7-21-01 - Alpine Valley, East Troy, WI

review submisions to me at [email protected] or [email protected]

Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2001 14:38:57 -0500
From: Alex Leong [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: 7/21/01 Soundcheck
 
I work at Alpine Valley and I got to watch Trey's soundcheck/rehearsal
before the gates opened.  Here is what they went over (I've forgotten the
correct order):
 
Push on til the Day^, Tube Top Wobble, Simple Twist of Dave, Money Love
Change(?)^^, At the Barbeque, Nothing But An E Thing^^^, Sidewalks of San
Francisco(the repetetive song with 12/8 time signature)^^^^
 
^ just Trey going over the changes with John Medeski
^^ after the first run through Trey told John to play a little run at the
very end of the song.  The band then went back and played the end once more
^^^ featured a typically amazing Medeski piano solo which I felt was better
than what he played during the show
^^^^ the band went over this (maybe twice) but it was not played in the show
 
 
Alex

Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 12:14:04 -0500 From: David Mc Caig [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: Alpine Review It interesting to find out that Trey thanked the audience for coming to check out the new stuff at Red Rocks, as per setlist. Overall it is was solid playing, but the main shortfall was that the contribution of John Medeski was not as obvious as I expected it to be. I was great to see him work with the band. He seemed to have no problem working with the arrangement, and the biggest challenge seemed to be his keeping up with Trey at several points. Perhaps the show could have drawn a few more smiles if some other covers were pulled out, something that even first time attendees would have ached-down with no problem. I wasn't expecting any phish and none was played, which is fine (except with some clowns that kept yelling out requests for songs that would have little or no probability of being played [my seats were second row] ). The overall preformance of the show was pretty strong from second row. One of the other reviews talks about the flubs towards the end. I didn't really pick up on this, but the music that is being played appears to be extremely demanding on Russ Lawton, so it doesn't really surprise me that he was fatigued. During Last Tube he must have played basically the same thing for twelve minutes, and it was high intensity. Even the horn section had to continue doing repetitive moves for long jams. It looks like working for Trey is pretty tough, though rewarding. Depending how much you like the new songs, obtaining the discs would be worthwhile. I kinda had a feeling that First Tube would be the encore, and that Small Axe would be included. Trey was jumping forward onto one of his pedals (or something) during the heavy baseline drops during 1st Tube, unlike last year at Alpine where he was jumping up and down at song crescendo (base line drops) which was really entertaining. If one has the winter solo tapes, "one mans trash" and a working knowledge of stuff that Trey enjoys doing solo, you should no problem enjoying solo Trey shows this Summer - David
Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 09:29:14 -0400 From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: Alpine Valley Review I knew as soon as my girlfriend and I jumped out of the car that this was going to be an amazing time. The crowd was very, very chill but I was a little thrown off at first because of how many people were selling tickets! We had two extra and they were a pain to get rid of. It seemed most people just expected to get a free ticket which was interesting. Trey came out with a huge smile on his face and kept the crowd pumped with a push on till the day opener. This was the closest I had ever been at a show and it was great just to watch trey analyze the crowd to see what we wanted and how he could "manipulate" (maybe a bad word) the crowd. For about half an hour of the first set I was just watching Medeski's hands. How does he do it!!! He has to have wrist problems because it seems impossible for anyone to do what he did at Alpine. It was great to watch the interaction between Trey and Medeski. It seemed at times Medeski would want to step it up a bit over Trey's lead but Trey would drown him out. Cayman review jammed and I was very excited to hear some of these songs for the first time because this was my first show this tour. I thought that this is a great band....not phish, of course not phish....but a great band. Second set was started with Moesha which I heard people had mixed feelings about but I enjoyed it. It seemed a little abrupt but I figured that was the norm. My personal highlight was burlap sack and pumps which contained an INTENSE head to head match up between Trey and Medeski. All I was doing was drooling. It was ridiculous. Everytime the other one took control, I was like, how did he jump in with that groove!!! But then the other would take it a step higher!!!! This time I was amazed by Trey doing what he does best. He can play......I have never seen him tear up a guitar like he did here!!! I did not catch as bad a goof up as the other review but First Tube did seem a little rushed at the end. Overall I was impressed and would suggest anyone who enjoys good music to check out this band.
Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2001 16:49:50 EDT From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: Trey 7-21-01 review This review was also posted by Bloo(me) on phishhook, so if you read it there, this is the same thing: 1st set- push on till the day opener, couldn't ask for much more! Trey soloed over the end, kind of a cross between the old and new version, which rocked! The whole set was pretty damn good, don't remember all of it, but cayman review and last tube kicked my ass, excellent jamming. Medeski sounded awesome when he wasn't drowned out by trey(which was the same problem with san diego, i'm starting a people for a louder trey keyboardist.) but the playing was awesome by all, as usual. at the end of the set trey said that alpine valley was the best place to play in the world. hmmmmmm..... Second set- moesha opener. high energy as usual. then the ambient quantegy. Good stuff, got me in a trance. the best burlap sack and pumps i've heard ever followed. This one is worth it for the tapes alone!! they really spiced this up, there seemed to be extra energy in the first part. then tony and russ stopped the groove and left trey and medeski in a very cool space, a little solo deal where they were just filling in the rhythm holes to create one sound, with medeski on clav, trey with the wah. It went on for a while and kept going to different places and i have no idea how they held onto each other like that! I guess that's what happens when you have two guys who are on a totally different level with their instruments going at it. the groove kicked in again in perfect time, the song continued with some grippo solos. The whole thing must have been fifteen minutes. a slow song followed, then that really heavy, intense new song(Mr.Completely?) came on and that's where shit fell apart. they had it going, some tiny flubs here and there, then on the ending jam, russ lost his shit bad. it seemed like he was doing a really cool fill deal, but then everyone just collapsed!!! the song fell apart and ended abruptly as hell! i've never seen that happen live to anyone, but it is totally understandable: trey's music is so fragile. if one person messes up, it can't really be covered up. Especially the drums, cause then tony gets thrown off, and if he's off, the whole band is screwed in the ass. Which is exactly what happened. so trey goes to russ, probably said "take a break," and then they did an acoustic number. russ came back on for a good drifting, which ended the set, trey bowing fast: "thanks goodnight!" and he's outta there. the horns didn't look happy at all, either and their always happy. you can tell there was some uneasiness after that. the crowd was not dancing too much that night, maybe russ tried to spice shit up and then lost it. like trey said "when you take risks, sometimes you play shit." so they come back on for a rushed as hell 1st tube, not sand as posted by that other guy, that was hanging by the threads the whole time, trey kinda messed up a bit, and russ and tony were a tad fast, which screwed up the riffs timing. and with a botched ending similar to the other one. ouch. this was an awesome show, but after that flub, it was a sad site to see. get the discs, but don't bother with disc 3. some side notes: treys band is loosening up a lot, getting real comfortable with the material. they've come a long way since san diego, the future will prove to be hot as hell, imo. for those of you who hate tony's bass playing, he's got the skills, but trey will give him the go ahead to bust out of the repetition ------TREY WRITES THE REPEATING BASS LINES----he does everything in the band, and is probably just waiting until the whole band gets completely solid before they start really experimenting. and if you attacked tony's physical looks(which at least one dude has), well, that just shows your own insecurity and is really a lame thing to do with so many people reading. peace
Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2001 13:46:52 -0500 From: Andrew Rustad [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: Trey At Alpine Alpine last night was a good time. It was a very mellow scene. I picked up a ticket for 15 instead of 35, what they were charging at the Box Office. Alpine holds like 35,000 or 40,000. The pavilion was pretty much full and the lawn was maybe half full, but plenty of room wherever you wanted to go. This was definitely not a Phish show. I go to see Phish for the sick improv jams, and the only improv we got last night was a SICK Medeski/Trey duet during Burlap Sack. Another highlight for me was Cayman Review--this song is pure bliss. This band has turned it around 360 degrees from the spring tour (In my opinion). The rehearsals paid off--and they better have if you are charging 40 bucks (with Ticketbastard). Much, much tighter. Simple Twist Up Dave was also very good. The horn instrumental (At the Gazebo or At the Barbeque, I can't remember what) was melancholy, and maybe could have been placed in a better spot than the middle of the second set. Nevertheless, I dig it. Trey also busted another ballad in the middle of the second set that I had never heard--the only time I wasn't dancing the whole show. I had two other personal highlights--I think the bust-out of Marley's Small Axe (unless they played it at Riverport). This was pure instrumental masterpiece, no vocals, and it didn't need it. This was the highlight of the first set. They nailed it. The more Marley, the better, in my opinion. I think I liked this version better than Bob's. The other highlight was the second set closer, another one I haven't heard. Pure groove is all I can say. Really solid. It usually takes me a couple of listens to a tune before I love it, but this one I loved from the first measure. The Sand encore was high-energy, as usual, but not as good as a Phish version. All in all, I like Trey's band. No improv, just solid grooves. Go to dance. Medeski's appearance last night was cool, but this is Trey's band, and Medeski was laid back and just seemed to be another member of the team (except for that sick Burlap Sacks). That Mr. Completely last night was pure Trey as Jimi mode. Ten minutes of wanking, if you dig Trey as heavy metal god stuff. A lot of people in the crowd just seemed to be taking all the new material in. It's a lot to ask a crowd to listen to a whole show of new material, and I thought the crowd was respectful, really listening. After this show I think Phish will be back someday. I've never seen Trey as into it as with the guys in Phish. Let Trey have his fun this summer. He deserves a break. Just go to dance.
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