8/13/21 Atlantic City, NJ
Set 1 -
Cars, Trucks, Buses - Nothing like a big rarity to set the mood 
Love Trey's delay playing on this that gives it an oddly funky flavor
that it has no right to have. Really terrific version that gets red hot
and sees Trey absolutely tearing it up. Wow, who saw this being this great?!
AC/DC Bag - Oh no, the Hershey Chill has returned. An ok version but
nothing special and the laid-backness of it is to it's detriment.
Blaze On - Thankfully, Blaze On reverts to where CTB left off. It
does begin a little chill, but quickly starts to gather a little bit of
heat. Some terrific soloing from Trey. Great Type I ensues until
somewhere around 8:30 the jam takes a blatant shift into Type II-ish
waters. Things start getting wacky, the jam keeps building heat, the
bullfrog comes out to play...you get the idea! It sounds like they decided to play the jam they ended up not doing in CTB or something. Eventually the jam winds its way back to the Blaze On chorus and concludes in a Type I-like fury. Totally excellent "microjam" version!!!!
Wolfman's Brother - Bascially, Blaze On Part 2, this one follows the
exact same path of having a great Type I jam that gets pretty out there
without completely diving off the deep end. An absolutely excellent
version with more Bullfrog Abuse going on throughout. Terrific!!! 
I Didn't Know - Bring on the vacuum!!
Funky B - "Average hot", so to speak. Fine version but you've heard a million other MUCH better readings.
Rift - Kinda slow tonight. When all is said and done, it isn't perfect,
but it's FAR better than the number of "butchered" versions in recent
years. Kinda tired sounding overall but Trey almost nails his parts, so that counts for a lot. A+ for effort!
Sand - Definitely the "chillest" version I've ever heard. See Funky B -
very surprising. Trey and the band do their thing and it's "average hot"
as every Sand is, but never goes "next level" like the best ones. A+
for effort, it just never hits that extra spot for some reason.
All in all, I will admit that set 1 of Hershey #2 was objectively
better by a good margin, this set felt like it held together "as one" a
little better. I would say I PREFER this set, but will concede that set 1
of Hershey #2 was definitely the BETTER first set, despite the weird
lack-of-heat.
A good set, but not one anyone will ever scream that you need to hear.
The opening CTB, as well as Blaze On and Wolfman are the must-hears (and
they aren't even that must-hear, even though they are good).
Alrighty, on to set 2 of 8/13/21 Atlantic City
Set one was good but most unspectacular.
Set 2:
Tweezer - Always a good sign when a 23 minute Tweezer opens the
set! The proper jam begins at about 5:30 and immediately drops into
1999-style ambient funk! Trey doing a creepy feedback squall that sets
the mood as dark and chill. Think late-night Tweezer, yo. At 6:30 he
does some good old fashioned seagull whammy squeals that are amazing and
delight the crowd. Page is laying it down queitly on the electric piano
and Trey slowly steps onto his bullfrog wah pedal. This is really, really UNIQUE for a 2021 Tweezer!!!! Wow! They are doing something different tonight! 
Around 9 minutes the jam starts to pick up steam. Trey starts casually
"riffing" out a pattern, setting the tone. The guys pick up and let him
start doing some melodic passages on top of it. Not "soloing", but
melodic ideas. Add in some perfectly places delay stutters. This is super cool. By
13:30 the jam begins to achieve a more distinctly "positive" vibe, but
not the usual bliss-jam you expect. Almost a "classic rock meets Phish
funk" kind of sound. Hard to explain!!! This Tweezer is friggin' awesome - it's so refreshing to hear a version NOT behaving as you might "expect" it to!!! At
15 minutes, Trey digs into the ambience once more - the jam is rocking
along behind him but it is changing gears once more. He will do a spurt
of notes than hold some feedback, etc. At 15:30, as if on cue, he and
the guys LOCK into a new riffy groove. This stoccato groove lets the
band lay a "bed" for Trey to play on top of. There is no "raging" in this jam. The guys are just weaving a tapestry of sound, with Trey sprinkling fairy dust on top. By
18:30 we start to reach the "Bliss Peak" we expect. Again, Trey isn't
going Machine Gun on or overusing his effects (though the Bullfrog comes
out at this point), but the whole thing is so remarkably cohesive. Right
about 20 minutes they hit the peak and move into the final section of
the jam. The "classic rock" riffing style returns, quickly to be
replaced with the synth robot delays and FX we expect from 2021. And
they lead her on home from there....WOW!!! That was a GREAT jam!
That wasn't mind-melting, but that felt like a perfect example of a
"sleeper" jam that people will forget, only to stumble upon and go "wow,
that WAS great!!!". This was totally worth a listen - great full-band
interplay. This was an exercise in holding back. Nobody was "jumping
out", everyone was just playing TOGETHER. Great stuff!!!
>Bathtub Gin - Gin is exceptionally chill
tonight. On another night I'd call it downright sleepy! But the
laid-back vibe goes perfect with the song. The song quickly gets going
though once the jam begins. Listen to Gordo just absolutely tearing it up on the bass, good lord. Trey
starts to lay into his porno wah scratches and all is right with the
world. Right about 9 minutes this is shelved for a budding "bliss" jam.
Page and Trey lock in on each other, soloing together, if you will. Incredibly awesome little section for a bit!!!! At 10 minutes Trey starts doing porno-wah-delay-scratching and the bliss starts to go sideways. Fishman
starts to accent the beats with choice cymbal crashes. Trey lays off
the wah and proceeds to just start melodically soloing it up. The guys
pick up on a descending pattern he has begun and they start jamming on
it. Again, just listen to Gordo on this sucker. Damn. Check out the jam kicking things up around 11:45!! Things are getting red hot!!! We are heading for a peak!!! Trey
and Page are "soloing together" yet again, this time with Page on the
synths, creating a beautifully chaotic, swirling and melodic maelstrom
of sound. This is outstanding! THIS IS FREAKING COOL!!!! You could
very well make the argument that "more" happens in this 14 minute Gin
than that whole 23-minute Tweezer. GET THIS GIN! IT IS SICK!
>Everything's Right - Gin concludes in a brief moment of dark
ambience and we get a slightly "coulda been smoother" lead into ER. A
decent jam starts to develop but on the whole this ER is kinda dead in
the water. It's a fine version but doesn't even reach the 8 minute mark.
Think of it as an enjoyable stopover. Great soloing from Trey though!
>Possum - In from ER. ER starts to develop into a jam, but like the
good ol' days of yore, they latch onto a rhythm and realize it's the
perfect launching pad to go into another song. The transition is a
little underwhelming - the chill nature of the show so far does not help
launching a Possum. Possum is supposed to be red-raging-hot!!! Great
little piano solo from Page around the 3 minute mark. By the mid point, a
little bit of heat starts to develop mainly thanks to Page absolutely tearing it up still. It's
like they are "whispering" Possum instead of raging it good. This is
nitpicking but it's kind of annoying - LETS GET THAT HEAT GOIN, BOYS! On
the whole this becomes a pretty darn enjoyable Possum with lots of Trey
in the back half, but it also leaves you with this vibe of "this is
what Possum would sound like if played by the Grateful Dead", lol. That
is neither here nor there, simply a dumb observation.
Not exactly must-hear by any means but really good version when all is
said and done! The last couple minutes get darn hot for sure!
>2001 - As with ER into Possum, the segue is pulled off but just on the verge of being sloppy. Where is the fire? Where is the oomph?! When Fishman drops into a 2001, you're supposed to feel
that!!! Very limp-wristed at the start, but Trey does some terrific FX
soloing throughout to get our minds off the dull drumming. Seriously, this sucker is made for Trey's new FX, I swear. That stuff is KILLER on this. Thankfully
the heat builds more and more as it continues and this becomes a pretty
damn tasty little 2001! Totally worth a listen!!!!
>Rise/Come Together - Look, I like the song, but damn was this
absolutely NOT what everybody in the venue wanted to hear out of that
raging 2001.....It doesn't even jam, yo. It's actually a pretty strong
Type I reading and I would consider it for a "non-album songs"
compilation in that regard - but this is the middle of the 2nd set. We
don't need a 4 minute reading of a song most people don't want to hear,
lol.
>Harry Hood - Very nice! The chillful mood of the set gives this Hood a uniquely bluesy
vibe during the initial soloing!!! Never heard one like that. Hood
eventually builds into a pretty damn magical reading, with great use of
FX and maybe the most firery peaking of the whole night!!! You can feel good about Hood, indeed!! Seriously, Hood fans, grab this. It's not classic, but it's damn fine!!!
More - The expected More set closer. Pretty lackluster and tired
sounding but not terrible. Hot solo at the end but nothing to write home
about. Just nothing must-hear at all. See Rise/Come Together.
Loving Cup - Great as always. Nothing special.
All in all, this set was pretty good. But that's about it! Nothing
major to knock, but there was no FIRE tonight! The Tweezer>Gin combo
were really excellent, but not even they were "must-hear" REALLY. They
were about as strong as the Hershey #1 jams, ya know what I mean? This
show was like they had the intensity turned way down for some reason.
Again, this is my nitpicking, because the show was pretty good overall
and the 2nd set had some very good stuff happenning, but at the same
time there was enough that was ever so slightly "lackluster" as to take
the sheen off of it all. A solid B+ show, in my book.
You know what it was like? Imagine striking a match over and over. You
keep getting sparks but it never fully ignites. THAT is what this show
was like. Very odd! Even the stuff I was "raving" about I had to kinda
"find greatness" where it was really "just pretty good", if that makes
any sense.
It was a GOOD show. Not bad, not poor, not exceptional. It was just kinda...there. Huh.
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