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

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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