The Verdict:
Jumping back to 2011 after 2015 has been...interesting. As I mentioned a few times during the live reviews, I've been surprised by how tight and high-energy the playing is, easily moreso and more consistently so than 2015 Phish. On the other hand, there's little to no sign of that full-band, four-headed deep space exploration that has so characterized the last few great years of 3.0. That said, 2011 so far is a definitely improvement over the ~50 show doldrums that were 2010. Where some of the hallmarks of 2010 are still in place (technically precise, high-speed first sets and excellent song choices all show long), there are is more of a tendency to stretch songs during the first two shows this year that didn't exist during the previous year. We're not quite to 2015 levels of jamming yet, but, for the first time since I started this project, I'm seeing how we get there.
The first night of the tour opens with "Tweezer," which is a mission statement if I've ever heard one. It's balls-out rock instead of a deep jam, but the quick > "My Friend, My Friend" makes up a bit for that. Trey plays around with an odd scale for awhile in "Wolfman's" before a vocal jam and then a long, patient segue into "Walk Away," making up the biggest highlight from the opening frame. "Stash" is a close second, with an ominous jam in the middle and a peak the likes of which we haven't seen in awhile at the end.
S2 starts with "Carini," but it stays totally in the box, as do the next few songs. It's not really until nearly the end of "Boogie On" when the band lets loose, absolutely deconstructing the song in classic experimental-Phish fashion and then seguing into a "Waves" that admittedly fails to reach the depths of its soundcheck counterpart, but revisits similarly beautiful territory during its outro nonetheless. The last legit highlight from the set comes in "Crosseyed," which goes to a dark, almost metal place for a few minutes before hitting on what sounds suspiciously like the outro to "Twenty Years Later." The rest of the set trades in the kind of precision and energy that the first set did, but there's not much else there to remark on. That said, there are some legitimate highlights from both sets in this tour opener, especially the "Boogie On" > "Waves," which I'll be replaying sooner rather than later.
The Live Review:
5/27/11: So the tour opener is...Tweezer?!
5/27/11: That's just awesome and hilarious. Crowd LOSING it.
5/27/11: Awesome descending piano riff from Page during the Tweezer jam.
5/27/11: Trey is bringing this one home, full-on rock solo style.
5/27/11: Rock-jam starting to peter out, Trey pulls out a quick > MFMF.
5/27/11: Super high-tempo version of MFMF, Fish is losing his mind.
5/27/11: Poor Heart!
5/27/11: Roses is next. So far, a lot more energy and speed in S1 than most of 2015.
5/27/11: Of course, we sort of knew that considering how readily they ripped up every song for all of 2010...
5/27/11: ...but then proceeded to play, like, 2-3 jams the entire year.
5/27/11: Hopefully the Waves soundcheck jam is an indication that there will be more exploration this year.
5/27/11: Hot version of Roses > Funky Bitch.
5/27/11: Page just BLEW UP that Funky Bitch.
5/27/11: Wolfman's Brother's getting a bit of vocal jam outro.
5/27/11: Trey laying down a Wolfman's solo in...a...different...scale? I think?
5/27/11: Well, that wasn't exactly Type II, but it was interesting.
5/27/11: -> Walk Away!! Nice!
5/27/11: Great segue, and Trey is ready to rip it up.
5/27/11: This has been one of my favorite Phish cover songs since the 8/5/11 Roggae > Walk Away.
5/27/11: Never does anything interesting, but just some straight-up quality rock and roll.
5/27/11: Long break after Walk Away. Trey playing some harmonics and saying something to Fish. Then, Stash.
5/27/11: It *almost* sounded like the intro to TTE, but I'm not sure.
5/27/11: MAYBE SO MAYBE NOT
5/27/11: Pretty ominous little jam in the middle of Stash from Trey and Page.
5/27/11: Impressive peak after that. It seems like it's been awhile since there was a peak in Stash.
5/27/11: Bouncin'! It's rare enough these days that I'm happy to hear it :)
5/27/11: Propulsive version of KDF is next. Fish is hulking up.
5/27/11: Trey adding some loops. Page to electric piano.
5/27/11: Difference between 2011 and 2015: Trey is driving pretty much ALL THE TIME in 2011.
5/27/11: In a way, it's nice because he's way more assertive and plays more leads. In a way, it's not nice because jams are one dimensional.
5/27/11: That's a long way of saying Trey just soloed for 11 minutes over the KDF progression and now the song is over.
5/27/11: Bold As Love. Probably the set closer.
5/27/11: S2 starts with someone (Trey?) shouting 'Aw, what the fuck' and then Carini.
5/27/11: Compact Carini and now BOTT. Feeling more like a second first set so far.
5/27/11: Trey and Page bring BOTT up to a pretty satisfying boil.
5/27/11: Boogie On keeps the first set vibe in place.
5/27/11: That sounds like a complaint, but honestly it's hard to knock a show that has both Funky Bitch and Boogie On.
5/27/11: Plinko-style jam. Mike is getting NASTY.
5/27/11: DO NOT STOP DOING THIS FOR AT LEAST 15 MINUTES
5/27/11: Deconstructing jam now. Bass line disappears and plinko-loop jamming filling the space.
5/27/11: Trey drops tempo and pitch. Super weird.
5/27/11: Rest of the band following. Moving up and down between keys and changing tempos.
5/27/11: Jam is totally broken down now. Arrhythmic. Did not expect this.
5/27/11: Synth from Page.
5/27/11: Pretty sure Trey is slowly bringing Waves in.
5/27/11: Yup. -> Waves.
5/27/11: First Waves jam (to lyrics reprise) is pretty standard stuff.
5/27/11: Mike and Page are leading a broken-down, circular jam now.
5/27/11: Really interesting, delicate little jam emerging now. Could easily go into a 2015-style build, but they're being patient with it.
5/27/11: Sort of similar to the end of the soundcheck Waves. Probably not an accident, huh?
5/27/11: 'Ethereal' is a good word here.
5/27/11: > Caspian.
5/27/11: https://t.co/HKtBCVAYH5
5/27/11: Pretty standard take on Caspian. Noise-loop ending. > Crosseyed!
5/27/11: I didn't think Crosseyed really happened in 2011. Shows how much I know about this year.
5/27/11: LOST MY SHAPE
5/27/11: Strong Type I solo into a vocal reprise.
5/27/11: Mike and Trey take the song's main riff into almost a metal place immediately after the vocals.
5/27/11: Jam reminds me a bit of the Twenty Years Later outro.
5/27/11: Jam winding down now.
5/27/11: Trey singing the lyrics to Velvet Sea over the roil. > Velvet Sea.
5/27/11: Mike laying down a really driving bass riff in Wading. It's weird, I don't usually even hear him during this song.
5/27/11: Possum seems like a weird choice here.
5/27/11: I COME FROM TACO MOUNTAIN, BABY
5/27/11: Squirming Coil, possibly to send the second set?
5/27/11: Page adding a bit of jazz flair to his outro solo. Crowd clapping along now.
5/27/11: Julius encore.
5/27/11: Pretty rowdy Julius dere.
5/27/11: After one show of 2011, I can safely say that it sits somewhere between 2010 and 2015 in quality so far.
5/27/11: The high energy and rapid-fire playing of 2010 is there, and the expansive, full-band improv of later 3.0 isn't.
5/27/11: Yet, there's a little more...'extending' of songs here that seems to indicate an interest in exploration...
5/27/11: ...that was missing for almost all of 2010.
5/27/11: That said, the Boogie On -> Waves is a legitimate highlight for any year and you should listen to it.
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