As with some of the summer streams, I do my best to capture some of the nights moments while sitting on my couch - #couchtour for those of you on Twitter. I missed last night but if you haven't checked it out, it is highly recommended to listen to the Carini. Lots going on in that puppy.
Join us and buy the stream now for $15 bucks.
This is also my first time watching the stream with my son, Benjamin, who is only a week old today! He's already been to two shows (SPAC this summer while in the womb) so I'm excited to see how he reacts to the music in person.
Set 1: Bathtub Gin, Moma Dance, Tube, Fast Enough For You, Curtis Loew, Ya Mar, Stealing Time from the Faulty Plan, My Sweet One, Mike's Song > Hydrogen > Weekapaug
Ah, Gin opener. Brings back memories of the Gin from Hampton 98. I was dead center and about 10 rows back for that night. What a special venue. It may not be as good as the 98 but sure is a great way to start out a show. Energy baby.
Since 2012, of the 21 Moma's played, they have landed in either the 1,2 or 3rd position of 1st set 15 times - 70% of the time. #phishgeek. What am I saying here? Predictable is not always the most fun Phish. But hey, Moma makes you dance and that's ok too.
Phish came to party tonight. I mean, nothing says get up out of your seat and boogie like a solid Tubefest.
If you are going to cool me down, might as well make it one of the best cool down tunes in the book.
Well constructed first set so far with this Curtis Loew perfectly situated after FEFY in order to bring back up the pace. Now Ya Mar! Would love to see an extended first set Ya Mar (a la Albany 97).
Oh well. Nice little Gordon solo at least.
Stealing Time is not my favorite pump your first songs. That title goes to 46 days.
My Sweet One is a short but sweet tune. Unfortunately for Mike he takes the lead on vocals and by the sound of it, he has a bit of a sore throat tonight. Long pause, similar to the Divided Sky pause, before wrapping up the song.
Ouch. Now Mike has to play through his own song with those vocals? At least he does most of his talking with his fingers.
A firey Mike's lands into its favorite neighbor - I am Hydrogen. Looks like a classic Mike's Groove is in the works. This paug got plinkoy and funky thanks to Page. This set started out hot and closes hot. Some pretty standard moments in general and nothing to write home about. Still a fun set for sure.
Set 2: Ghost > DWD > Steam > Prince Caspian, Boogie, Theme > Wedge, Silent, Hood
The slow build of Ghost brings just about any fan a giddy smile. This Ghost turned blissful pretty quickly. Eventually it gets into the MSG Ghost territory with tons of fireworks coming out of Trey's guitar. Crowd going nuts!
Instead of oozing out of the peak and back into the Ghost theme, a subtle breakdown occurs with Page tickling the ivories. Then come the whale calls. Then Gordon's underwater bass, signaling DWD!
Last Ghost > Down With Disease took place in Rochester on 12/11/1997 #phish #geekery
— Scott Bernstein (@heyscottyb) October 20, 2013
The peak energy from that Ghost carried over into this Disease jam to start out. But this DWD was short lived and stepped into Steam.
Steam took a wacky turn as Trey jumped over to Fish to hit the drums along with Gordon hitting drum sticks on his fighters bell and anything else he could find laying around his feet. Gordon then brought back out the power drlll that he used during last nights Antelope. All while Fish and Page kept the structure of Steam together. Eventually Trey returned to his axe and they closed out the tune. Definitely one of the stranger renditions. Seemed like it all started because Trey had some issues with his rig. Either way, they made it work.
I usually don't mind Caspian if it's coming out of a sheer barn burner of a jam but since Steam was not necessarily a barn burner, I'd say we are hitting a bit of a wall in this set right now.
As if sensing what a bummer that Caspian was becoming, they cut short and popped in to Boogie and brought the party back to life! Too bad the Boogie was short lived as well. A weird rip"chord" from Trey.
Theme is one of those songs that has the potential to help turn a set back in the right direction as this one has fallen off the track a bit. Well, wouldn't quite say the train is back on the track but at least things got a bit more consistent with Wedge, Silent then Hood. The Hood jam was plinkoy to start and kept up a good rhythm throughout the jam and peaked rather quickly but smooth nonetheless.
Encore: Quinn The Eskimo
You think they would have given the poor guy a break with his voice. My guess is Gordon being the trooper that he is decided the song is good enough that it will hold up no matter how shitty his voice sounds. I mean, you don't really come to a Phish show for the vocals friends. This also brings back memories of the 98 Hampton shows as they busted this off for the first time in 1150 shows. Here in the 3,0 era it's been a regular.
