The Verdict:
The third night at UIC was a bit of a bummer for me. There's something about a consistently great three-night run that appeals to me. Maybe it comes from the days of collecting Phish and DMB box sets on CD and loving the idea that every disc (of 9, or 12) would have a few highlights on it. I don't know. Anyway, when 8/15 and 8/16 quickly became two of my favorite shows of 2011, it was hard not to have high hopes for 8/17. Unfortunately, it's just not as good. This is the rare case where I'd argue that the show's phish.net rating is too high rather than too low :)
So, the excellent-first-set policy is still in place, I will say that. There are a lot of old-school tunes, including the "Forbin's" > "Mockingbird" opener. There's the great variety and excellent flow that we've come to expect after the previous two nights. But, none of the songs ever really go anywhere interesting, and maybe that's an indication of what to expect in the second set.
I read a lot of reviews of 8/17, trying to understand the enthusiasm for it. You see, to me, S2 is a ripcord set. Trey just sort of ruins it. And, usually, Phish fandom c. 2011 is super happy to point out and jeer at ripcords. But everyone loves this set, which makes me feel like a curmudgeon for not being excited about it. But I'm just not. Like most 2011 "Crosseyed"s, this one is straightforward Type I, but for a little aimless ambient noise at the end. In this case, there's a (obviously premeditated, but decent) segue into another strong version of "No Quarter." But yeah. From there, we get a "Tweezer" jam that gets passed on just as it's starting to develop (~8 minutes) for a "Caspian" that goes nowhere. "Piper" is maybe the legit highlight of the show, going immediately for the space-funk and staying there. It's cut short, too, but for "Ghost," which seems okay until "Ghost" runs for three minutes and then segues into "Makisupa." From there, it's a run of mid-S1 songs out of nowhere for the rest of the set before they wind up with a standard "Antelope."
Needless to say, it's a weird note to end this run on.
The Live Review:
8/17/11: Show opens with Forbin's. That's gotta mean another great S1, right?
8/17/11: > Mockingbird. Trey struggling a little with the arpeggios, but I think they're playing faster than usual.
8/17/11: Gumbo! I don't think I'll ever get sick of this song, especially Page's outro.
8/17/11: Crowd freaking the hell out for Possum.
8/17/11: Yet another great 2011 version of Possum. Weigh is next.
8/17/11: Some fun vocal improvisation throughout Weigh. Divided Sky next.
8/17/11: Divided Sky, Alaska is not necessarily my favorite combination of songs.
8/17/11: Strong version of Alaska, whatever that means. Gin, now, and maybe a chance to open things up before the end of the set.
8/17/11: Gin was a straight-up rock version. Maze keeps the first set going.
8/17/11: Maze, Cavern. Set finally falling a bit into jukebox territory here.
8/17/11: Still a remarkably strong (and interesting) set by 2011 standards, but not up to 8/15 or 8/16 levels.
8/17/11: Some nice rarities, but fewer interesting musical moments otherwise.
8/17/11: Gotta love the First Tube closer, though.
8/17/11: Crosseyed opener. They've been opening a lot with it lately, but not really doing much with it.
8/17/11: Trey is seriously rocking this solo, but staying Type I so far.
8/17/11: Fade out into a slow, almost-ambient jam. Page on the No Quarter organ tone.
8/17/11: Slowly but surely, the electronica-sounding outro jam fades into No Quarter.
8/17/11: Brief but hot solo from Trey before going back into the outro vocals.
8/17/11: Timber's an interesting choice to follow that pair.
8/17/11: Crosseyed teasing during Timber jam.
8/17/11: Now 'Still waiting!' vocals.
8/17/11: Timber ends, but then continues with a weird Birds/Timber hybrid jam. Huh.
8/17/11: Out of that weirdness comes Tweezer.
8/17/11: Short little Tweezer jam, but a nice plinko-like space forming there nonetheless.
8/17/11: Sudden end of the Tweezer jam > Caspian. Short Caspian > Piper.
8/17/11: Immediately move to space-funk.
8/17/11: Angry sort-of ambient space opening up now.
8/17/11: Crosseyed outro jam starting up again w/ vocals.
8/17/11: Neat little Piper jam. Sounded a bit like a sped-up version of Light by the end, there.
8/17/11: Trey cuts off jam for Ghost.
8/17/11: Page sets up a neat synth effect to start the Ghost jam...and Trey just rides over it with the Makisupa riff.
8/17/11: Less than 4 minute Ghost.
8/17/11: Taking a trip to Page's House after a series of terrible/wonderful puns from Trey.
8/17/11: Neat Makisupa. Sleep is next, which seems weird. But I do like this song.
8/17/11: Buffalo Bill continues a really weird Q4.
8/17/11: Rough take on Golgi is next.
8/17/11: Character Zero. Clearly ending this run on a rock-and-roll note.
8/17/11: Crosseyed teasing in Zero.
8/17/11: > Antelope.
8/17/11: Funky Bitch is a good choice for an encore.
8/17/11: Some more Crosseyed teasing.
8/17/11: Show of Life is not a good choice for an encore.
8/17/11: Tweeprise to end the run.
8/17/11: More 'Still Waiting' vocal quotes.
8/17/11: Well, S1 followed in (but slightly behind) the footsteps of the great opening sets of 8/15 and 8/16.
8/17/11: S2 was a bizarro hybrid of 2010-2011 jukebox Phish and a bunch of promising jams garroted by Trey.
8/17/11: The constant Crosseyed teasing was kind of neat.
8/17/11: In Q3 you've got a Type I Crosseyed that never really goes anywhere, an 8-minute Tweezer abandoned for Caspian...
8/17/11: ...and a promising Piper jam abandoned for a 3 minute Ghost which gets abandoned for Makisupa Policeman.
8/17/11: Then 17 more S1-style songs to close out the run. So weird.
8/17/11: On the other hand, 8/15 and 8/16 were GREAT.
Jun 15, 2016
2011-08-16 UIC II
The Verdict:
The band's second night at UIC keeps the train rolling.
First, there's another fantastically varied and plotted opening set. In addition to rarities like "Dinner and a Movie," "Ha Ha Ha," "Mexican Cousin," and "Let It Loose," there's an extended, tension-filled "CDT" that probably qualifies for Type 1.5 status. Page destroys "Foam." And the plinko jamming shows up in "Limb By Limb" and a first-set "Jim" (!).
The second set isn't wall-to-wall action like the first night's, but minutes after I just published a review calling "Undermind" the jam of the year, I've gotta say that this set-opening "Disease" should be part of that conversation, too. I definitely didn't have the multiple "Holy shit!" moments I had listening to the "Undermind" while listening to the "Disease," but it's longer, arguably more varied, and more exploratory. Obviously, just listen to both.
There are a few mini-jams mid-set in "Twist" and "Golden Age," if you're being generous, but really the "Disease" and the set-ending "YEM" bracket what is otherwise a pretty standard second set.
If you've already used up your "Hood" for a run, encoring with "Slave" is never a bad idea.
In short, the moments of greatness in this show are a bit more concentrated, maybe, but it's definitely a great companion show to 8/15.
The Live Review:
8/16/11: How the hell do you top a show like 8/15/11? We're about to find out.
8/16/11: Well, a Dinner and a Movie opener helps :)
8/16/11: Ha Ha Ha > CDT.
8/15/11: Band building a tension section into CDT jam.
8/16/11: Great, weird CDT. Long break after. Mexican Cousin next.
8/16/11: Seems like a weird place for Walls of the Cave, but okay, here we go.
8/16/11: Jim! This feels like Q4 instead of early Q2.
8/16/11: I don't think it's early to say that this is going to be another fantastic opening set.
8/16/11: Plinko middle jam, as usual lately.
8/16/11: Jim builds up to a huge peak. I don't feel like that's the usual direction for this song these days, but I like it.
8/16/11: Foam!
8/16/11: Page is destroying Foam. In a good way.
8/16/11: I Didn't Know! The (rare) hits just keep on coming!
8/16/11: Ocelot. Well, there had to be *some* slight loss of momentum over the last three sets, I guess :)
8/16/11: Okay, well that was a good Ocelot, at least. And a 90s-peppy Ginseng Sullivan to follow up. Now, The Wedge.
8/16/11: Limb By Limb next.
8/16/11: Page is killing on this Limb By Limb.
8/16/11: Oh boy. Full-on plinko in Limb.
8/16/11: Oh yes. Let It Loose. A fantastic closing choice to another great first set of Phish.
8/16/11: I can't get over how good the last three sets have been.
8/16/11: S2 starts with Disease.
8/16/11: Mike is serious about this Disease jam.
8/16/11: Trey signaling an end to the Type I soloing at 7:00 with some dissonant chords. Page follows up with an absolutely eerie organ.
8/16/11: Holy shit, this is instantly so damn good.
8/16/11: Who the fuck is this band, and what did they do with 2009-2011 Phish?
8/16/11: Momentum and spookiness combined.
8/16/11: Jam central...freaking out over here. This is soooo good.
8/16/11: To clarify, I'm not high right now.
8/16/11: Section that reminds a bit of Goodbye Head or Valentine now.
8/16/11: Like most truly great cooperative jams, Trey is hanging back, adding effects and loops. Mike and Fish are leading. Shiiiit so good.
8/16/11: Since I asked, Phish answered: here's how you top a show like 8/15 the night afterward.
8/16/11: Wind-down into a melodic ambient section like the end of 8/15's Undermind now, but Mike is playing the melody.
8/16/11: Slow, Twist-sounding segue coming.
8/16/11: Twist stays pretty mellow in keeping with the transition, up through the first verse.
8/16/11: Building, now.
8/16/11: Solid-but-straight Twist. Nice quick -> Number Line.
8/16/11: Theme next. Number Line was roundly shredded.
8/16/11: Interesting sort of fade-out ending to Theme. Golden Age segues in.
8/16/11: Golden Age fading to a drone.
8/16/11: Little ambient jam winding down.
8/16/11: Page solo outro > A Day In The Life
8/16/11: Whoa! YEM on night two!
8/16/11: A sort of Wilson-jam thing taking shape in YEM jam.
8/16/11: Extended jam after Trey's solo section. Mike leading.
8/16/11: They could totally -> Sally right now.
8/16/11: Encore opens with Heavy Things, of all things.
8/16/11: Quick but fun little version there. > Slave.
8/16/11: Standard Slave + Rocky Top to end the show.
8/16/11: A second great show with a perfect first set, a well-played S2 that didn't quite reach 8/15 levels, BUT THAT DISEASE.
The band's second night at UIC keeps the train rolling.
First, there's another fantastically varied and plotted opening set. In addition to rarities like "Dinner and a Movie," "Ha Ha Ha," "Mexican Cousin," and "Let It Loose," there's an extended, tension-filled "CDT" that probably qualifies for Type 1.5 status. Page destroys "Foam." And the plinko jamming shows up in "Limb By Limb" and a first-set "Jim" (!).
The second set isn't wall-to-wall action like the first night's, but minutes after I just published a review calling "Undermind" the jam of the year, I've gotta say that this set-opening "Disease" should be part of that conversation, too. I definitely didn't have the multiple "Holy shit!" moments I had listening to the "Undermind" while listening to the "Disease," but it's longer, arguably more varied, and more exploratory. Obviously, just listen to both.
There are a few mini-jams mid-set in "Twist" and "Golden Age," if you're being generous, but really the "Disease" and the set-ending "YEM" bracket what is otherwise a pretty standard second set.
If you've already used up your "Hood" for a run, encoring with "Slave" is never a bad idea.
In short, the moments of greatness in this show are a bit more concentrated, maybe, but it's definitely a great companion show to 8/15.
The Live Review:
8/16/11: How the hell do you top a show like 8/15/11? We're about to find out.
8/16/11: Well, a Dinner and a Movie opener helps :)
8/16/11: Ha Ha Ha > CDT.
8/15/11: Band building a tension section into CDT jam.
8/16/11: Great, weird CDT. Long break after. Mexican Cousin next.
8/16/11: Seems like a weird place for Walls of the Cave, but okay, here we go.
8/16/11: Jim! This feels like Q4 instead of early Q2.
8/16/11: I don't think it's early to say that this is going to be another fantastic opening set.
8/16/11: Plinko middle jam, as usual lately.
8/16/11: Jim builds up to a huge peak. I don't feel like that's the usual direction for this song these days, but I like it.
8/16/11: Foam!
8/16/11: Page is destroying Foam. In a good way.
8/16/11: I Didn't Know! The (rare) hits just keep on coming!
8/16/11: Ocelot. Well, there had to be *some* slight loss of momentum over the last three sets, I guess :)
8/16/11: Okay, well that was a good Ocelot, at least. And a 90s-peppy Ginseng Sullivan to follow up. Now, The Wedge.
8/16/11: Limb By Limb next.
8/16/11: Page is killing on this Limb By Limb.
8/16/11: Oh boy. Full-on plinko in Limb.
8/16/11: Oh yes. Let It Loose. A fantastic closing choice to another great first set of Phish.
8/16/11: I can't get over how good the last three sets have been.
8/16/11: S2 starts with Disease.
8/16/11: Mike is serious about this Disease jam.
8/16/11: Trey signaling an end to the Type I soloing at 7:00 with some dissonant chords. Page follows up with an absolutely eerie organ.
8/16/11: Holy shit, this is instantly so damn good.
8/16/11: Who the fuck is this band, and what did they do with 2009-2011 Phish?
8/16/11: Momentum and spookiness combined.
8/16/11: Jam central...freaking out over here. This is soooo good.
8/16/11: To clarify, I'm not high right now.
8/16/11: Section that reminds a bit of Goodbye Head or Valentine now.
8/16/11: Like most truly great cooperative jams, Trey is hanging back, adding effects and loops. Mike and Fish are leading. Shiiiit so good.
8/16/11: Since I asked, Phish answered: here's how you top a show like 8/15 the night afterward.
8/16/11: Wind-down into a melodic ambient section like the end of 8/15's Undermind now, but Mike is playing the melody.
8/16/11: Slow, Twist-sounding segue coming.
8/16/11: Twist stays pretty mellow in keeping with the transition, up through the first verse.
8/16/11: Building, now.
8/16/11: Solid-but-straight Twist. Nice quick -> Number Line.
8/16/11: Theme next. Number Line was roundly shredded.
8/16/11: Interesting sort of fade-out ending to Theme. Golden Age segues in.
8/16/11: Golden Age fading to a drone.
8/16/11: Little ambient jam winding down.
8/16/11: Page solo outro > A Day In The Life
8/16/11: Whoa! YEM on night two!
8/16/11: A sort of Wilson-jam thing taking shape in YEM jam.
8/16/11: Extended jam after Trey's solo section. Mike leading.
8/16/11: They could totally -> Sally right now.
8/16/11: Encore opens with Heavy Things, of all things.
8/16/11: Quick but fun little version there. > Slave.
8/16/11: Standard Slave + Rocky Top to end the show.
8/16/11: A second great show with a perfect first set, a well-played S2 that didn't quite reach 8/15 levels, BUT THAT DISEASE.
2011-08-15 UIC I
The Verdict:
So the first UIC show is suddenly one of my favorite Phish shows. I'd never heard it before I listened to it for review, but it was still an easy choice. Here's why.
First off, all three UIC shows actually have fantastic first sets, and this one is probably the best of the three. None of UIC's opening frames does anything particularly drastic (no Type II "Gin"s here, for example), but they're very well-constructed sets with a lot a rarities and the occasional kick at the walls of the box.
In this first case, "Guelah" gets a fun little intro jam, "Wolfman's" goes Type 1.5 in a few different directions, and "Babylon Baby" not only gets played, but gets an outro jam. It's also great to hear the obligatory "JJLC" as well as "Anything But Me" and the set-closing "Alumni Blues" > "Jimmy Page" > "Alumni". You're not going to find a deep Type II jam here, but this is everything an opening set should be.
Fortunately, S2 bring the jams to a ridiculous degree. "Sand" and "Light" only slightly leave the usual form, both in dark, ominous ways: the former via an ambient jam and the latter via Trey's pitch shifter. We get a breath of fresh air in "Dirt" (hah), and then we're off with a "Waves" -> "Undermind" pair that's probably my favorite Phish music so far in 2011. "Waves" plays it straight until after the vocal refrain, then cuts loose with what sounds like a proto-bliss-jam time-traveling back from 2015. And "Undermind" is just, well, the best jam of the year. You should just watch it.
The set wraps up with standard takes on "Steam" and "Fire," but then we get a near third-set-sized encore, complete with "Guyute" and a gorgeous take on "Hood" to close (because what else?).
This is about as complete a show as you can get, folks. Check it out, if you haven't already. And if you have, check it out again.
The Live Review:
8/15/11: Keeping the review train rolling with an BOTT opener, appropriately.
8/15/11: Pretty standard BOTT > Rift.
8/15/11: Guelah! Trey playing an improvised melody before the song, during the intro.
8/15/11: Now a little jam happening. Whoa.
8/15/11: Phish just got playful for the first time since 6/3 or so.
8/15/11: Great Guelah. Scent is next.
8/15/11: JJLC is next. Loving this first set setlist. It's so weird, but satisfying.
8/15/11: Strong version of JJLC leads into a Wolfman's with plinko jamming.
8/15/11: Some Mike-led stop-start funk now.
8/15/11: Trey signaling, whale-style, to change the tone. Nobody's listening to him, though.
8/15/11: Type 1.5 Wolfman's with two different types of funk and a huge Trey peak at the end. Not bad.
8/15/11: Long pause. Someone whistling, maybe slightly off-mic.
8/15/11: Anything But Me! Okay, this is officially the best Phish show ever.
8/15/11: I think that Fish is playing a different beat than on the album.
8/15/11: Page and Trey trading solos now.
8/15/11: Bablyon Baby! Damn, I love this setlist.
8/15/11: A little arpeggio breakdown at the end of the lyrics that I don't remember.
8/15/11: Reba! Damn!
8/15/11: Low-key but highly melodic Reba solo from Trey.
8/15/11: Bit of trilling near the end. Whistling outro.
8/15/11: Alumni Blues! Crowd freaking out.
8/15/11: Page laying down a ridiculous organ solo.
8/15/11: > Jimmy Page > Alumni.
8/15/11: Trey sings ''Cause I got a degree...from Goddard College' to end the set.
8/15/11: That was one of my favorite opening sets in awhile.
8/15/11: Sand opens S2. Medium-heavy funk almost immediately.
8/15/11: Trey soloing a bit more now.
8/15/11: Lots of wah showing up. Some No Quarter organ.
8/15/11: Harshly ambient fade-out now.
8/15/11: Slow, pulsing synth loops give way to Light.
8/15/11: Light jam starts off with the usual arpeggios.
8/15/11: Light gets discordant for a bit early on, but sticks to the arpeggios.
8/15/11: Trey on the pitch shifter now. Things getting more ominous.
8/15/11: Trey playing a weird ascending riff now that sounds a bit like a mutant cousin of the ending of TTE.
8/15/11: Short, but totally weird jam. Really hard to describe. Fish was doing a lot of the work again. -> Dirt.
8/15/11: Crowd is *jazzed* by Dirt. Nice bass solo.
8/15/11: Waves next.
8/15/11: Great melody playing from Trey. Band building up to a boil in the pre-vocals jam.
8/15/11: Post-vocals jam building. Sort of sounds like it's heading toward '15 bliss territory.
8/15/11: You can hear these guys listening to each other on Light, Waves jams. Awesome.
8/15/11: 'Remember that soundcheck jam in Bethel? Well, it took three months, but so do we!'
8/15/11: Shift to a chunkier groove now.
8/15/11: Oh man, I think Fish might have just set us up for an awesome -> Undermind.
8/15/11: Hell. Yes.
8/15/11: Page and Trey trading runs with super-weird, pitch-shifted tones.
8/15/11: This jam is totally wacky and beautiful.
8/15/11: Second jam after the end vocals.
8/15/11: Trey's once again going a bit arrhythmic here, this time with his chording.
8/15/11: Resolves into space-funk riff. Page on electric piano.
8/15/11: Wind down into a more ambient zone. Trey soloing.
8/15/11: Page laying down wavy synth over the melody. This is definitely one of those 'They've never done this before' moments.
8/15/11: Fish and Mike coming back in now.
8/15/11: Undermind jam > Gorge RnR. Maybe.
8/15/11: Trey sets up a great -> Steam, just because currently the band is unstoppable.
8/15/11: Steam > Fire.
8/15/11: Trey taking a break to address the crowd after Fire.
8/15/11: Oh, end set.
8/15/11: Nobody told Trey he had to meet curfew...good for us.
8/15/11: Camel Walk!
8/15/11: Extra few 'endings' added on Camel Walk.
8/15/11: Guyute!
8/15/11: Still going, with The Horse > Silent.
8/15/11: STILL going on the encore. Hood next.
8/15/11: In case you were wondering, this Hood is just about perfect.
8/15/11: Well, this is one of my new favorite Phish shows. By a mile.
So the first UIC show is suddenly one of my favorite Phish shows. I'd never heard it before I listened to it for review, but it was still an easy choice. Here's why.
First off, all three UIC shows actually have fantastic first sets, and this one is probably the best of the three. None of UIC's opening frames does anything particularly drastic (no Type II "Gin"s here, for example), but they're very well-constructed sets with a lot a rarities and the occasional kick at the walls of the box.
In this first case, "Guelah" gets a fun little intro jam, "Wolfman's" goes Type 1.5 in a few different directions, and "Babylon Baby" not only gets played, but gets an outro jam. It's also great to hear the obligatory "JJLC" as well as "Anything But Me" and the set-closing "Alumni Blues" > "Jimmy Page" > "Alumni". You're not going to find a deep Type II jam here, but this is everything an opening set should be.
Fortunately, S2 bring the jams to a ridiculous degree. "Sand" and "Light" only slightly leave the usual form, both in dark, ominous ways: the former via an ambient jam and the latter via Trey's pitch shifter. We get a breath of fresh air in "Dirt" (hah), and then we're off with a "Waves" -> "Undermind" pair that's probably my favorite Phish music so far in 2011. "Waves" plays it straight until after the vocal refrain, then cuts loose with what sounds like a proto-bliss-jam time-traveling back from 2015. And "Undermind" is just, well, the best jam of the year. You should just watch it.
The set wraps up with standard takes on "Steam" and "Fire," but then we get a near third-set-sized encore, complete with "Guyute" and a gorgeous take on "Hood" to close (because what else?).
This is about as complete a show as you can get, folks. Check it out, if you haven't already. And if you have, check it out again.
The Live Review:
8/15/11: Keeping the review train rolling with an BOTT opener, appropriately.
8/15/11: Pretty standard BOTT > Rift.
8/15/11: Guelah! Trey playing an improvised melody before the song, during the intro.
8/15/11: Now a little jam happening. Whoa.
8/15/11: Phish just got playful for the first time since 6/3 or so.
8/15/11: Great Guelah. Scent is next.
8/15/11: JJLC is next. Loving this first set setlist. It's so weird, but satisfying.
8/15/11: Strong version of JJLC leads into a Wolfman's with plinko jamming.
8/15/11: Some Mike-led stop-start funk now.
8/15/11: Trey signaling, whale-style, to change the tone. Nobody's listening to him, though.
8/15/11: Type 1.5 Wolfman's with two different types of funk and a huge Trey peak at the end. Not bad.
8/15/11: Long pause. Someone whistling, maybe slightly off-mic.
8/15/11: Anything But Me! Okay, this is officially the best Phish show ever.
8/15/11: I think that Fish is playing a different beat than on the album.
8/15/11: Page and Trey trading solos now.
8/15/11: Bablyon Baby! Damn, I love this setlist.
8/15/11: A little arpeggio breakdown at the end of the lyrics that I don't remember.
8/15/11: Reba! Damn!
8/15/11: Low-key but highly melodic Reba solo from Trey.
8/15/11: Bit of trilling near the end. Whistling outro.
8/15/11: Alumni Blues! Crowd freaking out.
8/15/11: Page laying down a ridiculous organ solo.
8/15/11: > Jimmy Page > Alumni.
8/15/11: Trey sings ''Cause I got a degree...from Goddard College' to end the set.
8/15/11: That was one of my favorite opening sets in awhile.
8/15/11: Sand opens S2. Medium-heavy funk almost immediately.
8/15/11: Trey soloing a bit more now.
8/15/11: Lots of wah showing up. Some No Quarter organ.
8/15/11: Harshly ambient fade-out now.
8/15/11: Slow, pulsing synth loops give way to Light.
8/15/11: Light jam starts off with the usual arpeggios.
8/15/11: Light gets discordant for a bit early on, but sticks to the arpeggios.
8/15/11: Trey on the pitch shifter now. Things getting more ominous.
8/15/11: Trey playing a weird ascending riff now that sounds a bit like a mutant cousin of the ending of TTE.
8/15/11: Short, but totally weird jam. Really hard to describe. Fish was doing a lot of the work again. -> Dirt.
8/15/11: Crowd is *jazzed* by Dirt. Nice bass solo.
8/15/11: Waves next.
8/15/11: Great melody playing from Trey. Band building up to a boil in the pre-vocals jam.
8/15/11: Post-vocals jam building. Sort of sounds like it's heading toward '15 bliss territory.
8/15/11: You can hear these guys listening to each other on Light, Waves jams. Awesome.
8/15/11: 'Remember that soundcheck jam in Bethel? Well, it took three months, but so do we!'
8/15/11: Shift to a chunkier groove now.
8/15/11: Oh man, I think Fish might have just set us up for an awesome -> Undermind.
8/15/11: Hell. Yes.
8/15/11: Page and Trey trading runs with super-weird, pitch-shifted tones.
8/15/11: This jam is totally wacky and beautiful.
8/15/11: Second jam after the end vocals.
8/15/11: Trey's once again going a bit arrhythmic here, this time with his chording.
8/15/11: Resolves into space-funk riff. Page on electric piano.
8/15/11: Wind down into a more ambient zone. Trey soloing.
8/15/11: Page laying down wavy synth over the melody. This is definitely one of those 'They've never done this before' moments.
8/15/11: Fish and Mike coming back in now.
8/15/11: Undermind jam > Gorge RnR. Maybe.
8/15/11: Trey sets up a great -> Steam, just because currently the band is unstoppable.
8/15/11: Steam > Fire.
8/15/11: Trey taking a break to address the crowd after Fire.
8/15/11: Oh, end set.
8/15/11: Nobody told Trey he had to meet curfew...good for us.
8/15/11: Camel Walk!
8/15/11: Extra few 'endings' added on Camel Walk.
8/15/11: Guyute!
8/15/11: Still going, with The Horse > Silent.
8/15/11: STILL going on the encore. Hood next.
8/15/11: In case you were wondering, this Hood is just about perfect.
8/15/11: Well, this is one of my new favorite Phish shows. By a mile.
Jun 7, 2016
2011-08-12 Outside Lands
The Verdict:
While the 8/12 show has more going on than might be apparent at first, I have a bit less to say about it than the equally-maligned 8/8.
It's a festival show, and it shows. The first set is 8/8's first set, just with different songs (though, look at the songs...you could put together a greatest hits album for n00bs from this setlist). Like 8/8's "Split," there's a quick highlight in the manic, mid-set "Tweezer," but that's about it.
The second set doesn't have quite the redemptive quality of 8/8's, but there are some interesting bits. For example, "Rock and Roll" goes Type I for most of its length, but hits on a murky groove near the end that slowly and beautifully coalesces into "Steam." The "Piper" that follows is high-tempo madness driven by Fish, and is worth a note as the rare jam where his playing clearly takes center stage over the melody instruments. After this sequence, though, the show slips back into festival-set mentality, and though the song selection continues to be great ("Roses," "Life on Mars?," "Fluffhead"), it's nothing you haven't heard before.
Though you might want to check out that Trey solo during "Number Line." I'm serious.
The Live Review:
8/12/11: Outside Lands show GO! KDF opener.
8/12/11: Expecting two sets like 8/8/11's S1 today.
8/12/11: Wilson second. Like to imagine festival-goers really confused by Wilson chant.
8/12/11: Funky Bitch continues its reign of terror over 2011.
8/12/11: Trey takes Funky Bitch around the block. Now Moma.
8/12/11: Peaches! Loving how often this song's getting played this tour.
8/12/11: Sample, Possum.
8/12/11: They've been killing Possum lately this one's no exception. Tweezer next!
8/12/11: I assume that this isn't going deep, but a S1 Tweezer is always still exciting anyway.
8/12/11: Fantastic Type I solo from Trey. Wow.
8/12/11: Fading out now. Ambient bit.
8/12/11: > Mound.
8/12/11: Suzy next. Really dug that Tweezer, by the way.
8/12/11: Nice solo from Page during Suzy. > Axila I.
8/12/11: Late-set Mike's. That's fun.
8/12/11: Mike's > Hydrogen.
8/12/11: Sort of miss the comedown of Hydrogen after a really hairy Mike's.
8/12/11: End set after Groove.
8/12/11: Literal loopiness to end an otherwise Type I Rock and Roll to open S2. Murky groove with a great Fish beat coalesces into Steam.
8/12/11: Steam > Piper.
8/12/11: Page laying down some jazz piano during a really high-tempo Piper jam.
8/12/11: Creepy guitar loops now. Fish is laying down a seriously great beat.
8/12/11: Really interesting few minutes of Fish-centric jamming there. > Roses.
8/12/11: Julius. Heading back to Jukebox Town, I think.
8/12/11: That RnR -> Steam was neat, tho.
8/12/11: Life on Mars!
8/12/11: Strong take on Birds gets slammed right into Fluffhead.
8/12/11: Solid version of Fluffhead. Trey misses the -> Number Line and settles for a > Number Line.
8/12/11: GREAT Number Line solo from Trey. Drone at the end of the jam leads into 2001.
8/12/11: Short, sort of sloppy 2001. Chalkdust next. They're definitely playing a lot of songs.
8/12/11: Chalkdust ends the second set proper. Cavern > Tweeprise for the encore.
While the 8/12 show has more going on than might be apparent at first, I have a bit less to say about it than the equally-maligned 8/8.
It's a festival show, and it shows. The first set is 8/8's first set, just with different songs (though, look at the songs...you could put together a greatest hits album for n00bs from this setlist). Like 8/8's "Split," there's a quick highlight in the manic, mid-set "Tweezer," but that's about it.
The second set doesn't have quite the redemptive quality of 8/8's, but there are some interesting bits. For example, "Rock and Roll" goes Type I for most of its length, but hits on a murky groove near the end that slowly and beautifully coalesces into "Steam." The "Piper" that follows is high-tempo madness driven by Fish, and is worth a note as the rare jam where his playing clearly takes center stage over the melody instruments. After this sequence, though, the show slips back into festival-set mentality, and though the song selection continues to be great ("Roses," "Life on Mars?," "Fluffhead"), it's nothing you haven't heard before.
Though you might want to check out that Trey solo during "Number Line." I'm serious.
The Live Review:
8/12/11: Outside Lands show GO! KDF opener.
8/12/11: Expecting two sets like 8/8/11's S1 today.
8/12/11: Wilson second. Like to imagine festival-goers really confused by Wilson chant.
8/12/11: Funky Bitch continues its reign of terror over 2011.
8/12/11: Trey takes Funky Bitch around the block. Now Moma.
8/12/11: Peaches! Loving how often this song's getting played this tour.
8/12/11: Sample, Possum.
8/12/11: They've been killing Possum lately this one's no exception. Tweezer next!
8/12/11: I assume that this isn't going deep, but a S1 Tweezer is always still exciting anyway.
8/12/11: Fantastic Type I solo from Trey. Wow.
8/12/11: Fading out now. Ambient bit.
8/12/11: > Mound.
8/12/11: Suzy next. Really dug that Tweezer, by the way.
8/12/11: Nice solo from Page during Suzy. > Axila I.
8/12/11: Late-set Mike's. That's fun.
8/12/11: Mike's > Hydrogen.
8/12/11: Sort of miss the comedown of Hydrogen after a really hairy Mike's.
8/12/11: End set after Groove.
8/12/11: Literal loopiness to end an otherwise Type I Rock and Roll to open S2. Murky groove with a great Fish beat coalesces into Steam.
8/12/11: Steam > Piper.
8/12/11: Page laying down some jazz piano during a really high-tempo Piper jam.
8/12/11: Creepy guitar loops now. Fish is laying down a seriously great beat.
8/12/11: Really interesting few minutes of Fish-centric jamming there. > Roses.
8/12/11: Julius. Heading back to Jukebox Town, I think.
8/12/11: That RnR -> Steam was neat, tho.
8/12/11: Life on Mars!
8/12/11: Strong take on Birds gets slammed right into Fluffhead.
8/12/11: Solid version of Fluffhead. Trey misses the -> Number Line and settles for a > Number Line.
8/12/11: GREAT Number Line solo from Trey. Drone at the end of the jam leads into 2001.
8/12/11: Short, sort of sloppy 2001. Chalkdust next. They're definitely playing a lot of songs.
8/12/11: Chalkdust ends the second set proper. Cavern > Tweeprise for the encore.
2011-08-08 Hollywood Bowl
The Verdict:
So, as you might have noticed, I forgot to review 8/8 in-between 8/6 and 8/9. Not on purpose, of course...yet I do wonder if its reputation as an underwhelming show bracketed by two strong runs helped me a bit in temporarily forgetting that it existed.
I'm glad I remembered, though. I knew the show only by reputation, and, as it turns out, it deserves a better rap than it gets. 8/8 and 8/12 are somewhat similar in that they're relatively by-the-book shows, and for that they catch a lot of flak. Which is funny to me because they're pretty much identical to almost all of the pre-August 2011 shows in this regard. There are a few ways in which each show breaks out of this mode, though, and that's what I want to focus on in each of these reviews.
First, 8/8.
The first set of this show is, as I said in my review below, like a warmup to 8/12's festival set. It's a jukebox set on steroids. "Possum," "BOTT," and "Number Line" all feature crazy Trey solos, and of course it's all satisfyingly fun stuff, but the only moment of interest comes in "Split," which goes full Storage Jam for a (unfortunately) brief moment before returning to the usual form.
The second set ends up being way more fun than the show's phish.net rating might lead you to believe. Sure, "Crosseyed" doesn't necessarily go deep, but its brief ambient-texture space comes after a solid Type I jam/solo thing and leads naturally into an excellent "Twist." Now, this is a weird "excellent 'Twist'" in the sense that it's about seven minutes long and never goes Type II, but it's still complicated, all four members are contributing, and you can almost feel the mind-meld working throughout. It segues nicely into a hyper-fast space-plinko "Piper," and that ain't bad to start a second set in 2011.
That's about all the legit jamming we'll get for the show, but the momentum continues as Trey dominates "Mike's Song" and the plinko returns for a short-but-satisfying "Groove." Then there are some Fishman shenanigans in "50 Ways" > "HYHU" before the band segues back into a "Groove" reprise of sorts.
All in all, it's a fun second set. There's no big jam and it doesn't stack up to the year's heavy hitters, but considering how few heavy hitters there are at this point, it seems unfair to count a show like this one out.
The Live Review:
8/8/11: Little Page organ noodling (that sounds gross) before Mike opens the show with DwD.
8/8/11: Type I DwD gets butt-slammed into Cavern.
8/8/11: Possum keeps a straightforward opening set going, but with a particularly ripping solo from Trey.
8/8/11: Cities!
8/8/11: Short, standard version of Cities. But that's okay, because Peaches is next!
8/8/11: The only thing more grating than the usual beginning of KDF is when Trey starts it in the wrong key :)
8/8/11: Lawn Boy. Page gives a shout-out to the audience.
8/8/11: TUUUUUBE
8/8/11: Tube sounding a little more plinko than usual.
8/8/11: Crowd loving the LA line.
8/8/11: BOTT next. Minus Cities > Peaches, we got a bona fide festival set here.
8/8/11: Trey's guitar heroics made that a great, if rote BOTT. Wilson next.
8/8/11: Now Axila I. Really feeling the festy set. Maybe a warm-up for 8/12? Maybe they think it *is* 8/12?
8/8/11: Err...not 'really feeling,' but 'really feeling like.' Definitely *not* 'feeling it.'
8/8/11: SOAM! This almost forces them to be interesting, right?
8/8/11: Sho' nuff, the tension part of the jam is taking on a Storage Jam kind of sound, if only for a minute or two.
8/8/11: Trey laying down a pretty excellent Number Line solo now.
8/8/11: End set.
8/8/11: 2-3 minutes of Storage Jam in SOAM was the only S1 highlight.
8/8/11: If you like Trey Type I solos and aren't sick of them in 2011 yet, though, check out Possum, BOTT and Number Line.
8/8/11: S2 starts w/ Carini.
8/8/11: Straighforward Carini. Right as it fades into space, > Crosseyed.
8/8/11: Big, Type I rock jam in Crosseyed. Drop at about 10:00. Now they're circling some space funk, but not really committing to it.
8/8/11: A little form in the murkiness, now. Sounds like a slice of Gorge RnR.
8/8/11: Twist sort of ruins the jam potential there, but it also sort of worked with where the jam was going.
8/8/11: It was a conscientious ripcord, is what I'm saying.
8/8/11: Twist jam staying Type I, but some really nice interplay nonetheless.
8/8/11: Great full-band Type I going on here. Love it.
8/8/11: Piper is next and moves really quickly into fast-paced space funk.
8/8/11: High-octave plinko-space thing going on now. All of Piper has been weird. It's great.
8/8/11: Weird, weird break in the middle of a really spacey jam there to force a > Mike's.
8/8/11: Machine-gun/note-bending Trey just went to town on that Mike's.
8/8/11: > Joy.
8/8/11: Joy was Joy. > slow-tempo, funky-plinko Groove.
8/8/11: Diggin' this little jam a lot.
8/8/11: Jam suddenly stops. Fish mumbling to the crowd.
8/8/11: Fish singing 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover. Trey's tone matches the original's eerily w
8/8/11: Inevitably, 50 Ways > HYHU :)
8/8/11: Back into Groove.
8/8/11:> Zero.
8/8/11: Zero > Quinn.
8/8/11: Stealing Time encore.
8/8/11: Party foul: colleague walked into office while I was busting out a full-on air-guitar back-bend. Gee thanks, @phish.
8/8/11: Stealing Time > Julius.
8/8/11: Weird show, but not deserving of the shade that gets thrown at it.
8/8/11: S1 is full-on festy action, yeah, except for 2-3 minutes of SOAM that get weird.
8/8/11: Q4 is also pretty uninteresting and drawn-out.
8/8/11: But I love most of Q3. Neat little jam in Crosseyed, beautiful Twist, weird Piper, hot Mike's...
8/8/11: ...then a great Groove jam plus Groove > 50 Ways > HYHU > Groove sandwich. Probably just end the set there, though :)
So, as you might have noticed, I forgot to review 8/8 in-between 8/6 and 8/9. Not on purpose, of course...yet I do wonder if its reputation as an underwhelming show bracketed by two strong runs helped me a bit in temporarily forgetting that it existed.
I'm glad I remembered, though. I knew the show only by reputation, and, as it turns out, it deserves a better rap than it gets. 8/8 and 8/12 are somewhat similar in that they're relatively by-the-book shows, and for that they catch a lot of flak. Which is funny to me because they're pretty much identical to almost all of the pre-August 2011 shows in this regard. There are a few ways in which each show breaks out of this mode, though, and that's what I want to focus on in each of these reviews.
First, 8/8.
The first set of this show is, as I said in my review below, like a warmup to 8/12's festival set. It's a jukebox set on steroids. "Possum," "BOTT," and "Number Line" all feature crazy Trey solos, and of course it's all satisfyingly fun stuff, but the only moment of interest comes in "Split," which goes full Storage Jam for a (unfortunately) brief moment before returning to the usual form.
The second set ends up being way more fun than the show's phish.net rating might lead you to believe. Sure, "Crosseyed" doesn't necessarily go deep, but its brief ambient-texture space comes after a solid Type I jam/solo thing and leads naturally into an excellent "Twist." Now, this is a weird "excellent 'Twist'" in the sense that it's about seven minutes long and never goes Type II, but it's still complicated, all four members are contributing, and you can almost feel the mind-meld working throughout. It segues nicely into a hyper-fast space-plinko "Piper," and that ain't bad to start a second set in 2011.
That's about all the legit jamming we'll get for the show, but the momentum continues as Trey dominates "Mike's Song" and the plinko returns for a short-but-satisfying "Groove." Then there are some Fishman shenanigans in "50 Ways" > "HYHU" before the band segues back into a "Groove" reprise of sorts.
All in all, it's a fun second set. There's no big jam and it doesn't stack up to the year's heavy hitters, but considering how few heavy hitters there are at this point, it seems unfair to count a show like this one out.
The Live Review:
8/8/11: Little Page organ noodling (that sounds gross) before Mike opens the show with DwD.
8/8/11: Type I DwD gets butt-slammed into Cavern.
8/8/11: Possum keeps a straightforward opening set going, but with a particularly ripping solo from Trey.
8/8/11: Cities!
8/8/11: Short, standard version of Cities. But that's okay, because Peaches is next!
8/8/11: The only thing more grating than the usual beginning of KDF is when Trey starts it in the wrong key :)
8/8/11: Lawn Boy. Page gives a shout-out to the audience.
8/8/11: TUUUUUBE
8/8/11: Tube sounding a little more plinko than usual.
8/8/11: Crowd loving the LA line.
8/8/11: BOTT next. Minus Cities > Peaches, we got a bona fide festival set here.
8/8/11: Trey's guitar heroics made that a great, if rote BOTT. Wilson next.
8/8/11: Now Axila I. Really feeling the festy set. Maybe a warm-up for 8/12? Maybe they think it *is* 8/12?
8/8/11: Err...not 'really feeling,' but 'really feeling like.' Definitely *not* 'feeling it.'
8/8/11: SOAM! This almost forces them to be interesting, right?
8/8/11: Sho' nuff, the tension part of the jam is taking on a Storage Jam kind of sound, if only for a minute or two.
8/8/11: Trey laying down a pretty excellent Number Line solo now.
8/8/11: End set.
8/8/11: 2-3 minutes of Storage Jam in SOAM was the only S1 highlight.
8/8/11: If you like Trey Type I solos and aren't sick of them in 2011 yet, though, check out Possum, BOTT and Number Line.
8/8/11: S2 starts w/ Carini.
8/8/11: Straighforward Carini. Right as it fades into space, > Crosseyed.
8/8/11: Big, Type I rock jam in Crosseyed. Drop at about 10:00. Now they're circling some space funk, but not really committing to it.
8/8/11: A little form in the murkiness, now. Sounds like a slice of Gorge RnR.
8/8/11: Twist sort of ruins the jam potential there, but it also sort of worked with where the jam was going.
8/8/11: It was a conscientious ripcord, is what I'm saying.
8/8/11: Twist jam staying Type I, but some really nice interplay nonetheless.
8/8/11: Great full-band Type I going on here. Love it.
8/8/11: Piper is next and moves really quickly into fast-paced space funk.
8/8/11: High-octave plinko-space thing going on now. All of Piper has been weird. It's great.
8/8/11: Weird, weird break in the middle of a really spacey jam there to force a > Mike's.
8/8/11: Machine-gun/note-bending Trey just went to town on that Mike's.
8/8/11: > Joy.
8/8/11: Joy was Joy. > slow-tempo, funky-plinko Groove.
8/8/11: Diggin' this little jam a lot.
8/8/11: Jam suddenly stops. Fish mumbling to the crowd.
8/8/11: Fish singing 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover. Trey's tone matches the original's eerily w
8/8/11: Inevitably, 50 Ways > HYHU :)
8/8/11: Back into Groove.
8/8/11:> Zero.
8/8/11: Zero > Quinn.
8/8/11: Stealing Time encore.
8/8/11: Party foul: colleague walked into office while I was busting out a full-on air-guitar back-bend. Gee thanks, @phish.
8/8/11: Stealing Time > Julius.
8/8/11: Weird show, but not deserving of the shade that gets thrown at it.
8/8/11: S1 is full-on festy action, yeah, except for 2-3 minutes of SOAM that get weird.
8/8/11: Q4 is also pretty uninteresting and drawn-out.
8/8/11: But I love most of Q3. Neat little jam in Crosseyed, beautiful Twist, weird Piper, hot Mike's...
8/8/11: ...then a great Groove jam plus Groove > 50 Ways > HYHU > Groove sandwich. Probably just end the set there, though :)
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