Trudging my way through 9/3/11 this afternoon.
Golly, when the first set features Possum, Moma, Divided Sky, Ocelot, Funky B and Wolfman, I feel like going *YAWN*
Love those songs but I swear there have been 10 other first sets this
year with the same songs. Switch it up guys, its getting stale!
Ok, gripes aside:
Possum - not necessarily memorable, but worth hearing once for Trey
ripping it up going nuts with sustained notes ala Divided Sky
Moma - A really solid, really good version. I can't put my finger on it
but this one felt like it had a bit more extra sauce than usual.
The Wedge - great, perfectly performed version. Very nice but nothing memorable at all.
Ocelot - AWESOME jam in this one! I thought the song portion was on the weaker side but the jam is must-hear.
Divided Sky - not a great one, imo. Nothing majorly wrong but it felt
kind of stiff and stilted. I hate to say it, but I was going "is it done
yet?".
Funky B
Axilla
Llama - all three were great but what you see is what you get. That's
not bad to say, but you know they rock, you know they are gonna be HOT.
Ya dig?
Fast Enough For You - at this point I was kinda clocking out of the set
trying to keep my eyes open. This perked me up. Why is this such a
rarity?! It was terrific!
Wolfman's Brother - Definitely THE set highlight next to probably
Ocelot. Spectacular DARK and FUNKY jamming. Mandatory listening.
Ok, on to set 2. Does it get better from here? Set 1 was ok....but Idk,
it was like Phish on autopilot or something. Just a boring set (which
pains me to say!)
---------------------------------------------------
So after that sleeper set 1, I hear good things about set 2.
It begins promisingly enough with a good-but-regular Down With Disease.
Disease doesn't really do anything unfortunately and just acts as a vehicle to get to Tweezer
And the award for Most Disappointing Segue goes to tonight's one into Tweezer
They are jamming Disease and Trey slyly throws in the Tweezer riff.
Instead of following on and adjusting tempo, FISHMAN ripcords us and
stops dead in his tracks!
Gah! That was infuriating! They had a perfect segue lined up and Fishman just totally screwed it...
Thankfully Tweezer gets to the goods QUICKLY, after a measly 3 and a half minutes.
Tweezer is awesome. Very grandiose and cinematic tonight. It slowly
morphs from a straight on rager into a more uplifting and slightly
ambient type of thing. Great pounding rhythms but with lots of church
organ from Leo and Big Red giving us those lengthy sustained notes we
all love
DIS IS SUM GOODE CHIT, YO
Getting a 1999 vibe here
For several minutes they milk this vibe and just slowly let it build.
I've noticed in 2011 so far they have had a trend to just "jump to the
goods" while kind of skipping the JOURNEY to said goods, if that makes
sense.
Part of what I love about a good jam is the road it takes you on - the
slow evolution from one musical idea to the next. Slowly things build
and morph. They haven't done that too much in 2011. It's been like
really, really good Fast Food Jams a lot of the time. Great and all but
lacking that slow journey
This has that journey
By the 11 minute mark you'd swear this was a 1999 jam or something from 2000. That is a very good thing, lol
Slowly things get softer and more gentle. The rhythms continue but we are heading for "Big Cypress Sand" territory.
Wow, see what 2011 Phish can do in just 11 minutes of jam time if they put their mind to it?!
Yo this Tweezer was insane. This goes on the pedestal with the Gorge Rock and Roll or some of the Chicago jams.
Great stuff!
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Ok, final thoughts on 9/3/11 (Is it over yet?)
I did not really care for this show
On paper it looks great, but really just grab Ocelot and Wolfman and you can skip the rest of set 1
Set 2 has lots of things going on. The theme for this show was "Short
but sweet". Lots of good, short jams. Lots of good segues.
Nowhere near classic and not extensively memorable, but set 2 is definitely worth at least 1 listen
I mean, there really isn't too much to rave about - and you guys know I like to rave
I don't see myself returning to this show ever outside of the
highlights. I mean, it's all good, but its just...I don't know. Very
hard to describe.
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9/3 Commerce City (Extremely uneven show. Set 1 is a snooze...Set 2 is pretty good. TWEEZER IS SPECTACULAR. Short but sweet is tonight's theme. Lots of goods in tiny packages. Get set 2)
Ocelot (terrific lengthy jamming)
FAST ENOUGH FOR YOU
Wolfman's Brother (NASTY, DARK, FUNKY! MANDATORY! TREY STRANGLES HIS GUITAR!)
Tweezer (ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE FLAWLESS 1999-type JAM! TOP 10 JAM OF 2011. AS GOOD AS ANYTHING FROM THE GORGE OR CHICAGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
>Golden Age (Short but SOARING! Starts to jam but Trey ripcords into LxL...)
>Limb By Limb (Again, short but SWEET! MAGICAL PEAK!!!)
Kill Devil Falls (11 minutes! Whale siren meltdown!)
>2001
>Light (INCREDIBLE SLOW SEGUE INTO DISEASE REPRISAL!!!!!!!!!!)
>Disease Reprise
Run Like an Antelope
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