Seems like a lot of negativity is floating around the interwebz re: last night and I’m just not hearing it.
This band is still absolutely crushing it. The level of musicality they bring to the table is still untouched in the ‘rock’ world. Their ability to use tension/release and peak over and over again is unrivaled. They make it look so easy, but it’s not. Even the ‘simple’ type 1 rawk peaks they are bringing to the table have so much musicality behind them. They’re all masters at what they do. I know Trey has lost his pep-in-his-step but my dear lord the man can still play his heart out. He only has bursts of speed here and there, but his rhythm and note choices are still so on point. He has this magic ability to play such simplistic melodies that are instantly singable. It’s as if his improvised melodies are stuck in your head before they’ve even happened.
And Mike Fucking Gordon. Can we talk about that weirdo for a second? The guy is seriously at the top of his game. I think he’s the only one of the four to consistently get better with time. He pushes the music so hard and makes everyone else in the band sound better because of his musical support. Those sick Trey peaks would be nothing w/o Mike’s thunderous bottom end building the tension beneath him. The man is a musical genius.
Okay I’m gonna go sleep forever now.
Page.
Page has gotten consistently better with time.
It isn't a competition, so Page vs Mike, I don't know, but what I do know is that: Trey wouldn't sound half as good as he does these days if it wasn't for Page.
Again, I draw people's attention to something as simple as the Pigtail from 7/21/17, listen to how they swirl around one another like so many strands of DNA. They do this all the time now whereas, say, in 1997, and before they did not (as consistently and as interestingly as they do now).
TL;DR
Page.
I will agree with this – Page sounds consistently great and adds an absolute essence to the Phish sound that cannot be understated.
However and to add to the broader conversation of who's improving with age, I do find myself feeling like Trey alone is the man steering most of the jams these days – which means his well of ideas can exhaust that much faster and it's that much more obvious when it does. This, of course, has not always been true.
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