it’s funny you said that. i thought the beach show was significantly better than fenway.
Agreed. May be a little biased though since One attended Fenway and not JB1. Either way, One is happy with both shows. ;D
One overlooked aspect is the drugs.
I know people don’t want to hear this and many will disagree with me but the best eras of all the legendary bands have been when the band was on drugs.
Don’t get me wrong I’m glad Trey is sober.
It’s just not reasonable to expect a sober person to play at the level of a drugged out individual.
(And before anyone points out Coventry 04 was hadly the nadir of Phish).
They need time. It’s clear they’re out of sync thus far and rusty but even still they’re capable of giving some outstanding music.
BTW Jones Beach 1 destroyed Fenway. Not even close.
^ “on drugs” can mean many things though. I mean taking a few hits of whatever while on tour probably isn’t going to negatively effect any aspect of your playing, unless you’re doing it right before you go on stage. But if you have the type of personality that cares more about the drugs than the music, then it will definitely have a negative effect on the music. I think Trey’s personality was getting to that point and now it’s turned around…and yeah, maybe it will take a while for him to get those creative juices flowing from somewhere other than a syringe, but everyone has those juices in them.
Trey was basically cheating before and using chemicals to access that creativity, but I’ll take an honest Trey, who is really trying to find that within himself over a selfish Trey that is more concerned about the feeling than the effect.
Wow…that was a dumb rant. Sorry about that.
^Well, I think most of an artists best work on drugs comes before experimentation has degenerated into addiction. So it’s not really when the group is on drugs.
I think that you can actually get just as high or higher without drugs than with. Most of the “psychedelic” musicians in history were initially liberated by drugs but they pretty quickly limited by their use. I think these shows are a strong foundation for something that might go beyond our idea of what psychedelic music should or shouldn’t be.
One might argue that Pink Floyd’s better work came after Psychedelics (that’s probably not me, but, Dark Side of the Moon is certainly a landmark).
I need to relisten to the shows, but I just thought Fenway had more fire. I liked the setlist at JB1 better, though.
Not dumb at all. I’ve always felt that drugs allow access to different points of views. Of course there are serious ramifications and side effects not to mention the legal issue.
My point was more to state that Trey’s mindset in the 90s is compeltely different than now. Drugs help frame that mindset.
Trey was on top of the world and hungry. In 2004 what was left for him to do? Phish sells out constantly they play 80+ shows a year. They’ve played festivals of upwards of 85k. They probably have an insane amount of money.
As for Floyd I would argue they are an except rather than a rule although I would argue Meddle is their best work.
My point was to show that he’s beyond the craziness of the 90s. Phish is established they’re playing because they enjoy it whereas in the 90s they were playing because they were hungry to make a living and a career.
Part of that development was interwined with drug use.
As for getting high without the drugs I dunno. It’s hard to believe you can get higher naturally than eating an 1/8 of boomers.
Speaking from experience I’ve never been as high naturally as I have on boomers or acid.
It didn’t last as long, but have you ever had a mind-blowing orgasm? I’ve never had any trips or experiences with drugs that curl my toes.
i agree, 6/2 was better than Fenway
^yes an no. could get messy.
Just gave my first listen.
Really liked the first set, Stealing Time is a great, catchy tune. Timber and Cities are always greatness. Reba had a couple missteps, but the jam more than made up for them. I felt Farmhouse and If I Could really lacked something, and being the final two songs of the set, probably would have left an odd taste in my mouth.
I found the second set to be pretty lackluster. Mike’s Song is pretty terrible, Trey just sounds really odd. Luckily for my ears, they jumped quickly into Simple, which had a very nice jam. Wolfmans comes out of nowhere, and I’m not a huge fan of this song, but it was an alright jam. Fishman kicking in Weekapaug while Wolfman’s is actually being played sounded horrible. And the Paug didn’t really do too much. I’m a fan of Kill Devil Fall’s, but no so much of the composed section of this Hood. But if that composed part brought forth the ambience, that is quite fine with me.
The Suzy encore was great.
Personally, I felt Fenway was a step above this first Jones Beach show.
Yup just listening to this show right now…I liked the first set, but I’m now just listening to the Mike’s>Simple>Wolfman’s>Weekapaug. The Mike’s too me isn’t that bad. It doesn’t really get out there, but this was probably one of the worst segues into Simple. That’s okay…no biggie it’ll get better…I thought the segue into Wolfman’s was fine. Page kind of keyed that off perfectly I thought. And Fishman starting the Weekapaug drumming wasn’t as bad as I have been reading. It was a little awkward…The Wolfman’s had a nice groove going, but it was kinda dying out…whish is how Fishman must have responded. So all and all I thought the Mikes>Simple was the worst segue out of all of these. Honestly I’m really enjoying all of it though.
listening to this hood right now. as far as the mr. miner section, i dont think its any one persons fault. the timing is off more than anything. i think a combo of mike’s strange bass sounds threw off trey a bit and fishman just didnt really know what was going on. as far as the ambience jam, i think its fucking bad ass and the return into the jam is great stuff.