This show is a solid example of how trivial and conceited the whole "rating the band" thing is. It's steeped in some weird ego elitism. What more could anyone possibly want from this band other than a show like Saturday night? How can you put a rating on a show like this and, if you do, why is...
Props to the dude bitching about 2001>Santos and one-song encore (and a pretty impressive Fuego at that), I needed the laugh this morning.
Top-notch show. Fun old school beginning trio and a fantastic Sand that went type 2 and is definitely worth a listen, as is the YEM. The Twist didn’t do...
I want to agree with a lot of the sentiments reflected in some of these other user reviews. I hate to be the guy who says how many shows he’s seen and for how long he’s been seeing the band but I feel like this sort of requires it. Saturday was my 203rd show since 1995. I’ve seen the band on New...
1st Set Highlights: Wolfman's / Scent / Ocelot
Weeps contained some spicy notes from Trey and Page hit the keys here in a way that would make Paul proud :)
2nd set provided little by way of jams....Sand had its moments but Birds and Disease were way too short.....thankfully the set...
I thought this was a fantastic show. The Hollywood Bowl is an amazing historic venue and to see one of my favorite live acts there with a great group of friends was a privilege.
Was the show seamless and perfect no but they played a lot of great tunes with precision and energy.
Personal...
Just finished the livestream and WOW, I was absolutely blown away.
The show started off straight from Picture of Nectar!! The whole vibe was very yellow, so awesome! I loved the upbeat vibe, great as shit! Solid sand! Just powering through. Lizards!!!! OMG just made me dance and sing on the...
This is why we do it. TIGHT playing by the whole band last night. High energy first set with a phenomenal tube and cities. Tube featured stellar funk jamming, a quick start-stop and then slid into some wonky atonal jamming before jumping into a perfectly played “blues part” of the tune. Cities....
The last night of our 8 show run was very different than any other night. I expected a lot of repeats and a party show atmosphere. What I got was a good, crowd pleasing show with one fantastic jam in Harry Hood.
I had been surrounded by very experienced heads so far this tour and the bowl gave...
I've been listening to Phish since I was in college back in the 1.0 era and have seen many many shows, even caught the European tour in '97, and I have to say, this concert was one of my favorites. I live in Los Angeles, which is one finicky city, especially when it comes to music. Phish knows...
This is what space smells like, you will always remember where you were…. Welcome to the Hollywood hills; the year the rains came and unleashed a once a decade spring desert mega bloom. Directions: travel first to that inner ring of man-made hell, Hollywood boulevard, a sort of Times Square...
Begins in the usual tenor but becomes increasingly atmospheric and textured as it subtly brightens into a more established major sound until around 7:00 when a spunkier, more "Timber"-like energy returns to guide the jam back home. Longest version since 11/28/97.
A centerpiece "YEM" that takes full advantage of the two-jam format which has become familiar since 12/31/21. After a short vocal jam, the band digs back in with quality "Type II" riffing which intensifies before landing in a poignant, inspirational zone and eventually peters out -> "Twist".
No mere landing pad. After winding its way "in" from the remnants of a huge "YEM," the band completely divorces itself from former sounds to create yet another remarkable sonic space. Breaking quickly from the song, the jam is very much of itself and perhaps, at least initially, rich with a bit more by way of those welcome Santana over- and undertones. But then. Listen in. The jamming, if not quixotic, has something of an exotic, offbeat, hushed and admirable atonal quality. And then. Keep processing. Thanks in large part to Page, everything is something else completely. Quirky. But not quite. For Trey keeps working a number of warm melodies before play becomes pleasantly droning and noisy with Trey then screwing this heavy morass into "Twist's" signature riff.
Tight, exploratory version that wastes no time. An early stop-start section (replete
with Trey's careening sirens blocking out "woos") takes hold, before an excellent
key change leads to an (at times) polytonal synth-rich romp with top-notch
interplay. "KDF"'s DNA starts to slowly re-emerge before the jam melts from the
song's traditional ending > "Lifeboy".
Don't leave yet! This is no perfunctory Encore on the last night of the tour as the band drops one of their longest jams ever in the extra period. Trey leads the band through multiple distinct sections of jamming. After returning to the chorus, even the feedback ending gets extended.
Gorgeously upbeat and melodic version that bounces along fluidly and seemingly effortless for several minutes in very gratifying territory before finding a more aggressively punchy space that delivers a surprisingly flammable and rocking climax.
Strong version becomes a bit unconventional following the 7:30 mark. Fish kicks a cool beat, and Trey takes off. This leads to driving, forceful improvisation, which again shifts when Trey, using his feet, selects his effects, and, offset by Mike, lays into a series of licks which play like variations on "Bag's" theme. Page bathes the stage in sound as the jam rages on before play bleeds to > into "LSG."
Excellent, extremely fluid version with "old-school" overtones. Play is primarily straightforward, but there is beauty in this, given that one: The band quickly, and quite notably departs to jam (almost as if to atone for the absence of ideas of the "Oblivion" Trey aborts to -> into "Lope,") but, and perhaps more importantly, two: Given the nature of the song, generally (marked by Trey and Page's play, principally).
Mid-tempo first set version gets a quick layer of standard heat before taking a turn for territory marked by bass driven rhythmic interplay, undergirded by washes of organ, and highlighted by bouncing melodic leads that briefly traverse familiar woods before soaring to multiple peaks.
Dense and muscular, this version seems to know what it wants to be right away and wastes no time in getting there. A study in how familiarity breeds freedom and improvisational leeway leaves space for the serendipitous. The group mind here delivers a tightly wrapped package of near perfection that peaks and gradually fades to > "Light".
The jam quickly locks into a probing polyrhythmic bloom not unlike other choice
versions of "Light", colored by modern textural approaches with Page's synth
work standing out in particular. Play eventually coalesces and builds to a
celebratory peak, before minimalist effects-based textures wash over and take
the jam into a more cerebral and slightly dissonant direction, before fading
> "Mercury".
This first set delight comes out the gate with swingin' swagger. Trey locks
the band into Bmin to escape the confines of "Cities" proper and the band
develops an incredibly cohesive, melodic, effect-drenched boogie down.
After the 12 minute mark, the music takes a hazy, cinematic turn towards
patient psychedelia. This then develops into a gorgeous, technicolor
dreamscape that crescendos towards anthemic territory before > "Tube."
Another huge version of the once rare song in the catalog. Plucky playing from Trey around 9:30 changes the jam's trajectory. The searching, grimy jam sounds like the background to a noir detective show at times. The tempo gets kicked up towards the end, before eventually > "A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing".
> from "Mr. Completely" comes a completely unhinged jam that immediately dives headfirst into an unrelenting, grinding, grimy groove, and in the blink of an eye flows back -> into "Mr. C". Heavy.