Completed listening to this show on this morning’s ride in, and I’m really having a difficult time agreeing with the consensus on this show, at least from the LP download that I heard it through. There was certainly an energy and a positive communication between the band and the fans that showed through the performances. And the composed parts of the songs were very tight and spot on. That being said, I found the jamming on most songs to be less than innovative, and for the most part kind of average. Trey’s playing especially seemed like he was having some level of difficulty finding the exact notes/sounds that he wanted to achieve from his equipment.
I’m not trying to sway anyone away from their opinion of this show, although posting something like this may seem like I am. But the way I hear things is generally much different from most people in the Phish community and always has, so don’t pay much attention to this as anything more than the ramblings of a jaded old phart.
But I don’t know, I think it’s somehow worthwhile to be as honest as I can be at this point in how I react to this music, because there’s a part of me who understands that I could be eating these words the next time I listen to this show. It happens all the time. Happened with a Miami show from last December. So if you don’t want to be impacted by my narrow minded opinions of what I heard in these performances, stop reading any further.
06/11/10 (Fri) Toyota Park - Bridgeview, IL
Down with Disease, great start to the show, high energy and an average jam B-
Wolfman’s Brother, high energy and an average jam C
Possum*, high energy and an average jam C
Boogie On Reggae Woman, like Phish 3.0 versions of this song a lot because of how much more Mike is central in the mix B+
Reba, very tight composed part, outro jam kind of average B-
Jesus Just Left Chicago, my favorite song of the night from a performance aspect, A
The Divided Sky, solid version, happy to see the silence period reduced, B/B+
Golgi Apparatus, tight, average version, B
David Bowie, high energy and an average jam C
Light, haven’t really heard enough of these to have a rating either way, wasn’t too enamored with the outtro,
Maze, not really one of my favorite songs and was really confused by Trey’s guitar work over Page’s solo, but I enjoyed this version for some reason, B
Ghost > decent enough version of a song I really like, B
Limb by Limb**, not one of my favorite songs, the vocal jam was kind of different, but otherwise, C/C+
Prince Caspian, truly not one of my favorite songs, but I liked this one, B
The Horse > Silent in the Morning, straightforward and solid, B
Run Like an Antelope, tight even if Fish blew the end of the jam, B-
Show of Life#, reaching out with a message, think they were excited to play this song as a show ender, but it was kind of sluggish, C
Cavern, average C+
Julius, more of the same C+
Be all of this riciulous rating as it may, this show actually rates higher than the sum of the individual song performance values because of the setlists and the enthusiasm of both the band and the crowd. Overall slightly better than average show.
Once again, I apologize for my candor, but as I said, I don’t even buy into my opinions forever. They’re as fleeting as the wind passing through my shorts.
That cracked me up.