https://medium.com/the-phish-from-vermont/185f62e76bd0

The Songs Remain the Same: Review 7/16/14
Repeats and Ripchords in the Motor City

OK, so maybe CMAC did win the week. As usual with Phish tour, we are starting to hear the complaints about “repeats.” But, as @zzyzx demonstrated last night, this tour might be the first time the complaints are warranted — that is, this year is seeing more repeats and shorter rotations between shows for certain songs. He theorizes (probably rightly) that this is largely due to the lack of covers. We all go to Phish shows to witness the unexpected. Mostly this comes via their improvisation, but a lot of it is because of their massive and diverse song catalog. Bustouts are part of the fun of Phish. My glee Tuesday night at “Buried Alive” was at least as much about its rarity as it was about it as a song from a pure musical standpoint. I attended 7/29/03 and remember vividly my sense of disbelief as rarity after rarity was played. The only songs debuted for Summer tour last night were Wilson, Poor Heart, and Lawn Boy (none of which you would say was a ‘bustout’ of any kind).

The other concerning aspect of last night was the tendency for jams to be ended in favor of the next song (i.e. ripchords). I thought CMAC was “songy” at 9 second set numbers, but this one was 12! In a second set that featured Ghost, Tweezer, Piper and Weekapaug, the jams were surprisingly short. The problem with lots of repeated songs — and truncated jams — is the bulk of material played “remains the same” to the veteran ear. Lets face it, we’ve all heard the verse, chorus, bridge of songs like “Ghost” and “Tweezer” thousands of times (each of which takes about 4.5 minutes of time to get through). The jam section is where something new might happen, but when that section is ended in favor of another verse/chorus/bridge we’ve heard a thousand times, jaded vets will surely get frustrated.

The repeats have gotten so endemic, it is really not necessary for me to comment on each individual song at this point. As I’ve said before, I enjoy first sets largely in relation to song selection. And last night was not my favorite collection of songs. Trey started the “Wolfman’s” jam 4 measures early, throwing off the band, but they recovered to present the formula of ‘thick funk’->‘rock peak’. Please open a second set with this song! We saw the first “Wilson” and “Poor Heart” which both got off to rocky starts (Trey’s opening lick on “Poor Heart” aint what it used to be). The only highlight of the set was undoubtedly “It’s Ice.” Since summer 2013, the “jam” section has featured a funk breakdown with Page often switching to the clavinet. But, I would speculate that no “It’s Ice” has gotten into funk this thick — very “Tube-y”. Although the really difficult section of the song was nailed, Trey got lost in the ascending licks that transitions out of the jam section. Opening the “Live on Letterman” set must have signaled Trey is ready to shred “46 Days” all summer — it’s one of the heaviest repeats.

While the second set was filled with ripchords, there were admittedly some stellar moments. (1) The “Ghost” jam is so effortlessly creating these bliss melodic peaks it’s almost becoming ‘ho hum’. Like the Mann version (and according to @MikeHamad), this one went into the more Lydian territory of C (wheres Ghost jams more often go into the mixolydian area of a D chord). I think we could probably agree that thus far “Ghost” is the MVP of the summer?

(2) Weekapaug Groove got really weird for a while. First, Trey was doing some pretty standard ‘trilly’ D arpeggios, but around 4:08 the rest of the band (especially Fishman) got really quiet behind him. This created this really serene, calm texture (rare for this song!). By 5:00, Trey seems to be signaling a transition back to the chords, but at 5:15 he takes it back into some thick funk via his wah pedal. Then the jam starts venturing out of the groove entirely as Trey employs some loops and by 6:22 we are in some really interesting un-Weekapaug territory. But, it was one of those kind of nights, as Fishman, ostensibly on Trey’s command, busts into the opening drums of “Cavern.” Ouch. In other “historical” news, this was the first unfinished “Weekapaug” since 10/26/2010 (I tweeted @Yemblog the question and within seconds he had the answer — dude is impressive!) (3) “Piper” was nothing really special. Standard high octane, feverish jam. By 5 minutes it transitioned to the “rhythmic stabbing”, with Trey on rhythm, but the high-tempo approach remained. By the 7 minute mark, the jam fizzled away into that abstract space that can either lead to a ripchord or a new direction. It twas a ripchord but the best of the night with the much anticipated transition into “Waiting All Night.” The intro to this song just feels like a jam, so it was great to see this segue.

(4) The Tweezer was a highlight historically speaking: @Secretcabdriver reported it was the shortest version (7:38) since the legendary shows (ahem) at Telluride in 2010. But, who’s got time to jam Tweezer when you need to play the third “Fuego” in as many nights (including Jimmy Fallon)? In the wake of the 25 minute Mann version, I ridiculed anyone who complained about this song being overplayed. Well, I think now the complaints are kind of valid (big hat tip to @nolasox for the Oprah meme — “EVERYONE GETS A FUEGO!” Hilariously done). I propose a new policy — if you’re going to play the standard 10 minute “Fuego” with the composed ending, etc. take it to the first set please? Second set “Fuego’s” should be in the third quarter, be unfinished, and last a long, long time.

(5) You really should listen to that “Possum” in the encore. I love Possums that get weird and this one did just that. At 3:45 it started getting really quiet. A minute later, Trey is playing these menacing bent notes over and over again and it is becoming difficult to know where the blues changes are until Trey finds them again at 5:04. By 5:45 the jam slid back into pretty standard Possum territory, but it was a nice ride. This encore also featured “2001" for the first time ever, which is pretty amazing.

Phish is anything if unpredictable. After throwing down, long, epic, and breakthrough jams at Randalls , the past two nights have been about playing songs and truncated jams. Who knows which Phish we will see this weekend at Chicago? I hope Randalls won’t be seen as the peak of the tour in retrospect. I will say, no matter what songs are played, or the length of jams, they are still playing with tight, crisp confidence. And that will continue this weekend.

It's shows like these that really clearly show how 3.0 of 2009-2011 is behind is. Here is a prototypical modern phish show. No big bells and whistles, just a solid Wednesday night stop. No doubt this is a forgettable show, but you never cringe like you might in 2009 or sigh like on 2010. Even though we can all agree it was a dud, it is no longer the rule. This is the exception in what has been a high quality summer tour. Nice show, but one that will fade to obscurity.

Well after not seeing the boys since 2012, I was finally back to seeing them. Even if only one time this Summer. I don't have any time now to do an in-depth song-by-song review, so I'll just recount my thoughts at the time and things that stood out.

The Wolfman's opener was sweet. Got the energy going really fast and had a super high energy peak to a relatively short jam. Really, the only other noteworthy jam in Set I is the absolutely INSANE It's Ice. As soon as Trey started the lick, I was like ,"oh shit. Things are getting real up in DTE." If nothing else, you at least must hear this Ice. Page brought the heat.

Second Set: I think the reason this show has a low rating is because of all the missed opportunities of what looks like an opportunistic second set. But I digress:

My first ever Mike's Groove, and an extended one at that. The Mikes was heavy high energy and super cool to see with CK5 working the lights. Up next is my second ever Ghost. Only this Ghost almost immediately leaves the song proper for a blissful soundscape before a quasi-ripchord to Caspian. Fwiw, I love fuckerpants. Ghost could have gone on another couple minutes (could have even maybe been the jam of the show) but Caspian's entrance was at least not *too* forced.

And then from an unfinished Caspian comes # Line. Roaring guitar solos make this # Line particularly fun. This was Trey's song and he nailed this one, not to mention the > to Weekapaug was organic and brought the energy back up to 11 and had me back to dancing my ass off after a short breather. Now this is no ordinary Paug, or so it seems. No there were not a lot of high-flying solos, but this Paug was nasty, funky, almost-goes-typeII at the end, fun. Besides the Ghost this was probably the major highlight for me.

When Tweezer dropped I knew if was too late for a major 20-minute jam, but we did get another nice soundscape of bliss in this one, despite its short length. Fuego then Tweeprise next. And a particularly cool encore 2001>Possum. Both super fun and Possum comes recommended with some nice downbeat blues Trey solos.

If you're looking for a 30 min. chalk dust here, you won't find it. Part of me is actually kind of glad about that. If Phish always did an early set II mega-jam, then their shows become predictable. And we wouldn't want that I'd think. Also we should remember that a 3-star show for Phish probably equates to a 4.5 show for any other band going through Pine Knob. I'd say this show is a solid 3.5, but I couldn't do 1/2 stars, so I just rounded up to 4.

I for one enjoyed myself big time at the show, so there's probably a bias there. Never before had I just danced the night away like I did last night (which is a big accomishmenf for me cus I'm pretty introverted to be honest). I'll always go back to this show and think about what an awesome time I had with my family (my Mom's first show!) and the awesome neighbors I had. There's nothing quite like a Phish show on the lawn on a cool Summer day.

But still, definitely check out it he Ice, Ghost, Weekapaug, and 2001>Possum.

I got to the lot around 3:30, hung out and partied until right before Wolfman's. The songs were shorter than normal but the show and energy of the crowd was f***ing awesome the whole night. At one point I was enjoying myself so much I screamed 'f*** YEAH!!" at the top of my lungs (maybe after they slayed that 46 days? And my wife turns to me and says, "So now you're officially the 'f*** yeah" guy."

I'm Ok with being that guy, they were throwing down some seriously funky rock n roll and I was having a blast.

I had an awesome time and felt the whole show was super tight, but maybe too tight for a lot of fans. I certainly didn't mind getting so many songs in one night, and I probably won't regret getting another show like that again. "It's Ice" was absolutely stellar. Mike was dropping huge bombs all night long, and he definitely took the lead most of the night. We got a couple super awesome one-timers throughout the show: Shortest Tweezer, first ever Mike's> Ghost, first ever 2001 encore. My whole section in the pav was groovin' so hard most of the night. Lots of herbs being passed around to everyone in my section, chill security, and lots of old faces I love to see in for the show.

The party in the lot after the show was also very chill, and it was nice to linger for awhile and hang out. Everyone I spoke to after the show had a genuinely awesome time and enjoyed the show. Our group alone had 3 new people, who all had a total blast and were asking about the next time Phish was coming to town. Mission accomplished, as far as I'm concerned.

f*** the haters, seriously. Try to enjoy yourselves more.

Fun time, brought a couple friends to their first show. They enjoyed. Good one for them to see, a bunch of songs played well. Leo slayed Lawn Boy. Paug continues to be the better half of the suite. Short, funky 2001 was great. If I never see another Possum it'll be too soon.

Look, you're not getting the Randall's Chalkdust every night.

This show was a lot of fun. The band and the crowd had great energy. The shorter songs in the 2nd set is a nice switch up, kinda reminds me of the way sets panned out from earlier in their career. Rift was burning and played extremely well. The Ghost in the second set went a few places fairly quickly. Loved the encore. Not the best show of the recent run, but a nice solid one. To the fans near me groaning about the new stuff, how they used to sound in '94 etc etc, I will say this- different eras of Phish sound different than others. It's pretty simple. You would not have seen The Dead in '89 and expected them to sound exactly like they did in say '72. It's ridiculous. Let's appreciate the fact that these guys are still at it, and sounding damn good.

Also, Big Red looks so vibrant and healthy you can't help but enjoy watching these guys right now.

Holy wow ..... It's ice !!!!!!!!!!! Amazing version beautiful improv and arguable for my favorite it's ice ever with 93 red rocks it's ice !!!!! Must listen to version ..... Pages house but he has a couple friends over !!!!! Really an absolutel must hear version .... Strong tight fuego at the end nothing like spac or phili fuego but still strong as a closing role .... Wolfmans has right interplay ... The whole second set has nice flow but not tons of improv ... But it's not always about the improv right ... Still pretty tight jamming where the band covers good ground in a short period of time .... Possum thank you for showing up at the end .... Really kept the energy up at the end of the night to let possum go a little I felt .... But really all about the it's ice on this one guys

Underrated show. Maybe didn't have the longer jams of Randalls, SPAC or Mann. But I've learned to not compare one show to another, especially while in attendance.

Interesting set list. The energy seemed to ebb and flow, but the band was well aware of this. They seemed to be very in tune with the audience.

The show had many personalities, which I enjoyed.

Trey was having a blast during Possum. WAN jamming was delicate and gorgeous. Ghost had a nice mixolydian jam.

TWEEZER... didn't see it coming. Short, but very sweet. Definitely worth hearing (especially since it'll only take you 7 minutes!)

1st set highlights: Wolfmans, Devotion, Rift (Trey nails it), Ice got funky.. and 46 was Trey blowing his load

Don't believe the poor reviews - this was a fun show and worth a listen

It's shows like these that really clearly show how 3.0 of 2009-2011 is behind is. Here is a prototypical modern phish show. No big bells and whistles, just a solid Wednesday night stop. No doubt this is a forgettable show, but you never cringe like you might in 2009 or sigh like on 2010. Even though we can all agree it was a dud, it is no longer the rule. This is the exception in what has been a high quality summer tour. Nice show, but one that will fade to obscurity.

I understand the shortcomings of this show, the urge to compare it with other shows of the tour.
It was, for me, an incredible experience.
I savored every note like it was the last I would ever hear.
I don't care if there were better versions at other shows.
Empty your mind and listen objectively.

Can we add "Jam" to the show's soundcheck. I don't know if it came out of any song or if they played anything before it, but there was a long amazing jam that you could easily hear from the parking lot after you pass the median.

Unfortunately, that was the highlight of the night.

So this was my second show ever. And I had really high expectations going in, having couch toured several nights before.

But really, I felt a little let down by this show.

It's Ice was absolutely on fire. I even enjoyed Mike's Song through Groove. Cavern was absolutely bananas for me, but perhaps more for personal reasons than anything else (I made lot cards to hand out that featured Cavern), so I was incredibly stoked to see that played.

But somehow that show still left me wanting. Yeah, right after the show my initial thoughts were "this is a fucked up set list ON PAPER, but everything was excited well." I still feel that way--the band got into a groove and really kept it kicking...but I dunno, I still came away from the show wanting something more. Maybe it was the fact that I was on the lawn and didn't have that great of sight lines. Maybe it's because it wasn't terrible crowded where I was (which you'd think was a positive), but I wasn't getting much energy from the crowd. I haven't quite figured out what that "special something" I feel was missing.

But I do have to say, that 2001 encore opener...SAY WHAT?!?! My friends and I played a "guess each set opener" and when one of my friends guessed that for encore opener, we thought he was nuts. IT HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE EVER. Until now...

Just got done listening on the Live Phish app. I thought Mike was in the zone and that really deepened the jams. Moma was solid, Ghost got a good groove, and Tweezer really got something going. Listen to what Mike was doing on Tweezer! Its jam was concise but inspired, and I thought it came to a natural end that was thematically compatible with the beginning of Fuego. Definitely liked this show.

Musically this show was a bit of a let down coming amidst the gems of Summer 2014, as well as its attempt to live up to the monster show that Phish dropped at this very same venue at the beginning of the Summer 2011 Tour. Despite that, I think there was some very good playing and good times had by all who attended. I know that for me personally this was a fun 'hometown show' as a huge crew of friends from the mid-west were in attendance with us, so nothing can really tarnish the awesome experience we had together.

With that said...
I though the first set was very 'songy' and had a lot of newer tunes packed into it. Of particular note was the opening Wolfman's and the Ice>46 Days to close the set on a pretty high note. Other than that there isn't too much to write home about.

The second set Mike's Song to open up promises to make this an all-timer, but the flow and groove just weren't quite there. They jammed and at times it seems like this set could go places but never quite reaches it. Caspian and Number Line kind of disrupt the throwdown of the Mike's Groove. The mid-set Cavern>Piper is rocking, but WAN seems to slow it down again before Tweezer ramps it back up, but only temporarily as it jolts right into Fuego. I did like how they kept the Tweezer Reprise included in the second set, and at the time I really like the Tweezer>Fuego>Tweezer Reprise combo.

Even though most of the show will get brushed off and forgotten among the rest of the tour, the 2001>Possum encore is as fun as they come. We can hate on Possum all we want, but that is one kick-ass song when you hear it live.

Fun show. Mike's groove and Tweezer-reprise? double sandwich second set (page musta been hungry). This show was had less big jams and a bit more songs which I personally don't mind. Yes there have been more repeats this tour Wolfman's, Ghost (inside mike's) and of course fuego songs (which are growing on me).

Anyway much has been covered. The boys usual thing is to avoid repeats and try to be new fresh and innovative as possible. Well, ironically by relaxing and not worrying about the repeats they are in a sense doing something new. I had a great time. Lots were kinda beat, especially post-show when they forced everyone to shut down, pack up and leave.

.net loves bacon

thanx for the long and well thought out review guy.... i can simply say that this show was pretty good... everysong was really tight.... my only complaint is no risk taking in typeII for 2nd set!.... just give me short and tight songs and atleast 1 15min or longer typeII jam! take 1 risk a night that is all.... but anyways, this show was not bad at all..... CHARLOTTE NEXT FRIDAY WILL BE TITTIE SPRINKLES!!

So much promise for the rest of tour after the superb run at randall's island. So it is rather perplexing that the next 2 shows were jus average imo at best. It's up to chi-town to bring back the magic. the words ripchord and abort have come back into the mix the last two shows. this wasn't the case with the 6 song sets we saw at randall's. and let's not forget that first set gin. So all things reconsidered I think chi-town will bring back the improv this phan loves. Enjoy