LawnMemo

The Daily Ghost

The Daily Ghost #57 10/04/1999 RedBird Arena, Illinois State University, Normal, IL

(@KernelForbin Remaster)

Background (Ghost Position: Set 2 of 2 – Song 1 of 8-Show Gap: 9)

Ghost stays in the second set for the second straight version. The segue into Sample has not been included.

1999-10-04mo

Composed Section (0:09-4:28)

The first Trey loops greet the crowd and they love it.  Mike and Fish come in shortly after and set a nice slow place.  It sounds great.

The solo section gets a nice lead by Page and then is followed by some twangy Trey.  Gordon gives the end of the solo section a little kick.

The pause has some nice Trey effects.  Then…OH MY LANDS! (Shout out to my grandma for that line)  One of the most atrocious drop ins ever.  The jam almost comes to a complete halt.  After a nice run of good drop ins, they get rid of all progress with that slop.  That is a top tier botched drop in.

Things are a grooving  (4:29-8:12)

The jam begins with an easy going section of jamming.  Mike is very pronounced early on.  Where our last Ghost (Pan American Center) got moving from note one of the jam, this one takes its time.

With loops moving around the band, everyone is taking things patiently.  Trey is soloing but well within the construct of the groove.  Page is working in some rhythms but has not completely found his power.  Nevertheless, this opening groove is solid.  The playing is extremely balanced from all members of the band.

I work a balance of staying in tune with what the band is doing and drifting off into space.  Nothing wrong with that!

Around the 7:00 mark Trey starts to get after it a bit more.  His solos are becoming more pronounced and stronger.  At 7:28, Fish begins to vary the beat, pushing Trey and Mike harder.  The jam is building steam, and the engine behind it is Fish.  I think he timed that push just right.  The groove was good, but had reached the part where it wasn’t moving things along.

At the 7:59 mark, Trey starts to do some repeating and you can feel the jam about to change.

Rocking Band Balance (8:13-10:56)

Trey switches tones and finds his rockstar tone at 8:13.  The pace has certainly picked up, and this Ghost has plenty of life at this point.  At 8:35, you can hear Page start to get more involved and he finds some great melodies to compliment the increasing pace.

At 8:51 Trey finds a sweet lick that he repeats a couple of times.  The band builds into that lick before Trey releases it at 9:16.  When Trey releases, it is not full blown machine gun Trey.  Mike’s bass and some wonderful stuff from Page at the 9:20 mark are as much a part of this section as Trey.

I dig this section, the peak is coming and nothing is forced.  The balance is very even, with Mike really catching my ear.  This is somehow almost a cross between a peak and a groove.  It rings beautifully in my headphones.  Don’t get me wrong, there are hints of Trey crushing his solo, but at no point does he take away from the rest of the band.

Phish rocks, your local college band sucks (10:57-14:32)

Then at the 10:56 mark, after a fill from Fishman, we really start rocking!  Mike comes blasting in with what sounds like a tank bearing down, only if was powered by a jet engine.  Trey holds a couple notes before letting go at 11:17.  Wooooooo!  This is awesome!  Nothing was rushed, and this part just kicks ass and feels so organic.  The entire band is locked in…

At 11:30, Trey grabs his machine gun.  College kids need a dose of face melting in their lives.  It should be part of the curriculum.  Professor Trey is here for today’s lesson.

At 11:45, the jam gets a quick build.  You can tell it is about to go up a notch.  Then at 11:57, Trey starts repeating a lick and Page and Mike go freaking crazy!!!!! Beautifully done by Phish.  While Trey repeats that lick he gives the power to Mike and Page and boy do they ever deliver!!!!  11:57-12:18 is actually my favorite part of this Ghost.  If you were listening to the most boring professor you ever had read the dictionary to you, I think you would have to get up on the desk and scream!  What a reaction from the crowd!!!

When the band releases the tension, Fishman unloads on the kit.  Trey is blistering away with backup from Mike and Trey.  The jam moves nicely before Trey starts to repeat another lick at 12:52.  Fishman, somehow must have brought someone else on stage, because no one man could play like that.  What he does while Trey repeats that lick, makes my entire body panic.  It just froze up trying to think about what he played.  I gave up and ate a bowl of ice cream instead.

At 13:12 Trey harnesses all the drunk college kids energy and unleashes a flame throwing solo.  At the 13:28 mark, he rips a particularly awesome high pitched machine gun series of notes.  Fantastic stuff from Big Red.

The jam continues to work until about the 14:09 mark, where Mike takes a note off.  Fishman then pushes the jam downward and Trey responds.  I would have liked to see a cool outro there.  The jam ends and Sample begins.

Final Thoughts

This Ghost does some things extremely well, and misses on some others.  It never finds the Type 2 magic, but man does the peak really rock.  I like the balanced playing in this Ghost a ton.  The peak comes on naturally and the payoff is great.  Had this Ghost gone somewhere special at the end, it could have been great.

Score: 8.8

Thanks to @Gumbo72203 for alerting me of @Telekinetica’s video

http://youtu.be/ikQjPwZ1xoM