The Verdict:
Essex Junction falls easily into the category of the "bonus show." You know, that show that pops up on the schedule unexpectedly, builds a tremendous amount of expectation because it's a "special" show, and then proceeds to just be pretty good and mostly normal? This seems to happen pretty frequently with Phish, and I'm not sure where the expectation that these off-schedule shows are going to be barn-burners even comes from? I mean, when was the last time Phish played a one-off show like this and blew the roof off? Oh well.
Anyway, 9/14 isn't the disaster a lot of reviews would have you believe it is. It falls in well with the shows from the 2011 west coast swing, actually: not on the level of the recent UIC and Dick's shows, but tremendously better than the majority of summer 2011. Here's why.
The first set is, again, the epitome of the 2011 first set (can there be more than one epitome?). Just look at that setlist. I can hear your eyes rolling in their sockets. But as is often the case this year, the band plays a setlist like this with such swagger, you're willing to forgive at least a bit of the uninventiveness. In this case, "Sample" and "Julius" get extended a bit to good effect. "Wolfman's" jams for a bit on a different set of chords, and "Gin" does its usual (as of late) "Type 1.5" thing.
The second set is much the same. One glance at that setlist and you can imagine how it goes...and you'd be partly right, but not entirely. The meat, such as it is, comes at the beginning. "Carini" is dedicated to Pete Carini, and veers off into angry distortion almost immediately upon entering the jam. Then, Trey turns on the pitch-shifter and things get really serene and melodic for a few minutes. It's a quick stylistic one-eighty, but it's really cool and easily the best part of the show. "Disease" rises out of the murk, and while it doesn't proceed to do anything particularly special, it moves through a chordy, heavy-rock space and then a fast-tempo funk space before seguing nicely into a strong "Slave."
After that sequence, though, the band seems to enter victory-lap mode. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention how strong the takes on "Number Line," "Suzy," and even "Zero" are here, but unless you're digging for new, better-rocked-out versions of those songs, you won't find anything in this show post-"Slave" that's worth a listen.
There's maybe more to this show than there might seem to be at first, but I'll still prefer to pretend that summer ended at Dick's.
The Live Review:
9/14/11: CDT opener.
9/14/11: Incidentally, this was the first webcast that I watched.
9/14/11: Moma Dance in the two-slot.
9/14/11: NICU third. Great, though normal, version of Moma.
9/14/11: Funky Bitch. Crowd loving it.
9/14/11: Sample, Cavern continuing the hit parade.
9/14/11: Sample with a little extra fire at the end.
9/14/11: Bathtub Gin. Might open the first set up a bit.
9/14/11: Deviating a bit from the typical Type I jam here and heading into bliss territory.
9/14/11: Fish really driving this build.
9/14/11: Neat little jam there in Gin. Alaska, now.
9/14/11: I can't believe I'm saying this, but Trey just rocked Alaska.
9/14/11: Possum.
9/14/11: Possum was pretty normal, but Wolfman's is featuring a really grungy, distorted funk jam.
9/14/11: Something that I think would technically be a Type II jam forming here. Trey soloing over different chords than usual.
9/14/11: Whale pedal making an appearance.
9/14/11: Nice peak after an interesting Wolfman's jam.
9/14/11: Extended Julius to end the first set.
9/14/11: Remembered this as a straight-up hit parade, and it mostly is...
9/14/11: ...however, strong version of Sample, extended Julius and nice '1.5' versions of Gin and Wolfman's give it a bit of staying power.
9/14/11: Trey opening second set by thanking everyone for participating in the benefit.
9/14/11: Dedicates Carini...to Carini.
9/14/11: Breakdown in Carini jam getting a psychedelic.
9/14/11: Winding down now. Trey laying down a pitch-shifted solo.
9/14/11: Neat, serene little outro jam there. Everyone contributing. Wash turns into Disease intro.
9/14/11: Heavy rock chording from Trey early on in the Disease jam.
9/14/11: Now returning to the usual soloing, but Fish has switched up the beat a little bit.
9/14/11: Page over to organ. Trey mellowing a little.
9/14/11: Fast-paced funk now. Page on clav.
9/14/11: After the funk runs its course, a slow -> Slave.
9/14/11: Maybe it's just me, but it seems like a prettier, more patient build than usual in this Slave.
9/14/11: Rock and Roll next.
9/14/11: Just as Rock and Roll starts turning a bit, sudden > Twist.
9/14/11: Standard Rock and Roll. Number Line next.
9/14/11: Should have been 'standard Twist' before Number Line.
9/14/11: A little extra heat on the Number Line, there.
9/14/11: Seems like an odd placement for Theme.
9/14/11: Slightly extended ending on Theme. Then Suzy.
9/14/11: Character Zero.
9/14/11: This Q4 is totally in greatest-hits mode, but I do have to say that Number Line, Suzy, and Zero have all been crazy versions.
9/14/11: Trey throwing some weird effects at the wall during an extended Zero solo.
9/14/11: Loving Cup encore.
Jun 23, 2016
Jun 22, 2016
2011-09-04 Dick's III
The Verdict:
If UIC was two mind-boggling shows followed up by a mediocre show, Dick's is an incredibly solid three-show run that never really lets up despite not quite reaching the ridiculous heights of 8/15. I think we can forgive it that, though.
The first set goes back to the "typically" weird mold established at the start of the UIC run. There's a "Maze" opener, and a very strong 1.5-style "Gin" jam (that seems to be becoming a thing lately). Then there's a run of rarities including the Phish debut of "The Way It Goes," a pre-Fuego "Halfway To The Moon," and a great "Halley's" that's aborted too early for, ironically, "Tube," its twin from The Land Of Never-Jammed. Snark aside, it's a well put-together set, and sets up another extremely strong second set.
The second set might be another one of those that's better to just listen to in its entirety. "Rock and Roll" kicks things off, and jams quickly to a massive peak before making a perfect (planned?) transition to "Come Together." "Come Together" segues into "Twist," which jams on "Low Rider" as part of a great bit before another great segue into "Piper." Were it not for that pitch-perfect 9/3 "Tweezer," this would be the jam of the run. Page breaks out the theremin, and we get an extended jam of what can only be described as "ghost plinko." This excellent jam is followed by a fantastic take on "Hood," and whoever decided to follow the "Hood" with "Roggae" is a setlist wizard.
Lest you think the band is done, they're not. To the tune of a late-set "Ghost" -> "Guy Forget" -> "Ghost" sequence and a set-ending (and ear-destroying) rockfest in "Walls." This set never lets up for a minute, unless you consider "Roggae" to be "letting up," which you shouldn't. God damn. What a way to close an amazing run. No wonder they decided to keep coming back every year after this.
The Live Review:
9/4/11: Maze opener, of all things.
9/4/11: Really like Maze as an opener, actually. BOTT is next.
9/4/11: BOTT has had some extra fire since the beginning of leg two. It's probably the only time I've been excited to see it in setlists.
9/4/11: Rift!
9/4/11: Page has been crazy lately. Laying down some great piano licks in this Rift.
9/4/11: Solid Rift > Gin.
9/4/11: Neat repeating riff from Trey early. Speed building. Page adding flourishes.
9/4/11: S1 Gin megajam would not disappoint me.
9/4/11: After that building section, the band returns to a jam on the main Gin riff.
9/4/11: Still building energy, though.
9/4/11: That was the epitome of 1.5 jamming right there. Never *really* deviated from Gin proper, but lots of good playing/listening.
9/4/11: High energy, massive build, solid momentum throughout.
9/4/11: The Way It Goes! I goddamn love this song.
9/4/11: I don't think I knew that Phish every played it, just MGB.
9/4/11: MGB is definitely better at the harmonies.
9/4/11: Halfway To The Moon! We're getting some non-Trey songs here. And I always love hearing this tune pre-Fuego.
9/4/11: That was actually pretty similar to the Fuego version, though with a better outro jam :)
9/4/11: Gumbo, Halley's. Looks like interesting S1s are back on the menu.
9/4/11: Miscue from Trey during Halley's outro leads, unfortunately, not to a Halley's jam, but short Halley's -> short Tube.
9/4/11: If that ain't a cosmic joke, I don't know what is.
9/4/11: Nice transition, though.
9/4/11: Timber! The hits just keep coming.
9/4/11: Timber > Roses.
9/4/11: Set keeps rolling with CDT.
9/4/11: Beginning S2. Someone in the crowd just yelled a request for 'Scissors!'
9/4/11: They play Rock and Roll instead.
9/4/11: Machine gun Trey taking this Rock and Roll jam to town.
9/4/11: Almost a Llama-sounding jam happening off and on here. Peak stretching out forever.
9/4/11: End of the jam segues perfectly -> Come Together. Holy shit.
9/4/11: -> Twist. Another great segue.
9/4/11: A lot of nice Trey/Page interplay during a mellow Twist jam.
9/4/11: Extended Low Rider teasing in Twist.
9/4/11: Amazingly good segue into Piper from that Twist.
9/4/11: Neat repeating riff developing early in the Piper jam.
9/4/11: Got a little fuzz behind it.
9/4/11: Trey adding some vocals now.
9/4/11: Super plinko happening now.
9/4/11: Theremin.
9/4/11: Plinko ghosts are trying to eat me.
9/4/11: Descending chord jam now over the screaming of the theremin.
9/4/11: After a fantastic (and fantastically weird) jam, > Hood.
9/4/11: Great, slow-building Hood jam with some excellent melodic playing from Trey early on.
9/4/11: Especially exciting b/c this is probably the last Hood I'll hear before attempting to summit Mount Hood this weekend.
9/4/11: Definitely planning to take the 8/7/09 Hood up there with me in case I make the summit. It will be at least a 15 minute summit stay.
9/4/11: This is a really good Hood so far, by the way.
9/4/11: Huge peak. Perfect landing. 10/10 Hood.
9/4/11: If you're going to place Hood mid-set, I can't imagine a much better follow-up than Roggae.
9/4/11: Really mellow Roggae jam really suddenly builds up to a great peak, then falls back down.
9/4/11: Yeah, usually what Roggae does, sure, but this time they pulled it off in about 3-4 less minutes.
9/4/11: Someone forgot to remind these guys that 2011 Phish doesn't jam in the fourth quarter.
9/4/11: They're playing Ghost now and building toward a rock-and-roll-style jam space.
9/4/11: As the jam peaks, more vocals from the band. It's unclear what they're saying.
9/4/11: Nevermind, it's the lyrics to Guy Forget. -> Guy Forget.
9/4/11: -> Ghost outro w/ Guy Forget lyrics.
9/4/11: 'Now you all know who the ghost really is, the ghost is...Guy Forget!' lyrics at end of Ghost.
9/4/11: Walls seems like a good choice for a set-closer.
9/4/11: Big rock outro to Walls, with some Rock and Roll vocal quotes to boot.
9/4/11: GUITAR CHAOS is really the only way to explain this.
9/4/11: End set. Number Line encore.
9/4/11: Typically great 2011 Number Line to end the show, and Dick's. Hot damn, what a second set.
If UIC was two mind-boggling shows followed up by a mediocre show, Dick's is an incredibly solid three-show run that never really lets up despite not quite reaching the ridiculous heights of 8/15. I think we can forgive it that, though.
The first set goes back to the "typically" weird mold established at the start of the UIC run. There's a "Maze" opener, and a very strong 1.5-style "Gin" jam (that seems to be becoming a thing lately). Then there's a run of rarities including the Phish debut of "The Way It Goes," a pre-Fuego "Halfway To The Moon," and a great "Halley's" that's aborted too early for, ironically, "Tube," its twin from The Land Of Never-Jammed. Snark aside, it's a well put-together set, and sets up another extremely strong second set.
The second set might be another one of those that's better to just listen to in its entirety. "Rock and Roll" kicks things off, and jams quickly to a massive peak before making a perfect (planned?) transition to "Come Together." "Come Together" segues into "Twist," which jams on "Low Rider" as part of a great bit before another great segue into "Piper." Were it not for that pitch-perfect 9/3 "Tweezer," this would be the jam of the run. Page breaks out the theremin, and we get an extended jam of what can only be described as "ghost plinko." This excellent jam is followed by a fantastic take on "Hood," and whoever decided to follow the "Hood" with "Roggae" is a setlist wizard.
Lest you think the band is done, they're not. To the tune of a late-set "Ghost" -> "Guy Forget" -> "Ghost" sequence and a set-ending (and ear-destroying) rockfest in "Walls." This set never lets up for a minute, unless you consider "Roggae" to be "letting up," which you shouldn't. God damn. What a way to close an amazing run. No wonder they decided to keep coming back every year after this.
The Live Review:
9/4/11: Maze opener, of all things.
9/4/11: Really like Maze as an opener, actually. BOTT is next.
9/4/11: BOTT has had some extra fire since the beginning of leg two. It's probably the only time I've been excited to see it in setlists.
9/4/11: Rift!
9/4/11: Page has been crazy lately. Laying down some great piano licks in this Rift.
9/4/11: Solid Rift > Gin.
9/4/11: Neat repeating riff from Trey early. Speed building. Page adding flourishes.
9/4/11: S1 Gin megajam would not disappoint me.
9/4/11: After that building section, the band returns to a jam on the main Gin riff.
9/4/11: Still building energy, though.
9/4/11: That was the epitome of 1.5 jamming right there. Never *really* deviated from Gin proper, but lots of good playing/listening.
9/4/11: High energy, massive build, solid momentum throughout.
9/4/11: The Way It Goes! I goddamn love this song.
9/4/11: I don't think I knew that Phish every played it, just MGB.
9/4/11: MGB is definitely better at the harmonies.
9/4/11: Halfway To The Moon! We're getting some non-Trey songs here. And I always love hearing this tune pre-Fuego.
9/4/11: That was actually pretty similar to the Fuego version, though with a better outro jam :)
9/4/11: Gumbo, Halley's. Looks like interesting S1s are back on the menu.
9/4/11: Miscue from Trey during Halley's outro leads, unfortunately, not to a Halley's jam, but short Halley's -> short Tube.
9/4/11: If that ain't a cosmic joke, I don't know what is.
9/4/11: Nice transition, though.
9/4/11: Timber! The hits just keep coming.
9/4/11: Timber > Roses.
9/4/11: Set keeps rolling with CDT.
9/4/11: Beginning S2. Someone in the crowd just yelled a request for 'Scissors!'
9/4/11: They play Rock and Roll instead.
9/4/11: Machine gun Trey taking this Rock and Roll jam to town.
9/4/11: Almost a Llama-sounding jam happening off and on here. Peak stretching out forever.
9/4/11: End of the jam segues perfectly -> Come Together. Holy shit.
9/4/11: -> Twist. Another great segue.
9/4/11: A lot of nice Trey/Page interplay during a mellow Twist jam.
9/4/11: Extended Low Rider teasing in Twist.
9/4/11: Amazingly good segue into Piper from that Twist.
9/4/11: Neat repeating riff developing early in the Piper jam.
9/4/11: Got a little fuzz behind it.
9/4/11: Trey adding some vocals now.
9/4/11: Super plinko happening now.
9/4/11: Theremin.
9/4/11: Plinko ghosts are trying to eat me.
9/4/11: Descending chord jam now over the screaming of the theremin.
9/4/11: After a fantastic (and fantastically weird) jam, > Hood.
9/4/11: Great, slow-building Hood jam with some excellent melodic playing from Trey early on.
9/4/11: Especially exciting b/c this is probably the last Hood I'll hear before attempting to summit Mount Hood this weekend.
9/4/11: Definitely planning to take the 8/7/09 Hood up there with me in case I make the summit. It will be at least a 15 minute summit stay.
9/4/11: This is a really good Hood so far, by the way.
9/4/11: Huge peak. Perfect landing. 10/10 Hood.
9/4/11: If you're going to place Hood mid-set, I can't imagine a much better follow-up than Roggae.
9/4/11: Really mellow Roggae jam really suddenly builds up to a great peak, then falls back down.
9/4/11: Yeah, usually what Roggae does, sure, but this time they pulled it off in about 3-4 less minutes.
9/4/11: Someone forgot to remind these guys that 2011 Phish doesn't jam in the fourth quarter.
9/4/11: They're playing Ghost now and building toward a rock-and-roll-style jam space.
9/4/11: As the jam peaks, more vocals from the band. It's unclear what they're saying.
9/4/11: Nevermind, it's the lyrics to Guy Forget. -> Guy Forget.
9/4/11: -> Ghost outro w/ Guy Forget lyrics.
9/4/11: 'Now you all know who the ghost really is, the ghost is...Guy Forget!' lyrics at end of Ghost.
9/4/11: Walls seems like a good choice for a set-closer.
9/4/11: Big rock outro to Walls, with some Rock and Roll vocal quotes to boot.
9/4/11: GUITAR CHAOS is really the only way to explain this.
9/4/11: End set. Number Line encore.
9/4/11: Typically great 2011 Number Line to end the show, and Dick's. Hot damn, what a second set.
2011-09-03 Dick's II
The Verdict:
After four shows in a row that distinguished themselves at least partially by their unique and fun opening sets, it's strange that the first quarter of 9/3 is so by-the-book. There's a little nod toward plinko action in "Moma," but that's about it until the near-end of the set when we get hit with a "Llama" > "FEFY" combo. Neither of these versions knock it out of the park, but I love both tunes and like the ramp-up/comedown of them being directly paired even more. This seems to push the band out of the box a bit and so the set-closing "Wolfman's" embarks on a deep-space plinko journey in which the band folds the plinko sound over onto itself in a crazy way before wrapping up the song with a triumphant rock ending. Definitely worth a listen.
The second set is just nuts. "Disease" opens and goes straight rock-and-roll right away. It's about to move into funk jamming before Trey ripcords it...into the best "Tweezer" of the year, hands down. This jam is my favorite of the weekend, and stands up there with the 8/5 "RnR," 8/15 "Undermind," and 8/16 "Disease" as one of the best of the year. The guys could have just mailed it in from there, but instead they string together a jazzy "Golden Age," a loop-filled "Limb," a "KDF" with a second jam, a solid "2001," and a driving "Light" that wraps up with a "Disease" reprise! Like I said, nuts. The victory lap finally kicks in from there, but no big deal. You really should just hear the entire set. It's that good.
The Live Review:
9/3/11: Second night at Dick's opens with Possum, Moma, The Wedge, and Ocelot.
9/3/11: Weird after four shows in a row of off-the-wall S1 setlists.
9/3/11: Okay, so there was a tiny bit of plinko jamming at the end of Moma. Felt compelled to mention that.
9/3/11: Hit parade continues with (an admittedly well-played) Divided Sky.
9/3/11: Funky Bitch is next. Page owns so routinely on this song that sometimes I take it for granted.
9/3/11: Okay, Trey is now taking a turn at beating Funky Bitch into submission.
9/3/11: Okay, sure, Axila I. But then...LLAMA. Not nearly enough Llama these days.
9/3/11: Llama > FEFY. Love that pairing.
9/3/11: Really low-tempo, mellow FEFY.
9/3/11: Wolfman's, presumably to end the first set.
9/3/11: Page immediately to clav as the jam starts. Trey soloing over.
9/3/11: Heavily distorted soloing from Trey now.
9/3/11: Crazy overlapping plinko breakdown in the middle of the jam.
9/3/11: Big, rock ending. Interesting version. Worth a listen, for sure. End set.
9/3/11: S2 opens with Disease. Maybe they'll just play the 8/16 Disease again?
9/3/11: This is just a mega-balls-out rock take on Disease.
9/3/11: A little funk chording now.
9/3/11: Trey using the ASIHTOS tone.
9/3/11: Ohhhh shit, Trey is playing a slow version of the Tweezer riff. Nobody's realized it yet.
9/3/11: THERE IT IS
9/3/11: Might have been a neat Disease jam, but worth the semi-ripcord for a Disease -> Tweezer. That can't happy very often.
9/3/11: Tweezer jam is, surprisingly, off to a 2015-bliss-sounding start.
9/3/11: Band jamming along, Trey just adding nice flourishes here and there. Allowing Fish and Page to push it.
9/3/11: This is fucking gorgeous.
9/3/11: Page is raining down piano fills all over the place. Just do this for ten more minutes, please.
9/3/11: I think I'm starting to see where awesome 3.0 Phish was born. Somewhere between 8/5/11 and MSG 2011.
9/3/11: Pitch-shifting magic.
9/3/11: I need to put 8/5 RnR, 8/15 Undermind, 8/16 Disease, and 9/3 Tweezer on loop forever.
9/3/11: Hearing Golden Age in Fish's beat. Fade out into ambient bliss instead.
9/3/11: Purposeful ambient sound. Gorgeous stuff.
9/3/11: Hmm...Trey pulls a > Golden Age. Could've been a -> Golden Age a few minutes earlier, but would have missed that ambient outro.
9/3/11: Feels a bit like the age of miracles these last few shows.
9/3/11: Almost jazzy breakdown at the end of Golden Age. Page on organ.
9/3/11: Neat, short little jam. > Limb By Limb.
9/3/11: Lot of crazy looping guitars en route to the Limb By Limb peak.
9/3/11: Trey turns the 'ending' chords of KDF into a second jam of sorts here.
9/3/11: Jamming over a guitar loop now.
9/3/11: Fish starts up the 2001 beat. Loop keeps going.
9/3/11: Nice, loopy take on 2001. > Light.
9/3/11: Sort of If-Light-Jam-Was-Simple-Jam noodling going on now. Really dig it.
9/3/11: Hooooly shit. During the Light outro, Trey starts slowly playing the Disease riff.
9/3/11: Speeding up a bit now. Disease Reprise!!!
9/3/11: Reprise winds down. > Julius.
9/3/11: Really nice exclamation point for a pretty cohesive sequence of jamming that ran most of the second set.
9/3/11: Julius > Cavern signals the cool-off portion of your show.
9/3/11: Antelope, probably as the set closer.
9/3/11: Extended Antelope. I don't like it to close S2s, but that was a strong version.
9/3/11: Sleeping Monkey encore. Somehow, they've got another S song left.
9/3/11: Tweeprise to close.
After four shows in a row that distinguished themselves at least partially by their unique and fun opening sets, it's strange that the first quarter of 9/3 is so by-the-book. There's a little nod toward plinko action in "Moma," but that's about it until the near-end of the set when we get hit with a "Llama" > "FEFY" combo. Neither of these versions knock it out of the park, but I love both tunes and like the ramp-up/comedown of them being directly paired even more. This seems to push the band out of the box a bit and so the set-closing "Wolfman's" embarks on a deep-space plinko journey in which the band folds the plinko sound over onto itself in a crazy way before wrapping up the song with a triumphant rock ending. Definitely worth a listen.
The second set is just nuts. "Disease" opens and goes straight rock-and-roll right away. It's about to move into funk jamming before Trey ripcords it...into the best "Tweezer" of the year, hands down. This jam is my favorite of the weekend, and stands up there with the 8/5 "RnR," 8/15 "Undermind," and 8/16 "Disease" as one of the best of the year. The guys could have just mailed it in from there, but instead they string together a jazzy "Golden Age," a loop-filled "Limb," a "KDF" with a second jam, a solid "2001," and a driving "Light" that wraps up with a "Disease" reprise! Like I said, nuts. The victory lap finally kicks in from there, but no big deal. You really should just hear the entire set. It's that good.
The Live Review:
9/3/11: Second night at Dick's opens with Possum, Moma, The Wedge, and Ocelot.
9/3/11: Weird after four shows in a row of off-the-wall S1 setlists.
9/3/11: Okay, so there was a tiny bit of plinko jamming at the end of Moma. Felt compelled to mention that.
9/3/11: Hit parade continues with (an admittedly well-played) Divided Sky.
9/3/11: Funky Bitch is next. Page owns so routinely on this song that sometimes I take it for granted.
9/3/11: Okay, Trey is now taking a turn at beating Funky Bitch into submission.
9/3/11: Okay, sure, Axila I. But then...LLAMA. Not nearly enough Llama these days.
9/3/11: Llama > FEFY. Love that pairing.
9/3/11: Really low-tempo, mellow FEFY.
9/3/11: Wolfman's, presumably to end the first set.
9/3/11: Page immediately to clav as the jam starts. Trey soloing over.
9/3/11: Heavily distorted soloing from Trey now.
9/3/11: Crazy overlapping plinko breakdown in the middle of the jam.
9/3/11: Big, rock ending. Interesting version. Worth a listen, for sure. End set.
9/3/11: S2 opens with Disease. Maybe they'll just play the 8/16 Disease again?
9/3/11: This is just a mega-balls-out rock take on Disease.
9/3/11: A little funk chording now.
9/3/11: Trey using the ASIHTOS tone.
9/3/11: Ohhhh shit, Trey is playing a slow version of the Tweezer riff. Nobody's realized it yet.
9/3/11: THERE IT IS
9/3/11: Might have been a neat Disease jam, but worth the semi-ripcord for a Disease -> Tweezer. That can't happy very often.
9/3/11: Tweezer jam is, surprisingly, off to a 2015-bliss-sounding start.
9/3/11: Band jamming along, Trey just adding nice flourishes here and there. Allowing Fish and Page to push it.
9/3/11: This is fucking gorgeous.
9/3/11: Page is raining down piano fills all over the place. Just do this for ten more minutes, please.
9/3/11: I think I'm starting to see where awesome 3.0 Phish was born. Somewhere between 8/5/11 and MSG 2011.
9/3/11: Pitch-shifting magic.
9/3/11: I need to put 8/5 RnR, 8/15 Undermind, 8/16 Disease, and 9/3 Tweezer on loop forever.
9/3/11: Hearing Golden Age in Fish's beat. Fade out into ambient bliss instead.
9/3/11: Purposeful ambient sound. Gorgeous stuff.
9/3/11: Hmm...Trey pulls a > Golden Age. Could've been a -> Golden Age a few minutes earlier, but would have missed that ambient outro.
9/3/11: Feels a bit like the age of miracles these last few shows.
9/3/11: Almost jazzy breakdown at the end of Golden Age. Page on organ.
9/3/11: Neat, short little jam. > Limb By Limb.
9/3/11: Lot of crazy looping guitars en route to the Limb By Limb peak.
9/3/11: Trey turns the 'ending' chords of KDF into a second jam of sorts here.
9/3/11: Jamming over a guitar loop now.
9/3/11: Fish starts up the 2001 beat. Loop keeps going.
9/3/11: Nice, loopy take on 2001. > Light.
9/3/11: Sort of If-Light-Jam-Was-Simple-Jam noodling going on now. Really dig it.
9/3/11: Hooooly shit. During the Light outro, Trey starts slowly playing the Disease riff.
9/3/11: Speeding up a bit now. Disease Reprise!!!
9/3/11: Reprise winds down. > Julius.
9/3/11: Really nice exclamation point for a pretty cohesive sequence of jamming that ran most of the second set.
9/3/11: Julius > Cavern signals the cool-off portion of your show.
9/3/11: Antelope, probably as the set closer.
9/3/11: Extended Antelope. I don't like it to close S2s, but that was a strong version.
9/3/11: Sleeping Monkey encore. Somehow, they've got another S song left.
9/3/11: Tweeprise to close.
2011-09-02 Dick's I
The Verdict:
I'm always interested to see with these setlist-gimmick-type shows how much the gimmick helps and how much it hinders the band in playing a good show. Sometimes, the gimmick can push the band out of its comfort zone, to excellent results. Sometimes, having to stick to the gimmick keeps the band from getting as far out there as they might otherwise. In this case, "The S Show" causes a bit of both reactions.
The novelty of the setlist leads to a great first set, with a lot of the great 2011-style first set playing that we're used to at this point mixed with just enough bustouts to keep things interesting. A slowed-down "Susskind Hotel" is awesome, and the "Sally" -> "Sparks" combo is worth a listen, as "Sally" head-fakes toward a plinko jam and then heads in a different direction for a few minutes before setting up a great segue into the bustout "Sparks." The other legit highlight of the first set is "Split," which gets a bit more abstract than usual.
The second set suffers a bit from the gimmick: there's little jamming to be had here as the band still has twelve more "S" songs to get through, dammit! That said, the opening "Sand" is a strong Type I version, and "Simple" gets weird for a few minutes before transitioning to a solid "Steam."
"Seven Below" briefly but beautifully visits the Storage Unit, and that's about it for highlights.
Near the end of the second set, "Scents" shows up, and is nice as a bustout, but the jam doesn't do much but serve as a prelude for the similar but more peaky "Slave" jam that follows a song later.
Overall, there's a lot to like about this show, but it's spread out a bit as opposed to being focused on one or two particular highlights. It might not reach the heights of the first two UIC shows, but it's still a great show for 2011, and not just because of the gimmick.
The Live Review:
9/2/11: Dick's run starts off with Sample.
9/2/11: Will the S Show's playing transcend its gimmick? Find out in 3 or so hours!
9/2/11: Sparkle, The Sloth.
9/2/11: Weird start to it, but they're playing Sweet Virginia.
9/2/11: Uptempo version of Suskind Hotel next. Nice, piano-heavy version of Sweet Virginia.
9/2/11: Strange Design! If nothing else, this show should bring out some fun rarities.
9/2/11: Stash
9/2/11: Great version of Stash. Sally is next.
9/2/11: Sally jam started going plinko but then changed direction. Mike taking over now.
9/2/11: Natural little wind-down after a great jam. Aaaaaand -> Sparks!
9/2/11: Scent of a Mule next.
9/2/11: Trey just worked over Stealing Time Hendrix-style.
9/2/11: Split, presumably to end the set.
9/2/11: Guitar loops and tension coming up in this Split jam.
9/2/11: Pitch-shifter in action now. Droning.
9/2/11: Sudden transition back to the Split theme, and then end song. Coil will in fact end the set.
9/2/11: Bit more driving outro to Coil than usual this time around.
9/2/11: In generally, that was impressively good first set, gimmick and all.
9/2/11: A few fun rarities broke up the jukebox feel, as did an interesting take on Stash and legit jams in Sally and Split.
9/2/11: Set two starts with Sand.
9/2/11: Nice Type I Sand. Simple is next.
9/2/11: Type I jam into a synth drone with almost no percussion/rhythm.
9/2/11: Fish coming back in now.
9/2/11: Nice segue out of the drone into Steam.
9/2/11: Solid Steam, next is Soul Shakedown Party.
9/2/11: Seven Below! I guess it was inevitable, but I still love this song.
9/2/11: Page to the clav for some space-funk action.
9/2/11: Really neat plinko-by-way-of-Storage-Jam bit in the middle of Seven Below. Now outro-ing with some evil ambient space.
9/2/11: Suzy!
9/2/11: Suzy ends with a huge guitar peak -> Scents!
9/2/11: Piano-heavy, Slave-type jam in Scents.
9/2/11: After the vocal refrain, Trey just takes off with a huge guitar outro.
9/2/11: Interestingly, > Slave.
9/2/11: Trey holding a single note forever in this Slave build-up, while everyone else plays around him.
9/2/11: Slave had an especially crazy peak there. Set keeps rolling, though, with Silent (no Horse).
9/2/11: Silent > Sanity.
9/2/11: Trey singing the lyrics to Sanity by stressing all the 'Ssss's.
9/2/11: Lots of hissing from the band, post-song.
9/2/11: Sweet Adeline to close S2.
9/2/11: Aaaaaaand Sabotage encore. What else?!
I'm always interested to see with these setlist-gimmick-type shows how much the gimmick helps and how much it hinders the band in playing a good show. Sometimes, the gimmick can push the band out of its comfort zone, to excellent results. Sometimes, having to stick to the gimmick keeps the band from getting as far out there as they might otherwise. In this case, "The S Show" causes a bit of both reactions.
The novelty of the setlist leads to a great first set, with a lot of the great 2011-style first set playing that we're used to at this point mixed with just enough bustouts to keep things interesting. A slowed-down "Susskind Hotel" is awesome, and the "Sally" -> "Sparks" combo is worth a listen, as "Sally" head-fakes toward a plinko jam and then heads in a different direction for a few minutes before setting up a great segue into the bustout "Sparks." The other legit highlight of the first set is "Split," which gets a bit more abstract than usual.
The second set suffers a bit from the gimmick: there's little jamming to be had here as the band still has twelve more "S" songs to get through, dammit! That said, the opening "Sand" is a strong Type I version, and "Simple" gets weird for a few minutes before transitioning to a solid "Steam."
"Seven Below" briefly but beautifully visits the Storage Unit, and that's about it for highlights.
Near the end of the second set, "Scents" shows up, and is nice as a bustout, but the jam doesn't do much but serve as a prelude for the similar but more peaky "Slave" jam that follows a song later.
Overall, there's a lot to like about this show, but it's spread out a bit as opposed to being focused on one or two particular highlights. It might not reach the heights of the first two UIC shows, but it's still a great show for 2011, and not just because of the gimmick.
The Live Review:
9/2/11: Dick's run starts off with Sample.
9/2/11: Will the S Show's playing transcend its gimmick? Find out in 3 or so hours!
9/2/11: Sparkle, The Sloth.
9/2/11: Weird start to it, but they're playing Sweet Virginia.
9/2/11: Uptempo version of Suskind Hotel next. Nice, piano-heavy version of Sweet Virginia.
9/2/11: Strange Design! If nothing else, this show should bring out some fun rarities.
9/2/11: Stash
9/2/11: Great version of Stash. Sally is next.
9/2/11: Sally jam started going plinko but then changed direction. Mike taking over now.
9/2/11: Natural little wind-down after a great jam. Aaaaaand -> Sparks!
9/2/11: Scent of a Mule next.
9/2/11: Trey just worked over Stealing Time Hendrix-style.
9/2/11: Split, presumably to end the set.
9/2/11: Guitar loops and tension coming up in this Split jam.
9/2/11: Pitch-shifter in action now. Droning.
9/2/11: Sudden transition back to the Split theme, and then end song. Coil will in fact end the set.
9/2/11: Bit more driving outro to Coil than usual this time around.
9/2/11: In generally, that was impressively good first set, gimmick and all.
9/2/11: A few fun rarities broke up the jukebox feel, as did an interesting take on Stash and legit jams in Sally and Split.
9/2/11: Set two starts with Sand.
9/2/11: Nice Type I Sand. Simple is next.
9/2/11: Type I jam into a synth drone with almost no percussion/rhythm.
9/2/11: Fish coming back in now.
9/2/11: Nice segue out of the drone into Steam.
9/2/11: Solid Steam, next is Soul Shakedown Party.
9/2/11: Seven Below! I guess it was inevitable, but I still love this song.
9/2/11: Page to the clav for some space-funk action.
9/2/11: Really neat plinko-by-way-of-Storage-Jam bit in the middle of Seven Below. Now outro-ing with some evil ambient space.
9/2/11: Suzy!
9/2/11: Suzy ends with a huge guitar peak -> Scents!
9/2/11: Piano-heavy, Slave-type jam in Scents.
9/2/11: After the vocal refrain, Trey just takes off with a huge guitar outro.
9/2/11: Interestingly, > Slave.
9/2/11: Trey holding a single note forever in this Slave build-up, while everyone else plays around him.
9/2/11: Slave had an especially crazy peak there. Set keeps rolling, though, with Silent (no Horse).
9/2/11: Silent > Sanity.
9/2/11: Trey singing the lyrics to Sanity by stressing all the 'Ssss's.
9/2/11: Lots of hissing from the band, post-song.
9/2/11: Sweet Adeline to close S2.
9/2/11: Aaaaaaand Sabotage encore. What else?!
Jun 15, 2016
2011-08-17 UIC III
The Verdict:
The third night at UIC was a bit of a bummer for me. There's something about a consistently great three-night run that appeals to me. Maybe it comes from the days of collecting Phish and DMB box sets on CD and loving the idea that every disc (of 9, or 12) would have a few highlights on it. I don't know. Anyway, when 8/15 and 8/16 quickly became two of my favorite shows of 2011, it was hard not to have high hopes for 8/17. Unfortunately, it's just not as good. This is the rare case where I'd argue that the show's phish.net rating is too high rather than too low :)
So, the excellent-first-set policy is still in place, I will say that. There are a lot of old-school tunes, including the "Forbin's" > "Mockingbird" opener. There's the great variety and excellent flow that we've come to expect after the previous two nights. But, none of the songs ever really go anywhere interesting, and maybe that's an indication of what to expect in the second set.
I read a lot of reviews of 8/17, trying to understand the enthusiasm for it. You see, to me, S2 is a ripcord set. Trey just sort of ruins it. And, usually, Phish fandom c. 2011 is super happy to point out and jeer at ripcords. But everyone loves this set, which makes me feel like a curmudgeon for not being excited about it. But I'm just not. Like most 2011 "Crosseyed"s, this one is straightforward Type I, but for a little aimless ambient noise at the end. In this case, there's a (obviously premeditated, but decent) segue into another strong version of "No Quarter." But yeah. From there, we get a "Tweezer" jam that gets passed on just as it's starting to develop (~8 minutes) for a "Caspian" that goes nowhere. "Piper" is maybe the legit highlight of the show, going immediately for the space-funk and staying there. It's cut short, too, but for "Ghost," which seems okay until "Ghost" runs for three minutes and then segues into "Makisupa." From there, it's a run of mid-S1 songs out of nowhere for the rest of the set before they wind up with a standard "Antelope."
Needless to say, it's a weird note to end this run on.
The Live Review:
8/17/11: Show opens with Forbin's. That's gotta mean another great S1, right?
8/17/11: > Mockingbird. Trey struggling a little with the arpeggios, but I think they're playing faster than usual.
8/17/11: Gumbo! I don't think I'll ever get sick of this song, especially Page's outro.
8/17/11: Crowd freaking the hell out for Possum.
8/17/11: Yet another great 2011 version of Possum. Weigh is next.
8/17/11: Some fun vocal improvisation throughout Weigh. Divided Sky next.
8/17/11: Divided Sky, Alaska is not necessarily my favorite combination of songs.
8/17/11: Strong version of Alaska, whatever that means. Gin, now, and maybe a chance to open things up before the end of the set.
8/17/11: Gin was a straight-up rock version. Maze keeps the first set going.
8/17/11: Maze, Cavern. Set finally falling a bit into jukebox territory here.
8/17/11: Still a remarkably strong (and interesting) set by 2011 standards, but not up to 8/15 or 8/16 levels.
8/17/11: Some nice rarities, but fewer interesting musical moments otherwise.
8/17/11: Gotta love the First Tube closer, though.
8/17/11: Crosseyed opener. They've been opening a lot with it lately, but not really doing much with it.
8/17/11: Trey is seriously rocking this solo, but staying Type I so far.
8/17/11: Fade out into a slow, almost-ambient jam. Page on the No Quarter organ tone.
8/17/11: Slowly but surely, the electronica-sounding outro jam fades into No Quarter.
8/17/11: Brief but hot solo from Trey before going back into the outro vocals.
8/17/11: Timber's an interesting choice to follow that pair.
8/17/11: Crosseyed teasing during Timber jam.
8/17/11: Now 'Still waiting!' vocals.
8/17/11: Timber ends, but then continues with a weird Birds/Timber hybrid jam. Huh.
8/17/11: Out of that weirdness comes Tweezer.
8/17/11: Short little Tweezer jam, but a nice plinko-like space forming there nonetheless.
8/17/11: Sudden end of the Tweezer jam > Caspian. Short Caspian > Piper.
8/17/11: Immediately move to space-funk.
8/17/11: Angry sort-of ambient space opening up now.
8/17/11: Crosseyed outro jam starting up again w/ vocals.
8/17/11: Neat little Piper jam. Sounded a bit like a sped-up version of Light by the end, there.
8/17/11: Trey cuts off jam for Ghost.
8/17/11: Page sets up a neat synth effect to start the Ghost jam...and Trey just rides over it with the Makisupa riff.
8/17/11: Less than 4 minute Ghost.
8/17/11: Taking a trip to Page's House after a series of terrible/wonderful puns from Trey.
8/17/11: Neat Makisupa. Sleep is next, which seems weird. But I do like this song.
8/17/11: Buffalo Bill continues a really weird Q4.
8/17/11: Rough take on Golgi is next.
8/17/11: Character Zero. Clearly ending this run on a rock-and-roll note.
8/17/11: Crosseyed teasing in Zero.
8/17/11: > Antelope.
8/17/11: Funky Bitch is a good choice for an encore.
8/17/11: Some more Crosseyed teasing.
8/17/11: Show of Life is not a good choice for an encore.
8/17/11: Tweeprise to end the run.
8/17/11: More 'Still Waiting' vocal quotes.
8/17/11: Well, S1 followed in (but slightly behind) the footsteps of the great opening sets of 8/15 and 8/16.
8/17/11: S2 was a bizarro hybrid of 2010-2011 jukebox Phish and a bunch of promising jams garroted by Trey.
8/17/11: The constant Crosseyed teasing was kind of neat.
8/17/11: In Q3 you've got a Type I Crosseyed that never really goes anywhere, an 8-minute Tweezer abandoned for Caspian...
8/17/11: ...and a promising Piper jam abandoned for a 3 minute Ghost which gets abandoned for Makisupa Policeman.
8/17/11: Then 17 more S1-style songs to close out the run. So weird.
8/17/11: On the other hand, 8/15 and 8/16 were GREAT.
The third night at UIC was a bit of a bummer for me. There's something about a consistently great three-night run that appeals to me. Maybe it comes from the days of collecting Phish and DMB box sets on CD and loving the idea that every disc (of 9, or 12) would have a few highlights on it. I don't know. Anyway, when 8/15 and 8/16 quickly became two of my favorite shows of 2011, it was hard not to have high hopes for 8/17. Unfortunately, it's just not as good. This is the rare case where I'd argue that the show's phish.net rating is too high rather than too low :)
So, the excellent-first-set policy is still in place, I will say that. There are a lot of old-school tunes, including the "Forbin's" > "Mockingbird" opener. There's the great variety and excellent flow that we've come to expect after the previous two nights. But, none of the songs ever really go anywhere interesting, and maybe that's an indication of what to expect in the second set.
I read a lot of reviews of 8/17, trying to understand the enthusiasm for it. You see, to me, S2 is a ripcord set. Trey just sort of ruins it. And, usually, Phish fandom c. 2011 is super happy to point out and jeer at ripcords. But everyone loves this set, which makes me feel like a curmudgeon for not being excited about it. But I'm just not. Like most 2011 "Crosseyed"s, this one is straightforward Type I, but for a little aimless ambient noise at the end. In this case, there's a (obviously premeditated, but decent) segue into another strong version of "No Quarter." But yeah. From there, we get a "Tweezer" jam that gets passed on just as it's starting to develop (~8 minutes) for a "Caspian" that goes nowhere. "Piper" is maybe the legit highlight of the show, going immediately for the space-funk and staying there. It's cut short, too, but for "Ghost," which seems okay until "Ghost" runs for three minutes and then segues into "Makisupa." From there, it's a run of mid-S1 songs out of nowhere for the rest of the set before they wind up with a standard "Antelope."
Needless to say, it's a weird note to end this run on.
The Live Review:
8/17/11: Show opens with Forbin's. That's gotta mean another great S1, right?
8/17/11: > Mockingbird. Trey struggling a little with the arpeggios, but I think they're playing faster than usual.
8/17/11: Gumbo! I don't think I'll ever get sick of this song, especially Page's outro.
8/17/11: Crowd freaking the hell out for Possum.
8/17/11: Yet another great 2011 version of Possum. Weigh is next.
8/17/11: Some fun vocal improvisation throughout Weigh. Divided Sky next.
8/17/11: Divided Sky, Alaska is not necessarily my favorite combination of songs.
8/17/11: Strong version of Alaska, whatever that means. Gin, now, and maybe a chance to open things up before the end of the set.
8/17/11: Gin was a straight-up rock version. Maze keeps the first set going.
8/17/11: Maze, Cavern. Set finally falling a bit into jukebox territory here.
8/17/11: Still a remarkably strong (and interesting) set by 2011 standards, but not up to 8/15 or 8/16 levels.
8/17/11: Some nice rarities, but fewer interesting musical moments otherwise.
8/17/11: Gotta love the First Tube closer, though.
8/17/11: Crosseyed opener. They've been opening a lot with it lately, but not really doing much with it.
8/17/11: Trey is seriously rocking this solo, but staying Type I so far.
8/17/11: Fade out into a slow, almost-ambient jam. Page on the No Quarter organ tone.
8/17/11: Slowly but surely, the electronica-sounding outro jam fades into No Quarter.
8/17/11: Brief but hot solo from Trey before going back into the outro vocals.
8/17/11: Timber's an interesting choice to follow that pair.
8/17/11: Crosseyed teasing during Timber jam.
8/17/11: Now 'Still waiting!' vocals.
8/17/11: Timber ends, but then continues with a weird Birds/Timber hybrid jam. Huh.
8/17/11: Out of that weirdness comes Tweezer.
8/17/11: Short little Tweezer jam, but a nice plinko-like space forming there nonetheless.
8/17/11: Sudden end of the Tweezer jam > Caspian. Short Caspian > Piper.
8/17/11: Immediately move to space-funk.
8/17/11: Angry sort-of ambient space opening up now.
8/17/11: Crosseyed outro jam starting up again w/ vocals.
8/17/11: Neat little Piper jam. Sounded a bit like a sped-up version of Light by the end, there.
8/17/11: Trey cuts off jam for Ghost.
8/17/11: Page sets up a neat synth effect to start the Ghost jam...and Trey just rides over it with the Makisupa riff.
8/17/11: Less than 4 minute Ghost.
8/17/11: Taking a trip to Page's House after a series of terrible/wonderful puns from Trey.
8/17/11: Neat Makisupa. Sleep is next, which seems weird. But I do like this song.
8/17/11: Buffalo Bill continues a really weird Q4.
8/17/11: Rough take on Golgi is next.
8/17/11: Character Zero. Clearly ending this run on a rock-and-roll note.
8/17/11: Crosseyed teasing in Zero.
8/17/11: > Antelope.
8/17/11: Funky Bitch is a good choice for an encore.
8/17/11: Some more Crosseyed teasing.
8/17/11: Show of Life is not a good choice for an encore.
8/17/11: Tweeprise to end the run.
8/17/11: More 'Still Waiting' vocal quotes.
8/17/11: Well, S1 followed in (but slightly behind) the footsteps of the great opening sets of 8/15 and 8/16.
8/17/11: S2 was a bizarro hybrid of 2010-2011 jukebox Phish and a bunch of promising jams garroted by Trey.
8/17/11: The constant Crosseyed teasing was kind of neat.
8/17/11: In Q3 you've got a Type I Crosseyed that never really goes anywhere, an 8-minute Tweezer abandoned for Caspian...
8/17/11: ...and a promising Piper jam abandoned for a 3 minute Ghost which gets abandoned for Makisupa Policeman.
8/17/11: Then 17 more S1-style songs to close out the run. So weird.
8/17/11: On the other hand, 8/15 and 8/16 were GREAT.
2011-08-16 UIC II
The Verdict:
The band's second night at UIC keeps the train rolling.
First, there's another fantastically varied and plotted opening set. In addition to rarities like "Dinner and a Movie," "Ha Ha Ha," "Mexican Cousin," and "Let It Loose," there's an extended, tension-filled "CDT" that probably qualifies for Type 1.5 status. Page destroys "Foam." And the plinko jamming shows up in "Limb By Limb" and a first-set "Jim" (!).
The second set isn't wall-to-wall action like the first night's, but minutes after I just published a review calling "Undermind" the jam of the year, I've gotta say that this set-opening "Disease" should be part of that conversation, too. I definitely didn't have the multiple "Holy shit!" moments I had listening to the "Undermind" while listening to the "Disease," but it's longer, arguably more varied, and more exploratory. Obviously, just listen to both.
There are a few mini-jams mid-set in "Twist" and "Golden Age," if you're being generous, but really the "Disease" and the set-ending "YEM" bracket what is otherwise a pretty standard second set.
If you've already used up your "Hood" for a run, encoring with "Slave" is never a bad idea.
In short, the moments of greatness in this show are a bit more concentrated, maybe, but it's definitely a great companion show to 8/15.
The Live Review:
8/16/11: How the hell do you top a show like 8/15/11? We're about to find out.
8/16/11: Well, a Dinner and a Movie opener helps :)
8/16/11: Ha Ha Ha > CDT.
8/15/11: Band building a tension section into CDT jam.
8/16/11: Great, weird CDT. Long break after. Mexican Cousin next.
8/16/11: Seems like a weird place for Walls of the Cave, but okay, here we go.
8/16/11: Jim! This feels like Q4 instead of early Q2.
8/16/11: I don't think it's early to say that this is going to be another fantastic opening set.
8/16/11: Plinko middle jam, as usual lately.
8/16/11: Jim builds up to a huge peak. I don't feel like that's the usual direction for this song these days, but I like it.
8/16/11: Foam!
8/16/11: Page is destroying Foam. In a good way.
8/16/11: I Didn't Know! The (rare) hits just keep on coming!
8/16/11: Ocelot. Well, there had to be *some* slight loss of momentum over the last three sets, I guess :)
8/16/11: Okay, well that was a good Ocelot, at least. And a 90s-peppy Ginseng Sullivan to follow up. Now, The Wedge.
8/16/11: Limb By Limb next.
8/16/11: Page is killing on this Limb By Limb.
8/16/11: Oh boy. Full-on plinko in Limb.
8/16/11: Oh yes. Let It Loose. A fantastic closing choice to another great first set of Phish.
8/16/11: I can't get over how good the last three sets have been.
8/16/11: S2 starts with Disease.
8/16/11: Mike is serious about this Disease jam.
8/16/11: Trey signaling an end to the Type I soloing at 7:00 with some dissonant chords. Page follows up with an absolutely eerie organ.
8/16/11: Holy shit, this is instantly so damn good.
8/16/11: Who the fuck is this band, and what did they do with 2009-2011 Phish?
8/16/11: Momentum and spookiness combined.
8/16/11: Jam central...freaking out over here. This is soooo good.
8/16/11: To clarify, I'm not high right now.
8/16/11: Section that reminds a bit of Goodbye Head or Valentine now.
8/16/11: Like most truly great cooperative jams, Trey is hanging back, adding effects and loops. Mike and Fish are leading. Shiiiit so good.
8/16/11: Since I asked, Phish answered: here's how you top a show like 8/15 the night afterward.
8/16/11: Wind-down into a melodic ambient section like the end of 8/15's Undermind now, but Mike is playing the melody.
8/16/11: Slow, Twist-sounding segue coming.
8/16/11: Twist stays pretty mellow in keeping with the transition, up through the first verse.
8/16/11: Building, now.
8/16/11: Solid-but-straight Twist. Nice quick -> Number Line.
8/16/11: Theme next. Number Line was roundly shredded.
8/16/11: Interesting sort of fade-out ending to Theme. Golden Age segues in.
8/16/11: Golden Age fading to a drone.
8/16/11: Little ambient jam winding down.
8/16/11: Page solo outro > A Day In The Life
8/16/11: Whoa! YEM on night two!
8/16/11: A sort of Wilson-jam thing taking shape in YEM jam.
8/16/11: Extended jam after Trey's solo section. Mike leading.
8/16/11: They could totally -> Sally right now.
8/16/11: Encore opens with Heavy Things, of all things.
8/16/11: Quick but fun little version there. > Slave.
8/16/11: Standard Slave + Rocky Top to end the show.
8/16/11: A second great show with a perfect first set, a well-played S2 that didn't quite reach 8/15 levels, BUT THAT DISEASE.
The band's second night at UIC keeps the train rolling.
First, there's another fantastically varied and plotted opening set. In addition to rarities like "Dinner and a Movie," "Ha Ha Ha," "Mexican Cousin," and "Let It Loose," there's an extended, tension-filled "CDT" that probably qualifies for Type 1.5 status. Page destroys "Foam." And the plinko jamming shows up in "Limb By Limb" and a first-set "Jim" (!).
The second set isn't wall-to-wall action like the first night's, but minutes after I just published a review calling "Undermind" the jam of the year, I've gotta say that this set-opening "Disease" should be part of that conversation, too. I definitely didn't have the multiple "Holy shit!" moments I had listening to the "Undermind" while listening to the "Disease," but it's longer, arguably more varied, and more exploratory. Obviously, just listen to both.
There are a few mini-jams mid-set in "Twist" and "Golden Age," if you're being generous, but really the "Disease" and the set-ending "YEM" bracket what is otherwise a pretty standard second set.
If you've already used up your "Hood" for a run, encoring with "Slave" is never a bad idea.
In short, the moments of greatness in this show are a bit more concentrated, maybe, but it's definitely a great companion show to 8/15.
The Live Review:
8/16/11: How the hell do you top a show like 8/15/11? We're about to find out.
8/16/11: Well, a Dinner and a Movie opener helps :)
8/16/11: Ha Ha Ha > CDT.
8/15/11: Band building a tension section into CDT jam.
8/16/11: Great, weird CDT. Long break after. Mexican Cousin next.
8/16/11: Seems like a weird place for Walls of the Cave, but okay, here we go.
8/16/11: Jim! This feels like Q4 instead of early Q2.
8/16/11: I don't think it's early to say that this is going to be another fantastic opening set.
8/16/11: Plinko middle jam, as usual lately.
8/16/11: Jim builds up to a huge peak. I don't feel like that's the usual direction for this song these days, but I like it.
8/16/11: Foam!
8/16/11: Page is destroying Foam. In a good way.
8/16/11: I Didn't Know! The (rare) hits just keep on coming!
8/16/11: Ocelot. Well, there had to be *some* slight loss of momentum over the last three sets, I guess :)
8/16/11: Okay, well that was a good Ocelot, at least. And a 90s-peppy Ginseng Sullivan to follow up. Now, The Wedge.
8/16/11: Limb By Limb next.
8/16/11: Page is killing on this Limb By Limb.
8/16/11: Oh boy. Full-on plinko in Limb.
8/16/11: Oh yes. Let It Loose. A fantastic closing choice to another great first set of Phish.
8/16/11: I can't get over how good the last three sets have been.
8/16/11: S2 starts with Disease.
8/16/11: Mike is serious about this Disease jam.
8/16/11: Trey signaling an end to the Type I soloing at 7:00 with some dissonant chords. Page follows up with an absolutely eerie organ.
8/16/11: Holy shit, this is instantly so damn good.
8/16/11: Who the fuck is this band, and what did they do with 2009-2011 Phish?
8/16/11: Momentum and spookiness combined.
8/16/11: Jam central...freaking out over here. This is soooo good.
8/16/11: To clarify, I'm not high right now.
8/16/11: Section that reminds a bit of Goodbye Head or Valentine now.
8/16/11: Like most truly great cooperative jams, Trey is hanging back, adding effects and loops. Mike and Fish are leading. Shiiiit so good.
8/16/11: Since I asked, Phish answered: here's how you top a show like 8/15 the night afterward.
8/16/11: Wind-down into a melodic ambient section like the end of 8/15's Undermind now, but Mike is playing the melody.
8/16/11: Slow, Twist-sounding segue coming.
8/16/11: Twist stays pretty mellow in keeping with the transition, up through the first verse.
8/16/11: Building, now.
8/16/11: Solid-but-straight Twist. Nice quick -> Number Line.
8/16/11: Theme next. Number Line was roundly shredded.
8/16/11: Interesting sort of fade-out ending to Theme. Golden Age segues in.
8/16/11: Golden Age fading to a drone.
8/16/11: Little ambient jam winding down.
8/16/11: Page solo outro > A Day In The Life
8/16/11: Whoa! YEM on night two!
8/16/11: A sort of Wilson-jam thing taking shape in YEM jam.
8/16/11: Extended jam after Trey's solo section. Mike leading.
8/16/11: They could totally -> Sally right now.
8/16/11: Encore opens with Heavy Things, of all things.
8/16/11: Quick but fun little version there. > Slave.
8/16/11: Standard Slave + Rocky Top to end the show.
8/16/11: A second great show with a perfect first set, a well-played S2 that didn't quite reach 8/15 levels, BUT THAT DISEASE.
2011-08-15 UIC I
The Verdict:
So the first UIC show is suddenly one of my favorite Phish shows. I'd never heard it before I listened to it for review, but it was still an easy choice. Here's why.
First off, all three UIC shows actually have fantastic first sets, and this one is probably the best of the three. None of UIC's opening frames does anything particularly drastic (no Type II "Gin"s here, for example), but they're very well-constructed sets with a lot a rarities and the occasional kick at the walls of the box.
In this first case, "Guelah" gets a fun little intro jam, "Wolfman's" goes Type 1.5 in a few different directions, and "Babylon Baby" not only gets played, but gets an outro jam. It's also great to hear the obligatory "JJLC" as well as "Anything But Me" and the set-closing "Alumni Blues" > "Jimmy Page" > "Alumni". You're not going to find a deep Type II jam here, but this is everything an opening set should be.
Fortunately, S2 bring the jams to a ridiculous degree. "Sand" and "Light" only slightly leave the usual form, both in dark, ominous ways: the former via an ambient jam and the latter via Trey's pitch shifter. We get a breath of fresh air in "Dirt" (hah), and then we're off with a "Waves" -> "Undermind" pair that's probably my favorite Phish music so far in 2011. "Waves" plays it straight until after the vocal refrain, then cuts loose with what sounds like a proto-bliss-jam time-traveling back from 2015. And "Undermind" is just, well, the best jam of the year. You should just watch it.
The set wraps up with standard takes on "Steam" and "Fire," but then we get a near third-set-sized encore, complete with "Guyute" and a gorgeous take on "Hood" to close (because what else?).
This is about as complete a show as you can get, folks. Check it out, if you haven't already. And if you have, check it out again.
The Live Review:
8/15/11: Keeping the review train rolling with an BOTT opener, appropriately.
8/15/11: Pretty standard BOTT > Rift.
8/15/11: Guelah! Trey playing an improvised melody before the song, during the intro.
8/15/11: Now a little jam happening. Whoa.
8/15/11: Phish just got playful for the first time since 6/3 or so.
8/15/11: Great Guelah. Scent is next.
8/15/11: JJLC is next. Loving this first set setlist. It's so weird, but satisfying.
8/15/11: Strong version of JJLC leads into a Wolfman's with plinko jamming.
8/15/11: Some Mike-led stop-start funk now.
8/15/11: Trey signaling, whale-style, to change the tone. Nobody's listening to him, though.
8/15/11: Type 1.5 Wolfman's with two different types of funk and a huge Trey peak at the end. Not bad.
8/15/11: Long pause. Someone whistling, maybe slightly off-mic.
8/15/11: Anything But Me! Okay, this is officially the best Phish show ever.
8/15/11: I think that Fish is playing a different beat than on the album.
8/15/11: Page and Trey trading solos now.
8/15/11: Bablyon Baby! Damn, I love this setlist.
8/15/11: A little arpeggio breakdown at the end of the lyrics that I don't remember.
8/15/11: Reba! Damn!
8/15/11: Low-key but highly melodic Reba solo from Trey.
8/15/11: Bit of trilling near the end. Whistling outro.
8/15/11: Alumni Blues! Crowd freaking out.
8/15/11: Page laying down a ridiculous organ solo.
8/15/11: > Jimmy Page > Alumni.
8/15/11: Trey sings ''Cause I got a degree...from Goddard College' to end the set.
8/15/11: That was one of my favorite opening sets in awhile.
8/15/11: Sand opens S2. Medium-heavy funk almost immediately.
8/15/11: Trey soloing a bit more now.
8/15/11: Lots of wah showing up. Some No Quarter organ.
8/15/11: Harshly ambient fade-out now.
8/15/11: Slow, pulsing synth loops give way to Light.
8/15/11: Light jam starts off with the usual arpeggios.
8/15/11: Light gets discordant for a bit early on, but sticks to the arpeggios.
8/15/11: Trey on the pitch shifter now. Things getting more ominous.
8/15/11: Trey playing a weird ascending riff now that sounds a bit like a mutant cousin of the ending of TTE.
8/15/11: Short, but totally weird jam. Really hard to describe. Fish was doing a lot of the work again. -> Dirt.
8/15/11: Crowd is *jazzed* by Dirt. Nice bass solo.
8/15/11: Waves next.
8/15/11: Great melody playing from Trey. Band building up to a boil in the pre-vocals jam.
8/15/11: Post-vocals jam building. Sort of sounds like it's heading toward '15 bliss territory.
8/15/11: You can hear these guys listening to each other on Light, Waves jams. Awesome.
8/15/11: 'Remember that soundcheck jam in Bethel? Well, it took three months, but so do we!'
8/15/11: Shift to a chunkier groove now.
8/15/11: Oh man, I think Fish might have just set us up for an awesome -> Undermind.
8/15/11: Hell. Yes.
8/15/11: Page and Trey trading runs with super-weird, pitch-shifted tones.
8/15/11: This jam is totally wacky and beautiful.
8/15/11: Second jam after the end vocals.
8/15/11: Trey's once again going a bit arrhythmic here, this time with his chording.
8/15/11: Resolves into space-funk riff. Page on electric piano.
8/15/11: Wind down into a more ambient zone. Trey soloing.
8/15/11: Page laying down wavy synth over the melody. This is definitely one of those 'They've never done this before' moments.
8/15/11: Fish and Mike coming back in now.
8/15/11: Undermind jam > Gorge RnR. Maybe.
8/15/11: Trey sets up a great -> Steam, just because currently the band is unstoppable.
8/15/11: Steam > Fire.
8/15/11: Trey taking a break to address the crowd after Fire.
8/15/11: Oh, end set.
8/15/11: Nobody told Trey he had to meet curfew...good for us.
8/15/11: Camel Walk!
8/15/11: Extra few 'endings' added on Camel Walk.
8/15/11: Guyute!
8/15/11: Still going, with The Horse > Silent.
8/15/11: STILL going on the encore. Hood next.
8/15/11: In case you were wondering, this Hood is just about perfect.
8/15/11: Well, this is one of my new favorite Phish shows. By a mile.
So the first UIC show is suddenly one of my favorite Phish shows. I'd never heard it before I listened to it for review, but it was still an easy choice. Here's why.
First off, all three UIC shows actually have fantastic first sets, and this one is probably the best of the three. None of UIC's opening frames does anything particularly drastic (no Type II "Gin"s here, for example), but they're very well-constructed sets with a lot a rarities and the occasional kick at the walls of the box.
In this first case, "Guelah" gets a fun little intro jam, "Wolfman's" goes Type 1.5 in a few different directions, and "Babylon Baby" not only gets played, but gets an outro jam. It's also great to hear the obligatory "JJLC" as well as "Anything But Me" and the set-closing "Alumni Blues" > "Jimmy Page" > "Alumni". You're not going to find a deep Type II jam here, but this is everything an opening set should be.
Fortunately, S2 bring the jams to a ridiculous degree. "Sand" and "Light" only slightly leave the usual form, both in dark, ominous ways: the former via an ambient jam and the latter via Trey's pitch shifter. We get a breath of fresh air in "Dirt" (hah), and then we're off with a "Waves" -> "Undermind" pair that's probably my favorite Phish music so far in 2011. "Waves" plays it straight until after the vocal refrain, then cuts loose with what sounds like a proto-bliss-jam time-traveling back from 2015. And "Undermind" is just, well, the best jam of the year. You should just watch it.
The set wraps up with standard takes on "Steam" and "Fire," but then we get a near third-set-sized encore, complete with "Guyute" and a gorgeous take on "Hood" to close (because what else?).
This is about as complete a show as you can get, folks. Check it out, if you haven't already. And if you have, check it out again.
The Live Review:
8/15/11: Keeping the review train rolling with an BOTT opener, appropriately.
8/15/11: Pretty standard BOTT > Rift.
8/15/11: Guelah! Trey playing an improvised melody before the song, during the intro.
8/15/11: Now a little jam happening. Whoa.
8/15/11: Phish just got playful for the first time since 6/3 or so.
8/15/11: Great Guelah. Scent is next.
8/15/11: JJLC is next. Loving this first set setlist. It's so weird, but satisfying.
8/15/11: Strong version of JJLC leads into a Wolfman's with plinko jamming.
8/15/11: Some Mike-led stop-start funk now.
8/15/11: Trey signaling, whale-style, to change the tone. Nobody's listening to him, though.
8/15/11: Type 1.5 Wolfman's with two different types of funk and a huge Trey peak at the end. Not bad.
8/15/11: Long pause. Someone whistling, maybe slightly off-mic.
8/15/11: Anything But Me! Okay, this is officially the best Phish show ever.
8/15/11: I think that Fish is playing a different beat than on the album.
8/15/11: Page and Trey trading solos now.
8/15/11: Bablyon Baby! Damn, I love this setlist.
8/15/11: A little arpeggio breakdown at the end of the lyrics that I don't remember.
8/15/11: Reba! Damn!
8/15/11: Low-key but highly melodic Reba solo from Trey.
8/15/11: Bit of trilling near the end. Whistling outro.
8/15/11: Alumni Blues! Crowd freaking out.
8/15/11: Page laying down a ridiculous organ solo.
8/15/11: > Jimmy Page > Alumni.
8/15/11: Trey sings ''Cause I got a degree...from Goddard College' to end the set.
8/15/11: That was one of my favorite opening sets in awhile.
8/15/11: Sand opens S2. Medium-heavy funk almost immediately.
8/15/11: Trey soloing a bit more now.
8/15/11: Lots of wah showing up. Some No Quarter organ.
8/15/11: Harshly ambient fade-out now.
8/15/11: Slow, pulsing synth loops give way to Light.
8/15/11: Light jam starts off with the usual arpeggios.
8/15/11: Light gets discordant for a bit early on, but sticks to the arpeggios.
8/15/11: Trey on the pitch shifter now. Things getting more ominous.
8/15/11: Trey playing a weird ascending riff now that sounds a bit like a mutant cousin of the ending of TTE.
8/15/11: Short, but totally weird jam. Really hard to describe. Fish was doing a lot of the work again. -> Dirt.
8/15/11: Crowd is *jazzed* by Dirt. Nice bass solo.
8/15/11: Waves next.
8/15/11: Great melody playing from Trey. Band building up to a boil in the pre-vocals jam.
8/15/11: Post-vocals jam building. Sort of sounds like it's heading toward '15 bliss territory.
8/15/11: You can hear these guys listening to each other on Light, Waves jams. Awesome.
8/15/11: 'Remember that soundcheck jam in Bethel? Well, it took three months, but so do we!'
8/15/11: Shift to a chunkier groove now.
8/15/11: Oh man, I think Fish might have just set us up for an awesome -> Undermind.
8/15/11: Hell. Yes.
8/15/11: Page and Trey trading runs with super-weird, pitch-shifted tones.
8/15/11: This jam is totally wacky and beautiful.
8/15/11: Second jam after the end vocals.
8/15/11: Trey's once again going a bit arrhythmic here, this time with his chording.
8/15/11: Resolves into space-funk riff. Page on electric piano.
8/15/11: Wind down into a more ambient zone. Trey soloing.
8/15/11: Page laying down wavy synth over the melody. This is definitely one of those 'They've never done this before' moments.
8/15/11: Fish and Mike coming back in now.
8/15/11: Undermind jam > Gorge RnR. Maybe.
8/15/11: Trey sets up a great -> Steam, just because currently the band is unstoppable.
8/15/11: Steam > Fire.
8/15/11: Trey taking a break to address the crowd after Fire.
8/15/11: Oh, end set.
8/15/11: Nobody told Trey he had to meet curfew...good for us.
8/15/11: Camel Walk!
8/15/11: Extra few 'endings' added on Camel Walk.
8/15/11: Guyute!
8/15/11: Still going, with The Horse > Silent.
8/15/11: STILL going on the encore. Hood next.
8/15/11: In case you were wondering, this Hood is just about perfect.
8/15/11: Well, this is one of my new favorite Phish shows. By a mile.
Jun 7, 2016
2011-08-12 Outside Lands
The Verdict:
While the 8/12 show has more going on than might be apparent at first, I have a bit less to say about it than the equally-maligned 8/8.
It's a festival show, and it shows. The first set is 8/8's first set, just with different songs (though, look at the songs...you could put together a greatest hits album for n00bs from this setlist). Like 8/8's "Split," there's a quick highlight in the manic, mid-set "Tweezer," but that's about it.
The second set doesn't have quite the redemptive quality of 8/8's, but there are some interesting bits. For example, "Rock and Roll" goes Type I for most of its length, but hits on a murky groove near the end that slowly and beautifully coalesces into "Steam." The "Piper" that follows is high-tempo madness driven by Fish, and is worth a note as the rare jam where his playing clearly takes center stage over the melody instruments. After this sequence, though, the show slips back into festival-set mentality, and though the song selection continues to be great ("Roses," "Life on Mars?," "Fluffhead"), it's nothing you haven't heard before.
Though you might want to check out that Trey solo during "Number Line." I'm serious.
The Live Review:
8/12/11: Outside Lands show GO! KDF opener.
8/12/11: Expecting two sets like 8/8/11's S1 today.
8/12/11: Wilson second. Like to imagine festival-goers really confused by Wilson chant.
8/12/11: Funky Bitch continues its reign of terror over 2011.
8/12/11: Trey takes Funky Bitch around the block. Now Moma.
8/12/11: Peaches! Loving how often this song's getting played this tour.
8/12/11: Sample, Possum.
8/12/11: They've been killing Possum lately this one's no exception. Tweezer next!
8/12/11: I assume that this isn't going deep, but a S1 Tweezer is always still exciting anyway.
8/12/11: Fantastic Type I solo from Trey. Wow.
8/12/11: Fading out now. Ambient bit.
8/12/11: > Mound.
8/12/11: Suzy next. Really dug that Tweezer, by the way.
8/12/11: Nice solo from Page during Suzy. > Axila I.
8/12/11: Late-set Mike's. That's fun.
8/12/11: Mike's > Hydrogen.
8/12/11: Sort of miss the comedown of Hydrogen after a really hairy Mike's.
8/12/11: End set after Groove.
8/12/11: Literal loopiness to end an otherwise Type I Rock and Roll to open S2. Murky groove with a great Fish beat coalesces into Steam.
8/12/11: Steam > Piper.
8/12/11: Page laying down some jazz piano during a really high-tempo Piper jam.
8/12/11: Creepy guitar loops now. Fish is laying down a seriously great beat.
8/12/11: Really interesting few minutes of Fish-centric jamming there. > Roses.
8/12/11: Julius. Heading back to Jukebox Town, I think.
8/12/11: That RnR -> Steam was neat, tho.
8/12/11: Life on Mars!
8/12/11: Strong take on Birds gets slammed right into Fluffhead.
8/12/11: Solid version of Fluffhead. Trey misses the -> Number Line and settles for a > Number Line.
8/12/11: GREAT Number Line solo from Trey. Drone at the end of the jam leads into 2001.
8/12/11: Short, sort of sloppy 2001. Chalkdust next. They're definitely playing a lot of songs.
8/12/11: Chalkdust ends the second set proper. Cavern > Tweeprise for the encore.
While the 8/12 show has more going on than might be apparent at first, I have a bit less to say about it than the equally-maligned 8/8.
It's a festival show, and it shows. The first set is 8/8's first set, just with different songs (though, look at the songs...you could put together a greatest hits album for n00bs from this setlist). Like 8/8's "Split," there's a quick highlight in the manic, mid-set "Tweezer," but that's about it.
The second set doesn't have quite the redemptive quality of 8/8's, but there are some interesting bits. For example, "Rock and Roll" goes Type I for most of its length, but hits on a murky groove near the end that slowly and beautifully coalesces into "Steam." The "Piper" that follows is high-tempo madness driven by Fish, and is worth a note as the rare jam where his playing clearly takes center stage over the melody instruments. After this sequence, though, the show slips back into festival-set mentality, and though the song selection continues to be great ("Roses," "Life on Mars?," "Fluffhead"), it's nothing you haven't heard before.
Though you might want to check out that Trey solo during "Number Line." I'm serious.
The Live Review:
8/12/11: Outside Lands show GO! KDF opener.
8/12/11: Expecting two sets like 8/8/11's S1 today.
8/12/11: Wilson second. Like to imagine festival-goers really confused by Wilson chant.
8/12/11: Funky Bitch continues its reign of terror over 2011.
8/12/11: Trey takes Funky Bitch around the block. Now Moma.
8/12/11: Peaches! Loving how often this song's getting played this tour.
8/12/11: Sample, Possum.
8/12/11: They've been killing Possum lately this one's no exception. Tweezer next!
8/12/11: I assume that this isn't going deep, but a S1 Tweezer is always still exciting anyway.
8/12/11: Fantastic Type I solo from Trey. Wow.
8/12/11: Fading out now. Ambient bit.
8/12/11: > Mound.
8/12/11: Suzy next. Really dug that Tweezer, by the way.
8/12/11: Nice solo from Page during Suzy. > Axila I.
8/12/11: Late-set Mike's. That's fun.
8/12/11: Mike's > Hydrogen.
8/12/11: Sort of miss the comedown of Hydrogen after a really hairy Mike's.
8/12/11: End set after Groove.
8/12/11: Literal loopiness to end an otherwise Type I Rock and Roll to open S2. Murky groove with a great Fish beat coalesces into Steam.
8/12/11: Steam > Piper.
8/12/11: Page laying down some jazz piano during a really high-tempo Piper jam.
8/12/11: Creepy guitar loops now. Fish is laying down a seriously great beat.
8/12/11: Really interesting few minutes of Fish-centric jamming there. > Roses.
8/12/11: Julius. Heading back to Jukebox Town, I think.
8/12/11: That RnR -> Steam was neat, tho.
8/12/11: Life on Mars!
8/12/11: Strong take on Birds gets slammed right into Fluffhead.
8/12/11: Solid version of Fluffhead. Trey misses the -> Number Line and settles for a > Number Line.
8/12/11: GREAT Number Line solo from Trey. Drone at the end of the jam leads into 2001.
8/12/11: Short, sort of sloppy 2001. Chalkdust next. They're definitely playing a lot of songs.
8/12/11: Chalkdust ends the second set proper. Cavern > Tweeprise for the encore.
2011-08-08 Hollywood Bowl
The Verdict:
So, as you might have noticed, I forgot to review 8/8 in-between 8/6 and 8/9. Not on purpose, of course...yet I do wonder if its reputation as an underwhelming show bracketed by two strong runs helped me a bit in temporarily forgetting that it existed.
I'm glad I remembered, though. I knew the show only by reputation, and, as it turns out, it deserves a better rap than it gets. 8/8 and 8/12 are somewhat similar in that they're relatively by-the-book shows, and for that they catch a lot of flak. Which is funny to me because they're pretty much identical to almost all of the pre-August 2011 shows in this regard. There are a few ways in which each show breaks out of this mode, though, and that's what I want to focus on in each of these reviews.
First, 8/8.
The first set of this show is, as I said in my review below, like a warmup to 8/12's festival set. It's a jukebox set on steroids. "Possum," "BOTT," and "Number Line" all feature crazy Trey solos, and of course it's all satisfyingly fun stuff, but the only moment of interest comes in "Split," which goes full Storage Jam for a (unfortunately) brief moment before returning to the usual form.
The second set ends up being way more fun than the show's phish.net rating might lead you to believe. Sure, "Crosseyed" doesn't necessarily go deep, but its brief ambient-texture space comes after a solid Type I jam/solo thing and leads naturally into an excellent "Twist." Now, this is a weird "excellent 'Twist'" in the sense that it's about seven minutes long and never goes Type II, but it's still complicated, all four members are contributing, and you can almost feel the mind-meld working throughout. It segues nicely into a hyper-fast space-plinko "Piper," and that ain't bad to start a second set in 2011.
That's about all the legit jamming we'll get for the show, but the momentum continues as Trey dominates "Mike's Song" and the plinko returns for a short-but-satisfying "Groove." Then there are some Fishman shenanigans in "50 Ways" > "HYHU" before the band segues back into a "Groove" reprise of sorts.
All in all, it's a fun second set. There's no big jam and it doesn't stack up to the year's heavy hitters, but considering how few heavy hitters there are at this point, it seems unfair to count a show like this one out.
The Live Review:
8/8/11: Little Page organ noodling (that sounds gross) before Mike opens the show with DwD.
8/8/11: Type I DwD gets butt-slammed into Cavern.
8/8/11: Possum keeps a straightforward opening set going, but with a particularly ripping solo from Trey.
8/8/11: Cities!
8/8/11: Short, standard version of Cities. But that's okay, because Peaches is next!
8/8/11: The only thing more grating than the usual beginning of KDF is when Trey starts it in the wrong key :)
8/8/11: Lawn Boy. Page gives a shout-out to the audience.
8/8/11: TUUUUUBE
8/8/11: Tube sounding a little more plinko than usual.
8/8/11: Crowd loving the LA line.
8/8/11: BOTT next. Minus Cities > Peaches, we got a bona fide festival set here.
8/8/11: Trey's guitar heroics made that a great, if rote BOTT. Wilson next.
8/8/11: Now Axila I. Really feeling the festy set. Maybe a warm-up for 8/12? Maybe they think it *is* 8/12?
8/8/11: Err...not 'really feeling,' but 'really feeling like.' Definitely *not* 'feeling it.'
8/8/11: SOAM! This almost forces them to be interesting, right?
8/8/11: Sho' nuff, the tension part of the jam is taking on a Storage Jam kind of sound, if only for a minute or two.
8/8/11: Trey laying down a pretty excellent Number Line solo now.
8/8/11: End set.
8/8/11: 2-3 minutes of Storage Jam in SOAM was the only S1 highlight.
8/8/11: If you like Trey Type I solos and aren't sick of them in 2011 yet, though, check out Possum, BOTT and Number Line.
8/8/11: S2 starts w/ Carini.
8/8/11: Straighforward Carini. Right as it fades into space, > Crosseyed.
8/8/11: Big, Type I rock jam in Crosseyed. Drop at about 10:00. Now they're circling some space funk, but not really committing to it.
8/8/11: A little form in the murkiness, now. Sounds like a slice of Gorge RnR.
8/8/11: Twist sort of ruins the jam potential there, but it also sort of worked with where the jam was going.
8/8/11: It was a conscientious ripcord, is what I'm saying.
8/8/11: Twist jam staying Type I, but some really nice interplay nonetheless.
8/8/11: Great full-band Type I going on here. Love it.
8/8/11: Piper is next and moves really quickly into fast-paced space funk.
8/8/11: High-octave plinko-space thing going on now. All of Piper has been weird. It's great.
8/8/11: Weird, weird break in the middle of a really spacey jam there to force a > Mike's.
8/8/11: Machine-gun/note-bending Trey just went to town on that Mike's.
8/8/11: > Joy.
8/8/11: Joy was Joy. > slow-tempo, funky-plinko Groove.
8/8/11: Diggin' this little jam a lot.
8/8/11: Jam suddenly stops. Fish mumbling to the crowd.
8/8/11: Fish singing 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover. Trey's tone matches the original's eerily w
8/8/11: Inevitably, 50 Ways > HYHU :)
8/8/11: Back into Groove.
8/8/11:> Zero.
8/8/11: Zero > Quinn.
8/8/11: Stealing Time encore.
8/8/11: Party foul: colleague walked into office while I was busting out a full-on air-guitar back-bend. Gee thanks, @phish.
8/8/11: Stealing Time > Julius.
8/8/11: Weird show, but not deserving of the shade that gets thrown at it.
8/8/11: S1 is full-on festy action, yeah, except for 2-3 minutes of SOAM that get weird.
8/8/11: Q4 is also pretty uninteresting and drawn-out.
8/8/11: But I love most of Q3. Neat little jam in Crosseyed, beautiful Twist, weird Piper, hot Mike's...
8/8/11: ...then a great Groove jam plus Groove > 50 Ways > HYHU > Groove sandwich. Probably just end the set there, though :)
So, as you might have noticed, I forgot to review 8/8 in-between 8/6 and 8/9. Not on purpose, of course...yet I do wonder if its reputation as an underwhelming show bracketed by two strong runs helped me a bit in temporarily forgetting that it existed.
I'm glad I remembered, though. I knew the show only by reputation, and, as it turns out, it deserves a better rap than it gets. 8/8 and 8/12 are somewhat similar in that they're relatively by-the-book shows, and for that they catch a lot of flak. Which is funny to me because they're pretty much identical to almost all of the pre-August 2011 shows in this regard. There are a few ways in which each show breaks out of this mode, though, and that's what I want to focus on in each of these reviews.
First, 8/8.
The first set of this show is, as I said in my review below, like a warmup to 8/12's festival set. It's a jukebox set on steroids. "Possum," "BOTT," and "Number Line" all feature crazy Trey solos, and of course it's all satisfyingly fun stuff, but the only moment of interest comes in "Split," which goes full Storage Jam for a (unfortunately) brief moment before returning to the usual form.
The second set ends up being way more fun than the show's phish.net rating might lead you to believe. Sure, "Crosseyed" doesn't necessarily go deep, but its brief ambient-texture space comes after a solid Type I jam/solo thing and leads naturally into an excellent "Twist." Now, this is a weird "excellent 'Twist'" in the sense that it's about seven minutes long and never goes Type II, but it's still complicated, all four members are contributing, and you can almost feel the mind-meld working throughout. It segues nicely into a hyper-fast space-plinko "Piper," and that ain't bad to start a second set in 2011.
That's about all the legit jamming we'll get for the show, but the momentum continues as Trey dominates "Mike's Song" and the plinko returns for a short-but-satisfying "Groove." Then there are some Fishman shenanigans in "50 Ways" > "HYHU" before the band segues back into a "Groove" reprise of sorts.
All in all, it's a fun second set. There's no big jam and it doesn't stack up to the year's heavy hitters, but considering how few heavy hitters there are at this point, it seems unfair to count a show like this one out.
The Live Review:
8/8/11: Little Page organ noodling (that sounds gross) before Mike opens the show with DwD.
8/8/11: Type I DwD gets butt-slammed into Cavern.
8/8/11: Possum keeps a straightforward opening set going, but with a particularly ripping solo from Trey.
8/8/11: Cities!
8/8/11: Short, standard version of Cities. But that's okay, because Peaches is next!
8/8/11: The only thing more grating than the usual beginning of KDF is when Trey starts it in the wrong key :)
8/8/11: Lawn Boy. Page gives a shout-out to the audience.
8/8/11: TUUUUUBE
8/8/11: Tube sounding a little more plinko than usual.
8/8/11: Crowd loving the LA line.
8/8/11: BOTT next. Minus Cities > Peaches, we got a bona fide festival set here.
8/8/11: Trey's guitar heroics made that a great, if rote BOTT. Wilson next.
8/8/11: Now Axila I. Really feeling the festy set. Maybe a warm-up for 8/12? Maybe they think it *is* 8/12?
8/8/11: Err...not 'really feeling,' but 'really feeling like.' Definitely *not* 'feeling it.'
8/8/11: SOAM! This almost forces them to be interesting, right?
8/8/11: Sho' nuff, the tension part of the jam is taking on a Storage Jam kind of sound, if only for a minute or two.
8/8/11: Trey laying down a pretty excellent Number Line solo now.
8/8/11: End set.
8/8/11: 2-3 minutes of Storage Jam in SOAM was the only S1 highlight.
8/8/11: If you like Trey Type I solos and aren't sick of them in 2011 yet, though, check out Possum, BOTT and Number Line.
8/8/11: S2 starts w/ Carini.
8/8/11: Straighforward Carini. Right as it fades into space, > Crosseyed.
8/8/11: Big, Type I rock jam in Crosseyed. Drop at about 10:00. Now they're circling some space funk, but not really committing to it.
8/8/11: A little form in the murkiness, now. Sounds like a slice of Gorge RnR.
8/8/11: Twist sort of ruins the jam potential there, but it also sort of worked with where the jam was going.
8/8/11: It was a conscientious ripcord, is what I'm saying.
8/8/11: Twist jam staying Type I, but some really nice interplay nonetheless.
8/8/11: Great full-band Type I going on here. Love it.
8/8/11: Piper is next and moves really quickly into fast-paced space funk.
8/8/11: High-octave plinko-space thing going on now. All of Piper has been weird. It's great.
8/8/11: Weird, weird break in the middle of a really spacey jam there to force a > Mike's.
8/8/11: Machine-gun/note-bending Trey just went to town on that Mike's.
8/8/11: > Joy.
8/8/11: Joy was Joy. > slow-tempo, funky-plinko Groove.
8/8/11: Diggin' this little jam a lot.
8/8/11: Jam suddenly stops. Fish mumbling to the crowd.
8/8/11: Fish singing 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover. Trey's tone matches the original's eerily w
8/8/11: Inevitably, 50 Ways > HYHU :)
8/8/11: Back into Groove.
8/8/11:> Zero.
8/8/11: Zero > Quinn.
8/8/11: Stealing Time encore.
8/8/11: Party foul: colleague walked into office while I was busting out a full-on air-guitar back-bend. Gee thanks, @phish.
8/8/11: Stealing Time > Julius.
8/8/11: Weird show, but not deserving of the shade that gets thrown at it.
8/8/11: S1 is full-on festy action, yeah, except for 2-3 minutes of SOAM that get weird.
8/8/11: Q4 is also pretty uninteresting and drawn-out.
8/8/11: But I love most of Q3. Neat little jam in Crosseyed, beautiful Twist, weird Piper, hot Mike's...
8/8/11: ...then a great Groove jam plus Groove > 50 Ways > HYHU > Groove sandwich. Probably just end the set there, though :)
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