A week later and it's on to Hershey 2021 night 2, August 11, 2021
8/11/21 Hershey, PA
Set 1
You Sexy Thing - It ain't Alpharetta, but I'm sure everyone was still shocked to get this played another time! 
Very chill version to ease us into the show. Nice to hear but doesnt
really do anything just serves as kind of an "intro" to the show.
Wombat - The ultra-chill mood from You Sexy Thing continues.
Great set call though, the two songs go hand-in-hand!!! Wombat is
surprisingly jammed out tonight, exceeding the ten minute mark! It
functions an alternate Moma Dance on this evening, bringing that deep
funk with a hint of exploration as well. I would almost
say it reaches Type II, but really this is a good example of a "Type
1.5"-style jam where it's caught a bit in both worlds. Absolutely
killer! This was damn cool and well worth your time!!! "YOU SEXY WOMBAT!"
Well hot damn if that wasn't the show intro I didn't want but also didn't realize I needed! 
Free - Still very sleepy sounding so far. Gets ultra-funky right off the
bat, almost sounding like a quasi-Moma again!!! The song itself is
pretty weak tonight but holy crap the soloing is good. Not a must-hear
by any means and you've heard a million way better versions. Good as
usual, but kinda disappointing when all is said and done.
A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing - Ooh, now we're talkin! In the first set,
what a surprise. A fine version but nothing special. Great to hear so
early though.
Halley's Comet - Finally the guys wake up!!! 15 minutes in length, this has to be the most jammed Halley's since....when? 
Right off the bat, Trey hits on that delay effect and Gordo switches on
some cool sounds for some great Type II funk jamming. Then around 10
minutes things slowly change into a more blissful and calm area with
Trey doing some Weekapaug-style guitar licks. The Page comes in with the
electric piano and we are chillin' out, brah. This leads to some "hot
bliss", ala a 1999 jam or something. The band starts peaking skywards
and the sunny blue sky is replaced by darkening thunder clouds!!! Things
are dark, FAST!!! Eventually at 14 minutes the black-hole synth appears
(or is that Mike?!), but the jam decides to fizzle out....
WOW! Now THAT was a must-hear Halley!!! Never heard one like that
before!!! 15 minutes, legitimate Type II, what else do you want!?
>Lonely Trip - On another day I'd complain about such a sleepy
set getting such a sleepy song way too early, but hot damn if that
didn't slide like butter out of that Halley. VERY nice! Love this
song - I really think it's one of the best ballads Trey has written in a
while and could totally hear it on, say, Billy Breathes. 1.0 vibes for
this song (make of that what you will). Just lovely.
Gotta Jibboo - Good reading of the song (perfectly fits the chill
vibe tonight!) and then right at 2:24 Trey hits that late-1.0 whale
siren and you know it's on! Terrific Type I soloing on this one. Really
sounds like the album version (which I think is perfection ) . Slowly the heat builds and we get an extremely fiery solo to peak the song to conclusion. A++++
>Meat - Very fun version straight out of 1998! You Sexy Thing teases throughout.
Maze - Red hot. Not as hot as it needs to be but for this set I'll allow it.
On the whole, a very odd set. WAY too chill - did they take
Trazedone before going onstage?! A minor nitpick though as the playing
was mostly excellent, the song choices were perfect and the flow was
terrific. Wombat and that "where did that come from?!" Halley's Comet
are the only "must-hear" tracks of the set in my opinion though. On the
whole, kinda disappointed - everyone says this show is way better than
night one, but the first set of night 1 blew this one right out of the
water.
Second set better be amazing because this was a letdown.
8/11/21 Hershey, PA - set 2
Theme From the Bottom - On an already too-chill night, a Theme
opener (rare as that is) is not what I'm looking for....Complaint aside,
this turns into a stupendous Type I reading as good as any other
incredible version. Not to be missed!!!
>Birds of a Feather - Ah hell yea, a 19 minute BOAF! Jams red
hot as expected til around 9 minutes when they shift into Type II for
real. A super deep bliss jam develops. The speed and intensity continue,
with Trey doing Bird Song-esque melodic line while Fishman destroys
the kit, ala 7/23/99, and Page alternates between his keys and synths.
We are in some crazy rapid-fire bliss jam. My explanation skills are
seriously lacking today, sorry. Around 12 minutes some "sideways" vibes start to creep in. By 14 minutes the jam is getting strange. Not
exactly dark, but it's getting weird, so to speak. More angular. More
oddball. By 15 minutes Trey is doing whacky bullfrog squeals all over
this sucker, meanwhile Page tinkles at the keys and Fishman keeps
destroying worlds. Around 16:30 Trey hits on the delay and the band all
sync up into a new groove. The tempo slows down and things start to get
heavy. The darkness is here. But Trey is still bullfrogging it up, lol. This
is excellent, but it's also one of those jams that is kinda all over
the damn place, constantly riding that "not sure what we are doing" line
where everyone is making random noise, so to speak. But they magically
keep it together, return to the Birds theme and finish it out with a
bang. Wow. This wasn't my favorite jam of all time, but I'd reckon it's
pretty must-hear!
Bug - Very nice but nothing special.
>Light-Party Time-Sexy Thing Reprise - I'm listing this as one because that's how it played out. Light
was great. Chill as hell with a nice-but-short jam that went perfectly
into Party Time. Party Time brought the heat and built upon what Light
began. Not much to say - this sequence was pretty must-hear, imo!
>Ruby Waves - And into a 16 minute Ruby Waves! Good reading of the song, then they DROP
into Type II almost immediately right around 4 minutes. Things are fast
and dark, kinda like a starry night sky while driving down the highway
at 2 am. Trey is just tearing it up, going from the delays to straight
soloing and back. Eventually things "settle" down into an uptempo
"ambient bliss" section. Lots of synth washes and Trey doing trills all
over the jam. This lasts a long time - several minutes or so. Finally
around 10:30, instead of achieving liftoff, the guys decide to back off
the gas and let us coast instead. This is one of those jams, ala,
say, the Went Gin, where they latch onto one style/sound and just ride
that proverbial wave for long time rather than try to do 20 different
themes or sections. This is a jam to lay back and close your eyes to.
Absolutely terrific.
Chalkdust Torture - Very strange screw up during the first verse. Not
sure what happenned there - crazy trainwreck, lol. Expert recovery
though! Trey makes up for this by shredding his pants off.
Unfortunately, this doesn't save this from being the worst version of
Chalkdust I've heard in a long time, lol. A for effort though, the guys
(ahem, Trey) are really trying hard, just delivering more energy than
you can shake a Redbull at. Points for sure for that but I can't in good
conscious list this as any kind of highlight, haha.
Show of Life - As usual, I absolutely adore this song, and it's slighty rare, I guess. A terrific capper for an excellent set.
SANTOS - Great as always, nothing special.
All in all....this was definitely one of my least-favorite shows
of the entire tour so far. I guess I can understand why people dig it,
but it's really not my cup in a lot of ways. The second set was
definitely a big step up from the fall-off-a-cliff last quarter of night
1. There are some terrific jams in this set and show, but nothing that
hasn't been done much better in other shows so far this summer. A for
effort, I just didn't jive with this gig for some reason.
Let me put it like this, give me the two Nashville shows over this, all day long.
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