The Verdict:
The second night of the band's NYE run sounds suspiciously like the first. Of course, all the songs are different, but the movements all seem to be more or less in the same place. In some ways, that's a bad thing. In others, of course, it's not.
There's an early jam in this one like last night's "Wolfman's," and in this case "Blaze On" gets the nod. It doesn't go as deep as it has in the past, but a fuzz-tinged funk jam powered by Trey's new rig isn't something to sniff at, either. If you're like me, you'll be happy to hear a jammed-out "I Always Wanted It This Way," even if the jam abandons the song's unique-ish electronica sound quickly and goes straight rock. "Destiny Unbound" makes for a nice setlist surprise, but otherwise this set is pretty straightforward. Again, the novelty such as it is comes from the fact that Trey's guitar (and Page's rig, if you haven't been listening since July) sounds different, not necessarily that the band is playing differently.
"Sand" opens the second set, and even though it stays in the box, it showcases that Trey still has the ability to spontaneously create a melody that he can then develop over the course of a few minutes while the rest of the band builds on throughout. This is possibly my favorite type of playing from Phish, even if it's not really Type II jamming, and it makes for a great version of "Sand" here.
"Chalkdust" is next, and like last night's "Twist," it immediately drops into a minimalistic space, before a jazzy build leads to a few minutes of a really beautiful three-way listening session between the melodic players in the band. This is really great stuff, really elemental-sounding Phish, and even when the band finally (inevitably?) starts moving the jam toward a peak, they do so on the back of an Allmans'-ish riff from Trey that's a little different than what we are at this point used to. That they drop into "Ghost" from there isn't awful either...
"Ghost" puts Mike at the helm almost immediately, and like "No Men" from the night before, this is a great thing. This one ends up being a bit short as compared to the other big jams from N1 and N2, but there's a lot there in its short running time.
It crashes into "Number Line," which ends up being part of a one-two punch with "Simple": both songs kept to around seven minutes and boiled down to their very essences...but only because the band was clearly planning on ending the set with a monster "Split." And they do. These days, Phish doesn't seem interested (or able?) to capture the frenetic chaos of an old-school "Split" jam, but they've perfected a great alternative: going abstract. This one goes so deep into abstractness for so long that it feels like they're going to lose the rhythm completely for a few minutes (a redux of the BD "ASIHTOS," maybe?) before they ever-so-slowly bring things back around to the "Split" outro to end the set.
Another show that concentrates the goods in the second set to a surprising degree, but there are a lot of goods there to enjoy. Looking forward to 12/30.
The Live Review:
12/29/17: Cavern opener! That's fun.
12/29/17: Lots of new tones early in Cavern from Trey and Page. Trey cracks himself up at one point.
12/29/17: > Blaze On
12/29/17: Some heavy chording from Trey coming out of the usual Type I ending to the song. Page picking things up on the clav.
12/29/17: Really neat fuzzy-electro groove emerging.
12/29/17: I'll say yet again how much I respect these guys for still switching things up this far into their careers.
12/29/17: They could just ride the wave for twenty more years, but instead every tour sounds different. Still.
12/29/17: Return to vocals after a quick but interesting funk jam. Now, 555.
12/29/17: Which reminds me: all my praise aside, where's my twenty-five minute apoco-funk 555 jam? I've been waiting for four years now.
12/29/17: Mike's voice is...not sounding great. Maybe he's sick? Nonetheless, an otherwise typically competent take… https://t.co/27nFmt9hmu
12/29/17: Troy conjuring yet more space aliens from his new rig. Some great accompanying bass from Mike.
12/29/17: I Always Wanted It This Way!
12/29/17: I Always Wanted To Hear This Song Live, Maybe This Year At The Gorge!
12/29/17: Jam coming your way.
12/29/17: Actually a little bummed that this jam is departing the usual electronica-tinged IAWITW jams for a more rock and roll place.
12/29/17: Reminds me of an ASIHTOS jam, but with Trey conjuring metal demons from his low-end guitar tone.
12/29/17: Cool ambient/loops section to wrap up the jam.
12/29/17: > Martian Monster
12/29/17: Heavy Things after a pretty typical take on Martian Monster.
12/29/17: Destiny Unbound!
12/29/17: Decent melodic solo from Trey at the tail end of this Destiny.
12/29/17: Weird to hear him play with his usual tone :)
12/29/17: Oh good. Ocelot.
12/29/17: Walls of the Cave next, perhaps to end the set.
12/29/17: End set.
12/29/17: Sand opens set two. I like the thinking behind that.
12/29/17: Really great melodic playing from Trey here. Slowly developing a theme through a building Type I structure.
12/29/17: Chalkdust up next. Song proper plays out like you'd expect, then crashes into a jazzy jam almost immediat… https://t.co/yR2HUPfujV
12/29/17: Mellow, minimal jam unfolding now.
12/29/17: Synth put to good use by Page here.
12/29/17: Some really pretty three-way melodic interplay happening now.
12/29/17: After a lot of great, meaty improvisation, Trey taking off with an Allman-sounding guitar riff here.
12/29/17: Nice build here. Still developing the riff.
12/29/17: Nice on-a-dime pivot from the rock-peak stuff to an echo-funk space.
12/29/17: Sort-of -> Ghost.
12/29/17: Bringing out lots of the big hits in these first two shows. Interested to see how the setlists go for N3 and N4.
12/29/17: Awesome jam out of Ghost with Mike taking the lead.
12/29/17: Great electric piano work from Page. Trey shifting octaves.
12/29/17: Interesting build now with Mike still leading.
12/29/17: Nice short but great jam that lands in Number Line.
12/29/17: As always, Number Line is a great, short Type I jam. Especially good interplay this time around.
12/29/17: > Simple!
12/29/17: Old-school Simple fades out of its melodic jam and lands in SOAM.
12/29/17: Split jam getting extended. Going way out there. Flirting with losing rhythm entirely.
12/29/17: That jam was pure 2017 Phish. Band as a whole bringing it back smoothly to the Split outro.
12/29/17: End set. Julius encore.
12/29/17: So far, this run is reinforcing the ambivalence I've felt about 2017 Phish in general (the reason I've be… https://t.co/oFoLeSKRJ1
12/29/17: Don't get me wrong, the BD was an amazing accomplishment and I loved seeing Dick's '17 in person...
12/29/17: ...but I've been really feeling the split between jams and not-jammed songs this year, in a bad way.
12/29/17: For most of my years as a Phish fan, I've struggled with what lots of fans struggle with: that feeling of… https://t.co/3fmwDomp5o
12/29/17: This was especially bad for me after 7/31/13, a jam and a show that has made every show since feel a litt… https://t.co/fM9MrmnN69
12/29/17: During '15 and '16, I got much better at this and was starting to be able to enjoy each show in its own r… https://t.co/RzQ6eMBjeD
12/29/17: This has been harder, though, in '17 because I think (and YMMV) nearly every non-jam piece of music the b… https://t.co/IJSzSSspwo
12/29/17: The jams are incredible, perhaps better than they've ever been, and the band is just so good right now at… https://t.co/S8gJtI7xFf
12/29/17: This was easily forgiveable during the BD run, as they were *actually playing tons of songs they hadn't p… https://t.co/2f8UlTWm9B
12/29/17: But as the year has gone on, the lack of polish during non-jammed songs persists. Do they just not run th… https://t.co/TdQl42leD0
12/29/17: I don't know. But I do know that it's become sort of painful to listen to the band lately when they aren'… https://t.co/S1K9EJczHn
12/29/17: I want listening to Phish to feel like how it's felt to me since 2001. Instead, like 25% of the time it's… https://t.co/xXczZsezw6
12/29/17: Am I nuts? Maybe I'm nuts.
12/29/17: Maybe 12/30 will make me eat my hat in a good way. Mmmm...hat.
12/29/17: Part of it, too, is me finally branching out into more jam-band-type music beyond Phish. More of a perspective, I guess.
12/29/17: Like, I'm obsessed with CRB right now. They don't Type II jam like Phish does, but they're of an age with… https://t.co/pKo86Kq8z9
12/29/17: They also play 100-150 shows a year...so maybe that's the difference?
12/29/17: Maybe latter-day Phish would, oddly, be more satisfying if they played Spafford-style shows, where they o… https://t.co/yVPf32wEBE
12/29/17: I did a little experiment where I cut up the playlists for a bunch of recent, jam-heavy Phish shows and i… https://t.co/uY7VnvOrgt
12/29/17: I would still happily pay $60 to see a two hour Phish show that was almost entirely Type I/Type II jams,… https://t.co/GtoWqZWfDv
12/29/17: And don't get me wrong: I love Phish's compositions and am one of those weirdos who actually think a lot… https://t.co/jaoQBeonUG
12/29/17: But if it's a choice between half-playing them and cutting them from the setlist entirely, I'd choose the latter.
12/29/17: Okay, time to get back to work...
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