2025-12-31 New York City, NY

 12/31/25

Set 1

Finally have the time to tackle this beast today. The show opens nicely with an energetic and tight Free. Some great robo honking from Trey and they deliver a very nice version that is nothing must hear but still absolutely gets the job done.

The following BOAF is even better, staying firmly type 1 but absolutely knocking it out of the park. Again, nothing must hear, but I would still call it excellent at the same time.

After a nicely placed BATR comes Stash. Stash follows in the vein of Free and BOAF, giving us a REALLY GOOD version that won't have you screaming about it from the highest mountain but will definitely leave you satisfied when all is said and done. Really good stuff!!

Waste is always great to hear but seems really badly placed tonight in my opinion. That being said it's lovely as ever with not a flub to be heard. Page's solo is exceptionally quiet tonight in a rather unique way. Some lovely phrasing on it in particular. Again with the rest of this set so far this is nothing must hear truly but it's still great for sure.

The first must hear of the Night comes in the form of a giant 16 minute MyFe. The song and initial soloing are excellent. They are just ripping it up in the best way. The jam takes a little bit to get going but gets into that weird no man's land of not being sure whether it wants to go dark or go light. Thankfully it doesn't go full on Bliss but does go into a hard rocking zone and they rock the F out of it basically. I'd call this must hear it's a headbanger.

In another screwed up setlist call, they follow it up with A Life Beyond the Dream. I'm a big fan of this song and don't understand the hate but this was just bad placement all day long. Like, what the corn .... That being said, it keeps in line with the rest of the set delivering an average excellent reading that doesn't reach must hear status but definitely does the job and satisfies all around. Great little version, imo.

Actually, it really feels like that should have been the end of the set. It would have worked great emotionally and flow-wise if that did end up being the end of the set. Instead they follow it up, kind of awkwardly and unnecessarily with Kill Devil Falls. Solid type 1 version but maybe the least impressive thing of the set so far but that's not like saying it's bad or anything. When listening to it all it really felt like an awkward choice out of Life though.

And again we get another end of set fakeout with a prematurely placed More. What is with this sequencing tonight?! Love this song and I gotta say it feels grest to hear it again!! Nicely powerful, its a great version! Love this More - it does what KDF set out to do and does it better. Just pounding, hard hitting and full of passion. Doesnt reach must hear, but its excellent.

A finely placed Monsters follows, giving us another breather. And hot damn it rips as always. AGAIN, nothing must hear but still great on the whole.

The set concludes with 10 minute LSG, echoing set one of 12/30/23. This one doesnt approach the insanity of thet hose fest but it still delivers big time. And dang the mix sounds SO good on this - Pages gooey keys just sound GREAT. This LSG feels extremely funky, like an alternate universe Crosseyed and Painless!!! Right away we get into funky Crosseyed jam land. Love the goopy and thick nature of this one. Unfortunately Trey lays back and does that "do nothing" thing for like two minutes, sounding unsure what to play. Thankfully everyone else carries the jam - listen ti Gord and Page! Finally Trey slowly starts to honk it up lightly with the robo filter, but hes just laying back all pornofunk style like its 1997. It actually sounds great despite being minimalistic. They are really jamming TOGETHER, sounding like one cohesive whole, nobody soloing. At a certain point the funk suddenly evaporates and we shift into hazy bliss rock zone. And away we go. The jam picks up speed full throttle ahd they fly to the sky, spraying the hose far and wide before perfectly returning to the song and leading us out. Yo, this LSG is FREAKING AWESOME!!!!!!!!. Definitely must hear, it feels slightly unique compared to most versions. Fantastic.


All in all, by New Years first set standards, I thought this was actually a really enjoyable set. The playing is tight, the energy is high, Trey is nailing his solos, etc

The only real problems are the unnecessarily placed versions of Waste and Life. Other than that, this set falls in the "average excellent, genuinely really good, better than I expected" category. No need to ever revisit it but I definitely enjoyed it from start to finish for the most part. Its like....a run of "excellent but nothing special" versions of songs. It doesn't feel rushed or half assed, either, which other NYE first sets often do.

I think its far stronger than, say, set 1 of 12/31/23, for instance. MyFe is the main keeper along with LSG, but shoutouts to Stash, Birds, More and Monsters.

TL;DR: dont be scared of this set, it doesn't bite, lol

 

Set 2

We open set to tonight with a 10 minute version of Sand. Typical stuff - good but nothing special. Its not particularly hot, morphing lazily into pleasant, chirpy bliss rock, unfortunately. It does all end up working out pretty good in the end though. Good stuff.

The jam slides down real low at the end and they SMASH into a 15 minute Fuego!!! Heck yes!!! Listen to Fishman crushing thise effin drums. This is HIGH OCTANE like the Hershey 2021 version. Heck yes, let's go!! This sucker is TIGHT and blazing hot, just exploding with energy. Dang! Unfortunately, the jam is a mess. It pretty much flounders out of the gate for a long while before settling into this low key introspective kind of aquatic area. Quiet plying, Trey on pitch shifter, Fishman pounding those toms. Its actually really nice when it gets going! Listen to them all syncing up together perfectly throughout!!! Trey slowly leads them out and up , though it takes a long time. Hes slowly increasing the energy. The jam is turning into a hot and heavy slow burn affair. This is really sick - great flow and build to this sucker!!!! I don't know if Id say they reach X Factor, but its getting there! Listen to Trey rip that feedbacky lead, just soloing it up nice and slow, but also hot at the same time. The peakage on this is really cool - its like a late night, low key, small explosion. Hard to explain. And still, listen to Fishman just annihilating his kit, good lord. And from here the jam fades quickly to an unceremonious close....This Fuego is GREAT! I'm calling it must hear for sure! No, seriously, this Fuego rules!!!!

Out of Fuego and quickly we launch into a short No Men (6ish minutes. The hell?...). Great choice to keep the energy going strong regardless!! Very nice and hot type 1 reading. Fishman is still just beating the crap outta those drums and Trey is just ripping leads. Awesome type 1 version! And although it doesnt jam, it ends surprisingly naturally and the abbreviated length doesn't feel like a letdown.

Immediately after they slam right into a 12 minute Mind, that chunky riff just hitting hard. The jam begins with Trey introducing this ascending riff motif they all latch onto. From here its into basic soloing for a bit. Then he starts the ascending riff again, higher up the neck. The whole band sound like a train slowly working their way up a mountain, one chug at a time. They rock it good from here but unfortunately its undelivered promises as it kinda gets stuck in "this rocks but isnt exploding" land. Its unsatisfying like the, what was it, 7/5 Boulder Life Saving Gun? Its right there abd then it just.... ends. And youre kinda blueballed.. bummer. Cant recommend this one.

They quickly rectify their mistake by giving us a 21 minute YEM. Its not immaculate but its played 98% there and that's far more than enough! Extreme energy though - the boys sound HYPED AF. The initial type 1 just explodes. Its not particularly ripping, just crazy energetic like Fuego was. BALLS TO THE WALL ENERGY LETS FREAKING GO!!!!! And then jusg as I say its not ripping, it EXPLODES into giant burst of peakage before dropping out into a Gordo bass solo. Fishman solos along, keeping it going. Then the vocal jam as expected. The following jam wanders onward funkily from there, eventually returning to a full blown Fuego reprise at 18 minutes. . This YEM is the tits, yo. Absolutely must hear!! Its awesome!!!

Straight out of YEM without a breath to spare, they rip right into the most unexpectedly placed Its Ice Ive ever heard. Heck yes, lets go!!!! Even better, they basically nail the sucker - thank god the song isnt a massive rarity anymore!!! From what I understand, during the breakdown jam, a guy came out banging a cowbell and, I think, walking a cow around (or is that later??). Lol. Gotta love our boyz....

So Ice concludes and they finish the set with the gobsmacking cover of ...Cream! By Prince!!!! Get it? Huh? Its Ice....Cream!!!!! RATTLE THAT COWBELL, MOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Its so damn weird hearing them play this buts also so awesome. The bluesy vibe of the song is so perfect for Phish. Almost surprised they never played this before!! Not much to say - its fantastic!!!

All in all, for the most part this set was GREAT!!! Its not perfect - there are nitpicky flaws for sure (Mind, Sand, short No Men etc), but for the most part I enjoyed th crap outta this set!

Fuego, YEM and Ice>Cream are totally must hear. Fuego and YEM are really exceptional though. Man, this is great show so far!!!

 

Set 3

Aka, HOODPOCALYSPE

So, as we all know by now, the set opens with a 13 minute Harry Hood. When you get a Hood opener, you know you are in for some serious shiznit! Anywho, the set begins with the cowbell and MOOOOO again (ah, this is where the cow saunters to the stage....). The song begins amidst the rattle of the cowbell from hell. Some very nice robo playing from Trey durinf the intro and the whole thing just has that....air of specialty. You KNOW this is gonna be a good one. And it IS!! The beautiful slow build section is damn exquisite tonight. PERFECT use of sustain and feedback, everyone so effing in sync with each other. This one feels like it has some serious emotional heft to it. Hell, its almost making me teary eyed. By modern standards, its just beautiful...ugh......AND WE STILL HAVE AN ENTIRE SET TI GET THROUGH AFTER THIS?! Golly, the peakage is off the chain, just magic all over. Daaaaammmnnnnnn. Yea, this is MUST HEAR. There have been a plethora of amazing Hoods over the last few years and this is up there with the very best of the bunch. Easily.

And into 2001 from there - that set placement is a lot more satisfying than you might think. Without watching the video is this when everybody is coming out of the freezer and dancing around? I forget, lol. I'm calling this must hear. The jamming is just so ridiculously tight and on point in every way. This is a ridiculously satisfying 2001, lol. Just exactly perfect.... SICK! LETS DANCE, SUCKA!!!! This is what a perfect version of a song sounds like. Full stop. Wow.

T MINUS 90 SECONDS TO NEW YEAR'S LET'S FREAKING GO!!!

They perfectly time 2001 and have it end on the final note right slam at midnight, launching right into Auld Lang Syne. Greatest New Years transition ever, holy hell that was SICK.

And once ALS is over, they rip straight into the New Year, giving us a 30 minute Tweezer as our first taste of 2026 Phish!!!! Tweezer is a multifaceted beast. The song itself rips, buoyed by international sing in multiple languages - reference to the 2010 International Meatstick? (Definitely - Trey does a Meatstick quote, lol) Its awesome and kicks ass. They rip the type one right to the 9 minute mark and peak it hard. From there, the jam quickly shifts downward into an intospctive and quiet kind of late night funkiness, ala Fuego from set two. They pleasantly meander to the 15 minute mark where so ethereal haziness starts to creep in. The blissy noodling continues for another 5 minutes or so. Finally around 20 minutes they get their act together and jam REALLY takes off! They spend a long time slowly evolving the jam into a nasty, raging, nuclear robo filter bomb from Planet Spacefunk. 20 to 25 minutes is just pure raging filth. Somewhere around 25 minutes it shifts into "lets classic rock - peak this sucker" mode. And of course from there they detonate the nuclear hose bomb and peak us into the next dimension....When all is said and done this wasn't my favorite Tweezer - there's a solid 10 minutes of not much happening in the middle unfortunately. That section isn't bad but it seems like it meanders a little bit too much for a little bit too long. But thats a "me" problem. This Tweezer is a beast, and holy smokes what way to begin a new year of music!!!!!!

How do you follow that up? With a 20 minute Piper, that's how! Piper does its usual, boring, noodly upbeat bliss rock thing for far too long as always. What else did I expect? Somewhere around 9ish minutes, Trey gets brief loop going beneath the blissful maelstrom. This seems to help them slooóooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwllllllllllyyyyyyyyy move elsewhere. Trey kicks it up a notch, from blissy noodling into more straightforward rocking. By 10 minutes, this is enjoyable, but also boring as hell. Same boring bliss rock Piper as usual so far.....ugh. Its not even raging THAT particularly good, nor is Trey ripping it up much besides setting lots of loops to vamp over .....Im bitching a lot here. Sure this is great for most folks. For me, this is the exact kind of Piper I generally hate (SPAC2025 rocketship excluded). We get it - type 1 raging is great. Now, come on, do SOMETHING interesting for the love of god!! By 13 minutes they are STILL firmly stuck in type 1. At least it IS blazing hot. Definitely headbanger material for sure. I will concede this "pedal to the metal" section is pretty damn hype.....Trey starts throwing in pitch -shift whale siren loops in the background. THANK EFFING GOD AT 14 MINUTES WE LEAVE TYPE 1. PROCEED DIRECTLY HERE. JUST SKIP THE FIRST 10 MINUTES OF JAM AND GET TO THE GOOD slide So Trey keeps these awesome lowkey whale sirens going while the jam chills right out into this awesomely groovy and latin-y zone. Trey loops the siren, kicks on the robo filter, and proceeds to go for it. Fishman is doing awesome and unique drum work. Hes doing this cool marching snare thing, coupled with a latin vibe, while Trey honks it up. At 16:30 the synths finally come out to play and the jam begins to slide....askew.....and hell freaking yes, we go full blown weirdo type 2 into this strange and funky, obtuse kind of latin-robot jam. Super rhythmic, everyone syncing up together again. THIS IS SICK. LATIN SPACE ROBO JAZZ FUNK DELUXE. ALL HAIL X FACTOR MAGIC!!! Around 19 minutes, they start to work their way out and back into a hard rocking, slow groove zone. Hot and heavy. Just burning. And then in an instant its all over.....dang it. That type 2 section was so sick, its a shame it was so brief and took so long to reach....

So Piper concludes and they segue nicely into SANTOS to close the set proper. Its SANTOS. Its set closer. It rips. What else is there to say?

We get an A+ encore tonight beginning with a new a capella number before they launch into the first Spocks Brain since Alpine Valley 2019 (?!?! There really wasn't ONE somewhere in between?!). Spocks is awesome. Grab that sucker. The expected Tweeprise sends us on our way.

All in all, this set was an absolute powerhouse from start to finish. Not a weak link in the chain, I think this very well might have been the strongest set of the entire run and that's an insane thing to say considering how New Years shows usually go from a musical perspective. This set was classic. Just about everything was must here and The encore was the incredible icing on the cake.

I am really surprised how much I enjoyed this show overall despite the flaws. This show was musically a million times better than I expected it to be. There was a lot going on in a lot of it is just terrific.

On the whole I don't know if I'd call this one of the best shows of the year but I definitely call set three and the best of set two among the finest music of the year.

Set three I'd probably put in the top 10 sets of the year maybe eight.

Sayonara 2025!!! Hello 2026!!! 

 

2025-12-30 New York City, NY

 12/30/25 New York

Set 1

The show opens with a sick Chalkdust>Moma>Chalkdust sandwich. Heck yes, lets go! Chalkdust is speedy and energetic but not a nuclear version. A nice "ease into the show" reading. Good stuff! Very chirpy kind of version. Awesomely, the song actually kinda goes type 2 eventually, going into this ULTRA FUNKY zone for a glorious minute before working back out into Chalkdust briefly and segueing into Moma. Yo, that was awesome - shame they cut that jam short!!

Nothing like red hot type 1 Moma Dance. Nothing you havent heard before but theres a reason its often in this slot - it just works! And this one is super high energy. Listen to Fishman going crazy! And holy smokes listen to Trey just go OFF!!! And then outta NOWHERE, with an obviously planned segue, they launch back into Chalkdust like you hit skip on a cd player. Yo that transition was amazing!! And then they just rip that final section of Chalkdust to a close....

Hot damn, this is why we Phish. What an opening!!!! Dang, son.....

And into BOTT we go. Uptempo and just full of energy. It's an excellent reading for sure. Borderline must hear by the same time nothing you haven't heard before. Still this is a terrific reading regardless.

Following a nuclear version of Axilla, we get a strong reading of Divided Sky. Nothing essential but Trey is having a great night with his sustain and there are no major flubs anywhere. Good stuff.


Blaze On is the equivalent of back on the train tonight. No real jamming just an absolutely blazing type 1 reading. Not much here but definitely take note of it.

A very nice Tube follows. I would call this a light must here. It's not very long but feels longer than it is and has a really nice jam to it. Nothing all that unexpected it's just really really good. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for Reba.

Yuck this is the worst version I've heard in a long time! The main portion of the song sounds fine but Trey completely butchers the difficult section in a couple major spots. Guess he was just on another planet or something because this is a bad reading of it flat out. The solo is nice enough and delivers the heat but doesn't reach magical levels and feels like it is cut too short.

The set concludes on a massive note with maybe the biggest highlight of the entire set. A 14 minute Melt from hell closes it out in wonderful dying robot Droid fashion. It's hard to judge and compare all these kind of Melts because they always deconstruct themselves into Oblivion but this one feels extra special in that regard similar to the 7/27/23 reading. They melt it down and deconstruct it into bleep bloop land and then just keep on going and going and going for like five or six solid minutes of glorious deconstruction. Some X Factor on this I would definitely call it must hear!!!!

All in all this was a bit of an average set but in an okay way. The only lousy thing here was Reba. Everything else was average excellent for the most part but the opening chalk dust sandwich and the closing melt were truly must here. Give special notice to tube as well and train and Blaze are worthy of a listen to. A very enjoyable set but definitely not a particularly strong one on the whole despite me saying that it's good. As far as an average set goes this is about as good as that gets. I'm not making any sense and don't know how to explain what I'm saying lol

Also, I kept forgetting to mention but Fishman is THE MVP of this set!! Hes ON in a way i havent heard in a while! Just all kinds of unique fills and inspired playing all over the damn place. He basically takes charge and steers th band it feels like!! 

 

Set 2

A 16 minute ghost open set two. And holy crap what a ghost it is. The song itself sounds excellent and you know we're in for some good stuff when it immediately drops into dark and watery kind of melodic jamland, like the start of wave of Hope from the night before.

This is very nice and promising and goes for a bit but unfortunately reaches meandering territory, Trey sounding unsure what to do or what direction he wants to go with the jam. Finally after a long stretch of this when you think the jam is going to dissolve into mediocrity, they all link up in the jam takes to the Moon. From here it basically goes 10 different variations of nuclear bomb. First it goes into upbeat melodic Bliss rocking with extreme energy and enthusiasm. Then it morphs into that Isabella style kind of hendrixie watt infused HEAVY power rocking. Pure fire out the ass. YOUR HEAD WILL BE BANGING!!!

The final section sees the jam continue to keep its energy until it's conclusion but Fishman changes up the beat into a more shuffling kind of whatever Groove and Page jumps onto the watery keys. It turns into this heavy kind of tropical Rock thing similar to the Tweezer (or is it Free?) from Portland 1998. And they ride that baby to a close segwaying into a 15 minute Ruby waves.

YO HOT DAMN THAT WAS MUST HEAR X FACTOR MAGIC ON THAT SUCKER FOR SURE!!!.

The X Factor continues with the next three selections!!! Ruby Waves sounds great, the jam beginning - as everything does these days - with some watery melodic noodling. Eventually Trey starts chording and giving it some darker energy. Late night vibes. He sets a background loop and starts to do this motif before properly kicking it up and soloing for real. Page jumps on the synths and ITS FRIGGIN ON, SUCKER!!! We are just in a WASH of synths!! The jam shifts major key starts ti get kinda ethereal, Trey bliss soloing ti the sky. All the while, Page is absolutely ABUSING his dang synths!! SYNTH HELL. Its pretty incredible - Trey just soloing away while these crazy synths squeal away underneath. And all if this happens by the 10 minute mark!!!! Eventually Trey returns to chording leaving OG Synth Master McConnell to take center stage with the aforementioned synths. Things quickly quiet down and the beat goes to a half time/slower kind of rhythm. Fishman accenting Trey with his snare hits. After a bit, it morphs into this kind hazy yet tropical, starting-to-rock-hard zone. Trey starts riffing it up and the energy is back to red hot levels of intense. We are GROOVIN baby!!! In the last minute, Trey jumps on the wah Page does sick synth washs beneath. Trey lets it rip and this jam is just CRUSHING!!!

YO MUST HEAR ALERT!!! THST WAS FRIGGIN AWESOME!!!! It was lime a giant 25 minute jam condensdd or something!!

Faking out Fishman from his return to Ruby Waves drum roll, Trey yanks them into a 14 minute Light.....

 So this 14 minute Light...hot damn what a version. Best, most jammed version since.... when?? I cant think of the last one this deep. Right away, the jam begins with Trey and Page just locked in together TIGHT, playing off each other completely. Fishman has a cool tropical rhythm going again and the jam shifts into this sick kind of beachy rhythm. Listen to Gordo going nuts beneath all this. This then slowly quiets down, Fishman keeping the pounding rhythm going, Trey and Page taking us to Late Night ville. God, this is SICK. There is so much going on and so quickly! Constantly evolving in the best way. They stay in this jazzy tropical zone for a long time, Trey picking out an exquisite solo. X factor. X factor galore. This is AWESOME!!! Very slowly, at the perfect pace, they work out and up into more rocking territory. Very powerful, Fishman answering Trey and Pages every move. Jeez they are SO locked the F in!!! THIS IS FRICKING FANTASTIC!!!! And then they just ride this to a close, PERFECTLY returning to Light proper and sending us on our way.

Holy sweet jeezus what a great jam. Dang .... .

GET YOUR RADIATION SUITS ON BECAUSE WE'RE ABOUT TO GO NUCLEAR BOYS AND GIRLS!!! A 14 minute cross-eyed follows and holy freaking moly crap on a cracker this is one of THOSE. Versions. You know the universe destroying kind. Right from the outset just everything is so effing EXTRA about in a way I can't explain unless you've heard it. The jam absolutely rips and snarls and annihilates everything in sight until around the 7 or 8 minute mark. At that point it shifts on a dime and the jam shoots skyward, taking on an ethereal kind of hazy late '90s vibe. Explore this wonderful area for several minutes of awesomeness before coming back down and ripping us out to a close. Mexico and Boulder have just added a 3rd to their wolfpack of all timer renditions. Jeez louise .....

Following cross-eyed we get an 8 minute bridge the gap version of Twist. Type 1, but it's again up-tempo and absolutely loaded with energy Trey absolutely laying waste. Good enough for me to call must hear!!!

After Twist, Cavern ends the set before a nice encore of First Tube into a rare Drift While Youre Sleeping. Honestly I love Drift in this spot and always think it works best as a set closer, maybe show closer as in tonight's case. It sounds well rehearsed and pretty tight aside from a couple loose moments from Trey and it definitely delivers the goods as it should. Nothing much here but it's a perfect emotional capstone to this nuclear bomb set.

All in all, HOLY CRAP WHAT WAS THIS SET AND WHERE DID IT COME FROM!!!! Easily, EASILY, the best set of the six played so far and it's like not even close. The entire run of ghost through twist is 100% must hear. Pretty much everything went deep and was tight energetic and excellent on the whole

Ghost, Ruby, Light, Crosseyed and Twist - A++++++++

Nuff said.

 

 

2025-12-29 New York City, NY

 Set 1

The show opens in masterful manner with a giant 20 minute Carini>Plasma>Carini. Heck yes, if that doesnt bode well!! Carini immediately moves into this darker kind of textural area. It spends its jam in a more kind of menacing yet not completely dark zone. Very cool and very soundscapey almost yet still rhythmic. Not a barn burner type reading this is definitely more "jammy". It's really excellent and eventually and eventually morphs into Plasma. Plasma is basically Carini part 2, following the exact same template. Really awesome version it eventually picks up a major head of steam and they Rock The living F out of the place going back into Carini as well and burning it to a close. Definitely some X Factor all over that duo, absolutely must hear. Talk about your high quality opener!!!

Then, outta nowhere, we get the friggin debut of the album version of Quad Toppling for a few glorious minutes like an outro to that beginning pair. WHAT IN THE LOVE OF X FACTOR IS GOING ON?! And So to Bee debut tier??

As if that wasn't enough they continued to lay waste to our minds by launching into The Curtain. Wtf is this awesome opening section!!!! I don't think it reaches true must hear status but that is not a knock on it at all - it is an absolutely fantastic version just exploding with energy. They play it tightly at lightspeed and just rip through it better than I've heard in a long time. There are some bum notes in the solo and it doesn't quite pull it off like it should 100% would still excellent. Absolutely would recommend even if I don't think it's completely must hear. No, really, this is excellent!

The energy continues with a 12 minute Gin in slot 4. A pure type 1 rager, this one DOES reach must hear status for me. It absolutely soars to the sky almost having a late '90s quality to it. Ethereal hose explosion rather than volcanic eruption. Page jumps on the organ and it gives it a whole different flavor than your typical type 1 rager Gin. SICK AF.

And perfectly they sliiiidddeee into a flawless NICU! Very energetic and just as TIGHT and locked in as the rest of the set has been. Great little version.

Evolve comes next and I'm going to call this must here as well. It's terrific and magical as most versions and Trey's solo is just immaculate. Utter perfection. 10/10

Continuing the magic is a must hear Mountains. This one is quiet as a friggin mouse - you can hear a pin drop. Trey delivers one of his finest solos of the year! Very quiet, using feedback swells in a lovely way. This is a Stella Blue-tier solo. Dang.

This fantastic set concludes on a nuclear bomb level with yet another must hear, Fluffhead. Compositionally it's loose around the edges, but it's bursting with energy and the crowd is going insane. What you really want this for though is the final finale section. The typical Fluffhead outro jam is terrific as usual and then they shift into MAXIMUM FREAKING OVERDRIVE and somehow spray the hose even further. Just pure magic it is...

All in all this was a pretty exceptional set on the whole. There is definitely a vibe that the boys are LOCKED IN tight. The energy is high and Trey is having a wonderful night playing wise, a complete 180 from the uninspired playing of night one. Hell, most of this set Id call must here in one way or another.

Actually, excluding NICU, I think the whole thing is must hear! I change my mind on Curtain and definitely would include that as well.

Wowzers!!!!! 

 

Set 2

The second half of tonights show opens with the inspired triplet of Mike's>FINAL HURRAH>Weekapaug. AND HOLD ON TO YOUR MOTHER EFFING HATS THIS MIKE'S SONG IS GD FACE SMASHING HOLY MOTHER OF GOD. No, seriously, there is definitely x factor magic at play here. The band is locked in tight tighter than Fort Knox, the groove factor is off the chart in the extreme. Trey lets it RIP in the truest sense of the word delivering one of the most nuclear bomb solos of recent years. Mexico 2025 Crosseyed tier, ok? He absolutely pummels this song into the ground showing how much this band can crush anything in sight when they really want to. Must hear at all costs, run out and hear this even if it means you have to skip your first born's birth. Dang...

Hurrah is super welcome to hear. Kind of loose on the lyrics but the jamming is really really nice. Excellent robo type 1. The following Paug is like Mike - just explosive. Not to the point of being must hear I don't think but it's as excellent as a type 1 version guess these days.

The first big jam of the night comes with a 20 minute WOPE. The song itself is just excellent and it's pounding and exploding with. Unfortunately the jam seems like it takes forever to get going. For at least four or five minutes until about the 10 minute mark, they are stuck in this low-key meandering kind of brooding melodic whatever. It actually sounds pretty good but it definitely reaches a point where you're going "okay is anything going to happen now??....". Unfortunately, nothing does and it falters for a minute or so. Trey recognizes the jam is dying and decides to go for broke. He very much "forces" them to follow his lead, going to a very hard rock section. From here, its straight to the effing moon!!!! HOLY CRAP ON A CRACKER, LETS MELT SOME DAMN FACES!!!! CHICAGO 2023 GHOST GOT NOTHIN ON THIS SUCKER!!! Like Mikes song before it, they proceed to FLOOR IT and then promptly break the shifter in half. Just a runaway tornado of facemelting lava for like 10 solid minutes. This might honestly rival the SPAC Piper as peakage of the year. And the return into WOPE is actually executed flawlessly for once. This jam was a bit of a mess and definitely not my preferred type of jam, but you absolutely cannot deny the ridiculousness of the lava poured upon us in the final eight or so minutes. What in the love of God.

Another nice selection, we get 20 Years Later as our "cool down but keep the energy going" song. It doesn't come close to the heights of the Mexico 2025 reading, but I would still call this a "textbook go-to," excellent type 1 reading all around. Nothing must hear but it's great.

And into the second big gym of the night, a 15 minute Golden Age. The song is EXTRA tight tonight. Not sure what I mean, but it just sounds perfect. Whatever I mean by that...The jam begins low key, Trey doing his melodic noodle thing. Page echoes him. Fishman, thank god, off the rip does something different and switches to a rolling kind of marching beat. The jam spends a bit in this, again, moody and brooding kind of zone. Very late night. I hate melodic noodling but Trey's playing is SO on point tonight that he could do chord vamping and Id enjoy it. Hes having one of those "hitting every single right now at all the perfect times" kind of nights, ya dig? His playing is flowing like water tonight. They spend WAY too long in this noodle zone, no matter how enjoyable. Finally around 12 minutes the jam picks up steam, Trey hits a looper, and some ethereal haze permeates proceedings. Its energetic but not rocking, exactly. Its excellent though. From there it rocks to a close. This was a really excellent jam even if, for my preferences, it was kind of a letdown. Definitely must hear though, it's excellent regardless. In other words, just ignore my nitpicking...

UNFORTUNATELY AGAIN , the jam lacks a proper ending and really just full on fizzles to an unsatisfying non-close, leading into a typically fine Character Zero to end the set proper

Encore of The Lizards into Possum

All in all, I'm kind of not sure completely how I feel about this gig. On the whole, as a top to bottom listen, I definitely think it blows away night one. Trey is just on another level entirely and the band are completely LOCKED IN throughout.

The only real letdown of this night is that the jams in set two kind of are not that great. Theres amazing PARTS of them, but as complete jams, both WOPE and GA definitely fall short in my opinion.

It feels like a pick your poison scenario - night one basically sucked aside from the MASSIVE highlights. Night two was better in almost every way except the jams were far inferior.

Again, pick your poison I would still say this show is good enough to warrant a solid 4.1 or something like that.

Set 1 was awesome. Set 2 was a mess, but a LAVA FROM THE SKY mess.
 

2025-12-28 New York City, NY

 12 28 25 New York

First review in about a month! This last month has been extremely non-listening friendly, ugh....

Set 1

A Burie Alive opener seems to be becoming a more common thing in recent years. And as usual it often is a sign of good things to come. Unfort, Buried and the following Bag, wow neither do anything wrong and do get us up and moving, also both fail to ignite much fire either. The energy is there but aside from a brief peak in Bag, both of these versions can be safely skipped without concern

Thankfully this was NOT a sign of things to come!! From here the first set skyrockets upwards in quality!! Roggae is yet another magnificent version, the first in a string of must here readings in this set. It starts slowly and develops a decent head of steam but isn't really doing much and you think oh it's just an average version nothing special. But then in the final few minutes it clicks and they break through the glass ceiling and the song absolutely explodes. I got chills on my arm, this is a must hear reading all day. Period. POWERFUL!

Picking the energy back up we get a lightning bolt reading of Rift. Terrific set placement and what a terrific version as well. Maybe not must hear, but it's about 99% absolutely flawless. The ONLY hiccup is a few seconds in the fast ascending shreddy part by Trey. And of course that's where you would expect a hiccup to be so it's not even a big deal and he doesn't butcher it either. A+

The next monster comes in the form of a nearly 14 minute Wolfman. Super tight and extra funky sounding tonight, the energy is great and the jam takes off right away. After a bit Page throws in some of his synths and the jam actually goes type 2 for several glorious minutes. The jam dives into this really cool kind of tense area - not exactly dark but definitely not sunshiny. Trey is going ham on his wah pedal with the Leslie kicked on at the same time for a fantastic watery funk effect, just tearing up the lower register of his fretboard . Slowly they work their way back out of this and into a typical rock and roll finale section. Definite X Factor, this version is SICK!!!! HOLY CRAP THIS IS AWESOME!

Not missing a beat, they end the jam, but Trey keeps the rhythm going and they launchly perfectly into an 11 minute Punch!! The jam is not the most exploratory or adventurous version of the jams in this song from this year, but is still a typically enjoyable space funk exploration. The song itself, as with Rift, is played absolutely flawlessly and at the perfect tempo. Playing wise, this actually might be the best version of the whole year in my opinion. I mean it's flawless!!

This set is just crushing, yo!

Unfortunately, just as I say that, the set reaches a major bump with maybe the worst version of Sigma Oasis I've heard since God knows when. The song itself is played fine, but Treys voice is SHOT. The song is only 7 minutes total and Trey sounds completely checked out, straight up doing nothing for most of the jam until a weak attempt at peak conclusion. Dude, trash this one. Wtf. Hey, they cant all be winners, right? Bummer!

Cutting their losses, Trey leads them - EXCELLENTLY, I must add - into Taste. Heck yes. Taste is a mixed bag. Fishman is beating the living CRAP outta his drums. The energy is HIGH, and everyone nails their parts. But surprisingly, both Trey AND Page deliver uninspired and well below average solos. Very weird. Cant recommend this one as must hear. Trey is just butchering the end peakage at times, but at least the energy is explosive. Huh.
Its weird - its excellent except for the solos, basically.

Following that, we get a massive bust out - the first reading of Sleep since Fall 2019!!! Trey busts out the acoustic and it sounds great. I must say though that I dont think it really works tonight - it feels excessively "random" and totally kills the flow. But thats just me. Great to either way.

Thankfully the set concludes on a very high note. A massively NUCLEAR Antelope and the proceedings. Treys voice is still shot and he fumbles the intro section, but the rest of it is pure top-tier type 1 2025 Antelope. Great stuff.

A bit of an odd set. A lot of AVERAGE stuff, despite tight playing and energy throughout. 1 massive bustout. Then a big 45 minute CHUNK of must hear awesomeness.

Mixed bag of a set but I still enjoyed it a lot despite the flaws. Great flow, too (aside from that shoehorned-in Sleep).
Definitely grab Wolfman and Roggae, and Rift and Punch are worth your time as well. 

 

Set 2 opens with a 12 minute Oblivion. A good version overall, but unfortunately it immediately dissolves, disgustingly predictably, into a major key bliss fest. YUCK! Look, im sorry, but anytime this dark song defaults to light (which is most of the time pretty much ) it honestly just irritates the crap out of me. This one ends up being pretty decent with a nice finale section but definitely nothing must be or anything that I need to hear ever again

At least they keep the momentum going with a 15 minute Disease. The song starts very badly with a straight up dropout/false start, proceeding to deliver a bit of a draggy rendition of the tune itself. The jam lazily drifts into rhythmic chordal jamming. Thankfully it actually ends up being really enjoyable - the band is locked in tight and are grooving hard. Fishman has an almost "beachy" feel, turning to jazziness. The jam gets down quiet, into a melodic, late night, note-picking zone. Not blissful but not diving dark either. Very bland though, no FX and Trey laying back way too much for my taste. Slowly the jam regains power and drifts into Robo-Manteca Land before, unfortunately, going Boring Bliss Rock on us. Trey sounds hesitant in his playing, just doing slow note picking and melodic lines of boring quality. There are several times when you could swear they are about to take it deep at last and then immediately go back into boring melodic jamming. Very frustrating. The and sees it start to go into watery robozone for a brief moment before leading into a dark rhythm pattern. Unfortunately it just dissolves and the jam ends very disappointingly. Ugh. Trey picks up on the death of this jam and leads them perfectly into a 12 minute Simple.All in all, this was an ok jam. Certainly NOT bad but definitely nothing must hear either. The guys were totally connected but it was just super bland/undercooked. Huh.

So Simple is a bit of a "they had me in the first half not going to lie" affair tonight. The song itself sounds fine aside from Trey totally dropping out at one point, I'm guessing because of tech issues? The gym takes a long time to get going, tricking you into thinking this is going to be another ho-hum, do nothing affair. Trey sounds very unsure of what to play and downright bored at points. At one point about halfway through the gym he magically wakes up and everything clicks into place!! Some X Factor strikes and the energy proceeds to jump about 10 levels. They spend a couple minutes absolutely tearing this Simple a new one, just melting our faces. I'd say the gym goes type 2, into this heavy rock, melty kind of zone. Fishman starts doing this unique triplet kind of pattern on the kick drum. It sounds like they are squaring up to segue into Roses. Its not to be and they go into Jibboo instead. I'd give this a light must hear. The final few minutes are what redeems it and are the best music played so far since probably the Punch in set 1. Definitely grab this!

Jibbo is nothing special tonight. It's actually really good, but it's 100% a strictly in the box type 1 reading. It's not particularly incredible but it is just really good overall. Good stuff, nothing more nothing less.

Just as we are starting to think this set will wind up as a enjoyable but mediocre miss, X Factor magic rears it's beautiful head and we go into a rare 2nd set Theme. And oh yea, its 24 frickin gosh darn minutes!!!!! Wtf!!! The song itself is very uninspired and definitely not a great version. Trey struggles mightily with his composed parts and his soloing is just straight up lousy. Around 8 minutes, thinks take a MAJOR turn for the better. Page jumps on the keys and the whole thing dives headfirst into a heavy funk groove. Around 10 minutes it gets dark and minimalistic. Around the 11 minute mark Trey jumps on the robo wah at last!! Yep this is type 2! Trey sets a loop of the robo law and then proceeds to do chordal funk jamming on top of it for a bit. This is so freaking sick holy hell. Even better, he then kicks on the backwards delay and sets a loop of that on top!!! DOUBLE LOOP!!! LETS FREAKING GO!!!! After a bit he returns to regular sounds but leave the loops going and the jam picks up more rock and roll energy but keeps the late night funk feel. Around 15 minutes, the goopy psychedelic layers are stripped away. Some octave effect comes out for a bit, but other than that, the next 5 minutes see them returning to high energy funky type 1 rocking. Right at the 20-minute mark, the jam shifts again. They spend a few minutes ascending into 1999-style bliss haze. Very cool, like floating through the clouds... After a couple glorious minutes, it gets back to rocking proper and they execute one of the best segways ever into a Simple reprise. And then its all over ....

HOT DAMN THAT WAS AWESOME!!! X Factor all over that sucker, definitely not the gym of the year but if somebody wanted to put it in the top 10 I definitely wouldn't argue. Holy moly that was AWESOME! The 8-15 minute mark is. freaking sick...

The set proper concludes with a 10 minute type 1 Everythings Right. Complete with MEOW!!!!dulator action at the start. LOL. Okay version nothing special whatsoever.

The encore, after seemingly no break, is a standard "lets get this over with" mediocre Slave. Oi vey.

All in all, in no way shape or form is this a 4.2 show as per the current ratings. No ratings don't matter blah blah blah. This show was an extremely mixed bag with much more excessively average or flat out not great material then good.

Trey was definitely having a very off night tonight in a big way. Set 1 was much better than set two in my opinion, but still you can happily hear Simple, Theme, Roggae and Wolf and forget the rest of the show exists.

Not a horrible nightmare of a show or anything but it's just not a great one. In a big way.

If it wasnt for Theme, this show is like a 3.6 or 3.7

 

2025-09-21 Hampton, VA

 9 21 25 Hampton

Set 1

The final night of the tour gets off to a surprisingly sleepy start with a supemely average First Tube. Nice pick as opener but I think it works better late in the set or the show when you've already worked up a strong head of steam and it can work as a kind of peak to a set.

In one of the most baffling moments of all time, they choose the 2nd slot to keep the energy low (non existent) with the worst-placed 20 Years Later ever. Look, I love this song, but this is even more average than FT was. Wtf was Trey thinking, putting this in the damn second slot?!?!? Dude. Total energy suck....

Thankfully they quickly write the ship with an average but enjoyable AC/DC Bag to finally get some momentum going. Nothing special or must here in the slightest but it's a much welcome or spite from the doldrums we began with.

The first highlight of the show is a perfectly played Foam! Everyone is totally on their a game and it sounds extremely well rehearsed. It's a tad on the slow side but who cares when all the parts are nailed this well. Pages playing is absolutely beautiful and Trey completely sticks the landing on the ending. Good enough that I'm going to give it a light must hear!!! Sick!

The following Life Saving Gun continues the upward trend. Not as strong as the Birmingham version but it's still an absolutely worthy addition to the Canon. They jammed the crap out of it with some really nice seagull sirens stuff going on and some very tight group playing. It's not the greatest version in the entire world but it's definitely worth a listen. Great stuff.

The following Roggae I would say does reach must hear status and I would consider it at least as good as Foam. Stellar as always just absolutely soaring with a wonderful solo. Nothing you haven't heard before but man does this song always deliver or what?!

After a very lengthy but ultimately average 2001, we get another must here with a pounding version of Meat. See Roggae. Nothing you haven't heard before but it's just super excellent and gooey and funky and heavy tonight. It absolutely delivers in the best way.

The set concludes on a mixed note with a 14 minute Melt that I'm iffy on. The sound mix on this show is so bad making it a giant echo chamber that it's very difficult to make out any details of the jam. It sounds like one big wall of noise in a bad way. I think it's really good but I can't really tell so I'll let you be the judge on this one.

But wait there's more it's actually not the end of the set! We get a very cool and unexpected triple threat set conclusion with it continuing on into Golgi and Most Events. Both are great as always nothing much to say.

All in all this wasn't the strongest set of the year but it also was very very good at the same time. Hard to explain. Kind of on the very strong side of average if that makes any sense. It's definitely better than average but it's hard to explain it's like in the crack between average and great.

Just pretend the set begins with Bag and you are off to the races. Foam, Roggae, LSG and Meat are the music that you need to seek.

 

Set two begins with a rare old school proper Mikes Groove! A strong type 1 reading. Nothing special but definitely worth your time. Good stuff, particularly Weekapaug.

Up next is a 20 minute Mind. Everyone's going to hate me but I'm really really really not a fan of this one. Jam starts nicely in a darker minor key zone noodling around, but unfortunately Trey soon switches them into upbeat major key bliss rocking. The jam very hesitantly gets stuck kind of meandering around for a long time, doing a whole lot of nothing. Eventually in the last third they all sync up finally in it just rages to a giant type 1 conclusion. But when all is said and done this was a big disappointment for me. I really can't stand these boring, "one note" long jams that just don't do that much. I'm not saying this is bad but I'm saying that personally I'll be fine never hearing this ever again.

The Jim spends a minute or two slowly deconstructing into some psychedelic ambience and moving into a 22 minute Scents. And thankfully it's a million times better!! Total X Factor on this one, it never gets strange but the boys are completely connected and it's one giant flowing beast of a jam. The initial dark type 1 quickly gives way to patiently bliss rocking. The jam deconstructs in almost lines to a close but they build it back up and keep it going. Taking on almost a vaguely Latin kind of feel, it sllloooooowwwwwlllllyyyyy #slowridetakeiteasy builds to the most ridiculous peak rage section of maybe the year. Honestly this is probably a top five peak finale section of 2025. It just goes on and on and on and on getting hotter and hotter and hotter as the minutes tick away. Like someone extremely slowly turning up the heat on an oven until eventually it's full blast and they rip the knob right off. This is an essential version of the song and one of the essential jams of a year loaded with essential jams. Wow.

The fun continues and the combo of Ghost>Chalkdust is just pure an adulterated fire to the effing face. Both are must hear, all day long. Two of the strongest, gnarliest, most blazing nuclear bomb 10,000 Sun hot versions I've ever heard. Chalkdust especially is a Hall of famer type 1 version. There have been a few versions like that this year and this one easily tops them all. It just goes on and on and on and on and on and on. Then you think it's over, and did they pick it back up and keep on MELTING THE UNIVERSE FOREVERMORE.

MY GOD THIS IS AN INCREDIBLE VERSION HOLY MOLY.

The show ends with the appropriate emotional duo of Life and Hood. Life is not a great version tonight unfortunately - the placement feels right emotionally in terms of the vibe of the show and it being the last show of the tour, etc. but Trey sounds positively uninspired and delivers one of the worst solos of the year. Shame!

Hood is thankfully fantastic. Up there with the best of the year and I'm very worthy closer for the show and tour. I've got goosebumps all down my neck during this version. Terrific!

All in all this was a very mixed bag of a show. I'm really not sure how to read it but I'd probably give it a solid 3.9 ish or 4.0. The Scents through Chalkdust as well as Hood are what you need from set two.

There was a TON of "really good but excessively average" stuff in the show, but the highlights were huge and made up for it all (almost). Definitely definitely definitely not one of my favorite shows and it started to feel like a chore to get through until Scents came along.

Your mileage may vary but I'm glad I got through this tour as it was not one of my favorites, if I'm being honest. 

2025-09-20 Hampton, VA

 9 20 25 Hampton

Set 1

Maybe the first time I've ever heard Boogie On open a show, how fresh! Unfortunately its not a particularly great reading. Dragging and kinda sleepy, I would say they definitely don't come out with a bang.

The following Undermind is WAY better. Treys soloing is very chill, but the band are locked in tight and grooving excellently. A fine reading for sure.

After a nice to hear BATR, we get a strong 12 minute Birds. The jam is slightly undercooked - on a different night this would have positively exploded. As it is, it comes close but never quite crosses that threshold, if you will. Its definitely really good, but Trey is still having slight sticky fingers and being hesitant in his playing. Really nice and long "almost peakage" in the back half. Really good but not essential.

Up next is an excellent reading of Esther. Very tight and sure of itself, sounding very well rehearsed. Great stuff.

Thankfully the set continues its slow upward trajectory from here. Funky B sees the first legitimate FIRE of the set while Its Ice delivers another strong reading. Ice has some shakiness from Trey but its mostly on point. And its absolutely bursting with energy. Great stuff.

Following all that we get a 15 minute Ether Edge. I'm still amazed that this has become an actual jam vehicle at this point. The jam is a bit of a mess. Its basically Birds Pt. 2. It tries really hard and does have a good head of steam, building to a pretty good peak finale section. But it never delivers totally like it needs to - the band is absolutely on fire despite being stuck in blissful type 1 throughout. Trey is still the weak link, sounding very disconnected from the rest of the band and hesitant / unsure in his playing. Definitely never need to hear this ever again and I can't recommend it but it's not a dumpster fire either.

Eh/10

At least the set closes on the One singular genuine must hear of the set, a blazing Moonage Daydream. The song itself is absolutely explosive in the best way possible. The solo starts pretty badly continuing on the hesitancy from Ether. Thank God it all seems to click into shape at some point and the back half of it is absolutely gnarly, just getting completely unhinged. Awesome stuff.

All in all, this wasn't a bad set, but it was definitely far inferior to that of night one. What I call it better than set two of night one though? Probably. That's saying a lot.

The band themselves sound fantastic throughout loaded with energy for the most part and tightly playing. But Trey sounds very much like he's having quite the off night. His playing sounds very sticky and conscious rather than flowing and smooth. Lots of bum notes and hesitant sounding playing.

I didn't hate this set or anything but I also definitely don't feel the need to listen to it ever again.
Id say grab Moonage. Thats it. Small shoutout to Birds and Undermind though. 

 

Set 2

Second half opens with a 12 Everythings Right. ER gets off to a great start with the jam quickly getting very heavy and growly. Shades of darkness creeping in, Fishman pounding those toms...sick. Very late night. Thank God it stays in this dark zone!!! The jam is super powerful sounding like Godzilla stomping across Tokyo. They build it to some nice peakage despite Trey still sounding like he's pumping the brakes a little bit.

Absolutely fantastically, they segue - just had to be a natural segue!!! - into a dang 18 minute Simple, taking everyone in the building by surprise and listening a massive roar from the crowd. Heck yes let's freaking go! The jam immediately goes deep, beginning in a blissful haziness. Wonderful soundscape building, Fishman doing marching beats on the snare. Around 8 minutes it magically morphs slowly into a dark zone. They take it deep, synths creeping in, slowly sinking us into the aquatic abyss. Oh heck yes lets go. X Factor alert! Very heavy and dark, textural synths, Fishman doing a million fills, etc. unfortunately it's not to be and at the 11 minute mark they shift on a dime back into upbeat bliss rock.... DANG IT, BOBBY! . Thank God this is quickly averted when they all sync up on a more hard rocking and rhythmic kind of zone. Shades of Izabella, subtle wah use. We are now building towards the expected classic rock peak. By 13 minutes the griminess returns and we are in a fiery and sludgy wah drenched rock jam that is super powerful and super heavy. A total wall of sound!!! Around 15 minutes the wall of sound subsides and they enter the expected full-blown Rock and roll explosion finale section. God this jam is a sledgehammer that just won't let up!!! Spray that hose!!! Peak it to oblivion!!! Let's freaking go!!! They spend several gloriou minutes absolutely peaking it to the damn sky, melting our faces. And then its over.....

Holy moly. That one song was better than the entirety of night one!!

And then on a dime out of nowhere, like a whiplash punched to the face, immediately out of the peak they segue straight into an 11 minute Wave! EXTREMELY, uptempo and super powerful tonight. Exactly what the doctor ordered to keep the energy going!!! At 5:30 Trey starts chord vamping and triggers the jam to begin. Page flits in and out with organ and Fishman slowly starts changing his beats. The jam enters a really, really nice bliss zone. They are floating into the ether, just hazing it out. Lots of "syncing up on a little motif" going on. Really cool hearing them so in sync, playing off each other. This reminds me of the Manchester Wave - they enter this one zone and basically stay in it, except they just explore it to its fullest, never sounding like they are lost or meandering. This is a wonderful little jam!!! And then it just TAKES OFF!!!!! It almost sounds very late 90s, the jam slowly evolving into this MASSIVE, swirling, psychedelic tornado of feel good expression and positivity. Just when you think they are as far out into the universe as possible Trey slyly and smoothly as a mother effer reintroduces the Simple theme like buuuuttttteeeerrrr. That was one of the best song re entries I've ever heard in my life. THIS JIM IS AMAZING! TOTAL X FACTOR MAGIC AND THE JAM IS ONLY SIX FREAKING MINUTES LONG BUT IT SOUNDS LIKE IT'S 25!!!!! HONESTLY THIS IS BETTER THAN THE ACTUAL SIMPLE JAM THAT PRECEEDED IT!!!

And then just like that it's all over!

DUDE. THAT WAS EPIC.

Ooh, and then we land nicely into a 12 minute Sea of Stars!!! I seriously just got chills all over my spine and arms....Around 5:30 Trey sets some backwards guitar loops and its ON. From there, blissful melodic jamming quickly leads to very cool textural synthesizer and robo jamming from Page and Trey. Slowly but surely the jam starts to become more psychedelic and weird by the second. This is one of those slow build "how the hell did we end up here?!" jams. Ridiculous flow and smoothness to the whole thing. Very slowly they spend the duration of the rest of the jam deconstructing this into a BLACK HOLE DARK STAR MELTDOWN from hell. By the end you would think you are in some late night version of a Split Open and Melt. Between the style of the jam and the sounds chosen by Trey, I actually began to think I was listening to a 1990-era Dead jam or something! Miami 1989 Dark Star, anyone?! ALL HELL OUR LORD AND SAVIOR X FACTOR MAGIC!! MUST HEAR!!! WHAT THE HELL.

Deep in the depths of the "most squiggly, dying droid, psych meltdown black hole abyss with no way of climbing out since the 34 minute mark of the Shoreline 2021 Tweezer", Fishman starts to change the drum beat and we go into Gotta Jibboo. That segue out was fantastic - Jibboo rising like a phoenix out of the wall of sound....Trey sets a whale siren and it's off to the races we go. They proceed to deliver an absolutely top tier type 1 Jibboo just loaded with energy. They rip it the heck up and all is right with the world. The perfect foil to the black hole of Sea of Stars. Must hear!!! Wow!

The set proper closes with the double whammy nuclear explosion party of Suzy into Julius. AND HOLY FREAKING HIROSHIMA NUCLEAR EXPLOSION THAT JULIUS! MUST HEAR!!! FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRR FIRR FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRR FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE

FIRE!!!!!!!!!!

Excellently explosive encore of Possum and Izabella. See above. A great time was had by all.

All in all, I thought this was a really really good second set. The Wave>Sea of Stars>Jibboo is the definite "magic", but of course the opening ER>Simple is terrific as well.

That Simple felt like a baby version of the Kentucky Chalkdust or something. That one was okay if flawed but set two more than made up for any shortcomings!! Hot damn best set since Alpharetta night 1??

Id rate this show like a strong 4.1 or something. If set 1 was strong itd be an easy 4.2, but set 2 on its own feels stronger than a 4.0 to me 

2025-09-19 Hampton, VA

 9 19 25 Hampton

Set 1

The 3rd to last show of the tour opens with a nuclear blast of lava to the face with the trio of Fluffhead, 46 Days and MyFe.

Fluffhead isn't anything special but is absolutely full of energy and played acceptably tightly and is a wonderful start to any show. 46 Days is yet another head smasher version. Staying firmly type one this one is like a steel mallet just shoving your head into the ground and smashing your skull into pieces. The peak is extra mighty and girthy and seems to last several glorious minutes. If it feels like it goes forever in the best way. Must hear!!

MyFe is 16 minutes in slot 3! The jam begins by quickly going into a really cool and patiently building rhythmic groove. Tom Tom overload, anchored by Page's piano plinking while Trey slowly builds a solo on top. Really awesome, this is pretty unique imo. Definitely some extra character to this one. They take their time building it until around the 12 minute mark they all sync up and the jam explodes like you expect it do, delivering 46 Days peak finale 2.0. The peak jam keeps going however and slowly devolves awesomely into a really cool laid back, almost tropical zone. This MyFe basically faaadddeessss to a synth laden, psychedelic conclusion....wow. Dude, this crushes. Absolutely must hear. Holy crap. Total x factor all day.

One of the greatest things I've ever heard in my life occurs next - after MyFe slowly dies it's ambient death, extremely perfectly, they sliiiidddeee straight into Rift, almost as if it were just another part of the jam. THAT TRANSITION WAS THE TITS!!!! Rift is excellent. Rather midtempo but everyone nails their parts and it delivers. Heck yes.

MyFe>Rift. Go hear this now.

The old school awesomeness continues with ANOTHER 14 minute Gumbo! Can you guys believe the glow up this song has had this year?! Anyway, this is another complete must hear. This version sees the regular jammin slowly evolve into the most majestically soaring peakage. A ridiculous cap to this jam. Total bliss heaven in the best way. Holy smokes what is going on this set is just destroying. AND THE PEAK JUST GOES ABD GOES AND GOES AND GOES AND GOES AND GOES!!!! WHEN IT WILL STOP NOBODY KNOWS!!! THIS IS FRICKIN AWESOME!!!!
.

They always seem to pull all the good stuff out in one show it seems. And up next we continue that trend with Pebbles and Marbles! It ends up being nothing special but it's a very nice and powerful reading that is always great to hear.

Up next we get the first Army of One since 2023. Excellent as always in great to hear even if it's nothing essential tonight.

What is essential is the following version of Ya Mar. Must hear, Treys solo is beyond exquisite!! Easily one of the finest solos he's played in the entire year hands down. Wow!

The set closes on an excellent if an extraordinary note with strong versions of The Wedge and Walls.

All in all this was a fantastic first set. Not a weak link in the chain! They came out of the gate on fire tonight, energetic and inspired!!

The MyFe>Rift, Gumbo and Ya Mar are the essential pieces of music for the set in my opinion. Not much more to say just go grab this sucker it's awesome. 

 

Set 2

The second half of the show opens with an inspired choice of a 13 minute Energy. Unfortunately you can skip this - the jam is very aimless and there are many times where it seems like they are about to take off but it just kind of fizzles out instead. It goes out there but it's not exactly good if you will. Trey sounds lost for what to play throughout and is AWOL for a lot of it. Definitely not a great jam in my opinion.

Skip straight to the following 28 Tweezer instead!!!! Personally I'm not the biggest fan of this jam. Most would call it excellent I guess I would too, but it's way too "meandering soundscape building" for my taste. It's a personal thing on my end. It's very much a jam to zone out to without a lot "going on". It's better than I'm making it seem like so don't listen to me! This is a really weird jam in a bad way - Trey is asleep at the wheel, barely doing anything. But at the same time the jam has incredible flow and the band are locked in with each other. It's like a worse version of the 12/30/19 Tweezer or something - the music isn't that great but the playing and the band themselves are on another level. The jam does get rather powerful in the last five or six minutes and I will admit has a pretty decent finale but the same time you're still left with the feeling that this was a below par experience overall..

Dude, what the corn.....

Unfortunately, the following 14 minute Ruby Waves is only marginally better. From the get-go, the jam get stuck in a boring and meandering bliss zone for way too long. Trey is just asleep at the wheel to the extreme - did he take a clonidine or something before this set?! Slowly it builds and it does achieve a pretty good finale on the whole I can't give this more than a B+ or so.

Man this is the most disappointing set in forever. If you looked at it on paper you'd think this would be the set of the year but in reality it's just.... Not great.

Thankfully they keep the energy going nicely with an 11 minute No Men. As with the rest of this tepid set Trey is just asleep throughout, until the final few minutes when he actually wakes up and the song rages to a proper close. Good stuff - I'll take what I can get with this!

Right out of No Men they segue unexpectedly back into 5 minutes of, dare I say, excellent Tweezer jamming. The best 5 minutes of the set so far hands down. excellent funkiness gives way to rock peakage before winding down quietly and moving into a much welcome Waste.

Waste is terrific. MUST HEAR!!! Man this one is absolutely fantastic and the piano soloing on this is just heartbreaking....wow.

After a fake out set closer of Rock and Roll, we get an interesting combo of Caspian into a must hear Bug with a Tweeprize to close.

All in all this was one of my least favorite second sets of the year. I thought the back half from no men onward was actually quite enjoyable, which is pretty funny. I'd say the COMBO of No Men through Waste as well as Bug are must hear.

The less said about the big jams the better. Very disappointed in this one Trey was just in la la land tonight. Personally I'd give the show like an A for set one and a B minus for set two