We're nearly done with the BD run, so it's nice to see the band return to early BD form during the eleventh show.
This first set opens with one of my favorite covers of the run: Blind Lemon Jefferson's "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean." The band's poppy treatment of the tune is a little weird, but if there are more impressive examples of Phish taking a song out of its original context and making it their own, I can't think of any...except the one that happens later in this show, at least.
Once again, the opening frame doesn't offer up any real diamonds this time around, but it's strong throughout, save for a weird dip in energy 2/3rds of the way through. A great take on "Party Time" sits in the middle of a sequence of old-school tunes, and then just when the "Ocelot," "Poor Heart," "Winterqueen" combo is (maybe) getting you down, the band rounds things out with "Bold As Love" > "First Tube." It's not really a notable first set, but it's one you'd be happy to hear during any normal summer Phish show.
Strangely, set two kicks off with "Dem Bones," almost as if they forgot to do an a cappella number during set one and felt they had to make it up. "No Men" is next, and it goes long and strong, building into a frenzy out of a Trey/Page-led Type I jam before dropping off the deep end into atmospherics. This isn't something you haven't already heard a few times during this run, but it's sixteen minutes of competent, high-momentum improv, and it drops nicely into the Fish-ified cover of "Everything In Its Right Place."
For what it's worth, I'm a huge Radiohead fan and I love this cover. Not only are Fish's creepy vocal loops well done, the roar of the crowd when they first hear and recognize Page's synth tone is spine-tingling. And like with all their best gags, the band keeps bringing Fish's Thom Yorke impression back for the rest of the set.
The cover slides nicely into the Phish song most like it, "What's the Use?," and this take is of the delicate, dynamic variety like the band's been playing it lately. Next up is the highlight of the show for me, the combination of "Scents" -> "Caspian." Like 8/2, it's the late-show jamming that transcends the more template-like "No Men" jam and explores some legitimately new territory. At first, "Scents" reprises the "No Men"-style jamming, so much so that Trey quotes the "No Men" chorus at one point, but then the band transitions into a organ-driven, circus-style jam that's just unlike anything they've played this summer. It lasts for about seven minutes and is easily one of my favorite parts of the entire run so far.
The transition into "Caspian" is nearly flawless, and Caspian proper starts by again taking the easy path...until the bottom drops out completely and the band enters an extremely minimalist jamming space, giving Fish a chance to reprise his Thom Yorke impression.
Last but not least, the set closes with "Fluffhead," a strong take on the tune that finished with one last Radiohead callback by the entire band.
Jamming? Check. Shredding? Check. Energy? Check. Solid setlist? Check. Off-the-wall gimmick? Check. "Frankenstein" encore? Check.
I think the final round of the BD is off to a great start.
The Live Review:
8/4/17: Heading into the final swing of the BD.
8/4/17: See That My Grave Is Kept Clean opener.
8/4/17: (Keeping with the Lemon theme, of course)
8/4/17: This is a really interesting arrangement of the tune.
8/4/17: That was really cool. PYITE next.
8/4/17: Trey loop out of the end of PYITE leads into Party Time.
8/4/17: Big ol' organ solo from Page there in Party Time.
8/4/17: Now a big ol' rock solo from Trey. Great Type I take on Party Time.
8/4/17: > BBFCFM!!
8/4/17: Dinner and a Movie! So far, this is looking like another grab-bag set, but I'm liking...what they're grabbing?
8/4/17: Ah, in some ways this Baker's Dozen journey has always been about me, trying as long as possible to avoid Ocelot.
8/4/17: That ends now.
8/4/17: Ocelot was Ocelot. Poor Heart is next, and features a killer piano solo from Page. He's on fire tonight.
8/4/17: Winterqueen.
8/4/17: I'm really enjoying live Winterqueen more and more as time goes on, but Ocelot and Winterqueen are a little close together here.
8/4/17: Majestic take on Bold As Love next. Man, these late BD first-sets are so up-and-down.
8/4/17: S1 ends with First Tube.
8/4/17: S2 opens with Dem Bones. I guess that's what we get for no S1 a cappella number :)
8/4/17: S2 kicks off with No Men, and Trey doing some low-register soloing to start off the jam.
8/4/17: Page and Trey dueling: Page going for a low-key jam, Trey spiraling up into higher registers.
8/4/17: Trey wins, of course. Fire jam now.
8/4/17; Brief dabbling in space-funk, then Trey turns on the pitch-shifter and we go to plinko land.
8/4/17: Atmospheric jamming -> Everything In Its Right Place
8/4/17: Crowd roar when Page switches up his synth tone. Great moment.
8/4/17: Page's tone and Fish's vocal loops are surprisingly true to the original song.
8/4/17: This is great.
8/4/17: > WTU?
8/4/17: More vocal looping from Fish during WTU?
8/4/17: Scents!
8/4/17: I love so much that this song is at least somewhat back in rotation. Driving, Party-Time-like jam forming immediately.
8/4/17: Anchored by a great bass line from Mike.
8/4/17: Jam morphs into No Men-type, Trey reprising No Men vocals.
8/4/17: Now sounding like the outro from Maze.
8/4/17: Jam just pulled off a really cool modulation into a circus-space sound.
8/4/17: First half of this Scents jam was really gratifying but not really interesting. By contrast, I'm loving this second half.
8/4/17: Nice -> Caspian. Feel like if this was 1996, though, Fish would have kept the drums going through the transition.
8/4/17: All I do is whine, whine, whine, whine, whine
8/4/17: Rather than keeping up the weird Scents vibe, Trey is SHREDDING this Caspian. Out of control.
8/4/17: Bottom drops out into a REALLY ambient jam.
8/4/17: That's just creepy.
8/4/17: Fish vocal loops returning.
8/4/17: Fade into Fluffhead!
8/4/17: Great take on Fluffhead, with a neat final tease of Everything In Its Right Place at the end.
8/4/17: Frankenstein encore!
8/4/17: Another Everything In Its Right Place reference in the space section in the middle of Frankenstein.
8/4/17: That one was pretty similar to 8/2 in a lot of ways. Another grab-bag first set, no real improv, but great song selection.
8/4/17: Second set was jammy all the way through, but I found Scents -> Caspian way more interesting than No Men.
8/4/17: The last 2-3 shows have been stronger than the ones in the middle of the run, but still not touching the first five shows. My 2c.
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