, attached to 2017-07-22

Review by NMNML

NMNML Well due to a medical emergency I had to cancel my trip to MSG for the first weekend of Baker's, needless to say Couch Tour is always a great option.

Set 1 was one of the most well played sets I have heard in quite a while with some extended jams, great song placement, and a catchy debut to boot.

The theme was the strawberry doughnut in which the boys started the show with an interesting acapella of Strawberry Fields Forever. I feel like Trey's voice has been off as of late, like he is getting over an illness, it didn't stop the crowd and myself from having an ear to ear grin though.

Highlight of the set for me were the extended Moma that was one of my favorite jams of 2017. It went from the standard and keep building onto itself layer after layer into some groovy, spacey, rocky mash up of goodness. B&B, which I actually don't mind if placed well had a nice extension keeping along the same lines as moma and is probably the best version played to date. Funky Bitch had some soaring soloing from Trey, a better version than the standard. Mound and Foam were well played for 2017 and had me gitty. Another highlight was the Roggae that had a nice extension like most as of late and was played well, definitively worth a second listen. Phish's placement and Page's solo for Coil were spot on. Great way to end the set. Page got a bit funky with some ragtime rifts in the solo, which was longer than most.

Set 2 was not as good as the first, however, it did have some highlights.

It began with a short spacey intro into DWD. This version even though started rather standard got some treatment toward the end when the boys tightened it up and we got some soaring rifts from Trey. Kuroda's lights were spot on with the bands tempo energizing the crowd with blinding bursts on his new rig, which by the way is epic. I Always Wanted It This Way had an interesting jam that had me grooving. All of These Dreams was pulled from some bag of old tricks and even though put the brakes on is a nice song to hear. I still cannot figure out if I enjoyed the Melt. It definitely had its purpose with mixed with Kuroda's lighting created the ambiance of dissonance that would have a sober phan tripping all over themself. It deserves a second listen. Than the real highlight of the set occurs when Trey pulls the DWD high peaking rift from nowhere and the crowd goes nuts. They didn't play the composed section, just from the rift into another DWD jam that not as good as the first one was well played and hat the floor at MSG moving like a wave of energy.

The three song Encore is always nice and had some spotty playing by Trey at points. After Cities Trey says goodnight and Fishman was not having it and started the drum rift for My Sweet One. Trey was all grins and followed his lead to end a great Phish show. One that I wish I could have attended.

Page shined in this show as well, he was playing spot on full of energy, and used his new synths perfectly to create texture in some of the extended James.

Looking forward to the rest of this doughnut themed run.


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