Well, Darien Lake is a slight improvement over the lackluster Toyota Park show, though not by much. Rather than just being generally stilted and unsatisfying, it manages to evoke similarities to many of the Leg One shows I described as "average" or "workmanlike": it's a decently-played rock and roll show with one early-second-set marquee jam that dabbles in funk and abstract spaces for a few minutes.
We start off with "Sample," which is weird, because this was just played at Toyota Park. This version's got a bit more "oomph" and a bit less "oops" to it, but that's all there really is to say about it. Next is a well-played "Dinner and Movie" that's great for the novelty value alone, and it's followed by another 11-minute "Wolfman's" that stays in the standard and somewhat-satisfying type 1 funk pocket the entire time. Things finally get rolling with a flaming-hot "Possum" that does what "Possum" does best (i.e. encourage first-set ass-shaking).
The "Farmhouse" that follows is actually more than a novelty setlist call: Trey's solo manages to be both interestingly melodic and fiery at the same time, making this one of the better "Farmhouse"s I've heard in awhile. Setlist weirdness continues with pedestrian takes on "Brian and Robert" and "Sugar Shack." How much you like this part of the set probably depends on how much you like these songs in general. I love all three, so the often-flat mid-first-set part of the show could have been a lot worse, as far as I'm concerned.
Near the end of the set, we get two monsters: "Bowie" and "Gin." The "Gin" is pretty standard Trey-rock fare, but the "Bowie" really grabbed me. The band hasn't done much interesting with this song yet in 3.0, and honestly, they don't start being interesting here; however, this is a really solidly played and then jammed "Bowie" that hits all the right notes (literally) at all the right points and closes with an extremely satisfying climax. In some ways, I guess that makes it the very definition of "workmanlike," but I was fist-pumping at my desk by the end. Definitely the set highlight.
The set closes with a nice shout-out to the then-recently-passed Les Paul from Trey, and a bit of "How High the Moon" > "Golgi."
The second set follows the blueprint of a lot of later 3.0 second sets: one obvious jam-monster followed by a bunch of songs that (in theory at least) are loud, uplifting, dramatic, and seemingly meant to leave the crowd satisfied. This is pretty boring, in my opinion, but we do get a decent "Drowned" jam out of it this time.
Things are pretty straightforward until about 5:00 into the "Darien Jam," when the whole band transitions on a dime into some "Birds"-like funk space. This only lasts for about a minute or two, though, before Trey and Page start to do some more of the interesting abstract almost-clashing action that we saw previously in the Toyota Park "Number Line." While this is going on, Fish and Gordon are creating an absolutely sinister rhythm space underneath. The jam closes with a slow build up into a bliss-rock section, ultimately recalling the trajectory of a lot of the funk > space > bliss long jams of Leg One.
There's a neat transition into "Prince Caspian" next, and the "Caspian" is awesomely similar to the "Farmhouse": simultaneously very melodically creative and precise, and yet rocking at the same time. I don't know what Trey is doing with his ballad-song-soloing during this show, but I wish it happened more often.
Everything from the "Rift" to the "Antelope" is pretty standard fare, unfortunately. The "Antelope" is especially high-energy, but it's definitely not in the same category with some of the better "Antelope"s of the tour so far, and in fact there have been better ones even this week.
Things continue in a predictable vein, honestly, through the rest of the show, though the energy gets notched up a bit for the last few songs. "Suzy" features some great Mike and Page interplay and "Fluffhead" has a shredtastic peak, but aside from that and the novelty value of the "Joy" and "First Tube" closer, there's not really anything to write home (or on this blog) about.
The setlist for Comcast looks suitably wacky, though. Looking forward to seeing things get a little weirder.
Considering that this show comes after two barn-burning runs in a row (Red Rocks and the Gorge) and then a two-day break, my expectations were pretty low. Generally, lots of good shows + a long break = a lackluster show, and though one of the many things I love about Phish is that they can occasionally surprise you and buck this trend...this show is not one of those times. Toytoa Park is the first all-around disappointing show of Leg Two. Well, I suppose it had to happen sometime.
First off, it might just be my ears (or my speakers), but this SBD recording sounds like shit compared to the Gorge shows. I don't know why that would be the case, but it bugged me throughout, and no amount of EQing seemed to really un-muddy it. So that certainly didn't help. However, it also doesn't help that the vast majority of this show is made up of decently- but uninterestingly-played songs that never seem to cohere into any larger picture.
We start off with an energetic "KDF" that actually slays right out of the gate. Trey leads the boys right up to a monstrous peak and one song in, the sky's the limit. Then, though, we jump to "Sample," which rarely, if ever, has managed to reach its previous heights here in 3.0. This is more of the same, with Trey playing around with all sorts of effects to little effect (ha!) rather than just fucking rocking out for a few minutes. I don't know why he's so unable to just muster some satisfying rock licks on this song, like, basically ever. He can certainly do it with lots of other songs and has been doing it all summer...
Anyway, "Ocelot" is next, and it's a particularly yawn-y version. It's followed by "Paul and Silas," which is guess is neat for the novelty value, but at this point all the promise of the opening number has been squandered and I'm just bored. Fortunately, "Ocelot" is followed by "Windy City," which still isn't a rocker by any means, but is one of my favorite 3.0 songs. This version doesn't do anything interesting, really, but I'm satisfied by just hearing it.
The highlight of the show is probably "The Curtain With," which follows "Windy City." It's only the song's second time out since Coventry, and it's played beautifully all the way through. The jam section is minimal, but appropriate, and the "With" is always a joy to hear. There's nothing unique about the version, and it likely won't make my Leg Two highlight reel for that reason, but it's the best part of this show. So now you know it only gets worse.
There are some interesting song choices for the rest of the set ("Train Song," "Gumbo") and the "Heavy Things" is fast and features some high-speed Trey noodling reminiscent of the old days, but it ends too fast and drops into "TTE," about which nothing more really needs to be said (I'll say again: I love this song as a composition, but it just falls flat for me live). In a leg that's had some notably great first sets, this one just drags, and it might well be the single worst set of the run so far. Again, there's nothing terrible about, it's just sort of there. But after Red Rocks and the Gorge, that doesn't seem like it should be enough anymore.
The second set starts with a long "Number Line," but it's all type 1 jamming until about the 11:00 mark, where Trey and Page start in with some "wonky 70s space-age tones" (as I wrote in my notes) that play almost-but-not-quite-arrhythmically against one another. It's a really neat soundscape, but it only runs for about two minutes before a sudden "Carini" turn. The "Carini" itself is about as standard as it gets, and the majority of the "jam" is actually just song-ending-style feedback for about two minutes before we launch into "Jibboo."
Typically, I'd be totally jazzed about a show with both "Heavy Things" and "Jibboo," but in this case, the "Things" is too short to develop and the "Jibboo" runs too long on the same idea before moving into "Theme." Trey pretty obviously tries to do something different with the build-up in this "Theme" (or maybe he just gets lost?), but it doesn't work at all. As a result, the peak falls really flat. Fortunately, the following "Wilson" > "2001" pairing is high energy and features probably the most interesting playing of the show: a weird Trey mini-solo in "Wilson" and then another satisfyingly funk-chunky 2009 "2001."
To wind up, "Chalkdust" is standard fare, "Hood" features some more botched Trey experimentation that involves some attempts tension-and-release-type jamming (which just seems weird to me in a modern "Hood"), and "Coil" is sloppy as all hell.
"Loving Cup" is a nice opener, but nothing you haven't heard before.
This actually would have been a show that I would have enjoyed earlier in the summer, and might have ranked it above some of the more average shows from Leg One; however, with 6 of the 8 shows so far in Leg Two being to varying degrees in the "Best of Summer" category, this one just doesn't cut it.
...I do realize that this blog looks like shit. I'm hoping to fancy it up a bit sometime in the next few weeks, but for now I'm just focusing on delivering the text and video in as uncomplicated a format as possible.
Hoping to listen to 8/11 Toyota Park tomorrow. Apparently it's the debut of "Windy City"!
So, the second night of the Gorge run is a solid show, for sure. However, following on the heels of the mostly-spectacular Red Rocks run and a possible best-of-tour candidate in Gorge I, it's a bit of a letdown. But not much of one.
The "Mango" opener is much appreciated. It's well-played, and the harmonies (something which seems to often suffer in 3.0) are spot-on. There's also an excellent little Page solo with Trey doing some nice chording work during. "Chalkdust" is a great, rock-y followup (as usual), but while "Middle of the Road" is a great Mike-centered surprise, Trey sort of drops the ball on the soloing.
Anytime you get "Tweezer" in the four spot, you know the guys are trying to get something serious started. This version is worth a listen, though I have to say that in a year full of amazing "Tweezer"s this one isn't anywhere near my favorite. The jam starts off with some guitar loops, of all things, followed by some of the minimalist funk that's been popular through late June and early August. Fishman then pushes the band forward with a more driving beat, and Trey responds with the fuzz. The last few minutes abandon any semblance of improvisation, though, and just feature TreyShredzz (TM) all the way through, and then the song just suddenly ends. Like I said, not a bad version by any means, but not as satisfying as some of the Leg One versions (or the Hampton version!).
Fortunately, "Driver" is next, which is one of my favorite "cool down" songs. "20 Years Later" is a great song, but it's a weird follow-up to "Driver," and this version is just sloppy as all hell. Fortunately, at this low-energy point there's still about an hour left in the first set (this might be the longest first set ever). The energy kicks back in with a "Ya Mar" that features some great interplay between Mike-thumping and Trey's high-neck noodling action, and then there's an excellently-played "It's Ice" with some extra spaciness in the middle for good measure.
Here's my actually-self-made video of part of "It's Ice":
Next, there's an 11-minute "Wolfman's" featuring some standard summer funk-rock that seems destined to end the set...but nope, we're still going. "Character Zero" is actually quite good, and Trey's guitar tone at the beginning is so dirty and distorted that it almost wanders into Frampton-talking-guitar territory, which is at least interesting to hear if nothing else. Then there's the "Antelope." In a summer where "Antelope" has just been flat-out rocked out of the park on many occasions, this one stands out in quality by being just as exciting, but in different ways. There's a lot of back-and-forth and brilliant little telepathy moments in the intro, and the early part of the jam is dominated by Trey's surprisingly melodic and restrained soloing. Then, just for good measure, the last few minutes launch into that ridiculous shredding that has characterized most "Antelope"s so far this year. Then the first set is finally over. Just by virtue of it being so fucking massive, I'd say that there's a good moment or two for everyone here in this set. It sags a bit in the middle, but the last few songs patch things up nicely. In fact, if you're a big fan of "Tweezer" and/or "Antelope," you could probably make an argument for this being the second show in a row where the first set trumps the second set. It sort of depends on how you feel about a 23-minute "Rock and Roll," though.
Here's a video I shot during "Wolfman's":
Phish apparently loves "Rock and Roll" in the Gorge. This version is nowhere near on par with the 2011 version in terms of quality, but it's actually quite a bit longer. Up until about the 10:00 mark, it's all type 1 shredding, but then the bottom drops out, and Page's clav and Trey's guitar play back and forth for a few minutes over a spacey background. Next, Trey brings out the whale pedal (to good effect) while everyone else works on building funk textures in the background. At about 18:00, we return to standard-ish rock, with Mike, surprisingly, leading everyone to the peak of the song and then back into the vocal refrain. Overall, this is the rare 23-minute jam where I left feeling neither bored/annoyed or particularly blissful. It's good and all, and good enough to justify the 23-minute run-time (unlike a lot of, say, 2.0 long jams), but it's also not necessarily in the top 10 (or even maybe like top 25) of the year. Take that as you will.
The rest of the second set features a lot of standard versions of songs with interesting little moments built into them. For example, "Makisupa Policeman," which is played pretty much like it usually is, except for the fact that Mike and Trey trade instruments partway through. Then there are standard versions of "Alaska" and "The Wedge," followed by a pretty standard "YEM" that suddenly spotlights Mike playing a sinister, spacey bass near the end of the jam while Trey noodles "Hedwig's Theme" from Harry Potter underneath him before Mike just bursts into flames and starts ripping off an excellent solo. Similarly, "Number Line" is plain old "Number Line" right up until the end of the jam, where Trey busts out the whale again to great effect and then leads the band in a neat segue into "Piper" while everyone else keeps playing "Number Line" briefly under the "Piper" riff. "Piper," also, is pretty straightforward in terms of the jam, but Trey's and Page's tones are much more distorted than usual, so the effect is a jam that's pretty average in terms of playing, but that sounds a lot weirder than usual. "Good Times Bad Times" > "Tweeprise" is just a ridiculously good run-closer; there's not really anything else to say about that.
One more self-indulgent link:
Overall, I definitely didn't appreciate these shows as much as I could have in the context of the entire comeback back when I saw them live. However, on relisten, while the second night pales in comparison to the first, the two shows together stand up to any two shows from the Red Rocks run, and it's safe to say that Phish left the Gorge in '09 playing better than they'd played at any point since the comeback began. I've actually never heard any more '09 Phish after the Gorge before, so I'm excited to finish out this run and get in to fall tour. What the hell ever happened to fall tours, anyway?! Can we get some more of those someday? Like this fall, maybe?
I have to admit up front that it's hard for me to be objective here because this was my first ever Phish show. That said, it's easily one of the better shows of the year, even compared to the first few nights of the Red Rocks run, which I absolutely loved.
The boys started off with "Disease," which is a great opener, though at the time I rolled my eyes a bit. Before 8/7/2009, "Disease" had been one of my least favorite Phish songs, and it seemed ironically appropriate that they would start the first show I'd ever seen, after nearly 7 years of waiting, with it. However, by the end of the composed segment I was completely taken by the energy of the crowd and was jumping and whooping along, and it's one of my favorite concert memories; also, now "Disease" is one of my favorite jam vehicles. Memories aside, though, this version is a pretty straightforward Type 1 jam all the way through, with a smooth transition back into the song proper before the end.
"Disease" was followed by "Ocelot," which is, in my humble opinion, one of the least interesting songs in the band's live repertoire. This version is better than most, though, as it's (as I wrote in my notes) "slow and slutty." I was happy to hear "Pebbles and Marbles" next, though Trey seems to be just playing placeholder chords throughout, and with Page low in the mix (at least on my recording), the song sounds remarkably hollow. It's not a bad version, but it just sounds empty compared to the fuller studio version. As you likely know by now, "Possum" is a song that I continue to love, despite the fact that it seems to be popular to poo-poo it nowadays. This version features some really nice back-and-forth action between Trey and Page, and a particularly peak-y peak.
"Sleep" and "Destiny Unbound" were both nice surprises, one obviously a little nicer than the other, but neither one does anything other than you'd expect it to do, while "Stash" features a nice, extremely abstract jam in the vein of some of the better jams of the Leg One. Trey has a bit of trouble with the composed part of the song, but if you stick around for the jam, it's worth the wait. The centerpiece of the first set (and likely the whole show, oddly enough) is the "Sally" > "Cavern" combo. "Sally" is solidly played, then features a great impromptu vocal jam outro that morphs into a longer jam with a few movements to it. Overall, it's Phish doing something longish and interesting with ambient space. I wrote this (incoherently but exuberantly) in my notes: "great robotic guitar tone from trey going back into the jam, then an ambient washout...but they keep playing instead of changing songs. this is seriously some weird space shit. fishman comes into the space with a marching beat. this is so good." The transition to "Cavern" is solid, and while "Cavern" itself is nothing special, it's a great, sloppy, energetic close to a great first set that features some solid playing in its first half and some high-quality improv in its second. And actually, the "Sally" is one of my favorite pieces so far of all of 3.0...definitely worth a listen or two.
We get an energetic "Moma" to start set two, and then a long "Light." Much like the "Stash" in set one, this one starts rough but then extends into some quality type 1 jamming. This "Light" is actually one of my favorite Phish moments that I've witnessed live because of the Hood-like jam (with vocals!) that occurs suddenly in the closing few minutes. The entire band turns on a dime to suddenly enter a blissful soundscape that sounds a lot like the ending of "Hood," and then they actually play "Hood" in full later on in the set! Great moment, and perfect for the setting of the Gorge. Not the best ever "Light" by and means, but worth a listen for the "Hood" jam, for sure. It ends with a great segue into "Taste," but it ends up being a pretty standard version.
After, we get a standard "Fluffhead" and "Joy," but then like many of the better shows so far of 3.0, the late-set improv kicks in with an 18 minute "Gin" that covers a lot of rock-style movements before settling (near the end) on some interesting Trey picking with Mike thumping along underneath. The last few minutes of this jam comprise one of the more interesting soundscapes the band has created thus far all summer, but you have to wade through a decent but mostly uninteresting 15 or so minutes to get there. What follows is a really, really spacious and slow "Hood." As I wrote in my notes "nobody's in a hurry here," and the song's much better for it. There isn't much better than a long, extended bliss jam like "Hood" for the Gorge, and then band apparently agreed so much that they came back with a "Slave" closer. Between the "Light" > mini-"Hood," 17-minute legit "Hood," and the "Slave" encore, if you like bliss jams, this show is right up your alley. Even if you don't the "Sally" from the first set is quite possibly the best single jam of the tour so far. Either way, this is a great first show for a patient Phish fan. I'm a lucky guy.
