, attached to 2012-12-31

Review by yam_ekaj

yam_ekaj Finished up the Couchtour tonight.

Set I: A fun, but average set. First few songs kind of boring. I like hearing Sample for the Trey solo, but when paired with Rift and Alaska, I wasn't too interested. When Mike's came on I was really excited, but the excitement didn't last long. There was neither an exploratory jam (not expecting that), or a Simple (which I wanted). Walk Away is fun though, and my friend told me that Walk Away has never followed Mike's Song before now. Walk Away ends, and here's my second biggest problem with the night. The Weekapaug just seemed to be dropped in there, really forced for me. It also wasn't the best 'Paug I'd ever heard. The set took a turn for the better though with a really high energy Character Zero in which Trey was going absolutely wild. So that was really fun. 3/5

Set II: This was really a great set for me. Began with BoaF, which is a song I really love. A very well played version as well. Next came Ghost, which I was really hoping for tonight. First song of the night that was really jammed. A very nice jam. Good transition into Piper, which also is very well jammed. This moves into Light, which has been getting a lot of jamming this past year. Again, well jammed, but none of these songs were anything really, really special, like the Tweezer from night 1, or the DWD and Carini from last night. We move from light to 2001, which also (to be completely redundant) is very nicely jammed. Although none of these songs were incredibly good, the entire second set basically consisted of jammed songs, which made it incredibly enjoyable for me. The next two songs obviously were not jammed: The Horse and Silent in the Morning. I love Silent, and it was extremely well played and beautiful as always. I hear Trey count off and I know what's coming next. Sure enough, the opening arpeggio drops, and we are off into YEM. A great version to end a great, very jammy (although not really any type II) set. I really enjoyed the vocal jam in this one, and I'm not usually one to enjoy those very much. 4.5/5

Set III: The band comes out hitting golf balls, and Fish in a crazy donut golf outfit, which really made me laugh. They launch into Party Time, which was fitting. Next comes Kung, which I always get a kick out of. Chalk Dust is next, which I love. But now we get into the part of the night that was my biggest problem. I'll start off by saying that the golf cart race was really cool and really fun, but I still wish it had not existed. For me it was distracting. But that's besides the point, it was fun. What was not fun was having a bunch of random, seemingly untalented people running around the stage in faux-golf outfits, and then counting down into Auld Lang Syne. They were really distracting me, and took away a lot of the energy in what otherwise was an extremely high energy set. So that was annoying for me, but no matter. Still a lot of fun and a lot of energy. Of course, Tweeprise comes right after Auld Land Syne. I would have preferred it without the backup singers, but they were fine I guess. When the song ends and the lights go black I'm praying for all the random people to just get off the stage so we can get back to real Phish. And they do! We then begin Sand, which I think was the highlight of this set. A great groove, and a well played version. Next is the Wedge, which I love. A great transition from Sand also. Next is Fly Like and Eagle which isn't my favorite song, but really high energy so it was fitting. Then, the next most highlight, Wilson. Crowd was really into it, as was the band. Very fun. A barbershop quarter Lawn Boy, which was extremely amusing. Overall, a really high energy set, but I felt is was dampened by the golfer people, and sort of by the backup singers. I would've preferred straight Phish doing their thing. They don't need help generating energy. 3/5

Encore: Trey messed up Driver at the beginning, but that actually made it more fun. Then a great rendition of Iron Man, where Page absolutely killed the vocals, and the rest of the band did a great job. Really nice ending, although I would've preferred if they had ended with a Phish song. No matter, really fun ending to a really fun run of shows. 3.5/5

Overall, a fun show. Two average sets, and one great set (the second). It had a lot of jamming songs all in a row, which was really great. Last set could've been better, but was fun and high-energy anyway.

To put in some extra, unneeded opinion:

IMO, best show was 30th, then 28th, then 31st, then 29th.
Even though the run wasn't perfect, there were some absolutely incredible moments of Phish music. Each and every show was fun, obviously with some things standing out. I had an amazing time Couchtouring, and hopefully I'll make it to a show for real next year.

Thanks for reading.


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