2011-07-03 Watkins Glen, NY

About an hour into set 1 of the night. First off, check out this old-school-ass setlist!!!!

So far:

Soul Shakedown Party
AC/DC Bag>
The Curtain (exceptional w/o version!)
Colonel Forbin>
Storage Unity Reality Narration>
Fly Famous Mockingbird
Destiny Unbound (Sick jamming!!!)>
Big Black Furry Creature From Mars
Wilson
Mound

I mean, dude.

Playing wise, it's been a mixed bag, but the setlist effort exceeds any complaints I have about "oh that was good but nothing special"

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 Gettin' tasty jamming in unexpected places tonight! No, not type II yet, but definitely "ooh that's different" type I stuff

Check out the Destiny Unbound, Wilson and Mound for the goods in set I!!!

EDIT - more to come. Thought the set was nearing the end but I've still got a Reba AND a Bowie to get through

 

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Set 1 continued:

Ok, so after Wilson and Mound, A Song I Heard The Ocean Sing brought the heavy heat. We got legit Type II for about 3 or 4 wonderful minutes. Really terrific micro jamming (or whatever you guys call it). There was even a totally unexpected switch up where Mike went to a major key and the whole jam flipped on its head.

Totally worth checking out. Very, very cool!

Time Loves a Hero was nice to hear. Excellent version.

Reba - ouch! Unfortunately this was maybe the biggest low point of this otherwise pretty cool set. The "tough" part was ok playing wise, but the jamming really didn't go anywhere. Ever wanted to hear a, dare I say, BORING Reba? No? Well too bad cuz here you go After the jam they did the whistle ending and Trey lost his marbles resulting in the whole thing grinding to a weird halt. I don't know if he just lost his place or had guitar problems or what but the song quite literally breaks down instead of ending, lol.

At least that weird conclusion leads us into a TERRIFIC David Bowie!!! I'm not usually impressed with 3.0 Bowie's besides "oh that was hot!" but this one actually has proper jamming and not just soloing Not the greatest ever but it is totally a top-tier version for 2011 and lays total waste to that pathetic Reba

 

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Down With Disease>
No Quarter (CRUSHING)>
Party Time (HOSE. HOSE EVERYWHERE).


Party Time might just be the best thing played at this festival so far. Yes, you heard me right. That is both a compliment to this performance and a bash at this festival

EDIT:

Nevermind, Ghost>Jibboo is just as hot or hotter!  

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LIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Just finished night 3 of Superball. That made up for any perceived deficiencies in the shows prior

Here's my Superball Super Mix, the best of the best of the 3 nights


7/1/11 Night 1

Possum
The Moma Dance
NICU
Bathtub Gin
Wolfman's Brother
Funky B.
Quinn the Eskim
Crosseyed and Painless
Chalkdust Torture
Mike's Song>
Simple>
Bug


7/2/11 Night 2

Tube
Kill Devil Falls
Ocelot
Divided Sky
Reggae Woman
46 Days
Suskind Hotel
Monkey Man
McGrupp
Axilla
Stash
Scents and Subtle Sounds
Golden Age
Prince Caspian>
Piper>
Tweezer
Twist


7/3/11
The Curtain w/o
Colonel Forbin>Narration>
Fly Famous Mockingbird
Destiny Unbound
Wilson
Mound
A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing
Time Loves a Hero
David Bowie
Big Balls
Down With Disease>
No Quarter>
Party Time>
Ghost>
Gotta Jibboo>
Light>
Waves>
What's the Use>
Meatstick
Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan
First Tube

 

 

 

2011-07-02 Watkins Glen, NY + Ambient Set

An hour into night 2 of Superball - 7/2/11 and this show DEFINITELY has that Extra Mustard Sauce lacking from the first night.

I don't know what it is - it's just that intangible vibe. Some shows have "it" (no pun intended...) and other shows are just good shows.

That has "IT".  

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Still in set 1!!!

MONKEY MAN!!!!!!!!! Friggin' NAILED!!!

Suskind Hotel was spectacular as well 

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 Set 2

More uneven than the first set, but that's barely saying anything considering the length of this show and pure number of songs played.

Also, Scents has the intro  

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Ok, so I never gave my proper final thoughts on night 2 of Superball. Here we go:

7/2/11 Watkins Glen - Superball, night 2
Officially the 2nd longest gig after Big Cypress

ON THE WHOLE:
I feel like I wasn't blown away as much as I would've like It was certainly awesome from start to finish, but really, it often just felt like a lot of songs and nothing more
That is ok, I'm the song guy - can't have a good jam without the launching pad! But for a "special" festival set it was definitely underwhelming.

Set 1 raged. Full stop fire from start to finish. It's set one so I'm not expecting much. Just great, stinking HOT rock and roll
Set 2 was easily the least fulfilling of the three. It just felt more uneven, really.
Set 3 was definitely the height of the jamming. There wasn't much Type II this show, but the short bits here and there, especially in set 3 were fantastic.

So, compared to the rest of 2011 I've heard so far, I'd rank this show very strong B+/A- . It WAS great but, c'mon, it shoulda been so much more. That's really the biggest complaint one can even really have with it. It definitely gets the ** rating from me (meaning one of the best of the year), but at the same time its at the bottom of that group so far.

It's hard to really judge it that well! It WAS extremely enjoyable for me, but for the length of the show, it felt way too shallow. Big Cypress is uber-length, but with all the jamming in that show to pad out the time it doesn't feel so long, lol, jah feel me broskee's?

Here's my notes of Superball night 2

7/2 Watkins Glen** - SUPERBALL (Longest show besides Big Cypress. Not much Type II, but everything is played with EXTRA rocket sauce. The jamming, when it does happen, is GREAT. Set 3 is the BIZNESS)
Tube (RAGING!)
Kill Devil Falls (HOTTER THAN THE SUN!)
Ocelot (SPECTACULARLY HOT!)
Divided Sky (PERFECTION)
Reggae Woman (Hot jamming!)
Camel Walk
46 Days (FACE MELTING DESTRUCTION!)
Suskind Hotel (JAM OF THE SET FREAKING AWESOME!)
Timber>
Back on the Train
Suzy Greenberg
MONKEY MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Runaway Jim (5K Race awards!)
McGrupp!!!
Axilla
Birds of a Feather
Stash
It's Ice
Scents and Subtle Sounds (WITH INTRO!)
Run Like an Antelope
Golden Age (FINALLY SOME TYPE II!!)
Prince Caspian (Long Type I!!!)
>Piper (Type II rage)
>Tweezer (Murky Type II madness)
>Julius
Number Line (Chill but gets cooking)
Twist (Awesome Chill latin jamming!!! Dynamic!!)
>2001 (AMAZING SEGUE INTO!)
>Harry Hood
Loving Cup
>Tweeprize 

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7/2/11 Watkins Glen - Superball

SECRET AMBIENT SET

Ok, so I'm 36 minutes in. Took them a while to get going, but firmly around the 30 minute mark there is a terrific slow jam going on. Sounds like it could've morphed out of a No Quarter performance.

But really, I'm not gonna try and commentate on this friggin' set. When they hit a stride it's excellent

 

2011-07-01 Watkins Glen, NY

I'm sinking into Dead world again right now, but I'm happily solidering on with 2011, so let's do this!

Currently deep into some FUNKY Wolfman's action on 7/1/11, Watkins Glen!

Set 1 of Superball is pretty unassuming - It never goes above and beyond, but - and it's a VERY BIG BUT - it hits the sweet spot throughout with terrifically tight playing (the norm for 2011 so far) with a couple nice rarities and absolutely stonkingly great Type 1 jamming when warranted.

If it's not exactly an ultra-memorable classic set, at least it knocks it out of the park while you are actually listening to it

Possum - opens the set and DESTROYS. Possum is always hot but this one has extra mustard on it. Terrific upbeat way to open the festival!
Peaches En Regalia - basically a segue, it begins immediately out of possum and the guys nail it. I kept thinking they could sub in for Dweezil sometime if needed
Moma Dance - FREAKING TIGHT AND GROOVY AND AWESOME.
Torn and Frayed - not played since Festival 8
NICU - Nothing special but very hot, Play it Leo!!!
Bathtub Gin - Moma really got us dancing, but this is probably the first real jam of the set. 15 incredibly good Type 1.5 minutes. NOT TO BE MISSED!
Life On Mars - Did NOT expect this! Crowd ate it up and Trey nailed it
My Friend My Friend - Hot, duh
Wolfman's Bro - JAM OF THE SET!!!! There have been a number of great jams so far but this one totally takes the cake. Spectacular funky explorations
Roses are Free - the absolute perfect song choice to come out of that.

Very good stuff so far!  

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Set 1 of Superball ruled:

7/1 Watkins Glen - SUPERBALL
Possum - NUCLEAR BOMB EXPLOSTION
>Peaches En Regalia
Moma Dance - Best version ever?!
Torn and Frayed
NICU - PLAY IT LEO!!!
Bathtub Gin - OUT OF THIS WORLD SPECTACULAR TYPE 1
Life On Mars
My Friend My Friend
Wolfman's Brother - 12 EXPLOSIVE MINUTES OF FUNKY RAGING!
Roses are Free
>Funky B - EXTRA HOT MUSTARD
Quinn The Eskimo - MONSTER! 

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 Set 2:
Ambient Jam intro>
Crosseyed and Painless>
short but sweet Type II excursion>
Chalkdust Torture

That segue into CDT was smoother than glass 

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 Ok, so this show was excellent top to bottom, BUT, while it was great, it never reached ultra-memorable for me. It just didn't feel "special".
It was just a really hot show without much mystery - the setlist pretty much tells you exactly how its gonna go, ya know what I mean?

Another objectively great show that left me feeling lacking, for want of a better term.

An amazing Phish show takes you on an adventure - this was just a nice sunday drive on a really hot day

It definitely gets the 'ol "**" hot show recommendation from me, but on the whole it was kinda....bland??? Not the right word.

You know what I mean. Awesome show, but on the whole probably just a good warmup for things to come

Gotta say - that Mike's Song>Simple>Type II>Bug was actually maybe the awesomest stuff of set 2. Never thought I'd say Bug was a highlight but this one was PERFECTLY placed coming out of that smooth Simple. And then it just EXPLODES!!!! Totally worth hearing.

Peace and love

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7/1 Watkins Glen - SUPERBALL (Great show with lots of highlights, but not really memorable.)
Possum - NUCLEAR BOMB EXPLOSTION
>Peaches En Regalia
Moma Dance - Best version ever?!
Torn and Frayed
NICU - PLAY IT LEO!!!
Bathtub Gin - OUT OF THIS WORLD SPECTACULAR TYPE 1
Life On Mars
My Friend My Friend
Wolfman's Brother - 12 EXPLOSIVE MINUTES OF FUNKY RAGING!
Roses are Free
>Funky B - EXTRA HOT MUSTARD
Quinn The Eskimo - 13 MINUTE MONSTER!
Ambient Jam>
Crosseyed and Painless - Jeezus...Short Type II
>Chalkdust Torture
Sand
MIKE's FRIGGIN SONG HOLY EFFING HELL
Simple - Type II
>Bug - MOST HARDCORE BUG EVER
Weekapaug Groove
Character Zero
Show of Life