2014-08-31 Dick's III

The Verdict:
Night three at Dick's is a very strong close to the only run of the summer that could compete (and possibly beat) Randall's. I was sure Dick's was better as I was seeing it unfold in person, but after a relisten, I'm less sure, and it's mostly because this third show is weaker than I remembered.

It's pretty much just the first set. After a gimmicky and interesting S1 on N1, and a sprawling, buffet-line S1 the second night, this set just falls flat due to its more or less gaping holes between a few very bright spots. Specifically, "Wombat" and "Wolfman's" are both top-notch versions, and hint at the funk to come in the second set. But the middle section of the set sags considerably, and though I love both "Waiting All Night" and "Winterqueen," pairing them right before a ripping "Funky Bitch," "Tube" > "Possum" is a mistake.

With the removal of a questionably-placed "Joy" and a standard "Twist" > "Wedge" combo (two songs that have done interesting things recently and thus hit with a thud here in their boring incarnations), this becomes a perfect set. "CDT" gets stretched out yet again, this time going to a surprisingly minimalist place and staying there for a long time. I'm still not sure if this is a great jam, or a "We're lost! Let's just fake it!" jam, but you can be the judge.

The "Tweezer" is a satisfying-but-straight funkfest...until it segues into "Sand," which moves back into a double-speed "Tweezer" before heading out to deep space. "Piper" starts up next but immediately returns to the same space, and then there's "Joy" "Mike's," which gets jammed out in the same space-funk fashion and is arguably the highlight of the night aside from the last five minutes of "Sand."

"Sally" > "Groove" is a great way to coast to the finish line, ending one of the more cohesive and satisfying sets of the year so far. A better first set, and this show would be discussed with the phrase "...of the year" coming up a lot more.

The Live Review:
8/31/14: Wrapping up the summer with a Curtain opener.
8/31/14: Mike bass bombs during the outro composed part.
8/31/14: With was great. Great start to what I remember as being a fantastic show live.
8/31/14: Solid clav-funk jam in Wombat. Great start to the first set.
8/31/14: A bit hard to hear Mike over Trey in these headphones, but it sounds to me like Mike is really shining so far.
8/31/14: Loops now. Could probably argue this is a Type II jam at this point.
8/31/14: The KDF intro riff is always a little grating. More so when Trey totally biffs it.
8/31/14: I'm having a resurgence of enthusiasm for Bouncin' lately. Which is good, since it shows up after KDF here.
8/31/14: As someone who wants ASIHTOS to go back to its 2.0 monster-jam role, it's sort of sad seeing it take up a S1 spot lately.
8/31/14: But it's still a great song.
8/31/14: Now Lawn Boy. This is lagging a bit post-Wombat.
8/31/14: Super-dense funk in this Wolfman's jam.
8/31/14: Strong, extended version of Wolfman's > Waiting All Night.
8/31/14: I'm not going to apologize for how much I love WAN when it's placed well, like now.
8/31/14: Trey struggles a bit with the solo, but otherwise it's a strong version. > Winterqueen.
8/31/14: This is a weird set. Lots of borderline boring takes on slower songs, punctuated by moments of brilliance (Wombat, Wolfman's).
8/31/14: Funky Bitch finally picking up the energy level a bit.
8/31/14: After some cool chording from Trey to close out Bitch, Tube.
8/31/14: This Tube jam needs a disco ball. Awesome. Way too short, of course :)
8/31/14: Mostly standard Possum to close the set. A little heavier on the Mike than usual.
8/31/14: Very weird, inconsistent set with some very high highs but mostly just sort of a muddle of songs. Probably worst S1 of the run.
8/31/14: CDT to kick off what should be a monster S2.
8/31/14: Trey switches to an ASIHTOS tone early in the jam, Fish switches up the beat to something faster.
8/31/14: Strangely spacey, drone-y sort of jam. For awhile, nobody really playing any melody. Fish still slamming away.
8/31/14: Guitar echoes dominate. Shifting spaces now.
8/31/14: This stays really minimalist for a LONG time. Really interesting. Not sure if it's good, but it's at least different.
8/31/14: Jam stays murky and weird until > Twist. Definitely going to listen to that one again.
8/31/14: No weird, minimalist Twist tonight. Standard version > The Wedge.
8/31/14: Okay, that was a pretty standard Wedge, too, but I like the way that it swings right into Tweezer.
8/31/14: Tweezer immediately goes into a chord-driven funk jam.
8/31/14: Page just did a brilliant, building electric piano thing. Jam mellowing a little now.
8/31/14: Trey getting into a really swinging rock solo now.
8/31/14: Page uses the piano to kick off a start-stop sounding jamlet.
8/31/14: Trey starts up Sand, with a guitar loop from the jam overtop the main riff.
8/31/14: Smoove move into Sand.
8/31/14: There's a lot more standard Type I shredding in this Sand than I remember.
8/31/14: That said, Trey's on top of his guitar game...as evidenced by the drop into a double-speed Tweezer tease.
8/31/14: Not sure why this isn't Tweezer -> Sand -> Tweezer, but it's fantastic. Heading into space now.
8/31/14: This is so good. Space-plinko? Mike bombing out overtop of it.
8/31/14: Bass drone, now.
8/31/14: That was a cleaner > Piper than I remembered.
8/31/14: Awesome What's the Use? tease in Piper.
8/31/14: Piper's getting loopy at the 6:30 mark.
8/31/14: Really eerie ambient jam now.
8/31/14: Why the hell Trey decided to -> Joy out of that I have no idea.8/31/14: Mike's is heading in a funky direction.
8/31/14: EchoFunk time!
8/31/14: Sally keeps the funk train rolling all the way to the station.
8/31/14: Great vocal jam in Sally, minute Sand tease from Trey.
8/31/14: Weekapaug was pretty satisfying chordy madness. Loving Cup, Tweeprise encore.
8/31/14: S1 was weaker by far than I remembered it being, but S2 was just as amazing (almost) on tape. Great set.
8/31/14: 8/29 had the weekend's marquee jam, but some of the songs in S2 here go to far more interesting places for a few minutes.

2014-08-30 Dick's II

The Verdict:
The second night at Dick's suffers a little from middle-night syndrome: with no huge standout jam like N1 and no monster of a second frame like N3, it pales a bit by comparison. But taken on its own, it's a really strong show.

The first set is long, and filled with a lot of well-played songs. While its setlist isn't nearly as eccentric as N1's first set, it's still strong enough to keep this mostly by-the-book set from coming off as "Been there, done that."

The "Free" opener is played better than "Free" usually gets in 3.0, and the run of (admittedly jukeboxy) songs up through "Rift" > "Sample" are played with high energy, and a few seem to be played even a bit faster than usual. "Devotion" gets stretched out to great effect, Trey shines for once on "Yarmouth Road," and the "Cavern" > "Bowie" pairing ends the set in style.

"DWD" opens the second set with a great, underrated jam that moves from rolling rock to 2.0 jazz, into a perfect -> "WTU?" segue. Neither "Carini" or "Light" is any kind of slouch either, though both jams barely pass the 10+ minute mark. The rest of the set, on paper, doesn't really communicate how effective it is. "Fuego" is pretty standard, but "Slave" is a beautifully melodic version, and the one-two punch of "Meatstick" and "Bold As Love" is a great close to the set.

This, of course, sets up the weird-but-great piano-only "The Horse," > "Silent," Trey's chat about and then brief tease of "In A Hole," and finally another "Fluffhead" encore.

There's no notably big moments to point to in this show like N1 and N3 have, but the show's overall effect is pretty darn near perfect.

There aren't really any good standalone videos of this show, so here, have the entire second set plus the encore:



The Live Review:
8/30/14: Free opener. Good times.
8/30/14: And the harmonies aren't totally terrible!
8/30/14: If you're going to open w/ Free, that's how you do it. High energy, > Moma.
8/30/14: Trey's soloing is extra-on tonight.
8/30/14: High tempo Moma, just like Free. Sounds good, though.
8/30/14: Halley's!
8/30/14: Actually really excited to relisten to this show. 8/29 and 8/31 I remember as being incredible, but I remember 8/30 less.
8/30/14: Funk echo from Trey on Halley's chords.
8/30/14: Fish switches up the beat to a rock-ier one, and the Halley's jam arguably goes Type II here for a minute or so. Neat.
8/30/14: > Stealing Time.8/30/14: Solid Stealing Time > 555.8/30/14: Trey sounds really on-point during this set. I don't really remember that from the show, but I'm happy about it.
8/30/14: > Rift!8/30/14: Rift > Sample is pretty cliche, but I love it anyway.
8/30/14: I'm never happy live when Devotion To a Dream starts up, but it always wins me over by the end.
8/30/14: No cheers for Yarmouth Road. Don't get it. Such a great song.
8/30/14: Trey's finally starting to find something to do in Yarmouth Road. Sparkle is next.
8/30/14: Okay, Sparkle, Wingsuit is a really weird pairing.
8/30/14: Seemed like the set would end here, but there's still a solid Bowie > Cavern to go, if I remember correctly.
8/30/14: NIce interplay between Trey and Mike at the beginning of the jam.
8/30/14: Trey doing a good job of building tension here, even if nobody else is working with him.
8/30/14: Okay, Fish is on board now.
8/30/14: Serious Cavern lyrical flubs. I love that Trey can't remember the words to this song, of all the songs.
8/30/14: High energy, LONG S1 there. Nothing to really complain about, but no notable standout performances either.
8/30/14: Did really like the song selection, though.
8/30/14: Call To the Post noodling > DWD to start S2.8/30/14: Don't remember this Disease jam at all. So far, Trey is propelling it in a bouncy rock direction.
8/30/14: Great Type I shredfest here.
8/30/14: Trey chording now, trying to drive the jam into a different direction. ASIHTOS-style tone.
8/30/14: Now it's a jazzy, almost 2.0-sounding jam. Love Fish's drumming.
8/30/14: Heavy WTU? teases.
8/30/14: And a butt-slam into What's the Use? So awesome. I'd forgotten about this, and that just shows how great Dick's must have been.
8/30/14: CAAAAAARIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
8/30/14: Aside from all the obvious awesome jamming, one of my favorite things about '13-'14 Phish is the liberal use of Carini. So good.
8/30/14: Mike is laying into this one early.
8/30/14: Lots of heavily distorted Type I guitar coming out of Trey here. Now a building riff.
8/30/14: Carini isn't getting super-weird, but Trey is conducting a really soaring melodic solo overtop of the usual.
8/30/14: Almost a fast Cities-sounding space now.
8/30/14: Trey jumps into Light, and Fish ALMOST keeps the jam beat going over it for awhile but succumbs. That would have been awesome.
8/30/14: Pretty standard Light jam gets weird at 7:30, as Fish drives it into a darker space and the others follow.
8/30/14: Trey on the echoplex things getting even weirder.
8/30/14: Blues-woo jam now.
8/30/14: Great arrhythmic close to the jam and > Fuego. Both that Carini and Light had standout sections worth hearing.
8/30/14: Pretty spotless transition into Slave, there, from Fuego.
8/30/14: Trey has a great melody line going early on in this Slave. The build is coming and going in waves. Mike is also on (melodic) fire.
8/30/14: Compact but really effective Slave there. The first one that's really stood out to me melodically for awhile.
8/30/14: MOET-STAQUE, GIMME IT
8/30/14: Meatstick gets butt-slammed perfectly into Bold As Love.
8/30/14: This is another one of those Phish shows where there isn't a standout moment, but the overall effect is pretty perfect.
8/30/14: Trey just shredded the hell out of that set-ending Bold As Love. Wow.
8/30/14: Piano version of The Horse, with Trey on vocals. I almost like this arrangement better.
8/30/14: Piano Horse, Silent, In A Hole banter, Fluff = great encore.

8/30/14: Between this and the Eugene encore, I've gotten some great ones this year.

2014-08-29 Dick's I

The Verdict:
This year's Dick's run was easily the best run of shows I've been to thus far. So I was excited to relisten and see how much of my enthusiasm was justified and how much didn't hold up on the tape. For night one, at least, it's just about as good as I remember it.

S1 works because the "LUSHINGTON" set gag forces some interesting songs into the mix and shuffles up the song order you'd typically expect. There aren't any really interesting musical highlights, but the unexpected song choices and the high energy makes it a solid first set. One big jam ("Gin," maybe?) would have put it into the higher echelon of great first sets like some we've seen already this year, but there are plenty of shows out there that just have high-energy first sets with weird song choices. That said, I'm partial to this one. Early "Stash," a S1 "Guyute," a short-but-sweet "Undermind," a rocked-out "The Line," and a "Llama" opener...it's hard to complain much. On top of that, the highlights for me was an out-of-leftfield "No Quarter" and the "Suzy." "Suzy" is surprisingly rough, considering that they must have practiced with the horns before the show...but still, "Suzy" even with slightly-scatterbrained horns is better than "Suzy" without any horns at all, so...

S2 is all about the "Simple." Sure, there's a lot else going on here, most notably a short but shockingly great "Ghost" rock-jam and an interesting (and sadly ripcorded) "46 Days" opener. "Number Line" is hot, and "Hood" goes the weird-but-great route yet again in '14. But it's really all about the "Simple." Which is easily my favorite jam since the Tahoe "Tweezer." Just watch it.

There are a few slight lulls in the second set, but for the second show in a row, the band delivers what's pretty much a top-shelf show from front to back, and this time they include not one, but two best-of-summer jams. So yeah. This one lived up to the hype.








The Live Review:
8/29/14: Kicking off the Dick's run (first of five con420utive shows I caught this year) with Llama.
8/29/14: I love the rare Undermind jam, but it's also a great choice for a second song slot.
8/29/14: Great too to see the setlist gag make Stash show up so early in the show. Trey pretty restrained in the jam, Page taking lead.
8/29/14: Halfway To the Moon gets extended a bit more than usual here. Trey rocking out.
8/29/14: I Didn't Know...'Here to suck...at Dick's...'
8/29/14: This was my first vacuum solo, so I remember it fondly.
8/29/14: Nellie Kane. Seems faster than usual.
8/29/14: Forgot that there was a Guyute in there :)
8/29/14: Great-sounding Guyute. Now a particularly swinging version of The Line.
8/29/14: Ah, Ocelot, in all its note-bending and whale-pedal 'glory.'
8/29/14: Actually hearing Phish play No Quarter live at this show was one of my top 5 live music moments ever. Favorite rock song.
8/29/14: Post-euphoria, the intro is a little rough, but Trey totally nails the tone and style of that awesome riff.
8/29/14: Page laying into the piano for the middle jamlet.
8/29/14: Pretty sure I enjoyed hearing Ha Ha Ha more than I would have enjoyed Lushington. Because I know how it goes.
8/29/14: Suzy sounds remarkably disorganized for what must have been a premeditated guest appearance.
8/29/14: That said, Suzy with horns is ALWAYS better than Suzy without.
8/29/14: I absolutely loved S1 live. On tape, it's strong because of great and rare song choices. Only real interesting moment is Suzy.
8/29/14: Not to be outdone by horns, Page has a great piano solo with the horns layered over the back half of it.
8/29/14: 46 Days S2 opener.
8/29/14: Trey going dark and Mike following at 6:00 in this jam.
8/29/14: Jam is sort of an evil version of Manteca.
8/29/14: Page to electric piano = awesome.
8/29/14: Really badass space jam now with arrhythmic Trey chording. Aaaand that ripcord > BOTT was just as bad as I remembered.
8/29/14: They end up making it up with the Simple > Ghost, of course, but Jesus, that was terrible.
8/29/14: 46 Days jam wasn't even fading out yet and Trey just killed it.
8/29/14: Bitching aside, it's a solid version of BOTT.
8/29/14: Butt-slammed into Simple.
8/29/14: Nice interplay between Trey and Page at 5:00 in Simple.
8/29/14: Neat rhythm work from Trey to drive the jam away from the usual Simple space.
8/29/14: Things are getting angrier now.
8/29/14: Really great Trey-led jam section starting at 11:30. Mike is setting down an awesome foundation.
8/29/14: The middle section of this jam reminds me a lot of many of the better sections of the Tahoe Tweezer.
8/29/14: A bit of a lull in the jam now. That's okay, just gives you a second to stop and think 'What the hell song was this again?!'
8/29/14: Move into funk space. And thus the weekend of Dick's funk begins in earnest.
8/29/14: Loving this seriously deep clav-funk.
8/29/14: Mike pushes for some more complex funk. Trey adds loops to the mix.
8/29/14: Good transition into Ghost. Not perfect, but good. And it's fucking Ghost, so hell yes.
8/29/14: This slowly building rockfest of a Ghost would be amazing normally. Coming on the heels of that Simple it's just HOLY SHITAFIAODUFE
8/29/14: That 9:26 moment during this Ghost is just ridiculous. Why don't people talk about this jam more?
8/29/14: Giant Mike bomb to end the Ghost jam. Trey misses his chance to pull a -> Number Line and does a > Number Line instead.
8/29/14: Short but interesting Number Line, with Trey working in some neat rhythm sections.
8/29/14: HOOOOOOOOD
8/29/14: Minimal flourishes from Trey and Page here. Mike driving the jam. Pretty interesting.
8/29/14: It's actually sort of amazing how little Trey is featuring in this jam. Fish is a monster.
8/29/14: I like the new, weird Hood jams as long as they don't mess with the peak. This one survives pretty intact.
8/29/14: Nice -> Wading from Page.8/29/14: S2 closer = Antelope. E = Zero. Doesn't get more cliche than that. Nice Antelope, though, and great show overall.

8/29/14: S2 close is a little flat, and I still wonder wtf happened with the 46 Days jam, but a fantastic first night otherwise.

2014-08-03 Alpharetta

The Verdict:

I saw this show "live" on the free webcast when it happened and a relisten just reinforced my original opinion: it's a great tour-closing show in that it showcases a lot of different sides of what makes Phish such a great band and leaves off with an incredibly strong finish.

The first set features strong playing throughout and a better-than-average setlist. "Gin," "555," "The Line," "Vultures," and "BOTT," all stay within their usual confines, but are definitely notable versions despite that. "Gumbo" gets a neat little funk mini-jam, and hearing "FEFY" at all is just fantastic.

Compared to other "CDT"s this year, this one is noticeably short, but arguably gets further in less time than its forebears. It's really dark at first, and features some great melodic work from Page on electric piano before building momentum in a really satisfying way and becoming of my favorite "CDT"s in a year full of great ones. The segue into "Scents" is a bit abrupt, but the short jam that comes out of it is just breathtakingly delicate and great. "Twist" continues the tradition of minimalist, bluesy "Twist"s that's run for most of this year, and "Light" > "Harry Hood" is fantastic, first for the top-notch space jam in "Light" and second for the interplay between Trey and each other band member in "Hood," a version that also takes a unique path to the conclusion while finishing strong.

Then of course, just in case this show wasn't already a near-perfect balance of hits, technical prowess, serious jams, and awesome camaraderie, "Fluffhead" is in the encore slot. I couldn't help but think of Hampton '09 as they played and how far the music has come since then. Great stuff.

The Live Review:

8/3/14: Alright, last #phish show of summer tour '14 proper. Let's do this!

8/3/14: I remember watching this show on the free webcast and loving it. Let's hope the impression sticks through a relisten.

8/3/14: My Soul opener is a good start.

8/3/14: Trey and Page on fire during the opener.

8/3/14: Pretty satisfying Type I jam from Gin in the two-spot so far. Trey sounds a bit tentative.

8/3/14: Trey and Gin finish strong. Hot version of 555, now. Trey adding some interesting touches.

8/3/14: PEBLES AND MERBLES

8/3/14: Pebbles gets a few good licks from Trey based on the melody line.

8/3/14: The Line is next.

8/3/14: Particularly strong outro jam out of The Line, driven by Fishman.

8/3/14: Vultures!!!

8/3/14: Great outro jam here, too. Fish tearing it up.

8/3/14: Woo jam combined with Fish drum solo-ish. Pretty awesome.

8/3/14: FEFY. God damn, I love this song. Such great song selection here.

8/3/14: BOTT is next.

8/3/14: Trey and Page have some nice early interplay and then Trey shreds the shit out of the end of the jam. Solid version.

8/3/14: Taste is cool. I feel like this hasn't been as major of a player this year as it usually is. This version is just standard.

8/3/14: Gumbo is getting a nice little funk jam tagged on to the end.

8/3/14: Great jam, weird ending.

8/3/14: Solid take on Halfway To the Moon > Stealing Time. Starting to get a little jukeboxy, but still an above-average S1.

8/3/14: Trey just tossed some Stealing Time lyrics into Suzy.

8/3/14: What else would the last S2 of summer open with but CDT?

8/3/14: CDT jam starts heading off into the deep at 5:00.

8/3/14: Really gorgeous electric piano-led section starting around 7:30.

8/3/14: Really dark, building section at 10:00. Super cool. Mike is jumping on board.

8/3/14: Now building some excellent momentum out of the darkness. This is better than some of the longer CDTs from this year.

8/3/14: Trey sort of ripcorded that, but it's into Scents, so we'll call it even.

8/3/14: Really short but gorgeous Scents jam.

8/3/14: Twist!

8/3/14: Another one of those lazy, bluesy Twist jams. Love it.

8/3/14: Trey with some awesome rhythm work > great solo. Short but sweet version.

8/3/14: Perfect drop into a flubby Fuego intro.

8/3/14: Standard, sort-of-rough Fuego > The Wedge.

8/3/14: No giant Wedge jam, unfortunately. Nice version nonetheless with seamless > Light.

8/3/14: Light jam is benefiting from Trey's spooky chording. Now Mike it taking the wheel.

8/3/14: Darkness funk laden with Mike bombs. Perfect.

8/3/14: Got to admit I'm biased in already loving the shit out of this Hood. Relistening won't change anything.

8/3/14: Watching the band members trade solos during the webcast is my biggest #phish goosebumps moment so far while not at a live show.

8/3/14: My biggest while *at* a show was something like 11:00-36:00 of the Tahoe Tweezer :)

8/3/14: After the solo-trading, this becomes the most 'normal' Hood jam they've played in awhile. I don't mean that in a bad way.

8/3/14: Great peak, too.

8/3/14: First Tube is an excellent closer.

8/3/14: Gotta love the tour-closing Fluffhead.

8/3/14: Show was about how I remembered it. Above-average S1, S2 could have been jammed more, but ultimately satisfying.

8/3/14: CDT is quality, Scents and Twist are short but go some interesting places. Light is an average-great space jam, and the Hood is A+.

8/3/14: Okay, so maybe there's enough jamming and it's just a great show :)

8/3/14: The lack of focus on one HUGE jam as opposed to small moments of improv presages what's worked (and not) in fall tour, it seems.

2014-06-24 Live On Letterman

The Verdict:
I wanted to review this "show" despite it not being a full two-set performance because it turned out that Phish didn't just show up and play Fuego tunes for an hour like I expected them to. Sure, it's still mostly Phish-lite, but there are some neat tidbits here that deserve acknowledgment.

Listening at the end of October, it's amazing how much tighter the Fuego songs have gotten live since this performance. "The Line" is well done, but the others all have their shares of wince-inducing moments that are mostly worked out now, a few months down the road.

The highlights here, though, are the "Undermind" (for its usually weird mini-jam), "Carini" (for its energy and surprise placement during this kind of performance), and "Twist" (which actually unfolds into a legit jam and signals the coming of the minimalist, blues-inflected "Twist"s that would show up again and again throughout the summer.

You can see the whole thing here, if you want.

The Live Review:
6/24/14: Gonna take on the Live on Letterman performance real quick, because why not?
6/26/14: We start with that stripped-down-sounding approach to 46 Days.
6/24/14: There clearly hasn't been enough Undermind this year, now that I think about it.
6/24/14: Undermind is one of those songs that works really well in the 'mini-jam' format.
6/24/14: Halfway To the Moon sounds SO MUCH BETTER NOW than it did in June.
6/24/14: Yeah, that was awful. Carini next was a great surprise, though.
6/24/14: Fish just switched beats in this jam in a really jarring way.
6/24/14: Page has some great fills, though, and now Mike is driving toward the conclusion.
6/24/14: Nice trilly outro jam to Devotion.
6/24/14: Surprisingly hot mini-jam out of 555, there.
6/24/14: Twist starts off in a minimalist mode much like 46 Days did.
6/24/14: This is the version that convinced me that they were gonna take Twist deep this summer. I was wrong, but I'm still a believer.
6/24/14: Zero'd.
6/24/14: Zero is Zero and The Line is The Line. The end.
6/24/14: Solid versions of The Line, 46 Days, and 555. Surprise Carini was decent. Undermind was better than usual in its short form.
6/24/14: Love that Twist, though. Worth the free price of admission itself. Rewatching on YouTube: https://t.co/FdPC7ChNwX #phish