2009-09-05 Shoreline

So before listening to this show, I was imagining it as a pleasant but uninteresting placeholder between the (mostly) incredible Red Rocks run and the great Gorge run. I don't know if it was a case of self-fulfilling prophecy, but that's pretty much what the Shoreline show turned out to be.

"Golgi" is a great choice for an opener, but here it's rough, as if everyone can't quite get in sync. The following "Halley's" > "Chalkdust" is better, and the "Chalkdust" has a neat (though brief) dark-toned, circular-sounding jam like many of the better jams of the Red Rocks run. Then we get another mid-first-set "Divided Sky," which as you know by now is my favorite fucking thing (actually, it's the opposite of that). Following "Sky" is a rough "When the Circus Comes" and an even rougher "TTE." This is followed by a mellow but satisfying "Ya Mar" and then things finally get back to the "Chalkdust" level of fire with "Stealing Time." Fortunately, the momentum continues through a Page-led "Suzy" (which features Fishman exclaiming during his usual part: "I really loved that solo, Page!") and a very tension-y, fast "Bowie."

Basically, this first set is weird. It starts off sloppy, then there's a bit of rock momentum built up, which is immediately killed after "Chalkdust." Then we have a mellow-jam type of mid-set that reaches its peak with "Ya Mar," only to immediately get dropped in favor of more rock. I feel like this set could have worked as a rock set or a mellow set, but as an in-between, it's ultimately pretty unsatisfying (though seriously check out the "Chalkdust").

The second set is an improvement, with a few bits of improv worth sinking one's proverbial teeth into. "Number Line" is a satisfying shred-fest, and the long "Disease" starts much the same way. Things get really minimalist at about the 12 minute mark, though, and there's some really interesting atonal, weirdly arrhythmic stuff happening for a few minutes. For the last 2-3 minutes of the jam, too, things get spooky, with Page playing a very "No Quarter"-style organ tone while Trey plays a heavily distorted, shrieky guitar tone over top of it. Neat stuff, though I wish that there's been more. "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'" is always welcome on a setlist, though this one is mellow to a surprising degree. It works really well to set up the "Cities" > "Maze" sandwich that follows, though. This combination features a standard "Cities" which ends with a pretty amazing plinko-y segue into "Maze," which takes a tension-and-release cue from the first set's "Bowie." This is yet another '09 "Maze" that's making me a believer in a song that I've never really had much time for traditionally.

"Mike's Song" is up next, and it is absolutely the most filthy, disgusting version so far in 3.0. I mean this in terms of Trey's tone, of course, which is just dirty. He shreds the shit out of "Mike's" for a few minutes, but then botches the ending, which sets up a really bumpy and standard "Simple" and a generic "Weekapaug." Oddly the boys choose to close the set with "Let Me Lie," which is still neat to hear as a Phish (instead of TAB) song, but not as a fucking show closer.

"Axis" features some extra guitar heroics, but not enough to make this any more than an average show in the context of the last few Leg 1 shows and the Red Rocks run. If you like weird soundscapes, check out the "Disease," and if reading "Cities" > "Maze" makes you raise an eyebrow, give that a listen too. Otherwise, there isn't much here that we haven't heard already.

I'm excited because next up is the '09 Gorge run, my first ever Phish shows. I haven't listened to the tapes since probably '10, so I'm interested to see how they stack up to the rest of Summer '09.