2021-10-03 New York City, NY - J.F.A.T.

 Took me a month, but today I conclude the 2021 Jon Fishman's Almost TAB run of shows (then I can restart Fall 2021! )

10/3/21 New York City, NY

Set 1 -

Back On The Train - A truly wonderful Type I reading. Check out Dezron's killer playing and Ray's keys give a terrific new feel to it. Love the percussion as well. Super colorful sounding! Awesome!!! Red hot on all fronts. A+++

The Moma Dance - Yet another Super Moma!!! This one is roughly 20 minutes. The first 3 minutes, before the vocals even enter, are SICK! This doesn't even sound like Moma - it sounds like something else! The friggin' bongos, Dezron's INSANE grooving!!! Jeez.... Around the 7 minute point, the jam gets quiet-like and Trey takes the first solo. Strong Type 1 ensues. Following some moments of spastic interplay between everyone, around the 11 minute mark Trey kicks on the RoboWah and things get even more heated! Around 14 minutes, just as you think the jam is gonna stay "in it's lane", Trey sets a whacky looper and some very odd, funk-psych (whatever the hell you wanna call it) ensues. Ray is getting things super heated with new motifs over on the keys, Dezron is keeping that damn groove on LOCK like Mike on a 1999 Sand, and the jam is just exploding with fire and intensity. Overall, this isn't the most out-there thing ever played, but it's 20 minutes of purer FIRE with a large dose of colorful weirdness thrown in as well. Wow!!! The final few minutes see one of the melti-downiest meltdowns in all of guitar meltdowns!!! MELTING GUITAR FIRE!!! MUST HEAR!!!!

Undermind - Undermind up next, and, what do you want me to say?! It crushes! Dezron, of course, sounds spectacular throughout! Nothing you wouldn't expect. Red hot Type 1 of the blazing volcano variety but ultimately not that UNIQUE. Killer, still.

Ocelot - 15 minutes!!! What the hell!! ULTRA FUNKY!! Get it, Dezron!!!! MUST HEAR!!! VERY UNIQUE!!! THIS GETS SUPER DARK AND LATE NIGHT!!!! ALMOST SCARY!!!! FREAKING AWESOME!!! X FACTOR MAGIC!!! MUST HEAR MUST HEAR MUST HEAR!!!

YO. TYPE II OCELOT. THIS IS MASTERFUL. DROP WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND GO LISTEN TO THIS RIGHT NOW.

Set Your Soul Free - Raging 15 minute beast! Must hear!!! It does some super amazing chill-fire kind of jamming. Super, super-stretched Type I I guess, but it's absolutely must hear!!! A++++++

Dark and Down - Killer as anything else in the set. Slow, powerful, bluesy guitar fun. HOLY FREAKING CRAP THAT MELTDOWN PEAK!!! MOLTEN GUITAR ANNIHILATION. SWEET MOTHER OF MERCY SOMEONE PUT THAT AXE OUT OF IT'S MISERY!!! MUST HEAR!!!


All in all...my goodness....Set 1 was incredible. Moma might be a bit "light" on substance for those averse to excessive Type 1 groove-jamming, but I thought it was terrific. Ocelot is X Factor ridiculousness. Easily the most out-there Ocelot I have ever heard in my life. MUST HEAR in every way, shape and form. Set Your Soul Free was super, super strong Type 1 that hinted at weirder waters but never went there. Dark And Down was a friggin' nuclear bomb. You NEED to hear that at least once....

My goodness...what a set....

Set 2

Sand - Turn this up loud and sink into the groove.... Only 11 minutes, this one isn't really anything all that special, but of course it's still excellent. Think of this as a warmup....Jesus christ, that final couple of minutes.....

Everything's Right - 36 MINUTE SUPER BEHEMOTH!!!! What the hell?! The song itself begins ultra-CHILL. It proceeds as expected. Right around the 6 minute mark, the proper jam begins with Trey jumping on the robowah. Dezron picks up on a motif Trey is doing and that becomes the new groove. This proceeds until roughly 14 minutes. The jam starts to get quieter and more late-night sounding, with everyone doing circular, repeating motifs. Trey is laying hard into his bleep-bloop robo sound and the whole thing is a swirling mess of rhythm and groove. This is incredible. Around 16 minutes, Trey begins doing ridiculous, hyperspeed delay patterns!!! He sets a loop of this and we are off to the races!! Ray solos along and the jam is getting into the ROBOT SQUIGGLES!!!! Meanwhile, Fishman is still keeping the latin-jazz vibe going, but the whole thing sounds like a spacey mess of robo craziness!!! Full blown, genuine, Type 2, boys and girls. Around the 19 minute mark, an insane section happens where Trey begins an ascending pattern. Everyone else locks in and we are off to the sky....Around the 22 minute mark, the craziness subsides completely. The whole jam quiets right down. Cyro comes to the fore with excellent and colorful percussion accenting the stop-start rhythm the band has settled into. This is freaking SICK. This stop-start section lasts for a very long time. It very slowly spends its time in bleep-bloop land, slowly building back the intensity until around the 30 minute mark when proper, slow-groove guitar-fire soloing resumes. My god, this is nuts....It basically rages as expected to a conclusion....


Wow, what to say. Of course that was must hear. That was probably tied with 10/2/21's Mr. Completely suite as THE piece of music from these shows. Absolutely terrific from start to finish, it never felt lacking for ideas or overly "vampy". I really, really love the "full" feeling of the jamming in these shows - in Phish it SOMETIMES feels like Trey soloing atop everything, but in these jams it really feels like everyone is always super locked in tight with each other and the whole band is playing "as one", so to speak.....But yea, that Everything's Right was a damn masterpiece. Genuine GOAT contender....


Lonely Trip - This honestly made me shed a tear. My god, Ray's piano is outstanding on this - it will send chills down your spine. Lonely Trip is Lonely Trip, but until I hear a better version (haven't heard a strong Phish one), this is the GOAT, as far as I'm concerned. If you pick a version of Lonely Trip to hear forever, it will definitely be this one. 10/10, A+++++++++++++ Gorgeous in the extreme.

I Never Left Home - HOLY CRAP THIS GROOVES. This is sick. This is freaking awesome. Super, ultra-dark and nasty, crazy robo-delay annihilation from Trey. GODZILLA STOMP DESTRUCTION. GET IT! MUST HEAR!

>Carini - I Never Left Home melts down into a massive, 13 minute, headbanger's paradise reading of Carini. The freaking POWER behind this!!! This Carini is heavy like a 20 ton weight!!! Trey proceeds to go on an absolute TEAR!!! Listen to him rip this thing to shreds!! And then listen to Dezron just annihilating everything in sight like his bass is a nuclear-powered bazooka cannon!!! THIS IS INCREDIBLE!!! A++++++ MUST HEAR!!!! FREAKING KICK ASS IN THE EXTREME!!!!


And with that, the set comes to a close..... My god. The entire thing was balls-to-the wall. The WHOLE effing set was must-hear, pretty much. ER is legendary for a reason, Lonely Trip is likely the greatest ever played (that I've heard so far), INLH>Carini is the stuff scientists studied to learn how to create nuclear weaponry....



Acoustic encore:

Strange Design - Acoustic Trey is Acoustic Trey, but this was oh so perfect and wonderful. A+

Backwards Down the Number Line - Good stuff!

At this point, the legendary James Casey comes out to join Trey!!!

Evolve - Full electric band again. Yo, the sax soloing is SICK!!!! Must hear!!!

Rise/Come Together - GOAT STATUS! GOAT STATUS!! JAMES CASEY ON VOCALS AND SAX!! THIS SEND CHILLS DOWN MY ARMS!!! FREAKING AWESOME!!! You can feel the power in the chorus - how obvious they are playing the song as a "statement" at the end of this run of shows. Incredible!!! MUST HEAR!!!

A Life Beyond the Dream - And how the hell else were they supposed to end this magical run of shows. Good lord....
 

2023-07-23 Syracuse, NY

 7 23 23 Syracuse

Set 1

Free - Killer version! Awesome opener! Maybe not list worthy, really, but it was still the bees knees, yo.

Steam - PURE FACE MELTING AWESOMENESS!!!! MUST HEAR!!!! WOW!!!! HOLY CRAP!!!

MCGRUPP - !!!!!! YES!!! 2ND VERSION OF THE YEAR!!! BEST PART?! THEY FRIGGIN NAIL IT!!! A+ MCGRUPP!

Evolve - STUPENOUS!!! Good Lord, the X Factor energy is raging tonight! This is an outstanding type 1 version. A+++ Treys soloing is downright exhilaratingly jubilant. Creative melodic leads that will put a massive grin on your face!!!!!! Must hear!!!

Stealing Time - Smashing! Destructive!!! Wah pedal insanity!!! Holy crap. Must hear! Freaking POWERFUL version!! Listen to Cactus and Fishman just thump it up! My goodness!

>Meat - Awesome, strong version and the segue into it was fun. Excellent, but more like a great stopholder for us to go into...

Walk Away - Uptempo. Kick ass. Raging, red hot fire from the sky. Must hear! Headbangers delight! GET IT, LEO!!!! YES!!! LETS FRIGGIN GO!!!

Theme From the Bottom - Excellent Type 1. Great stuff!! Nothing special but strong as ever!

Kill Devil Falls - FRIGGIN 18 MINUTE BEHEMOTH TO CLOSE THE SET!! WHAT THE HELL!!! Excellent Type 1 until roughly the 6 minute mark. At that point, the jam takes a quick turn into more blatantly upbeat, feelgood territory. Meanwhile, the guys are rocking the F outta this! FRIGGIN EXPLOSIVE!! ALL HAIL THE X FACTOR MAGIC! Trey does a Divided Sky hold and then sets a loop of it!!! So you now have this one sustained, droning note in the background while the guys play atop it. SICK!!! 8 minutes in and my neck is about to break - I CANT STOP HEADBANGING! Thankfully, before injury sets in, around 9:30 the jam drops hard and fast into a spastic, dark funk jam of fire and heat. This quickly evolves, if you will, back into the hottest Type 1 of the night. Just as quickly, they move BACK into a robo funk area!!! Whiplash! They are all over the place in the best way possible. Freaking awesome. Slowly, more blissful waters begin to rise. This goes until about 15 minutes. Right at that moment, as if on friggin cue, a peak begins to build. The crowd ERUPTS and we are off to the Peak Grand Prix!!!!!! YES!!! IVE GOT GOOSEBUMPS!!! IVE GOT CHILLS!!! THIS ROCKETSHIP IS OUTTA CONTROL!!! MY HEAD IS IN MY HANDS. MY BRAIN HAS TURNED TO MUSH. IM LOSING MY FRIGGIN MIND THIS IS SO KICKASS!!!! HOLY CRAP!!!

THEN AT 17 MINUTES, TREY HITS IT!! THE PEAK! THE PEAKIEST OF PEAKS IN ALL OF PEAKVILLE!!!!!!!

MAGIC! MAGIC!!! MAGIC!!!! MAGIC!!!! MAGIC!!!!! MAGIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MAGIC! MAGIC!!! MAGIC!!!! MAGIC!!!! MAGIC!!!!! MAGIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And then Trey derails it by reprising the song to finish it off ... oh well....

Um, so, 7 23 23 set 1, eh

Anybody wanna tell me how they be doin that like so?
The whole set, from the get go, had that "next level", special kind of feel about it that you cant describe but you know it when you hear it. EVERYTHING was excellent.
McGrupp, Evolve and Faulty Plan were all genuinely next level, must hear performances.
Then came friggin KDF and the universe exploded with the best peak ive heard in ages. Reminded me of one of those Alpharetta 2021 jams - the Chalkdust, I think.

What the crap. And the "meat" of the show is still to come?! Im already dead!

Set 2

Suzy Greenberg - Set opener! That's refreshing!! Great stuff.

Tweezer - up next is ......a friggin 28 minute Tweezer!!!!!!!!!!!!! The jam begins around 4.45 with a super chill funk groove. Trey is doing melodic leads and Page syncs up with him. Immediately, this causes the funk to completely evaporate and we are heading into chill bliss land. This goes for a long while and is pretty enjoyable. Definitely patient and they are laying it down thick. Around 9 minutes, the smallest hints of funk begin to return and the bliss slowly starts to get a hotter feel about it. They are building this sucker back up . It keeps going until finally, at the 11 minute mark, the jam just EXPLODES and Machine Gun Trey comes out to play again.

PEAKVILLE VOL. 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO

After this quick and volcanic peak, the jam begins to slowly head for funky darkness!! Weird rhythms emerge and porno scratching loops are set!!! Welcome to Type 2, everybody.
Around 13.45, Gordo begins a new bass groove that the others latch onto. Funk rock heat!!! They ride this groove motif HARD and by 16 minutes the jam is like a fiery, funky monster just STOMPING everything in sight.
Soon after, though, Page comes in on the piano and the jam moves back to blissful power rock. This jam is a POWERHOUSE. Everyone is laying into HARD and it has so much OOMPH to it!!! This is sick.
Around 19 minutes, they have successfully moved through this section and Trey reintroduces the Tweezer riff. At this point, the jam is funky and piano driven. A total dance your ass off vibe.
Finally, just when the bliss is reaching overkill status, at 22 minutes, Page introduces the first synths, Trey returns to the Tweezer lick and Cactus kicks on his GrooveMachine FX.
Its. Friggin. ON. Things are finally getting strange!!!!!!!! Outerspace hyperfunk!!!!!!
HOLY CRAP LISTEN TO PAGE HE RAGE GOING NUTS ON THE SYNTHS FOR LIKE 2 WHOLE MINUTES AROUND THE 23 MIN MARK!!!! PLAY IT, LEO!!!
Then comes Trey to pick up the slack, but he is laying back, content to vamp with his looper, letting Page lead. My god, this thing is hotter than the kiln in a pottery class.
At 26 minutes, everyone briefly syncs up on a new motif, and the jam moves swiftly into darker, "ambience approaching", hazy kind of funk waters. Very sick. The jam basically "fizzles out" from here.

>Oblivion - and out of the murky depths of the deep sea, Trey comes in clutch, leading us into a 21 minute Oblivion!!!!!!!! HELL YES LETS GO!! BRING ON THE SOUPY DARKNESS!!!!! Red hot, dark psych type 1. Around 6 minutes the jam slowly starts to stretch.
Around 9 minutes, the jam begins to slowly go deeper and deeper. Trey begins his loopers and bckwards fx and the THX Synths come out to play! We are slowly getting sucked into the black hole!!! Lord help us!!! This is terrifying!!!!
Around 12 minutes, the murky soup becomes upbeat vamping. Pleasant melodic noodling from Big Red ensues. Synths give way to watery keys. Rhythmic, stoccato jamming. Slowly building by the second but they are taking their sweetass time with this.
At 15 min, Trey starts chord slashing and a rock and roll peak building section follows. Sick! 17 min to close see the band reaching an explosive rock and roll peak before reprising the Oblivion chorus to finish it
Freaking awesome!

Miss You - Excellent breather. Nothing more. Great as always.

Wolfmans Brother - UBER funky!!! Must hear! Maybe not that unique, but this freaking killed. Awesome funktastic Wolf! A++++++!!!!!! MUST HEAR!!! INSANELY FANTASTIC!!!!!

Possum - MUST HEAR! DESTROYS WORLDS!

Encore:
I Didnt Know - All hail the hometown hero Jon Fishman!!!! Vacuum jazz shenanigans!

Whats the Use - Strange to get as an encore but its great!!!

Tweeprise - of course you have to close with Tweeprize!


All in all....jesus christ. Top 3 or 4 SHOW of the entire year so far!!! Not a single weak link, three minblowing jams (one in a new song, one in a classic, and one out of a song you wouldnt expect!!!), inspired setlist choices, hometown fun....Easily the best show of the summer so far, tied with Alpharetta #1.

Classic. Classic. Classic.

A solid 4.5/5 for me!

2023-07-22 Burgettstown, PA

 7 22 23 Burgettstown

Set 1

INNYLTB opens the show and it crushes! 9 minutes of rock and roll awesomeness!!! Just about must hear. Really, really great!!

Turtle In the Clouds, sans dance, plus Trey banter, continues the fun. Strong version overall.

Then comes....fast Llama!! Headsmasher delirium!!! Absolutely MENTAL!! MUST HEAR!! They do it justice and then some - check out the crazy backwards guitar soloing from Trey! Wow!!!

The very rare Clear Your Mind keeps the rock and roll good times going. So much energy! This is a damn party! Get it!!! Sick!!! Its only 6 minutes, but it has a great robowah solo from Trey. Great stuff!!!! Must hear!

Sample in a Jar is downright awesome. Brings to mind the killer Seattle 23 version I raved about.

Up next is a rare Taste to cool us down while also maintaining the energy. Awesome. Not must hear, and Pages piano solo is surprisingly "weak", but its still darn good on the whole! Trey makes up for it with a perfectly patient and measured solo. Taking his time in the best way possible. Awesome. Killer version overall. Probably must hear, actually!

Ocelot comes next and gives us an actual break, lol. ULTRA patient and bluesy tonight. This is fantastic!!! Definitely no watching the clock on this one! The solo slowly builds and builds into a fiery, chaotic frenzy. Nuts! Must hear! A+++ chill Ocelot!!!

After Ocelot, an absolutely smashing Julius comes outta nowhere. As with all else this set, its an awesome, raging, red hot reading with extra sauce from Trey. Great stuff!!!

At this point, the set feels "ready" to end. But perhaps Trey saw the clock and realized they were running short so they continued on??

From here, the set gets kinda weird with a gnarly Saw It Again into Sparkle with an Ass Handed thrown in for good measure.

Killer 12 min Sand to close. Surprisingly chill and laid back. Cold heat!!! Killer version! Must hear! A bit unique, to me ears. Then it rages hard to a smashing, red hot finale! A+

An absolute BLAST of a first set! INNYLTB, Llama, Clear, Ocelot and Taste were all must hear highlights imo. Probably Sand too.

Awesome set!!!!

Set 2

Absolutely massive, 22 minute Everythings Right to open the set! The jam begins where Sand left off. Brooding, dark chillness. Tons of groove. This slowly builds to an insanely sick, and heavy part that hints at the Funky B lick! Youll know this when you hear it. This causes the band to turn up the heat considerably and the robo funk is quickly coming to the fore. This is freaking amazing!!!

THEY ARE BURNING THE FRIGGIN BUILDING DOWN TO ASHES!!! THIS KICKS SO MUCH TAIL!!! LETS FREAKING GOOOOOO!!!!!!

By 12 minutes the robotic uber funk volcano is spewing molten hyper flames all over like we are directly melting in the caldera.

This jam is SCALDING. My. Freaking. God.

By about 14 minutes, Gordo kicks on his fx, but the jam moves to a much brighter and blissful area. Page on watery synths, creeping in and out, Trey playing with loopers and delays...

X FACTOR ALERT! X FACTOR ALERT!

Super slowly, the funk begins to give way to a red hot, feel good bliss rock area. Everyone taking their sweet time and delivering the goods.

Fishman constantly doing interesting drum patterns and fills, Page tearing up the piano, Trey giving a masterclass on melodic lead work...THIS IS INCREDIBLE.

From here they build it to a raging, volcanic, rock show peak to end.

Guys, that was one of the greatest jams Ive ever heard in my life. Add this one to the "jam of the year" bracket. Mandatory listening in every sense of the word.

 

14 minute, light speed, Wave of Hope-hot Soul Planet comes out of the demise of Everythings Right! SUPERSONIC ROCKET SHIP!!! The jam is IMMEDIATELY led sideways at the initial "delay" section thanks to Fishman switching up the drums!!

Back into "screaming through space!!!!", the jam plunges headfirst at 300mph into smashing, volcanic outer space ridiculousness.

Its like they snorted cocaine and drank 20 Red Bulls! My god!!!!

RUNAWAY ROCKETSHIP!!!

Trey does a sick backwards guitar bit and loops it, then the jam moves into more robotic territory. Crazy loops, bleep bloop awesomeness.

Meanwhile this is still hurdling forward like a 1999 BOAF jam....

Then at 730, we dive headfirst into dark ambience. The craziness subsides and we are adrift in the cosmic ether....from here they slowly build it up into a feel good bliss conclusion with a bit of bleep bloop ambience thrown in for good measure...

Wow...

Twist and Most Events are both super strong Type 1 readings tonigh. Neither are must hear but they both slay.

Then the Phish debut of Monsters happens and we get our faces melted

The following 2001 is nothing special but Rock and Roll is exceptional!!! Must hear! Must hear!

A strange encore of Grind and Tube and Ghost. Tube and Ghost are both excellent but too short to do much of anything!!!

All in all, my god this show was a MONSTER!!! The ER-SP was ESSENTIAL!! Both Star Lake shows were my FAVORITE to listen through!!! My god!!!

  

2023-07-21 Burgettstown, PA

 Starting my driving day at 6am today with 7 21 23, Burgettstown

Set 1

Excellent first set. Very early-3.0 in feel. The first half is all strong, fire-laden, type 1 versions that youll never return to but are an absolute blast while they are here.

Party Time, ACDC Bag, 46 Days, Birds of a Feather, BATR...all excellent!

From here, the warmup is over and the true fun begins with a massive, 16 minute Stash. The composed section is excellent - taken at a more measured pace tonight, its basically flub free. Very good. The jam is extremely patient. They arent meandering but nobody is in a rush either. Pages piano is great and Trey's soloing is choice. Basically, they Type 1 this thing for the duration and its great. Around the 11 minute mark some dark aquatics come in and the mood shifts. The darkness gives way to a bliss explosion. Not too much to narrate here, but its an excellent "sleeper" Stash. Give this a relisten! Great bliss conclusion!!! Wow! Must hear! A+ Stash!!

From Stash onwards, the first set is all heavy hitters. Leaves is up next and is gorgeous as ever. Seriously, you need to hear this. Its simply wonderful. Must hear!! The guys shred this one out big time. Killer!

Then we get Maze. Perfect choice outta Leaves!!! Say hello to Page the Rage!! SHRED IT, LEO!!! THEN COMES MACHINE GUN TREY AND HE MELTS OUR FACES!!! THIS MAZE KICKED SO MUCH ASS!!! FANTASTIC!!! THIS HAS BEEN A GREAT YEAR FOR MAZE!!!!!

To close the set, we get a 12 minute Scents in honor of the poor, washed out souls from Wilmington. Super strange hearing Scents in set 1. Scents is excellent! It basically follows the Stash formula and turns in a blazing hot type 1 style rendition. Great peakage to finish the set!


All in all, this set was great!!! Not a weak link in the chain. Felt like it had two halves. Type 1 ragers at the start and the heavy hitters in the back. Awesome set!!! Stash, Leaves, Maze and Scents are all must hear!!!
 

Set 2

Another 16 minute Sigma opens the set. Will this top the magical Huntsville reading?

I dont know if it tops it, but its crazy - it spends its time mostly in deep space, pornofunk land, just kicking ass left and right

We get a great premeditated segue into The Final Hurrah which ups the ante a bit, raging hard then going into Cactus Drill ambient bliss to close!

Out of the ambience rises the debut of Pillow Jets! Conjurers of thunder, indeed! Thats worked so great out of TFH!

Pillow Jets is MUST HEAR! One of the most ass kicking and heavy psych rock jams of recent years. This is X Factor time!!! Amazing!!!

Wow.....

Set 2

A strong Bowie is next. Flubby and stiff compositionally, but it has a genuinely strong jam and tons of enthusiasm. Good stuff.

A short Cities follows and brings the funk hardcore. Must hear! Short but mega sick and even gets some darkish ambient jamming goin. The jamming is intense. Definite x factor vibe. But then, Trey perfectly starts moving them into Fuego!

Sucks that the jam got axed but that segue was amazing!

Fuego is short but sweet. Not much of a jam but its a BARNBURNE tonight! Great lil Fuego!

They lead out of it with a 14 minute bliss heaven Ruby Waves to closes the set. Not must hear, but yet another very strong version not to ignore!

Hot C Zero into a patiently cathartic Slave for the encore. Nice.

This show was one where the heights never reached those of, say, Alpharetta (Pillow Jets is closest) but it was incredibly consistent from start to finish with great flow and never lacking for energy.

A solid 4.0 in my book. The main "issue" was that, despite there being a TON of improv in this show, it very rarely broke free of Type 1. Sigma-TFG is probably the most out there piece of the show by a wide margin.

But this gig was a BLAST to listen to. Extreme heat throughout! Definitely one that is best heard in full rather than cherry picking.

If some of the jams went deeper, I would put this almost on par with Alpharetta 1 and 2.

No idea the opinions on this gig, but I have to imagine this show is "underrated" among the masses. Great show! Highly recommended!!

  

2023-07-19 Wilmington, NC

 7 19 23 Wilmington

Set 1

Cars Trucks Buses is our rare opener. Good stuff. But its the 20 minute Wave of Hope in slot 2 that deserves the attention. A full blown bliss rager from start to finish, I wont say this is the best one of the year (probably 3rd best so far), as its a bit too "samey" for it's duration, but if you want to headbang for 20 minutes with a grin on your face, this will be right up your alley!!! Must hear!!

A rare Funky B (say that in 2012!) rips it up and keeps the fire going. Listen to Gordo belt it!!!

Hey Stranger, Lawn Boy and BOTT are all excellent, though none are truly must hear. BOTT comes close. Its hotter than the sun! Shoutout to Hey Stranger - it was hot and did great as an alternate Moma of sorts!

Circus is a great choice to switch up the cooldown spot tonight. Good stuff. Circus is a very strong version.

An expectedly rough Its Ice is next. Awesome! Slower tempo but mostly holds together. Youd never call this must hear but it was a fine reading for 2023. I mean, it's sloppy but it has heart.

Set ends with a 9 minute Blaze On. Good stuff. Similar vein to BOTT - just excellent, red hot type 1

All in all, not a perfect set, but a damn strong one for the most part. This is all about the Type 1 heat. Wave Of Hope, Hey Stranger and BOTT are the highlights. Blaze On as well. This felt like an early 3.0 set or something. Not much to return to but it was a blast while it was playing. An infinite improvement over 7 18s first set! Also, major points for the super varied setlist! 

Set 2

18 minute Chalkdust opener! Slow on the tempo tonight. This draaaaagggssss....thankfully it quickly picks up and the song winds up delivering an Uber-hot shredder of a version. Once the jam begins, right away it moves to that blissful heat feeling. Melodic leads from Trey and tinkly piano from Page. Gordo soloing along with them both is cool. Several cool minutes of Trey and Page soloing in sync. Killer. Eventually the sync breaks and the guys flounder for a bit trying to find direction. They immediately go back to the bliss though. This is excellent but also incredibly uninteresting. I mean, objectively I guess I should say this is awesome, but it really just felt like a retread of the 4/22 Hollywood Bowl CDT (which I wasnt really a fan of)

I ca handle bliss, but friggin DO SOMETHING with it!

It's like the Wave of Hope from set 1 - on steroids. Great stuff but incredibly one-color....awesome peak though! 

Very awkwardly, CDT comes to a close and we get the 2nd performance of Oblivion! A 17 minute version at that! And this sucker is mental!!! Ultra dark, robo-Carini from hell! Its not often you hear a jam that makes you say "I havent heard THAT before!". Must hear! X factor magic!!! One of the best jams of the year!!!

A nice Wedge to cool down.

And then, starting Scents (holy crap can you imagine of we got that trio of songs?!?!), the show gets cancelled due to weather

BUMMER! BLUE BALLS IN THE EXTREME!!!

Shame too, cuz this was shaping up to he as strong or stronger than Alpharetta #3!!!!

Wilmington 2023 in conclusion -

OBLIVION

THAT IS ALL.

The Scents from night 1 can tag along too   

 

2023-07-18 Wilmington, NC

  7 18 23 Wilmington

Set 1

Happy Birthday to Jim Pollock before we get a surprise 12 minute, Type 2, dark odyssey x factor Simple to open!! Must hear, it covers a ton of ground and is spectacular.

A hot Camel Walk is next but the following Jibboo takes the cake. A smashing, red hot rager, full of patient playing that winds up with a red hot climax. A+ Jibboo!!

Steam is killer tonight. Trey is great but listen to this for Cactus and Fishman!!!

Poor Heart and Cavern are strong.

Divided Sky is extra slow tonight which doesnt help, but its pretty well performed so thats great. A fine version but nothing exciting in the least.

Casual, Shade and Drift see the set out to a sleepy conclusion .Not much to say.


A strange set. Nothing poor at all, but it was the most middle -of-the-road, nothing offensive but nothing that crazy set ive ever heard. Huh! Not a poor set but neither did it transcend at all (aside from Simple and Steam).

Id say Simple and Steam were must hear but the rest was basically inoffensively forgettable! 

Set 2

Timber is a great opener. Killer version that is basically one lengthy shred fest from Trey. Must hear!

Then a surprise segue into an 18 minute ASIHTOS!!!! YES!! This thing is killer! Dark, funky type 2 with several sections. Insanely good inter-band playing with everyone growing it from second to second. Possibly jam of the tour so far. Probably a top 8 or 10 jam of 2023 so far. X factor magic. MUST HEAR! MUST HEAR!!! That was absolutely an all timer version. Incredible!!!!

And into a 13 minute Light we go....the segue was awkward but the song is tight and focused and moves at a good clip. Awesome jam. Total Type 2, it gets to a cool, jazzy place where it all kind of deconstructs in a blissful manner. Very cool!!!!! Timber jam! Unfortunately, the jam comes to a bit of an awkward and disjointed ending but what is here was awesome.

This leads to the Phish debut of Mercy. Great stuff and I thought it fit its spot perfectly.

Out of Mercy comes a world destroyer 20 Years Later!!! Is it the same key as Mercy or something? It felt like it "fit" perfectly, musically, coming out of that. Awesome call!!!

20YL is must hear. It aint Albany 2018, but it reaches far deeper depths than ASIHTOS did early. Also, its the tightest, most well played version ive maybe ever heard!!!

PURE DARK FIRE!!! MUST HEAR!!! A+++++ WOW!!!!! DARK FUNK DESTRUCTION!!!

Number Line is up next. Good stuff, but the intro sections are a mess. Fishman is doing weid drum patterns and Trey is fumbling around etc. Also, not sure it fit that well out of that black hole...Trey turns in a strong solo and there is a cool spot where everyone syncs up on a swirling motif, but overall this isnt anything you need to rush to hear.

Up next is Bug. Strong version. Bug is Bug.

SANTOS to close the set. Red hot

The Howling into Suzy encore. Good stuff.


All in all, a strange show. First set showed promise early then devolved into pleasant boredom.

Set 2 was damn strong right through 20 Years Later. Id say the Timber -ASIHTOS-Light-Mercy-20 Years sequence is MUST HEAR. The rest is pleasantly celebratory and inoffensive.

Also, why the F does this show have a 2.7 rating on .NET?!?!?!?! This was a solid 3.6-4.0 level show all day.

Tell me, what 2.7 show has THAT Simple or THAT ASIHTOS>Light or THAT 20 Years Later?! Many higher rated shows dont have anything coming close!

B.S.

2023-07-16 Alpharetta, GA

 7 16 23 Alpharetta #3

Set 1

Killer and totally unexpected Burid Alive into Wilson as the opening duo!!! BA rips with nary a flub in sight and Wilson is extra fresh coming so early in the show.

Awesome!

The following NICU is terrific! Trey is playing around with the melody a lot and it's just an absolute joy of a version. Best one ive heard in a while.

And then we get a 17 minute Gin!!! This Gin is a juggernaut. Not the bliss rager you expect, it takes its time slowly growing to massive proportions, crushing everything in its sight. An absolute beast and totally must hear. The jamming is so choice. A+ Gin!

Gumbo is absolutely delicious tonight. The choicest of rare, tasty delicacies. Perfect to go with NICU!

Man, is this set old school or what?!

A PHENOMENAL Limb By Limb is next and takes us to Peakville!! MAGIC PEAK ALERT! MAGIC PEAK ALERT! MUST HEAR!!!!

Wow.....

The set now seems to round a corner with the debut of The Well. Alongside Oblivion, this is definitely my favorite new song and Ill take any version I can get. Not yet the x factor wizardry of the later Philly version, this is still an excellent type 1 debut. Great stuff!!! I mean, it goes into the insane "FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE WELL!" black hole section, but that is expected. Killer stuff!!! And Trey just lets it friggin rip. Wah pedal annihilation. Sick!!!

Finally we get a well deserved cool down with a becoming -not-so-rare-anymore Mounains In The Mist. Good version. Great call! Ugh, this gave me goosebumps. Chill beauty.

A strong Halfway to the Moon gets us up and moving without straying from the more serious nature of Mountains. Good call to build us back up. As expected, Page turns in a wonderful piano performance. Sick. Trey then follows with a very good and lengthy solo, bringing it to a close. Maybe not must hear, but go revisit this one!

And we get a 16 min Split Open to close. I guess we already pretty much know what is gonna happen, eh? It does what you expect - it gets grimy and dark and slowly deconstructs itself. It's not the best one of the large-but-mostly-similar group of evil Melts since 2018, but neither is it the worst (Charleston 2019....). This one is pretty middle of the road. Kinda ainless overall but not a total mess. If something this out there is the "low" point of the set, well my god what a set it was!!!

All in all, this set was close to flawless!!!! The song selection was perfect and everything felt extra hot, if not inspired by magic. Bathtub Gin and Limb By Limb were both must hear and nearly everything else was merely a step below. Killer set - one of the most consistent of the year so far! Awesome stuff!

Set 2

Look at that setlist!! If this doesnt deliver....

A relatively brief Mikes Song opens set 2. It seems to lack fire during the first verses and feels kinda weak. But then then Page kicks off the jam and the groove begins...this Mikes ends up being nothing that strong in the end. Enjoyably rocking and all the usual hooplah, but its just kinda stiff and awkward until the jam coalesces for the final minute or two. Bummer! Its way better than Im saying, but you have high expectations for a MS, ya know? Nashville 2018 this was not, lets put it like that

And directly into a 16 minute Carini! LETS GO!!! Killer choice. The initial song portion sounds very rushed and kinda ramshackle - anyone know if they were having tech/sound issues or something? Its like they arent locked in together that well. Right away, the jam stumbles into a very strange major key section. It was definitely an "accidental" transition, but they roll with it and it at least gives this a unique twist. They stay in this mode for a very long time, slowly evolving from outright blissrock to something a bit more funky and aquatic, yet none less positive and uplifting! An uplifting Carini. Thats not a sentence you get to type every day! This is fantastic. The guys are locked in strong and delivering the goods. The playing is downright jubilant!!!

Then they build to a massive and lengthy peak section that sees Trey holding a note for upwards of a minute! YO THIS CARINI IS SPECTACULAR!!! BLISSFUL X FACTOR MAGIC!!! MUST HEAR!!!

After this, the jam evolves into a quasi psychedelic and riffy, tension building maelstrom vortex of insanity for the final few minutes...

My god, that was like getting blasted with an endless beam of sunshine for 16 incredible minutes...my god ....and that last 2 or 3 minutes was just... *Head explodes*

Weekapaug comes out of Carini. And the start is incredibly awkward, almost resulting in a trainwreck. Huh. Thankfully, this causes the jam to get real quiet and lowkey, laying hard into the funk!!! Tons of porno wah scratching like its 1997 or something. Paug ends up being a surprisingly strong and worthwhile version despite its glaring flaws. Cool version!

16 minute reading of Sand keeps the set going nicely. Sand does its funky thing for a long while before slowly drifting into blissful Type 2. Synthesizers droning, Trey doing melodic leads, etc. But through this, the darkness slowly reappears and we leave the light behind once more. This Sand is like a slow drive outer space journey or something. They take it out there big time!!! Must hear just like Carini!!!! Wow!!! The jam moves back and forth between blissful space and darker fare before winding it's way to a conclusion with a much rockier final couple of minutes...

This is one you need to sit back and sink your teeth into. Spectacular.

Reba - ok, something is definitely going on with monitors or something... terrible intro!!!

YO THIS REBA IS GARBAGE! HOT TRASH! BOO!!! YUCKY YUCKY YUCKY!!

No idea what happened between the nearly flawless Fluffhead from 7/15 and now, but Trey is having major problems in this Reba. Ultra stiff with no fluidity and a ton of massive flubbage, especially in the first several minutes.

Gross.

A decently strong solo isnt enough to redeem this. Bad night for Reba!

Thankfully a strong More closes the set and puts us out of our misery

The Night The Lights with Trey on drums and Fishman on guitar/vocals is the first encore. Incredible x factor zaniness that is so awful but SO much fun!!!

A shockingly bad composed section of YEM (2004 bad) before an absolutely nuclear bomb explosion jam to close it out. Must hear!

All in all, a terrific but mixed show. 2nd set had must hear versions of Carini and Sand but the worst Reba ive heard in ages. Encore was super fun if sloppy as a mother.

The 4.2 rating on .NET is accurate imo

Massive heights and ultra sloppy lows. 

  

2021-10-02 New York City, NY - J.F.A.T.

 Onwards to show #5!

10/2/21 New York City

Set 1

46 Days - Opener once more. For whatever reason, things dont feel quite as magical yet and we end up with a strong merely "average great" version. Gets cooking good in the back half. Listen for Dezron laying waste throughout! Great stuff! Gets stronger th longer it goes. Awesome ending.

Tube - WHY HADNT THEY PLAYED THIS YET!!! THIS IS FRIGGIN AWESOME!!!! Of course they lay into this one HARD. 12 minutes long, its an endless series of robo wah explosions, porno vamping and Dezron absolutely tearing it up like a mother effer. This is incredible.. my god ...

In Rounds - 11 minutes?! Holy crap this has no business being this kickass. Again, listen to Dezron just kill throughout. Gotta love Ray's organ soloing. He tears it up for a solid 2 minutes or so with Trey doing robo wah bursts behind him. Slowly Trey creeps in, dropping in those waterfall delays at the perfect time to stellar effect. At this point, Ray backs off and Trey lets go with a perfectly laid back, bluesy kind of solo. All feel, not flash. God this is killer. Then at the 6 minute mark it goes Type 2...FRIGGIN IN ROUNDS GOES TYPE 2. The jam slowly morphs into this ultra chill, slow and quiet, semi-ambient jam. They completely deconstruct it down to almost nothing!!!!!! Lots of watery guitar and perfectly placed piano. It almost develops a dark vibe! That creaking metal effect from Cyro is pretty spooky. THIS IS INCREDIBLE!!!!
I mean, we get to a point where the drums drop out except for very light rim shots/hi hat to keep time. You can hear Dezron pushing this thing - he reintroduces the bass line perfectly and the guys take a minute to slowly build back into it! Eventually we are building back to the funk, super slowly and organically!!!!! Trey spatting out hot leads once more. THIS WAS FRIGGIN X FACTOR MAGIC!!! THIS WAS ONE OF THE GREATEST JAMS I HAVE EVER HEARD IN MY LIFE!!! HOLY FREAKING CRAP THIS IS MANDATORY LISTENING!!! HOW THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN?!?!? 

Gotta Jibboo - 11 minutes and what a perfect choice out of that whack ass In Rounds! Really laying on the chill to great effect, the extra percussion and Ray's organ sound awesome. It quickly evolves into the hottest, raging, most fire from from the sky Jibboo you've ever heard. Pure volcanic heat. Insane....

Cayman Review - Great to hear! Anothr one not played yet. Great stuff and rocks awesome, but its rather short and ends up being inessential. Its excellent, but you dont need to rush out to hear it.

Blaze On - 16 minutes. Spectacular version loaded with x factor magic. A+++. Must hear!!!

WHAT A FRIGGIN SET! YOU NEED TO HEAR IN ROUNDS!

Set 2

Party Time - Short and sweet. Nothing remotely spcial.

Ghost - 20 minute Ghost! Hell yea! The jam wastes no time getting to that "dark funk" place right from the get-go. Again (and I'm sure you're sick of me screaming this), listen to Dezron!! Man, he was he the greatest replacement we could've hoped for or what?! Love hearing Ray and Trey solo "together" throughout. Ray begins on the organ then eventually moves over to piano, causing the jam to start to move towards "true" Type II. Around 6:30, Cyro starts his sleigh-bell ringing and Trey sets a loop. We are in orbit. He starts to use his backwards-guitar effect and delay pedals to awesome result. At the 8 minute mark, the jam rounds a corner! The tempo picks up and things start to get GOOPY! That loop is still going in the background. Trey is doing ultra-murky and swampy vamping with his wah pedal. Ray is doing killer up-and-down lines all over his organ. This is sick. For the next couple minutes, the intensity keeps slowly building until we end up in a spastic jazz-funk rave of sorts. Trey is totally laying this section out, letting everyone else pick up the slack. Sink into the groove, you won't escape.....Around 11:45, Ray backs off and Trey steps back in. He begins a repeating motif that everyone latches onto and causes Fishman to once again change the rhythm. The jam now has a more "driving" feel, but it still remains funky. Hard to explain. By 14 minutes, Dezron is holding down the melodic anchor, leading Trey to just let loose. My. Freaking. God. THAT GROOVE!!! From the 15 minute point, or thereabouts, the jam has built to a white-hot, rock show intensity with a heavy latin-funk undertone. Trey is strangling his guitar, going for angular lead lines that are like needles in the ears rather than melodically pleasant, lol. Backwards guitar psychedelic meltdown at 15:30!!! Holy crap let's go!!! After this short burst of insanity, Trey returns to the riff that Dezron is holding steady for a moment. But quickly he goes "nah, I'm not done just yet" and returns to the lead area. I can't stop headbanging. IMPACT IS IMMINENT!!! GUITAR MELTDOWN!! Unfortunately, we are denied release and a true "peak" never really occurs. The meltdown just slowly shifts gear back into the Ghost riff and the crazy jam dies a very slow and deliberate death....

MUST HEAR MUST HEAR MUST HEAR MUST HEAR MUST HEAR!!!!!!!! THAT WAS FRIGGIN INSANE!!!

>Mr. Completely - Segue into an 18 minute Mr. Completely!!! AND TREY ALMOST NAILS THE INTRO FOR ONCE!! This sucker is like a guided missile - total ROCK SHOW energy and (mostly) tightness The jam begins quickly, with Trey backing off and doing creative vamp work. It's like a train barrelling down the tracks at 100mph ready to demolish everything in sight. At 3 minutes, Trey begins a plucky little motif - Cyro and Ray pick up on this while Dezron holds steady on the rhythm. Trey lays back and Ray gets a chance to play a very nice solo, all about note "placement", full of repeating motifs that again loop back to Trey. And they build it together. At the 5 minute mark, Trey starts doing some awesome, heavy string bending (you'll know it when you hear it), that paves the way for him to let it rip. Taking his time, throwing a myriad of "motifs" out there, over and over, Ray once more locks in and solos along in unison (as best as one can). Dezron is still holding down the fort like the Queen's favorite knight. Around 6:30, Trey introduces some robo FX, some backwards FX, delays, etc. But he is choosing his spots and letting it all happen naturally and tastefully. Patience is the word here - there is not a hint of rushing this thing! Robo wah in place. around the 8 minute mark, we approach a natural peak!!! Trey begins this cool ascending motif and Fishman picks up on it, accenting the right beats with heavy cymbal smashing and perfectly placed cannon-fire drum fills!!!!! The jam proceeds to start to get dark. Spooky organ, ultra-funky robo-vamping, Dezron still locked in hardcore.....TThe tempo is still the same upbeat groove we began with, but there is a darkly chill undercurrent to it all. Check out Fishman around 9:45 still quasi-leading this damn thing with his "lead drumming". All throughout, aroud 9:45 to 11 minutes, Trey has the robo-honker effect on and he creates an incredibly sick stoccato groove motif. Ultra-synthetic and robotic, this thing will smash your face to the ground with it's danceable intensity!!!! By 11:30 he turns off the robo honk deluxe and the whole jam suddenly gets a more laid-back, latin-robot vibe going!!!! This is friggin' unique!!!!! I've never heard another jam like this!!!! WELCOME TO BLEEP-BLOOP FUN TIMES, SENOR!!! By 13 minutes, the Bleep Bloop army is reigning supreme. I think Trey has set a bleep-bloop loop but I'm not entirely sure! X FACTOR MAGIC! X FACTOR MAGIC! X FACTOR MAGIC!

WE ARE IN SPOOKY SCARY BLEEP BLOOP WORMHOLE HELL!!! PERFECT FOR HALLOWEEN!!!

At 15:30, the jam comes to a complete stop aside from strange percussion and sound effect samples!!!! What is this, Chilling Thrilling or something?!?!?!?!?

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!?!?! IS THIS A PERCUSSION SOLO NOW?!?!?! THE HELL?! IS THAT CYRO SINGING LATIN?!?!??!?!?

AND THEN THIS LEADS BACK INTO PARTY TIME!!! I AM AT A COMPLETE LOSS FOR WORDS!!!!!

>Party Time jam/Mr. Completely Reprise - So Mr. Completely morphed into this strange sound effect/percussion solo/latin hellscape psychedelia mishmash of insanity, only to then come back from the grave with a return to the Party Time feel. And from here, it's all smiles. Trey doing awesome delay work again. It does it's thing splendidly then leads back into Mr. Completely reprise.

28 minutes. 28 minutes of life-altering music. That was better than the 46 Days>Blaze On (51 minutes) or anything else you can shake a stick at. This was officially the measuring mark to conquer. I cannot overstate how ridiculous this was.

Shade - Shade is up next and gives us the damn breather we need. My brain is still a puddle of mush pooling in the bottom of my skull.

Twist - 11 minute, ultra goopy and funky Twist up next! This Twist is killer. It's total robo-wah funk annihilation. It basically stays in it's lane for the duration, getting hotter and stranger and grimier and stronger until it's conclusion! Spectacular Twist!! Must hear!! My goodness!


And the solo acoustic encore returns:

When The Words Go Away - Wow. What a great song!! I need to add this to my listening repertoire. Terrific version as well. Heartwrenching....

Theme From the Bottom - Good stuff! Who is playing the 2nd acoustic? Or does this just have terrific stereo separation?!

More - is More

First Tube - Is First Tube



Wow...All in all....my god. What a friggin show. This just might have been the best one yet! That Mr. Completely suite was absolutely the strongest piece of improv of the 6 shows so far. Just mind blowing x factor weirdness. 

2021-10-01 Washington, D.C. - J.F.A.T.

 Been a couple weeks and I've just been too busy to keep going with my "2021 Weekend Review" series at the moment.

Changing that today!

So I've already heard Summer 2021, now I'm working through the notable TAB shows.
I did 9/25 Charlotte and 9/26 Asheville (No horns/singers) and 9/28 Pittsburgh (No horns/singers, + Fishman on drums).

Three more Fishman shows to go then I can restart Fall 2021 properly with context

The first three shows blew my mind. I think Charlotte and Asheville are a perfect duo - seriously, it's like one big show over the course of two nights with no repeats between them. The Pittsburgh show went even further but was a lot more "lopsided" and top heave due to the 51-minute opening duo of 46 Days into Blaze On Set two was great but stood no chance, lol

So to cut to the chase, here's 10/1/21 Washington, D.C.

Set 1:

Sand - 14 minute rager to open. Terrific, grimy, patient and dark! This almost feels like something out of 1999/2000 or so without the excess ambience (which I love, by the way!). Trey goes ham with the robo fx and this thing just destroys. KILLER SAND! The final few MINUTES are one entire massive peak explosion!!! MY GOD!! MUST HEAR!

The Moma Dance - 21 minutes! Alright! All welcome the Moma-aissance! Rough intro section when Fishman and Trey get out of sync but they quickly lock back in. Really dig Cyro's percussion on this - it almost makes it sound like Moma was friggin' made to have it! Also, no disrespect to Cactus, but Dezron sounds spectacular on here. At 6:20, we move into the jam. Trey steps on the wah and it's on. I'm not going to try to narrate this - it's a 20 minute Moma that sounds exactly like you would think a 20 minute Moma to sound like! Out of this world, dawg. It goes through 3 or 4 distinct sections and is incredibly dynamic. The final couple minutes get super quiet and jazzy. Sick. MUST HEAR!

No seriously, go check this out for the final section, from roughly 15 minutes onwards. Wow.

Set Your Soul Free - A smashing 18 minute version in slot 3. Cyro's percussion and Ray's organ really give the song an awesome flavor and sound. I love the snow-bell things Cyro starts rattling around 3 minutes. And then immediately, we dive into the jam, with Trey heading right for his waterfall delays. Things get "quiet" like the back section of Moma...Around 4 minutes, Ray takes the spotlight and gets almost two whole minute to himself before Trey comes back with the delays around 6 minutes. He and Ray and soloing together, if you will and it is glorious. This leads to red hot "type 1" until around the 8 minute point. Trey kicks on the robo bullfrog or whatever and the jam starts to get quieter again. Still raging hot but we are entering "late night" SYSF territory. We even get the bleep bloops. Trey decides to hop back onto the wah and the jam just becomes a soupy, murky, grooving hot glorious train barreling down the funky freeway. This goes on for a long time, moving through multiple "sections" of jamming within this larger "late night" setting, if you will. Very slowly, they build the energy back up to the "heat" setting and after a particularly tasty solo, Trey returns the jam back to the SYSF chorus to bring it to a close.

That was freaking SICK!!! Must hear!


Quantegy - Sick stuff. Super late night, gotta love the volume pedal and delay stuff from Trey. Fantastic! Dark and bluesy and chill. Groove heaven! Dissolves into quiet-chill awesomeness. Probably must-hear.

About to Run - ATR follows is literally the perfect song choice to follow Quantegy! It's like they were meant to be paired together! A+ Set construction!!! Awesome and destructive face melter as usual. Nothing you haven't heard before but still an oustanding version.

Carini - FACE MELTER ALERT! FACE MELTER ALERT!!! Man, this trio of Q>ATR>Carini is like...perfect!!! It's like they were meant to be played together! This Carini is a smashing, snarling, gnarly and destructive 10 minutes of ROCK SHOW fire from the sky. Must hear!!!



All in all, great first set!!! EVERYTHING was worth hearing, but I'd say the back half of Moma, the ENTIRE Set Your Soul Free, the Quantegy trio...SCREW IT! YOU NEED TO HEAR ALL OF IT!  

Set 2

Everythings Right - A MAMMOTH 29 minute odyssey through the depths of the groove. Though there are subtle changes and "sections", this is very much a "groove hard for 25 minutes" piece of music. Epic and spectacular, though surely too "one lane" for many listeners. Stick with it abd the final minutes are magic

Death Don't Hurt Very Long - X FACTOR ALERT! X FACTOR ALERT! GOAT! GOAT! GOAT!!! 12 minutes, this one is truly magical. It goes full Type 2, imo. Several different times they totally deconstruct the song, weaving in and out of it. Incredibly cool rhythm changes, from a jazzy vibe to a swing type feel at the end. HIGHLIGHT OF THE SHOW SO FAR. MUST HEAR. MUST HEAR. MUST HEAR!

Farmhouse - Farmhouse is the cool down and jesus christ if it isnt next level great. Spectacular version

No Men In No Man's Land - 18 minutes of awesome. Super latin funk explosion. Must hear!!!! Spectacular!!!
Multiple distinct sections. Wonderful patience in slowly evolving and growing the jam!!! THIS IS FREAKING AWESOME!

Blaze On - An ultra spirited 15 minute reading is next. Trey's soloing is downright stupendous. Hes doing all these unique little lines and figures, being very colorful with his playing. Hot damn, this was fantastic!!! Raging red hot finale.

Wolfmans Brother - The first encore is a super CHILL Wolfy! I guarantee you have never heard it played as friggin smooth and laid back as this. Hell yes. Lets groove, baby! Ultra sly... my goodness this is phenomenal!!!

A Life Beyond the Dream - show closer. Great stuff but in the wake of what came before... For what its worth, I listened to this while browsing an art museum all alone and it gave me goose bumps. Terrific version, again, SPECTACULAR soloing from Trey. Downright magical and full of PASSION!


YO, HOLY CRAP WHAT A SHOW!!! I think all in all the Asheville and Charlotte gigs are still the best top to bottom, but this is definitely a stronger show than Pittsburgh. Either way, you need to hear this. Its ridiculous... 

2023-07-15 Alpharetta, GA

 Set 1

A smashing Jim/Foam combo to open!!

Jim gets taken for a bit of a ride, basically going restrained type 2. Must hear! It was sick!!!

Foam was pretty strong overall but not flawless. Got tighter the longer it went. Good stuff!

15 min SYSF in slot 3 wastes no time going out there. Major energy, this is a superfunk dance party!!!! Then it morphs into lengthy synthesizer bliss. Get down with your bad self! MUST HEAR! No seriously, this sucker is spectacular!!! Super strong version! Synth bliss peakage!

And the set keeps getting better - up next is a strangely mid-set Fluffhead!

Fluff sound pretty strong tonight. Its super tight and rehearsed!!! Yay!! Its super weird hearing a modern Fluff sound THIS tight!!! Seriously, they nail it!!! Crazy....this is album-ready.... ok, almost. Its like %95 nailed
A+ spectacular Fluff!


What a set so far...

Everythings Right is a NUCLEAR BOMB tonight. MUST HEAR!

Then we get another very rare Esther (well performed) before a ragged Golgi to close.

I personally prefer the lean "fiery rock show" aesthetics of set 1 of 7/14, but there is no denying this set brought the heavy hitters. Most will prefer this one and I would not disagree with them! An absolute monster of a first set!!!  

Set 2

A good but "sticky" Rift opens. Inspired pick to open the set, and while its a fine version, it doesnt exactly transcend. B+ Rift

But then...mother of all that is unholy....30 MINUTE TWEEZER!!!!

An absolutely incredible piece of music. Its maybe 10 min TOO long - there were like 10 "natural" ending points and it seemed like Trey was "forcing" them to keep going. Hey, I aint complaining! It makes excellent use of its runtime and there isnt a minute wasted. Probably doesnt top the Greezer, or even the Ruby Waves from 7/14, in all honesty, but its still absolutely fantastic. Bringing the heat in Georgia!!!!

Great segue into Golden Age! Golden Age is a super good, type 1, "must keep dancing at all costs" version.

Im kinda bored of Golden Age lately but Id put this one on a compilation or something!!! Fantastic!

For some reason it straight up just dies and fizzles out into ambience. Page takes his shot....

And we get a 14 minute I Always Wanted!!! aka, the song nobody ever expected to make a splash....


Great version. Rages hard. Horrific and pointless ripcord back into a short Tweezer jam before we get Hood to close the set.

Hood is awesome. Nuff said.

Excellent ALBTD-Tweeprize-BBFCFM encore!!!


All in all, Treys playing was slightly stiff tonight and there were some very bad in-jam transitions and a terrible ripcord, that is extreme nitpicking.

This show straight up CRUSHED!! I would say I think 7 14 is stronger top to bottom, but its almost an even tie. Spectacular night 2!!!!

2023-07-14 Alpharetta, GA

 Headbanging away to 7 14 23 Alpharetta this morning.

HOLY CRAP WHAT AN INCENDIARY FIRST SET!!!

KDF was a great opener. Red hot and set the mood. Theme was next and upped the heat even more, turning in a terrific reading. The jam peak was magical.

Then comes No Men...

And its a frigging volcano tonight!!! Holy crap!! Yea its always hot but this one was next level. There is an audible point where Page jumps on the organ and he and Trey sync up. From that point, its like they hit the TURBO switch on this sucker. Seriously, must hear. My god...

A SMASHING Axilla kept the fire burning hot. Awesome soloing from Trey during the outro.

Up next, a 12 minute Tube steps to the fore! Super strong version!! The jam goes to bliss rock in the middle but its highly inspired and, again, Trey is just unleashing magic. Must hear!!!

After an insanely gorgeous (as always) Roggae (seriously, what version ISNT must hear?!), we wind down the set with Undermind into Caspian.

AND HOLY FRIGGIN CRAP ON A CRACKER!!!

UNDERMIND IS A NUCLEAR BOMB!!! ABSOLUTELY MUST HEAR AWESOMENESS IN EVERY WAY. GREATEST VERSION IVE EVER HEARD! SICK!!!!

The Caspian that closes the set is pretty special. Reaching 11 minutes, they actually, genuinely, take it out for a ride!!! Stretched to the max, its the cathartic bliss heaven rager we needed to close this firestorm of a set. THE NILE SONG TEASE! X FACTOR MAGIC!!!!! MUST HEAR!!! JAW DROPPING!!! THIS IS THE GREATEST CASPIAN I HAVE EVER HEARD! HE AINT NO PRINCE! This is friggin KING Caspian!!!

Wow.

All in all..GOOD GOD THIS SET WAS AMAZING!!! Seriously, it started super hot, then as it went on, each song got stronger than the last!!!

Every song was kickas, but Id say Undermind, Tube, No Men and Caspian are th must hear material. And they are TRULY must hear!!!

THAT CASPIAN!!!

 

Set 2

A 16 minute Ghost opens the set. In the wake of whats to come, this is surely underrated. Its not classic, but its a damn strong version well worth your time. Great bliss rager rendition with inspired playing (love the delay jamming). Then for the last few minutes it goes into crazy robot mode.

The guys take their chance and we go into Ruby Waves at the perfect time.

This Ruby Waves.....

What do you even want me to day?! 26 minutes of THE most inspired jamming of the year so far. Hands down. The first 11 minutes are the Rage factory, and then it proceeds to get very weird and strange. In a "this is unique" 1.0 kinda way.

Around 15 minutes, Gordo kicks on his FX and the sucker goes deep into the wormhole.

And it basically just gets stranger from here, navigating several sections and styles, all for the appropriate lengths of time.

Not a second is wasted and you'll be headbanging to the finish line.

Honestly, this is probably better than the Greezer overall. Im not exaggerating, this is probably the jam of the year to this point.

Its on an entirely other level.

I even had to replay this! TWICE!!!

A true masterpiece....

Im dead...

So, they follow that insanity with the Phish debut of ...And Flew Away! Killer!

The rest of the set is gravy. A shock-surprise late 2nd set If I Could and Myfe into First Tube to close the set with a Possum encore.

Also, did I mention that MyFe is 14 minutes and jammed out?! Dark sky outer space psychedelic explosion. MUST HEAR!

Sure you could say the final quarter is a bit of a step down, but c'mon, anything would be after that Ruby Waves!!!

All in all...im calling this show a modern classic. Exceptional from start to finish and that Ruby Waves is one of the greatest jams they have ever played in their career, imo. Ridiculous...

What a show....

 

 

 

 

2023-07-12 Huntsville, AL

 For context, im clocked in at work, sitting in my car doing nothing, waiting for another dump truck to come in since they sent mine out while I went to an appointment this morning.

Onwards to 7 12 23 Huntsville #2

Night 1 may not have been classic but it was still a damn strong outing, imo

Night 2's first set opens with.... Plasma! I dont think Plasma has ever opened a show before, no?! Great version, 9 minutes long, that wastes no time getting down to latin-funk business. Awesome opener. Gotta love the wah abuse.

Holy crap the fire-from-the-sky peak on this sucker! My god!!! Peak! Peak! Peak!!

Talk about comin out swinging! And into a...16 minute Sigma Oasis!!! The song itself is super tight and full of ultra-passionate energy. This already feels like a "classic" version. The jam is crazy. It begins out of the back of the song as this rapid fire, robo-funk thing. Totally unexpected!!! This thing FUNKS to high heaven!!! Holy crap!!!!
Eventually the funk slows down. Page sneaks in some synths and the jam develops a more chill, ambient sound. Interesting beats from Fishman keep the danceable groove going, but we are in an utterly positive and uplifting soundscape. Trey noodling with delays, Page doing water Clav stuff, Gordo locked in with Fishmans thumping kick drum....
Slowly, the jam rebuilds itself back into a fiery and roll finale. Just kidding, they bring it back to the funk and send us out groovin!

Unique!!! Spectacular!!! MUST HEAR!!! Now THAT is how you jam!!!!

My god.... 

Sigma Oasis - Guys, that was magical! That was one of the top to bottom most perfect pieces of music I have ever heard. Multi sectional. Smooth transitions. Inspired playing. And again, uniqueness!!!  

And the groove train keeps rolling! An ultra funky Wolfman is up next. It does its Wolfman thing witu aplomb but is nothing you need to rush out to hear. Unexpected and amazing peak though!!!

Evolve is up next!!! Ive only heard the, I think it was, 8/4/21 version. I know I loved that and im glad to see this song becoming a staple after a "delayed" launch of infrequent performances. Jesus christ you need to hear Page on this! Absolutely ripping up the piano! THIS IS FANTASTIC! THIS HAS NO BUSINESS BEING THIS GOOD!!! And by golly, Trey's solo is oh so perfect.....this was a massive surprise to me! WOW!

Also, does Evolve sound like a rocked up Water In The Sky to anyone else?

Up next is a 9 minute Mull. So glad this song is sticking around. It freaking rocks AND grooves AND is ultra catchy!!!!! Im a Mike fan but this is the best song of his theyve learned in a while, imo. And I swear each version is better than the last! "CAN YOU PASS ME A TACO?!" Good lord that chorus is such an earworm....Awesome Mull!!!

YO! THIS MULL FRIGGIN JAMS, TOO!!!!!

Right away, you think the song is concluding, but instead they keep the red hot groove going. Cactus is TEARING it up!!! Trey is doing his rock riffing thing. This is a friggin steamroller!!!! Trey and Page both working the songs melody into their solos is so choice as wel!!

The overt rocking eventually chills out a bit, but the power and intensity remain. Things even threaten to go the distance at times, with the band hitting upon a stomping robot groove for the last few minutes, seeing the song dissolve into a scary mess.

UGH!! I NEED MORE OF THIS!!! INJECT THIS DIRECTLY INTO MY VEINS!! THIS IS AWESOME!!! MUST HEAR!!

Bouncing Around the Room. Great placement to cool us off after having our faces melted!

Stash is up next and, ew, Trey totally butchers the intro... Thankfully the rest of it is pretty tight. The song itself is good but nothing special, but the jam gets quite hot! Unexpectedly, it goes into full blown "classic rock" peak mode for most of its duration! Very cool!! Then back to the darkness to close...Good Stash overall...

David Bowie to close the set. Much more ramshackle than the immaculate Los Angeles version. This is what we expect Bowie will sound like these days, unfortunately. Some parts are super tight, some are on the verge of falling apart. An ok Bowie, not great.  

Set 1 was a pretty mixed bag. The heights felt stronger than those of set 1 from 7 11, but then the set kinda petered out to a substandard conclusion with that "eh, I guess they were ok" Stash and Bowie

The first five songs Mull, Evolve and Plasma are all terrific and that Sigma Oasis was an all-timer version if Ive ever heard one
.

I cannot overstate the greatness of that Sigma Oasis. It was PERFECT.

So basically, keep the first 5 songs then skip to set 2

 

Set 2

A destructive-as-always Wave of Hope starts the set with us headbanging. Quickly, the jam gets into uptempo dark chill (or whatever). Fishman and Gordo are tearing it up, but Page and Trey are doing that bliss stuff on top. Its good, but feels like it clashes with the rhythm and the jam struggles a little to "lock in". From here the guys just ride it to a blissful conclusion. Not a "bad" version by any means, but the jamming never went anywhere and Trey sounded lost/unsure throughout. Not the finest outing for Wave....

Mercifully, Trey abandons the sinking ship by ripcording us into Fuego. Thankfully, the other guys pick up the slack and somehow the segue isnt a trainwreck! There is no way in hell that transition should have worked .....but it did!!!

And Fuego is a POWERHOUSE tonight! Holy crap on a cracker, they grab our heads and smash them into the ground... Best part?! This sucker is almost 20 minutes long!!!

Right at the 7 minute mark we achieve liftoff. Trey hits upon a riffy rhythm and the guys pick up on it. Around 8 minutes the jam dies down to a watery darkness. Its sink or swin time. Thankfully they decide to swim!

Page on his No Quarter keys while Trey and Fishman are doing more rhythm based playing. Then at 9:30, the 1999 whammy pedal comes into use and those synths creep into the background.

Type 2 achieved!

The guys stay in this for a few minutes, slooowwwlllyyy getting darker and building the intensity. But then, just as you think its gonna start rocking back up, they bring it down dark and bluesy!!!

Trey is deep in the robo wah swamp and its glorious. Then here comes Page with his major key synths to change the jam up.

Check out the synthesizer hellscape at 13 minutes!!!

Trey soloing melodically, Page inserting synth pulses, Gordo and Fishman exploding like a cannon behind them.

This is INTENSE!!!

Then at 15 minutes the jam morphs into a feel good stomp. You can hear Blaze On coming from a mile away, but thankfully its not to be. Trey is doing great solo stuff with his delays. Gordo is using his synth FX and Page is coloring up the soundscape like a child with a pack of crayons

This is sick.

This slowly builds back into a rocking groove and they bring Fuego to a close. Awesome.


Wow! That wasnt "better" than the Berkeley Fuego, but it was still awesome. If you like synthesizer Phish, this is the jam for you!

And, perfectly, they keep the intensity going by launching into another crazy, FX driven Piper. I think I like this better than the Seattle version. Great full band interplay! The guys sound locked in and navigate deftly through a couple different soundscapes.

Super kickass delay jam in the back half!! Sounds like a spinning vortex!!! Killer little Piper!!!!

Maybe not must hear, but coming out of THAT Fuego, its a pretty sick addendum, basically, to the jam that came before!

And out of Piper into the Phish debut of Ether Edge

Im a new Trey apologist, but im not a massive fan of this song just yet. I really like the jaunty, Evolve-esque verses, but the whole construction of the song feels a bit all over the place.

Good stuff, but im looking forward to better versions. Oblivion's debut this was not.  

Mercury! Yes! A lengthy version! 16 minutes on this sucker. And thanfully, Mercury sounds pretty tight and well played tonight!! The full band type 1 on this is terrific. It never goes into outer space, but it grooves like a mofo until its conclusion. No need to rush to hear this, but this was very, very nice!!!

Awesome little Mercury!!!

The jam slowly starts to peter out, then we get a friggin AWESOME segue into Free that slams you like a piano dropped from the sky! Hell yea!!!

And Free CRUSHES tonight!!! Insane OOMPH factor!! Super funky as well. Trey lays back a good bit, but it contributes to the overall feel in a great way. GET IT, GORDO! Im involuntarily headbanging, lets put it like that. WELCOME TO THE GORDO SHOW!!! Seriously, his solo is like 3 minutes long tonight. Then Trey takes his time rejoining, doing minimalistic funk noodling that is oh so perfect. They aint rushing this one!! Eventually they build back to the rock and bring it on home like a guided missile nuking the enemy in their sights.

12 minutes of pure, unadulterated, grade A, Free-type destruction.

That was MUST HEAR!! Holy crap. Great set ender!!!!!

Encore

Alumni Blues suite! Wow, that was unexpected!!! The boys kill it! Always great to get

Antelope closes the show. AND IT DESTROYS!


All in all, Id say this was easily the stronger of the two shows. This show was a bit more "up and down" from song to song, but the highlights were pretty massive and mostly blew away the majority of 7/11

Id say 7/11 deserves like a 3.9 or 4.0 and this deserves a solid 4.2 or so

Killer show that was a blast from start to finish!!!

Must hear highlights:
Sigma Oasis
Mull
Fuego
Free
Antelope


Almost-must hear highlights:
Piper
Mercury
Evolve
Plasma

2023-07-11 Huntsville, AL

 Now that ive finished Mexico and Spring 2023, today I begin the summer tour

7/11/23 Huntsville

Set 1

Blaze On opens the show. Only about 10 min, its a fine Type 1 reading that gets us grooving. Good stuff. The band sound tight and Trey is hitting all the right notes....Really great Fishman showcase - he is totally playing off of Trey and its awesome. Great little version worth a revisit!!! Great jamming and playing from everyone. Major heat!!!! PEAK IT OUT, BOYS!!!

WOW!!!! THAT WAS SICK!!!

My goodness, that was like a shot out of a cannon!!!
  

Martian Monster - "If you're a PHD, this ones for you!". Very chill and funky off the rip. Kinda unique! Must hear!!! Terrific and creative jamming with ultra tasteful FX usage from everyone. KILLER.

....and a perfect segue into Moma! Yo, those sound like they were always meant to be played together! Freaking killer Moma. So much energy tonight!!! The boys bring the FIRE to Alabama!!!! Damn!! Get it, Trey!!! Must hear Moma!!! Peak alert vol. 2!!! Shredfest McGee!!!! H

Halley is unspectacular overall, but the following BOTT and 555 are full of energy. Excellent Type 1 readings that kick butt, but neither approach the insanity of that 46 Days or the Blaze On and MM. Good stuff but nothing must hear.

Then comes a surprise first set You Enjoy Myself!!! WOW!! WHAT A GREAT VERSION!!!

This one laughs in the face of the trash versions already played this year. Similar to the Los Angeles Bowie, this sucker sounds WELL practiced!!!
Like, they really must have sat down and hashed out. It even has a unique little jam section going on with things going chill before Trey rips back into it and annihilation occurs.
Then when you think the vocal jam is about to happen, Gordo kicks on his FX and we get a kickass bass solo. Hell yea!!!!

A+ YEM. Wow. Who the hell saw that coming. My god, this is absolutely MUST HEAR!!! Seriously, borderline CLASSIC reading!!!

Set ends with a typically hot SANTOS

All in all, a bit uneven of a set, but nothing was poor and almost everything had that next-level energy/heat about it. The Blaze On and MM are definitely highlights, but the 46 Days and YEM are MUST HEAR! Not a classic set, but totally a banger still!!!

Set 2

A great 2001 opens the set! Nicely jammed for about 10 minutes, it begins with scary ambience for a bit before bcoming the party we expect.

A 16 minute Disease rises like a fiery phoenix from the ashes of 2001. Super hot!!! This is the best version of the song Ive heard them play maybe all year so far! The song itself is tight as hell and full of raging p and vinegar. This is what a good Disease sounds like. The jam verrryyyy slllooowwwlllyyy "deconstructs" itself from the hot Type 1 into a more positive, blissful area. All throughout, Fishman is like a machine gun, keeping the rapid fire patterns going. This gets aborted, however, and the guys go full tilt into hose peak shred till you die Type 1 volcanoc eruption mode, ala the Big Cypress Disease!!!! Around the 15 minute mark, we shift into rapidfire robot funk to send us out to the next song. Shame they killed it!

This is serious, legitimate, melt-your-face territory. Im talking 1.0 Disease-level!!!! I honestly have not heard a recent Disease that even comes in the ballpark of this one!!!

My god. Seriously.....

And of course they aborted Disease for Twist...look, I love a good Twist but im so sick of it merely being a "bridge" song in setlists. They NEVER jam it out long and while its usually awesome, it almost never deviates....

Point is, Im very bored with Twist these days....

That being said, this is, yet another strong one. Ya know what? Twist is like the 2nd set Moma Dance or something. Always reliable but you also know exactly what youre gonna get before it even happens....

So color me shocked that this one basically goes Type 2!! Sure it's just a good bliss jam, but they totally leave Twist behind, so A+ for effort on this one!! Great lil Twist!

Set 2

So just as Twist was getting going, Trey kills it off. Thankfully the setlist gods are on our side and instead of slipping into the doldrums or giving us a ballad, we get surprised with a rare mid 2nd set Maze!! Yes!!!

Fishman the Octopus strikes again!! Page is trying to solo but Fishman is just EXPLODING behind the kit to the point of distraction. Its awesome!!!

Then comes Mr. Heat himself. Trey friggin WAILS on this sucker, even using accidental feedback to awesome effect.

As with Disease, this one goes toe to toe with any lauded 1.0 version. Come at me.

My god, where did this Maze come from?! I feel like Ive heard a number of surprisingly strong recent versions. That is great news.

Help me. My face is melted...send help... 

Lonely Trips is a nice breather. Then we get the 11 minute Phish debut of Oblivion!!

A+ stuff! Super dark and nasty, a must hear reading!!!

Talk about yer A+ debut!!!!

Chalkdust Torture

Holy mother of god. This was a masterpiece. If you have not heard this, what are you doing...

RAGING heat, this sucker is like an exploding rocket. Again, hotter than some 1.0 versions ive heard. Eventually the jam reaches this psychedelic peak that they hold for several magical minutes.

Kinda like the Went Gin where they stumble into something and just keep going and going and GOING with it

Only 12 minutes, but absolutely incredible. Must hear in every way.

Holy crap. 

Finally time for the encore:

Meatstick
Makisupa
F Your Face
Icculus
C Zero

What?!? Dude!!!

Nothing to say. Encore of the age?


All in all, a DAMN heater of a show! It definitely had 'clear higlights', but was raging from start to finish. The 2nd set was a pure face melter for its duration. The Disease, Maze and Chalkdust were as fire as as any classic rendition (just about), and the debut of Oblivion was awesome Carini darkness. 2001 was great too!!

There was a LOT of super high quality music at this show, it was just lacked a willingness to take things deepeer than "the hottest type 1 ever played"

You NEED the following:
Blaze On
Martian Monster
You Enjoy Myself
Down With Disease
Oblivion
Chalkdust Torture

And of course that wtf encore    

2023-04-23 Los Angeles, CA

 Starting my day early by finishing Spring 2022

4 23 23 Los Angeles

Set 1

Birds of a Feather - great, ripping version to open the show! Killer!

Roggae - very strong, as always. Killer.

Divided Sky - YO, GO HEAR THIS RIGHT NOW! THIS WAS EXCEPTIONAL!!! WHEN HAVE THEY LAST PLAYED IT THIS GOOD?! THIS WAS 1.0-TIER. A+++++

Cities - 18 minute Cities in the first set! Hell yes! Funks hard as usual. Right around the 6 minute mark the jam begins to take flight. They lay hard into the chill funk, Trey making great use of his vibrator effect. Gordo gets down and dirty with his FX as well. Patiently, the guys take their time exploring the murky funky soup they are brewing. This is utterly fantastic! Around the 10 minute point, Trey get some robo FX going and the funk begins to give way to a more open and exploratory feel. The super groove is still going strong but they are spreading this baby wide open...then at 12 minutes, this turns straight into the bliss ambience we were all expecting. Super unsettling, synthesizers abound, Trey doing water backwards guitar soloing with the looper going....Stuffs gettin' serious, ya feel? Major late 90s vibes going on once more!!! As with the funk, they sit in this zone for a long time and just build the hell out of it. This is incredible!!! One of the tightest, most locked-in jams ive ever heard! Top 5 jam of 2023 so far. Unbelievably awesome. MUST HEAR!!! THAT RIDICULOUS ENDING!! WHAT EVEN WAS THAT?! THAT WAS MIND BLOWING!

>Tube - Segue-nobody-saw-coming into Tube! Gotta love the Your Pet Cat riffing from Trey. Tube isnt super long, but the jamming continues to be massively inspired and interesting, all while remaining in that Type 1 framework. Ultra stretched type 1. Spectacularly good version!!!! A++++ Tube!

>Taste - Yet another surprise segue, this time into a rare Taste! Taste is absolutely terrific! Total heater! Get it Page! Get it Trey! Killer version! A++++

About to Run - typically awesome rager to end the set

Wow!! Killer set! Everything had extra oomph about it. Divided Sky was an all timer (for 3.0/4.0) rendition, Cities was one of the greatest jams ive ever heard, and Tube and Twist both turned in mega strong readings.

Good lord, the heat was brought!!!

Set 2

A limp wristed reading of Mr. Completely opens the set. The song itself is rather poor and the jam never achieves total liftoff, but it does get out there petty good. Basically a red hot, 18 minute rager. Great opener but nothing must hear. Its great overall, but feels like a warmup for whats to come....

Then, and oh boy here we go, A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing...

Super funk to the extreme!! That Cities in set 1 aint got nothing on this! X Factor Magic!!! WHERE DID THIS COME FROM?!? FUNK THIS BABY UP!!! INSANITY!!! HOSE FUNK EXPLOSION!!!! MUST HEAR! MUST HEAR! MUST HEAR!!! HOLY FREAKING CRAP!!!!

And then it ends with a full blown Mr. Completely reprise... im dead.


14 minute Wolfman up next. FUNKIEST THING YOUVE EVER HEARD! SEVERAL MINUTE CACTUS SOLO! MUST HEAR! KILLER! Then it morphs into a wonderful bliss deluxe finale. Holy hell.

And into Ruby Waves out of the hazy bliss. Perfect song choice!!!! RW is only 10 min but it destroys from start to finish. Psychedelic rager!!

A very inspired Jibboo keeps the party going!!! Whale siren ridiculousness!! Lets take it for a ride! Very strong Type 1 thats better than probably the last 10 Jibboos they have played. Good lord what a show.

And then... NO QUARTER!!!!!! NQ kills, and then a facemelting Possum closes the set.

Wilson kicks off the encore with energy for a killer Slave to the Traffic Light sends us out...


Holy moly what a damn show. Easily way better than 4/22, that show was no slouch, but this gig was like X Factor magic from start to finish. A solid 4.5 rating for me, and I dont say that lightly.

Must hear:
Divided Sky
Cities
Tube
ASIHTOS
Wolfman

My God what a show....  

2023-04-22 Los Angeles, CA

 Onwards with Spring 2023 in my dump truck listening series.

Next up, 4/22/23 Los Angeles

Very nice looking setlist tonight!

Set 1 -

A groovy and energetic Ghost kicks off proceedings. Page is finally audible, and his aquatic keys add so much the sound... Ghost is pretty excellent overall. Goes kinda Type 2 bliss rock, if you will. Awesome opener! This was surprisingly excellent!!! This Ghost is awesome!!!! Destructive rock explosion!!! Holy crap!!!

Dang, talk about yer high quality opener!!!!

And then straight into Bowie! Great 1-2 punch! Even better, this is the best played Bowie Ive heard in forever!!! Technically, Trey basically nails it and the whole thing has way more energy and pizazz than many othr recent ones. This is about as good a Bowie as youre gonna get these days! A+ modern Bowie! No, seriously, that was a STRONG Bowie. Dont sleep on it!


Oh crap, Esther! That means this is going to be a great show! Terrific, tight, perfect version ala Bowie

This is followed by a phenomenal Hood!! In slot 4! Extra magic on this one, the jam even gets kinda funky for a bit!!! A+ Hood! This would have been THE show closer of the year so far, let's put it like that. Wow. Must hear!

And into the best Meat ive ever heard! Tight as hell, raging hot, what even is this set?!

And then, here it comes, The Big One....
Melt...what to say... ABSOLUTELY MUST HEAR! RAGING PSYCHEDELIC ROBOT EXPLOSION!!! MUST HEAR IN EVERY WAY! ONE OF THE MOST INCREDIBLE JAMS IVE EVER HEARD!! 1.0 style psychedelic rocket ship! No meltdown, just pure INSANITY from start to finish! The GREATEST MELT I HAVE EVER HEARD!

Then a still-rare Leaves is ultra gorgeous and a terrific Coil to close. Coil has a unique ending thst sees the band playing along with Page for a while before the piano outro. Definitely unique. POWERFUL version of Coil!!! I actually have a reason to replay this one! 

It's official, I just heard the first set of the year (so far).

That was a truly rare set that I can honestly say was flawless. Rarities, extreme tightness in the playing, all-timer jams (Hood and Melt - what the hell WAS that Melt?!), terrific flow...

My goodness. That was the definition of a 5-star set.

If you have not heard it, I urge you to go play it immediately.

My god...

Set 2

Nearly 23 min Chalkdust to open. Funny, I heard this at 6 am a few months ago on PhishRadio while driving to work. Had to get out right when it was getting good.
The song proceeds as expected until the guys hit a sustain at the 6 minute point. From here, its blissful melodic jamming until roughly 10 minutes.
Then, Trey kicks on his vibrato effect and the jam starts to build tension and get a little mor weird. Fishman is doing every fill under the sun.
The guys spend a long time in this "noodling around" area. Its that "awkward" part of a jam where you are waiting for things to coalesce, and they sure are taking their sweet time to do so.
Finally, around 14 minutes, Trey has had enough and kicks on some robo FX, leading the jam to head for darker pastures. But this is quickly abandoned for more noodly melodic bliss.
Im honestly not really digging this jam. It feels like they are constantly searching for direction without it ever "clicking" in any major way.
At the 17 minute mark, a new rhythm appears that they all latch onto. For a split second it sounds like they are gonna get funky and goopy, but that mysterious force goes "not today!" and practically yanks them back to the bliss.
They basically bliss rock it out from here.

Im totally being overly critical, but upon first listen, this jam definitely disappointed me. Hmm. I mean, A+ for effort, and I'm sure everyone else loves it, but it didnt really do it for me at all.

Maybe this Chalkdust just wasnt my cup? 

>Twist

Honestly, that awesome segue into Twist was my favorite part of that CDT!
Thankfully, Twist is sick. Funky and gooey and melty right off the rip. Twist gets pretty dark and heavy, all things considered. They definitely lay into the "night time" aspects of the jam. KILLER Twist!

Slightly awkward segue into 2001. Sounds like Fishman almost accidentally wants to start the Melt beat but immediately realizes his mistake before it happens. 2001 is AWESOME with a genuine jam that stretches a bit, comparable to the Mexico 2023 version. Sick! A+ 2001!!!!!

And into Sneakin Sally! Heck yea! Super killer funk jam!!! GET IT, GORDO!!! TEAR THAT BASS UP!
Eventually it builds a massive rock and roll head of steam. Its only 10 minutes but is friggin must hear! HOSE ALERT!!!! GET IT!!! Hotter than the sun!!!!

Great return to a funky sound for a brief moment allows them to shift perfectly into a red hot Back On the Train.
And its a damn exceptional version!

A strong Life Beyond and First Tube close the set with a strong Antelope to send us on our way.

All in all, one of the strongest shows of the year so far. Id probably put it in the top 4 so far. Set 1 was a flawless masterpiece, but set 2 felt a step down, for whatever reason. The opening Chalkdust wasnt my cup, but the Twist, Snaeakin Sally and 2001 trio were the set highlights for me. The rest was strong but typical type 1 fare

Id say the 4.3 rating on .NET is about right. Killer show!