Relaxing for the afternoon doing some much-needed digital "cleanup" of
downloaded files, backing things up, organizing things, etc
After playing nine (NINE!) 2018 shows in 5 days (as well as 2 2021 shows
last weekend), we move on the next 2021 gig, and supposedly it's the
"worst" in many folks' opinions!
8/10/21 Hershey, PA
Set 1
First Tube - An outstanding F Tube to open the show, guns
a-blazing. It's F Tube, it peaks hard, it rages, it melts your face from
the word "go!". A terrific opener! No, seriously, this sucker DESTROYS. It has so much heat, you'd think they were closing the show, not opening it!
Axilla - The hottest 1-2 punch this side of the 12/31/91 Punch-Sloth!!!
Wow! The only reason I'm not highlighting this is you've heard a million
hot Axilla's, and this one is no different. But the set placement was
perfection and it kept the heat turned HOT!
Fuego - Again with the great set placement!!! This is refreshing as hell getting it so early!!! And right away, as with FT and Axilla, the initial playthrough and soloing is just LOADED to the hilt with more energy and heat than a friggin' nuclear explosion. This is some ROCK SHOW FUEGO
stuff, if that makes any sense. If you like your Phish red-hot and
ready to ROCK, this is your gig it looks like!! Fuego ends up being an
excellent Type I reading. It's a very "explored" Type I adventure, but
it never fully leaves the Fuego confines. That being said at the very
end they reach the "door opening" moment in the jam for them to lead it
into outer space, but alas it as not to be and they ripcord it for
Jim....
Runaway Jim - At least this Jim kicks tail! It becomes an outstanding, 10/10 Type I Jim. One of those versions where the soloing is just magical and Trey is hitting every "right" note. The band is just bursting at the seams (LISTEN TO FISHMAN, HOLY HELL!). EXTRAORDINARY JIM!! MUST HEAR! MUST HEAR! MUST HEAR!!!! HOLY CRAP!!!!
Gumbo - Now that our faces are in a melted puddle on the floor, they
give us a "break" and launch into the always-welcome Gumbo. For the sake
of not highlighting everything, I'll just say this is a terrific Type I
rager ala early 3.0 Phish. Nothing special, but always welcome to get
and an excellent reading!
Sample In a Jar - Man, the boys are just in the mood to rock tonight,
eh? See Gumbo, Axilla, Jim, etc. Terrific Type I rager, but nothing
special. 
Steam - Up next is a red-hot Steam to cool us back down a tad. But not really 
I gotta say though, A+ on the set flow tonight. I swear, this set is sliding by like buddah, baby.
Sugar Shack - Surprise surprise! I'd say this is great but they play it as seemingly half-speed tonight which makes it friggin draaaaggggg. Otherwise I'd say it's performed excellently.
Llama - FAST LLAMA! LETS FRIGGIN GO!!!! And it's every
bit the "25 energy drinks and 20 cups of coffee" rendition you are
craving for. This goes toe to toe with any classic 1.0 reading. WORLD
DESTRUCTION!!!! 
Death Don't Hurt Very Long - OUTSTANDING!!!!!! The guys are having
an absolute blast and it sounds like Trey is trying not to crack up or
something. That's always a good sign. Sick-ass synth solo from Page.
Really nasty "rhythmic" jam in the final few minutes that shows
potential to evolve into something more if they wanted. Ultra dark and
heavy tonight - basically what Steam wants to - but will never - be.
Run Like An Antelope - Really excellent noodling from Trey in the beginning portion. AND
THEN HOLD ON TO YOUR DAMN HATS BOYS AND GIRLS!!!! HERE COMES THE
SWIRLING VORTEX OF SONIC NOISE DESTRUCTION!!!! HOLY CRAP!!!! See Llama
above!!!! Damn....
Guys....guys....GUYS!!!!! Listen to me. This set was the definition of
BALLS TO THE WALL. You NEED to hear that Llama, Antelope, First Tube,
Jim and DDHVL. This was one of the HOTTEST, most fire-laden first sets I
have ever heard in my entire life. What the hell!? This threw me for
such a loop! I was expecting a bad set considering this show's
"reputation" and the disgusting 3.2 rating on .NET.
NO ACTUAL 3.2 SHOW HAS A FIRST SET THIS INCREDIBLE.
All in all...
Set 2
No Men In No Man's Land - A 16-minute barn burner to open the set
always bodes well! Rages molten lava type 1 as expected for a good long
while. The first signs of things getting wacky appear around 7 minutes
when Trey does this slow, oddball creep northward for about 30 seconds.
He lands upon a soloing spot and starts building the peak blissfully
ever upward from there, turning on his robo wah in the process. As
expected, Fishman is absolutely laying waste to his kit throughout
all of this. Around 9 minutes the bliss starts to slowly
drift....sideways. Page jumps on his synths and Trey is doing the Robot Goose Honk 5000 Extreme
over yonder. Meanwhile we are still at a 1999 Birds of a Feather
breakneck tempo. Throughout all of this, Trey is just going banana
sandwich on his wah pedal, doing lots of wide-sweeping "washes", so to
speak. Fishman is still exploding behind the kit like a 1000 fireworks
all detonated at once and this jam has you going "hold on for your life!". At
11 minutes things gently change again with Gordo kicking on his FX and
Trey doing tons of super cool and wacky delay stuff. Not the typical
"cascading waterfall" either!! By 11:30 there is no doubt that Type II has entered the chat. By
13 minutes this runaway sports car of a jam shows zero sign of slowing
down, but Trey returns to his normal tone and the jam begins another
"building to a massive peak" section. What in the hell is going on - how does one play music this HOT?!?!?!??!
13 minutes and 41 seconds in - 
Immediately following that "robot peak from the Lord", the jam "quiets
down" for the first time. Trey is completely in outer space, using every
effect under the sun, while Gordo is honking it up big time and Page is
trying to figure out how the hell to step back into this maelstrom!
It's the aural equivalent of a soupy, swirling, hurricane storm.
Unfortunately at 15:30 Big Red starts singing the chorus again and you
know "oh man, the jam is over....". And just like that, this budding MONSTER comes to an awkwardly forced conclusion....damn....that was....no words....
>Soul Planet - * facepalm * You ended that jam for Soul Planet?! REALLY?!?!??! Ok,
you guys know I adore Soul Planet and this flowed better than it had
any right to, but I can totally understand the complaints now. 
Right
at 3:29 the jam achieves liftoff. Page is on the keys and while the
tempo is breakneck, the jam has a much chiller, jazzier, vibe to it than
that INCENDIARY No Men. The intensity is slowly building. Trey
kicks on his FX and is scatting along "screaming through
space...screaming through space....".... At 4:45 Page returns to the
piano and the clearness of it gives this jam a certain weight. So now
it's Page on piano, Trey on Goose Honk 5000 Robo FX and the whole jam
is like a rocket hurtling through outer space. Ultra-wacky but super
badass. By 7 minutes Trey has toned back most of his FX and we are in a straight on Type I guitar-solo jam for a bit, until he has trouble hitting the right key and unintentionally ends up steering the jam into the next phase!! The
playing becomes much more melodic, still anchored by Page's pounding
piano, letting Trey just blissfully peak it up on top of it all. Soaring to the skies!!! By
10 minutes Page goes to his keys and Fishman goes all half-speed on us,
altering the tone of the jam to a slower, more powerful exercise in
peak-building. At 12 minutes, just before reaching the top of Everest,
Trey does a weird, in-jam ripcord of sorts and forces them into a
funkier direction. Lots of bluesy power chords, almost going back to
that DDHVL/Steam thing. I swear, if Trey tossed in the Steam lick here, the whole universe would've erupted.
The song fades out with a quasi-reggae jam leading you to think "are we
getting Makisupa now?!?!". But alas, 'tis not to be! Instead, Trey does
something unlikely and slowly leads the band into....
>NICU - YES! THAT SEGUE WAS AWESOME! THANK YOU LORD FOR NOT BUTCHERING THAT!!!! I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING! 
This is why we Phish!!!! Really excellent type 1 version
>Joy - Holy freaking hell, that was the greatest set placement/transition into I've ever heard!!!! PERFECT!!!! Joy is Joy but it was an excellent version and came at the exact perfect point in the set. A+ all around.
Scent of a Mule - MULE! LET'S GO!!! Here we go again with the
perfect set-placements!!! Awesome and wacky, what with the new robot
sounds and everything (Galactic Cowboys for rule, jah feel?) Excellent
and weird as always. Great stuff.
Golden Age - It feels like the set takes a turn here. Golden Age is
pretty chill. And not super extended. Sounds kinda "loosed" tonight, for
sure. Golden Age ends up being very nice but never does enough, really.
Fine version but nothing anyone will be shouting about from the
rooftops in years gone by. I really wonder why Trey decides to move out
of it though as it was building a head of steam for sure...
>Prince Caspian - Ok, that was one of the absolute WORST calls
I've ever heard. Dang it, Trey.... Love Caspian, but Golden Age was
congealing into something and then.....ripcord. 
What's even worse is that Caspian is incredibly nice featuring a
spectacular peak from Trey, but it's also just short enough to make you
go "that's it? You wasted Golden Age for that?". Dang, man....
>Number Line - Oh no, the dreaded 3rd quarter Number Line set derailment....What is going on?! I
love Number Line, but this show was going spectacularly until that
Golden Age ripcord....And then Trey goes "nah, I don't really feel like
doing much with Caspian either, sorry." MAKE UP YOUR MIND, TREY!!! PLEASE! Number
Line tries its hardest and turns in a fine performance, but it's also
nothing to write home about either. You've heard many other versions
that are even better. A for effort, though.
The Lizards - Ooh, it pains me so to not highlight this. I adore The
Lizards and always love hearing it. Just an ok version - the guys sound
tired at this point, like they have, blown their....um, you know what
I'm saying. It's an ok version, but it's not super tight and, like
Number Line, you've heard a million other much better renditions.
Character Zero - See Above. What happenned?!
Rock and Roll - Thank you lord!!! Our savior!!! An inspired encore choice and it brings down the house. Great stuff!!
All in all....yea, I guess, well....see above!!! The set was going
amazingly up through NICU. Then Golden Age got killed and the set
nosedived. It wasn't even the songs chosen (though that didn't help) but
the ENERGY was sucked out of the set. I can't describe it but I've
never heard another show go downhill that much out of nowhere.
Not a classic show, but a damn fine one. If this is the worst of the
year, this is the greatest year of Phish ever played, ya dig?
A great show well worth at least one listen!!
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