Checking In On The Philathon
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Artist:
I'll spare you full reviews seeing how often I've sung the praises of this lineup, but with now two Phil & Friends Nokia shows under the ol' belt for the run and a third on deck tonight, here are five off-the-cuff observations:
[Photo by Rob Chapman via Phillesh.net]
1 . There's a nice little debate kicking around the Phil faithful at the moment asking whether this year's Nokia residency is better than last year's. Most folks are hedging, but some glass-half-empty comments I've heard favor last year's, saying that now that this incarnation of Phil & Friends is comfortable, it's lost the surprise factor and settled into predictability.
Based on this year's setlists , that seems a little absurd to begin with, but to me, that's an apples-to-toothpaste comparison anyway. Last year's Nokia run was essentially a test kitchen for this lineup to see just how chemistry it had and how much excitement it could muster, and on its last weekend, most observers agree, they clicked and became a band. This year's model is the same personnel, give or take a guest, but a band utterly sure of itself after a long summer of touring and now confident in its ability to "get there"—aware of all its strengths, working on its weaknesses—with everyone willing to add a bit more of his (or her!) personality to the mix.
Most noticeably, Steve Molitz isn't as reticent about slipping in the nutty keyboard effects this year—he's been blasting off all over the place, and doing it tastefully, as in Tuesday night's fierce Feel Like a Stranger second set opener. Teresa Williams, too, now qualifies as a full-fledged band member, and it's been great to see her in places both logical (boy, did she nail that beautiful, beautiful Peggy-O on Sunday) and surprising (she and Jackie brought marvelous harmonies to Music Never Stopped on Sunday and Cassidy on Tuesday—both set two enders, both Bobby songs the Phil lineup doesn't often play, and both terrific.)
READ ON for four more observations from Chad…
by Chad Berndtson Leave A Comment
Comments (1)
i cant believe the philathon is stiiiiiiiil going on. that new liver of his is titanium. glad to hear that you think this run is better. phil shows this past year have been really on and off for me. some nights he rages it, other nights the music is mellower and sloooooowwer.