8/14/10 Mike's Song>Dirt ?!?!?!?!?!? WHAT?!?!??!? People on .NET complained about this and I was expecting it to be a disaster, but after the total rage fest of the DWD>WTU>Scent and Mike's Song itself, this was actually the perfect slot for it in the set. Also, the segue was perfect and was not jarring at all. You wouldn't expect that coming out of MS but it fit pretty dang well!! Also, this Dirt is just insanely gorgeous. This is my favorite Phish ballad besides Waste and this version is so good it gave me chills on my arms.
Man, when I'm done with 2010, my show-by-show notes are gonna be pretty useless. Almost every gig so far has been base-level 8.5 or out of ten. At least! I'm, I think, 26 gigs in and only 2 or 3 have not ripped my head off. This is a FAR cry from 2009 - even the mostly exceptional fall tour! 8/14/10 wasn't the best show of the summer so far, but I wouldn't hesitate to put it in the top 10 or 12 so far. That's saying something considering it's competition. They picked a great gig to film/release and I'm glad they did! Great setlist, great energy, rarities abound, SEGUE HEAVEN, great jams... It's just an all-around barn burner with great flow and sequencing as well - something the boys sometimes seem to struggle with. But not on 8/14/10! Get the Alpine Valley dvd if you don't have it - it's well worth the $10 I paid for it on drygoods
There was no ripcording in this show. Everything flowed great and the sequences were a surprise (especially the fact that they worked so well!)
I got the impression that he was naturally a pretty weird dude. We joked a lot the day I was around him, and he didn't seem to be in an altered state of mind at all. He did come out of the rest room where I worked singing Happiness Is A Warm Gun at the top of his lungs, which I thought was pretty cool. I joined in on some harmony vocals, and that's what got us talking. I was just amazed when I heard him singing on a demo for a song they had just written, and he sounded great! Most people that came through there sounded terrible and had to have nearly every note of their vocal tracks tuned. Not Steven!
Not saying it's constant, or anything like the old days. Just saying, from what I've heard, "consistently clean every day for 9 years" is likely not the truth. Not judging, we're all flawed and have our own problems we deal with, but I don't really buy it coming from him the way I do buying it from, say, Isbell. Anyways. Back to the Phish chat.
I hear ya, man. I often wonder how sober Trey is. No pills, or drinking, but does he still smoke it up now and then? If he's completely sober, it must be hard to be around all the phans.
Who knows. I mean, I'm not a drug person, but I also don't think weed is addictive the way pills or booze can be, so it wouldn't surprise me. And there's nothing wrong with it if it's something he can control.
8/15/10 Phish open night 2 with - surprise of all surprises - Tweezer!!! A great way to open the show and this one even has some tasty jamming in it as well - it's got a laid back, late night, late 90's kind of feel to it. Great stuff!
8/15/10 Set 1 was summer-2010-level excellent, but perhaps a step down from 8/14's Set 2 however (the first 70 minutes of it at least) completely blow away most of the previous show for me. Just stupendous. Overall, when you balance it all out, both shows are 2 of the best of the tour/year and both have their strenthgs and weaknesses. 8/14 is very much a "special occasion" type of gig whereas 8/15 is "standard 2010", but in the best way, if that makes sense.
Does anyone listed to The Daily Soundcheck podcast? Megafan Mike Mineo does one episode per available soundcheck, with some real gems in there! He's currently up to 7/6/97 Italy, the famous hour-long soundcheck on the beach with the limbo contest. It's a fun podcast, for sure. The Daily Soundcheck
I’ve been listening to 3/13/92 the past couple days prompted by your recommendation. Great show; I’m digging this excursion into early ‘92.
I did read it, and he doesn't address this directly. He says he is completely sober, but I don't know what they means to him. Also, I got a vague sense of how he thinks on stage now, but I can also say, first hand, that he did weaker drugs before the opiates entered the picture.
There is no open weed smoking backstage. Maybe in a dressing room but it is absolutely verboten out in the general areas. There is a reason for that hard rule.
At the end of the article he says he doesn't smoke weed and that when he plays he's quietly sending love to someone maybe in the audience who is abstaining for the first time etc, telling them (in his mind) that he hasn't taken any of the pot-nugz either.
Okay. I've never been backstage at a Phish show, but it makes sense that people wouldn't do it out in the open. It isn't legal (in most places). I meant standing in front of an audience where the smell is pretty overwhelming. What I was saying is that it must be difficult to go out and play for thousands of people who are usually high on something.
I mean, I'd like a nice bourbon drink early on in a set, but ain't no way that's happening at a LiveNation venue.
