Okay. So, here we go.
The biggest problem with 2016 Phish is 2015 Phish. It seems to be a pretty solid group consensus that whatever Phish had been building toward being since their return in 2009, they became that in 2015. It's over a year later now, and still nobody can stop talking about 2015 Phish, even though a whole year of new Phish has happened since then.
I wrote previously about how summer 2015 was great, but maybe not as great as everyone made it out to be in the rosy afterglow myth-making that was the wait for summer 2016 tour dates, but it was still definitely a high-water mark for the band, if not *the* high-water mark for the band.
And after reaching the high-water mark, of course, the tide...turns (sorry, couldn't help myself).
To say 2016 Phish was met with less enthusiasm than 2015 Phish is an understatement. Hell, even *Mr. Miner* had some critical things to say about the band. That's how you know it's "bad."
But it's not really that bad. Phish delivered a lot of what fans wanted from them in 2015. And, in fact, much of the period between the 2009 return and 2015 summer tour can be read as (and is often read as) a linear process of Phish getting better at (or if you prefer, relearning) how to give the fans those particular things that they wanted.
But to think of 2009-2015 that way, and to criticize 2016 in light of that thinking, is to forget (or ignore), in two very important ways, what Phish is. First, this is a band that appreciates and respects their fans perhaps more than any band out there...but it's also a band that plays for itself first and foremost, and for fans second, if at all. Second, it's a band that's lasted as long as it has by constantly innovating, changing, and experimenting with its sound.
You don't have to go too far afield on the internet to find a lot of evidence for my first claim (just read interviews with Trey, or maybe The Phish Book, if you prefer not-internet reading). I'd rather focus the rest of this "review" on defending the second claim, and then discussing why it matters.
Phish has always been a musical chameleon, or at least they have been since '92-'93, to the point that fans' and critics' talk about their past "eras" has long since ossified into an easy-to-digest progression where: the 80s - '92 were the origin of the band, with a focus on goofy antics and long, composed pieces > '93 was a transition to > '94 and '95, which were the "rock god" years, especially for Trey > '96, which was a transition > '97-'98, which was the "cowfunk" era > '99 and '00, which was the "ambient" era as a necessary endgame of the band's effort to "minimize" their sound that began in '97 > '02-'04 were the complexly brilliant "opiate jam" years > '09 - '15 were The Comeback.
We accept this narrative now, generally glossing over the fact that during each ">" along the way, there was significant discontent among diehard fans who felt that this or that stylistic change was them losing "their" band. Fans would either evolve, ride this process out, or drop out, and new fans would jump on board, and a few years later the whole process would happen again. In hindsight, it's easy for us to create a narrative in which each of these transitions *weren't* painful, and were in fact necessary to get us to where we are today, but at the time, they were often met with the incredulity and frustration that 2016 has been met with this year ('93, '96, the breakup, the hiatus, etc.)
Importantly, most of these previous Big Changes the band went through were marked by an easy-to-grok stylistic shift in their music ('97 is when they started playing funk jams, for example). Whether you liked it or not, your old Phish was (mostly) gone, and you knew it after listening to a few funk jams, or ambient jams, or murky-weird '94 "Tweezers" because that's where the guys were headed now and they made it abundantly clear. This is precisely why the narrative of Phish's progression has been so easy to build...and I think why 2016 in particular pisses people off so much.
I've reviewed the majority of the band's shows since 2009 at this point, and up through 2015, in many ways, it *does* feel like a mostly linear movement toward the perfection (or distillation) of some Phish-y essence. One thing, maybe the main thing, that makes me enjoy 3.0 more than any other era has been the fact that there hasn't really been one particular stylistic direction that characterizes it. From Hampton onward, the band has brought all of its influences and previous "versions" of itself to the table, and worked toward creating something tremendous through that synthesis. If there's one thing that *has* uniquely characterized the best parts of 3.0, though, it's the post-Tahoe "Tweezer" trend toward expansive bliss jamming of the type that was rarely heard in previous eras (I suspect because it's so unabashedly gormless in its emotional gut-punching, which likely would have been embarrassing to the guys themselves in, say, 1999).
So, 2015 was when it all finally came together: the apotheosis of the new era of Phish, when they were not only firing on all cylinders in a particularly 3.0 way during almost every show, bouncing effortlessly from style to style, but were also laying down many, many gorgeous jams...
...that, after awhile, frankly, all started to sound a bit like all the other big jams we've heard from them since 7/31/13. This is hard to see, I think, maybe when you're not listening to 2-3 of these shows a week year in and year out. It's easier to knock the "woo"s than to think about the fact that every single jam that gives rise to the "woo"s sounds pretty much the same in the first place, which is *how* the "woo"s come into it, and is maybe ultimately why you get frustrated by them. Whatever the reason, by the time Dick's 2015 rolled around, instead of enjoying the band's longer departures, I often found myself counting the minutes before an interesting improvisation predictably departed for bliss-land...again. If we can knock first sets for being too "first-setty," I was starting to be inclined to knock second sets for, yes, having big jams, but big jams that adhered to a certain, predictable, "second-setty-ness." I love bliss jams. The 9/6/15 "Disease" is, in my opinion, one of the best examples of this type of jam. But, by the end of 2015, it was beginning to feel like even jammy Phish was getting predictable. And Phish can't continue to be Phish by being predictable.
By the end of 2015 I was bored, strikingly, by three straight years of repetitively same-y long-form improvisation. And my theory about what happened in 2016? I think the band was bored, too.
So 2016 was a transition year, and I think that by the end of the year it became clear what we (they) were transitioning to. But that clarity doesn't really begin to come until very late summer, and isn't
obviously clear until we're a bit into fall tour. Summer is the complex, equally-beautiful-and-frustrating growing pains, and I think my reviews throughout reflect that.
I'll write a bit more about where I think we've ended up in my fall/winter wrap-up. For now, let's focus on the transition itself...
6/22: Solid show that immediately showcases the band's increased focus on smaller, more concentrated jams and flow across sets. First set is focused on bustouts ("Daniel Saw the Stone," "Dear Prudence," "Round Room"). There's no big jam in the second set, but a lot of strong playing anchored by a great "Simple" -> "I Found a Reason" sequence.
6/24: First set debuts "Miss You." It's otherwise straightforward stadium rock, which I guess you'd expect from a Wrigley Field show. In fact, that describes nearly all the show but the third quarter, which is a huge, improv-heavy "Disease" > "Fuego" > "Twist" sequence.
6/25: Jukebox-y first set. The second set features short-but-significant improv sections in "Carini," "Tweezer," "Piper," and "Steam." Doesn't reach the heights of 6/24's jamming, but more evidence of the band's increasing ability to Go There at the drop of a hat.
6/26: The first set's a bit of a jumble, but an overall slow tempo at least makes "Camel Walk," "Tube," and "Halley's" more interesting than usual. The highlight of the second set is "Light" > "Golden Age" -> "Boogie On," a sequence that keeps a similar improvisatory theme throughout without ever losing momentum.
6/28: The first really interesting opening set of the year, with a great "No Men" and a blues jam inserted into "Gumbo." The S2-opening "Fuego" hints at some dark jamming before the guys retreat back into the box...before emerging again with a Type II "Breath and Burning" jam, of all things. Jam follows in the footsteps of the recent takes on "Twist" and "Ghost."
6/29: Another strong first set, including a slowed-down funk "Llama" and a great "Waking Up Dead." Not as much meat as the last few S2s, but the opening "Crosseyed" -> "Friends" pair is strong and "Disease" -> "WTU?" is great despite never leaving Type I-land.
7/1: Definitely a third quarter show here. The first set is well-played but uninteresting, aside from the Type 1.5 "Gin" closer. The second set features another dark jam in "Carini," which patiently segues into what becomes a
monster "Chalkdust." There's some quality instrument switching going on here, along with plinko jamming, dark jamming, and a '15-like bliss peak. It's got a bit of everything.
7/2: The first set is, again, well-played but predictable. In the second set, "Fuego" and "Golden Age" both offer up a few minutes of interesting improvisation, but it's really "Light" that steals the show with a multi-section jam not unlike 7/1's "Chalkdust," albeit a bit more complex and less immediately rewarding. The fourth quarter doesn't feature much of anything worth mentioning.
7/3: The epitome of a third-quarter only show, even for this SPAC run. "Tube" flirts briefly with the expanded jam we'll see it take on later in the year before Trey ripcords it. I guess that's it. The only real news from this show is the "Moma," which runs nearly twenty minutes and visits all sort of jam zones in the process, putting it in competition with 7/1's "Chalkdust" and 7/2's "Light" as an early best-of candidate. Then we're back to rote playing again for the rest of the show.
7/6: This first set doesn't feature any particularly interesting playing, but at least the setlist is more varied and unpredictable than the opening frames during the SPAC run. The second set is a strange one, with Trey brutally ripcording a promising "Tweezer" early on, stuffing four ballads in a row into the Mike's Groove, and then wrapping up in relatively rote fashion.
7/8: First sets are interesting again, as "Gin" gets another Type 1.5 treatment, "How Many People?" gets extended, and "Cities" gets extra funking filthy. This energy carries over into a raucous, rock-and-roll "Ghost" and another multi-stage "Light." Overall, one of the best shows so far this year that's only really lacking a SPAC-style tentpole jam.
7/9: The first set is more about the novelty of the setlist than the quality of the playing. In this case, I'm okay with that because I love most of these songs, but ymmv. The "Disease" that opens the second set takes awhile to find its footing, and once it does the jam that results is solid, but we've already heard better earlier in the tour. After "Disease," the show settles into a confusing shuffle mode of abandoned improv attempts before wrapping up.
7/10: Very similar to 7/9. Great, various setlist in the opening frame. Legitimate and legitimately confusing ripcords pepper the second set, leaving "Martian Monster" as the only real highlight, a version where Mike plays Trey's guitar to great effect.
7/15: Uneven first set punctuated by a strong "Tweezer" and echo-y "Undermind." The second set is an excellent tease-fest based on the opening "Crosseyed" -> "WTU?" pair. Lots of brilliant segues, teases, and quotes that presage some of the better moments of late '16 but also stand really well as an excellent set on their own.
7/16: Pales in the shadow of 7/15. The first set is a bit more on-point, and ends with a legit Type 1.5 jam in "Gin." The second set is a sort-of like a less interesting first set, albeit with exceptionally strong playing, especially from Trey. If you're okay with a relatively low-improv show, you'll likely to find a lot to like here. I struggled with it a bit. The "Hood" is great, though.
7/18: Like 7/16, this show has a pretty rote opening frame that ends with a notable take, in this case it's "Possum." "Golden Age" starts the second set off in style with a spacey, chunky jam, but then things settle down again until "Sally," which is an absolute rock-jam monster, and the clearest candidate for Out West Jam of the Year this year.
7/19: Again, the first set here won't turn any heads, but the second set is one of those all-killer, no-filler deals that become more and more frequent as '16 tour winds on. "Disease" > "Fuego" > "Ghost" > "Scents" > "Light" -> "Manteca" -> "No Quarter" is definitely a tour highlight. Lots of quality improv in almost every tune there.
7/20: A weird show in the context of the three night run. The opening set is
way more interesting than the last few, riddled with bustouts and unexpected twists and turns. Then the band completely squanders the momentum with a second set that deserves to be a worse show's first set. If you like ripcords and lots of ballads, this might be for you. Otherwise, I'd recommend checking out the other 5/6ths of the BGCA run.
7/22: My 35th birthday, my 35th show, and easily my least favorite Phish show I've attended. "Paul and Silas" is the only surprise in an otherwise rote first set. The second set is quite possibly the weirdest and most disjointed second set in a tour full of them (minus a solid take on "Fuego," I guess)...and then they end it with "YEM." It feels like an apology.
7/23: A bit of redemption to end the tour after 7/22. "Ghost" gets a second-set-worthy take in the opening frame, "Reba" recalls last summer's excellent 7/24 version, and "Tube" gets jammed for the first time in forever. Then, "Wolfman's" interpolates a "California Love" jam and lyrics from Trey. And that's just the first set. There's no huge jam in the second set, but a big "2001" opener goes for a walk, "Piper" Goes There in record time and stays deep, a visit to "Twist" finds it in excellent Type I form, and though the rest of the set stays in the box, it's all gravy, as they say. "Hood" is the best version of the year up to this point.
8/26: "Tube" and "Simple" both get jammed a bit in the first set, and then things get crazy. "Blaze On" and "Fuego" both edge into jammy territory to start the second set, and then "Ghost" blows the lid off, exploring '15-style bliss territory before poking into an almost-"Piper" space, an almost-"McGrupp" space, and then a legit segue into "Gin." "Gin" reprises the 7/18 "Sally" jam in just the right way to form a great one-two punch.
8/28: N2 at Lockn' is even better. The first set is a bit festival-y again, minus another tension-filled, '93-style take on "Possum." The second set is another 7/19-style barrage of jammed tunes, starting with minor explorations in "Carini" and "Twist" before arriving at a "Light" that goes long, patiently playing with melody for a few minutes before reaching a more predictable bliss-style peak. "Tweezer," "No Quarter," "2001," and "Hood" isn't a bad way to end the set after that.
9/2: The first big run of '16 to deliver consistently. A strong Type I "Ghost" opens the run and moves immediately to a legitimately deep "No Men" jam. The rest of the set is more predictable, but it's a great start. Minus a "Seven Below" that recalls the early noise-rock of the "No Men" jam, the second set starts slow...but then there's a late-set "Tweezer" that reminds me very much of 7/31/13. The follow-up is a crazy "Jim" -> "Seven Below" -> "Jim" sandwich.
9/3: This opening set is a bit less remarkable. Likewise, the second set doesn't quite stand up to 9/2's, but it's still great. "Blaze On" gets things going with more noise jamming, and later "Simple" uses the instrument-switching gimmick to potent effect. There's also a strong take on "Hood" to close.
9/4: The first set starts off predictably, but ends up with a great Type II "Gin," a twisted "Split," and then a "Tube" that follows in the footsteps of the Chula Vista version. This momentum absolutely carries over into a monster of a second set that kicks off like 7/15, with a deep "Crosseyed" jam. "Steam" Goes There too, and then "Piper" runs for about twenty minutes. Granted, the middle of that is a four-man percussion jam, but the improv picks up right where it left off when the band picks their instruments back up. "Light" gets taken on one more walk for the summer, and takes a stranger path this time, exploring some new territory before "The Lizards," "First Tube," and "Walls" wrap things up.
