The Verdict:
The final show before Super Ball IX strains a little bit at the seams, but never really quite breaks out into anything interesting. Probably the (goofy) highlight of the show is an opening "Harpua" with the band's dads on stage for Father's Day and the later "Brother" that features a tub full of the band's kids. It's great to hear both tunes, and the unique circumstances just add to the fun. There's also a spot-on cover of "Thunder Road" (with Trey on vocals!) in honor of Clarence Clemons.
Those surprises aside, though, most of the rest of the show settles firmly into 2010-2011 Phish territory. Nice song selection, but not much else going on.
The one major exception here is a surprise, late-show "Sand" that turns into a legitimate jam, one of the few since very early June. Definitely worth a listen, even if the band more or less falls back into old patterns immediately afterward, aside from a briefly weird "Light."
Oh, and the mid-S2-"Slave" won't surprise you, but if you really like to collect versions of the song, this is a great one, despite what you might guess from its running time.
The Live Review:
6/19/11: Alright, last show before Super Ball. Here we go!
6/19/11: Harpua opener! Alright, then!
6/19/11: I'm going to guess by the content of the narration and such that the band's dads are on stage for this.
6/19/11: Brother is next. Can someone explain the connection between the band's parents and Brother? Or is it just the title?
6/19/11: Yup, lots of parents and such on stage after the show.
6/19/11: Down With Disease in the three-spot.
6/19/11: S1-style Disease followed by BOTT.
6/19/11: Pretty standard BOTT, but then Trey just RIPS into Funky Bitch afterward.
6/19/11: Now Page is DESTROYING the organ. Is this Funky Bitch, or Maze?!
6/19/11: If they played like this more often, I wouldn't mind 'greatest-hits'-style S1s at all.
6/19/11: > Timber! Any set that has Brother *and* Timber in it is alright with me.
6/19/11: The Wedge, Moma Dance are next.
6/19/11: Holy shit, Thunder Road. Trey doing vocals.
6/19/11: Ah, they played it as a tribute to Clarence Clemons. That's awesome.
6/19/11: Tuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuube
6/19/11: Super-quick version of Tube > Alaska.
6/19/11: David Bowie, presumably to close this loooooooooong S1.
6/19/11: End set with a pretty standard Bowie.
6/19/11: Weird 1st set. A combination of jukebox tunes and big, welcome surprises like Harpua, Brother, Timber, Thunder Road.
6/19/11: S2 opens with Crosseyed.
6/19/11: Pretty standard Type I Crosseyed, though Trey is getting in some good licks.
6/19/11: Going in a heavier rock direction now. Wall-of-sound thing happening. Page's organ sounding very No Quarter-y.
6/19/11: Drone > Walls of the Cave.
6/19/11: Trey soloing in a weird scale for a minute or so during the Walls outro.
6/19/11: Slowing down now. Page taking over as Trey fades out.
6/19/11: Again, that signals the end of the song instead of a jam transition, but it's till a pretty > Slave.
6/19/11: Mike running the show early on in this Slave jam.
6/19/11: Really liking this. Almost like a Simple jam. Super delicate and patient.
6/19/11: I just realized, I think that they're playing at an exceptionally slow tempo. Makes for a really interesting jam.
6/19/11: Under ten minutes, total, but a great version.
6/19/11: > Fluffhead. Seems like a weird choice, but okay.
6/19/11: Fluffhead seems to be at a *faster* tempo this time around.
6/19/11: Trey ends Fluffhead with a loop, and it carries over into the introduction to Sand.
6/19/11: I love me some Sand, lately.
6/19/11: Great little funky solo from Trey leading into something close to plinko jamming w/ pitch-shifted guitar.
6/19/11: Silent pause after a huge funk breakdown. Then Sand jam starts up again. Awesome.
6/19/11: Next stop/start starts with Sneakin' Sally instead!
6/19/11: Great segment. Sounds like a totally different, less on-rails band.
6/19/11: Sally goes into a vocal jam pretty much right away.
6/19/11: Trey sort of shoehorns in a transition to Light.
6/19/11: Light jam drops almost immediately into a dreamy sequence. Sort of Slave-like.
6/19/11: Trey bails out of an ambient fade with > Number Line.
6/19/11: Number Line is pretty mellow, too. I like all these quality jams that don't have to go all peaky to be good.
6/19/11: Short Number Line. Now Page is going to town on Suzy.
6/19/11: A hilarious amount of screaming at Mike, calls of 'Page's house!' and 'What?!' follow the conclusion of the song (and tour leg).
6/19/11: Story from Trey about his daughter Eliza beating him at Rock Band playing Wilson. Julius encore.
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