2000-06-24 Atlanta, GA

 Onwards with 2000, how about 6 24, Atlanta?

Set 1

The show opens with a massive, psychedelic firestorm, 16 minute, GOAT-contender version of The Moma Dance. Dont take me lightly when I say, this might be the greatest version Ive ever heard (and thats saying a LOT). Full force outta the gate, it gnashes and snarls and twists and turns and ultimately just annihilates in every way possible. Unbelievable.

The following Jim aint far behind. It stays firmly Type 1 but is SO nuclear powered that it mows down everything in sight. If you put this as a top 25 or 30 version of all time, I would not argue. Good god!

Bouncing is the sweet relief we need to collect ourselves and it is played flawlessly! Not like its as technical as Fluffhead, but Trey nails his parts and the whole thing is perfect. 

And then comes Tweezer.....

Up next is the big daddy of the show - the famous 26 minute Tweezer. Song sounds great, the jam begins with a perfectly placed wah hit. After another vocal section Trey kicks on the looper and its off to Jam Land for real.

Quiet and patient is how we start, Gordo and looper leading the show. Cactus is really grooving hard! Someone begins to interject with some creepy, alien type FX (is it Trey on his keyboard??).

Those go away and Trey begins funkily vamping on guitar, Page layering gooey synth underneath. Very slowly, the whole band begins to raise the volume of the jam and the groove just increases with intensity more and more until we are back at "proper" playing level.

Page moves to piano and Trey is melodically soloing. Excellent stuff.

All of a sudden, Trey hits upon a weird stoccato rhythm outta nowhere. Mike immediately picks up on it and the jam shifts on a dime into this "sciencey", kinda King Crimson sounding style!

This new style begins to move upwards towards a more blissful type of sound. Trey and Mike are dueting (as much as is possible while improving), when suddenlt Page hits some "dark" notes and the jam starts to sound kinda twisted.

The KC vibe is still going strong but will it be light or dark?? The intensity rapidly builds!!! They break out of the KC bit into a funkier, Manteca-ish groove and we get back to proper "rocking"!!

This thing is a monster! By this point we are in melodic-bliss-rock mode. Pounding piano, Leslie hits, ratatattat cymbal work....Trey starts a new chordal motif, the other guys quickly latching on.

This new chord based motif sees them working skyward again in a rockier fashion, full of tension and uncertainty. Will it peak?! Thankfully they keep it going and just keep on building it up and up and up without stopping!!!!

The crowd picks up on the excitement and grant the band a roar!

Suddenly, after one of those anti-peak moments, the whole thing dies down quickly and quietly! The intensity is there but they are crouching low, like a wild animal in wait for the kill....Wait for it....wait for it....wait for it....

They stay down low for a long time. Fishman is exploding on the kit like the 7/23/99 Birds of a Feather. Everyone is playing TOGETHER in the best way, making this quiet soup of sound.

Slowly becoming more psychedelic by the second, Trey springs into action, trilling his sweet heart out, tearing it up and launching the jam full throttle towards the sky into a blazing hot, melt your face, heavenly shred fest of epic proportions!!!!!

Yes!! Give us the peak!!!!! Inject it directly into my veins!!!!! AND PEAK THEY DO! HOLD ON TO YOUR SPACE SUITS, HOLY MOTHER OF JUPITER LETS FRIGGIN GO!!!! SOARING ACROSS THE MULTIVERSE!!!!!!

And slowly, the peakiest peak explosion that ever peaked begins to dissolve into some kind of quietly rhythmic ambience.

And just as it began, so shall it conclude...
Ladies and gentleman, the Lakewood Tweezer....
Holy moly....

Strange Design is perfect out of that MONSTER masterpiece Tweezer. It works and feels like a coda, really! As if its part of the piece played previously. Perfect!

To follow, a particularly funky and rocking Cavern closes the set in terrific fashion. Cavern is Cavern but this one is particularly strong. It just has that extra something about it. Genuinely, a Cavern worth hearing, lol. Wow.

All in all, HOLY FRIGGIN CRAP THIS SET WAS AMAZING!!! HOW HAS THIS NOT BEEN RELEASED YET?! The Moma and of course Tweezer were all timers with Jim not far behind and even trusty old Cavern turning in a "take another listen" performance.

Its all downhill for set 2, right?   

Set 2

A rip roaring Birds is a great start to proceedings. Of course you get exactly what you expect. Molten face melting. Though it does hint at stretching its wings, it ultimately keeps them close to the chest. Trey basically melts down for 7 minutes like a Maze on steroids. Heck yes.

Unfortunately all momentum is immediately evaporated when the follow up song is....Bug. Look, I love a good Bug, and this is a fine version, but F- for set placement, Trey. Ugh! Dont scoff at this version, its actually particularly inspired imo, its just the horrific set placement. No, really, this is an inspired reading. Very powerful!!!! Give it a listen!

The following My Sweet One is must hear! Its a hilarious train wreck that they somehow keep on the rails, featuring a drum solo, bass solo and Page solo and a demonstration of Gordo's fight bell! Hysterically badass!!

The following Antelope is NUCLEAR. Even by Antelope standards it is just pure unhinged insanity of the most ridiculous order. There is even an ambulance siren at one point. Must hear, it deserves a jam chart entry.

Frankie Says is terrific. Does not sound like a bustout.

Carini ups the ante again and melts our faces once more, delivering the face melting of a life time. PEYTON HOOTEN!!! A MUST HEAR rendition, this is evil and wacky and just...insane!!!!!

A terrific, extra potent combo of Coil into Caspian closes set 2. Coil is good, but Caspian is EXCELLENT, and the pairing work better than they have any right to!!

The encore begins with, I swear Im not kidding, maybe the greatest Guyuute ever played. Its played at light speed, full of gusto, and they friggin NAIL it compositionally! Holy crap they had to have rehearsed the snot outta this for it to be this fantastic! Truly MUST HEAR!

Josie Wales, Driver and Tweeprize close the show.

All in all....holy mother once again. I am speechless. This was a classic show, full stop. What is there to say? 

 

2000-09-27 Englewood, CO

 Good, relaxed driving route in the truck again today so that means its 1.0 AUD listening time!

Today's pick is 9/27/00 Englewood
Aka the "Piper>Gumbo>Ghost>Mango" show

Ive played that INSANE 2nd set sequence many times since discovering it years ago but never the full show.

Solid A- AUD on this one. EQ it to remove the "dullness" and it sounds much better.

Set 1 feels like something from mid 90s Phish. Strong but inessential versions of Sample and MyFe open the show. Both are BLAZING hot!

Beauty into My Soul into Limb recalls Europe 1997 big time! Limb By Limb is ESSENTIAL listening! They fully tap into that x factor vein and deliver one of the finest versions I have ever heard. This needs to be known by everyone!!! 10/10 Limb!

Dirt is a nice cooldown before Melt gets us nice and grimy for a bit. Another highlight, maybe not essential, but Id say its strong for sure.

Horn is butchered unfortunately but thankfully Taste comes in with the other must hear piece of the set, almost nearing the exuberance of that Limb. Terrific reading!

Standard rocking Cavern to close.

All in all, I dig the variety of the set and the energy. I dont think they sound tired! Limb By Limb is a legitimate ALL TIMER and Taste is just terrific. Melt worth a listen to. Cherry pick the highlights but its a fine set. 

Set 2

Opening with a 17 minute shredfest Piper is always a good thing! The initial section is your typically amazing "how much hotter can this get?!?!" round of face melting. Delightful!

After another turn through the verses, Trey sets a repeating loop and the jam dies down into a jazzy kind of outer space, rapidfire space funk. Or something like that.

The transition from facemelting to this new section is so choice. Trey vamps it up good and hard, everyone just making this one massive groove fest. You WILL be bopping your head, trust me!

Soon enough, Trey steps on the wah pedal and we get some sick textural stuff complemented by Page using his wah as well (I think). I call this Squiggle Jazz Funk. Or something like that! Trey settles on a neat repeating descending motif and everyone latches on. They stay in this Space Funk area for a good long while, everyone playing around and controbuting their fair share.

Eventually Trey begins soloing more conventionally and the jam starts to lift off a little bit more. He is playing that motif still but there is suddenly intent behind it, as if you can tell they are now going to rock this sucker to a peak.

Instead, they switch it up and Fishman begins to play around with the beat, slowing it down then speeding it up again. The jam somehow magically winds its way to a sudden conclusion and they segue into a 14 minute Gumbo....

This Piper is SO GOOD. Its just ridiculous how they could pull music like this outta nowhere. I love my modern Phish, but "1.0" (and 2.0) Phish was truly a damn sight to behold. Just incredible. 

.... and so the beastly Space Funk Piper concludes and Gumbo begins. Excellent song choice, the funkiness really fitting big time! Really excellent reading of the song itself, Trey absolutely lets it rip, just tearing a new one on the guitar.

The jam begins with everyone suddenly dropping down quickly to a more quiet zone, jamming out the Gumbo motif down low.

This goes for a while until they go even quieter! Page moves to the organ and they bring this sucker right into Soul Town, USA. Groove it up, baby! This is SICK!

Eventually, it begins to build back to normal volume, intensity increasing slowly. Gordo trigger some bass fx and the whole band start to rock this sucker good and hard! Still groovier than a MF, but they are LAYING INTO it full throttle!!

Finally, they just full bore go for it, abandoning any pretense of subtlety, rocking hard until it slowly winds itself down to a conclusion like its being faded out.....  

With the Gumbo fully consumed, Trey signals that familiar opening loop and we move into a 13 minute Ghost.

Starting exceptionally chill, it quickly builds a head of steam, turning into a rocking version by the time of the first round of solos.

Fishman eventually takes charging, really upping the energy and forcing everyone to follow suit.

Trey begins this melodic motif that he latches on to for several minutes and the jam kinda starts to feel like its beginning to soar! Picture flying through the sky...thats what it sounds like to me. Or something. Its anything but serene - indeed it is raging hot. But its just got this fluidity about it all.

It just keeps building and getting hotter with each passing minute! Its like the slowest building peak-in-progress imaginable, if that makes any sense.

RAGE-TASTIC. PURE FIRE.

And then it just suddenly....stops! On a dime! Huh.

Hard to explain but this is a friggin excellent little Ghost. I wont call it an all timer but definitely put it in the underrated category!!! Wowzers. 

Out of Ghost and into the famed Mango Song. Nearly 10 minutes on this sucker! For such a rarity, it sure sounds great! Rehearsed?? Fantastic version that is just 10 minutes of pure exuberant joy!?? Excellent version!

After a very well played Heavy Things, we get the 2-year bustout of Brother!!! Sounds fine at first, then it kinda struggles in the middle. Eventually it "clicks" and they BURN THAT SUCKER TO THE GROUND. Another essential piece!

Excellent, uber funky YEM to close the set.

Loving Cup is the excellent, celebratory encore this show deserved and it delivers as ever. Great stuff.

All in all, set 1 is enjoyable but nothing to write home about, save for that Limb (you MUST hear that LxL!!!), while set 2 is basically all killer no filler for the most part (the "filler" is played excellently, thank you). The Piper>Gumbo>Ghost>Mango is an all time classic sequence that is essential listening for all Phans. Please listen to that (and Limb!!!!) if you have not!

I thoroughly enjoyed this show. Can you tell?

The O.G. Live Phish Series In Review - Vol. 5: 7/8/00 East Troy, WI

 Onwards to Live Phish Vol. 5

7/8/00 East Troy, WI

On paper, as I mentioned earlier, this looks like a really "unspectacular" show. But the show DOES have a 4.1 rating, so that's pretty good by .NET's often warped rating standards

Song-wise, other than The Horse/SITM late in set 2, this show is right up my alley so no real complaints there.

Basically, I'm looking for issues where there probably aren't any. I'm shutting up and playing the darn show now


Set 1 -

Punch You In the Eye - MUCH better than the later 9/14 Darien version. Love Trey's sludgy 2.0-esque guitar tone. It's gritty and metallic without the "squeaky" mid range I hate in his 2.0 tone. This one has that slightly slower and groovier pace like the Fukuoka songs had. I'm not well-versed in 2000. Is this a 2000 "thing"? Overall it's an excellent version that is tight without being super special. Highlight-list worthy because it pretty darn flawless on the whole! Great way to open the show!

NICU - Perfect choice for slot two!! The energy is great!!! PLAY IT LEO!!!!! This version is head-bobbing and smiles all around. I'm grooving hard to this one at my Starbucks table. Trey has a small flub on that NICU "lick", but other than that this a really good Type I version. Nothing super special, but if this was 2012, it'd probably be a show highlight. Great stuff!!

My Soul - Wow!!! This is killing like a hot 3.0 Funk B or Reggae Woman! Great energy!!!! Page delivers a terrific bluesy piano solo that is pretty darn long!!!! This is really freaking GREAT!!!!! The vibe is just awesome. Total party! And of course Trey then takes it to a whole 'nother lever with a lengthy guitar hero workout like we expect. Terrific. A+ MY SOUL!

My Poor Heart - LET'S FREAKING GO!!!!! So much FUN!!! Love Fishman hollering in the background! I can't stop grinning, this is exactly what I needed today. A+

Wolfman's Brother - Another really excellent Type I excursion. So far the "theme" of the show is "nothing special" versions that are just exceptionally well-executed or have excess energy and enthusiasm in spades. Similar to some of those "nothing" shows from 2012 (Pelham!!!!) that are nothing memorable but are just really freaking good in the simplest of ways. It's like, you don't always need an $80 steak. Sometimes that $20 cut from Outback Steakhouse is just what the doctor ordered, you know?

First Tube - Very weird but also refreshing to get it in the middle of a first set!!! I think it works better elsewhere (it's the perfect raging closer, for sure!), but I do like them switching it up on me. Super high energy, looper sirens abound. It's a 2000 First Tube, it's everything you expect, and it's friggin' EXCELLENT!

Llama - I think this is better than the Fukuoka one. This one is just NASTY and gnarly as always but it feels next-level like that Dick's 2011 Llama or something. A+ insanity. I mean Trey is losing his god-D mind on this one! There's a section where he is shredding so fast IT SOUNDS LIKE KEYBOARDS!

Guyuute - Trey's darker tone tonight really adds a menacing air to this one. There are a few flubby sections, but on the whole this Guyuute is a success and up to the level of the rest of the set. Awesome stuff!

Run Like an Antelope - Outstanding Type I rager of the highest order. There really isn't anything to say. It isn't anything you haven't heard before, but with everything else in this set, it's just REALLY freaking good!


All in all, this set blew me away!!! I was prepared to be disappointed, but in the end I ended up getting the best 3.0 first set ever played by 1.0 Phish That's basically the gist of this set. Just very tight, ultra-high energy, FUN out the wazoo....No marquee jams, but all of the Type I here was of the highest order. Nothing to complain about here!!!!  

Set 2

Heavy Things - Not my choice for 2nd set opener. Fine, excellently played version, but not next-level like the Fukuoka one. Nothing to complain about either. If this wasn't in the lauded "set opening" slot, I might have more to say about it. But being set opener, you expect a bit "more". Kinda like when I had "The Connection" to open a second set in Charleston in 2019. It was great, but that was the worst set placement of all time and that definitely knocked it down for me. If this was in set 1, I'd probably highlight it.

>Piper - Hmm, odd-seeming choice out of HT. Now this is more like it! Right away, the guys waste no time getting back into the raging Antelope fire from outer space energy!!! I mean, the jam has no build up at the start - it's not jarring, but's funny having them just friggin' LAUNCH us into the sun out of nowhere. Pretty SICK!!! My god, we are barely 4 minutes in, and already this is like that warpspeed 11/27/98 Weekapaug or something!!! They didn't just snort a line - they did ALL the cocaine! For the next several minutes Trey cuts to the chase and absolutely UNLOADS every bit of MACHINE GUN AMMUNITION in his arsenal!!!! "Hey guys. Watch this. I'm going to play EVERY note all at once for several minutes, faster than you can yell LLAMA!" At 6:30 we get an unexpected return to the Piper "theme", taken at ludicrous speed. Around 7 minutes they return to the jam, but it goes proper Type II. Synthesizers are making their appearance, whale siren loopers are cropping up, and the insane tempo is held steady by Cactus and Fish, allowing Page to jangle along on piano while Trey noodles with his whammy pedal. You guys know exactly what I'm talkin' about. Around 9:30 things "settle down" ever so slightly. The tempo is still super fast, but things are calming down. Trey and Page are playing upbeat, melodic noodles. Fishman is doing some very cool drum-roll patterns and Gordo is holding down the fort like the mother effing MVP he is. By 11 minutes Trey is doing Birds Of a Feather-style porno vamping and the jam sounds like it could easily turn that corner. Kinda like how we went into Llama in Fukuoka. Thankfully the guys avoid drifting into ambience and proceed to give us several minutes of killer, uptempo funk jamming. At 12 minutes Page jumps on the organ and the whole band locks into sync. I really love how much you can hear Mike in the mix!!! The mix is PERFECT!!! Hell, I'm actually paying more attention to him lately than ever!!!! By 13 minutes we are slowly heading back into Machine Gun Histrionics Land. Trey is shredding it up, but also takes the time to add it tasteful whammy pedal "swells". The whammy pedal is never tasteful - sorry for lying! He's doing some cool metallic "riffing", tossing in swells here and there. Cactus is TEARING IT UP - he's not walking up and down the bass, he's friggin' SPRINTING! But then around 14:30 the jam quiets down and quickly reaches it's transition point into....



>Rock and Roll - Gotta say that "segue" wasn't terrific. I will always welcome RnR (probs my fave Phish cover besides Loving Cup) but that segue/song choice coulda been a little smoother. But I digress, the crowd is lapping it up and goes BONKERS upon Page beginning the vocals. KILLER. Only 7 minutes, but holy freaking hell do they make use of it. It's unfortunately 20 million times shorter than it should be and ends with no jam, but what is here is one of the best versions of all time. If you were to make a "non-album songs" compilation, this is the version you want!!!! INCREDIBLY KILLER!

>Tweezer - And after having our collective brains melted into our feet, we get a well-deserved cool down! After the lightspeed ridiculousness of the prior two songs, this sounds like a downright dirge! This Tweezer is one of those jams like the 12/14/95 Melt that doesn't stray far from home base, yet it still takes you on a JOURNEY. This isn't one to micro-comment on. This is one you just put on and let wash all over you like a glorious wave of awesomeness. One of the best Type I Tweezers I've ever heard. A+ all the way around. Absolutely terrific!

>Walk Away - Check out that segue! Now THAT is how you do a segue!! This one is sludgy and heavy and, yet again, over WAY too soon! What gives?! A nerfed RnR AND Walk Away?! Boo!

Twist - See the above comments for Tweezer. This is literally the Twist equivalent.

So far, the Piper>Twist sequence was excellent, with the Piper through Tweezer being STAND OUT. From Walk Away on it seems like the set is taking a dip unfortunately. And now we reach my favorite set killer.....

The Horse/Silent In the Morning - Fine version. Is it over yet? NEXT!

Possum - What did I tell you!!! They mislabeled this show!! It's really *insert 2009-2012 date here* All in all, this is a terrific Type I rager, the kind that is a dime a dozen in Early 3.0 (and the conspiracy builds!) That being said, I still have to highlight it because, jesus christ, just listen to Trey absolute mutilate his poor guitar. Incredible.

Suzy Greenberg - See Possum. Also, IT'S 3.0!!!

>Tweeprize - Holy mother of god. Check out the ATOM BOMB dropped on us immediately. Thanks Cactus! Greatest Tweeprize ever??!!! Freaking incredible raging peak for a peaktastic Type I kind of show.

ALL HAIL EARLY 3.0!!! I mean, ahem, 7/8/00!!!

All in all, if you like HEAT and ENERGY and ENTHUSIASM, this is the freaking show for you! Holy mother of hell it was just straight fire from start to finish. For musical standouts, the absolute must hear section is the Ludicrous Speed Piper>Rock and Roll and the Tweezer>Walk Away>Twist is well worth your time as well.

In other words, minimal "standalone" highlights, but a terrific full-show listen!!!!

The O.G. Live Phish Series In Review - Vol. 4: 6/14/00 Fukuoka, JP

 I've had almost no good free listening time for about a week. Back in Starbucks for a rainy afternoon once more with Live Phish Vol. 4 lined up

I'm no stranger to this gig - I've played it probably 5 times or so. Definitely one of the best gigs of all time and crazy to think in 2000 they were STILL setting "benchmarks" in their playing....

This is one of those shows where I could go ahead and just list the entire thing in bold as a "highlight" and not feel bad about it. It's classic for a reason. If you don't like dark Phish, that's on you, but this is one of those classic shows that is just X Factor Magic from start to finish. It's a show EVERYONE can agree on. Overrated it is not!!!

Anywho, on to 6/14/00 Fukuoka

Set 1 -

Carini - Gnarly vibes from the outset. It just gives you "tonight is going to be different" feelings. Also notable for featuring the "ass/glass" lyrics An excellent Type I Carini rager. Nothing super noteworthy in the grand scheme of things, but it absolute gets the ball rolling in the best way possible!!! Headbanger heaven!

The Curtain - Actually kinda jarring to get this in the 2nd slot after that black-hole Carini!!! The dark-to-light dichotomy of the two songs is like getting a gut punch (but in a good way, lol). Excellently performed version that is tight and lacking of flubbage. Feels more like an "interlude" though than anything majorly important.

>Cities - Totally unexpected segue!!! Took my by major surprise, lol. Extra slow and GROOVY tonight! The dark "vibe" from Carini is back. Listening in these Etymotics in-ear noise-cancelling earbuds is fantastic - Gordo is ALL UP IN MY BUSINESS! This is sticky, gooey, funky THICK! The jamming starts right away around 3 minutes with Page honking it up on his, what Fender Rhodes?? Very midrange, cocked-wah pedal sound!! Trey is laying back and Gordo is just doing the thickness! This is total late-night groove-fest vibes. Like if they played Moma Dance at 2am as the secret set at a festival or something. Page's domination continues for a LONG time!! Up to 5:30 and Trey is still just quietly vamping in the background. But then they seamlessly head back into the Memphis verse and the crowd goes nuts, lapping it up!!! That first jam was incredibly PATIENT in the best way!! "IT" Chalkdust this was not!!! "Nothing Jamming" done right!!!! At 7 minutes, the back end of the jam begins. Things get very quiet and dynamic!!! Fishman has started messing around with his cymbal patterns, changing things up. Trey is doing honky little lead figures. Page has moved to piano and Gordo is still laying it down. Around 8 minutes Trey hits the first whale siren and the jam slowly winds down, heading for ambience. Page still on piano and Fishman still riding those cymbals all the way to the bank!!! The jam properly "concludes" and comes to a most natural of endings. I would love it to have gone longer but they killed it at the perfect spot. Sounded like a studio cut, almost.

Gumbo - Nothing like a jammed out Gumbo!!! If the trio of THICKNESS is Gumbo, Cities and Moma, well, at least we get 2 outta three back to back!!! Good golly miss molly does Cactus sound terrific tonight!!! Just thumping it up!! Right around 4 minutes things begin to go askew. Trey records a loop with his Whammy pedal and then also signals a repeating whale siren. Page in on the piano and Gordo is laying it down like Phil Lesh, playing more lead than anything! Trey is still content to sit back and let his hombres take front and center. Trey is just along for the ride, probably eyes closed, grin on his face, vibing it out big time. Throughout all this, the jam is very SPARSE!!! Fishman is quietly keeping rhythm and doing little cymbal fills here and there, but Page and Trey are slowly introducing some more melodic lines instead of just "vamping". At 6:48 Trey hits on the Whammy pedal octave up and starts picking out little lead figures. The whale siren is still droning on in the background and things are getting darker and darker by the second. At 7:24 Page re-enters, tinkling out some keyboard hits and countering them with droning Meatstick-style synthesizer (Yamaha CS80??). We are in Type II, dark-night, outer space groove land! This is the kind of jam you put in your earbuds, close your eyes, and just let the sound wash over your, taking you away.....At 8:52 the jam makes a SUDDEN left turn! Fishman introduces a new, more upbeat pattern, which in turn leads to Trey starting to add in melodic lead lines. Page is keeping it heavy and dark on the synthesizer, hitting sustained chords and just letting them hold. Fishman turns the heat up even more and we head into an uptempo funk-rock vibe, ala Fall 1997 or something. By 10:30 we are slowly lifting ourselves out of the murk and heading for a Jimi Hendrix-style rock jam!!! Trey is doing the "backwards guitar solo" thing, and the other guys are vamping it out hard - Page back on piano and organ - as if we have just left a Birds of a Feather or something!!!! Actually, this would be the perfect spot to launch into a Llama or BOAF if they wanted to!!! OH CRAP I DIDNT EVEN LOOK AT THE SETLIST AND FORGOT THEY PLAYED IT AT THIS SHOW!!! HOW PERFECT IS MY FORESIGHT?!?!?!

>Llama - WHAT DID I TELL YOU?! I seriously forgot they played Llama at this show and seriously didn't see it before playing today, so how freaking perfect is this?!?!? When all is said and done, it's a killer little Llama, but like The Curtain, it's not really anything that noteworthy. Cool as always to hear Trey and Page going absolutely BANANAS together, haha. Killer.

Fee - Extended intro due to some major feedback issues (I'm assuming the megaphone?). As always, Page's piano playing is just effing exquisite! Lovely Type I version that ends in one of those patented "2012 Ambient-style" outros.

Heavy Things - Heavy Things is always just Heavy Things, but I've often said it's hard to find truly great live versions. The tempo/rhythm has to be just exactly PERFECT otherwise it will immediately sound "off". This is one of the best live ones I've ever heard - comparable to the album version, for real. I mean, it's a 10/10 version. For real. Just A++++ for the PERFECT performance. No, Heavy Things is not a COMPLICATED song, but the subtleties are VERY important - if they aren't nailed it's not great. When they nail it, they NAIL it! Does that make any sense? Crap, this version is so good they could've released it as a single if they wanted to and I bet it might've had legs - similar to say, Paul McCartney having 2 versions of "Coming Up", ya know?

Split Open and Melt - Oh yea, Carini and Melt in one set!! You know they are thinking "sideways" tonight! And the song portion is just about flawless. An absolutely terrific reading of the song!!! Right around 5 minutes, the jamming begins. And as expected it's dark from the outset. Page keeping it classy on the piano, front and center. Trey is noodling around and Gordo is keeping the ship anchored. Around 5:50, Fishman, Trey and Page all "sync" up for about 10 seconds very nicely, listening to each other. That's always cool. The jam is just grooving along in great Type I fare. Dark and brooding. Very slowly the jam builds intensity. Around 7:30 we begin to "turn the corner" into Type II. Things are getting "wacky" for sure. Steady rhythm still, but Trey is being very angular and jagged in his playing. Gordo is doing a nice repeating motif on the bass. Lots of tension - I'm getting anxious listening to this!!! By 10 minutes, the maelstrom is brewing!! Things are getting dark and NASTY!! This sounds like a hurricane on the high seas and we are the ship heading right for the vortex!!! Definite "dark storm" jamming! Around 11 minutes the Split pattern is STILL hanging in there somehow (thank you Page!) but the guys are just molesting the hell out of it. Trey doing his best 2003/2.0-style, rough and ready guitar squealing and whatnot. By 12 minutes, you could say we are firmly back into Melt, but we are also strongly riding the outskirts of the song, slowly reapproaching home base with each pass of the theme. INCREDIBLY COOL how they "return" slowly back to the song so SEAMLESSLY!!!! And with that, they bring it to a perfect close and Trey announces set break...



Wowzers!!! That was a BLAST!!! I LOVED being able to listen "properly" to this for the first time!!! What a terrific set - damn near perfect in vibe and song choice, balancing later-era songs with a few very early songs, several absolute standout renditions (Melt, Gumbo, HT) and THICKNESS for days.

A+++++++++

 

Set 2

Back On the Train - Set 2 begins with, I'm assuming, Trey messing around doing squiggling on the keys (or is that some weird guitar loop he set up?). Terrific Type I as usual, comparable to how good Heavy Things was. This is the BOTT equivalent of that HT. It takes a very long time for the jam to start to "stretch" out. We finally see hints of a budding journey around 9:30 or so. VERY SLOWLY the band works on changing up the scenery. It's still Type I, but new sounds and patterns are being crept in, bit by bit. And it basically rides out like this to the end. You'd never call this BOTT Type II, but they definitely stretch the boundaries and come close to "launch" at a couple points. Instead, they decide to keep it simple, not mess with a good thing, and just give us one of the best BOTT's ever played. It's doing Type I - it knows it's doing Type I. And they COMMIT to it hard, haha. Great BOTT!!!!

Twist - BRING IT ON!! Immediately, the jamming begins with a shift to a more quiet, jazzy mood (as expected), with Page hammering his piano and Trey signaling a whale-siren loop at 2:55. By 4:45, Page and Trey have fallen into a nice section of "call-and-repeat". Kinda soloing off of each other, if that makes sense. Around 5:30, there is some little change that happens and it signals us to begin heading towards more blissful ambience. One of those "blink and youll miss it" little things that can just turn the course of a jam on a dime. By 6:30, the jazziness of Twist is slowly being left in the rear view mirror. Page is still sticking with his piano, and Trey returns to "echoing" Page's motifs. At 8 minutes they all sync up and start ramping up the rhythm out of nowhere! This lasts about 10 seconds, and then we recede back into Twist-like territory. The blissful ambience that was budding is now kinda turning back towards slightly jazzier areas. Page is still on piano - not a synth in sight! And Fishman has been keeping the Twist rhythms going this whole time (basically), inserting appropriate cymbal crashes when needed. Around 9 minutes, Trey begins doing cool sustained notes, sounding like a bird in flight! This helps to bring a cool quasi-ambient vibe, but we are still stubbornly holding onto the last morsels of Twist for all it's worth!!! By 10:30, Trey is still playing with his gorgeous "Divided Sky" sustained notes, while the others fill out the rest of the soundscape as best as they can. Extremely cool section - you could edit this into a "track" if you wanted to! By 11:30 Trey is STILL doing his "sky sustains", but Page begins to introduce his Clavinet with wah pedal into the mix!!! Finally!! Fishman and Gordo sound like they are trying to properly re-establish the Twist theme, but suddenly at 12:25 the bottom drops out and we are into ambience! Trey doing his high-pitch whammy pedal noodling, looper still going strong. Page starts to fiddle with synths. Fishman is only hitting an occasional cymbal or rim shot, etc. By 13:20 it's FULL AMBIENCE. Good golly this is lovely!! This isn't dark like I thought it would be! This is actually very "positive" sounding!!!! Like we are just calmly breathing in and out, letting the blue skies and warm sunshine wash over us, cleansing us of our sins, haha. This is some "Massage Session" ambience! By 15:30, slight "weirdness" begins to creep in. Trey is ramping up his loopers and Page is leaning more into the synth textures. But then at 16 minutes, Trey goes "enough!" and slowly builds back into the Twist riff!!! And with that we are back into Twist proper! And at 18 minutes, the "Massage Session" Twist comes to a proper close with some ambient looper-ing to close it out....

>Fukuoka Jam #1 - So Twist came to a proper close. Hissing, steam-like ambience at the outro. The guys, I guess, realize they don't want to stop and instead begin to introduce more synthesizer layering and cymbal rattling to keep the weirdness afloat!!! Pure, unadulterated, weirdo, outer-space ambience. This is NOT what you play for a first-time Phish listener! Very quickly, by 2 minutes, the jam has descended into full blown panic-attack-inducing darkness. This sounds like the jam we DIDN'T get in that opening Carini!!! All whale sirens from Trey and synth sustains from Page. Gordo is holding down the fort, just hitting a 2-note pattern over and over, keeping it steady like in Sand or something. Fishman is going bonkers on the kit, still doing his cymbal rattling, ala a psychedelic David Bowie/Maze intro or something. By 3:36, Trey is still laying back, Page is hitting those synths, and Mike has begun to "expand" the bass pattern he was doing. Very slowly, things are maybe turning musical again, haha. By 5 minutes this is still continuing except Fishman is ramping up the intensity. Trey is doing occasional "squiggles" and Page is doing synth "stabs". At 5:35 we shift magically into an INCREDIBLY COOL funk base!!!! THANK YOU MIKE AND FISH!!! Check out that effing funky bass line and drum pattern. This is the kinda groove you sample and let loose on a hip-hop track or something. By 6:30, the ambient squiggling is still going on full-force on top of this funky ridiculousness. I have never heard anything like this (even though I've heard this before, lol). SERIOUSLY, CHECK OUT THAT EFFING BASS GROOVE. HOLY FREAKING HELL. By 7:45 Page is still going nuts with the synth and Trey re-enters on the guitar, doing his best 1997 porno-vamping. Slow-tilting wah pedal. Tasteful as hell. Page takes the cue and shifts back to piano. We are finally in a proper, musical, jam once more. 1997 ain't got nothing on this!!! By 9 minutes, Mike is STILL holding down that simple-yet-amazing bass motif, letting Page and Trey slowly eek out ideas on top of the base. Fishman begins to introduce accents along with Mike's groove (no pun intended!!!). Trey is doing slow wah-pedal BURSTS that are freaking awesome. Guys, has anybody here NOT heard this yet? This is one of the best jams of all time, no cap, fam At 10:30, Trey starts mangling sustained GROANS out of his guitar. The tempo is slowly increasing and the funk jam is now walking instead of crawling. Everyone is in their element, just riding this wave that Mike created!!! ALL HAIL CACTUS! MVP OF THIS JAM!!!! This is perfect tap-your-feet, zone out and jam to the groove music......By 12 minutes, things are still ultra-chill but also full of energy. This is "jazzy restraint" of the best kind. Just floating down the river of the jam.....By 13 minutes, the jam approaches something similar to the sounds of Steam, if more uptempo (though still shuffley). Page starts playing the piano more properly, adding in chordal stabs. Trey carefully let's loose, picking and choosing his leads with the utmost aplomb. At 14 minutes Trey hits upon a motif and the other guys latch right on, building the jam even further!!! ALMOST sounds like we could head back into Twist if they wanted to. The drums are still too much of a shuffle, but that's the direction we are building towards. At 15 minutes Trey hits the distortion and gets my head a-bangin'!!! I'm sitting here in the middle of Starbucks, headbanging along with this jam, looking like a jerk. AND I DON'T CARE!!! By 15:30 the jam has turned into a sludgy, slow-build, heavy-metal STOMP!!! You can hear the budding Walk Away coming from a MILE away!! THE BUILD UP IS ONE THE GREATEST THINGS IVE EVER HEARD!!!! And the crowd seems to pick it out well-ahead of the transition as well!!! Incredible!!!

BEFORE WE CONTINUE - I MUST SAY - I AM NOT ONE TO JUST LISTEN TO JAMS. BUT THIS SUCKER IS IMMEDIATELY GOING ON MY SHORTLIST!!!! THAT WAS ONE OF THE MOST ABSOLUTELY PERFECT AND ENJOYABLE AND NEAR-FLAWLESS PIECES OF MUSIC I'VE EVER HEARD!!!! I'M NOT RAVING ABOUT THIS HARD ENOUGH! THIS JAM DESERVES 5 MILLION EMOJIS AND CAPITAL BOLDING BIGGER THAN THE SEARS TOWERS!!!!!!!! ABSOLUTELY MOTHER EFFING MUST HEAR!!! But you already know that

>Walk Away/Fukuoka Jam #2 - AND THE CROWD GOES NUTS! Love the slow-stomp, "Black Sabbath" kind of sludgy vibe to this one!!!! Oh golly does this sucker STOMP!!! This Walk Away is like a steam roller. It's definitely "too slow", but coming as part of the "context" of that jam, that is not important in the slightest. What show had that "heavy metal" Wilson? Was that Big Birch or something? This is like the Walk Away equivalent. Trey doesn't even really shred it up or anything! The whole band is just CRUSHING Fukuoka like Godzilla on a rampage!!!! Very cool final 30 seconds of ambient jamming with drums and piano keeping us grounded. At this point we turn the corner into "Fukuoka Jam #2". This was not "separate" like the Twist>Jam, so I prefer to think of this as a jammed out Walk Away instead. I will refer to track times for FJ#2 though for the sake of simplicity. So by 2 minutes in, there is no drumming or keys. Barely some bass "tapping". Trey is doing some lovely CLEAN melodic chording!!! Very upbeat!!! The friggin' whale siren looper is still going hard in the background. We are in full BLISS SPACE. We are back to the Massage Parlor or something. Around 3 minutes Trey hits upon a "bluesy" chord and the feeling changes. Page re-enters quietly and carefully on piano, slowly placing notes as needed. Trey is letting beautiful feedback just squeal out of his guitar like Jeff Beck or something. I never thought moaning guitar feedback could be so RELAXING!!!! Wow. This is freaking NICE! The feedback slowly ends, the looper is still going, and Fishman is doing occasional tom-tom "rumbles". Tribalism reigns supreme! Page introduces some hissy synths (or is that Mike doing that?) that sound, yet again, like, well, steam, lol. Trey is just laying back, letting quiet feedback fade in and out of the jam, until Fishman starts rattling those cymbals and doing his best "Money For Nothing drum intro" fills. The intensity is picking back up and the feedback cries are becoming more and more labored. At this point the disc fades out....

>2001 - And into 2001 we go!!!!!!! Talk about a damn set-up for it though! Mike is doing great, keeping a steady one-note rhythm going yet again. Trey is noodling it up as usual for a good 2001 intro. The intro jamming is so nice and when they finally build to the theme/peak at 3:30 it's like the greatest "exhalation" ever. After all the building up of the insane jamming, it's like the ultimate RELEASE! Like, "ok the, serious stuff is out of the way, let's just party the F out, yo!" . Fantastic! The Great Went "2001" will forever be among my top 5 favorite jams of all time (certainly favorite 2001!) but this one throws it's hat into the ring along with the Memphis '99 version as "best-ever/go-to" renditions for me! This jam is outstanding!!! On the surface, it just sounds like "every other great 2001", but if you really listen, there are a million little awesome subtleties. LOVE the stop/start rhythm jamming that begins around 7 minutes. Check out Gordo take center stage just BOMBING it up! Also, you NEED to listen to this in headphones - the room AMBIENCE on the recording is like * chef's kiss * This is one of those jams that sounds composed - everyone is in such perfect sync, it's like they practiced this jam ahead of time or something. They could easily release it as a standalone track if they wanted to. The return to the 2001 theme near the end is one of the greatest build-ups EVER. JUST SO FRIGGIN OUTSTANDINGLY PERFECT!!! It's like the ultimate, perfected example of releasing tension!!! Ugh, just must-hear 2001. Outstanding.....

>Sleep - A rare Sleep in the encore spot, by request. Very nice and good lord did we need the cool down!

The Squirming Coil - And here we go back to the "old songs/new songs" theme! Not a terrific version. Trey is flubbing the hell out of it. But hey, we all love a good Page solo to end an incredible night, so I can't knock it TOO much - it was 2000 after all



All in all....no words. I knew it was going to be amazing, you know it's amazing. Read the damn review - or don't I don't care! This is hallowed ground. If you don't dig this show, I don't know what to tell you.