, attached to 2013-07-27

Review by shargroov

shargroov The second set was where it was at for this show. The first set honestly was just meh for me. Maybe because of the high expectations I had after Friday nights' phenomenal show where it seemed the band was just charged and playing with high energy and busting out some fairly uncommon songs and playing them extremely well. To follow that up with an Architect opener? I'm just like "Really"? Now, I'm not one of those TAB haters. In fact I love the Traveler album overall. But there is one song I began skipping after listening through that album a few times. Care to guess which one? If they want to play it, then they should play it, but as an opener? The crowd was pumped and ready to get grooving so it felt like all the air was let out of the tire when they started with such a lame song. Then the band would have to recover. "Golgi" was a nice start but it didn't quite do it for me. "The Curtain With", now we're talking.

The first set overall was up and down. "Kill Devil Falls" is just kind of a "meh" song for me though I never go to the bathroom during it either. "Moma Dance" is a Gorge standard (played 5 out of 6 Gorge runs since its debut), so I would have been dissapointed if they *didn't* play it. "Maze" is another Gorge standard and I thought they played it about as well as one could expect, though it's not one I personally get excited about anymore. Next, I would have preferred "Army of One" over "Beauty" for a Page song. Much like "Architect" on Trey's Traveler, "Beauty" is probably one of my least favorite songs from Page's album.

Though I miss the "Roses are Free"s of 98 and 99 that would go on for 30 plus minutes, I still enjoy this one and was glad to hear it. "Say Something" was a nice new Mike tune that I enjoyed and think has a lot of potential. It sounds so much like a 70s rock/funk song a la Little Feat I thought for certain it was a cover I wasn't familiar with. I love how Mike gets his vocal range up to "Emotional Rescue" levels at times. Which is another reason why I thought it must be a cover. I didn't think Mike wrote songs for himself that got that high. But I liked it, and hope the band start exploring its jam potential in the future.

Ocelot is another "meh" song for me, though I do have to say this was an above average version, and a nice set up for what was to me a shocking set closer, only because I had not heard the sad news of JJ Cale's passing. It was a really nice finish to an overall up and down, and at times disjointed first set.

Now the second set. I haven't listened to the Toronto version that everyone seems to be raving about, but this "Disease" was top notch in my opinion, doing what a good Disease jam should do, exploring all facets of Phish's jamming styles before melting nicely into the next tune, which in this case was a nice "Undermind". "Light" was unusually short, but you'll get no complaints from me as I was much happier to hear them segue into the funky opening notes to "Sneaking Sally". Now played at two of the three post-breakup Gorge runs, this funk monster did not let us down, as the crowd was collectively boogieing down harder than they had all night. Beautiful seague into a funky 2001. Has anyone identified the mystery jam? That's something isn't it? And I'm sure they've done that tease before haven't they? Anyway, i love it when the band finds a groove that they like and stick to it, as I've seen in versions of 2001 of the past.

"Walls of the Cave", a Gorge first, and I believe my personal first since Coventry (though granted I have only seen 12 shows post breakup). They were just on top of it during this song, and Trey's guitar solo was ripping. Next came another song that's starting to become a Gorge tradition since 2009,"Fluffhead", which was also beautifully played. Then the "Antelope" closer. This is just one of those songs I can't get sick of. Standard "Antelope"? Sure. But is that a bad thing? I thought a very nice ending to a smoking set.

Encore, not as unique or as long, or as rocking, as the first nights' Hood>Fire encore, but any time they want to prolong the show a little bit longer by playing a two song encore, even if it is with a song "Good Times Bad Times" I've seen as an encore probably a dozen times, I will not ever complain.

Thanks for coming back to the most beautiful venue in the country Phish. This time, could you not wait two years? Would love to see you there in 2014!


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