Fall and NYE '14 was, in some ways, a logical extension of Summer '14. The band is still jamming with a fluidity and looseness that I've literally never heard them achieve so consistently, even during the high-water times in the 90s. Often, first sets don't do anything interesting, but they're executed consistently with technical prowess and an energy that you really can't fault in any way other than by greedily wishing for yet more space jams. It's everything that made '13 a great year for Phish, but even better, plus two new albums' worth of music (Fuego and the surprise Halloween set). While I'm partial to bits of Fall '13 and the back half of Summer '13, Fall '14 really completes an impregnable case for a band that's still progressing and is, objectively speaking, making a lot of my cherished Summer '13 highlights looking like growing pains by comparison.
That said, Fall '14 didn't really live up to the hype for me. I'd heard so many amazing things before listening that perhaps this was inevitable, but there it is. The 10/17 opener is amazing, and is probably my favorite single show that I've ever seen live, but then things really drop off (in general) until N2 of the BGCA run. From there, it's six shows in a row that are just jaw-droppingly amazing, maybe the best six-show run the band has ever put together, to my knowledge. But then the middle two shows of the NYE run are just boring, save for one "Weekapaug." And then the tour ends with the stupefyingly good 1/3 show. So, yeah. The highs are very, very high, but about half of the tour is just average by '13-'14 standards, and the middle of the NYE run belongs somewhere in '10 or '11. Best tour is Phishtory, as many have said? I dunno, I have to listen to Fall '13 first. But there are definitely a lot of great moments and overall it's the feeling a band still (somehow) on the rise. Which is why I'm currently sitting here refreshing phish.net over and over again, reading summer tour rumors.
10/17: Spectacular opening show. The second half of the first set is more like a second set, with some short but engaging jams. Everything in S2 except for "Halfway To the Moon" is interesting, but the clear highlights are "Carini" -> "Plasma," "Hood," and the "Crosseyed," which is on my short list for jam of the year.
10/18: Lackluster show after 10/17. One of the relatively new "jamlets 'n' segues" variety of show, there are some really compelling bits of improvisation, but never anything more than bits. The "Disease" is worth a listen, as is the "Sand," but you really could just listen to the "Light" -> "Cities" combo and call it a day without missing much.
10/21: Uncomfortably shaky S1. Amazing mellow & melodic "CDT" -> "Ghost" pair to start S2 is on par with anything else from the tour. The "Tweezer" isn't upper-echelon, but worth a listen anyway.
10/22: No single highlights in S1, but it's a vast improvement over 10/21's first frame; high energy and fun. "Drowned" -> "Theme" is a great pair, as "Theme" even features an outro jam, but then the rest of the set sees the band in jukebox mode (albeit a high-energy, fun version). Well-played show all the way around, but aside from the opening of S2, you'll miss the jamming.
10/24: S1 is again excellent, and there's a little improv poking out in "Gin" and a rare first-set "Ghost." The second set is mostly forgettable but for great, weird versions of "Hood" and "Disease." This "Disease" obviously isn't going to dethrone the Miami version, but it's one of the better ones of the year.
10/25: The first set is split between rotation staples played well (including a "Wolfman's" that really belongs in a second set) and rarities played like crap. Take that as you will. The second set has a great single jam in "Golden Age," but then falls into "jamlets 'n' segues" mode again. As I wrote in the review: ""Carini" > "Piper" > "Caspian" > "Tweezer" sequence is great, but you'll have to wince every few minutes when they switch songs, which takes some of the fun out of it."
10/27: Great song choices in the first set, but overall things don't quite mesh. That always-elusive "flow" is missing. The second set jamming is all segue-based again, and the only real jam of note that comes out of this is the "Ghost."
10/28: The show where an incredible six-show run of incredibleness begins. The first set sags in the middle, but starts off strong and finishes with a fantastic "Gumbo" -> "Sanity," with a legit "Gumbo" jam. The second set I described originally as "beautifully melodic" and "perfect." It's finally a great use of the band's segue-jamming style, moving effortlessly from song to song and stringing a greater thematic sequence together out of disparate songs through their improvisation alone. That said, "Twist" is the easy highlight.
10/29: S1 is, again, high-energy, but there's nothing really notable about it this time, other than the fact that "Wolfman's" continues to evolve and at this point is screaming to be jammed out, along with "555," "Wombat," and "Plasma." The second set is a head-scratcher at times, but features highlights in "Disease," "Light," and "Split." Probably the weakest show of the six-song run of Phish Destroying Everything, but it's still a great show.
10/31: This is one of the better shows of fall tour even without the set of all-new music. S1 is well-constructed and "Ghost" and "Scents" both go surprisingly deep. Rather than the usual laurel-resting-on that happens in Phish third sets, this one features a fantastic "Golden Age" an above-average "Tweezer," and, near the end, an 18-minute "Sand"! Oh, and of course in the middle of these great sets is an incredible instrumental hour of music. This trend of not wasting a set in a three-set show will continue into NYE.
11/1: Almost beats 10/31 with one less set to work with, it's so good. The first set doesn't do much beyond a "Roggae" to raise eyebrows, but the setlist is just brilliantly put-together. Pretty much the entire second set is worth a mention, but first and foremost it's the "Crosseyed" > "Light" -> "The Dogs" -> "Lengthwise" > "Twist" portion that makes this a contender for Set of the Year.
11/2: S1 here reminds me of the 10/17 S1 in the sense that about halfway through a standard set, the band decides to start S2 early. There's a great "Gin," some "Martian Monster" teases in the "Free," and a great "Walls" closer. The "CDT" -> "Piper" that opens S2 is 10/21 S2's opening pair leveled up, and the rest of the set is top-notch even before ending in a huge "YEM" that involves an extended jam section and Trey chasing Mike around the stage with a megaphone siren.
12/31: This is another three-set show that doesn't take any breaks. The first set, honestly, gets by on energy alone. There's no real improv, and in terms of organization, it's a mess. But, damn, the band is on fire. The "Ghost" > "Theme" -> "Cities" sequence in S2 threatens to unseat 11/1's masterful sequence it's so good, though, and S2 ends with "Martian Monster." S3 starts with the gag segueing into "The Dogs," and also contains a legitimate "Tweezer" jam and starts with a great "Simple" jam that gets ripcorded into jukebox territory; however, this show still offers an incredible amount of quality music and jamming, though it might be hard-pressed to stand up to 10/31.
1/1: The six-show run of destruction comes to an end here during N2 of NYE. The first set is actually really, really good in the way that many of the best S1s have been throughout the tour. There's no particular highlight, but just consistent energy and great organization throughout. The second set is of the segue-jamming variety, and it doesn't work so well. There's a few great song choices that don't seem to achieve their potential, and then an interesting "Twenty Years" > "Winterqueen" pair that would probably feel like more of a highlight if it wasn't the only one of the set.
1/2: This show is even more pedestrian than 1/1, but the "Mike's Groove" that opens S2, and especially the way-out-there "Weekapaug," are great. Just listen to that sequence and skip the rest. One of the few times I've been able to say something like that about a '14 show.
1/3: What a note to end the year on. The first set is a cohesive, high-energy affair throughout, and features a "Divided Sky," a legitimate "Split" jam, a short-but-intense "Scent," and the return of "Plasma." The second set is primarily about the amazing easily-best-of-year "Disease" that recalls the Tahoe Tweezer in its best moments. But not to close the year on a jukeboxy note, the band then puts together an amazing "Light" -> "Sally," a shredded "Sand," and one final exploratory "Hood" before calling it a tour.
Showing posts with label 2014 NYE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2014 NYE. Show all posts
Mar 7, 2015
Mar 5, 2015
2015-01-03 Miami IV
The Verdict:
WOW.
I'm just going to leave that in bold because, seriously, fuck. This is a fantastic show, and beautiful to hear as a capstone on a fantastic year. The "Disease" is obviously the centerpiece, an only-slightly-lesser twin to the Tahoe Tweezer and probably better than the recent Dick's Simple. But just about everything else is great, too. From the perfectly-planned first quarter ("Maze," "Bag," "DSky," "Cavern," and "Scent") to the "Plasma" to the old-school "Split" jam, the first set is great. Sure, it sags a little in the middle, but only really in terms of song choice. Even those "weaker" songs are played with more than the usual panache.
Then there's the "Stealing Time" that's the least likely version to every be played by anyone ever again, because next is the Miami Disease, a transcendent, brilliant jam that you should probably just read my response to in the tweets, or, better yet, just watch at the link below. But, like the best second sets, the band doesn't rest on its laurels here. Instead, the launch a great "Light" -> "Sally" sandwich, wherein each song has its own few minutes of notable jamming. Then there's a pitch-perfect Type I "Sand," and they seal the deal with the last "Hood" of the year, a chordy, driving thing that carries through with the momentum-based jamming that already ran through "Disease," "Light," and "Sally" earlier in the set.
This is one of my favorite sets of music in a long, long time. We're not talking a great 2-3 song run, but just a solid set all the way through. What a way to go, '14 tour.
The Live Review:
1/3/15: Time to finish off '14 tour!
1/3/15: Maze opener!
1/3/15: That opening Maze was waaay hotter than it had any business being. Bag next.
1/3/15: Trey is on fire already. That's a great sign. Though I hope the rest of the band doesn't just give him the reins as a result.
1/3/15: Usually way more interesting when that DOESN'T happen, no offense to Trey :)
1/3/15: Whoa! Bag > DSky!
1/3/15: Slow-ish tempo on Divided Sky, but a gorgeous version.
1/3/15: Cavern followed the Divided Sky. Great setlist choices so far.
1/3/15: Scent is next. Trey is sprinkling some great bluegrass fills around in the verses of the song.
1/3/15: Smoke on the Water tease from Trey during the Duel section.
1/3/15: Short version of Mule (no marimba weirdness, etc.) but really high-energy.
1/3/15: Plasma! So glad that this wasn't a one-off. High on my list of monster-jam contenders for summer '15, right next to 555.
1/3/15: Uptempo Devotion follows Plasma.
1/3/15: Trey integrating some of his chord-based jamming into Water in the Sky now.
1/3/15: Weird sort of flow in the back half of this set, but the songs are still super-solid. Split gets us back on track (hopefully).
1/3/15: This one takes after the last few Split jams: lots of loops, a decent amount of empty space, Fish deconstructing the beat.
1/3/15: In other words, the new Split mini-Renaissance continues. Nothing super-special, but darker and better than many earlier 3.0 takes.
1/3/15: Zero'd!
1/3/15: Really muddy tone again from Trey on the Zero jam. Makes it a teeny tiny bit different than usual, I guess.
1/3/15: Overall, S1 is excellent for the energy and little sparks of brilliance throughout.
1/3/15: Most of the awesomeness happens in the first half, but Plasma, Scent, and Split are worth a mention, too.
1/3/15: Okay, so S2 starts with my least favorite set opener (Stealing Time)...
1/3/15: ...but this version is sort of slow and seems a lot more mellow than usual. More Page in the mix.
1/3/15: Well, that version was slightly more palatable than most. Lands in Disease.
1/3/15: Disease seems slow, too. Maybe they wore themselves out in that first set? :)
1/3/15: Trey is stringing together a great melody solo. Page on piano, Fish is raining down hi-hat blows like crazy.
1/3/15: Trey on chords, now. This thing has some serious momentum. Fish is a champ.
1/3/15: Sort of Jumpin Jack Flash there for a second.
1/3/15: Flashback to 6/27/10 :)
1/3/15: Slow down, fade, but then back into a different jam space. That is NEVER a bad sign.
1/3/15: The Phish that pushes through that weird wind-down moment and keeps playing is always the best Phish.
1/3/15: This second part is more Mike-heavy. Page on clav, Trey adding touches.
1/3/15: Mike bass bomb drives things in a more speculative direction. Fish is still riding the high hat.
1/3/15: Page on electric piano, now.
1/3/15: Another wind down, under some heavy Fish drumming. Reminds me of a Round Room outtake jam.
1/3/15: Trey coming back with a great melody. Page has got the synth(s?) going.
1/3/15: Trey harmonizing with his looped guitar line. Yeah, that actually happened.
1/3/15: Blues version of Manteca. If that makes any sense. Heading into more open blues jam.
1/3/15: If the Tahoe Tweezer had a younger, mellower little sister, it would be this jam.
1/3/15: It has that same effortlessness to it.
1/3/15: Trey just wailing on the blues-Manteca riff now.
1/3/15: He's clearly working up to that insane exploda-thon guitar moment that needs to appear soon.
1/3/15: Nevermind...they're winding it down.
1/3/15: But Trey just pulled a little chording thing out of nowhere. New jam space!
1/3/15: Sounds like a half-tempo Boogie On, now. Would make for an AMAZING ->.
1/3/15: Loops, abstraction. Fishman rules this jam. Hands down. Without him, this didn't happen.
1/3/15: Page and Trey conjuring electronic spiders. They attack.
1/3/15: Hahahaha...Trey just ripcorded a 25 minute jam. He couldn't take it anymore.
1/3/15: It doesn't matter because that was incredible...but still probably could have made a better transition to Light after THAT.
1/3/15: This Light jam could be a reprise of the first part of the Disease jam. I meant that in a good way.
1/3/15: I'm not really sure how to describe what's going on in the second half of this Light jam, but it's great.
1/3/15: Makes me think of Undermind, but with fuzzier tones.
1/3/15: Trey's guitar sounds like one of those Tesla generators in Frankenstein.
1/3/15: Page and Trey both pulled a -> Sneakin' Sally. Woo!
1/3/15: Sally jam is going in surprisingly rock n roll direction.
1/3/15: Weird ambient fadeout with a scary chord progression from Page on piano underneath.
1/3/15: -B Sand.
1/3/15: Ah, the buttslam segue. I haven't gotten to use that one for awhile.
1/3/15: This Sand is ALL Trey. But that's okay because it's great. He's getting one more guitar-god moment out before the end of tour :)
1/3/15: Stays funk, Type I, throughout.
1/3/15: Sand winds down into the intro to Hood. If they nail this Hood, this is going to be an incredible run of songs.
1/3/15: Happy birthday tease from Trey in the Hood intro.
1/3/15: Trey is going back one more time to the chord-jam here in the Hood. Again recalls the earlier Disease/Light jams.
1/3/15: This is by no means one of the weirdest or most interesting Hoods of the year, but it's still a great version.
1/3/15: Suzy set closer. Trey biffs the lyrics, Fish screams, Page sneaks one final 'They attack!' in during the chorus...
1/3/15: GTBT encore! Haven't heard that one in awhile.
1/3/15: Well, that S2 was absolutely insane. Without thinking too hard, it might be Best of Year material.
1/3/15: Rarely does Phish put a stamp on a huge period of growth that obviously. I love it.
WOW.
I'm just going to leave that in bold because, seriously, fuck. This is a fantastic show, and beautiful to hear as a capstone on a fantastic year. The "Disease" is obviously the centerpiece, an only-slightly-lesser twin to the Tahoe Tweezer and probably better than the recent Dick's Simple. But just about everything else is great, too. From the perfectly-planned first quarter ("Maze," "Bag," "DSky," "Cavern," and "Scent") to the "Plasma" to the old-school "Split" jam, the first set is great. Sure, it sags a little in the middle, but only really in terms of song choice. Even those "weaker" songs are played with more than the usual panache.
Then there's the "Stealing Time" that's the least likely version to every be played by anyone ever again, because next is the Miami Disease, a transcendent, brilliant jam that you should probably just read my response to in the tweets, or, better yet, just watch at the link below. But, like the best second sets, the band doesn't rest on its laurels here. Instead, the launch a great "Light" -> "Sally" sandwich, wherein each song has its own few minutes of notable jamming. Then there's a pitch-perfect Type I "Sand," and they seal the deal with the last "Hood" of the year, a chordy, driving thing that carries through with the momentum-based jamming that already ran through "Disease," "Light," and "Sally" earlier in the set.
This is one of my favorite sets of music in a long, long time. We're not talking a great 2-3 song run, but just a solid set all the way through. What a way to go, '14 tour.
The Live Review:
1/3/15: Time to finish off '14 tour!
1/3/15: Maze opener!
1/3/15: That opening Maze was waaay hotter than it had any business being. Bag next.
1/3/15: Trey is on fire already. That's a great sign. Though I hope the rest of the band doesn't just give him the reins as a result.
1/3/15: Usually way more interesting when that DOESN'T happen, no offense to Trey :)
1/3/15: Whoa! Bag > DSky!
1/3/15: Slow-ish tempo on Divided Sky, but a gorgeous version.
1/3/15: Cavern followed the Divided Sky. Great setlist choices so far.
1/3/15: Scent is next. Trey is sprinkling some great bluegrass fills around in the verses of the song.
1/3/15: Smoke on the Water tease from Trey during the Duel section.
1/3/15: Short version of Mule (no marimba weirdness, etc.) but really high-energy.
1/3/15: Plasma! So glad that this wasn't a one-off. High on my list of monster-jam contenders for summer '15, right next to 555.
1/3/15: Uptempo Devotion follows Plasma.
1/3/15: Trey integrating some of his chord-based jamming into Water in the Sky now.
1/3/15: Weird sort of flow in the back half of this set, but the songs are still super-solid. Split gets us back on track (hopefully).
1/3/15: This one takes after the last few Split jams: lots of loops, a decent amount of empty space, Fish deconstructing the beat.
1/3/15: In other words, the new Split mini-Renaissance continues. Nothing super-special, but darker and better than many earlier 3.0 takes.
1/3/15: Zero'd!
1/3/15: Really muddy tone again from Trey on the Zero jam. Makes it a teeny tiny bit different than usual, I guess.
1/3/15: Overall, S1 is excellent for the energy and little sparks of brilliance throughout.
1/3/15: Most of the awesomeness happens in the first half, but Plasma, Scent, and Split are worth a mention, too.
1/3/15: Okay, so S2 starts with my least favorite set opener (Stealing Time)...
1/3/15: ...but this version is sort of slow and seems a lot more mellow than usual. More Page in the mix.
1/3/15: Well, that version was slightly more palatable than most. Lands in Disease.
1/3/15: Disease seems slow, too. Maybe they wore themselves out in that first set? :)
1/3/15: Trey is stringing together a great melody solo. Page on piano, Fish is raining down hi-hat blows like crazy.
1/3/15: Trey on chords, now. This thing has some serious momentum. Fish is a champ.
1/3/15: Sort of Jumpin Jack Flash there for a second.
1/3/15: Flashback to 6/27/10 :)
1/3/15: Slow down, fade, but then back into a different jam space. That is NEVER a bad sign.
1/3/15: The Phish that pushes through that weird wind-down moment and keeps playing is always the best Phish.
1/3/15: This second part is more Mike-heavy. Page on clav, Trey adding touches.
1/3/15: Mike bass bomb drives things in a more speculative direction. Fish is still riding the high hat.
1/3/15: Page on electric piano, now.
1/3/15: Another wind down, under some heavy Fish drumming. Reminds me of a Round Room outtake jam.
1/3/15: Trey coming back with a great melody. Page has got the synth(s?) going.
1/3/15: Trey harmonizing with his looped guitar line. Yeah, that actually happened.
1/3/15: Blues version of Manteca. If that makes any sense. Heading into more open blues jam.
1/3/15: If the Tahoe Tweezer had a younger, mellower little sister, it would be this jam.
1/3/15: It has that same effortlessness to it.
1/3/15: Trey just wailing on the blues-Manteca riff now.
1/3/15: He's clearly working up to that insane exploda-thon guitar moment that needs to appear soon.
1/3/15: Nevermind...they're winding it down.
1/3/15: But Trey just pulled a little chording thing out of nowhere. New jam space!
1/3/15: Sounds like a half-tempo Boogie On, now. Would make for an AMAZING ->.
1/3/15: Loops, abstraction. Fishman rules this jam. Hands down. Without him, this didn't happen.
1/3/15: Page and Trey conjuring electronic spiders. They attack.
1/3/15: Hahahaha...Trey just ripcorded a 25 minute jam. He couldn't take it anymore.
1/3/15: It doesn't matter because that was incredible...but still probably could have made a better transition to Light after THAT.
1/3/15: This Light jam could be a reprise of the first part of the Disease jam. I meant that in a good way.
1/3/15: I'm not really sure how to describe what's going on in the second half of this Light jam, but it's great.
1/3/15: Makes me think of Undermind, but with fuzzier tones.
1/3/15: Trey's guitar sounds like one of those Tesla generators in Frankenstein.
1/3/15: Page and Trey both pulled a -> Sneakin' Sally. Woo!
1/3/15: Sally jam is going in surprisingly rock n roll direction.
1/3/15: Weird ambient fadeout with a scary chord progression from Page on piano underneath.
1/3/15: -B Sand.
1/3/15: Ah, the buttslam segue. I haven't gotten to use that one for awhile.
1/3/15: This Sand is ALL Trey. But that's okay because it's great. He's getting one more guitar-god moment out before the end of tour :)
1/3/15: Stays funk, Type I, throughout.
1/3/15: Sand winds down into the intro to Hood. If they nail this Hood, this is going to be an incredible run of songs.
1/3/15: Happy birthday tease from Trey in the Hood intro.
1/3/15: Trey is going back one more time to the chord-jam here in the Hood. Again recalls the earlier Disease/Light jams.
1/3/15: This is by no means one of the weirdest or most interesting Hoods of the year, but it's still a great version.
1/3/15: Suzy set closer. Trey biffs the lyrics, Fish screams, Page sneaks one final 'They attack!' in during the chorus...
1/3/15: GTBT encore! Haven't heard that one in awhile.
1/3/15: Well, that S2 was absolutely insane. Without thinking too hard, it might be Best of Year material.
1/3/15: Rarely does Phish put a stamp on a huge period of growth that obviously. I love it.
2015-01-02 Miami III
The Verdict:
The absolute highlight of the third night in Miami is the "Weekapaug Groove," and it's one of my favorite jams in a long time. But the fact remains that if you take that jam away, this show becomes a clunker on the level of 1/1. The "Mike's" > "46 Days" combo that leads up to the "Groove" gets a little bit out there, but the only reason it's worth mentioning is precisely because it leads into such a great jam. The rest of the show, frankly, is in average-great territory.
I say this not because I enjoy dissing Phish shows; I don't, and I actually really enjoy the opposite. But, in the corners of the internet where I read about Phish, at least, this run was talked up as the run, and so I guess I was a little excited about the idea of a better-than-usual SF run, followed by an incredible Halloween run, followed by an even-better NYE run. But the reality is that the middle of this run, at least, is run-of-the-mill, save for the first half of this show's second set. It is, as I say below, a good '11 or '12 show at best. Trey pushes the band through a decent first half of S1, but then when he falls back, nobody else steps up to fill the gap. The "Groove" is great, but immediately after the band enters jukebox mode and stays there for the rest of the night. I don't know if this makes it better or worse that 1/3 is just amazing.
The Live Review:
1/2/15: N3 in Miami starts off with a REALLY muted Free.
1/2/15: That was probably the tiredest-sounding version of Free I've heard in a long time.
1/2/15: In response, Trey calls for Moma Dance, the ultimate deck-clearer.
1/2/15: They're audibly pulling it together throughout the course of this Moma. Nice to hear.
1/2/15: Possum in the three-slot, and at this point the band is sounding like its usual self.
1/2/15: Trey has been soloing basically since the beginning of the song (including under Mike's vocals). It's interesting.
1/2/15: Roggae!
1/2/15: Trey leading early in the jam with a long melodic solo. Mike picking up with accents on the melody.
1/2/15: Roggae jam stays Trey-centric until the final build. Nice version, > Stash.
1/2/15: Really compact Stash, also almost entirely Trey-led.
1/2/15: This set is much better than the opening Free indicated, but it's improved b/c of Trey just taking over everything so far.
1/2/15: Moma, Possum, Roggae, Stash is a great run of songs, but I'd like to hear the rest of the band a little more.
1/2/15: That said, Trey driving isn't such a bad thing when he's playing so damn well. He's currently dominating BOTT, now.
1/2/15: Sugar Shack! The ultimate test of Trey's ability to play ahead of the rest of the band :)
1/2/15: On a scale of 'Disaster' > 'Uncomfortably Awkward' > 'Charming' > 'Good' > 'Legitimately Well Done,' that was Uncomfortably Awkward.
1/2/15: You're not going to win me over with the second half of a set that's BOTT, a rough Sugar Shack, The Line, Ocelot, and Coil.
1/2/15: Would prefer this set to have just been Moma, Moma, Possum, Possum, Roggae, Roggae, Stash, Stash, Coil.
1/2/15: I guess.
1/2/15: Let's just roll this set into the lackluster 1/1 show and move on for 1/2 S2 and all of 1/3, shall we?
1/2/15: Wow. Trey just absolutely butchered The Line outro solo. I mean, like, it sounded like me when I take a solo. That bad.
1/2/15: I mean, it's not a huge knock against the show or anything, 15 seconds or so of music, but it just surprised me.
1/2/15: Ocelot contains a pretty intense rock peak after a few minutes of the usual Ocelot-style jam. Worth a listen.
1/2/15: I think someone just yelled 'Take your clothes off!' on the SBD, after Ocelot. #crowdbanter
1/2/15: I'm not sure who I hope they're talking about. Page, I guess? Fish? #crowdbanter
1/2/15: Neat interplay between Trey and Page in the Coil outro. Crowd responds with a roar.
1/2/15: Pretty sure someone just screamed 'Thunder Road!' at the beginning of S2 on the SBD. #crowdbanter
1/2/15: That would be a HILARIOUS and amazing cover to bust out. #crowdbanter
1/2/15: The big question is, who does the vocals? #crowdbanter
1/2/15: Trey's guitar playing that outro horn line would probably be just about the best thing ever. #crowdbanter
1/2/15: Okay, so Mike's to open the second set. Good?
1/2/15: Immediately a bit of a funk swing feel to the Mike's jam. I'm liking this.
1/2/15: A lot like the Dick's Mike's, but a little heavier, if that makes any sense.
1/2/15: That was a really hot version and multifaceted. I hate to say 'for 3.0,' but, you know, when it comes to Mike's...
1/2/15: 46 Days next. Really fast tempo.
1/2/15: Loops coming in during the 46 Days jam.
1/2/15: Mashup of plinko and Manteca-style jamming now.
1/2/15: Quick synth breakdown, then Fish-led, sort-of -> Groove.
1/2/15: Clav mania ensues immediately in the Groove.
1/2/15: Really kinetic Groove jam. Trey is putting down some excellent '14-style chording.
1/2/15: Woo jam bit. I can feel people who hate fun cringing.
1/2/15: THEY ATTACK
1/2/15: Second Weekapaug jam! Loop city, Fish has a fantastic beat going.
1/2/15: No idea what's going on now, but someone who isn't Trey is playing the guitar. I imagine it's Mike. Someone's on the marimba.
1/2/15: Definitely watching this on YouTube later.
1/2/15: That was awesomely weird, but also never stopped being a legitimately quality jam. Wow.
1/2/15: Fuego after that fantastic Mike's Groove.
1/2/15: Fuego goes the usual jam-on-the-riff-to-ambient-fade route, although it almost sounded like it was going to -> Slave at one point.
1/2/15: Oh. Well, after the song ends, we get a > Slave instead. I guess that's almost as good.
1/2/15: Standard take on Slave > chordy 2001.
1/2/15: Walls set closer!
1/2/15: That was definitely a Trey Shredz, set-closing Walls, and not a normal Walls. Rock and roll!
1/2/15: Sleeping Monkey encore!
1/2/15: Okay, Rocky Top is a perfect follow-up to Sleeping Monkey for the encore.
1/2/15: Weird show in general, though. Hot/cold S1, no surprise songs or jammed tunes.
1/2/15: S2 Mike's Groove is incredible, the rest of the show is pure jukebox. Almost like a really good '11 or '12 show, here.
The absolute highlight of the third night in Miami is the "Weekapaug Groove," and it's one of my favorite jams in a long time. But the fact remains that if you take that jam away, this show becomes a clunker on the level of 1/1. The "Mike's" > "46 Days" combo that leads up to the "Groove" gets a little bit out there, but the only reason it's worth mentioning is precisely because it leads into such a great jam. The rest of the show, frankly, is in average-great territory.
I say this not because I enjoy dissing Phish shows; I don't, and I actually really enjoy the opposite. But, in the corners of the internet where I read about Phish, at least, this run was talked up as the run, and so I guess I was a little excited about the idea of a better-than-usual SF run, followed by an incredible Halloween run, followed by an even-better NYE run. But the reality is that the middle of this run, at least, is run-of-the-mill, save for the first half of this show's second set. It is, as I say below, a good '11 or '12 show at best. Trey pushes the band through a decent first half of S1, but then when he falls back, nobody else steps up to fill the gap. The "Groove" is great, but immediately after the band enters jukebox mode and stays there for the rest of the night. I don't know if this makes it better or worse that 1/3 is just amazing.
The Live Review:
1/2/15: N3 in Miami starts off with a REALLY muted Free.
1/2/15: That was probably the tiredest-sounding version of Free I've heard in a long time.
1/2/15: In response, Trey calls for Moma Dance, the ultimate deck-clearer.
1/2/15: They're audibly pulling it together throughout the course of this Moma. Nice to hear.
1/2/15: Possum in the three-slot, and at this point the band is sounding like its usual self.
1/2/15: Trey has been soloing basically since the beginning of the song (including under Mike's vocals). It's interesting.
1/2/15: Roggae!
1/2/15: Trey leading early in the jam with a long melodic solo. Mike picking up with accents on the melody.
1/2/15: Roggae jam stays Trey-centric until the final build. Nice version, > Stash.
1/2/15: Really compact Stash, also almost entirely Trey-led.
1/2/15: This set is much better than the opening Free indicated, but it's improved b/c of Trey just taking over everything so far.
1/2/15: Moma, Possum, Roggae, Stash is a great run of songs, but I'd like to hear the rest of the band a little more.
1/2/15: That said, Trey driving isn't such a bad thing when he's playing so damn well. He's currently dominating BOTT, now.
1/2/15: Sugar Shack! The ultimate test of Trey's ability to play ahead of the rest of the band :)
1/2/15: On a scale of 'Disaster' > 'Uncomfortably Awkward' > 'Charming' > 'Good' > 'Legitimately Well Done,' that was Uncomfortably Awkward.
1/2/15: You're not going to win me over with the second half of a set that's BOTT, a rough Sugar Shack, The Line, Ocelot, and Coil.
1/2/15: Would prefer this set to have just been Moma, Moma, Possum, Possum, Roggae, Roggae, Stash, Stash, Coil.
1/2/15: I guess.
1/2/15: Let's just roll this set into the lackluster 1/1 show and move on for 1/2 S2 and all of 1/3, shall we?
1/2/15: Wow. Trey just absolutely butchered The Line outro solo. I mean, like, it sounded like me when I take a solo. That bad.
1/2/15: I mean, it's not a huge knock against the show or anything, 15 seconds or so of music, but it just surprised me.
1/2/15: Ocelot contains a pretty intense rock peak after a few minutes of the usual Ocelot-style jam. Worth a listen.
1/2/15: I think someone just yelled 'Take your clothes off!' on the SBD, after Ocelot. #crowdbanter
1/2/15: I'm not sure who I hope they're talking about. Page, I guess? Fish? #crowdbanter
1/2/15: Neat interplay between Trey and Page in the Coil outro. Crowd responds with a roar.
1/2/15: Pretty sure someone just screamed 'Thunder Road!' at the beginning of S2 on the SBD. #crowdbanter
1/2/15: That would be a HILARIOUS and amazing cover to bust out. #crowdbanter
1/2/15: The big question is, who does the vocals? #crowdbanter
1/2/15: Trey's guitar playing that outro horn line would probably be just about the best thing ever. #crowdbanter
1/2/15: Okay, so Mike's to open the second set. Good?
1/2/15: Immediately a bit of a funk swing feel to the Mike's jam. I'm liking this.
1/2/15: A lot like the Dick's Mike's, but a little heavier, if that makes any sense.
1/2/15: That was a really hot version and multifaceted. I hate to say 'for 3.0,' but, you know, when it comes to Mike's...
1/2/15: 46 Days next. Really fast tempo.
1/2/15: Loops coming in during the 46 Days jam.
1/2/15: Mashup of plinko and Manteca-style jamming now.
1/2/15: Quick synth breakdown, then Fish-led, sort-of -> Groove.
1/2/15: Clav mania ensues immediately in the Groove.
1/2/15: Really kinetic Groove jam. Trey is putting down some excellent '14-style chording.
1/2/15: Woo jam bit. I can feel people who hate fun cringing.
1/2/15: THEY ATTACK
1/2/15: Second Weekapaug jam! Loop city, Fish has a fantastic beat going.
1/2/15: No idea what's going on now, but someone who isn't Trey is playing the guitar. I imagine it's Mike. Someone's on the marimba.
1/2/15: Definitely watching this on YouTube later.
1/2/15: That was awesomely weird, but also never stopped being a legitimately quality jam. Wow.
1/2/15: Fuego after that fantastic Mike's Groove.
1/2/15: Fuego goes the usual jam-on-the-riff-to-ambient-fade route, although it almost sounded like it was going to -> Slave at one point.
1/2/15: Oh. Well, after the song ends, we get a > Slave instead. I guess that's almost as good.
1/2/15: Standard take on Slave > chordy 2001.
1/2/15: Walls set closer!
1/2/15: That was definitely a Trey Shredz, set-closing Walls, and not a normal Walls. Rock and roll!
1/2/15: Sleeping Monkey encore!
1/2/15: Okay, Rocky Top is a perfect follow-up to Sleeping Monkey for the encore.
1/2/15: Weird show in general, though. Hot/cold S1, no surprise songs or jammed tunes.
1/2/15: S2 Mike's Groove is incredible, the rest of the show is pure jukebox. Almost like a really good '11 or '12 show, here.
Feb 19, 2015
2015-01-01 Miami II
The Verdict:
So, the band's incredible six-show run of absolute classics came to an end during Miami II. It had to happen sometime, and the sheer amount of amazing music we got before any sort of serious lull arose to break the flow is still sort of stupefying to me. This band is thirty-one years old, for god's sake!
Anyway, as I said in the tweets below, this show is the epitome of the "segues 'n' jamlets"-style show (see 7/16, 7/25, other chunks of late summer tour before Dick's). Very occasionally a show like this turns into, say, a Tweezerfest and goes down in history. Generally speaking, though, it ends up being underrated and underappreciated because there aren't any big jam anchors or consistent, deep exploration. And I get it. I'm a big jam guy, through and through. Had I been at this show I would have walked away disappointed. On tape, I can be a little more objective. And, like most '14 shows of this type, there's (slightly less than) a lot to like here, if you take a minute to dig in. So let's do that instead of just bitching about how short and how boring the show was.
First off, the first set is bonkers-good in that first-set sort of way. I saw someone comment on phish.net that if this show's first set was paired with 12/31's S2 and S3, it would have been the best show of the year. I might agree. The song choices are great, the "flow" is flowy, there's a solid "Bowie" in the three-slot, and the "Gin" at the end recalls the Prague "Ghost" (though, admittedly lacking the absolute maniacal fervor of the late 90s). It's real good.
The second set can either be a series of missed opportunities or the band trying something different, depending on how you want to see it. There's a few great moments of "Twist" jamming, a few great minutes of "Piper" jamming, some legitimately "Caspian" shredding, and potentially great arguments on both sides of the fence as to whether each of these jams were brutally ripcorded into the next song or had reached their natural end and were euthanized before falling into an aimless ambient fade. "Twenty Years" > "Winterqueen" is probably not the show highlight you want, but the outro jam of "Twenty Years" gets extended into a strange, "Split"-jam-type space for a few minutes, and the "Winterqueen" jam has way more verve and bounce to it than any version yet, and ends, somehow, with a triumphant rock peak. "Wading," a short "Antelope," and perfunctory "Rock and Roll" definitely left me thinking "Wait, that's the whole set?!" but there are some nuggets of gold here if you want to dig for them...and isn't that what we do?
The Live Review:
1/1/15: Three more shows. Let's do this!
1/1/15: So, Tube is a pretty great opener choice.
1/1/15: Slightly extended version of Gumbo in the two-slot. Trey's soloing is especially hot, already. Who needs warm-ups?
1/1/15: Band comes back in for a short blues jam after the Page-solo-piano part at the 'end' of the song.
1/1/15: Bowie?! Alright, sure.
1/1/15: Nice, mellow-ish Bowie until the peak, which has no business being in the first quarter of a show.
1/1/15: Lawn Boy. Page just acknowledged 'Page side,' to huge roars from the crowd.
1/1/15: Really driving version of Undermind. Don't usually get to say that.
1/1/15: Ooh, Yarmouth Road.
1/1/15: Well, they've definitely got their setlist-building mojo back after 12/31's S1.
1/1/15: Trey is taking the Wingsuit outro for an extended walk here.
1/1/15: Gin is next. Trey's got a fair bit of blues swagger going on early in the jam.
1/1/15: Oh, there was a Poor Heart between Wingsuit and Gin.
1/1/15: Trey is shredding the crap out of this Gin. Build and increase in tempo reminds me of the Prague Ghost.
1/1/15: Not on the same level, of course, but same idea. And still really, really cool.
1/1/15: And apparently that's it for the set. That seemed really short.
1/1/15: I am not the only one to notice this, apparently.
1/1/15: Anyway, second set starts with a Twist that has a surprisingly straightforward jam for most of its 9 minute length.
1/1/15: Last minute or two sees Trey putting a really dirty tone on his guitar.
1/1/15: Then an intermingled Twist outro/Piper intro space for a bit. Then Trey starts Piper at double tempo.
1/1/15: Seriously, what is with Trey pulling off an awesome segue then ruining it by starting the song proper twice as fast?
1/1/15: Seems to happen a lot.
1/1/15: Anyway, woo-hoo for Piper!
1/1/15: Piper jam goes loopy (literally) almost right away. Really major momentum to this one.
1/1/15: Lots of ambient sound and electric piano now, Fish is driving.
1/1/15: Another 'interesting' segue from Piper jam to Caspian.
1/1/15: Depending on how cynical you want to be, two huge ripcords out of two potentially great monster jams.
1/1/15: Could make a case in both...cases...though that the jam was petering out.
1/1/15: Either way, if either of those segues was a little smoother, it would feel brilliant instead of like 'Huh?!'
1/1/15: Another pretty-cool-but-awkward segue into Twenty Years Later.
1/1/15: That jam had definitely run its course, though.
1/1/15: Trey playing some seriously muddly, distorted guitar on the extended Twenty Years outro.
1/1/15: Sort of like an old-school ASIHTOS jam.
1/1/15: Really spacey, weird jam. If this happened during a Split, everyone would be jacking off over it.
1/1/15: Fadeout, and a nice > Winterqueen.
1/1/15: Really jazzy, rock-like instrumental section in Winterqueen!
1/1/15: That was super cool. Lands in Velvet Sea.
1/1/15: In defense of the Velvet Sea call, it was a really shreddy outro solo.
1/1/15: Antelope next. End set already?
1/1/15: Nope. REALLY late-set Rock and Roll.
1/1/15: Short, rocked-out version with an actual ending...how often has that happened lately?
1/1/15: Meatstick for the encore.
1/1/15: That's that. Shortest Antelope and shortest S2 EVAR?!
1/1/15: Well you know what they say, it's not the length that matters, it's how you use it.
1/1/15: That being said, 1/1 is a bit of a bummer after six consecutive incredible shows, but the lull had to happen sometime.
1/1/15: First set is actually very good for a first set, and even for a '14 first set.
1/1/15: Second set is the epitome of the 7/16, 7/25-type show: they tried to do more with segues and momentum than with BIG JAMS
1/1/15: There's a lot to like in 2-3 minute spurts in a lot of these songs, I just tend to gravitate toward the big jams myself.
1/1/15: So I can appreciate a show like this objectively, but it's hard to be excited about it subjectively.
So, the band's incredible six-show run of absolute classics came to an end during Miami II. It had to happen sometime, and the sheer amount of amazing music we got before any sort of serious lull arose to break the flow is still sort of stupefying to me. This band is thirty-one years old, for god's sake!
Anyway, as I said in the tweets below, this show is the epitome of the "segues 'n' jamlets"-style show (see 7/16, 7/25, other chunks of late summer tour before Dick's). Very occasionally a show like this turns into, say, a Tweezerfest and goes down in history. Generally speaking, though, it ends up being underrated and underappreciated because there aren't any big jam anchors or consistent, deep exploration. And I get it. I'm a big jam guy, through and through. Had I been at this show I would have walked away disappointed. On tape, I can be a little more objective. And, like most '14 shows of this type, there's (slightly less than) a lot to like here, if you take a minute to dig in. So let's do that instead of just bitching about how short and how boring the show was.
First off, the first set is bonkers-good in that first-set sort of way. I saw someone comment on phish.net that if this show's first set was paired with 12/31's S2 and S3, it would have been the best show of the year. I might agree. The song choices are great, the "flow" is flowy, there's a solid "Bowie" in the three-slot, and the "Gin" at the end recalls the Prague "Ghost" (though, admittedly lacking the absolute maniacal fervor of the late 90s). It's real good.
The second set can either be a series of missed opportunities or the band trying something different, depending on how you want to see it. There's a few great moments of "Twist" jamming, a few great minutes of "Piper" jamming, some legitimately "Caspian" shredding, and potentially great arguments on both sides of the fence as to whether each of these jams were brutally ripcorded into the next song or had reached their natural end and were euthanized before falling into an aimless ambient fade. "Twenty Years" > "Winterqueen" is probably not the show highlight you want, but the outro jam of "Twenty Years" gets extended into a strange, "Split"-jam-type space for a few minutes, and the "Winterqueen" jam has way more verve and bounce to it than any version yet, and ends, somehow, with a triumphant rock peak. "Wading," a short "Antelope," and perfunctory "Rock and Roll" definitely left me thinking "Wait, that's the whole set?!" but there are some nuggets of gold here if you want to dig for them...and isn't that what we do?
The Live Review:
1/1/15: Three more shows. Let's do this!
1/1/15: So, Tube is a pretty great opener choice.
1/1/15: Slightly extended version of Gumbo in the two-slot. Trey's soloing is especially hot, already. Who needs warm-ups?
1/1/15: Band comes back in for a short blues jam after the Page-solo-piano part at the 'end' of the song.
1/1/15: Bowie?! Alright, sure.
1/1/15: Nice, mellow-ish Bowie until the peak, which has no business being in the first quarter of a show.
1/1/15: Lawn Boy. Page just acknowledged 'Page side,' to huge roars from the crowd.
1/1/15: Really driving version of Undermind. Don't usually get to say that.
1/1/15: Ooh, Yarmouth Road.
1/1/15: Well, they've definitely got their setlist-building mojo back after 12/31's S1.
1/1/15: Trey is taking the Wingsuit outro for an extended walk here.
1/1/15: Gin is next. Trey's got a fair bit of blues swagger going on early in the jam.
1/1/15: Oh, there was a Poor Heart between Wingsuit and Gin.
1/1/15: Trey is shredding the crap out of this Gin. Build and increase in tempo reminds me of the Prague Ghost.
1/1/15: Not on the same level, of course, but same idea. And still really, really cool.
1/1/15: And apparently that's it for the set. That seemed really short.
1/1/15: I am not the only one to notice this, apparently.
1/1/15: Anyway, second set starts with a Twist that has a surprisingly straightforward jam for most of its 9 minute length.
1/1/15: Last minute or two sees Trey putting a really dirty tone on his guitar.
1/1/15: Then an intermingled Twist outro/Piper intro space for a bit. Then Trey starts Piper at double tempo.
1/1/15: Seriously, what is with Trey pulling off an awesome segue then ruining it by starting the song proper twice as fast?
1/1/15: Seems to happen a lot.
1/1/15: Anyway, woo-hoo for Piper!
1/1/15: Piper jam goes loopy (literally) almost right away. Really major momentum to this one.
1/1/15: Lots of ambient sound and electric piano now, Fish is driving.
1/1/15: Another 'interesting' segue from Piper jam to Caspian.
1/1/15: Depending on how cynical you want to be, two huge ripcords out of two potentially great monster jams.
1/1/15: Could make a case in both...cases...though that the jam was petering out.
1/1/15: Either way, if either of those segues was a little smoother, it would feel brilliant instead of like 'Huh?!'
1/1/15: Another pretty-cool-but-awkward segue into Twenty Years Later.
1/1/15: That jam had definitely run its course, though.
1/1/15: Trey playing some seriously muddly, distorted guitar on the extended Twenty Years outro.
1/1/15: Sort of like an old-school ASIHTOS jam.
1/1/15: Really spacey, weird jam. If this happened during a Split, everyone would be jacking off over it.
1/1/15: Fadeout, and a nice > Winterqueen.
1/1/15: Really jazzy, rock-like instrumental section in Winterqueen!
1/1/15: That was super cool. Lands in Velvet Sea.
1/1/15: In defense of the Velvet Sea call, it was a really shreddy outro solo.
1/1/15: Antelope next. End set already?
1/1/15: Nope. REALLY late-set Rock and Roll.
1/1/15: Short, rocked-out version with an actual ending...how often has that happened lately?
1/1/15: Meatstick for the encore.
1/1/15: That's that. Shortest Antelope and shortest S2 EVAR?!
1/1/15: Well you know what they say, it's not the length that matters, it's how you use it.
1/1/15: That being said, 1/1 is a bit of a bummer after six consecutive incredible shows, but the lull had to happen sometime.
1/1/15: First set is actually very good for a first set, and even for a '14 first set.
1/1/15: Second set is the epitome of the 7/16, 7/25-type show: they tried to do more with segues and momentum than with BIG JAMS
1/1/15: There's a lot to like in 2-3 minute spurts in a lot of these songs, I just tend to gravitate toward the big jams myself.
1/1/15: So I can appreciate a show like this objectively, but it's hard to be excited about it subjectively.
Feb 17, 2015
2014-12-31 Miami I
The Verdict:
I came into this show not expecting much other than to hear a shitload of Phish music. I don't typically think of a NYE show as featuring hard-hitting jams and extended improvisation. Welp, I was surprised by this one.
That said, the first set didn't stick with me much. It's a high-energy affair, but unlike a lot of recent first sets, it's just a grab bag of random (and mostly frequently played) songs. So, it doesn't do much to rise above the standard '14 first set. The "Wolfman's" get a bit deeper of a funk treatment than usual, and the set-closing "ASIHTOS" deserves mention for a mellow interlude that explodes into a better-than-usual rock peak, but otherwise this set could be from any show, any time.
Not so with set two.
The set-opening "Birds" is heavier than usual, with Trey taking control and displaying some serious 90s chops. But that doesn't really matter because what comes next is, on first listen at least, better than the 7/13 "Chalkdust" > "Light" > "Tweezer," 7/18's second set, or 11/1's "Crosseyed" > "Light" -> "The Dogs" -> "Lengthwise" > "Twist" -> "Wading." The "Ghost" > "Theme" -> "Cities" sequence here is just amazing, and you should just watch it. And if that isn't enough, after a short "CDT" breather, the set closes with "Martian Monster"!
The anything-goes feeling continues after the NYE gag, as the gag leads directly to "The Dogs," and then an expansive "Tweezer" that is an absolutely legitimate third set jam. I'm not sure this stands up to the heavy-hitter "Tweezer"s of the year, but it's no slouch, and coming so late after so much music is a great surprise.
If I have one complaint at this point, it's that, after playing something like 90 minutes of just perfect music, Trey suddenly yanks the band out of an evolving "Simple" jam for a cursory "Limb By Limb." After that, everything settles into jukebox mode and the band rides it till the end. Had the "Simple" evolved further into something like, say, the Dick's version, this stops being a best-of-year contender and starts being something even more serious. But alas.
As it is, it's an incredibly strong show for being in a slot that usually ends up being more of a party show than anything else. Hell, it's an incredibly strong show for any day of the year. Three more days of this!
The Live Review:
12/31/14: Second monster show in the last two weeks. Sample opener!
12/31/14: Super-tight Sample. The Wedge is next.
12/31/14: Might be because I have my player plugged into the big speakers today, but 555 sounds great, too.
12/31/14: Heavy Things.
12/31/14: Great clav-funk interlude in Wolfman's. More rhythm, less guitar than usual.
12/31/14: Trey finishes with a great build. That's about as good as Wolfman's gets without going Type II.
12/31/14: Halfway To the Moon > Bouncing. First set has a bit a jukeboxy feel to it so far.
12/31/14: Not was interesting or inventive as the Halloween run S1s. Fantastically tight playing, though.
12/31/14: An extremely enthusiastic KDF is next.
12/31/14: Train Song!!!!!
12/31/14: Train Song > WAN would be a great pairing IF TREY REMEMBERED HOW TO PLAY WAN.
12/31/14: Nah, it's all good.
12/31/14: Axila I. What a weird, basically baffling selection of songs in this set.
12/31/14: ASIHTOS. So weird.
12/31/14: Page over to electric piano, Trey dropping back.
12/31/14: Trey comes out of the mellow part of the 'jam' with a shredfest. Sort of like Wolfman's earlier.
12/31/14: Again, about as good as this song gets without a trip down the rabbit hole in earnest. Neat to hear.
12/31/14: Birds, now. This seems like a long set.
12/31/14: Really rocking Birds > Ghost?!
12/31/14: Are they seriously playing Ghost in the first set of the whole run? That's sort of a bummer.
12/31/14: D'oh! Clearly I'm focusing too much on grading. Birds > Ghost was the S2 opening pair.
12/31/14: S1 ended with the extended ASIHTOS. Life makes much more sense now.
12/31/14: Jam starts with some slanky Trey chords.
12/31/14: Seamless move into a bliss jam with repeating riff reminiscent of...something? It's going to drive me nuts.
12/31/14: Trey is driving a pretty amazing jam right now.
12/31/14: Fadeout -> Melody Jam -> Mike's playing the Ghost bass riff -> coda of the song -> Trey rock solo over verse progression.
12/31/14: Holy hell.
12/31/14: The Halloween run was quite possibly my favorite run of 3.0, but it didn't have a jam like this.
12/31/14: The madness finally fades into Theme.
12/31/14: Trey is pushing out of the usual Theme peak. Not sure if it's because he's being weird or because he forgot the chords.
12/31/14: Sounds cool, though.
12/31/14: Okay, Mike just started a funk-woo jam in the middle of the Theme vocal breakdown.
12/31/14: 'They Attack!' from someone during the Theme jam.
12/31/14: I think it might be the original sample...yes, it is.
12/31/14: Typing 'Theme jam' just made me smile. Oh, and by the way, there's a goddamn perfect -> Cities at the end of the Theme jam.
12/31/14: Instant, dense, plinko-like space at the end of Cities.
12/31/14: Quick, gorgeous transition to a bliss-jam space. Is this really happening?!
12/31/14: Hood-like jam now.
12/31/14: Transition to CDT is a little wobbly in midair, but sticks the landing.
12/31/14: If they take this CDT deep, I'm not even sure if I'm going to live through it.
12/31/14: Trey starts the breakdown at the end of CDT early, futzes everyone up. Oh well, S2 until now was The Best.
12/31/14: Martian Monster voiceover starts up, crowd loses it.
12/31/14: I think Trey is using loops a bit more during Martian Monster this time.
12/31/14: Having heard about but not seen the 'gag' at the beginning of S3, this is probably going to be a bit weird.
12/31/14: Starting with an a capella Dem Bones is already pretty weird.
12/31/14: Vacuum cleaner is 'stuck' to Fish's face.
12/31/14: Right after the gag, > The Dogs.
12/31/14: Quick The Dogs > Tweezer.
12/31/14: This Tweezer is challenging the taboo against jamming in the third set.
12/31/14: This Tweezer is in serious calypso-jam territory. It's making me want to grab my shoe
mouth, is what I'm saying.
12/31/14: Now, a slow, fuzzy build.
12/31/14: I'm getting spoiled because that epic Tweezer jam barely made a dent in my palate.
12/31/14: Simple is up after that surprisingly deep Tweezer.
12/31/14: Okay, so that was weird. After a show of seamless jams, a budding Simple jam just got
totally garroted into Limb By Limb.
12/31/14: Trey's had enough of this awesome improvisation, dammit! Time for the 'crowd pleasers,' which don't actually please anyone!
12/31/14: That was a S1 LxL in terms of energy. Bug is next.
12/31/14: Backwards Down the Number Line. Probably no more to see here tonight, folks.
12/31/14: Incredible show, though, especially considering I didn't expect much except for the gag.
12/31/14: Greedy part of me wonders what might have happened has that Simple not been cut.
12/31/14: But that's like Scrooge McDuck complaining that his vault doesn't have a foot more of gold in it.
12/31/14: The Horse on piano.
12/31/14: What wind-down would be complete without Julius?
12/31/14: What but Golgi > Tweeprise could close this amazingly epic show?
I came into this show not expecting much other than to hear a shitload of Phish music. I don't typically think of a NYE show as featuring hard-hitting jams and extended improvisation. Welp, I was surprised by this one.
That said, the first set didn't stick with me much. It's a high-energy affair, but unlike a lot of recent first sets, it's just a grab bag of random (and mostly frequently played) songs. So, it doesn't do much to rise above the standard '14 first set. The "Wolfman's" get a bit deeper of a funk treatment than usual, and the set-closing "ASIHTOS" deserves mention for a mellow interlude that explodes into a better-than-usual rock peak, but otherwise this set could be from any show, any time.
Not so with set two.
The set-opening "Birds" is heavier than usual, with Trey taking control and displaying some serious 90s chops. But that doesn't really matter because what comes next is, on first listen at least, better than the 7/13 "Chalkdust" > "Light" > "Tweezer," 7/18's second set, or 11/1's "Crosseyed" > "Light" -> "The Dogs" -> "Lengthwise" > "Twist" -> "Wading." The "Ghost" > "Theme" -> "Cities" sequence here is just amazing, and you should just watch it. And if that isn't enough, after a short "CDT" breather, the set closes with "Martian Monster"!
The anything-goes feeling continues after the NYE gag, as the gag leads directly to "The Dogs," and then an expansive "Tweezer" that is an absolutely legitimate third set jam. I'm not sure this stands up to the heavy-hitter "Tweezer"s of the year, but it's no slouch, and coming so late after so much music is a great surprise.
If I have one complaint at this point, it's that, after playing something like 90 minutes of just perfect music, Trey suddenly yanks the band out of an evolving "Simple" jam for a cursory "Limb By Limb." After that, everything settles into jukebox mode and the band rides it till the end. Had the "Simple" evolved further into something like, say, the Dick's version, this stops being a best-of-year contender and starts being something even more serious. But alas.
As it is, it's an incredibly strong show for being in a slot that usually ends up being more of a party show than anything else. Hell, it's an incredibly strong show for any day of the year. Three more days of this!
The Live Review:
12/31/14: Second monster show in the last two weeks. Sample opener!
12/31/14: Super-tight Sample. The Wedge is next.
12/31/14: Might be because I have my player plugged into the big speakers today, but 555 sounds great, too.
12/31/14: Heavy Things.
12/31/14: Great clav-funk interlude in Wolfman's. More rhythm, less guitar than usual.
12/31/14: Trey finishes with a great build. That's about as good as Wolfman's gets without going Type II.
12/31/14: Halfway To the Moon > Bouncing. First set has a bit a jukeboxy feel to it so far.
12/31/14: Not was interesting or inventive as the Halloween run S1s. Fantastically tight playing, though.
12/31/14: An extremely enthusiastic KDF is next.
12/31/14: Train Song!!!!!
12/31/14: Train Song > WAN would be a great pairing IF TREY REMEMBERED HOW TO PLAY WAN.
12/31/14: Nah, it's all good.
12/31/14: Axila I. What a weird, basically baffling selection of songs in this set.
12/31/14: ASIHTOS. So weird.
12/31/14: Page over to electric piano, Trey dropping back.
12/31/14: Trey comes out of the mellow part of the 'jam' with a shredfest. Sort of like Wolfman's earlier.
12/31/14: Again, about as good as this song gets without a trip down the rabbit hole in earnest. Neat to hear.
12/31/14: Birds, now. This seems like a long set.
12/31/14: Really rocking Birds > Ghost?!
12/31/14: Are they seriously playing Ghost in the first set of the whole run? That's sort of a bummer.
12/31/14: D'oh! Clearly I'm focusing too much on grading. Birds > Ghost was the S2 opening pair.
12/31/14: S1 ended with the extended ASIHTOS. Life makes much more sense now.
12/31/14: Jam starts with some slanky Trey chords.
12/31/14: Seamless move into a bliss jam with repeating riff reminiscent of...something? It's going to drive me nuts.
12/31/14: Trey is driving a pretty amazing jam right now.
12/31/14: Fadeout -> Melody Jam -> Mike's playing the Ghost bass riff -> coda of the song -> Trey rock solo over verse progression.
12/31/14: Holy hell.
12/31/14: The Halloween run was quite possibly my favorite run of 3.0, but it didn't have a jam like this.
12/31/14: The madness finally fades into Theme.
12/31/14: Trey is pushing out of the usual Theme peak. Not sure if it's because he's being weird or because he forgot the chords.
12/31/14: Sounds cool, though.
12/31/14: Okay, Mike just started a funk-woo jam in the middle of the Theme vocal breakdown.
12/31/14: 'They Attack!' from someone during the Theme jam.
12/31/14: I think it might be the original sample...yes, it is.
12/31/14: Typing 'Theme jam' just made me smile. Oh, and by the way, there's a goddamn perfect -> Cities at the end of the Theme jam.
12/31/14: Instant, dense, plinko-like space at the end of Cities.
12/31/14: Quick, gorgeous transition to a bliss-jam space. Is this really happening?!
12/31/14: Hood-like jam now.
12/31/14: Transition to CDT is a little wobbly in midair, but sticks the landing.
12/31/14: If they take this CDT deep, I'm not even sure if I'm going to live through it.
12/31/14: Trey starts the breakdown at the end of CDT early, futzes everyone up. Oh well, S2 until now was The Best.
12/31/14: Martian Monster voiceover starts up, crowd loses it.
12/31/14: I think Trey is using loops a bit more during Martian Monster this time.
12/31/14: Having heard about but not seen the 'gag' at the beginning of S3, this is probably going to be a bit weird.
12/31/14: Starting with an a capella Dem Bones is already pretty weird.
12/31/14: Vacuum cleaner is 'stuck' to Fish's face.
12/31/14: Right after the gag, > The Dogs.
12/31/14: Quick The Dogs > Tweezer.
12/31/14: This Tweezer is challenging the taboo against jamming in the third set.
12/31/14: This Tweezer is in serious calypso-jam territory. It's making me want to grab my shoe
mouth, is what I'm saying.
12/31/14: Now, a slow, fuzzy build.
12/31/14: I'm getting spoiled because that epic Tweezer jam barely made a dent in my palate.
12/31/14: Simple is up after that surprisingly deep Tweezer.
12/31/14: Okay, so that was weird. After a show of seamless jams, a budding Simple jam just got
totally garroted into Limb By Limb.
12/31/14: Trey's had enough of this awesome improvisation, dammit! Time for the 'crowd pleasers,' which don't actually please anyone!
12/31/14: That was a S1 LxL in terms of energy. Bug is next.
12/31/14: Backwards Down the Number Line. Probably no more to see here tonight, folks.
12/31/14: Incredible show, though, especially considering I didn't expect much except for the gag.
12/31/14: Greedy part of me wonders what might have happened has that Simple not been cut.
12/31/14: But that's like Scrooge McDuck complaining that his vault doesn't have a foot more of gold in it.
12/31/14: The Horse on piano.
12/31/14: What wind-down would be complete without Julius?
12/31/14: What but Golgi > Tweeprise could close this amazingly epic show?
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