The Verdict:
If the first MGM show was an example of a great Summer '15-style show, this is an example of a great Fall '16-style show. The first set is a bit more predictable in terms of song choice, but that predictability is shaken up by a surprise Type II jam (in "Gumbo"), while the second set never presents one huge jam, per se, but features brilliant improvisatory playing from front to back.
The first set is, like I said, relatively predictable based on the setlist, except for a few highlights worth mentioning. First, while I typically am not really engaged at all by performances of "KDF," Trey really hits the FTW-style melodic highs for real on this version and it's worth a listen as a result. "More," with only a few plays under its belt so far, also gets taken on a pretty impressive Type I journey. But "Gumbo" is the real story here. Not only does it get expanded into a Type II jam, the jam is echo-y, dark, and rumbling: not at all what you'd expect from this particular tune. It's compact, but one of the most fun explorations I've heard the band dive into lately. If you reanimated Funk as a zombie for Halloween, this is what it would sound like, slowly shambling around your house, brutally but sexily dancing everyone to (un)death.
Set two starts off with "Mercury," and the tune gets a long, surprisingly heavy Type I jam tacked on to the end of it. This doesn't really lead anywhere notable, but it is the longest version of "Mercury" to date. Things really kick into gear with the following "Piper," though. This is another jam that's hard to describe, but it's one of my favorite of the year, easily. Basically, the guys just ride a modified version of the "CDT" riff for about ten minutes, but there's so much momentum and it's so fluid you feel like you hear them listening to each other. It's awesome, and it segues into "Scents and Subtle Sounds" right after Trey more or less reprises the awesome riff from the Dick's '15 "Disease" to send us up a bliss peak. "Scents" itself is a little rough, but it revisits the same territory as the "Mercury" outro jam, staying heavy after the initial composed section.
After the previous night's set, you might expect the guys to clock out at this point, but instead they start up "Tweezer." This version is as straightforward and as satisfying as they get. It's full-ahead rock led by Trey until suddenly it's not, and the droning and synth samples build slowly before falling away perfectly to reveal "I Always Wanted It This Way." Similar to the first set's "Gumbo," this version of the rarely-played but always-jammed tune goes the deconstruction route, getting dark and loud and (intentionally) not making a lot of sense. If you brought an mid-90s version of "SoaM" to a rave, this is what it would sound like. As a huge fan of the potential for this new song, I absolutely loved this old-school/new-school one/two punch. "Tweezer" -> "I Always Wanted It That Way" is fantastic.
Also worth mentioning? The "I Always Wanted" jam segues perfectly into (I think) the first guitar-led "The Horse" in awhile. From there it's all victory lap tunes, but this lap is well-earned. Definitely one of my favorite shows of the year.
The Live Review:
10/29/16: The Birds opener.
10/29/16: Page a bit more sample-heavy than usual.
10/29/16: Second is KDF. Starts off rough but Trey's doing some seriously great melodic playing in the jam.
10/29/16: Little more meat than usual on this version.
10/29/16: 555.
10/29/16: A solid Roggae follows. I've heard smoother versions, but maybe not peakier ones.
10/29/16: Gumbo!!!
10/29/16: Gumbo starts off standard, then busts into a Manteca-like funk groove. Crowd loving it.
10/29/16: Jam getting crazier and more deconstructed now. Echoplex.
10/29/16: So, to recap, Phish not only played Gumbo, but Type II'd it in the middle of the first set.
10/29/16: They just ended the jam with a big chord and a Call To the Post tease.
10/29/16: Lawn Boy.
10/29/16: Wilson, Maze follow as the set starts to settle into a more standard groove.
10/29/16: Wingsuit, with a slightly extended Type I jam.
10/29/16: More!
10/29/16: I'm glad other people like this song as much as I do.
10/29/16: Because clearly I crave validation.
10/29/16: Nice, Number Line-style outro jam at the end of More.
10/29/16: Mercury opens the second set! Has that ever happened before? Don't think so.
10/29/16: Guys struggling a bit with Mercury.
10/29/16: Different transition out of the marimba section this time, but unsure if it's a change to the song or a mistake by Trey.
10/29/16: Trey using the echoplex early here.
10/29/16: Nice, spacey dark Type I jam at the end of Mercury.
10/29/16: > Piper
10/29/16: Great rock jam evolving out of Piper. Almost sounds like CDT riff.
10/29/16: Digging this jam a lot. Still sounding a bit like CDT.
10/29/16: Really like what Page has been doing throughout this jam. Adding a sort of circus-organ flair to the whole thing.
10/29/16: Really, everybody has just been killing it for about ten minutes straight at this point.
10/29/16: Trey really close to stealing the riff from the Dick's '15 Disease there.
10/29/16: Monster peak anyway.
10/29/16: > Scents!
10/29/16: That was a completely bonkers jam. The only thing that would have made it better was a -> CDT.
10/29/16: Instead, it's followed up by Trey stumbling his way through the Scents intro.
10/29/16: This is a great song. So happy to finally hear it live this past summer at BGCA.
10/29/16: More distorted soloing from Trey a la the earlier Piper jam.
10/29/16: Distorted jam fades into Tweezer.
10/29/16: Great, driving funk jam here. Rhythm section is huge.
10/29/16: More monster rock from Trey. Oh man.
10/29/16: Loops and droning synth now.
10/29/16: Holy hell. -> I Always Wanted It That Way. That just happened.
10/29/16: If they jam this, this is going to be one of my favorite sets in a long time, warts on S+SS and Mercury notwithstanding.
10/29/16: Definitely jam time. Page all over the place. Droning from Mike (and Trey?).
10/29/16: Ghost-ish jam emerging as the chaos finally settles.
10/29/16: Huge series of what I think are bass bombs as the vocals come back in.
10/29/16: -> The Horse
10/29/16: > Silent, of course.
10/29/16: End a hell of a set with Golgi.
10/29/16: Shine a Light for the encore. Nice organ breakdown before the final chorus. Don't think they usually do that.
10/29/16: > Tweeprise.
10/29/16: Whew! Short, sort of unremarkable opening set save for a jammed-out Gumbo...
10/29/16: But that second set was right up there with the best of '15-'16 S2s.
10/29/16: Mercury and Scents only got out there a little bit, but Piper, Tweezer, *and* IAWITW went *deep*.
10/29/16: That slide into The Horse to wrap things up was great, too.
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