(no subject)
Listening to these shows was something else, especially having not listened to any Phish in a long time, at least a year. I wanted to experience it as if I was there, so I downloaded all three shows and listened to them over three days without knowing what they played -- it was tough, putting my hand over the screen when downloading and uploadin g them, but it worked.
The setlists were a Phish fans' wet dream, but the execution was hit or miss, which was mostly expected given it was their first tour in almost four years. I could go through all three shows and give comments on each song, but the overall experience was just really moving...especially Page's playing. In a lot of ways I felt he was musically running circles around Mike and Fish and being played over by Trey, but when they gave Page an inch he took it across the proverbial goal-line. Sometimes it's wonderful how Mike and Fish just "lay it down," but sometimes I do feel like Page and Trey need a rhythm section that not only supports their virtuosity but reacts to it and equals it and helps it "expand exponentially."
Highlights for me -- where the near-flawless execution of the song brilliantly juxtaposed inspired group improvisation -- included "Bowie," "Gin," "Down with Disease", "Wolfman's Brother," and oddly enough, "Heavy Things" and "Guelah Papyrus," which were blazing.
The second night looks great on paper but IMO was a total stinker in terms of what I talked about above as nailing the compositions AND making something beautiful happen in the improvisational sections. For instance...Trey completely botching the transition from "mike's song" to "I am hydrogen"...and perhaps the most perfectly-executed version of the composed section of "Reba" I've ever heard, but with a "jam" (Trey's solo) wthat went nowhere, like almost all of the improv in that show, which was fun but not really deep or building on anything group-oriented. Night three was a lot better -- and that "Frankenstein" was beyond awesome in it's intensity and execution -- but the encore of "contact," "bug," "tweezer reprise" was a let down. Maybe they could've saved "mike's song" or "yem" -- something big -- until then.
Could've/should've whatever, though.......wow. Have they ever done seventeen-song first sets??!! Those sets must be longer than some entire shows they've done in the past. I tend to prefer Phish sets with just four or five songs but lots of improvisation (like Hampton '97 "Ghost > AC/DC" etc.) but Hampton 2009 was happiness abound. Hope I get to see this band in person again someday.
Oh, also...I was blissed to hear Trey return to the more "clean" guitar sound of 90's Phish. In 2003 and 2004 with Phish he seemed to be committed to a distorted sound -- perhaps in part to cover up frequent flubs like the "thank you, mr. minor" part in "Hood" and perhaps to sound more "rock" -- but now Trey's guitar is back to sounding more like Trey's guitar.
The setlists were a Phish fans' wet dream, but the execution was hit or miss, which was mostly expected given it was their first tour in almost four years. I could go through all three shows and give comments on each song, but the overall experience was just really moving...especially Page's playing. In a lot of ways I felt he was musically running circles around Mike and Fish and being played over by Trey, but when they gave Page an inch he took it across the proverbial goal-line. Sometimes it's wonderful how Mike and Fish just "lay it down," but sometimes I do feel like Page and Trey need a rhythm section that not only supports their virtuosity but reacts to it and equals it and helps it "expand exponentially."
Highlights for me -- where the near-flawless execution of the song brilliantly juxtaposed inspired group improvisation -- included "Bowie," "Gin," "Down with Disease", "Wolfman's Brother," and oddly enough, "Heavy Things" and "Guelah Papyrus," which were blazing.
The second night looks great on paper but IMO was a total stinker in terms of what I talked about above as nailing the compositions AND making something beautiful happen in the improvisational sections. For instance...Trey completely botching the transition from "mike's song" to "I am hydrogen"...and perhaps the most perfectly-executed version of the composed section of "Reba" I've ever heard, but with a "jam" (Trey's solo) wthat went nowhere, like almost all of the improv in that show, which was fun but not really deep or building on anything group-oriented. Night three was a lot better -- and that "Frankenstein" was beyond awesome in it's intensity and execution -- but the encore of "contact," "bug," "tweezer reprise" was a let down. Maybe they could've saved "mike's song" or "yem" -- something big -- until then.
Could've/should've whatever, though.......wow. Have they ever done seventeen-song first sets??!! Those sets must be longer than some entire shows they've done in the past. I tend to prefer Phish sets with just four or five songs but lots of improvisation (like Hampton '97 "Ghost > AC/DC" etc.) but Hampton 2009 was happiness abound. Hope I get to see this band in person again someday.
Oh, also...I was blissed to hear Trey return to the more "clean" guitar sound of 90's Phish. In 2003 and 2004 with Phish he seemed to be committed to a distorted sound -- perhaps in part to cover up frequent flubs like the "thank you, mr. minor" part in "Hood" and perhaps to sound more "rock" -- but now Trey's guitar is back to sounding more like Trey's guitar.