2021-08-01 Alpharetta, GA

 Onwards to 8/1/21 Alpharetta Night 2
Some quick thoughts - night 1 was terrific, and night 2 hopefully will follow suit! I had no problems with the setlist of night 1 (it was pretty sick!), but tonight's setlist is more tailored to my taste! Usually these shows end up being let-downs, lmao.

Set 1

Buried Alive - Not as tight as it needs to be and way too "quiet" on Trey's part, but points for effort. Not bad or anything, but nothing to get excited about, unfortunately.

Set Your Soul Free - And then BAM they launch into a studio-ready rendition of SYSF. I always think of Everything's Right and SYSF as two sides of the same coin. They are "brother"/"sister" songs in my head. So it's funny that night 1 got ER in the 2nd song slot and night 2 is getting SYSF in the same spot. This one isn't a monster, but it is 11 rocking minutes of awesomeness. The jamming wastes no time getting going. Immediately Trey starts doing his "delay slashing" before moving to the wah for some honky soloing. Page goes over to the electric piano and coolly lays it down underneath. The guys take their time enjoying the groove. No rush here! The jam explores Type I.5 territory - meaning it's constantly at the edge of that precipice where they could easily take the "leap" to deeper waters if they wanted to. But no need tonight. Page and Trey link up near the back and the last few minutes feature some absolutely wonderful melodic lead interplay between the two. For "short versions that kick major ass", add this one to the list. I don't want to say it's must-hear, but it is absolutely worth a listen. A terrific "in the box" version!!!!!!!


Reba - Yucky!!!! Trey didn't practice! Compositionally this Reba is a friggin' mess, unfortunately. Dang it!! I count my lucky stars every night that the one I caught in Charleston 2019 was very well played!! (Sorry to keep mentioning it - they were my only shows!). That being said, the solo is a total success. Right from the moment they launch into it, it's darn near magical until the peak concludes. I can't in good consciousness highlight-list this Reba because the composition was garbage (no, seriously), but I will give a definite shoutout to the gobsmackingly terrifically magical solo!! HOLY CRAP THAT SOLO IS SICK! (Ok, I give in, I'm highlighting this - the solo is THAT good)

My Friend My Friend - Pretty gnarly as always. Not the tightest version and nothing too special about it. MyFe is often one of those songs that, no matter how good it ALWAYS is, if you've heard one, you've heard most of them. Great version but nothing noteworthy.

555 - Not my favorite Mike song, but there aren't any I don't like, so that doesn't really matter (give me more Crazy Sometimes!!!). This one sounds particularly excellent! Mike's songs tend to have lots of vocals, and if the other guys (cough cough Trey) don't "commit" enough, his songs often sound "stilted" to me. This one is full of power!!!! Love it when the darkness crops up in the back half and Page starts pounding the crap outta his piano. The guys give it a little jam for a minute or two then bring it to a close. Not an all-timer, but definitely one of the best Mike-song-performances I've heard in a while. It's not THAT special enough to warrant a listing, but it's a darn good one.

Kill Devil Falls - Not very lengthy, barely reaching 7 minutes, but oh boy did this one have serious potential! A nice, if slightly chill, reading of the song, and then the guys drop into a laid back solo section. The flame is at low heat, but the intent is there. This is one where they start at the bottom and just slowly work the crap out of it, building the song to the eventual exploding peak we expect. Some very interesting (for KDF) playing in the jam - weird melodic stuff going on that is unusual and cool. And then Trey hits that Divided Sky note and holds it for 10 friggin' years and we are off to the races!!! Awesome KDF!!!

Gotta Jibboo -
Absolutely friggin' outstanding!!! A+++++ JIBBOO!!!! The guys immediately get going with the whale siren, having us ride a blissful wave of relaxation. Sounds like a great 1999 version or something. Several minutes of just glorious, patient, melodic, blissful soloing. And when I say it's chill, it's EXTRA CHILL tonight in the best way. It actually evokes the feel of the studio version for once. I can't rave enough about this. MUST HEAR JIBBOO!!!!!!!

>Sparkle - Nice set call! Sparkle is Sparkle. Good stuff!

Thread - THEY NEED TO PLAY THIS WAY MORE. THIS SONG IS KICKASS AND HAS POTENTIAL. STOP IGNORING IT!!!! (Add "Home" to that list too!). There isn't too much to say. Thread plays out whacky and psychedelic as usual, Trey going absolutely ham on his weirdo robot sound effects!!! You know what, Thread actually kinda feels like a modern-Phish "rebranding" of My Friend My Friend or something. ROBOT DARKNESS! ROBOT DARKNESS EVERYWHERE!!! This Thread isn't SLOPPY, but neither is it exactly tight (I can't say I've heard a single tight version, considering how rarely it's played). But it's absolutely worth your time if you want something along the lines of the Darien 2000 Carini or something.

Meat - "yea" samples. "yea" samples everywhere. Freaking AWESOME version of Meat!!!! This one is tight as a mother but also grooves as hard as any 1998 reading. The guys are sinking deep into this one, like a thick, gooey, slowed down Moma Dance. Just A+ Meat all around (@OmIsWhereTheHeartIs - dong reference? ). TERRIFIC MEAT!!!! It doesn't get "out there" at all, but it's as good as any raging 2010-2012 Moma Dance or something, ya know?

Run Like An Antelope - Been "burnt out" on Antelope for a while after all the 1993 listening I did a year and a half ago (same goes for Stash) I'm actually enthusiastic for this one! Love Trey's guitar fill playing around during the intro. And then they do the BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM into the song and Trey totally slips up, butchering his first round of solos, lol. It's pretty darn comical, actually. And thank Icculus, this Antelope is killer!!! It even gets into legitimate Machine Gun Trey, guitar shred territory!!! Feedback squealing and guitar rape everywhere!!!! FANTASTIC!!!! It didn't feel "by the numbers" either, which is a plus! Awesome Antelope!!!!!!!!!! A+ A+ A+ A+ A+ A+ A+ A+

Let me put it like this - I'm not easily "impressed" by Antelope these days. This one blew me the F away.



All in all, I feel like set one of 7/31 had the "magic" thing that you can't describe. This set was just 90 percent as strong, but it felt more....visceral? More like they were working hard to kick ass (and kick ass they did!) instead of it just "flowing out" like it does on some nights. When all is said and done, I really would rank the set just about equal with the first set of the night before, but it was more "down to earth" feeling or something.

The must-hears for this set imo:

Set Your Soul Free - one of the best Type I versions of a song out there. Seriously terrific
Reba - HORRENDOUS technical playing but the solo was magical!
Kill Devil Falls - Not THAT crazy, but the jam had a cool flavor to it
Gotta Jibboo - I'm not exaggerating. I love a good Jibboo and this one exceeded all expectations. Possibly THE jam of the set.
Thread - Carini-esque insanity
Meat - Wow
Antelope - Must-Friggin'-Hear

So yea, it was a pretty terrific set on the whole, I guess!!!

 

8/1/21 Alpharetta

Set 2

More - Great version in a surprise opening slot!!! Boy, they really are shaking up the setlists tonight! And ya know what? I DON'T like it as opener. I think it's a great rock song and don't mind it being a set closer/set peak song. It just does NOT work as an opener to me. It just feels...WRONG. LOL!! That being said, this version friggin' rages from the outset, like we are in the middle of the set, not opening it up!!! The guys take it full steam ahead and it feels like an updated reading of an early 3.0 Kill Devil Falls or something!!! Seriously, really, really AWESOME version!!!! Rage fest!!! LET'S ROCK!!!

>Tweezer - Oh boy, last night was Chalkdust. Tonight it's a 34-minute Tweezer. Yo dawg....The initial Tweezer jamming is full of blissful "plinko" playing from Trey accented by jazzy piano from Page. This lasts a good, long while. It's a jazzy, funky, groove fest!!! Classy piano all over this sucker. Right at 7 minutes, things take their first turn towards something deeper. Mike goes ham on his bass (listen to him tear it up!) and Trey goes for his "honky robot wah" sound. Page keeps on with piano but also starts to incorporate spacey synth textures while Trey starts going for delay action. Things are getting "aquatic" sounding again. At 9 minutes we enter another section - things start getting noticeably dark. Synth textures and wacky Trey, Fishman riding those cymbals. But the building darkness is IMMEDIATELY jettisoned in favor of a more blissful path... Synths! Synths everywhere!!! Fishman doing his "christmas cymbals" throughout. Things are getting very nicely chill. They ride this wave for a good long while - Trey doing patiently melodic leads, Page layering electric piano on top of synthesizers. Mike dropping the occasional bomb....Things are slowly getting spacey...By 12 minutes, we are in Blissful Robo Space Land. Trey is honking it up again and Page is all over those synths. He and Trey are syncing up, kinda trying to solo along with each other on a nice little motif.
Things remain "chill" but the energy seems to be slowly intensifying. Trey returns to his normal sound and starts doing some repeating bending figures, coaxing melodic feedback out at all the right moments. Fishman is getting busier on the kit by the second, doing more and more fill-work with each passing measure. This sounds like we are sailing over the moon or something. Freaking awesome jam. Chill but purposefully. Right around 15 minutes Trey begins vamping and the mood of the jam switches on a dime to a more funky, disco kinda sound. Robo Disco Deluxe. They don't 100 percent abandon the bliss, but things get much more rhythmic for sure. Mike takes greater prominence in this section and the band lock onto a groove. Page is still going nuts with his synths, but he reintroduces piano and things start getting more organic.
At 16 minutes the jam just about dies a death. Fishman quickly brings it down to nothing and then immediately rises back up, keeping the jam going! If this were 2012, that would have been the cut-off point. From here, the synths go back in the box and Page is vamping it out on the piano while Trey patiently picks out very nice lead lines. The jam starts to build towards a more "standard rock" vibe, almost returning to a faux-Tweezer sound, so to speak. Also at 18 minutes, I swear Trey almost teases Manteca for a hot second. By 18:30 we are basically in rocking Type I, so to speak. Page is pounding that piano and Mike is funking it the hell up, but Trey is letting rip, just soloing his tail off, doing those almost-Manteca tease bits again. A peak is approaching! We are climbing the mountain!!! 19:30 and Trey is now doing cool sustained bends, capping them off with some trill-led soloing. His playing is getting hotter and hotter each go around. Everyone else is still holding their positions tight letting Trey do the heavy lifting.
Freaking awesome moment right at 20 minutes where everyone "syncs up" for a few seconds to hit a peak oh so perfectly. Wonderful!!!! Following this, things get a little heavier. Trey starts playing with a chunkier sound for a hot minute before turning on his Soul Planet delay and doing his patented chord slashes underneath Page's watery synthesizer fountain. By 21:30 Gordo has kicked on some FX and the band is getting FUNKY. I swear to god they are just teasing the hell out of Manteca whether they meant to or not. I can't be the only one - they are "so close" to doing it. JUST PLAY MANTECA ALREADY!
By 22:30, Trey and Mike are just doing their dirtiest, lowest, grungiest funk riffing. All dirty effects and honkiness to the extreme. Fishman lays out, keeping time on the cymbals while popping back in with well-timed snare and tom hits. Very, very cool section!!! Around 24 minutes Fishman comes back roaring on the kit and the band turns another corner. Trey is still honking it up more than a Canadian goose, and the band is doing their best Extreme Moma Dance or something. All watery synths, tom-pounds, stop-start rhythms, delay-led chord hits, etc. Actually, this kinda sounds like the dark side of a Golden Age or something. Very sparse and rhythmic.
Around 25 minutes Page and Trey lead the band back into a more chill, upbeat area. Mike and Fishman are still pounding our ears with their bass and tom hits, but the jam is heading for blissful pastures now. No darkness here!!! Around 27 minutes, Fishman is getting the tempo going, and the guys are just vamping the hell out of this in the best way. Trey tastefully uses his delay for some "waterfall" sounding effects, but on the whole the guys keep the sounds rather "normal" for a good while. Everyone vamping, with Trey and Page occasionally inserting tasteful fills. Page is on his electric piano, giving this a great "kitschy 70s sterotype" kind of sound (hard to explain what I mean).
Then at 28 minutes Trey starts doing "American Woman" riffs for like 20 seconds, lol. And nobody picked up on that. By 29 minutes we are just blissfully rocking out. Trey is doing cool leads all over the place, Page is carefully doing synthesizer inserts, and the whole band is working as one. What the hell, 30 minutes have already passed?! Where did the time go?!?!?! Then at 30 minutes Trey returns to Canadian Goose land, honking it to hell and back on top of Page's robot synths.
But there is no darkness - the guys are keeping it fun and wacky in the best way! THIS IS A PARTY, MOTHER EFFERS!!! LET'S FRIGGIN DANCE!!! "yea yea" samples....At 31 minutes Trey starts doing an oh-so-fun descending motif. Fishman drops the beat out perfectly doing some samples while Trey does some slashing, then at like 31:30 he does one of the best re-entries ever and the crowd goes nuts. Stop/start jamming heaven. This is spectacular. 1997 could only hope to be this damn funky! Holy mother of hell!!!!!
Right about 32:50, the guys peak this sucker out and rage it to the finish line. The last minute or so sees the jam descend into a proper "ending" of sorts, complete with rock-star drum fills and Canadian geese. Then with a "yea" sample to lead the way, Trey guides us perfectly into.....

Tweezer Epilogue - Absolutely terrific. I think I preferred the Chalkdust more but it's every bit the equal of that jam at the same time. Very much a "sister" to that CDT. As with that CDT, the first 18 minutes or so are excellent-if-nothing-special, but then they really take it out there and the X Factor stuff creeps in, leading to 10 or 15 minutes of primo, must-hear adventure!!!!! MUST HEAR!!!!

>Twist - Standard Twist playing Until about 4:45 when things suddenly take a turn. The "aquatic bliss" is making itself known. This lasts until about 6 minutes when Fishman increases the tempo/intensity again and things head for a more rock-based approach. Back to more "regular" Twist vibes, with a hefty "late night classic rock" feel to it. Trey ripping it up and Page pounding that Yamaha!!!! There's a terrific section around 7 minutes that sees them heading for an obvious peak. Trey hits another Divided Sky note and just holds it for like a minute straight. Spectacular. Then at 8 minutes Trey starts trilling and you know we are headed for an explosion!!! This jam just builds and builds and BUILDS! Every time you think its about to peak and erupt, it just keeps going instead!!!!!! At 9 minutes the sustained feedback returns, with Trey looping it or something, sticking it into his delay sound. Freaking cool! We are approaching "sonic noize destruction" like last night's Caspian!!!! What is even happenning anymore?!?! Then at 10:30 they atrociously ripcord this sucker back into the main Twist theme....BOOOO!!!!!

>Piper - Standard Piper rocking until 5 minutes when we take a plunge into rapid-fire Type II. Trey unleashes his stuttering, U2-esque delays for a must-hear section of him layering notes like Brian May or something. Page is laying out but slowly finding his entry point for the synths. Trey starts vamping with his delay again and before you know it this sounds like Birds of a Feather or something. Eventually this turns into Mike tearing it up underneath Page and Trey doing melodic noodling with Fishman continuing his rapid-fire rat-a-tat-tat! This is rage-tastic. Around 8:30, Trey gets honky and introduces a new melodic motif that the guys jump on. Page begins swirling keyboard figures like it's a carnival or something and Trey echoes his patterns on the guitar. By 9 minutes the energy is rising and you can feel a peak is being formed before us. And then instead of erupting into a peak, we get blue-balled into.....

>Farmhouse - Why.....NO! BAD TREY! I mean, I do like a good, gorgeous Farmhouse (which this is), but golly that was like being slapped in the face....A lovely and delicate Farmhouse ensues. The set placement was actually really good, just they way they killed Piper like that sucked Great Farmhouse (as it usually is), but nothing that noteworthy.

>Waste - Ooh, a 1-2 ballad hit?! Surely everyone was losing their minds in a bad way, lol. For me, I'll take Waste anyday. As y'all know, it's by far my favorite Phish ballad, so it's always welcome to me!!! And it actually works, building out of Farmhouse like that! I swear, it works!!! And this one is POWERFUL! The way they just kick it into gear when the drums come in...purposeful as hell! Also, shout out to Mike's great harmony vocals on this one! And then of course Page's outstanding piano solo just gives you goosebumps.....A+ Waste.

>First Tube - Trey calls an audible and the band launches into it perfectly, but then Trey proceeds to totally butcher the main lick, lol. FT is FT, but by golly does it explode like usual and serves as the perfect "exclamation mark" to this powerhouse show!!!

Sleeping Monkey - Is SM

Tweeprise - Is Tweeprise. Obligatory.


All in all, a mostly terrific set and show on the whole! I would say I definitely "prefer" 7/31 in comparison, but the two shows felt extremely similar on the whole! It's almost like they decided to play the same show two nights in a row and just change what songs were played! I've never encountered another pair like this. Both gigs are absolutely terrific and well worth your time!!!!!!