The Daily Ghost #71 07/27/2003 Alltel Pavilion, Raleigh, NC
(Download @KernelForbin Remaster)
Background (Set: 2 of 2 – Song: 1 of 7 – Show Gap: 11)
Ghost continues the second set trend. This time it opens the second set. The segue to Halley’s Comet has not been included.
Composed Section (0:00-4:08)
Trey starts things out with an extremely light series of notes. Mike and Fishman enter and the start is pretty ugly. We are a long way from the sweet Trey loops. This pretty much explains was that Ghost start was like…
The solo section gets a lot more Trey love than usual. In fact I would say he is the dominate player. Page and Mike move to much more of a backup role.
The pause is a touch longer than normal. The drop in pretty much nailed. Way to make up for the beginning fellas! As I have said before when they nail the drop in, they jam just seems to explode with energy. I love it!
Trey and Page Start things out (4:09-9:29)
Trey starts the jam out with some soloing and Page falls right in line on the piano. Immediately they find a great groove. Page finds some gorgeous melodies early starting at the 4:25 mark. Outstanding stuff. A deep bass from Mike gives even more life to the light heavenly Page melodies.
Trey starts to move up the scales at around the 4:55 mark. The band is in a nice balanced groove. Nothing is forced, and the results are sounds that fall very easy on the ears. Although Trey is the heaviest force in this section, I am most impressed with Page. His tone and timing is what gets me moving.
That being said, around the 6:10 mark, I start to really enjoy Trey’s playing. His varying frequency of notes, adds a ton to this jam. Trey elevates his pitch at the 7 min mark, and it feels like this jam is building. Around 7:30, Page plays a nice grounding piano melody.
At 7:57. Trey starts to repeat a lick and then lets the air out a couple seconds later. He is clearly out in front of this jam and doing quite a bit of soloing. When Trey is completely away from that repeating lick at around the 8:20 mark, some more great interplay between him and Page continues.
Mike and Fish have been providing much of the background work in this section with Trey and Page taking center stage. Around the 8:40 mark, while swimming through Page’s blue ocean, I start to find Mike making himself pronounced.
Shortly after, the jam takes a downward shift around the 9:30 mark.
Here comes the Borg? Well Borg>Quasi Peak (9:30-11:53)
As things move downward, Mike’s importance moves upward. Things start to get super crazy, and out there, around the 9:50 mark. Uh oh..what was that I heard? I think that might be the Borg coming back…! Wait we never had a Borg gif the first time!!! Time to change that!
Just as soon as the Borg makes an entrance, it disappears. Don’t worry, The Borg is never really gone. It is always there.
What I like about this jam, is that just as the things get spacey and nuts, the jam moves back to more traditional routes. Mike’s bass and Page’s piano returns us to planet Earth as Trey is trying to push us deeper into space. 9:50-10:20 is an interesting contrast between the two sounds. Eventually the return to Earth wins out…
Around the 10:50 mark Trey’s tone changes and he leaves the spacey sound. He returns gloriously and in full force by the 11:00 mark. At that point Page moves to the organ and the band continues to work great contrasting sounds.
Things are starting to get pretty cool… (11:54-14:17)
I need to say this. Troeges Nugget Nectar is an amazing beer. It makes me happy about life. If I have ever go to death row, I feel like this is part of my final meal.
At 11:53, Trey starts to repeat a lick as the jam starts to break down. Mike follows suit with Trey’s lick, and starts to repeat it at a different octave. Page is there sprinkling in hints of piano. This is some cool stuff. This section makes me feel like I am running. The weird part is I am running at a pretty fast pace, yet it is a relaxing run. I just re-read that last line. I will be checking myself into a psych ward tomorrow.
The fast pace relaxing run, breaks down even further at the 13:20 mark. Some lasers fly by and then Mike finds an awesome tone. He works that fantastic bass into this jam and sends it in the proper direction…Way away from reality…
By the 13:45 mark, we start to see some Type 2 magic. A gorgeous run of notes from Page starts at 13:47. Some fantastic cymbal work from Fish (wow can’t believe I just now mentioned him, FacepaLM!) gives plenty of space for everyone.
Full Borg Onslaught (14:18-18:52)
Trey switches his tone back at the 14:18 mark and…THEY’RE BACK!!!!!
This time is will not just be a fly by. Trey’s tone is a monster spaceship. The brilliance of Page’s piano contrasting with Trey’s enormously dirty tone is fantastic. Contrasting sounds=Happy LawnMemo.
Mike and Fishman are extremely awesome in this section. They provide the jet fuel for this Borg spaceship to fly through the jam. Mike’s tone makes things even more sinister while Fish’s cymbal work works with Page’s piano for even more contrast. Type 2 magic.
So we have only been hinting at the return of the Borg. At 15:17 it makes a full fledged reappearance. BOOM, See you later Earth. This is what I am talking about! An almost funk groove from Mike, light-hearted cymbal work from Fish, and the end of the Earth from Trey. This sections kicks ass.
I can hear that death march funk bass line from Mike in my sleep. Not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Actually I know what it means. Mike Gordon is an incredible musician.
Mike backs off around the 15:55 mark and then things move even further away from Raleigh, NC. Trey’s tone is half guitar blues legend, half space commander. He begins to solo and venture things even further away from what I think was once a song called Ghost.
Page makes a nice re-entrance at the 16:30 mark, and more great interplay between he and Trey takes place. The two work together and start to build the end of this jam. Mike meanwhile, moves underneath with another outstanding lick.
By the 17:00 mark, Trey has an extremely high pitched sound, and Mike is crushing with a deep bass. Fish and Page again balance the contrast.
Around the 17:45 mark, the jam starts to get a bit sloppy and you can tell the end is near. It starts to slow, but not before some more outstanding Page melodies before the jam comes to a last breath.
Oh and then Trey plays an enormously loud melody that has nothing to do with anything….
Final Thoughts
Eeek, another extremely tough Ghost to judge. This is a lot of 2.0 Phish in a nutshell. There are parts that drag on a bit for me without a fluid feel. Then just when I start feeling like the jam is not going anywhere we reach Type 2 magic. The end section of this jam is outstanding. Way out there, risky, and a memorable bass line from Mike. Beautiful contrast from the band and a variety of different styles. It is another great version.
Score 9.0