Never Miss a Sunday

All fans in the jam band world have heard the expression. It's kind of funny because every fan base community takes credit for coining the expression. Do you think in the non jam band world people say the same thing? When LCD Soundsystem is on tour playing the same show every night, are their fans particularly pumped up for a Sunday show? 

One advantage of a Sunday show is you have less of the everyone is out getting loose on a Saturday night crowd. The people that took it too deep because it was one more Saturday night have a little less in the tank. People have work obligations (so I hear). Perhaps the type of fan at a Sunday show is a little more into the music. From the band's perspective I can't imagine that a Sunday is any different from a Tuesday on tour.

Side bar: My buddy Jonny ran into Trey in NY a few weeks ago. Trey asked him how much of the Baker's Dozen he was doing. Jonny said all of it, so Trey said "Never miss a Tuesday."

Either way I try not to miss a Phish show on any day of the week. 

Before diving into my mini review of the show, a quick note. While on this Phish tour, I am not going to be listening back to any shows. I am also going to avoid reading any reviews and attempting to avoid any of the thoughts that people have on line until after I post my thoughts. I want to try to live in the moment of the live experience and give you my thoughts less impacted by groupthink. As such I am relying upon my memory... it isn't that good to begin with so this could be a challenge.

Once again the weather in Chicago was incredible. It seems like the universe has been in overdrive making up for the 2014 weather disaster. Fare the well in 2015 and this run was the best Chicago weather one could hope for. I have always said that when the weather is nice, Chicago is in the discussion for the best city in the country. Props Chicago, you were once again awesome. My new discovery this run was the divvy bike system.

The Sunday show kicked off with a beyond the standard Possum. The early Mike song tonight was 555... I am a fan, fits a Chicago blues sound. I always love me some Tube - this one was again seemed to be jammed out a tiny little bit beyond the norm (long live the San Diego TUBE!). I was wearing my West Coast Get Down shirt so the "freeway in Los Angeles" line was particularly enjoyable for me. Ocelot was great. Another Chicago blues type sound. Early on Phish seemed to be playing everything with a purposeful laid back Sunday tempo - especially this Ocelot. The Ocelot was the highlight of the first set for me. A perfect Suday afternoon tune. Nothing much to report about the rest of the set, typical first set Phish.

One of the things that Jar and I always talk about with Phish is that it is better in the dark. The lights obviously come into play. It is harder to be distracted by everything that is going on around you in the light. It just fits better in the dark. I think that is one of the reasons (more than generally speaking) the second sets are where it's at. This is yet another reason that I believe this summer is going to be really, really, really special. Until Dicks in September the next 15 shows are all going to be indoors. Prepare for the return of the non standard epic first sets. Brace yourself - it's going to be awesome.

At setbreak we were discussing what the opener would be (What's the use?), someone said Carini and I said that Phish didn't feel that dark to me tonight. Well I was partially wrong and partially right. They obviously opened with Carini (-2 points for Fink) but it was not really dark and dirty. It was how the more recent Carini's have been - starting dark but soaring to an uplifting and beautiful cresendo. I love Carini. And I really love a 21 minute Carini. This one had a lot of length and some girth. I was really digging the jam, enjoying the song. It was a heater. Slow, fast, hard, soft and building to something beautiful. One of the best jams of 2016 was the Chicago Carini. The second city brings something out of our man with the fluffy head. Carini was also our 2nd song in 20+ minute song in two nights, leading me more and more to believe that Phish is not going to play any repeats for the Bakers Dozen. At a minimum there is going to be some serious open end exploring at the Garden. 

After that dope AF Carini we got 20 years later. I believe this was an indication that Nutter is going to be something really special tonight. I think they have kept the monster tweezer in the bag specifically for this show. Anyway I dig that song, enjoyed this version. I heard the Piper coming pretty early - it is so cool how Trey can signal with an early riff to the rest of the band what they are going to go into in 10 minutes. The band displayed great patience before entering the Piper. Another great song, well placed and well played. 

Can we talk about Thread? After most of the new songs had such a TAB feel to them and seem to be light and happy, it is so awesome to have a dark rock n roll new Phish song. The drumbeat was really different and funky in this song, it had some unique changes. I loved the start, the lyrics seem to be pretty dark (something about knives and being alone), the jams sounded very 70's rock n roll to me. I think this song has SERIOUS potential. I would also like to comment on how amazingly proflic the band has been to start the tour. I dont know the exact number of debuts (including 2 more apparently at the soundcheck sunday), but how lucky are we that phish is still cranking out new music? And they must have been practicing a ton for the new tunes and the way they sound. We've got it good.

I love bathtub gin, tried to get the gin shuffle going but it just doesnt work without Grant. I dont really have any specific memories of the Gin but I know I had a good time and a bath is always cleansing. 2001 is always a fun dance party, had a sex machine tease from Fish, pretty standard fair closers.

In summary, another great night of music. Personally I still prefer set 2 night 2, wasn't quite there for me last night, but once again I love the direction this tour is heading. 

I read the news about Rob from moe. this morning.  Get well soon buddy, #fuckcancer. It's a good reminder to appreciate what we have and just how lucky we are. When Warren Zevon was diagnosed with a terminal cancer he was interviewed by Letteman and he said a line that always sticks with me and I am adding to my collection of hashtags... enjoy every sandwich. (Especially these kind of sandwiches: Your pet cat -> golden age -> your pet cat. 

Let's have some fun tonight. Prepare for liftoff and enjoy the free webcast at LivePhish.com. 

#fuckcancer

#enjoyeverysandwich

#collectmoments

#liveyourliphe