2020-02-20 Quintana Roo, MX

 Twofer for you guys tonight! Onwards to Mexico!!!! They played 4 shows and then 2020 was cancelled, so I'm lumping this in with 2019. Deal with it.

2/20/20 Quintana Roo


Torn and Frayed - Wow! First since 2012 and sounds like they never stopped playing it! Absolutely terrific playing from all - Trey is ON! Relaxed but great opener!!! Maybe an odd choice of song but they killed it! Well done!

Ghost - A solid 11 minutes of funky rock to get us dancing. Right off the bat we get into some dark and heavy (nasty!) playing. They definitely venture deep into Type 1.5 jamming, if I do say so myself. If you listened to this you would guess this was Ghost, ok? But for a measley 11 minutes (and only the 2nd song of the night!) they come out hitting like it's the 2nd set already! Fantastic!!! Really!!! Don't let the length fool you - this is sick. Great part near the end where the tempo really picks up and the guys just launch into a more upbeat and blissful rock jam. It feels more like a 20 minute Ghost adventure than just a little first set spooker!!! Fantastic!!!!

>Free - Somehow in the course of the Ghost jam Trey naturally comes into the D chord that begins Free. You can see him on the video go "alright, guess let's do Free now!", lol. He gives the other guys a nod to signal it and they launch into Free. Trey skips the opening D chord and just launches into the main descending lick with a fury. Great stuff!! Ooh boy does this Free get sick!!! A solid 15 minute rager!!!! Incredibly funky on this sucker - watch out Moma Dance!!! God, Trey is just NAILING his playing tonight, so fluid and liquid-like. This is not the sticky-fingered Trey we've heard so often in recent shows!!! Eventually Trey lets the guitar-god histrionics die down and the jam shifts into a dark and evil sound that I have never heard in a Free!! This is crazy! This is like some Haunted House Free or something!!! Dude....Dark and semi-ambient, "halloween" organ sounds and minor key playing...what even is this?!?!? Trey is grinning stupidly throughout, probably thinking "how in the hell did we get here?!" AND THEN PAGE GIVES US SHIPWRECK QUOTES! YES! WE ARE SINKING IN THE ABYSS!!! HOW DID WE GET FROM FREE TO SHIPWRECK!? Out of the spooky aquatic abyss, Trey slowly reintroduces the A to Bb Free theme with some "Rescue Squad! Rescue Squad!" chanting and Your Pet Cat samples thrown in for good measure. THIS IS WACKY! THIS IS WEIRD! THIS IS INSANE! THIS IS MUST-HEAR!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS PHISH!!!!!!
And from there they go perfectly back into Free and leave us all to pick the wretched remains of our brains off of the Mexican sand after they just shot us in the head with this onslaught of ridiculousness....

X FACTOR! X FACTOR EVERYWHERE!!!

Shake Your Coconuts - 2nd ever. First since Baker's Dozen! I've never heard this before but this was a blast. Love the song and this performance. SO MUCH FUN! Trey can't stop laughing his ass off and the enthusiasm is infectious! "Just keep on having fun! This party's just begun! Just keep on dancing! Just keep on getting down!" They should've opened the show with this!!!!

Victim - Loved the debut version from December and I think this slots in great with Phish. Too bad this is the last version to date! Love the crazy/scary effects from Page. Trey rages this and it brings the heat.

Moma Dance - great call after Victim. Keeps the funky dance vibe going some more. This one is very relaxed-feeling. Like a "yea, let's take it easy" kinda vibe. This is really great - more chilled out like the studio version than some ripping 2011 rendition. This is pretty lengthy as well - Trey hits his Soul Planet delay and keeps the jam goin' on for a while. A wonderful 10 minutes of dancing time! Good stuff!

>Gotta Jibboo - Enter the whale siren! A great, chill, album-ready kinda Jibboo. Picks up where the Moma vibe left off. Wonderful tonight. Man oh man Trey is just tossing out tasty licks left and right like nothing! In it's 8 minute duration, they stay firmly in Type I, but it's so well played and the guys are just locked in to each other...it's magnificent!!!! An absolutely top-notch Jibboo!!!!!

Shade - Oh my god I'm gonna die this is gorgeous. Also, talk about spectacularly perfect set placement. I think I'm gonna cry you guys, this is just tugging at the heart strings, holy hell.

The Landlady - Alright! Another win on the setlist front!!! Trey tears it up. It's Landlady. It's Mexico. It's freaking sweet.

>Destiny Unbound - OK THAT SEGUE WAS DEFINITELY PLANNED. TALK ABOUT UNEXPECTED HOLY CRAP!! This thing goes for 11 minutes and rages hard the whole time. Love watching CK sync the lights up with what the guys are playing. It stays Type I the whole time but they rock it hard. Eventually Trey reintroduces the theme and they circle back to the song proper to close it off. Awesome stuff!

Steam - HOLY FREAKING BANANA JESUS CRAP ON A CRACKER! Red hot!!! Slowly builds to a guitar-god peak with Trey absolutely annihilating his axe. If you like your Trey hot and nasty, don't skip on this!!! Fantastic!!!!

Crosseyed and Painless - Yes! Fantastic set placement and choice here!!! You can feel the energy from Steam carry over. Pretty much stays Type I, but they ride it good and bring it to a hot peak. Though there are some cool hints of Type II near the end when Trey starts jamming with his Whammy pedal before ripcording into Antelope. Awesome.

Run Like An Antelope - I read bad reviews of this on .NET, but c'mon, once you get past the intro it's 10 minutes of Trey just going ham, shredding it up as best as he can in 2020. What's not to love?! Just Machine Gun Trey spraying us with sonic bullets. Killer.

Cavern - Is Cavern

Beneath a Sea of Stars - What even is this. Are we in heaven? Type II Outer Space Bliss Heaven from the highest reaches of the sky. This is one of the most astounding pieces of music I've ever heard. Magical does not begin to describe this. This is truly X Factor Next-Level stuff.



My god....




Say It To Me SANTOS - Holy freaking S### what was that Sea of Stars?! Oh man, thank you for SANTOS. This is the perfect pick me up. We are standing there with our heads in our hands contemplating our existence....and then BAM Santos! Snap out of it! Let's rock!

You Enjoy Myself - Killer. I'm too tired to review it but c'mon, it rocked



All in all, this is a show where I completely disagree with the measly 3.5 rating on .NET. 3.5?! Was I listening to the same show?! This was EASILY a 4.2 or 4.3 in my opinion. Absolutely phenomenal show from start to finish - Other than a by-numbers Cavern, the entire show is worth a listen. Absolutely incredible improv BETTER than anything in 2019 (that Free and that Sea of Stars!), Machine Gun Trey fire out the rear, and enough rarities to shake a coconut at....A+ show!!!

C'mon, what more do you guys want?!