2009-06-14 Bonnaroo

So, the band's real two-setter at 'Roo 2009 is just a big, long, fun show. There aren't really any marquee moments (except maybe one), though, so if you're looking for something really unique, this won't be your bag. Rather, it's just a well-played show almost front-to-back, and one that actually seems to gain energy as it goes instead of losing it, as is often the case with 3.0 shows.

The opening run of songs up to "Gin" has excellent flow and features a few neat moments: "Bag" features another one of those "quiet" full-band mini-jams that have been prominent lately, Fishman has a lot of fun in "NICU," and the "Jibboo" jam is a bit different than usual (I'm lacking the musical vocabulary to explain how, exactly, but if you're a fan of the song, check this version out).

"Gin" clocks in at 12 minutes, and features a lot of Trey-shredding, but never really goes anywhere interesting enough to make it worth the time. That said, it's still a solid rocker in the first set.

The always-welcome first set "Tweezer" starts off with some absolutely chunky funk before fuzzing out into some more abstract spaces and ending (too soon!) with a surprisingly nice segue into "Horse." The first set proper ends with a ripping "Antelope" (early 3.0 Phish seems to love shredding this song...what happened?), and then, of course, Springsteen comes out for three songs, which is a nice moment, but not really anything musically memorable (except for Bruce calling Page "Mr. Keyboard Man," which made me kind of sad).

The second set is a bit more consistent and seems to just gain momentum as it goes. "Rock and Roll" is a great start, as its jam (labeled "Manchester Jam" on my recording) moves through a few different types of musical space in its brief existence. Things start off with some Trey-led Type I fire, then a bit of dissonance as Trey starts pulling at the edges of the song's structure while everyone else plays it straight still, then a total collapse into all-out spacey weirdness for the last few minutes. It is, as I wrote in my notes, "worth a goddamn listen."

As if that wasn't enough, there's a great segue into "Light," which features a lot of Treypeggios and a great Mike and Page section that starts around 9:30. There's a neat segue into "46 Days" from here, but the song stays in the arena-rock ballpark. Fishman's on fire here, as well as during the ensuing "Limb by Limb," which I marked in my notes as "very good": high praise for a song whose live versions normally don't do much for me.

The guys sort of remember how to play "Farmhouse" this time, but it's not much better than the Hampton version. Fortunately, the ending triplet of "Number Line," "Caspian," and "First Tube" is a constant, driving thing that propels you right into the Page-gasm of the "Suzy" encore.

Like I said above, minus the "Rock and Roll" > "Light," there's nothing here to really sink your teeth into, but for a consistent show with some great setlist choices, there aren't many better than 'Roo so far in 3.0.

Note: There's not much good video footage on YouTube for the 'Roo run, but this Pro-Shot compilation features a few of the better songs from the first night and the "Manchester Jam" > "Light" > "46 Days" run from 6/14: