Night two at Northerly Island gets off to a bit of a slow start compared to night one, but then the band turns in one of my favorite second sets in a long time.
Things take a little while to pick up even during the first set, as a really rough two-slot "Moma" sort of kills the momentum. An extended take on "Martian Monster" gets us back on track, though, and the rest of the set continues in strong (if not particularly memorable) fashion.
The second set starts off with the show's first real surprise: the Phish debut of "Corona." I really like this tune on Traveler and the way that TAB plays it, so while the band turns in a workmanlike version here, without the full TAB sound, it feels like it's missing something. It wouldn't be a bad arrow for Phish to keep in their quiver, though.
The real second set begins with the enormous version of "Simple" that follows. It clocks in at around twenty-seven minutes, and does a little bit of everything. Of particular note are a nasty "Timber"-like jam, and a moment when the entire band winds to a stop, pauses, does not ripcord into another song, but then picks back up with a completely new, melodic jam instead. You should just watch and listen below:
Not content to rest on their laurels, though, the guys immediately continue on into "Winterqueen," sinister backing loops and all. "Winterqueen" gets a brief but fantastic Type II jazz jam before segueing perfectly into "Light." While this might seem to have set the table for a huge "Light" blowout, this time we go the compact-but-effective route before a beautifully-done transition into "Scents." "Scents" then employs Page's synth to great effect, building up into yet another distinct Type II space (that's four in a row for those keeping score at home) before another perfect segue into "Cities."
"Cities" only serves as a breather (only!) before the set ends with "Slave."
And it just doesn't get much better than that, folks. It really doesn't.
The Live Review:
7/15/17: Night two of Northerly Island starts with my least-favorite opener: Stealing Time.
7/15/17: Reviewing this show from ten days ago while tonight's show is being tweeted about is going to be confusing.
7/15/17: Rough take on Moma in slot two, but a nice transition into The Wedge at the end.
7/15/17: Long pause after The Wedge. Halfway To the Moon next.
7/15/17: Fish playing a different beat than usual, I think.
7/15/17: Ya Mar keeps a pretty song-based set going. No more big-time hiccups like with Moma, though.
7/15/17: Trey calls for a Mike solo in Ya Mar after the usual 'Leo' solo.
7/15/17: Extra clav-heavy Martian Monster up next.
7/15/17: Neat little wind-down bit in the middle of MM, now a huge blues guitar peak out of nowhere at the end. Neat version!
7/15/17: Party Time is next. Page is destroying the organ during the composed section.
7/15/17: Wingsuit is Wingsuit.
7/15/17: Bouncing Around the Room > More ends up the first set.
7/15/17: Compared to 7/14 and 7/18, a pretty songy, straightforward first set. On the upside, they're getting better at rocking out More.
7/15/17: I would recommend a listen to the Martian Monster, though. Even though it's only 5 1/2 minutes, it's pretty interesting.
7/15/17: Set two opens with Corona. That's exciting. Love this as a TAB song.
7/15/17: Pretty straightforward rock reading of Corona > Simple. Delicate interplay typical of Simple gets going right away.
7/15/17: Fades away after a few minutes. Page to synth. Everyone else playing underneath him.
7/15/17: Trey putting down some bluesy licks now.
7/15/17: Trey trying some funk chording over a mellow electric piano riff now.
7/15/17: Really contemplative space that's starting to lean a little sinister.
7/15/17: Loving this. Hard to imagine the band playing this before fall '16 without a ripcord or three-chord bliss jam emerging by now.
7/15/17: Darker rock riff from Trey now from what sounded like the seeming end of the jam. More of this kind of creativity, please.
7/15/17: -> Timber?
7/15/17: Crowd reacting as if it's a segue into Timber, but the jam just continuing w/o lyrics. Echoplex coming out now.
7/15/17: Man, if we get a few jams like this and the Dayton Disease at Dick's, I'll be a (literal) happy camper.
7/15/17: This is magic.
7/15/17: Still sounding like Timber, but winding down now.
7/15/17: Some neat droning from Mike now.
7/15/17: SEAMLESS transition into an uplifting, melodic space led by Trey.
7/15/17: Really like what Mike and Fish are doing rhythm-wise here.
7/15/17: Trey repeating a neat descending riff now. Rest of the band building around it.
7/15/17: The Dick's Disease riff would go really nicely here.
7/15/17: I don't think that would be cheating to reuse a riff...mostly because I'd literally die of a heart attack if it happened.
7/15/17: Rock build-up winds down again into a The Who-sounding jam. -> Friends would probably be appropriate. But I hope not.
7/15/17: Last big guitar fade-out and that's that. Amazing Simple jam. Wow. Followed up, appropriately, by Winterqueen.
7/15/17: ALMOST sounded like Mike was winding up for Disease instead. That was interesting.
7/15/17: Spooky loops to start off the Winterqueen outro, instead of the usual Trey noodling.
7/15/17: 7/15 probably can't really compete with a jammed-out Sample and Lawn Boy but I'm going to keep going :0
7/15/17: Jazzy, Victor-Sessions-style jam now.
7/15/17: So, Type II Winterqueen Jam -> Light. Just to make sure we're staying on top of this jamfest.
7/15/17: Trey skipping the arpeggios and going straight into a chording funk jam here in Light.
7/15/17: They are packing a lot of serious jamming into this Light in a short space, helped Page's circus organ.
7/15/17: HOLY SHIT on-a-dime -> Scents
7/15/17: WHO. IS. THIS. BAND.
7/15/17: If I had been at this show in person, I would have joy-cried at least three times by now.
7/15/17: Meanwhile, in real life, Phish is apparently currently playing a 40 minute Lawn Boy.
7/15/17: I'm not sure why, but there's just something special about Scents to me. Ever since hearing it at BGCA, at least.
7/15/17: Trey leading the jam with harmonics. Now a Rift-sounding...uhh...riff.
7/15/17: Oh, by the way, this Scents jam continues to be amazing.
7/15/17: It's not just that they're jamming so much, it's that there's a distinct character to each jam. Not just rehashing ideas.
7/15/17: ALL HAIL THE SYNTH
7/15/17: Everyone's freaking out about Lawn Boy and I'm over here listening to 7/15/17 II like https://t.co/HktEU5WAUJ
7/15/17: -> Cities. /dead
7/15/17: Short but fun Cities. Breather before Slave to close the set.
7/15/17: No surprises with that Slave, but it was a version worthy of closing that ridiculous set.
7/15/17: Sending everyone home with a Loving Cup encore.
7/15/17: A slight drag of a first set there, but OH BOY that second set. One of my favorite 3.0 six-song sets, right there. Wow.
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