Fall, NYE 2016 and Early 2017 Wrap-up

I hate to come back to this old whipping post, but jam length continues to be the thing that '15 Phish pundits point to when they complain about '16 Phish. Which is dumb, especially when it comes to '16 fall tour and beyond. If I'm right, and the roughness of summer '16 was really due to it being a transition away from the '13-'15 style of playing and jamming, then fall is when things really start to come together, surprisingly actually helped by the entry of Big Boat tunes into the band's repertoire. And it's not just about getting away from bliss jamming, though that's certainly part of it. There are a few things I notice now, having listened to all of the 2016 shows, that set this year apart from the last few years:

1. The band can consistently drop interesting 8-9 minute versions of songs that feature legitimately engaging jamming. They've been leaning more and more in this direction over the last few years, but have finally gotten consistent in their ability to Go There quickly. They no longer have to ramp up to a space jam with five minutes of Type I noodling. This, of course, leads fans to complain because jams can't be good if they aren't long. But that is dumb and wrong and you should listen to pretty much all of fall '16 again.
2. The band has been experimenting more with doing interesting things with existing songs that aren't necessarily "jamming" but are experimental nonetheless. The "slow 'Llama'" is an easy example of this, but look also at 10/22's "46 Days" -> "Sally" -> "46 Days," 10/30's "Hood" -> "Have Mercy" -> "Hood," the "Martian Monster" -> "Tweeprise" -> "Martian Monster" or "Twenty Years" -> "Kung" -> "Twenty Years" or "Light" -> "Party Time" or "Piper" -> "Ass Handed" -> "Piper" from MSG, or Mexico's "Disease" -> "No Men."
3. The band hasn't been content with using existing jam vehicles and has worked a lot at developing interesting jam spaces out of new songs without having to rely on a gimmick ("Everyone gets a 'Fuego'!" or '14 "Hood"s). See "2001," "Wolfman's," "Tube," "Stash," and more from this year for examples of this.
4. Instrument switching. Love it or hate it, it's yielded some great jams both during summer and fall, and is another sign of a band that is actively fighting creative stagnation.
5. Last and most importantly, the band has fought actively in most cases against the impulse to transition to the "easy" bliss jam mode when stretching a song, and the result (in fall, at least) has been jams that have not only been consistently stellar, but also consistently interesting, something that I'd argue got lost somewhere between '13 and '15. There are tons of examples I've pointed out in individual reviews, but here's a few good places to start: 10/14's "Disease" and "Light," 10/15's "I Always Wanted It This Way" -> "Twist," 10/19 S2, 10/21 S2 (minus the "Ghost," which goes in a very '15-style direction), 10/24's "I Always Wanted It This Way" > "Piper," 10/28's "Golden Age" -> "Simple" and "Light," 10/29's "Piper" and "Tweezer" -> "I Always Wanted It This Way," 10/30's "Disease" and "Birds," 12/28's "Golden Age" -> "Simple," 12/29's "Disease," and 12/30's S2...you know, just to name a few. Oh, and then the second sets of all three Mexico shows offer up some of the most interesting improvisation the band has strung together in a long time, '15 included.

In the end, having listened to the entire year's worth of shows, I'm frustrated to see something like 10/14 coming in with a 3.8 rating, because it's embarrassing how much quality playing a show like that has. If you're going to discriminate against a jam or a set simply because of track times, then you're likely not going to like '16 Phish as much as '15 Phish. I'm not here to rate, just to review. I love them both, but I'm no longer convinced that '15 was necessarily a high-water mark for the band. Maybe a high-water mark in terms of their ability to please their famously persnickety fans, but otherwise? For my money, '16 Phish is consistently more interesting to listen to. If that's not what you're looking for in the band, that's fine, but I definitely hope they continue on this tack going into '17.

See you all at Dick's!

10/14: Great tour opener that doesn't get nearly enough love (because, of course, there's not a single jam you can easily point to as a "great" part of the show). First set has great "Ghost" and "Gin" jams along with some Big Boat live debuts. A monster Type I "No Men" opens the second set, and "Disease," "Cities," and a multi-faceted "Light" each get exploratory in their own ways. Great three-song encore, too.

10/15: Not as consistent as the previous night's show. Three less-than-stellar ballad tunes all seem placed precisely to kill setlist flow. Otherwise, the Big Boat tunes continue to play nice with the older tunes. The highlight of the second set is a briefly jammed "Twist" that moves into a monster "I Always Wanted It That Way" jam that pushed the band out of its comfort zone and into some interesting places.

10/16: A pretty lackluster show, here. The only real notable highlight (and it is a real highlight, despite the rest of the show) is a huge "Piper."

10/18: The first two-thirds of this show just find the band in a holding pattern, waiting for Bob Weir to show up. Listen to the "Sand" and "2001" from the first set, I guess. Lots of people (understandably) freak out about the Bobby part of the set, but to my non-Grateful Dead-fan ears, it takes most of the set for Bobby and the rest of the band to gel. "Twist" is weird, but I'm not sure that it's very good. "Playin' In the Band" is the only tune that really sounds like a cohesive band playing...appropriately enough.

10/19: A step up after the last few shows. A really well organized, consistent first set where even songs like "Camel Walk" get the special treatment. "Tube" continues to develop. The second set is an amazing jam-funk odyssey: "Golden Age" > "Tweezer" > "No Men" > "Plasma" with an exceptionally long and gorgeous "Hood" after all that. It's easily the best part of the tour so far.

10/21: Solid but unremarkable first set leads into another six-song second set. A best-of-fall "Disease" kicks things off before "Carini" gets a beautiful melodic jam that moves nicely into "Winterqueen." "Ghost" is peaky, "Possum" continues a string of great '93-style takes, and "Slave" winds things up.

10/22: Yet another strong first set, with "Waiting All Night" (yup), "Gin," and "Zero" as obvious highlights. Early in the second set, "Fuego" hints at a jammy, looping madness that "Simple" revisits in more detail later on. The great fourth quarter wraps up with "46 Days" -> "Sally" -> "46 Days."


10/24: The first set is again great, featuring an argument between Trey and Fish as to whether "Ass Handed" or "Saw It Again" is the better Phish song, as well as a strong "Bowie" and a rare, blissy "Wolfman's." Set two features a brief melodic interlude out of "Seven Below," the best "Petrichor" so far, and a strong fourth quarter anchored by an expansive "I Always Wanted It This Way" jam and another great "Piper."

10/25: Literally no jamming. Two sets of first-set music, but really good first set music. It's nice to hear "Foam" and "Friday."

10/28: The first set is pretty rote minus a little jam in "Steam," but everything is played quite well. Set two opens with "Crimes of the Mind" and continues straight into an enormous "Golden Age." That segues into a great "Simple" jam, followed by a great "Light" jam...and then a '15 style weak fourth-quarter finish. Great start to a great run, though.

10/29: The first set is pretty predictable in general, but "KDF" is worth a listen, and "Gumbo" actually departs for Type II shores for a few minutes. In the second set, "Mercury" continues to get extended, "Piper" has huge consistent momentum via a "CDT"-like jam that runs for nearly ten minutes. Later, a "Tweezer" -> "I Always Wanted It This Way" sequence provides some of the best music of fall tour so far.

10/30: A lot of typical tunes in the first set, but they all get stretched in some interesting ways., The "Ghost" is worth a listen, too. For the third night in a row, the second set is bonkers. The opening "Disease" riffs on the famous Miami version for a bit before seguing into "Birds"...which also features a Type II jam. "Hood" -> "Have Mercy" -> "Hood" finishes things off in great fashion.

10/31: Like most three-set Phish shows, the focus here is on the gimmick set. And the Bowie album is amazingly done. "Possum" and "Wolfman's" are their great '16 selves in the opening set, and the third set has sort-of highlights in a strong "Sand," marimba-led "Twist" jam (YMMV) and a patiently-developed "2001."

12/28: Each MSG show in the run opens with an a capella number. So that's neat. The first set is an even better-than-usual mix of old songs, new songs, and some surprise bust-outs. "Wolfman's" is a strong Type I opening to the second set, but it's really "Golden Age" -> "Simple" (again!) that's the story here. The set is light on jamming after, but "Martian Monster" -> "Tweeprise" -> "Martian Monster" makes up for that.

12/29: Structurally similar to 12/28. Fortunately, this means another really strong first set, and this time it's augmented by a legit evil jam in "SOAM." The second set's improv is focused mainly in the opening "Disease" -> "WTU?" sequence, which is great. Toward the end, there's a "Twenty Years" -> "Kung" -> "Twenty Years" bit that recalls the previous night in a great way, as well.

12/30: This is quite possibly my favorite show of the year. The first set has a great funk sequence in "Moma," "Gumbo" > "Cities" and an excellent "Gin"...before closing with "YEM." Set two is basically "Tweezer" > "Sparks" > "Ghost" > "Light" -> "Party Time," where "Ghost" is the best version in years (save for maybe the Lockn' version) and "Party Time" is played as an extension of the "Light" jam rather than as its own song. It's amazing.

12/31: This three-set show actually has more going for it than the gimmick. Well, sort of. "Back On the Train" gets a plinko'd treatment in the first set, and in the second, "2001," "Carini," "Twist," and "Piper" -> "Ass Handed" -> "Piper" are all highlights, even if none of them go particularly deep. The third set starts with a gorgeously orchestrated "Petrichor," but then continues with a full-on set featuring the TAB horns and other guest musicians. The result is maybe not the most intriguing setlist, but it's worth it to hear this extended band tackle some songs that sound made just for them.

1/13: The momentum from the great MGM and MSG runs carries over here. It's another solid first set closed by a Type 1.5 "Wolfman's." The second set starts slow, but "Fuego" > "Caspian" -> "Twist" -> "Seven Below" results in some of the most interesting and inventive music the band has played in a long time.

1/14: Like 1/13, this show has a lot of great moments, but they show up in odd places. The first set is a bit less even, but a 13-minute Type II "Chalkdust" that just doesn't stop makes up for that. The second set, again, takes awhile to get going, but "Meatstick" > "Winterqueen" >  "Mercury" > "Light" features some (more) amazing improv, albeit a bit less than the previous night's mid-set.

1/15: If this show was technically in 2016, it'd be in competition with 12/30 for best of the year. The first set is, for all intents and purposes, a second set, with "Ghost" and "Tweezer" jams, lots of other amazing song choices (including "Fluffhead") and a "Nothing" bustout in the cooldown slot. "Disease" -> "No Men" is really just one big jam with "No Men" lyrics in the middle before moving into a huge bliss space. "Sally" leads into a "Shipwreck"-infused take on "Possum," and the "Shipwreck" sampling continues into an awesome "Carini." A legit take on "Bowie" and a strong "Hood" wrap up the second set before a "Slave" encore.

2016-10-31 MGM IV

The Verdict:
I sort of already spelled out my response to this show in the "Live Review" bit below, but I'll rehash it slightly here.

Basically, it's a three-set Phish show like most other three-set Phish shows: the gimmick/special set is great, but the sets surrounding it are pretty vanilla and uninspiring. Here, the Bowie set is awesome. I hardly know the album (I know, I know) but I liked the performance of it so much I played it again right after I was done reviewing the show. The album tunes fit Phish's style in a weird way while being different enough that they end up getting pushed out of their comfort zone just enough to end up showing how versatile they are instead of sounding like they're stretching to fit some other band's idea of what music should sound like.

Frankly, in most circumstances I'd be happy to take two relatively lackluster sets along with a musical "cover" that's executed this well. The only reason I'm a bit more critical this time around is because the first three shows of this run were so good. Playing a fourth, three-set show with extremely minimal jamming feels just a little like sneaking out the back door before the encore, Bowie cover aside.

That said, this is still one of the band's best runs in a long time, and I'm excited for MSG as a result. Somewhere between Dick's and MGM, reviewing Phish '16 stopped being a chore, and I'm very happy about that.

Anyway, you should listen to the Bowie set. That's the first thing.

The opening set is pretty okay. Like the rest of the first sets of the run, it features a really good mix of tunes and strong playing...but at this point we've come to expect at least one surprising breakout jam, and that's not here. "Carini" is a nice surprise opener. "Possum" brings its usual '16 fire. "What's the Use?" is a standalone version that's almost delicate in its rare quietness. "Tube" gets slightly extended and "Petrichor" keeps getting better. But "Wolfman's" is the only tune that even hints at improvisation, doing so briefly as a Type 1.5 swipe not unlike what we heard during its previous incarnation on 10/24.

The final set offers up a bit more, but nothing like the closing sets of the previous three nights. "46 Days" starts off normal but ends on a weird, ambient note, fading nicely with a -> "Sand." "Sand" proper is probably the highlight of the set, starting out as a wall of noise with Page prettily playing over it before transitioning into bliss territory. The song never peaks, but stays gorgeous and is definitely worth a listen. "Twist" starts off promisingly, then moves into a group percussion jam. Your enjoyment of what follows probably depends about how you feel about instrument switching. Someone (Trey?) eventually gets on the marimba and closes the song with the "Twist" riff from there, which is kind of neat. The other bright spot in the set is the "2001," which gets extended beyond its usual boundaries like a few other versions this year. Unlike other versions this year, the band jams on a theme in the midst of the song and takes things in legitimately interesting directions instead of just wading in the funk murk.

"Number Line" and "Slave" are strong-but-rote versions, and the perfect choice for an encore, "Space Oddity," brings us home.

The Live Review:
10/31/16: Carini opener. Here we go!      
10/31/16: Trey's been really keyed in melodically during this run, and tonight sounds no different so far.      
10/31/16: Typical Carini outro getting softer now.      
10/31/16: Your Pet Cat next.      
10/31/16: Solid take on AC/DC Bag is third, then Free. Seem to be staying in the box after that interesting Carini opener.      
10/31/16: Free > Possum.  
10/31/16: Another strong Possum. Stand-alone WTU? next. Starts off surprisingly muted.      
10/31/16: REALLY quiet version now.      
10/31/16: > Wombat! Now that's a welcome surprise!  
10/31/16: Tube follows Wombat, and like all Tubes post-Chula, this one's opening up a bit.      
10/31/16: Instead of the usual funk groove, though, we've got Page in electric piano and Trey playing an echo-y melody.      
10/31/16: Nice take on Tube. Wolfman's is next.      
10/31/16: So far, aside from a few weird song choices, it's been a pretty straightforward opening set.   
10/31/16: Wolfman's modulating a little out of its usual frame.      
10/31/16: That version didn't quite get out of the box, but was moving toward a Type 1.5-style jam before returning to the usual outro.      
10/31/16: Obligatory Ass Handed. Now a pause.      
10/31/16: Petrichor! I was thinking they'd already played this during the run. I guess not.      
10/31/16: That tune just gets better each time they play it.      
10/31/16: Antelope will close the first set.      
10/31/16: I will never get some fans' fascination with this tune. It's the most predictable, straightforward song I can imagine.      
10/31/16: Maybe it's one of those old/fan new fan things?      
10/31/16: End set. Not a bad set, but definitely the least interesting opening set of the run.      
10/31/16: Bowie set next.      
10/31/16: I don't know this set very well (aside from the 'hits'), so my commentary will likely be minimal.      
10/31/16: Will say, though, that three songs in I absolutely love the arrangements. Great vocals and what sounds like strings accenting.      
10/31/16: The vocal arrangements sound like things Phish would have written in the 90s.      
10/31/16: Really like where the outro to Moonage Daydream is going.      
10/31/16: Got a bit of a Floyd sound going there.      
10/31/16: I'm not sure how they decided Mike should sing Starman, but I'm glad they did.      
10/31/16: Sounds great with the strings.      
10/31/16: This album is a great pick for something that fits Phish like a glove but yet doesn't sound like them. If that makes any sense.      
10/31/16: Fish singing Star.      
10/31/16: End set with a great performance of Rock and Roll Suicide.      
10/31/16: Set three starts with 46 Days.      
10/31/16: Short little jam, return to vocals, and then an odd, syncopated noise jam after the vocals. Cool.      
10/31/16: Leads to a nice, slow -> Sand.      
10/31/16: Absolutely filthy tone from Trey starting off the Sand jam.      
10/31/16: Now a bit of a wall of noise with Page playing piano over it. Definitely Type II time.      
10/31/16: Moving into bliss jam territory now.      
10/31/16: No peak, but a really nice jam. Quieting down now.      
10/31/16: > Twist  
10/31/16: Interesting funk leanings from Trey in the beginning of the Twist jam.      
10/31/16: What's resulting from that is a legitimately weird jam. I'm not quite sure who's playing what.   
10/31/16: Percussion jam breaking out now.      
10/31/16: Someone (Trey?) playing the Twist riff on the marimba now while others jam on the drums. Crowd woo-jamming and Fish screaming.      
10/31/16: Basically, there's a lot going on.      
10/31/16: End of Twist w/o members switching back to their usual instruments. Meatstick from a dead stop next.      
10/31/16: > 2001  
10/31/16: Trey busting out the MuTron on 2001 and making shit weird. Now the pitch shifter.      
10/31/16: Loops and other weird effects now. Vocals.      
10/31/16: Long and legitimately interesting 2001. Jamming on a few riffs and creating a theme or two within the structure of the song.      
10/31/16: Number Line has been lurking for four shows. Now, here it is.      
10/31/16: Little extra fire on that Number Line!      
19/31/16: Nice landing in Slave.      
10/31/16: I imagine that this'll finish out the set.      
10/31/16: Extra slow build this time.      
10/31/16: Overall, I'd say even the mighty MGM run can't avoid the three-set-show curse. The Bowie cover was absolutely spot-on, but...      
10/31/16: ...the rest of the show didn't live up to the potential of the first three nights. S1 bright spots in Carini and Wolfman's...      
10/31/16: ...but otherwise it was a standard '16-style opening set. S2 had two solid, short jams in Sand and 2001.      
10/31/16: Twist > Percussion Jam > Marimba Outro was interesting, but likely not what you typically think of when you think of Phish jamming      
10/31/16: Not knocking the show, though. It was really fun and the jams that did pop up in S3 happened in really fun places.      
10/31/16: Just saying that S1 and S3 don't stand up to the absolute fire that was the first three shows of the run.      
10/31/16: If that bums you out, just listen to the Bowie set again.      
10/31/16: The show encore is, of course, Space Oddity.    

2016-10-30 MGM III

The Verdict:
MGM night three continues what's been an absolutely spectacular run of shows so far.

The opening frame once again combines new tunes ("The Dogs," "How Many People Are You?") with old tunes played with some extra fire ("Funky Bitch," "CDT," "Army of One") to create a satisfying set. The "Ghost" that pops up in the two-slot also features some full-band improvisational heroics. It's not a long version, really, but with the band's ability to Go There on a dime in full force lately, it definitely shouldn't be skipped. It's worth mentioning too that while "How Many People?", "Stash," and "Theme" don't "get jammed" in the typical way, they all features some interesting playing that sets these takes on the songs apart from normal versions.

As with the previous two nights, the second set is just batshit. The opening "Disease" recalls one of my all-time favorites (the Miami "Disease") in terms of its sheer momentum and length. It's over twenty minutes and never lets up in that time, moving through a number of spaces without losing speed until it all peaks with a perfectly synced-up Trey high note and Mike bass bomb. In the aftermath of the peak, the band jams on a "Birds"-like progression before seguing smoothly into "Birds" proper. Then "Birds" goes Type II. Yep.

The "Birds" jam starts off briefly as a loud, angry thing before getting quieter and melodic before Trey locks onto A Riff and the band rides it for awhile before going back and finishing the song. "Fuego" and "Miss You" slow things down a bit, but then the band works a double-time, only-sort-of-reggae sandwich into the set-closing "Hood" with a fantastic "Hood" -> "Have Mercy" -> "Hood" > "A Day in the Life" sequence. It's real good.

The Live Review:
10/30/16: Alright, here we go with night three! The Dogs opener.      
10/30/16: Ghost!      
10/30/16: Trey and Mike easing into the jam, Fish keeping up an insistent beat, though.      
10/30/16: Whole band picking up steam now.      
10/30/16: Trey just blew up.      
10/30/16: Man, if they start the show this way, what's still coming?      
10/30/16: Wind-down ending.      
10/30/16: Funky Bitch next keeps the heat coming.      
10/30/16: Is it weird that Dick's is still almost five months away and I spend 15 minutes or so a day thinking about it?      
10/30/16: Fiery takes on Funky Bitch and CDT follow that Ghost. Then Army of One (!) and Heavy Things.          
10/30/16: How Many People Are You?!!!      
10/30/16: Trey immediately starts to modulate into an uplifting, driving mode after the lyrics.      
10/30/16: Sometimes I think he likes playing this song more than Mike does, even.      
10/30/16: Stash next. Maybe it'll benefit from the creativity that's been laced throughout this set so far.      
10/30/16: Trey is laying down all sorts of staccato-sounding madness to start this jam.      
10/30/16: Stash didn't get super-weird, but featured a lot of interesting playing. Same with the Theme that followed it.         
10/30/16: Theme lands nicely in Suzy.      
10/30/16: Suzy is getting an echoplex-driven stop/start jam to wrap up the set.      
10/30/16: PAGE = A MONSTER      
10/30/16: Nice, consistently solid and energetic first set with a legit Ghost to boot. Not as surprising as 10/29's, but otherwise as good.      
10/30/16: Disease opens set two.      
10/30/16: Trey going rock-bonkers on this Disease like he did at the end of the S1 Ghost.      
10/30/16: Loops lead a transition into a more space-funk jam.      
10/30/16: Band really listening. This should be good.      
10/30/16: Rhythmic jam now. Mike and Fish leading, Trey and Page sitting back.      
10/30/16: Uh-oh. Trey's hooked on one of Those Riffs.      
10/30/16: This thing is not letting up AT ALL. 18th minute now. Reminds me of the Miami Disease, actually. Relentless.      
10/30/16: We may be in for a huge peak here.      
10/30/16: Trey hits a peak just as Mike hits a bass bomb. Now THAT was awesome.      
10/30/16: Sounding like Birds now.      
10/30/16: BOOM!! > Birds.  
10/30/16: Nuts.      
10/30/16: Oh dear. Birds is going Type II.      
10/30/16: Things quiet down for a bit, then Trey emerges with a really angry-sounding guitar tone.     
10/30/16: Quiet, pretty jam emerging now. Nice counterpoint to the Disease jam.      
10/30/16: Another great Big Riff from Trey now. Band building on it.      
10/30/16: Band having a lot of fun crafting a driving but delicate jam here.      
10/30/16: Okay, Fish just shifted us into a new gear.      
10/30/16: Slow but directed return to the Birds riff and lyrics.      
10/30/16: I think they might actually go back and finish the song.      
10/30/16: Yep.      
10/30/16: Wow.      
10/30/16: 'They Attack!' sample from Page to round things out. Fuego next.      
10/28/16: Golden Age -> Simple > Light, Piper, Tweezer -> I Always Wanted It This Way -> The Horse > Silent, and now Disease > Birds.      
10/28/16: So many highlights in this run I can't keep track of them all.      
10/30/16: Full-on Birds tease in Fuego, with crowd wooing.      
10/30/16: I also tweeted 10/28/16 as the date for a few tweets back there. I trust you can fix it in your own head.      
10/30/16: Solid but standard take on Fuego.      
10/30/16: Miss You in the cooldown spot.      
10/30/16: Well, think what you will of Miss You, but that was a pretty mighty outro jam.      
10/30/16: Looks like Hood is going to round out another amazing second set.      
10/30/16: Hood jam getting shuffly.      
10/30/16: Slow segue into Have Mercy!!!      
10/30/16: Page on carnival organ.      
10/30/16: Shuffle continues. No reggae beat from Fish.      
10/30/16: This is awesome.      
10/30/16: The Hood -> Have Mercy -> Hood from 2011 is one of my favorite Phish things. That made me really happy.
10/30/16: Also a big fan of the Have Mercy sandwich from the Utica show, of course.            
10/30/16: Great follow-up Hood jam happening here.      
10/30/16: Band peaks the song, then backs off and now is winding up again. How often does that happen in Hood?      
10/30/16: It was what I'd call, in mountaineering lingo, a 'false summit' :)      
10/30/16: Page piano-only outro > A Day in the Life. What a set!  
10/30/16: Character Zero encore!      
10/30/16: Character Zero performances have actually been so damn engaging lately that I'm excited for this.      
10/30/16: Okay, so that one wasn't so great, but who cares because SET TWO      
10/30/16: End a show that fell somewhere between N1 and N2. S1 was more forgettable than 10/29's (that Gumbo!)...      
10/30/16: ...but the second set ranks right up there with the other nights and anything Phish has done this year.      
10/30/16: Gonna play out the last hour of work in my office with some CRB now.        

2016-10-29 MGM II

The Verdict:
If the first MGM show was an example of a great Summer '15-style show, this is an example of a great Fall '16-style show. The first set is a bit more predictable in terms of song choice, but that predictability is shaken up by a surprise Type II jam (in "Gumbo"), while the second set never presents one huge jam, per se, but features brilliant improvisatory playing from front to back.

The first set is, like I said, relatively predictable based on the setlist, except for a few highlights worth mentioning. First, while I typically am not really engaged at all by performances of "KDF," Trey really hits the FTW-style melodic highs for real on this version and it's worth a listen as a result. "More," with only a few plays under its belt so far, also gets taken on a pretty impressive Type I journey. But "Gumbo" is the real story here. Not only does it get expanded into a Type II jam, the jam is echo-y, dark, and rumbling: not at all what you'd expect from this particular tune. It's compact, but one of the most fun explorations I've heard the band dive into lately. If you reanimated Funk as a zombie for Halloween, this is what it would sound like, slowly shambling around your house, brutally but sexily dancing everyone to (un)death.

Set two starts off with "Mercury," and the tune gets a long, surprisingly heavy Type I jam tacked on to the end of it. This doesn't really lead anywhere notable, but it is the longest version of "Mercury" to date. Things really kick into gear with the following "Piper," though. This is another jam that's hard to describe, but it's one of my favorite of the year, easily. Basically, the guys just ride a modified version of the "CDT" riff for about ten minutes, but there's so much momentum and it's so fluid you feel like you hear them listening to each other. It's awesome, and it segues into "Scents and Subtle Sounds" right after Trey more or less reprises the awesome riff from the Dick's '15 "Disease" to send us up a bliss peak. "Scents" itself is a little rough, but it revisits the same territory as the "Mercury" outro jam, staying heavy after the initial composed section.

After the previous night's set, you might expect the guys to clock out at this point, but instead they start up "Tweezer." This version is as straightforward and as satisfying as they get. It's full-ahead rock led by Trey until suddenly it's not, and the droning and synth samples build slowly before falling away perfectly to reveal "I Always Wanted It This Way." Similar to the first set's "Gumbo," this version of the rarely-played but always-jammed tune goes the deconstruction route, getting dark and loud and (intentionally) not making a lot of sense. If you brought an mid-90s version of "SoaM" to a rave, this is what it would sound like. As a huge fan of the potential for this new song, I absolutely loved this old-school/new-school one/two punch. "Tweezer" -> "I Always Wanted It That Way" is fantastic.

Also worth mentioning? The "I Always Wanted" jam segues perfectly into (I think) the first guitar-led "The Horse" in awhile. From there it's all victory lap tunes, but this lap is well-earned. Definitely one of my favorite shows of the year.


The Live Review:
10/29/16: The Birds opener.      
10/29/16: Page a bit more sample-heavy than usual.      
10/29/16: Second is KDF. Starts off rough but Trey's doing some seriously great melodic playing in the jam.      
10/29/16: Little more meat than usual on this version.      
10/29/16: 555.      
10/29/16: A solid Roggae follows. I've heard smoother versions, but maybe not peakier ones.      
10/29/16: Gumbo!!!      
10/29/16: Gumbo starts off standard, then busts into a Manteca-like funk groove. Crowd loving it.      
10/29/16: Jam getting crazier and more deconstructed now. Echoplex.      
10/29/16: So, to recap, Phish not only played Gumbo, but Type II'd it in the middle of the first set.      
10/29/16: They just ended the jam with a big chord and a Call To the Post tease.      
10/29/16: Lawn Boy.      
10/29/16: Wilson, Maze follow as the set starts to settle into a more standard groove.      
10/29/16: Wingsuit, with a slightly extended Type I jam.      
10/29/16: More!      
10/29/16: I'm glad other people like this song as much as I do.      
10/29/16: Because clearly I crave validation.      
10/29/16: Nice, Number Line-style outro jam at the end of More.      
10/29/16: Mercury opens the second set! Has that ever happened before? Don't think so.      
10/29/16: Guys struggling a bit with Mercury.      
10/29/16: Different transition out of the marimba section this time, but unsure if it's a change to the song or a mistake by Trey.      
10/29/16: Trey using the echoplex early here.      
10/29/16: Nice, spacey dark Type I jam at the end of Mercury.      
10/29/16: > Piper  
10/29/16: Great rock jam evolving out of Piper. Almost sounds like CDT riff.      
10/29/16: Digging this jam a lot. Still sounding a bit like CDT.      
10/29/16: Really like what Page has been doing throughout this jam. Adding a sort of circus-organ flair to the whole thing.      
10/29/16: Really, everybody has just been killing it for about ten minutes straight at this point.      
10/29/16: Trey really close to stealing the riff from the Dick's '15 Disease there.      
10/29/16: Monster peak anyway.      
10/29/16: > Scents!  
10/29/16: That was a completely bonkers jam. The only thing that would have made it better was a -> CDT.  
10/29/16: Instead, it's followed up by Trey stumbling his way through the Scents intro.      
10/29/16: This is a great song. So happy to finally hear it live this past summer at BGCA.      
10/29/16: More distorted soloing from Trey a la the earlier Piper jam.      
10/29/16: Distorted jam fades into Tweezer.      
10/29/16: Great, driving funk jam here. Rhythm section is huge.      
10/29/16: More monster rock from Trey. Oh man.      
10/29/16: Loops and droning synth now.      
10/29/16: Holy hell. -> I Always Wanted It That Way. That just happened.  
10/29/16: If they jam this, this is going to be one of my favorite sets in a long time, warts on S+SS and Mercury notwithstanding.      
10/29/16: Definitely jam time. Page all over the place. Droning from Mike (and Trey?).      
10/29/16: Ghost-ish jam emerging as the chaos finally settles.      
10/29/16: Huge series of what I think are bass bombs as the vocals come back in.      
10/29/16: -> The Horse  
10/29/16: > Silent, of course.      
10/29/16: End a hell of a set with Golgi.      
10/29/16: Shine a Light for the encore. Nice organ breakdown before the final chorus. Don't think they usually do that.      
10/29/16: > Tweeprise.  
10/29/16: Whew! Short, sort of unremarkable opening set save for a jammed-out Gumbo...      
10/29/16: But that second set was right up there with the best of '15-'16 S2s.      
10/29/16: Mercury and Scents only got out there a little bit, but Piper, Tweezer, *and* IAWITW went *deep*.      
10/29/16: That slide into The Horse to wrap things up was great, too.        

2016-10-28 MGM I

The Verdict:
Phish opens the four-night MGM Halloween run by offering up a quintessential Summer '15 show in Fall '16: the first set is one of those deals that's half-perfect/half-jukebox, and the second set starts off with a monster jam sequence, only to fade out in the fourth quarter and finish weakly.

That, of course, is not to say this is a bad show. On the contrary, everyone loves Summer '15, right? RIGHT?! Well, then, this is right up our past alley.

The first half of the first set is strong, with a mixture of strong takes on predictable songs ("Martian Monster," "No Men," "Limb By Limb") and less predictable songs ("Dogs Stole Things," "Beauty of My Dreams," "Destiny Unbound"). The second half features a neat, brief little echo-y jam post-"Steam," but that gets chopped abruptly after a minute or so for "The Wedge." After that, everything is pretty forgettable. It's not that the playing is bad at all; rather, we've just heard it all before.

The big story in the second set is of course the monster "Golden Age," but it's worth mentioning that before that the guys bust out "Crimes of the Mind" as the set opener. So there's that.

The "Golden Age" proper is a beast. At over twenty-five minutes long, it visits a lot of fantastic locations, and departs from the Type I jam nearly immediately. There are two huge peaks, and one of them relies mostly on loops and dissonance to get there. It's hard to explain, but an absolute joy to hear. So you should hear it.

As if this beautiful jam isn't enough by itself, the band segues (->) perfectly into "Simple" to follow up. This jam is much shorter, but dissolves intriguingly near the end as the whole band bends toward dissonance...leaving "Light" room to emerge.

Now, this "Light" is always going to exist in the shadow of the massive "Golden Age" jam that proceeds it, and that's a shame, because it's great on its own. It starts by heading in the usual "Manteca"-style route, but quickly gets darker while maintaining the same salsa style. From there, the tension grows thanks to a looping riff from Trey and we descend yet again into muddy darkness before the jam ends.

From there, there's a tonally appropriate move into "Twenty Years Later," but it's a rough version, and like the second half of the first set, this fourth quarter never really gets back on the rails. It's a small criticism considering that the first near-hour of music in this set is pretty much perfect...but, it was the one repeated criticism of Summer '15, and the tendency to leave second sets unfinished rears its head again here.

Overall, though, I should stress that this is an excellent show, and I'm looking forward to three more.

The Live Review:
10/28/16: MGM run starting now with Martian Monster.      
10/28/16: > No Men. A nice, swinging solo from Trey almost immediately.      
10/28/16: Nice run through No Men's. After a long pause, Dogs Stole Things!      
10/28/16: I had never actually heard this tune until it opened the second Tahoe show in '11. Loved it since.      
10/28/16: Beauty of My Dreams! I haven't heard it in so long it took me a minute to figure out what it was.      
10/28/16: > Destiny Unbound. Rarity set?!  
10/28/16: Great little Type I jam in Limb By Limb. I feel like is another one of those songs, like Tube, that's currently growing out a bit.      
10/28/16: Home next. This version sounds tighter than the debut version, but the song still just doesn't sound as punchy...or something live      
10/28/16: Home outro jam getting shredded a little bit.      
10/28/16: When the Circus Comes next, then Steam. Liking the construction of this set.      
10/28/16: Really liking Trey's distorted soloing in Steam, with Page backing w/ organ chords.      
10/28/16: Quick left turn into ambient drone from the Type I Steam jam.      
10/28/16: Short ambient jam segues into The Wedge. Which was super-weird.      
10/28/16: Cavern.      
10/28/16: Walls.      
10/28/16: First set started off huge (w/ rarities and verve) but got a little jukebox-y by the end.      
10/28/16: That weird ambient jam > The Wedge moment felt like a turning point in a bad way. Strong set overall anyway, though.      
10/28/16: End set.      
10/28/16: Crimes of the Mind opens up the second set. That has to be a huge bustout, right?      
10/28/16: 283 shows.      
10/28/16: Golden Age is next.      
10/28/16: Golden Age jam starts out Type I, but quickly dissolves under a cloud of Trey's echo-chording.      
10/28/16: Neat noodly, almost salsa-like jam now. Sounds like something that might come out of Undermind.      
10/28/16: Neat melody solo from Trey now. Sounds a bit like WTU? and a bit like the outro to Lizards.      
10/28/16: Looping build. Giant Golden Age. More evidence for my theory that '16's 'slumps' have been about jettisoning bliss jamming as...      
10/28/16: ...the sole avenue to Type II.      
10/28/16: This is rad. Dissonant looping somehow leads to a peak. That doesn't even make sense, but yet it works.      
10/28/16: Calming now.      
10/28/16: Jam continues with funk chording.      
10/28/16: Loops from the peak continue softly in the background.      
10/28/16: Great organ work from Page right now as Trey plays a highly distorted version of what almost sounds like the Sand riff.      
10/28/16: This is like two different notes away from being a literal Sand jam.      
10/28/16: Flawless -> Simple. It sounds like the roof is coming down in MGM.  
10/28/16: Fantastic monster jam there. Did not see that coming.      
10/28/16: Band clicking again immediately as Simple jam starts.      
10/28/16: Trey has been playing like he just stepped off the FTW stage for most of fall.      
10/28/16: Page doing a great job of filling empty spaces with his piano and Trey and Mike play off each other.      
10/28/16: Pitch shifter and distorted bass. Things getting deconstructed.      
10/28/16: Dissonance > Light.  
10/28/16: Distorted Manteca-like jam coming out of the Type I.      
10/28/16: Manteca-type jam has sort of turned in on itself. Really tension-y now. Trey playing a short, looping riff over and over.      
10/28/16: Dark, spacey jam winding down now into more ambient noise.      
10/28/16: Nice fade into Twenty Years.      
10/28/16: I realize it's unfair to demand that Phish does something interesting with a particular song, but I love 20 Years Later...      
10/28/16: ...lyrically and as a rare dark(ish) tune in their quiver. However, the outro jam always just sounds like a dirge.      
10/28/16: The overly distorted tone Trey's using here makes it sound even more like we're at a funeral for the fourth quarter of this show.      
10/28/16: I feel a little bit the same way about Fuego when they don't play with the outro. Or Wingsuit. Yeah, we get it!      
10/28/16: Late-set Blaze On.      
10/28/16: Short-but-hot Blaze On leads into Coil.      
10/28/16: Sounds like a Page outro this time instead of Mike.      
10/28/16: Encore is, strangely, Bouncin' and Bold As Love.      
10/28/16: Neither set ended particularly gracefully, but the first set was a great mix of well-played old, new, and busted-out tunes...      
10/28/16: ...and the second set opened with friggin' Crimes of the Mind and had a legendary Golden Age -> Simple > Light sequence.
10/28/16: I don't care that much that the fourth quarter was a bit weak, honestly.        

2016-10-25 Grand Prairie II

The Verdict:
Okay, so, the good news is that the second Grand Prairie show isn't nearly as bad as the online ratings would have you believe (it's placed below 8/14/04 and just barely above 8/15/04). The bad news is that there's literally zero units of jamming throughout the show.

I can't say that if you're coming to it having heard a lot of Phish shows before that it's a show that's worth your time. It's certainly not going to teach you anything new about the band that you didn't already know; however, it is two first sets of really well-played Phish music.

On the other hand, again, it is two first sets of Phish music.

I don't have a lot to say in terms of specifics. "Daniel Saw the Stone" is great opener. "Moma" and "Cities" are tight. "Foam" is a great bust-out. "Waking Up Dead" is my favorite "new" live song, and "Walk Away" > "WTU?" > "More" is straight Type I fire.

Going into the second first set, it starts out a bit slow, but "Number Line" takes a somewhat different route than usual, "Lifeboy," is another rare ballad bust-out to follow 10/24's "Dog-Faced Boy," "Meatstick" is a blast, "The Line" is a darkly funny joke in the middle of a jamless second set, and "Tide Turns" is just in bad taste. Speaking of taste, "Taste" is next, though the scarce momentum that is built up there is spent by another ballad bust-out in the form of "Friday." A short "Waves" > "Julius" before "Good Times Bad Times" ends things is probably the highlight of a musically unadventurous rock and roll raveup of a set. The second one of the night, in case you're keeping score at home.

"Show of Life" as the encore call actually made me laugh out loud.

So, while I'd like in some ways to write this show off as being a weird, negative anomaly, it's actually quite good in a two-first-sets sort of way. If each of these sets opened a show on consecutive nights, we'd be raving about how good they were. But we aren't. So, on to MGM!

The Live Review:
10/25/16: Daniel Saw the Stone opener!  
10/25/16: I love Phish's version of this song so much.  
10/25/16: Moma is second.  
10/25/16: Guys sound extra energized tonight. Also, there's a guy right next to the SBD who can't stop screaming.  
10/25/16: If experience at Phish shows has taught me anything, though, it's that he'll be asleep on the floor in 20-25 minutes.  
10/25/16: Fiery Moma > CDT.
10/25/16: Cities next. Feels like early jamming is imminent.   
10/25/16: Some mellow interplay between Trey and Mike.  
10/25/16: Short little outro there, but pretty playing from everyone.  
10/25/16: FOAM  
10/25/16: Trey struggling a bit, but otherwise they're not sounding too rusty on this tune.  
10/25/16: Waking Up Dead! Glad to see the boys seem to like this one live as much as I do.  
10/25/16: Divided Sky next. Loving the way the new songs fit in with the old ones.  
10/25/16: I Didn't Know! Trey telling a story mid-tune about being a 'real Texan' since he was born in Ft. Worth.  
10/25/16: Only Moses DeWitt is a 'cosmic Texan,' though.  
10/25/16: Walk Away!  
10/25/16: I don't know what it is, but the Walk Away jam is always one of my favorite bits of Phish music. I think it's Fish's drumming.  
10/25/16: He rarely plays anything that driving otherwise.  
10/25/16: > WTU?
10/25/16: Whatever these guys have been doing to write the first set setlists lately, I hope they never stop.  
10/25/16: Mellow '16-style WTU? > More.
10/25/16: End set w/ More.  
10/25/16: Stealing Time opens the second set.  
10/25/16: Second is Number Line. Clearly, the boys had so much fun playing the first set that they're just going to play another one.  
10/25/16: Neat Number Line, though. Continues the (Type I) evolution of the tune, keeps it unpredictable.  
10/25/16: > Lifeboy.
10/25/16: It's always great to hear the slow, gorgeous piano intro to a song like Lifeboy and then hear in the background...  
10/25/16: ...tons of bros screaming 'FUCK YEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAH!!!'  
10/25/16: THIS FUCKING BALLAD GIVES ME AN OPPORTUNITY TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE FEELINGS SOCIETY GENERALLY FORCES ME TO BURY DEEP WITHIN MYSELF!!!  
10/25/16: But seriously, it's a great song. And patriarchy makes men sad, too.  
10/25/16: Meatstick! I'm not sure what they're doing for this second set, but I almost don't care because MEATOSTAQUE  
10/25/16: UNSURE IF YOU ARE STILL CORINNE  
10/25/16: The Line. By god, I think...I think they've given up for the evening.  
10/25/16: Seriously, this is a really well-played set so far (even The Line!) but they just aren't playing anything with a jam.  
10/25/16: I suspect people FUCKING HATE this show.  
10/25/16: HAHAHA...it has a lower @phishnet ranking than 8/14/04. C'mon, guys. Really?!  
10/25/16: Having attended a wonky/out-of-sync/truly bad show just this year (7/22), I can say that this is 10x better.  
10/25/16: There isn't much 'bad' in some objective way about this show. In fact, they're playing their asses off. Just no jams.  
10/25/16: Okay, so having said all that, a second set The Line > Tide Turns sort of feels like a punch in the nuts.  
10/25/16: > Taste
10/25/16: Friday is next! Great take on Taste.  
10/25/16: Gorgeous little outro jam in Friday. Followed by a short, standard Waves. > Julius.  
10/25/16: Good Times, Bad Times closes the set.  
10/25/16: Show of Life encore. Is Trey trolling us?  
10/25/16: Maybe he secretly hates jamming and took the 'home field' show to just play all the songy songs he's ever wanted to song song.  
10/25/16: Regardless, imagine fast, fiery, competent Phish from your favorite era playing this show and that's what it sounds like.  
10/25/16: Literally 0% jamming, but a great show by pretty much every other metric.    

2016-10-24 Grand Prairie I

The Verdict:
Neither Grand Prairie show lives up to the quality of the Alpharetta run before it, but this run also doesn't deserve the smack that gets talked about.

Well, the second night sort of does, a little. But the first night definitely doesn't. Here's why.

The first set starts off with a pretty rote No Men > Breath and Burning sequence, but then things really pick up. The rest of the set is brilliantly paced, and features a lot of great songs. There's a bit of a lull near the end, but it's because Trey and Fish are arguing over whether "Ass Handed" or "Saw It Again" is the better song, so I'm willing to let is slide. Then there's the second-ever "Running Out of Time" segueing into a solid "Bowie" to end the set. But the real highlight is a "Wolfman's" that gets the "Type 1.5" treatment first set "Gin"s have been getting for the last two years. If you want to hear "Wolfman's" leave the box and explore some bliss-y territory, this one's for you.

Hot on the heels of a big first set, you might expect the band to launch into a jam vehicle, but the theme of this show seems to be finding diamonds in the rough, so "Dog-Faced Boy" is the rarity opener instead. From there, "Seven Below" takes us on a pretty melodic journey usually served up by something like "Roggae" instead. "Petrichor" is oddly placed, and at first it struck me as a bit of a bummer; however, the band fully gels on this version and it's easily the best live take on the song thus far. The same with the following "Maze" > "Dirt": it doesn't make sense in the context of a "normal" second set, but both songs are played to perfection, so it's okay.

If you really need some jamming (and you do), the fourth quarter is there for you, with a synth-drenched expedition in the form of "I Always Wanted It This Way," bursting its way out of the box big time before segueing into "Piper." "Piper" has been a jam that's gotten really good lately at doing a lot in a small amount of time, and this version is no different, starting off with some beautiful melodic jamming that quickly turns into a "Birds"-like space that gets explored for awhile before landing in "Bug," a great cooldown to end the set.

If that all wasn't both weird and fun enough, "Buffalo Bill" > "Rock and Roll" is the encore!

Like I said, it's a great show if you're willing to look for interesting performances in unexpected places. For my money, it's one of the most fun Phish shows I've listened to in a long time.

The Live Review:
10/24/16: SBD starts with some seriously talented ululating from a crowd member. Then No Men.  
10/24/16: Pretty straightforward No Men > Breath and Burning so far.
10/24/16: B+B is being played a little faster than usual.  
10/24/16: Poor Heart in the three-spot with a badass piano solo from Page.  
10/24/16: Hoo boy, Wolfman's is getting the Gin Type 1.5 treatment.  
10/24/16: Leaving funk and modulating into some uplifting rock jamming.  
10/24/16: This is super cool, and unexpected.  
10/24/16: Great landing back in the Wolfman's riff.  
10/24/16: Slow version of Water in the Sky is next.  
10/24/16: Page is getting another great solo.  
10/24/16: My Soul!  
10/24/16: The guys have built some truly boring first sets this tour, as well as some truly inspired ones. This is feeling like the latter.  
10/24/16: Page with *another* big piano solo.  
10/24/16: They just ripped that My Soul up. >F
 NICU.
10/24/16: Trey is struggling a bit with It's Ice, but it still fits the vibe of this set as a song choice.  
10/24/16: Extra chunky funk interlude in the middle of It's Ice this time.  
10/24/16: Ocelot! I sort of hate this song, but I feel like we haven't heard it in a long time so I'll try to be nice.  
10/24/16: Nice, bluesy, languid start to the jam. Page adding nice accents on piano.  
10/24/16: Big-time build and peak in Ocelot. Never really left the box, but an impressive version anyway.  
10/24/16: Guy right next to SBD screaming for Whipping Post. That seems likely.  
10/24/16: Fuck Your Face instead.  
10/24/16: Trey says that was the second greatest Phish song of all time. I feel like Ass Handed is coming next.  
10/24/16: Yep.  
10/24/16: Fish says that Ass Handed is Trey's favorite Phish song, but not his. His is...Saw It Again!  
10/24/16: Running Out of Time is next. Weird change of pace, but I love this song.  
10/24/16: Bowie to wrap up the first set. What a weird-but-great set.  
10/24/16: Bowie doesn't get super-weird, but as a good, peaky take by 3.0 standards for the tune.  
10/24/16: End set w/ Bowie.  
10/24/16: Second set opens with...Dog Faced Boy?!  
10/24/16: That's neat.  
10/24/16: > Seven Below.
10/24/16: Some really great playing all the way around in this Seven Below.  
10/24/16: $$$ jam  
10/24/16: Okay, I'll start my next comment by saying that I've loved hearing Petrichor make its way into shows a lot lately..  
10/24/16: ...but do not drop it into the middle of a second set.  
10/24/16: So, Petrichor is next.  
10/24/16: Great full-band interplay during this Petrichor outro jam. It feels like they finally really gelled on the tune this time around.  
10/24/16: Maze continues a weird mid-set run of tunes.  
10/24/16: For what it's worth, that was a batshit Maze.  
10/24/16: Wow.  
10/24/16: > Dirt. Now that's a solid call after that crazy Maze.
10/24/16: YES! I Always Wanted It This Way!  
10/24/16: Big robotic crash synth breakdown right after the vocals. Echo chords from Trey.  
10/24/16: So happy that this is turning into a jam vehicle pretty much right away.  
10/24/16: Big Mike bass bomb leads back into the vocals.  
10/24/16: Driving beat from Fish. Lots of synth noise, but also Trey and Mike adding in loops and bombs when appropriate.  
10/24/16: Fish deconstructing the beat now. Ambient jam but heavy on percussion.  
10/24/16: Dark guitar riffs overlaid with synth whines now.  
10/24/16: > Piper
10/24/16: Driving jam in Piper almost immediately. Trey laying down a great melody solo.  
10/24/16: Straight-up Birds of a Feather jam happening here.  
10/24/16: A few tentative 'woo's.  
10/24/16: Call-and-response with the audience now. If they don't go -> Birds at some point it's going to be a little sad.
10/24/16: Full stop at the end of Piper. That was rad. Bug next.  
10/24/16: Bug ends the second set.  
10/24/16: Buffalo Bill encore!  
10/24/16: The melody of this song is so weird.  
10/24/16: Rock and Roll!  
10/24/16: End show.  
10/24/16: That show was not nearly as bad as The Online lead me to believe!  
10/24/16: Great first set with a monster Wolfman's. Flow got weird near the end, but it was because of a band joke.  
10/24/16: Second set starts out strong, gets weird flow-wise but with a first-setty section that's played to perfection.  
10/24/16: Then bounces back with a ridiculous IAWITW > Piper pair. Buffalo Bill encore. Love it!

2016-10-22 Alpharetta II

The Verdict:
[Note: This show is short of links and videos because it's not on phishtracks.com and there aren't any good videos on YouTube. Sorry!]

This show might have a more typical amount of songs in the second set, but oh boy that doesn't much matter.

The first set is a great collection of straight-on greatest hits, but with just enough modern flavor to keep things fun and interesting instead of old and stale. First off is a "Mike's Groove" with "Ass Handed" as the meat. "WAN" features a gorgeous solo from Trey after a rocky start. "Gin" is the easy highlight, following its '15-typical path to a Type 1.5 climax. Then, amidst some more first-setty songs, "My Pet Cat" makes an appearance. I'd love to say "Zero" is a joke to end the first set, but it's a huge, cacophonous version and if I could link you to it, I would.

The second set starts off weirdly, with "Antelope," and then there's a hint at weirdness with a loopy, dissonant ending to "Fuego." "Jim" and "No Quarter" are both nice setlist choices, but don't get out of the box (of course). "Simple" really kicks things into high gear late in the set, though: here's a jam that starts off with a huge bliss riff, but then departs from it to revisit the loopy madness from "Fuego" before building up a double-time "Ghost"-style riff...and then getting ripcorded into "46 Days."


This might seem like an unfair trade; however, "46 Days" only makes it about a minute before a flawless transition into "Sally," which departs on a chunky funk jam before transitions back into "46 Days."

It's a great close to a solid, fourth-quarter-heavy set before "Makisupa" > "First Tube" wraps up the run.
 
The Live Review:
10/22/16: Mike's Song opener. I feel like in my personal experience, this bodes ill.       
10/22/16: But I like being wrong.       
10/22/16: I feel like Mike's has been shorter since the mini-second-jam phase of '15.       
10/22/16: > Ass Handed > Groove. Hahahahaha
10/22/16: Mike's Groove sequence is pretty rote, minus the Ass Handed.       
10/22/16: On the upside, Trey's laying down more of the pretty melodic stuff he was playing last night.       
10/22/16: Well, if you like Trey Guitar Stuff a lot, you should listen to that Groove.       
10/22/16: I like Waiting All Night, and if you disagree, we should not be friends!       
10/22/16: Sample.       
10/22/16: Sample might be the most 'basic' Phish song, but if I don't get to dance on a huge lawn to it once a summer, I feel like shit.       
10/22/16: Gin is next.       
10/22/16: S1 setlist miles apart from last night's weird, fun variety. This is more of a greatest-hits feel.       
10/22/16: That said, they're rocking everything so far and right now are modulating the Gin jam up into PEAK SPACE       
10/22/16: Neat repeating riff post-peak. Back into the Gin riff, now.       
10/22/16: > Rift.   
10/22/16: Solid take on Rift. Stash next.       
10/22/16: For my money, Stash has been super-dull lately. And by 'lately' I mean 'since '11 or so.'       
10/22/16: They've been playing longer versions this year and a bit in '15, but length doesn't seem to translate to interesting exploration.       
10/22/16: Maybe this one'll be different.       
10/22/16: I should clarify that I really like Stash as a song. It just seems to hold a place similar to Slave these days...       
10/22/16: ...in the sense that after the composed section, there's a 'jam,' but it's predictable where it goes and how it gets there.       
10/22/16: Well, I'm happy to report that this version is calling my bluff a little. Sinister little section in the jam w/ Trey noodling.       
10/22/16: Mega-peak. Well, that version wasn't exactly unpredictable, but I feel like a dick for complaining about Stash now, so...       
10/22/16: Funky Bitch! I feel like I haven't heard this on in awhile. Page clearly hasn't either     he's GOING TO TOWN on the organ   
10/22/16: Any time Page goes to town on his organ, you know to pay attention.       
10/22/16: THAT WAS A DICK('S) JOKE       
10/22/16: Your Pet Cat is a super-weird choice late in this classics set, but okay, cool.       
10/22/16: The cat-screech samples are hard on the ear, but less so than the opening riffs of Stealing Time and KDF :)       
10/22/16: Zero to close the first set.       
10/22/16: I am so sick of Zero, but the tones Trey's been experimenting with during the solo lately are making me pay attention again.       
10/22/16: That was a show-ending Zero, not a set-ending one. Good god.       
10/22/16: Antelope opens the second set because up is right and down is white.       
10/22/16: Monster build and peak in Antelope. Phish is really pumped to be in Georgia this weekend.       
10/22/16: Been you to have any healthcare reform, Paul Ryan?       
10/22/16: > Fuego.   
10/22/16: Heavily distorted tone from Trey leads to some looping/atonal soloing madness at the end of Fuego.       
10/22/16: More somber soloing now. Loops continue in the background. Page on electric piano.       
10/22/16: Okay, I'm enjoying the hell out of this whacked-out Fuego ending.       
10/22/16: > Jim.   
10/22/16: Is this a...plinko jam? In 2016? Sweeeet.       
10/22/16: Seriously, it's awesome. Pre-second-verse plinko jamming.       
10/22/16: Neat! A standalone No Quarter after a rockfest jam to end the Jim.       
10/22/16: Solid No Quarter > Simple.   
10/22/16: So far, this set is rivaling last night for energy. It's just missing that monster Disease jam.      
10/22/16: Typical Simple jam fading after a few minutes.       
10/22/16: Fading back in with a jam that sounds like the Bend Simple on just the right amount of Xanax.       
10/22/16: Uh-oh Trey is jamming on one of Those Riffs.       
10/22/16: Sounds like a mash-up of the '15 Dick's Disease riff and the '14 Dick's Ghost riff.       
10/22/16: Leaving the riff now for loop madness jam.       
10/22/16: Trey revisits the riff briefly during a build, but then the jam transitions back into a murky funk space. Page on clav.       
10/22/16: Would be great for a -> Ghost if that hadn't been played already.   
10/22/16: I guess I read Trey's mind. They're basically playing the Ghost intro riff at double speed right now.       
10/22/16: Weird move from Trey ripcording into 46 Days just as the jam was building back up.       
10/22/16: Oh, well. Can't complain much about a 16 minute Simple :)       
10/22/16: Whoa. Just made a great transition from the first verse of 46 Days into Sneakin' Sally.       
10/22/16: Aside from the 20-minute space jam kind, this is my favorite kind of Phish.       
10/22/16: Such a smooth transition.       
10/22/16: Super gnarly funk turned into straight rock and roll.       
10/22/16: Familiar Phish alchemy at this point, but almost always great anyway.       
10/22/16: Transition back into the lyrics.       
10/22/16: Vocal breakdown.       
10/22/16: Back out of vocal jam into 46 Days. Shit!       
10/22/16: For those of you keeping score at home, that's a fourth quarter with a monster Simple jam, then 46 Days -> Sally -> 46 Days.       
10/22/16: End set, I think. Makisupa is kicking off the encore.       
10/22/16: Lyrics about listening to funk.       
10/22/16: > First Tube.   
10/22/16: Huge feedback ending to close the show.       
10/22/16: Well, that ended up being a great show. Really well played 'hits' set to open...       
10/22/16: ...and a great, fourth-quarter-heavy second set with a huge jam.       
10/22/16: Fuego > Jim sequence was no slouch, either.       
10/22/16: That's enough Phish for now. Will likely be back early next week with the Grand Prairie two-night run.       

2016-10-21 Alpharetta I

The Verdict:
Riding the wave of 10/19's second set, this show lays down another six-song set.

The opening set is a bit like the previous show's: no real improv, but a great mix of old and new songs. Trey puts a little extra mustard on everything he touches here, building up some serious anticipation for a great second set. "Birds" and the debut (?) of "Let's Go" are both worth a listen.

The huge "Disease" that opens the second set has all the cohesiveness and momentum that the previous night's "Piper" was missing. Space-rock and looping madness are bisected by a brief Woo! jam, and it's easily the best thing from fall tour so far. "Carini" follows, and starts off as its typical rumbling, hate-rock self, but then transitions perfectly into a melodic, prettier space which it hangs out in for a few minutes before segueing into "Winterqueen."

You might imagine that "Winterqueen" would derail the momentum of this set, but instead, it feels completely natural coming out of the beautiful "Carini" jam. "Ghost," despite coming in the second set, takes the path of a lot of recent first-set "Ghost"s; however, it features a monster '15-style peak. This version sets up another great '93-style "Possum" jam that uses tension to throw us all back about fifteen years before an equally old-school and patient "Slave" brings us home.

This second set isn't quite as consistently great as the previous show's, but it hangs together quite well even if the magic is more concentrated in one part (the first half) of the set this time. That's two amazing shows in a row!

The Live Review:
10/21/16: ASIHTOS  opener.      
10/21/16: Compact version of the tune, featuring some Trey trilling.      
10/21/16: Bag > BOTT. So far, it's a first set, folks :)      
10/21/16: Super-hot take on BOTT of all things. If you're into that sort of thing. Blaze On next. Lots of S1 Blaze Ons lately.      
10/21/16: Solid Blaze On, too. Trey's guitaring well today. Hoping that keeps up until we get to the part of the show where jams happen.      
10/21/16: Oh, good! Sugar Shack will ruin everything I just tweeted about!      
10/21/16: Well that was a long Sugar Shack. Next is the Johnny Cash-style version of Things People Do. Trey gets a solo.      
10/21/16: Trey just ripped Birds apart, too. Someone give this guy a real jam to dig into.      
10/21/16: Ah, yes. Mercury will do nicely.      
10/21/16: Trey struggling with this take on Mercury a bit.      
10/21/16: Some nice melodic soloing now that we're at the jam section.      
10/21/16: Nice Type I outro jam to Mercury.      
10/21/16: Let's Go!      
10/21/16: The other song I always miss when I listen to Big Boat!      
10/21/16: Mike should just write 80% of Phish songs from now on.      
10/21/16: You know what two songs of Phish's I really like? Mercury and Let's Go. You know which Phish song I don't like? Alaska.      
10/21/16: Alaska.      
10/21/16: When I asked her where she's going, she said 'To the bathroom, so I can get back before the next song.'      
10/21/16: Trey is really good at Type I tonight. More closing the set.      
10/21/16: That version seemed a bit better performed than the debut version.      
10/21/16: S2 opens (reliably) with Disease.      
10/21/16: Trey's all over the goddamn fretboard during the Type I part. This bodes well.      
10/21/16: Trey just switched on the distortion and powered us into Type II.      
10/21/16: Neat jam developing that manages to be heavy and spacey at the same time.      
10/21/16: Some nasty rock and roll happening here.      
10/21/16: This is badass. Also, a woo jam.      
10/21/16: I wonder how the guys decided that Fall 2016 was the time to bring back the Woo Jam.      
10/21/16: Not complaining, it just seems hilarious.      
10/21/16: Guitar looping happening now.      
10/21/16: This jam continues to be pretty much the best thing to happen for most of 2016.      
10/21/16: I have this crazy theory that I'm going to write about at the end of tour that 2016 was all about letting go of bliss jamming.      
10/21/16: This is some goddamn solid evidence for said crazy theory.      
10/21/16: This is not a jam the band could have played between '13 and '15.      
10/21/15: > Carini.  
10/21/16: I love that the totally deranged outro vocals to Carini are now a normal thing.      
10/21/16: Letting Carini jam rumble a bit.      
10/21/16: Carini jam is getting purty.      
10/21/16: That was an exceptionally good bit of jamming. > Winterqueen.  
10/21/16: Also, Carini > Winterqueen just amuses me in principle, for some reason.      
10/21/16: BUT TRUST ME Y'ALL IT MAKES SENSE THEMATICALLY      
10/21/16: Nice back-and-forth between Trey and Page in a typically mellow, jazzy Winterqueen jam.      
10/21/16: If you're still on the fence about Winterqueen, that version might win you over.      
10/21/16: Ghost is next, back in its old home spot in the second set.      
10/21/16: Cat Scratch Fever tease in Ghost jam.      
10/21/16: Gorgeous melodic jamming building up to a '15 style peak in this Ghost.      
10/21/16: Holy Ghost peaks, Batman.      
10/21/16: Smooth fade out of the jam into the Ghost riff to close.      
10/21/16: Outro Ghost vocals from Page! That was cool. Possum next.      
10/21/16: Judging by Trey's guitar, this is going to be one of those '16-cum-'93 Possums. I hope so.    
10/21/16: Great Possum > Slave to close the set.  
10/21/16: Extra slow, patient Slave jam. The '93 feel from Possum continues on here.      
10/21/16: Trey just ripped up that Loving Cup encore like he hasn't been playing for three hours already.      
10/21/16: A great show. No improv in the first set, but a great mix of tunes suffused with greater-than-usual guitar fire.      
10/21/16: The second set reminded me of no-filler sets like 7/19. Great stuff. Not a dull moment.        

2016-10-19 Ascend Amphitheater II

The Verdict:
10/18 might not be the most musically engaging show, but the Bobby sit-in seems to have set a fire under the band after the fact, at least, because this show is where things really start to take off.

Things never get crazy in the first set, but the band puts together a really engaging set of songs, a strong mix of old and new, and plays just about everything aside from the rocky "Theme" opener to perfection. "The Camel Walk" is especially worth a listen. The middle of the set is one of those songs-from-each-band-member thingies, with "My Sweet One" being the Fish song, "Waking Up Dead" the Mike one, "Halfway" the Page one, and "Running Out of Time" the Trey one. Then there's another rock-funk version of "Tube" that continues that song's 2016 evolution, and "Shine a Light" to close.

The second set is a six-song monster. "Golden Age" hits some heavy, heavy funk space right away before transitioning into a "2001"-style jam...which is, sadly, pretty badly ripcorded. Fortunately, it's for "Tweezer." "Tweezer" has three distinct sections, and they're all great, though there's a general funky theme throughout. Now possessed by the funk spirits, the band rips through a "No Men's" jam and then the second-ever (but first Type II) performance of "Plasma." "Hood" doesn't get funky, of course, but is a '14-style version, goes Type II, stays contemplative for a long, gorgeous time, before peaking within a stop/start Woo! jam. It's worth just hearing. "Suzy" is a nice exclamation point to this amazing set.


The Live Review:
10/19/16: Theme opener.      
10/19/16: Gotta say I much prefer this tune as an opener surprise than as a late-second-set 'surprise.'   
10/19/16: Man, Trey biffed the transition riff so hard that time he just gave up and started the jam early.      
10/19/16: Flub actually leads to an interesting, more mellow Theme jam and transition into the outro.      
10/19/16: Camel Walk!      
10/19/16: Super-tight, slightly extended Camel Walk. Where did that come from?      
10/19/16: My Soul! I like where this set is going so far.      
10/19/16: Petrichor. This tune continues to grow on me.      
10/19/16: I hope this tune doesn't go the way of TTE.      
10/19/16: To be fair, it probably shouldn't be played once every other show forever, but I'd hate to see it go away completely.      
10/19/16: Stealing Time breaks up the Songs I Like theme this setlist had going on.      
10/19/16: My Sweet One > Waking Up Dead.  
10/19/16: This is one of my favorite Big Boat songs live so far.      
10/19/16: Also really liking Things People Do, Petrichor and the one Always Wanted It This Way.      
10/19/16: Halfway To the Moon, and old-new song, is next.      
10/19/16: Wonder if they're doing a four members/four songs thing again. My Sweet One is a Fish song, right?      
10/19/16: Trey flirting a bunch with teasing WTU? during the Halfway solo. Not sure if it's on purpose or not.      
10/19/16: Yeah, Running Out of Time next. I feel like you can fairly count that as a 'Trey' song.      
10/19/16: Performed more or less like it's done on the album. That was nice.      
10/19/16: Sometimes it's nice to have a Phish song that doesn't have to end in a huge guitar crescendo.      
10/19/16: Anyway, Tube.      
10/19/16: Rock/funk hybrid happening here. Trey deploying the echo. Tube renaissance continues.    
10/19/16: Shine A Light, probably to close the set.      
10/19/16: YOP. End set.      
10/19/16: S2 opens with GOLDEN AGE      
10/19/16: Quick little solo, then a return to the Golden Age groove. Page to clavinet, Trey with heavy space distortion.      
10/19/16: Jam almost sounding like 2001 now.      
10/19/16: Whoops, brutal ripcord...for Tweezer.      
10/19/16: That's what you call a mixed blessing right there.      
10/19/16: Tweezer starts with a plinko-style jam.      
10/19/16: Err...not 'starts,' I mean the jam starts that way, not the song.      
10/19/16: Sorry, my brain is fried. And not in that one way that's good instead of bad.      
10/19/16: Really pretty, contemplative space opening up in Tweezer now.      
10/19/16: Neat, almost Latin beat and jam going now.      
10/19/16: Super-chunky funk jam now.      
10/19/16: Neat breakdown. Quiet funk noodling now.      
10/19/16: > No Men.  
10/19/16: Excellent Golden Age > Tweezer sequence, even if the transition was a bit rough.      
10/19/16: PLASMA!      
10/19/16: So happy to hear this make a comeback.      
10/19/16: Nice, Latin-infused noodling from Trey in Plasma. Echoing the early Tweezer jam.      
10/19/16: Now things getting spacier and more melodic. First Type II Plasma jam by the band?      
10/19/16: Return to Plasma riff to close out the song. > Hood.  
10/19/16: Loving the start to this Hood jam.      
10/19/16: Interesting tension-y bit now.      
10/19/16: This Hood might be going the '14 route.      
10/19/16: Building up energy now. Trey has brought it near the peak a few times, but pulled off into another direction each time.      
10/19/16: Really appreciate the patience.      
10/19/16: Definitely a Type II...you know, if you're into those sorts of things.      
10/19/16: WOO JAM      
10/19/16: Having some serious Hollywood Hood flashbacks here.      
10/19/16: IMMEDIATELY OUT OF THE WOO JAM INTO THE OUTRO      
10/19/16: HOLY YES      
10/19/16: Another WOO JAM      
10/19/16: WHAT IS HAPPENING      
10/19/16: IS THIS 2013      
10/19/16: That was amazing.      
10/19/16: Welp, if I wasn't going to Dick's before hearing that Hood, I am now.      
10/19/16: > Suzy  
10/19/16: Interesting Fish and Page centric Suzy to close the set.      
10/19/16: Walls encore.      
10/19/16: A little bonus mustard on that Walls. > Tweeprise to close.  
10/19/16: Really enjoyed that show.      
10/19/16: S1s that aren't standout-good or standout-bad often just come down to the setlist construction: that one was solid and fun.      
10/19/16: Second set jammed a lot in the same space (Golden Age, Tweezer, a little No Men, Plasma) but it was a good space.      
10/19/16: Strong Hood to finish and an energetic encore. Hard to complain. Much better show than 10/18. Sorry, Bobby.       

2016-10-18 Ascend Amphitheater I

The Verdict:
Of course, the big news of this show is the Bobby sit-in. And, really, that's the only news. The first set both really disorganized and lacking in points of interest. Things don't really get going until "Ghost," and even that, even by the standards of first-set "Ghosts" in 3.0, is pretty plain. "Sand" is an isolated bright spot, "Limb By Limb" features some solid Trey and Page interplay, and "2001" doesn't reinvent the wheel, but continues to develop the tune in interesting ways as has been the case throughout most of 2016.

The first third of set two is just a plain bit of music serving as a lead-in for Bobby's bit. I really like the sit-in for its historic value, but, honestly, it takes things awhile to get going. Trey and Bobby don't really gel that well on "Samson and Delilah," and though there are bright spots in "Twist," it's a long version that has as many awkward moments as good ones. "Miss You" with Bobby on vocals is...interesting, though the emotional impact is blunted a bit by the fact that Bobby, not unlike Trey in many ballad situations, can't remember the words. "West LA Fadeaway" is a stronger tune, but doesn't really get built out in any interesting way. It's really "Playin' in the Band" where everyone finally figures out how to work together best, and it's a fantastic twelve minutes. The "Quinn" encore comes too soon afterward.

 

The Live Review:
10/18/16: CDT opener.      
10/18/16: That might just be the least energetic CDT I've ever heard. Hope it's not a sign of things to come.      
10/18/16: Ascend Amphitheater sounds empty.      
10/18/16: I mean, I know Bob Weir comes out for the second set, so that's nice.      
10/18/16: Blaze On sounds like a sleepwalk, too. Maybe it's just the mix?      
10/18/16: Going early with Ghost again.      
10/18/16: Working off the lethargy here in this version of Ghost.      
10/18/16: Compact, Type I Ghost. But at least it sounds like everyone is awake now. Lawn Boy next.      
10/18/16: Halley's Comet > Sand  
10/18/16: Damn, this Sand is nuts.      
10/18/16: *insert fire emoticon here*      
10/18/16: Well that was a nice bright spot in a slow set.      
10/18/16: Tide Turns. Really following up on that energy, there.      
10/18/16: Each band member was playing a different version of the song there for a minute.      
10/18/16: That Tide Turns was...clunky.      
10/18/16: 46 Days next.      
10/18/16: Dick's announced mid-46 Days. That was fun.      
10/18/16: Breath and Burning next. This reminds me of 10/15, energy-wise. Who's writing these setlists?! I have rock blue balls.      
10/18/16: Breath and Burning played at half-speed. You know, because it's such a corker as-is.      
10/18/16: Limb By Limb gets things going again. Again.      
10/18/16: Nice Trey/Page interplay on this Limb By Limb jam.      
10/18/16: Cavern.      
10/18/16: > 2001. That was unexpected. This set is weird.  
10/18/16: Phish going to town on this 2001.      
10/18/16: A little bit of melodic jamming from Trey inside of 2001 now. This is neat.      
10/18/16: Nevermind, that got normal quick. End set.      
10/18/16: I'm surprised how normal that set was, considering the setlist.      
10/18/16: CDT, Blaze On, Ghost, Sand, 46 Days, Limb By Limb and 2001 ALL IN THE FIRST SET and literally no legit interesting music.      
10/18/16: Check out the Sand, though. It's fun.      
10/18/16: Julius opens the second set. Bobby better come out before the inevitable Julius, Character Zero, Joy > Wading > Miss You sequence.      
10/18/16: Just because of that tweet, I bet they'll play a full ballad set at Dick's.      
10/18/16: I'm a bad person.      
10/18/16: Neat little stretch of Trey solo in that Julius, I'll admit. Fuego next.      
10/18/16: Straightforward Fuego > MFMF. Clearly just biding time until Bobby sit-in.  
10/18/16: Bob Weir just walked out on stage and the crowd noise is on par with the Colorado 88 shows.      
10/18/16: Was Nashville just really empty or something?      
10/18/16: Samson and Delilah. Loving the two-guitar sound.      
10/18/16: Twist next. Loving the Twist intro with Bobby's licks in there.      
10/18/16: Slow-building Twist jam so far, with some great, somewhat tension-y guitar interplay.      
10/18/16: Jam taking a turn for the 2015.      
10/18/16: Trey trilling along while Bobby lays down some weird shit.      
10/18/16: Neat, deconstructed section now. Reminds me of Undermind, a bit.      
10/18/16: Bluesy section now.      
10/18/16: Whole thing is a little chaotic, and held together by the rhythm section.      
10/18/16: Reminded me a bit of something from the Victor Disc, honestly.      
10/18/16: Like Bobby's vocals on Miss You, but am not sure why they're playing it in the same key Trey sings it in.      
10/18/16: Is it bad that I'm amused by the notion of Trey having to deal with someone else's lyrical flubs?      
10/18/16: West LA Fadeaway.      
10/18/16: Bobby and Trey trading verses.      
10/18/16: Playin' In the Band      
10/18/16: Guitars finally jelling well here. Sounds like a legit Phish jam with Bobby joining in.      
10/18/16: This is great.      
10/18/16: Quinn encore. That's fun.      
10/18/16: Overall, this was easily the least interesting and engaging show of the fall tour so far...except for the mini-set with Bobby.      
10/18/16: That was a neat novelty back-to-front, with Playin' as a legitimate musical highlight.