11/28 - Times Union Center - Albany, NY - Post-Show Discussion and Review

[sls.stormyrider]

listening to set 2 again
couple other observations

Fish has his mojo back

About the 21 min mark of Ghost, right before the crowd goes wild, as it's slowing down - Mike and Fish get into a very cool groove for a few bars. I was hoping they would take off from there, but instead, the spaceship landed. oh well, it's all good

Jiboo-Trey and Page were doing a great job playing off each other. Trey's playing was pretty hot, imo, from Jibboo on

definitely my favorite set of 09.

agree though with comments about the Gorge - some great stuff there too

[sunrisevt]

Think about it. When has Albany not delivered the goods? NEVER. Anyone who had the means and could of gone yet opted not to, is a fool.

you're right.
but we were talking about cincy.  :-D


and sunrise, there's always next time...

Hell yes there is.

[Gumbo72203]

Okay...   

now that i've found my jaw and collected most of my marbles, ive relisteninged to stuffs from at this the show I seen. 

Didn't notice the roughness of Uncle Pen in concert... but listening back, its not THAT bad.  I shudder at the thought of what this would have sounded like in '03, let alone '04....  eek. 

Foam is weird, it sounds like Trey got behind a beat or something after the first chorus.  Still, its not THAT bad, I dig the chill island grooveyness of the jam, and he rips some sweet lines at the end, especially is ascending > descending thing at the VERY end.  Stealing Time had some fucking DIRTY leads.  Maybe it was that song I was thinking was "dirty".  I remember now texting my friend who was there and text-yelling "DIRTY!!!  FUCKIN DIRTY###@@@@#@!!"  It may have been Julius. 


But I have such a newfound respect and admiration for SANITY.  WOW!!!!!!  Holy POW!!!!!  BOOM!!!!!  That song is one that must ABSOLUTELY be experienced live to understand its full impact...  HOLY SHIT.  That floored me.  Like, not sick jamming; the song is a fucking POWERHOUSE of evil.  Jesus christ.  They need to play this more often.  I think this may be the one song I am most grateful for getting to experience...because it had such a massive paradigm-shifting impact on me. 

One other thing, though that I was reaaaaalllly hoping would happen was when the SOAM jam hits the major key part.  It was disappointing that CK5 didn't black out the band for the seaweed, but I guess its better he didn't because the band seemed to stutter on the beat then.  The jam starts out really well I think...  but I LUV at 5:30 when Trey is all like "YO!  Lets make this major key!!!"  but Page is all like "Nah fuck that.... DISSSOOONANNNCCCCEeEEEE@@@!!!!!"  Unfortunately Trey just wanders, and nothing very material materializes.  It all goes to hell when he brings out his tremolo....   he kinda brings it back, and the jam has great promise around 8:43, but nah.  Whammy trills kill it.  While this jam is most certainly not a trainwreck, it does go absolutely nowhere...   which is rather unfortunate. 

But live it was neat, it had a little bit of that "falling down stairs" feeling.  But Trey's ending is really bad...  he totally can't get it together.  They should have just like, totally DESTROYED the song and obliterated it into nothingness and chaos.  Its ouchy. 

Number Line has Trey losing it....  "where you drift in time..." he falls apart.  But the jam is where its at.  I think this perfectly illustrates what was to come...  the band builds it patiently, all working together.  Trey has some wicked good theme going from like 4:30 until a high note peack at 5:03 and some wicked imaginative lines going throughout the entire 5-minute section.  Its just a shame that his hands aren't waht they used to be....  you totally "see" what he's trying to do, but his hands just won't do it.  The jam isn't anywhere near as raging as it was live...  its still totally aweosme, but live this was fuckin HUGE.  I guess CK5 does matter...  lol. 


I'm still disappointed at the change in Jibboo's arrangement...  I guess its an inconsequential part of the song, but that little diddly lead part i always liked.  And I wish Trey would leave the whammy loop on so it was audible...  but this jam is fucking sweet.  Page is gorgeous.  Trey is spacious, and considerate, and thoughtful, and imaginative...and Page dances all over it. 




i gotta go to bed now tho

[StCarl]

re-listned to &BLo and Ghost.
opinions might have changed on second listen.
not sure which i prefer at this point, though i was much more nit picky on revisiting, and flaws aside the jam of seven Below  seemed more... coherent? i dunno.

That was my feeling after my first listen.  Going to revisit this on my ride later today - first time I listened, I engaged with this 3.o melt more than most lately, plus I sensed something familiar floating around during the melt jam, vultures, and the seven below jam.  Further listening required.

[mehead]

I hear a Light tease at the 14 min mark in Ghost

[fauxpaxfauxreal]

It's good, but I got sick of it pretty quickly.  I'd say those shows are in the top fifty percent, but I have odd taste in a lot of shows...I like Asheville and Burgettstown more than I like the Gorge shows.

I question your burgettstown love. Like I said i'm not a big fan of that YEM. Def a good show, but I thought the Tube was by a longshot the best jam of the night. I've heard you reference the Wolfman's a few times as well and could never get into it. 6/7 wolfmans pwns 6/18 in a huge way!

my opinion, of course.

Maybe that's true, but the 6/18 wolfman's and yem were h33t.  I loved them a lot.

[flow00]

re-listned to &BLo and Ghost.
opinions might have changed on second listen.
not sure which i prefer at this point, though i was much more nit picky on revisiting, and flaws aside the jam of seven Below  seemed more... coherent? i dunno.

That was my feeling after my first listen.  Going to revisit this on my ride later today - first time I listened, I engaged with this 3.o melt more than most lately, plus I sensed something familiar floating around during the melt jam, vultures, and the seven below jam.  Further listening required.

The Seven Below feels more deliberate and cautious, at least the first 12 minutes. I still like the Ghost better because it has so many layers and changes. Everyone seems to be a large part of the jam. For me, it took off because of Mike. He has been a mad man!

[fauxpaxfauxreal]

Does anyone notice the "Cool It Down" vamping from Trey and Page at the beginning of the Ghost jam?  The first time I heard it, I thought the opening of the jam sounded "Back On The Train-Esque".  The second time I heard it I thought "Holy s%^*! That's Cool It Down!".

[mattstick]

Yes, he loves the Cool It Down riffery in that Ghost.

[fauxpaxfauxreal]

Okay...   

now that i've found my jaw and collected most of my marbles, ive relisteninged to stuffs from at this the show I seen. 

Didn't notice the roughness of Uncle Pen in concert... but listening back, its not THAT bad.  I shudder at the thought of what this would have sounded like in '03, let alone '04....  eek. 

Foam is weird, it sounds like Trey got behind a beat or something after the first chorus.  Still, its not THAT bad, I dig the chill island grooveyness of the jam, and he rips some sweet lines at the end, especially is ascending > descending thing at the VERY end.  Stealing Time had some fucking DIRTY leads.  Maybe it was that song I was thinking was "dirty".  I remember now texting my friend who was there and text-yelling "DIRTY!!!  FUCKIN DIRTY###@@@@#@!!"  It may have been Julius. 


But I have such a newfound respect and admiration for SANITY.  WOW!!!!!!  Holy POW!!!!!  BOOM!!!!!  That song is one that must ABSOLUTELY be experienced live to understand its full impact...  HOLY SHIT.  That floored me.  Like, not sick jamming; the song is a fucking POWERHOUSE of evil.  Jesus christ.  They need to play this more often.  I think this may be the one song I am most grateful for getting to experience...because it had such a massive paradigm-shifting impact on me. 

One other thing, though that I was reaaaaalllly hoping would happen was when the SOAM jam hits the major key part.  It was disappointing that CK5 didn't black out the band for the seaweed, but I guess its better he didn't because the band seemed to stutter on the beat then.  The jam starts out really well I think...  but I LUV at 5:30 when Trey is all like "YO!  Lets make this major key!!!"  but Page is all like "Nah fuck that.... DISSSOOONANNNCCCCEeEEEE@@@!!!!!"  Unfortunately Trey just wanders, and nothing very material materializes.  It all goes to hell when he brings out his tremolo....   he kinda brings it back, and the jam has great promise around 8:43, but nah.  Whammy trills kill it.  While this jam is most certainly not a trainwreck, it does go absolutely nowhere...   which is rather unfortunate. 

But live it was neat, it had a little bit of that "falling down stairs" feeling.  But Trey's ending is really bad...  he totally can't get it together.  They should have just like, totally DESTROYED the song and obliterated it into nothingness and chaos.  Its ouchy. 

Number Line has Trey losing it....  "where you drift in time..." he falls apart.  But the jam is where its at.  I think this perfectly illustrates what was to come...  the band builds it patiently, all working together.  Trey has some wicked good theme going from like 4:30 until a high note peack at 5:03 and some wicked imaginative lines going throughout the entire 5-minute section.  Its just a shame that his hands aren't waht they used to be....  you totally "see" what he's trying to do, but his hands just won't do it.  The jam isn't anywhere near as raging as it was live...  its still totally aweosme, but live this was fuckin HUGE.  I guess CK5 does matter...  lol. 


I'm still disappointed at the change in Jibboo's arrangement...  I guess its an inconsequential part of the song, but that little diddly lead part i always liked.  And I wish Trey would leave the whammy loop on so it was audible...  but this jam is fucking sweet.  Page is gorgeous.  Trey is spacious, and considerate, and thoughtful, and imaginative...and Page dances all over it. 




i gotta go to bed now tho

My brain just exploded.

[Gumbo72203]

heh...


I just had a WEIRD thought/revelation, though...   I'm listening to Set 2 again, and Ghost just started, and I was still thinking back to the Seven Below jam (the lick at 20:49 is WHAT ITS FUCKING ABOUT!!!) and like, right as I was thinking about the jam, Trey was singing, and I thought about the ironies inherent to what just happened....

Specifically, it was the "ghost I once knew and talked to" and I couldn't help but make the connection that Trey was singing that song as some sort of commentary to the crowd in regards to the mammoth jam that had just happened, sort of like a commentary about like "yeah we used to do this shit with our eyes closed, and now we can again" especially because of the "maybe he's still with me" line.

So maybe the ghost is IT.  Because it really NEVER did speak a word.  It made vocalizations, like in "Guy Forget" and the Ball Mike's, but it never did speak.  It came in action; the jamming was action, and the lights accompanying IT were action. 

and then that maybe, towards the end, Trey thought that he could fake it through the shows without needing IT, that people would continue coming to see shows regardless of whether or not the band was an absolute joke and a pathetic shell of what they once were, which WAS true.  And because Trey stopped caring, and didn't need that epic jamming anymore to draw people, it stopped showing up. 

And that all they had to do was simply GO THERE again, and he would show up.  Because aside from the Hampton Disease and the Camden Sand, nothing they'd done yet ever approached that sort of epic hugeness, in terms of time.  Everything had been short, to the point, and safe.  So, its always been there, but the band just had to get back into form to be able to "look" to see if it is still there.


I donno, it makes sense in my head.  So i guess that automatically means none of you will get it, though...  haha


Ghost is fucking sick, though.  holy shit.  Thank Jerry Fishman decided to bust into that double time shit...

IT moments:
7 Below:  8:05 - because NOW you know shits about to hit the fan, because the -7 Reprise gave way to the unknown...
7 Below:  12:20 - because Trey wants to play Shine!!!   (in all fairness, Page actually introduced it about a minute earlier...)
7 Below:  Trey lick at 20:47 - most important lick EvAR!!
Ghost:  11:30-11:33 courtesy of one Mr. Pay Jorgan Lick. 



Not sure which I like best; I keep goin back and forth.  I think I may have to go with 7 Below, because of 16 mins -> onward.  Its more floaty and happy and joyous and the Ghost jam is more dark funk and then fucking SHRAGE.  But the thing about the 7 Below is that it has that shrage power, but it also has a melodic/thematic foundation, like the 7/22/03 Gumbo ending, or the Camden Sand.

But tomorrow I might be in the mood for a shred Ghost like 11/11/98 or 12/31/99, sooo

[keeb333]

Specifically, it was the "ghost I once knew and talked to" and I couldn't help but make the connection that Trey was singing that song as some sort of commentary to the crowd in regards to the mammoth jam that had just happened, sort of like a commentary about like "yeah we used to do this shit with our eyes closed, and now we can again" especially because of the "maybe he's still with me" line.

So maybe the ghost is IT.  Because it really NEVER did speak a word.  It made vocalizations, like in "Guy Forget" and the Ball Mike's, but it never did speak.  It came in action; the jamming was action, and the lights accompanying IT were action. 

and then that maybe, towards the end, Trey thought that he could fake it through the shows without needing IT, that people would continue coming to see shows regardless of whether or not the band was an absolute joke and a pathetic shell of what they once were, which WAS true.  And because Trey stopped caring, and didn't need that epic jamming anymore to draw people, it stopped showing up. 

And that all they had to do was simply GO THERE again, and he would show up.  Because aside from the Hampton Disease and the Camden Sand, nothing they'd done yet ever approached that sort of epic hugeness, in terms of time.  Everything had been short, to the point, and safe.  So, its always been there, but the band just had to get back into form to be able to "look" to see if it is still there.


I donno, it makes sense in my head.  So i guess that automatically means none of you will get it, though...  haha

Amazingly I think I get what your saying, Gumbo 

And I pretty much agree, with a slightly different interpretation.....Phish (as a unit, when they are really cohesively together) seems to tap into some universal power/inspiration when they are really jamming and improvising.  I believe its the most powerful sound in the universe (well at least known to man).

Anyway, the ghost/IT/whatever you want to call it is just that...something divine and powerful.  Really listening to the words of the song make me think of  God (and I'm not religious at all).  There are so many references to the spirit, etc, and how Trey thought he didn't need it/him/her anymore, but it's still waiting there for us just the same (in the wind and rain, it you look).

The ghost still lifts us up, even when we don't know it or care.  But when we are looking, tapping into the power deep down, it really comes out.   Especially in the music of Phish.

The more shows I go to, the more a religious experience or ritual they've become.  Even with the playing....it seems that the band must go through this ritualistic journey of each set.  On a great night, they will build up into astounding peaks and glide through beatuiful valleys, one song transforming into the next, until finally, IT happens, and they reach complete unity, playing as one., and the notes are carved out of the air, the sound filling the arena and everyone also grooving as one. 


I think you all know what I'm taking about.  Sorry for the ramble.

At any rate, Ghost = god/IT/spirit/whatever you want to call a universal power of inspiration

IMHO.  :-D

[aphineday]

heh...


I just had a WEIRD thought/revelation, though...   I'm listening to Set 2 again, and Ghost just started, and I was still thinking back to the Seven Below jam (the lick at 20:49 is WHAT ITS FUCKING ABOUT!!!) and like, right as I was thinking about the jam, Trey was singing, and I thought about the ironies inherent to what just happened....

Specifically, it was the "ghost I once knew and talked to" and I couldn't help but make the connection that Trey was singing that song as some sort of commentary to the crowd in regards to the mammoth jam that had just happened, sort of like a commentary about like "yeah we used to do this shit with our eyes closed, and now we can again" especially because of the "maybe he's still with me" line.

So maybe the ghost is IT.  Because it really NEVER did speak a word.  It made vocalizations, like in "Guy Forget" and the Ball Mike's, but it never did speak.  It came in action; the jamming was action, and the lights accompanying IT were action. 

and then that maybe, towards the end, Trey thought that he could fake it through the shows without needing IT, that people would continue coming to see shows regardless of whether or not the band was an absolute joke and a pathetic shell of what they once were, which WAS true.  And because Trey stopped caring, and didn't need that epic jamming anymore to draw people, it stopped showing up. 

And that all they had to do was simply GO THERE again, and he would show up.  Because aside from the Hampton Disease and the Camden Sand, nothing they'd done yet ever approached that sort of epic hugeness, in terms of time.  Everything had been short, to the point, and safe.  So, its always been there, but the band just had to get back into form to be able to "look" to see if it is still there.


I donno, it makes sense in my head.  So i guess that automatically means none of you will get it, though...  haha


Ghost is fucking sick, though.  holy shit.  Thank Jerry Fishman decided to bust into that double time shit...

IT moments:
7 Below:  8:05 - because NOW you know shits about to hit the fan, because the -7 Reprise gave way to the unknown...
7 Below:  12:20 - because Trey wants to play Shine!!!   (in all fairness, Page actually introduced it about a minute earlier...)
7 Below:  Trey lick at 20:47 - most important lick EvAR!!
Ghost:  11:30-11:33 courtesy of one Mr. Pay Jorgan Lick. 



Not sure which I like best; I keep goin back and forth.  I think I may have to go with 7 Below, because of 16 mins -> onward.  Its more floaty and happy and joyous and the Ghost jam is more dark funk and then fucking SHRAGE.  But the thing about the 7 Below is that it has that shrage power, but it also has a melodic/thematic foundation, like the 7/22/03 Gumbo ending, or the Camden Sand.

But tomorrow I might be in the mood for a shred Ghost like 11/11/98 or 12/31/99, sooo

Whoa. I'm with you dude... crazy, but I can buy it.

[Marmar]

Glad to see I'm not the only one who made that connection....

[Caravan2001]

So, do you guys think the boys make a decision to stretch out some songs beforehand or do you think it is fully in the moment.....Do they say, okay let's stretch this one out a bit tonight or what?  I mean they've got to have some sort of set planning/setlist writing and if they are going to play one (camden) or two (albany) 25+ minute songs, wouldn't that sort of figure into that plan ahead of time?  I dunno, maybe I am just baked...