Great review.
Watching from the couch for free (thank you, Phish), it looks like Wombat put Trey in a really goofy mood. Page responded by playing a bit of the actual Fish tv show, which I actually watched as a kid. God help me, I’m old. Trey was throwing weird banter, even apologizing for talking too much, and then encouraging the other guys to chime in with more banter for the rest of the show. And he wanted to dance, which is why they played Guelah. Trey said so. YEM was an easy call from that point on. And it was overdue on this tour. I was lucky to see the last one in Tahoe. Though by Farmhouse, they landed in a very quiet, introspective place, playing really beautifully. Most focused version of the song I’ve heard in quite a while. I also just like that song.
It seemed like one of those nights where Trey maybe is a bit bored of big guitar peaks, and instead opts for all kinds of weirdness, Trey’s fierce and accurate shredding all the way through Drowned notwithstanding. These shows are super fun. I barely know Thread, but this was just the sort of oddball show to throw it into. I kind of love the songs that just leave everyone confused. Spock’s Brain. Sanity. BBFCFM. And now Thread.
Sometimes you don’t need long jams or big guitar peaks if you can jumble up your catalog of songs on the fly and sandwich three songs double decker instead, and pretty damn smoothly too. That kind of thing only happens every couple of years. For us obsessive types, these shows really stand out.
For my money, which was none for this one, this might be my favorite show this tour so far, though I still have all of Alpharetta to listen to.