Phish Festival 8 Set-By-Set Review By Clark Benson  [84 more lists]

Halloween Costume commences with a mashup video of many of the "100 Original Possible" albums, with "Cocksucker Blues" footage artfully and humorously added at the end. Then it's off to the races with Rocks Off.

As amazing as Trey is, the first few songs sound a bit thin w/out two guitars. Even horns can't quite fill the sound. After 4 songs or so I don't feel like I'll be listening to the Exile set the way I do their last Halloween set (11 years ago - wow) - VU's Loaded, which i was also lucky enough to catch live. Regardless, it's nice to actually hear the lyrics to many of these Jagger-mumbles for the first time.

They hit a groove 4 or 5 in, though, and with one exception don't let up for the rest of the set. Even Fishman vocals on Sweet Virginia and Happy are credible and not jokey, the band and backup singers killing it. This has turned into an awesome set

With the horns and the backup singers, numerous parts sounded a bit more like current-era live Stones than Exile-time-of-recording Stones. This is not a bad thing, as the Stones still kill it live.

Shine a Light in particular benefits from that "only Phish can do this" treatment - Trey cresting some amazing solos that simply do not exist in the DNA of Keith Richards.


Breakdown:

31.57% Sick, sick absolute killer versions - including a horn-and-backing-singer-blown-out Lovin' Cup that actually topped the versions Phisheads have loved for 12 or so years, a trancendental Shine A Light. All Down The Line was definitively better than any live versions the Stones have done (it's a song that the Stones have done semi-regularly since '72). And Torn and Frayed was magnificent, Sharon Jones tearing it up.

31.57% Really fricking cool versions with strong jams.

31.57% Enjoyable-But-Not-Memorable (early songs, Fishman vox, one other)

5.26 % clunkers (a lull when they hit mid-side 3 particluarly some 'relax your mind' vamp on "I just wanna see His face" w Sharon jones an the other backup singer" (who were otherwise excellent additions to the band)


Overall, every bit as good as Vegas 98 Loaded, and even longer. I can't wait to get this on disc and dive in more. Hard to say whether I enjoyed this set or last nite's second set more, but I'll give the cover set the edge for the uniqueness.

As is typical with (III) sets by any jam band worth its salt, it's now all about the deep jams Just about every song is 10-15mins from here on out.

Backwards Down The Number Line - great opener
Fluffhead crowd goes batshit for most 15 min version, glowsticks coat the sky.
Ghost - long version, bathroom break for me, not a fave, but some great jams at end
When The Circus Comes - always a personal fave
A long ecstatic YEM that tops the Fluffhead for crowd response, ending with Tuvan-throat-singing-mixed-with-Vincent-Price-style vocal jam

Encore joined by Sharon Jones and the horns again is pretty unique - prior to seeing this I would have thought the terms "epic" and "soulful" would never be seen near the song Suzie Greenberg. Sharon Jones can certainly belt it out.

Overall a great day and a great festival all the way so far. The only regret is we did not see a return of the "Burple Balloon" at all on Halloween.

11/1/09 (I) Acoustic Set

Although it was advertised as their "first-ever acoustic set", that's not 100% true, as I saw them do a 40min set at Neil Young's Bridge Benefit about 10 years ago. It's a little after noon, and HOT (though not Coachella-hot).

They commence with the kind of songs one would expect to hear them playing acoustically.

Water in the sky
Get Back On The Train
Billy Breathes (I think- it was that beautiful 'this one is for you' song)
I'm Waiting- a Mike song I didn't recognize
Strange Design
etc.

4 songs in Trey asks 'are you sure you don't want to sit? We're playing some really mellow stuff.' A remarkable thing happens as 30,000 people all sit down. Being near the soundboard smack in the middle I find myself praying that I won't have to pee.

40 mins in the whole crowd stands and releases some pentup dance energy to a strong acoustic raveup of that song whose name escapes me (Cavern?) that goes 'Please we have no regrets'. The highlight of the acoustic set so far.

We're all back seated for another song whose name escapes me (Page vox). Followed by My Sweet One, and a number of other songs I recognize and couldn't name.

It dawns on me that the presence of a full acoustic set this weekend is one of the reasons their full sets have been so pound-for-pound excellent setlist-wise - they have been saving all the slow stuff for this noon Sunday set.

Two highlights when they break out of the mellow box a bit - an acoustic Bouncin Around The Room and a wonderful, strong Wilson, followed by a driving acoustic version of a Gamehendge song (Col Forbin?)

They come back for a 3 song encore (Driver, and a couple of other pretty mellow songs)

My first ever 100% sober Phish set is certainly an enjoyable one. I give it an 8.6 partly because at my advanced age I just dont need to see live acoustic music unless it's like Neil Young, and partly because the setlist had some yawners. Still, it was about as good as I would expect Phish to be able to play 100+minutes acoustically.