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.
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