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Written by Relix
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Monday, 14 August 2006 |
Phish
Live in Brooklyn
Rhino
Coney Island's broken dreams
— the unused parachute drop, a clankety wooden roller coaster that feels like it's gonna bust apart at any second—were the perfect psychic backdrop for the mixed emotions of Phish's final summer. Now preserved as a double-DVD (with a sold-separately three-CD soundtrack), Phish's rain-soaked opening night is an appropriately varied bag.
Decidedly rough around the edges, especially on their more complicated material, Phish pushes gamely through. When the carnival obliqueness of "Dinner and a Movie" collapses briefly, the band members grin at one another and clamor back to their feet (they pull the trick again during "I am Hydrogen"). In many places (the wispy debut of "Nothing," the are-we-playing-this? intro to the post-storm "Divided Sky") the quartet sounds and looks tentative. But in just as many spots (the one-two pop from the knot-like "Oh Kee Pah Ceremony" into a thrilling "Suzy Greenburg") all systems are go.
Judged by it's snowflake-like uniqueness among Phish shows, the performance has much to recommend: the rickety first take of "A Song I
Heard the Ocean Sing," the never-developed psychedelic centerpiece of the just-released Undermind; a darkly mechanical jam out of "Moma Dance" perfectly appropriate to the impending rain; a moment of goofballery with "Kung." Other bits, such as the "Mike's Song > I am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove," feel set and tired.
Each package features the requisite bonus material: a soundcheck jam and backstage strums with Trey Anastasio on the DVD, different soundcheck material (including Undermind's never-performed title cut) on a disc available through Phish.com, and a bit of the following night on both (sadly excluding Phish's jamz with Jay-Z). Throughout it all, like Coney Island, Phish projects a fantasyland that has seen better days, though remains totally unlike any other place in the world. Jesse Jarnow
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Last Updated ( Monday, 08 January 2007 )
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