LawnMemo

The Daily Ghost

The Daily Ghost #77 06/26/2004 Alpine Valley Music Theater, East Troy, WI

(AUD Download @KernelForbin Remaster)

Background (Set: 2 of 2 – Song: 2 of 6 – Show Gap: 5)

Ghost finds its way back inside a Boogie On Reggae Woman and Free sandwich once again.  The same sequence was played just two versions earlier at the Miami ’03 NYE Run.  Crazy!  The end segue from Boogie On Reggae Woman has been included, however Free has not been included in the download.

2004-06-26mo

Composed Section (0:00-3:26)

The transition from Boogie On Reggae Woman sounds like it will be a great one.  Trey however doesn’t give his strongest effort and it is botched a bit.  Fish was pretty much dead on.  It had the potential to be great.

The lyrics start quickly and we are fully into Ghost at the 0:44 mark.  The pace has some bounce and energy to it.  The solo section gets some grooving Page and Mike, and then they drop into some big funk.  Excellent solo section..

A dose of feedback during the pause leads to a longer than normal one.  What follows?  This…

Ouch that was ugly….Who is driving this thing?

Lucky for everyone the jam is MUCH better!

I GOTTA HAVE MORE BASS POPPING! (3:27-7:35)

After one of the quicker intro sections, the jam begins with a couple of sectioned off measures.  Fishman lays down a slow beat that Mike starts to pop over.  I wish Mike would have kept that sound going longer!  Page’s first weapon of choice is piano.  Trey is doing some initial soloing…

Wait…

The popping comes back!! Just when I thought I was out…THEY PULL ME BACK IN!  Woooooo!  At 4:12, Mike comes popping right back into the jam and I am grooving like a mad man.  The beat Fish is laying down, combined with the funky piano Page throws back at Mike?  Lights out awesome.  4:12-4:45 is 100% Prime Grade A Funktown Big Boobies Awesomeness.  I wish it would have went for longer!  Basically it was this…

Trey changes his tone first at the 4:50 mark, and Mike quickly follows.  Mike’s tone stays powerful and strong, but the magic of the pop is gone.  Gordon lays down a very cool bass line at the 5:12 mark, when he finds a ton of space in front of him.

Trey changes to his more classical gritty 2.0 tone at that point.  He then slowly starts to solo out in front more and more.  Page moves to the organ and starts to hold some chords to give ample space for Trey to solo through.

Fish has picked up the pace and helps guide Trey to play more notes.  At 6:12, Mike finds a high pitched bass lick that is extremely cool.  He backs off after that and it is mostly the Trey and Fish show for a while.

Mike comes back strong at the 7:00 mark, with another powerful lick that helps mesh with Trey’s grit.  Trey continues to solo and nothing awful comes of it, but nothing that is mind blowing either…

Chairman of the Final Frontier (7:36-10:29)

Page begins to summon a spaceship from deep in space.  It is soft at first but as it gets closer to Alpine Valley it becomes louder.  There is no way to think that this sounds like anything else.  I wonder if Page has a setting on his keyboards that reads “Spaceship Invasion”.  As the aliens get closer, Trey switches to a brighter tone and continues to solo.  Oh wait…

Just as a I type Trey’s tone gets brighter, he switches back and it gets darker.  I give up.  #FacePaLM.  I will be back, I need another beer.

The switch back to the darker tone is one that proves to be a good one.  Mike really starts laying down a sweet beat at 8:54, and things begin to grow.  Page finds a cool tone as well and holds some notes in this section.  Trey then summons THE Portland Meadows Borg Sound into this jam.  SHIT JUST GOT REAL!  Let’s do this!

I love how Page’s sound floats over this jam.  Then as all that awesomeness is going down,  Fish is pushing things faster and faster.  Trey starts firing monster space lasers from our spaceship at the 9:43 mark.  BAD ASS. The band could not be more locked in.  Everyone is contributing equally and with a ton of force.  Mike’s bass really gets to me.

Woooooo Ted Dancin!!! (10:26-16:28)

At the 10:26 mark, Trey stops being nice and throws down a power lick, with Mike and Fish building the jam around him.  This…is…getting…awesome!!! Clear me some space, time for me to be this….

The power lick from Trey gets stronger and stronger with each measure.  Truly a lick you can build around (that sounds like a porn movie title).

Page brings the aliens back for a look around the 11:40 mark and it fuels the fire.  Fish just takes the aliens, and pours gasoline on them.  He then lights them on fire starting at the 12:06.  It is the peak of the jam…time for Fishman to destroy everything in his path.  Where am I?  How the hell does he play that many notes!!!  How can he play that many combinations and still keep on beat?  My mind has exploded.  Fish you rule #FishDrumsLikeUptonFillsOutABikini

(Not B.J. or Justin Upton)

As much as Fish steals the show, Trey has found a beautiful blissful tone.  This peak is soaring and completely gorgeous. At 13:13, Trey moves things higher and higher.  BAND IS LOCKED IN!  I am in love with this section.  It sounds like 40 extra people could be on stage with the amount of sound they put out.

This peak has grown organically and holds its ground beautifully.  Nothing forced, it has tremendous flow.  Around 14:20, Page destroys the organ.  Even more power added to this incredible peak.  This jam reminds me of that one time I was awesome.

What I like a ton about this, is how the jam fades from the peak.  A lot of times things don’t move away from the peak well.  This moves with ease into the end of this Ghost.  I love it.

Kudos to everyone.  I love Fish, I Love Page, I love Mike, I love Trey.  I love Phish.  I love Chris Kuroda.  I love the everyone I have ever met at a Phish show, on the internet, and who sends me Kate Upton pictures.

Final Thoughts

So with SPAC, 2.0 took a one show Ghost break.  This version at Alpine is simply outstanding.  Sure the drop in is brutal but that jam!!!  From the initial Mike popping, to Page bringing the aliens, to the gorgeous peak, this jam crushes.  I love this version.  The band is locked in with full balance in some parts that is simply incredible.  Huge fan…

Score: 9.3