The Verdict:
Note: No PhishTracks links for this show. Sorry, folks!
Last year's Riviera Maya shows were better than they get credit for, but still paled in comparison to much of 2015 Phish. This time around, the Mexico run follows nicely in the footsteps of the consistently engaging and interesting fall/winter shows of 2016.
Things kick off with a bang with the first night's show. For one thing, "Free" opens the show and features a Trey solo. It's a pretty typical solo as these things go, but "Free" sans Trey solo seems to be a bone of contention for a lot of phans, so there it is.
All told, the first set doesn't feature any big highlight moments, but like a lot of late 2016 first sets, it's really well put together, the energy never flags, and there are some great moments worth your time if you listen for them a little bit ("Sand," "Funky Bitch," "Undermind"). "Wolfman's" gets another Type 1.5 treatment, too, so that's fun.
The second set takes a little bit to get going, but once we hit "Fuego," it becomes one of my favorite sets of Phish music in a long time. "Fuego" spends a little time in space before turning into a The Who-like Type II jam, then calms into a haze of ambient sound before transitioning to "Caspian." "Caspian" follows in the footsteps of it's Magnaball brother, taking a funky Type II path before exploding into a huge peak that winds up as a protracted "Twist" segue. "Twist" is a monster itself, moving almost right away into '11-'12-style plinko, an almost-"Undermind"-reprise, and then a "Tequila" jam that moves back into the plinko, which segues perfectly into "Seven Below." Not quite content to wrap things up yet, Page uses his synth to lead the guys through a textured, dark Type II jam here before Trey finally brings the "Seven Below" riff back around to complete one of the most varied and interesting bits of jamming I've heard from the band in the last few years...and yes, that's counting 2015.
Slap a better first set and a faster opening to the second onto this show and we're talking best-of material, but I'm also happy to just have that mid-second-set sequence sit where it is. Because it's great, and even though I can't link to it right now, you should definitely seek it out and give it a listen.
The Live Review:
1/13/17: Free opener.
1/13/17: Trey taking a solo during Free. He and Mike dueling. Heavily distorted guitar tone.
1/13/17: Yarmouth Road in the two-slot, now Sand is next.
1/13/17: Solid groove from Mike and Fish here in Sand.
1/13/17: Trey and Page really locking in now. This is good.
1/13/17: > Theme.
1/13/17: Someone lock Trey in a room and force him to practice the outro riff from Theme for six straight hours before Baker's Dozen.
1/13/17: Whole band going to town on Funky Bitch now.
1/13/17: No huge surprises so far in the first set, but with the possible exception of Theme, the guys are ripping it.
1/13/17: Undermind!
1/13/17: Fish doing some really interesting things with rhythm here. Page playing off of it w/ electric piano.
1/13/17: Neat breakdown in Undermind. As usual, it's a song that forces the band to be interesting even if they don't want to be.
1/13/17: NICU, Horn follow in what's been a pretty old-school set so far.
1/13/17: Wolfman's, perhaps to end the set.
1/13/17: Neat echo-funk jam evolving almost immediately. This bodes well.
1/13/17: Wolfman's jams are the new Gin jams.
1/13/17: Trey losing his shit at the end of the jam. Peak city.
1/13/17: End set.
1/13/17: Set 2, appropriately, starts off with ASIHTOS.
1/13/17: Hot-if-standard ASIHTOS followed by The Wedge.
1/13/17: The Wedge getting extended now. Pretty fun little Type I jam.
1/13/17: No real lean toward jamming yet this set, which is weird because the first set was HOT. Maybe Fuego'll go deep? Been awhile.
1/13/17: Normal Fuego outro fading into a bed of rhythm and electric piano. Looks like I might get my wish.
1/13/17: A very Who-sounding jam is forming from this bed of sound. I like it.
1/13/17: Page recalling the Fuego riff on piano during this intense, building Type II jam.
1/13/17: Great, momentum-filled Type II rock jam there. Now fading into pretty ambient sound. > Caspian.
1/13/17: Distortion-jamming from Fuego follows over into Caspian. That's cool.
1/13/17: Stop/start space funk jam after a huge peak. Caspian just went Type II.
1/13/17: Fish is an absolute monster on this Caspian. Trey teasing Twist...
1/13/17: Patient segue. -> Twist.
1/13/17: Plinko?! Twist got weird REAL fast.
1/13/17: Almost an Undermind-like jam happening now.
1/13/17: Tequila teasing from Trey and lyrics from Fish.
1/13/17: Variations on the Tequila jam continuing now.
1/13/17: Full on '11-'12 plinko-style jamming happening now.
1/13/17: Crazy jam -> Seven Below. Holy shit, this is awesome.
1/13/17: If you'd have told me last week that Fuego > Caspian -> Twist -> Seven Below would be one of my favorite '16 Phish sequences...
1/13/17: That just sounds goofy. But this music sounds amazing.
1/13/17: Breezy Seven Below jam picking up now.
1/13/17: Synth entering the Seven Below jam now. We might be lifting back off.
1/13/17: Beautiful, spacey, melodic jam forming now, with just an edge of darkness still in it.
1/13/17: I'll say it straight-out: the last four songs are some of the most interesting, unique jamming the band has done all year.
1/13/17: There is no 25-minute jam, just patiently-developed improv over the course of a few brilliantly stitched-together songs.
1/13/17: This kind of playing epitomizes '16 for me. And, frankly, I prefer it to the endless but predictable mega-jams of '15.
1/13/17: Trey brings the Seven Below riff back around to end the tune. Wow.
1/13/17: Finally, a 'cooldown' in the form of Golgi.
1/13/17: > Antelope. Probably to close the set. Interesting choice.
1/13/17: Y'all know how I feel about Antelope (not good), but this is a better version than most.
1/13/17: Set 2 ends...and Contact encore!!
1/13/17: You know it's been a good night when they dust off Contact.
1/13/17: Bug, too! I love this song as encore, as long as it's not the last night of a run.
1/13/17: Fantastic show. Strong opening set, as is par for the course lately. I loved the second set (in case you couldn't tell).
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