Give us some nfo bro^ Just an off night, or was it more ot do with the sounding board?
I was only there for the first few tunes, but what I heard was good. I loved the venue though the lack of seats proved more than just a problem. Trey as a solo artist just has much better songs in the arsenal then these four do, at least he has some good solo stuff and will play heavy things or a jibboo, perhaps even some acoustic phish tunes from time to time. That’s a major factor. It’s all rather predictable, though. I wish I’d seen the rest.
axilla seems to be a bit harsh. sure the sound was low but i thought trey played well. the only problem is that they just play the same songs over and over now
did they play two sets?!?!?
I understand that my comments were harsh…and my posting was at the height of post-show frustration…but when I heard these 4 were playing together, I was so psyched I could barely contain myself. Knowing that realistically, you cannot create the magic on demand…I tempered my expectations.
My biggest complaints about the show (in no particular order):
- The sound…which initially was as if the entire band was playing at the other end of a stadium, not a 2500 person venue.
- The unimaginative setlist
- The venue itself
- Marco & Joe still seem very tentative playing with Trey. I think this is because Trey plays a lot of the notes / parts that Marco would on keys…with Marco sidelining himself, it seemed to rob Joe of a lot of the energy and interplay that the Duo is famous for.
Again, maybe my expectations were out of whack…and there were 3-5 good songs / jams over the course of the show. (Becky, Hap-Nappy, Suskind Hotel)
^ Way to recover on this Axilla… Now I see what you meant, With 10klf coming up, I was nervous… ;D
The sound- I didn’t really find the sound to be a problem, but then again, I’m not usually one to notice things of that nature.
The setlist- I agree, it’s VERY limited, but if you’ve been keeping up with the setlists from the rest of the tour, it was expected. As I saw only one show, the repetitve nature didn’t bother me. I guess they only had time to get those few songs tweaked enough that they felt good about playing them. I mean, they’re all talented, but they’re not magicians and you know Trey and Mike aren’t going out on the road together with a half ass band…again 
I coulda done with better song selection, but I thought they played really well.
The venue- I thought was really cool. Walking in through the stone gate kinda gave me this old school garden feeling. It was hot as hell, but we weren’t packed in too tightly. I had some cool neighbors and plenty of dancing room. I loved how the trees behind the stage had a square clearing just big enough to see one skyscraper. It was like a picture hanging on the wall behind the band.
Marco and Joe- I’m sure they are hanging back quite a bit, especially Marco. Probably has a lot to do with what you said about Trey taking away from Marco’s notes, but it’s probably a little intimidating being up there with him, don’t you think? The Mike/Duo show I’m listening to from 12/27/05, Marco is announcing them and Mike and as they’re about to start Theme From the Bottom, Marco dedicates it “to one of the greatest bands of all time”. These guys are excellent musicans, but they’re also Phish fans, which I’m sure plays at least a tiny factor.
I don’t know if we were at different shows or what because I thought it was musically sound. Trey wasn’t as note hoggy as I thought he would be and actually hung back more than I expected. And I was at the Tabernacle shows, as well. The first night was really great and the second night blew chunks. It didn’t even compare to the first…except the setlist was alot of the same, lol. Trey seemed to be having a great time at both venues. I’ve always heard that he loved Atlanta and it shows. And as far as breathing life into Who Are You, they didn’t have to? I didn’t feel they needed to. I mean, yeah it wasn’t a huge shock that they played it, but eh.
I was like you when I heard they were all 4 playing together and I had really high hopes for this tour. Then came the reviews and the setlists and I became aware that all was not what I had hoped. Maybe the difference in our experiences was that I lowered my expectations enough to be happy, lol.
It wasn’t the greatest show ever played, but suck it did not.
^ I agree that the 1st night of the Tabernacle was inifinitely better than the 2nd.
I’ve come to appreciate that people go to shows for different reasons. While I saw some new songs (which actually were pretty good)…I don’t want to hear this particular lineup waste time playing stuff like Sweet Dream Melinda, Goodbye Head and Drifting (although the jam in Drifting on Sat. was good).
Having seen the Duo about 6-8 times (1/2 w/ Mike) and feeling absolutely blown away each time…I was stunned that the addition of Trey to the trio subtracted more than it brought to the whole experience.
I just want every time I see Trey play to be like capturing lightning in a bottle, like it used to be…and while I understand that it can’t, it doesn’t mean I can’t be disappointed at the intermittant nature of it all.
I know what you mean, Axilla. I hate that Trey keeps going the route he’s going, but I really thought this tour was a step in the right direction. I was very concerned at the same time, though. I’ve only had the privelege of seeing Mike/Duo once last year and I thought it was excellent. Mike just fits in with them like Butter, imo. I was very worried that the addition of Trey might not be such a good thing. I even posted on here when the announcement first came out that I hoped Trey wouldn’t ruin what the other 3 had. I agree that they could have played better songs. They really didn’t utilize their full potential by even a tenth of what they could have done and that’s very disheartening. My vote is definitely for GRB over GRAB!
that’s well put ladyphish…i’d have to agree with pretty much all of that…and i totally understand why people are disappointed with the setlists, but as you pointed out, we should all know what to expect from grab at this point as far as song selection.
to me it’s pretty obvious that trey is the driving force behind the song selection (which is the way it’s probably been in every single band trey’s ever been in…where phish would be the only slight exception). they’re playing these songs for a reason. i.e. trey wants them to…no disrespect to mike or even marco/joe (who are incredible musicians in their own right and must be creaming themselves to share the stage with 2 of their idols).
they could easily blow the roof off the joint every night by playing crowd-pleasing phish tunes…idunno if it’s more of trey trying to settle back into the phish mentality, or if it’s more that he wants us fluffhead-requesting-play-it-like-you-used-to-phans to chill the fuck out…i mean if that’s been his intention since the breakup (which seems pretty feasible to me), it obviously hasn’t worked completely, but i think it’s starting to. i know my attitude has changed from wanting/expecting a funky phish tune every single song (and being totally disappointed at 70vp), to more of just appreciating/accepting whatever he/they feel like doing (and REALLY enjoying grab)…that’s as long as it sounds good of course…they cant just piss in my ears ;). and yes, the long and the short of it IS that trey seems to be headed in the right direction…
i dont think mike ever went off course
now we just need page and jon to GBOTT!
I think if GRAB played Phish songs it would be like taking a girl on a date to a restaurant you and your ex used to go to all the time.
That said, the Scranton GRAB show was def. the best I saw out of the three (Camden, PNC were the others). I think once you resign yourself to the fact that they’re not gonna play Weekapaug, you’ll have a much better time. But I still thought thye would be much better if they just functioned like MMW with John Scofield sitting in instead of doing Trey solo songs.
/hijacked. Go Braves.
^i feel ya dude
…but the braves suck 
I’m totally onboard with you phref and phandon, but does anybody else find it sad that we have to lower our expectations to enjoy Trey, lmao???