2024-08-09 Bethel, NY - SHOW OF THE SUMMER!!!!

 Holy hell, after month long break I finally get to continue 2024 today. Ive been so dying to get to the Bethel run!!

The show gets off to a wonderful start with an unexpected First Tube!! Really great version friggin LOADED with energy! Awesome!

And they immediately follow that with.... a nearly 15 minute, nuclear -friggin-bomb No Men!!! This sucker is MUST HEAR all day!!! It absolutely blazes, jamming its way to a laid back bliss zone before they kick up the heat again to finish. The final peak explosion section is one of the most "OHMYFRIGGINGODTHISISINCREDIBLE!!!!!" things Ive heard out of 2024. That is saying A LOT!

As with First Tube, a refreshingly placed Cavern keeps the energy going. Great little version.

But then, wait for it, in slot 4 comes....an 18 minute My Friend My Friend. And yes, my friends (pun absolutely intended!), this sucker is a monster. Around the 9 minute mark they slide oh so smoothly into a groovy kind of heavy funk jam. Welcome to type 2, boys and girls! This thing absolutely COOKS!! This thing is the Groove Machine Supreme!!!! Thankfully they stay put in this zone for a good, long time. Eventually Trey starts soloing atop everyone and the whole thing just starts to levitate, Page answering his soloing back on the keys. This sick funk jam lasts to about 14:30. From there it begins to get a little more "abstract", briefly flirting with deconstruction before they all lock in together on an upbeat groove and ride that sucker to the finish line....

X FACTOR MAGIC!!! MUST HEAR!!!! ALL TIMER VERSION RIGHT THERE AND ONE OF THE BEST JAMS OF THE YEAR, HANDS DOWN!!!!!!!! 

After Trey acknowledges the ridiculousness of the jam just unleashed, they give us a great little Bug to cool us down. Great set flow/construction with that choice! Really, really strong version. Not essential but worth a shout out!

And following up with Julius, everyone probably thought "oh no, this will be a short set". Thankfully that is not the case and this Julius is just another steamroller version is a set chock full of fiery heat. Page lets it rip on this sucker and the whole thing is just a wonderful little high energy affair. Great stuff!

Following in tonights vein of songs in unusual slots, we get a nicely grooved out 2001 next. This is a really, really good version! Extra mustard all over - the boys are LOCKED IN and the playing is creative and energetic. Im gonna give this a definite must hear! This thing smokes!!!

Continuing on with its tear since 2023, a ripping Taste follows. Super tight sounding rhythmically - once again, they are locked in tight!!! Total X Factor all over this bad boy. Pages piano solo crushes, Trey has tasty fills out the wazoo, the whole thing is played as good as the album version. This is a friggin FANTASTIC version of Taste!!! Absolutely must hear!!!!

And with that, the set finally comes to its actual conclusion with a spectacularly hot Character Zero. Just blazing. Maybe not must hear but it is total facemelting regardless!

All in all...HOLY CRAP THIS SET FRIGGIN KICKED MY TAIL!!! ABSOLUTELY KILLER FROM START TO FINISH!!!!

No Men, MyFe, 2001 and Taste were all 10,000 percent must hear. Pure X Factor awesomeness all day.

And the rest of the set was an exercise in refreshing song placement and selection with dang near all of it loaded with endless fire and energy.

This was a tippy top tier first set. Hands down. Wow.  

Set 2

Oh no, the set is opening with The Wedge. I love the song but maintain it should pretty much never leave first sets, though for some reason usually appears late in a second, and inexplicably OPENS the dang 2nd set tonight. Really good version but this was the first mistep of the show, imo.

Points for continuing to be creative with the set placements though!

In classic Phish manner, they immediately right their wrong and proceed to launch into a dang 24 minute Tweezer! Lets go!!!!!
----The first section sees them diving into laid back night time kind of chill grooveout. Very rhythmic. Trey picking his spots to jump in and out.
----Eventually Trey leads them into a more ethereal and uplifting kind of bliss section.
----Thankfully this doesn't last long and quickly Trey has set a loop and its off to robo noise and deconstructionville!
--- And just as soon as that section arrived they transition smoothly back out into good old fashioned rock and roll jamming.
Dang, this Tweezer is getting taken for a ride!
----They move right back out again and into another more groovy and slightly weird area. Very rhythmic, Trey with the robo octave goin (or whatever that effect is). They are just raging up a storm - listen to EVERYONE playing off of each other so flawlessly!!
----They are listening to each other, big time. This jam just wont stop morphing! There have been 10 different sections, each one just FLOWING so unbelievably smoothly into the next!!
From there, they proceed to reach "peak building finale section" time and rage it to a close.

X Factor strikes again! That was a terrific Tweezer hands down! Too "ADHD" for me with the constant switching from section to section, but it was all done SO PERFECTLY that I cant really complain!!

Of course this is must hear, what are you, dumb?

Golly!  

So that epic Tweezer ragefest mcgee concludes and Trey leads us into a 13 minute Pillow Jets. Honestly, this just might be my favorite since the debut!!! Its total face melting destruction, taken to Split Open and Melt levels of gnarly robo deconstruction!!!! Holy crap run for your life!!! The dying robo devil is here to take our souls!!!!! X FACTOR ALL FRIGGIN DAY!!!

And then....oh boy...THEY LAUNCH INTO A LIGHTSPEED TYPE 2 DANCE PARTY!!! WTF IS GOING ON?!?! THIS IS AMAZING!!!! HOLY CRAP WHERE DID THEY PULL THIS JAM FROM?!?!? EVERYBODY CONJURE THAT THUNDER, BABY!!!!

Holy smokes. The boys are positively INSPIRED tonight!!!!!!!!!! My goodness!!! This was insane!!!!

Now THAT was the GOAT Pillow Jets. Hands down. You have to hear this to believe it. That was some 1.0 level unpredictability. Oh my freaking god.... 

So that Pillow Jets insanity reaches a natural conclusion point and Trey leads them perfectly back into a Tweezer jam again. Am I hearing Manteca jamming? And even in this little 3 minute jam, they keep the inspiration going, taking it deep into a cool night time zone with Trey motifing all over the place. Fantastic!!!!

...and into Piper they slide!! Finally a damn Piper transition that didnt feel like a ripcord!!! And Piper is 15 minutes tonight!!! It rages nice and hot as usual until things get weird around 8 minutes in.
----Trey sets a loop and its off to the races!!! The jam takes on a really dark and menacing kind of MyFe vibe, if you will. They build a sonic soundscape - Page on watery keys in the back while Trey rhythmically keeps a vamp going. Fishman, of course, going banana sandwich on the kit back there.
----Trey continues his "Cinnamon Girl" one-note solo until somewhere around 11 minutes they start to break free of the spastic flailing around. Fishman is playing around with the beat a lot, thank god.
----This eventually builds back into a ridiculous, flaming hot finale section to send us on our way out. And we even get a minute of Tweezer jamming tacked on the end!!!
-This jam sounds like a runaway spaceship or something. Another essential piece of music from this epic show. Hot damn!!!!! May we thank the Conjurers of Thunder for continuing to bless us with the X Factor Magic!!!!

Finally getting the cooldown we need, they move into Shine a Light. And my god, what a perfectly fitting song and placement. It fits soooooooooo good out of that Piper! Great version!!!

And what a perfect way to end the set proper but with a dang 12 minute, type 2 Chalkdust!!! The song sounds great and the jam begins by immediately going into that "late night robo" vibe we have heard throughout the show. Page and Trey quickly link up for a really cool descending melodic moti that leads them into a lengthy "King Crimson" kind of upbeat section. Sick. And from there they rage it all back out to a close....another essential piece of music!!!! THAT PEAK FINALE IS MOTHER FRIGGIN EXTRAORDINARY!!! BEST CHALKDUST SINCE MEXICO HOLY MOTHER OF CRAP!!!!!

The highly inspired encore consists of awesome versions of BBFCFM, a surprise insanely killer Jibboo and the perennial favorite More to close. All are worth your time

All in all...what the hell was this show?! This felt like a Mexico gig or something!! Hands down THE show of the summer so far and its not close.

Tweezer>PJ>Piper and Chalkdust and Jibboo were all essential pieces of music

10/10. Its hard to picture how this show could have possibly been any more extraordinary.....

2024-08-07 Grand Rapids, MI - with Billy Strings

 Set 1

The show opens with a damn BANG tonight!!! My Soul and Undermind tear th roof off and the 16 minute Oblivion absolutely annihilates!!! I guess Billy kicked them into high gear!

HOLY CRAP THIS OBLIVION IS UNBELIEVABLE!!!!! NUCLEAR BOMB ROCK AND ROLL DESTRUCTION!!! LETS FRIGGIN GO!!! X FACTOR FOR DAYS!!!!

Seriously, that was one of the finest versions ever played. Ridiculous.....

Up next is a gorgeous Driver. Pages piano solo is wonderful. This is REALLY great and definitely on the must hear list.

555 is high energy as hell but doesnt really click til the raging finale. Definitely not bad in any way but not essential either.

Birds of a Feather follows the template set by My Soul and Undermind. Its short, blazing hot, and to the effing point. Not exactly essential in the grand scheme of things, but it crushes you while its here, ya dig? Killer. Give this the "underdog" award or something. It absolutely smokes!

Ether Edge continues its recent upwards evolution with another practically jammed version. Absolutely killer. It builds and builds before turning into interesting spacey kind of bliss rock.
Definitely must hear. Massive potential with sucker. Its begging to just burst open one day!!

Unfortunately, Trey kinda ripcords us outta the jam. Fortunately, its for Its Ice. Even better, it sounds GREAT tonight. Trey perfectly nails his parts, its played at a good tempo and the whole thing sounds like a shockingly well oiled machine. Man, 2023-2024 has been the best period for Its Ice since probably the 90s. PRACTICE PAYS OFF!!!!
Screw it, its so well played I'm calling it must hear. A+++++

This excellent set concludes with the nuclear bomb duo of About to Run into Walls. Predictably, both are absolute smokeshows. Not much to say. They both annihilated. Period. About to Run is totally must hear. Just total annihilation on that. And Walls is full tilt wah drenched nuclear bomb annihilation.

HOLY MOTHER OF SATAN THIS IS THE HOTTEST WALLS IN YEARS. INSANE!!!!!! WHERE DID THEY PULL THIS FROM?!?!

All in all, this was terrific first set. SUPER HIGH ENERGY!!! Oblivion, Ether and Ice, Run and Walls are must hear, while My Soul, Undermind and Birds all absolutely blaze. Night 1 probably had the "better" overall set, but hot damn there is nothing wrong with this. Its a barnburner, facemelter kind of set.

JUST THE KIND OF SET I NEEDED THIS MORNING!!! BANG YOUR HEAD!!! LETS GO!!!!!   

Set 2

The 2nd set opens with a solidly standard SANTOS before a terrific 13 minute Wave. Wave goes deep into heavenly bliss looper land before finally robowahing to a conclusion. Killer version. Probably must hear!!

And into an absolutely glorious type 1 Caspian. Terrific segue outta nowhere as well! Extra mustard all over this one! Id call this must hear.

From there we go into a terrific 12 minute Light. MUST HEAR! X FACTOR FOR DAYS!!! The jam immediately goes into darkness and they proceed to basically deconstruct the song into some robo fx sonic hellscape like its summer 2021 again. Pure type 2 all the way. Serious type 2!! Must hear!!

After the Phish portion concludes with a ripping Loving Cup, they bring Billy back out for the Phish debut of Whats Going Through Your Mind!!!! Sick on all levels, the outro jam is pure guitar histrionics.

Immediately they top that with an unbelievably mind blowing Wolfman>DDHVL combo.

Wolfman sounds like an incredible laid back southern rock kind of jam. Wolf as played by the Allmans?! Trey and Billy just egging each other on to more and more extreme ripping heights. At one point they both hit a "Divided Sky" note and hold it - TOGETHER - for what has to be a solid minute or more. My god. This Wolf is pure insanity. X Factor Magic for days.

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!!!

Shockingly, Wolf drops into a totally unexpected bluesy darkness. Here comes type 2!!! Even more ridiculous is that Trey lays DDHVL atop the bluesy swamp murk basically giving us a dark blues version if the song!!! What in the love of F..... Billy pushes this one over the edge and straighr into the lava....this is a serious contender for the greatest faceMELTING jam I have ever heard in my life. This is just PURE INSANITY!!!!! MUST HEAR MUST HEAR MUST HEAR FOR THE LOVE OF YOUR FIRSTBORN!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thankfully they give us time to recouperate with a gorgeous version of Evolve. Stunning. Billys solo is just fantastic!!!! Trey follows with his solo, and its a damn strong one, but good lord Billy just elevated this to the stratosphere. MUST HEAR!!!!!!!

After a gorgeous acoustic Mountains we get a ripping Blaze On. Christ, Billys fills underneath Trey just spruce the song up so much!!!! As predicted, Blaze On is a firestorm. Total annihilation. Good stuff.

Awesome encore of Ginseng and Old Home Place before Frankenstein to close it all down.

All in all, another absolute smokshow gig from the boys. Massive energy throughout. Id say, Ice, About, Walls Oblivion, Light, Evolve, and the Wolf>DDHVL are the true must hears of the show. Maybe Wave as well.

It did feel slightly inferior to night 1 in a way I cant describe, but its vague. This show CRUSHES. Period. I dont know how anyone could leave either night and not be picking their face off the floor....

On to Bethel!

2024-08-06 Grand Rapids, MI - with Billy Strings

 Set 1

The show opens with the quasi rare Strawberry Letter 23. Great pick! Very good version if ultimately inessential.

The following Sigma Oasis, however, is absolutely essential!!! 11 minutes long, this one feels incredibly inspired. Everyone is "in sync" and its basically one giant nonstop orgasm. One of the top "peak explosions" of the year. Absolutely terrific. A+++++. Wow!!!

After a super rare and well performed Peaches, we get another must hear with Tube. Only 7 minutes, and treading most of the same ground as Sigma, this Tube nonetheless turns in another positively INSPIRED performance. It just FEELS amazing!! Must hear all day!!!

Theme follows suit and builds perfectly upon the high energy, inspired playing laid down in Sigma and Tube. Trey is AWOL in his solo at first, but eventually wales up and the song just friggin EXPLODES like I havent heard in a while. Hot damn that was SICK!!!

Stash is 13 minutes tonight. Basically, its Theme part 2. Not terribly unique, but its SO goddamn powerful and explosive that it will just knock your socks off. My god.

A quick Train Song cools us off before a final trio of fire to end the set. Steam is, again, explosive. Trey absolutely dominates this poor song and delivers a DEVASTATING solo. Incredible.

Rift is another A+ version. Trey struggles ever so slightly with the fast ascending lick, but other than that it is perfect and will have you headbanging like a Slayer show!!!

The set concludes with a giant 16 minute Gin. Yet another full tilt barnburner. Not much to say. Essential - its just SO kick ass...PEAK OF THE MILLENNIA!!! RAGE IT!!! HOLY FREAKING CRAP HOLD ON TO YOUR PANTS!!!!;


All in all....HOLY SMOKES!!!! Energy out the damn wazoo! This set KILLED! The song selection was kinda boring but who cares when pretty much everything knocks it outta the damn park. This was back to Sphere 2024 overkill jamming. If you want your face MELTED, this is the set for you

Sigma, Tube, Steam, Stash, and Gin are all MUST HEAR and Theme is definitely worthy of a listen. 

Set 2

The 2nd set opens with a quick 1-2 punch of Free into Sand. Both are too short for their own good, but while Sand fails to fully ignite, Free absolutely crushes. Not must hear, but this Free definitely deserves praise. Played perfectly and molten hot. A+ little Free!

After Sand comes a big boy 18 minute Ruby Waves. Unfortunately, the song itself and the peak finale are great, but for the rest of its duration Trey cant seem to get out of the damn way and let the jam do what it wants to do. Not a bad one, but certainly not must hear and also incredibly frustrating....

Thankfully a magical, X Factor loaded Harry Hood brings it all back. Must hear.

Now the fun begins....

At this point Mr. Billy Strings joins the stage and they launch into a massive 23 minute Moma Dance. Guitar histrionics and X Factor galore! 1,000 percent must hear - this is SICK!!!!!! Even more incredible is that it goes full blown type 2 for the majority of its duration, moving flawlessly from hard funk to ambient bliss to face melting peakage....The flow on this is unreal. This is one of the finest pieces of music Phish has ever been involved with. Incredible.

Basically, apply the above for Possum and ER. Both are 100,000 percent essential. Possum even had friggin sweep picking.....Possum is indescribably hot and ER is 15 minutes of blissful, raging, psychedelic mastery at work. All hail our lord and savior X Factor Magic!!!!!

Throwing Billy a bluegrass bone, we get an awesome pairing of Nellie Kane and Beauty before a typically destructive party Carini to end the show proper.

All in all...jesus christ that was incredible!!! Dont forget the Harry Hood, but you can basically trash the start of set 2. The Moma was a TRUE all timer (not just saying that!), as was Possum and ER. Grab those and Hood.

As a whole this show was kinda all over the place, but the highs were pretty spectacular.

Hot damn....

2024-08-04 Noblesville, IN

 8/4/24 Noblesville #3

Set 1

The show opens with the lively duo of Party Time into Hurrah. Both are good but nothing special. A super rare Knuckle Bone follows and ups the energy a good bit. Inessential but awesome to hear.

First must hear of the night is an absolute destructive, wah drenched Stealing Time. A+ meltage on this sucker!

The Dogs rocks hard tonight and Destiny goes strongly type 1.5, getting super funky for a while. Great stuff!

46 Days is almost amazing. Its sloppy all over but the jam almost transcends. Worth a listen!

Treys playing has been stuck in that "super hesitant" mode all night. No fire in his playing for the most part and he often just sounds at a loss for what to do. Bummer....

After a genuinely terrific (probably highlight of the set!!!) McGrupp, we get Wingsui, Meatstick and Antelope to finish.

Wingsuit is very good if still way too hesitant sounding and Meatstick and Antelope are both nothing special.

All in all, this set felt like a chore to get through. It wasnt bad, but it was supremely average in the worst way. Flashes of awesomeness here and there but Trey is just stuck in 1st gear throughout. Honestly, McGrupp is fantastic and likely the only TRUE must hear of the set.

What is going on with 1st sets these days?!

Set 2

The 2nd set opens with a MASSIVE friggin 32 minute Ghost!!! Refreshingly, the song itself is super funky instead of just being a rock rager. They slowly begin and build into it. A wonderful slow burn into a raging rock peak kinda version
----Around 19 minutes the jam reaches its "natural" conclusion point. They dive deep into wacky ambience for a few minutes moving in and out, unsure whether to continue or not. Thankfully they do and they magically move flawlessly back into the raging peak section they had just finished!!!
--- This eventually morphs into a more laid back yet high energy rock jam. Just as its getting boring, all the way at the dang 26 minute mark, X Factor strikes and rhey dive into heavy darkness for several minutes, Trey ripping it up on the wah, just destroying.
-----Then he yanks us back into Ghost and finishs us out...

Man, that Ghost was janky as hell. It was great, but far too "one color" for its runtime. And the bad flow of it hurt too. Excellent, but not must hear, imo

Thankfully the following 26 minute Soul Planet is miles better! AND HOLY MOTHER OF GOD THIS IS ONE OF THE FINEST JAMS EVER!!!! FREAKING INCREDIBLE!!! MEXICO TIER!!!!!!!!!! MAGIC AND MAGIC AND MAGIC AND MAGIC!!!!!!!!!!!

Initial robo rocking gives way to a unique rhythmic section where Trey gets a picking motif going while Page layers synths underneath. This section is long and sloooooowwwwllllyyyy morphs into the most insane and extended majestic peak I may have ever heard. Unbelievable.

Then the jam backs off and they go into lenghty section of latin esque classic rocking culminating in maybe THE greatest peak finale I have ever heard in my damn life to close.

Un. Friggin. Real. Definite JOTY contender. This was OUTSTANDING IN EVERY WAY!!!! 

 Finally we get a breather with the wonderfully placed and played Billy Breathes. PERFECT! Pages piano...good god... unfortunately Trey botches his solo so....

A standard wacky Melt closes the set. Not bad at all, but there are stronger ones for sure.

Thankfully it all concludes with an astonishingly great Slave!!!

All in all, this show felt lacking a lot of the time. Incredibly uneven, quality wise, imo. This was the ultimate "there's nothing bad, but also nothing all that GREAT either" show for the most part. Slave, Ghost and SP and McGrupp being the exceptions.

Also, Trey was still having a pretty subpar night (for the most part), and that hurt big time.

That Soul Planet TRULY is something special. Absolutely perfect in every way from start to finish.

Without Soul Planet Id honestly give this show like a 3.7 or 3.8 or something. Definitely not my favorite show - not bad at all, but tons of "problems", imo

2024-08-03 Nobelsville, IN

 Nice LONG ride at work today, so that means I can continue on with 2024

On to 8/3/24 Noblesville. I hope set 2 is as bonkers as it looks!!!

Set 1

And we begin the show with a classic Mikes Groove. High energy throughout but nothing particularly impressive or noteworthy. Trey sounds hesitant in his playing and it all fails to truly ignite.

The following C Zero and the worst placed Drift of all time follow suit, both being sloppy and uninspired readings pretty devoid of anything you could call fire or heat. Basically, throw them both in the trash.

Maze continues this trend at the start. Thank goodness Trey seems to switch himself on and the back half is suitably facemelting if not exactly must hear.

Man, an off night or what? They just sound kinda tired and disconnected tonight, especially Trey.

I Didnt Know is fun but Reba is terrific!!! The hard part is flawless and Treys solo is great. Maybe a hair below truly must hear, but if you grab 1 thing from this underperforming set, this is what you need.

Surprise Isabella closer. Good stuff but ultimately inessential.

All in all, yea this set REALLY just "underperformed" in a big way. Maze is pretty good and Reba is GREAT, but the rest of the set is just tired sounding. Its like everything fails to launch, ya dig?  

Set 2

A 20 minute Chalkdust opens the set. The song itself is SUPER lackluster and wimpy, but thankfully it does have a great jam. Never peaking in the fiery explosion we all hope for, this jam nonetheless spends its duration in a very cool ultra melodic zone. Not quite "bliss" jamming, but its like a snake fluidly weaving all around. Maybe must hear. Basically, its better than I expected for such a "meandering" jam. Its pretty great.

The following 15 minute Plasma, however, is another story!! This is one of the sickest jams of the summer! Complete X Factor Magic, this one goes through multiple sections of highly inspired playing and brings the heat. Proper type 2. MUST HEAR AT ALL COSTS!!!

And then, just when you think that cant be topped, here comes Monsters....

HOLY. F###### SH1T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

INSTANT GOAT STATUS!!! WHAT IN THE LOVE OF X FACTOR MAGIC!! TREY SOLO OF THE FRIGGIN YEAR!!! AND LISTEN TO HIM JUST EMOTE THOSE VOCALS LIKE THERE IS NO TOMORROW!!!!!

A wonderful Crosseyed follows, going into some blissful excellence and morphing into a sick ambient kind of section. X Factor strikes thrice!!! I wouldnt say it tops the Mansfield version at all, but this is still KILLER. Definitely another must hear!!!!!!

The show closes splendidly with a fiery Fuego and a ripping Rock and Roll. Perfect!!!

All in all, set 2 was a homerun, full stop, from start to finish! Aside from Reba, set 1 is pretty much forgettable-to-poor. Not as bad as East Troy #1, but closes. Definitely the 2nd worst set of the tour, imo.

Set 2 was just fantastic though!!! The Plasma, Monsters and Crosseyed are all essential and the Fuego and Chalkdust are both worth some attention. Hot damn!

2024-08-02 Noblesville, IN

 Onwards with 2024 today. Crap run again but screw it. Ill just deal with having to pause too much....

8/2/24 Noblesville

Sickest looking setlist of the tour so far, just about!

Set 1

The show opens with an excellent and energetic (if slightly slow) Punch. Heck yes. Its looser than the 12/31/23 version but on the whole its far from the atrocities of some 2018-era versions, etc

The following Kill Devil Falls is absolutely beastly!!! Its a 12 minute hose bliss rager, but it definitely has extra "spark" about it that makes it more than worth hearing. This sucker is MAJESTIC!! And the flawless transition out of the solo back into KDF proper to close is just....man, a baby's bottom wishes it was that smooth! Must hear. A+++++++ !!!!!

Up next we get a stomping and powerful Halfway to the Moon. A really excellent reading, this one has major OOMPH about it. Borderline must hear. They friggin crush this sucker!! Holy crap!!! A headbanger Halfway to the Moon - how about that?!

A surprisingly rare and excellently played Heavy Things follows. Worth a mention - great version!!!

Next we get an 11 minute Life Saving Gun. Nice kind of low key jam on this, but on the whole this is one of the least impressive versions out there. Definitely NOT essential, but its not like its bad or anything. It just doesnt do much.

After a false start and some Trey banter, the set continues with another inspired song choice. Shade is Shade. Beautiful as ever. Great stuff!! I really hope to catch one some day....

Scent of a Mule is awesome to get. Yet another major rarity and also played pretty flawlessly. Killer.

Up next is maybe my favorite new song, Pillow Jets. X Factor all over this one!! Trey rages the robo wah nice and hard, then the jam goes into upbeat bliss rock before winding back down into Jim. What a tease this one was! It was RIGHT THERE, about to burst wide open!

Runaway Jim is an excellent and raging hot type 1 excursion. Definitely kick ass! And with that, the set concludes with another shocker A Day In The Life. Not my favorite but you cant deny how much this kills!


All in all, this was an awesome first set! Enthusiasm and energy out the wazoo coupled with inspired song selection is a winning formula.

Muaically, Id say KDF, Moon, Pillow Jets and probably ADITL are all must hear! 
  

Set 2

Set 2 continues the rarity fest by opening with a pretty close to flawless Oh Kee Pah. Great stuff. Axilla follows and doesn't impress much, but is noteworthy for a pretty heinous near trainwreck, lol.

Axilla may have been unimpressive, but that perfect slide into the Disease bass lick was KILLER. Disease is 15 minutes and the song itself sounds as great as it ever has in recent years. Scorching hot, Trey nailing his parts and feedback - what is this, 2012 again?! Best performed Disease in a long while for sure!!! Even sans jam I would call it must hear! After a few minutes of rocking, they go full type 2 and the jam dives into a cool, laidback, "watery bliss" zone. They then move out of that into a much harder and kind of funky area that is just sick! GROOVE MACHINE SUPREME! From there the intensity just build and builds until Trey EXPLODES into the filthiest, nastiest, most fire laden peak solo you can think of. Just spewing fire! Then, Fishman leads them perfectly back into Disease and they wrap it up.

HOLY CRAP THAT DISEASE IS MUST HEAR!!! THAT WAS SPECTACULAR!!!!!!! X FACTOR ALL OVER!!!

How do they top that?! By launching into a friggin 23 minute Scents, thats how!!!! Its immediately apparent they mean business and are going to take this sucker deep. An initial round of rocking gives way to a cool section centered upon Trey's looper while Page gets a jazzy feel going on the piano. Very cool rock jam there. After a brief minute of upbeat bliss, the jam quickly shifts into darker more mysterious territory!!! Heck yes, lets go!!! Things become VERY dark and spooky. Creepy blips and bloops before Pages synth pushes us into a more atmospheric zone. Just as quickly they leave that behind for an upbeat section. From there it just builds and builds and builds ever skyward into Peaksectionpalooza. Just killer! But wait, theres more!! The peak section begins to build AGAIN into a hotter, more red hot and ROCKING version of itself. This party rocking sees the jam to its conclusion. It almost sounds like they are going into Tweeprize at one point! Avoiding that, the X Factor rears its head once more and they....move prfectly back into the Disease outro to close!! HOLY MOTHER OF INSANITY!!!

And with the spectacular drop into Whats the Use, the universe explodes ......

HOLY CRAP!! INCREDIBLE JAM! MUST HEAR X10!!! THAT WAS ALL OVER THE FRIGGIN PLACE!  

Whats the Use is absolutely next level tonight. Special sauce all over this and the segue into it was just magical! Definitely must hear!!

And into a typical time killer Golden Age. Thankfully this ends up being a GREAT version! Loaded with energy and extra whatever, it even has a great little type 1.5 jam going on. Definitely worth a listen!!!

IAWITW is an absolute friggin smokeshow tonight. Complete wah pedal devastation. Absolutely must hear, this thing is NUCLEAR!!! HOLY CRAP!!! AND THAT FRIGGIN PEAK EXPLOSION!!! AND THEN THEY GO BACK INTO DISEASE AGAIN?!?! LETS FREAKING GO!!!!!!!!

Killer YEM BACK INTO DISEASE to close the show. A++ for that encore... Seriously though, that is a damn Gold Standard YEM right there. Just spectacular from start to finish. Definitely must hear YEM!

Holy mother of god. From Scents right through the end of the show was pure must hear insanity. Disease and Scents were two of the finest jams of the year so far, hands down. WTU and GA both had extra sauce, IAWITW was unbelievable....and that encore!!

WHAT A FRIGGIN SHOW! Did I just hear the show of the tour (so far)?!

My god .....

2024-07-31 St. Louis, MO

 7/31/24 St Louis

Set 1

The set blasts wide open with the positively ass kicking trio of Turtle, Hey Stranger and BOTT. All 3 are explosive type 1 readings full of total energy. Killer.

After a surprise Lawn Boy, a strong Numberline and a very nice Horn, we get a solid Pebbles and Marbles. Good stuff.

After BATR we get a smokeshow Boogie On. It definitely deserves its jam chart status! Extra pizazz all over!!

The set closes with an immaculate Squirming Coil. This was one of the absolute finest versions I have ever heard. Played to perfection and completely loaded with X Factor. Pages outro solo is fantastic, LOADED with emotion. A+++++++++++++++++++++

All in all, this was very much a "high energy ROCK SHOW" kind of set. Id say Coil is the only true must hear (it really is!), but Turtle, Stranger, BOTT and Boogie all deserve mention.

Killer.  

Set 2 gets off to a bad start with a boring snoozefest of a Free. Not good. What happenned?! Trey was melting faces all 2023 and this year so far I swear his playing has been WAY more "hesitant"....

Things pick up with a giant 22 minute Mr. Completely. This one is no good either!!!! Its takes them all the way until the 15 minute mark to begin doing anything remotely interesting. Trey sounds lost for what to play throughout and the whole just fails to "connect". Its very awkward. There is some cool and brief DEG style jamming near the end but its way too little way too late. This jam was just a disappointment from start to finish....

Leave it to Phish to turn it around though as the entire rest of the show is EXCELLENT!!! After a lovely If I Could we get a very chill and bluesy Twist. Things connect big time and Id all this must hear.

Twist goes into the centerpiece of the show - a massive, deep and dark nearly 20 minute Ruby Waves. This sucker DIVES into the strange. X Factor all over! Now THIS is what a jam sounds like when it is actually "flowing"!!! Essential version!! Very exploratory!

Finishing the set we get genuinely-must-hear versions of No Men (tease city!) and First Tube. Both are notably above average in a big way and will absolutely destroy your face, not just melt it.

Inspired encore of Grind into Miss You with a HOLY FREAKING CRAP DO YOU HEAR THIS?! Harry Hood for the ages!! Add this one to the pantheon of all time greats!! Its utterly magnificent!!!

All in all, a really great show overall!! Set two started badly but literally everything from Twist to the end plus the all timer Harry Hood were completely must hear. Add in the Coil from set 1 as well.

A smashing show!! The 3.9 on .net js a bit low. This probably deserves like a 4.1 or 4.2