HT Poll: Grading The Start of Phish Tour
With four Phish Summer Tour 2010 gigs in the books, we’ve got a decent sample size to start taking the temperature of the fanbase. Whether you’ve attended the shows or just listened to recordings, we want to know what you think of the first four shows of the first leg.
Phish – Backwards Down The Number Line [Official Vid]
After the jump, we’ve set up a poll in which you can give the band a letter grade from A – F. Pick one of the options and if you’ve got the inclination – leave a comment explaining your vote. While you’re at it, let us know what you think the quartet can improve on starting tomorrow in Hartford.
READ ON to grade the start of Phish Summer Tour 2010…
June 18th, 2010 at 12:46 am
I gave the band a B overall. I did Blossom, Hershey, and Portsmouth and had the time of my life. The band are playing with real conviction, energy, and focus. They are listening to one another well. The setlists are, for the most part, compelling and much less predictable than last year. And the jams are patient, even if they are shorter than those of, say, 98 and 99. All in all, I’d say that they are light years beyond where they were last summer.
The one big drag — the one HUGE drag — is Trey’s over-reliance on the Whale Call. Used sparingly and in the right spots, this is a neat effect; used elsewhere it sounds both awkward and ugly. Unfortunately, Trey seems to use it in almost every single song, and it ruins almost all of them for me. I f***ing hate that sound; I really do. Fall ‘09 and NYE he seemed to have worked it out of his system, so it’s completely demoralizing to hear it even more now than last summer. Even if I dug the sound, I’d still say it’s a musical crutch and that it makes every jam sound predictable, but I don’t like it. Truthfully, I give Fish and Mike an A, Page a B+, and Trey a C for that awful bloody pedal. Enough with the freaking WHALE CALL already@!
June 17th, 2010 at 3:24 pm
“is not fully interested in the improvisational part of the song, he mails it in so he can just get to Let Me Lie or whatever song he can get note perfect”
-haven’t listened to this summer yet, huh?
last year, i’d agree. this summer has shown a different side–reminiscent of their old (1.0) approach to their music. they’re still defining their new sound and working out some kinks, but things are much better so far in ‘10.
I give ‘em a B+, mostly because direction has become part of the game again.