What a roller-coaster ride Fall 2014 has been so far! As many of you noted in your comments to my Eugene precap, the tour opener was (NOT) all about my high expectations and I completely assumed the role of Sisyphus pushing that particular boulder to the top of my stack of preconceived notions for the always portentous first night. Unlike the band on such evenings, I was not a bag of nerves, I was at home at the Matt Knight Arena in the warm embrace of friends old and new. As expected, and much like that exhilarating rush of the first plummet over the edge of the log flume, the Eugene show was fantastic, made a big splash, and got the seat of my pants wet. No, they didn’t play everything I had forecasted, and I didn’t in truth expect them to do that. I expected a great show and that is exactly what we got. Couldn’t be happier with the song selection and still can’t get “Plasma” out of my head.
Photo by @ebyron
As we made our way north to Seattle, my hopes remained high that the energy from the previous night would carry us and the band through day two. Those hopes were dashed the instant we walked through the doors of the Key Arena and my wife’s excitement to be alive in that moment was misinterpreted by venue staff as excessive intoxication. After ten minutes of interrogation, negotiation, and an invitation for the alcohol monitors to gargle on my nuts the happy vibe was taken down quite a few notches. The Seattle show was thereby destined to be the painful neck-snapping lurch at the bottom of that first rise and fall of the roller-coaster's run. Just to be sure it wasn’t all about my personal experience, I went back and listened to the Seattle show again and reached the same conclusion as I did during the (nod to Jimi Hendrix) experience. The first set is certain to be the nadir of this tour. The second saw a barely perceptible change in direction as we began our slow ascent up the next hill. The dreaded Saturday Night Special had occurred. Much like that day’s homecoming game at Autzen, Oregon just crushed Washington.
Photo by Rene Huemer, © Phish From the Road
Following the lines going south, we hopped off tour in the physical sense and retreated to the safety of the couch. Because the Phish ticketing system is so broken, heading to the Santa Barbara Bowl seemed out of the question. After seeing the images of the venue, both still and moving, and hearing that once again extra tickets were littering the ground unused (AT A 4,500 SEAT VENUE???) I felt blinding rage toward each person involved with the abject failure of the Phish ticket distribution system. There will be more on this later so I won’t steal that piece of future thunder, but seriously, it is high time to institute a ticketless non-refundable (you can’t scalp these or buy them to trade for other shows that also have artificially high demand you worthless scumbag) concert entry system. Other artists do it… our band should too.... get your shit together, Phish!
Santa Barbara 1, as noted by my esteemed colleague TheEmu, saw the band start to do that on stage again at least, the limp and lifeless Seattle show was no reason to start freaking out and throwing stuff. Go listen to Tuesday night’s “Chalk Dust” and “Ghost” again. That shit was proper and completely set the stage for what was to come last night. Sure the intimacy of the venue led to some awkward moments (see “Birds” and “Suzy Greenberg”), but ultimately the train was set back on the right track.
Photo © Phish From the Road
As we all know, Phish will occasionally offer us a glimpse behind the curtain and clouded visions of what is to come. In the days leading up to the most hallowed of eves, all eyes and ears are searching for a clue for the trick or treat that awaits in Vegas. With that in mind, if you were paying attention to @Phish_FTR yesterday, you were not surprised by the band’s invitation to last night’s “Soul Shakedown Party” at all. Happy, grinning ear to ear perhaps, but definitely not surprised. A great way to watch the sun go down on another day in paradise and a terrific start to what would be a wonderful night of music. The first set vibe was focused on the idyllic tranquility of (“Wedge”) Santa Barbara and the state of (“Undermind”) relaxation that arises from (“Horn”) a luxurious full body (“Ya Mar”) massage. The band clearly feeds off (“Jesus Just Left Chicago”) its environment and the warm glow of (“A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing”) the crowd. This first set (“Winterqueen”) had bucketfuls to spare (“My Friend, My Friend”) and a few of them dumped out all over my kitchen as I (“Split Open and Melt”) cooked dinner (I’ll spare you my braise recipe), my wife completed her security clearance documentation for a new job opportunity, and my daughter took photos of the swirling patterns that can be induced in (“Walls of the Cave”) a plate of milk inoculated with food coloring and a drop of dish soap. We ate during setbreak and settled down for set two.
Photo by Rene Huemer, © Phish From the Road
With the Pacific Ocean beckoning in the distance, we ran down to the beach and got absolutely “Drowned” in the chilly and chaotic surf that cascaded wildly onto the shore. Diving deeper beneath the surface we found the “Theme From the Bottom” to be quite pleasing, once again fathoming previously unimaginable depths. Unlike the powers that be vested with the weighty responsibility of determining when or if Phish consciously teases, quotes, or jams another song within a song and deems it worthy of being canonized into a given show’s setlist, I will state unequivocally that Phish played portions of the Pink Floyd song “Echoes” during both “Theme From the Bottom” and the “Steam” that billowed from this eruption of Pompeian lava onto the ocean floor. To borrow the words of another of my esteemed colleagues, this “Echoes” jamakinto is as obvious as two goats fucking in church and if you cannot hear it you are fucking deaf.
As I basked in the undulating flow of “Waves” I asked myself how sick would it be if Phish busted out Meddle for Halloween? About as sick as the strains of both “Stranglehold” and “Mike’s Song” that also reverberated through the “Echoes” in my brain as I fought with the reality that they would actually be covering Trey and the Undectet’s Original Boardwalk Style as a subtle nod to the place (Atlantic City) the old Halloween tradition died and the new one was born.
Photo © Phish From the Road
“Twenty Years Later” marks the thematic divide between the aquatic third and extra-terrestrial fourth quarter of last night’s show. As our kayak returned from the wild ride in thirty-foot seas, we were greeted on land by a menagerie of Animals to close out the show. “Scent of a Mule” found Mike ringing the fight bell like a champ as a frenetic Fishman played alien whack-a-mole on the marimba lumina. The UFOs of course unloaded their laser beams and departed with the monolith to the space disco funk of “Also Sprach Zarathustra” (aka “2001”). Eugene’s missing second set “Mike’s Song” finally arrived with a faithful canine (“Runaway Jim”) as his companion and a blistering “Weekapaug Groove” which OFFICIALLY contained teases of both “Runaway Jim” and “2001” closed out a terrific second set. Not to be outdone, the two thirds animal encore, featuring Page as the jockey now riding “The Horse” into “Silent in the Morning” and a delirious “Run Like an Antelope” that included a festive yet no less OFFICIAL quote and tease of the show opening “Soul Shakedown Party,” took us to the very precipice of the hard 10:00 PM curfew. What a ride!!! Safe travels down to the Forum and beyond. Stay thirsty my friends… the best show of this tour is yet to come.
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Wifey got a little excited on entry, huh. Kinda hard to stand out in this sea of w00ks.
Sounds like some bad-timing or misinterpretation, sorry bout the buzz kill.
Good observations, @makisupaman
From the couch, I, too, noticed the effortless theme-> steam and the Jim in Mikes.
I unconsciously, but directly related the Jim to recent Ghost and Wedge integration.
I agree, it was refreshing to see the delivery of SB2_2014. Dynamic. Unpredictable. Raw. Phish!
In other news, I get to see Phish tomorrow for the first time in 51 weeks, and I just might JIMP!
I'm an old Dead Head and part of the charm of the Dead was always the flow of the show. This flow was manifested as much lyrically as musically. Many of my favorite "moments" at Dead shows were those times of lyrical synchronicity.
Phish does that often as well but it's rarely acknowledged. However, it is threaded all through your piece and it's wonderful.
Thanks so much. This is easily the best show since Dick's.
I'd sure like to hear more about how some bands are fighting scalping. Can anyone elaborate at what was hinted at in the review???
@Doctor_Smarty Ignore the review haters. There's no right answer to what makes a good review except the open, free forum that's available right here. i.e. If you don't like the style of the review, post your own! They have this handy box right at the bottom of the screen. If it makes you sad you don't get the headliner review, then work for years behind the scenes at phish.net and you'll get the privilege of letting random strangers tell you how much your review suck too. Sheesh.
I offered the Eugene, Seattle, and SB1 paragraphs as a means of setting the parameters for my evaluation of SB2. My evaluation of SB2 is that it was the best show of the four played to date on the Fall 2014 tour. The first set was well paced, patient, cohesive. The second set featured some great jams, two thematic constructs, and high energy.
If you dislike my approach...please avoid reading my thoughts in the future. If you want me to dissect each song in obsessive detail...read the fucking song histories I have written. Better yet...feel free to offer up your own reviews of the shows and the songs in obsessive detail. I will be happy to read and critique those with equal vigor.
There is a simple solution to the ticket problem. Non-transferable ticketless entry. Don't buy a ticket you have no intention of using. The whole thing is a scam though. Tickets to these shows were released in reverse order. 200s first, then when enough of those were purchased 100s started popping up, when enough of those were purchased then floor tickets came available. I had friends who kept upgrading thinking they could get rid of the shitty tickets they were upgrading from. Didn't happen. Tickets on the ground...everywhere.
I thought last night was up there in the rankings. Went to both shows, left the first night feeling like there were missteps that kept the show from really finding its stride. Ghost while good, had odd moments with its timing, it felt forced. I thought Trey tried too hard with his delay rig. I have not been a fan of Ghost for many years. I love the song, but I can't lie, I think its current modality just does not take advantage of the real potential in the song that we used to see. (I know, I am living in the past, but I feel like the versions with more live riffing and funk elements were better.) But I digress...
There was more than one song in SB1 that I felt came out noisey instead of great because of overuse. I was enjoying the Birds jam when I heard the closing riff from Trey and remember thinking..."wait, what?" TreyDHD is back? I could go on, but the point is it was just an okay show IMO. Some good moments, but it lacked in continuity and mastership? I think I just made that word up. I walked into the second night hoping for more and ready for the delivery of that... or not.
I think the band delivered. The first set had great song selection and placement (The whole show did, but I think this is often more weighted in the less jam heavy first sets). The opener gave a nice nod to Bob's history at the venue and fit with Phish's subtle references to those that have come before that they have employed before. I like that stuff. I think it shows that they pay attention to the history of musicianship, time, and place. I got chill bumps, not cause the song was so awesome as much as because it said "we are here for night two also and we are paying attention." The first set unfolded nicely and included many well played songs, with high energy from the band and crowd, and built to a solid close. They were no bathroom break songs. Winterqueen, a new personal favorite but a definite pace changer was slipped into the setlist smooth as a honeymoon pecker. When the first set ended, JJLC, MFMF, and Split all held space in my head for their tightness and evidence that the band was poised to deliver. Undermind, IMO a great tune on album and sometimes a great tune at shows was fun and fit well after The Wedge. At the end of the first set I was psyched, not wondering what might come later, but really happy with what I had just seen. The band was too, Trey took a shirt from a fan in the GA pit at set close. Proving again that banter and crowd interplay often come along with great nights of music. What would you rather see? The band exiting the stage without fare, or accepting CD's or DVD's or whatever was thrown on stage and then soliciting a t-shirt from an audience member? Just a rhetorical question there, I'm not trying to goad you.
The second set was phenomenal. From my perspective, in the GA pit and as a fan, the second set opener showed that the boys aimed to please. The water theme was nice, but more than the water theme that was present in both the first and second set what I liked was the simple fact that every song was largely devoid of distracting flubs and timing trips that can take a song from great to pretty good. Drowned has been a jam vehicle of immense proportions and I'd wager there are folks here who agree that when it drops into the 2nd set opener slot it sets the tone. The opening trio of the second set, while not out of this world in its exploration, found Phish firmly in the pocket. The jam out of Theme into Steam was incredible. I can't speak to the Floyd teases, they did not resonate with me, but the fact that the band was content to sit in the pocket and have fun was notable. I have seen some great Theme jams (VB 97 comes to mind for its cow funk qualities), but this one was set up by all the band members subtley (sp?) stepping up. I like that Trey seems to put a lot of thought into how he plays from behind these days. He is a great rhythm and fill player, he also rips as we all know, but I think he adds more and more these days by working off of Page. The Steam that came out was great. The syncopation in that one is pleasing. I would have to dig to find a bad one, I am sure there is one out there, but I'm always psyched when Steam drops.
After the opening trio of the second set, my attention was held. It was essentially a game of "how will they keep this alive?" The rest of the set answered that. I am not sure there was anything extraordinary about the setlist, but there was in how it was delivered. The band was playing with confidence. When Trey did step out front it was with intention and precision. The setlist reads well, but again it is more in the playing for me than anything else. The Scent, 2001, Mikes> Jim> Weekapaug was chalk full of examples of Phish exercising the musicianship that we all love. Page's solos, Trey's fill licks and on point solos, Fish's fills on drums and the marimba lumina!, Mike's Mike-ness, all were present. 2001 was solid. The Mikes> Jim> Weekapaug was a solid exclamation point for a great night. Not 100% sure yet on the stats of Mikes> Jim combos, but if that doesn't say "are we having fun yet?" I don't know what does. The Antelope encore closer, worth review for pure enjoyment and on point playing, was great. More than once I noticed how Trey just seemed unable to miss a note. Someone back me up there, anyone?
I listened to the show on my drive home wondering if my "in the moment" appraisal could have been biased, and I don't think it is. It's just as good the day after as it was live. I think this show goes right next to or past MPP2 as far as the band having fun, playing well, and proving that anything can happen at anytime with "3.0". They made great jam vehicles excellent, played every note like it counted, and left everyone in attendance grinning.
So, there is my first public opinion. It's not right or wrong, but I for one walked out of the Bowl thinking I had just seen an exceptional Phish show. I've seen some duds. I've seen some doozies. This one is up there with some of the doozies, not sure how far up, but firmly up there somewhere. I got a taste of the summer tour Phish that I heard with pleasure while following from the couch and web. Psyched for the San Francisco run. Wishing you all a great Halloween show.
Great observations. What I want to elaborate on is your commentary about sloppy playing taking away from the jams and general show's quality.
It's often downplayed in the forum in that many are so thankful for the jams when they happen that they ignore (or don't notice) the flubs and miscues. For me, when the band isn't tight or seemingly focused, the jamming rarely saves it. After all, any decent musician can pull out his bag of tricks and make it sound as though something original is happening by droning on and on is an endless loop of minor/major scales interspersed with stylings and occasional lyrical phrasings, but when it's a muddy mess it doesn't mean anything. This was often a problem during the latter half of 2.0, where Trey would commonly venture into no-man's-land, for no-definable-reason and his mates knew they must follow because "the show must go on".
The past year or so, while I've been as excited as everyone else about the penchant for more frequent explorations, I have at times actually found myself longing for more of the tight, precise playing of, say, Fall Tour '10, or dare I say, Phish circa '93-94.
Not trying to be greedy, but my favorite moments are when the jamming is real, organic and tight. By tight....I mean they are listening to each other and responding.
My chief complaint about the Alpharetta show this summer was that Trey just seemed out on an island the whole night with Page and Mike along for the ride. SB2 was as you described....on point, purposeful and rich in subtle majesty. I loved it.
The genius is in the subtlety and focused intent. The mastery of the single note placed perfectly and in harmony. The LISTENING.....
You captured this well in your post and I agree with you.
Thanks for those thoughts. Hope you post more often.
BTW, couldn't agree more with your take on Ghost. I feel the same way.
GUESS I AM A DEAF GOAT
I enjoyed this review and figured some of y'all might as well:
http://www.jambase.com/Articles/123109/Phish-Cover-Heavy-Santa-Barbara-Finale-Skinny-and-Setlist
Stoked for the Forum...how about you?
I'll back you up. I was there as well, and after SB1 I was a little nervous how things would go. I've used the word "Flawless" many times so far in describing the show. That isn't meant to say it was perfect or GREATEST SHOW EVER! material. Just that It was one long continuously joyful ride through as many forms of music I can imagine, all played cleanly and frankly gorgeously. Trey was spectacular in all his roles and the whole band really gave us one of those shows where the sum of the parts created a beautiful holistic musical experience.
I also think that overt wishful thinking for a halloween album is a little...well, a way to set up disappointment. The band has clearly been hinting "no halloween album" in various ways..... at least IMHO. I was exhausted with all the fans who didnt get wingsuit last year. I cant deny that im already exhausted (in advance) imagining all the fussing that will happen when the band doesnt give fans a cover set. Pink Floyd much less.
Well written, regardless. A fun review, but not necessarily enough about the actual SB2 show. A little too much about kids and wives. Maybe a little more about the show and music. Just my .02. Carry on sir.
Context is the key to appreciation.
If any of us think for one minute that we are not continuously comparing our current Phish experience with past experiences then we are deluding ourselves. How on earth can we honestly say something like (we hear this all the time): "I entered this show with no expectations...." Seriously. If you had no expectations then why buy a ticket? What's the attraction? Randomness? Truly, without a build-up of expectation, there is no excitement or anticipation. If there's no excitement or anticipation then the venues would remain empty because what's the point?
The context provided in this essay was needed in my opinion because the elephant in the room which no-one wanted to talk about was that the early stages of this Fall Tour were MEH at best. This show zapped needed life into the scene and the review articulated that aspect in a constructive and positive manner.
The show was tight and the band was really gelling especially on the MFMF, SOAM and several others. We had the delight of meeting Ellis from Phish.net, a guy from Hamburg and a warm couple who told of us their adventures at Phish8.
The Soul Shakedown Party was a fantastic start for us and my girl was shaking it with her Prada handbag narrowly missing some dancing Phans. Would have been great to hear the Jerry cover Cats Under the Stars with the beautiful stars and the glow stick lights aglow, but loved the beauty of this amazing band in an amazing venue.
Echoes:
Compare 24:01 of http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IORhvHRnH3k with 7:38 of http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rn7MmS3vazU
Enjoy!