The Daily Ghost #81 06/04/2009 Nikon at Jones Beach Theater, Wantagh, NY
(AUD Download @KernelForbin Remaster)
Background (Set: 1 of 2 – Song: 8 of 9 – Show Gap: 4)
A rare 3.0 first set Ghost that is only followed by Run Like an Antelope. No Segues before or after.
Composed Section (0:00-3:30)
Trey begins this Jones Beach version with a couple of measures all to himself. Mike enters, then Fish, and finally Page. A nice little intro jam breaks out, with some cool clav work from Page.
When we get to the vocals, Page continues to work the clav nicely. The pace of this Ghost is more upbeat than normal. The solo section, gets a nice Page and Trey blend. When Mike comes in, he comes in strong. Fish also, has some sweet work here.
At 2:35, right before the pause, things get ugly. The pause is normal length and has some Fishman drums added to it. Then, yup its that time…
Here we are having a nice intro, playing our song, and we just got run over by a tractor. The drop is ugly, really ugly. Luckily it doesn’t take the band a long time to recover. The rest of the intro is fine as they head into the jam.
Grooving At the Bottom of the Well (3:31-7:08)
Trey begins to lead out with some soloing, and the band goes into a couple measure of sectioned off jamming. At the 3:54 mark, things begin to work their way down. Fish slows the beat, and Page inches us downward with some drips from the piano.
By the 4:07 mark, we are at the bottom of the well and an extremely minimalist jam breaks out. Very little is going on, before Mike starts to lay down a bass line. He plays a line that is close to “Under Pressure”. While Mike lays that down, the rest of the band is subtly injecting notes here and there. Not much to this, but by taking it down this far, they set themselves up for a lot of room to move upwards.
The jam wallows down at the bottom of this well for quite a while. Trey starts to infuse a lick at the 4:45 mark, that he will work around. The lick carves it’s way into the jam more and more with each passing repetition. Page does some cool clav work around this central Trey lick.
At 5:49 Trey, comes away from that lick he used to climb us out of the well. He then begins to solo with a really nice tone. He holds some notes for a bit then starts to find a new lick to repeat.
At 6:18, the Trey uses that lick to build tension. As Trey comes away from that lick, the band settles back into another groove. Part funk, part building more tension, part groove. Page throws down some strong chords on the piano at 7:08.
Climbing Up (7:09-8:40)
Trey switches his style, the tone and the jam begin to move in a different direction. As Trey starts to lead out, Page gives some nice compliments on piano. Fish then slows the beat with some light cymbal work at 7:25. This helps let Trey’s sounds float even further. A subtle touch by Fish but it lifts the jam in a completely different direction.
Trey begins to climb us further into the clouds with that caressing lick. (Whoops that sounded bad). So the jam continues to float further and further upward away from the bottom of the well.
Mike has been harmonizing beautifully. Then he steps on the gas at 8:15 mark. He and Fish start bringing it at an increasing pace. That is the moment you can feel this jam about to take the next step.
This section is beautiful, peaceful, and full of bliss. A great bridge between the deep groove of the section before, and the incredible skyward journey we are about to take.
Into the Clouds (8:41-11:59)
The increase in pace from Mike and Fish seems to fuel Trey’s fire. He moves things upward into the heavens with each passing note. Page balances Trey’s blissful playing perfectly. The resulting sectioning is a blend of all four band members lifting all cares away from me.
Trey in particular is on top of his game. The entire sound that is produced during this bliss, is one that takes all stress away. How could I be upset with anything while listening to something that beautiful? How can I not appreciate the things in my life when I am floating in the clouds? I don’t even want to make fun of the people on my Facebook feed, who said that Bon Jovi put on a hell of a show in Buffalo tonight. Ok, maybe I do just a little.
This is me during this blissful peak…
Around the 9:40 mark, Fish catches my ear. He is knocking one fill after another right out of the park. As Trey starts to repeat a high pitched lick, both he and Mike move right in. Trey comes back and plays on top of the incredible melodies from Fish. Gorgeous, gorgeous stuff.
This goes through my head during this journey into the clouds. “Dance your cares away, worry’s for another day, let the music play, down in Fraggle Rock”. Yeah I went there, this section makes me happy like the Fraggle Rock Theme Song! Trust me, that is high praise.
Fish begins to back off at 11:22, while Trey and Page play some funk. I love the funk ending to that peak. Short, but a cool way to bridge into the ending. Things work back down into the well from there.
Below the Bottom of the Well (12:00-14:08)
Things go much deeper than in the first section of this jam. Starting at the 12:00 mark, things get spacey and dark. Our first Borg sighting of the current era shows up. It isn’t the full fledged monster of Portland Meadows, but some similarities for sure.
Things get out there quickly, at 12:48 Mike brings a Space Eating Hungry Bigfoot into this madness. That sound is crazy and it makes me think of a Cactus created Sasquatch.
Just as things get insane, we get a serious Trey cord. He cuts the cord and tries to bring it back to the Ghost theme. He tries first at 12:59. Mike’s Space Bigfoot says no. Trey is stubborn though, and just forces a return to the theme at 13:12. Not the best transition. It certainly sounded like Mike and Page wanted to take that further.
Trey is the truck in this Gif
The Ghost theme ends things as it drifts into nothing.
Final Thoughts
Two Ghosts since the return, and two great versions. I spoke with some friends about this Ghost over the weekend, and many of them feel that is has a lot of the Holy Ghost (12/31/10) to it. It is certainly blissful, but I hear more of the Holy Ghost in the previous version (Hampton ’09). Regardless, both versions certainly help to shape the 12/31/10 version. The beginning jam of this Ghost is nice, but nothing that blows me away. They settle into a nice groove, but it doesn’t find the magic I look for. Though, starting around the 7 minute mark there is magic that does happen. The peak is gorgeous yet blissful and makes me very happy. The end is a bit rough as well.
The peak is enough to give this a good score.
Score: 8.6