2011-08-10 Stateline, NV

Onward with 2011

Night 2 in Tahoe

Set 1 has a pretty terrible setlist FOR MY TASTE

The bustout-nobody-cared-about of Dogs Stole Things opens the show.
Probably one of my least favorite Phish tunes, I can never remember anything about it even after listening.

Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan - love this song but hate this set placement. A bluesy opener followed by another slow song? No thanks. It's ok though as this one is hot and good.

Poor Heart - now we're talking! BASS SOLO. Page SHREDS those keys! Awesome version. Dare I say it felt jammed out - if that's even possible!

Alaska - DESTROYER OF WORLDS. I like this song a lot but it's just another bluesy little ditty. Kinda the sister of Ocelot, if you will. Amazing version, Trey melts faces. GET THIS.

Halley's Comet - fun and good as always. I will never complain of getting this on a setlist, but there is literally nothing special about this version. Good fun as always.

It's Ice - Now we're talking! After listening to that horrendously butchered 1996 Amsterdam version courtesy @ThirdBowl , this one makes up for it. An excellent reading of a song I ALWAYS love to hear. Great stuff.

Now, It may sound like I'm being overly negative with this set so far, but it's all been highly enjoyable and excellently played - just not the songs I personally enjoy seeing all together in freakin' set

More to come....  

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From my Highlights List Funnily enough, Harry Hood was the only song in set 2 that seemed sub par! Not a great version imo. So therefore it is not on the list

No ** rating tonight. The first set was way too inconsistent for that. BUT, that Stash and the entire 2nd set were among the best stuff of the summer. Absolutely grab those.


8/10 Stateline, NV (Get Stash, then PROCEED DIRECTLY TO SET 2, HOLY FREAKING CRAP!!!!!!! JAM BONANZA!)
DOGS STOLE THINGS
Poor Heart
Alaska (HOLY FREAKING CRAP!)
It's Ice
>When The Circus Comes (unexpected segue!)
Ya Mar (PLAY IT LEO!)
Stash (Extremely odd DARK jam!!!!!! HIGHLIGHT OF SET)
Funky B (EXTREME! BEYOND AVERAGE HEAT!)
Instant Karma
Down With Disease (Goes Type II but quickly segues...)
>Runaway Jim (PLINKO. FREAKING AWESOME. Type II)
>Ghost (ROCKS TO HIGH HEAVEN! GOES FULL TYPE II. WHALE CALL!)
>Golden Age (WOW!)
>2001
>Sneakin Sally
Guyuute
Velvet Sea
You Enjoy Myself

2011-08-09 Stateline, NV

Onward with 8/9/11, Stateline, NV (Lake Tahoe)

Awesome setlist tonight. Currently headbanging to Punch You in the Eye. This is THE song that made me a fan (12/31/95!!!) I would definitely put it as my favorite Phish song, no questions asked. End of story. Good versions in 3.0 are extremely hit or miss. This one is total HIT. I am very happy

Everything has been played excellent so far.

Some shows have that raging-hopped up-too many energy drinks vibe such as 8/8 and 8/6

This has that smoother, excellent kind of vibe, if that makes sense.

To me, there are clearly different "vibes" that shows give, lol. This feels like less of a full-on rage-til-you-die show and more of a take-your-time-and-enjoy-it-all affair

Party Time was a perfect opener - is it ever not?
Oh Kee Pah - unexpected and perfectly performed
AC/DC Bag - nothing special but a strong, album-ready version
>Mellow Mood - awesome digital delay segue into MM. A terrific version and I'm not one for reggae, so....

Rift - KA BLAM!!!!! CHECK OUT THIS FIRE!!!!!! HOLY HELL!!!!!!!!

Rift definitely kicked things up a notch and the fire and precision it brought has carried over to this Punch.

Not to be hyperbolic but this is surely one of the best Punch's of 3.0 SO FAR. I have extremely high standards for this song (again, 12/31/95 was my intro!) so I'm constantly putting down any version I hear. Not this one. Terrific.  

 

Set 2

Holy hell can I forgive them for that first set (mindblowing DARK Stash excepted!) because they are going nuts in set 2

Lots of Type II (unfortunately only several minutes at a time), but what they do jam is great and they are blazing it up.

You'll see when I post my notes

 

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8/9 Stateline, NV ** (GET THAT LIGHT! ROCKET MAN!)
Party Time
Oh Kee Pah
AC/DC Bag
>Mellow Mood (VERY nice!)
Rift (Holy hell)
Punch You in the Eye (PERFECTION!!!!!!)
>Meat (Dank...)
David Bowie
46 Days
Gotta Jibboo (FREAKING ROCKS)
>Light (TYPE II OUTER SPACE DARK SLUDGE FUNK. AS GOOD AS GORGE ROCK AND ROLL. OMFG)
>Chalkdust Torture (Unqie Type I, HARRY POTTER!)
>Slave to the Traffic Light
>Free
ROCKET MAN!
Walls of the Cave (Harry Hood didn't do much)
Bug (HOLY CRAP TREY!)
The Squirming Coil

 

 

 

 

2018-07-18 Lake Tahoe, NV

Gotta say the first set on paper looks horrible as far as song selection goes.

AC/DC Bag was too drudgy as an opener - I like the song but it's always hit and miss for me. If its uptempo and banging, then all right! But too often it feels like it is dragging or something. This is one of those versions. It was still pretty good though - I'd give it a B+

Martian Monster and Ass Handed are both SKIPs for me.

On to Everything's Right - I really enjoy this tune. This version is exceptionally chill and laid back. The jamming doesn't really go that far out, but we do get some nice jazzy playing for a few minutes. Pretty solid stuff! 

So, as usual, it appears I spoke too soon.

Everything's Right ended up being a heavy banger towards the end and 555 KILLED. I was straight up headbanging along

Also, I didn't realize until I checked .NET that the first set includes Theme and Gin, so points get added for those.

I hear great thing about the upcoming Ocelot as well....

This isn't Ocelot. No, this frickin' CAN'T be.
WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?! THIS IS FREAKING AWESOME!!!

Let me put it like this, if you played this jam for someone, they would never, ever, in a million years realize that it stemmed from a mere Ocelot.

WOW!

Oh yea, Wedge was pretty rockin' too  

Ok, so Theme and Gin to end set 1. Theme seemed very good and quite powerful. Gin was 13 minutes of "just ok". Just a "generic, good Gin".
 

 For set 2:

Down With Disease>
What's The Use>
Blaze On>
I Always Wanted It That Way>
Joy

Pretty strong sequence, except tonight nothing really goes above the "that was pretty good in an unspectacular way" level, unfortunately.

Blaze On felt like it did have some extra "oomph" though and this Joy is surprisingly spectacular!

Joy is like Farmhouse for me - when its a drag its a DRAG, but when it clicks its fantastic. This one is the latter. Haven't enjoyed a Joy so much in god knows how long.

Limb By Limb into 2001 was again fun but unspectacular. Just good stuff.

YEM was great though and the rocking Suzy sent us happily on our way.

This show was about as good as night 1. A solid B+ gig that just screamed "warm up" for the most part (aside from that incredible Ocelot!!!)
 

 

2018-07-17 Lake Tahoe, NV

 Ok, so a ripping 9 minute Free to open things up with a bang. Why is this almost never an opener?! It's perfect for it!

Up next we have - on paper - insanity.

A 12 minute Possum, then a 14 minute Moma and a 16 minute Ghost.

A short 7 minute Funky B to breathe and then back into it all with a 12 minute Stash.

Huh.

How 'bout that. 

Possum was pretty interesting sounding. I can't recall hearing one quite like it, although I've not heard a single full show from 2011 through 2019 outside of 1 or 2, so I'm sure it's just me.

Moma and Ghost are both funky, but both are very, very chill tonight. Ghost reminds me of the Alpine '97 version or something. Just super relaxed.

Very nice though.

Still got 8 minutes left in Ghost though so we'll see where it goes from here!

Ok, maybe it's just me zoning out or something, but the Moma>Ghost didn't live up to expectations unfortunately.

As I just mentioned they were both very nice, but Ghost just kept drifting and never really went anywhere. It literally just kind of petered out.

It was a lovely 16 minute lazy river ride, let's put it like that. Darn, lol.

Now we are in a rocking Funky B, but that chill vibe is continuing so maybe just a nice relaxed air is the feeling for this show. Cuz this is the first time I can say I've heard a relaxed Funky B!

Stash seems pretty good for a bit, but when it comes time for "takeoff", it's like the guys can't figure out how to pull back on the throttle and lift the landing gear.

Hmm.

Am I expecting too much or is this just a not a hot show so far?  

Character Zero

At this point in my short fandom, I'm pretty sick of this song. A good version is a good version and you guys know I love anything that rocks, so I gotta give props to this one for dragging this dying horse of a set across the finish line with a bang and a snarl. Good stuff!

The set 2 opening NMINML already sounds way more alive than all of set 1. That's a good sign 

 NMINML

This is miles better than anything in the first set. It's actually deserving of its 17 minute length.

I'm not gonna say it's the greatest thing of all time, but there is loads of energy, Mike and Fish are both tearing it up, and Trey has busted out the wah for some neck wrangling, so, at least they are trying

WOW THAT WAS KILLER!

Thankfully this continues straight into a nasty Carini. Tons of wah all over this beast. Very dark!

SICK 

Carini segued masterfully into Slave. Totally didn't see that coming if I didn't have the setlist in front of me. Great version too! Slave is not a song I look forward too usually, but this one was very enjoyable. 

After that lovely Slave, we got a very nice BATR as a breather.

Like CZero, BATR is another song I enjoy but am glad when it's over.

After BATR we segue into a freaking ROCKING Soul Planet!!!

I don't give a crap how cringey everyone thinks the lyrics are - who cares when the song rocks so much?!

All I can do is sit and headbang and tap my feet. Wish I was in the crowd going nuts when they played this.

Yea, it's a an easy, simple song, but for only it's second performance this was dang tight. This was KILLER!!!!!!

This Soul Planet was sick - goin' all Type II darkness into Steam now....  

After a hot Steam and slightly extended Hood, Contact and Julius send us on their way.

Overall a good show but not a classic or worthy of my "****" ratings :P 

Fine start to the summer but definitely had a relaxed vibe to it that I wish was a little hotter.