The Daily Ghost #85 08/14/2009 The Comcast Theater, Hartford, CT
(AUD Download @KernelForbin Remaster)
Background (Set: 2 of 2 – Song: 6 of 10 – Show Gap: 11)
Ghost is placed toward the end of the second set. The segue into Psycho Killer has been included.
Composed Section (0:00-3:15)
Trey starts this Ghost off once again, and is quickly followed by Mike and Fish. Page gets right to the clav and begins to bring the funk right away. The vocals come in much quicker than in the previous few versions.
The pace of this Ghost is a bit more upbeat as well. The solo sections gets a huge shot of Page’s clav and Mike adds some extra flavoring. A nice solo section. The funkier the better!
The lead in is once again horrible. But on another level. The lead in was…wait for it….
They are really messing up the lead in badly. Are they even trying? Luckily after a short pause, the drop in is actually pretty good. The end of the composed section after the drop is kind of rough as well.
A super short composed section clocking in at only 3:15.
Grooving into the Build (3:16-6:24)
Some sectioned off jamming begins this Ghost jam, as the band looks to find a direction. The familiar opening groove is chosen. Fish starts with an easy beat and Mike begins to lay down some structure.
The band settles in nicely early into this jam. Page on piano and Trey soloing with an nice light tone. A nice balance between the Trey, Mike, Page trio makes it easy to start head bobbing.
At the 4:40 mark, Trey starts to repeat a lick, and Fish jumps on board and starts to push the tempo. Page layers some chords and Mike picks up his pace as well. A nice move by the band to increase the pace slightly but not move away from the jam.
When Trey moves away from that lick, he starts a nice solo and a great bluesy jam breaks out. With a fill from Fish at 5:10, they break the jam down, and find a gorgeous space to settle into. Page finds himself and compliments Trey’s soloing perfectly.
Mike also works with serious skill around Trey and the band is locked in. Fish then begins to move into the cymbals and helps to drive the pace forward. The jam moves upbeat smoothly and then at 5:50, everyone starts to move things quicker.
At 5:55, Trey plays a soaring lick and they come away from the build. This jam has found a super nice place. A patient, well played build at the end of this section makes for a fantastic next section.
Ass Kicking (6:25-10:44)
Trey changes his tone and throws his rocking gritty tone into mix. He lets some riffs explode and then fade out. The rest of the band works their asses off to build this jam. You can tell it is officially go time!! LawnMemo straps in…
At 6:54, Trey unleashes his inner rocker, and begins rocking out with a more classic tone. No time to waste in this Ghost!! 3:00 minutes in, and we are already prepared to hit the peak section.
Fish has moved to ass kicking mode, and Page is throwing down some power on the piano. Mike works up and down the scales adding force to this rocker. I love Trey’s playing in this section. Powerful, gorgeous, and controlled tone. He is taking the lead but he is allowing room for the rest of the band to kick some ass as well. Really well done by Big Red.
After a fill at 8:08 by Fish, things are really on fire. More fills from Fish follow and then Trey starts to repeat a lick to build more tension. You know what that means…..MORE FIRE!!!!! Always a great technique when Trey takes a second in the middle of heater to build more tension. The result? MORE HEAT!
Trey creates the tension at 8:23, as the rest of the band just obliterates everything in its path. Then when Trey releases the tension at 8:35…
Time for a sweet ride!! Trey rips a touch of machine gun into this rocking peak. The jam continues to rock after that, until about the 9:04 mark. The band begins to break down this peak.
A change of pace from Fish at 9:19, and it sounds like we are headed to the Ghost outro. Except….
Psych Out!!!!
Fish blasts a fill at the 9:30 mark, and Trey finds a power lick. And…wait….there’s more!!!
The jam begins to climb back up to ass kicking status, as Fish and Page are hammering away.
Trey finds a high pitched lick at 10:15 that he machine guns to build more tension. When he releases it, Fishman just annihilates his kit. After Fish’s insanity…Trey starts the lick into Psycho Killer.
Great Segue!
Final Thoughts
A short Ghost, clocking in under 11 minutes. Still it has a furious peak and cool segue into Psycho Killer. I like a lot of Trey’s playing in this Ghost and give him high marks. Pretty straight forward 0-60 in 11:00 minutes Ghost. It certainly doesn’t find any type 2 magic, but it is well played and certainly satisfying.
Score: 8.4