Mike and The Italians (GRAB): Bonnaroo V. Raliegh

Was anyone else lucky enough to catch the first two Trey Mike Duo Show? (You can also use the names DMT or Mike & the Italians, but don't use GRAB, as I'm bouncing that gayness from this thread!!)

I was lucky enough to be at the first two, and I gotta say, I was pretty floored at how cohesive and tight these guys are as a unit after only 2 shows. Comparitively speaking, it blows away what Trey was doing last spring after only 2 shows with the 70 volt parade. The band is tighter, the rhythm section is better, Trey's playing is more adventurous, and the band is improvising at a much much higher level than even I anticipated after only 4 hours of live music under their belts.

Sure the 2 shows were practically the same. Each had a different encore, one had a Phil sit-in, and one had some extra Trey and MIke material. But for all intents and purposes, it was the same show, especially when we're talking about Trey and Mike. That was the odd part of Raleigh, having attended Bonnaroo. I've had dreams that I've gone to phish shows, and they DSO'ed up a night, where they played the exact same setlist as a previous show, but better. I couldn't help but shake that feeling in Raliegh. It was like Deja Vu. 140 minutes of Deja Vu.

But, realistically speaking, Bonnaroo was almost like a no-pressure warm up for them. The people in THAT Tent at Bonnaroo had no level of expecation. They had no anticipation for Trey Mike and the Duo to come on and do ANYTHING. NO one even knew what to expect in terms of a lineup until the 4 of them graced the stage that night. Sure there were rumors, but they were still rumors. So they were able to come on stage, free of the pressure of any first gig, and play that first gig to a bunch of people who were just excited to see half of Phish playing a stealth gig under the Tennessee moon.

Raleigh, on the other hand, the scheduled first gig, did have the pressures of a first gig. It followed a phil show, so naturally there will be more deadheads in the audience than any given Trey or Phish show. There are certain expectations from people who bought the tickets on what material should be played, how it should be played, blah blah blah. The fact that they were able to escape those pressures at Bonnaroo, I think really helped them with the Raleigh gig.

Musically speaking, Raleigh blew Bonnaroo away. It wasn't just that it was the same setlist, and they simply played it better. They, indeed, sounded tighter, and more "ready" to knock down the doors of improvisational music. The Play Pause Stop from each show shouldn't even be compared. Raleigh won hands down. The spacey intro to the PPS from Raleigh was over 5 minutes long, and was so long, I actually thought that instead of it being the intro to PPS, that they were actually going to open the show with a freeform jam. But finally Russo kicked into the drum beat, and they simply smoked it. Suskind Hotel was another song that ventured further out into the blissful unknown. It didn't get that far out there, but was certainly a much neeeded extension of the jam over the Bonnaroo version, with Marco and Mike taking the lead, and Trey staying in the backseat. Goodbye Head was probably the best version ever played. The last 2 versions have been TOP NOTCH, and stack up against the best version ever played by the volts in Charlotte in May of 05. The Raliegh Goodbye head had an amazingly extended intro that was Grateful Dead-esque to say the least. This was easily the second best song played in Raliegh. It delightfully segued into the Duo's Something for Rockets. Not much of a change up here from Bonnaroo. Maybe a slight bit tighter, but nothing more. Car Carrier Blues was easily one of the BIG BIG treats of the night. Hell yes! More Clone Please!! This wasn't as good as the version Mike plays with his Inside In Band, but it had this reggae feel, and sounded almost Identical to Stir it Up. Sleep again, another bustout, was also a treat to hear, as I feel it is one of the phishiest post-coventry songs. If this were written in 2004, it would've been a phish song. It feels more at home with a drummer and bass player that actually know how to play it, though I did think it should have been improvised harder.

Mr. Completely was easily the best improvisational jam that Trey or Mike have been involved with since Coventry. It simply blew the roof off Alltell Pavillion and for a few brief minutes, gave me Deja Vu. Not of Bonnaroo, though, of Phish, in the summer, under a shed. IT is, indeed, the closest thing to Phish that's been done since Coventry, and was absolutely, ABSOLUTELY, mind-blowing. This was, without question, not only the highlight of the night, but the highlight of the first two shows.

Mr. Completely segued into Spin (after Trey spun around once to signal to Joe what song was next). Spin was tight but featured no jam, which was a slight dissapointment after the amazing Mr. C jam and the jam out of Spin from Bonnaroo. The rest of the show was fairly Standard. Drifting is Drifting. Mud City Ripped Ripped Ripped. Way Better than Bonnaroo, though, I fear there isn't much room for this tune to grow. It's this bands "character zero." Let Me Lie, Tuesday encore. What can I say? After years and years of phish/trey shows, I've come to expect these standard little encores to close the shows. I'd ask for something more, but we're still gonna get these types encores from Trey no matter what. So you either have 2 options here, leave before the encore, or suck it up and stay. For me, as the song goes, "I will be here til the end..."

So there you have it. Though I had an AWESOME time at both shows, Raliegh blew Bonnaroo away, if only because of the Mr. Completely jam, and I'm glad it did. 2 shows in and the future is very bright.... Til Atlanta...