I don't know if it's them, or if it's me, but the Phish show at Shoreline—a highly anticipated one for me to say the least—left me wanting just a bit.
I think I'm most inclined to blame the venue. One of the problems with seeing live music in San Francisco is that you're spoiled rotten by the sheer number of small, stellar venues. In fact, aside from the admittedly fairly large Bill Graham Civic Center, there are no arena venues whatsoever in SF proper. And that's the way Uncle Showy likes it, dagnabbit.
I hadn't been to Shoreline in years, but when last I had, I swore to myself I'd never again go unless I could get great tickets. Thanks to demand for their first tour in five years, good tickets proved initially impossible to get, and with lots of fantastic friends to hang with on the lawn I decided not to bother picking up the good seats on Craigslist even though they came down dramatically in price as the show date arrived.
Thanks to the efforts of the incomparable duo Gumbeaux Dave and Funky Drummer Adam Willis, our crew had a spot nearly centered at the very front of the lawn. The odds of having a great show despite being so far away from the band seemingly had improved.
Despite this though, I have to say I was a little let down by the band that I feel is the most innovative and creatively dynamic rock outfit of my generation. Though Phish has, on many a good night, completely blown my mind with their musicianship and energy, this Shoreline show came up short for me. The setlist was excellent, with some of my absolute faves getting nods as the night wore on. Hailey's Comet (played 2nd) was a nice treat and always makes me smile; Chalkdust Torture rocked as usual; Divided Sky might just be my favorite song from these guys, and they zipped through its absurdly complex arrangement nearly flawlessly; Ya Mar, David Bowie, Down with Disease, Limb by Limb, Maze, Mike's Song, and Weekapaug Groove, fantastic choices all.
Yet that feeling of just being swept up in the utter amazingness of it all just barely eluded me all night long. For one thing, being so far away made the sound quite a bit softer and it was hard to focus on the dynamic intricacies of Phish's playing—what, in my opinion, makes this band so amazing. Beside the sound though, I also found the lights to be a bit lackluster. I'm of the opinion that Phish's light man, Chris Kuroda, is an umatched talent, especially with his abilities to improvise with the band. Yet I'm not sure why, maybe because they were so far away, but none of Chris' creations at this Shoreline show had much of an impact on me.
The technical accuracy of this Phish show, as far as I could hear, sounded much cleaner and tighter that their last hiatus-breaker certainly, and I think better than much of the stuff around their first break in 2000 as well. But being in the back at Shoreline, for one of your favorite bands, frankly, sucks. I was counting on the experience of Phish on a good night to overcome that. I think, THINK, they had a good night, but I never lost my shit over it. And frankly, that's what a Phish show is supposed to be all about.
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