#ShowThoughts Phish at SPAC 8/26/23

N2: “Let’s make the first set forgettable, so the second set is totally unforgettable.” -Trey, probably

Before I saw who the guest was, I heard the tone and knew. Derek and Trey’s guitar harmonies were sublime. 2 absolute masters bringing out the best in one another.

The 1st question my buddy asked me after the show was, “Did you cry?” Of course I cried! I cried like 3 separate times.
I cried on the relisten. I’m still crying. Tears of gratitude and joy.

#ShowThoughts Phish at SPAC 8/25/23

N1: “We don’t need to remember how to play the songs if we just jam ‘em!” -Trey, probably

The composed sections were sloppy, but who cares when there are so many interesting jams (Sand, AWOH, Simple, Fuego, even Mull and Moma Dance are worth relistening to).

A good Phish show always takes me to unexpected places. And whether it was Sand teleporting me to Oz or Velvet Sea transporting me back to making out with my first girlfriend, this show moved me!

I’ll write up some SPAC #ShowThoughts once I catch up on my sleep deficit, but was curious if other folks are like me and don’t like talking about the show during the show? I just want to dance and not talk to anyone when the band is playing, then talk about anything besides the music at set-break, then talk about the show after the show is over. I think dissecting it mid-show makes me too critical; I create a narrative in my head and it’s much tougher for me to be present.

#ShowThoughts The Flaming Lips at The YouTube Theater (8/18/23)

There was an interesting hodgepodge of people in the crowd. Young and old. Some folks wore tie-dye, others trucker hats, and even a few rocking Tommy Bahama button-ups. And as far as I could I tell, the thing they all had in common, was that at some point in their formative years, The Flaming Lips blew their minds and they were eager to get a little weird once again. And we got weird. Plenty of it…
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#ShowThoughts 10: King Gizzard at The Hollywood Bowl (6/21/23)

I’m not a big buffet guy. Give me quality over quantity and variety any day. But my first #KGATLW show felt like the concert equivalent of Bacchanal - over a 3 hour set, I got to sample so many different things and they were all quality. Western movie soundtrack as a bring-tears-to-my-eyes tribute to a departed father? ✔️ Thrash metal? ✔️ Psych rock? ✔️ Hip-hop? ✔️ Prog? ✔️ Synth prog? ✔️ Jazz? ✔️ Folk? ✔️ Jamming? ✔️

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#ShowThoughts 9: Mighty Poplar (w/ Maya de Vitry) @ the Pico Union Project (5/18/23)

On the early seasons of Top Chef, contestants would often get eliminated for making a duo of something. The judges would say, “Why do 2 things pretty good, when you could’ve made 1 thing outstanding?!” That’s how I feel about jamgrass. Neither the jams, nor bluegrass ever feel truly outstanding when paired together. I want one or the other. Last night, I got some OUTSTANDING bluegrass!
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#ShowThoughts 8: Goose @ Cal Coast Credit Union Amphitheatre (4/29/23)

Comparison is the thief of joy. I could compare last night’s #Goose show to the Phish shows I saw last weekend or other Goose shows from this tour and I’d probably steal joy from myself. But comparison can also be the giver of joy. With 5 repeats from their last SoCal show (at the Greek), it was easy to see how much Goose has leveled up in the past year. Trevor’s improved bass-playing is the most obvious difference.
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#ShowThoughts 7: Phish @ The Hollywood Bowl (4/23/23)

Flow state. Every once in a while I enter it while writing and a script pours out of me. It’s a remarkable feeling! But despite #Phish fans’ encouragement to “surrender to the flow,” that’s easier said than done. Especially when you’re like me and your brain has a running commentary going at seemingly all times. I even tend to mentally compose concert reviews at almost every show I attend. But not this past weekend at The Bowl.

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#ShowThoughts 6: Phish at The Hollywood Bowl (4/22/23)

Set(list) and setting. On Friday night, the setting was perfect; the setlist was not. Last night, both were extraordinary. So many songs I love to hear packed into one show, including a ferocious Melt, fantastically dense Sally, and an epic CDT. But it was the first notes of Antelope that brought the tears. I was transported back to my 1st show (8/14/97) and the moment Phish became my favorite band. 25+ years later and not much has changed.

#ShowThoughts 5: Phish at The Hollywood Bowl 4/21/23

I’ve been looking forward to this weekend for months. Sometimes when you’re really excited about a show, you set your expectations too high and are invariably disappointed. But that was not the case last night. Was it a perfect #Phish show? No! But I had a perfect night! Drinking Russian River beers on the shuttle with a new show buddy, catching up with one of favorite work friends outside the gate, and then dancing my ass off for 3 hours. 🧵

#ShowThoughts 4: Pink Talking Fish @ The Venice West (2/26/23)

In the Big City Greens writers’ room, we look for a character’s “want” (their external goal), “the lie they believe” (a belief about how they can achieve that goal that proves to be false), and their “need” (upon realizing the lie, the new realization the character has that completes their story arc). Cricket WANTS to be a sheep rodeo master. He BELIEVES he can montage his way to greatness. He NEEDS to actually put in the work.
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#ShowThoughts 3: Umphrey’s McGee @ HOB Anaheim (2/25/23)

The best in-the-moment concert experience of my life was Medeski Martin & Wood @ the Smith Opera House on 4/29/00. I was already an avid MMW fan but didn’t recognize almost anything they were playing and thought every glorious composition was being improvised. I reviewed the show for my HS newspaper and wrote, “Sound transcends noise. Music transcends sound. And whatever MMW was doing transcended music!” Hyperbolic nonsense? Yup! But…
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@drummmerandy I’ll post some #showthoughts tomorrow. My general sense of UM is they’re a super tight band. Great lead guitarist. Don’t much care for their vocals. And they tend to play more prog and thrash than I would like. But the good stuff is really good!

For Mastadon (and Shakedown Social) to take off, there needs to be more content and friendly interaction between users. I want to do my part, so in addition to writing #ShowThoughts after concerts I attend, I’ve been noodling on a few ideas. One of them is #MinorWisdoms. The idea is that at 40, I’m old enough to know that I don’t know shit about shit. But… I have accumulated a lot of useful li’l nuggets that I thought others might appreciate, such as…

Forgot to post a photo with my #ShowThoughts. So here’s a few bonus thoughts:

My first time at the Novo. Good sound, good sight lines, nice clean bathroom. It’s a nice 2K capacity venue even if it lacks a little character.

After a string of shows with great LA crowds, this one was… not great. Lotta chompers. Not so bad that it really affected my experience negatively, but certainly didn’t elevate it.

#ShowThoughts 2: Dark Star Orchestra @ The Novo (1/27/23)

I was supposed to go with another dad from my kids’ school. His wife was like, “He’s never listened to the Grateful Dead before and then a few months ago he started playing them all the time.” I said, “They can have that effect.” She looked at me like I was nuts. I went to dinner with some other parents and had to duck out early for the show. They looked at me like I was nuts. Got to show. No one looked at me like I was nuts.

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#ShowThoughts 1: Trampled by Turtles @ The Troubadour

I sat in bed with my wife on Wednesday night reminiscing about the shows I’ve seen at the Troubadour: The Slackers (twice), The Aggrolites, Built To Spill, Elvis Perkins, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah… and it occurred to me that every show I’ve been fortunate enough to see there, has been great! The room is a dirty old crucible blending history, intimacy, and energy, and it creates MAGIC. This is a special place and one worth seeking out.

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