2023-07-18 Wilmington, NC

  7 18 23 Wilmington

Set 1

Happy Birthday to Jim Pollock before we get a surprise 12 minute, Type 2, dark odyssey x factor Simple to open!! Must hear, it covers a ton of ground and is spectacular.

A hot Camel Walk is next but the following Jibboo takes the cake. A smashing, red hot rager, full of patient playing that winds up with a red hot climax. A+ Jibboo!!

Steam is killer tonight. Trey is great but listen to this for Cactus and Fishman!!!

Poor Heart and Cavern are strong.

Divided Sky is extra slow tonight which doesnt help, but its pretty well performed so thats great. A fine version but nothing exciting in the least.

Casual, Shade and Drift see the set out to a sleepy conclusion .Not much to say.


A strange set. Nothing poor at all, but it was the most middle -of-the-road, nothing offensive but nothing that crazy set ive ever heard. Huh! Not a poor set but neither did it transcend at all (aside from Simple and Steam).

Id say Simple and Steam were must hear but the rest was basically inoffensively forgettable! 

Set 2

Timber is a great opener. Killer version that is basically one lengthy shred fest from Trey. Must hear!

Then a surprise segue into an 18 minute ASIHTOS!!!! YES!! This thing is killer! Dark, funky type 2 with several sections. Insanely good inter-band playing with everyone growing it from second to second. Possibly jam of the tour so far. Probably a top 8 or 10 jam of 2023 so far. X factor magic. MUST HEAR! MUST HEAR!!! That was absolutely an all timer version. Incredible!!!!

And into a 13 minute Light we go....the segue was awkward but the song is tight and focused and moves at a good clip. Awesome jam. Total Type 2, it gets to a cool, jazzy place where it all kind of deconstructs in a blissful manner. Very cool!!!!! Timber jam! Unfortunately, the jam comes to a bit of an awkward and disjointed ending but what is here was awesome.

This leads to the Phish debut of Mercy. Great stuff and I thought it fit its spot perfectly.

Out of Mercy comes a world destroyer 20 Years Later!!! Is it the same key as Mercy or something? It felt like it "fit" perfectly, musically, coming out of that. Awesome call!!!

20YL is must hear. It aint Albany 2018, but it reaches far deeper depths than ASIHTOS did early. Also, its the tightest, most well played version ive maybe ever heard!!!

PURE DARK FIRE!!! MUST HEAR!!! A+++++ WOW!!!!! DARK FUNK DESTRUCTION!!!

Number Line is up next. Good stuff, but the intro sections are a mess. Fishman is doing weid drum patterns and Trey is fumbling around etc. Also, not sure it fit that well out of that black hole...Trey turns in a strong solo and there is a cool spot where everyone syncs up on a swirling motif, but overall this isnt anything you need to rush to hear.

Up next is Bug. Strong version. Bug is Bug.

SANTOS to close the set. Red hot

The Howling into Suzy encore. Good stuff.


All in all, a strange show. First set showed promise early then devolved into pleasant boredom.

Set 2 was damn strong right through 20 Years Later. Id say the Timber -ASIHTOS-Light-Mercy-20 Years sequence is MUST HEAR. The rest is pleasantly celebratory and inoffensive.

Also, why the F does this show have a 2.7 rating on .NET?!?!?!?! This was a solid 3.6-4.0 level show all day.

Tell me, what 2.7 show has THAT Simple or THAT ASIHTOS>Light or THAT 20 Years Later?! Many higher rated shows dont have anything coming close!

B.S.