05/31 - Fenway Park - Boston, MA - Post-Show Discussion and Review

[VA $l!m]

no, lol

i split the topic and merged the posts that i removed from this thread w/ the setlist thread, so youre not seeing how it was before the work.  

best thing to do is to let it go and start listening to the sbds (i havent seen an aud yet) and post what you think.  

sorry, my bad.
i took a break for a hour.
just trying to contribute.
thx again for sittin in with us tonite bro.

[SkrunkDaddyDogDiddy]

Ocelot coming on now.  Based on the rehearsal audio, I like this one a lot too.  Someone mentioned somewhere that it sounded a bit like Tennessee Jed, and I have to agree.  My first thought agreed with you Caravan, on the 2001 Meat feel - I think that's related to the bass.  I can dig on the way these lyrics sound too.  A bit pop-ish, but who cares?  Not me.

Now that I've listened to this version, my opinion is the same.

that is what it was!

[thechad]

Both sets (auds) are up for dl here: http://phishthoughts.com/nospoilers/ for those who don't have the funds to buy it and want to listen RIGHT NOW!!!  :-)

[pcr3]

SPOILER ALERT.

They came out of the dugout in Sox jerseys to sing the national anthem from the mound.  Shortly thereafter, they were onstage and started Sample.  There was a light rain at this point.  Right as Trey hit the first note of his solo, the sun peaked out from behind the clouds and shone down all of those people in the RF stands.  Couldn't have scripted it better.

A couple of songs in, I think it was Chalkdust, a rainbow appeared toward RF over the city.  I felt cheesy with the big grin, but, come on!  Made for a great picture.  New song, Ocelot was OK, didn't grab me too much, but I was spacing out a bit at this point.  The song was well-timed...at this point, it felt like everyone needed a breather to take it all in.  As someone who goes to about 20 games a year, it was pretty surreal to see Fenway in this way.  Stash felt like they were locked in like the old days.  The band can still bring It.  Down With Disease was a lot of fun, but in no way prepared us for Destiny.  Didn't think they were actually going to play it, but they did, and they killed it.  Can't wait to hear that again.

Second set was good, but I think it looks better on paper.  The Time Turns Elastic seemed to drag and suck some of the momentum out of the show.  It felt like they were losing steam.  The Free, Curtis, YEM combo brought it back for sure, but it lacked something for me.  Not sure what.  It might have just been my old ass dragging...

After a run through Cavern, they busted out the GTBT, which they finished right around 10:30.  Thought that would be it, but we got a quick Tweeprise before they hit curfew.

Overall, a good show that makes the future look promising.  This is NOT the Trey that we got for the last 9 years or so, and that was evident from the first few notes.  The sound in Fenway was not ideal in the few places I visited, so I am anxious to hear the LP pull to see if the show was as good as I thought it was.  Either way, the crowd ate up every note.  Can't wait 'til Great Woods.

Random note: There were a lot of tickets available for face on Landsdowne Street before the show.

[redrum]

Right as Trey hit the first note of his solo, the sun peaked out from behind the clouds and shone down all of those people in the RF stands. 
Couldn't have scripted it better.

that was indeed a great moment.

mbird got a sick photo of the rainbow.

we just got home and have a bunch of pics and video to share...
stay tuned...

[jephrey]

I grabbed the LP downloads as soon as they came available and started listening as they came in.  I'll review set II tomorrow.  I'm sleepy.

SSB:  I  recently saw an old vid of them at a b-ball game (maybe their first live performance of the ssb).  They have really gotten much better, even over one from 97 that sticks in my head.

Sample:  Short, sweet, well played.

Moma:  Nothing huge, but this started off with some nice funk licks and I'm liking Trey's playing better than the Hampton Moma.  Trey's tone is sounding good (noticed before the "up the rigging" line).  Maybe I'm overfocused on Trey right now but Page sounds good on this one too.

-EQ adjustment to bring the lows in better on computer speakers (they're powered but it's late and the kids are asleep.)

Chalkdust:  Very solid.  There are a couple parts in here that are rockin' hard.

Ocelot:  Listened to the rehearsal one, thought it sounded like something and it does in 2 ways.  The bass is a bit like Meat and I'm not sure if it's the lyrics or just the overall feel that it's like Tennessee Jed (someone else made the comparison on whatever public torrent tracker the file was up on - I totally agree).  The live version didn't really add anything, but was really good.

Stash:  I'm from around Chicago, where Take Me Out to the Ballgame is a city staple and the tease was obviously warranted at Fenway.  I've always wanted them to play it in full at a Chicago show.  Trey did when playing with Mike and the Duo and it was awesome.    Halfway through, I'm more impressed on how well the rust has come off.  Hampton, IMO, was much better than post-hiatus1, and this feels more solid than Hampton.

Bouncing:  standard

Poor Heart:  standard

Limb:  Fish is still reluctant to keep going, or maybe he just can't yet - but he does cover it up by just deciding to end. 

Velvet Sea:  standard

Down with Disease:  Longest song of the set does NOT disappoint.  Some top notch rocking in this one.

Destiny:  I'm not as hyped as some about this song, but I'm catching on.  Maybe every time I've heard it it's gotten better.  Gordo does sound pretty kick ass in this one as well.

0:  Given the chance to rock (like Chalkdust&DwD), this contains some more solid, top notch rocking.  Not usually a favorite of mine, this version is really solid and I really like it.  Almost seemed like a breath of fresh air.

Overall set I:  I am VERY happy about this set, mostly because I think the playing was really tight.  No major flubs, although if I had to pick, I'd say Fish is the most off still.  I was just really happy to make it through a set that was happy and rockin' where the slower songs didn't seem to drain the set at all!

Set II tomorrow.

Good Night.

The Fish!

[Undermind]

I just got to my Friend's house in Salem.  Sick show!  People for a Louder Mike would have loved where I was in the RF Grandstand 10 Section.  The bass was a little too much actually at some points because it was echoing off the roof pretty badly, but most of the show sounded good.  Trey was shredding it up.  I may post a more in depth Review in the morning.  Sorry I didn't make the 'paug meet up.  I was at a kick ass BBQ at a girls house that lived in the Fenway Neighborhood and didn't get my friend out of there in time to make it to the Ted Williams statue in time.  I gotta say   fuckin' killed it tonight and I can't wait for Great Woods next weekend!  I like the 3.0!

[guyforget]

ive been skipping around -

so far ive listened to ocelot, stash, lxl, destiny, bowie, tte, yem

ocelot reminds me of how i felt when i first heard 46 days - its just like a simple kinda rock song to me, nothing bad about it, but its kinda like something i could see elton john playing.  i dunno....

stash is pretty well played and they build a nice peak w/ trey doing the whale call thing that im only half-fond of.  he starts to overuse it (imho) but backs off and the rest of the band really picks up behind him and builds a decent jam out of it.  not very long once they get to the meat of it though, trey brings it back around. 

i had to listen to lxl just because i wanted to hear fish play it - he and trey are both a little rusty on this one maybe, but by the middle they seem to be sync'd up.  a typical lxl type 'jam' almost ensues, and coming back to the song is pretty rusty so fishman pretty much shuts it down somewhat abruptly to my ear. 

i always call destiny overrated but then i go and miss the only 2 played in however many 15+ years and i get pissed.  this one's pretty cool, mike has some nice effects going, really thumping.  im of the opinion that this is a beantown kickdown and it wont ever be in what we could consider "regular rotation" though it might be dusted off for certain milestones in the future. 

bowie might be the first bona-fide "jam" ive come across, especially if we're using the "fish hit the crash 5 times in a row" rule that (i think hicks) threw out in the "what makes a jam peak" thread.  of course theres a flub in the beginning section, but trey recovers pretty well from this one, not like some PH where he just abandons the entire line.  trey's whale-calls are minimal and subdued in the jam, and they bring the ending around a couple times creating quite a build up. 

tte........  well, i still cant get over the lyrics.  couldnt really tell any difference in the guitars (didnt expect to).  but the lyrics are just so damn corny.  its tough to get past, i dunno why.  i dont hear anything that id call a genuine "jam" but some parts are a little more stretched out than the itunes track we got last week.  in the end...  im still not impressed with this one, if for nothing else than the adult-contemporary lyrical content. 

yem - i think trey plays the intro really well, as well as we could have expected him to in 99/00, when missing a note here and there wasnt abnormal but he wasnt flubbing entire sections.  following that he sounds really good, as do the rest of the guys.  when mike gets his little solo before the big build up he and page tease something that i distinctly recognize but cant put my finger on at the moment - i know someone else will hear it and have it figured out by the morning.  i might have heard him drop the same tease in stash earlier as well.  page is absolutely owning leading up to, and throughout the trampoline section, but then - HOLY CRAP, mike just comes out w/ this crazy effect before dropping back into normal tone, then straight into the 'dwd' sound where the jam begins to take off with cactus clearly acting as the captain of this ship.  trey and page play around over his groove, but he is really guiding this jam w/ some balls.  trey tries a few things over his from just riffing odd rhythms to some almost bluesy jams where he starts the whale calling but quickly gets led back to soloing by mike.  page is just constantly texturing the background as mike has the rhythm locked down on his own.  eventually page locks in with mike and trey keeps the bluesy thing up w/ some short whale calls that are actually really cool but not overbearing.  it starts to kind of fizzle out w/ fish getting pretty sparse and cactus brings back the laser-bass sound and lays down another fine solo w/ only brief accompaniment by fish before the vocal jam ensues.  the jam is pretty simple, i dont think anyone is going to be blowing up about it, but theres certainly nothing bad about it.  cactus is a monster through the entire thing. 

id love to go back to the tweezer, but its almost 3am, i gotta sleep sometime tonight. 

cant wait to read first-hand accounts from all the paugers that were in attendance. 

[messengerbird]

Ummm.... did I just see Phish at Fenway Park???

[keeb333]

Listening now for the first time...just got past the rules ( :lol:)....SSB sounds nice.  The arrangement is a little different than what I've heard them do before.

[Kid in the Corner]

I was just trying to post this to the other thread then figured out it's locked, but the first song of soundcheck was SSB..

[keeb333]

Smokin' Chalkdust!  :banana:

...and I'm digging Ocelot a lot! 8-)

[sls.stormyrider]

posting my thoughts while they're still fresh (better than doing paperwork)

great pre show paug meetup!
we took over the patio at La Verdad, about 15 or so of us. Nice meeting everyone


general stuff - we were in the nosebleed section just beyond 1st base, a bit on the right side of the stage. Sound was pretty good, very good for a stadium at that location - the vocals were alittle low, Mike was high, Page not as high up as the Hampton recordings. The wind blowing out might be good for power hitters but not so much for concerts.
Trey was on. Stash sounded perfect, Poor Heart was precise, flub in the beginning of Bowie, YEM sounded good, ? flub in the beginning of Tweeprise

the crowd seemed OK. Got a great view of the spinners at the back of the field section.
Saw a chick in a wedding gown with a dude in a tux.

the show (not in precise order)
SSB was a blast
Sample - "standing soaking"
Moma - good phunk, would have preferred it longer
Chalkdust - rockin. great rainbow
Ocelot - agree with other comments, I had a brief thought it was a Tenn Jed cover.

right before Ocelot, I told my wife it was time for either Stash or Fluffhead - one song later>
Stash - reeally dug the jam, page and Mike going at it. In the middle, Trey hit a few hard chords and it sounded like they were going to morph into something else, then back to the Stash jam. Can't wait to hear this one again.
Bouncin
Poor Heart - nice
LxL - dug this jam a lot too, nice communication during the jam. Agree that it seemed to end abruptly
DWD - the sound at the beginning was Mike pounding his bass with his fists - another nice jam but stayed pretty much w/in the framework of the tune
Destiny - nice surprise. OK - I heard it
Zero-good end set rocker

II
Tweezer - nice. the last 5 minutes of the jam seemed to be the most exploratoration they did all night. CK5 rules
The light - only segue of the night. this could become a good tune
Gin
Bowie - back to back! didn't expect this.
TTE - in my seat for the 1st time. needed the rest. I couldn't hear the lyrics very well, which may be a good thing, but musically I like the song - maybe a little too long. Picked up energy at the end
Free - CACTUS
Curtis Lowe - very cool
YEM - nothing left to do but  :-)  :-)  :-)
CK5 again came through on the VJ

E
Cavern.
pause - hmm - no tweeprise? whoa -GTBT, extended rocked out ending
Tweeprise

all in all a great show by most standards, very good show by   standards. they are clearly on the road back.
can't wait for the playback of this one

Great meeting everyone
:-)

Edit to add - if you're at a Mexican restaurant, and see a drink that has beer and chile powder, do NOT order it

[keeb333]

I'm up to Disease, and so far I think they are playing somewhat better than at Hampton!  :banana: 

The band is ON FIRE!!  :-o

[rowjimmy]

Sls, you blocked out the Velvet Sea?