I was thinking about the Mike’s Groove after following this tour along with the MC Phish Crit. Listening to this show yesterday and the train wreck (no pun intended with that BOTT) of a show that it seemingly was from my perspective listening 25 years later really got me daydreaming and thinking about other things. Mike’s Groove is this great direct communication link with the audience and fans. It’s like the Simpson’s beginning sequence/theme song opening. There are a bunch of things that change like Bart writing on the chalk board and the item rung up when Maggie is passed through the scanner, or what Lisa plays on Sax during rehearsal, and then the epic crescendo when the whole family sits down at the tv. Like the Simpson’s opening sequence, Mike’s Groove always has the potential to mimic this kind of conversation or reveal little inside jokes to the audience of geeked out fans that we all are. So I thank you, Rob, for delving into the science of Mike’s Groove today. Can’t wait for this tour to be over - it’s unpredictably breaking my mind.
I got on the bus in '92, but never heard any '99s until relisten made it easy to check them out. My local taper moved out of town, and tape trading started failing that year. A couple of times I sent shows out and got nothing back, and I remember getting 2 blank tapes back with a note to the effect "Sorry dude I can't do it". Whatever was going on with the band that year had infected the fan base, or maybe it was the other way around. These reviews just reinforce my take on the era.
It always did seem like a show to me where maybe they went and did their own things for 2 days and were not all entirely happy to see each other again.
This Mike’s Groove is a great listen for me. Mike’s proper is dirty as hell. For so often retreading the “TABification of Phish” narrative on this tour I’d like to acknowledge what the other band members ARE doing, and I love the way this Mike’s is defined by Mike’s slapping, then Page going BIG, and finally by Fish dropping an inspired pre-Nirvana YEM beat along with Trey’s swells. This McGrupp is straight up one of the most beautiful versions ever, and along with Fluff it feels like for a lot of folks they can’t go right with the new songs OR the old since they’re not peaking out big type 2 jams the way they were summer 97 through summer 99. I’m also not from the era when Caspian got dunked on, so it’s probably easier for me to wax on about just how much this one DESTROYS. Golgi is weird placement, but I like it! Certainly more than the early-3.0 trend of sequencing 4 set closers seemingly every show.
The Bowie’s this tour are definitely rather boring. The Jibboo Fluffhead combo, is decidedly not. Odd choices abound, but from the Mike’s on I think the remainder of this run is low-key greatness. But I get that push and pull of raging type I to groove-ambient type 2 is NOT for everyone, and December brings a more universally pleasing style of progressive and forward-thinking jamming right off the bat with one of the greatest second sets ever for mine ears.
I look forward to either passionately agreeing or disagreeing about the next few nights! :D
I think of ">"as a hard segue, where the band doesn't pause but one song winds down and another starts up. A typical Mike's > Hydrogen > Weekapaug is a good example. A "->" is a smooth segue, where whatever they're playing slowly transforms into another song. Think the AC/DC Bag -> Psycho Killer from Dayton '97, or The Real Gin from 12/29/95.
I was thinking about the Mike’s Groove after following this tour along with the MC Phish Crit. Listening to this show yesterday and the train wreck (no pun intended with that BOTT) of a show that it seemingly was from my perspective listening 25 years later really got me daydreaming and thinking about other things. Mike’s Groove is this great direct communication link with the audience and fans. It’s like the Simpson’s beginning sequence/theme song opening. There are a bunch of things that change like Bart writing on the chalk board and the item rung up when Maggie is passed through the scanner, or what Lisa plays on Sax during rehearsal, and then the epic crescendo when the whole family sits down at the tv. Like the Simpson’s opening sequence, Mike’s Groove always has the potential to mimic this kind of conversation or reveal little inside jokes to the audience of geeked out fans that we all are. So I thank you, Rob, for delving into the science of Mike’s Groove today. Can’t wait for this tour to be over - it’s unpredictably breaking my mind.
I got on the bus in '92, but never heard any '99s until relisten made it easy to check them out. My local taper moved out of town, and tape trading started failing that year. A couple of times I sent shows out and got nothing back, and I remember getting 2 blank tapes back with a note to the effect "Sorry dude I can't do it". Whatever was going on with the band that year had infected the fan base, or maybe it was the other way around. These reviews just reinforce my take on the era.
It always did seem like a show to me where maybe they went and did their own things for 2 days and were not all entirely happy to see each other again.
This Mike’s Groove is a great listen for me. Mike’s proper is dirty as hell. For so often retreading the “TABification of Phish” narrative on this tour I’d like to acknowledge what the other band members ARE doing, and I love the way this Mike’s is defined by Mike’s slapping, then Page going BIG, and finally by Fish dropping an inspired pre-Nirvana YEM beat along with Trey’s swells. This McGrupp is straight up one of the most beautiful versions ever, and along with Fluff it feels like for a lot of folks they can’t go right with the new songs OR the old since they’re not peaking out big type 2 jams the way they were summer 97 through summer 99. I’m also not from the era when Caspian got dunked on, so it’s probably easier for me to wax on about just how much this one DESTROYS. Golgi is weird placement, but I like it! Certainly more than the early-3.0 trend of sequencing 4 set closers seemingly every show.
The Bowie’s this tour are definitely rather boring. The Jibboo Fluffhead combo, is decidedly not. Odd choices abound, but from the Mike’s on I think the remainder of this run is low-key greatness. But I get that push and pull of raging type I to groove-ambient type 2 is NOT for everyone, and December brings a more universally pleasing style of progressive and forward-thinking jamming right off the bat with one of the greatest second sets ever for mine ears.
I look forward to either passionately agreeing or disagreeing about the next few nights! :D
I don't consider myself a true sicko, but would love to know the difference between > and - >.
I think of ">"as a hard segue, where the band doesn't pause but one song winds down and another starts up. A typical Mike's > Hydrogen > Weekapaug is a good example. A "->" is a smooth segue, where whatever they're playing slowly transforms into another song. Think the AC/DC Bag -> Psycho Killer from Dayton '97, or The Real Gin from 12/29/95.
Thanks. I guess I'll consider myself a sicko cause that is very useful.