You'll notice immediately in listening to this song that Phish is playing an upbeat version. They've played very slow and stretched out versions of this song, in particular, I am thinking of the Great Went, but in this case, we have an upbeat, danceable, grooveable rhythm right from the Get Go. So he nails the lyrics and hits the high notes well. On my tape, someone in the audience screams. Trey drops out and suddenly sets up a digital delay loop.
Anticipation is very very very gradually building.
He hits the same line he kept hitting before, with a couple of added flourishes, but still softly, patiently, and then suddenly something different starts, with Trey finding, right out of the blue, a whole new line to focus on, still low and mellow, but this one has more opportunities to experiment, he repeats it, but every time, a small change here, a return to the original line, a different change there, a return to the original line, a high note for a flourish here, a return to the original line. Then he changes it, rises it up a couple of notes, its a new line now, like the old one but groovier, boogier, cool notes sounding out on top that make me twitch while I dance to it, and the band responds, Page switches to the piano, and we have stellar phish rock boogie, piano, bass, drums, and Trey's guitar set to lead. Well, there you have it. But Trey does this better than anyone ever has. Not speed, technical ability, not just one line of phrase, not obscure influences, although Trey has plenty of those.