06/01 - PNC Bank Arts Center - Holmdel, NJ - Post-Show Discussion and Review

[Hicks]

Okay, thanks. The post really lost it's momentum when you couldn't see what else was there. This Carini is kinda meh.

This post lost it's momentum when you said thanks.

[danje]

Interesting people don't like the Split. I haven't relistened, but at the show I thought it was the best part of that set.

[rowjimmy]

Interesting people don't like the Split. I haven't relistened, but at the show I thought it was the best part of that set.

It kind of is.

But it's still not good.

Notice my review didn't mention set one?

[Multibeast12]

THe Piper > Twist > Ghost is just meh. Each song had some really cool stuff going on and seemed like it was gonna evolve into something awesome. but just never did. Especially the Piper. and the Ghost had some really cool stuff but i'm still left wanting more.

[runawayjimbo]

THe Piper > Twist > Ghost is just meh. Each song had some really cool stuff going on and seemed like it was gonna evolve into something awesome. but just never did. Especially the Piper. and the Ghost had some really cool stuff but i'm still left wanting more.

While I don't subscribe to the "longer=better" school of thought, it's kinda hard for a jam to evolve in 6 min

[postjack]

the piper > twist I don't mind so much, but it really was obvious that Mike wanted to continue the ghost. you can hear him playing a bass doodle over trey's opening chords to BDTNL. then BDNTL just drops in and trey sounds all rough and the energy is just gone. I usually do like #line, but it was a bad segue and a bad idea.

didn't I read something a couple years ago about how they were going to write setlists again? My guess is they wrote a setlist for 3/6/09 that was comprised of the first two songs and since then they've been making it up as they go along.

[Multibeast12]

THe Piper > Twist > Ghost is just meh. Each song had some really cool stuff going on and seemed like it was gonna evolve into something awesome. but just never did. Especially the Piper. and the Ghost had some really cool stuff but i'm still left wanting more.

While I don't subscribe to the "longer=better" school of thought, it's kinda hard for a jam to evolve in 6 min

I agree, longer does not mean better, it's just when they keep cutting things off and not letting things evolve its just dissapointing.

[runawayjimbo]

THe Piper > Twist > Ghost is just meh. Each song had some really cool stuff going on and seemed like it was gonna evolve into something awesome. but just never did. Especially the Piper. and the Ghost had some really cool stuff but i'm still left wanting more.

While I don't subscribe to the "longer=better" school of thought, it's kinda hard for a jam to evolve in 6 min

I agree, longer does not mean better, it's just when they keep cutting things off and not letting things evolve its just dissapointing.

No doubt

I am actually listening to this for the first time since I heard it over the stream. I'm not sure why. It really does feel more like an obligation at this point.

[WhatstheUse?]

I re-listened to this SOAM again last night. I totally dig it.  Dissonant psychedelia.

[Undermind]

I re-listened to this SOAM again last night. I totally dig it.  Dissonant psychedelia.

duck dood! Liking tunes is no longer supported here!  :evil:

[fauxpaxfauxreal]

I re-listened to this SOAM again last night. I totally dig it.  Dissonant psychedelia.

Yeah bro, I agree.  Haters are going to hate.  That SOAM is da teeties!   

[McGrupp]

faux- you are nuts dude. not a wasted note? concise? have you listened to the show, or are you just being sarcastic...?

Set II is complete shit. Sorry if this comes off as hate, but go back and read my long post in the 5/31 thread if what I'm saying seems too "hatey".

Full review:

We were running a little late to the show. Traffic kind of sucked getting in, but we were driving in last minute...and so were a lot of people apparently. A few downpours pre-show, but nothing too crazy weather-wise. it was H-O-T and humid as fuck. Got into the lot around 7. Drank a couple of beers pretty quick, ran into Danje and shared hellos and a few words. He informed us that the boys started pretty early last night, so we decided to head in and find our seats.

The first thing I noticed walking into the venue was how weird/different the crowd was at this show. I don't think I saw dreadlocks the entire time I was there. Almost no heads at all. Lots of bros and trashy fake-tan chix. And fat dudes. Jersey.  :roll:  :wink:

We got to our seats and immediately the boys came out. They busted into First Tube which was a big shock to me. I loved that as an opener, but more for the novelty of it... because nobody really seemed super into it. Crowd was pretty mellow at first. Stealing Time = time to grab beers and waters for my crew. Didn't hear the song and didn't really care... The acid hit me hard in the beer line. And the sweating started...

Walking back down to my seats, who do I run into but WTU? He came and joined us and we continued to rage as Camel Walk came on. Great to hear this tune. This was when the crowd started getting into it. It was a solid version and a lot of fun to dance to. Heavy things was next, and I wasn't that disappointed to hear it. I actually really enjoyed trey's solo in this version. Nothing mind-blowing but it was nice to hear trey having fun up there (very obvious that he loves the tune). Good standard bouncy version. Jibboo was standard but I really like its place in the first set. It's a very summertime song to me. Again, nothing spectacular, but a fun version nonetheless. I was sweating my balls off by this point. And off comes my shirt.

My friend Michelle really wanted to hear Wilson (and it was my call for the opener) - so she got her wilson. I thought the placement of this was strange, but whatever. Pretty standard 3.0 wilson. Seven Below was also standard, but had some cool moments. I thought trey and the boys were vibing really well with the crowd. Even though there was nothing super spectacular, I could tell that they were all having fun. The energy started to pick up in 7 below, and flowed right into KDF. Trey also loves this song, that was very clear. He had the rockstar (legs planted and spread out) stance during this one. Totally loving it.

Axillla is where the energy really picked up. The crowd and the band were both rocking out for this. People were psyched, the band was psyched, and its exactly what I wanted to see in a phish show. I knew something good was coming. The energy was right. At this point I had very high hopes for the show...

SOAM was the highlight of the show for me. I've only gone back and listened to it once (yesterday in the car), but it was as good as I remembered it. Certainly not a legendary version, but it was the best split I've heard in 3.0. What I really liked about it was that the crowd was listening, and the band didn't seem to feel like they were rushed. Good patience and thoughtfulness in this jam. Not to mention that at the time, it was psychedelic as shit and kind of melted my brain a little bit. This was the tune my girl really wanted to hear, and she got a pretty damn good version imo. I was sure this was going to be a hawt show at this point. Suzy was great - kinda weird there was just a one-show gap for this, but I was happy to hear it (and page absolutely tore it up). Crowd was loving it. We kept referring to Page as the "nutty professor" - his new glasses look pretty sharp too btw.  8-)

End set. Tripping face. How big were those drops again? 

Bathroom, beers, water, still no shirt, drunk bros, fake tans, yada yada yada...We go back to our seats.

Lights down again. Tweezer. Another repeat from the tour, but whatever, I love this song. With its spot opening the set, I had a great feeling it was going to get dark and psychedelic and maybe even turn into a nice long jam. One of my favorite non-musical phish concert moments happened about 2 min into the song. The crowd on the lawn started ROARING, and everyone in the pav was all "Wtf mate?". All of a sudden, we all start to feel water hitting our backs. I thought someone was throwing water around, and my gf thought Phish had turned on the sprinklers on the lawn  :hereitisyousentimentalbastard We turned around and it was POURING down rain. People were going nuts. Phish turned up the energy a lot and trey was playing awesome harmonics as little guitar-fills during the composed section of the tune. The vibe was just right. Surreal, magical, and exhilarating all at once - just how a phish show is supposed to feel.

Then these douchebags came and kicked us out of our seats (well, maybe we were the douchebags, since we were in their seats, but whatever...) - The rain had stopped and the pav was really squished anyway, so we said fuck it and went up to the lawn. Lots more dancing room up there anyway since everyone had bumrushed the pav in the rain. We watched the 2nd half of the tweezer jam from the lawn - I was kind of disappointed in this version. It started off pretty meh, sort of went somewhere (some nice dissonant 'out there' runs from Trey), but for the most part it was just a normal 3.0 Tweezer.

No quarter was fucking awesome. Very psychedelic to me at the time. Page's vocals were tripping me out. I loved it (even though I couldn't remember what the song was called at the time  :roll:)

It was all downhill from NQ on. Carini was cool to hear, but they had played it so recently and everyone was kind of all wtf? Total loss of momentum. Piper was absolute garbage. Some of the worst phish I've ever heard in my life. I like the song twist, but nothing happened in this version. Ghost was a disaster. I kind of wanted to leave at this point, but I was still enjoying myself and thought maybe they'd save the set so we stayed. #line was another tour repeat, which was fine because it was the 5th show of the tour and about time for the repeats to start happening. I was hoping this jam would turn into something cool, but like the rest of the set, it just didn't go anywhere. When they ended the set, I was kind of surprised. It seemed really early, and the boys seemed very frustrated (I could see it in their faces on the big screens by the stage.) Straight up frustrated. Trey just wanted to get out of there - he looked embarassed, honestly.

I fucking hate show of life. Tweezer Reprise was one of the highlights of the post-setbreak show, and it was a standard version. That's saying something.

Overall, I'm not upset I made the trek. Phish shows are always a good time, and I love cheering them on when they're playing well, and even analyzing them when they're not. It's just a fun game/gamble. Some shows have it, some shows don't. This one could have, but they lost a lot of momentum and just couldn't get back on their feet...and kind of gave up. Sucked to see that, but hey, it happens. My crew still had a blast. I also ran into Jez during setbreak, and possibly a couple others, but I don't really remember that well....

Oh, and watching drunk kids bust ass on the muddy lawn is one of the funniest things ever.  :hereitisyousentimentalbastard

So that's my review! Pretty excited for Camden... I haven't lost hope yet! I love this band too much to lose hope this early in the tour...

[fauxpaxfauxreal]

Not being sarcastic at all.  I guess we just have a different taste in music. 

[McGrupp]

Not being sarcastic at all.  I guess we just have a different taste in music.

I actually find myself agreeing with you a lot in regards to Phish. I don't see how you don't think set II is absolute garbage. Would you mind pointing out time markers (like 5:57 in x or y jam) of stuff you liked? The whole second set is just aimless noodling and fumbling around. It is not good music.

[fauxpaxfauxreal]

I like all of it.  I think to point out specific portions of this awesome segue fest would be a disservice to that set as a work of art as a whole.