, attached to 2015-07-22

Review by n00b100

n00b100 Let's keep it short and sweet:

Set 1: Really interesting that 3 of the four "new" songs are Phish debuts as opposed to full debuts (much like 2/26/03's debut-laden first set); Heavy Rotation, even though it took a toll on poor Page's voice, had a nice "second jam" worth hearing again. Mercury might be my favorite of the songs debuted so far, the opening Stash was nice and jazzy as opposed to deep and gnarly, and both Maze and BOTT had some real bite to them thanks to Page/Trey synergy (Trey, in particular, absolutely *wailed* on Maze, which I think should make the chart). A very fine opening half to the show.

Set 2: I'm sure there will be folks upset that the midpoint of the set was taken up by Wingsuit and Farmhouse (although, again, if you think they didn't play songs like this back to back mid-2nd set back in the day, you are lying to yourself), but even cursory listens to both reveal some fine playing (especially Wingsuit, which is as much a signature song now as Fuego is), and I will never say no to either in any set. But the real attention should go to the bread surrounding that meat - an Ocean > Waves combo on one side that features a nifty melodic peak in the former and a dissolve into spaciness in the latter, and a Simple/First Tube closing duo that features some raucous energy in the latter and...

Well, you see that green up there for Simple, right? It's richly deserved. The band moves right into a minimalist groove out of the usual Simple closing chords, Trey shifting to minor chords as Page goes to the organ and Mike hits on a nice bassline. You might think they'll just ride this groove out, but then Trey shifts to what sounds like his 2003 guitar tone and they reach a growling space not unlike *that* growling space in the 10/20/13 Tweezer, and Trey starts laying down some powerful licks as Page heads to the piano instead and the two lock into perfect sync before the jam comes to a surprisingly perfect close. All in all, a very nice signature jam to close out the Bend run. A fiery Classic Gin in the encore (!) helps send everyone home with smiles on their faces.

Final thoughts: 7/12/14 is underrated too. There's a lot going on in this show, so even if the rest of the summer blows it away (knock on wood), make sure you don't miss this one. I mean, it's the mp3 age, make sure you don't miss any of them.


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