The Verdict:
The band's first Wrigley Field show falls into the old 3.0 pattern of giving us three quarters of standard-runs with one (third) quarter of improv. In this case, though, it's alright with me because that third quarter is pure magic.
The first set is absolutely straightforward stadium rock. Trey digs in in particular on "Chalkdust," "Blaze On," and "Sand," but that's about it. "Miss You" debuts, which is neat.
The back half of the second set, from "Twenty Years" on, covers the same territory. But wow, the "Disease" > "Fuego" > "Twist" portion is just fantastic. "Disease" features a lot of 2.0-sounding jamming. Despite the darkness, this jam is fantastically kinetic, and eventually ramps up to a "The Dogs"-like section before fuzzing out and seguing into "Fuego." It doesn't go deep, but the outro solo from Trey goes outside its usual box and is melodically gorgeous, bridging the monster "Disease" and "Twist" jams perfectly. "Twist" starts off really mellow, as recent versions do, before ramping up and moving on to an extended jam on what sounds suspiciously like the opening chords to "Ghost." From this jam, there's a flawless move into one of the more engaging bliss jams the guys have put together, and...it's just awesome. Sure, the rest of the show (minus the "Space Oddity" encore debut) is pretty standard, but give me two hours of rote Phish if this is what the other forty minutes is like.
Just watch the whole sequence, starting at 1:47:00 here:
The Live Review:
6/24/16: Sample opener. Seems appropriate in a giant stadium.
6/24/16: Fish wearing the Bernie dress.
6/24/16: Extra-spicy Chalkdust in the two-slot.
6/24/16: Martian Monster!
6/24/16: Doing a good job of stringing together a stadium-appropriate first set so far.
6/24/16: Rift, Yarmouth.
6/24/16: Way more fun to watch the webcast in second monitor than to just listen to the audio. Makes me miss tour, though.
6/24/16: Sand! I love deep-jam Sands, but this is one of those songs that can be just as good in a solid 10-minute Type I incarnation.
6/24/16: You know, like this version.
6/24/16: Miss You is a nice cooldown after that huge Sand.
6/24/16: Miss You might not be the best live concert tune, but it's a beautiful song.
6/24/16: If you hate how 'sappy' it is, you're obviously lucky enough to have not had a lot of people you know die, or you have no heart.
6/24/16: If it's the first one, good for you! Keep being lucky. If it's the second one, good luck in your future career as a supervillain.
6/24/16: The Wedge.
6/24/16: Rocking The Wedge > Free.
6/24/16: Nice echoplex chording over the Mike bass breakdown in Free.
6/24/16: Blaze On. Solid festival-style S1 here, but I can't say I'm disappointed b/c I didn't really expect anything else.
6/24/16: They're playing really well. Bodes well for the second set.
6/24/16: Trey laying down another extra-spicy Type I solo on this Blaze On.
6/24/16: Oh. Weird. That was the set.
6/24/16: Donuts on the LED screens to start the second set.
6/24/16: Opens with brief noise jamming -> DWD.
6/24/16: First few minutes is a pretty jaunty little rock jam.
6/24/16: Fading out now. Page on electric piano. Fuzzy chords from Trey.
6/24/16: Weird bass and keyboard lines forming under Fish and Trey space-rock. Building now.
6/24/16: This is sounding very 2003-2004 to me.
6/24/16: In other words: fuck yes.
6/24/16: Trey's lead out of the dark jam space was fantastic. He's dropping back again now, though.
6/24/16: Almost sounds like a spaced-out The Dogs, now.
6/24/16: Winding down now. Trey to pitch shifter.
6/24/16: That was a great Disease jam that wound up into Fuego.
6/24/16: Great Fuego outro solo from Trey. Weird almost-jam after that turns into Twist instead.
6/24/16: I swear Trey has just barely stopped himself from > Number Lining us at the end of each of the last two songs. IT'S COMING
6/24/16: This Twist starts off with a soft intro before the lyrics.
6/24/16: Mellow jam throughout Twist. Had a moment there when Trey's chording sounded like the Ghost intro.
6/24/16: Really broken down now. Ominous tone from Trey. Still sounds like Ghost.
6/24/16: Bassline stays in place, but Trey starts up another Twist-style solo. Liking where this is going.
6/24/16: Still flirting with Ghost.
6/24/16: Building up now. Two great jams so far this set, with a strong Fuego in-between.
6/24/16: Great build that DOESN'T go into bliss-jam mode...err...wait...at least it doesn't right away. Now it does.
6/24/16: Welp, this is definitely worth passing on the cool segue into Ghost for.
6/24/16: Guys, this is super good. What's the problem with 2016 #phish again?
6/24/16: I love my 7/24/15 Twist, but this one's making me jealous.
6/24/16: Neat, if awkward wind-down into Twenty Years Later.
6/24/16: Straightforward Twenty Years > Waste.
6/24/16: 2001!
6/24/16: Echoplex funk.
6/24/16: Fish doing some interesting things with the beat now. Really liking this version.
6/24/16: Might have been some vocals there from Trey.
6/24/16: Of the 'AAAAAAAAHHHHHH' variety.
6/24/16: There's that looming Number Line.
6/24/16: Loving Cup next after a pretty standard Number Line.
6/24/16: End set.
6/24/16: Trey done shredded that Loving Cup.
6/24/16: The Enigma That Is Jon Fishman Basks In The Delight Of An Appreciative Crowd One Last Time
6/24/16: I'm calling a Centerfield encore.
6/24/16: Space Oddity! Loved this in SF.
6/24/16: Crowd LOSING it when they realize what song it is.
6/24/16: Crowd cracking up at Trey's 'guitar solo.'
6/24/16: Antelope is the second part of the encore.
6/24/16: Lots of echoplex chording from Trey late in Antelope.
6/24/16: Well, that was one of those shows that are 75% 'average-good,' but with a stronger 3rd quarter.
6/24/16: But oh, what a third quarter it was! Two shows in to tour, and I'm pretty impressed so far.
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