Ranking Dick’s: #7 09/02/2016 (2016 N1)
Setlist:
SET 1: Ghost, No Men In No Man’s Land , Breath and Burning, Undermind, Heavy Things, Stash, Ass Handed > The Wedge, Alaska > 46 Days
SET 2: Run Like an Antelope, Mercury > Seven Below > Birds of a Feather, Wombat, Tweezer > Runaway Jim > Suzy Greenberg
ENCORE: Bug > Tweezer Reprise
Quick Lowdown: Phish came out and made an enormous statement with the first 25 minutes of the 2016. The “Ghost>NMINML” combo is as good an opening segment as Phish has played in quite sometime. The rest of the first set is solid and the second set is well above average. This show felt good and blends energy with jams. This show is another great 2 set show with very little cool down. Another great in the incredible Dick’s legacy.
Set 1 Recap: Let’s revisit this “Ghost>NMINML” opener. Phish opened with “Ghost” in 2013 in the Most Shows Spell Something show. This one was much better. Nothing ground breaking but this a decent “Ghost”. The “NMINML” is probably the second best version every played and by quite some margin. After it sounds like the song is going to finish, instead it jumps to evil rocket speed. A dark but exhilarating jam that features some evil Trey laser beams erupts. The result is easily one of the highlights of the run. Standard runs of “Breath and Burning”, “Undermind”, “Heavy Things” follow. “Stash” gets it’s usual nice jam. “Ass Handed” continues the fun “Dick” wordplay and this is a swinging Dick’s version. “The Wedge” is nice before the first “Alaska” in quite some time. Don’t sleep on this set closing “46 Days” however. This “46” is a beast featuring a locked in band that drives forward. Rocking and dark all at the same time this is a killer version. This set starts like a freight train has a bit of a lull but finishes stellar with “46 Days”.
Set 2 Recap: A nice “Antelope” kicks things into high gear before the long awaited return of “Mercury”. “Mercury” doesn’t go the places we are all hoping it will but I was extremely happy to hear it. “Seven Below” is nice call and feature a nice tight jam and a killer segue into “Birds”. “Wombat” keeps the high energy going and a full dance party breaks out amidst the dark and dirty Trey tone deployed here. The real star of this set is the “Tweezer” that follows. Almost nobody could have seen “Tweezer” coming this late, let alone the best version of the year. This “Tweezer” is a personal favorite. Upbeat to start while taking its time to start the jam. The jam settles into a sweet, sweet groove with Trey easing a nice smooth rhythmic lick into the fold. From there the band moves with ease in a killer smooth jam. The journey to to the peak is almost as good as the destination. Actually I take that back because THIS PEAK. This peak is so organic and absolutely punches you in the faces and hugs you after. A nicely played “Runaway Jim” is a good call and grooves into an above average “Suzy Greenberg”. Great set with good energy, decent jams, and a monster “Tweezer”.
Encore: “Bug>Tweezer Reprise”. A great way to throwdown on night 1.
The Takeaways: “Ghost>NMINML”, “46 Days”, “Seven Below>Birds”, “Tweezer”
This Show Summed Up in One Gif: The Opener…
Score: 4.7/5