An intro to this review archive!

PLEASE READ!! - Welcome to Warewolf95's "Idiot Review" archive!!

 Howdy folks! As the title says, welcome to my archive of live show reviews as I have posted on the Steve Hoffman Music Forums website! I pr...

Tuesday, November 16, 2021

2019-06-28 Camden, NJ

6/28/19 Camden

Spent the first half hour listening while cleaning my room, so the notes on the awesome first half hour will be brief :)

Set Your Soul Free - Absolutely FANTASTIC opener tonight! Rocks hard, gets you moving, and the jam was sick. Great start!!

Strawberry Letter 23 - Third time played at this point (I got number 4 in Charleston! :) ) and it rocks. Wonderful addition to the repetoire and this is a great version.

My Friend My Friend - A fine version, nothing special (always welcome!) but it does have the Myfe ending.

Halfway to the Moon - I remember when they played this in Charleston it took me a minute to figure out what it was as I wasn't ultra-into the Fuego album yet. I kinda couldn't believe I had been stumped!! :) That one was pretty good, but this one I think slays it. Unexpectedly fantastic and great jamming from all. Really worth checking out!

Old Home Place - Was this a bustout? Nothing to be said - the fun bluegrass diversion for the set.

Train Song - Not great, flub-wise, but a pretty fun version with some crowd approval of the wine lyrics. :)

>Horn - Fantastic, unexpected and pretty flawless segue into Horn!!!! A stomping and powerful rendition. Unless it's Portland '98, Horn is Horn, but this one is still well worth a few minutes of your time.

Birds of a Feather - Fakeout time with that CTSOTHH intro! Trey counts in and the boys are OFF!!! Page plays around with the samples a bit and hits a wrong Kasvot Vaxt patch a few times. Pretty funny and in good nature and it makes the guys laugh so I'll take it. :) Loaded with energy, this is a strong and "concise" 10 minute exercise in ripping your head off. Listening to Trey try not to bust his gut while Page goes bonkers with samples is pretty amusing. Wonderful version that goes to some great Type II ripping space funk soundscapes. Essential listening! THIS BIRDS IS FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!! It's not just "HOT" - it's "HOT" WITH A PURPOSE! Eventually the maelstrom subsides and we are bathed in blissful light to soothe our battered souls. And then BAM back into the main theme with a "THEY ATTACK!" sample to close it all out. Holy hell....

Wolfman's Brother - A+ Wolf!!!! This one FUNKS harder than you can believe. They just dig right into that filthy, nasty, groovy murk and ride it all the way home. This is some hardcore funk, brothers and sisters. Jeez...Slowly and patiently they work the jam into some spacy bliss-funk or something. Ambient synths washing in and out, piano pounding away. Extremely cool. Then they groove on into some more straightforward Type I country rock styles returning to the WB area. From here they just build it and build it to a great peak, blowing the roof off. Absolute outstanding Wolfman!!!

Wombat - Love Wombat but this isn't the greatest. A few lyrical flubs and Trey ripcords full-stop into Timber before the song has a moment to do ANYTHING. WHY HAS WOMBAT NOT BECOME A JAM BEAST?! THEY RARELY PLAY IT AND YOUD THINK IT WOULD BE KILLING IT ALL THE TIME!!!! :(

>Timber - Getting the ripcord out of the way, this is pretty nice. As with Wombat, it doesn't do much of note, but its always great to hear and the playing is very nice. Just 5 minutes of pretty darn good Type I :)

Drift While You're Sleeping - Really excellent version to finish the set. I really love this song more each time I hear it. This was great version with everyone dialed in - sounded rehearsed :) Fishman going bonkers with them fills!!! A wonderfully upbeat closing to a monster of a set!!


A very, very strong first set, imo. Some MASSIVE highlights in that SYSF, BOAF and Wolfman. If you do anything, at least grab those three.  

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Set 2

Mercury - YES!!! I went nuts when I got this in Charleston. Still probably my favorite post-2015 song and maybe the song I wanted to hear more than any other. My version was not one of the best, but hey, I got Mercury, so I don't care :p This one is 21 minutes long and freaking awesome. No use trying to describe it - it's nothing out of the ordinary for a Mercury jam (high quality Phish phunk) but its still really great and flows terrifically. Everyone is contributing strongly (hell, I'm even zeroed in on Mike this time!!!) and the whole thing just congeals super nicely. Awesome jam.

>No Men In No Man's Land - Great segue out of Mercury. They are about to close the song, Trey starts signaling the No Men riff and everyone just jumps straight on board almost without missing a beat. Great bit of whole-band playing. :) This version of the song is "as you would expect". Great funky Type II jamming that covers the ground you'd expect it to. No surprises, just another really wonderful jam and playing by the guys!! ABSOLUTELY SMASHING PEAK THOUGH!!!!!!!! Really awesome when the jam slows right down at its conclusion and slowly morphs seamlessly into WACTOOB. Well, almost seamlessly - There was a strong attempt, ok? :p

We Are Come to Outlive Our Brains - A strong version, but nothing overly special. Just some very well played Type I. If you like the song you should love this funky version. :)

About to Run - Yet another tune I got in Charleston. I have vivid memories of that particular performance. I rocked out to that so hard. :p This one is great - love having a heavier rock tune for the guys to bang out!! About To Run feels like Neil Young-meets-Pink Floyd to me or something. Can you imagine Uncle Neil shredding this up with Crazy Horse?! Total Sleeps With Angels vibes!! :) End of story, Trey rips this up as expected.

Light - Holy crap, a standalone version! :p Freaking great jamming on this. No need to narrate, just 11 minutes of pure, awesome, funky blissful peaking and shredding and rocking with a great WACTOOB reprise!!!!!!!

Run Like An Antelope - Antelope is Antelope: cue the face melting. Holy hell. Sonic death!

Sleeping Monkey - Is Sleeping Monkey :)

Quinn The Eskimo - Nice to hear! Good version and a good closer.



All in all, I think set 1 is the winner (that trio of SYSF, BOAF and Wolfman were all next-level). Set 2 was pretty terrific playing-wise, BUT it definitely felt like a set I might've heard 10 times before, you know what I mean? Nothing really new or super amazing - lots of great playing and most of it is worth your time, it just wasn't especially UNIQUE, I guess.

Very small "first world Phish nut" gripe :)

In conclusion, another very strong summer 2019 gig!!! I'd probably give it a 3.8 to 4.0 rating if I had to. Great stuff on the whole!

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