Onwards with Spring 2023 in my dump truck listening series.
Next up, 4/22/23 Los Angeles
Very nice looking setlist tonight!
Set 1 -
A groovy and energetic Ghost kicks off proceedings. Page is finally
audible, and his aquatic keys add so much the sound... Ghost is pretty
excellent overall. Goes kinda Type 2 bliss rock, if you will. Awesome
opener! This was surprisingly excellent!!! This Ghost is awesome!!!! Destructive rock explosion!!! Holy crap!!!
Dang, talk about yer high quality opener!!!!
And then straight into Bowie! Great 1-2 punch! Even better, this is the
best played Bowie Ive heard in forever!!! Technically, Trey basically nails it and the whole thing has way more energy and pizazz than many othr recent ones. This
is about as good a Bowie as youre gonna get these days! A+ modern
Bowie! No, seriously, that was a STRONG Bowie. Dont sleep on it!
Oh crap, Esther! That means this is going to be a great show! 
Terrific, tight, perfect version ala Bowie
This is followed by a phenomenal Hood!! In slot 4! Extra magic on this one, the jam even gets kinda funky for a bit!!! A+ Hood! This would have been THE show closer of the year so far, let's put it like that. Wow. Must hear!
And into the best Meat ive ever heard! Tight as hell, raging hot, what even is this set?!
And then, here it comes, The Big One....
Melt...what to say... ABSOLUTELY MUST HEAR! RAGING PSYCHEDELIC
ROBOT EXPLOSION!!! MUST HEAR IN EVERY WAY! ONE OF THE MOST INCREDIBLE
JAMS IVE EVER HEARD!! 1.0 style psychedelic rocket ship! No meltdown,
just pure INSANITY from start to finish! The GREATEST MELT I HAVE EVER
HEARD!
Then a still-rare Leaves is ultra gorgeous and a terrific Coil to close.
Coil has a unique ending thst sees the band playing along with Page for
a while before the piano outro. Definitely unique. POWERFUL version of
Coil!!! I actually have a reason to replay this one!
It's official, I just heard the first set of the year (so far).
That was a truly rare set that I can honestly say was flawless. Rarities, extreme tightness in the playing, all-timer jams (Hood and Melt - what the hell WAS that Melt?!), terrific flow...
My goodness. That was the definition of a 5-star set.
If you have not heard it, I urge you to go play it immediately.
My god...
Set 2
Nearly 23 min Chalkdust to open. Funny, I heard this at 6 am a few
months ago on PhishRadio while driving to work. Had to get out right
when it was getting good.
The song proceeds as expected until the guys hit a sustain at the 6
minute point. From here, its blissful melodic jamming until roughly 10
minutes.
Then, Trey kicks on his vibrato effect and the jam starts to build
tension and get a little mor weird. Fishman is doing every fill under
the sun.
The guys spend a long time in this "noodling around" area. Its that
"awkward" part of a jam where you are waiting for things to coalesce,
and they sure are taking their sweet time to do so.
Finally, around 14 minutes, Trey has had enough and kicks
on some robo FX, leading the jam to head for darker pastures. But this
is quickly abandoned for more noodly melodic bliss.
Im honestly not really digging this jam. It feels like they are
constantly searching for direction without it ever "clicking" in any
major way.
At the 17 minute mark, a new rhythm appears that they all latch onto.
For a split second it sounds like they are gonna get funky and goopy,
but that mysterious force goes "not today!" and practically yanks them
back to the bliss.
They basically bliss rock it out from here.
Im totally being overly critical, but upon first listen, this jam
definitely disappointed me. Hmm. I mean, A+ for effort, and I'm sure
everyone else loves it, but it didnt really do it for me at all.
Maybe this Chalkdust just wasnt my cup?
>Twist
Honestly, that awesome segue into Twist was my favorite part of that CDT!
Thankfully, Twist is sick. Funky and gooey and melty right off the rip.
Twist gets pretty dark and heavy, all things considered. They definitely
lay into the "night time" aspects of the jam. KILLER Twist!
Slightly awkward segue into 2001. Sounds like Fishman almost
accidentally wants to start the Melt beat but immediately realizes his
mistake before it happens. 
2001 is AWESOME with a genuine jam that stretches a bit, comparable to the Mexico 2023 version. Sick! A+ 2001!!!!!
And into Sneakin Sally! Heck yea! Super killer funk jam!!! GET IT, GORDO!!! TEAR THAT BASS UP! 
Eventually it builds a massive rock and roll head of steam. Its only 10
minutes but is friggin must hear! HOSE ALERT!!!! GET IT!!! Hotter than the sun!!!!
Great return to a funky sound for a brief moment allows them to shift perfectly into a red hot Back On the Train.
And its a damn exceptional version!
A strong Life Beyond and First Tube close the set with a strong Antelope to send us on our way.
All in all, one of the strongest shows of the year so far. Id
probably put it in the top 4 so far. Set 1 was a flawless masterpiece,
but set 2 felt a step down, for whatever reason. The opening Chalkdust
wasnt my cup, but the Twist, Snaeakin Sally and 2001 trio were the set
highlights for me. The rest was strong but typical type 1 fare
Id say the 4.3 rating on .NET is about right. Killer show!
No comments:
Post a Comment