sounds awesome
Trey is playing some fucked up shit at the end of Stash. He sounds like Pharaoh Sanders.
i have listened to the show once the whole way thru so far, and I must say, they sound FANTASTIC! This is the Phish I was hoping for. Jamming as usual & playing on point. I haven’t decided what I like the most…although, I am definitely a fan of Ocelot.
listening to Gin now and its AWESOME.
damn I didn’t see this thread last night. I wrote a bit in the “SICK, Fenway that is” thread in general phish.
I’ve got the first set downloading now!
BWAHA!
“In the 9th spot…please don’t smoke (laughing) in Fenway Park…”
Hahaha… I frickin’ love the State!
one other thing I forgot to mention about Fenway was Fish’s playing definitely seemed more spry and lively than at Hampton…I was glad to hear that, because he seemed rusty for the most part at Hampton, I thought.
i listened to the entire show yesterday and it’s pretty damn good for a tour opener. definite jitters from the boys in the first set, imo… playing felt a little guarded i guess. second set was hot, tweezer especially… composed part of bowie was well played, the jam climax left some to be desired for me, just not as intense as i’d like. i really dig TTE for the most part, some of those sections are cool as hell, i think once this one finds its legs it’s gonna be a monster. i like the end of Light a lot, cool vocal overlays. curtis lowe ruled!!! they really packed in a lot of awesome tunes, much like the hampton shows, set lengths were big and the hit factor is there…
i don’t think the show was EPIC by any means, on paper it looks that way, but it’s a tour opener and it sounds like one, imo. some great jamming indeed, but they’re just getting their legs back and things will loosen up and get more intense as the tour rolls on.
one thing that really stood out, for better or worse, was trey’s use (or overuse!) of his swelling guitar licks. (that sound we talked about in a different thread, lots of bending and pitch shifting) it’s almost like he really falls back on using that technique too much during this show, not as much shredding at all, which i really wanna hear him get into…i want some machine gun licks damnit!!! ;D that and it seemed like in a lot of the jams trey wasn’t giving page as much space to create as he should…a majority of the jams never got to Type II or especially not Type III…trey led all the way almost every time. not a bad thing i guess, but i want more voices from the other three to change and shift a jam.
mind you, i’ve only listened to it all once, so my opinion could change…that’s just how i’m feeling right now. solid solid show overall and i’m sure i would have flipped my shit if i was there in person, let’s be honest. 
my $0.02
I listened to this last night too.
^I think you make some valid points. This is a strong tour opener. But I do agree with you about Treys technique and the lack of jams thus far. It sounded like they were on the cusp of breaking free of the chord progression/theme in both DWD and Tweezer, but decided not to stretch out too much and pulled it in.
I felt like this happened at Hampton a couple times too. In both Tweezer on the first night and Ghost on the second. I get a sense that they want to be spot on tight before they start letting loose.
I’m not expecting too much type 2 this week and am still extremely stoked for things to come because Fenway souned like a very strong tour opener to me.
^ yeah, that’s kind of the underlying factor there… tight jams, nothing straying too far away for the sake of getting that live connection back (it don’t matter how much you rehearse, a show in front of thousands, harnessing that energy, cannot be replaced) plus, i think they are mindful of the fact that MANY people are seeing them again for the first time in 5+ years, so they want to deliver a lot of tunes to them, a lot of “OH SHIT THEY’RE PLAYING XXXXX!!!” moments to all the fans…much like at hampton…quenching that thirst people have before they REALLY let loose and get crazy and weird. it will happen, i have much faith in that!
This show has a lot of the dissonant '94/'95 energy. Good for me. Maybe bad for others. They needed to revisit the intense energy.
Love that quaint-quiet 94’ crowds…Gotta love the beginning of any Wilson:
DUN NAH, DUN NAH (silence) DUN NAH, DUN NAH (more silence)
And Yes, 94’ had a sick intensity level to the music…
sorry for the parentheses on this convo… noob here.
whats this type I, II, III youre talking about? you arent talked about Phish 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 are you?
Wow! Sorry this took so long, but I’ve been in glass case of emotion since the show. First show, and after listening to thousands of songs, I couldn’t wait for my first Phish experience. Boy, was I in for a treat man!
Intro/SSB - really cool having gone to countless games at Fenway to hear the 9 rules of Fenway. Also funny to hear the guys voice laugh before he announced the “no smoking” rule. Seeing Phish do the National Anthem in Red Sox jerseys on the mound of Fenway was hands down one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in my whole life. Gordon rockin the Yaz jersey made me so happy. Just a real unique, special moment.
Sample - Okay opener, didnt really get me into full effect until…
Moma - Wow! Second song in?! As soon as I heard the intital drop I was alive more than I’ve ever felt. I had so much fun funkin to the Moma, it was fucking great! Gordon bombs everywhere!
Chalkdust - Another wow! I mean it’s an awesome rocker everyone is aware of this, but man was Trey smokin on this one! I was hoping for some sort of machine gun Trey, and I thought I got it on this one! Trey was tearing it up big time, and it was so much better played straight up, then say, the 25 minute noodle-fest from IT.
Ocelot - I really like this one, very catchy, and I can see it becoming a real crowd pleaser by the end of the tour. Maybe that thought is formed due to the constant “Ocelot! Ocelot! Where are you now?” I heard leaving the show, but I just got that feeling (this also coming from a kid whose seen one show, wtf do i know lol).
Stash - Alright! Got pumped for this one knowing it was gonna be my first dive into a Phish jam. Thought the Stash was awesome, so good in fact, that it turned one of my best buddies who loves Phish, but never really got into Stash, into a believer. That was pretty awesome. When Fishman changed the beat up in the middle of the jam, that was friggin nasty!
Bouncing - One of the girlfriends favorites (heard this one before?)
Poor Heart - Word! Love this one! Got me up and moving big time. Had to add in my own “NoOoOoOo” though :
Limb - Love Limb, love the jam, love the lyrics, , just getting happier and happier as this set went along.
Wading - One of the more beautiful Phish songs. It is what it is.
DISEASE - WOW! As soon as I saw Cactus hitting his bass for the “waking up the beast” intro, I was jumping through my skin. As soon as the funk intro started it was on. Trey nailing the solo before the four take it off to Disease island. The jam ruled, I was on the field so no real sound issues for me, and I had to scoop my face off the floor after this one. The energy I got from the jam was so great! Trey swaying back n forth, and there was a moment where he had a downright pissed off look on his face that got me so much more into it. An angry looking Trey usually means good things for our ears. Cactus bombs everywhere, and some ripping Page chords over the top of everything, I was so happy.
Destiny - What more hasn’t been said about the Destiny bustout. The crowd reaction, your all right, wasn’t ideal in the least, but I was pretty pumped. I know alot of people LOVE this one, but I thought Curtis Loew > DU as far as bust outs go.
Character - Yeah, yeah, we all know the “newb factor” knock for this one, but the Hampton one really raged, and this one was also on par for a good CZero. I just love the 'Doc + wah-pedals.
Tweezer - WOO!!! First show, and I already got a Moma, DWD, Stash, DU, and now a Tweezer?! Awesome, I really felt so grateful to be there. Cactus bombs, Cactus bombs, Cactus bombs! WHat more can I say. They took the jam almost to type II, it was getting up in the sky, it was on the cusp, then they dropped back into Tweez, and into…
Light - I liked it. Fuck the haters man. The light really is growing brighter now for Phish (as compared to where we all were, no more than 8 months ago).
^ btw, first segue! sweeeet! seguesss!
Gin - Oh man! Here comes the Chairman! Was so hyped up for the “piano falling down the stairs” intro, I almost hit a guy in the back of the head. Great Gin man, I don’t even care I had just seen Moma, Stash, DWD, DU, Tweezer, now a Gin at my first show. I really couldn’t complain one bit.
BOWIE - OH MAN! First Phish song I ever heard , and hands down my favorite (see 6.18.94). As soon as the hi-hat was going, I was on my tippy toes hoping for a Bowie and not a Maze (I love Maze though man, but Bowies my all-time). SO nervously hoping for the Bowie, that when it hit, my life came full circle. My favorite song by my favorite band, was now right in front of my eyes. Not on tape, or on some DVD, friggin LIVE man, I don’t have words equilvallent to my joy for this moment. As soon as the jam dropped, I was almost in tears. Thought Trey nailed the composed part. And the drop from the jam into the distinctive Bowie chords before the final solo was life-changing for me. I was the happiest human in my world for that whole song. I can’t even describe further, just wow!
TTE - Knew this would rage live! The middle section “Memory, shelter in the darkness…” with the red lights and flashes during the Trey guitar harmonics were sweet. The ending all jammed out was definitely the highlight of the TTE.
Free - At this point I was already so satisfied that when this hit I literally threw my hands up in the air, because they could’ve played a 40 minute Mexican Cousin for all I care at that point. But, no they give us an awesome Free with Gordon bombs all over the place. Turned on the “swamp thing” tone and it was so on man!
Curtis!! - wow, what a bust out. I think like a 600 show bustout?! That makes this show all the more epic for me. Gotta love the Curtis man.
YEM - Do I really need a description here? Trey fuckin NAILED the composed part (erasing all sour tastes from Hampton), and the quiet section was another life-changer. I felt my whole childhood and my teenage years merging into one just being in left field with the monster towering over me, in my favorite place in the world, Fenway, seeing my favorite band of all time. The Note - wow! awesome! these are all moments in songs that are routine, but you all know how that first time was hearing each little part you love, just incredible. GORDON BOMBS AT THE END MELTED MY ENTIRE EXSISTENCE! Im sorry, but I know some people can slap the shit out of basses and play non-stop raging bass lines, but NO ONE plays bass that GOOD while making it look that EFFORTLESS than Cactus. Not by my accounts anyways. The vocal jam, was just one of those Phish moments I was dying to see once in my life, and boy did I feel complete after all this.
Cavern/GTBT/Tweeprise - Cavern RAGES as usual. GTBT, WOW trey KILLED the Jimmy Paige. That made me so excited. especially the second solo where he runs down the fret like a mad man - friggin nailed it! Tweeprise - well who doesnt love a rager to tie it all up?
First show was all I wanted plus SOOO much more. I cannot wait til GW, and the rest of the tour. Hell , I can’t wait to hear JB1 tonight! You all know how that first show was, and all the emotions you felt seeing the certain moments you love about Phish live for the first time. Not every version was the best version everby any account, but they were sure as hell ragers to me! I am now hook line and sinker and will be on edge the rest of the summer. After years of only hearign about this mythological band, and finally getting to expierence them, I feel a journey in my life has been completed, and a void been filled. I’m such a happy person now, Great Woods here I come! See youy all there.
(btw, I was B7 - row 10, and yeah our security guy was the man cutting the chairs for dance space!)
^ Most excellent to hear you had a wonderful time.