The Verdict:
At first, after the Atlanta shows, I was disappointed with this show. Trying to look at it a bit more objectively, though, I've noticed it's pretty similar in a lot of ways to 8/1.
The first set has consistent energy and some interesting song choices, but nothing terribly interesting, which, in the context of this tour, makes it a slight disappointment. As is becoming typical, the opening two songs shoot the energy through the roof. I love "Train Song," "Devotion," and "Meat," but here they also contribute to a weird setlist flow that jumps back up for "Maze" only to get The Line'd right after. "Roggae" and "46 Days" are their usual excellent selves, and Page teases "Very Short Fuse" during the "fuse" lyric in "My Friend, My Friend," but that's the first set in a nutshell.
The second set opens with "Disease," and I think I described it the best I can below when I said that the jam resolves into a bliss-rock jam that resembles what The Who would sound like if they weren't so angry all the time. I'm not patting myself on the back for my wordplay, there, I just don't know how else to describe the jam.
The rest of the set plays out pretty much like it looks on paper, though the "2001" is stronger and funkier than you might expect, and the "Hood" is briefer and more perfunctory than you might expect. Oh, and the "Seven Below" is either a totally brilliant ten minutes of jamming or some basic noodling. I've listened to it three times now and I can't decide.
Frankly, this show is one of those big-third-quarter-jam, one-trick-pony sort of shows, but it's a really strong show in that mold. Unlike the Texas shows, the first set hangs together, even if it isn't going to blow anyone away, and some of the later jams in the second set attempt to Go There, even if they aren't achieving Shoreline or Atlanta levels.
The Live Review:
8/2/15: Sample opener.
8/2/15: CDT next. Is this a mid-90s show?
8/2/15: I guess if it was, the tempo would be twice as fast and you wouldn't be able to hear the band over Trey :)
8/2/15: Whoa! Train Song! It really *is* the 90s!
8/2/15: Devotion puts us firmly in 2015.
8/2/15: Meat! So far, I'm way more excited about this first set than I feel like I should be.
8/2/15: The Sample > CDT combo was neat, and I love all three of the other songs. Taken more 'objectively' though, I suppose this is boring.
8/2/15: Maze next. Maze is definitely not one of my favorite #phish songs, but it's been hot at least since the Eugene version last year.
8/2/15: I didn't notice this much live this summer, but on the recordings, Trey's melody playing/jamming is much more precise/assertive...
8/2/15: ...but his composed playing, even on songs like Maze, is a lot sloppier than usual.
8/2/15: Maybe the tradeoff of his learning all of those FTW songs is that he's got too many damn songs in his head at once.
8/2/15: I mean, I'd certainly prefer better jamming and shittier composed playing than the opposite.
8/2/15: But it seemed like he was on an upward curve in terms of improved composed playing from '09 to '14 in a lot of ways. Then, *thump*.
8/2/15: Umm...yes, that was a really good Maze, btw.
8/2/15: The Line. Nothing sucks the air out of a room faster these days.
8/2/15: The thing is, it's a great song. Occasionally, #phish writes a catchy, meaningful song like this, and it's great that they do.
8/2/15: But nobody on tour wants to hear it every other night, except the band themselves.
8/2/15: So, yeah, I cringe out on the lawn whenever they start it up...
8/2/15: ...but I also remember when it came on the shuffle while I was driving south to solo Mt. Shasta and captured my feeling perfectly.
8/2/15: A lot of times, #phish is even better at creating that magical lyrical moment than the 'great' songwriters I love.
8/2/15: But also, damn, stop playing The Line every other night Trey :)
8/2/15: You try to see your future from the line / clinging to the notion you'll be fine / but #phish keeps playing The Line all the time
8/2/15: Roggae! Been really happy to see this one get so much play the last two years.
8/2/15: It's a perfect S1 song OR jam landing pad. Like Reba, it doesn't really Go There, but the little variations make each version great.
8/2/15: Great Roggae. Peaky at the end, like a lot of recent versions. MFMF is next.
8/2/15: MFMF is one of those songs that I just can't like in concert for some reason.
8/2/15: Except the time I was really high and thought it was Guyute for the first two minutes. I really liked it that time.
8/2/15: Yeah!!! After MFMF 'Fuse' line, Page plays 'Very Short Fuse' samples!
8/2/15: Literally nobody in the audience reacted at all.
8/2/15: Is it possible that the Tuscaloosa crowd just sucks?
8/2/15: 46 Days!
8/2/15: Some great pitch-shifted soloing from Trey here.
8/2/15: All aboard the train to Shredtown. Trey is your engineer.
8/2/15: Cavern. For the last song of the set?
8/2/15: Yep. End set.
8/2/15: A weird set. Started strong, continue with some mellow semi-rarities. No sagging, really, though, except for The Line.
8/2/15: I guess a good way to think of it is 'Consistently good/strong, but never great.'
8/2/15: I really enjoyed listening to it, but will probably never listen to any of it ever again.
8/2/15: Alright, long setbreak of desk reorganization and moving a few hundred books around in my office.
8/2/15: S2 opener is Disease.
8/2/15: Disease jam opening with some excellent melodic work from Trey.
8/2/15: Some ambient fuzz. Fish pushing them through a transitional space.
8/2/15: Trey reeling out some more octave-shifted stuff now.
8/2/15: Ooh, nice landing in a hilariously jaunty chord progression.
8/2/15: This is what The Who would have sounded like if they hadn't been so angry all the time.
8/2/15: They jammed on that riff for a surprisingly long time by 201x standards. Now a totally weird alien feedback/echo edifice.
8/2/15: During any other tour, this would be a huge highlight. Here, it's just another notch in the 2015 belt. But yeah, it's real good :)
8/2/15: > Camel Walk? Weird.
8/2/15: Interesting solo from Trey in Camel Walk, then a snap-quick transition into Seven Below.
8/2/15: Really nice little jam space here. Fish keeps the Seven Below beat going, Page on electric piano.
8/2/15: Nice build in the solo, then a return to the Seven Below riff.
8/2/15: Fuego next.
8/2/15: Pretty standard Fuego.
8/2/15: > 2001!
8/2/15: 2001 excitement aside, this set is starting to feel a bit disjointed like most of the first one did.
8/2/15: Definitely more Texas going on in this show than Atlanta.
8/2/15: Great 2001, with some weird tones and echoes from Trey.
8/2/15: In a weird way, this reminds me of the Mike's from Dick's last year.
8/2/15: 2001 > Hood.
8/2/15: That was the leanest Hood I've heard in a long time. Not necessarily a bad thing, but would have liked to have heard more.
8/2/15: Possum now, of all things.
8/2/15: That was a surprisingly excellent version of Possum, but it still feels weird having it close the second set.
8/2/15: Gotta love a Day In the Life encore, though.
8/2/15: So that was a very Texas show, after all.
8/2/15: High-energy S1, but oddly plotted and no actually interesting highlights (which is more of a gimme this year, usually).
8/2/15: Second set was really just the Disease, though there were bits of Seven Below and 2001 that were interesting.
8/2/15: In short, it's sort of the 2015 equivalent of a 2009 or 2010 One Jam In The Second Set-style show.
Oct 10, 2015
2015-08-01 Atlanta II
The Verdict:
There's more awesome Atlanta Phish to dig into on the second night of this run, though it's a bit more concentrated.
The first set has a lot fewer must-hear moments than the previous night, though there's a strong opening pair in "Runaway Jim" and "Undermind." the "Halfway," "Ocelot" pair smack-dab in the middle of the set might scream "Bathroom break!" but they're at the very least unique versions: Trey builds slowly to a crescendo from scratch in an interesting way in "Halfway" rather than just soloing and waiting out Page as he usually does, and "Ocelot" has another interesting build, that stays away from the song's usual blues-rock approach for some straight, harder rock instead. So, yeah, maybe check those out, but overall the set doesn't have the punch of the first night's opening frame.
The second set is pretty much all about the "Tweezer." The first half of this jam is some of the weirdest and yet most satisfying jamming I've heard in a long time from the band, and that's no small praise considering how they've been playing the last few years. I don't know that I'd call it the "best" anything, necessarily, but where even most of the band's top-shelf jams lately are really just particularly well-done variations on a particular theme or musical style, these 6-7 minutes are something I've never heard before at all. The second part of the jam settles into some more familiar territory, but is still solid for all that. Here, just watch it:
The rest of the set is strong 2015 playing, especially by Trey, but could easily be transported to a first set without anyone being the wiser...except for the Carini, which goes dark fast...and I mean dark:
So...yeah. Another great show, with some incredible highlights. Technically, it's a second-tier show for 2015, but that's just a backhanded compliment for how great 2015 has been in general.
The Live Review:
8/1/15: Second night of Atlanta coming your way. Slow-tempo Jim to open.
8/1/15: That was a very opener-y Jim. Very pleasant.
8/1/15: Curious to see if S1 of the second night can be as good as S1 of the first night.
8/1/15: Undermind next. Things are looking up.
8/1/15: Also slow tempo. Wouldn't mind a slow-tempo, ooey-gooey show, really.
8/1/15: Undermind floats along in a predictable way, though Mike is just blasting away in the background as if he's in a different song.
8/1/15: Some dude on the SBD is screaming for Skin It Back. #phish #crowdbanter
8/1/15: Nellie Kane instead.
8/1/15: Blaze On!
8/1/15: Short Blaze On. Now Halfway. Strong version, but I'm leery of setlist sag after the Texas shows. We'll see.
8/1/15: Unique Trey solo for this Halfway. Rather than just noodling along for a few minutes, he slowly builds from a small harmonics jam.
8/1/15: By the song's conclusion, he was shredding pretty seriously. I like that approach to the Halfway 'jam' better than the usual.
8/1/15: Fucking Ocelot.
8/1/15: Looking to make me eat my words, Trey and Fish are generating an interesting build here.
8/1/15: Trey's going to Melody Town. Gorgeous melody, but still building energy at the same time.
8/1/15: Well, that only slightly deviated from the usual Ocelot solo, but it's probably the most interesting take on the song I've heard.
8/1/15: Heavy Things, after an interlude of Fish drinking water and Trey exhorting the crowd to be more like Fish.
8/1/15: Messy Happy Birthday tease from Trey in Heavy Things. Not sure who for.
8/1/15: Theme!
8/1/15: Strong Theme, though no deviation from the usual...theme. Sorry.
8/1/15: Antelope to close the set. Hopefully it has some more balls than the Texas version.
8/1/15: Unless something magical happens in this Antelope, definitely S1N1 > S2N1.
8/1/15: We started off strong tonight with the first two songs, but everything else has been pretty typical.
8/1/15: Halfway and Ocelot were unique Type I versions, but that's about it.
8/1/15: End set. Gotta watch a video for work. brb.
8/1/15: Alright, S2 time.
8/1/15: Tweezer opener. The crowd loves it an appreciable amount.
8/1/15: Strong move into the jam, crowd loving it.
8/1/15: Distorted chords, beautiful keys from Page.
8/1/15: Trey laying down a great solo using the octave-shifter.
8/1/15: Slower, more melodic section now. Fish has a really interesting beat going.
8/1/15: This is wonderful. Holy shit.
8/1/15: I know I tend to be biased toward shows I've actually attended, but the KDF/Tweeze pair at Atlanta are better jams...
8/1/15: ...than anything I saw this summer.
8/1/15: Just fucking phenomenal. Dick's Disease is the only thing that's even close, but it's comparatively one-dimensional.
8/1/15: Where the hell are they even going with this thing? Making sounds I've never heard at a #phish show.
8/1/15: Just a little over halfway through, too!
8/1/15: Slow, buttery transition into rockland.
8/1/15: Trey going to town now.
8/1/15: Coming out of dark rock now, Page over to the clav.
8/1/15: Evil funk now. Mike with a great bassline.
8/1/15: Heavy drums now. Loops. Jam finally winding down. So good.
8/1/15: Trey ended on a gnarly loop that was begging to just have a Fee-style or '12 Roses-style jam tagged onto it.
8/1/15: Not like I'm complaining, though.
8/1/15: Jam lands in WAN. Perfect.
8/1/15: Number Line is next. I hope the rest of the at least contains some little gems, like 7/31 did. Even if not, though, DAT TWEEZER
8/1/15: Fantastically noodly Number Line gets BUTT-SLAMMED into CARINI
8/1/15: YOU TOLD ME OF A SECRET PLACE I SAW IT WHEN I MET YOU THE WALRUS ON YOUR FACE
8/1/15: This: https://t.co/RQuCdVTpqM
8/1/15: Lots of fucking screaming going into the jam. Fish is a champion screamer.
8/1/15: This is getting positively EVIL.
8/1/15: In the vein of the Bend Simple and Dick's Split.
8/1/15: Typing 'Dick's Split' admittedly made me wince a little.
8/1/15: This is nuts.
8/1/15: Oh. Waste. Interesting juxtaposition, but that felt like one of those 'strike while the iron is hot' moments. Oh well.
8/1/15: Guitar haze at the end of Waste > Sand.
8/1/15: Heavy funk time. Page -> clav.
8/1/15: That was an above-average typical version of Sand. If that makes any sense.
8/1/15: In other words: so good, but it didn't Go There.
8/1/15: Sand > Tweeprise.
8/1/15: End set. Rock and Roll encore!
8/1/15: Basically, both of these shows were just awesome. Slightly more pedestrian S1 tonight, and less on offer in S2 than N1.
8/1/15: That said, the Tweezer is even better than 7/31's KDF and probably the jam of the year so far for me.
8/1/15: Still prefer the Blaze On > Twist > Light, but I don't think that counts as one jam :)
8/1/15: Actually, I forgot the CDT from Texas was pretty damn good, too.
There's more awesome Atlanta Phish to dig into on the second night of this run, though it's a bit more concentrated.
The first set has a lot fewer must-hear moments than the previous night, though there's a strong opening pair in "Runaway Jim" and "Undermind." the "Halfway," "Ocelot" pair smack-dab in the middle of the set might scream "Bathroom break!" but they're at the very least unique versions: Trey builds slowly to a crescendo from scratch in an interesting way in "Halfway" rather than just soloing and waiting out Page as he usually does, and "Ocelot" has another interesting build, that stays away from the song's usual blues-rock approach for some straight, harder rock instead. So, yeah, maybe check those out, but overall the set doesn't have the punch of the first night's opening frame.
The second set is pretty much all about the "Tweezer." The first half of this jam is some of the weirdest and yet most satisfying jamming I've heard in a long time from the band, and that's no small praise considering how they've been playing the last few years. I don't know that I'd call it the "best" anything, necessarily, but where even most of the band's top-shelf jams lately are really just particularly well-done variations on a particular theme or musical style, these 6-7 minutes are something I've never heard before at all. The second part of the jam settles into some more familiar territory, but is still solid for all that. Here, just watch it:
The rest of the set is strong 2015 playing, especially by Trey, but could easily be transported to a first set without anyone being the wiser...except for the Carini, which goes dark fast...and I mean dark:
So...yeah. Another great show, with some incredible highlights. Technically, it's a second-tier show for 2015, but that's just a backhanded compliment for how great 2015 has been in general.
The Live Review:
8/1/15: Second night of Atlanta coming your way. Slow-tempo Jim to open.
8/1/15: That was a very opener-y Jim. Very pleasant.
8/1/15: Curious to see if S1 of the second night can be as good as S1 of the first night.
8/1/15: Undermind next. Things are looking up.
8/1/15: Also slow tempo. Wouldn't mind a slow-tempo, ooey-gooey show, really.
8/1/15: Undermind floats along in a predictable way, though Mike is just blasting away in the background as if he's in a different song.
8/1/15: Some dude on the SBD is screaming for Skin It Back. #phish #crowdbanter
8/1/15: Nellie Kane instead.
8/1/15: Blaze On!
8/1/15: Short Blaze On. Now Halfway. Strong version, but I'm leery of setlist sag after the Texas shows. We'll see.
8/1/15: Unique Trey solo for this Halfway. Rather than just noodling along for a few minutes, he slowly builds from a small harmonics jam.
8/1/15: By the song's conclusion, he was shredding pretty seriously. I like that approach to the Halfway 'jam' better than the usual.
8/1/15: Fucking Ocelot.
8/1/15: Looking to make me eat my words, Trey and Fish are generating an interesting build here.
8/1/15: Trey's going to Melody Town. Gorgeous melody, but still building energy at the same time.
8/1/15: Well, that only slightly deviated from the usual Ocelot solo, but it's probably the most interesting take on the song I've heard.
8/1/15: Heavy Things, after an interlude of Fish drinking water and Trey exhorting the crowd to be more like Fish.
8/1/15: Messy Happy Birthday tease from Trey in Heavy Things. Not sure who for.
8/1/15: Theme!
8/1/15: Strong Theme, though no deviation from the usual...theme. Sorry.
8/1/15: Antelope to close the set. Hopefully it has some more balls than the Texas version.
8/1/15: Unless something magical happens in this Antelope, definitely S1N1 > S2N1.
8/1/15: We started off strong tonight with the first two songs, but everything else has been pretty typical.
8/1/15: Halfway and Ocelot were unique Type I versions, but that's about it.
8/1/15: End set. Gotta watch a video for work. brb.
8/1/15: Alright, S2 time.
8/1/15: Tweezer opener. The crowd loves it an appreciable amount.
8/1/15: Strong move into the jam, crowd loving it.
8/1/15: Distorted chords, beautiful keys from Page.
8/1/15: Trey laying down a great solo using the octave-shifter.
8/1/15: Slower, more melodic section now. Fish has a really interesting beat going.
8/1/15: This is wonderful. Holy shit.
8/1/15: I know I tend to be biased toward shows I've actually attended, but the KDF/Tweeze pair at Atlanta are better jams...
8/1/15: ...than anything I saw this summer.
8/1/15: Just fucking phenomenal. Dick's Disease is the only thing that's even close, but it's comparatively one-dimensional.
8/1/15: Where the hell are they even going with this thing? Making sounds I've never heard at a #phish show.
8/1/15: Just a little over halfway through, too!
8/1/15: Slow, buttery transition into rockland.
8/1/15: Trey going to town now.
8/1/15: Coming out of dark rock now, Page over to the clav.
8/1/15: Evil funk now. Mike with a great bassline.
8/1/15: Heavy drums now. Loops. Jam finally winding down. So good.
8/1/15: Trey ended on a gnarly loop that was begging to just have a Fee-style or '12 Roses-style jam tagged onto it.
8/1/15: Not like I'm complaining, though.
8/1/15: Jam lands in WAN. Perfect.
8/1/15: Number Line is next. I hope the rest of the at least contains some little gems, like 7/31 did. Even if not, though, DAT TWEEZER
8/1/15: Fantastically noodly Number Line gets BUTT-SLAMMED into CARINI
8/1/15: YOU TOLD ME OF A SECRET PLACE I SAW IT WHEN I MET YOU THE WALRUS ON YOUR FACE
8/1/15: This: https://t.co/RQuCdVTpqM
8/1/15: Lots of fucking screaming going into the jam. Fish is a champion screamer.
8/1/15: This is getting positively EVIL.
8/1/15: In the vein of the Bend Simple and Dick's Split.
8/1/15: Typing 'Dick's Split' admittedly made me wince a little.
8/1/15: This is nuts.
8/1/15: Oh. Waste. Interesting juxtaposition, but that felt like one of those 'strike while the iron is hot' moments. Oh well.
8/1/15: Guitar haze at the end of Waste > Sand.
8/1/15: Heavy funk time. Page -> clav.
8/1/15: That was an above-average typical version of Sand. If that makes any sense.
8/1/15: In other words: so good, but it didn't Go There.
8/1/15: Sand > Tweeprise.
8/1/15: End set. Rock and Roll encore!
8/1/15: Basically, both of these shows were just awesome. Slightly more pedestrian S1 tonight, and less on offer in S2 than N1.
8/1/15: That said, the Tweezer is even better than 7/31's KDF and probably the jam of the year so far for me.
8/1/15: Still prefer the Blaze On > Twist > Light, but I don't think that counts as one jam :)
8/1/15: Actually, I forgot the CDT from Texas was pretty damn good, too.
2015-07-31 Atlanta I
The Verdict:
Though both shows in this run are fantastic, 7/31 stands above 8/1 as real best-of-tour material (at least so far). I still slightly prefer 7/24 because the second set had a longer and more interesting run of pure, free-form jamming, but I have to admit that the "KDF" jam here is just flat-out better than any of the three Shoreline jams, and the first set of 7/31 blows the first set of Shoreline away.
In the first set, I love the "Caspian" opener, unironically. It's a standard version but a great choice that makes a good one-two punch with the "No Men" that follows. The "Ghost" is absolutely a second-set jam, three songs into the show. The rest of the set is pretty standard, but the energy and playing stays exceptionally strong throughout, and there are lots of little touches that make it one of the best first frames of the tour so far. "Moma Dance" doesn't get "jammed out," technically, but the band plays a bit with tones and gives the staple a different feel than usual. "How Many People?" gets extended a little on its second outing, and a comment by Trey about "picking up the tempo" after "Rift" leads to a "Mike's" intro where the tempo is played around with liberally. The "Groove" ends the set with a bang, and you know something excellent has to be coming during S2.
And it does. The "KDF" is a masterful, long jam, covering loopy textures, near-ambient territory, metallic, creaking robot-rock, a huge octave-shifted solo from Trey, and ultimately a fade-out that leads into "Martian Monster." The "Martian Monster" is the most interesting take yet, for my money, with lots of chording by Trey, a sample jam from Page, and a fantastic bassline from Mike holding the whole thing down. Like "Martian Monster," "Twist" is a bit short, but it also covers a lot of ground, heading smoothly out of the composed bit a soaring, melodic space. "BOTT" is a slight hiccup, but then they're back at it with a top-shelf "Reba" and then a "Gin" that gets way out there by the standards of the song. The encore brings the whole thing home with "Farmhouse" > "Zero," which I have to assume is a sick joke.
Again, the obvious comparison to make here is to Shoreline, and while I felt that the first three songs in that S2 went deeper and weirder, none of them reached the depths of "KDF," and the "Martian Monster" > "Twist" section is no slouch, and neither is the "Gin." I guess what I'm trying to say is that there's more volume here, but maybe slightly less quality. But hell, it doesn't matter does it? This is real-deal 2015 Phish, so you need to hear it.
The Live Review:
7/31/15: Prince Caspian opener! There's a way to piss people who aren't me off!
7/31/15: Pretty standard Caspian, ends with a little loop section.
7/31/15: Nice landing in No Men!
7/31/15: No Type 2, but a lot of ground covered in 7 minutes. Great chording from Trey, Page taking the lead near the end.
7/31/15: Mike MVPing it the entire time.
7/31/15: Ghost!
7/31/15: Nailed the drop, and Mike is singing the high harmony. Sounds like 1998 in here all of a sudden.
7/31/15: Switching off between great leads from Trey and Mike.
7/31/15: Guys, this is a serious Ghost jam. Third song of the show.
7/31/15: Three songs in, two jams already. Wow.
7/31/15: And this Ghost is serious second-set shit. No messing around. Trey laying down a perfect, composed-sounding solo.
7/31/15: 2015 Fish being 2015 Fish. Driving that shit.
7/31/15: Perfect drop back into Ghost riff. Crowd goes nuts. Slow-down ending?
7/31/15: Trey definitely played the Roggae riff at the end of Ghost. But then they stopped. Maybe just a coincidence.
7/31/15: The Wedge.
7/31/15: The Wedge was pretty standard. > Moma. On the upside, Trey's tone on this Moma is dirty as hell.
7/31/15: Whoa. Almost plinko jam during Fish's vocals. Continuing during Trey's. This might be the weirdest 3.0 Moma.
7/31/15: Admittedly, that ain't sayin' much, but this is cool.
7/31/15: How Many People Are You? Nice!
7/31/15: Definitely laid the foundation for an awesome jam at the end of the song. Would LOVE to see that happen in 2016.
7/31/15: Rift next.
7/31/15: Trey, after a too-fast, sort-of-flubby Rift: 'We'd like to pick up the tempo now!'
7/31/15: Hoping WAN is next :)
7/31/15: Ooh, Mike's!
7/31/15: Fish playing double-time on drums...Trey responds by slowing the song waaaaaay down. This show is goddamn awesome.
7/31/15: Now a reggae version of the intro, complete with Trey reggae screaming.
7/31/15: Super-dirty tone from Trey during the Mike's solo.
7/31/15: Hydrogen!
7/31/15: GROOOOOOOVE
7/31/15: Great '15-style soloing from Trey.
7/31/15: Trey is making this into a monster Groove.
7/31/15: S2 KDF opener.
7/31/15: Mass of chording and loops overtaking the jam now.
7/31/15: Dark, reverb-y chords now.
7/31/15: Serious rock and roll machinery creaking along here.
7/31/15: Trey is laying down a great octave-shifted solo. Page on electric. Mike drone.
7/31/15: This sounds like Shoreline/Forum jamming on steroids.
7/31/15: Seamless move into a great Trey rock solo.
7/31/15: Heading back into Manteca-y territory again. Fishman is a monster.
7/31/15: Trey playing a building riff now.
7/31/15: Great rock peak, now backing down again.
7/31/15: Extended, loopy fade-out...MARTIAN MONSTER SAMPLE
7/31/15: Page is jamming on the vocal samples after a bassy breakdown.
7/31/15: Just put on my headphones, hit play, heard 'BECAUSE OF THE INCREDIBLE SPEED OF YOUR ROCKET' and then a student walked in.
7/31/15: This is my favorite Martian Monster, I think.
7/31/15: Great Mike bass, Trey deconstructing the song with chording, loops, Page solo, shit.
7/31/15: Twist next. Early bluesy noodling in the jam from Trey.
7/31/15: Smooth transition into a gorgeous, melodic space. Page on electric piano.
7/31/15: This is almost like a Simple jam, now.
7/31/15: Trey is just ripping it up melodically here. Small build, but Trey takes over with another solo. So good.
7/31/15: Nice landing in a -> BOTT.
7/31/15: Standard BOTT with a sort-of -> Reba.
7/31/15: Fantastic melody playing from Trey in this Reba. Notes fucking flying everywhere.
7/31/15: Trey whistling tease and then Page tease of Reba during the beginning of Gin.
7/31/15: Oh, and the Reba was amazing.
7/31/15: Trey soloing and scatting along with the solo now.
7/31/15: Entering 70s rock territory.
7/31/15: Trey entering rock-dragon mode now.
7/31/15: Oh man. Super-bliss-rocktown jam, still nosing around the Gin progression.
7/31/15: Trey whistling the Reba outro, Mike singing 'Don't go back to Kill Devil Falls' and Fish screaming over the Gin ending.
7/31/15: Encore is Farmhouse, Character Zero. Every show this summer has a clever encore except the ones with excellent S2s.
7/31/15: It's like they're trolling us. 'Five-song second set? Show of Life encore!'
7/31/15: Awful purty solo from Trey in the Farmhouse, tho
7/31/15: So, that was a pretty amazing second set. Not as jammy as Shoreline, but almost as good. KDF and Twist were the highlights.
7/31/15: On the other hand, this first set is by far the best one of the year so far.
Though both shows in this run are fantastic, 7/31 stands above 8/1 as real best-of-tour material (at least so far). I still slightly prefer 7/24 because the second set had a longer and more interesting run of pure, free-form jamming, but I have to admit that the "KDF" jam here is just flat-out better than any of the three Shoreline jams, and the first set of 7/31 blows the first set of Shoreline away.
In the first set, I love the "Caspian" opener, unironically. It's a standard version but a great choice that makes a good one-two punch with the "No Men" that follows. The "Ghost" is absolutely a second-set jam, three songs into the show. The rest of the set is pretty standard, but the energy and playing stays exceptionally strong throughout, and there are lots of little touches that make it one of the best first frames of the tour so far. "Moma Dance" doesn't get "jammed out," technically, but the band plays a bit with tones and gives the staple a different feel than usual. "How Many People?" gets extended a little on its second outing, and a comment by Trey about "picking up the tempo" after "Rift" leads to a "Mike's" intro where the tempo is played around with liberally. The "Groove" ends the set with a bang, and you know something excellent has to be coming during S2.
And it does. The "KDF" is a masterful, long jam, covering loopy textures, near-ambient territory, metallic, creaking robot-rock, a huge octave-shifted solo from Trey, and ultimately a fade-out that leads into "Martian Monster." The "Martian Monster" is the most interesting take yet, for my money, with lots of chording by Trey, a sample jam from Page, and a fantastic bassline from Mike holding the whole thing down. Like "Martian Monster," "Twist" is a bit short, but it also covers a lot of ground, heading smoothly out of the composed bit a soaring, melodic space. "BOTT" is a slight hiccup, but then they're back at it with a top-shelf "Reba" and then a "Gin" that gets way out there by the standards of the song. The encore brings the whole thing home with "Farmhouse" > "Zero," which I have to assume is a sick joke.
Again, the obvious comparison to make here is to Shoreline, and while I felt that the first three songs in that S2 went deeper and weirder, none of them reached the depths of "KDF," and the "Martian Monster" > "Twist" section is no slouch, and neither is the "Gin." I guess what I'm trying to say is that there's more volume here, but maybe slightly less quality. But hell, it doesn't matter does it? This is real-deal 2015 Phish, so you need to hear it.
The Live Review:
7/31/15: Prince Caspian opener! There's a way to piss people who aren't me off!
7/31/15: Pretty standard Caspian, ends with a little loop section.
7/31/15: Nice landing in No Men!
7/31/15: No Type 2, but a lot of ground covered in 7 minutes. Great chording from Trey, Page taking the lead near the end.
7/31/15: Mike MVPing it the entire time.
7/31/15: Ghost!
7/31/15: Nailed the drop, and Mike is singing the high harmony. Sounds like 1998 in here all of a sudden.
7/31/15: Switching off between great leads from Trey and Mike.
7/31/15: Guys, this is a serious Ghost jam. Third song of the show.
7/31/15: Three songs in, two jams already. Wow.
7/31/15: And this Ghost is serious second-set shit. No messing around. Trey laying down a perfect, composed-sounding solo.
7/31/15: 2015 Fish being 2015 Fish. Driving that shit.
7/31/15: Perfect drop back into Ghost riff. Crowd goes nuts. Slow-down ending?
7/31/15: Trey definitely played the Roggae riff at the end of Ghost. But then they stopped. Maybe just a coincidence.
7/31/15: The Wedge.
7/31/15: The Wedge was pretty standard. > Moma. On the upside, Trey's tone on this Moma is dirty as hell.
7/31/15: Whoa. Almost plinko jam during Fish's vocals. Continuing during Trey's. This might be the weirdest 3.0 Moma.
7/31/15: Admittedly, that ain't sayin' much, but this is cool.
7/31/15: How Many People Are You? Nice!
7/31/15: Definitely laid the foundation for an awesome jam at the end of the song. Would LOVE to see that happen in 2016.
7/31/15: Rift next.
7/31/15: Trey, after a too-fast, sort-of-flubby Rift: 'We'd like to pick up the tempo now!'
7/31/15: Hoping WAN is next :)
7/31/15: Ooh, Mike's!
7/31/15: Fish playing double-time on drums...Trey responds by slowing the song waaaaaay down. This show is goddamn awesome.
7/31/15: Now a reggae version of the intro, complete with Trey reggae screaming.
7/31/15: Super-dirty tone from Trey during the Mike's solo.
7/31/15: Hydrogen!
7/31/15: GROOOOOOOVE
7/31/15: Great '15-style soloing from Trey.
7/31/15: Trey is making this into a monster Groove.
7/31/15: S2 KDF opener.
7/31/15: Mass of chording and loops overtaking the jam now.
7/31/15: Dark, reverb-y chords now.
7/31/15: Serious rock and roll machinery creaking along here.
7/31/15: Trey is laying down a great octave-shifted solo. Page on electric. Mike drone.
7/31/15: This sounds like Shoreline/Forum jamming on steroids.
7/31/15: Seamless move into a great Trey rock solo.
7/31/15: Heading back into Manteca-y territory again. Fishman is a monster.
7/31/15: Trey playing a building riff now.
7/31/15: Great rock peak, now backing down again.
7/31/15: Extended, loopy fade-out...MARTIAN MONSTER SAMPLE
7/31/15: Page is jamming on the vocal samples after a bassy breakdown.
7/31/15: Just put on my headphones, hit play, heard 'BECAUSE OF THE INCREDIBLE SPEED OF YOUR ROCKET' and then a student walked in.
7/31/15: This is my favorite Martian Monster, I think.
7/31/15: Great Mike bass, Trey deconstructing the song with chording, loops, Page solo, shit.
7/31/15: Twist next. Early bluesy noodling in the jam from Trey.
7/31/15: Smooth transition into a gorgeous, melodic space. Page on electric piano.
7/31/15: This is almost like a Simple jam, now.
7/31/15: Trey is just ripping it up melodically here. Small build, but Trey takes over with another solo. So good.
7/31/15: Nice landing in a -> BOTT.
7/31/15: Standard BOTT with a sort-of -> Reba.
7/31/15: Fantastic melody playing from Trey in this Reba. Notes fucking flying everywhere.
7/31/15: Trey whistling tease and then Page tease of Reba during the beginning of Gin.
7/31/15: Oh, and the Reba was amazing.
7/31/15: Trey soloing and scatting along with the solo now.
7/31/15: Entering 70s rock territory.
7/31/15: Trey entering rock-dragon mode now.
7/31/15: Oh man. Super-bliss-rocktown jam, still nosing around the Gin progression.
7/31/15: Trey whistling the Reba outro, Mike singing 'Don't go back to Kill Devil Falls' and Fish screaming over the Gin ending.
7/31/15: Encore is Farmhouse, Character Zero. Every show this summer has a clever encore except the ones with excellent S2s.
7/31/15: It's like they're trolling us. 'Five-song second set? Show of Life encore!'
7/31/15: Awful purty solo from Trey in the Farmhouse, tho
7/31/15: So, that was a pretty amazing second set. Not as jammy as Shoreline, but almost as good. KDF and Twist were the highlights.
7/31/15: On the other hand, this first set is by far the best one of the year so far.
Oct 1, 2015
2015-07-29 Grand Prairie, TX
The Verdict:
This show is perhaps a little stronger than the previous night's offering, but stays mostly mired in the funk (and not the good kind) that surrounds both of these weird Texas shows.
The first set starts out strong, and indeed I tweeted something to the effect that the band was coming out of the gates in a lot more cohesive a fashion than the previous night. The "Tube," "Guelah" > "PYITE" > "Steam" sequence is strong, and "Steam" even hints at a bit of a "real" jam, moving smoothly into funk (the good kind) territory. But instead of following through, the band comes to a full stop, and starts up "Poor Heart," which opens the rest of the set to jukebox tunes. I say that while acknowledging that I also love "Divided Sky," but this version is sort of creaky and painful to hear through the composed section, and the jam, while strong, isn't anything you haven't heard before.
The second set, like the previous night's, packs some flashes of brilliance in, but here they're more concentrated. After 2014, I sort of imagined I'd heard it all when it came to extended "Chalkdust"s, but this version is really unique. Your mileage might vary, but to me the minimalist, bass-led approach to the jam is something I haven't heard often in "Chalkdust" jams, and it's long: the guys stick with this space far longer than they typically would, before building to a more typical rock peak. It's sort of like the big brother to last year's underrated 7/25 "Chalkdust." The "Simple" that follows is pretty much par-for-the-course in terms of being a beautiful little "Simple" jam until, led by Trey, the guys build a long, slow segue into "Silent." Typically, this might be a momentum-killer at this point in the set, but the segue is so good by the time they transition, you just want to hear it.
Unfortunately, the rest of the set is totally rote in by-now-expected Texas fashion until the 15-minute "Hood" set closer. This guy also follows the '14 blueprint, departing from the typical structure for a "Manteca"-ish jam and then a much more frenetic and intense outro solo than Trey usually contributes. It's a great version, and gives us a second highlight from the show to enjoy. Encore-wise, "The Connection" is a cool choice, and the following "First Tube" is one of the more melodic versions that I've heard.
The second set starts here at 1:20:00:
The Live Review:
7/29/15: Second Texas show opens with a loose Tube.
7/29/15: Guelah Papyrus in the two-slot! Would love to see this in S1s more often.
7/29/15: PYITE. Loving the song selection so far in this set.
7/29/15: > Steam! Didn't see that coming!
7/29/15: The difference between this and 7/28 in terms of 'flow' (I hate that word, but you know what I mean) is night and day.
7/29/15: Trey throwing out a pretty swanky solo for a first set.
7/29/15: Nice, slow move from the solo > final vocals > half-tempo funk jam. Neat.
7/29/15: That seemed destined for a cool segue, but full stop > Poor Heart is good, too.
7/29/15: NICU is next. Falling a bit into jukebox territory here, but still strong energy.
7/29/15: I Didn't Know is fun.
7/29/15: Trey talks about being born just down the road before the vacuum solo, then introduces Fish as 'The Best Man.'
7/29/15: Now Stealing Time. Somebody definitely hit 'Shuffle' on the setlist sometime after Steam.
7/29/15: Divided Sky! Now that's nice.
7/29/15: Btw, I think that version of Stealing Time was one of the shortest ever. Maybe even shorter than the album version?
7/29/15: A few surprising and fairly cringeworthy flubs from Trey, but otherwise a great version.
7/29/15: Squirming Coil...probably as set closer?
7/29/15: Trey having some trouble here, too.
7/29/15: End set.
7/29/15: Second set kicks off with CDT. What is this, 2014?
7/29/15: Really smooth transition into a spacey-space here in Chalk Dust. Page on electric piano. Always a good thing.
7/29/15: Mike's grabbed the wheel and this is awesome. Really broken-down. Trey chording slightly. Page w/ ambient effects.
7/29/15: Quick build, now. Rock and roooooooll
7/29/15: Meditation: https://t.co/GhXu3EvCiT
7/29/15: Wind-down -B Simple.
7/29/15: -B stands for 'butt-slammed' for those of you keeping score at home.
7/29/15: Neat outro jam to Simple, which echoed the intro to Silent in the Morning.
7/29/15: Ah, good. Trey took a minute to get everyone else on board, but now -> Silent.
7/29/15: That was probably THE WORST placement of The Line I've ever heard, and I've heard every show since the debut.
7/29/15: Even on the soundboard, you could just hear the air hiss out of the crowd, almost literally.
7/29/15: After that sweet Simple -> Silent transition, you slam that shit into a Tweezer, or something. Geez, guys.
7/29/15: Birds is next. We're approach 7/28 levels of setlist weirdness at this point.
7/29/15: *approaching
7/29/15: Fuego has found its way into some weird spots this year. This is one of them.
7/29/15: 'Some days it's not worth pre-writing a setlist / Freak out and play songs / See what sticks'
7/29/15: Oh, what the hell. Julius now.
7/29/15: Ah, at least I can take refuge in Hood. Probably the set closer?
7/29/15: Neat, Manteca-ish jam in the midst of Hood. Long sustained note now by Trey.
7/29/15: Band buidling around it. So awesome.
7/29/15: *building
7/29/15: Still holding. Probably close to a minute.
7/29/15: Trey doesn't fall back into the usual outro jam, but plays a lot of high-neck machine-gun goodness. Wow.
7/29/15: This Hood and that CDT belong in another show.
7/29/15: The Connection for an encore. Whoa.
7/29/15: First Tuuuuuuube
7/29/15: More melodic solo than usual, slower tempo. I like the switch. Feels more anthemic than blow-your-ears-out.
This show is perhaps a little stronger than the previous night's offering, but stays mostly mired in the funk (and not the good kind) that surrounds both of these weird Texas shows.
The first set starts out strong, and indeed I tweeted something to the effect that the band was coming out of the gates in a lot more cohesive a fashion than the previous night. The "Tube," "Guelah" > "PYITE" > "Steam" sequence is strong, and "Steam" even hints at a bit of a "real" jam, moving smoothly into funk (the good kind) territory. But instead of following through, the band comes to a full stop, and starts up "Poor Heart," which opens the rest of the set to jukebox tunes. I say that while acknowledging that I also love "Divided Sky," but this version is sort of creaky and painful to hear through the composed section, and the jam, while strong, isn't anything you haven't heard before.
The second set, like the previous night's, packs some flashes of brilliance in, but here they're more concentrated. After 2014, I sort of imagined I'd heard it all when it came to extended "Chalkdust"s, but this version is really unique. Your mileage might vary, but to me the minimalist, bass-led approach to the jam is something I haven't heard often in "Chalkdust" jams, and it's long: the guys stick with this space far longer than they typically would, before building to a more typical rock peak. It's sort of like the big brother to last year's underrated 7/25 "Chalkdust." The "Simple" that follows is pretty much par-for-the-course in terms of being a beautiful little "Simple" jam until, led by Trey, the guys build a long, slow segue into "Silent." Typically, this might be a momentum-killer at this point in the set, but the segue is so good by the time they transition, you just want to hear it.
Unfortunately, the rest of the set is totally rote in by-now-expected Texas fashion until the 15-minute "Hood" set closer. This guy also follows the '14 blueprint, departing from the typical structure for a "Manteca"-ish jam and then a much more frenetic and intense outro solo than Trey usually contributes. It's a great version, and gives us a second highlight from the show to enjoy. Encore-wise, "The Connection" is a cool choice, and the following "First Tube" is one of the more melodic versions that I've heard.
The second set starts here at 1:20:00:
The Live Review:
7/29/15: Second Texas show opens with a loose Tube.
7/29/15: Guelah Papyrus in the two-slot! Would love to see this in S1s more often.
7/29/15: PYITE. Loving the song selection so far in this set.
7/29/15: > Steam! Didn't see that coming!
7/29/15: The difference between this and 7/28 in terms of 'flow' (I hate that word, but you know what I mean) is night and day.
7/29/15: Trey throwing out a pretty swanky solo for a first set.
7/29/15: Nice, slow move from the solo > final vocals > half-tempo funk jam. Neat.
7/29/15: That seemed destined for a cool segue, but full stop > Poor Heart is good, too.
7/29/15: NICU is next. Falling a bit into jukebox territory here, but still strong energy.
7/29/15: I Didn't Know is fun.
7/29/15: Trey talks about being born just down the road before the vacuum solo, then introduces Fish as 'The Best Man.'
7/29/15: Now Stealing Time. Somebody definitely hit 'Shuffle' on the setlist sometime after Steam.
7/29/15: Divided Sky! Now that's nice.
7/29/15: Btw, I think that version of Stealing Time was one of the shortest ever. Maybe even shorter than the album version?
7/29/15: A few surprising and fairly cringeworthy flubs from Trey, but otherwise a great version.
7/29/15: Squirming Coil...probably as set closer?
7/29/15: Trey having some trouble here, too.
7/29/15: End set.
7/29/15: Second set kicks off with CDT. What is this, 2014?
7/29/15: Really smooth transition into a spacey-space here in Chalk Dust. Page on electric piano. Always a good thing.
7/29/15: Mike's grabbed the wheel and this is awesome. Really broken-down. Trey chording slightly. Page w/ ambient effects.
7/29/15: Quick build, now. Rock and roooooooll
7/29/15: Meditation: https://t.co/GhXu3EvCiT
7/29/15: Wind-down -B Simple.
7/29/15: -B stands for 'butt-slammed' for those of you keeping score at home.
7/29/15: Neat outro jam to Simple, which echoed the intro to Silent in the Morning.
7/29/15: Ah, good. Trey took a minute to get everyone else on board, but now -> Silent.
7/29/15: That was probably THE WORST placement of The Line I've ever heard, and I've heard every show since the debut.
7/29/15: Even on the soundboard, you could just hear the air hiss out of the crowd, almost literally.
7/29/15: After that sweet Simple -> Silent transition, you slam that shit into a Tweezer, or something. Geez, guys.
7/29/15: Birds is next. We're approach 7/28 levels of setlist weirdness at this point.
7/29/15: *approaching
7/29/15: Fuego has found its way into some weird spots this year. This is one of them.
7/29/15: 'Some days it's not worth pre-writing a setlist / Freak out and play songs / See what sticks'
7/29/15: Oh, what the hell. Julius now.
7/29/15: Ah, at least I can take refuge in Hood. Probably the set closer?
7/29/15: Neat, Manteca-ish jam in the midst of Hood. Long sustained note now by Trey.
7/29/15: Band buidling around it. So awesome.
7/29/15: *building
7/29/15: Still holding. Probably close to a minute.
7/29/15: Trey doesn't fall back into the usual outro jam, but plays a lot of high-neck machine-gun goodness. Wow.
7/29/15: This Hood and that CDT belong in another show.
7/29/15: The Connection for an encore. Whoa.
7/29/15: First Tuuuuuuube
7/29/15: More melodic solo than usual, slower tempo. I like the switch. Feels more anthemic than blow-your-ears-out.
2015-07-28 Austin360 Amphitheater
The Verdict:
Both of these Texas shows are weird. And not entirely good-weird. Considered in the context of the tour as a whole, they get even weirder. The closest comparison to them is probably the Bend run, but even there, there's a verve to the band's (and especially Trey's) playing, the jams are there, they're just writ small, and the debuts and setlist surprises keep things interesting. I can't say the same for these two shows, unfortunately. But, hey, there are anomalies even in every excellent tour. And it's not as if these two shows don't have some highlights worth digging into at the expense of the rest.
The first night is mostly comprised of first-set-style songs played well, but not in any sort of discernible order. As a result, the energy is all over the place, depending on which song is currently playing. I like "Dirt" and "Sugar Shack" more than the next guy, but whoever thought to build the middle of the opening frame out of "Lawn Boy," "Bouncin'," "Water in the Sky" > "Dirt," "Devotion," "Sugar Shack" was high on some especially relaxing stuff. The set-closing "Antelope" is the most anaemic version I can remember hearing in a long time, so even that doesn't help. The back half of the second set is the same: song choices and playing that make it seem like the band has confused the fourth quarter with the first one.
All that said, though, I still don't think this show deserves the brutal sub-3 rating it currently has on phish.net. Why? Because the third quarter is fantastic. "The Dogs" gets sandwiched into a "46 Days" that comes back after the "Dogs" jam to float around in a beautiful, ethereal space for a few minutes before "Piper" begins a slow-for-3.0 build version. "Piper" heads into "Ghost" territory a few minutes before actually seguing into the song, and "Ghost" proper moves from a Bend "Simple"-style jam into something that almost sounds like "Runaway Jim" before moving perfectly into "Shade." That the rest of the set then ends up being a "cooldown song" doesn't necessarily detract from the brilliance of putting "Shade" at the end of this gorgeous sequence.
The rest of this show is, I hate to say, pure filler, but that sequence should be on everyone's summer highlight list.
No individual song videos on YouTube, but jump to 1:23:00 here to see the opening of the second set:
The Live Review:
7/28/15: Ahhh the dulcet tones of a Party Time opener.
7/28/15: Often seems to signal a subpar show. Hopefully that isn't the case here.
7/28/15: This is the first show of the summer I've reviewed that I didn't attend. Should be interesting.
7/28/15: Party Time sounds a little more languid and funky than usual.
7/28/15: Page takes an organ solo, now a Trey solo.
7/28/15: Free jam is equally sort of sparse and slow. Not necessarily a bad thing. Just sounds different.
7/28/15: Halley's. One of those #phish songs that I never enjoy because I'm always wondering 'WILL THIS BE THE ONE THAT THEY JAM ON???'
7/28/15: Fiery Halley's solo -B Wolfman's.
7/28/15: Trey is going full-on machine gun at the end of this Wolfman's. Short, and one of least interesting versions I've heard in awhile.
7/28/15: But, yeah, that guitar was TERRE HAUTE
7/28/15: Possum is led by a series organ solo from Page. Trey chording over.
7/28/15: Lawn Boy.
7/28/15: Lawn Boy > Bouncin' is probably not anyone's new favorite setlist call.
7/28/15: Fast version of Water In the Sky.
7/28/15: Holy Dirt!
7/28/15: Such a gorgeous song. And Trey is nailing the solo.
7/28/15: For a lot of people, set is probably coming apart at this point, but I love Devotion. First air guitar solo of the school year.
7/28/15: I took a little #phish hiatus after listening all the way to Dick's and back and then climbing Whitney. The silence was nice.
7/28/15: And now it's great to be back :)
7/28/15: I have these times when I think 'I love so much music, why spend so much time listening to one band?'
7/28/15: Then I get about a third of a way through a show and think 'Oh. Right.'
7/28/15: Sugar Shack! This is another of my favorite S1 songs, when Trey doesn't murder it.
7/28/15: This seems like a really long S1. Might just be because I'm trying to review w/o looking at the playlist during for the first time.
7/28/15: Antelope will presumably close the set.
7/28/15: Eww. Trey botches the chord that transitions from the intro to the jam.
7/28/15: Sure, everyone messes up from time to time, but that's some iconic shit, and stands out more.
7/28/15: I hate using this word in general, but that was the most milquetoast version of Antelope I've heard in a long time.
7/28/15: 46 Days opening the second set.
7/28/15: Wooooooo! 46 Days -> The Dogs!
7/28/15: Holy goddamn 46 Days -> The Dogs -> 46 Days!
7/28/15: Spacey, almost 2001 jam now.
7/28/15: This is such a great little jam.
7/28/15: 7/28/15: jam > Piper.
7/28/15: https://t.co/EqgMydCayk
7/28/15: Piper has a nice, slow wind up and moves seamlessly into a fast, chordy jam. I might submit Fish as early tour MVP.
7/28/15: Winding up in an ethereal jam. Fish hitting the blocks. Aaaaand...GHOST
7/28/15: This whole sequence has been fucking nuts. Love it.
7/28/15: Slow, slanky sort of Ghost jam. Sound like it could potentially go Bend Simple at any moment.
7/28/15: And now it sort of is.
7/28/15: Slow roll into a blissful, almost Runaway Jim-like progression/riff/thing.
7/28/15: Lots of moving around in that short jam. But it was great.
7/28/15: And lands in Shade, which is just perfect!
7/28/15: Gotta Jibboo might signal that the madness is over. That was a great run of songs, though, for what's probably most of S2.
7/28/15: A little call and response between Page and Trey.
7/28/15: WAN. What a weird fucking show.
7/28/15: Good Trey solo in this version.
7/28/15: Missing the bass bombs tho. C'mon Mike!
7/28/15: Blaze On. Love the song. Seems like weird placement. But that could sum up most of this show, technically speaking.
7/28/15: Short version. Nice, compact solo from Trey tho.
7/28/15: Wading now. What the serious fuck is going on with the setlist in this show?
7/28/15: Bowie next. Maybe the set closer? Who knows? Maybe they'll encore with NO2 -> FEFY > BBFCFM > Mock Song.
7/28/15: Almost delicate, noodly section of Bowie lasts quite a long time. Trey chording now over the build-up to the finale.
7/28/15: Suzy after Bowie.
7/28/15: Ah, and Austin did get our Tweeprise from The Forum. I'd been wondering about that.
7/28/15: Loving Cup, a pretty inappropriate-seeming choice, is the encore. Which seems appropriate. What a weird show.
Both of these Texas shows are weird. And not entirely good-weird. Considered in the context of the tour as a whole, they get even weirder. The closest comparison to them is probably the Bend run, but even there, there's a verve to the band's (and especially Trey's) playing, the jams are there, they're just writ small, and the debuts and setlist surprises keep things interesting. I can't say the same for these two shows, unfortunately. But, hey, there are anomalies even in every excellent tour. And it's not as if these two shows don't have some highlights worth digging into at the expense of the rest.
The first night is mostly comprised of first-set-style songs played well, but not in any sort of discernible order. As a result, the energy is all over the place, depending on which song is currently playing. I like "Dirt" and "Sugar Shack" more than the next guy, but whoever thought to build the middle of the opening frame out of "Lawn Boy," "Bouncin'," "Water in the Sky" > "Dirt," "Devotion," "Sugar Shack" was high on some especially relaxing stuff. The set-closing "Antelope" is the most anaemic version I can remember hearing in a long time, so even that doesn't help. The back half of the second set is the same: song choices and playing that make it seem like the band has confused the fourth quarter with the first one.
All that said, though, I still don't think this show deserves the brutal sub-3 rating it currently has on phish.net. Why? Because the third quarter is fantastic. "The Dogs" gets sandwiched into a "46 Days" that comes back after the "Dogs" jam to float around in a beautiful, ethereal space for a few minutes before "Piper" begins a slow-for-3.0 build version. "Piper" heads into "Ghost" territory a few minutes before actually seguing into the song, and "Ghost" proper moves from a Bend "Simple"-style jam into something that almost sounds like "Runaway Jim" before moving perfectly into "Shade." That the rest of the set then ends up being a "cooldown song" doesn't necessarily detract from the brilliance of putting "Shade" at the end of this gorgeous sequence.
The rest of this show is, I hate to say, pure filler, but that sequence should be on everyone's summer highlight list.
No individual song videos on YouTube, but jump to 1:23:00 here to see the opening of the second set:
The Live Review:
7/28/15: Ahhh the dulcet tones of a Party Time opener.
7/28/15: Often seems to signal a subpar show. Hopefully that isn't the case here.
7/28/15: This is the first show of the summer I've reviewed that I didn't attend. Should be interesting.
7/28/15: Party Time sounds a little more languid and funky than usual.
7/28/15: Page takes an organ solo, now a Trey solo.
7/28/15: Free jam is equally sort of sparse and slow. Not necessarily a bad thing. Just sounds different.
7/28/15: Halley's. One of those #phish songs that I never enjoy because I'm always wondering 'WILL THIS BE THE ONE THAT THEY JAM ON???'
7/28/15: Fiery Halley's solo -B Wolfman's.
7/28/15: Trey is going full-on machine gun at the end of this Wolfman's. Short, and one of least interesting versions I've heard in awhile.
7/28/15: But, yeah, that guitar was TERRE HAUTE
7/28/15: Possum is led by a series organ solo from Page. Trey chording over.
7/28/15: Lawn Boy.
7/28/15: Lawn Boy > Bouncin' is probably not anyone's new favorite setlist call.
7/28/15: Fast version of Water In the Sky.
7/28/15: Holy Dirt!
7/28/15: Such a gorgeous song. And Trey is nailing the solo.
7/28/15: For a lot of people, set is probably coming apart at this point, but I love Devotion. First air guitar solo of the school year.
7/28/15: I took a little #phish hiatus after listening all the way to Dick's and back and then climbing Whitney. The silence was nice.
7/28/15: And now it's great to be back :)
7/28/15: I have these times when I think 'I love so much music, why spend so much time listening to one band?'
7/28/15: Then I get about a third of a way through a show and think 'Oh. Right.'
7/28/15: Sugar Shack! This is another of my favorite S1 songs, when Trey doesn't murder it.
7/28/15: This seems like a really long S1. Might just be because I'm trying to review w/o looking at the playlist during for the first time.
7/28/15: Antelope will presumably close the set.
7/28/15: Eww. Trey botches the chord that transitions from the intro to the jam.
7/28/15: Sure, everyone messes up from time to time, but that's some iconic shit, and stands out more.
7/28/15: I hate using this word in general, but that was the most milquetoast version of Antelope I've heard in a long time.
7/28/15: 46 Days opening the second set.
7/28/15: Wooooooo! 46 Days -> The Dogs!
7/28/15: Holy goddamn 46 Days -> The Dogs -> 46 Days!
7/28/15: Spacey, almost 2001 jam now.
7/28/15: This is such a great little jam.
7/28/15: 7/28/15: jam > Piper.
7/28/15: https://t.co/EqgMydCayk
7/28/15: Piper has a nice, slow wind up and moves seamlessly into a fast, chordy jam. I might submit Fish as early tour MVP.
7/28/15: Winding up in an ethereal jam. Fish hitting the blocks. Aaaaand...GHOST
7/28/15: This whole sequence has been fucking nuts. Love it.
7/28/15: Slow, slanky sort of Ghost jam. Sound like it could potentially go Bend Simple at any moment.
7/28/15: And now it sort of is.
7/28/15: Slow roll into a blissful, almost Runaway Jim-like progression/riff/thing.
7/28/15: Lots of moving around in that short jam. But it was great.
7/28/15: And lands in Shade, which is just perfect!
7/28/15: Gotta Jibboo might signal that the madness is over. That was a great run of songs, though, for what's probably most of S2.
7/28/15: A little call and response between Page and Trey.
7/28/15: WAN. What a weird fucking show.
7/28/15: Good Trey solo in this version.
7/28/15: Missing the bass bombs tho. C'mon Mike!
7/28/15: Blaze On. Love the song. Seems like weird placement. But that could sum up most of this show, technically speaking.
7/28/15: Short version. Nice, compact solo from Trey tho.
7/28/15: Wading now. What the serious fuck is going on with the setlist in this show?
7/28/15: Bowie next. Maybe the set closer? Who knows? Maybe they'll encore with NO2 -> FEFY > BBFCFM > Mock Song.
7/28/15: Almost delicate, noodly section of Bowie lasts quite a long time. Trey chording now over the build-up to the finale.
7/28/15: Suzy after Bowie.
7/28/15: Ah, and Austin did get our Tweeprise from The Forum. I'd been wondering about that.
7/28/15: Loving Cup, a pretty inappropriate-seeming choice, is the encore. Which seems appropriate. What a weird show.
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