05/27 - Bethel Center for the Arts - Bethel NY - Post-Show Discussion and Review

[Gumbo72203]

Listening now.....

A)  Tweezer sounds sprightly!!!!  Theres something extra spicey or kicking in the jumpiness and liveliness.  And Trey's scratchity reggae fills during the verses are cool.  And the way he pulls back for the 2nd verse and leaves a silent hole, allowing Mike to show up, is great.  Sounds like something happened around 3:00 with Trey...  bandaid over what would have been a glaring flub?  hmmm

B) Fish's drums SOUND great on this SB.  Especially his hi-hats.   tssss tsssss  tssss-p  tsss-p!



On Tweezer break jam now.....   typical Page overdriven clav stuff; TONS of open space though.  Wtf is with this post-Ebeneezer though; Fish doesn't hit a cymbal really....   but does well on the return to the Tweezer theme.  Trey goofs the start of the jam, but WHOAHH PAGE!!!!!!!  PIANO THEME-ING!!!!!  YEAHHH   OMG TREY!!!!!!  That upwards run!!!!!   

Is it me, or is Page playing really 95-ish on this?  Lots of half-step atonal dissonant anticipation playing.  OMG PAGE!!!!!!!  6:27!!  that 2-note descending phrase thing!!!!!!!!!   


Trey sounds good at 7:20, bringing back Page's theme from the piano.  Okay, a little soon for the rawk-splooge, there, Trey....  but eh, oh well.  3.0 lickz abound here, but HOLY SHIT 7:57->onward GREAT thematic Trey playing!!!!!   OMG this is fucking great!!!!!!  Absolutely what I predicted!!!!!


Okay, Trey is missing some serious peak opportunities at the end here, around 8:50, and the last one at 9 minutes is kind of off the mark a bit... hmm


MFMF - Trey sounds pretty decent here; a lot of the chords here make me always think someone is flubbing something.  Okay, theres a Trey flub.... but its held together pretty well.  The band still sounds sprightly and eager, Fishman is having a ball.  love his playing on this.  I say that MFMF's opening segment is one of Phish's most under-rated composed sections of music, along with TMWSIY.  Okay Trey seriously goofed this one with the lyrics.  He's doing some cool stuff with this mic-stand-slide section. 

Overall, MFMF wasn't as terribly great as it could have been.  its placement bodes well, though.  2nd song of tour is a good.


HOly shit wtf Trey with Poor Heart?  Ouch.  His playing during the song, though, is pretty good.  Another good sign in song-selection.  I'm really liking the extra crispyness in the SBD, especially with Fish's drums and ride cymbal.  Overall, well played, fun, nothing outrageous. 

Roses:  sounds good so far.  Interesting crowd-reaction after "land of the brave and free"... wasn't expecting that.  I'm feeling the constriction, though, of these standard-issue songs with zero improv or loose-ability-ness to them.  Its making me anxious to get to Funky Bitch.  But Trey's solo is decent in Roses, and Page's background keyboards sound great, a really neat hammond/Rhodes sort of sound; not quite sure exactly what it is.  Seems like Trey got lost in listening to it too, haha, with this flub, because it happened EXACTLY at the same moment where I got lost in Page's keys, losing my focus and attention on the rest of the band. 

Funky Bitch: combo sounded absolutely pre-planned.  Trey sounds GREAT on the beginning, both in his playing and his tone.  WHOAH, wtf!!! TREY!!!!!!  those chords!!!!  his comping during the first verse was AWESOME, and again in the 2nd verse, the thing he's playing at like 1:25 or whatever; I don't know if he normally does that, but its something that I think I would've noticed.  Page is pretty raging on his solo, and I love his piano addition!!!!  Hammond and Piano rage!!!!  Trey matching Mike's voice is pretty cool.  Something about Trey's guitar sounds....  better, now.  Less of the weird PH/3.0 grating awkwardness.  It has a warmer mix in the rest of the band.  His playing is pretty good too, lots of cool ideas.  The peak-rage at 5:27 is pretty neat.  Nice, well-played version. 

Wolfmans:  Trey's weird warble thing at the beginning was cool.  Mike's bass sounds awesome in this.  The whole band has a really patient and like....  stoic feeling, somehow.  Its hard to explain.  I'm gonna sit back and listen to this now

I'll be back with some hyperbolically verbose gushings about the rest of the show later

[Gumbo72203]

WAHHH  OMG TREY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    PAGE!!!!!!!!!!!   AHJFGPOIEHFPOIHJW!@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!P@EJQRFEGPOJ@!P!!!!!

UCKFFFUCK@!!!~!    WALK AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!   I NEED A BIGGER FONT TO EMPHASIZE MY HOLY_FUCKNESS!!!!!!!

Ahhh THE TUBE DRUMbEAT!!!!!!  FISHMAN!!!!!  TRAY PEAK!!!!!!  YEAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!    omg that was fucking incrawesomble!!!

[UncleEbinezer]

AHJFGPOIEHFPOIHJW!@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!P@EJQRFEGPOJ@!P!!!!!

I couldn't agree more.

[Gumbo72203]

OMGGG  KILL DEVIL FALLSSS!!!!!!  YESSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


The build up for the first peak in Stash was really great, too, but they didn't maximize the full potential of that one, and the ending was a little rushed.

BUT HOLY SHIT THIS KDF!!!!!!!!! OMG!!!!!!!!!!!  Page-led piano thomping jammm!!!!!!!!  GLORY!!!!!!!!!   The spaces they settle into in the jam are just so....  perfect.  Its PERFECT airy Phish.  It gets a little disjointed when Trey goes all 3.0-lickz on it around 11 minutes but holy shit this is fucking awesome.  The whammy pedal expedition part of it kind of ruins the flow and vibe.....

this was way cool because there was no distinct peak.  Trey tried to rawk peak it, but his fluid cool walk-up tension runs didn't end up the way I think he meant them to, back around 12 minutes or so.  but omg the jam space in between in the beginning....ugh!!!!!!!!  i'm listening to that again right now because fuck, it was great. 

And the thing that I especially like about this jam is that it shows the return of the forcefully-propelled, non-peaking jams of 99/00, like the way Piper would just be a big continuous ball of energy, rather than a tension/release peak solo type jam.  Like, it was intense, and moving, and with tons of inertial momentum and intent, but without a Mikes Song type jam shred bit. 


Imagine when they get this type of concentration and focus down in a Piper or Number Line, or even a Gumbo, Limb, Birds, or getting it to the point where Trey can do it while soloing, ala a return to the Fall '99 Halley's mold (10/8/99 and 12/7/99).

[rowjimmy]

AHJFGPOIEHFPOIHJW!@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!P@EJQRFEGPOJ@!P!!!!!

I couldn't agree more.

Then you guys are both way off base.

How could you possibly say: "EHFPOIHJW!@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" about this show?

jeez.
:roll:

[aphineday]

Even the Possum sounds better than most I've I heard in 3.0 from a Trey standpoint anyway. It's not the 90's clearly, but shit is much better in  my book.

[Gumbo72203]

i'm loving the 12/31/96 Caspian-start of this Caspian jam.  Page is owning.  Ahhh goofed 3.0 lickz...thanks Trey.  nevermind

[blatboom]

am I crazy or did Gumbo totally gloss over the > into Waves?

[Play_It_Leo]

Interesting jam on Boogie. I'll call it cool-ly weird, which is one of the things I like about I definitely dug the Waves jam and a pretty smooth > Caspian. Nice tour opener so far.

[blatboom]

that wind down out of Boogie On is some seriously trippy shit. and I think Waves was the perfect choice out of it and loved that jam too

[WhatstheUse?]

Hot opener.

KDF and Boogie On' > Waves was freakin' fantastic.  I absolutely loved that Waves.

[khalpin]

I noticed that in between Walk Away and Stash, they do a little Fish (Schindleria Praematurus) tease.  First Trey, then Fishman jumps in.   

[G. Augusto]

Again...that "jam" out of Boogie is hot GARB.

[fauxpaxfauxreal]

Again...that "jam" out of Boogie is hot GARB.

Sorry you don't like psychedelia.

[G. Augusto]

Again...that "jam" out of Boogie is hot GARB.

Sorry you don't like psychedelia.

I'd rather listen to every GD version of "Space" before that.