The Verdict:
7/9 and 7/10 share struggles with uneven setlists, but in both cases your mileage will vary dramatically based on how you feel about the particular rarities that get played within those setlists.
If you get as excited about "Meat" like I do (especially this grungy, extended version), or if you like "Vultures" a lot, or for some reason are thrilled by the notion of a S1 "Let Me Lie" or "Julius," or are jazzed about a first set "YEM" which has a jam section completely composed of an instrument-switched percussion jam, then you'll like this opening set. I thought the novelties outweighed the weird flow, but only slightly.
The second set, as many second sets are these days, is all about the "Disease." It takes the band awhile to find its footing, and Trey, to his credit, cycles through a bunch of different approaches instead of defaulting to "Twist" or "Number Line" when the first or second or third try doesn't work right away. The ultimate payoff here is a nice few minutes of locked-in rock jamming to close the song, before a transition to a gooey, extra-funky Type I "Sand."
But then the band jumps out of "Sand" just as it's starting to develop and never really recovers. "Carini" has a nice swing to it, but it's abandoned early for "20 Years Later," and from there we're in jukebox mode. You might be interested to know that there's a "Tela" in that second set somewhere too, but I don't get as excited about the Gamehendge songs as some, so the replay value in this show is basically "Disease" > "Sand" > "Ripcord."
The Live Review:
7/9/16: I'm not dead, and I'm back to review the Hartford show and the rest of 2016, finally.
7/9/16: Pigtail opener. Didn't this open the tour?
7/9/16: I seem to remember that from what seems like months and months of nearly-jamless shows ago.
7/9/16: Neat fills from Page on the Pigtail outro jam.
7/9/16: Song ends with vocal harmonies only. Much tighter and more interesting than the first Phish version.
7/9/16: Moma is next. I'm three seconds in and 100% sure it won't be better than the last version was.
7/9/16: > BOAF
7/9/16: MEAT.
7/9/16: Some dirty, low-end soloing from Trey in this Meat.
7/9/16: Dare I say that Phish is extending this Meat longer than usual, and inserting it into the crowd's ears?
7/9/16: Vultures!
7/9/16: Trey starts Free in the wrong key again.
7/9/16: Some echoplex chording from Trey.
7/9/16: The ten-thousandth different arrangement of Let Me Lie is next.
7/9/16: This one's a little more like a shuffle than the previous versions.
7/9/16: Super-short Halley's > Julius.
7/9/16: Looks like S1 is going to close with YEM. That's...interesting.
7/9/16: Percussion jam in YEM. Maybe some instrument switching happening?
7/9/16: Welp, that was a weirdly-paced first set, but there were definitely some strong performances.
7/9/16: Meat and the percussion jam in YEM come to mind.
7/9/16: Back for S2 after class!
7/9/16: S2 starts with Disease.
7/9/16: Nice rock direction early in this jam. Reminds me a bit of The Who.
7/9/16: Trying a few directions: funk, pitch shifter. Not really settling on anything yet.
7/9/16: Fish is keeping a nice swing to the proceedings, though.
7/9/16: Settling in a bit more now, basing a jam around a repeating drone-y riff Trey is playing.
7/9/16: Building on that riff led to a pretty rad few minutes of rock and roll jamming.
7/9/16: Could be a -> Plasma here, but I doubt it.
7/9/16: Just based on what Page was playing there for a bit.
7/9/16: > Sand.
7/9/16: I feel good about this Sand. Band sounds loose as hell.
7/9/16: This is some super-gooey funk. No Type II, but who cares if Sand ends up making you pregnant anyway?
7/9/16: Tela is a weird follow-up to Sand, but okay.
7/9/16: > Carini.
7/9/16: Really propulsive Carini, but during what would usually be the transition into a deeper jam, things sputter. > 20 Years Later.
7/9/16: What's so weird about the lack of jamming this year is that in past years short jams/no jams/ripcords audibly came about...
7/9/16: ...as a result of the band searching for ideas and not finding them. This year they're playing great, but just not digging.
7/9/16: In this show, Pigtail, Moma, Sand, Carini could have all kept going. But it just sort of feels like they don't feel like stretching.
7/9/16: Oddly tremulous 20 Years Later. Mid-set Antelope is next.
7/9/16: Antelope > Number Line.
7/9/16: Minimal Number Line jam. I'm sensing a slow burn to the peak.
7/9/16: Lizards > Loving Cup encore.
No comments:
Post a Comment