2009-08-11 Toyota Park

Considering that this show comes after two barn-burning runs in a row (Red Rocks and the Gorge) and then a two-day break, my expectations were pretty low. Generally, lots of good shows + a long break = a lackluster show, and though one of the many things I love about Phish is that they can occasionally surprise you and buck this trend...this show is not one of those times. Toytoa Park is the first all-around disappointing show of Leg Two. Well, I suppose it had to happen sometime.

First off, it might just be my ears (or my speakers), but this SBD recording sounds like shit compared to the Gorge shows. I don't know why that would be the case, but it bugged me throughout, and no amount of EQing seemed to really un-muddy it. So that certainly didn't help. However, it also doesn't help that the vast majority of this show is made up of decently- but uninterestingly-played songs that never seem to cohere into any larger picture.

We start off with an energetic "KDF" that actually slays right out of the gate. Trey leads the boys right up to a monstrous peak and one song in, the sky's the limit. Then, though, we jump to "Sample," which rarely, if ever, has managed to reach its previous heights here in 3.0. This is more of the same, with Trey playing around with all sorts of effects to little effect (ha!) rather than just fucking rocking out for a few minutes. I don't know why he's so unable to just muster some satisfying rock licks on this song, like, basically ever. He can certainly do it with lots of other songs and has been doing it all summer...

Anyway, "Ocelot" is next, and it's a particularly yawn-y version. It's followed by "Paul and Silas," which is guess is neat for the novelty value, but at this point all the promise of the opening number has been squandered and I'm just bored. Fortunately, "Ocelot" is followed by "Windy City," which still isn't a rocker by any means, but is one of my favorite 3.0 songs. This version doesn't do anything interesting, really, but I'm satisfied by just hearing it.

The highlight of the show is probably "The Curtain With," which follows "Windy City." It's only the song's second time out since Coventry, and it's played beautifully all the way through. The jam section is minimal, but appropriate, and the "With" is always a joy to hear. There's nothing unique about the version, and it likely won't make my Leg Two highlight reel for that reason, but it's the best part of this show. So now you know it only gets worse.

There are some interesting song choices for the rest of the set ("Train Song," "Gumbo") and the "Heavy Things" is fast and features some high-speed Trey noodling reminiscent of the old days, but it ends too fast and drops into "TTE," about which nothing more really needs to be said (I'll say again: I love this song as a composition, but it just falls flat for me live). In a leg that's had some notably great first sets, this one just drags, and it might well be the single worst set of the run so far. Again, there's nothing terrible about, it's just sort of there. But after Red Rocks and the Gorge, that doesn't seem like it should be enough anymore.

The second set starts with a long "Number Line," but it's all type 1 jamming until about the 11:00 mark, where Trey and Page start in with some "wonky 70s space-age tones" (as I wrote in my notes) that play almost-but-not-quite-arrhythmically against one another. It's a really neat soundscape, but it only runs for about two minutes before a sudden "Carini" turn. The "Carini" itself is about as standard as it gets, and the majority of the "jam" is actually just song-ending-style feedback for about two minutes before we launch into "Jibboo."

Typically, I'd be totally jazzed about a show with both "Heavy Things" and "Jibboo," but in this case, the "Things" is too short to develop and the "Jibboo" runs too long on the same idea before moving into "Theme." Trey pretty obviously tries to do something different with the build-up in this "Theme" (or maybe he just gets lost?), but it doesn't work at all. As a result, the peak falls really flat. Fortunately, the following "Wilson" > "2001" pairing is high energy and features probably the most interesting playing of the show: a weird Trey mini-solo in "Wilson" and then another satisfyingly funk-chunky 2009 "2001."

To wind up, "Chalkdust" is standard fare, "Hood" features some more botched Trey experimentation that involves some attempts tension-and-release-type jamming (which just seems weird to me in a modern "Hood"), and "Coil" is sloppy as all hell.

"Loving Cup" is a nice opener, but nothing you haven't heard before.

This actually would have been a show that I would have enjoyed earlier in the summer, and might have ranked it above some of the more average shows from Leg One; however, with 6 of the 8 shows so far in Leg Two being to varying degrees in the "Best of Summer" category, this one just doesn't cut it.