The Verdict:
MGM night three continues what's been an absolutely spectacular run of shows so far.
The opening frame once again combines new tunes ("The Dogs," "How Many People Are You?") with old tunes played with some extra fire ("Funky Bitch," "CDT," "Army of One") to create a satisfying set. The "Ghost" that pops up in the two-slot also features some full-band improvisational heroics. It's not a long version, really, but with the band's ability to Go There on a dime in full force lately, it definitely shouldn't be skipped. It's worth mentioning too that while "How Many People?", "Stash," and "Theme" don't "get jammed" in the typical way, they all features some interesting playing that sets these takes on the songs apart from normal versions.
As with the previous two nights, the second set is just batshit. The opening "Disease" recalls one of my all-time favorites (the Miami "Disease") in terms of its sheer momentum and length. It's over twenty minutes and never lets up in that time, moving through a number of spaces without losing speed until it all peaks with a perfectly synced-up Trey high note and Mike bass bomb. In the aftermath of the peak, the band jams on a "Birds"-like progression before seguing smoothly into "Birds" proper. Then "Birds" goes Type II. Yep.
The "Birds" jam starts off briefly as a loud, angry thing before getting quieter and melodic before Trey locks onto A Riff and the band rides it for awhile before going back and finishing the song. "Fuego" and "Miss You" slow things down a bit, but then the band works a double-time, only-sort-of-reggae sandwich into the set-closing "Hood" with a fantastic "Hood" -> "Have Mercy" -> "Hood" > "A Day in the Life" sequence. It's real good.
The Live Review:
10/30/16: Alright, here we go with night three! The Dogs opener.
10/30/16: Ghost!
10/30/16: Trey and Mike easing into the jam, Fish keeping up an insistent beat, though.
10/30/16: Whole band picking up steam now.
10/30/16: Trey just blew up.
10/30/16: Man, if they start the show this way, what's still coming?
10/30/16: Wind-down ending.
10/30/16: Funky Bitch next keeps the heat coming.
10/30/16: Is it weird that Dick's is still almost five months away and I spend 15 minutes or so a day thinking about it?
10/30/16: Fiery takes on Funky Bitch and CDT follow that Ghost. Then Army of One (!) and Heavy Things.
10/30/16: How Many People Are You?!!!
10/30/16: Trey immediately starts to modulate into an uplifting, driving mode after the lyrics.
10/30/16: Sometimes I think he likes playing this song more than Mike does, even.
10/30/16: Stash next. Maybe it'll benefit from the creativity that's been laced throughout this set so far.
10/30/16: Trey is laying down all sorts of staccato-sounding madness to start this jam.
10/30/16: Stash didn't get super-weird, but featured a lot of interesting playing. Same with the Theme that followed it.
10/30/16: Theme lands nicely in Suzy.
10/30/16: Suzy is getting an echoplex-driven stop/start jam to wrap up the set.
10/30/16: PAGE = A MONSTER
10/30/16: Nice, consistently solid and energetic first set with a legit Ghost to boot. Not as surprising as 10/29's, but otherwise as good.
10/30/16: Disease opens set two.
10/30/16: Trey going rock-bonkers on this Disease like he did at the end of the S1 Ghost.
10/30/16: Loops lead a transition into a more space-funk jam.
10/30/16: Band really listening. This should be good.
10/30/16: Rhythmic jam now. Mike and Fish leading, Trey and Page sitting back.
10/30/16: Uh-oh. Trey's hooked on one of Those Riffs.
10/30/16: This thing is not letting up AT ALL. 18th minute now. Reminds me of the Miami Disease, actually. Relentless.
10/30/16: We may be in for a huge peak here.
10/30/16: Trey hits a peak just as Mike hits a bass bomb. Now THAT was awesome.
10/30/16: Sounding like Birds now.
10/30/16: BOOM!! > Birds.
10/30/16: Nuts.
10/30/16: Oh dear. Birds is going Type II.
10/30/16: Things quiet down for a bit, then Trey emerges with a really angry-sounding guitar tone.
10/30/16: Quiet, pretty jam emerging now. Nice counterpoint to the Disease jam.
10/30/16: Another great Big Riff from Trey now. Band building on it.
10/30/16: Band having a lot of fun crafting a driving but delicate jam here.
10/30/16: Okay, Fish just shifted us into a new gear.
10/30/16: Slow but directed return to the Birds riff and lyrics.
10/30/16: I think they might actually go back and finish the song.
10/30/16: Yep.
10/30/16: Wow.
10/30/16: 'They Attack!' sample from Page to round things out. Fuego next.
10/28/16: Golden Age -> Simple > Light, Piper, Tweezer -> I Always Wanted It This Way -> The Horse > Silent, and now Disease > Birds.
10/28/16: So many highlights in this run I can't keep track of them all.
10/30/16: Full-on Birds tease in Fuego, with crowd wooing.
10/30/16: I also tweeted 10/28/16 as the date for a few tweets back there. I trust you can fix it in your own head.
10/30/16: Solid but standard take on Fuego.
10/30/16: Miss You in the cooldown spot.
10/30/16: Well, think what you will of Miss You, but that was a pretty mighty outro jam.
10/30/16: Looks like Hood is going to round out another amazing second set.
10/30/16: Hood jam getting shuffly.
10/30/16: Slow segue into Have Mercy!!!
10/30/16: Page on carnival organ.
10/30/16: Shuffle continues. No reggae beat from Fish.
10/30/16: This is awesome.
10/30/16: The Hood -> Have Mercy -> Hood from 2011 is one of my favorite Phish things. That made me really happy.
10/30/16: Also a big fan of the Have Mercy sandwich from the Utica show, of course.
10/30/16: Great follow-up Hood jam happening here.
10/30/16: Band peaks the song, then backs off and now is winding up again. How often does that happen in Hood?
10/30/16: It was what I'd call, in mountaineering lingo, a 'false summit' :)
10/30/16: Page piano-only outro > A Day in the Life. What a set!
10/30/16: Character Zero encore!
10/30/16: Character Zero performances have actually been so damn engaging lately that I'm excited for this.
10/30/16: Okay, so that one wasn't so great, but who cares because SET TWO
10/30/16: End a show that fell somewhere between N1 and N2. S1 was more forgettable than 10/29's (that Gumbo!)...
10/30/16: ...but the second set ranks right up there with the other nights and anything Phish has done this year.
10/30/16: Gonna play out the last hour of work in my office with some CRB now.
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