Summer I 2010 Wrap-Up

So, I never did a wrap-up post for Summer I 2010, despite the fact that I finished reviewing the individual shows in June. I'm going to do one now, but be aware that it's not coming much from memory of having listened to the shows recently, but more just from re-reading my reviews.

What I do remember of Summer I 2010 (and what re-reading reviews confirms) is that during this period, Phish pretty much abandoned the idea of jamming in its entirety, save for the occasional fifteen minute song that took the usual Type I > Funk > Rock > Ambient Fadeout structure of most of '09's big jams. They focused instead on high energy playing, great song choices, and just having fun. Many of these shows, on their own, are really fun, exciting listens. After a whole tour of it, though, I sort of wanted to blow my brains out. Yes, we get it. You can play these songs. But the improv, the thing that makes live Phish most interesting, is almost entirely missing after the first few shows. Fortunately, things pick up rather quickly during Summer II, so I guess there's that. Anyway, here are the highlights, such as they are:

6/11: The first three or so shows of the tour are actually pretty fantastic. The first set of the opener is ninety minutes in nine songs, and it's all a huge, high-energy affair. The second set has a few legit jams in "Light," and "Ghost" > "Limb By Limb."

6/12: Interesting version of "Stash" and a strange, mini-jammed "Groove" set closer in the first set. The second set opens with a monster "Rock and Roll" that's frankly kind of boring despite its length. Fortunately, the extended "Hood" that follows is "above-average-good," and the "Number Line" after that is one of the best jams of the year, even though it's really only the last five minutes or so that get crazy.

6/13: Consistently energetic show with some great setlist choices. The "Melt" at the end of the first set gets briefly interesting. The second set's "Drowned" > "Tweezer" -> "Twist" > "Piper" sequence is worth a listen, though it's the beginning of a move from legit jams to segues and weird setlist turns that hangs over most of the rest of this leg of tour.

6/15: Totally jamless. Weird "Bag" that's maybe worth a listen. There's a bit of "Gin" toward the end that gets interesting. Otherwise, totally rote show.

6/17: Great first set, in a first set sort of way. Trey destroys "Walk Away" and "Divided Sky." "Stash" is sufficiently weird and the jam gets a little "Melt"-y. "Sand" from the second set is worth a mention, as it sounds shockingly like a 2013 jam, like you literally turned on shuffle without realizing it and we jumped a few years into the future. But much of the rest of the show is the band giving Trey the reins and Trey sort of shrugging awkwardly.

6/18: This is about as good as a Phish show can get without a marquee jam. Everything's played well, the setlist is fantastic, etc. "Light" -> "Billy Breathes" is gorgeous, even if the "Light" is short. The "Tweezer" is worth a listen, though I'm not sure it quite qualifies as a "marquee jam" to offset the rest of the (really good) jukebox playing.

6/19: First set is amazing within the confines of a usual first set. Fantastic Type I "Gin" jam, fantastic song selection, Page destroys the "Suzy" closer. "Rock and Roll" opens the second set on a high note, but the rest of the set devolves back into "rocking out the first set" territory.

6/20: Consistent but straightforward first set with a "Roggae" highlight. "Drowned" -> "Swept Away" -> "Steep" is masterful, but that's about all that's worth noting from another mostly rote show.

6/22: The first set is all Trey Shredz and "Dr. Gabel." "Sally" -> "Light" -> "46 Days" is a great second set sequence, but that's the extent of the highlights.

6/24: The epitome of jamless, high energy 2010 Phish. Strong "Bowie" opener, strange "Timber" sort-of jam...and "The (fucking) Rover"! And it's a great cover. The second set is a bit weird and inconsistent, and settles into a composed-song groove for the last 45 or so minutes, but before that there's a bit of an interesting "Twenty Years" jam > a solid "Hood."

6/25: Finally somewhat of a strange show! Lots of very old songs and very new songs in the first set. The second set "CDT" goes deep (shades of '14) though it's a bit hollow for all its length. The "highlight" of the set is a "2001"/Michael Jackson seguefest that, like most seguefests, was probably way better live than it is on tape. On tape, it's a rickety, sort of goofy affair that fortunately lands in a "Light" that actually goes somewhere interesting. Inconsistent show, but one with some improvisational high points, finally.

6/26: Set one is standard-great in the mold of most of the summer 2010 first sets so far: solid playing, great song choices, nothing interesting.  The second set is a bunch of old-school songs rocked out in old-school fashion, including a fantastic "Rock and Roll" jam and one of the better "Tweezer"s of the season.

6/27: The first set is a weird but effective mix of eccentric songs like "Walfredo," "Tela," and "Mellow Mood." In the second set, a rocking "Meatstick" leads into "Saw It Again," which we do in fact see again (and again) throughout the rest of the set. "Piper" -> "Ghost" is gorgeous, and the halfhearted "Jumpin' Jack Flash" that follows is icing on the weirdly satisfying cake. One of my favorites of the leg, for sure.

6/29: Back down into the doldrums in this show, from the heights of the previous 2-3. The whale pedal is absolutely out of control here, and the songs suffer for it. No highlights really, save for a few minutes of the "Simple" and a bit of funky space in "Groove."

7/1: Lack of energy makes the usual paint-by-numbers 2010 S1 boring. All that's really worth mentioning is a brief-but-thorough "Light."

7/2: Back to the usual "fun" 2010 first set here. Great moments in the second set including a vocal jam in "46 Days," a dark "Twenty Years Later," and more vocal jamming in "YEM," but alas, still very little improv.

7/3: Lots of old and rare songs in yet another good-but-boring first set. There is a long jam here in "Rock and Roll," but it's a clunker. The highlight of the show is probably the "Caspian" > "Tweezer" sequence.

7/4: Yet more oldies-but-goodies in this first set. The second set is one of the better ones of tour, which honestly isn't saying much after this leg. For example, there's a high-octane "Disease" > "Piper" > "Ghost" sequence, but across all three of those songs, there's no Type II to be seen. Oh well.

2010-07-04 Alpharetta II

Verdict:
S1 is another very oldies-centric affair, and it's just as effective as 7/3's S1 for that reason. "PYITE," "Colonel Forbin's," and "Mockingbird" are all early highlights. "Camel Walk" shows up, too. "Bowie" > "Jibboo" might be a legitimate pick for the highlight reel.


Phish - 7/4/10 "Gotta Jibboo" from Phish on Vimeo.

S2 is one of the best second sets of tour. Depends on your enthusiasm for Phish gimmickry, I guess. The "DWD" > "Piper" > "Ghost" combo isn't as awesome as it sounds on paper, but it's a quality run of songs by early 2010, Type II-less standards. There's a quick breather before a roundhouse of a "Mike's" followed by "Tela," and the infamous "Killing in the Name" sandwich with "Harpua" for the bread. The set proper ends with a "Groove" that's as fiery as the "Mike's," and "First Tube" ends the leg in its entirety.

Live Review:
7/4/10: Alright, and we're back in the recent past. 7/4 a capella Star-Spangled Banner opener. Nice.

7/4/10: PYITE is one of my favorite openers. Even in my office, over headphones, it gets me bouncing.

7/4/10: Colonel Forbin's! Maybe this is going to follow 7/3's footsteps as an oldies-based first set?

7/4/10: That PYITE was extra-punchy, if you don't mind me saying.

7/4/10: Famous Mockingbird was a bit rough around the edges (as per usual in 3.0), but is always a joy anyway.

7/4/10: Also, the more older, composed songs played the less possibility of whale-jamming!

7/4/10: Camel Walk is next up.

7/4/10: Next is OCELOT. You all know how I feel about OCELOT. Actually, this version is a little meatier than your usual version.

7/4/10: Page is a monster in Heavy Things. Short but definitely sweet piano break there.

7/4/10: MFMF after Heavy Things. Setlist choices getting a little more random, but I'm still having fun.

7/4/10: High-tempo Bowie to polish off S1.

7/4/10: Trey putting the whale to GOOD use here in this Bowie.

7/4/10: Now that was just a feel-good Bowie all the way around. Trey liked it so much that he just started up Jibboo.

7/4/10: Everyone else sounded surprised. I think they were planning on setbreak right there.

7/4/10: This Jibboo is pretty Mike-heavy. Or at least it's pretty pocket-heavy. Page and Trey are both minimalizing.

7/4/10: Trey's slowly shouldering his way up to the front of the jam here.

7/4/10: Extended ending here that definitely goes beyond the call of shredding-duty.

7/4/10: DWD S2 opener.

7/4/10: The first nine minutes of this DWD are just totally joyful, whale-less Type I rock, then there's a smooth switch to space-funk.

7/4/10: Space-funk is breaking up as Trey is chording arrhythmically with a super-weird distorted tone. Mike with syncopated bass.

7/4/10: That section lasts for about a minute until Trey lays the opening riff to Piper over it. Mike seems reluctant to end the bass-runs.

7/4/10: Piper gets good around 5:30, making an effortless transition back into space-funk.

7/4/10: No funk-filler here, though. Mike's leading the way and Page and Trey are adding spacey effects.

7/4/10: Now Trey adding melody in an Oysterhead-type tone in a high register.

7/4/10: Trey pulls the opening to Ghost out of a loop jam. Can't tell if I should be mad b/c of ripcording or happy b/c lots of mini-jams.

7/4/10: Trey's latched on to a riff in this Ghost that sounds a bit like a slowed-down Manteca.

7/4/10: Sometimes 2010 Summer I sounds like an alternate-future #phish where they never started Type II jamming, but got really good anyway.

7/4/10: Fish drives this all the way to the end, and then we get a neat wind-down ending courtesy of Page.

7/4/10: Trey with a hilariously nasty lyrical biff at the beginning of Waste. Finally: 'Don't wanna be...somethin'.'

7/4/10: It's cheesy as hell, but I love that signature Waste bass riff from Gordo.

7/4/10: 'This set is so good, what can we play that'll piss Ben off? Oh, that's right! Julius!!'

7/4/10: Okay, gotta admit that was a hot Julius. Could probably work to end the set there, but no! > Mike's!

7/4/09: This Mike's is hotter than an elephant ear at the fair. Whatever the hell that means.

7/4/09: Bang-up Mike's > TELA

7/4/09: Harpua (!) follows Tela. Hilariously confusing story from Trey about an ancient American who hates modern society.

7/4/09: Which of course leads into the Killing in the Name cover. Which is awesome.

7/4/09: I love Fish on the vocals for Killing in the Name. Great follow-up Harpua > Groove.

7/4/10: Whoops, last few tweets should be '10, not '09, obviously.

7/4/10: Summer I going out on a strong note. Sort of like a show with a great opening song and a great
encore.

7/4/10: But everything in the middle was pretty boring, honestly. Almost everything. Looking forward to Summer II though. THE GREEK

7/4/10: Mike's and Groove have both been pretty notable Trey Shreds moments in a summer full of 'em.

7/4/10: Fan on SBD screaming 'Play an encore, PLEASE!!! Just one more!' First show, maybe? I think he'll get his wish...


7/4/10: I like First Tube as a tour closer. Provided that there's a lot of feedback and they open next tour with Last Tube.

2010-07-03 Alpharetta I

Verdict:
The first set is the typically well-played, well-constructed set we've gotten (almost too) used to throughout this tour, made even a bit more effective than usual thanks to "Zero" opener and a set of rare and older songs that shift it from a "If you like these songs..." sort of affair to a "Since you definitely like these songs..." sort of affair.

The S2-opening "Rock and Roll" jam is forgettable, following the tired old early-3.0 jam template as it does. The easy highlight of the show, though is "Caspian" > "Tweezer." "Caspian" gets off to a slow, whaley start but quickly moves into a loop-filled nearly-percussion-free space that highlights Trey and Mike's collective melodic playing for some of the more interesting exploration thus far this summer. The "Tweezer" is not exploratory at all, but it's no slouch, and a segue into a cleverly mellow and melodic "Slave" doesn't hurt, either.

Overall, though, despite some excellent setlist choices, the show is sabotaged a bit by its predictability (at this point in the tour) and over-reliance on the whale pedal (seriously, it's an effect, not a consistent tone).

Review:
7/3/10: Alright, time for the last run of Summer I in Alpharetta!

7/3/10: Zero as show opener. I think I vastly prefer it as an opener than a closer. Except at Gorge '13, of course.

7/3/10: Actually, I might take that back. Zero as a slower, warm-up song is a little weird.

7/3/10: 1,000th tweet for what I believe is the second Destiny Unbound of 3.0 (first on was Gorge '09).

7/3/10: Wow. Trey usually botches Rift, but this was above and beyond. He dropped out completely for a good 30 seconds at one point.

7/3/10: Rough start to McGrupp (!), but a nice Page-led, salsa-jazz style jam in the middle makes up for it.

7/3/10: Early(ish) Gin. Trey singing along with Page's piano.

7/3/10: This Gin is extended and blessedly empty of whale pedal (for the most part). Trey slowly easing into his usual solid shredding.

7/3/10: Follow-up with Mountains in the Mist. The usual great set construction, but with a rarities flavor. Liking it so far.

7/3/10: Mountains in the Mist is pretty much made for a whale solo, but I've heard it used so much lately there's no novelty to it.

7/3/10: NICU next, with a solo from 'Leon.'

7/3/10: Gumbo, and My Sweet One with a 'bluegrass bass' solo from Mike.

7/3/10: As is becoming usual, there's no outstanding moments in this set, but it's solid front-to-back so far (minus some Rift issues).

7/3/10: Stealing Time was a pretty strong mixture of whale-jamming and normal rock shredding.

7/3/10: Strange Design! I know I usually talk up the great song choices in these 2010 S1s, but this one is extra great.

7/3/10: Good mix of rarities and older songs, with the occasional, well-placed newer song.

7/3/10: SANITY! Trey gets the lyrics for the second verse from the audience. Some particularly insane
laughter between verses.

7/3/10: Yes, I just reviewed the quality of the laughter in Sanity.

7/3/10: What else do you close a mostly-oldies S1 with? Antelope, of course.

7/3/10: S2 kicks off with Rock and Roll. Pretty standard Type I business with a few Mike and Page flourishes thrown in for good measure.

7/3/10: Last minute of the jam transitions into the tried-and-true distorted space-funk that pops up so often in these early 3.0 jams.

7/3/10: Quick segue into Caspian.

7/3/10: Trey's putting the whale pedal to decent effect here in Caspian.

7/3/10: Mellows out around 6:00, Trey starts up some guitar loops.

7/3/10: Fish has dropped out completely, maybe Mike too.

7/3/10: Really neat jam space here. Would love about ten minutes of this.

7/3/10: That's okay, a > Tweezer is a good enough consolation prize :)

7/3/10: Some serious funk riffage from Trey and Mike in the early bit of this Tweezer.

7/3/10: Wow. This Tweezer doesn't go anywhere weird, but it's a perfect funk-rock, 'standard' version. Really, really solid.

7/3/10: Oh, and if that wasn't enough, we end with a great little fade-out -> Slave.

7/3/10: Great, super mellow Slave jam with a 45 second (?) sustained note from Trey.

7/3/10: Bouncin' now. Great Caspian > Tweezer -> Slave, but I think that might be it for the jamming for the night.

7/3/10: Perfectly serviceable late-set Possum, followed by Number Line.

7/3/10: Number Line's good, too, albeit a bit too whaley. I just get a little frustrated when S2s coast to a stop like this, I guess.

7/3/10: Really great Trey and Mike interplay at the beginning of this Hood jam.

7/3/10: Really great melodic playing, similar to the earlier Slave.

7/3/10: Really great Really great aaaagh I'm tweeting too much about shows that all sort of sound the same help

7/3/10: The whale is seriously calling here at the peak of this Hood.

7/3/10: Very similar to the Slave: great, mellow melodic build, but then a messy, disjointed peak.

7/3/10: Trey's bringing the house down on this Loving Cup, too. Maybe I should give up and accept the Summer of Shredding.

7/3/10: Welp, Sleeping Monkey, Tweeprise encore'll wrap this one up. One bright spot early in the second set, but otherwise typical 2010.

2010-07-02 Charlotte

Verdict:
This show starts off with a first set that's more like what we've come to expect from Summer 2010 first sets and less like what we've gotten the last two nights. There's no real standout jam or song here, but the entire set flows nicely, and there are little surprises ("Mexican Cousin," the mini-jam in "Bag," the alternate lyric in "Vultures") that make it clear that the guys are having fun. The don't sound like they're trying to stay awake throughout the set like they did on 7/1.

The second set is weird (for a second set), but is good unless you want to belabor the lack of a marquee jam. "Drowned" goes long but doesn't really go deep...and that's about it. "46 Days" and "Twenty Years Later" both deviate slightly from their typical direction (vocal jam and 2.0 darkness jam, respectively). The "Carini" > "Fuck Your Face" segue is just ridiculous, and couldn't have happened with a better pair of songs. The "YEM" is 23 minutes long and features nearly full versions of "Proud Mary" and "Get Back" in the vocal jam. So, much like the first set, there's a lot of energy here and some fun playing around. Which is par for the course for a solid Summer 2010 show so far. Just no jams, still.


Phish - 7/2/10 "You Enjoy Myself" from Phish on Vimeo.

Live Review:
7/2/10: Doing 7/2 now. Probably going to hit 1,000 tweets, too. There might even be one semi-decent jam or something to get excited about!

7/2/10: Buried Alive opener! I'll be happy to eat my words if this show turns out to be a barn burner.

7/2/10: AC/DC Bag next. Sounds a bit more energetic already than last night. Hopefully the guys got some sleep/caffeine.

7/2/10: Trey and Page Buried Alive tease in Bag.

7/2/10: Weird, synth-y tones from both Trey and Mike during the mini-jam.

7/2/10: Vultures! It's like they're reading my mind.

7/2/10: 'Like a potato to the throat' alternate lyric.

7/2/10: The outro jam is...wait for it...Trey noodling with the whale pedal. SURPRISE

7/2/10: Wolfman's, with a full-on Mike takeover about halfway through. I'm already liking this way better than either of the last 2 shows.

7/2/10: Trey soloing over some almost-plinko funk from Mike and Page now.

7/2/10: Goes all-out rock and roll for the peak. Great bit.

7/2/10: BOTT next. I don't know why, but I never get sick of this song in first sets. Same (mostly) with Wolfman's.

7/2/10: This is some serious Marty-McFly-At-The-Enchantment-Under-The-Sea-Dance guitar solo shit here.

7/2/10: Trey's shredding The Wedge again. This always freaks me out. His playing is something like 400% better than last night.

7/2/10: MEXICAN COUSIN!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHA

7/2/10: Okay, now that I've calmed down a bit, the obligatory late-S1 Stash.

7/2/10: Subtle, mellow section slowly building to higher tension in the middle of this jam. Page with some great piano work.

7/2/10: Great Stash, even though it didn't deviate much from the 3.0-usual Composed > Mellow Tension > Rock Tension > Peak structure.

7/2/10: Looks like Sparkle, CDT to close.

7/2/10: CDT is yet more totally ridiculously good Trey shredding. Is this a different guitarist than last night? Is Trey a alien?

7/2/10: About 9 minutes into Drowned, the guys move from typical Type I to a Page-led funk jam.

7/2/10: Now Page and Mike are stacking arpeggios on top of each other. Pretty neat.

7/2/10: 46 Days with vocal jam outro > Twenty Years Later.

7/2/10: The outro on this version seems more drawn-out and distorted than usual. Very 2.0-sounding, to me.

7/2/10: Super-uptempo Lizards is next. Page is owning his piano solo.

7/2/10: Trey struggling a little bit with his chosen instrument, the guitar, here in this particular version of LIZARDS

7/2/10: Late-set Carini! This is during one of those periods when Carini wasn't allowed out to play for long. Nice to hear it, regardless.

7/2/10: Oh, amazing-as-all-hell Carini -> FYF. BOOM

7/2/10: Feedback gives way to > 2001.

7/2/10: This is by no means an old-school 2001, but it's got some legs.

7/2/10: YEM time. This second set has finished really strongly for a 2010 show.

7/2/10: Trey and Mike tease FYF in YEM.

7/2/10: Trey hits another great rock peak at around 14:00, and Mike follows up with a SERIOUS bubble-
bass solo.

7/2/10: Proud Mary in the vocal jam.

7/2/10: Now Get Back.

7/2/10: Day in the Life encore.

7/2/10: Well, that show doesn't win any awards for balls-to-the-wall jamming. But, it's much better than either of the last two shows.

7/2/10: And better than most of Summer I before Merriweather and Camden. High energy, good song choices and solid playing throughout.

7/2/10: Didn't make it to 1,000 tweets, though. I'll have to come back for 7/3 soon.

2010-07-01 Raleigh

Verdict:
So I thought that this show was a bit of an improvement over CMAC, but not by much. The first set, while built with the same brilliance as most 2010 S1s so far, is marred by a pretty serious dip in energy compared to previous shows. The whole precise, predictable, workmanlike approach to S1s only really works when there's the enthusiasm to back it up, and it's mostly lacking here.

The energy comes back a bit in the second set, but it ends up being more like another first set, so I don't know how much of a consolation that is. A promising "Halley's" makes a great -> into a "Light" that explores a space that melds '09 ambient jamming with '10 loop-jamming pretty brilliantly, if briefly. "Light Up Or Leave Me Alone" features an excellent Trey solo, and the band finally gets back on their usual track...oh, right around the "Boogie On" encore.

Live Review:
7/2/10: I usually find 3.0 Llamas pretty tepid, and this one isn't much different, but Mike's doing his best to hearken back to the 90s.

7/2/10: Always glad to hear Roses, but this version is a bit flat. Hope this isn't a sign of things to come.

7/2/10: Okay, there's a little swagger peeking through in this KDF solo.

7/2/10: Time Loves a Hero cover next.

7/2/10: Not too familiar with this tune, but I like Fish's drumming quite a bit.

7/2/10: Now Alaska. The guys sound tired. Not sloppy, just tired.

7/2/10: Fast Water in the Sky!

7/1/10: Ah, crap. Last few tweets should obviously be 7/1/10, not 7/2/10.

7/1/10: Standard S1 Jim, Moma. So far it's an average set lacking the usual '10 energy that boosts it to slightly above average.

7/1/10: Maybe this Divided Sky will help kick things up a notch.

7/1/10: This DSky jam is whale-ful. The composed part was pretty sharp, though.

7/1/10: Looks like Cavern to close S1. This set has been pretty underwhelming.

7/1/10: Really, all that's really saved many of the paint-by-numbers S1s lately has been the band's energy. Even that's gone tonight.

7/1/10: S2 opens with Number Line. Trey is whale-shredding the crap out of it. At the very least, the guys sound a bit more awake now.

7/1/10: Solid Halley's with a neat -> Light.

7/1/10: Well, there's a fair amount of whale-wanking until the 7:00 mark, when Trey pulls everyone else into space with feedbacked chords.

7/1/10: Page has a nice piano riff going here, Mike playing something angular and dark on top of it.

7/1/10: Really neat rhythm-heavy jam space here. Trey and Page playing delicately on top of it.

7/1/10: At the 12:00 mark, Trey brings back the Light riff out of the ambient space. Neat jam.

7/1/10: Average-great Fluffhead. The > Have Mercy is awesome, though. Love this cover.

7/1/10: Light Up Or Leave Me Alone mega-bustout features some absolutely SERIOUS Trey soloing. First time he's sounded like himself tonight.

7/1/10: Pretty typical Mike-based Free > Velvet Sea. Weird time for the setlist to get jukeboxy, but there it is.

7/1/10: Coil, Suzy to finish S2. Really weird end to a weird set.

7/1/10: Light > Fluff > Have Mercy, Light Up was a great run in the middle of the set.

7/1/10: But the beginning was standard S1 fare and the second half is one of those shows where they play like 4 'closer' songs in a row.

7/1/10: To be fair, this is a pretty hoppin' version of Suzy. Page is nuts, and Fish is having a great time with his screaming parts.

7/1/10: Extended Boogie On as the encore eases the pain a bit.

7/1/10: This is what the majority of most '10 shows sound like, which is what makes the lack of jamming palatable.

7/1/10: In this show, though, they pretty much saved it for the encore.

2010-06-29 CMAC

The Verdict:
So the CMAC show was a pretty big letdown after the previous four shows. Here there is no long-form jamming to speak of, no shenanigans, not even a smooth segue to drool over. We get yet another "well-played" 2010 show, but at this point I'm starting to feel as if that's not enough. There's a lot of energy here, but just about every potentially interesting passage in the show ends up boiling down to Trey wielding his whale pedal and wanking off with it for between two and ten minutes.

As I've said before, I don't mind the pedal on principle, but it should be used as it's designed: as an effects pedal, not as a consistent "tone" throughout the show. And this show sees the most egregious use of it (literally almost every song) of any show since 3.0 began. So, generally speaking, yuck.

I suppose that the back half of the "Mike's Groove" is worth a mention, containing as it does a pretty interesting ambient mini-jam in "Simple" and then one of more interesting, '97-funk-laden "Groove" jams I've heard since Hampton.

The Live Review:

6/29/10: Fastest way to my heart: The Connection opener. I'm a sucker for Undermind songs. This one has a slightly extended introduction.

6/29/10: The Connection is extended a bit, but it stays Type I throughout. Sort of like a sloppy, straight-up Jibboo jam.

6/29/10: DWD in the two-spot. It's a short one, with the focus entirely on whale-inflected Type I shredding. Standard, all the way around.

6/29/10: That said, good energy so far by everyone involved. Sample is next, keeps the momentum rolling.

6/29/10: Ocelot is fourth. Another whale-solo. So far, so standard. But Reba's next. And it's a very high tempo version.

6/29/10: Despite the tempo, the composed section goes off w/o a hitch. Trey leads the opening of the jam w/ Page including organ accents.

6/29/10: Now Mike takes over, and Trey echoes his riffs. Neat. Page over to the piano with some jazz chords.

6/26/10: Really nice mid-jam there, with everyone listening to each other. Now Trey pushes for the peak with more whale, sort of ruins it.

6/29/10: Horn, then Funky Bitch. As usual, Page tearing up the organ on this one.

6/29/10: Undermind!

6/29/10: Jam starts off with a bluesy Page solo on the piano. Trey chording overtop.

6/29/10: Out of nowhere, Trey is taking over this jam with an absolutely hairy solo. Using the whale to good effect in some places.

6/29/10: Not sure where that came from, but I hope that there's more of it.

6/29/10: The Ballad of Curtis Loew is always welcome in my first set.

6/29/10: Bowie to close S1.

6/29/10: This Bowie seems faster than usual, too. Might be my imagination, though.

6/29/10: Trey starts off the jam with some really solid melodic playing, just like with the Reba earlier.

6/29/10: Rest of the jam is a pretty rote path to the peak. S1 in general has serious energy going for it, but same-old otherwise.

6/29/10: S2 opens with a slow(ish) Possum.

6/29/10: No surprises from Possum, though the 'jam' (i.e. Trey shredding) was a little hotter than usual. Mike's now.

6/29/10: I've probably heard that drop into THE bassline in Mike's between 500 and 1000 times in my life now. Still goosebumps, though.

6/29/10: Mike's is another Trey-fest, albeit with the easy but always pleasing-to-the-ears > Simple.

6/29/10: So far this is another 'solid' show, but it really seems like every jam is just a space for Trey to play rock licks for 2-7 mins.

6/29/10: Save for the middle of that Reba, there hasn't been much interesting participation by any of the other band members.

6/29/10: And Trey isn't playing well enough to pull off a great show by himself. We might just be on cruise control for tonight.

6/29/10: Which is a damn shame after the last four shows, and especially right after Merriweather.

6/29/10: Despite all my grumbling, this Simple goes into a neat, loop-filled ambient space after a few minutes of the usual Simple jam.

6/29/10: Neat little piano outro from Page at the end of the jam > I Am the Walrus, which is an awesome cover for Phish to play, obviously.

6/29/10: Serious feedback/loop action at the end of Walrus.

6/29/10: Trey employing the whale with some positive effect (affect?) in the follow-up Weekapaug.

6/29/10: Fast-paced funk jam now, with Mike reprising his playing from the song's intro.

6/29/10: It just got all 1997 up in here.

6/29/10: Really brief Type II space here at the end of the funk jam. Like Trey's looking for a song to >.

6/29/10: Fish tries to start up the 'Paug drumbeat and is REJECTED. Trey finally settles on LxL as the jam peters out.

6/29/10: LxL is another Trey-whale jaunt. Man, I vastly prefer shows where the whale makes limited, effective appearances.

6/29/10: Ah, Joy. The Pace Picante salsa of second-set #phish.

6/29/10: Harry Hood, w/ synth bass intro from Mike.

6/29/10: Yet more whale-wanking here in Hood.

6/29/10: A strong Golgi to close S2 and a spectacularly noisy First Tube to end a largely flat show.

6/29/10: Did like the last two minutes of Simple > Groove, though.

2010-06-27 MPP II

Here we go. Here is The Phish. Thirteen shows into summer tour, they've finally managed to string two supremely interesting and clever shows together back-to-back, and now I am excited.

6/26 was a satisfying mix of solid S1 song choices and a S2 that was basically Amazing Version of Rock and Roll > A Bunch of Old-School '94-Sounding Phish Music. 6/27 puts together a really unique arrangement of songs in S1 and then blows S2 out of the water with a "Saw It Again" suite/seguefest.

First off, when a show starts with "Walfredo," you know that shit's about to get heavy (in the funnest way possible). This "Walfredo" is the first since 2000, and it's a joy just to hear it. Mike even gets a little guitar jam in at the end of the song. "Mellow Mood" is a great second-slot choice, and then, lest you think the set needs more energy, there's a short but sweet version of "Stealing Time" that features some great bass runs from Mike throughout.

A fast-tempo "Divided Sky" rounds out the first quarter, and though its outro jam is a little more whale-y than usual, the "Tela" that follows more than makes up for it. There's a point during "Tela" where Trey just completely loses the thread of the song for about thirty seconds, so if you're a stickler for precision on the composed pieces (as I often am), that'll bug you...but otherwise it's a beautiful rendition of a song that's not played often enough.

The trifecta of "My Soul," "Ginseng Sullivan," and "Sample" that follows plays out pretty much exactly like you'd imagine it would, and is really only notable for the continuously great song selection and pacing and yet another monster 2010 version of "Sample."

"Gin" finds the band stretching their legs a little, though this version can still pretty much be summed up by "A Few Minutes of Boring Whale Pedal > Great Rock and Roll Peak." "Brian and Robert" is a nice surprise, as I love the song, and Trey works its main riff back in to the beginning of the set-closing "Antelope" brilliantly.

In a move that should totally happen more often, "Wilson" opens the second set, and "Meatstick" emerges from the feedback buzz at the end of the first song. This version is notable in that it has a bit more of a rock feel to it than the usual funk swing; that is, until the 8:00 mark or so, when the funk finally hits. The song ends with a slow, patient, extremely enjoyable -> "Saw It Again" that for the life of me sounds like Trey sort of half-starting up "Saw It Again" and doggedly keeping at it for about twenty seconds before finally Page figures out what he's trying to play and starts up the song on the keys. Regardless of how it happened, though, I'm glad it happened.

After about five minutes, "Saw It Again" dissolves into a hectic noise jam, with the band screaming the refrain at random intervals over the sound. "Piper" emerges from this cacophony and takes off on a 16-minute journey. There's not much I can (coherently) say about this "Piper" jam. Here are a few things you should know, though:

1. It's pretty darn good.
2. It includes some blissed-out rock jamming early on.
3. It includes some syrupy space-funk early on.
4. Later on, it somehow includes both of 2 and 3 intertwined.
5. There's a part where everyone else builds a murky bed of sounds for Page to play a spooky organ part over.
6. There's a part where Trey has a lot of loops going and everyone is playing very circular-sounding bits on their instruments.
7. There's a final part that's a dark ambient jam reminiscent of the Brooklyn '04 "Moma" jam.

"Piper" is also the first of many songs in which Trey will interject "Saw It Again" vocal quotes for the rest of the night.

The dark, ambient jam eventually resolves into a -> "Ghost" that is average-great, with some more "Saw It Again" vocal quotes and a jam that's more like your typical "Slave" or "Hood" jam than a "Ghost" jam. The best part, though, is that accidentally (?), in the midst of this jam's peak, the band manages to -> "Jumpin' Jack Flash!" This reminds me of the "Takin' Care of Business" segue from late '13: it's a pretty amazingly spontaneous and fun moment, but it doesn't really hold up if you want to take it as a "serious" part of the show. It's clear they didn't practice the song, nobody really knows all the words...but hell, it's a really clever moment just getting to the song out of "Ghost," and the fact that they followed up and played the whole thing, complete with a mini-jam at the end, is pure Phish. But it's not over because they then make one last -> into a "Saw It Again" coda of sorts. If 6/26's "Tweezer" brought the jamming style of '94 back from the grave, the middle of this S2 brings the good old '94 wackiness right back with it.

"Contact" is the penultimate S2 song here, and a "Saw It Again"-tease-ridden "YEM" closes the show proper. Great moments here include: "Boy, man...I saw it again!," a "Jumpin' Jack Flash" tease after the tramps section, and the crowd chanting "I saw it again!" during the vocal jam. It makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, doesn't it?

"Fire," the sealing stamp on many a great Phish show (Gorge '13, I'm looking at you) wraps things up. Wow.

2010-06-26 MPP I

So, things have finally begun to take a bit of a turn, it seems.

Even though I could easily list, say, five or ten shows from summer '09 that are better than anything so far in summer '10, this run got off to a great start with Toyota Park and Blossom...now, a few weeks later, this is the first show that I would consider placing with the best of summer '09. I actually just finished listening to 6/27, and in some ways it's even better, but this is a good start down the path toward a Phish that it's possible to listen to for nine hours a week without zoning out in boredom, which is something that I've been doing a lot lately.

The first MPP show kicks off with a great summer-on-the-lawn combo of "Crowd Control," a scorching "KDF," and "Bag." Then Trey struggles his usual struggly way through "Sugar Shack." But the rest of the set is back to the usual solidly-played, very-slightly-unpredictable but well-plotted S1 that we've been hearing for most of the tour. "Tube" gets played by massive, loud audience request, then we get a neat cover of "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" complete with Mike-bass waltz outro jam. "Stash" continues to be a first-set standout, as this version is all energy, a hectic movement from tension-building whale > tension-building shredding > great peak back into the main riff. If you like your "Stash"s hot instead of spacey, you could definitely do worse than this version.

At this point in the set, Trey's rock-shredding ability is really on-point, and it carries the band through great versions of "Number Line" and "46 Days" as well. "Suzy" tops off the set.

The S2-opening "Rock and Roll" goes deep in a big way, matching and then improving on last night's "Chalkdust" by having more distinct sections and smoother transitions. The first ten or so minutes is yet more Trey Shredz action, but then we quickly drop into a spacey, ambient-type jam that actually doesn't lead immediately into the next song. Mike leads the band in a bit of circular-riff calisthenics that terminates in a brief wall of organ noise from Page and then Trey leading everyone to funk-town with a catchy riff. The song eventually culminates in a brief but very dark jam space, before Trey starts up the opening to "Free." This is easily one of the best jams of the year so far, beaten out maybe by the 6/11 "Ghost."

The "Free" itself is the typical 3.0 Mike-based version, and then there's a surprise when "FEFY" rears its mellow, gorgeous head. This version features an extended outro solo that recalls '94-era Trey-ballad-soloing, but then there's a > "Sparkle" to reinforce the old schoolness.

Mid-set we get the best surprise of all surprises: a 15-minute "Tweezer"! The first half of the jam is whale-inflected funk, but then there's a really interesting space wherein Mike and Page handle all of the melodic duties while Trey just builds a huge wall of noise from pedals and effects. The effect is a very tension-heavy "Tweezer," which keeps the '94 vibe of this set rolling in an awesome way. Trey picks out the opening notes to "The Horse" through the feedback of the "Tweezer" jam, and we're off to "Silent in the Morning."

So yeah. Basically, if you miss old school Phish, then this set is the best set of the year so far.

Lest you think the set is over, though, there's still a strong "Wolfman's" > "Slave" pairing to go, and then "Tweeprise" as the set-ender instead of the encore.

The encore itself is the frustrating combination of "Show of Life" > "Good Times," but it really doesn't matter at this point. Taking into consideration my bias toward Blossom as it was my third Phish show, this is, to the objective part of my brain, the first "real" Phish show of the year. And 6/27 ain't bad, either. Suddenly I'm looking forward to the rest of tour, and not just trying to rush to Leg 2...

2010-06-25 Camden II

If Camden I was the epitome of the consistently-good-but-sort-of-boring show that Phish has been playing for the last eight nights, Camden II is the band finally slipping out of that pleasantly plain rut and finally reaching for some new territory. The experiment isn't a complete success, but just the fact that there is an experiment is enough for me at this point.

The first set is a weird one, half great old songs ("Alumni" > "Letter To Jimmy Page" > "Alumni," "BBFCFM," "Jim," "SOAM," "The Sloth" and "Golgi"), one-third new songs ("Summer of '89," "Army of One," "TTE," and "Free Man in Paris"). It's almost all good, save for the usual "TTE" doldrums and some serious sloppiness from Trey on "Army of One," but it's just a strange mix of songs, especially since the guys have been totally nailing it lately when it comes to setlist-building. Personally, I like it, but the lack of a consistent pace might be a point against it for some listeners.

Phish - 6/25/10 "Alumni Blues > Letter To Jimmy Page > Alumni Blues" from Phish on Vimeo.

For me, the first half of the set is just fantastic, while "Free Man" is a surprisingly well-done cover and features a little outro jam. "Summer of '89" is really growing on me as a well-done, slow-down, summer-ballad kind of song, and the "SOAM," in the midst of a setlist that mostly recalls the mid-90s, is played like a version from that era.

If the first set exceeded the low(ish) expectations I had after glancing at the setlist, though, the second set fell quite a bit short of what I was hoping to hear. This set's been talked up to me a number of times, and with a Michael Jackson seguefest strung throughout "2001" and a 17 minute "CDT" (one of my favorite jam vehicles; see Dick's this year and Brooklyn '04, for example), it seemed like an easy favorite.

While the "Chalkdust" definitely has length going for it, it seemed to be lacking the intention of the best Phish long-jams. There are a lot of sections in this jam, including a whale-based "Light"-type jam, a guitar loop jam, a section that contains probably the weirdest collection of tones I've ever heard the band play together, a reverb-rock section, a funk section, and a Mike-led softer section...but there's nothing really to connect them. Each of these parts are neat little spaces by themselves, but the jam as a whole sounds like the band jumping from idea to idea, abandoning each one as it sinks beneath their feet. The way this tour's been going so far, improv-wise, I hesitate to criticize some actual experimentation and I'm honestly really glad to hear it at all. But this isn't the greatest 17 minutes of Phish you're going to hear.

Phish - 6/25/10 "Chalk Dust Torture" from Phish on Vimeo.

Trey propels everyone through super-short versions of "Caspian" and "Heavy Things" next, as if he's got a schedule to keep and that 17 minute jam put him behind. But then it's actually "Alaska," of all songs, that pushes the band back into WeirdLand. Trey uses the whale pedal extensively at the end of an better-than-average rock jam, causing the whole band to dial down the tempo and move into a gooey, dark space that turns into "2001" very organically.

The much-vaunted MJ sequence that pops up here seems like sort of a "You had to be there" moment. Sure, it's clever to weave bits of "Thriller," "Billy Jean," and "Wanna Be Startin' Something" into "2001," but this is more a Wacky Phish Moment than a Major Jam Moment. Trey doesn't know the words to "Billy Jean" or really the main riff to "Thriller," but damn if he doesn't try them anyway. The entire thing is sort of awkward and fun, which in a way is part of the point of Phish, but definitely don't come here for any sort of musical virtuosity.

Fortunately, the improv part of the show continues with a short-but-brilliant "Light" that quickly moves into a circular-riff jam before dissolving into a robotic-sounding space reminiscent of the weird "Psycho Killer"/"Pong" thing from '09. The remainder of the show is perfectly serviceable rock and roll from there, though.

In all, this show gets more points for style than for execution, but there are a few truly brilliant moments (in the "Chalkdust," in Mike kicking into the bass riff from "Billie Jean," in "Light") worth listening to. Hopefully this is the sound of the band breaking out of the mold a bit going into the last leg of Summer I.

2010-06-24 Camden I

As I said in my show wrap-up tweet for this show: "Just when I think Phish can't get any better at playing a great, fun, totally jamless rock show, they do." I've been slowly and repetitively documenting this long string of shows that has highlighted the band's ability to weave a bunch of fun, well-played songs into the quintessential "average-great" summer show ever since Blossom, and with the first night in Camden, they hit a new high in this regard. The downside is, of course, that there's nothing at all here to sink your teeth into, and after about five or six shows like this, it gets a bit "been there, done that." That they're consistently getting better at playing this kind of show is, I suppose, a lot less exciting to experience sitting at home four years later than it was out on the lawns as it was happening.

Anyway, Camden I kicks off with "Bowie," an early sign that maybe tonight is going to be different (it's not). Though the "Bowie" would be a standard version late in a second set, as an opener it's technically precise and is delivered with much more heat than you'd expect. "Stealing Time" is standard, but "Water in the Sky" and "Ocelot" both deviate successfully from their usual mini-jam templates, with whale-laden and blues-rock-laden jams, respectively. "Uncle Pen" is my favorite Phish bluegrass cover, and though this version is extra sloppy, it's still a welcome sight in the setlist.

The high-energy combo of "Boogie On" and "Gumbo" is pure summer, but then things finally get mildly interesting with "Timber," of all songs. Trey uses the whale to excellent effect again, here, and Page backs him up with some overlaid synth that lends this jam a much spacier and more angular sound than usual. Highly recommended.

"I Didn't Know" gave me the opportunity to tweet "Timber was REALLY good. Now Fishman attempts to put a curse on the Flyers through his I Didn't Know vacuum solo. In a good way," which I guess is a good thing. The crowd then begins to chant "Let's go Flyers!" over the vacuum solo, and hilarity ensues.

Standard takes on "Birds," "Bouncing," and "Reba" round out the set...but wait! There's a cover of Zeppelin's non-radio-hit "The Rover" out of the blue! And it's damn good, too!

Normally any S2 that started with "Disease" -> "Crosseyed" is going to make me squeal with delight, but this ain't 2013 (or even 2012, or 1998) here, folks. Both songs are long, sure, but they're each typical Type I soloing until the final minute or two when there's a clever but too-short transition into a different type of jam space. "Disease" dissolves into a funk jam that sounds like it's certain to turn into "Ghost" before a great segue into "Crosseyed," which melts into drone-space in turn before...Trey chops out the chords to "Nothing" out of nowhere. Now, I really like "Nothing," as it always seems to summon Trey's inner melodic solo-master. But...jeez. We're not talking Gorge '13 > "Roggae" level ripcording here, but it's awkward and frustrating to hear.

Fortunately, "Twenty Years" and "Hood" make up for this less-than-thrilling set opening, at least a bit. "Twenty Years" is maybe the jam highlight of the night, with another Oysterhead-y section kicking off around 6:00 and then a build-up of static with a bunch of quick bass runs bouncing along over top of it. It doesn't last long, but it's a really great moment (or two) before Fish starts up the "Hood" intro.

There's nothing about this "Hood" that's going to change the world, but it's got a nice, patient build into an extended climax that features both flawless machine-gun Trey and flawless whale-pedal Trey. So if you like "Hood"s, you should probably check it out.

After this, we wind to a stop. It seems funny to say "wind to a stop" when the set closes with "Fluff" > "Julius," "YEM," but that's what it feels like. I'm sure this was/is somebody's ideal S2 conclusion, and live it probably played beautifully. But on tape, for me, it's wrapping up over a week of improvless shows with 40-45 more minutes of heavily scripted playing. I hate to be all grouchy, but I could do with a 17-minute "CDT" right about now (foreshadowing!).

2010-06-22 Mansfield

Two reviews in one day! As if my reviews of Summer '10 weren't already getting repetitive.

Anyway, 6/22 is a bit of an improvement on the run of shows pretty much since Blossom that haven't had much to recommend them except really consistently solid playing and brilliant setlist construction. Of course, since we're talking Phish here, the "except" there should probably be in quotes. None of the shows have been bad, but they've been largely similar and predictable. Mansfield starts to change that, a lit o bit (ha!), but we've still got a ways to go until we're reaching the heights of Summer '09 here.

So, "Lit O Bit" is the cover du jour, and it serves as the opener. This cover actually suits Phish quite well, and though they have a little difficult with it on its first time out, it could be a regular-rotation song and fit right in, methinks. "Camel Walk" falls neatly into the two-slot, seeming like a natural extension of the opener, and then a perfect summer-on-the-lawn version of "Possum" rounds out the first three songs.

The guys bring out the big guns next, with "Divided Sky," but aside from the early-set surprise, there's nothing to really recommend this particular version. Things get a little weirder after that, with a "Dirt" that features a brief but ethereal outro jam and the second "Sample" in a row that out-rocks any standard version by a large margin. "KDF" is a slightly extended version that really briefly takes a foray into spacey territory (literally, for about 20 seconds or so) before exploding into another of what's becoming a huge pile of satisfying Trey-Rock-God guitar peaks so far in this tour. It's like the whale and the shredding somehow feed off of each other, man.

"Dr. Gabel" is an interesting song, with surprisingly confessional-sounding lyrics and a catch (to me) verse melody. The chorus could use some work, but it seems like the song got shelved after this playthrough. Sort of sad. I really like what Page is playing throughout the last few minutes of the song as well. We close S1 with "Antelope," which has by this point settled into a by-the-book set-closing template of sorts and, while spot-on, doesn't capture the pure fury a lot of the Summer '09 versions had.

"Mike's Groove" is a welcome start to the second set, even if this is about as standard a take on the song sequence as you can get. I've really liked the reliance on the old-school "Hydrogen" sandwich in the last few playthroughs of this suite of songs, and this one sticks to it.

The one real point of interest in this show (and the one thing that makes it stand out a bit from the previous few nights) starts next. The increasingly-rare "Sally" is always a welcome setlist addition, and this version gets extended to about ten minutes, featuring a sort-of plinko space for the jam, which sets up a clever segue into "Light." The build to this segue is pretty obvious and satisfying, and Trey sort of hams it up by slamming out the chords a bit early, but hey, at this point my bar is a bit lower than usual, so I'm happy. "Light" itself is a pretty standard take on the song, all Trey runs that don't really string together or build toward anything, but sound Pretty Cool nonetheless. Slather on a little bit of the whale and you're good to go.

Toward the end of the short jam, the band takes a turn for the dark except for Page, who stays on a brighter-sounding, almost circus-y organ tone, creating a creepy effect. From this space emerges a really slow and brilliant segue into "46 Days," which features a short Type I and then a vocal outro jam that's got a sort of soul/R&B vibe. Honestly, aside from the surprise vocal jam, none of these three little jams blew me out of the water, but the confidence with which they're strung together and the segues themselves make up for a lot.

The guys shift back into a lower gear for the rest of the show after this, though: standard takes on "LxL," "Golgi," and "Slave" before a better-than-average version of "Loving Cup." Once again, we get a "First Tube" closer, but it doesn't feel deserved this time; rather than feeling like the capping off of an excellent show, it made me think "Where was this band for most of the second set?"

Overall, a little cleverness is starting to seep through the edges in this show, but the name of the game is still Consistency.

2010-06-20 SPAC II

As summer '10 continues on, I've realized I'm starting to think of the three major Phish tours I've listened to as a result of this project in distinctly different ways. If I was to describe each tour in an appropriate tweet-size sentence, they would go something like this:

Summer '09: Inconsistent setlists, sloppy playing, but with big jams.
Fall '09: Better but not great setlists, pretty consistent playing, but with no jamming.
Summer '10: Very well-constructed setlists, spot-on playing, but no sign of the jams.

SPAC II just reinforces this summary, really. The first half of S1 is just a fantastic run of songs, but there's nothing really to write about if you've heard any of these songs before. "Brother" functions well as a fun opening number, "Bag" > "Back on the Train" is a solid pairing, and "Undermind" and "Cities" are both great S1 songs, though hearing them back-to-back just made me reminisce about some of the more interesting places they've both gone recently.

"Gotta Jibboo" seems like it will be promising, with Tony Markellis on bass and Mike playing a second guitar; however, I'm not sure if it's just the Live Phish mix, or the live mix itself, but I don't hear Mike at all during the tune, and the bass riff is straightforward enough (and Tony does so little with it), that this sounds like your typical version, despite the interesting setup. Trey takes it through its usual Type I paces and that's that.

"Roggae" is one of my all-time favorite S1 songs, especially after the '11 Gorge version and the fantastic '13 Gorge version that still, alas, only exists in my imagination. This take features some really great jam-leading action from Mike (who seems to be leading jams more and more these days), but its undercut a bit by some generic whale jamming from Trey. That's the easy highlight of a consistent-but-straightforward S1, unless you like "Sleep Again" like I do, in which case there's another rare Phish version of the tune here that Trey predictably fumbles on (even his own side project songs are unlearnable, it seems).

If Summer '10 has been all about the consistently good setlist-building, then a surprise like "Carini" > "Mango Song," is actually welcome. This "Carini" doesn't do much new until its last minute or so, when it spins out of a Type I jam into a half-hearted reprise of the Blossom "Number Line" jam, but the "Mango Song" segue is hilarious (just because it's so unexpected). "Drowned" is the centerpiece jam of this show (as much as there's been a centerpiece jam in any show since Toyota Park/Blossom), and it's a good 'un, all things considered. It follows the typical Type I rock > Space Funk > Ambient Fade template that I've complained about so much lately, but with a few flourishes that makes this take on the form sound new. There's some very Oysterhead-y Trey soloing in the funk section, for instance, and Mike lays down some great bass melodies over the ambient fade, and a series of overlapping guitar loops set up a fantastic segue into "Swept Away" -> "Steep." There were many better jams than this in '09, but this is one of the first few must-hear pieces of Phish music in '10.

Phish - 6/20/10 "Saratoga Jam #2 > Swept Away > Steep" from Phish on Vimeo.

"Makisupa" blends cleverly into "Piper," with some "Policeman!" lyrics overlapping with the "Piper" intro riff, but "Piper" itself is more or less a standard take, minus a quick fadeout that sets up a > "2001." "YEM" is fast and satisfying, if a little sloppy.

Sorry if this review seems a bit perfunctory; I keep running into this problem of feeling like I'm saying the same things about every show lately, and through doing that implying that all the shows are interchangeable and therefore bad. They're not bad, though they might well be a bit interchangeable.

Anyway, I'm listening to the Mansfield show now, and while it's hardly a return to improvisational form, so far it's quite an improvement. So that's good. Oh, and this whole show exists on YouTube. So there's that, too.

2010-06-19 SPAC I

This show reminds me a lot of Gorge I in 2011. The first 75% of that show was chock full of amazing moments that made it far and away my favorite Phish show I'd attended to that point (and it might still be my favorite). The final 25% of the show, though, was a solidly-played if boring set of songs that weren't at all bad but left a bad taste in my mouth, just because I kept thinking that if the guys had just managed to string 2-3 more great songs together, the show would have gone from being amazing to being One Of Those Shows.

After listening to SPAC I 2010, I feel the same way. This show starts off with one of the best first sets (if not the best first set) I've heard since before Hampton, flows into a great second set...and then just sort of peters out at the end. But it's still mostly awesome, and as a show in a tour that's so far been mostly about great setlist construction and consistency without major jams, it's even more epitomier than the last few (except the end, but I'll get to that).

The show starts off with "Tweeprise," an obvious reference to the previous night's two-fer encore. This seems to light a fire under the band, as they proceed to rip through "CDT," "Funky Bitch" > "Jim," "Ya Mar," "Sample," and "Axila I." None of these songs have any real surprises, but they're so solidly and confidently tossed off this part of the first set could just be a studio album, albeit with a "for newbs" theme.

This "Fluff" is not my favorite version: the composed section is mostly spot-on, but the jam just a little generic and the long song sort of takes some of the punch out of the set. Fortunately, the "Gin" that follows is a pitch-perfect Type I jam, switching things up just enough so that it's not just Trey soloing for eleven minutes, while maintaining the momentum and technical impressiveness that made the rest of the set so great. After my first listen, I called this one of the best Type I jams of 3.0 so far, and after a relisten, I'm sticking to it.

Perhaps sensing greatness, Page absolutely destroys the set-closing "Suzy," and Trey throws in a Judas Priest quote just for fun.

The second set opens with Rock and Roll, which quickly moves into a sinister, nearly ambient space, with Mike leading the way. The highlight of this jam is the point at which Fishman starts fading in and out repeatedly with a particularly "tribal"-sounding drum roll. It's a really neat effect. There's a lot more guitar looping and such here as well, and the whole thing seems like a natural evolution of the last few minutes of the Blossom "Number Line" jam. While it doesn't hang together quite as well as that jam, it's definitely the kind of sound I hope the band continues to explore throughout summer.

There's a pretty effective -> "Free" at the end of the song, and this is the band downshifting from jam territory back into slaying-the-hits territory. Again, it ain't a bad thing. "Free" is solid, "Number Line" features a "typical"-type jam with everyone firing on all cylinders, and then we get the debut of "Halfway To the Moon," a great Page song which I'd like live even more if Trey could ever figure out what to play in the background.

There's a neat little outro jam to "Halfway To the Moon" that reminds me of "Rift" a little (have they ever jammed on "Rift"?), but it segues into a "meh" version of "Caspian," and here's where the show starts to finally lose it's amazing momentum. I suppose that's to be expected when three of your four closing songs are "Caspian," "Joy," and "Show of Life." Arg. Fortunately, the penultimate song of the set is a face-destroying "Bowie" that starts off minimalist and sinister and hits its peak in a really 1.0 sort of way. There are a few distinct mini-sections to this jam, and they're all good. Highly recommended.

A three-song encore is something to write home about, I suppose, but "Coil" and "Zero" are just average-great. Of course, the closing "Tweeprise" (as opposed to the opening one) is fun, and a nice way to bookend what is largely a fantastically energetic show that anyone but the direst jam-hounds will love.

2010-06-18 Hartford II

If 6/17 was a step in the right direction when it comes to solid first-set construction, 6/18 knocks the ball out of the park. It's a different beast, for sure: where 6/17 was a triumph of quirky set construction, 6/18 is a greatest-hits set on steroids. But it still works very, very well. In fact, the first set is probably (again) the best part of this show. Unless you like "Billy Breathes." But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The first set kicks off with the old-school pairing of "Fee" > "Rift." "Rift" is a bit rough, but both songs feature above-average playing from Page especially. "Wolfman's" goes deeper than you might expect in the three-spot, with Mike burbling underneath Trey's funk-note-spray for a few particularly entertaining minutes. This is an exemplary first-set version. Nothing Type II here, but about as platonic Phish-funk as you can get.

"Summer of '89" is a really adorable song and actually featured a really neat little jam that was by turns similar to a "Water in the Sky" jam and a jazz-style thing that would have been at home on Round Room. But I have a feeling most Phish fans probably hate it because there are lyrics about feelings.

Like "Fee" > "Rift," "Foam," "Possum" is a particularly old-school pairing; there's something about the way these two are played (especially Trey's solos on "Possum") that recalls '93 to me. Anyway, it's good stuff.

"Julius" and "Cavern" are average-great, but they sandwich a weird "Reba," which is likely someone's Favorite of Ever because it's so peculiar. It's not my bag, really: it features a lot of tasteful use of the whale pedal, but maybe a little too much, and the "peak" is not so much a peak as it is a coast up to the top of a shallow hill. That said, like the rest of the first set, it's played with precision and swagger.

Set two kicks off with a standard-but-welcome "Halley's" which gets a full-band butt-slam into "Light" all of a sudden. This isn't a bad thing, by any means; "Light" gets off to a heavy, rocking start and never really lets up until the 9:00 mark, when it dissolves into space, setting up a perfect segue into "Billy Breathes."

"Billy Breathes" is one of my favorites, and I've never heard a live version match the aural perfection of the studio recording...but this one comes the closest, by far. It's excellent, and Trey replicates his fantastic solo from the album note-for-note.

This is definitely the show highlight for me, but the "Tweezer" that follows is typically solid, as well. This jam runs from a Trey-riff led funk space (starting at 6:00) to a mad cacophony of guitar loops and other effects which is one of the flat-out strangest things I've heard the band do with the song in awhile (from the 10:00 mark up till 13:00 or so). The last few minutes is yet another ambient fade-out, but the space here has a lot more in common with "real" ambient electronica and sounds a lot less "let's make sounds until we figure out what to do next." The burbling closing dissolves eventually into a > "Theme."

"Theme" is flubby as all hell, especially on Trey's part, but he also (maybe as as a result of the flubbing?) takes a unique tack with the outro solo, distorting his tone much more than usual. The "Hood" that follows is a slow-burner, but the peak is worth the journey as Trey hits on a particularly catchy riff and then rides it to the climax, then there's a neat solo Page > "Wading." I thought Trey's "Wading" solo was above average, and while "Stealing Time" initially seemed like an odd choice for a closer, this version gets shredded to pieces.

And it's...not...over! After the "Sleeping Monkey" encore, we get not one, but two "Tweeprise" encores. One is apparently to make up for the lack of "Tweeprise" at the Hersheypark show. The second gets a bit silly (see video), but it's still both hilarious and a fitting end to an already rocked-out show.

This is about as good as a 3.0 show can get without any real marquee jam. I mean, the "Tweezer" is definitely within the ranks of all the excellent "Tweezer"s we've seen since Hampton, but it's not really near the top. However, it and the rest of the show is consistently clever, well-paced, and well-played. If 6/17 was a show that failed partially because it was a Trey-heavy show that Trey had trouble following through on, 6/18 is a show where he delivers in spades. Anyway, this is one of the more impressive two-show runs the band has strung together in awhile, and I'm looking forward to hearing what's next.

2010-06-17 Hartford I

6/17 is a marked improvement over 6/15, but it lacks a bit in consistency that makes it one of those odd shows where the first set is more satisfying than the second.

The show starts promisingly enough, with a flaming-hot "PYITE" into an "Ocelot" that even I actually like. This "Ocelot" is a little swankier than usual, a little slower (maybe?) and a little more Mike-powered. Trey's use of the whale here is, right at the start of the show, a lot more restrained and clever than it has been in earlier 2010 shows, and that makes a huge difference.

"Dinner and a Movie" keeps the early momentum rolling, straight into another epic "Stash." This one is a little rough through the composed section, but the jam starts off with a great back-and-forth between Trey and Page before blossoming into a slowly-building, tension-y affair that has more in common with most "Melt" jams than with "Stash."

Things slow down a bit (out of necessity) with "Esther," but we're right back on the train (so to speak) with "Walk Away." Trey absolutely decimates this version, and if you miss old-school Trey Shredzzz, I suggest you make with the clickety click right away to give it a listen. "Divided Sky" is absolutely on point, and "Walk Away" Trey comes back immediately during the outro jam, bringing his biggest rock and roll guns to bear.

"Sugar Shack" is a rare clean version, and then the rock madness continues into a best-of rock 'n' roll "Alaska" > "Golgi."

This first set is actually one of my favorites in a long time, despite the not-so-favorite song choices. It's high-energy, there's a more-than-reasonable amount of improv for a first set, and there aren't many of the typical 3.0 S1 standbys getting trotted out. This is, though, a really Trey-dominated set, and the downside of this is that when Trey's not on, the music suffers. This doesn't happen much in the first set, and so it's quite the outing. The second set, though, is a different story.

It's not even that Trey's playing during the second set is bad in any substantive way; it's just that at this point in the show it's pretty clear that the band has given him the reins, and so when he eventually wanders off course, it's all the more obvious. "Party Time" is just a mess, and while "Disease" is long, it's pretty much the standard Composition > Type I Rock > Space-Funk > Type I Rock > Ambient Jam template that we've been seeing again and again since Hampton. This particular take on the trope is rollicking, for sure, but we've all heard it before.

"Sand," on the other hand, is a different beast. This is a multisectional beast in the best tradition of more recent 3.0 jams, and while it isn't as coherent as some of the best jams of '12 and '13, it's definitely a prototype of that sort of space. You should check it out immediately if you want to hear some of the roots of 2013 jamming.

After the "Sand," though, the consistency flags a bit as Trey can't carry the entirety of the show's momentum himself. There's a clever segue (ripcord?) > "The Horse" from "Sand," wherein Trey starts up "The Horse" while Fishman continues to play the "Sand" beat underneath, but "Silent" is a rough take, "Guyute" has seen better days, and the closing "Mike's Groove" is absolutely standard. The one real standout in the back half of the second set is the "Farmhouse," which features a sort-of-jazz outro jam that sees some more clever, restrained use of the whale pedal.

This show isn't quite as consistent as 6/15, but the first set is a capital-s Scorcher, and there's a marquee jam in "Sand" (and one, arguably, in "Disease," though I wouldn't say so), and that makes up for a lot. Looking forward to the second show in the run.

2010-06-15 Portsmouth

So, here we are. The first Phish show of 2010 that definitely ranks below "average-great" status.

I feel a little bad writing that, because pretty much all of this show, save for a pretty badly-botched debut of Mike's "Idea," is really solidly-played. But it's also the most jamless show that I can remember since...well, since I started listening to 3.0 with Hampton last year, honestly. So, then, while it's not a bad show, per se, there's absolutely nothing to recommend it out of the piles of shows I've listened to so far, let alone the vast majority of 2010 shows yet to come.

We start off with a fan-requested "Tube," and it's a screamer (pun intended) compared to most versions: a bit longer and a bit hotter. "Slave" is a huge surprise as the third song of the night, and this version features a more patient build than usual (especially considering it's still early S1) as well as a machine-gun Trey peak that's evocative of an earlier era (choose your favorite).

The middle of the set is pretty straightforward after this, except for a "Bag" that has the odd trifecta of a Mike-funk breakdown, a drum solo from Fish, and then a weird outro jam led by Trey. For oddity's sake if nothing else, you should give this a listen.

"Moma" is its usual sexy self and "Cold Water" is neat, if flubby, if you like the song. If not, there's nothing else worth much mention in S1 except for "Gin," which clocks in at 13 minutes and, much like "Bag" is at the very least weird if not good. It's a standard "Gin" jam until about the 8:00 mark, when Trey locks onto a weird circular riff and Fishman takes off with him. Mike and Page, oddly enough, stay firmly in the typical "Gin" space while Trey plays some majorly high-octave strangeness for a few minutes...but then finally succumbs to everyone else's lack of interest and peaks out again (like in the "Slave" earlier). In the context of a "slim pickins" sort of show, this "Gin" is a pretty neat surprise, but that's about all you're gonna get for the rest of the show.

The second set has an absolutely rocking "Wilson" and "46 Days," with a noodly "Seven Below" sandwiched between. This segment is pure, if totally straightforward, Phish. Trey's soloing is spot-on, and the shredding peaks continue to be above and beyond the usual 3.0 fare. I really like this run of songs for that, but again, if you're looking for jams, you're just not going to find them.

"Idea" is a nice setlist surprise, but as per usual, it sounds like Trey (and to a lesser extent, Page) hasn't been practicing. There's a short little outro jam that adds a bit to the song, but the first four minutes are hard to get through before you get there.

I feel totally lazy writing this, but honestly the rest of the show is pretty much what it looks like on paper. "Simple" has a nice little jam, but it's the same as 95% of all "Simple" jams, and the segue into "Joy" really sucks the air out of the set. There's a clever, Page-only > "ADITL" out of "Theme," but neither of the songs proper are exceptional versions.

This is probably the most boring review I've yet written. Sorry about that.

I'll say again, though, that this is a well-played show with some clever setlist construction, but as far as jams you can write a paragraph about? Nothing doing.

Comcast is next!

2010-06-13 Hersheypark

Summer 2010 keeps going strong with the third show of the tour. Where 6/11 was a solid show with a few big highlights and 6/12 was an uneven but mostly-solid show with a few monster highlights, 6/13 comes across as the most consistent yet, but with no real central jam or highlight to latch on to. All in all, it's been a fun run so far, and a great change of pace from the drudgery of many of the fall '09 shows. Each show has been a little different, all have had their good points...but, that said, I'd by lying if I wasn't always hoping for the next show to be that show, you know? But then, I guess if I didn't feel that way all the time, I wouldn't have committed myself to reviewing hundreds of Phish shows in my spare time in the first place...

The show opens with a heaping helping of whale, as might be expected. It sort of mars what would have otherwise been a nice "Jibboo" opener mini-jam, but then Trey employs it to interesting, tension-y effect on the following "Chalkdust." "Fluffhead" is in the three-spot, and played at an extra-fast clip, and then everyone nails "Funky Bitch." There's a nice interlude featuring Mike and Page playing off one another, then a full-on shred from Trey that covers a lot of ground in ninety or so seconds to end the song.

The "Jim" > "NICU" > "Horn" portion of the set continues with great song selection, but there's not really anything to dig into here. "It's Ice" is similar to "Fluffhead" in that it's a fast-tempo version but is otherwise standard, save for a bit of neat haunted-house piano from Page during the interlude. "Bouncin'" and "Sparkle" set up a "Melt" that's mostly like the "Jibboo" opener: standard Type I solo plus whale pedal. However, around the 8:00 mark Page and Fish start trying to push things into a weirder space, and they finally succeed about a minute later, setting up some interesting whale-plus-loop moments that don't last nearly long enough before the song returns to the main riff. End set.

Set two opens with "Drowned," and Fish trying to pound through his drums, or at least that's how it sounds. Much like the "Melt" jam, this one stays on the rails for the most part, though this time it's Mike who's clearly trying to do something different. In the final few minutes, though, the band makes two quick transitions: first, there's a point where Fish starts playing some "tribal" sounding drum beats while Trey solos softly and melodically over them, and then shortly after they transition into what I'm currently calling "space shuffle." Both of these spaces are really interesting and probably warrant a lot more exploration than they get, because shortly after the second one starts, there's a sudden > "Tweezer."

The "Tweezer," like a few of the jammier songs in this show, has some interesting moments, but they don't really coalesce into one coherent jam. After the composed part here, the band immediately goes into some deep, dark, almost-ambient space a lot like the end to 6/12's "Number Line." Unfortunately, this only lasts for a brief time before Trey defaults into the typical Type I rock "Tweezer" mode. This lasts for most of the body of the song, while the very end features ye olde '09 ambient fadeout into "Twist."

Everybody takes a minimalist approach to this "Twist" except for Mike, who slams away pretty much alone, stringing together fusillades of bass-bombs while everything else stays in the background. It's an interesting experiment in contrast. "Piper" is yet another song in this show that takes almost its entire running time to get to an interesting jam space, which is then cut off before it can really develop, this time > "Free."

We wrap up, more or less, with a whale-laden "Wading" solo and a fast-tempo "YEM" featuring a particularly intense rock peak from Trey, but not much else to speak of.

So, another solid outing here, and the "Drowned" > "Tweezer" -> "Twist" > "Piper" is a solid string of segues, though, again, all parts of it are kept from being really exceptional by the fact that the segues seem to keep coming right when things are about to get interesting.

2010-06-12 Blossom

So I should admit right out front that I'm a little biased against this Blossom show. It was my third-ever Phish show after the Gorge '09 run, and, quite frankly, it didn't really compare, quality-wise. It was the only show I was able to see in 2010 because of my travel schedule, and so I came in already despondent that I wasn't catching any more of the midwest shows. And it fell on the night before my girlfriend and I were going to leave on a 3,000 mile drive across the country in my rusted-out sedan, so obviously I had more on my mind than just the show.

So, even now when I think back on the fifteen shows I've seen since Phish came back in 2009, Blossom is the only one I'm not totally over the moon about. Whether that was because of the circumstances surrounding the show, or the quality of the show itself, or both I don't know. So it was nice to sit down again with the recording and try to listen objectively.

After the relisten, I'm happy to say that the show as a whole has more highlights than I remember, but overall it's still largely how I remember it: sort of like one of those pizzas with a cracker crust, where the only stuff worth paying attention to happens in the middle, and the edges are disappointing.

We start off the night with "Look Out Cleveland," a thematically appropriate opener, but the beginning of Phish's summer 2010 habit of busting out half-baked, one-off covers, which is clever in theory but not my favorite thing in practice, at least not on tape. This is a pretty spare take on The Band's song, in part because Trey doesn't seem to know what to play so he just stays in the background until the lyrics are over. The outro features a killer bass riff from Mike though, that forms the spine of a neat little mini-jam.

"Ocelot" is next, which is probably my least favorite Phish song to hear live. Add some early '10 whale pedal and I'll pass. Trey's playing on the solo is solid, don't misunderstand me, but I only need a few versions of Ocelot to stay happy, and there are many better ones out there.

Fortunately, the "Water in the Sky" that follows is an uptempo version with what seems to be a slightly extended jam/instrumental section. There's some brilliant Trey/Page interplay here, featuring (believe it or not) some sparse, clever use of the whale pedal from Trey. I don't often find myself considering creating a "Best Of..." playlist for versions of "Water in the Sky," but if I ever did, this would likely be on there. It's really sharp in a technical sense, but also it's just purty.

The early-set "Stash" is slightly crippled by the whale, but thanks to Fish's insistent, frantic drumming, the band moves into a more abstract space around the 8:00 mark and that gives Trey a chance to brilliantly lead them out of the tangle and back to the song's main riff. After a '09 full of great takes on this song, it's good to hear it maintain much of its verve.

"Curtis Loew" was a standout moment at the show because at the time (at least I thought) it was a huge bustout. It was a 625-show bustout...when they played it at Fenway in '09. Oh well. Trey plays around a bit more than usual with "Sample," and there's about thirty seconds at the end of pure guitar overdrive/feedback madness that's usually badly lacking in 3.0 versions of the song. "TTE" is "TTE"; there's nothing much else to say about it. I was happy to hear it live at the time, because I never had before, and it is a really interesting, good song. But every version is more or less like every other version, so there's little to see here if you've heard it before.

The first set closes with an old-school "Mike's Groove" that's the first bite into the middle of the pizza. "Mike's" is not particularly interesting, but everyone's playing throughout is fiery. The "Hydrogen" is slow, patient, and gorgeous as a result. "Weekapaug" is the really interesting part, though. A short way into the jam, Page starts pushing for a plinko-style space, and Trey eventually accedes. This leads to a slow build into a song-ending rock peak, but with Trey's tone still set in plinko-mode. The effect is really bizarre and unique.

The second set kicks off with "Rock and Roll" that basically follows the blueprint of 2009 mega-jams that I was getting so cranky about by the end of fall tour: a few minutes of noodling, a transition into space-funk around the 9:00 mark, then about two minutes' worth of ambient fadeout before the transition into the next song. On one hand, this is old, hackneyed, and boring by this point. On the other hand, the next song is "Harry Hood"!

The "Hood" is nothing special, necessarily, but it's no slouch. Long by 3.0 standards at fifteen minutes, it features a really sustained, patient build (a theme with this show, it seems). Whatever the next step above "average-great" is, that's where this "Hood" sits. But then, the "Number Line." Oh, my.

Again, I'm likely biased since I was there, but this "Number Line" > "Twenty Years Later" is probably my favorite segment of 2010, excepting maybe the Berkeley "Light." That it starts off with a few minutes of somewhat rough, whale-y noodling speaks to how fantastic the last few minutes of the jam are. From the moment that Trey pushes everyone into dark, atonal weirdness right before the 8:00 mark, the rest is pure bliss. Or, at least, bliss for the listener. The jam itself is really quite dark, which is part of the reason I like it. Trey hits the first part of a great riff he'll weave throughout the rest of the jam right before 9:45, then Page kicks over to what I think of as the "No Quarter" organ tone, and it's all just amazing from there. My only regret about this near-perfect jam is that after Mike's massive bass attack at 12:00, Trey lays down an amazing, low riff that easily would have had 5-6 more minutes' worth of jamming on it if this had been 2012 or 2013 or the 90s. But here it peters out after a few seconds...but that sets up a great segue to "Twenty Years Later," which is a pitch-perfect rendition. Great segment. Just watch it.

As I mentioned above, the rest of the set after this is about as underwhelming as the beginning of the first set. There certainly nothing wrong with the guys' playing here, but it's more first-set material than second. And for some reason, "Coil" always bugs me as a show closer, unless it's an early night in a multi-night run. This is an especially punchy version, and the outro from Page is great...but for a single night in Cleveland it would have been nice to close with a noise-explosion instead of solo piano.

Anyway, it's definitely a step down in quality from Toyota Park in general, but the "Number Line" > "Twenty Years Later" combo is best-of-year material. I'd recommend the "Groove" too, if you're into that kind of thing already.

Next time, it's back to shows I haven't seen before!