At the end of this hot show, I texted to my friend,
Marshall, “Damn! What a show. I guess
they had to bring it hard tonight so we forgive them for playing in Camden.”
Sorry, Camden, for making you the butt of the joke again. But
hey, at least no one was shot in town on Wednesday (that I know of), and no one
died at the show (that I know of) as
someone had the previous night. There were some other
strange health emergencies near me during the evening, but I will get to that.
The show was, indeed, a hot one, including some fine jamming
in the first set, especially by Page who tore it up on "Undermind"
and on the best, tightest "My Sweet One" I have heard in years. The
opening combo of "The Moma Dance" and "Free" set the mood
perfectly for a set that had no problems being equally funky and rocking. After
"Undermind", the guy behind me said, "They're going to slow it
down, now," and sure enough, they started "Theme From the
Bottom", but despite its tempo, it was huge and powerful.
"Steam" was great to hear, especially as it was a big improvement
over the limp previous version (7/31/18, which was not as slinky in its
groove). Oddly, the sexiest Phish song ever included a long tease of the
decidedly unsexy "Apostrophe" by Frank Zappa. Contrast!
The set was perfect until Trey started “Train Song” at too
fast a tempo and then had trouble keeping up with the pace he set. Then, during
“Halley’s Comet”, the weirdness started happening around me.
I think “Halley’s” was good, but I was distracted by the guy
next to me who passed out on his feet and crashed to the ground. A few of us
helped him up, only for him to hit the dirt mere seconds later. Without any
ability to brace himself, his head hit so hard that his glasses flew off his
head. This time we were much more
concerned, so we flagged down someone from security to get some medical
help. Thankfully, we were in the very
front of the lawn section so all we had to do was look over the rail and call
for help.
Security got there quickly. They seemed to determine that he
was at least half-lucid. He could answer their questions but his body did not
seem to be cooperating. They had a tough time getting the guy up because he
kept stiffening his body and clutching the rail. After they finally got him vertical, with two
security guys and me keeping him propped up, he kept insisting that he did not
need medical attention. An extremely
patient medical professional came over and the caring way she reasoned with him
finally got him to plop into a wheelchair and get carted away.
No sooner were they on their way that the girl next to me on
the other side went flopping to the ground!
On the plus side, security was still in the area, so they immediately tended to her as she started convulsing a bit. They got another medic to the scene and, soon
enough, wheeled her away too.
Ironically, during all this nonsense, the band was playing “Everything’s
Right”. At least I had a lot more
dancing room as I was finally able to focus on the Phish show again; and just
in time, too, because it was another one of those amazing jams that peaks, drops
down, and then peaks again. It was
gorgeous, until Trey decided to awkwardly crash back into the chorus of the
song to end it.
The second set started with “Julius”. Since the song has no
chance of reaching its fiery peaks from the days of yore, its placement in the
front of the set - rather than its typical set-ending, near-set-ending or
encore slot – works much better these days. It set a great mood as a set opener
at the Forum earlier this tour, and nailed it again in Camden. Prior to these, it had been two years since “Julius”
started a set (thanks to phish.net for the stats). I think it is time that this becomes the
norm.
A one-two punch of big jams followed with “Carini” and “Set
Your Soul Free”, with Fish steering the former by subtly shifting the rhythm
around, keeping Trey on his toes to follow. The latter featured a happy, upbeat
jam to match the tone of this new entry in Trey’s string of positivity songs.
Sadly, “Wingsuit” failed to sustain the intensity as it went on too long while
Trey tried to force a second climax into its eighth minute, when an ending at
its natural climax in the fifth minute would have been perfect.
The problem was definitely not the slow tempo because “Waste”
worked perfectly well a little later in the set. And that was after a massive “Scents and
Subtle Sounds” that included the intro section for the first time since 2015,
in the very same geographical area (the Mann in Philadelphia), even though they played the song six times since then. What is it about the Philly
area that brings the intro? (Thanks again to phish.net for the stats). Even
more odd, though, was the jam, which usually follows a I-IV jam in the style of
“Simple” but went to much weirder and darker places this time. I cannot say it was better than usual, but it
was certainly interesting.
Speaking of dark jams that are more interesting than good, that brings us to “Split Open and Melt”, which has been
consistently as such in the entirety of the 3.0 era. Freaky, spacey jams are great in “Carini” and “Waves”
and even “Sand”, but “Melt” is different.
Sure, it is probably because I have been a fan long enough to remember
the rip-roaring “Melt” jams of the ‘90s. Try as I may, I have always had a tough time enjoying the new versions for what they are.
This one, however, could be subtitled the “How I Learned to
Stop Worrying and Love the ‘Melt’” because something about the mixture of dark
textures, hypnotic rhythms and insanely trippy lights caused me to finally let
go and get fully immersed in its wonders.
This was easily the best “Melt” since the 1999 funk “Melt” in Holmdel.
With nothing left to do but bring the house down, Phish
launched into “Character Zero”, taking the ending down for a little while for
pauses to let the audience to its “woo” thing before kicking it back up to peak
intensity for the big finish. The encore
of “Suzy Greenberg”, with Page yet again killing it in his piano solo, put the
exclamation point on the night.
During set break, I saw a guy with a shirt that read, “I’D
RATHER BE AT THE MANN”. So would I, but
I have to admit, despite the weird and sad things that happened in and around
the venue, it ended up being a damn good couple of nights in Camden.
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