10/29 - Reading, PA - Santander Arena - Post-Show Discussion and Review

[emay]

yeah that yem was a trainwreck

trey nailed the intro but mike was totally lost and didnt even know they were starting it.

trey went to the that pre space riff while everyone else was on the climb

and then beginning of the jam they start to lock in, trey walked up real close to fish and had mike come closer and seemed like they were relaly listening to eachother play and get a groove going and it gets groovin then it seems like mike is tired of just sittin back and not happy with him missing the first part of the song he just starts tryin to take over the jam which leads to a kinda chaotic trainwreck of a jam > trey peaks and lets mike finish it up with his bass solo

[Gumbo72203]

yeah they had a SICK actual Type II groove going for a bit when Trey was vamping on that minor chord, but Mike didn't seem to pick up on that Trey wanted to go minor, and he kept playing some lead-style licks with more major-key YEM-ish notes. 


That Piper ending needed to be 40 minutes longer, though.  Fishman bluegrass beat with Trey space delay and Page on the theremin?  Oh fuck yes. 

[Gumbo72203]

WOAH< anybody hear a 6/19/04 Piper jam in the YEM??

starting at about 11:38....  it sounds like the post-peak/pre-Jibboo section of the 6/19/04 Piper. 

[Augustus]

Yep.
Definitely heard a 6-19-04 Piper jam going on there for a bit.

[VDB]

I know, Gumbo. I hear the 6/19/04 Piper jam every day.

On the face of every child. On the smile of every baby.

[McGrupp]

Close enough to 24 hours.

The show was great. I liked the venue, but not as much as Hampton  :wink:

I'm not going to make any big bold statements about this tour that a lot of people are, like "best they've been playing in 10 years!".

I will say that from the 4 shows I saw this summer (which sounded good to my ears for the most part, but mostly with 'highlights', a la basically every show since 09 with some exceptions)  - to the progress I've noticed in the 4 shows I've seen this Fall - the band is undoubtedly getting better. Sets are flowing better, more frequently. They're not aborting jams as often. The quality of the jams is up, multiple notches even.

I don't know what is happening. I have no reason to believe they are or are not practicing. I have no reason to believe it is or is not the crowd. I think it's safe to say that it's simply taken them 4 years to figure out how to play a show again. And they still haven't mastered it, but last night was definitely some of the best Phish I've ever seen, being the 3.0 n00b that I am.

So, some people don't like what they're doing. Some people LOVE EVERYTHING they're doing. Same as it ever was? I dunno, I wasn't around in the 90's.

They're a different band now - styles of jamming have shifted, as they always have. They clearly don't sound the same as they did, say 16 years ago. But that's to be expected.

If you've gone to a show this tour and disliked it, you're probably either over Phish completely, or just clinging to the past a little too hard. Or maybe you're a perfectionist dick (that's not necessarily a bad thing). This comment is not pointed at anyone in particular, as I've seen (and heard on lot) a ton of different people with "bad reviews".

Band is happy. Tunes are good. Could be tighter. Jams are interesting. Crowd is, for the most part, pretty damn satisfied. It's a good time to be a Phish fan.

I haven't listened back so I can't give a full review on the show yet. But I will say that I was really impressed with what they did with Twenty Years Later (never thought I'd say that, and no other version to date shall be spoken of) - easily the highlight of the night for me. Weird, right?

YEM was a huge mess. Reba was messy too. As was the Split jam (yes, that ~> Julius sucked).

But I walked out of the venue with a smile on my face, happy to have driven myself (solo), 5 hours out of the way to see one of my favorite bands play a concert in a weird fucking town.

More to come later.

[Gumbo72203]

the Split jam was weird in a great way, but the wind-down into Julius was interesting.  Never expected that; its not THAT bad on re-listen.  Certainly as "smooth" as the 20 Years Later ~> Piper. 


I've listened to 20 Years Later about 4 times so far today.  Shit is epic. 

[susep]

this Piper is sweet :rawk:

[WhatstheUse?]

There was nothing smooth about that ~> Julius. Great show but that was probably the low point for me

[Gumbo72203]

There was nothing smooth about that ~> Julius. Great show but that was probably the low point for me

well maybe YOU were probably the low point for the Julius.


Go play your drums, guy. 

[Insert Beer]

There was nothing smooth about that ~> Julius. Great show but that was probably the low point for me

well maybe YOU were probably the low point for the Julius.


Go play your drums, guy.

I can't tell if you are a perma troll or if you're just the weirdest kid of phish fan there is. Don't take it personally when someone doesn't see eye to eye on a particular show...you didn't even play any of the instruments on stage that night man...c'mon now.

[mbw]

There was nothing smooth about that ~> Julius. Great show but that was probably the low point for me

well maybe YOU were probably the low point for the Julius.


Go play your drums, guy.

I can't tell if you are a perma troll or if you're just the weirdest kid of phish fan there is.

#2. 

[Gumbo72203]

There was nothing smooth about that ~> Julius. Great show but that was probably the low point for me

well maybe YOU were probably the low point for the Julius.


Go play your drums, guy.

I can't tell if you are a perma troll or if you're just the weirdest kid of phish fan there is. Don't take it personally when someone doesn't see eye to eye on a particular show...you didn't even play any of the instruments on stage that night man...c'mon now.

You should listen to more 2004 jams then. 

[rowjimmy]

You can't pay me to listen to 2004.

[Insert Beer]

There was nothing smooth about that ~> Julius. Great show but that was probably the low point for me

well maybe YOU were probably the low point for the Julius.


Go play your drums, guy.

I can't tell if you are a perma troll or if you're just the weirdest kid of phish fan there is. Don't take it personally when someone doesn't see eye to eye on a particular show...you didn't even play any of the instruments on stage that night man...c'mon now.

You should listen to more 2004 jams then.

I listen to Live at Brooklyn when I want to hear a shitty ass DSky but that's about it.