. Listening to that again on the way home.
8/22/15: Number Line sounds more like an '09 or '10 version instead of the usual high-neck noodling jams that have been happening lately.
8/22/15: Nevermind. Here we go.
8/22/15: > Tweezer. I've been waiting to hear this for a LOOOONG time.
New review: 2015-08-21 Magnaball I https://t.co/e0LmDM2MTo #phish #summer2015 #magnaball
8/22/15: Jam starts all funky and rubber-bandy. That's literally the best way I can explain it right now. I had a long night.
8/22/15: In case anyone was wondering when Phish would get around to applying the echo funk jam to Tweezer, today's your day.
8/22/15: Moving from the funk into something more fast-paced and lighter. Page jazzing it up on the piano.
8/22/15: Great playing from Trey propels the jam a bit, keeps that slow build from becoming *too* slow.
8/22/15: Wind down from another great jam.
8/22/15: > Caspian
8/22/15: Some more noodling from Trey after the usual Caspian ending.
8/22/15: Now fading a bit with a blues riff.
8/22/15: Trey funking out his tone.
8/22/15: Really deconstructed echo-funk going on now.
8/22/15: It's sort of like the usual type, but more distorted and approaching arrhythmic.
8/22/15: Coming out of the funk now, into an awesome Trey solo.
8/22/15: Massive descending riff and synth bombs now. Holy shit that got big fast.
8/22/15: Huge wind-down to end the Tweezer > Caspian sequence.
8/22/15: Short set, but end of S2. I'll be back later with the rest. I'm tired.
8/22/15: Marathon show continues. Meatstick opener for S3.
8/22/15: Slow-build Meatstick intro. That was fun.
8/22/15: Blaze On next.
8/22/15: Outro jam to Blaze On. Sort of sounds like an Undermind jam. Page tearing it up on the piano.
8/22/15: Getting a little spacier. Trey hits on a neat riff that propels Page over to the electric piano.
8/22/15: Building into some dark funk now. I like where this is going.
8/22/15: This is sort of like an evil reprise of the Blaze On progression, with Page laying down a fantastic electric piano solo over it.
8/22/15: Stop-start jam now. Suprised at the lack of woos.
8/22/15: *Surprised
8/22/15: Pitch shifter has arrived.
8/22/15: This jam is definitely going on the 2015 highlight reel.
8/22/15: Surprised to hear so much about the Tweezerpants and so little about this. I like this way better.
8/22/15: God, it's like I'm Willy Wonka on that fucking boat.
8/22/15: This is my review of this jam. https://t.co/X2Mpo3Lr2Z
8/22/15: This is the second part of my review. https://t.co/YRzHdt71Ps
8/22/15: NICE landing in Possum, somehow.
8/22/15: Trey teasing the Blaze On jam in the Possum intro. The. Fuck.
8/22/15: Another great turn on the piano for Page during Possum.
8/22/15: Great call-and-response between Trey and Page now.
8/22/15: This is my favorite Possum in a really long time. Don't let the length fool you.
8/22/15: > Cities!
8/22/15: Actually, that was more of a -B Cities.
8/22/15: More rock and less funk than usual in this Cities.
8/22/15: Wouldn't be surprised to see the jam go the echo-funk route.
8/22/15: Nope, they're bringing back the loops from Blaze On, and we're back on Wonka's boat.
8/22/15: Jam winds down on an angry note sort of similar to the 6/17/04 Moma Dance.
8/22/15: Trey makes the logical > Light. Thought I wish they would have drawn out that anger-jamming a bit more.
8/22/15: Trey almost completely avoids the Endless Arpeggios section of the Light jam this time and starts w/ melody soloing.
8/22/15: Oh, okay. The Endless Arpeggios were just delayed, not cancelled.
8/22/15: Almost sounds like Blaze On now.
8/22/15: Now it's Space Manteca.
8/22/15: Loops from the previous set's jams come back in a big way.
8/22/15: Reminds me a little of 8/31/14 S2.
8/22/15: Only better.
8/22/15: Fade out leads into 555, which seems like just the weirdest goddamn song choice ever right here.
8/22/15: Unless they're going to jam it for fifteen minutes, that is.
8/22/15: Standard 555 with slightly more echo and some extra mustard on the outro solo.
8/22/15: Velvet Sea.
8/22/15: Gorgeous, gorgeous version of Velvet Sea. Wow. Trey's solo more like a Reba solo.
8/22/15: Piano-only segue > Walls.
8/22/15: There might have been a little extra shredding at the end of that Walls.
8/22/15: Boogie On(core)!
8/22/15: Pretty standard, slightly echo-y Boogie On > Tweeprise.
I'll do the Drive-In Jam later. Gotta go hand out an exam.
8/22/15: Okay, here we go with S4. I imagine I'm missing a bit by not watching the video, but for now I'm just reviewing based on audio.
8/22/15: Eerie synth and bass to start. Could be like an extended Bowie intro from the 90s.
8/22/15: More creepy droning.
8/22/15: I'm not sure where these sounds are coming from, but I hope nobody in the crowd is on drugs.
8/22/15: Because I would be shitting myself.
8/22/15: I sure hope nobody is on drugs at this Phish concert.
8/22/15: Screaming samples and carnival music. Hold me.
8/22/15: Water samples. Processed vocals from the band now.
8/22/15: Slowly becoming a little melodic at the 10 minute mark.
8/22/15: Circular riff from Mike, melody from Trey, Fish picking up with a clear rhythm.
8/22/15: This could sort of be an extended WTU? jam. Sounds similar to it.
8/22/15: Mike taking the lead now.
8/22/15: Brass bell samples.
8/22/15: Mike's bass has the same tone as the bass in the background music for Doom 2.
8/22/15: Tempo picking up now.
8/22/15: This has been twenty minutes of straight evil so far. Not the direction I expected them to go at all.
8/22/15: But I'm digging it.
8/22/15: Getting more rock-like now, but with creepy Fish screams.
8/22/15: Bell samples keep coming in at odd times. Maybe the weirdest part of this whole set.
8/22/15: More driving riff now, over the bells.
8/22/15: Page on organ now. Almost sounds like 2001.
8/22/15: Getting a little spacier around 37:00.
8/22/15: Lots of Bend Simple-style drone chords from Trey throughout this jam.
8/22/15: More vocal jamming now.
8/22/15: Cool! The jam is ending more or less the same way that it started.
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