@AlbanyYEM said:

I don't know which is worse quite frankly, that they intentionally played the Saturday Night Special jukebox or that they (Trey in particular) just didn't have it when going for the jams.

I will say that there was some incredibly inventive type I stuff going on that was pretty enjoyable, but I'm just not sure they had it for the type II that night. The Light sounded ripped from an average show in '10-'11 where Trey plays a textural, slightly atonal solo, chops at some nice rhythm work, and no melody is ever found. Thanks Page, for making this interesting at the end with that effect so nicely used in the '11 era jams (I forget the name of it). It really seemed like Trey just had nothing so Page decided to take over.

Is this the same band that played Randall's?

That said, I think the blog post here (due to the technical difficulties) shortchanged the shit out of Hood. It was one of the better moments I've had at a show, mainly because at that point my expectations were entirely gone and it was such a nice reprise of the fall tour 'swamp rock/near bliss' that I've been waiting to see in person.

I have to say though, that the 4 or 5 minutes or so of that Hood didn't redeem the show for me.

The other strange, alarming thing for me is that Phish (for whatever reason) has stopped playing their higher caliber shows in the midwest. '09-'11 had quite a nice assortment of top shelf shows (8-14-10, 6-3-11, 8-15-11, etc.) and '12 had some decent moments for where they were at at that point of the tour.

What has the midwest gotten since then?

The Northerly debacle of '13. A one-off bizarre and forgetable Pine Knob and the return to not jamming. After what we heard last fall and the start of this tour. Not jamming again, let me repeat that.

Why?

I have to think that part of it is the incomprehensible touring schedule that puts these midwest shows in a bubble, disassociated from east coast, and ridiculously metropolitan centered. If the Chicago shows don't do it for you, better luck next year. Well now it's next year. Same pattern of shows (discounting ho-hum Pine Knob) and same results. I know this year is better, but the pattern of being substantially of a lower quality than the surrounding tour is alarming the shit out of me.

Maybe go back to Alpine and Deer Creek. People in the midwest like good Phish shows too, we're not all Chadlybrah McTalkersons here. Really, I swear.

/annoyed Chicagoan

Wow, you sound disallusioned.

So much for the blissful optimist who was convinced that Trey was (::ahem: , mindfucking us the other night by intentionally ripping out of promising jams, with a level a control and command that was spellbinding, just to break out of the pattern of expectations.

I suggested at the time that it seemed very unlikely (as much as I wanted to believe you) that the band would intentionally disrespect that audience with such a flippant treatment of their show experience, but no, you insisted that Trey was omnicient and was keeping us artistically off-balance.

I'm playing with you.

I share your disappointment but really, if anything, this last week simply reinforces how thankful we should be for what transpired last fall.

Like I mentioned before, the band has built up a level of credit with us because of last Fall, a strong NYE run and a strong start to this tour, but now, here we are.

We cannot say that we've been "Rochestered" after a solid week of really average performances with only one or two remarkable moments. This is a trend now.

At this time last year, there was a veritable human outcry about the shrinking song rotation and plethora of repeats. The problem seems even more pronounced this year but I hear nary a word, though our intrepid reviewer (who gave us an excellent and highly entertaining read), peeled off the kid gloves a bit with his stark and tongue-in-cheek treatment of a very rote and uninspiring first set.

The critics are currently bashing their heads into the fence looking for brains, and if the boys don't knock it out of the park tonight they'll be chewing on Trey's arms and innards trying to find the missing bust-outs.