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.
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