YEM review - 12-29-98 Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 11:57:49 -0700
From: Matt O'Malley omallm7@earthlink.net
To: dws@protos.lifesci.ucla.edu
Subject: 12/29/98 YEM
 
12-29-98 Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
 
You Enjoy Myself Review:
 
Date Boy Jam B&D FS/VJ Total Rating
12/29/97 7:11 10:45 NA 19:07 23:39 B+/A-
 
1: Rock and Roll > Funky Bitch, Punch You in the Eye > Horn, Ginseng
Sullivan, Split Open and Melt, Brian and Robert, Guyute, My Soul,
Freebird (1:08)
 
2: Free, Limb by Limb -> Also Sprach Zarathustra*, Boogie On Reggae
Woman, You Enjoy Myself (1:15)
 
E: The Divided Sky (0:17)
 
Standard disclaimer:  I^Òve seen PHiSH about 45-50 times over a pretty
spread out time frame.  I grew up in Boston and was talked into checking
them out at the Bayside Expo Center for the 12/31/89 NYE event.  I^Òve
been and going to shows ever since and have hear 4-500 hours.
 
I went to the last three nights, 29, 30 and NYE and thought the 29th to
be maybe not quite comparable to NYE, but still an outstanding show all
around and worthy of further mention. Fishman in particular was on FIRE
(esp. in Set II).  The Fall/Winter ^Ò98 Tour(s) in general had a lot of
great shows. The Stash->Manteca->Tweezer segue from 10.30.98 is greasy.
And of course the nest two shows after that one were highly significant
achievements for the band.
 
TO the REVIEW:
 
After brief teleconference on stage YEM opens on the heels of a hot
BORW.  Opening arpeggios by Trey are mastered.  Excellent, but
admittedly pretty standard opening.  Fish is already impressing.
Pre-Nivana segment at 1:21.  Nirvana:  Mike softly repeating a note.
Fish mixing up the hi-hat rhythem.  Trey employing some nice spacey
delay and volume control during this segment.  Crowd is very quiet, esp.
for MSG.  Nirvana at 4:01.  Page solos beautifully and Trey does not
miss a single note, no joke.  Damn, is this a tight opening.  Mike at
4:47: Fatttnnnneesss!!! :^]!!!  Pre-charge at 5:38.  First Shot at the
NOTE comes at 6:09 IS THE BEST I^ÒVE EVER HEARD.  Just crackles with
intensity and timing ;^]!!! Great accompanying soloing around it too.
Second shot at 6:54 is a half beat late, but very well sustained with
excellent TONE.  Trey^Òs decision to switch to a black face Fender Deluxe
TUBEd with NOS RCA 6V6s has given him a tone that no one competes with.
The link on Emil^Òs tab page to Trey^Òs rig is an interesting read.
There^Òs a cool photo of Trey^Òs effects arrangement too.  It^Òs accessible
through Andy^Òs Phish page at gadiel.com/phish etc.
 
Great scream from Trey with accompaniment by all 18,500 in attendace and
Boy comes in on a thunder cloud at 7:11.  This BMGS segment is
positively GROOOVVVY!  Trey^Òs funking on the Teese RMC is very
tastefully played, and subtle!  Some beautifully sustained notes that
are rounded with the wah, just right.  [Maybe it^Òs the ganj I puffed
right before sitting down to this review?]  WUDMTF segment also slung
phatly with every band member out in front in some way.  Probably only
7/31/97 and 11/28/97 have funkier BMGS/WUDMTF segments (I^Òm sure this
could be easily refuted, but those are the two that leap to my mind).
And that^Òs saying a lot. I have to go along with the CV on YEMs and
concede that there is simply no topping 12/9/95, which I had the
privilege of witnessing.
 
Tramps at 9:44.  Trey and Mike were on tramps and the random crowd
reactions can attest.  Fish keeps this interesting with some nicely
syncopated fills. JAM begins at 10:45 with Page still in front on the
Hammond.  Trey chording nicely in the background.  Mike has the envelope
filter cranking and is pumping an extreamly phunky groove underneath.
Trey^Òs chording begins to build in intensity around 12:22 and he moves
higher up on the ^Ñdoc.  Soloing starts at 12:44 and Trey solos
melodiously but with a real bluesy edge to it that sounds
Niiiiccee:^]!!!  He crranks on the wah at 13:38 and plays the familiar
triplet that is a staple of most YEM solos.  Getter higher on the ^Ñdoc
at 14:01 but still melding bery subt;ly with Mike and Fish.  Peels of a
nasty string of blues licks aroung 14:39.  The jam is cooking at
15:13!!!  Trey^Òs got the Tube Screamers wailing at 15:37 with some nice
melodiously angry sustain.  16:15 is another notch up.  Practically HOSE
at 16:41. Just Nuts at 16:55.  Trey alternating between BLARING POWER
CHORDS and hoseque sustained accents at 17:30. Monster closing segment
-- get this YEM for this part of it alone!  IT^Òs FANTASTIC.  Kind of a
Lull in the playing at 17:50 with Trey just repeating some chords,
though Mike is still very prominent.  No Bass and Drums segment to speak
of (of a half-assed one if you could even call it one, which you
shouldn^Òt). By 18:20 though, the playing returns to an infections groove
with Trey scratching and Mike spanking away high up on the Modulus.
Almost Tube-like.  Too bad they cut this short.  Jam winding down at
19:05 with Trey soloing quietly. No closing WUFDTF and at 19:07 stops
and the vocal jam commences.
 
I can^Òt make too many critical remarks about the vocal jam segment.  It
starts off pretty innocuous with some syncopated scatting and then
transforms itself into the ^Ómusic^Ô from the closing scene of 2001:A
Space Oddyssey.  Very psychdelic and cool-sounding.  Eeerie, (like the
movie).  It^Òs one of the few that I actually don^Òt fast forward
through.  The 2001 vocal jam was a savory pseudo reprise to the superb
ASZ that was played 3rd in the set.
 
Total time for this YEM: 23:38, which I have to admit is a little short
to rank this among the best ever.  Nevertheless, this is definitely a
YEM worth checking out.  Anyone who has tried to play this song
themselves on the guitar KNOWS what a motherfucker this one is to play.
Right?  If you can play it, stop covering Phish and start writing your
own shit.  You^Òre good!  In sum, the Jam had MOMENTS, and I^Òm a personal
fan of Trey^Òs rhythm guitar prowess, which is immensely decorous in the
opening jam segment of this version.  His drumming lessons have served
him well as the ^Ñdoc-tor .  The optimist in me want to give it at least
a B+/A- due to its overall consistency from the very opening notes and
the [almost] flawlessly opening segment.  I welcome any and all
well-reasoned [but constructive] debate/disagreement on that assessment.
 
BTW/ the HPB lists the tease in the ASZ as Born Under Punches, maybe I^Òm
just not familiar enough with that song, but it sure sounds a hell of a
lot like the main theme in Crosseyed & Painless.  Anyway, I don^Òt mean
to nitpick, but someone should feel free to correct me if I^Òm mistaken.
Check out that version anyway, it^Òs one of the best I^Òve heard.
 
This show had the added bonus of a Divided Sky encore, which had not
happened since November of 1990.  No Monkey/Top b.s. on this night.
 
--Matt O^ÒMalley



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