Permalink for Comment #1374074698 by AlbanyYEM

, comment by AlbanyYEM
AlbanyYEM I'm real late to the party here, but figured I'd add my two cents. @TheEmu , by the way, I think we have the best review of the tour so far with this one. Nice work. As for the song rotation, part of it is probably so obvious no one has bothered to mention it. In 3.0, the total number of songs played for a show is usually in the 20-25 range. They are generally playing longer first sets than ever before (90 minutes is not unusual). Add that to second sets that are usually 9-12 or so (though of course sometimes you'll get a nice 7 songer), and they are playing a hell of a lot of songs. So there is a lot more opportunity for repeats unless the sets are carefully constructed.

I know this might be phish heresy, but I'm totally in favor of them planning out a tentative setlist that is not set in stone and open to change as they see fit. It seems to me like this would give them some direction and balance in setlist construction. The fuckyourface sets show how amply rewarding that can be. Even without playing guyute, fluffhead, et. al much there are enough songs there to avoid repeats. Plus I'd imagine there would be less ripcording in the jams because unless a segue is organic there's no reason to head toward something out of left field prematurely. The bottom line is they would still play what they want but just with a little thought ahead of time about it. Plus you'd get less shows like SPAC 3 that use multiple major jam vehicles without really letting loose on any of them. Obviously, in past years they played less songs per show so this issue wasn't as pressing or problematic. It's gotta be difficult to even remember every single song they played for four shows at a time or so.

As a whole they just need to practice more before tours. Maybe I'll catch some flack for this, but the start of this tour was as sloppy as 09. They've recovered pretty nicely in the actual jams to the point where trey is again a rhythm demon. So I'm not really as concerned about the few meaningless cringes throughout a show, but as mentioned earlier, this certainly is evidence of a narrowing down in song choice to a comfortable level delimited by what they've practiced.

I want to be crystal clear, though, that I find this issues to be minor compared to the amazing jams going on. Which at the end of the day is what I'm mainly here for.


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