Yeah, something tells me those Alpine shows are going to be unbelievable!
Last two shows before summer break, and the whole first leg to get their chops in order.
Good things await!
^^ me too and was nice hearing the pre and post music on the PA i thought jsut made feel like i was there!
getting my alpine tix in the mail today!!! woot woot!
HOLY SHIT! They just get tighter and tighter… and they’re GELLIN nicely! OH YEAH! This 6/4 ROCKS!
Congrats!
been looking at mine too long, hope i havn’t touched them to much!!
Yeah so last night was another strong night. I like TTE but would rather they gave it a 1st set slot for a while. I just think its better suited there. Regardless, the fellas are getting incrementally better execution-wise and poking their heads out a bit more jam-wise with each passing show.
New material repeats are fine with me. They have to happen. It helps keeps the band motivated and maintain a sense of purpose. While they look and sound like they are enjoying playing the back catalog most bands would prefer to focus on new material.
Ghost was a solid version. While not quite the epicness of the RCMH Ghost from 2000 it did feel a bit like that one as far as the interplay and how they progressed to the brilliant peak. Drowned in the 2nd was another highlight. Mike’s vocals are usually lacking on it(understandably), but he did a great job on it last night. Fishman sounded a lot better to me than he did on Tuesday. Not that he sounded bad on Tuesday, he just sounded a bit more hooked in last night. It felt like the Rhythm section really liked the setlist choices.
I think the thing we have to do is go to these shows wanting and expecting “Solid”. I’m not asking for a segue-fest or an all time set list for the ages. Solid focused playing and an expression of dedication to the wonderful world of Phish that the boys have created. I think thats being conveyed so far by the band.
i only got to hear the first set (well most of it due to bad connection) and was really, really impressed. DSky had an amazing, super high energy jam, Dirt was also extrememly potent and great to hear. but GHOST…oh man, they were playing like there was no tomorrow. that shit was unreal. teh Antelope to close the set was also a real scorcher. every show so far makes me more and more grateful for the present and more and more excited for the future.
I’m really surprised that this hasn’t popped up at bt.etree.org yet. This stream will get me through I suppose:
last night was very good. real tight. NICU was fun to hear, ghost was excellent as was ocelot. drowned->meatstick was really good, probably my highlight for the night. they didnt do the dance either, which surprised me. everytime i hear TTE it grows on me more and more. trey also finally nailed YEM. security was great. it was also really cool to hear waste for it was my wedding song…
ive listened to all shows from the tour and each show has been better than the previous. they sound great, practiced, and appear overjoyed to be playing again. page had a goofy grin on his face all night, especailly during R & R. cant wait for shoreline.
Just finished the 1st set, very impressed. Trey is on fire, looking forward to this Drowned coming up.
again, drowned->meatstick is sweet.
Anyone else catch the Jumpin’ Jack Flash tease in the Drowned jam?
This show rules.
I kind of have to take issue with calling that a segue between Drowned and Meatstick. Anyone know the proper setlist notation rules? I know there’s a difference between > and -> but I’m a little unclear what it is.
YES
this is a review by a phan calling himself MiniMoog on PT. i think it’s some really great writing, really capturing the essence of the present time. enjoy.
Bothallchoractorschumminaroundgansummuminarrumdrumstrumtruminahumptadu mpwaultopoofoolooderamaunsturnup.
That is a word that James Joyce used in Finnegan’s Wake to express the sound of a thunderclap, and in the context of the story, a metaphorical expression of the characeter HCE’s fall from grace and prominence as a local hero thus becoming a shamed and derided man. Joyce in the book used the framework of the philosopher Giambattista Vico, who believed that history is cyclical and passes through three distinct phases before collapsing and renewing the cycle - these cycles being in order: the human, the heroic, the divine and collapse. Or, as a wise man once phrased it: Boy, Man, God, Shit.
This is essentially what we have been a witness to over the last number of years, a cresting and crashing of a wave that we all had been riding, and for the sake of this already entirely pretentious review we"ll just call Trey Anastasio the hero of our story. History is set in motion by the Hero’s rise and fall from power and that is exactly what we are participating in at this time. This band has returned to form, and the world seems right because of it.
Now that that’s out of the way, I’ll get down to the particulars. My brother drove down from upsate (a 30 plus show vet) and we met up in brooklyn, headed out to penn station, got some beers and met up with a bunch of old friends we hadn’t seen in a while. Saw some methed out people on the train almost start some shit but an undercover on the train escorted him off the train and saved the day. We all got a laugh out of it eventually. Got to the lot had a beer or two but it was raining and close to showtime so we just went in. Everyone seemed fine to me, didn’t seem sketchy or weird at all - got a sierra nevada for a buck. Got in the show and had fantastic seats in the Orch pit. Got settled in and noticed that they were playing Ali Farka Toure’s Niafunke as the pre-show music. Right away i knew this was a good omen - as that record has been my favorite over the past year or so. And the lights went down.
Set I:
Grind - This set the tone for the night, there was such a great feeling a true playfulness within the band last night and this was a fine way of starting. It was sang very well, with all the members adjusting their particular “number of days” and their collective total. It was things like this that made the gig special, the little funny things that though small, showed a kind of thoughtfulness and attention to detail that i haven’t seen in a while. Those are what make performances memorable.
The Divided Sky - Wow. Just wow. Flawlessly executed, powerful. I was left spechless, the band just seemed to find that sound, that single-minded, sound of one instrument, just building, building. The band seems to have this emotional extra gear now, it was like in the early days when they had something to prove, a real determination, like a basketball player fighting on every possession, offense and defense, very focused. I can’t say enough about this version.
Ocelot - Hey! This song is fun! I had heard about this number but i hadn’t yet heard it, and i was glad that I got to give it its first listen live. This song has a number of good qualities, mainly that it seems to pair the kind of pop songwriting sensibilities of the late 90’s farmhouse era with the sort of whimsical lyrical approach of the earlier years. Its like, cute or (i can’t believe i’m saying this) even kind of sexy for some reason. It just kind of reminded me of laying in bed with a chick and realizing that she’s just this kind of impetuous, impulsive, personality, and that’s what makes the whole thing fun. But it was sung well, and it had a nice little bluesy jam on the way out. Very patient playing from trey here, and that would continue.
The Squirming Coil - Again, flawlessly executed, very powerful build. Very similar in feel to the Divided Sky earlier in the set. There’s this sort of attitude of embracing the composition in a way that I haven’t heard in a long time. The wind down improvisation into page’s solo was really delicate and nice, and page’s solo was very thoughtful though brief. Page’s piano sound (maybe it was just where i was) seems to be a bit brighter with more emphasis on the attack of the notes which led to a little bit different sound, but i quite liked it.
Punch You in the Eye - Perfect placement, just the right weather. The wind blowing off the water with a little bit of cool rain, crowd settled in, perfect spot for a pyite. Trey’s sound in the intro was HUGE. This is where i first started to notice how “in the grid” the guys are - that’s a musical term used to describe hitting notes in the right subdivisions, evenly and accurately. They are all acting as a singular unit, hitting the rhythms very precisely. Anyways, nice to see the hands go up and get some big Hey!'s. The landlady portion was hit perfectly, very tight. And in a telling moment, Trey started one of his lines up on a higher interval, but instead of aborting it, he ran with it and worked back to the original line. He’s really sold, he’s thinking about the chords. Nice solo from page too.
Dirt - I’m cool with this song, i smoked a cigarette and took a quick piss at the end and got back by the middle of NICU
NICU - Always love this song. Trey got a big cheer on the “Back in the days when my life was a haze” line. He got a big grin out of that one. Awesome.
Ghost - Great! This was actually my first ghost but i’ve listened to it so many goddamn times i didn’t realize i’d never seen it before. Verrryy nice shape to this jam, they didnt try to do any of that kind of plodding semi funk ambient shit too early, they really let it build in a very almost triumphant I to IV progression, being very patient and spacious and when it settled down, page went to the synth, trey started the stacatto tremolo sound, mike hit the bass synth and fishman started one of his great jazzy siket disc era, trance inducing rhythms. They kept the tail end short and tasteful. Nice.
Run Like an Antelope - This is a big antelope, i’ll have to listen back but i just remember it rocking. Again with the “plafulness” thing, the intro was just so much fun. Quirky, almost a kind of dixieland type of feel to it, really just running with the energy of the show. The Jam was huge, worth a listen, but you know there’s so many antelopes and people always think the one they just saw was the best one ever…blah blah. This is a good one. Maybe an allusion to the kind of patient way he’s been playing, trey really drew out the “bid you to have any spike, man” line - let it drag almost all the way to the “run run run run”. And it worked…a very mature sense of timing, brought the crowd into it. Great way to end a VERY VERY nice set.
Set II
Water in the Sky - Ok, I’m not so much into the slow interpreation of this song and i am not sure why they decided to start a set two with this song. But hey, i’m not the guy in the big successful band so maybe they know what they’re doing. I smoked a joint. And in a moment where i was particularly tuned in to my own intuition in the lull before the next song. I called birds of a feather. and i was right.
Birds of a Feather - Hell yeah. I’ve always loved this song and it was great. Fishman is killing on this one.
Ok… a brief sidenote here. it seems to me that Fishman has been getting a lot of shit on here for not being up to snuff or whatever and maybe he just had a good night last night, but i think he is just fucking killing it. I think there should be a rule that anyone who is trying to criticize a drummer must do so in rhythmic or drum-centric terms rather than some inane shit about “holding back” jams. His time is excellent, he’s hitting in all his different subdivisions, he’s playing well in all tempos, his drums sound good, he’s in shape, doesn’t lag, feeling the pocket, willing to experiment, and in general, sounding like a fucking awesome drummer. There - now i’ve said my piece (peace?)
So yea, great birds of a feather. I won’t claim to remember much more than trey’s tone sounded great and fishman was a monster. I admit it, i was high.
Drowned - Very good. A big rock number that i always like hearing, again, i just remember this rocking, but i think there was some cool shit going on with fishman and the hi-hats somewhere. Its drowned, it rocks.
Meatstick - Hahaha! If i’m not mistaken, i think this is the first meatstick since 2000 or so right? I heard the synth coming in and the I to bVII progresion and called it. I really heard this song in a new way. Its a stupid fucking song in all honesty, but it embraces its stupidity so well that its fucking brilliant. This song, like a lot of other phish songs, i believe is about trying to get laid and your efforts being thwarted. Really fun. Saw some people doing the dance, and surprisingly, i actually remembered the fucking thing. God have i really devoted this much of my life to this shit? The woman next to us was there for her first show and she was looking at us like we were martians. Page took a synth solo and it was outright goofy sounding.
Time Turns Elastic - Ok, i know - The lyrics are unintelligible and trey nasally crooning “in and out of focus, in an out of focus” is not necessarily the hippest thing in the world, but i think this song is a real achievement. I’m not even sure i like it, but this song i think accounts for how in shape these guys are. This is an incredibly complex song and they hit every part, even the delicate details, and this one really hushed the crowd to, all night I was constantly amazed at how incredibly “orchestral” phish can sound when they are tight, and in this song especially i was amazed and the wide range of sounds, dynamically, texturally, tonally, rhythmically, harmonically and otherwise that this band is able to achieve. Melodies coming from the bass counterpoint, through the guitar and rising up into the higher registers of the piano. Also they added a bit of a jam at the end too which really resonates in a live situation. I’m positive about this song.
Waste - Nice to hear, got the crowd into it, Trey took a great solo at the end, nice big guitar sound. No mistakes. vocals sounded nice.
You Enjoy Myself - Allllllllright. For all the shows ive seen, i’ve only caught this one a handful of times. The beginning section was just pefect, better even that the ALO version. This had been rehearsed, the little aquatic section before the happy time snoopy section was just amazing, actually some of the best improv of the night, as was the little section before the first set of intricate melodies, with the organ trills, mike was playing some really crazy bass arpeggios high up on the neck and just making this SOUND! I turned to my brother and said “How the fuck are they making that SOUND?!” Anyways…progreses into the various sections trey hits the NOTE and its BIG. Strong. Trey’s tone was just everything that we’ve wanted it to be - kind of like air, water and wood all mixed up together. Jam was excellent, and in another example of the playful attitude, they brought out the tramps and did the dance. Really great bluesy playing to wrap it up and then mike and fish settles into the bass and drums jam. MIKE destroys this, really locked in, with a big envelope filter sound. Mike’s sound now is very kind of “hi-fi” Really presesnt across the whole spectrum, very low lows, very high highs. I’m telling you, seek out this bass and drums section, its something. Then the vocal jam which was just, i don’t know, fucked up! They were all kind of mouthing these alien syllables that sounding like some kind of medieveal incantations all stacked upon eachother with rising vocals yells which seemed to follow eachother in canon. Very unnerving and thrilling and as usual, great lights. VERY GOOD VERSION
Encore:
Rock and Roll - Is it just me or is it kind of weird to hear Drowned and Rock and Roll in the same show. Those songs are closely linked in my mind for whatever reason, but it was a good call. I think they dialed up the sound system another notch cause it was LOUD. I’ve already said so much so i’m just going to shut up and say this was great.
Trey’s tone is amazing, he’s thinking about the chords, not missing notes, and looks like he’s had some cheeseburgers.
All is well with the world. The cycle has begun again.
Anyone know where i can find an AUD of this show yet?
He’s wrong about Meatstick, but not a bad review.
Also I found it weird too that they played Rock n Roll and Drowned in the same show…and I don’t know why either.
Seriously… I expected three different sources up by now. I posted a link up there somewhere where you can stream it. It sounds like a really low sample rate SBD mp3, but not too bad if you don’t try to turn it up to 11.
^is it tracked?
dudes broeadcasting from his ccar