, attached to 1995-12-31

Review by User_35223_

User_35223_ Set I:
The PYITE opener is energetic and impeccably well played,with especailly good and unrelenting drumming by Fishman,with a rocking sloth also being played well and suiting the mood.The Reba is incredible,with incredible soloing from Trey.

Coil had some pretty noticeable mistakes by Trey throughout the first half,and all around his playing here is not great,but Page more than makes up for it with a incredible and beautiful outro,in my opinion his best one.The Maze is pretty good,with good interplay between the four and as usual good Trey soloing,but seems a tad out of place in the set.

Colonel Forbin's Ascent is pretty good,with Trey's partially-shot voice suiting this song suprisingly in some parts.The FFM is good,with a interesting and funny monologue by Trey.The Shine cover is a funny suprise,with Tom being a suprisingly really good singer.This is followeed by the rest of FFM and a pretty average Sparkle and Chalk Dust to cap off Set I

Set II:
The second begins with the conclusion of the Band V. Audience Chess Tournament of 1995,with final score of 1-1.

The Drowned is overall fantastic,with fantastic singing from Mike,and especially fantastic playing from Page,which perfectly duets with thE Anthemic mood of the song.

The Lizards is incredible,with great playing all around,and the brilliantly played solo and following harmony is just beautiful,with a pretty average Axilla Part II (laste ever version) following.

The Strange Design is as earnest and great as usual.Hello My Baby is a very cool,funny and unexpected touch which makes me laugh every time it comes up out of nowhere in this set.

This Mike's Song is one of my all-time favourites,with the raging guitar work and the funky keyboards complenting each other very well,with a Digital Delay Jam capping both the song and the set.

SET III:
1996 is brought in with a bunch of sound effects (called Gamehendge Time Phactory on the official release), the usual Auld Lang Syne and a killer Weekapaug,with Mike's playing throught being a particular highlight,as is Fishman's druming,which is particularly admirable here,filled with machine gun-quick rolls and snare rushes,which add to the frenetic tempo of the song.The way the soloing goes from loud to quiet to INCREDIBLY EAR PIECINGLY LOUD AND AWESOME is one of the highlights of the whole gig to me,and always puts a smile on my face.

The Sea and Sand is pretty good,and I feel it is a bit better than the Halloween version.

The YEM is probably one of my all time favourite versions.The funky playing is just awesome on this rendition.

The Frankenstein is a bit standard,with the whole thing just feeling a bit off.There's nothing really wrong with it,but it just feels a bit unispired.

The Closer,Johnny B. Goode,is also not good.Trey's growly voice does not suit this song,and really does affect it in a negative way,and honestly ruins it for me,altough Mike's playing here is very good,it seems completely apart from the rest of the band and is overall excellent,but it is really a disappointing end to an incredible gig

OVERALL:
This is mine and many other's favourite gigs.With constantly masterful playing throughout,it is Phish's crowning concert achievment.


Phish.net

Phish.net is a non-commercial project run by Phish fans and for Phish fans under the auspices of the all-volunteer, non-profit Mockingbird Foundation.

This project serves to compile, preserve, and protect encyclopedic information about Phish and their music.

Credits | Terms Of Use | Legal | DMCA

© 1990-2024  The Mockingbird Foundation, Inc. | Hosted by Linode