, attached to 2016-10-19

Review by n00b100

n00b100 Set 1: A nice blend of songs, with the Big Boat numbers actually feeling more integrated into the setlist than the first few shows (nice to see Waking Up Dead back) and Petrichor continuing to round into form as a live number. Tube didn't go out Chula Vista style, but it still served up a pretty nasty slice of rock/funk, and Shine A Light works very well as a Set 1 closer.

Set 2: Golden Age gets the call to start off Set 2, and it works more as an updated version of when Also Sprach Zarathustra kicked off Set 2s back in the day than DWD-type jam vehicle, with Trey getting off some particularly good riffs. Page makes a gentle push for major key, but Trey has other ideas and leads us into Tweezer, and this is a Tweezer worthy of the Murderer's Row of August 2015 Tweezers. The usual Tweezer jam starts heading for warmer waters as Trey spins off chords and Mike steps forward in the mix, and Fish goes into a nice snappy groove with Page and Trey playing off of him. Page goes back to piano and the jam really starts to get nicely down and dirty, Trey finding a sweet stop-start pattern and Mike doing some strong work behind them. They build to a pretty good peak, then maneuver into a space that sounded a bit like Blaze On (I was expecting the ol' alligator mouth for half a second), but instead drop into a hazier contemplative zone, which very slowly dies away, nearly rebuilds, and then finally collapses into No Men In No Men's Land (check out 9/11/00 II, where they do something like this for every song).

NMINML is its usual ferocious self (which it is when it's not delving into Drive-In Jam territory or teeth-grinding fireball jamming), and dies away into semi-ambiance (again, shades of 9/11/00 II), from which Plasma makes its more than welcome return, and this is probably Phish's best take on the tune yet, slinky and stripped-back and occasionally threatening to shake its boundaries (wonder if *that* will happen at some point). They immediately roll into Harry Hood, and this is a damn fine Hood, the first to go true Type II since Magnaball (maybe 1/2/16). Mike (of course) pushes for something different, and Trey starts playing a riff reminiscent of Silent in the Morning (again, thought the ol' alligator mouth was coming), but instead they shift to a new key and Trey starts playing some truly soaring notes. They build up towards a peak with Page tossing in some Plasma teases, from which we return to Hood's usual territory...well, sort of, as they briefly drop into a Mike-led rockout that gives us a full-fledged "woo" segment, and then Trey leads the band back home (with one more "woo" segment for funsies). Suzy, and a pretty grotty Suzy on top, closes out a darned fine set.

Final thoughts: Yeah, this is the good stuff, baby. We'll still be talking about this one no matter how the rest of the Fall tour shakes out, I think.


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