Review: Phish 12/29/2013

Obviously, “It’s Ice” was the anchor of the first set and is worth a listen. But I want to talk about last night’s “Gumbo”. For a minute, “Gumbo” turned into a psychedelic fugue that didn’t get picked up on the SBD mix. The jam wasn’t about moving as a cohesive unit as much as it was about colliding tempos and tones. Like a good orchestra, it sounded like 20 parts and 2 parts at the same time. Jon and Trey paired off in the beginning and slowed down, diverging from the time signature of “Gumbo” while Page laid out a clav groove. When Trey picked up Page’s tone there was a wash of sounds colliding that was driven by Jon’s divergent tempo. Jon had some brilliant fills that created unique space. I wasn’t surprised when they went into “Walls of the Cave” to close out the set.

Set II opened with some Grateful Dead-esque noodling and tuning in. Trey joked that the band “wrote that” before dropping into the band’s signature ambient “Down With Disease” prelude. Mike offered up some subterranean tones and then the music evolved into a beautifully dark, alluring and magnetic black hole. Trey sliced his way out of this space with the patient finesse of a ninja. Perfect. The “Carini” peaked with demonic, sharp-edges, like a seismograph’s alarm (Page was on the B3). Tension, release, and into “Waves”. “Twist” got everyone back on the same groove before the band closed the set with “David Bowie”. I really enjoyed this nebulous, six-song set.

The “Possum” encore ended the show on an accessible note. Afterall, everyone and their aunt Sue can get down to “Possum”.