2021-09-26 Asheville, NC - T.A.B.

 Not-yet-Jon-Fishman's-Almost-TAB continues with 9/26/21 Asheville, NC

It's infuriating to think I could have gone to both this and the Charlotte show. I'm in Greenville - Only an hour away to both! But alas, my life was in the gutter at the time and it was impossible to attend....

That being said, here we go with set 1 of 9/26/21


Set 1

In Rounds - Skinny little legs! Odd to hear without the backing vocals, but a surprisingly strong opener that get us going good! For the sake of not highlighting everything, and in the wake of what is to follow, just know that I had to try my absolute hardest not to highlight this, lol. It's great.

Everything's Right - 16 minutes of awesome sauce! GROOVE SUPREME! The guys lay into this one HARD! The jam gets going strong but lays back kinda chill, then eventually Trey turns on the RoboWah5000 and kicks it up a couple notches! Must-hear!!! Better than a couple Phish versions I've heard, that's for sure! Trey is just going for it on these shows - what gives?! Where was this fire all summer when I kept complaining about show after show being way too chill?!
Cool section around 10 minutes where I'd say it goes Type II. A "scary" kind of theme appears and the guys ride this out. This goes for a couple kick-ass minutes and sees the band reaching an awesome robot-fuelled climax!!! Must hear! Killer!! Seriously, this goes HARD! ROBOT FIRE SUPREME!!! BANG YOUR HEAD!!! HOLY CRAP!!!

CHECK THAT FRIGGIN PEAK AT 13:45!!!!! THE GROUND IS QUAKING!!!



No Men In No Man's Land - Holy crap on a cracker, how could they possibly surpass that ER?! Turns out they don't, but this sure tries it's best! If a version this hot was played by Phish, people would be talking about it for days. Not an all-timer or anything, but an absolutely A+ Type I rager version! Perfect usage of robot FX when needed, great soloing from Ray on the organ for a different flavor....highly recommended!


Olivia - Killer! Love Russ's drumming on this. Can't believe this was shelved for almost 20 years until this 2021 TAB tour brought it back!

Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan - Now, if every Phish version was like this, I would never complain about it being on a setlist! The organ gives SUCH a great sound to this and really makes it stand apart!!!! The equivalent of the Ocelot from the show prior, this sucker is down and dirty and murky in the best wah. Super choice wah-pedal strangulation of the highest order! Super patient and all the better for it. This is automatically at the very top of the pile of best versions of this ever played - this very well might be contender for the very best one ever played (to this point)! I have never heard a Phish version come close to the adventurousness of this one!!! Spectacular reading! A+!!! MUST HEAR!!!

Steam - Oooh!!!! Great choice for the super-groove of the TAB band!!! 10 minutes of Hose City magic! Basically, everything I said about Stealing Time, apply straight to this. Face melting in the supreme with an insane peak. What in the hell!!! Why doesn't Trey play like this with Phish?!?!?!?



Push On Til The Day - Rages the set to an explosive rock and roll finale. Hot damn.




Ok guys, 9/25 Charlotte blew my mind. We are only at the halfway point of this one and I think it has already topped it!!! There wasn't anything in the set that was less than terrific. Everything was truly killer. If you are picky, Everything's Right, Stealing Time and Steam are the three things you NEED the most. All 3 are NEXT LEVEL with Steam and Stealing Time being genuine "best ever?!" contenders!

The Moma Dance - A nearly 21 minute rendition to open the set! Holy crap! So strange to hear without Fishman singing, but holy crap the GROOVE on this is INSANE! In all seriousness, the way they play this....it almost sounds like a different song!!!!! The change is subtle but massively effective!! Proceeds destructively as expected until the 8 minute mark where we switch gears into this awesome, almost "Cheap Sunglasses"-style, "late night" groove! Everyone getting down HARD! Trey is making great use of his effects sparingly, doing tasteful delay stabs and squeals...This section is great and goes for a very long time. By the 12 minute point, Trey is doing RoboWah "squiggles" all over the place while the keys start getting a bit darker and angstier. By 13 minutes, the keys give way to piano and you can say we are definitely in Type II!!!! The jam is dark and scary, without resorting to synthesizers or robot FX - this is good old fashioned TENSION! Trey almost derails it by throwing in some Moma Dance refrains, leading the jam back into more "typical" territory. Absolutely magical Moma! It went out there without going "out there". Hard to describe but this was a legitimate JAM!! Terrific and patient - the best kind!!! They stretched it out perfectly! Must hear!

I Never Needed You Like This Before - Absolutely spectacular Type I!!! PEAK ALERT! PEAK ALERT!! PEAK ALERT!

Plasma - 14 minute version, this got a total facelift, much like Camel Walk and Moma!!! Slow, dark, GRIMY and NASTY!!! Almost bluesy!!! Robot FX right out the friggin' gate!!! Dude! Right away at the 3 minute mark, we drop into Type II, late-night, chill ambience!!!! Russ is keeping the drums going, but everyone else is just doing quiet, "aquatic" stuff that would be perfect for a movie soundtrack or something! I guarantee you, you have not heard a Plasma like this (at least, not by Phish). I imagine this is in the ballpark of what Plasma might sound like played by Pink Floyd or something. Around 6 minutes, Trey backs off the FX and patiently lays down a lot of "perfect" melodic lead lines....this is SPECTACULAR!!! Now THIS is X Factor Magic!!! It rages hard in this "late night scary funky" groove until around 10 minutes when Trey starts to strangle his guitar with an incredibly unsettling "stutter" kind of effect!!! At 10:45 we hit a point where, if this was a Phish jam, I guarantee it would turn to bliss (you can pretty much tell the musical "cues", lol). Thankfully this is not Phish and so this spooky, scary, muddy Plasma keeps going!! Keep that tension coming, boys! Around the 13 minute mark, Trey turns to some SUPER grimy and muddy robot sounds and the jam reaches a definite climax before concluding.



Guys. Guys, no, listen to me. I'm serious. Have y'all heard this Plasma? This was one of the most incredible things I've ever heard related to Phish. This was NOTHING like any other Plasma I've ever heard (and probably the same for you as well!).
  

Set 2

About to Run - Great choice out of that "never heard anything like it before!" version of Plasma! Keeps the dark and dirty feel going and gets some rock and roll energy injected as well! Another "does a perfect version exist? Yes!" rendition thrown down by the boys!!! Guitar annihilation!!! LET'S RAGE!

Sand - As always, Sand has to be played. Killer version. Super spacey and goopy tonight. Trey going ham with his delay pedal! Absolutely terrific little Sand!!

>Carini - And into a 12 min Carini!!! Didn't see that coming! And this is absolutely RIDICULOUS! Listen to Dezron's friggin' thunder-stomp bass on this sucker! The jam begins in a laid-back groove mode once again. Trey spends a good long while doing that "laid back" noodle stuff that is oh so choice. Eventually though, things take a harsher tone and Trey busts out the RoboWah in addition to various robot FX for the nasty Carini jam we expect. Spectacular stuff. By the 10 minute mark, things are absolute Type II wackiness of the highest order!! Funk meltdown supreme! BANG YOUR HEAD INTO THE WALL MELTDOWN PEAK AT 11 minutes. Holy crap! MUST HEAR!!!


Carini ends the set proper. Then we get a great acoustic encore of Mountains, Shade and More with a raging First Tube to close.


All in all, WHAT A FRIGGIN SHOW! It's almost a 50/50 tie, but I think this show has the slight edge over Charlotte. It was cool to see that it had a very different vibe! Charlotte had a very "bluesy and relaxed" kind of heat. This show was totally "dark and grimy and funk", if you will.

Again, see my notes for the Charlotte gig - what a show!!! Yea, if you're playing 2021, you need to take the side trip to hear these....

Wow!