, attached to 2015-12-31

Review by rusty

rusty here is my review for phish nye 2015.
set 1: good, could have been gooder.
"Moma Dance", usually reserved for set 1, song 2, did what it usually does: funks around for 7-8 minutes.
"Possum", another popular first set staple, stood out due to page McConnell getting a chance to do a couple of choruses. I @rusty would personally enjoy hearing mr. sandwich solo on many other tunes as well. will trey allow this? time will tell.
"Wolfmans Brother" followed with some treysty jamming which quickly saw the show batting 1.000, even though they were mostly infield singles.
Things took a turn for the worse however with the following sequence of songs. "Birds of a Feather" was short and not too thrilling, even bypassing the usual vocal reprise before the well known ending. I was concerned.
Sadly my concerns were we'll founded as the band started up "I Didn't Know", which used to be "funny" back in the early 90's but now is a waste of five minutes. boo. This was followed by Fishman making the crowd sing happy birthday to his daughter (a day late--I'm sure she was touched!) Seriously, kinda cheesy.
"Martian Monster" from last years overrated halloween performance followed. This song sounds like bad Dopapod.
"Reba" was prone to flubs during the difficult parts by mr sandwich which was surprising as he usually bails out trey these days on such tricky parts. Trey's Santana esque solos were tame but enjoyable.
"Walls of the Cave", one of phish's more common set closers nowadays did just that but its second section is so much fun to groove to that it's unsurprising placement was beside the point. 3 stars for the first set.

set 2 started out with "The Wedge", quickly reminding no one of the golf theme nye extravaganza of 2012. Enjoyable song played well. It was followed by "Wilson" which is a song that has seen better days. Nonetheless the transition to "A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing" was tighter than a brand new vajankle and just as welcome. This overlooked number sounded great, it's mellow murky jams a prelude (in retrospect of course unless you can predict the future) to the mellow gold that was mined later. And yes that was a lame metaphor.
However, jam fanatics would have to wait another 6 minutes or so as the oft derided "Yarmouth Road " was next. I enjoy this song, one of Mr. Cactus' better musical achievements.
From there things went from a standard show to a very very very good show as "Kill Devil Falls" promised jams aplenty since it's summer romance with extended improvisation. This gave way to "Piper" which always mixes the hyper with the reflective. "Twist" had me twisting the night away alone with the blinds mercifully drawn. I give this set 4 stars.

Nye set 3: No Men in No Man's Land started at 11:40 and it was pretty obvious that they would jam it out until midnight though it wasn't boring or forced. Then after the new year struck no one was surprised to hear the happy rhythms of Blaze On begin. This song also took it's sweet time much to my delight. More jams, less songs is what this reviewer enjoys.
When they started Carini I went outside for a smoke. Not a big fan of this crowd pleaser. When I came back David Bowie was already mid jam and it was pretty aggressive stuff. The Horse, was played so tenderly by Trey, so tenderly. Silent In the Morning followed and was a perfect choice for that point in the show. My favorite phish song Backwards Down the Numberline closed out the set with all the weary yet joyful exuberance they could muster. 4.5 stars.
the encores were quick & painless. overall I give this one a four.


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