THE END OF SUMMER

Set I:

Nothing much to say... except for the Gin. After some dicking about, Trey finally gets a groove going as Fishman speeds up the tempo and over Page's piano, Trey begins building up, after which Fish goes over to the ride cymbal, giving it a bit more zest. After another bit of tension, Trey properly peaked while Fish and Page rhythmically backed him up while he shredded before heading back into the Gin theme. Zero closed out the first set.

Set II:

Crosseyed immediately sends the crowd into a dancing frenzy, riding the groove for the initial jam section. Trey then happens upon a nice little quote at about 10 minutes or so in, which he noodles on before Page and Fish, who respectively move over to the Lil' Pumpkin and tone down the volume accordingly, make a beautiful and mellow soundscape which Trey quietly solos over before Fish slows down the tempo. Trey noodles for a bit again, before, with Page backing him on the grand, he begins to solo with incredible results, at first quietly, but then he builds it up to glorious proportions. Page moves over to the organ lifting it all to the heavens before bringing it down and up into heaven again, complete with Mike dropping nuclear bombs. The jam then fades out into space, and Trey >'s into Steam.

Steam, had a quick Crosseyed tease at the start of it's jam, starting a trend of them throughout the rest of the night. The jam never really went anywhere, riding a fairly lackluster groove and everyone seemingly waiting for someone else to make a move for it's duration before Trey cut the bullshit and started up Piper. Page drove this jam with some great piano work, before Trey got some soaring soloing going, before quickly peaking with Page backing him up on the organ. OK, time for a quick complaint.

Page is really over using the fucking organ during peaks. Like basically every peak. It's getting very old very fast, so much so that I groan every time he uses it in a merely good or OK, jam like this one. The jam is good, but nothing special. Tons of jams are obviously like this, and when Page goes blasting some big power chord on his Hammond every time one reaches a fairly pedestrian peak, it gets on my damn nerves. This peak was good though, and the remainder jam is pretty good as well, but GODDAMIT TREY, DO NOT GET ON THE LUMINA.

Of course, he does, as do the rest of the band. The lack of this nonsense in the past few shows has not lessened my hatred for this musically vaporous waste of time. Anyway, before too long, the band returns to their instruments, does another brief peak-y jam, while shouting STIIIIIL WAITING. Despite the relative annoyances that preceded it, this was still pretty funny and seeing the band having fun in ways other than crowding around a drum kit for ten straight minutes was refreshing, if even reinvigorating.

Light emerged from the very much charred remains of the Piper jam, and hearing those opening chords was such a relief and change of pace. The jam quickly faded into near-quiet territory. Trey's delay-soaked arpreggiated playing, Mike's midrange alongside it and Page's twinkling piano work quickly took charge. Mike slowly rose the jam from near silence into more rhythmic territory before Trey's soloing brought everything back to normal volume.

He then went for a peak, which he got to, complete with Page spamming the organ for the 9000th time of course, with a Crosseyed quote for good measure. The Lizards, one of my favorite Phish songs was next. Nothing much to say, except an awesome song and a good version. First Tube provided an energetic end to the set.

The band came out to a We Love Dick's chant (of course), and Trey asked the crowd to applause for the crew before Walls of the Cave closed things out.

OVERALL:
A fine show, with two excellent jams amidst it's oeuvre. It has it's moments of ecstasy and frustration, but overall it's good and worth a listen. I'd probably call it the second best show of this run, and in terms of the Crosseyed jam alone, it wins out in the jam category. That said, the samey-ness of some of the jams and some of the playing in said jams (COUGH COUGH PAGE AND THE ORGAN) is an impediment and a bit of a stumbling block for me, as is the return of the Marimba clusterfuck, but if you can get past that, you'll find a show that flows well and ensures a good time for all.

HIGHLIGHTS: Bathtub Gin, Crosseyed and Painless

RATING: 4/5