Phish Band • Page 5

Just you and I here in broski! That and the Boise Bag gotta be two best Bags ever, no?

Did you hit on MPP in lotto? I got both nights but...of course they are lawns.

 

Nah I didn't go for the lotto this time, got no problem with lawns so I'm not too worried about securing tix yet. I keep hoping this thread will one day convert some new Phish fans but there doesn't seem to be a ton of interest haha.

 

Phish.net's bracket for 2017 Jam of the Year. So many tough decisions abound. I really love Baker's Scents to make a dark horse deep run. That jam is MASSIVVVVEEEEE.

 

Wednesday is hump day. Llamas have humps, no? Either way, fun Llama with Bela Fleck that goes from acoustic -> electric.

 

Happy anniversary to one of my favorite 03 shows

 

2.0 is such a weird era of Phish. You either got your fucking head blown off by them or it was HORRIBLE. Full disclosure that I am a 3.0 n00b and didn't catch my first show until 12/29/2011.

 

Yeah I haven't listened to a ton of 2.0 but what I've heard of 2003 I love. Lots of long, spacey jams. Most of 04 is too dark for me but there's some diamonds in the rough.

 

Ran to the 2/28/03 Tweezer tonight, which is obviously timeless. 2/28/03 just all around a BEAST obviously: Destiny Unbound bust out, the unreal Tweezer, great Gin, really blissed out Hood, and the ultimate Type 1 Back on the Train. My brothers and my cousins were at this show because Nassau Coliseum is 15 minutes from where I grew up. Wish I could have been there/knew to go, ha.

In terms of '03 jams, I did this legendary one the other day which is really something else.

 

We got us a fest

 

There was so much smoke with the rumors, ya just knew there had to be fire. And boy do we have fire.

So fricking stoked!

 

In honor of my dank new Phish avatar and our collective love of heady yams...god damn the Magnball Gin is just such a multifaceted beast.

 

Such a beautiful, soaring jam, this one.

 

Mark my words: this summer tour is going to be very, very good.

Reasoning: The Trey Anastasio Trio shows are going to have Trey VERY limber on the old guitar. Summer 2015 was such a revelation because Trey spent so much time practicing and refining his technique for the Fare Thee Well shows. He's playing a lot of Phish material with the Trey Trio and I think he's going to come into the summer guns blazing.

I'm very excited! Obligatory jam inclusion for this post. Just stumbled upon this great crowdshot video of the Baker's Dozen Simple and got chills. This final jam section moved me to tears in person, and this person filming is standing a few feet from me. Like OH MY GOD that peak at 5:00! Ugh.

 

Hope that prediction comes true, gonna try and hit the Charlottesville trio show , maybe get a preview of Phish terr.

 

Can't complain about the Final Four of the 2017 Jam of the Year bracket over on Phish.net. Three of my four favorite jams this year (BD CDT, BD Simple, and BD Lawn Boy) all made it in.

Chicago Simple vs. Baker's Chalk Dust is pretty easy for me, even when I put aside the attendance bias I have for the Baker's Dozen. This is a 24 minute jam that feels like 10—laser focus from start to finish, with one of the most awe-inspiring Phish peaks I've ever heard. It basically out Hoods and a Harry Hood peak. Stunning.

Baker's Simple vs. Lawn Boy is just impossible for me. Lawn Boy has become the defining jam of 2017 obviously, based partly on the novelty, but mostly on the fact that it is a blow-your-head-off fest where every single section and movement flows perfectly. Some argue that re-entrance before the final build is forced, but it's such a minor blip on the magical 30 minutes. Baker's Simple on the other hand...I wrote my thoughts about that above. Tears.

Don't know how I'm gonna vote on that second one.

 

Ended up voting on Phish.net and writing a little bit about my votes. Figured I'd crosspost for the two people that read this thread.

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Three of my four favorite jams this year (BD Simple, Lawn Boy and CDT) made it into the Final Four, so I'd say I'm pretty content with this last little stretch here. Thanks to the tourney committee for all their hard work, has been a lot of fun to follow along and read people's thoughts and observations on different jams. What do these 3 jams have in common? A woodblock or cowbell section from Fish. I'm not saying that's the X factor to legendary jams, but...

#1. 7/15 Simple vs. #2. 7/28 Chalk Dust Torture

Once this Simple hits that murky sludge section like a jam band Baroness starting at around 12:00, pretty much all bets are off as the jam oscillates effortlessly between a myriad of styles—with the thoroughly danceable tribal stomp of a full band Timber tease taboot. Refined and polished like a jam at the third quarter mark of a tour as opposed to the very beginning, there is plenty in the Chimple for people to like. But the Choc Dust is a laser-focused killing machine, gripping from the very start of the post-chorus jam to the simmer after the "Hood peak" rearranged the tectonic plates under Manhattan and destabilized the god damn lid of Madison Square Garden. Speaking of Hood, Trey's work before the final Fish snare roll and explosion reminds me of that wild lick he fires off in the finale of 12/31/93 Hood. Inspired, spirited, existence-affirming guitar work.

Taken altogether, it's impossible to argue against the quality of either of these jams, and you could probably argue that the Simple covers more territory stylistically. But the highs of the Choc Dust are just so dizzying that I can't vote against it. Those last few minutes are the "it" that we all look for when we hit a show.

——

#1. 7/25 Lawn Boy vs. #1. 8/6 Simple

I uh...don't know what do here. I was lucky enough to be in attendance for both of these, with both jumbling my brain chemistry and physical appearance in different ways: the Lawn Boy stretched my jaw 5 feet downward towards the earth, and the Simple literally made me cry tears of joy. While the Choc Dust "Hood peak" appropriately lauded and celebrated, do we even have a catchy name for the sustained hose that Trey unleashes in the final 5 minutes or so of this jam? It's like you're climbing a mountain and every time you think you've reached the summit, Trey whisks you to a viewpoint that's slightly higher and blows your mind all over again.

And for all the criticism of the white light peak as a friendly crutch, I don't think I've ever been in attendance for a moment of such synchronicity as 5:05 in this video. Trey hits the bends, Gordo punctuates with the bass and Kuroda hits those white lights twice. This is the point at which the dam broke in my eyeballs. I let it all out in a moment of pure bliss and joy at my 50th show. I'm pretty sure they could have walked off the stage after this and everyone would have understood.

And yet, after listening to both of these jams for the millionth and millionth and one times yesterday, I still feel a gravitational pull from the Lawn Boy. When Page walked out with the keytar, my surprise was met in equal measure by confusion—wasn't my first keytar solo supposed to be when I finally got the Frankenstein I was chasing? (Thanks Lemon night...) But that quickly gave way to the "oh, here we go" realization once Page got back on the keys and Phish dove headfirst into jamming another non-jam vehicle, feeding the crowd's exhilaration once again after Sample went to uncharted territory.

What follows has it all: rump-shaking stanky funk, bliss, peak, space with a temporary cool down and then a frenzied charge to the final peak. Even on replays, I brace for that last release when Page begins slamming on the piano keys...and I'm still stopped dead in my tracks when it hits. All this time later I am finding new layers and things to love about this knee-wobbling piece of music.

Forced? Orchestrated? Who cares. No one can know for sure. What we do know is that we're always asking for more, more, more when it comes to jamming. With this Lawn Boy, they did just that, and did it perfectly, subverting expectations as always. The rest is noise.

 

New livebait dropped, this hood is hitting the spot right now.

 

Yesssss! Dude the Jiboo is NUTS. Definitely the highlight besides the Magna cut.

Interesting thing about that 90’s Gorge Hood is that Trey did the same thing during Hood at the Gorge last summer or the one before: asked Kuroda to turn off the lights.

 

Yeah that seems to be a recurring thing at the Gorge haha. I remember listening to the 2013 run where he asked for the lights off so they could howl at the moon during Character Zero.

 

Speaking of the Gorge...

Someone uploaded unearthed and upgraded video and audio of the second set of the show there on 7/17/98. Epic four song second set (2001, Mike's, Paug and Character Zero).

I just listened to that Paug for the first time and GOD DAMN. Everyone listen to that ASAP and watch Trey's goofy ass dancing at 53:11. Epic version.

 

This is from the Baker's Dozen last summer, but damn...this minute is such a perfect example of the Phish magic.

 

Free stream of tonight's show

 

Page is crushing this Tube and Trey’s tone is pretty dirty too.

 

Jam of the tour so far I think. Ass shaker.

 

Sirius XM is streaming the show tonight, even if you don't have an account you can get a free preview and listen. I highly recommend tuning in because they annihilated this first set.