6-22-02 - Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD

Date: Mon, 24 Jun 2002 17:12:51 -0400
From: rsn2@georgetown.edu
Subject: 6-22-02 Merriweather 

This is my Cayman Review: 

Set I: Burlap Sack and Pumps, Mozambique, Night Speaks to a Woman, 
Small Axe, Acting the Devil, Cayman Review, Last Tube
Set II: Money Love and Change, Olivia, Ether Sunday, Ray Dawn Balloon, 
Thunderhead, Simple Twist Up Dave > E: STUD Reprise > Push On 'Til the 
Day

I was 12th row right/center and the show was approx 4 hours long, 
including setbreak.

Set I
BURLAP SACK & PUMPS: very rocking and energetic, but you got a sense 
that it was sort of a warm-up for the band; trey kept throwing in these 
little 2-noter licks and easing his way into the jam, not doing much in 
terms of ripping solos, etc^Ånext was
MOZAMBIQUE: they were a lot more rhythmic and grooving on this one^×you 
really could tell how much tighter this band is now than they were last 
summer^×this song single-handedly proved it, though they showed us 
throughout the show how badass they are; still not too much from trey 
in terms of taking over with guitar solos but whatever, quite nice.  
Andy took a solo and trey danced around when he put his guitar down to 
conduct.
NIGHT SPEAKS: rocked for a very long time.  It had about 4 different 
jam sections, each of which were set up by Trey.  I'm guessing this 
song lasted somewhere around 20-24 minutes or so.  Trey kept setting up 
the horns and then he^Òd play little arrhythmic guitar lines in between 
and it gave the jam a nice escalation.  Finally there was a very rough 
transition back into the main theme, but whatever, trey pulled it off 
somehow.  At this point the band seemed really together and you could 
sense they were ready to rock and experiment hard.  The set chilled out 
a bit with
SMALL AXE: it was just fun and mellow and danceable.  (Lots of people 
ran to get more beer during this reggae tune, and trey danced quite a 
bit).  Then they picked it up again with
ACTING THE DEVIL: this tune was really cool in terms of the energy that 
it brought to the crowd and it really livened up the people around me.  
Also the sun was going down so the venue got to smelling pretty good. 
There wasn't really any jamming on this one but we finally got to hear 
Trey rip a few solos so I was pleased.  Then came
CAYMAN REVIEW: I like this song a lot and it was a fun jam with Trey 
playing a lot with Ray and Cyro.  They really broke it down in the 
middle and at one point the entire rhythm section dropped out and it 
was just Trey, a little bit of Ray, and Cyro keeping up the song.  Then 
Tony pounded back in with Russ and they finished the song out.  The 
band did that a lot and it was such a great way to get the crowd into 
it: Tony and Russ will drop out and Cyro and Peter or any of the horns 
will keep up the rhythm with hand drums while Trey noodles, then Russ 
and Tony explode back into the song and the crowd gets pumped again.  
Then it came.  
LAST TUBE.  Just fucking incredible.  There weren't any weird time 
changes or breakdowns or anything playful like that. They played this 
straight up and it rocked for about 12 minutes.  The energy in the 
pavilion just got huge and everyone could feel the huge buildup.  
Definitely the best version I^Òve ever seen/heard of this tune, and it 
left everyone begging for more in the coming second set.  This was the 
highlight of the first set for me, even though it lacked the 
experimentation of Night Speaks.
Set II
Trey came out and talked to the kids in the front row for a while, I 
think taking requests b/c after he talked he went and told the entire 
band the song that would come next.  
MONEY LOVE AND CHANGE: this rocked hard too, very similar to the Night 
Speaks jam in terms of length and taking lots of changes, though quite 
different in terms of the music.  Trey really got into conductor mode 
which at times is a bit annoying but whatever, he^Òs a genius and he 
knows what he^Òs doing.  Trey danced around and then wandered all over 
stage giving directions to the other guys on how to jam the next 
section of the song.  The energy was enormous and it was a perfect way 
to get the set livened up with experimentation and hard core energy.  I 
think it was during this song that someone threw a blowup doll with 
huge boobs onstage but the band ignored it until later.  Then Trey 
introduced his bus driver who played horns for
OLIVIA: I^Òm not familiar with this song but it was decent and we needed 
to chill out just a tad after Money so no complaints.  Not exactly 
jammed out but the bus driver took a cool solo.  Trey picked up the 
boob-doll and put it in his chair onstage, but then took it off and 
threw it back to Cyro, who proudly displayed it on his cymbals kit as 
the doll^Òs boobs held it up for the audience to gawk at.
ETHER SUNDAY: another good song with a beautiful trumpet solo from 
Jen.  Trey and Jen smiled as they sang the end of the song to each 
other (^Óit^Òs true^Å^Ô) and it was kinda nice, although it looked like 
they were having a love affair onstage J the band left stage so trey 
could play with Tony and Cyro on: 
RAY DAWN BALLON: Very well played by Trey, Tony and Cyro, who luckily 
didn^Òt overdo it on this one with the percussion
THUNDERHEAD: hadn^Òt heard it before but it was kind of nice and mellow, 
trey on acoustic guitar.  The singing was a little off and it didn^Òt 
seem like Trey had the lyrics exactly how he wanted them so it was a 
little rusty vocally, but no problem.
SIMPLE TWIST UP DAVE: this was another awesome jam that was very long.  
Lots of horn solos and tons of conducting by Trey.  Peter Apfelbaum 
took a crazy long solo by himself at the front of the stage and the 
spotlight went on him as Trey called a sidebar with Andy, Jen and 
Grippo.  Russ was playing hand-drums with Cyro.  The jam gets going 
again after Peter^Òs solo and Andy and Jen start ripping these really 
fast horn lines.  Trey gets a little guitar-lick going that harmonizes 
the horns, and everyone else bangs away at percussion.  As it 
intensified, Cyro started yelling into the microphone.  Later in the 
jam Grippo started yelling ^Óoh^Ô and a certain point and Trey got into 
that and he did it too, so we in the audience followed suit and would 
periodically yell Oh in unison.  Also Ray switched over to the piano 
and was playing a beautiful solo at one point.  Eventually it gets 
crazier and climactic and the horns just move to the front of the stage 
and start playing unmiked.  Then Cyro grabs some drums and runs down 
there and they start dancing.  Trey follows suit, as do Ray and Russ 
and everyone is banging on drums or playing horns.  Finally Tony comes 
down too and we in the audience clap along to keep the rhythm, as we 
did when Peter took his long solo.  The band-audience interaction was 
just incredibly rich which made the concert such a great experience.  
Then they all march offstage for about 30 seconds and come back out and 
keep up the banging etc.  Trey picks up his guitar and the horns get 
back on their microphones and the jam returns to the fast energetic 
section.  Then it slows down again and they start up with
PUSH ON TIL THE DAY: this fucking rocked so hard and the whole place 
screamed once trey started playing the opening chords^Åthe first little 
diddie that Trey plays before the lyrics was temporarily replaced by 
the lick that Trey had going during STUD and that made the horns laugh 
and everyone cheered.  So the song was just fucking HUGE, no jamming
out or experimenting, but just HUGE ENERGY.  Trey signaled for the drop 
down to the low-octave that starts the buildup and the place starts 
going crazy. Then the climax was ridiculous and everyone just started 
jumping up and down and screaming, including trey.  Kuroda kicked ass 
with the lights at this point and it felt so great to have such a 
moment with everyone.  The band left stage and we cheered for an encore 
but the lights came on and the after music played, which led us to 
believe that Push On was the encore and that when they wandered 
offstage that was the end of the set for the 30 second break.  Anyway, 
too bad we didn^Òt get a ^Ósecond^Ô encore but whatever.  Great Show.  
Trey Rocks. 

Date: Mon, 24 Jun 2002 15:43:30 -0400
From: Mike Petrella mpetrella@advertising.com
Subject: 6-22 Merriweather

Let me say this first, Trey is the man, he has always been and will always
be the man.  Not sure where the man was on 6/22 though.  When the tickets
were first released, I was all psyched, last show of the tour, new
musicians, new tunes, I had high hopes for this show.  That, and everytime
Trey band or Phish came to Merriweather, the show was always phenomenal.  
First set opened with Burlap, same opener as last year, different
arrangement.  I never saw Trey wail so hard, so early in a show, but he made
that tune unforgettable.  I thought this to be an indicator of some crazy
stuff to come, but after Burlap, not much really stuck out.  I didn't write
the set list down, but after looking at other shows, you knew they were
going to jam out "Night Speaks to Woman", Mozambique was ok, not nearly as
lively as last years, "Cayman Review" was decent. Everything was shaping up
to be the exact way it looked on paper.  The set was long, probably close to
1.5 hrs, but nothing stuck out past Burlap.  
Set break was short, no "15 minute break."
Second set opened with a 40min+ "Money, Love & Change".  Man, that was
boring, i'm not sure why Trey re-made the tune, the old version was more
interactive with the audience, if that makes sense.  the new version starts
off in the middle of nowhere, and makes nothing of the melody, it almost
masks the original direction of the tune.  the jam itself had it's good
points, but for the most part,  just lingered until someone else picked up a
solo.  then came some Latin tune with the band's bus driver sitting in.
cool little groove, but sounded just like the "Money,Love & Change" jam.
the rest of the set was filled with Sunday Morning, some acoustic tunes and
closed with "Simple Twist Up Dave", with the band doing a conga line off
stage.  they marched on back on stage and went into "Push On 'Til The Day".
i thought this was the closer, didn't know it was the encore.  "Push..." is
a great tune, such a great way to end a show.  the crowd was pumped, Trey
was wailing, it was a great closer.
Overall the show was ok, last year's Merriweather was more fun, better song
selection, more crowd interaction.  I can't complain, Trey is the man,
always has been, always will be.  I guess I was hoping for something
special, maybe a little pre-Bonaroo Phish reunion, but then again, who
wasn't.


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