, attached to 2018-08-10

Review by phrench

phrench The first four songs are energetic rockers graced by great interplay, and some very nice type 1. There's nothing wrong in type 1, after all it's the basis of most jazz since bebop.

The second Wombat of this tour is as weird as the first, but it's cut short quite early. The band nailed the fugue in the first (and only?) Guelah of the year.

Solid BoaF and Saw it Again. Timber threatened to go spacey but stayed in course, leading to a nice LxL which led to a cute Farmhouse and then nothing More. That song is catchy as hell (are there still people out there thinking Phish can't do a song?) and sums up S1 pretty well: songy but very solid. Or the other way around.

There's no comma in S2, it's a segue-fest of sort. Meatstick opens funnily, Drowned follows strongly, and is actually the big jam of the night... despite its short length. It peaks in a typical Trey-in-high-register way, and - > exquisitely in NICU. Some spacey segment develops really nicely before Fish kills the beat and reinstates a more martial pattern, which dissolves into Trey's larsen and the mysterious riff of Thread, the third outing of this major new tune, only waiting for its extended jam in its the final segment, an eastern-sounding modal piece in a 15/16 SOaM-like meter.

But then Trey ripcords into a Runaway Antelope Policeman double sandwich. This is the truly fun part of the show. Musically, the focus is on the elegance of the segues, and the first coming of the Antelope is simple and effective : Trey just plays the riff and the whole band leaves Jim. So the band runs a bit and then Mike brings Jim back, quoting the bass riff like Trey quoted the guitar riff. Jim runs away and Trey calls the Antelope back and the whole band is in tune after a few bars, and runs to Trey's quote of the first bar of Makisupa, and then everybody is in uniform. Funny banter between Trey, Fish and Page. Trey sounds like a violin and Mike engages the super synth autowah machine... and this is the end of this policeman, with a final chord on which the Antelope's progression bounces back, and at last we're treated to the lyrics!

Trey launches the band into YEM. Solid, like most of this show. Strong bass synth from Mike again. Nice Beatles reprise to end this song-based concert.

I prefer the depths of the first night in Camden this week (a show I think is underrated), but the playing is strong here and there are some really cool Trey-and-his-amazing-rhythm-section moments and a few true liftoffs.


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