2019-12-08 Charleston, SC

 12/8/19 Charleston, SC

I know this is among the lowest rated shows of 2019, and I'm gonna guess this is due to lack of jams and excess of songs. That being said, purely from a jukebox standpoint, this setlist is incredible!!! Seriously, this is the ultimate "check that one off the list" show!! Dang!

Look, Superball had almost no real jamming to speak of and was some of the best music of 2011, so let's give this one a fair shot now, eh?


Sigma Oasis - A new song! For real! I remember being shocked to see that they opened with a new one and it's a pretty good dad-rocker, ala More. It appears to be growing a good bit in 2021 ala More a few years ago. Good stuff. Bet this threw everyone for a loop - maybe not the best idea for opener, but gotta admit it's ballsy and I respect that. It's very well played and sounds great to me! Awesome!

Buried Alive - The "true" opener everyone was waiting for! SO was great but this would've got the party starting from the get-go. I was worried about this one but Trey freaking kills it!!!! He even gets a proper Little Drummer Boy tease in there! THIS THING IS RED HOT AND RAGES LIKE HELL! AWESOME!!!! If you have a problem with this, you can't be helped. Fantastic.

Guelah Papyrus - Awesome to hear, one of my all-time favorites. And they nail it! Excellent!

My Sweet One - Is My Sweet One, but points for the insane tempo and energy. Not list-worthy (It's just MSO) but hot dang it was still hot.

Everything Is Hollow - Of course night 3 (the show I wasn't at) gets the KV song I wanted! Don't you guys just love that riff?! This sucker is funky as heck as expected. I know I would've been dancing my tail off. This version is executed pretty well for the most part, BUT, it doesn't do anything to really make it list-worthy. It's just "pretty good". And sometimes that's ok.

The Curtain (WITHOUT) - Pretty rare to get a The Curtain (first since, 2012, I think?). Didn't really impress me that much to be honest, but again, points for rarity factor. C'mon, who wouldn't love to get Curtain'd?!

>Mound - Gotta love that seamless segue! Also, again, who doesn't love a Mound?! Rarity points again!! BASS SOLO!!! The guys nail this and it sounds like they were really having a lot of fun playing it. Sounds great to this listener!!!

Brian and Robert - BRIAN AND ROBERT! BRIAN AND ROBERT! YES! BRIAN AND FRIGGIN ROBERT! Sorry guys, I adore this song and getting to hear it is always wonderful. Great set placement and points for song choice. This sucker will always go on the list for me. As he says, "this one is for you".

Crazy Sometimes - Am I the only person that absolutely loves this song? This is like the prequel to Kasvot Vaxt or something. I'd absolutely love to catch this at a show. Check out that absolutely FILTHY playing from Gordo on this sucker. Also, Trey's soloing is very choice - perfectly on point. This one isn't some kind of all-timer, but it's definitely worth at least one listen.

Frost - One of Trey's best latter-day ballads, imo, and absolutely worthy of Phish air time. Man, this setlist is just rarity/unexpected song after rarity/unexpected song!!! Love the vocal harmonies on this. Absolutely wonderful and dynamic solo from Trey. Jerry would be proud. This sucker is just gorgeous as all hell! Frost - it sounds the melancholy vibe you get staring out the window on a cold, dark winter's day, watching the snow slowly drift around in the air...absolutely spectacular. Really. Please give this performance another go if you've looked over it.

Breath and Burning - Great song choice out of Frost! Really, that worked excellently, slowly building into the song. Gets us feeling good again. If you don't like the song, ok, but that was a great move as far as set flow goes. Pretty dang hot and rocking (as much as B/B can be). Grateful Dead vibes on this one to my ears. That is good stuff. Lots of energy and it really picks us up after Frost (as insane as that was!) Great version! Trey absolutely SOARS!!!!

Alumni Blues Suite - Who the hell saw this out of B/B? I knew the setlist and even I forgot it was coming, lol. Nailing it with that set placement, guys. FREAKING GET IT, PAGE!!!!!!!!!! As a whole this RAGES and the guys actually NAIL it, sounding tight as hell throughout!!!

It's Ice - The first big letdown in a long while this set. The composed part is on the nice side of rough and sounds unpracticed. I will absolutely always welcome It's Ice, but please practice it (or at least refresh yourselves!). The song bumbles along, sounding like it could fall at apart at any moment. And I don't just mean Trey - the whole band just sound unconfident in their ability to play it tonight. Trey completely misses some leads and fumbles through others, muscle memory occasionally saving him for a few seconds at a time. Bummer! Fantastic jam in the breakdown section but c'mon, you can't just butcher the song and pretend everything's ok afterwards. Nope. No list for you, Ice! This is absolutely the WORST version of It's Ice (the song) I have ever heard. Just awful!

Walls of the Cave - Not quite list worthy as all WotC's sound identical ( lol ) but a great close to an unfairly ignored first set.



If this was 2011 everyone would say this was the first set of the year. It's Ice was horrifically bad, but other than that this was a very FUN first set that has you grooving from the start, loaded with energy and optimism. In hindsight, this very much feels like a "It's the last night and we just want to have a blast" kind of set. If you are down with that you will dig this sucker (unless you just hate all the songs played!). Now, I'm expecting a lot worse from set 2, but nobody has really talked much about this first set - it's great! Really! It's a right party!!! Don't miss it!

    

Set 2

After Midnight - Massive bustout and only the 7th time EVER played! Fantastic way to kick open the set. The guys sound a little tentative and it's not as smashing-amazing as it should be (feels lukewarm rather than red hot) but the spirit and energy are there regardless. Great attempt.

Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan - A slighty wonky intro with Trey kinda flubbing the leads and the vocals. He sound un-confident. Trey sounds utterly lost, not knowing what to play. Page tries to keep it afloat but this is definitely a sinking ship. Wow, talk about a disappointment! Trey tries to fiddle with sustained notes and feedback, but it is just awful. You can hear the slight rumblings of a jam evolving out of this mess, but of course instead of doing the 1997 thing and riding it to higher ground, they kill it off and leave us with a terrible taste in our mouths. This was among the worst things I have ever heard Phish do. This SUCKED.

Energy - Thankfully Trey 86's that abomination and tries to at least bring the energy back around after that floundering excuse for music that Stealing Time was. This one is tentative at first, like Trey is sheepishly grinning "whoops!" for the STFTFP, lol. The song itself isn't anything to write home about tonight. It is positively lukewarm! Enjoyable but nothing more. Around 5 minutes they start a jam, and it has potential! But then 2 minutes later they just....kill it. Yea, let's not jam out the song called ENERGY. Ok. Whatever. I'm not the band....wtf, mate.

Soul Planet - That half-baked micro jam out of Energy gets ripcorded in favor of SP. At least a segue attempt was made and they launch right into it. Trey still sounds utterly low-energy. But then he flips some switch inside and the fire comes alive. Around 3 minutes they launch straight into jam land, opting for some darker vibes I wouldn't've expected right away. By 5:30 we are in full 1999 spastic-ambient-Type-II land. Now THIS is what we have been waiting for!! Extremely cool - very airy and chill, Fish still going nuts on the cymbals. Very ethereal. Shades of a certain Camden '99 Chalkdust I adore. Very very cool jam! DONT MISS THIS!!!

Wingsuit - Soul Planet had a terrific jam that naturally reached a low-key conclusion. Great! Wingsuit fits the spot left absolutely perfect. Just rising from the magical ashes in a wave of beauty. This sucker has that X Factor vibe to it, imo. It's just oozing with vibe. Absolutely gorgeous and magical Wingsuit here. This thing has legs, dang it! Well, wings rather. Listen to Trey absolutely melt faces and the beautiful playing behind him! DONT MISS THIS!!!!

I Always Wanted It This Way - Back to the unsuredness of Energy, I don't know if this was practiced or not, but everyone sounds rather hesitant on this, even Page! At the end of the day this does actually end up injecting some energy back into the set, but the jamming itself doesn't do anything noteworthy. It's very enjoyable and woulda been fun in person but nobody will ever refer to this as a classic version, ya know? I mean, it gets pretty hot, actually, at the end but this should be the norm, not the exception for a 2nd set number!

Petrichor - Oh no, the "mountain" of the set....I love Time Turns Elastic. I love long songs. I do not usually love Petrichor. Talk about the absolute worst song to put in the middle of such a dying set! Oi vey! All of that being said....give this one a chance! It actually has palpable energy that I wasn't expecting! All in all I hesitate to put this on the list (so I wont) but it's definitely a livelier-than-usual Petrichor that was performed very well and was surprisingly enjoyable! Not the disaster I expected!!!

Boogie On Reggae Woman - This feels like an apology to try to get the mood going again, lol. It's good and does get the energy going, but Reggae Woman is Reggae Woman, ie enjoyable but nothing noteworthy.

Rise/Come Together - Take it or leave it. I enjoy the song, though I know many do not. This thing does have good energy and feels like the band is saying "ok, c'mon guys, final night - lets everyone in the room rally together!". Ya know what? I think i'll list this one - Trey plays great and it really lifts the mood. Very powerful, imo. Excellent set closer, imo.

Pebbles and Marbles - Yay! How many shows have bot Walls Of the Cave AND Pebbles/Marbles?! This one is short but pretty strong - it definitely feels loaded with energy. Definitely a shot-in-the-arm moment in the set (well, encore at this point). This thing COOKS!

Beneath a Sea of Stars - Outstanding. Like Phish doing Terrapin Station or something. Trey is just cooking, well, simmering, in the best way. Just oh so delicate and delicious. Wonderful.

Izabella - First since Baker's Dozen, no? Red-hot and totally worth a listen.

Chalkdust Reprise - List-worthy for rarity


All in all, set 2 was an incredibly mixed bag. Izabella was as hot as it ever got and that wasn't until the encores! The guys REALLY struggled to get this set to catch fire and I feel like eventually they gave up and just tried to do the best with what they had. As with the abysmal It's Ice in set 1, Stealing Time was literally the worst version I've ever heard. Downright AWFUL. Aside from that there were several very nice-though-shortish jams in a few of the songs but overall this felt like a "this is the victory lap, we don't need to try to impress" set.

Quite possibly the worst show of the year, but considering how strong the first set was, any year that has this as the "worst" show is doing pretty dang good!!!! Get set 1, lightly sample set 2

2019-12-07 Charleston, SC

 It's Christmas morning, so onwards to my 2nd show ever...

12/7/19 Charleston

Some quick thoughts: In person I was exhausted (though of course excited!!) for night 2. Night 1 was absolutely insane. I've replayed large portions of this though and have to say, in person and upon replay, night 1 felt like one of those nights where things were just on a slightly different level, whereas 12/7 felt like "a really freaking good show" and nothing more, does that make any sense at all?

Also, I scored the setlist jackpot again for night 2 with a Fluffhead opener that BLEW MY MIND (WHITE LIGHT!!!!!!), a freaking Reba (one of my earliest Phish conversion songs based on that 12/31/95 masterpiece) and a damn Guyuute all in the first set. What. I'm not trying to boast but it was pretty freaking awesome!! And then of course the zany second set....


Anyways, here we go:

Set 1:

Fluffhead - Everybody needs a Fluffhead opener in their lives. My jaw hit the damn floor when it began and I could not possibly believe what was happenning in front of me. It was like the gates of heaven opened up or something. I couldn't believe I got Fluffhead, let alone as a dang opener!!! Gun to head, this is probably my favorite Phis song besides Punch You In The Eye and was absolutely on my want-to-hear list. And on top of that it's a damn fine Fluffhead with almost no flubs and lots of energy! The entire crowd singing along was amazing and I had chills down my arms the whole time. Also, as mentioned above, WHITE LIGHT! SO MUCH WHITE LIGHT! Night 1 was great with the lights, but I vividly recall the lights on night 2 being noticeably more memorable. All of my light-based memories of these shows are from night 2, lol. Anyway, outstanding way to kick off a show!

Everybody needs to jump up and down screaming "FLUFFFFHHHEEEAAADDDD!!!!" at least once in their lives. The feeling cannot be matched.

Ocelot - One of my favorites. I wasn't dying to hear it but was thrilled when it came on! Loved singing along to this sucker. A great set choice after that exploding Fluffhead. Trey absolutely annihilates this sucker, turning in some red hot soloing reminiscent of early 3.0 renditions. He just kills his axe on this sucker. Awesome Ocelot!!!!

Nellie Kane - Is Nellie Kane. I remember being stoked I got a bluegrass tune, lol, but also NK is just NK. Very fine though.

The Dogs - I wasn't familiar with this at the time but remember it rocked. It doesn't really do anything upon relisten and kinda just kills a few minutes.

Reba - Now, along with Fluff and Divided Sky, this was among my white whale songs. 12/31/95 Reba was a major conversion track for me. The first time I heard that (first Reba I ever heard...) blew my mind. And then this sucker comes outta nowhere! I was screaming and singing along like a demented lunatic - I couldn't believe I got a friggin' Reba. Now the big question - WILL TREY BUTCHER IT?! I was really hoping not but had already accepted the chances for failure were high so I was just gonna enjoy it and love whatever they gave me. As for the composed section, it starts very rough for Trey but he kinda pulls it together. He fakes his way through it good enough - I've definitely heard worse, and again, it sounded better in person, LOL. Totally gorgeous as usual solo that just elevated the room to the heavens. I was dying inside in the absolute best way.

Halfway to the Moon - I wasn't ultra familiar with Fuego at that point and remember having to jump on my phone to look up what song this was, lol. This sucker SMOKES!!!! Trey goes ballistic and murders the soloing!!! Fantastic! Red hot!!!

Train Song - Is Train Song but great to hear!

Guyuute - YES! ANOTHER FAVORITE! I couldn't believe it - I was hitting that jackpot with the setlist tonight, holy hell. I love Guyuute and didn't realize it's kinda a rarity at this point too, so yay! And they nail it! Reba this was not! KILLER!!!

Strange Design - At the time I wasn't too familiar with the song but these days its a major favorite of mine and I can't believe I got it. A pretty big rarity, only the 15th version since 3.0 started and the 2nd since 2016. Awesome. And it's wonderful. Get it Page!

Moonage Daydream - And ANOTHER rarity to end the set!!! I would never purposefully want this but once it started I knew what it was and freaked out. Killer. Just killer.


A fantastic set all the way around. Listening back it's hard to choose if I prefer 12/6 or 12/7's first set. Both were amazing. 

 

Set 2

The Connection - UBER Rarity! First time played since 2015, only, I think, 4th time ever?!?! Gotta say, this was the aboslute WORST set opener ever! I love the song but holy hell this is a cool down song, not something to blast the gates open with! At the time it was the furthest song from my mind. Points for bustout status, but c'mon, was ANYBODY asking for this (and in this set placement?!). Beggars cant be choosers In hindsight this is great and deserves to be played often, maybe in the Number Line spot. But in person this was HORRIBLE to open the set.

Mr. Completely - NOW HERE WE FREAKING GO!!!! Fishman starts playing too slow and Trey has to guide him up to tempo. In person, I knew this song and again knew it to be a quasi-rarity and was stoked to hear it. It's one of the best rockers Trey has ever written, imo, and I was stoked to get to headbang to it! Unlike Scents from 12/6, this thing takes a few minutes to find a direction for everyone to latch onto. For the first 10 minutes or so things seem kinda weak - the guys (read: Trey) don't seem to know what to do. They are aimlessly floating in the funk. Finally though some cool sounds come in, with Page especially going bonkers on the keys with some effects Devo would be proud of. Trey lays back and lets him just rip. Very cool. Around 14 minutes some airy ambient soundscapes that sound dark and menacing creep in, replacing the funk. Fishman keeps the beat spastic and uptempo, but Page is just dousing us with air. Unfortunately Trey totally ripcords us back into MC proper, reintroducing the theme and the guys following suit. He killed the jam (that wasn't really going anywhere) but the return to the song was excellent. A for effort but nothing really happenned! This is a big letdown upon relistening. If it wasn't for the length I wouldn't put this on the list.

Crosseyed and Painless - Oh man and they freaking JUMPED into this one! I've never experienced anything like this before - the entire crowd EXPLODED in one mass the second the song began. I thought the building had been nuked. The energy was out of this world. You had to be there. This was freaking AWESOME at the time. Loved hearing Fishman sing. I can't describe how much FUN this was. This was a freaking BLAST!!!!! STILL WAITING!!!! Now this sucker does what Mr. Completely should've done. It's like they wanted to re-do that or something. Around 7 minutes Gordo picks up the slack and Trey lays back. Page syncs up with Gordo and the band bring the tempo down to a silent standstill. The drums stop and the guys begin a slow-chant still waiting back up to tempo from a whisper! INCREDIBLY cool!!!! Very weird and definitely full on Type II. This turns into some ambience for a bit with the guys sounding like they might launch into Piper. Trey starts some angular Zappa-soloing over this mangled mess of noise. Page brings in the THX synthesizer while Fish keeps the rhythm going underneath. GRAB YOUR SPACE SUIT BOYS AND GIRLS!!! MY FIRST DEEPS SPACE AT MY 2nd SHOW!! YES!!! THIS IS AWESOME!!! Upon playback now it is pretty disjointed, but Trey throwing in the Little Drummer Boy was SICK. I remember standing there going "IS HE REALLY DOING THAT?!". It was so unexpected and funny and awesome. Really, really incredible. The guys pick up on it and literally jam The Little Drummer Boy. What. This is what X Factor dreams are made of. Then in one fell swoop Trey takes in minor key and we get unholy-pray-for-me-lord-im-burning-in-hell-Satanic-Drummer-Beast for an unsettling minute of ridiculousness. I mean, this is jaw on the floor material - picture being there for it...

Dirt - Just when I thought I was going to need an exorcism, we drop perfectly into my favorite Phish ballad besides Waste. I wanted Waste, but this was definitely my number 2!!! Dirt is one of my favorite Phish songs and this is just wonderful. Trey whistling Little Drummer Boy over the intro, lol. Perfect set placement!!! This was incredible and you can hear the crowd lap it up. Beautiful piano and guitar and a bass solo. It's Dirt. You get what you expect and it's great.

Cool Amber and Mercury - At the time this was one of the KV songs I needed to become more acquainted with. I didn't recognize it at first and had to wait for the chorus for it to click with me. "FACEPLANT INTO ROKK" This sucker got it going. I remember dancing my tail off with a drunk girl in front of me, lol. I was respectful but she kept bumping into me, lmao. This is an excellent Type I excursion with the guys just soaking it all in and letting the music flow. Wonderful version. It gets very dark and nasty like a spunked up DWD towards the end. Gordo is really grooving HARD on this one.

Split Open and Melt - Again, stoked to get this. Awesome. The song itself isn't anything special unfortunately. We are here for the jam. The dark, nasty, outer space, satan's-hell-hole jam. Again unfortunately - and I remember this in person as it happenned - the jam literally WHOOSH descended with zero journey. We went from Song>>>Hell with no journey of getting us there. It was like they literally yanked the rug out from under us and it was NASTY in a BAD way. I actually had a disgusted look on my face at how awful it was. Like, what?! And you guys know how easy I am to please so that's saying something!!! A+ for effort but C+ for execution on that total lack of transition into the jam....Around 4:30 Trey begins some dark playing and the other guys follow suit. Page keeps the piano going and Fish keeps the beat, but the guys sound lost for how to "move" this thing forwards. It's incredibly unsettling music. Very demented. About 6:30 the drums completely stop and Page (or is that someone on the Lumina?) gives us terrifying sound effects that scare the hell out of us. I remember the crowd was standing still at this point - how can you dance to this hell-scape from Mars?! You want out-there Type II ambient insanity?! This will give you that and more. What even is this. This is atonal abstraction of the terrifying variety. Halloween was 2 months ago - gtfo with that nonsense! So, the song and the transition were not great but this is one of the jams of the year for pure willingness to jump head first into the lava pit, eh? I mean, what even is this?! This is like some weirdo mechanical robot dying his last breath trying to talk to us but only able to spit out mutilated machine noise. What. I DONT KNOW IF THIS IS "GOOD", BUT IT SURE IS UNIQUE!!!! And we still have 6 minutes to go!!!!!!!! Little Drummer Boy reprise from Trey! I remember the menacing lighting during this and losing my GD mind over it all. What was I witnessing. THIS IS THE DEFINITION OF "MELTDOWN". PERIOD. END OF STORY. Slowly around 12 minutes with everyone playing with every toy on their pedal board, Fishman starts to reintroduce the Split Open theme. Coming from the abyss like this it takes a minute but Trey turns them instead back into Crosseyed and Painless! A full on reprisal! The crowd loved it and lapped it up. Talk about a release!!! STILL WAITING!!!! And then back into Melt to close out.

What do you say after that? My head was put in the proverbial crusher.....

A Life Beyond the Dream - Another unreleased song (at this point) and one I was completely unaware of. I maybe heard the GOTF version once or twice months before but that's it. I didn't know this at all but it hit me hard. After that insane meltdown bonanza, this was literally the perfect choice to get. We go from thinking we are all going to die in this auditory slaughter to realizing everything is wonderful and we are going to be just fine. Spectacular. And that chorus...oh man that just nailed me at the time. Fantastic....

Wilson - Is Wilson. Was amazing to get to scream "WILSON!" at the top of my lungs Was a great pickup after Dream.

The Squirming Coil - Again, couldn't believe my setlist luck getting this too. Wow. It's ok! And that's fine. Like Wilson, It's just a good little Coil that does what you expect. That ending piano though...that is some sacred and holy stuff - getting a Page solo out of Coil, I mean. Check another thing off my list!!! I will ALWAYS love that... Awesome end to the set proper....

Grind - Is Grind, but bonus points for only being the 27th version of all time

Frankenstein - Now THIS sucker right here just killed! First one since the Baker's Dozen! A proper bustout again! AND HE BUSTED OUT THE KEYTAR! HECK YES!!! KILLER!!



All in all, this was a very different feeling show from night 1. 12/6 felt like it just flowed regardless of how good the performances were. This felt much more like a "we are trying hard on purpose" kind of show that didn't 100 percent succeed but tried it's damnedest.

Fluffhead
Crosseyed
Melt>hell meltdown

Get those now!
 

2019-12-06 Charleston, SC

 After starting Fall 2019 and getting burnt out the past few weeks, I finally arrive at the moments I've been waiting for!! 12/6 and 12/7 Charleston!!!

Aka my first/only shows

I've replayed most of these 2 shows at some point or another (especially the second set on 12/7) but have never given full-on, full-show repeats to either.

Keep in mind these were the two most incredible nights of my concert-going life to this point, so you can imagine my biased memories

That being said....


12/6/19 Charleston

Set 1

Carolina - Wonderful! A vocal track to open. COMPLETELY unexpected by me and definitely not on my radar. I'll take it though for checking a-capella off my list

Party Time - Now here is where, literally, the party gets started. Again, at the time I remember this was totally unexpected by me BUT I quickly thought "how perfect to open a show!!" Again, bias, but there is palpable energy out the wazoo - more than the previous couple shows, imo. This PT flat out rages and actually feels like a substantial performance instead of just, well, Party Time. Proper opener. KILLER.

Strawberry Letter 23 - I was not familiar with the song at this point and didn't realize they had played it before. This is the 4th time played and I talked to someone that saw the first 3 as well, lol. I enjoyed it in person but I had absolutely no idea what the fuss was. I do know that this opening trio of tracks would never have been on my must-hear list, but it was such a great set opening that I had no cares about it at all and just went with the flow. Wherever we go is what is happenning. Etc. As for SL23, in hindsight I very much dig this. Trey flubs some lyrics but also kills others - check out his sick falsetto All in all this gets points for rarity/surprise factor but wasn't particularly outstanding. Still very fine though and a great song call at this point!

Undermind - I remember being slightly disappointed at this point that the setlist was denying my expectations/wishes, but as with Party Time, this was so good in person that it didn't even matter. I remember really LOVING it while it was happening and getting a new appreciation for it from this point onwards. I have no memory of the crazy synth raging from Page but listening back this thing kills. I'm sitting at the dinner table headbanging and tapping my feet along while listening to this. I remember dancing my TAIL off. That is a good sign. This Undermind gets pretty gnarly and fuzzy, definitely red hot. Attendance bias again, but this Undermind is terrific.

I Been Around - Nothing special, but I recall recognizing the intro "Hey Page...." and knowing exactly what was coming. Again, setlist preferences be damned! Never in a million years would you tell me this set so far (based purely on song choice) would have me going nuts. But again, that's Phish for you - setlist does not equate to quality
Rarity points - 8th version ever played. Not quite Lushington, but for my first show I'll take a statistic like that Great keys from Page. I might prefer this to Lawn Boy, if I'm being honest....

Divided Sky - Finally some "big league" action, lol. This was one I had been hoping and praying for - DS is possibly my favorite Phish song (or at least among the classic of classics) and a track I ALWAYS love to hear. I went NUTS when they started this! I remember looking out for flubs and they nailed the "backwards" section so that's pretty much a pass from here on out for me. I'm sure you guys can picture me - arms in the air, screaming - "DIVIDED SKY THE WIND BLOWS HIGH!!!!!!" Do you guys remember your first Divided Sky? Would love to hear about it! This particularly version has a very nicely relaxed tempo to it. It just washes over you. Along the lines of the Junta version, ya know? For 2019, this DS is totally nailed .There's a brief minute or so where Fishman and the guys get ever so slightly disconnected, but unless you are relistening through earbuds I doubt most people even noticed a hiccup. Some cool jamming by Trey begins around 10:30. He has a couple "finding the right note" moments here and there but on the whole delivers an inspired round of soloing. If this isn't an "A+ across the board DS", it certainly deserves props for being executed excellently (again, for 2019) and keeping the listeners attention from start to finish.

^^^That was some life-changing s#!t for me, fam...THAT FREAKING SUSTAINED NOTE (YOU KNOW THE ONE!) AT 13:40!!!!

The Sloth - I remember losing it when they busted this out. The opening combo of PYITE>Sloth from 12/31/95 is rooted deep in the core of my listening central nervous system. This was the BOMB. Playing-wise it's not the greatest, but it's a great call after DS. This was definitely a "you had to be there" song though. For me at least. In person I was just losing my GD mind...

Destiny Unbound - An old-school 1.0 threepeat section! YES!!! Not my favorite song ever, but I do enjoy it and was stoked to get another rarity (even if not a mega one anymore). This is a great version. I remember at the time realizing they were "taking it out there" quite a bit but never realized until later it was one of (if not the first) time they've given it a "ride", so to speak. Gloating points for me - IT WAS MY FIRST SHOW DEAL WITH IT Right at only 2:33 they drop into a funky jam outta nowhere, Page on the Claivnet, etc. You know the drill. They ride the funk train for a while, Trey doing some great soloing. Eventually around 5 min in Page jumps on the piano and the jam turns the corner to "let's-peak-to-the-sky-ville" territory. Trey doing his expected chirpy trills and everyone else building a platform beneath for him to rise to the heavens. Trey starts playing with delay and slashed chords, Page and Mike absolutely tearing it up below him. Page then introduces some great organ sounds and the jam returns to more blissful areas. Tons of lengthy sustained notes high up on the neck from Trey with Mike dropping bombs throughout and the whole band just raging this sucker HARD. Really, truly, exceptional track. They even properly concluded the jam and return to the songs themes. Fantastic. Then Mike reminds them there is another verse and drops some HARD bombs like "hey guys, don't end the song too early!!!!". Outstanding. A+ effort imo. Really.

We Are Come to Outlive Our Brains - Although I knew I wouldn't get Turtle (my favorite), I was really hoping for Everything Is Hollow. Glad I got WACTOOB though as I love it as well! Before the dust has settled on that beastly DU, Trey immediately fires up this baby. A great choice for a cool down piece after the preceding 3 monsters! The aquatic vibes with the watery synths and chill atmosphere are just fantastic. Unfortunately instead of heading for a jam they quasi-ripcord into MyFe. If this was longer and felt less like an "interlude" then it would definitely be on the highlights list. What's here is great.

>My Friend My Friend - I remember in person being glad to get this but also thinking it wasn't the best version, unfortunately. Let's see how it does for me now...Relistening it's pretty strong but nothing special. I think at that point I was pretty tired (first show, all the wait time and stress of pre-show, etc etc etc). It was pretty awesome but I definitely cooled off a tad bit at this point. A fine MyFe though with lots of strangled guitar from Trey! Nothing wrong with this at all - it's pretty dang gnarly! List-worthy though? Ask me a different day and I might say yes.

>About to Run - Now this I definitely remember being freaking awesome. I wasn't that familiar with the Ghosts songs yet but definitely knew this one good enough to recognize what it was. I remember thinking this was heavy as hell and quite wonderful. The dynamics between the smashing guitar histrionics and the quiet verses...wonderful. The crowd is lapping it up at least! Trey absolutely lets it rip on this sucker. MyFe was just a warmup for this axe mutilation! I recall in person going "oh my god!" with my head in my hands at what I was witnessing, lmao. FANTASTIC.

The Horse>Silent In the Morning - No comments. Not even from me. It is literally what it is. It was fine and that was all.

David Bowie - I remember at this point definitely feeling ready for setbreak (and in hindsight that should've happenned after About to Run probably). I was rooting for this (MY FIRST BOWIE AT MY FIRST SHOW! YES!) but at the same time was definitely let down by it. Divided Sky it was not. I was kinda waiting for it to end (as awful as that sounds). Not a great Bowie imo.



All in all, this set flows great as a listen. Not everything is top-tier but there are rarities galore (kinda) and several outstanding tracks more towards the beginning. Really great set overall and stoked that I got a good one as my first 

 

Set 2

Axilla - Unexpected by me and kicked us in the face! Awesome opener! Got teases throughout the rest of the night too which was great. I remember the guy next to me punched me in the arm and said it was his 40th show but his first Axilla! Goes to show you never know what youre gonna get!!! The guys really get into the "AXILLA YEAAAHHH!!!" vocals on this. It's a red hot version with everyone in high spirits laughing their tails off. Awesome opener!

>Scents and Subtle Sounds (X FACTOR EVERYWHERE) - I recall at the time not recognizing the song at first and the transition into this from Ax definitely threw me for a loop. Then they slammed into that main riff and I went "oh, yes, this song!" Again, not what I expected but definitely what I needed Around 6 minutes the song fades into the murky abyss and the dark keys come out. Into jam land we go! Some tasty About-To-Run-esque playing from Trey. At 6:50 we get a full on Axilla reprise from Trey which is awesome. The energy keeps building with every measure. Everyone is taking their time but evolving nicely into some gooey Type II funk broth!! This is great. I often complain about quickly-changing jams in recent shows, but this is the kind of stuff I love - they grab onto the funky heaviness and slowly build it, raging it hard and fast, learning the nuances of the music, breathing it in and out from note to note. It's not a race. It's a marathon. And they reach some dang apex peaks with this thing. I'm not going to call attendance bias on this because in the moment all I could do was hold on for dear life - I couldn't even comprehend it in person, so this is like listening to it for the first time. And it's SPECTACULAR!!! Just freakign awesome. Around 13 minutes Trey signals a shift in the jam and the heavy funk gets replaced by more frantic and electronic kind of playing. Bleeps and bloops and blaring disco synths, all while Fishman retains the break-neck beats he's kept going since the beginning. Watery playing from Trey, electronics galore...I'm bad with this stuff but all call it a robot jam or something Extremely cool. Absolute Type II. 14 minutes in we get more Axilla from Trey along with robot spacehip effects from Page! Incredibly awesome. Things get to a more rocking sensibility from here and the guys just rock it to high heavens with some 70's-esque blaxploitation-type themes from Trey (that sick descending part). From here it's to a stop-start jam with everyone locked in just full on X Factor jamming this mother. This is incredible. This is one of the jams of the year - can someone point me to something else from 2019 that is this relentlessly NASTY?! THIS IS CATCHING YOUR PARENTS IN THE ACT KINDS OF NASTY!!!! At 18 minutes they kill it rather quickly (how do they do that) unfortunately, but all is not lost as we go into....

>No Quarter - ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!?! Leading out of Scents, Trey shines the dark and murky path forwards with effects laden static hysteria. Think white noise. As the first key notes appear, the crowd immediately goes bonkers, not believing what is happenning. This was one of the greatest 1-2 punches I've ever heard (I swear no attendence bias - facts) and it's even killer when Page begins the vocals. He has those vocal effects and the whole thing screams amaze-balls. I know I absolutely could not believe what I was witnessing - again, maybe not what I wanted but definitely what I friggin NEEDED!!! HOLY HELL!! INSERT HEADBANGING ONCE RIFF COMMENCES. And Trey absolutely rapes his guitar from here to the moon like a cheap Tijuana hooker. Incredible. "Walking side by side with death" - yea you said it Page!!!! Jeeezzzz.....

Your Pet Cat - Holy hell, worst set placement ever I remember being glad to hear it but THOSE FRIGGIN SAMPLES WERE WAY TOO LOUD! I HATE THOSE CAT SAMPLES AND NEVER WANT TO HEAR THEM EVER AGAIN!!! That being said, I do love this track musically but in person those damn samples absolutely ruined me. You have no idea. Listening now, samples aside, there's loads of great soloing from Trey, but dang it kill those samples!

Mercury - I remember freaking out that they played it. It was definitely at the top of my want-to-hear list for sure. This one stays pretty in the box but what's here is excellently played and performed. Despite only having a short Type I jam, it's top notch playing from everyone. Great little Mercury! Better than I remembered - I was really hoping they would stretch this out but alas it was not to be. And that's ok

>Saw It Again - Completely took me be surprise, yet again. A stupid song but c'mon this was pure fun in person. Love the guys screaming the background vocals, lol This feels like the crazy jam Mercury was missing, haha. The guys just go stupid for 5 minutes ripping and tearing the place to shreds. Awesome.

>Limb By Limb - One of my favorites!!! I remember in person absolutely loving that they played this and recognizing how awesome this version was. 13 minutes of awesomeness. This sucker takes it's time like Scents and just builds and builds. It goest Type II pretty much, but also still kinda stays in that "let's peak to the moon" mode of things. But it's on the slightly wacky side as well. EVERYONE is playing crazy and this is just a friggin' thing of beauty. Also, check those Divided Sky teases!! THIS THING IS A BEAST!!! It get's wacky and weird, Fishman sings, we dissolve into chaotic ambience....what is this?!?!

>The Lizards - And you bet your gosh-darn mind I went friggin' insane when this popped out! I turned to my friend and went "OMG ARE THEY REALLY PLAYING LIZARDS?!?!?" From the version I first heard from 10/31/90, this has been one of my favorite songs ever and was definitely up on my wish-list. I still can't believe I actually got to see it. That friggin Skippy The Wondermouse section almost had me tearing up....

Suzy Greenberg - It's Suzy. It's awesome. Axilla teases. As with Lizards and Bowie... "YES! I GOT A SUZY AT MY FIRST SHOW! "

Bittersweet Motel - FIRST SINCE 2016!! FOURTH EVER SINCE 3.0! MEGA RARITY STATUS! YES!!!! I DONT CARE THIS WAS AWESOME. COME AT ME.

Death Don't Hurt Very Long - I remember this being another KV favorite of mine at the time and stoked to get this for sure. Great little version! Dirty and gritty and gnarly.

Loving Cup - The Phish encore to end Phish encores, at least as far as covers go, no? Again, I was absolutely STOKED to get this because it's quite possibly my favorite song on Exile (which is among my favorite albums ever) and I always love Phish playing it. Literally a perfect choice for me and to end the night with a bang.



All in all, a pretty spectacular first gig for me, eh? I still can't believe how great it was in person. This show isn't Alpine 2019 #3, but objectively, I really think this was probably 2nd strongest of the Fall tour so far behind 12/1 Uniondale. Attendance bias, etc but this was a strong gig no matter how you wanna rank it!

That Scents>No Quarter is MUST HEAR (absolutely one of the jams of the year) and that Destiny Unbound and Limb By Limb are probably essential as well. Lots of rarities tonight as well as a TRIPLE encore!!!

I think the 4.2 on .NET is fairly accurate. YMMV 

2019-12-04 Pittsburgh, PA

 Been about 2 weeks since I played 12/3/19 and I've been thinking of 12/4 every day since - I just haven't been in the mood to play it at all.

Kinda frustrating, actually!

Anyway, I'm "forcing" onwards tonight and getting it over with!!

12/4/19 Pittsburgh

Set 1

555 - Ooh, very interesting opening choice! Not my favorite Gordo song (the chorus vocals never ever work live, imo). An unexpected choice for opener, but definitely not what I would've preferred. It's ok - nothing special. Pretty well performed but kinda lacking energy. Some hot Trey in the rear, but overall a poor opening choice. Idk. Your mileage may vary.

AC/DC Bag - Brings some much needed energy! Forget that 555 and just pretend this is the proper opener! Great Page on this using some unusual-for-Bag keyboard sounds. A great little 3.0 Bag worthy of opener status! Nothing you haven't heard before but very good indeed!

Cars, Trucks, Buses - Yay! A great surprise and big rarity to hear! Keeps the energy going good like a Party Time or Undermind. And Trey gets down to BIZNESS on this sucker!! Awesome CTB!!!! SO MUCH ENERGY!! Fantastic!

Water In the Sky - If 555 was asleep at the wheel and Bag was the guys waking up, CTB and Water see the energy really getting high! Wonderful little WITS!!! Points again for rarity. Great Page on this. Awesome.

Sample In a Jar - See AC/DC Bag. A fine, rocking version, but nothing you haven't heard before or need to rush to hear right now. They almost butcher the ending too, lol

Theme From the Bottom - Worst Theme I've ever heard. Ok, c'mon, if I can play Theme From the Bottom better than this, there is something wrong here. Reba or It's Ice I can understand, but how the heck do you get sticky fingers on a song as simple as this?! The jam is very nice though for several minutes so I will give it that, but at the end of the day this just doesn't cut the mustard.

ASIDE: Man, this set is really lacking energy. Things are played fine, but the guys sound tired. Chilled out. Lukewarm. Not in a good way. The guys sound like they want to go to sleep.

Funky B - As this set is nodding into slumberland, a fairly lively Funky B comes to save us (for now). Page rages this one hardcore and Mike gets some awesome bass runs in. Still light on Trey but easily the best thing since CTB so far. Thank goodness Trey melts our faces off towards the end. I was really getting worried here!!!

Wolfman's Brother - Very patient and takes it's time. Actually makes proper use of tonight's chill vibe for an exceptional rendition that will have you grooving til the final notes. Pretty great Type 1.5 jamming in spots. Just a really, really, really good Wolfman's with strong flashes of jamming peeking through and a red hot peak from Trey.

Halley's Comet - Exceptionally FUNKY version! The laid-back tempo on this give it some great "early-2000's-indie-teen-comedy" vibes, like something you would hear in Napoleon Dynamite or something. FANTASTIC!!!!! This thing kills it!!! The energy is peaking again and some proper jamming commences. None of this Wolfman's-tease-us stuff!!!! We get into some ultra funky areas where they could EASILY have segued into Sand. Almost kinda wish they did - it would've been awesome!!

RIPCORD ALERT! BOOO!!!

When The Circus Comes to Town - Look, I love their version of this, but c'mon, did you really need to KILL the HC jam in the middle of flight just to give an already sedated set a ballad?!!! NO YOU DID NOT! BOOO!!! Circus is Circus, but at least this one has some really good Trey to send it out.

Victim - New Mike tune. Very cool. Sound very rehearsed and full of potential. If this was 1998 this sucker would be a 25 minute deep-space odyssey. Trey sound excellent, picking his spots to tear it up. Great sounds all around. Really awesome debut. Can't wait to hear this again!!!!

Run Like An Antelope - Pretty standard but hot version to close out.



This set is weird. And not in a good way. The first half was mostly one of the worst sets of the year (if not the worst) while the 2nd half (roughly from Wolfman onwards) was pretty darn good, bordering on awesome in spots! Even though things got hot in parts near the end, on the whole this set had NO energy. I mean, god, I've been to livelier funerals.....

Cars, Truck Buses/Wolfman/Halley's Comet/Victim

Get those and throw the rest in the trash  

On to set 2


Cavern - Incredible weird hearing this as a 2nd set opener. For some reason it feels like a rarity too, not sure why. It's a decent set opener and gets points for rare set placement. Overall it's just Cavern. Nothing noteworthy in the slightest and its not even the best version of it....It's a pretty lackluster rendition, if I'm being honest.

>Runaway Jim - 14 minutes and pretty good! Things mostly stay in an "aquatic" sounding Type II space-jazz environment. Lots of Prince-esque synth sounds and blissful peaks from Trey. Pretty fantastic once it gets a head of steam. If this was 1997 it would be forgotten, but for 2019 this is pretty decent.

Ghosts of the Forest - The debut and pretty great! Trey wakes up and we get a "why wasn't this played sooner?!" performance. Strong for a debut and good enough to want to hear it in the future.

A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing - Very nice!! Perfect choice out of Ghosts!!! It's very short (only 7+ minutes) but gets into that Type II Aqua Space that Jim flirted with earlier, Trey playing with delays and whatnot. Very very nice stuff worth your time.

Prince Caspian - Wow!! How the hell did Trey ripcord them into Caspian with the segue ACTUALLY FRIGGIN WORKING?!?!?!? WHAT?!?! Just that friggin transition itself was amazing. Dude. Great playing from all, including Trey. Great little Caspian!!

>Fuego - Caspian unexpectedly melts into ambience for a hot minute there and up from the hazy mist rises Fuego. Trey tears it up. THIS FUEGO IS FANTASTICALLY HOT!!! GET IT TREY! A+ FUEGO!!! They go full-on 1997 deep-space ambience for several glorious minutes to close it out. Spectacular.

You Enjoy Myself - Out of nowhere! Did not hear this coming!!! Absolutely killer and fantastic version!!! Trey DESTROYS and Gordo gets his due. Must-hear for a 2019 version. Fantastic.

Good Times Bad Times - Pretty awesome and funny: Trey can't get the verse patterns right but absolutely NAILS all of the soloing note-for-note.

The encores are the encores. There was some good stuff this second set but I'm done with this gig....FINALLY.



All in all, this show was extremely hit-or-miss. There were great points (as noted above), but even THOSE still felt below par. I'd give this gig a 3.7 or so if I was to rate it on .NET. The energy was SO lacking in many parts and it wasn't until Runaway Jim that the guys felt properly awake. But it was too little too late and this show did not impress me. I was pretty much waiting for it to be over. Get the highlight I listed here and a few pages back and throw the rest of the show in the trash. Easily in the bottom 3 or 4 shows of 2019 so far. EASILY.