The Verdict:
Night two at Dick's falls short of the heights of night one, mainly because of the disposable nature of the first set. In a year where many first sets have been don't-miss affairs, and most others have at least offered up compelling versions of expected songs, this one falls pretty flat. The one enormous exception is the angry, droning, personal favorite version of "Split Open and Melt," which is likely the highlight of the show. The solos in the two tunes that follow it, "Limb By Limb" and "Roggae," parallel each other in some neat ways, but neither one is a legit highlight. I haven't said this often during this tour, but for this first set, you'd be fine to just skip everything but the "Split."
At first glance, the second set really seems to center on the "Chalkdust," but there's actually much more
going on here. "ASIHTOS," like many of the proto-jams from night one, seems to be ready to open the set with a deep jam, as Trey and company get mellow and weird with it right off the bat; however, nothing happens after three minutes or so of noodling, and they bail in favor of "Chalkdust."
I enjoyed this version of the tune much more the second time than I did in person: there's a lot going on, and it's all good. There's a driving echo-rock section, a great melody solo by Trey, a catchy descending progression that seems destined to drive the jam into bliss territory, they a really interesting, turn-on-a-dime lick from Trey that cuts the bliss short and drives the jam toward a more unique, dark, echo-funk conclusion. This jam definitely stands alongside the first night's "Golden Age" in terms of quality and variety. And the slow, gooey transition into "Twist" is magical.
Another "What If?" moment, here: if "Twist" goes super-deep, we have a top-shelf 2015 set. But, alas, it's not to be. The short, minimally bluesy "Twist" that happens instead is honestly pretty great, but not in the magical category a "Chalkdust" -> "Twist" monster jam would have been.
"Mercury" is next, and it gets an extended dark rock outro (which is new) before "Light" takes a short but deeply satisfying jaunt into darkness.
In case my review hasn't already driven home the notion that you shouldn't ignore the middle of this set because the song timings are shorter than you'd like, the encore offers up one of my favorite "Hood"s in a long time (and in a long line of great 2014-2015 "Hood"s) despite the fact that it's under ten minutes long and stays firmly in Type I mode the entire time. Trey and Page's interplay, and then Trey's powerfully building solo really make this version.
In short, don't sleep on the back half of this show. You'd be missing out.
Set two starts at 1:19:00:
The Live Review:
9/5/15: Finally back for Dick's 2. No Men opener.
9/5/15: Short and sweet No Men's > Martian Monster.
9/5/15: Page going a little sample-crazy here.
9/5/15: The chewing samples during MM are always a little creepy.
9/5/15: Short MM, too. > NICU.
9/5/15: Stealing Time is next. S1 is fast and sort-of furious so far. Not going for any big surprises early.
9/5/15: Bouncin' is next, followed by an extra-punchy 555.
9/5/15: Winterqueen continues a very hit-parade-style set.
Woo! https://t.co/oY1mjgqn18
9/5/15: Well, there have certainly been worse Winterqueens than that one.
9/5/15: It's like the band wants to cut lose, but they refuse to play a song that lets them really do so.
9/5/15: Split starts off typically enough, but really quickly descends into an angry, arrhythmic mess in the best way.
9/5/15: Trey bending notes into the groooooound.
9/5/15: Lurching, ominous soloing from Trey. I love this version of this song.
9/5/15: It's even better with the lights... https://t.co/P684Jg48aQ
9/5/15: Slowly working back to the Split outro now.
9/5/15: LxL is next, featuring a great solo from Trey with a bit of Trey/Page interplay near the end.
9/5/15: Roggae!
9/5/15: LxL-style solo in Roggae now. That's pretty neat. I did not notice that the first time through this show.
9/5/15: Typically great take on Roggae. Set closing with Zero.
9/5/15: First set was about as plain as they come, especially in 2015...*except* for that excellent SOAM, which is one of my favorites ever.
9/5/15: (Favorite SOAMs, I mean)
9/5/15: LxL and Roggae were both strong versions, but nothing I'd put on a highlight reel. Surprisingly plain set, all told.
9/5/15: ASIHTOS opens S2.
9/5/15: Trey going super-distorted early on in the jam.
9/5/15: A few minutes of murky jamming doesn't coalesce into anything, and Trey wraps it up. CDT next.
9/5/15: BOAF-like intro to Chalkdust. That was neat.
9/5/15: Band blows right through the end of CDT and keeps going. Trey switches on the echo almost immediately. Page to clav.
9/5/15: Echo-jamming, but it's kept different than most echo-jams so far this year by Fish's continuing driving beat.
9/5/15: Trey switching to melody now. Fish picking up the beat even more. Page to piano.
9/5/15: Bass bombs.
9/5/15: Descending three-chord progression pushing things further toward bliss-rock territory.
9/5/15: Trey just pulled a 180, pushing things back into a mellower, darker space.
9/5/15: Move into echo-funk territory now.
9/5/15: NICE segue into Twist.
9/5/15: The way that jam slowly morphed into Twist (with Trey singing the opening lines over the jam, even) was awesome.
9/5/15: Wind-down breakdown over the chorus instead of the usual chords.
9/5/15: Soft, mellow, blues jamming during this Twist.
9/5/15: Fish mixing up the beat now.
9/5/15: Rather than propelling the jam, that shift in beat seems to have killed it. Fading out, > Mercury.
9/5/15: Love Mercury. I hope there's a studio version coming in the near future.
9/5/15: This version gets an extended, dark rock outro tacked onto it.
9/5/15: Page moves over to the organ, but Trey starts up Light instead.
9/5/15: First few minutes of the jam here are the usual arpeggios.
9/5/15: Shifting to distorted chording at about 6:00.
9/5/15: Page with some jazzy stylings on the electric piano. Very 2001-sounding, with angry chords crashing over it.
9/5/15: Distortion getting less angry and more spacey. Page continues his 2001-esque playing.
9/5/15: Jam winds down and makes a nice transition into Wingsuit.
9/5/15: Rock and Roll is a neat call here.
9/5/15: This Rock and Roll jam is pretty much guitar-shredding madness immediately. Wow.
9/5/15: Page: 'Thank you, dicks. All of you.'
9/5/15: Sleeping Monkey.
9/5/15: Monkey > Hood.
9/5/15: Got distracted, sorry. Back for Hood.
9/5/15: Really, really gorgeous interplay between Trey and Page to start this jam.
9/5/15: Great ending, with Page-only piano -> Day In the Life.
9/5/15: That is the first sub-10-minute Hood I've heard in a LONG time, and yet it was fantastic. That solo. Wow.
9/5/15: https://t.co/rHIgPadXGr
Jan 12, 2016
2015-09-04 Dick's I
The Verdict:
I was really interested to dig back into the Dick's run from this year, not just because they were my last shows of the year, but also because coming after the incredible Magnaball and sitting at the end of the phenomenal 2015 summer tour, these shows had some serious hype to live up to. Unsurprisingly, they failed to reach the ridiculously high bar the recent festival sets had...umm...set. But taken out of the context of this self-defeating line of thought that every show Phish plays needs to be better than the previous show or else it's crap, how do they stand as summer 2015 shows? That's what I'm most interested in, and what I want to weigh in on over the next three reviews.
Night one is absolutely a strong 2015 show. It might fall just short of being worth mentioning as part of the upper echelon of '15 shows, but there's a lot to dig into here. On the other hand, there's a lot of "What If?" moments in the show that are hard to overlook.
On the positive side, the first set is great, with a long, albeit Type I, "Ghost" early on, an extended "Halley's" that features some fantastic playing from Trey, a rocktastic "Gin" that has no business being in a first set except as the closer, and a "46 Days" that gets weird before heading into a patient "Antelope" segue.
On the negative side, "Ghost" doesn't go deep to the degree you might expect, the "Halley's" jam is absolute fire until Trey suddenly yanks it into "Undermind," losing the rest of the band in the process, "Gin" isn't its usual 2015 Type II self, and that "46 Days" jam was seriously going places before Trey jumped over a great Page-and-Mike jam to start up what goes on to be a tepid "Antelope."
On the positive side, the second set features a great mixture of the long jams and short-jams-and-segues play styles we've seen throughout 2015, with a mini space jam emerging from "Wolfman's," a satisfying extended version of "Blaze On" that's up there with the best versions of the year, and a "Golden Age" that reaches the sixteen-minute mark by pulling a lot of tricks that are outside the usual jamming oeuvre of the band this year. The "Fuego" jam is short, but is possibly the most interesting (and angriest) jam of the night, and the way Page directs it into "Wading" is just perfect. And lest you have an appetite for antics, Fish sings "Bike," pretends the vacuum hose is his dick, and climbs on top of Page's piano for the encore.
On the negative side, "Wolfman's" seems to be heading in a promising, ultra-rare Type II direction before it just fizzles and forces a transition into "Blaze On," the excellent "Golden Age" jam is preceded by a badly butchered composed section, and the "Fuego" jam also seems to run out of juice just as it's getting really interesting.
In short, it's hard not to see this as a "What If?" show in many respects. Even as-is, it's a strong entry into this summer's tour, but had a few of those "What If?"s come to pass, we might be talking best-of material here, and it's hard not to think about that in the looming shadow of Magnaball excellence.
Second set starts at 1:28:00:
The Live Review:
9/4/15: Alright, here we go. Tube opener.
9/4/15: Mix sounds different than Magna on LP. Bass is clearer. Mike sounds fantastic.
9/4/15: Maybe it's just because I've been away from the funk for three weeks.
9/4/15: Slow tempo meaty take, > Ghost.
9/4/15: Nice surprise to see this in the first set, but there's something about a Ghost that happens in the sunlight that seems wrong.
9/4/15: 1st show I've listened to in weeks. Can already tell it's going to be biased by that 'Oh shit, Phish is awesome!' feeling.
9/4/15: Trey trading rock riffs with Mike's languid bass spaces. Neat.
9/4/15: Gnarly chords from Trey leading to a rock solo explosion.
9/4/15: That Ghost was Type I all the way, but some strong playing nonetheless.
9/4/15: I hate that this Halley's really starts to develop a serious melodic jam and then cuts your hopes short by Trey ripcording it.
9/4/15: Great little jam, but the 'segue' is not fluid AT ALL and the rest of the band has to come to a complete stop to catch up.
9/4/15: Pretty swingin' version of Undermind, though.
9/4/15: Yarmouth Road brings the tempo down a bit.
9/4/15: Sort of a momentum-killer, but I also unabashedly love this song, and think it's been getting more interesting lately.
9/4/15: Huh. A few of the earlier-summer takes on the song had little bridge jams in them. This one doesn't have anything like that.
9/4/15: Gin is next.
9/4/15: Slow build Gin with some lick-trading between Trey and Page.
9/4/15: No, they're not actually licking each other. You knew what I meant.
9/4/15: Like the Ghost, the Gin isn't really Going Places, but man is Trey tearing up the guitar.
9/4/15: PEAKSPLOSION
9/4/15: There have been at least three distinct peaks in this jam.
9/4/15: Wind-down ending now, just like in Ghost.
9/4/15: WAN'd.
9/4/15: I always say this, but I love WAN when it's played right.
9/4/15: It always makes me think of the solid version that opened the Eugene show, one of my favorite Phish shows I've seen.
9/4/15: The version got stronger as it went, incidentally. Horn next.
9/4/15: The Wedge. Set is drifting a little at this point.
9/4/15: Trey's giving the fretboard a major workout in this Wedge.
9/4/15: 46 Daaaaaaaays.
9/4/15: Trey's laying on the heavy distortion right off the bat, here.
9/4/15: Dark space immediately after the usual solo.
9/4/15: Descending progression from Trey and Page.
9/4/15: Page to the electric piano.
9/4/15: Gorgeous Page-and-Mike space interrupted by Trey's > Antelope.
9/4/15: Trey has a looping note playing over the intro, too.
9/4/15: Pretty standard Antelope, otherwise.
9/4/15: Weird set. Strong playing throughout, but really no flow after that car crash into Undermind.
9/4/15: 'Average-great' first set for 2015, but frustrating in the shadow of Magnaball b/c of missed opportunities.
9/4/15: Aborted Halley's jam, weird segue into Undermind, short, plain Ghost, short Gin (esp. weird for '15), aborted 46 Days jam.
9/4/15: Any 1-2 of those songs really goes deep and this is a different conversation. But they don't.
9/4/15: Wolfman's opens S2.
9/4/15: Chording-funk jam almost immediately.
9/4/15: Loops over a surprisingly heavy, rock-oriented Wolfman's jam.
9/4/15: Murky space now reminiscent of the 46 Days 'jam'
9/4/15: Another potential jam there that didn't coalesce, but now > Blaze On.
9/4/15: End of composed section of Blaze On stretching out into a languid funk-rock jam. Page on the clav, but lower down than usual.
9/4/15: Loop-rock now, with Trey's arpeggios and Page's intertwining.
9/4/15: Evil-sounding progression starts up at about 10:30.
9/4/15: About 5-6 minutes of really interesting, complex jamming finally fades out here and Trey starts up Golden Age.
9/4/15: Trey would be an invincible human who never aged and never died if the third verse of Golden Age didn't exist.
9/4/15: It's like his own personal facet of entropy.
9/4/15: Page has places he wants to go early in this jam, but Trey is just doing the usual solo thing.
9/4/15: Okay, Trey finally got the message.
9/4/15: Funky chords from Trey, while Page is stringing together some absolutely phenomenal piano runs.
9/4/15: Playing with all sorts of different, mellow ideas here. Now Trey seizes on a two-chord progression and Fish picks up the beat.
9/4/15: Synth and bass bombs now. Crowd cheering.
9/4/15: Really bouncy progression now.
9/4/15: Fish is definitely the MVP of this jam. Changing up to some seriously weird beats on a dime.
9/4/15: A build toward the end of the jam, but it's not peaky; instead, it's almost fuzzy, and really busy-sounding.
9/4/15: That jam was totally weird and more interesting for it. Might be a little too all-over-the-place if you're looking for trajectory.
9/4/15: Roses!
9/4/15: Extended ending to Roses. Thought we were going to go Worcester '12 there for a second. But, > Fuego.
9/4/15: Ending section of Fuego is totally going Bend Simple right now.
9/4/15: Trey's heavy riffs and Fish's drumming contrasted with Page's delicate piano notes is pretty fantastic here.
9/4/15: Over the buzz and distortion, a move to a lighter space, now.
9/4/15: Major-key space peters out with a Page fill. Now more loops and distortion building.
9/4/15: -> Wading! Nicely done.
9/4/15: I like the Blaze On jam and really like the Golden Age jam, but the Fuego -> Wading is the best part of the show for me.
9/4/15: Piano outro from Wading -> Walls keeps the piano segues theme going.
9/4/15: Walls gets extended a little more than usual to suit the placement as S2 closer.
9/4/15: Encore starts with HYHU.
9/4/15: Bike.
9/4/15: Fish sucks.
9/4/15: Back into HYHU, with, as I remember, Fish running in circles around the stage like a maniac.
9/4/15: The 'real' encore song is Loving Cup.
9/4/15: Like the first set, I think the second set is a strong addition to 2015 S2s, it just suffers in comparison to Magnaball.
9/4/15: Would like to have seen Wolfman's go deeper, but Blaze On and Golden Age are strong jams.
9/4/15: Fuego was brilliant but too short, and the encore was fun as hell.
I was really interested to dig back into the Dick's run from this year, not just because they were my last shows of the year, but also because coming after the incredible Magnaball and sitting at the end of the phenomenal 2015 summer tour, these shows had some serious hype to live up to. Unsurprisingly, they failed to reach the ridiculously high bar the recent festival sets had...umm...set. But taken out of the context of this self-defeating line of thought that every show Phish plays needs to be better than the previous show or else it's crap, how do they stand as summer 2015 shows? That's what I'm most interested in, and what I want to weigh in on over the next three reviews.
Night one is absolutely a strong 2015 show. It might fall just short of being worth mentioning as part of the upper echelon of '15 shows, but there's a lot to dig into here. On the other hand, there's a lot of "What If?" moments in the show that are hard to overlook.
On the positive side, the first set is great, with a long, albeit Type I, "Ghost" early on, an extended "Halley's" that features some fantastic playing from Trey, a rocktastic "Gin" that has no business being in a first set except as the closer, and a "46 Days" that gets weird before heading into a patient "Antelope" segue.
On the negative side, "Ghost" doesn't go deep to the degree you might expect, the "Halley's" jam is absolute fire until Trey suddenly yanks it into "Undermind," losing the rest of the band in the process, "Gin" isn't its usual 2015 Type II self, and that "46 Days" jam was seriously going places before Trey jumped over a great Page-and-Mike jam to start up what goes on to be a tepid "Antelope."
On the positive side, the second set features a great mixture of the long jams and short-jams-and-segues play styles we've seen throughout 2015, with a mini space jam emerging from "Wolfman's," a satisfying extended version of "Blaze On" that's up there with the best versions of the year, and a "Golden Age" that reaches the sixteen-minute mark by pulling a lot of tricks that are outside the usual jamming oeuvre of the band this year. The "Fuego" jam is short, but is possibly the most interesting (and angriest) jam of the night, and the way Page directs it into "Wading" is just perfect. And lest you have an appetite for antics, Fish sings "Bike," pretends the vacuum hose is his dick, and climbs on top of Page's piano for the encore.
On the negative side, "Wolfman's" seems to be heading in a promising, ultra-rare Type II direction before it just fizzles and forces a transition into "Blaze On," the excellent "Golden Age" jam is preceded by a badly butchered composed section, and the "Fuego" jam also seems to run out of juice just as it's getting really interesting.
In short, it's hard not to see this as a "What If?" show in many respects. Even as-is, it's a strong entry into this summer's tour, but had a few of those "What If?"s come to pass, we might be talking best-of material here, and it's hard not to think about that in the looming shadow of Magnaball excellence.
Second set starts at 1:28:00:
The Live Review:
9/4/15: Alright, here we go. Tube opener.
9/4/15: Mix sounds different than Magna on LP. Bass is clearer. Mike sounds fantastic.
9/4/15: Maybe it's just because I've been away from the funk for three weeks.
9/4/15: Slow tempo meaty take, > Ghost.
9/4/15: Nice surprise to see this in the first set, but there's something about a Ghost that happens in the sunlight that seems wrong.
9/4/15: 1st show I've listened to in weeks. Can already tell it's going to be biased by that 'Oh shit, Phish is awesome!' feeling.
9/4/15: Trey trading rock riffs with Mike's languid bass spaces. Neat.
9/4/15: Gnarly chords from Trey leading to a rock solo explosion.
9/4/15: That Ghost was Type I all the way, but some strong playing nonetheless.
9/4/15: I hate that this Halley's really starts to develop a serious melodic jam and then cuts your hopes short by Trey ripcording it.
9/4/15: Great little jam, but the 'segue' is not fluid AT ALL and the rest of the band has to come to a complete stop to catch up.
9/4/15: Pretty swingin' version of Undermind, though.
9/4/15: Yarmouth Road brings the tempo down a bit.
9/4/15: Sort of a momentum-killer, but I also unabashedly love this song, and think it's been getting more interesting lately.
9/4/15: Huh. A few of the earlier-summer takes on the song had little bridge jams in them. This one doesn't have anything like that.
9/4/15: Gin is next.
9/4/15: Slow build Gin with some lick-trading between Trey and Page.
9/4/15: No, they're not actually licking each other. You knew what I meant.
9/4/15: Like the Ghost, the Gin isn't really Going Places, but man is Trey tearing up the guitar.
9/4/15: PEAKSPLOSION
9/4/15: There have been at least three distinct peaks in this jam.
9/4/15: Wind-down ending now, just like in Ghost.
9/4/15: WAN'd.
9/4/15: I always say this, but I love WAN when it's played right.
9/4/15: It always makes me think of the solid version that opened the Eugene show, one of my favorite Phish shows I've seen.
9/4/15: The version got stronger as it went, incidentally. Horn next.
9/4/15: The Wedge. Set is drifting a little at this point.
9/4/15: Trey's giving the fretboard a major workout in this Wedge.
9/4/15: 46 Daaaaaaaays.
9/4/15: Trey's laying on the heavy distortion right off the bat, here.
9/4/15: Dark space immediately after the usual solo.
9/4/15: Descending progression from Trey and Page.
9/4/15: Page to the electric piano.
9/4/15: Gorgeous Page-and-Mike space interrupted by Trey's > Antelope.
9/4/15: Trey has a looping note playing over the intro, too.
9/4/15: Pretty standard Antelope, otherwise.
9/4/15: Weird set. Strong playing throughout, but really no flow after that car crash into Undermind.
9/4/15: 'Average-great' first set for 2015, but frustrating in the shadow of Magnaball b/c of missed opportunities.
9/4/15: Aborted Halley's jam, weird segue into Undermind, short, plain Ghost, short Gin (esp. weird for '15), aborted 46 Days jam.
9/4/15: Any 1-2 of those songs really goes deep and this is a different conversation. But they don't.
9/4/15: Wolfman's opens S2.
9/4/15: Chording-funk jam almost immediately.
9/4/15: Loops over a surprisingly heavy, rock-oriented Wolfman's jam.
9/4/15: Murky space now reminiscent of the 46 Days 'jam'
9/4/15: Another potential jam there that didn't coalesce, but now > Blaze On.
9/4/15: End of composed section of Blaze On stretching out into a languid funk-rock jam. Page on the clav, but lower down than usual.
9/4/15: Loop-rock now, with Trey's arpeggios and Page's intertwining.
9/4/15: Evil-sounding progression starts up at about 10:30.
9/4/15: About 5-6 minutes of really interesting, complex jamming finally fades out here and Trey starts up Golden Age.
9/4/15: Trey would be an invincible human who never aged and never died if the third verse of Golden Age didn't exist.
9/4/15: It's like his own personal facet of entropy.
9/4/15: Page has places he wants to go early in this jam, but Trey is just doing the usual solo thing.
9/4/15: Okay, Trey finally got the message.
9/4/15: Funky chords from Trey, while Page is stringing together some absolutely phenomenal piano runs.
9/4/15: Playing with all sorts of different, mellow ideas here. Now Trey seizes on a two-chord progression and Fish picks up the beat.
9/4/15: Synth and bass bombs now. Crowd cheering.
9/4/15: Really bouncy progression now.
9/4/15: Fish is definitely the MVP of this jam. Changing up to some seriously weird beats on a dime.
9/4/15: A build toward the end of the jam, but it's not peaky; instead, it's almost fuzzy, and really busy-sounding.
9/4/15: That jam was totally weird and more interesting for it. Might be a little too all-over-the-place if you're looking for trajectory.
9/4/15: Roses!
9/4/15: Extended ending to Roses. Thought we were going to go Worcester '12 there for a second. But, > Fuego.
9/4/15: Ending section of Fuego is totally going Bend Simple right now.
9/4/15: Trey's heavy riffs and Fish's drumming contrasted with Page's delicate piano notes is pretty fantastic here.
9/4/15: Over the buzz and distortion, a move to a lighter space, now.
9/4/15: Major-key space peters out with a Page fill. Now more loops and distortion building.
9/4/15: -> Wading! Nicely done.
9/4/15: I like the Blaze On jam and really like the Golden Age jam, but the Fuego -> Wading is the best part of the show for me.
9/4/15: Piano outro from Wading -> Walls keeps the piano segues theme going.
9/4/15: Walls gets extended a little more than usual to suit the placement as S2 closer.
9/4/15: Encore starts with HYHU.
9/4/15: Bike.
9/4/15: Fish sucks.
9/4/15: Back into HYHU, with, as I remember, Fish running in circles around the stage like a maniac.
9/4/15: The 'real' encore song is Loving Cup.
9/4/15: Like the first set, I think the second set is a strong addition to 2015 S2s, it just suffers in comparison to Magnaball.
9/4/15: Would like to have seen Wolfman's go deeper, but Blaze On and Golden Age are strong jams.
9/4/15: Fuego was brilliant but too short, and the encore was fun as hell.
Jan 1, 2016
2015-08-23 Magnaball III
The Verdict:
Not much in Phishdom is going to be able to compete with N2 of Magnaball, and the following night is definitely a step down in comparison. In fact, it's easily the weakest of the three nights of the run; that said, it's a testament to how strong this run really is that it's still one of the best shows of the year and closes Magnaball on a note that requires it be considered as one of the best three-night runs of all time. Whew.
Minus "Buffalo Bill," there isn't much in the first 2/3rds of S1 that's going to surprise you. As I noted below, though, Trey is an absolute beast throughout, a fact that elevates what would normally be a full-on Jukebox Mode S1 performance to something greater. Riding this momentum, the band takes "Stash" on a brilliant (if brief) Type II excursion and the following "Reba" builds naturally and satisfyingly upon a year's worth of great versions of the tune. There's no "real" standout tune like N1's "Gin," but is by no means just a warm-up set.
S2 begins with quite possibly the meatiest "Martian Monster" yet, which segues niftily into "Disease." As is sometimes the case, this "Disease" jam functions less like an opportunity to explore more territory and more like a time to reprise and remix some of the better ideas from other jams during the summer. As a result, this isn't going to knock your socks off, but almost sounds like a "greatest hits" jam, if that makes any sense. Any lack of innovation, though, should be forgiven when the band slides perfectly into the second "Scents" of the year. This one is the blissful, "Hood"-like opposite of the angry Mann version and it moves gently into a unique take on "What's The Use?". Almost as if the tone of the "Scents" jam is carrying over, "WTU?" is softer and gentler than usual, while still maintaining its anthemic quality.
"Dirt" is a great landing pad, before an echo-funk "Mike's" reminiscent of the Dick's '14 version starts up. It feels a bit like the band is rushing through "Fuego," "Twist," and "Groove," but as in S1, all of these jukebox versions have a little extra mustard on them...and when the "Groove" jam moves brilliant back into a "Martian Monster" funk reprise, it's the perfect end to the last second set of the festival. The encore, of course, is "YEM," which also integrates some echo-funk jamming and an extra intense vocal jam. All in all, even though it pales a bit in comparison to the previous two nights, this is yet another fantastic show in an oversized pile of 'em from summer 2015. On to Dick's!
The Live Review:
8/23/15: Keeping the #magnaball train rolling today. PYITE opener.
8/23/15: Tears of a Clown tease from Mike prior.
8/23/15: This definitely comes from years of listening to 12/31/95, but is there a better show opener than PYITE?
8/23/15: No. The answer is no.
8/23/15: Pretty solid, uptempo take on PYITE to start.
8/23/15: BUFFALO BILL
8/23/15: So, Buffalo Bill > ASIHTOS is pretty weird.
8/23/15: Great soloing here by Trey, with some neat interplay with Page.
8/23/15: > LxL.
8/23/15: Strong take on LxL as well. Trey ripped both of those songs up. WAN now.
8/23/15: I'm currently dancing to WAN in my office. I guess I must suck at Phish.
8/23/15: Love this song when they nail it, which they did here.
8/23/15: Theme next.
8/23/15: Setlist has been a bit all over the place, like 8/22's S1, but the playing is consistently strong here.
8/23/15: Trey nails Theme, too. He's absolutely slain on the last four songs.
8/23/15: I know I often knock first sets for the lack of jamming and general boring predictably, but...
8/23/15: ...if Trey played like this more often, I wouldn't complain, even if the setlists stayed predictable. Man.
8/23/15: Maze.
8/23/15: A bit of extra mustard during the Page/Trey duel part of the jam.
8/23/15: The Line. You knew it was coming.
8/23/15: Stash!
8/23/15: Stash jam starts with some extended refrain vocals and a really minimalist approach.
8/23/15: Quick turn into Type II bliss.
8/23/15: This is more like a Hood jam than a Stash one.
8/23/15: Really graceful turn back into the typical Stash jam.
8/23/15: Reba!
8/23/15: Fantastic beginning to Trey's Reba solo. Page with electric piano washes.
8/23/15: Great interplay later on between Trey and Mike. Don't hear that super often in Reba.
8/23/15: That was a fantastic Reba jam. Whistling ending.
8/23/15: I Didn't Know with a vacuum solo from 'The Little Beast Boy.'
8/23/15: The Little Beast Boy is currently 'sucking love' for the audience.
8/23/15: Long thank-you session in the midst of I Didn't Know. Hilarious with Fish sucking away the entire time.
8/23/15: S1 is ending with Character Zero. At least they aren't ending the show with it :)
8/23/15: S2 opens with Martian Monster.
8/23/15: Love how crazy the crowd goes when that opening sample hits.
8/23/15: It's the opposite of how crazy they go when an opening Sample hits.
8/23/15: Meaty version of MM. Breaking away from Type I structure a bit at the end.
8/23/15: Ending drone over Gordo's DwD intro. Sort of a ->.
8/23/15: Fading into space-rock territory at about 7:00.
8/23/15: Nice driving beat from Fish, and some great melodic contributions from Trey and Page here.
8/23/15: That said, this jam isn't nearly as dynamic as what we've gotten used to by this point in the year.
8/23/15: Some pitch shifter now and some really growly bass tones from Mike.
8/23/15: That died out pretty quickly. Now sounds a lot like 2001.
8/23/15: -> Scents!
8/23/15: Okay, that was an incredibly cool segue. Crowd doesn't seem to know what happened.
8/23/15: Spacey, Hood-like jam after Scents vocals.
8/23/15: Rock chords from Trey now. Picking up the pace.
8/23/15: Distorted rock ends the jam. Outro vocals from Fish (?), then -> WTU?
8/23/15: Page on what I think it electric piano during WTU?. Adds a sort of whimsical feel to it. Less evil than usual.
8/23/15: Very cool variation on WTU? Brighter than usual, but still anthemic.
8/23/15: > Dirt! Great landing pad choice!
8/23/15: > Mike's! Still can't get over the great placement of that Dirt.
8/23/15: Echo chords kicking off the Mike's jam. Reminds me of Dick's '14.
8/23/15: Quick but extremely intense Mike's jam.
8/23/15: Whoa...sounded like Trey was going to go into a *real* Mike's second jam and the rest of the band steamrolled him.
8/23/15: Add to the innovations of Phish 2015: Trey gets ripcorded.
8/23/15: That would have been cool. Instead, > Fuego.
8/23/15: > Twist just as the Fuego jam starts.
8/23/15: Playing quality hasn't slacked here, but it feels like they're trying to jam a bunch of songs into the fourth quarter.
8/23/15: They've resisted that temptation for a lot of 2015, which is part of why it's been so great.
8/23/15: Weird that they're giving in here, after the weekend of shows this has been.
8/23/15: Nice chunky, bluesy Twist jam, with a few complete stops built into the breakdown for fun.
8/23/15: Okay Fish just switched to a swing-style beat (think Julius) and all hell broke loose. Awesome.
8/23/15: Evil build now.
8/23/15: Hahahaha...Fish with what I think are supposed to be Immigrant Song vocals.
8/23/15: -> Groove out of extended Immigrant Song tease.
8/23/15: Nice little compact Groove jam -> Martian Monster.
8/23/15: Lots of echo jamming in the set-closing MM.
8/23/15: Encore is YEM, of course.
8/23/15: The echo funk is even making its way (a little bit) into the YEM jam, now.
8/23/15: Super-intense vocal jam (!!) followed by MM sample and a 'huge explosion.'
8/23/15: Great show, though I imagine it isn't as well received as the first two. Review will go up alongside 9/3 when I get to that one.
Not much in Phishdom is going to be able to compete with N2 of Magnaball, and the following night is definitely a step down in comparison. In fact, it's easily the weakest of the three nights of the run; that said, it's a testament to how strong this run really is that it's still one of the best shows of the year and closes Magnaball on a note that requires it be considered as one of the best three-night runs of all time. Whew.
Minus "Buffalo Bill," there isn't much in the first 2/3rds of S1 that's going to surprise you. As I noted below, though, Trey is an absolute beast throughout, a fact that elevates what would normally be a full-on Jukebox Mode S1 performance to something greater. Riding this momentum, the band takes "Stash" on a brilliant (if brief) Type II excursion and the following "Reba" builds naturally and satisfyingly upon a year's worth of great versions of the tune. There's no "real" standout tune like N1's "Gin," but is by no means just a warm-up set.
S2 begins with quite possibly the meatiest "Martian Monster" yet, which segues niftily into "Disease." As is sometimes the case, this "Disease" jam functions less like an opportunity to explore more territory and more like a time to reprise and remix some of the better ideas from other jams during the summer. As a result, this isn't going to knock your socks off, but almost sounds like a "greatest hits" jam, if that makes any sense. Any lack of innovation, though, should be forgiven when the band slides perfectly into the second "Scents" of the year. This one is the blissful, "Hood"-like opposite of the angry Mann version and it moves gently into a unique take on "What's The Use?". Almost as if the tone of the "Scents" jam is carrying over, "WTU?" is softer and gentler than usual, while still maintaining its anthemic quality.
"Dirt" is a great landing pad, before an echo-funk "Mike's" reminiscent of the Dick's '14 version starts up. It feels a bit like the band is rushing through "Fuego," "Twist," and "Groove," but as in S1, all of these jukebox versions have a little extra mustard on them...and when the "Groove" jam moves brilliant back into a "Martian Monster" funk reprise, it's the perfect end to the last second set of the festival. The encore, of course, is "YEM," which also integrates some echo-funk jamming and an extra intense vocal jam. All in all, even though it pales a bit in comparison to the previous two nights, this is yet another fantastic show in an oversized pile of 'em from summer 2015. On to Dick's!
The Live Review:
8/23/15: Keeping the #magnaball train rolling today. PYITE opener.
8/23/15: Tears of a Clown tease from Mike prior.
8/23/15: This definitely comes from years of listening to 12/31/95, but is there a better show opener than PYITE?
8/23/15: No. The answer is no.
8/23/15: Pretty solid, uptempo take on PYITE to start.
8/23/15: BUFFALO BILL
8/23/15: So, Buffalo Bill > ASIHTOS is pretty weird.
8/23/15: Great soloing here by Trey, with some neat interplay with Page.
8/23/15: > LxL.
8/23/15: Strong take on LxL as well. Trey ripped both of those songs up. WAN now.
8/23/15: I'm currently dancing to WAN in my office. I guess I must suck at Phish.
8/23/15: Love this song when they nail it, which they did here.
8/23/15: Theme next.
8/23/15: Setlist has been a bit all over the place, like 8/22's S1, but the playing is consistently strong here.
8/23/15: Trey nails Theme, too. He's absolutely slain on the last four songs.
8/23/15: I know I often knock first sets for the lack of jamming and general boring predictably, but...
8/23/15: ...if Trey played like this more often, I wouldn't complain, even if the setlists stayed predictable. Man.
8/23/15: Maze.
8/23/15: A bit of extra mustard during the Page/Trey duel part of the jam.
8/23/15: The Line. You knew it was coming.
8/23/15: Stash!
8/23/15: Stash jam starts with some extended refrain vocals and a really minimalist approach.
8/23/15: Quick turn into Type II bliss.
8/23/15: This is more like a Hood jam than a Stash one.
8/23/15: Really graceful turn back into the typical Stash jam.
8/23/15: Reba!
8/23/15: Fantastic beginning to Trey's Reba solo. Page with electric piano washes.
8/23/15: Great interplay later on between Trey and Mike. Don't hear that super often in Reba.
8/23/15: That was a fantastic Reba jam. Whistling ending.
8/23/15: I Didn't Know with a vacuum solo from 'The Little Beast Boy.'
8/23/15: The Little Beast Boy is currently 'sucking love' for the audience.
8/23/15: Long thank-you session in the midst of I Didn't Know. Hilarious with Fish sucking away the entire time.
8/23/15: S1 is ending with Character Zero. At least they aren't ending the show with it :)
8/23/15: S2 opens with Martian Monster.
8/23/15: Love how crazy the crowd goes when that opening sample hits.
8/23/15: It's the opposite of how crazy they go when an opening Sample hits.
8/23/15: Meaty version of MM. Breaking away from Type I structure a bit at the end.
8/23/15: Ending drone over Gordo's DwD intro. Sort of a ->.
8/23/15: Fading into space-rock territory at about 7:00.
8/23/15: Nice driving beat from Fish, and some great melodic contributions from Trey and Page here.
8/23/15: That said, this jam isn't nearly as dynamic as what we've gotten used to by this point in the year.
8/23/15: Some pitch shifter now and some really growly bass tones from Mike.
8/23/15: That died out pretty quickly. Now sounds a lot like 2001.
8/23/15: -> Scents!
8/23/15: Okay, that was an incredibly cool segue. Crowd doesn't seem to know what happened.
8/23/15: Spacey, Hood-like jam after Scents vocals.
8/23/15: Rock chords from Trey now. Picking up the pace.
8/23/15: Distorted rock ends the jam. Outro vocals from Fish (?), then -> WTU?
8/23/15: Page on what I think it electric piano during WTU?. Adds a sort of whimsical feel to it. Less evil than usual.
8/23/15: Very cool variation on WTU? Brighter than usual, but still anthemic.
8/23/15: > Dirt! Great landing pad choice!
8/23/15: > Mike's! Still can't get over the great placement of that Dirt.
8/23/15: Echo chords kicking off the Mike's jam. Reminds me of Dick's '14.
8/23/15: Quick but extremely intense Mike's jam.
8/23/15: Whoa...sounded like Trey was going to go into a *real* Mike's second jam and the rest of the band steamrolled him.
8/23/15: Add to the innovations of Phish 2015: Trey gets ripcorded.
8/23/15: That would have been cool. Instead, > Fuego.
8/23/15: > Twist just as the Fuego jam starts.
8/23/15: Playing quality hasn't slacked here, but it feels like they're trying to jam a bunch of songs into the fourth quarter.
8/23/15: They've resisted that temptation for a lot of 2015, which is part of why it's been so great.
8/23/15: Weird that they're giving in here, after the weekend of shows this has been.
8/23/15: Nice chunky, bluesy Twist jam, with a few complete stops built into the breakdown for fun.
8/23/15: Okay Fish just switched to a swing-style beat (think Julius) and all hell broke loose. Awesome.
8/23/15: Evil build now.
8/23/15: Hahahaha...Fish with what I think are supposed to be Immigrant Song vocals.
8/23/15: -> Groove out of extended Immigrant Song tease.
8/23/15: Nice little compact Groove jam -> Martian Monster.
8/23/15: Lots of echo jamming in the set-closing MM.
8/23/15: Encore is YEM, of course.
8/23/15: The echo funk is even making its way (a little bit) into the YEM jam, now.
8/23/15: Super-intense vocal jam (!!) followed by MM sample and a 'huge explosion.'
8/23/15: Great show, though I imagine it isn't as well received as the first two. Review will go up alongside 9/3 when I get to that one.
Dec 9, 2015
2015-08-22 Magnaball II
The Verdict:
I always find it a little difficult to review a three-set show just because there's so much music to listen to and the expectations are always significantly different than they are for a typical two-set show. So it's even more difficult to try to review a four-set show...but I'll try anyway.
So the really short version is that this is a day's worth of monster Phish, and calling it anything other than amazing by the standards of any era would be understating the case. The slightly longer version is that the first set is about ninety minutes of Jukebox-Mode letdown after 8/21's awesome start. But then things get good quick after that and stay that way all the way up through the mind-boggling Drive-In Jam.
There isn't much to say about S1 that isn't already in the review below. The "Divided Sky" opener is a nice touch, and the out-of-the-box "Antelope" that closes the set is a taste of things to come. A lot of what's between is rarities, but the set flows so oddly that every moment of high-energy playing is sapped almost immediately by a bewildering setlist call. All in all, it doesn't hold a candle to 8/21's S1.
S2 starts off slowly, actually, but gets rolling with a "46 Days" that's one of my favorite jams of the year. It follows the now-typical loops -> build -> bliss jam structure, but does so at a slower tempo and with some interesting variations on the theme. Obviously, the other highlight is the "Tweezerpants" that closes the set. Honestly, I didn't find as much to like in this as I did in the "46 Days" or the "Blaze On" from S3, but who's to complain about an echo-funk'd "Tweezer" followed by a legitimate jam out of "Caspian"?
There are a lot of shows where the band just sort of fades out during the third set, presumably because it's real damn hard to play awesome music for over four hours. But this show isn't one of those. As if S2 wasn't already one of the best - if not the best - set of the year, S3 brings the year's best "Blaze On" jam, which sets up a great loop 'n' echo jam style that then gets carried through into "Possum," "Cities," and, to a lesser degree, a monster "Light." The set ends in typical fashion, but it's easily the equal of S2, probably better. Then there's the Drive-In Set. You can start S3 at 2:54:00 in the video below:
The Drive-In Set is probably best recounted by just reading the tweet review. Suffice to say that it's over fifty minutes of mostly dark, sometimes creepy Phish, with some added samples from (I assume) Page that we haven't heard before, a lot of weird vocal jamming, and a lot of exploration of the sound that began in Bend with "Simple."
Small complaints about the opening set aside, this show is an embarrassment of riches. There's no other way to put it.
The Live Review:
8/22/15: Definitely not going to make it all the way through this marathon show today, but I can at least get started!
8/22/15: Divided Sky opener. That's a good omen.
8/22/15: A little slower than usual, but seems appropriate.
8/22/15: DSky openers in the summer should be a little languid.
8/22/15: Extra-long pause.
8/22/15: Extended outro jam, too, with lots of Trey chording after what seemed like it was going to be the end.
8/22/15: Now that everyone's well and truly fired up...the Moma Dance.
8/22/15: I really like Trey's addition of the echo effect to Moma.
8/22/15: Now Fish messing w/ the outro vocals.
8/22/15: I'm going to Go There and say MSG or '16 Moma Dance will get at least one serious jam.
8/22/15: Just feels like they're begging to bust this one open.
8/22/15: Don't know if they can outdo this one, though: https://t.co/vHqgB9yLVf
8/22/15: > Mound.
8/22/15: Army Of One! Great song!
8/22/15: Scabbard! I love this song, but have to admit that it sounds a little bare when Phish plays it.
8/22/15: Though the electric outro is neat, as opposed to the acoustic one on the album and w/ TAB.
8/22/15: Trey is having serious trouble playing the song right now, which is sort of a problem.
8/22/15: Tiny little solo from Trey during the outro, then > Sample.
8/22/15: Tuuuuube...
8/22/15: Tube going in the now-typical echo-funk direction.
8/22/15: Would like to make a comp of all the echo-funk jams from Dick's '14 on. Maybe over Christmas.
8/22/15: And all the jams from this year that spawned from the Bend Simple. Echo-funk comp and EVIL comp.
8/22/15: Halfway To the Moon. Weird...this set started strong, but is just sort of falling into Usual Set Mode.
8/22/15: Err...Usual S1 Mode.
8/22/15: Camel Walk!
8/22/15: A few neat songs in the second half of this set, but is pretty much just a grab-bag set post-Mound.
8/22/15: Or post-the-opener, if you want to be a little more cynical.
8/22/15: How Many People Are You? Love it! Wanna see this getting jammed, too.
8/22/15: Great outro with a Trey solo and Mike/Fish overlapping vocals.
8/22/15: When The Circus Comes is next.
8/22/15: Undermind w/ echo chords.
8/22/15: Page going to friggin' town on the organ.
8/22/15: Undermind > Antelope.
8/22/15: Angry build in Antelope. Interesting.
8/22/15: Now getting loopy and bubbly, sort of like the Dick's SOAM.
8/22/15: Quickly back out, and now back into the normal Antelope jam.
8/22/15: Where was the band that's playing this Antelope come from and where is the band that played the first 90% of this set buried?
8/22/15: *did
8/22/15: Loop build now.
8/22/15: That was a weird set. Really long. Lots of neat song choices. But absolutely no flow whatsoever. Totally weird.
8/22/15: The Antelope was really the only thing that will be getting a relisten.
8/22/15: But, now it's time for MF'N set two.
8/22/15: S2 kicks off with Wolfman's.
8/22/15: Echo funk Wolfman's jam!
8/22/15: This is awesome. Sometimes it sort of seems like the guys are leaning on 2-3 jam styles for all the '15 jams, but...
8/22/15: ...they're so good I don't care that much.
8/22/15: Halley's is next. Standard version, Trey seemed to be trying to do something with the end. Light, maybe?
8/22/15: Either way, full stop and landing in 46 Days.
8/22/15: Pitch-shifted semi-madness is going on in this jam.
8/22/15: This is not your older brother's 46 Days.
8/22/15: We're only six minutes in and we've explored two legitimately weird spaces already.
8/22/15: Jam is mellowing a little, but Trey is keeping his bizarro tone.
8/22/15: Now super chilled out, Trey and Mike adding some melody lines over a synth buzz.
8/22/15: Gorgeous guitar riff from Trey.
8/22/15: Doing the usual mellow-to-bliss jam thing, but more slowly than usual.
8/22/15: Wind-down finally lands in Number Line.
8/22/15: Fantastic jam. Listening to that again on the way home.
8/22/15: Number Line sounds more like an '09 or '10 version instead of the usual high-neck noodling jams that have been happening lately.
8/22/15: Nevermind. Here we go.
8/22/15: > Tweezer. I've been waiting to hear this for a LOOOONG time.
New review: 2015-08-21 Magnaball I https://t.co/e0LmDM2MTo #phish #summer2015 #magnaball
8/22/15: Jam starts all funky and rubber-bandy. That's literally the best way I can explain it right now. I had a long night.
8/22/15: In case anyone was wondering when Phish would get around to applying the echo funk jam to Tweezer, today's your day.
8/22/15: Moving from the funk into something more fast-paced and lighter. Page jazzing it up on the piano.
8/22/15: Great playing from Trey propels the jam a bit, keeps that slow build from becoming *too* slow.
8/22/15: Wind down from another great jam.
8/22/15: > Caspian
8/22/15: Some more noodling from Trey after the usual Caspian ending.
8/22/15: Now fading a bit with a blues riff.
8/22/15: Trey funking out his tone.
8/22/15: Really deconstructed echo-funk going on now.
8/22/15: It's sort of like the usual type, but more distorted and approaching arrhythmic.
8/22/15: Coming out of the funk now, into an awesome Trey solo.
8/22/15: Massive descending riff and synth bombs now. Holy shit that got big fast.
8/22/15: Huge wind-down to end the Tweezer > Caspian sequence.
8/22/15: Short set, but end of S2. I'll be back later with the rest. I'm tired.
8/22/15: Marathon show continues. Meatstick opener for S3.
8/22/15: Slow-build Meatstick intro. That was fun.
8/22/15: Blaze On next.
8/22/15: Outro jam to Blaze On. Sort of sounds like an Undermind jam. Page tearing it up on the piano.
8/22/15: Getting a little spacier. Trey hits on a neat riff that propels Page over to the electric piano.
8/22/15: Building into some dark funk now. I like where this is going.
8/22/15: This is sort of like an evil reprise of the Blaze On progression, with Page laying down a fantastic electric piano solo over it.
8/22/15: Stop-start jam now. Suprised at the lack of woos.
8/22/15: *Surprised
8/22/15: Pitch shifter has arrived.
8/22/15: This jam is definitely going on the 2015 highlight reel.
8/22/15: Surprised to hear so much about the Tweezerpants and so little about this. I like this way better.
8/22/15: God, it's like I'm Willy Wonka on that fucking boat.
8/22/15: This is my review of this jam. https://t.co/X2Mpo3Lr2Z
8/22/15: This is the second part of my review. https://t.co/YRzHdt71Ps
8/22/15: NICE landing in Possum, somehow.
8/22/15: Trey teasing the Blaze On jam in the Possum intro. The. Fuck.
8/22/15: Another great turn on the piano for Page during Possum.
8/22/15: Great call-and-response between Trey and Page now.
8/22/15: This is my favorite Possum in a really long time. Don't let the length fool you.
8/22/15: > Cities!
8/22/15: Actually, that was more of a -B Cities.
8/22/15: More rock and less funk than usual in this Cities.
8/22/15: Wouldn't be surprised to see the jam go the echo-funk route.
8/22/15: Nope, they're bringing back the loops from Blaze On, and we're back on Wonka's boat.
8/22/15: Jam winds down on an angry note sort of similar to the 6/17/04 Moma Dance.
8/22/15: Trey makes the logical > Light. Thought I wish they would have drawn out that anger-jamming a bit more.
8/22/15: Trey almost completely avoids the Endless Arpeggios section of the Light jam this time and starts w/ melody soloing.
8/22/15: Oh, okay. The Endless Arpeggios were just delayed, not cancelled.
8/22/15: Almost sounds like Blaze On now.
8/22/15: Now it's Space Manteca.
8/22/15: Loops from the previous set's jams come back in a big way.
8/22/15: Reminds me a little of 8/31/14 S2.
8/22/15: Only better.
8/22/15: Fade out leads into 555, which seems like just the weirdest goddamn song choice ever right here.
8/22/15: Unless they're going to jam it for fifteen minutes, that is.
8/22/15: Standard 555 with slightly more echo and some extra mustard on the outro solo.
8/22/15: Velvet Sea.
8/22/15: Gorgeous, gorgeous version of Velvet Sea. Wow. Trey's solo more like a Reba solo.
8/22/15: Piano-only segue > Walls.
8/22/15: There might have been a little extra shredding at the end of that Walls.
8/22/15: Boogie On(core)!
8/22/15: Pretty standard, slightly echo-y Boogie On > Tweeprise.
I'll do the Drive-In Jam later. Gotta go hand out an exam.
8/22/15: Okay, here we go with S4. I imagine I'm missing a bit by not watching the video, but for now I'm just reviewing based on audio.
8/22/15: Eerie synth and bass to start. Could be like an extended Bowie intro from the 90s.
8/22/15: More creepy droning.
8/22/15: I'm not sure where these sounds are coming from, but I hope nobody in the crowd is on drugs.
8/22/15: Because I would be shitting myself.
8/22/15: I sure hope nobody is on drugs at this Phish concert.
8/22/15: Screaming samples and carnival music. Hold me.
8/22/15: Water samples. Processed vocals from the band now.
8/22/15: Slowly becoming a little melodic at the 10 minute mark.
8/22/15: Circular riff from Mike, melody from Trey, Fish picking up with a clear rhythm.
8/22/15: This could sort of be an extended WTU? jam. Sounds similar to it.
8/22/15: Mike taking the lead now.
8/22/15: Brass bell samples.
8/22/15: Mike's bass has the same tone as the bass in the background music for Doom 2.
8/22/15: Tempo picking up now.
8/22/15: This has been twenty minutes of straight evil so far. Not the direction I expected them to go at all.
8/22/15: But I'm digging it.
8/22/15: Getting more rock-like now, but with creepy Fish screams.
8/22/15: Bell samples keep coming in at odd times. Maybe the weirdest part of this whole set.
8/22/15: More driving riff now, over the bells.
8/22/15: Page on organ now. Almost sounds like 2001.
8/22/15: Getting a little spacier around 37:00.
8/22/15: Lots of Bend Simple-style drone chords from Trey throughout this jam.
8/22/15: More vocal jamming now.
8/22/15: Cool! The jam is ending more or less the same way that it started.
I always find it a little difficult to review a three-set show just because there's so much music to listen to and the expectations are always significantly different than they are for a typical two-set show. So it's even more difficult to try to review a four-set show...but I'll try anyway.
So the really short version is that this is a day's worth of monster Phish, and calling it anything other than amazing by the standards of any era would be understating the case. The slightly longer version is that the first set is about ninety minutes of Jukebox-Mode letdown after 8/21's awesome start. But then things get good quick after that and stay that way all the way up through the mind-boggling Drive-In Jam.
There isn't much to say about S1 that isn't already in the review below. The "Divided Sky" opener is a nice touch, and the out-of-the-box "Antelope" that closes the set is a taste of things to come. A lot of what's between is rarities, but the set flows so oddly that every moment of high-energy playing is sapped almost immediately by a bewildering setlist call. All in all, it doesn't hold a candle to 8/21's S1.
S2 starts off slowly, actually, but gets rolling with a "46 Days" that's one of my favorite jams of the year. It follows the now-typical loops -> build -> bliss jam structure, but does so at a slower tempo and with some interesting variations on the theme. Obviously, the other highlight is the "Tweezerpants" that closes the set. Honestly, I didn't find as much to like in this as I did in the "46 Days" or the "Blaze On" from S3, but who's to complain about an echo-funk'd "Tweezer" followed by a legitimate jam out of "Caspian"?
There are a lot of shows where the band just sort of fades out during the third set, presumably because it's real damn hard to play awesome music for over four hours. But this show isn't one of those. As if S2 wasn't already one of the best - if not the best - set of the year, S3 brings the year's best "Blaze On" jam, which sets up a great loop 'n' echo jam style that then gets carried through into "Possum," "Cities," and, to a lesser degree, a monster "Light." The set ends in typical fashion, but it's easily the equal of S2, probably better. Then there's the Drive-In Set. You can start S3 at 2:54:00 in the video below:
The Drive-In Set is probably best recounted by just reading the tweet review. Suffice to say that it's over fifty minutes of mostly dark, sometimes creepy Phish, with some added samples from (I assume) Page that we haven't heard before, a lot of weird vocal jamming, and a lot of exploration of the sound that began in Bend with "Simple."
Small complaints about the opening set aside, this show is an embarrassment of riches. There's no other way to put it.
The Live Review:
8/22/15: Definitely not going to make it all the way through this marathon show today, but I can at least get started!
8/22/15: Divided Sky opener. That's a good omen.
8/22/15: A little slower than usual, but seems appropriate.
8/22/15: DSky openers in the summer should be a little languid.
8/22/15: Extra-long pause.
8/22/15: Extended outro jam, too, with lots of Trey chording after what seemed like it was going to be the end.
8/22/15: Now that everyone's well and truly fired up...the Moma Dance.
8/22/15: I really like Trey's addition of the echo effect to Moma.
8/22/15: Now Fish messing w/ the outro vocals.
8/22/15: I'm going to Go There and say MSG or '16 Moma Dance will get at least one serious jam.
8/22/15: Just feels like they're begging to bust this one open.
8/22/15: Don't know if they can outdo this one, though: https://t.co/vHqgB9yLVf
8/22/15: > Mound.
8/22/15: Army Of One! Great song!
8/22/15: Scabbard! I love this song, but have to admit that it sounds a little bare when Phish plays it.
8/22/15: Though the electric outro is neat, as opposed to the acoustic one on the album and w/ TAB.
8/22/15: Trey is having serious trouble playing the song right now, which is sort of a problem.
8/22/15: Tiny little solo from Trey during the outro, then > Sample.
8/22/15: Tuuuuube...
8/22/15: Tube going in the now-typical echo-funk direction.
8/22/15: Would like to make a comp of all the echo-funk jams from Dick's '14 on. Maybe over Christmas.
8/22/15: And all the jams from this year that spawned from the Bend Simple. Echo-funk comp and EVIL comp.
8/22/15: Halfway To the Moon. Weird...this set started strong, but is just sort of falling into Usual Set Mode.
8/22/15: Err...Usual S1 Mode.
8/22/15: Camel Walk!
8/22/15: A few neat songs in the second half of this set, but is pretty much just a grab-bag set post-Mound.
8/22/15: Or post-the-opener, if you want to be a little more cynical.
8/22/15: How Many People Are You? Love it! Wanna see this getting jammed, too.
8/22/15: Great outro with a Trey solo and Mike/Fish overlapping vocals.
8/22/15: When The Circus Comes is next.
8/22/15: Undermind w/ echo chords.
8/22/15: Page going to friggin' town on the organ.
8/22/15: Undermind > Antelope.
8/22/15: Angry build in Antelope. Interesting.
8/22/15: Now getting loopy and bubbly, sort of like the Dick's SOAM.
8/22/15: Quickly back out, and now back into the normal Antelope jam.
8/22/15: Where was the band that's playing this Antelope come from and where is the band that played the first 90% of this set buried?
8/22/15: *did
8/22/15: Loop build now.
8/22/15: That was a weird set. Really long. Lots of neat song choices. But absolutely no flow whatsoever. Totally weird.
8/22/15: The Antelope was really the only thing that will be getting a relisten.
8/22/15: But, now it's time for MF'N set two.
8/22/15: S2 kicks off with Wolfman's.
8/22/15: Echo funk Wolfman's jam!
8/22/15: This is awesome. Sometimes it sort of seems like the guys are leaning on 2-3 jam styles for all the '15 jams, but...
8/22/15: ...they're so good I don't care that much.
8/22/15: Halley's is next. Standard version, Trey seemed to be trying to do something with the end. Light, maybe?
8/22/15: Either way, full stop and landing in 46 Days.
8/22/15: Pitch-shifted semi-madness is going on in this jam.
8/22/15: This is not your older brother's 46 Days.
8/22/15: We're only six minutes in and we've explored two legitimately weird spaces already.
8/22/15: Jam is mellowing a little, but Trey is keeping his bizarro tone.
8/22/15: Now super chilled out, Trey and Mike adding some melody lines over a synth buzz.
8/22/15: Gorgeous guitar riff from Trey.
8/22/15: Doing the usual mellow-to-bliss jam thing, but more slowly than usual.
8/22/15: Wind-down finally lands in Number Line.
8/22/15: Fantastic jam. Listening to that again on the way home.
8/22/15: Number Line sounds more like an '09 or '10 version instead of the usual high-neck noodling jams that have been happening lately.
8/22/15: Nevermind. Here we go.
8/22/15: > Tweezer. I've been waiting to hear this for a LOOOONG time.
New review: 2015-08-21 Magnaball I https://t.co/e0LmDM2MTo #phish #summer2015 #magnaball
8/22/15: Jam starts all funky and rubber-bandy. That's literally the best way I can explain it right now. I had a long night.
8/22/15: In case anyone was wondering when Phish would get around to applying the echo funk jam to Tweezer, today's your day.
8/22/15: Moving from the funk into something more fast-paced and lighter. Page jazzing it up on the piano.
8/22/15: Great playing from Trey propels the jam a bit, keeps that slow build from becoming *too* slow.
8/22/15: Wind down from another great jam.
8/22/15: > Caspian
8/22/15: Some more noodling from Trey after the usual Caspian ending.
8/22/15: Now fading a bit with a blues riff.
8/22/15: Trey funking out his tone.
8/22/15: Really deconstructed echo-funk going on now.
8/22/15: It's sort of like the usual type, but more distorted and approaching arrhythmic.
8/22/15: Coming out of the funk now, into an awesome Trey solo.
8/22/15: Massive descending riff and synth bombs now. Holy shit that got big fast.
8/22/15: Huge wind-down to end the Tweezer > Caspian sequence.
8/22/15: Short set, but end of S2. I'll be back later with the rest. I'm tired.
8/22/15: Marathon show continues. Meatstick opener for S3.
8/22/15: Slow-build Meatstick intro. That was fun.
8/22/15: Blaze On next.
8/22/15: Outro jam to Blaze On. Sort of sounds like an Undermind jam. Page tearing it up on the piano.
8/22/15: Getting a little spacier. Trey hits on a neat riff that propels Page over to the electric piano.
8/22/15: Building into some dark funk now. I like where this is going.
8/22/15: This is sort of like an evil reprise of the Blaze On progression, with Page laying down a fantastic electric piano solo over it.
8/22/15: Stop-start jam now. Suprised at the lack of woos.
8/22/15: *Surprised
8/22/15: Pitch shifter has arrived.
8/22/15: This jam is definitely going on the 2015 highlight reel.
8/22/15: Surprised to hear so much about the Tweezerpants and so little about this. I like this way better.
8/22/15: God, it's like I'm Willy Wonka on that fucking boat.
8/22/15: This is my review of this jam. https://t.co/X2Mpo3Lr2Z
8/22/15: This is the second part of my review. https://t.co/YRzHdt71Ps
8/22/15: NICE landing in Possum, somehow.
8/22/15: Trey teasing the Blaze On jam in the Possum intro. The. Fuck.
8/22/15: Another great turn on the piano for Page during Possum.
8/22/15: Great call-and-response between Trey and Page now.
8/22/15: This is my favorite Possum in a really long time. Don't let the length fool you.
8/22/15: > Cities!
8/22/15: Actually, that was more of a -B Cities.
8/22/15: More rock and less funk than usual in this Cities.
8/22/15: Wouldn't be surprised to see the jam go the echo-funk route.
8/22/15: Nope, they're bringing back the loops from Blaze On, and we're back on Wonka's boat.
8/22/15: Jam winds down on an angry note sort of similar to the 6/17/04 Moma Dance.
8/22/15: Trey makes the logical > Light. Thought I wish they would have drawn out that anger-jamming a bit more.
8/22/15: Trey almost completely avoids the Endless Arpeggios section of the Light jam this time and starts w/ melody soloing.
8/22/15: Oh, okay. The Endless Arpeggios were just delayed, not cancelled.
8/22/15: Almost sounds like Blaze On now.
8/22/15: Now it's Space Manteca.
8/22/15: Loops from the previous set's jams come back in a big way.
8/22/15: Reminds me a little of 8/31/14 S2.
8/22/15: Only better.
8/22/15: Fade out leads into 555, which seems like just the weirdest goddamn song choice ever right here.
8/22/15: Unless they're going to jam it for fifteen minutes, that is.
8/22/15: Standard 555 with slightly more echo and some extra mustard on the outro solo.
8/22/15: Velvet Sea.
8/22/15: Gorgeous, gorgeous version of Velvet Sea. Wow. Trey's solo more like a Reba solo.
8/22/15: Piano-only segue > Walls.
8/22/15: There might have been a little extra shredding at the end of that Walls.
8/22/15: Boogie On(core)!
8/22/15: Pretty standard, slightly echo-y Boogie On > Tweeprise.
I'll do the Drive-In Jam later. Gotta go hand out an exam.
8/22/15: Okay, here we go with S4. I imagine I'm missing a bit by not watching the video, but for now I'm just reviewing based on audio.
8/22/15: Eerie synth and bass to start. Could be like an extended Bowie intro from the 90s.
8/22/15: More creepy droning.
8/22/15: I'm not sure where these sounds are coming from, but I hope nobody in the crowd is on drugs.
8/22/15: Because I would be shitting myself.
8/22/15: I sure hope nobody is on drugs at this Phish concert.
8/22/15: Screaming samples and carnival music. Hold me.
8/22/15: Water samples. Processed vocals from the band now.
8/22/15: Slowly becoming a little melodic at the 10 minute mark.
8/22/15: Circular riff from Mike, melody from Trey, Fish picking up with a clear rhythm.
8/22/15: This could sort of be an extended WTU? jam. Sounds similar to it.
8/22/15: Mike taking the lead now.
8/22/15: Brass bell samples.
8/22/15: Mike's bass has the same tone as the bass in the background music for Doom 2.
8/22/15: Tempo picking up now.
8/22/15: This has been twenty minutes of straight evil so far. Not the direction I expected them to go at all.
8/22/15: But I'm digging it.
8/22/15: Getting more rock-like now, but with creepy Fish screams.
8/22/15: Bell samples keep coming in at odd times. Maybe the weirdest part of this whole set.
8/22/15: More driving riff now, over the bells.
8/22/15: Page on organ now. Almost sounds like 2001.
8/22/15: Getting a little spacier around 37:00.
8/22/15: Lots of Bend Simple-style drone chords from Trey throughout this jam.
8/22/15: More vocal jamming now.
8/22/15: Cool! The jam is ending more or less the same way that it started.
Dec 8, 2015
2015-08-21 Magnaball I
The Verdict:
The guys waste no time whatsoever, and as a result the first show of Magnaball is one of the best of the year.
It starts with my favorite first set of the year so far, and that starts with a legitimate "Simple" jam. Rather than sticking in the usual "Simple" space, it gets dark quick and stays there for a few satisfying minutes. Then, there's a full "The Dogs," and a "TMWSIY" > "Avenu" > "TMWSIY" sequence. The middle of the set is pretty standard, minus a rough-but-fun "Mock Song," and then a 23-minute "Gin" that could make an easy argument for most interesting jam of the year comes the fuck out of nowehere. And that's just the first set.
The second set doesn't exactly stand in the upper echelon from this year, but it's close. The opening "Chalkdust" is almost a reprise of the "Gin" jam, with a little more darkness tingeing its edges. "Ghost" is absolutely weird, but I really enjoyed it. It gets almost atonal in the way that the 8/16 "Light" did, and is really unique even amongst the tall pile of huge jams this year. "Rock and Roll" doesn't build a trifecta of Out There jams, but it's an impressive shredfest up until a tiny funk bit that gets tacked on to the end, which keeps the energy going until "Hood," which features a staccato Type II section in the tradition of the best "Hood"s of last year. The rest of the set stays in predictable territory, but, damn, a show that's absolutely off the wall for its first three quarters is worth a spot on The 2015 List. Looking forward to the rest of the festival!
I linked to the third video below because you should totally just watch at least the first half of the second set. If you want to, skip ahead to 1:26:00.
The Live Review:
8/21/15: Simple opener. Nice choice.
8/21/15: Fuzz jam building underneath normal Simple jam. Holy shit, they're getting started early.
8/21/15: Now a really cool beat from Fish is propelling a moody, dark jam.
8/21/15: Winds down into > The Dogs.
8/21/15: Full version of The Dogs.
8/21/15: Holy. Shit. TMWSIY. Holy. Shit.
8/21/15: > Avenu Malkenu
8/21/15: I already understand why everyone thought Magnaball was better than Dick's.
8/21/15: > TMWSIY.
8/21/15: Free is next. Standard Free, afterward, Trey welcomes everyone to the festival.
8/21/15: Aww, crowd singing Happy Birthday to Eliza.
8/21/15: The Wedge.
8/21/15: Pretty standard The Wedge, but now Mock Song! One of my absolute favorite Phish rarities.
8/21/15: High tempo version.
8/21/15: It's fun to hear Mike forget lyrics for once :)
8/21/15: In his defense, they're playing the song *really* damn fast.
8/21/15: Neat replacement lyrics about Phish festivals.
8/21/15: Rough version of Mock Song, but still great to hear it. Now Roggae.
8/21/15: Typically great 2015 Roggae > Rift.
8/21/15: For a song that they've continued to play + struggle with despite having admitted that they continue to play + struggle with it...
8/21/15: ...that was a fun Rift.
8/21/15: Gin! Jam is already getting dirty early on.
8/21/15: Out of the dirty jam now and into an almost jazzy space. Page on electric piano.
8/21/15: We're only halfway through the running time of this jam and it's already highlight-reel stuff.
8/21/15: Holy shit, premature video post: https://t.co/VvXRPx9g9u
8/21/15: A Weekapaug-like groove (heh) emerging now.
8/21/15: Now Mike is driving. There are all sorts of spaces in this jam, but the transitions between them are pure butter.
8/21/15: Big, energetic peak build now. This is some Tahoe Tweezer shit.
8/21/15: Easy top-ten-of-2015 jam here.
8/21/15: Might be willing to go top-five if you gave me a few hours to do relistens :)
8/21/15: End set.
8/21/15: Second set opens with Chalkdust.
8/21/15: Trey going almost immediately to the song-ending riff.
8/21/15: Jam starts after the song 'end,' like is has a few times this year.
8/21/15: Trey laying down an awesome melody solo over some jazzy rhythm work.
8/21/15: Pitch-shifted soloing now.
8/21/15: Angry space into hard-edged rock now. The way they're shifting spaces quickly is similar to the Gin jam.
8/21/15: Echo-funk time!!!
8/21/15: Extended wind-down jam now. Sort of reminds me of 2009, but better.
8/21/15: That CDT was Diet Jamming compared to S1's Gin, but it's still a great entry in the massive log of great jams from this year.
8/21/15: Trey might have just teased WTU?
8/21/15: Well, whether he did or not, he pulls a > Ghost instead.
8/21/15: Trey is already riding the echo, even in the composed part of the song.
8/21/15: That drop was...joyously mangled.
8/21/15: Almost sounds a bit like No Quarter now.
8/21/15: Really distorted, echo-y jam.
8/21/15: I'm hearing WTU? teases again, but that might just be me.
8/21/15: Almost atonal now. Really, really weird.
8/21/15: Whoa. This is a really weird, broiling sort of sound now.
8/21/15: The Gin, CDT, and esp. Ghost have been great not just because they are long jams...
8/21/15: ...but also b/c the guys are obviously trying to push beyond even the 'typically' great types of jams they've been playing all year
8/21/15: Whoa! Great building jam at the end there, and a perfect segue into Rock and Roll.
8/21/15: Rock and Roll is just a flat-out shredfest.
8/21/15: Okay, now we're in a soupy funk space. The speed that they're moving from one idea to another today is amazing.
8/21/15: > Hood. A sort-of segue. Had they taken it a little slower, could have been ->
8/21/15: So far, this is a 'normal' Hood jam.
8/21/15: Some staccato chording now.
8/21/15: Chord jam fades out, then fades back in with the Hood outro chords, a la the end of the Hollywood Hood.
8/21/15: Neat fade-out at the end of Hood instead of the usual power-rock ending.
8/21/15: > Waste.
8/21/15: Nicely placed cooldown song.
8/21/15: Waste > No Men!
8/21/15: UUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAH
8/21/15: Is the excited noise I make whenever No Men starts up.
8/21/15: FUNK MUSCLES ACTIVATE
8/21/15: The beginning of the No Men jam is always the same, but I always love it.
8/21/15: CLAVNOODLING
8/21/15: I MIGHT HAVE EATEN A LOT OF COFFEE TODAY
8/21/15: Long take on No Men, but it stays mostly in the box.
8/21/15: Ambient fade-out.
8/21/15: Opening chords of Slave over the wash.
8/21/15: If the last Slave was super-high-energy, this one is the exact opposite. Languid, slow build.
8/21/15: Lots of missed notes by pretty much everyone, but otherwise I'm liking how long they're taking to build it up.
8/21/15: Trey is laying down a great descending riff during the build to the peak.
8/21/15: It's pretty much always a good second set when you get Hood and Slave together.
8/21/15: Oh, and end set.
8/21/15: So, Magnaball N1 is definitely on the top-shelf list of shows for the year.
8/21/15: The first set is maybe my favorite opening frame of the year with that Gin being the obvious highlight.
8/21/15: S2 has a really interesting CDT as a sister jam to the Gin, then weird-good takes on Ghost and Hood and a strong setlist overall.
8/21/15: There have been better S2s in some of the other really strong shows, but none of 'em are as good from start to finish, really.
8/21/15: Farmhouse for the encore.
8/21/15: The guys have laid down a few really swinging, beautiful Farmhouse mini-jams this year though.
8/21/15: This is one of them.
8/21/15: FRIST TUBOE!
8/21/15: You know what I mean.
8/21/15: I'm sorry but I can't ever hear First Tube anymore without remember the Trey & Symphony version I heard last year. SO GOOD.
8/21/15: End show. Two more of these, eh?
The guys waste no time whatsoever, and as a result the first show of Magnaball is one of the best of the year.
It starts with my favorite first set of the year so far, and that starts with a legitimate "Simple" jam. Rather than sticking in the usual "Simple" space, it gets dark quick and stays there for a few satisfying minutes. Then, there's a full "The Dogs," and a "TMWSIY" > "Avenu" > "TMWSIY" sequence. The middle of the set is pretty standard, minus a rough-but-fun "Mock Song," and then a 23-minute "Gin" that could make an easy argument for most interesting jam of the year comes the fuck out of nowehere. And that's just the first set.
The second set doesn't exactly stand in the upper echelon from this year, but it's close. The opening "Chalkdust" is almost a reprise of the "Gin" jam, with a little more darkness tingeing its edges. "Ghost" is absolutely weird, but I really enjoyed it. It gets almost atonal in the way that the 8/16 "Light" did, and is really unique even amongst the tall pile of huge jams this year. "Rock and Roll" doesn't build a trifecta of Out There jams, but it's an impressive shredfest up until a tiny funk bit that gets tacked on to the end, which keeps the energy going until "Hood," which features a staccato Type II section in the tradition of the best "Hood"s of last year. The rest of the set stays in predictable territory, but, damn, a show that's absolutely off the wall for its first three quarters is worth a spot on The 2015 List. Looking forward to the rest of the festival!
I linked to the third video below because you should totally just watch at least the first half of the second set. If you want to, skip ahead to 1:26:00.
The Live Review:
8/21/15: Simple opener. Nice choice.
8/21/15: Fuzz jam building underneath normal Simple jam. Holy shit, they're getting started early.
8/21/15: Now a really cool beat from Fish is propelling a moody, dark jam.
8/21/15: Winds down into > The Dogs.
8/21/15: Full version of The Dogs.
8/21/15: Holy. Shit. TMWSIY. Holy. Shit.
8/21/15: > Avenu Malkenu
8/21/15: I already understand why everyone thought Magnaball was better than Dick's.
8/21/15: > TMWSIY.
8/21/15: Free is next. Standard Free, afterward, Trey welcomes everyone to the festival.
8/21/15: Aww, crowd singing Happy Birthday to Eliza.
8/21/15: The Wedge.
8/21/15: Pretty standard The Wedge, but now Mock Song! One of my absolute favorite Phish rarities.
8/21/15: High tempo version.
8/21/15: It's fun to hear Mike forget lyrics for once :)
8/21/15: In his defense, they're playing the song *really* damn fast.
8/21/15: Neat replacement lyrics about Phish festivals.
8/21/15: Rough version of Mock Song, but still great to hear it. Now Roggae.
8/21/15: Typically great 2015 Roggae > Rift.
8/21/15: For a song that they've continued to play + struggle with despite having admitted that they continue to play + struggle with it...
8/21/15: ...that was a fun Rift.
8/21/15: Gin! Jam is already getting dirty early on.
8/21/15: Out of the dirty jam now and into an almost jazzy space. Page on electric piano.
8/21/15: We're only halfway through the running time of this jam and it's already highlight-reel stuff.
8/21/15: Holy shit, premature video post: https://t.co/VvXRPx9g9u
8/21/15: A Weekapaug-like groove (heh) emerging now.
8/21/15: Now Mike is driving. There are all sorts of spaces in this jam, but the transitions between them are pure butter.
8/21/15: Big, energetic peak build now. This is some Tahoe Tweezer shit.
8/21/15: Easy top-ten-of-2015 jam here.
8/21/15: Might be willing to go top-five if you gave me a few hours to do relistens :)
8/21/15: End set.
8/21/15: Second set opens with Chalkdust.
8/21/15: Trey going almost immediately to the song-ending riff.
8/21/15: Jam starts after the song 'end,' like is has a few times this year.
8/21/15: Trey laying down an awesome melody solo over some jazzy rhythm work.
8/21/15: Pitch-shifted soloing now.
8/21/15: Angry space into hard-edged rock now. The way they're shifting spaces quickly is similar to the Gin jam.
8/21/15: Echo-funk time!!!
8/21/15: Extended wind-down jam now. Sort of reminds me of 2009, but better.
8/21/15: That CDT was Diet Jamming compared to S1's Gin, but it's still a great entry in the massive log of great jams from this year.
8/21/15: Trey might have just teased WTU?
8/21/15: Well, whether he did or not, he pulls a > Ghost instead.
8/21/15: Trey is already riding the echo, even in the composed part of the song.
8/21/15: That drop was...joyously mangled.
8/21/15: Almost sounds a bit like No Quarter now.
8/21/15: Really distorted, echo-y jam.
8/21/15: I'm hearing WTU? teases again, but that might just be me.
8/21/15: Almost atonal now. Really, really weird.
8/21/15: Whoa. This is a really weird, broiling sort of sound now.
8/21/15: The Gin, CDT, and esp. Ghost have been great not just because they are long jams...
8/21/15: ...but also b/c the guys are obviously trying to push beyond even the 'typically' great types of jams they've been playing all year
8/21/15: Whoa! Great building jam at the end there, and a perfect segue into Rock and Roll.
8/21/15: Rock and Roll is just a flat-out shredfest.
8/21/15: Okay, now we're in a soupy funk space. The speed that they're moving from one idea to another today is amazing.
8/21/15: > Hood. A sort-of segue. Had they taken it a little slower, could have been ->
8/21/15: So far, this is a 'normal' Hood jam.
8/21/15: Some staccato chording now.
8/21/15: Chord jam fades out, then fades back in with the Hood outro chords, a la the end of the Hollywood Hood.
8/21/15: Neat fade-out at the end of Hood instead of the usual power-rock ending.
8/21/15: > Waste.
8/21/15: Nicely placed cooldown song.
8/21/15: Waste > No Men!
8/21/15: UUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAH
8/21/15: Is the excited noise I make whenever No Men starts up.
8/21/15: FUNK MUSCLES ACTIVATE
8/21/15: The beginning of the No Men jam is always the same, but I always love it.
8/21/15: CLAVNOODLING
8/21/15: I MIGHT HAVE EATEN A LOT OF COFFEE TODAY
8/21/15: Long take on No Men, but it stays mostly in the box.
8/21/15: Ambient fade-out.
8/21/15: Opening chords of Slave over the wash.
8/21/15: If the last Slave was super-high-energy, this one is the exact opposite. Languid, slow build.
8/21/15: Lots of missed notes by pretty much everyone, but otherwise I'm liking how long they're taking to build it up.
8/21/15: Trey is laying down a great descending riff during the build to the peak.
8/21/15: It's pretty much always a good second set when you get Hood and Slave together.
8/21/15: Oh, and end set.
8/21/15: So, Magnaball N1 is definitely on the top-shelf list of shows for the year.
8/21/15: The first set is maybe my favorite opening frame of the year with that Gin being the obvious highlight.
8/21/15: S2 has a really interesting CDT as a sister jam to the Gin, then weird-good takes on Ghost and Hood and a strong setlist overall.
8/21/15: There have been better S2s in some of the other really strong shows, but none of 'em are as good from start to finish, really.
8/21/15: Farmhouse for the encore.
8/21/15: The guys have laid down a few really swinging, beautiful Farmhouse mini-jams this year though.
8/21/15: This is one of them.
8/21/15: FRIST TUBOE!
8/21/15: You know what I mean.
8/21/15: I'm sorry but I can't ever hear First Tube anymore without remember the Trey & Symphony version I heard last year. SO GOOD.
8/21/15: End show. Two more of these, eh?
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