First Tube started the show off with a bang. Moma Dance through Chalk Dust was all well and good, but Stash is when things got serious and the band went on a tear to close out the first set. This Stash had the most improvisational jam of any in the modern era. Early in the jam, Trey lead the band into the major mode to gorgeous effect and back into a normal Stash jam until about 8:55, when he started rhythmically playing with the wah pedal and Mike switched on one of his many bass effects. A Funky Stash! I couldn't believe my fortune. This funky segment smoothly shifted back to another beautiful major section before the final return to the normal Stash jam to end the song. This Stash is must-hear. The momentum of the set kept rising with a crazy Scent of a Mule after Stash. I see this Mule has already been bolded on the jam chart, and with good reason. In addition to a great Page solo and a Trey/Mike duel, this Mule featured Fish playing unaccompanied on his new instrument, the Marimba Lumina. Knowing that It's Ice was played on 7/7/13 and the rate at which the song has been played in recent years, I was very pleasantly surprised to hear it start up after Mule. Like in Stash, the band got into a cool funky jam in an unlikely spot and made this Ice a keeper. I'll also note that Trey started playing the wrong section after the jam ended, but quickly recovered. Overall, this was a great It's Ice. At this point we've already heard funk in Moma Dance, Stash, and Ice, so what better way to keep that trend going than with Tube? I'm a sucker for Page on the Wurlitzer, which he utilized in the beginning of the jam and Trey also slipped a nice It's Ice tease in there. There's probably no song that I am more happy with a "standard" version of than Tube. The set-closing Antelope was a thoroughly rousing rendition, after which the band stayed on stage longer than usual to soak in the audience's approval, knowing that they crushed the first set just as well as we did. The great playing and unexpected jams in the first set got the show off to a great start.

Golden Age and Twist did not go off the deep end into the world of free-form improvisation, but they did feature great playing from Trey. With Trey on his game, jams don't need to go type 2 to be exhilarating. When Backwards Down the Number Line started, I hoped it would be the bridge between the first jam segment of the set (GA and Twist) and another, and thankfully I was right. Light has never been one of my favorite songs, as in the composed part, but nowadays I'm always happy to hear it because the band usually cuts loose on it and jams, and that was indeed the case tonight. The jam stayed upbeat until 6 and a half minutes in, when Trey started rhythmically strumming. The rest of the band immediately locked into this new direction at by 8:20 was in a dark, jazzy start-stop jam, which was awesome to witness. As the jam progressed, it got funkier, until it segued very well into Boogie on Reggae Woman. Mike already had the envelope filter turned on for the end of the Light jam, so why not play Boogie on? Before I saw the timings on LivePhish, I though this Light must have been about 15 minutes, and I was surprised to see it was only 12. This is a testament to the strength of the jam and the ground covered in a short period of time. Light-> Boogie was a thrilling segment. Julius put a nice rocking cap on the set to this point, and with the time remaining I could feel the stage being set for a YEM to close out the second set. My suspicions proved to be true and in keeping with the theme of funky jams, we were treated to an ultra laid-back YEM. This YEM is a keeper. The Loving Cup encore felt right as the finale of a great weekend of shows.

Highlights - Stash through Antelope, Light->Boogie, YEM

First set: really great (and in pristine sound, thanks to some particularly intrepid streamers). Nice mix of songs, a neat little jam in It's Ice, and a crazy Mule with Fish busting out a new toy. Stash is the obvious highlight here - the way they can shift into major-key jams and back out with nary a pause is so great to hear. Lots to like.

Second set: hmm. In the show thread I got a little pouty about the first part of the show, mainly because I've been thinking a bit about how Phish jams and puts together sets now, and a definite pattern of the best recent shows involves Phish putting together big jam sequences at the start of Set 2, riding them out, then going into multiple closers. Think Star Lake, BGCA 3, SPAC3 last year, 9/2/12. When they don't do that, it's a bit jarring (I used "dispiriting" at first, but "nonplussed" seems more like it), and I let that get in the way of enjoying what was a very fine Golden Age and cool, loping Twist (that I wish had gone a bit longer, but hey). I took some (correct) shit for it in the thread; it took someone turning their nose up at an "11-minute dance party" to really snap me out of it.

And that dance party - the Light -> Boogie On - definitely delivered the goods; another jam of the year candidate, to these ears. Taking the weirdness of the Star Lake version to its natural conclusion, the jam goes atonal and ugly as Trey starts with the car-crash chording, then comes a round of stop-start segments, as the band proves they can show as much kismet and chemistry in offbeat weirdness as in hose jamming. It's an astonishing bit of free form craziness, monster movie soundtracking the likes of which have not appeared since MSG. And then, in the midst of the jam, Trey starts throwing out a familiar lick, and the band pulls out a *tremendous* segue into Boogie On. Just awesome stuff. The YEM, grimy and patient and more detailed than most 3.0 YEMs, is also worth a listen or two.

Final thoughts: awesome first set, pretty good second set, yet another Light that begs hearing. Definitely another worthy show from a worthy tour.

ajcmixer:

I completely understand what you mean about Boogie becoming a bit of a standard, filler type song. But if you think you missed the glory days being a 3.0 fan, you really need to listen to Worcester 2012. I can't think of a Boogie I like more.

This was a fantastic 3.0 Phish show. The first set, in particular, was flawless. Other than some minor mistakes in the beginning of Mule and the one botched guitar melody in It's Ice, the whole set was tight and on point. First Tube opener put an energy in place that didn't let up the entire show. There were no "breather" tunes, at all. The overall funkiness of the show was very reminiscent of the '97 cow funk days. The five song run of Stash, Mule, Ice, Tube, and Antelope to close out the first set is one of the finest five song runs I've ever had the pleasure of hearing the boys play. My first time at MPP, and I had heard horror stories about the lot scene and the venue itself. I was prepared for the worst, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself during the whole show. I really enjoyed the Golden Age 2nd set opener, and the Twist was on the verge of 6-22-12 territory until they abruptly went back into the chorus. Still a very well played Twist. Then came the infamous Number Line. I could feel the collective sigh and/or groan of everyone in the venue when the song started, but by the end there wasn't a soul around me who wasn't smiling from ear to ear and dancing like a crazy person. Now comes the "meat" of the second set. Light, although somewhat short, raged harder and went more places in 12 minutes than I ever thought possible. Follow it with a great segue into Boogie and there was a good old-fashioned MPP dance party. The Julius was the most well-played I've ever gotten and the YEM to close the set was legendary. Throw in a Loving Cup encore, while somewhat overplayed, was a stellar rendition and left me completely satisfied with what took place. If you weren't there, I highly recommend giving this show a listen. It's without a doubt the best show of the tour so far.

Dude. Page had it out for those keys on mule...

i know its small but mike hitting his fight bell with drumsticks early on really got me in the raging mood. im glad it has its own camera haha.

anyone else notice/think fishman was teasing GTBT during that light jam?

Couch toured it last night. I was on such a music high after this show, just great stuff all around. The 1st set is fantastic. Stash through Antelope is awesome. This Stash is my favorite of 3.0, check it out. Mule features Fishman on his Marimba, and man does it sound sick! It's Ice gets funky, which was awesome.

The 2nd set picks up the funk where the 1st set left off. Light>Boogie is so good. Light has a Tube like jam, stop and go that is worth checking out. This YEM is also very very good, and once again funky.

Definitely get this show!

Highlights:

Stash, Mule, It's Ice, Light>Boogie, YEM.

There's something about the "It's Ice" in this 1st set that made me stop and appreciate the moment of just being at a show. The funky little chunk around the 5:05 mark when Page decides to keep dancing on his Hammond Organ rather than let it slowly swell like he usually does during this section of the song. Picking up on the scent of funk in the air (after the mule smell had cleared), Trey decides to add some staccato chops while simultaneously Fish lays down a wood block rhythm to keep the section incredibly fresh and different than any other It's Ice I've ever heard. Finally Mike comes in with some bombs and they've turned a song that I've experienced live about a dozen or so times into something completely different, amazing, and wonderful. Obviously this show is great for a number of other songs as well but for me, this is where it's at.

Phish 2013 had consistently good first sets. Through Summer and Fall tours, so many of my set-break conversations had to deal with the creative energy and inspired first sets. It was evident that the band was showing up to play full shows, not merely putting up a perfunctory ten songs, warming up for set two-- but having the anything goes attitude, which really elevated the Phish experience.

MPP2 set one, was the highlight of the MPP weekend for me. Set two was really good, a good Golden Age, an inspired Light, a funky Boogie and YEM. However, set one is where the presents were!

First Tube kicked off the sunny Sunday evening in an explosion. Like a firecracker signifying a celebration or anniversary, the show went from off to on in a matter of seconds. Then it was on. My favorite set one standard was next. The funky, funky Moma kept the momentum and despite my busted ankle, I was caught up in the flow. NICU gave a positive spin, reflecting the sunny summer's evening, which is always uplifting when properly placed. Next, the crowd favorite Roses pleased, but also led way to a mid set CDT- which kicked the show back into rage mode.

Back around Moma, a man came by and stood next to me and my lady. He had never seen the band before. In fact, he was driving by MPP and stopped to see who was playing. He went up to the box office and someone gave him a free ticket. He looked at me and his face lit up, "this is exactly what ive been looking for," he said. "Well it found brother," i replied. It was fun to have a newbie next to me who was having a an "ah-hah" moment. I gave him a lot of info on the band and the music kept hitting the nail on the head, song after song.

Then we came to it. The first good STASH of 3.0 (of course this is my opinion, but for the record I have at least listened to almost all of the 3.0 stash's). Around the nine minute mark, of the nearly 14 minute version, the icky funk came through and descended into a living beast. It only go better and didnt fade away the minute it got interesting. The a little past the ten minute mark the jam opened up. It was a glorious jam. They could have played Stash for 25 minutes that night, and it would have been one of the top few jams of the year- but even still it was new life in a good song that didnt have too much specific inspiration during 2009-2012.

*Just a side note, 2013 was really good to certain songs. Harry Hood, had the best version of 3.0 at Hollywood. Steam, while a new song, clearly had the best and possibly second best version at Hampton then Bill Graham, also Twist was reignited (much like the Twist from Cincinnati 2012) with clutch performances at Hampton the Atlantic City. Down With Disease also had it's best version of 3.0 at Reading (while many people like the 24 minute Clarkston, and the Toronto 2013- I still think the Reading DWD had NEW LIFE). Theme From The Bottom had it's most interesting version since, possibly the Island Tour...Of course the top dawgs of 2013 were Carini and Tweezer, but there have been good Tweezers and Carinis through 3.0.

Next was Scent of a Mule. What a Scent it was! Fish busted out the Marimba Lumina for the first time at MPP2 2013. It was awesome watching Fish play, what looked like to me, an electric xylophone. It was a sick jam. Back to back with the Stash- it was a very creative combo which lifted a good first set- to one of the best first sets!

It's Ice came next and basically- who doesn't love It's Ice! Right into TUBE which blew the crowd up again only to lead into the very appropriate Antelope set closer.

It was a great first set. So much energy, jamming, creativity and fan favorites.

I didn't hear or attend the show but I had to comment on Cristiclear's review. Custie has been around since at least fall 95 tour if not earlier. As far as Trey spitting i'm sure it had some meaning but maybe not what you think. Phish is the band of the inside joke...

Only a few small comments on YEM since I prefer leaving show review to more experiences reviewers..
Very well executed throughout, and I felt like a good chunk of that jam felt very 'Moe'-ish... It was incredible. And that vocal solo... standalone it's amazing, but with that light show it was absolutely hypnotizing. One of the best vocal solo I've ever heard!
This show was amazing start to finish and I'm so glad I got to bear witness to it.

Tonight is going to motivate a lot of bench warmers to add shows to their travel plans. I added another Gorge camper tonight with the YEM alone!

This show is absolutely stellar and a wonderful example of Phish's ability to still throw down when they want to. The entire show is a funk fest, and the first set rivals any first set I've ever seen by them in all of my shows. Give this one a serious listen!

Also Tube has a very small Trey lick tease of It's Ice and Page teases Heartbreaker which foreshadowed the Alpharetta bust-out.
The Stash has a wonderful jam that goes major for while, truly a great Stash. The Mule features a Pink Floyd-esque Fishman solo on the Marimba Lumina (first time ever).

Second set scorches, the Twist is great, the YEM is best of the year.

'Nuff said! Glad I was at this one and made the 12 hour ride!!!

The break around the 13:18 mark of YEM might be some of my favorite music of all time

Real Time Discussion:
http://forum.phish.net/thread.php?thread=1373837801

What a blast! Great, unique song selection and lots of energy from start to finish (crowd and band). I knew at the first notes of First Tube that it was most definitely on.

I was a little underwhelmed by CDT and Boogie, if not because I've come to expect great moments from these songs. CDT seemed less than standard and Boogie just lacked some of the crispness of other times I've heard it.

The energy of Julius was insane. Not sure there's any better way to describe this - it was everything I've come to love about this band all at the same time.

Moma Dance was very fun, as was Twist and Mule. Just a great time. Even on a badly sprained ankle, this was probably one of the best Phish shows I've been to (of the 18 years I've been doing this).

New favorite!

Way too early to begin to give the analytical review so some feelings are:

that any show that start with First Tube sounds like a pretty good way to start a show or any show by any band for that matter.

that it felt like the 1st Set could have ended with any song starting with Scent, they all had that set-ending closing kind-of quality to my ears.

that there was nothing in the 2nd set that disappointed me in any way shape or form other than Boogie On, which as 3.0 child I've apparently have missed the glory days of the extended Reggae jam vehicle.

that the 2nd Set in general was Golden from start to finish even though Backwards, as always, had me cussing at its start and leaving my sweat dripping off me by the end, the song I love to hate and hate to love.

that the Julius, YEM, Cup may in some ways may look familiar they were all slayed, long chunky versions, may be the longest YEM I've ever witnessed, haven't checked the times yet.

And that whatever(!) reservations I might have had about the set list, repeated songs, blah blah blah were totally struck down and demolished by the sheer execution of the songs themselves, they seemed want to continue a fair and measured exploration into the war horses that they have rode onto this current musical adventure up and down this great country of ours, damm we get to do what very very few still get to do, in the free world or certainly otherwise, to be able to dance our asses off to some of the headiest music that is so much more than the music...

...and, finally, I thought we were generally disrespected by the staff of Merriweather Post Pavilion, I saw my poor friends in their TICKETED Aisle Seat being constantly harassed to push into their Ticketed seat time and time again by the obnoxiously obnoxious MPP staff and then even when my friends were clearly within the boundary of the seat they were asked time and time again for their ticket. It was simply overkill, period end of sentence. And it took a little bit of the luster that generally musically shone brightly over the weekend.

Peace,
Alex

I meant "the second set" instead of "the show" in the second paragraph of my review. Apologies.

[I originally wrote this review for Phantasy Tour right after I got back from the show.]

I just got back from MPP 2, and I had a blast. Got my first YEM in my fourth show, so this automatically becomes a special one for me. My overall impressions is that this was the best first set of the tour thus far and overall is the best show, along with SPAC 3.

First Set:
Awesome First Tube opener. That song can do no wrong. Moma kept the energy going, although it was a bit short. NICU continued the good flow. Roses>CDT was superb. I really enjoyed Stash and thought the jam went in a nice direction. For me, SOAMule was the highlight of the first set. Fishman's solo on the marimba was fantastic, and Trey obviously enjoyed it. Ice>Tube>Antelope was an excellent finale, although I thought after the last Tube (7/6/13) that the band would continue to extend the jam further. This set rocked.

Second Set:
I like Golden Age, but from what I could tell, Trey pulled the ripcord way too soon into Twist. The latter was strong, as was BDTNL. Light was a second set highlight. The stop-start jamming was very cool, as was the segue into Boogie. Julius was an incredibly high-energy rendition. And YEM. As I mentioned earlier, this was my first, so it's going to hold a special place for me. Spooky vocal jam that put a fine coda on a fun version. Loving Cup encore brought this show to a fitting, energetic conclusion.

I give this one an A-. Strong playing, great jams, and a nice flow, especially in the first set.

Both Merriweather shows so obviously had "classic" written all over them that I couldn't help comparing them to shows (tapes) from the '90s. Whereas the previous night had the feel of one of those tight, anthemic shows from '94, '96, or '98, this one had a darker vibe that reminded me of '95 or '97. Among the idiosyncrasies facilitating this comparison are:

-- a multi-section, type-II "Stash" that vacillates between dark, bright, and groovy;
-- a weird, hypnotic Mule Duel;
-- the fact that the opening to set II doesn't deplete the band's type-II reserves but builds toward a mid-set centerpiece;
-- a jam (out of "Light") that grooves rhythmically but is all kinds of harmonically wacky; and
-- an extended, type-I "YEM" to close things down. (And in 3.0 terms, it's definitely extended. The main jam section runs several minutes longer than some recent versions, and believe me—a few minutes make a huge difference.)

This show didn't have me leaping for joy the same way as the previous one, but it had merits of its own—namely several moments of slack-jawed disbelief, of the good, Phishy kind. All things considered, I'd put this night just a notch below the other, but it's very competitive. All the aforementioned songs, plus "It's Ice" and probably "Twist" (which veered close to the type-II precipice before Trey brought back the vocal coda), should be heard by, well, everyone.

So it wasn't coincidence that the first three off the top of the second set sounded familiar, but I enjoyed them nonetheless. Maze brought down the house Set 1, and that Light second set is an early season MVP candidate. Solid show.

This is not an official review...just a word or two in support of what I witnessed at the MPP shows - if anyone out there that started their Phish journey in 3.0 feels that they have enough breadth of experience to comment negatively on either the 13th or 14th then you need to seriously consider shutting your mouths and simply going to more shows. The 14th was my 200th show (attended/seen; I've been to more than 260 lots) and it was one of the better played shows I have ever seen; and no, there was no Spock's Brain or major bust-outs AND THAT IS FINE. A Phish show is about seamless transitions from one musical movement to another; it's about patience and soaring beauty and most of all it's about the boys having fun and playing their material with a new zest and love. I believe both of these shows had these elements in excess. So please - keep all negativity and nit-picking on PT; and for God's sake stop considering yourself an expert if you've only been to 20 to 30 shows....cause you got a lot to learn. Now go put some sweat equity into your opinions and view points and dance your asses off. See y'all in ATL and Chicago...noobs.

Am I the only person getting sick of Golden Age?

I loved seeing Fish with a new instrument. Keeping it fresh. The ML sounds fantastically funky. I noticed toward the end that Mike walked over to Fish (while Trey was throwing the balloon, I guess), took off his bass and held it inside Fish's kit close to the ML. I wondered if Mike did this in reverence or if there was some sort of feedback loop being created by the ML and the bass......any ideas?

Now, at some shows I actually learn something about myself, about the band, about the scene or all three together. This show was one of them. Here is how it happened: During what I believe was YEM, Trey put down his guitar and started dancing like a Phish fan while Mike took a bass solo. Trey often does this and on this particular night he actually spun around like a true spinner. Much to my chagrin, when Trey finished dancing he spit a gigantic loogi onto the stage floor. This loogi was so big that I saw it shimmer as it splattered under the lights. To me, spitting is a sign of disrespect and I wondered if Trey was doing this to diss wildly dancing fans. Most of us groove hard, he was too and then he spits on the ground. It bummed me out.

After the show people in the lot were selling shirts that read, "NO DEAL CUSTIE" with an image of a head full of pins. I did not understand (still don't, really). My friend explained that a custie is a derogatory term for a customer. What? I've been on this scene for a long while and never heard this term? I was slow to catch on to "wookie" as well. Anyway, I pondered this strange shirt, along with Trey's fan-dance-spitting incident and I learn: No one really has any respect for anyone else in this phamily. From band leader to the wookie-custie symbiosis. How sad. I had a fun show dancing with my friends but left feeling sad about the state of affairs.