, attached to 2023-07-18

Review by spreaditround

spreaditround SET 1: Happy Birthday to You: Nice nod to the Jim.

Simple: Nice dark direction as the jam gets going. Surprised me and thought it would bode well for the show as whole. Big peak in the mid 8’s with some Trey/Page interplay. After this things definitely get into that major mode spot for almost 3 minutes >

Camel Walk: Unexpected. I don’t think I have seen one since 7.29.03 – Twenty years later, indeed! What is that whisper at 4:02 into the mic?

Gotta Jibboo: Big cheers in our section for the ‘ol loop. Nicely jammed.

Steam: Mike seemed extra funky/assertive here.

Poor Heart: Little sloppy at the onset.

Cavern: Mid first set? Very rare! Little off in the intro.

Divided Sky: This took gumption to play this here. Broadway Trey with the “Wind blows hiiiiiiiiigh” Sun was setting amidst a haze of Canadian wild fire smoke - Beautiful and the right place for it. Absolutely crushed and the place was going nuts after this. Seriously listen to Trey after the pause, it’s electric.

Casual Enlightenment: An extremely poor choice. 3rd time played and first since 10.20.21. Please don’t every play this again. Woof!

Shade: Standard. Woof!

Drift While You're Sleeping: Standard. Woof!

SET 2:

Timber (Jerry the Mule) – Yesssss. Attendance bias – but after another re-listen – this gets there. Nice, dark, and intense. Place was getting down. It does eventually go major mode though, I mean, really? >

A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing: Broadway Trey to the absolute max and beyond. If you can get beyond that, you will unpack an interesting, disjointed jam. Around the 8 minute mark I thought they were going for Tweezer Reprise. You can clearly hear it on the LP I can’t quite place the tease at 9:46?. Late 10’s sees a build toward extreme peaks, but the collective teamwork hasn’t really put in to reap this reward – I’m not sure if this makes sense but I bet it will if you listen closely to this – What I am trying to say is that this version was really herky jerky with sections being forced together without putting in the necessary work to make them seem more organic. I will say another thing that I will have the back of this jam for is that it’s completely without a net, they obviously went for it and for that I will give credit – Check out the old school backwards effect/reverse reverb in the early 15’s. Another subtle Tweezer Reprise thing from Trey at 16:32. The last 90 minutes are ethereal. >

Light: Wasn’t thrilled with this selection, some of the air seemed to come out of the balloon collectively around the venue. As the jam gets going Mike compliments Trey very well adding robust, bouncy fills. Timber teases at 7:58. I thought at the show and now again listening that there is a Gloria in excelsis Deo tease that starts at 11:28 – the theme is repeated a number of times through 12:44. This light jam was decent, pretty mellow. >

mercy: Didn’t know this tune at the show, had to look it up on From The Road’s Twitter. Did not need this kind of tune after light.

Twenty Years Later: Many a groan was heard around us as this started up, me included. All momentum has now been effectively nuked. Really dissonant and whaley at the outset of the jam. Around the 9 minute mark this finally starts to get interesting. >

Backwards Down the Number Line: Everyone knew it was coming, and there it is. Oof. Standard version. >

Bug: I like Bug, but surely not here. Woof. Broadway Trey’d as well. >

Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S. – Standard.

ENCORE:

The Howling: Such a lazy, lame song. >

Suzy Greenberg: Standard.

Summary: First set was going along just fine but took a serious dive after Divided Sky. Really disappointing. Same with the second set for the first 30 minutes or so and then it just totally folded in on itself. Had fun at this show, smallest venue I had seen Phish in since my first show 11.17.94. But this ranks up there with the worst Phish shows I have seen. I just can’t put it any other way. I would give this show a 2 out of 5. What a cluster getting out of there by the way, total bottleneck.

Replay Value: Divided Sky, A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing


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