My quick take:
Everyone in the band was challenging the rest of their bandmates in different ways. Page coming up with melodic lines for the rest to follow, Fishman pushing and pulling rhythmically, Mike making everyone keep it grooving, and Trey daring everyone to follow him from one song to the next with some intentional, very sudden and deft segues.
Fun.
After some thought, last night was really one of those shows that could be looked at in many different ways depending on what you are looking for.
Definitely wasn't the absolute best show I've seen, but also found SO many interesting things going on, I find myself thinking about it in ways I've never thought about a PH show before, and really what more could I want? That alone makes it "great" for me.
And the fact that there are still new ways to approach this music at this phase of their career is another layer of pure fascination.
I just keep coming back to this idea of the band challenging themselves, both individually and collectively. I don't think they get there every night, but more often than not, there's a desire to find and create something brand new. It's utterly inspiring. I think very precious few artists who find success can continue to maintain that challenging spirit.
Yes, in many ways the band is past their prime, but from another perspective, they are still searching for whatever "prime" or peak might still be out there for them and we're still all in on that searching and what an amazing thing that is.
Thank you for coming to my NEDtalk
And finally, Jon Fishman!
In the band's youth, Trey would challenge himself and the band through degree-of-difficulty compositions, writing shit to see if they could actually play it. Then he challenged them all through degree-of-difficulty listening exercises which made them supreme improvisers.
Now, present day, the degree-of-difficulty shit is coming from Fishman, who is adding life to songs and sections and jams that would be nothing otherwise. It's astounding to witness.
Just listen to what he does in like the , "Leaves" from last night, single-handedly making a supposed throwaway something rather interesting, easy to miss if you're on your way to pee or dismissing the song.
Fishman and Anastasio somehow finding each other is truly the Lennon/McCartney pairing of our age. Prove me wrong.
neddyo
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