, attached to 2014-08-31

Review by hughie46

hughie46 Spectacular.

Everyone could feel the energy from "with" onwards. Trey took a huge step forward and ripped the first songs up while the band cohered beneath him. Like this bitch for example, holy damn trey annihilation. He summoned storms and facilitated lightning with that fuckin guitar. Have any worries that Trey has truly lost the force? He hasn't, it must just be a matter of inspiration. At this venue with this energy, he delivered on the scale of any 90's show.

And if that was anything to be noted, it and all that took place in the first set were just a warm up routine for the mammoth performance to come.

Chalkdust's jam began with a familiar shapeshifting-searching rhythm, a sign that they hadn't yet escaped the human confines musical creation. But then, it happened, and it was there to stay.

I wont break down this jam or each and every one for the rest of the set, but I will give you a general jist: using a groove as a vehicle, the band explored luscious landscapes of sonic trance, raucous funk, and countless other undefined heady reincarnations of rock music. At points there were even strong shades of dark, sick, fucking bad ass stash-esque jamming that had the band grimacing within neurotic bliss. All the while, they would dismantle those deep grooves in to often dissonant and vast beauty, only to rebuild such creations as if they were castles in the sand.

From what I remember from last night, there are two moments that I need to mention. Well shit, there are closer to five, ten.... just keep that in mind when I only bring up two.

While the band was destroying tweezer, things started to get HEADY. As in it seemed to me the hose had been brought out. It also seemed so to my tear ducts, who were erratically spewing liquid everywhere like a sprinkler system. But then, amidst a promising moment deep in jam territory, trey began playing Sand. Although this song is fucking awesome, and Dicks has a great history with it, this wasn't exactly the time to exit our growing beast Tweezer. But Jedi Trey's wisdom was beyond mine, because what ensued was one of the most awesome pieces of music i've heard phish play. It grew faster, and garnered a sound i can only associate with bouncing. The music was bouncing, really fast and within a rhythm. The whole band knew how sick this was... go look at a video of their expressions. And then, during this uptempo musical trampoline session, I had a vision. A vision they would go back in to tweezer at a certain moment and blow everyone away. And all the fucking sudden, they seamlessly GO BACK IN TO TWEEZER in a hyperspeed version. THEY SHRED. IT IS MIND BLOWING!!!!!!!!

And the second thing. Much simpler. Listen to mikes intro to the 'paug groove. At the time I thought it was the best one to have graced my ears. I still feel confident of that notion. As I also feel confident that this is one of the electrifying performances of Phish's new era, one of those magical nights that makes this band what it is. You could listen to any of the band members alone on this night and be blown away. Together, they seem to go beyond a 4 man band and swell to mystical proportions. Never miss a Sunday show....


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