08/16 - UIC Pavilion - Chicago, IL - Post-Show Discussion and Review

[burmesepython]

Disease!!!!!   WHAMMY LOOPS!!!!!!!

The ending to this thing is monstrous!!!   I'm stuck with a video for now, but did they put delay on Mike's foot-bell? 

the end of this is so sick, though...  Page's synth pushing the swell upwards, and Fish flows in with the cymbals, and Trey's WHAMMY LOOPS!!!!!!!

if they can figure out how to make this danceable....  instead of a giant space wash...  holy ball-sack.  And the patiently Page-caressed synthway into Twist....

for all the derision rightfully labeled on MOST of the material of the run, this makes me think of the glorious beginning to the Vegas '04 Twist.  That thing starts off *so* cool and slick...  sly, confident, and laid back.  OMG I love this!!!  They're like...  jamming the start!!!!  Page piano all over the first pre-chorus!!!  Oh man, this Twist jam!!!  holy wtf!!!

this is so fucking cool guys!!!

FN LOVE reading shit like this... DL'ing this show now and heading straight for the DWD>Twist. While witnessing the R&R from the Gorge I was awestruck at where they were taking that jam... deep deep into the dark depths of a sludge filled subway station. Stoked to hear they're continuing on the exploratory path... even if it's one early second set spaceship venture every couple shows.

[Gumbo72203]

Yeah man, the Disease got into this neat raunchy chomp-funk area about like... 16 minutes in, give or take.  Honky Page clav, and then it just melts away into this neat wash and then the cosmic landing strip sirens come in...... and then Twist slowly stands up like a slick, cool jazz-cat in a smoky lounge that just had his dick sucked and got paid for it. 

[sophist]

Yeah man, the Disease got into this neat raunchy chomp-funk area about like... 16 minutes in, give or take.  Honky Page clav, and then it just melts away into this neat wash and then the cosmic landing strip sirens come in...... and then Twist slowly stands up like a slick, cool jazz-cat in a smoky lounge that just had his dick sucked and got paid for it.

Ginsberg on prozac brilliant. 

[jedifunk]

finally getting around to this one... so far the disease is absolutely tasty!  interested to hear the rest of the set

[jedifunk]

ok, this 2nd set just put 1st night to shame.  just fucking sick from start to finish.  the DWD is awesome.  absolutely no trey-bullshit and just total all-band jamming throughout, very very good stuff. 

i love the song selection throughout the set.  BDTNL is such a great song IMO, and they just grooved it so hard.  the segue from golden age into ADITL is sublime, and page just nails the beginning.  and this YEM, wow!  there was a little bit of everything in it, without being choppy (which is a 3.0 trait IMO).

without even hearing 3rd night yet, i'm gonna say this was the best set of the run, and probably the best set of the tour.  maybe best of 3.0?  thoughts?  obviously, i haven't listened to a lot of 3.0 (well, pretty much most of it), but this set didn't sound 3.0 at all. 

i think the biggest thing for me was that there wasn't a single cringe-worthy moment in the set.

[gainesvillegreen]

ok, this 2nd set just put 1st night to shame.  just fucking sick from start to finish.  the DWD is awesome.  absolutely no trey-bullshit and just total all-band jamming throughout, very very good stuff. 

i love the song selection throughout the set.  BDTNL is such a great song IMO, and they just grooved it so hard.  the segue from golden age into ADITL is sublime, and page just nails the beginning.  and this YEM, wow!  there was a little bit of everything in it, without being choppy (which is a 3.0 trait IMO).

without even hearing 3rd night yet, i'm gonna say this was the best set of the run, and probably the best set of the tour.  maybe best of 3.0?  thoughts?  obviously, i haven't listened to a lot of 3.0 (well, pretty much most of it), but this set didn't sound 3.0 at all. 

i think the biggest thing for me was that there wasn't a single cringe-worthy moment in the set.

Whatever gets you posting on the reg again is fine by me. 

[Gumbo72203]

without having listened to the other 2 shows in complete yet, I'm inclined to agree with this sentiment.  Save for the questionable existence/placement of Mexican Cousin, this show is absolutely perfect Phish-journey. 

If the first night had at least one jam song that was over 15-16 minutes, then I think that night would take the cake for its special curfew situation, but with the 2nd nights DWD sticking out glaringly at over 21 minutes, that kind of puts a spotlight on this a little more. 

[Buffalo Budd]

I love hearing a positive review from jedi, may have to skip straight to this 2nd set.

[jedifunk]

Save for the questionable existence/placement of Mexican Cousin, this show is absolutely perfect Phish-journey. 

i LOVE my mexi cousin!  of course i definitely fall in the category of liking all the pop-y songs everyone else hates.

my faves:
jenny dances
mexi cousin
the connection

my least faves:
possum
maze
pyite

[jedifunk]

Whatever gets you posting on the reg again is fine by me. 

haha, yeah, my existence on this site certainly ebbs and flows these days.  i lurk a lot, looking for the right threads to get involved in... and i'm lazy about it most of the time.

I love hearing a positive review from jedi, may have to skip straight to this 2nd set.

danks.... i love hearing good phish, and this run was good phish for the most part

[WhatstheUse?]

Listening back to this DWD and digging it!

This show was definitely my least favorite of the 3, but not bad by any means!

[sls.stormyrider]

just getting through set 1.
very impressed.
Ocelot, the Wedge, and LxL are all top versions.

set 2 kills - can't pick between 8-16 and 8-16, but that's OK.


so - they obviously still know how to jam. Could it be that they choose not to?
Why would that be?
Obvious dis-respect of the 'paug, if you ask me.

[Gumbo72203]

Of course.


I think it all goes back to my post in the 8/12 thread.... or maybe 8/15, i cant remember.  But the bottom line, is that the band's values have changed, and they have fallen in love with themselves, and what they've created: their songs. 

They are getting the same payoff from reliably killing stuff like Possum, Maze, Wolfmans in the same manner in which they got off from jamming stuff like Ghost, Piper, Seven Below...

And, as we all know, with age comes less risk.  With jamming and songs being equal, they now would rather indulge in the reliable standby, without the risk of being unsatisfied by what they were able to do with 20 minutes of Ghost, for example. 

I believe that they're thinking is that, if they restrict their jamming, the times when it happens will more frequently be rewarding.  You want stability as you age, and pushing through 4, 5 nights of disappointment in jamming-based music for one night of ecstatic musical orgasms isn't as worth the effort and frustration anymore as playing 5 solid nights of bitchin-good song-based sets.  They don't want to waste a single second on-stage, satisfaction-wise. 

Why play Tweezer with the risk of not be satisfied with the result and get mad and down on yourself when you know you'll be satisfied with a hot Maze peak? 



This is just a theory, based on their actions and results of late, musically-speaking.  I think they are discovering that they can frequently produce satisfactory jamming results.... so its more of an issue of confidence now. 

[jedifunk]

i don't buy that.  only during 2.0 were the jams "disappointing" at times.  i can't think of very many instances in 1.0 where that happened.  when they jammed it was awesome, and they jammed every night, so entire tours were awesome.

i don't think jamming brought critique, good or bad, from them.  i think it was a natural outlet for them.  its what they did.  especially in 97-99, when they abandoned the rigid setlists and just went with the flow.  they never set out to play a 25 min tweezer, it just happened.

i also think that is where the stability was, in the jams.  much easier to cover up a "mistake" in a jam when everything is free flowing and unintended.  whereas in a song, or composed section, if they missed a change it was noticeable.

also, i don't think their attitude towards feeling and energy has really changed.  think about trey's quote from bittersweet (the movie).  he could care less about missing a change, as long as the energy was there.  the energy is what got him off.

bottom line.  people change, evolve.  unless they come out and say they don't like jamming anymore i don't think it should be second guessed.  we have no idea what they are thinking.

[rowjimmy]

This show is pretty cool for 3.0.