2018-10-31 Las Vegas, NV - 2023 revisit

 Kasvot Vaxt in the dump truck this morning.

10 31 18 today

Opening Buried Alive is rare and fun

11 min Ghost to follow. Perfect choice for Halloween! This one is an underrated sleeper for sure - it does way more with its abbreviated run time than you think. Id say it goes Type II and Trey even gets a Buried Alive reprise thrown in. Go revisit this one!

Then we got a perfect, totally organic and unexpected segue into Crazy Sometimes! It keeps the groove going and packs a puch! Killer version. It almost lifts off into a massive jam but unfortunately they kill it.

There is totally a massive 25 min jam lurking inside. Seriously, it was at the point of liftoff and they just go "nah not tonight"

Free is next. Awkward start but a good version. Nothing that special.

A rocking version of More in the 5th slot is very unexpected and great!

The following Halley is MUST HEAR!!! It rages hard then turns into a Tube-style jam for about 5 glorious minutes before they, again, prematurely kill it

Also, I swear Trey is quoting the Crazy Sometimes vocal melody in his solo!

And awkwardly we slide into....Ocelot?! Ok.... 

Incendiary must hear, dark and angsty Ocelot!! Surprisingly killer!!!

And the following Theme just EXPLODES! Theme felt incredibly strong tonight, almost next level.

Then an incendiary First Tube as shock set closer!!


All in all, set 1 tonight felt like the best warmup tease ever. Strong readings with great little jams that showed a strong promise for greater things to come.

It felt like they were teasing us all set.

 

 KV thoughts:

Turtle kills. Great song.

Stray Dog was excellent. Way better than you remember some absolutely choice leads from Trey

Everything is Hollow KILLS!!! This has always been my sleeper favorite of the bunch. Would love so much to hear this exploded, so to speak

WACTOOB - Magical! A genuine near classic imo, and a great song that would fit perfectly in a normal Phish album. We all love WACTOOB, right?

SANTOS is awesome

The Final Hurrah is another classic. INSANELY GREAT! GET IT TREY! FACEPLANT INTO ROKK!!!!!!

Play By Play - my personal least FAVORITE, but I cant deny its one of the strongest songs here for sure. I totally understand why everyone wants this pulled out of mothballs. There is 100 percent a massive, black hole, Melt style jam waiting to be unleashed. Hell, this is the debut and they just about get there! Would love to hear a fleshd out studio reading of this.

DDHVL - Another killer, lucky to catch this live. Killed. 46 Days has met its competition!!

Cool Amber - one of the weaker songs for me, but still very enjoyable. Good and fun but one of the least "interesting"

Passing Through - strange song, I never got it, but I still like it, lol.

These songs are so STUPID but still so much fun! Why do they work?! They are strong songs but also stupidly crazy at the same time.

They arent technical but they are still very musically interesting and catchy. Hooks galore!
In other words, none of this should work, let alone be this excellent.

Set 1 was very good but not quite next level. A great warmup. It was excellent but it "felt" a little inconsistent or something.

Set 2, KV, was terrific. The "x factor" vibe was present throughout. They must have been excited as hell to play the songs because these debuts are all strong, and some versions are already as good as they have ever been played!!! WACTOOB, The Final Hurrah....

Set 3 opens with a red hot SYSF that is a compact 12 minute type 2 odyssey. More exploration than the Ghost from earlier, add this to the sleeper classics playlist!

And into a 16 min Tweezer we go....  

Tweezer is good but not essential. It basically stays in its lane for 16 enjoyably groovy minutes. Gets into beach party mode for a while which is cool.

 ASIHTOS

9 minutes of masterful playing. One of the best versions in recent memory. Patient and thorough, they explore the depths the come up for sunlight.

One of the hosiest, most climactic peaks ive ever heard.

TRANSCENDENT

Hands down, the best improv of the night so far and its not even close. Friggin insane.

This felt like a 20 min adventure.

It blows my mind that song as "primed" for jamming as this languishes in a pile of 8 to 12 minute version. Why do we not regularly have 25 min Ocean odysseys?!?!

 Following Ocean, we get a barnstormer Number Line that feels extra poignant tonight. It brings the heat but also seems to have that extra FEELING about it, big time. Great stuff.

After a fun Meatsick and a cooldown Bug that kills, we get a rip roaring 12 min Antelope!

Loving Cup into Tweeprize for the encore


All in all a great show. Set 3 was definitely the "musical" highlight. If you remove set 2, id give this show a solid 4.0 or 4.1 rating, something like that. Not the best of the year top to bottom, but no major flaws either. A very strong show, but in a year full of INCREDIBLE gigs, this one has to fight its way to the front of the pack.

Set 1 would be in my top 8 or 9 first sets of the year for sure, except the "we are holding back" vibe that keeps it from transcending. Set 1 was really, really good, but it was like "haha, gotcha!" or something