Phish is like skiing. You pray for powder. Constantly. Obsessively. Visions of the fluffy white stuff blowing everywhere as you effortlessly bounce between turns. Some seasons the powder is deep. Other seasons it is a bit dry. Sometimes, after a few weeks of no new snow, you wonder if it will every snow again in this damn town.

Last night was hard packed with a few icy patches. I found left over pow in the trees w/ Cavern, Run Like an Antelope, YEM. Apres skiing was festive with a three song encore.

It was a nice day to be out on the slopes but not one I will remember for the snow. Looking out my window now, optimistic as always, trying to decipher if storm clouds are forming up on them there hills. Maybe its my mind playing a trick on me. No matter. It is the end of the season but there is alway a chance for a freak powder day.

This show was not good, I'm not going to lie. Anyhow...

FIRST SET:
Moma Dance opened, a Paul and Silas bustout, a flubtastic Stash and an above average Antelope to close the set.

SECOND SET:
Axilla opened the second set, before a noodly and frankly aimless Fuego was abandoned for Back on the Train. Saw it Again followed, and it seemed the Boys (I'll call them the boys if I want) were going to kick it into high gear but... nope, it's fourth quarter time, with Prince Caspian and a here on minute gone the next Waves preceding the ultimate set killer of days new and 2009, Joy, then the Wedge, and oh Icculus this set is just killing me.

You can be one of those obnoxious and chipper reviewers saying ''Well I don't what all these negative nancy whippersnappers are on about, but I had a great ol' time,and that's all that matters!'' but this set just sucks to blow, and that doesn't change with Scent of a Mule, where Trey, for the thousandth time this tour, hops on the Lumina. Sorry, but it's really getting trite, predictable and old at this point.

All hope seemed lost when the old guard, YEM came out and did it's thing to end the set, and then, for the first time since Dick's 2012, Trey danced his plaid wearing ass off, to the funky beat of his bandmates. It arguably wasn't any better musically than much of the rest of the night, but seeing that was damn funny and it does bump this show up a notch from the hall of banality that preceded it.

The encore was Boogie On, Bouncing and Golgi.

Why oh why did I stAy up until 8AM for this?

OVERALL:
On it's own, it's not very good,and nothing really happens at all, but next to the BGCA shows, this is a real stinker. You can judge it's quality by your own experience at the show (disregarding the music) as a valid metric, but this was pretty bad show, and probably the worst, and frankly, it's worrying me that the quality of BGCA Nights 1 and 2 were the anomaly and crap like this is the norm for this tour.
I don't really mind ''songy'' second sets, but jeez, no jams? Not even some nice Type I action? Also, the songs they did play weren't exactly performed incredibly well; they were adequate, occasionally stumbling and nothing more. Sorry, but this was not a good show.

HIGHLIGHTS: Zilch.
Maybe the fiery Antelope and YEM (the latter solely for the lulz), but calling these highlights would be stretching the very definition real thin.

RATING: 2.5/5

If you look at the history of shows in LA they tend to be more straight ahead rock shows and less jam improve. That's what they did again. If you're able to recognize that, and stop searching for whatever you want them to do, it ends up being a really energized kind of show.

Let me begin with a preface.

I became a fan in 1994 when I was 12. I very quickly dove way in and began trading bootlegs with people on the very young internet and obsessed over everything I could get my hands on. By the time I was 15, I had about 50 tapes or so and had listened to thousands of hours of Phish.

Every year I would beg my parents to let me go. New Year's '94 - nope. '95 - no dice. Clifford Ball? Are you kidding me? My first show was at the end of '97 and it was awesome. I loved it. During high school ('96-'00) I ended up seeing the band 12 times. But even during these years, I longed for the band I grew up loving. The one from '90-'94. I felt like I had just missed the golden age.

By the end of 2000, the music and atmosphere were completely different, and I kind of fell off the Phish wagon, catching just two shows in 2010.

Flash forward 6 years, and I'm again super into Phish. Just listening to everything (again, from '88 through '97 or so) for hours on end. I saw that Phish was coming to town and I had to go. I also wanted to bring my girlfriend. It was her first Phish show. She never really listened to them but had arrived at the unsubstantiated conclusion that she wouldn't like them. She's Mexican and she was like, that's weird white boy music. I figured if one thing can get her to appreciate them, it's seeing a live show.

We get there, and I have to say that this was by far the worst show I've ever seen, not just of Phish, but of any professional band ever. Perhaps my expectations were too high, but even so, the band was everywhere musically. They rarely, if ever, locked into a groove. I say this as a musician with 25 years of musical training. My heart sank with each subsequent botched lyric, missed chorus, and out of sync jam. I wanted to lean over and reassure her, "this is one of the greatest living guitarists, not just by my assessment as a fan, but by 'the musical establishment' at large" so at least she could be psyched about that, putting the experience into a historical context. But I didn't say anything. I could imagine her response, something like, "wow, a lot of them must have died."

She didn't give any indication that she didn't like it, but hell, *I* didn't like it, how could I expect her to? It was the most uninspired playing I'd ever witnessed. I found myself wondering how this could possibly happen. How could incredibly talented and even virtuosic professional musicians who have played together for so long play so badly? Drugs? Sickness? Absolute and total boredom? It seemed like a logical impossibility. There was no energy, no interaction with the audience, no vitality or inspiration to any of the playing. My girlfriend later told me that she felt like the entire performance was phoned in. And as much as it pains me to admit it, I couldn't have agreed more. She even said to me afterwards that she had never, not once, gone to a concert of any kind of live music where she didn't like it, where the experience of seeing the music performed live didn't make the music itself that much better. Except for this show. Dagger in the heart (but I couldn't blame her...).

This was a total bummer for me. Going to see Phish used to be like going to church. Last night was like going to an execution with an audience filled with bros who would talk and yell drunken profanity the entire time and high five each other. Oh, and I bought one of those limited edition prints because I thought it would be something really nice to have to commemorate the first show that my gf and I attended together. As I was relaxing after the encore some asshat stole it from the seat next to me. Real cool. So that was $60/ticket (wtf - I used to pay $30 to see them at Great Woods) + $34 "service charge" + $25 parking + $50 for the poster = $229. An incredibly expensive evening of music. And now my girl is turned off from Phish.

TL/DR: Music was sloppy, stale, and uninspired. Tickets were too expensive. The crowd (at least in my vicinity) was lame (and again, in my vicinity, thieves).

After reading some of the reviews, I thought I'd add my experience. I was up close (10 feet back on Mike side), and could see pretty clearly a few things I'll comment on. Overall, I was disappointed in the show, but I was still happy to be there. In my opinion, Trey was just too happy / satisfied to play through the classics with somewhat inspired soloing on a few pieces (Stash, Rock & Roll). He doesn't seem to get bothered much by not doing anything too spicy or exploratory, so if the show doesn't go that way, he doesn't push it. And last night, the show did not go that way. The boys all looked happy to be there and people up front were a good crew, so not sure about the "LA crowds are douchey" type comments. Also, as for set break, the guy was tuning the piano the whole time. As soon as he rapped up and set everything back up for Page, the boys were back on a minute later. I don't think they need a long set break, they're pros at marathon jam sessions, I think there are just more moving parts now to the show (lighting, equipment, etc.) that it might take longer to get going if they don't rush it.

Final thoughts: if there's anything seeing phish since they got back together has taught me, its that I have faith that they will continue to impress for a long time to come (up and downs included). Trey looks extremely happy / healthy, even when performing mediocre shows, and that bodes well for many more years of joy for this phan.

Peace + Love

Highlight of last night was the venue. Outdoor patio bars with no lines during the show, bathrooms at every exit point, quick attentive staff. Ice cold beers.

Show itself was unfortunately the worst of the summer. Every tour has to have a bottom of the barrel show and this year The Forum has taken home that award. Yes the lights were top notch and there were beer cup holders attached to every seat, but even those things couldn't over take to lack luster performance.

Just know that if you were there last night all you have to do is go to any other show left on the docket for this year and you're guaranteed more better.

Absolutely nothing worth relistening to here...you know it's bad when you can't even find a 7min something to play back the next day.

2.1 out of 5

Ultimately - outside of something like Coventry - there is no such thing as a "bad" Phish show. There are good shows, and then there are the mind-blowing runs we all crave.

Obviously, this show was the former, not the later. Watching the show from the floor, it had highlights. - Back on the Train comes to mind - but whatever... I doubt this will have much replay value for me. That said, I'm still just grateful that the boys are still touring - always good to see Phish.

For the love of Rock n' Roll! I think that's a great way to sum up this show, and for that reason I found the night to be full of smiles, positive energy, good ideas, and precision in play. I think sometimes music becomes over-complicated and we come to expect it, but rock n' roll is best played simply and honestly and this is what I saw here tonight...a good ol' fashioned rock show that was a helluvalotta of fun!
We tuned in via webcast in the eastern time zone, but we had been enjoying the new local brewery in our town earlier in the evening with wonderful, intelligent company so we were down to party even at the late 11:30pm-ish start time.
Great handful of opening numbers..."Kill Devil Falls" has made many appearances this tour, but it always seems to lend a great dance opportunity, even for those in their living rooms. Then we got the Triple H..."Horn", "Halfway to the Moon", and "Heavy Things".
I mentioned accuracy earlier, and in "Stash" there was a little flub, but who cares? It was endearingly laughed off and the band played on.
Upon entering "Cavern", a feeling bubbled up in me that said, 'this feels like tour.' This show was giving me a totally different vibe than towards the beginning of the summer, lights too. Maybe I felt that way because it was such a rockin' show, as we've noted...
Regardless, this was a really groovin' song, so much so that I thought it might be the set closer... but then..."Run Like an Antelope"! Yes! This song really had that 'crackle' to it, and I can only imagine the energy in the live room at that moment. The white lights used at the crescendo right before the "Miko Esquandolas" were insane!!! I saw pure happiness in Trey's face when they closed the set, it was palpable through the tv box, even Fishman was grinning ear to ear!

Set break had me feeling a little sleepy, but they tore back in with "Axilla" as if to say ' wake up all you EST people!' I finally got to see the top screen split into tiles in real time -- thanks for showing that, camera person! The energy stayed pretty high for the next few songs, but then it got a little softer with "Prince Caspian" afloat upon the > "Waves"....nice.
Unfortunately, I could not hold my eyes open any longer after "Rock and Roll" (ha, there it is again), but this morning "You Enjoy Myself" was where my stashed on demand replay started. I thought the 'duel' between Trey & Mike was cool, it was almost like they were looking into a mirror parallel universe at eachother, or something cool like that. The vocal jam was extra psychedelic with all the droning, melodic, ancient guttural sounds...and the lights!!! It was like a quick jaunt to the holy mountain!

I was able to share this show with my fiancée, her first show. Sharing the music with her made this more fun, and I am so lucky to share these tunes with her.

That said, this was the worst Phish show I've seen. Terrible flow, no jams, Trey-flubs galore. Nothing worth listening to here, aside from Trey's self-chastising vocal delivery of "You worthless sloppy fool" in Cavern. He knew he blew it. Let's end this thing right tonight in Chula Vista!!!

You know how sometimes, especially with webcast shows, people will try to tell you that "you had to be there" to truly appreciate a mediocre-to-decent but not great or amazing show?

You probably would have had the same opinion seeing this show in person as you did on couch tour. Although maybe if you were in the crowd, you'd be mad that you weren't comfortably in your pajamas and not dealing with everyone who couldn't shut up.

Seriously. LA crowds are the worst. And they can take an OK show and turn it bad.

If I consider the music I listened to--and that only--this show wasn't bad. No huge terrible flubs, not too many poorly placed songs, got a lot of songs I expected. While this show in no way ranks at the top of my list for tour musically, it certainly isn't in the bottom.

But when you consider the entire experience of the show...this was certainly my least favorite show I attended all tour. Dudes behind me talked through most of set one. Asked them nicely to quit down during Antelope (because come on!)--which they agreed, but a few minutes into the song they were back at it again. Seriously everyone, put down the coke....and you spent upwards of $70 for the show, so getting WASTED probably isn't the smartest way to enjoy a show. :::sigh:::

This one's on me, folks. My second stream from this tour, the first being SPAC2. I'm evidently a bad luck charm. I'll check on the rest of the tour from Youtube since I have better uses for $25

That said, I really enjoyed seeing Axilla I as an opener for set II. The flubs, well what can we expect when they only play a very limited number of shows? Phish songs are hard, especially for aging fingers.

Talk about a band that knows how to sandbag and keep people salivating over what we all know they're capable of. I think these sets are planned to be straight forward song fests but as a musician I know for a fact there are on and off days. Im new here, but seems to me, they try very hard not to fit one description and always strive to be as diverse as possible. All about middle road: it takes as much, if not more musical talent to write a good, moving, song that lasts 4 minutes as it does to noodle around for 30 jamming on it (and I love improvisation). I haven't been around long but I've come to see these types of shows are gonna fall somewhere on the tour, the question is when and where will it happen so I can generally avoid them, cause I don't go to see phish for radio tunes, but I think I understand why they sandbag the jamming like this: it keeps us frothing at the mouth! Maybe they want to feel more calculated these days. Doesn't matter. I'll be there whenever they hit the road again.

It's always funny how "Being There" can change your perception about a show.

I showed up extra early and spent several hours enjoying others company sheltered from the blazing Southern California summer heat. Great day great vibes all around. The goal originally was to get in line to be in the first phase of people on the floor. Of course as usual one thing leads to another and plans don't pan out. Luckily I was with people who knew people and I somehow managed to be one person behind the rail Page side. That easily is a plus for any show.

There is not much to write home about for the first set besides the Cavern>Antelope mashup. No bad playing per say just nothing with any heat on it.

Set break was especially long for this show. Something like 45mins? Treys guitar tech spent a significant amount of time messing with his pedals and holding a manual. From what we gathered he was having technical issues. This is likely what made most of the show not result in balls out jamming or messing around. If you don't trust your effects gear you're limited and likely anxious and that effects your playing.

Second set is much like the 1st set except with even more of the feeling of them cramming in as many songs as possible. Fuego has a little messing around to it but not much. It seems they were making up for the long set break and played a slightly longer set. Even sticking YEM in at the very end (very much to everyone's surprise). My favorite part of that set was The Wedge yes no jamming or anything unique. But it is so well played that I was just dancing my ass off.

Overall note a noteworthy show by any means. The playing was still pretty spot on and I've seen worse shows, especially those where they have trouble connecting and to me that's much worse.

Salvage Project

If you’re like me, you believe moderation is best and only make it to a couple shows a tour. If so, then you may also be like me and enjoy re-listening to the shows you happened to attend. This review is a salvage project. What from this show is possibly worth going back to? Is there enough material for an abridged playlist? Let’s see. But, first, a quick summary of all that’s wrong with this bummer of a night at The Forum.

The first set suffers from poor playing and uninspired song selection. If like me, you happened to go to the Gorge run but skipped BGCA, you had just seen all these songs, played better and arranged more effectively. If you want a feel for the set, imagine them playing Bouncing Around the Room seven times in a row and between each rendition you hoping they choose something different (Bouncing does finally make an appearance during the encore). It’s hard to believe that a set could suck this much and not even require the services of The Line.

The second set continues this problem of insufferable song selection, with the added let down of Trey consistently failing to deliver. Try as he might, and I do believe he was really trying, he just didn’t have the feel this night. His playing lacks any sense of fluidity. He’s mainly chopping out chunky single notes with no finesse. The mixture of poor song selection and subpar playing made for an incredibly depressing and low energy set. Even songs that I had been wanting to catch live, like Saw It Again and Joy, fell totally flat. Saw It Again didn’t have the momentum necessary for it to function properly as the exclamation point it is, and Joy was just sad. It wasn’t a breather. It was a bummer of an apology that we could only try to sympathize with (and Trey still couldn’t hit the solo either).

In the encore, Phish doubled-down on bumming people out with Bouncing Around the Room, and, though a valiant effort, Golgi was a total flub factory.

So, what can be salvaged?

Paul and Silas was the only bust-out of the night and, in my opinion, is one of their best bluegrass tunes. After Daniel Saw the Stone, Paul and Silas would be my second choice as the bluegrass number in any set.

Stash was both a turnaround song in the first set and a case study for how the guys were trying to pull things together. Trey has a couple egregious mishaps in the composed section. Not just missing notes, but actually skipping and substituting entire phrases. All is not lost though, as you can really hear the other band members extending Trey a lifesaver in the jam section. Everyone steps in and tries to help, and Page, especially, brings in some nice melodic textures and even steers Trey towards the peak.

Finding a little cohesion in Stash, they bring on Cavern to keep up the energy. Some nice embellishments from Mike and an overly extended rest note from Fishman, and a successful Cavern comes to a close.

Fortunately, they didn’t end the set there. After taking their sweet time to even get the crowd interested, they boys kept us enthralled with Run Like an Antelope to close the second quarter on a high (gear) note. Next to Rock n’ Roll, Antelope is Trey’s best playing of the evening. This Antelope is super peaky with some throw you on your ass tension and release. Recommended, for sure. For those of us at the show, it seemed the boys had finally hit their stride, and we could expect full compensation in the second set for the first set sluggishness.

[But then we waited for an hour…]

When Phish finally did re-emerge, they opened with Axilla I. Fun, lively, short but with an energetic promise of things to come.

[Skipping over the quick let down and the doldrums of a fizzled out Fuego jam all the way through The Wedge…]

We get to Scent of a Mule. What’s great about this Mule is it doesn’t suck. It sounds just how you would expect Mule to sound, which is a good thing. True, we’re probably all sick of Trey getting on the Marimba Lumina, but this night, it seemed he really needed the break from his guitar. He did his thing back there with Fishman and came back refreshed, able to play.

In Rock n’ Roll, we finally get to see the Trey who had been missing all night. Trey nails the solo at the end and shreds through a string of consecutive peaks with growing intensity.

From there, it’s YEM, and Trey is on point enough by now that he expertly navigates the opening composed section. Nice work, Trey! But I guess Trey never got his confidence fully back. He skips his solo and instead faces off with Mike for a duel. The result is funky and danceable. No complaints here.

Coming back out for the encore, the guys start off with Boogie on Reggae Woman and Mike keeps things interesting with some good, funky bass grooves.

As far as the salvage project goes, things wrap up there. That’s the short result of Phish’s longest show of the tour. Maybe they kept playing because they really wanted to turn things around, but someone should let them know that a second set Caspian or Wedge will never turn things around, unless they break for Type II, and there was none of that this night.

I will give it to them, though, they managed to end both sets on high notes, and I, for one, thank them for the effort and for seeing it through.

Oof. This show was definitely a step back from what the band had established on the Gorge through SF run. With all of the highlights of the previous 5 shows, it's no big surprise that they would eventually have a major off-night. It's nothing too crazy, it seems to happen every tour.

The first set is very pedestrian and very song heavy. They can definitely bring the heat at LA shows, as they have done in the past, but this show certainly fits the bill of an 'LA show.' Lots of fan favorites and rocking songs, but nothing much of substance. The highlights of the first set are my first ever "Paul and Silas" and the closing Antelope. Other than that, even songs that might normally get some decent attention seemed to fall flat. Even "Blaze On" and "Stash" seemed forced and shaky.

The second set wasn't too much of an improvement. The "Axilla>Fuego" opener wasn't anything too special, but I remember enjoying BOTT and "Saw it Again" quite a bit. The middle of the set didn't offer too much to relisten to, and only at YEM did things seem to turn around a bit, although the YEM itself is pretty minimal. It seems that Trey just kind of gave up on even attempting to have some kind of solo..just put his guitar down and danced around before the vocal jam.

The extended encore was pretty cool but nothing exceptional. An off-night is okay once in a while and I was kind of expecting a lower-key show going into it anyway. They definitely redeemed themselves the following night in Chula Vista

Second Phish show I've seen at the Forum and while I enjoyed last year's show much more, I don't think this show was as bad as it's current rating of 2.65. They came out a little soft with Moma but the Sample in a Jar that followed was great. I also enjoyed Yarmouth and Kill Devil Falls, before it felt like they fell into a hole for the middle of the 1st set. It was fun to finally get a Stash live (even though Trey did sort of flub one of the easier sections) as it's one of my all time favorites. Cavern into Antelope felt forced.

Second set (which seemed to take forever to start after almost an hour break) didn't grab me much. I like Fuego and thought the jam was starting to really go somewhere before they gave up on it. It felt like there was a little bit of a bookend theme of fire and water between Fuego and Waves, before the inevitable Mule. Pleasantly surprised to get YEM as a set-ender instead of an encore piece (and Trey played it better this time than last year's flub in the encore). The encore itself, was... ok. I didn't feel the "magic" at the end and my friend and I booked it to our car as quickly as possible instead of enjoying the great atmosphere that resonated at the end of last year's show. Overall, this whole show felt more like a marathon (26 songs!) than a great performance experience. But, hey, it was still fun and memorable. Sample and Stash were the highlights for me.

What's ultimately sad about this show and this tour is that a show like last night's gets a 4.3 and a show like Brooklyn '04 gets a 4.0, as if that show is even in the same planetary system (if not universe) as this one.

Chalk it up to 3.0 v 2.0 as you like, but all that means is 2.0 > 3.0. I think people are afraid to admit a band in decline. But that's just a fact of life. Michael Jordan doesn't play in the nba anymore and that's the way it is. Phish will always be a good time (I hope), but the phish community in fighting over any negative critique of the playing or the band is like arguing over whether tiger's golf game is what it used to be.

Doing so doesn't diminish the incredible legendary accomplishments, and I fully appreciate the yearning for the past, but at some point you just need to call a spade a spade and accept reality. The reviewer of this show does that, and that's why it's a good and honest review (though not nearly as bling as this post, admittedly).

Look, I'm not gonna poo poo the band here, because I do think they are having a good time up there, and the audience has a good time, so I'm not throwing down any negativity when it comes to hitting a Phish show.

THAT SAID: the band just ain't what it used to be. They have morphed into more of a straight ahead rock band, and honestly, Trey's new playing style is not very exciting. Remember when he played notes and shredded songs? Now he just plays rhythm guitar, and when he does play complicated songs, he ain't really nailing it.

Just because a band hasn't played a song in a long time and they decide to dust it off, does not constitute good music. It's a bit of a gimmick.

Still love Phish, but their new songs are mostly awful.

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease...........for the love of god.........People.........STOP........REVIEWING............SHOWS.........THAT...........YOU...........THINK..........SUCKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A show with no reviews would say it all. Ya know....silence is deafening. Sometimes people build you up just so they can knock you down. Last summer every show was "the best ever" and this year it's "Gossip Column" bologna after every gig.

This show sucked asshole. Trey didn't wanna play. No continuity in either sets. Get payed bounce and move on. If I see this dude at a meeting in NYC again def gonna say something. Like I did when he was in his limo at laguardia airport and I asked what happened during 46 days at IT fest. I don't care. Wtf is going on?! This shit ain't right.

ANOTHER RETARDED SHOW. YAY LETS SPEND BANK AND HOPE FOR THE LATE 90's but we get GARBAGE. DUDE SERIOUSLY..DO A LINE OR JUST QUIT. WTF?!?! Is this the all time money grab?! These shows SUCK!!!! You know it, I know it and all old timers now it. THANKS. you're living off of credit from the past and just banging the register with your deal from live nation. $200,000 each per show?! Remeber 98 face valise nye msg at like $60. Bravo. W these whack ass shows. Keep the fan boys around telling you "omg tonight was so great" it wasn't. Peace.

I use this sight for setlists and occasionally read reviews. I have a really hard time reading complaints from people when I assume most of them are watching from their couch. But I lose pretty much all respect when I see the two top rated shows are TAB and Gordon solos...Really?