[Editor's Note: this recap is by musicologist and phish.net contributor Jake Cohen. Jake's blog is at: smoothatonalsound.com. –PZ]
Trying to predict anything about a certain Phish show is an exercise in futility. All you can ever be sure of is that you will hear lots of songs you love and have an amazing time. That’s the baseline standard, but there are huge variations within all that. Coming off what are in the view of many the two best shows of the summer so far in Atlanta, it was tough to say how the band would respond. On the one hand, they had just blown up Atlanta with heady, deep improvisation in both night’s second sets (and in the first set on Friday), and were about to cap off that three-night run. On the other, they changed venues and cities, which might interrupt the momentum. But of course, #NeverMissASundayShow.
Tuscaloosa Amphitheater is a gorgeous small amphitheater with no lawn. Imagine just the pavilion of a venue like Merriweather or Great Woods, but the entire lower 100-level section was GA. Sight lines were excellent and the venue felt really tiny, with great sound everywhere, and cheap beer! With the sun setting behind the stage and woods all around, and a friendly Southern spirit in the air, the scene was right for a good time.
Photo by Walter Maddox, Tuscaloosa, AL Mayor
“Sample in a Jar” got things started off, and right away the energy was palpable. It was as if everyone was carrying over their excitement and spirit from the Atlanta shows into Alabama. Being in both a college town and also being in the South, away from the main core of the fanbase, the crowd seemed to skew a touch younger than usual, which overall made for a highly enthusiastic opener, and the feel-good rock/pop vibe of “Sample” matched it well. A surprising second slot “Chalk Dust” came along at a slow, thick tempo, immediately hinting at the possibility for some drawn out improv early in the show. This wasn’t a typical first set in-your-face rocker; instead Phish seemed to be taking their time on the build, with Mike and Fish locked into a funkier-than-normal pocket. Instead of going deep in the second song, Trey opted for something more traditional: a classic tension and release peak. Building up dissonant lines over a big dominant harmony, Trey released to the climactic riff like it was ‘92 hose.
The crowd continued to show even more of their excitement and energy during the break after “Chalk Dust,” clearly amped up on both the big release of the “Chalk Dust” jam and still riding the fumes from the mindblowing Atlanta jams the night before. Showing our love for them, the band acknowledged the fevered exhilaration of the crowd, with Trey visibly expressing gratitude. We are all really so, so lucky.
The rare “Train Song” showed up next, likely referencing the train bridge that cut across the river directly behind the venue. Unlike some recent version which have been train wrecks, Phish played Mike’s folksy composition perfectly, delivering what is probably the most accurate version in a while. In fact, throughout the night the band’s playing on compositions, especially Trey, would have a confidence and accuracy that matched the show energy. “Devotion to a Dream” came next, another good version that continues to showcase Trey’s new post-GD50 comfort with country/blues soloing. Page thanked the crowd, saying how happy they were to be back and that they hadn’t played Tuscaloosa since 1993. The first surprise of the night came with a big, fun, laid back “Meat.” This trip through this now-rarity saw some sections extended even longer than usual, and only one fake-out ending. “Maze” continued the theme of big energy and classic tension/release jamming that we got in the “Chalk Dust,” with a serious big Page organ solo.
Photo © Phish From the Road
“The Line” came next, and this is just honestly one of the few songs I don’t care for. Everyone has one or two – for me, it’s “The Line.” But this was a good place for it, where it couldn’t do much damage to the flow or energy in the set. “Roggae” is a song that I will gladly hear anytime at any show, and this version again showed how Trey’s practicing on modal, moderate-tempo Dead tunes has filtered into his Phish playing, with a truly gorgeous, soaring solo. It was funny that I heard “My Friend, My Friend” in back to back sets, but of course a treat, and the end of the song just has so much intensity which brought the crowd’s energy roaring back. A badass “46 Days” seemed to be the closer, but then they surprised everyone with “Cavern.” Trey even thanked the crowd and said they’d be right back, something that he doesn’t really do anymore at the end of first sets, clearly showing that the band’s excitement matched the crowd’s.
Everyone had a feeling set two would lead off with “Down with Disease” and the band delivered with a nice high energy version. Settling into the groove, the band kept chugging away at a relatively moderate tempo and volume, not getting too fast or high energy coming into the jam. Trey sat back at first, offering some excellent chunky strumming and setting up a loop of him playing tremolo on a single note while Page dominated the early part of the jam on piano. Things seemed to be heading for that typical spacey slowdown that 3.0 era “Disease” jams often find themselves in, but instead Fishman kept up the beat as the band turned to more minor key jamming.
Photo © @tweeprise
About twelve minutes into the jam, Fishman switched up the beat to something with a bit more peppiness to it, shifting Page onto the clav and Trey into a major key area again. Soon Trey found himself in a familiar place, playing the plagal-style jam that has become such a hallmark of 3.0 style. Yet he was doing it all with strumming, as Page swirled around on piano keys. Trey’s strumming pattern resembled “Piper” heavily at this point, and since he was playing two of the chords that make up the “Piper” progression, Fishman responded by going right into the “Piper” drum beat while Mike played a few of the octaves that typically signal the beginning stages of a “Piper” build. But instead of a segue, Trey kept soloing, and gave us a wild, high-energy “Piper” jam during the “Disease.”
I really thought that at any point throughout this whole section of the jam they would slam into “Piper,” but eventually they wound down again, heading for a minor sound with Trey giving some big, wah-infused funk strums. Weird spaciness followed, with really eccentric dissonant notes, and Fishman slowed the beat into something even funkier. Mike played some really eerie circular riffs on his bass and it seemed as though everything might keep getting weirder, but instead Trey surprised everyone with another fun tour debut: “Camel Walk.”
In the post-jam cooldown spot, “Camel Walk” absolutely shined. It was not only an old, rare tune, but it just dripped with funk. It had a playfulness after all of that “Disease” improvisation that it doesn’t always have when it shows up in the first set, as it has the past few years. Trey’s soloing was the perfect combo of melodious lines and funky riffs, and just as with the first set’s compositions, they nailed every change.
Photo © Phish From the Road
The improv potential continued with the tour’s first “Seven Below.” As someone who saw 27 shows in 2003, “Seven Below” has a ton of personal resonance, and this version packed a lot of heat into what felt like much longer than ten minutes. The tempo clicked along at a slightly faster pace than usual, really propelling the jam forward. Right away, Trey eased the jam into another plagal progression jam, clearly wanting to get back to that improvisational launching pad that he’s found so comfortable. All the while Trey had a shimmering electronic sound going on in the background, giving everything a psychedelic sheen, and he played around with some big circular riffs high up on the neck of his guitar with the Mu-tron turned on. Heading for a big ramping up of energy, Trey found his way into some fast strumming with Fishman playing around heavily on the woodblocks. The return of Fish’s love affair with his woodblocks is one of the fun stories of summer 2015 so far. The jam peaked without a flurry of hose, but rather with a increasing amount of action from Page and Mike, with Trey finally erupting into some big chords and, interestingly, returning to the “Seven Below” riff to end the tune.
Sound faded away into the piano opening of “Fuego,” starting a fantastic string of songs that would end the second set with a series of high energy punches. The “Fuego” jam kept the energy flying as the band headed into the first “2001” of the summer. This was a classic version with Page and Trey both offering a variety of jazzy funk licks without trying to peak or build the jam, just keeping it grooving along on the Mike/Fishman pocket. Longer than the four or five-minute versions of a few years ago but not quite up to the ten-plus minute versions of the late 90s, this “2001” was a big crowd pleaser and set everyone up nicely for the “Harry Hood” that dropped in what seemed to be the closer spot.
Unlike the Shoreline and Texas versions, this “Hood” toed the line pretty close to the normal structure, which is to say that it was gorgeous and gentle leading to a big, classic tension and release peak. Like the “Maze” and “Chalk Dust” in the first set, Phish chose to stick to the tried and true improvisational style that characterizes so much of their sound, but they did so with a crispness and ease that we don’t always see in this era. Every mini-peak seemed to be perfectly placed within the overall form of these jams, and the entire band was dialed in to each other’s cues as to where the major structural points of the jam should be.
Photos © @tweeprise
Letting it all loose on the final “Possum,” the boys delivered one more burst of energy to cap off the blazing night before returning to huge applause and treating us to the always welcome “A Day in the Life” encore.
In the end, Phish followed up what are probably their two jammiest and biggest shows of 2015 not with more of that dark exploratory improv that burst through the seams of Atlanta’s “Kill Devil Falls,” “Tweezer,” and “Carini” jams, but instead by building on the energy of those great shows and delivering a Sunday night full of the same excitement and buzz as Atlanta but a bit shorter on transcendent improvisational moments. Still, the nearly 20-minute “Disease” with its “Piper” jam and the big blowout jam on “Seven Below,” along with a number of bustouts, tour debuts, and a much needed “2001” dance party made for a fun, spirited Sunday night.
Phish Summer 2015 – Setlists & Recaps
07/21/15 Setlist – Recap – Bend 1
07/22/15 Setlist – Recap – Bend 2
07/24/15 Setlist – Recap, Recap2 – Shoreline
07/25/15 Setlist – Recap – LA Forum
07/28/15 Setlist – Recap – Austin
07/29/15 Setlist – Recap – Grand Prarie
07/31/15 Setlist – Recap – Atlanta 1
08/01/15 Setlist – Recap – Atlanta 2
08/02/15 Setlist – Recap – Tuscaloosa
08/04/15 Setlist – Recap – Nashville
08/05/15 Setlist – Recap – Kansas City
08/07/15 Setlist – Recap – Blossom
08/08/15 Setlist – Recap – Alpine 1
08/09/15 Setlist – Recap – Apline 2
08/11/15 Setlist – Recap – Mann 1
08/12/15 Setlist – Recap – Mann 2
08/14/15 Setlist – Recap – Raleigh
08/15/15 Setlist – Recap – Merriweather 1
08/16/15 Setlist – Recap – Merriweather 2
08/21/15 Setlist – Recap – Magnaball 1
08/22/15 Setlist – Recap – Magnaball 2
08/23/15 Setlist – Recap – Magnaball 3
09/04/15 Setlist – Recap – Dick's 1
09/05/15 Setlist – Recap – Dick's 2
09/06/15 Setlist – Recap – Dick's 3
Tuscaloosa, AL LE poster by Leslie Herman. Edition of 600. 18x24.
If you liked this blog post, one way you could "like" it is to make a donation to The Mockingbird Foundation, the sponsor of Phish.net. Support music education for children, and you just might change the world.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Phish.net is a non-commercial project run by Phish fans and for Phish fans under the auspices of the all-volunteer, non-profit Mockingbird Foundation.
This project serves to compile, preserve, and protect encyclopedic information about Phish and their music.
Credits | Terms Of Use | Legal | DMCA
The Mockingbird Foundation is a non-profit organization founded by Phish fans in 1996 to generate charitable proceeds from the Phish community.
And since we're entirely volunteer – with no office, salaries, or paid staff – administrative costs are less than 2% of revenues! So far, we've distributed over $2 million to support music education for children – hundreds of grants in all 50 states, with more on the way.
We've had the debuts; we've had the 'standards;' we've been Dusted; and now Disease has been 'dusted' off. Yes: There have been 46 Dogs.... Exceptions aside, and this going back a number of years now, if you are truly being honest, you can take most of these '20 minute' jams, and, post the point of ('composed') departure, interchange them.
This happens again here....
(*Yes, Jake, sure does....)
In addition to Waves, Seven Below*, Undermind, Scents and the like, it would be great to see some of the tunes the band is playing exceptionally well (Twist comes to mind) or just some different ideas occupy this space. Love them or leave them, tunes like BOAF (sans quotes is fine) and Piper would almost by default invite a different pace of playing than that which, at times, seems 'tacked on' to the end of CDT, KDF, Ghost, Disease.
This is said only with admiration; the band is playing so well - take the Reba / Gin - that it'd be so cool to get this energy and fantastic play from the get go. Not to be negative, but many of the openers (this year and last) are a lesser form of noodling.... Not really idea-driven.
And I haven't even broached the subject of an Age or Drowned....
Been locked into the shows.... And this isn't to write just for the sake of writing. Upon re-listening, it simply feels to me to me such a strange 'paradox.' To be willing to continue to write and play so much new material; only to, like Fall 96 or something, possess such a 'comfort' level open Set 2.
Just a place where I would like to see 20 minutes explored a bit differently than years past.
Noticed also: In Seven Below, Trey tried to flip from C maj > min, and Page either didn't hear him or exercised his veto power (as chairman of the modes).
Who's got my Mu-tron lot shirt? Because surely...
In response to Set 2 openers and their being 20 mins long; it'd be cool to see the band open with different jam 'vehicles.'
In trying to remain upbeat, I seem to have used to many words.
In light of this fact, I apologize for taking your time.
Okay. Guess your just Stealing Time From a Faulty Plan.
There are four things I want to see this tour before it's over, no, five:
1) David Bowie to open a 2nd frame and restore the glory days of Bowie
2) Mango Song with the Mutron
3) McGrupp to open a show
4) Llama encore
5) One Dead cover. I vote for Tennessee Jed or He's Gone.
He's Gone is a great choice -
This song is so deeply personal to Trey, you must know that he will never stop playing it. So learn to love it.
Fun show, it sure is nice to hear Trey rip through a Maze again the way he did last night
I'll read anything, so long as the spirit is right. I am new to the site, as it's no longer possible to attend as many shows. The banter is amusing; there is no other place where I'd have seen the pretty meter and alliteration that is Mango Song and Mutron (suggested by Facts earlier).
And some of the chatter regarding the band (see 10/31/13) leads to amazing things (see 10/31/14)....
as i read, i am listening to the recordings - the dwd is interesting. i got lost in the jam and had to double check what i was listening to again. the dwd is exploratory.
i enjoyed listening to this concert unfold live over the "radio" and ditto with regard to re-listening to the recordings. ( thanks and shout out to you kind people who stream live music for those of us at home ).
the recording is sweet southern sunday night phish - and to my ears, the most excellent unity among band members continues...
in my memory listening to the other night live, i heard, fuego - 2001 - hood - possum as one long composition with the pinacle of excitement within possum. granted, this is my subjective experience. i am only speaking for myself. to me - last night - the possum really got me.
thank you - @ jake cohen - for the reminder of piper arrangements in the dwd.
i like this review and after listening to the live ( radio ) stream and revisiting the soundboard recording, i like this arrangement of phish songs.
this night is a sweet southern recording and this one is going to my cache for the next road trip and so on...
never miss a sunday night... somehow... even if it means you are listening with the distance of the "radio"
I'd take the Texas Chalkdust-> Sinple-> Silent over that Ghost all day every day. Just a much more interesting and conversational kind of improvisation.
In response to Set 2 openers and the songs 'being' 20 mins long; the 'jams' sound very similar.
In response to Set 2 openers and their being 20 mins long; it'd be cool to see the band open with different jam 'vehicles.'
In trying to remain upbeat, I seem to have used to many words.
In light of this fact, I apologize for taking your time.[/quote]
So you are saying the jams in the most recent Tweezer and Kill Devil Falls (both recent 20 min + Set II openers) sound similar? I find them very unique and unique from one another after a few listens...to each his own I guess...
This was only to make a minor point in regards to something a tad different THIS year that I'd like to see continued. And you're cherry-picking two (although KDF has Tweezer jamming in it / 'reprised,' anyways) of the last four, which all go 20 plus I think. But here I go again.... I'm not writing in the pejorative.
It's beyond debate that the past couple YEARS has the band opening Set II with Dust, Disease, Carini, Fuego.... (Simply take a look at the lists if you hadn't heard, couldn't make it....) All the music is cool. Your Tweezer is a bit of an exception - and extremely great. KDF, for me, falls in category of 'Dust with jam tacked on;' or 'unfinished Disease.'
In no way was I trying to take away from this year.... I agree with all the positive reviews. The point was simply to suggest that it isn't necessarily the fan but the song choice that is jaded (using the term liberally here.... as in worn out) to open Set II.
When tours are so 'short,' it all adds up. I was simply pointing to the fact that we're getting all these fresh encores. My hope was that the next move would be to see 'all things reconsidered' and some new energy applied to open the frame. It's not to say that the playing is poor - I really love Trey's tone; moreover, I really like the control he seems to have (re)asserted.
I'd never come here and post something negative about the band all of you love. I love them too. But if every post is a victory lap, or a self-congratulatory pat on the back, I don't see the point. I'm not going to complain about the length of Tube, or bore with anecdotes about (forget Bowie - which I, too, Love) Mockingbird in 94.
But to point out that Dust and Carini opened sets 8 or 9 times last year seems fair and not mean-spirited. Are they chasing after something? And yeah: I do think those particular excursions sound similar - and based upon Fish's cues and Mike's Bell and Page's 'face,' I think the band has felt that way as well.
I agree with another writer who posted this is as great as they've sounded in years.
Again: long way of saying.... I'd love to see some different tunes to start the set. Mainly because this isn't 94, and you only get a handful of shows.
I'm not overly concerned with the songs they use for the big excursions. The list of songs where they really got long winded was generally pretty short in 94/95 too.. Tweezer, Bowie, Mikes, Melt, Stash, a few Paugs, DWDs and Frees, a few singular curveball crazy versions of songs like Bitch
I guess the question is more about if Phish views 92-95 or 97-04 as their golden age. The last few years seem to point towards the former, and they seem to be taking a quality over quantity approach that hasn't really been their MO since 95.
I love that every tour has more people thinking "this is the best they've sounded since.." Personally still think the 2012 improv is the freshest style since 95 and the purest distillation of early and late 90s jam styles, but this newfound nimbleness in Trey's playing has lead to an increased swagger which really helps them develop jams quickly and confidently. Something like that Tweezer-> MFMF from Ingleood makes me giddy knowing that they aren't feeling the pressure to make every Tweezer long as much as the pressure to make everything great.
Seemed like the biggest problem from 2010-2012 was that their standards for what constituted interesting improvisation might have been too high, and they'd try to pull the ripcord on something before it got less interesting to the crowd than the next song might be. Clearly their standards are different than ours as a lot of those quick > s seemed to truncate jams right as they were exiting an amorphous space between themes and beefing the process of coalescing into something new. Late 90s/00s Phish they were a little bit too trusting that things would make a turn for the better eventually. A few years of stricter quality control have made the improv very mindful. I dig.
And despite some rocky parts in the process, there isn't a better sign for this bands vitality than them revamping and refining the way that they listen and play off one another. They seem really engaged and happy compared to when I started seeing shows.
As someone fortunate enough to have been at the last 5 shows (beginning with Austin), I personally think Phish has been in the zone (transcendent? Holy Phish?) since Julius at the Verizon Theatre in Grand Prairie, TX..
Btw, just for context: I didn't discover Phish until 2011 at Dick's, so I don't have any meaningful Phish knowledge beyond 3.0, and I am not a musician. But between what I experienced at Fare Thee Well and this Phish tour I am more grateful, confident, and optimistic than ever - for what the band will produce, in Trey specifically, and what we can do to celebrate along the way!!
Summer 2015!!
my favorite moment thus far (summer 15) has been the friendly tweezer. sort of what i've been getting at. even the 15 min dust you've pointed to; how this > simple is so interesting. i'm more into this, of late, than a 28 minute dust or unfinished disease (carrying over from last year). especially in light of trey's nimble swagger! this is all a positive; they are playing so well.
as someone pointed out; the mechanical nature of executing bowie is insane.
the newer tunes are less demanding. now that the band has its collective verve, i'd love to see more of more.
[i]Seemed like the biggest problem from 2010-2012 was that their standards for what constituted interesting improvisation might have been too high, and they'd try to pull the ripcord on something before it got less interesting to the crowd than the next song might be.[/i]
That's an interesting and generous take, and not incongruous with the notion that interband communication was lacking. I do think your conjecture makes sense when it comes to Trey and his desire to please.
Saw Atlanta and Alabama. One of the many things I said fervently was, "MY GOD ARE THEY PLAYING WELL!" Notes and vocals are just flowing from these guys! Absolutely lovely time to be a Phish Phan!