Last Friday morning I drove from Geneseo to Wicker Park. I left my car on the street and took the Blue Line to the Orange Line out to Midway Airport. On the way I saw the first snow of the season. It was 85 degrees in Las Vegas when I arrived. The skies were clear and I could see the Rockies and the red desert canyons of Utah. Finally, you could see the landscape transition into Nevada and its mountainous deserts. This was my first time in that state. I decided to walk around McCarron to the strip and it allowed me time to mentally prepare for what was about to unfold. Frankly, I was worried about the state of Phish. Things had gotten stale and Trey's playing seemingly was regressing. I met up with Pat in the lobby of the Luxor. I really liked our hotel. Pat's old roommate Buzz and his girl friend Alexandra henceforth known as Axel stayed with us as well. We stayed toward the top of the pyramid and it felt like we were on top of Vegas.
I applaud Phish for being able to keep their Haunted House set a secret. I liked the hanging chandeliers and the backdrop with the moon and the trees. When the house was still closed up it reminded me of the Storage Shed. The first set had many of the Phish "scary" song titles. Reba was the highlight for me. Wolfman's was repeated in that same slot from the previous show in SF.
Upon receiving the Phishbill there was little we could do but keep an open mind. It had the possibility for greatness. The set they delivered with all the theatrics and production exceeded my expectations. This simple funk music kept the crowd moving and by the end of the set it was clear it was a huge success. Having been holding back these riffs and jams I feel like Phish was almost punking us this Fall Tour until Halloween. I liked how some of these sounds would work their way into the rest of the weekend. The final set of Phish featured classic compositions in PYITE and Guyute and spacefunk exploration in the form of Golden Age > Tweezer and Sand. The set concluded with a segue into Tweezer Reprise which had the capacity crowd on their feet cheering. The encore was a not so subtle message to those that may not have enjoyed the second set. You could see the Frankenstein closer coming out of the bullpen miles away but it was the most fitting end to one of the best Halloween shows of Phish's long career.
After Phish we scrambled to find a cab up to the Brooklyn Bowl. I wasn't wild about the demographics up by that venue. The bowling alley was cool but the floor to the dancing area was horribly sticky. The sound system during moe.'s setbreak was turned up way too loud. The Big Lebowski is obviously a classic. This show was more funny than anything else. meat. > Water > Hector's was the highlight for me. All the costumes and props were hilarious but Rob as Walter was my favorite. We left toward the end of the second set. I had been awake for over 24 hours.
(below pics by Jon Lake)
We spent Saturday relaxing watching Auburn and had lunch over at Mandalay Bay. I liked the song selection in the first set. Horn is one of my favs and also especially the choices of the two SOTG songs Frankie Says and Roggae. Trey was impressive during the big finale to Wingsuit.
Possum seems to have been revitalized this tour. C&P brought forth some very successful improvisation before slowing melting into Light. Light had them referencing The Dogs from the night before. That was my first Lengthwise in 117 shows. The end of Twist saw Page take over and he delivered a classy sounding transition into Wading. Hood was a better than average version. That continues to be used as a jam vehicle. After that they seemed to be a little unsure of how to end the show. The anthem at the end reminded me of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.
We had a little extra time to get to the venue because of the time falling back. The security to get into the Hard Rock Live was tougher than the TSA. The entrance itself was like some speakeasy with people entering the venue through the back of the gift shop. The Chuckside speaker was having problems all night. During Farmer Ben you couldn't hear Jim at all. I'm not sure why this all couldn't have been worked out during a soundcheck. McBain wa the highlight for me in the first set. Also, Stranger Than Fiction was nice with its reference to Las Vegas, NV.
The second set was a monster lineup of classic moe. Timmy > Brent > Jazz Wank for the win. They weren't messing around. George and Down Boy kept the energy going through the roof. This set was more of what I envisioned from a late night set of moe. The Pit was an appropriate encore choice for the gambling sin city. I liked the proximity of the Hard Rock Live to the Luxor and the MGM.
We spent the day watching the NFL and recovering. Doc from Decatur stopped by. We hung out with some friends at the MGM before the show. I liked entering the arena directly from the hotel/casino. The first half of the set was fairly pedestrian. ASIHTOS seemed to elevate the show. Gin was the highlight of the first set. Fishman got a nice dance beat going. Free and WOTC closed out the set with authority.
Chalkdust > Piper might have been my favorite segment of the weekend. This was Phish firing on all cylinders. Fishman seemingly wanted The Wedge but he was denied in favor of deeper improvisation. This was a classic contoured Phish set. A 28 minute YEM brought the house down. The first ever Moma Dance encore plus Slave to the Traffic Light in the getaway slot was a very good encore. I thought we were going to get a second encore the crowd was cheering so loud. This was one of the best runs of Phish I've ever seen.
