The Daily Ghost #90 06/11/2010 Toyota Park, Bridgeview, IL
(Remaster by @KernelForbin)
Background (Set: 2 of 2 – Song: 3 of 9 – Show Gap: 1)
Ghost is played in back to back shows. One on New Year’s Eve 2009, and the next to open the Summer 2010 tour. Back in a now customary second set position, Ghost is played at the beginning of the set. The segue and all of Limb By Limb have been included.
Composed Section (0:00-3:39)
Trey gets the first Ghost of 2010 started before Mike answers quickly. Mike is right behind him and with power. A short intro jam breaks out with Mike being the strongest component.
Ghost has a nice slow pace, the crowd is pumped and sings along. The solo section is a funky treat from Page. Mike brings his funk to add to Page and we are treated to a solid solo section.
The smooth slow pace produces a nice lead in. The pause gets some Fishman cymbals before a decent drop. For the first Ghost of the year? I am good with that. Not perfectly crisp but certainly no train wreck. The slow pace makes this a nice intro section.
Creating Potential Energy (3:40-8:19)
The jam begins with some soft sectioned measures. The band breaks down quickly and gets a heavy dose of Fish. The rest of the band is hesitant early and so Fish provides a lot of the action.
Mike has chosen a thunderous tone, which provides some excitement. Page’s early weapon is the clav but he is on the outside looking in. Trey is just adding some texture around the edges. This is the Mike and Fish show early.
The jam starts to take a darker turn at the 4:38 mark, as Mike starts to bring an evil tone into the jam. At 5:03, the band takes a huge change and lets the jam almost stop completely. It was half ugly, half pretty cool.
Page seems to find himself better after that downturn. The jam wades down in the deep murk for bit before its next change.
This was a good time for @KernelForbin to choose an AUD. This type of jam is not for everyone. The band is playing a minamlist style of jam and taking a lot of chances. They are not locked in, but instead all looking to explore a bit. You can hear on the AUD a lot of chatter, as some people get lost during these types of jams. I (being the Ghost lover that I am) find these moments extremely interesting and some of my most attentive moments are here. I love listening for who is going to take charge and how they are going to move into the next section.
Around the 5:45 mark, things get a touch funky from Mike. Trey looks like he is going to take charge at the 6:00 mark, but instead just blends in. Phish decides to park it here for a bit and be patient.
So when the band parks into a groove like this, I can certainly space out as well. For the next two minutes I am floating away mindlessly swaying. I leave the venue and go to whole different place. It is almost like I when I just stare at this for minutes at a time…
Mmmmm Ice Cream…
So this early floating away section does two things. It lets you drift away and it also helps to build for the peak. By wallowing around in this broken down jam, it is almost as if they are creating energy. This jam is the potential energy, and the kinetic energy will be released later. YEAH! The Daily Ghost just dropped scientific knowledge on you!
The longer they sit in this jam the bigger the payoff is later. Not necessarily my favorite section but it does serve a purpose.
Kinetic Energy Unleashed (8:20-15:05)
Trey starts to find a nice melody to build on at the 8:20 mark. Fish is pushing the tempo with incredible skill. It is one of those instances where it is not a 180 degree change. Instead, all of a sudden I look around and we are moving way faster than before. Rewind back a couple minutes and you will hear the difference. Fish rules.
At 8:52, Page starts to bring some sweet piano melodies into the mix with Trey’s gorgeous playing. Having Page meshing with him, Trey really finds his mark. Big red finds a beautiful tone and begins to ride it into ecstasy. By the 9:20 mark, I am loving life. The potential energy built in the first section is starting to be unleashed.
There is nobody talking now….I love when there is a slower part of the jam and some people are talking, and seem not interested. Then when these ass kicking sections happen, Phish forces them to be quiet. No other choice… Everyone is just blown away.
Fish drops a fill at 10:25, and things are officially on. Time to strap in!!! It is adult XXX time. Make sure nobody is around and get ready to get crazy.
Fish begins to crush out pattern after pattern, while Trey takes this up another notch. Mike throws down a monster bass line and I am going nuts. This is full band, full ass kicking!!!! This is powerful, powerful Phish. This is where you look around, and the crowd looks like they are doing a rain dance on Molly. Well a lot of them probably are.
So that was an awesome peak!!! Well done!! Thanks for coming!!! Wait…
There is more??? WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
At 10:54, Trey UNLEASHES the machine gun. First show of summer tour, and Trey brings the flamethrower to the Windy City. Mike answers the bell and brings a giant tank into the battle. Only it is a big super speed tank that punches people in the face.
This is a full band onslaught to the jugular right now. Remember that potential energy before? Yeah they just melted your face with it!!!
At 11:23, the band takes it up yet again and the trio of Trey, Mike, and Fish are beyond locked it. Page is providing integral support as well. That trio just brings everything they have and it is truly incredible stuff.
I am thinking two things right now. 1.) I love Ghost 2.) Phish is my favorite band ever and it is not even close.
When they click, empires fall, new recipes for ice cream are created, the best gifs are created, and Kate Upton takes her top off.
Trey begins to create some tension at 12:37, Page and Mike start rocking away. This things builds to a FURY!!!! Trey just….keeeeeeeeps…..going……
Page for all his background duty before is unloading on the piano!!! Just when you think it can’t build any more, Trey changes to an awesome tone, and the crowd goes ballistic.
This just happened…
Faces melted, minds blown. Ice cream consumed. Trey throws in another machine gun lick just to kick you in the balls one more time. That is what a full band peak is all about!!!
The jam breaks down at the 13:47 mark, to a huge cheer from the audience. Then Mike lets go a thunderous bass tone to work the jam all way down with. Awesome stuff from Mike. Fish begins to change up the beat a bit and he and Mike form an awesome outro jam.
Trey gets spacey around the two of them and things crackle away before segueing nicely into Limb By Limb. It begins over some ambient noise around the 15:05 mark, and gets some cool effects before it fully takes shape. That little cool intro makes all the difference. More of that!!!!
Final Thoughts
An incredibly difficult Ghost for me to score. The beginning section is nothing special. Some cool stuff, but for the most part it just floats around. It does however set the tone for the second half of this Ghost which is one big flamethrower to the face. This is honestly one of my favorite peaks. Full band power that blows me away. A cool segue into Limb By Limb also helps.
Score: 9.0