The Verdict
Note: This show isn't up on Phishtracks yet for some reason, so there are no links to particular songs. Sorry!
While the first two nights of the MSG run were great shows in the tradition of many of the great shows of the last two years, they were missing that "all killer, no filler" aspect to their second sets that lately seems to separate the great shows from the truly memorable ones. Night three brings that aspect, though, in spades.
The opening set is one of those that tips you off right away to the fact that the second set is going to be special. The guys are on fire right out of the gate, and it's four songs in, after an especially loose and funky "Moma" that "Gumbo" gets taken for a walk for the second time in a row. Here, there's a solo clav breakdown from Page before the song zags into "Cities," which in turn features an excellent echo-funk jam led by Trey. Really, funk is about the groove, and the one that Mike and Fish lay down here is just perfect listening. After a bluegrass breather, another "typical" (aka pure fire) take on "Gin" gets trotted out, and though things take a turn for the songy after that, the guys pull out a surprise "YEM" to wrap up the set, so no hard feelings there.
The funk was strong with the first set, so it shouldn't be a surprise that the second set opens with "Tweezer." What follows is nearly an hour of insanely high-quality improvisation. The "Tweezer" starts out as dirty-toned funk, but quickly moves to a more mellow space, which slowly and patiently modulates toward bliss-jamming but never quite gets there in favor of developing a riff that Trey cooks up partway through. It's a great version that lands, amazingly, in "Sparks."
This sequence gets a lot of props, and it should, but for my money, the "Ghost" that follows is the real highlight of the set (and perhaps the run, though it's hard to pick from such a deep bag of riches). It actually follows a reasonably similar path to the "Tweezer," but here the funk lead-in is complicated, tension-filled, and deconstructive, while the build to the eventual peak is more '15-typical, built on a riff that's not unlike the Dick's "Disease" jam.
Then there's the "Light," which also starts as a funk jam, but changes quickly to include loops, echoes, and all kinds of other less-comforting sounds. This darker jam maintains patience and momentum for a long time before eventually just becoming a chord progression that's close enough to the "Party Time" progression that the whole band just plays all of "Party Time" without leaving the jam. So that happens.
And, if you haven't shit your pants after all of that, things are rounded out by a legitimately beautiful "Wading" and a raucous "Rocky Top." Of all the great, busy second sets we've gotten in the last two years, this is one of the most rewarding, as far as I'm concerned. Even the cooldown and wrap-up songs are worth a listen. Just play this whole thing, and realize it's 2016 and Phish is still making music like this.
Then, definitely shit your pants.
The Live Review
12/30/16: Night three also kicks off with an a capella tune. In this case, it's Carolina.
12/30/16: Blaze On.
12/30/16: Pretty standard outro jam, except for Fish, who is on fire.
12/30/16: Moma is next, and is already sounding a bit saucy. Hoping this bodes well for the second set.
12/30/16: Fish continues to be the anthropomorphization of fire.
12/30/16: Gumbo keeps the funk train going.
12/30/16: Awesome clav breakdown in Gumbo.
12/30/16: Solo clav outro > Cities.
12/30/16: Awesome echo-driven jamming off the back of this Cities.
12/30/16: Really low-key but brilliant funk jam now. Wish this would go on for about ten more minutes.
12/30/16: Genre switch-up now with The Old Home Place.
12/30/16: Gin! The way things have been going, this is poised to blast off.
12/30/16: Band playing around with the structure of the jam early.
12/30/16: Yet another great Type 1.5-style Gin there. Things People Do next.
12/30/16: This version is less bluegrassy and more circus-organ-y. If that makes sense.
12/30/16: MFMF following.
12/30/16: MFMF gets sort of glitchy for a second and then Trey pulls the 'cord into Wilson.
12/30/16: Sugar Shack next. Set becoming a little disorganized at this point.
12/30/16: Trey actually jamming meaningfully along with Sugar Shack. I predict a three-song second set.
12/30/16: First-set YEM! Well, that mixes things up a bit.
12/30/16: I guess that Sugar Shack loosened up Trey's fingers.
12/30/16: Extra-spicy funk-jam section there. End set.
12/30/16: Great start to that set, and just as the energy was flagging (post-Gin), they pull out YEM.
12/30/16: S2 opens with Tweezer. I guess we're doing this.
12/30/16: Late afternoon forecast update: It's gonna be cold.
12/30/16: Crowd is fucking losing it for this Tweezer and we're not even to the jam yet.
12/30/16: Trey leading the early jam with an especially filthy tone.
12/30/16: Bit of a breather after Trey's solo. Now leading into a loop-filled, mellow jam space.
12/30/16: Really pretty jam continuing. Page owning the piano. Mike filling out the edges nicely.
12/30/16: Great build now around a Trey riff.
12/30/16: Really gorgeous Tweezer jam that doesn't just ride the 'usual' path to a bliss peak.
12/30/16: Excellent bomb deployment from Mike en route to the peak.
12/30/16: > Sparks!
12/30/16: That was fun. Ghost next.
12/30/16: Trey doing some serious pitch-altered jamming alongside Page on the clav. Chunky funk.
12/30/16: Really wild deconstructed funk starting to resolve into something more coherent on the back of another Trey riff.
12/30/16: Fantastic melodic jamming that's still nodding back a bit to the main Ghost riff.
12/30/16: Tweezer > Sparks was great, but this jam is $$$.
12/30/16: Page on piano playing Trey's riff while he jams over it.
12/30/16: Awesome build now. I don't mind the bliss jam now and again if we get there through a jam like the one the guys just played.
12/30/16: Great jam. > Light.
12/30/16: Light easing slowly into a stop/start funk jam.
12/30/16: Some absolutely legit funk going down here. Oh man.
12/30/16: The last forty or so minutes of Phish has been improv that puts even a lot of '13-'15 to shame.
12/30/16: Not that it's a competition, but if it was THIS JAMMING WOULD BE THE WINNING JAMMING.
12/30/16: They are being patient and drawn-out about this jam like it's 1997.
12/30/16: Echoing madness continuing, slowly mellowing out.
12/30/16: Almost sounds like Meatstick now.
12/30/16: Oh, shit! It's a -> Party Time!
12/30/16: Very cleverly done.
12/30/16: They are rocking the shit out of Party Time.
12/30/16: Wow. That was quite a sequence of Phish music.
12/30/16: Wading seems like a great landing pad after that.
12/30/16: Troy's not sleeping on this Wading. Great soloing from him and Page.
12/30/16: Strong take on Wading > Rocky Top.
12/30/16: End holy shit set.
12/30/16: Extra mustard on that Rock and Roll, for sure.
12/30/16: Tweeprise. Trey starts off with a 'Trip is short!' lyric (reference to N1), then Page follows with samples.
12/30/16: WON'T YOU STEP INTO THE MARS-FREEZER?
12/30/16: Welp. Typically good late '16 first set. Second set was my favorite set of the year, most likely.
12/30/16: I don't see 12/31 beating this, but I guess I'll listen to it on Tuesday anyway :)
Apr 29, 2017
2016-12-29 MSG II
The Verdict:
The second MSG show is oddly similar to the first in terms of structure (and, arguably, quality).
The first set, again, stays pretty removed from improv, but there's a lot to like in terms of song selection. I for one really enjoy the strong takes on "Mike's" and "Groove" sandwiching a rare "Secret Smile." It's great to hear "Peaches," "Roses," "Brian and Robert," and "Beauty of a Broken Heart." And they're all played well, too! If you absolutely need a jam to enjoy a first set, "SOAM" has you covered, as it goes dark and abstract (even more than usual) before wrapping things up satisfyingly.
Set two is mostly focused again on one big tentpole jam, and in this case, it's "Disease." This particular take on the jam vehicle sees more or less two distinct sections, sewn pretty seamlessly together: a "Jumpin' Jack Flash"-style jam reminiscent of early '16 jams like the BGCA "Sally," and a more abstract, quieter, slower section that allows the band's improvisational chops to shine before seguing nicely into a mellow take on "What's the Use?"
Like N1, most of the rest of this set strays into predictable, jukebox-y territory with the exception of a weird song sandwich late in the frame. In this case, it's not Martian Tweeprise, but the even stranger sequence of "Twenty Years Later" -> "Kung" -> "Twenty Years Later."
From there, "Makisupa" gets a percussion jam, but for my money it's one of the less memorable instrument-switching moments from '16, and things wrap up with a typically beautiful "Hood."
If I was forced, in some weird hypothetical scenario, to decide if I liked N1 or N2 better, I'd choose N1 simply because the "Golden Age" jam was a bit less predictable and Got There in a more interesting fashion and Martian Tweeprise hit me a bit harder than Twenty Kungs Later did. But hey, they're both great shows, and with this we're at at least a run of six can't-miss shows in a row, which is starting to put the back half of 2016 in some pretty epic company.
The Live Review:
12/29/16: Second night opens with an a cappella too. Sweet Adeline.
12/29/16: Peaches next. Bustout city so far tonight!
12/29/16: Mike's is third. A more pedestrian choice, but the band slides into the jam with aplomb.
12/29/16: Extra mustard on that Mike's leads into...Secret Smile?
12/29/16: I know that there are a lot of Secret Smile haters out there, but I think it's one of the prettier ballads the band has written.
12/29/16: It might be cheesy, but if I could write a song that good myself just once, I'd feel pretty accomplished.
12/29/16: Besides, every time I hear it, I remember them playing it at sunset at the Gorge in '13.
12/29/16: One of my favorite Phish moments, and I was totally baffled why everyone was groaning and heading for the bathrooms.
12/29/16: Aren't those kinds of moments what you see this band for?
12/29/16: I guess a lot of people go to see Phish for the same reason they see any band: to jerk off their limbic systems for a few hours.
12/29/16: Anyway, that was a great Secret Smile. > Groove.
12/29/16: Slow but strong Groove. Roses next. Crowd loving it.
12/29/16: Poor Heart! Page going nuts on the piano.
12/29/16: First set 46 Days!
12/29/16: So far, this set has had a serious old-school rock vibe. Loving it.
12/29/16: Page and Trey teaching this 46 Days a lesson.
12/29/16: Brian and Robert! This set is awesome.
12/29/16: Beauty of a Broken Heart next. This is how you put bustouts into a set for more than just novelty value.
12/29/16: Nice little outro jam led by Trey.
12/29/16: They've been really fond of second-quarter Themes lately. Not sure how I feel about it, but I'm getting used to it.
12/29/16: Definitely better than the fourth-quarter ones of the previous year.
12/29/16: Extra peaky outro jam on Theme. Nice!
12/29/16: Theme ends with a bunch of echo-y chords and distorted notes. > Split.
12/29/16: This seems like the perfect closer to this old schools et.
12/29/16: *set
12/29/16: Satisfyingly drone-y and ominous version developing here.
12/29/16: I feel like they've definitely been getting more and more abstract (again) with this tune in the last year or two.
12/29/16: I remember thinking that about the Dick's '15 version, and most versions since.
12/29/16: Set 2 opens with Disease.
12/29/16: Normal Type I lead-in to the jam leads to a more upbeat rock section
12/29/16: Another big Jumpin' Jack Flash-style jam emerging now.
12/29/16: Under Pressure riffing leads into a slower, more spacey jam section.
12/29/16: Great breakdown now. Loving this jam.
12/29/16: It's amazing to me how many Disease jams there can be with most of them still being unique and engaging.
12/29/16: WTU? teasing from Trey now.
12/29/16: -> WTU?
12/29/16: I kinda enjoy how frequent the Disease -> WTU? pairing is these days.
12/29/16: This is the recent, mellower mode of WTU?
12/29/16: WTU fades nicely into Fuego.
12/29/16: A little WTU? teasing in the Fuego jam. Otherwise, very echo-heavy.
12/29/16: Remember that weirdly-placed Meatstick at MGM? Well, it's back.
12/29/16: Though if I'm being honest, I'm not sure there's a non-weird place to put Meatstick in a set.
12/29/16: Except as a segue after a twenty-plus-minute Rock and Roll that deconstructs space and time, I guess.
12/29/16: Twenty Years Later follows. Weird.
12/29/16: I am glad to hear this song getting heavier rotation again. It's one of my favorites from Joy.
12/29/16: Even if the outro is generally turgid and uninteresting live.
12/29/16: Hah! And during said turgid and uninteresting outro, Trey just started the lyrics to Kung.
12/29/16: Twenty Years Later music continuing under the lyrics.
12/29/16: Makisupa Policeman after that Kung.
12/29/16: Trey made the story at the beginning interesting by asking everyone else what they did this morning.
12/29/16: Now we're in Fish's House. Is there such a thing as a 'gag bustout'?
12/29/16: How many shows since the 'house' gimmick?
12/29/16: Building marimba/bass jam in Makisupa.
12/29/16: Full-on Makisupa percussion jam now.
12/29/16: Return to Makisupa after a long drum jam. Reggae feel leads right into Hood. Will likely close the set.
12/29/16: Huge roar from the crowd at the first glowstick beat.
12/29/16: I imagine that glowsticks at MSG are pretty great. I think I'll always prefer Gorge or Dick's though :)
12/29/16: Great, straightforward take on Hood. Julius is going to encore.
12/29/16: Second night of MSG run keeps up the momentum of the first. Still missing a monster S2 a la MGM/Dick's, though.
12/29/16: First set was great, wall-to-wall old school rock Phish.
12/29/16: Second set started out strong with a great Disease jam. After that, though, things got pretty weird.
12/29/16: That said, if your tolerance for antics are high, you will love the Meatstick, Twenty Years Later -> Kung -> Makisupa sequence.
The second MSG show is oddly similar to the first in terms of structure (and, arguably, quality).
The first set, again, stays pretty removed from improv, but there's a lot to like in terms of song selection. I for one really enjoy the strong takes on "Mike's" and "Groove" sandwiching a rare "Secret Smile." It's great to hear "Peaches," "Roses," "Brian and Robert," and "Beauty of a Broken Heart." And they're all played well, too! If you absolutely need a jam to enjoy a first set, "SOAM" has you covered, as it goes dark and abstract (even more than usual) before wrapping things up satisfyingly.
Set two is mostly focused again on one big tentpole jam, and in this case, it's "Disease." This particular take on the jam vehicle sees more or less two distinct sections, sewn pretty seamlessly together: a "Jumpin' Jack Flash"-style jam reminiscent of early '16 jams like the BGCA "Sally," and a more abstract, quieter, slower section that allows the band's improvisational chops to shine before seguing nicely into a mellow take on "What's the Use?"
Like N1, most of the rest of this set strays into predictable, jukebox-y territory with the exception of a weird song sandwich late in the frame. In this case, it's not Martian Tweeprise, but the even stranger sequence of "Twenty Years Later" -> "Kung" -> "Twenty Years Later."
From there, "Makisupa" gets a percussion jam, but for my money it's one of the less memorable instrument-switching moments from '16, and things wrap up with a typically beautiful "Hood."
If I was forced, in some weird hypothetical scenario, to decide if I liked N1 or N2 better, I'd choose N1 simply because the "Golden Age" jam was a bit less predictable and Got There in a more interesting fashion and Martian Tweeprise hit me a bit harder than Twenty Kungs Later did. But hey, they're both great shows, and with this we're at at least a run of six can't-miss shows in a row, which is starting to put the back half of 2016 in some pretty epic company.
The Live Review:
12/29/16: Second night opens with an a cappella too. Sweet Adeline.
12/29/16: Peaches next. Bustout city so far tonight!
12/29/16: Mike's is third. A more pedestrian choice, but the band slides into the jam with aplomb.
12/29/16: Extra mustard on that Mike's leads into...Secret Smile?
12/29/16: I know that there are a lot of Secret Smile haters out there, but I think it's one of the prettier ballads the band has written.
12/29/16: It might be cheesy, but if I could write a song that good myself just once, I'd feel pretty accomplished.
12/29/16: Besides, every time I hear it, I remember them playing it at sunset at the Gorge in '13.
12/29/16: One of my favorite Phish moments, and I was totally baffled why everyone was groaning and heading for the bathrooms.
12/29/16: Aren't those kinds of moments what you see this band for?
12/29/16: I guess a lot of people go to see Phish for the same reason they see any band: to jerk off their limbic systems for a few hours.
12/29/16: Anyway, that was a great Secret Smile. > Groove.
12/29/16: Slow but strong Groove. Roses next. Crowd loving it.
12/29/16: Poor Heart! Page going nuts on the piano.
12/29/16: First set 46 Days!
12/29/16: So far, this set has had a serious old-school rock vibe. Loving it.
12/29/16: Page and Trey teaching this 46 Days a lesson.
12/29/16: Brian and Robert! This set is awesome.
12/29/16: Beauty of a Broken Heart next. This is how you put bustouts into a set for more than just novelty value.
12/29/16: Nice little outro jam led by Trey.
12/29/16: They've been really fond of second-quarter Themes lately. Not sure how I feel about it, but I'm getting used to it.
12/29/16: Definitely better than the fourth-quarter ones of the previous year.
12/29/16: Extra peaky outro jam on Theme. Nice!
12/29/16: Theme ends with a bunch of echo-y chords and distorted notes. > Split.
12/29/16: This seems like the perfect closer to this old schools et.
12/29/16: *set
12/29/16: Satisfyingly drone-y and ominous version developing here.
12/29/16: I feel like they've definitely been getting more and more abstract (again) with this tune in the last year or two.
12/29/16: I remember thinking that about the Dick's '15 version, and most versions since.
12/29/16: Set 2 opens with Disease.
12/29/16: Normal Type I lead-in to the jam leads to a more upbeat rock section
12/29/16: Another big Jumpin' Jack Flash-style jam emerging now.
12/29/16: Under Pressure riffing leads into a slower, more spacey jam section.
12/29/16: Great breakdown now. Loving this jam.
12/29/16: It's amazing to me how many Disease jams there can be with most of them still being unique and engaging.
12/29/16: WTU? teasing from Trey now.
12/29/16: -> WTU?
12/29/16: I kinda enjoy how frequent the Disease -> WTU? pairing is these days.
12/29/16: This is the recent, mellower mode of WTU?
12/29/16: WTU fades nicely into Fuego.
12/29/16: A little WTU? teasing in the Fuego jam. Otherwise, very echo-heavy.
12/29/16: Remember that weirdly-placed Meatstick at MGM? Well, it's back.
12/29/16: Though if I'm being honest, I'm not sure there's a non-weird place to put Meatstick in a set.
12/29/16: Except as a segue after a twenty-plus-minute Rock and Roll that deconstructs space and time, I guess.
12/29/16: Twenty Years Later follows. Weird.
12/29/16: I am glad to hear this song getting heavier rotation again. It's one of my favorites from Joy.
12/29/16: Even if the outro is generally turgid and uninteresting live.
12/29/16: Hah! And during said turgid and uninteresting outro, Trey just started the lyrics to Kung.
12/29/16: Twenty Years Later music continuing under the lyrics.
12/29/16: Makisupa Policeman after that Kung.
12/29/16: Trey made the story at the beginning interesting by asking everyone else what they did this morning.
12/29/16: Now we're in Fish's House. Is there such a thing as a 'gag bustout'?
12/29/16: How many shows since the 'house' gimmick?
12/29/16: Building marimba/bass jam in Makisupa.
12/29/16: Full-on Makisupa percussion jam now.
12/29/16: Return to Makisupa after a long drum jam. Reggae feel leads right into Hood. Will likely close the set.
12/29/16: Huge roar from the crowd at the first glowstick beat.
12/29/16: I imagine that glowsticks at MSG are pretty great. I think I'll always prefer Gorge or Dick's though :)
12/29/16: Great, straightforward take on Hood. Julius is going to encore.
12/29/16: Second night of MSG run keeps up the momentum of the first. Still missing a monster S2 a la MGM/Dick's, though.
12/29/16: First set was great, wall-to-wall old school rock Phish.
12/29/16: Second set started out strong with a great Disease jam. After that, though, things got pretty weird.
12/29/16: That said, if your tolerance for antics are high, you will love the Meatstick, Twenty Years Later -> Kung -> Makisupa sequence.
2016-12-28 MSG I
The Verdict
The opening show of the MSG run keeps the momentum from Vegas rolling with a typically great first set and a second set that features two major highlights.
The band opens each show of this run with an a cappella tune; this time around, it's "The Star-Spangled Banner." From there, the rest of the set visits territory already well-trod by the great MGM shows: a solid mix of new songs and old bustouts, with relatively little to note in the improv category. It's nice to hear "Lonesome Cowboy Bill" and "Train Song," "Caspian" gets the extra-distorted treatment, and "Roggae" is even better than usual. "Stash" continues to be on the verge of busting loose into some legitimately interesting space, and "Corinna" is one of my all-time favorite Phish rarities.
"Wolfman's" opens the second set, and though it doesn't get the jam treatment you might hope would come from that placement, it does take a full-on excursion into chunk-funk before meandering back to its usual rock and roll peak. It's worth a listen. "Golden Age" is, once again, the real story here. It's a flowy, momentum-filled thing that doesn't really come in discrete stages, but suffice to say that it hits that loopy-and-abstract-but-driving-and-coherent sweet spot so many of the best jams have hit on in late 2016 (including the previous MGM "Golden Age"). It's brilliant, and, like the Vegas version, lands in "Simple" with a legit segue.
Your mileage may vary when it comes to the rest of the set, which starts to settle into jukebox territory. I for one don't mind this in this particular because a) the first set was great, b) "Golden Age" is plenty of jamming to send me home happy, and c) the "Martian Monster" -> "Tweeprise" -> "Martian Monster" surprise sandwich that occurs late in the set is so fun and unexpected that I don't finish the show feeling like anything was missing.
The Live Review
12/28/16: Keeping the review train rolling today. Star Spangled Banner opener.
12/28/16: I sort of feel like they should open every four-night run with this now.
12/28/16: Stealing Time next.
12/28/16: Lonesome Cowboy Bill bustout, followed by a Free that Trey leaned into a little more than usual.
12/28/16: Train Song was another nice bustout to hear. Followed now by Prince Caspian.
12/28/16: Heavily distorted but otherwise standard take on Caspian. Fades away in a haze of feedback.
12/28/16: Roggae.
12/28/16: Roggae was a smoother build and a stronger version than most.
12/28/16: Followed by another solid version of Funky Bitch and now a Halfway To the Moon that sees almost no guitar from Trey.
12/28/16: He couldn't quite figure out where to come in at the start and now just seems to have given up. Weird.
12/28/16: That said, he's jumping in for a jazzy outro solo now.
12/28/16: Next is Corrina! Phish should play this song every other show. So good.
12/28/16: Stash next.
12/28/16: Sorry if my review is a bit less...wordy...than usual today. Nasty head cold. Medicine. Badness.
12/28/16: Stash has been getting played with a lot of verve lately. It always feels like it's finally about to break into weird territory.
12/28/16: This version continues the trend of feeling that way without actually ever going there.
12/28/16: Cavern.
12/28/16: End set.
12/28/16: Not a bit of serious improv to be found, but another engaging opening set nonetheless.
12/28/16: Star-Spangled Banner, Lonesome Cowboy, Train Song, Corinna all great bust-outs, and strong versions of Roggae and Stash.
12/28/16: Wolfman's opens the second set. Might it break out of its frequent Type 1.5 performances lately go full-on jam?
12/28/16: Starting off with the echoplex.
12/28/16: Some seriously chunky echo-funk jamming happening here.
12/28/16: Wolfman's never really got weird, but that funk excursion turned back into a wild peak. Nice version.
12/28/16: Golden Age!
12/28/16: After a very short time of the usual outro jamming, Golden Age settles into a great groove that has a bit of that Manteca shuffle.
12/28/16: Now getting a little more abstract. Page on synth.
12/28/16: Rhythm section keeping the momentum going through what just became an extra-spacey jam. Loving this.
12/28/16: Trey laying down a nice melodic riff now.
12/28/16: Fantastically intricate jam now slowing down. Trey pounding out a hard rock progression over loops and synth.
12/28/16: Simple teasing. Second Golden Age -> Simple in a few shows?
12/28/16: Yep. BAM!
12/28/16: Simple proper is a pretty standard version so far.
12/28/16: Pretty outro, nice landing in CDT.
12/28/16: Straightforward CDT. Martian Monster up next. Set is settling a bit after that monster Golden Age.
12/28/16: Slowed-down, echo-funk jam in the middle of Martian Monster.
12/28/16: Really great, slow, muddy take on this instrumental tune.
12/28/16: Ascending riff now. Song building.
12/28/16: Okay, this is just the Tweeprise chords.
12/28/16: Martian Monster -> Tweeprise?
12/28/16: Yep. Trey singing 'Your trip is short' instead of 'Step into the freezer.'
12/28/16: Full-on take on the song now, with 'Trip is short' lyrics.
12/28/16: -> Martian Monster
12/28/16: Well that was really cool. Wingsuit now to cool things down a bit.
12/28/16: > Possum
12/28/16: Second set has turned out to be surprisingly songy, if you know what I mean.
12/28/16: Can't argue with the Golden Age or Martian Monster -> Tweeprise -> Martian Monster, though.
12/28/16: Top-shelf Type I take on Possum to close the second set.
12/28/16: GTBT to close out the show.
12/28/16: Second was a little less front-to-back great like most recent shows have been.
12/28/16: That said, the Golden Age is right up there with the best jams of the year and the Martian Monster sandwich was super clever.
12/28/16: The rest of the set just felt a bit jukebox-y. But, generally, very little rust from the break after MGM.
The opening show of the MSG run keeps the momentum from Vegas rolling with a typically great first set and a second set that features two major highlights.
The band opens each show of this run with an a cappella tune; this time around, it's "The Star-Spangled Banner." From there, the rest of the set visits territory already well-trod by the great MGM shows: a solid mix of new songs and old bustouts, with relatively little to note in the improv category. It's nice to hear "Lonesome Cowboy Bill" and "Train Song," "Caspian" gets the extra-distorted treatment, and "Roggae" is even better than usual. "Stash" continues to be on the verge of busting loose into some legitimately interesting space, and "Corinna" is one of my all-time favorite Phish rarities.
"Wolfman's" opens the second set, and though it doesn't get the jam treatment you might hope would come from that placement, it does take a full-on excursion into chunk-funk before meandering back to its usual rock and roll peak. It's worth a listen. "Golden Age" is, once again, the real story here. It's a flowy, momentum-filled thing that doesn't really come in discrete stages, but suffice to say that it hits that loopy-and-abstract-but-driving-and-coherent sweet spot so many of the best jams have hit on in late 2016 (including the previous MGM "Golden Age"). It's brilliant, and, like the Vegas version, lands in "Simple" with a legit segue.
Your mileage may vary when it comes to the rest of the set, which starts to settle into jukebox territory. I for one don't mind this in this particular because a) the first set was great, b) "Golden Age" is plenty of jamming to send me home happy, and c) the "Martian Monster" -> "Tweeprise" -> "Martian Monster" surprise sandwich that occurs late in the set is so fun and unexpected that I don't finish the show feeling like anything was missing.
The Live Review
12/28/16: Keeping the review train rolling today. Star Spangled Banner opener.
12/28/16: I sort of feel like they should open every four-night run with this now.
12/28/16: Stealing Time next.
12/28/16: Lonesome Cowboy Bill bustout, followed by a Free that Trey leaned into a little more than usual.
12/28/16: Train Song was another nice bustout to hear. Followed now by Prince Caspian.
12/28/16: Heavily distorted but otherwise standard take on Caspian. Fades away in a haze of feedback.
12/28/16: Roggae.
12/28/16: Roggae was a smoother build and a stronger version than most.
12/28/16: Followed by another solid version of Funky Bitch and now a Halfway To the Moon that sees almost no guitar from Trey.
12/28/16: He couldn't quite figure out where to come in at the start and now just seems to have given up. Weird.
12/28/16: That said, he's jumping in for a jazzy outro solo now.
12/28/16: Next is Corrina! Phish should play this song every other show. So good.
12/28/16: Stash next.
12/28/16: Sorry if my review is a bit less...wordy...than usual today. Nasty head cold. Medicine. Badness.
12/28/16: Stash has been getting played with a lot of verve lately. It always feels like it's finally about to break into weird territory.
12/28/16: This version continues the trend of feeling that way without actually ever going there.
12/28/16: Cavern.
12/28/16: End set.
12/28/16: Not a bit of serious improv to be found, but another engaging opening set nonetheless.
12/28/16: Star-Spangled Banner, Lonesome Cowboy, Train Song, Corinna all great bust-outs, and strong versions of Roggae and Stash.
12/28/16: Wolfman's opens the second set. Might it break out of its frequent Type 1.5 performances lately go full-on jam?
12/28/16: Starting off with the echoplex.
12/28/16: Some seriously chunky echo-funk jamming happening here.
12/28/16: Wolfman's never really got weird, but that funk excursion turned back into a wild peak. Nice version.
12/28/16: Golden Age!
12/28/16: After a very short time of the usual outro jamming, Golden Age settles into a great groove that has a bit of that Manteca shuffle.
12/28/16: Now getting a little more abstract. Page on synth.
12/28/16: Rhythm section keeping the momentum going through what just became an extra-spacey jam. Loving this.
12/28/16: Trey laying down a nice melodic riff now.
12/28/16: Fantastically intricate jam now slowing down. Trey pounding out a hard rock progression over loops and synth.
12/28/16: Simple teasing. Second Golden Age -> Simple in a few shows?
12/28/16: Yep. BAM!
12/28/16: Simple proper is a pretty standard version so far.
12/28/16: Pretty outro, nice landing in CDT.
12/28/16: Straightforward CDT. Martian Monster up next. Set is settling a bit after that monster Golden Age.
12/28/16: Slowed-down, echo-funk jam in the middle of Martian Monster.
12/28/16: Really great, slow, muddy take on this instrumental tune.
12/28/16: Ascending riff now. Song building.
12/28/16: Okay, this is just the Tweeprise chords.
12/28/16: Martian Monster -> Tweeprise?
12/28/16: Yep. Trey singing 'Your trip is short' instead of 'Step into the freezer.'
12/28/16: Full-on take on the song now, with 'Trip is short' lyrics.
12/28/16: -> Martian Monster
12/28/16: Well that was really cool. Wingsuit now to cool things down a bit.
12/28/16: > Possum
12/28/16: Second set has turned out to be surprisingly songy, if you know what I mean.
12/28/16: Can't argue with the Golden Age or Martian Monster -> Tweeprise -> Martian Monster, though.
12/28/16: Top-shelf Type I take on Possum to close the second set.
12/28/16: GTBT to close out the show.
12/28/16: Second was a little less front-to-back great like most recent shows have been.
12/28/16: That said, the Golden Age is right up there with the best jams of the year and the Martian Monster sandwich was super clever.
12/28/16: The rest of the set just felt a bit jukebox-y. But, generally, very little rust from the break after MGM.
Apr 19, 2017
2016-10-31 MGM IV
The Verdict:
I sort of already spelled out my response to this show in the "Live Review" bit below, but I'll rehash it slightly here.
Basically, it's a three-set Phish show like most other three-set Phish shows: the gimmick/special set is great, but the sets surrounding it are pretty vanilla and uninspiring. Here, the Bowie set is awesome. I hardly know the album (I know, I know) but I liked the performance of it so much I played it again right after I was done reviewing the show. The album tunes fit Phish's style in a weird way while being different enough that they end up getting pushed out of their comfort zone just enough to end up showing how versatile they are instead of sounding like they're stretching to fit some other band's idea of what music should sound like.
Frankly, in most circumstances I'd be happy to take two relatively lackluster sets along with a musical "cover" that's executed this well. The only reason I'm a bit more critical this time around is because the first three shows of this run were so good. Playing a fourth, three-set show with extremely minimal jamming feels just a little like sneaking out the back door before the encore, Bowie cover aside.
That said, this is still one of the band's best runs in a long time, and I'm excited for MSG as a result. Somewhere between Dick's and MGM, reviewing Phish '16 stopped being a chore, and I'm very happy about that.
Anyway, you should listen to the Bowie set. That's the first thing.
The opening set is pretty okay. Like the rest of the first sets of the run, it features a really good mix of tunes and strong playing...but at this point we've come to expect at least one surprising breakout jam, and that's not here. "Carini" is a nice surprise opener. "Possum" brings its usual '16 fire. "What's the Use?" is a standalone version that's almost delicate in its rare quietness. "Tube" gets slightly extended and "Petrichor" keeps getting better. But "Wolfman's" is the only tune that even hints at improvisation, doing so briefly as a Type 1.5 swipe not unlike what we heard during its previous incarnation on 10/24.
The final set offers up a bit more, but nothing like the closing sets of the previous three nights. "46 Days" starts off normal but ends on a weird, ambient note, fading nicely with a -> "Sand." "Sand" proper is probably the highlight of the set, starting out as a wall of noise with Page prettily playing over it before transitioning into bliss territory. The song never peaks, but stays gorgeous and is definitely worth a listen. "Twist" starts off promisingly, then moves into a group percussion jam. Your enjoyment of what follows probably depends about how you feel about instrument switching. Someone (Trey?) eventually gets on the marimba and closes the song with the "Twist" riff from there, which is kind of neat. The other bright spot in the set is the "2001," which gets extended beyond its usual boundaries like a few other versions this year. Unlike other versions this year, the band jams on a theme in the midst of the song and takes things in legitimately interesting directions instead of just wading in the funk murk.
"Number Line" and "Slave" are strong-but-rote versions, and the perfect choice for an encore, "Space Oddity," brings us home.
The Live Review:
10/31/16: Carini opener. Here we go!
10/31/16: Trey's been really keyed in melodically during this run, and tonight sounds no different so far.
10/31/16: Typical Carini outro getting softer now.
10/31/16: Your Pet Cat next.
10/31/16: Solid take on AC/DC Bag is third, then Free. Seem to be staying in the box after that interesting Carini opener.
10/31/16: Free > Possum.
10/31/16: Another strong Possum. Stand-alone WTU? next. Starts off surprisingly muted.
10/31/16: REALLY quiet version now.
10/31/16: > Wombat! Now that's a welcome surprise!
10/31/16: Tube follows Wombat, and like all Tubes post-Chula, this one's opening up a bit.
10/31/16: Instead of the usual funk groove, though, we've got Page in electric piano and Trey playing an echo-y melody.
10/31/16: Nice take on Tube. Wolfman's is next.
10/31/16: So far, aside from a few weird song choices, it's been a pretty straightforward opening set.
10/31/16: Wolfman's modulating a little out of its usual frame.
10/31/16: That version didn't quite get out of the box, but was moving toward a Type 1.5-style jam before returning to the usual outro.
10/31/16: Obligatory Ass Handed. Now a pause.
10/31/16: Petrichor! I was thinking they'd already played this during the run. I guess not.
10/31/16: That tune just gets better each time they play it.
10/31/16: Antelope will close the first set.
10/31/16: I will never get some fans' fascination with this tune. It's the most predictable, straightforward song I can imagine.
10/31/16: Maybe it's one of those old/fan new fan things?
10/31/16: End set. Not a bad set, but definitely the least interesting opening set of the run.
10/31/16: Bowie set next.
10/31/16: I don't know this set very well (aside from the 'hits'), so my commentary will likely be minimal.
10/31/16: Will say, though, that three songs in I absolutely love the arrangements. Great vocals and what sounds like strings accenting.
10/31/16: The vocal arrangements sound like things Phish would have written in the 90s.
10/31/16: Really like where the outro to Moonage Daydream is going.
10/31/16: Got a bit of a Floyd sound going there.
10/31/16: I'm not sure how they decided Mike should sing Starman, but I'm glad they did.
10/31/16: Sounds great with the strings.
10/31/16: This album is a great pick for something that fits Phish like a glove but yet doesn't sound like them. If that makes any sense.
10/31/16: Fish singing Star.
10/31/16: End set with a great performance of Rock and Roll Suicide.
10/31/16: Set three starts with 46 Days.
10/31/16: Short little jam, return to vocals, and then an odd, syncopated noise jam after the vocals. Cool.
10/31/16: Leads to a nice, slow -> Sand.
10/31/16: Absolutely filthy tone from Trey starting off the Sand jam.
10/31/16: Now a bit of a wall of noise with Page playing piano over it. Definitely Type II time.
10/31/16: Moving into bliss jam territory now.
10/31/16: No peak, but a really nice jam. Quieting down now.
10/31/16: > Twist
10/31/16: Interesting funk leanings from Trey in the beginning of the Twist jam.
10/31/16: What's resulting from that is a legitimately weird jam. I'm not quite sure who's playing what.
10/31/16: Percussion jam breaking out now.
10/31/16: Someone (Trey?) playing the Twist riff on the marimba now while others jam on the drums. Crowd woo-jamming and Fish screaming.
10/31/16: Basically, there's a lot going on.
10/31/16: End of Twist w/o members switching back to their usual instruments. Meatstick from a dead stop next.
10/31/16: > 2001
10/31/16: Trey busting out the MuTron on 2001 and making shit weird. Now the pitch shifter.
10/31/16: Loops and other weird effects now. Vocals.
10/31/16: Long and legitimately interesting 2001. Jamming on a few riffs and creating a theme or two within the structure of the song.
10/31/16: Number Line has been lurking for four shows. Now, here it is.
10/31/16: Little extra fire on that Number Line!
19/31/16: Nice landing in Slave.
10/31/16: I imagine that this'll finish out the set.
10/31/16: Extra slow build this time.
10/31/16: Overall, I'd say even the mighty MGM run can't avoid the three-set-show curse. The Bowie cover was absolutely spot-on, but...
10/31/16: ...the rest of the show didn't live up to the potential of the first three nights. S1 bright spots in Carini and Wolfman's...
10/31/16: ...but otherwise it was a standard '16-style opening set. S2 had two solid, short jams in Sand and 2001.
10/31/16: Twist > Percussion Jam > Marimba Outro was interesting, but likely not what you typically think of when you think of Phish jamming
10/31/16: Not knocking the show, though. It was really fun and the jams that did pop up in S3 happened in really fun places.
10/31/16: Just saying that S1 and S3 don't stand up to the absolute fire that was the first three shows of the run.
10/31/16: If that bums you out, just listen to the Bowie set again.
10/31/16: The show encore is, of course, Space Oddity.
I sort of already spelled out my response to this show in the "Live Review" bit below, but I'll rehash it slightly here.
Basically, it's a three-set Phish show like most other three-set Phish shows: the gimmick/special set is great, but the sets surrounding it are pretty vanilla and uninspiring. Here, the Bowie set is awesome. I hardly know the album (I know, I know) but I liked the performance of it so much I played it again right after I was done reviewing the show. The album tunes fit Phish's style in a weird way while being different enough that they end up getting pushed out of their comfort zone just enough to end up showing how versatile they are instead of sounding like they're stretching to fit some other band's idea of what music should sound like.
Frankly, in most circumstances I'd be happy to take two relatively lackluster sets along with a musical "cover" that's executed this well. The only reason I'm a bit more critical this time around is because the first three shows of this run were so good. Playing a fourth, three-set show with extremely minimal jamming feels just a little like sneaking out the back door before the encore, Bowie cover aside.
That said, this is still one of the band's best runs in a long time, and I'm excited for MSG as a result. Somewhere between Dick's and MGM, reviewing Phish '16 stopped being a chore, and I'm very happy about that.
Anyway, you should listen to the Bowie set. That's the first thing.
The opening set is pretty okay. Like the rest of the first sets of the run, it features a really good mix of tunes and strong playing...but at this point we've come to expect at least one surprising breakout jam, and that's not here. "Carini" is a nice surprise opener. "Possum" brings its usual '16 fire. "What's the Use?" is a standalone version that's almost delicate in its rare quietness. "Tube" gets slightly extended and "Petrichor" keeps getting better. But "Wolfman's" is the only tune that even hints at improvisation, doing so briefly as a Type 1.5 swipe not unlike what we heard during its previous incarnation on 10/24.
The final set offers up a bit more, but nothing like the closing sets of the previous three nights. "46 Days" starts off normal but ends on a weird, ambient note, fading nicely with a -> "Sand." "Sand" proper is probably the highlight of the set, starting out as a wall of noise with Page prettily playing over it before transitioning into bliss territory. The song never peaks, but stays gorgeous and is definitely worth a listen. "Twist" starts off promisingly, then moves into a group percussion jam. Your enjoyment of what follows probably depends about how you feel about instrument switching. Someone (Trey?) eventually gets on the marimba and closes the song with the "Twist" riff from there, which is kind of neat. The other bright spot in the set is the "2001," which gets extended beyond its usual boundaries like a few other versions this year. Unlike other versions this year, the band jams on a theme in the midst of the song and takes things in legitimately interesting directions instead of just wading in the funk murk.
"Number Line" and "Slave" are strong-but-rote versions, and the perfect choice for an encore, "Space Oddity," brings us home.
The Live Review:
10/31/16: Carini opener. Here we go!
10/31/16: Trey's been really keyed in melodically during this run, and tonight sounds no different so far.
10/31/16: Typical Carini outro getting softer now.
10/31/16: Your Pet Cat next.
10/31/16: Solid take on AC/DC Bag is third, then Free. Seem to be staying in the box after that interesting Carini opener.
10/31/16: Free > Possum.
10/31/16: Another strong Possum. Stand-alone WTU? next. Starts off surprisingly muted.
10/31/16: REALLY quiet version now.
10/31/16: > Wombat! Now that's a welcome surprise!
10/31/16: Tube follows Wombat, and like all Tubes post-Chula, this one's opening up a bit.
10/31/16: Instead of the usual funk groove, though, we've got Page in electric piano and Trey playing an echo-y melody.
10/31/16: Nice take on Tube. Wolfman's is next.
10/31/16: So far, aside from a few weird song choices, it's been a pretty straightforward opening set.
10/31/16: Wolfman's modulating a little out of its usual frame.
10/31/16: That version didn't quite get out of the box, but was moving toward a Type 1.5-style jam before returning to the usual outro.
10/31/16: Obligatory Ass Handed. Now a pause.
10/31/16: Petrichor! I was thinking they'd already played this during the run. I guess not.
10/31/16: That tune just gets better each time they play it.
10/31/16: Antelope will close the first set.
10/31/16: I will never get some fans' fascination with this tune. It's the most predictable, straightforward song I can imagine.
10/31/16: Maybe it's one of those old/fan new fan things?
10/31/16: End set. Not a bad set, but definitely the least interesting opening set of the run.
10/31/16: Bowie set next.
10/31/16: I don't know this set very well (aside from the 'hits'), so my commentary will likely be minimal.
10/31/16: Will say, though, that three songs in I absolutely love the arrangements. Great vocals and what sounds like strings accenting.
10/31/16: The vocal arrangements sound like things Phish would have written in the 90s.
10/31/16: Really like where the outro to Moonage Daydream is going.
10/31/16: Got a bit of a Floyd sound going there.
10/31/16: I'm not sure how they decided Mike should sing Starman, but I'm glad they did.
10/31/16: Sounds great with the strings.
10/31/16: This album is a great pick for something that fits Phish like a glove but yet doesn't sound like them. If that makes any sense.
10/31/16: Fish singing Star.
10/31/16: End set with a great performance of Rock and Roll Suicide.
10/31/16: Set three starts with 46 Days.
10/31/16: Short little jam, return to vocals, and then an odd, syncopated noise jam after the vocals. Cool.
10/31/16: Leads to a nice, slow -> Sand.
10/31/16: Absolutely filthy tone from Trey starting off the Sand jam.
10/31/16: Now a bit of a wall of noise with Page playing piano over it. Definitely Type II time.
10/31/16: Moving into bliss jam territory now.
10/31/16: No peak, but a really nice jam. Quieting down now.
10/31/16: > Twist
10/31/16: Interesting funk leanings from Trey in the beginning of the Twist jam.
10/31/16: What's resulting from that is a legitimately weird jam. I'm not quite sure who's playing what.
10/31/16: Percussion jam breaking out now.
10/31/16: Someone (Trey?) playing the Twist riff on the marimba now while others jam on the drums. Crowd woo-jamming and Fish screaming.
10/31/16: Basically, there's a lot going on.
10/31/16: End of Twist w/o members switching back to their usual instruments. Meatstick from a dead stop next.
10/31/16: > 2001
10/31/16: Trey busting out the MuTron on 2001 and making shit weird. Now the pitch shifter.
10/31/16: Loops and other weird effects now. Vocals.
10/31/16: Long and legitimately interesting 2001. Jamming on a few riffs and creating a theme or two within the structure of the song.
10/31/16: Number Line has been lurking for four shows. Now, here it is.
10/31/16: Little extra fire on that Number Line!
19/31/16: Nice landing in Slave.
10/31/16: I imagine that this'll finish out the set.
10/31/16: Extra slow build this time.
10/31/16: Overall, I'd say even the mighty MGM run can't avoid the three-set-show curse. The Bowie cover was absolutely spot-on, but...
10/31/16: ...the rest of the show didn't live up to the potential of the first three nights. S1 bright spots in Carini and Wolfman's...
10/31/16: ...but otherwise it was a standard '16-style opening set. S2 had two solid, short jams in Sand and 2001.
10/31/16: Twist > Percussion Jam > Marimba Outro was interesting, but likely not what you typically think of when you think of Phish jamming
10/31/16: Not knocking the show, though. It was really fun and the jams that did pop up in S3 happened in really fun places.
10/31/16: Just saying that S1 and S3 don't stand up to the absolute fire that was the first three shows of the run.
10/31/16: If that bums you out, just listen to the Bowie set again.
10/31/16: The show encore is, of course, Space Oddity.
2016-10-30 MGM III
The Verdict:
MGM night three continues what's been an absolutely spectacular run of shows so far.
The opening frame once again combines new tunes ("The Dogs," "How Many People Are You?") with old tunes played with some extra fire ("Funky Bitch," "CDT," "Army of One") to create a satisfying set. The "Ghost" that pops up in the two-slot also features some full-band improvisational heroics. It's not a long version, really, but with the band's ability to Go There on a dime in full force lately, it definitely shouldn't be skipped. It's worth mentioning too that while "How Many People?", "Stash," and "Theme" don't "get jammed" in the typical way, they all features some interesting playing that sets these takes on the songs apart from normal versions.
As with the previous two nights, the second set is just batshit. The opening "Disease" recalls one of my all-time favorites (the Miami "Disease") in terms of its sheer momentum and length. It's over twenty minutes and never lets up in that time, moving through a number of spaces without losing speed until it all peaks with a perfectly synced-up Trey high note and Mike bass bomb. In the aftermath of the peak, the band jams on a "Birds"-like progression before seguing smoothly into "Birds" proper. Then "Birds" goes Type II. Yep.
The "Birds" jam starts off briefly as a loud, angry thing before getting quieter and melodic before Trey locks onto A Riff and the band rides it for awhile before going back and finishing the song. "Fuego" and "Miss You" slow things down a bit, but then the band works a double-time, only-sort-of-reggae sandwich into the set-closing "Hood" with a fantastic "Hood" -> "Have Mercy" -> "Hood" > "A Day in the Life" sequence. It's real good.
The Live Review:
10/30/16: Alright, here we go with night three! The Dogs opener.
10/30/16: Ghost!
10/30/16: Trey and Mike easing into the jam, Fish keeping up an insistent beat, though.
10/30/16: Whole band picking up steam now.
10/30/16: Trey just blew up.
10/30/16: Man, if they start the show this way, what's still coming?
10/30/16: Wind-down ending.
10/30/16: Funky Bitch next keeps the heat coming.
10/30/16: Is it weird that Dick's is still almost five months away and I spend 15 minutes or so a day thinking about it?
10/30/16: Fiery takes on Funky Bitch and CDT follow that Ghost. Then Army of One (!) and Heavy Things.
10/30/16: How Many People Are You?!!!
10/30/16: Trey immediately starts to modulate into an uplifting, driving mode after the lyrics.
10/30/16: Sometimes I think he likes playing this song more than Mike does, even.
10/30/16: Stash next. Maybe it'll benefit from the creativity that's been laced throughout this set so far.
10/30/16: Trey is laying down all sorts of staccato-sounding madness to start this jam.
10/30/16: Stash didn't get super-weird, but featured a lot of interesting playing. Same with the Theme that followed it.
10/30/16: Theme lands nicely in Suzy.
10/30/16: Suzy is getting an echoplex-driven stop/start jam to wrap up the set.
10/30/16: PAGE = A MONSTER
10/30/16: Nice, consistently solid and energetic first set with a legit Ghost to boot. Not as surprising as 10/29's, but otherwise as good.
10/30/16: Disease opens set two.
10/30/16: Trey going rock-bonkers on this Disease like he did at the end of the S1 Ghost.
10/30/16: Loops lead a transition into a more space-funk jam.
10/30/16: Band really listening. This should be good.
10/30/16: Rhythmic jam now. Mike and Fish leading, Trey and Page sitting back.
10/30/16: Uh-oh. Trey's hooked on one of Those Riffs.
10/30/16: This thing is not letting up AT ALL. 18th minute now. Reminds me of the Miami Disease, actually. Relentless.
10/30/16: We may be in for a huge peak here.
10/30/16: Trey hits a peak just as Mike hits a bass bomb. Now THAT was awesome.
10/30/16: Sounding like Birds now.
10/30/16: BOOM!! > Birds.
10/30/16: Nuts.
10/30/16: Oh dear. Birds is going Type II.
10/30/16: Things quiet down for a bit, then Trey emerges with a really angry-sounding guitar tone.
10/30/16: Quiet, pretty jam emerging now. Nice counterpoint to the Disease jam.
10/30/16: Another great Big Riff from Trey now. Band building on it.
10/30/16: Band having a lot of fun crafting a driving but delicate jam here.
10/30/16: Okay, Fish just shifted us into a new gear.
10/30/16: Slow but directed return to the Birds riff and lyrics.
10/30/16: I think they might actually go back and finish the song.
10/30/16: Yep.
10/30/16: Wow.
10/30/16: 'They Attack!' sample from Page to round things out. Fuego next.
10/28/16: Golden Age -> Simple > Light, Piper, Tweezer -> I Always Wanted It This Way -> The Horse > Silent, and now Disease > Birds.
10/28/16: So many highlights in this run I can't keep track of them all.
10/30/16: Full-on Birds tease in Fuego, with crowd wooing.
10/30/16: I also tweeted 10/28/16 as the date for a few tweets back there. I trust you can fix it in your own head.
10/30/16: Solid but standard take on Fuego.
10/30/16: Miss You in the cooldown spot.
10/30/16: Well, think what you will of Miss You, but that was a pretty mighty outro jam.
10/30/16: Looks like Hood is going to round out another amazing second set.
10/30/16: Hood jam getting shuffly.
10/30/16: Slow segue into Have Mercy!!!
10/30/16: Page on carnival organ.
10/30/16: Shuffle continues. No reggae beat from Fish.
10/30/16: This is awesome.
10/30/16: The Hood -> Have Mercy -> Hood from 2011 is one of my favorite Phish things. That made me really happy.
10/30/16: Also a big fan of the Have Mercy sandwich from the Utica show, of course.
10/30/16: Great follow-up Hood jam happening here.
10/30/16: Band peaks the song, then backs off and now is winding up again. How often does that happen in Hood?
10/30/16: It was what I'd call, in mountaineering lingo, a 'false summit' :)
10/30/16: Page piano-only outro > A Day in the Life. What a set!
10/30/16: Character Zero encore!
10/30/16: Character Zero performances have actually been so damn engaging lately that I'm excited for this.
10/30/16: Okay, so that one wasn't so great, but who cares because SET TWO
10/30/16: End a show that fell somewhere between N1 and N2. S1 was more forgettable than 10/29's (that Gumbo!)...
10/30/16: ...but the second set ranks right up there with the other nights and anything Phish has done this year.
10/30/16: Gonna play out the last hour of work in my office with some CRB now.
MGM night three continues what's been an absolutely spectacular run of shows so far.
The opening frame once again combines new tunes ("The Dogs," "How Many People Are You?") with old tunes played with some extra fire ("Funky Bitch," "CDT," "Army of One") to create a satisfying set. The "Ghost" that pops up in the two-slot also features some full-band improvisational heroics. It's not a long version, really, but with the band's ability to Go There on a dime in full force lately, it definitely shouldn't be skipped. It's worth mentioning too that while "How Many People?", "Stash," and "Theme" don't "get jammed" in the typical way, they all features some interesting playing that sets these takes on the songs apart from normal versions.
As with the previous two nights, the second set is just batshit. The opening "Disease" recalls one of my all-time favorites (the Miami "Disease") in terms of its sheer momentum and length. It's over twenty minutes and never lets up in that time, moving through a number of spaces without losing speed until it all peaks with a perfectly synced-up Trey high note and Mike bass bomb. In the aftermath of the peak, the band jams on a "Birds"-like progression before seguing smoothly into "Birds" proper. Then "Birds" goes Type II. Yep.
The "Birds" jam starts off briefly as a loud, angry thing before getting quieter and melodic before Trey locks onto A Riff and the band rides it for awhile before going back and finishing the song. "Fuego" and "Miss You" slow things down a bit, but then the band works a double-time, only-sort-of-reggae sandwich into the set-closing "Hood" with a fantastic "Hood" -> "Have Mercy" -> "Hood" > "A Day in the Life" sequence. It's real good.
The Live Review:
10/30/16: Alright, here we go with night three! The Dogs opener.
10/30/16: Ghost!
10/30/16: Trey and Mike easing into the jam, Fish keeping up an insistent beat, though.
10/30/16: Whole band picking up steam now.
10/30/16: Trey just blew up.
10/30/16: Man, if they start the show this way, what's still coming?
10/30/16: Wind-down ending.
10/30/16: Funky Bitch next keeps the heat coming.
10/30/16: Is it weird that Dick's is still almost five months away and I spend 15 minutes or so a day thinking about it?
10/30/16: Fiery takes on Funky Bitch and CDT follow that Ghost. Then Army of One (!) and Heavy Things.
10/30/16: How Many People Are You?!!!
10/30/16: Trey immediately starts to modulate into an uplifting, driving mode after the lyrics.
10/30/16: Sometimes I think he likes playing this song more than Mike does, even.
10/30/16: Stash next. Maybe it'll benefit from the creativity that's been laced throughout this set so far.
10/30/16: Trey is laying down all sorts of staccato-sounding madness to start this jam.
10/30/16: Stash didn't get super-weird, but featured a lot of interesting playing. Same with the Theme that followed it.
10/30/16: Theme lands nicely in Suzy.
10/30/16: Suzy is getting an echoplex-driven stop/start jam to wrap up the set.
10/30/16: PAGE = A MONSTER
10/30/16: Nice, consistently solid and energetic first set with a legit Ghost to boot. Not as surprising as 10/29's, but otherwise as good.
10/30/16: Disease opens set two.
10/30/16: Trey going rock-bonkers on this Disease like he did at the end of the S1 Ghost.
10/30/16: Loops lead a transition into a more space-funk jam.
10/30/16: Band really listening. This should be good.
10/30/16: Rhythmic jam now. Mike and Fish leading, Trey and Page sitting back.
10/30/16: Uh-oh. Trey's hooked on one of Those Riffs.
10/30/16: This thing is not letting up AT ALL. 18th minute now. Reminds me of the Miami Disease, actually. Relentless.
10/30/16: We may be in for a huge peak here.
10/30/16: Trey hits a peak just as Mike hits a bass bomb. Now THAT was awesome.
10/30/16: Sounding like Birds now.
10/30/16: BOOM!! > Birds.
10/30/16: Nuts.
10/30/16: Oh dear. Birds is going Type II.
10/30/16: Things quiet down for a bit, then Trey emerges with a really angry-sounding guitar tone.
10/30/16: Quiet, pretty jam emerging now. Nice counterpoint to the Disease jam.
10/30/16: Another great Big Riff from Trey now. Band building on it.
10/30/16: Band having a lot of fun crafting a driving but delicate jam here.
10/30/16: Okay, Fish just shifted us into a new gear.
10/30/16: Slow but directed return to the Birds riff and lyrics.
10/30/16: I think they might actually go back and finish the song.
10/30/16: Yep.
10/30/16: Wow.
10/30/16: 'They Attack!' sample from Page to round things out. Fuego next.
10/28/16: Golden Age -> Simple > Light, Piper, Tweezer -> I Always Wanted It This Way -> The Horse > Silent, and now Disease > Birds.
10/28/16: So many highlights in this run I can't keep track of them all.
10/30/16: Full-on Birds tease in Fuego, with crowd wooing.
10/30/16: I also tweeted 10/28/16 as the date for a few tweets back there. I trust you can fix it in your own head.
10/30/16: Solid but standard take on Fuego.
10/30/16: Miss You in the cooldown spot.
10/30/16: Well, think what you will of Miss You, but that was a pretty mighty outro jam.
10/30/16: Looks like Hood is going to round out another amazing second set.
10/30/16: Hood jam getting shuffly.
10/30/16: Slow segue into Have Mercy!!!
10/30/16: Page on carnival organ.
10/30/16: Shuffle continues. No reggae beat from Fish.
10/30/16: This is awesome.
10/30/16: The Hood -> Have Mercy -> Hood from 2011 is one of my favorite Phish things. That made me really happy.
10/30/16: Also a big fan of the Have Mercy sandwich from the Utica show, of course.
10/30/16: Great follow-up Hood jam happening here.
10/30/16: Band peaks the song, then backs off and now is winding up again. How often does that happen in Hood?
10/30/16: It was what I'd call, in mountaineering lingo, a 'false summit' :)
10/30/16: Page piano-only outro > A Day in the Life. What a set!
10/30/16: Character Zero encore!
10/30/16: Character Zero performances have actually been so damn engaging lately that I'm excited for this.
10/30/16: Okay, so that one wasn't so great, but who cares because SET TWO
10/30/16: End a show that fell somewhere between N1 and N2. S1 was more forgettable than 10/29's (that Gumbo!)...
10/30/16: ...but the second set ranks right up there with the other nights and anything Phish has done this year.
10/30/16: Gonna play out the last hour of work in my office with some CRB now.
Apr 12, 2017
2016-10-29 MGM II
The Verdict:
If the first MGM show was an example of a great Summer '15-style show, this is an example of a great Fall '16-style show. The first set is a bit more predictable in terms of song choice, but that predictability is shaken up by a surprise Type II jam (in "Gumbo"), while the second set never presents one huge jam, per se, but features brilliant improvisatory playing from front to back.
The first set is, like I said, relatively predictable based on the setlist, except for a few highlights worth mentioning. First, while I typically am not really engaged at all by performances of "KDF," Trey really hits the FTW-style melodic highs for real on this version and it's worth a listen as a result. "More," with only a few plays under its belt so far, also gets taken on a pretty impressive Type I journey. But "Gumbo" is the real story here. Not only does it get expanded into a Type II jam, the jam is echo-y, dark, and rumbling: not at all what you'd expect from this particular tune. It's compact, but one of the most fun explorations I've heard the band dive into lately. If you reanimated Funk as a zombie for Halloween, this is what it would sound like, slowly shambling around your house, brutally but sexily dancing everyone to (un)death.
Set two starts off with "Mercury," and the tune gets a long, surprisingly heavy Type I jam tacked on to the end of it. This doesn't really lead anywhere notable, but it is the longest version of "Mercury" to date. Things really kick into gear with the following "Piper," though. This is another jam that's hard to describe, but it's one of my favorite of the year, easily. Basically, the guys just ride a modified version of the "CDT" riff for about ten minutes, but there's so much momentum and it's so fluid you feel like you hear them listening to each other. It's awesome, and it segues into "Scents and Subtle Sounds" right after Trey more or less reprises the awesome riff from the Dick's '15 "Disease" to send us up a bliss peak. "Scents" itself is a little rough, but it revisits the same territory as the "Mercury" outro jam, staying heavy after the initial composed section.
After the previous night's set, you might expect the guys to clock out at this point, but instead they start up "Tweezer." This version is as straightforward and as satisfying as they get. It's full-ahead rock led by Trey until suddenly it's not, and the droning and synth samples build slowly before falling away perfectly to reveal "I Always Wanted It This Way." Similar to the first set's "Gumbo," this version of the rarely-played but always-jammed tune goes the deconstruction route, getting dark and loud and (intentionally) not making a lot of sense. If you brought an mid-90s version of "SoaM" to a rave, this is what it would sound like. As a huge fan of the potential for this new song, I absolutely loved this old-school/new-school one/two punch. "Tweezer" -> "I Always Wanted It That Way" is fantastic.
Also worth mentioning? The "I Always Wanted" jam segues perfectly into (I think) the first guitar-led "The Horse" in awhile. From there it's all victory lap tunes, but this lap is well-earned. Definitely one of my favorite shows of the year.
The Live Review:
10/29/16: The Birds opener.
10/29/16: Page a bit more sample-heavy than usual.
10/29/16: Second is KDF. Starts off rough but Trey's doing some seriously great melodic playing in the jam.
10/29/16: Little more meat than usual on this version.
10/29/16: 555.
10/29/16: A solid Roggae follows. I've heard smoother versions, but maybe not peakier ones.
10/29/16: Gumbo!!!
10/29/16: Gumbo starts off standard, then busts into a Manteca-like funk groove. Crowd loving it.
10/29/16: Jam getting crazier and more deconstructed now. Echoplex.
10/29/16: So, to recap, Phish not only played Gumbo, but Type II'd it in the middle of the first set.
10/29/16: They just ended the jam with a big chord and a Call To the Post tease.
10/29/16: Lawn Boy.
10/29/16: Wilson, Maze follow as the set starts to settle into a more standard groove.
10/29/16: Wingsuit, with a slightly extended Type I jam.
10/29/16: More!
10/29/16: I'm glad other people like this song as much as I do.
10/29/16: Because clearly I crave validation.
10/29/16: Nice, Number Line-style outro jam at the end of More.
10/29/16: Mercury opens the second set! Has that ever happened before? Don't think so.
10/29/16: Guys struggling a bit with Mercury.
10/29/16: Different transition out of the marimba section this time, but unsure if it's a change to the song or a mistake by Trey.
10/29/16: Trey using the echoplex early here.
10/29/16: Nice, spacey dark Type I jam at the end of Mercury.
10/29/16: > Piper
10/29/16: Great rock jam evolving out of Piper. Almost sounds like CDT riff.
10/29/16: Digging this jam a lot. Still sounding a bit like CDT.
10/29/16: Really like what Page has been doing throughout this jam. Adding a sort of circus-organ flair to the whole thing.
10/29/16: Really, everybody has just been killing it for about ten minutes straight at this point.
10/29/16: Trey really close to stealing the riff from the Dick's '15 Disease there.
10/29/16: Monster peak anyway.
10/29/16: > Scents!
10/29/16: That was a completely bonkers jam. The only thing that would have made it better was a -> CDT.
10/29/16: Instead, it's followed up by Trey stumbling his way through the Scents intro.
10/29/16: This is a great song. So happy to finally hear it live this past summer at BGCA.
10/29/16: More distorted soloing from Trey a la the earlier Piper jam.
10/29/16: Distorted jam fades into Tweezer.
10/29/16: Great, driving funk jam here. Rhythm section is huge.
10/29/16: More monster rock from Trey. Oh man.
10/29/16: Loops and droning synth now.
10/29/16: Holy hell. -> I Always Wanted It That Way. That just happened.
10/29/16: If they jam this, this is going to be one of my favorite sets in a long time, warts on S+SS and Mercury notwithstanding.
10/29/16: Definitely jam time. Page all over the place. Droning from Mike (and Trey?).
10/29/16: Ghost-ish jam emerging as the chaos finally settles.
10/29/16: Huge series of what I think are bass bombs as the vocals come back in.
10/29/16: -> The Horse
10/29/16: > Silent, of course.
10/29/16: End a hell of a set with Golgi.
10/29/16: Shine a Light for the encore. Nice organ breakdown before the final chorus. Don't think they usually do that.
10/29/16: > Tweeprise.
10/29/16: Whew! Short, sort of unremarkable opening set save for a jammed-out Gumbo...
10/29/16: But that second set was right up there with the best of '15-'16 S2s.
10/29/16: Mercury and Scents only got out there a little bit, but Piper, Tweezer, *and* IAWITW went *deep*.
10/29/16: That slide into The Horse to wrap things up was great, too.
If the first MGM show was an example of a great Summer '15-style show, this is an example of a great Fall '16-style show. The first set is a bit more predictable in terms of song choice, but that predictability is shaken up by a surprise Type II jam (in "Gumbo"), while the second set never presents one huge jam, per se, but features brilliant improvisatory playing from front to back.
The first set is, like I said, relatively predictable based on the setlist, except for a few highlights worth mentioning. First, while I typically am not really engaged at all by performances of "KDF," Trey really hits the FTW-style melodic highs for real on this version and it's worth a listen as a result. "More," with only a few plays under its belt so far, also gets taken on a pretty impressive Type I journey. But "Gumbo" is the real story here. Not only does it get expanded into a Type II jam, the jam is echo-y, dark, and rumbling: not at all what you'd expect from this particular tune. It's compact, but one of the most fun explorations I've heard the band dive into lately. If you reanimated Funk as a zombie for Halloween, this is what it would sound like, slowly shambling around your house, brutally but sexily dancing everyone to (un)death.
Set two starts off with "Mercury," and the tune gets a long, surprisingly heavy Type I jam tacked on to the end of it. This doesn't really lead anywhere notable, but it is the longest version of "Mercury" to date. Things really kick into gear with the following "Piper," though. This is another jam that's hard to describe, but it's one of my favorite of the year, easily. Basically, the guys just ride a modified version of the "CDT" riff for about ten minutes, but there's so much momentum and it's so fluid you feel like you hear them listening to each other. It's awesome, and it segues into "Scents and Subtle Sounds" right after Trey more or less reprises the awesome riff from the Dick's '15 "Disease" to send us up a bliss peak. "Scents" itself is a little rough, but it revisits the same territory as the "Mercury" outro jam, staying heavy after the initial composed section.
After the previous night's set, you might expect the guys to clock out at this point, but instead they start up "Tweezer." This version is as straightforward and as satisfying as they get. It's full-ahead rock led by Trey until suddenly it's not, and the droning and synth samples build slowly before falling away perfectly to reveal "I Always Wanted It This Way." Similar to the first set's "Gumbo," this version of the rarely-played but always-jammed tune goes the deconstruction route, getting dark and loud and (intentionally) not making a lot of sense. If you brought an mid-90s version of "SoaM" to a rave, this is what it would sound like. As a huge fan of the potential for this new song, I absolutely loved this old-school/new-school one/two punch. "Tweezer" -> "I Always Wanted It That Way" is fantastic.
Also worth mentioning? The "I Always Wanted" jam segues perfectly into (I think) the first guitar-led "The Horse" in awhile. From there it's all victory lap tunes, but this lap is well-earned. Definitely one of my favorite shows of the year.
The Live Review:
10/29/16: The Birds opener.
10/29/16: Page a bit more sample-heavy than usual.
10/29/16: Second is KDF. Starts off rough but Trey's doing some seriously great melodic playing in the jam.
10/29/16: Little more meat than usual on this version.
10/29/16: 555.
10/29/16: A solid Roggae follows. I've heard smoother versions, but maybe not peakier ones.
10/29/16: Gumbo!!!
10/29/16: Gumbo starts off standard, then busts into a Manteca-like funk groove. Crowd loving it.
10/29/16: Jam getting crazier and more deconstructed now. Echoplex.
10/29/16: So, to recap, Phish not only played Gumbo, but Type II'd it in the middle of the first set.
10/29/16: They just ended the jam with a big chord and a Call To the Post tease.
10/29/16: Lawn Boy.
10/29/16: Wilson, Maze follow as the set starts to settle into a more standard groove.
10/29/16: Wingsuit, with a slightly extended Type I jam.
10/29/16: More!
10/29/16: I'm glad other people like this song as much as I do.
10/29/16: Because clearly I crave validation.
10/29/16: Nice, Number Line-style outro jam at the end of More.
10/29/16: Mercury opens the second set! Has that ever happened before? Don't think so.
10/29/16: Guys struggling a bit with Mercury.
10/29/16: Different transition out of the marimba section this time, but unsure if it's a change to the song or a mistake by Trey.
10/29/16: Trey using the echoplex early here.
10/29/16: Nice, spacey dark Type I jam at the end of Mercury.
10/29/16: > Piper
10/29/16: Great rock jam evolving out of Piper. Almost sounds like CDT riff.
10/29/16: Digging this jam a lot. Still sounding a bit like CDT.
10/29/16: Really like what Page has been doing throughout this jam. Adding a sort of circus-organ flair to the whole thing.
10/29/16: Really, everybody has just been killing it for about ten minutes straight at this point.
10/29/16: Trey really close to stealing the riff from the Dick's '15 Disease there.
10/29/16: Monster peak anyway.
10/29/16: > Scents!
10/29/16: That was a completely bonkers jam. The only thing that would have made it better was a -> CDT.
10/29/16: Instead, it's followed up by Trey stumbling his way through the Scents intro.
10/29/16: This is a great song. So happy to finally hear it live this past summer at BGCA.
10/29/16: More distorted soloing from Trey a la the earlier Piper jam.
10/29/16: Distorted jam fades into Tweezer.
10/29/16: Great, driving funk jam here. Rhythm section is huge.
10/29/16: More monster rock from Trey. Oh man.
10/29/16: Loops and droning synth now.
10/29/16: Holy hell. -> I Always Wanted It That Way. That just happened.
10/29/16: If they jam this, this is going to be one of my favorite sets in a long time, warts on S+SS and Mercury notwithstanding.
10/29/16: Definitely jam time. Page all over the place. Droning from Mike (and Trey?).
10/29/16: Ghost-ish jam emerging as the chaos finally settles.
10/29/16: Huge series of what I think are bass bombs as the vocals come back in.
10/29/16: -> The Horse
10/29/16: > Silent, of course.
10/29/16: End a hell of a set with Golgi.
10/29/16: Shine a Light for the encore. Nice organ breakdown before the final chorus. Don't think they usually do that.
10/29/16: > Tweeprise.
10/29/16: Whew! Short, sort of unremarkable opening set save for a jammed-out Gumbo...
10/29/16: But that second set was right up there with the best of '15-'16 S2s.
10/29/16: Mercury and Scents only got out there a little bit, but Piper, Tweezer, *and* IAWITW went *deep*.
10/29/16: That slide into The Horse to wrap things up was great, too.
2016-10-28 MGM I
The Verdict:
Phish opens the four-night MGM Halloween run by offering up a quintessential Summer '15 show in Fall '16: the first set is one of those deals that's half-perfect/half-jukebox, and the second set starts off with a monster jam sequence, only to fade out in the fourth quarter and finish weakly.
That, of course, is not to say this is a bad show. On the contrary, everyone loves Summer '15, right? RIGHT?! Well, then, this is right up our past alley.
The first half of the first set is strong, with a mixture of strong takes on predictable songs ("Martian Monster," "No Men," "Limb By Limb") and less predictable songs ("Dogs Stole Things," "Beauty of My Dreams," "Destiny Unbound"). The second half features a neat, brief little echo-y jam post-"Steam," but that gets chopped abruptly after a minute or so for "The Wedge." After that, everything is pretty forgettable. It's not that the playing is bad at all; rather, we've just heard it all before.
The big story in the second set is of course the monster "Golden Age," but it's worth mentioning that before that the guys bust out "Crimes of the Mind" as the set opener. So there's that.
The "Golden Age" proper is a beast. At over twenty-five minutes long, it visits a lot of fantastic locations, and departs from the Type I jam nearly immediately. There are two huge peaks, and one of them relies mostly on loops and dissonance to get there. It's hard to explain, but an absolute joy to hear. So you should hear it.
As if this beautiful jam isn't enough by itself, the band segues (->) perfectly into "Simple" to follow up. This jam is much shorter, but dissolves intriguingly near the end as the whole band bends toward dissonance...leaving "Light" room to emerge.
Now, this "Light" is always going to exist in the shadow of the massive "Golden Age" jam that proceeds it, and that's a shame, because it's great on its own. It starts by heading in the usual "Manteca"-style route, but quickly gets darker while maintaining the same salsa style. From there, the tension grows thanks to a looping riff from Trey and we descend yet again into muddy darkness before the jam ends.
From there, there's a tonally appropriate move into "Twenty Years Later," but it's a rough version, and like the second half of the first set, this fourth quarter never really gets back on the rails. It's a small criticism considering that the first near-hour of music in this set is pretty much perfect...but, it was the one repeated criticism of Summer '15, and the tendency to leave second sets unfinished rears its head again here.
Overall, though, I should stress that this is an excellent show, and I'm looking forward to three more.
The Live Review:
10/28/16: MGM run starting now with Martian Monster.
10/28/16: > No Men. A nice, swinging solo from Trey almost immediately.
10/28/16: Nice run through No Men's. After a long pause, Dogs Stole Things!
10/28/16: I had never actually heard this tune until it opened the second Tahoe show in '11. Loved it since.
10/28/16: Beauty of My Dreams! I haven't heard it in so long it took me a minute to figure out what it was.
10/28/16: > Destiny Unbound. Rarity set?!
10/28/16: Great little Type I jam in Limb By Limb. I feel like is another one of those songs, like Tube, that's currently growing out a bit.
10/28/16: Home next. This version sounds tighter than the debut version, but the song still just doesn't sound as punchy...or something live
10/28/16: Home outro jam getting shredded a little bit.
10/28/16: When the Circus Comes next, then Steam. Liking the construction of this set.
10/28/16: Really liking Trey's distorted soloing in Steam, with Page backing w/ organ chords.
10/28/16: Quick left turn into ambient drone from the Type I Steam jam.
10/28/16: Short ambient jam segues into The Wedge. Which was super-weird.
10/28/16: Cavern.
10/28/16: Walls.
10/28/16: First set started off huge (w/ rarities and verve) but got a little jukebox-y by the end.
10/28/16: That weird ambient jam > The Wedge moment felt like a turning point in a bad way. Strong set overall anyway, though.
10/28/16: End set.
10/28/16: Crimes of the Mind opens up the second set. That has to be a huge bustout, right?
10/28/16: 283 shows.
10/28/16: Golden Age is next.
10/28/16: Golden Age jam starts out Type I, but quickly dissolves under a cloud of Trey's echo-chording.
10/28/16: Neat noodly, almost salsa-like jam now. Sounds like something that might come out of Undermind.
10/28/16: Neat melody solo from Trey now. Sounds a bit like WTU? and a bit like the outro to Lizards.
10/28/16: Looping build. Giant Golden Age. More evidence for my theory that '16's 'slumps' have been about jettisoning bliss jamming as...
10/28/16: ...the sole avenue to Type II.
10/28/16: This is rad. Dissonant looping somehow leads to a peak. That doesn't even make sense, but yet it works.
10/28/16: Calming now.
10/28/16: Jam continues with funk chording.
10/28/16: Loops from the peak continue softly in the background.
10/28/16: Great organ work from Page right now as Trey plays a highly distorted version of what almost sounds like the Sand riff.
10/28/16: This is like two different notes away from being a literal Sand jam.
10/28/16: Flawless -> Simple. It sounds like the roof is coming down in MGM.
10/28/16: Fantastic monster jam there. Did not see that coming.
10/28/16: Band clicking again immediately as Simple jam starts.
10/28/16: Trey has been playing like he just stepped off the FTW stage for most of fall.
10/28/16: Page doing a great job of filling empty spaces with his piano and Trey and Mike play off each other.
10/28/16: Pitch shifter and distorted bass. Things getting deconstructed.
10/28/16: Dissonance > Light.
10/28/16: Distorted Manteca-like jam coming out of the Type I.
10/28/16: Manteca-type jam has sort of turned in on itself. Really tension-y now. Trey playing a short, looping riff over and over.
10/28/16: Dark, spacey jam winding down now into more ambient noise.
10/28/16: Nice fade into Twenty Years.
10/28/16: I realize it's unfair to demand that Phish does something interesting with a particular song, but I love 20 Years Later...
10/28/16: ...lyrically and as a rare dark(ish) tune in their quiver. However, the outro jam always just sounds like a dirge.
10/28/16: The overly distorted tone Trey's using here makes it sound even more like we're at a funeral for the fourth quarter of this show.
10/28/16: I feel a little bit the same way about Fuego when they don't play with the outro. Or Wingsuit. Yeah, we get it!
10/28/16: Late-set Blaze On.
10/28/16: Short-but-hot Blaze On leads into Coil.
10/28/16: Sounds like a Page outro this time instead of Mike.
10/28/16: Encore is, strangely, Bouncin' and Bold As Love.
10/28/16: Neither set ended particularly gracefully, but the first set was a great mix of well-played old, new, and busted-out tunes...
10/28/16: ...and the second set opened with friggin' Crimes of the Mind and had a legendary Golden Age -> Simple > Light sequence.
10/28/16: I don't care that much that the fourth quarter was a bit weak, honestly.
Phish opens the four-night MGM Halloween run by offering up a quintessential Summer '15 show in Fall '16: the first set is one of those deals that's half-perfect/half-jukebox, and the second set starts off with a monster jam sequence, only to fade out in the fourth quarter and finish weakly.
That, of course, is not to say this is a bad show. On the contrary, everyone loves Summer '15, right? RIGHT?! Well, then, this is right up our past alley.
The first half of the first set is strong, with a mixture of strong takes on predictable songs ("Martian Monster," "No Men," "Limb By Limb") and less predictable songs ("Dogs Stole Things," "Beauty of My Dreams," "Destiny Unbound"). The second half features a neat, brief little echo-y jam post-"Steam," but that gets chopped abruptly after a minute or so for "The Wedge." After that, everything is pretty forgettable. It's not that the playing is bad at all; rather, we've just heard it all before.
The big story in the second set is of course the monster "Golden Age," but it's worth mentioning that before that the guys bust out "Crimes of the Mind" as the set opener. So there's that.
The "Golden Age" proper is a beast. At over twenty-five minutes long, it visits a lot of fantastic locations, and departs from the Type I jam nearly immediately. There are two huge peaks, and one of them relies mostly on loops and dissonance to get there. It's hard to explain, but an absolute joy to hear. So you should hear it.
As if this beautiful jam isn't enough by itself, the band segues (->) perfectly into "Simple" to follow up. This jam is much shorter, but dissolves intriguingly near the end as the whole band bends toward dissonance...leaving "Light" room to emerge.
Now, this "Light" is always going to exist in the shadow of the massive "Golden Age" jam that proceeds it, and that's a shame, because it's great on its own. It starts by heading in the usual "Manteca"-style route, but quickly gets darker while maintaining the same salsa style. From there, the tension grows thanks to a looping riff from Trey and we descend yet again into muddy darkness before the jam ends.
From there, there's a tonally appropriate move into "Twenty Years Later," but it's a rough version, and like the second half of the first set, this fourth quarter never really gets back on the rails. It's a small criticism considering that the first near-hour of music in this set is pretty much perfect...but, it was the one repeated criticism of Summer '15, and the tendency to leave second sets unfinished rears its head again here.
Overall, though, I should stress that this is an excellent show, and I'm looking forward to three more.
The Live Review:
10/28/16: MGM run starting now with Martian Monster.
10/28/16: > No Men. A nice, swinging solo from Trey almost immediately.
10/28/16: Nice run through No Men's. After a long pause, Dogs Stole Things!
10/28/16: I had never actually heard this tune until it opened the second Tahoe show in '11. Loved it since.
10/28/16: Beauty of My Dreams! I haven't heard it in so long it took me a minute to figure out what it was.
10/28/16: > Destiny Unbound. Rarity set?!
10/28/16: Great little Type I jam in Limb By Limb. I feel like is another one of those songs, like Tube, that's currently growing out a bit.
10/28/16: Home next. This version sounds tighter than the debut version, but the song still just doesn't sound as punchy...or something live
10/28/16: Home outro jam getting shredded a little bit.
10/28/16: When the Circus Comes next, then Steam. Liking the construction of this set.
10/28/16: Really liking Trey's distorted soloing in Steam, with Page backing w/ organ chords.
10/28/16: Quick left turn into ambient drone from the Type I Steam jam.
10/28/16: Short ambient jam segues into The Wedge. Which was super-weird.
10/28/16: Cavern.
10/28/16: Walls.
10/28/16: First set started off huge (w/ rarities and verve) but got a little jukebox-y by the end.
10/28/16: That weird ambient jam > The Wedge moment felt like a turning point in a bad way. Strong set overall anyway, though.
10/28/16: End set.
10/28/16: Crimes of the Mind opens up the second set. That has to be a huge bustout, right?
10/28/16: 283 shows.
10/28/16: Golden Age is next.
10/28/16: Golden Age jam starts out Type I, but quickly dissolves under a cloud of Trey's echo-chording.
10/28/16: Neat noodly, almost salsa-like jam now. Sounds like something that might come out of Undermind.
10/28/16: Neat melody solo from Trey now. Sounds a bit like WTU? and a bit like the outro to Lizards.
10/28/16: Looping build. Giant Golden Age. More evidence for my theory that '16's 'slumps' have been about jettisoning bliss jamming as...
10/28/16: ...the sole avenue to Type II.
10/28/16: This is rad. Dissonant looping somehow leads to a peak. That doesn't even make sense, but yet it works.
10/28/16: Calming now.
10/28/16: Jam continues with funk chording.
10/28/16: Loops from the peak continue softly in the background.
10/28/16: Great organ work from Page right now as Trey plays a highly distorted version of what almost sounds like the Sand riff.
10/28/16: This is like two different notes away from being a literal Sand jam.
10/28/16: Flawless -> Simple. It sounds like the roof is coming down in MGM.
10/28/16: Fantastic monster jam there. Did not see that coming.
10/28/16: Band clicking again immediately as Simple jam starts.
10/28/16: Trey has been playing like he just stepped off the FTW stage for most of fall.
10/28/16: Page doing a great job of filling empty spaces with his piano and Trey and Mike play off each other.
10/28/16: Pitch shifter and distorted bass. Things getting deconstructed.
10/28/16: Dissonance > Light.
10/28/16: Distorted Manteca-like jam coming out of the Type I.
10/28/16: Manteca-type jam has sort of turned in on itself. Really tension-y now. Trey playing a short, looping riff over and over.
10/28/16: Dark, spacey jam winding down now into more ambient noise.
10/28/16: Nice fade into Twenty Years.
10/28/16: I realize it's unfair to demand that Phish does something interesting with a particular song, but I love 20 Years Later...
10/28/16: ...lyrically and as a rare dark(ish) tune in their quiver. However, the outro jam always just sounds like a dirge.
10/28/16: The overly distorted tone Trey's using here makes it sound even more like we're at a funeral for the fourth quarter of this show.
10/28/16: I feel a little bit the same way about Fuego when they don't play with the outro. Or Wingsuit. Yeah, we get it!
10/28/16: Late-set Blaze On.
10/28/16: Short-but-hot Blaze On leads into Coil.
10/28/16: Sounds like a Page outro this time instead of Mike.
10/28/16: Encore is, strangely, Bouncin' and Bold As Love.
10/28/16: Neither set ended particularly gracefully, but the first set was a great mix of well-played old, new, and busted-out tunes...
10/28/16: ...and the second set opened with friggin' Crimes of the Mind and had a legendary Golden Age -> Simple > Light sequence.
10/28/16: I don't care that much that the fourth quarter was a bit weak, honestly.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)