Been on my mind for a week since 2/20/20 absolutely smashed my little head to pieces - onward to 2/21/20!!
2/21/20 Quintana Roo #2
Set 1
Turtle In the Clouds - Still my favorite KV song probably and I
swear this one just keeps getting better each and every time they play
it. Best one yet? Maybe! Just a spectacular opener that rips and is loaded with more energy than a firecracker.
SHAFTY - YES!!!! First since 2012, second since 2003! Talk about a
bustout! Absolutely wonderful playing on this. My legs are shufflin'
and my head's a-bobbin'!! This is fantastic!!!! DON'T SKIP THIS
SUCKER!!!!!!! Unfortunately, instead of riding the jam to nice segue
point, the guys kill it and end it....
Plasma - Why couldn't they have worked a segue into this?! C'mon
guys...Great set placement though, coming out of Shafty like that. I'd
reckon this goes Type II - it starts as Plasma but slowly builds into a
fiery and dark kind of behemoth, skulking across the beach and punching
you into the sand. Incredibly hot, red hot RAGING!!! For only 7 minutes,
it packs a WHOLLOP!!!!
>Shafty Reprise 1/Plasma Ending
That Shafty/Plasma was downright must-hear. That was as great as
anything from night 1 (which was bonkers!). This was 10 of the best
minutes of Phish I've ever heard. Fantastic!!!
>The Lizards - Great song choice, yet again, and they even segued
into it! Can you imagine dancing to this on the beach? Woulda been
awesome. Lovely Page soloing on this. Great little Lizards!
Bathtub Gin - 19 minutes. Killer. Really terrific interplay from
all, everyone listening and responding to each other. Fishman in
particular is going nuts with "reactionary" fills. The jam starts pretty
chill and slowly takes its time building. This reaches some hotter
peaks before morphing into funkier territory with lots of synth goodness
and Soul Planet delay pedaling. By 12 minutes we are in some dang funky
weirdo paradise. By 14 minutes the guys latch onto an ascending figure
and slowly work upwards towards some 70's sounding blaxploitation kind
of funk heat!!!! HOLY CRAP CHECK THAT PEAK AT 15 MIN!!!!! WE ARE GOING TO EXPLODE!!!!!!!! HOLY CRAP!!!! All in all this wasn't the most amazing Gin of all time, but top 30?? Possibly!!!! This was pure FIRE!!! Outstanding!!!!!!! Around 17 minutes we go seamlessly back into Shafty! Vocals and all! This is amazeballs!!!!!!!!!!!!! From here Trey slowly reintroduces the Gin theme and we ripcord this amazing jam to an end.....
Blaze On - GET IT LEO! HOLY CRAP CHECK THAT PIANO SOLO!! They
rage the hell outta this sucker - for 12 minutes, they get more use out
of it than that 7/25/18 SYSF. Very quickly shifts into blissful Type II
around 7 minutes. Absolutely fantastic little Blaze!!!! Gets into
ambient deep space and segues into....
Sea and Sand - Is Sea and Sand. Is great to hear
Possum - Ripping Possum to close this spectacular set! HOLY
CRAP LISTEN TO THAT NOTE TREY SUSTAINS FOR LIKE 2 GOSH DARN MINUTES. HE
IS JUST TROLLING TO SEE HOW LONG HE CAN SUSTAIN IT. HOLY CRAP! DIVIDED
SKY GOT NOTHING ON THIS! OFFICIAL LONGEST HELD NOTE EVER?!?
All in all, this set burned with a white-hot intensity different
from the X Factor of the first night. A different kind of magic! A 20
minute Gin, a 12 minute deep space Blaze On, that Shafty/Plasma
debacle.... What more do you realistically want from a set?! This
killed!!!
Set 2
Sigma Oasis - Very, very fine version!!! You know they only opened it because of the "castle alone on a beach" line Great version! Third yet? Getting better with each play - this one is very powerful and rocks hard! A+ Dad Rock!
>2001 - Oh yea, now we are talkin'!! 12 minutes on this one.
They keep it within the box as expected (c'mon, when are we gonna get a
monster Type II 2001 in 3.0?!) but for staying in the lines they really
make use of what they've got. Pretty strong and sturdy little rager of a
version with everyone doing their own tricks throughout. Good stuff!
>Drift While You're Sleeping - Another great version, but talk
about awful set placement. We just had a heater 2001 and we go
into....this?! Dude, c'mon now. Very powerful and STRONG rendition! But
again, the set placement, man. C'mon now....
Lifeboy - Yes it's rare, yes it's great, BUT C'MON WITH THIS CRAP SET PLACEMENT TONIGHT!!! THIS IS NIGHT 2 IN MEXICO! GIVE US THE GOODS NOT A BALLAD FEST!!! Ok, that aside (I couldn't help it) this is extremely delicate and great to hear. Just awesome as always!
I Always Wanted It This Way - Far from the Type II must-hear
behemoth of Mexico 2019, this version at least gets us back on our feet
after falling asleep. They get pretty heavy with this, going proto-metal
in spots. Trey is using his gnarliest Neil Young guitar sounds on this.
This sucker rocks with gusto! A total Type I workout like a hot KDF or
something! Very interesting for this song!!!! Worth a listen!!! Trey is
letting it rip!
>No Men In No Man's Land - Awesome segue!!!! As soon as IAWITW
started to stretch, Trey turns the corner perfectly into No Men and
immediately begins the lyrics. This version is RED FREAKING HOT!!! This
one is only 9 minutes, but as with Blaze On, it makes use of every
second of it's runtime, dabbling in Type II at points and leaning into
funky bliss at others. A great compact mini-epic!
>Piper - Kinda ripcord, kinda segue...ask me another day how that transition was
Builds up from slow, quiet bliss. They REALLY take their time building
it, and before long Trey is kicking into the "gnarly" section of his
pedalboard, sqwonking around the jam like a chicken choking on bird seed
while the rest of the band slowly keeps the intensity and build heading
skywards. Now THIS is how you Piper!!! Just total guitar strangulation.
Yo dawg, I heard you like getting your face melted in under 8 minutes. Here you go!! Fully
Type II at this point, by 6 minutes in the fire is replaced by
1999-type dark ambience. Storm cloud swirls and delay sounds. THX
synthesizer and Whammy pedal fun.
>Good Times Bad Times - Didn't see that coming but thankfully that was a natural segue and not a ripcord!
Also, great set placement this time, coming out of that space to pick
us back up and have us partying again. Perfect! Also, points for not
being an encore!!! Red hot. It's fantastic. NEXT!
>Sand - Rare in the encore slot but always welcome! It's Sand.
It Sands nice and good for a solid 11 minutes of beach funk. Around 6
minutes we turn a distinct corner into more upbeat/blissful areas, ala
Breath and Burning. It stays like this to the end - just a great little
Type I bliss-rock fest. UNTIL, that is, Trey busts into Weekapaug!!!
>Weekapaug Groove/Shafty Reprise - It's a 10 min full WG into a Shafty finale. What more do you want?!
All in all, I DEFINITELY prefer night 1 (2/20/20) to night 2, but
I can also definitely see why many people (at least over on .NET) feel
this is such a strong show. It IS a killer gig and everything is worth
hearing, but totally thought the second set flow and song choice was sub
optimal. The good news is that they killed it with what they gave us,
but that second set...yea as much as I love all those songs, I don't
necessarily need them all in the same set back to back!!
I think Set 1 was the better of the 2 and the whole Shafty/Plasma bit
and the Blaze On and beastly Gin are all mandatory listening.
Great show, but not MY cup of tea probably.
I think it was 90 percent as good as the first night, but that's just
me. There was nothing here that came close the 2/20's
Ghost>Free>Shipwreck or Beneath a Sea of (Outer Space) Stars. That
s#!t was magical. This was simply "really really good", imo
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