Onward to night 2 of Mexico 2024
2/22/24 Riviera Maya - the 35 minute Wave of Hope show (I refuse to use 'WOPE'!!!)
Set 1
First Tube - Haven't had a First Tube opener in forever! Nothing special. Good stuff.
Free - As with night 1, there is a more laid-back, 2021-style kind of
feel about the playing tonight. Hot soloing from Trey, but you've heard
much better versions.
Roggae - Holy crap! Stellar as ever, check out the incredibly
moving peak section around 6:45. It happens kind of slowly and will hit
you like a ton of bricks. Excellent!!!!
Driver - Very rare version of Driver up next. Feels like it
grinds the set to a halt, but maybe others feel differently? Still,
great to hear and sounds well rehearsed!
Hey Stranger - I friggin' love this song and hope it stays around
more like Life Saving Gun. Trey lets it rip, and the whole band just
kick total ass on this. Killer!!!
Gumbo - Gumbo is Gumbo, but this excellent Type 1 version continues
the heat from Stranger. Absolutely ripping version that packs a huge
punch.
My Soul - Is My Soul. Friggin' rages. No, seriously, this
thing is hotter than the sun. Good lord, let's friggin' GET IT!!! BANG
YOUR HEAD!! THIS IS THE HOTTEST MY SOUL IVE EVER FRIGGIN HEARD HOLY
MOTHER OF CRAP!!!!!!!
Birds of a Feather - A 20 minute BOAF?!?! What is this, 1999 or something?! Right
at the 4 minute mark, the synths creep in and you know they are going
to go deep with this sucker! Initially, the jam goes into upbeat
"classic rock" mode or whatever you wanna call it. Page is doing his
best to seemingly use every keyboard sound he has at some point or
another - synths to rhodes to piano to everything in between. Around 7
minutes, the first major peak section begins to develop - Trey and Page
sync up and start playing "together" which leads the whole jam skyward. Sick.
-----This goes ALL THE WAY to the 8 minute mark when Trey just EXPLODES into the peakiest peak this side of the Camden 1999 Chalkdust Torture! HOLY MOTHER IVE GOT GOOSEBUMPS!!! THESE BIRDS WERE FRIGGIN SOARING!!!!! Immediately following the Peak of the Gods, the jam dies right down into super quiet territory.
----Trey tries to lead them back into Birds proper, but Page has none of
it and jumps back on the synths, taking this even further out into the
Type II sky. Page McConnell, MVP. The sound here is very
ethereal with a strange kind of tenseness to the sound. It's upbeat but
strange - robo squiggles meeting heavenly soundscapes. ROBO HEAVEN?!
-----By 12 minutes, we are SOARING through the skies in a ridiculous
dreamscape of robo-avian insanity. BIRD HEAVEN! I REPEAT, WE HAVE
REACHED BIRD HEAVEN. PRAISE YOUR NEW BIRD-LIKE OVERLORDS. 
X FACTOR MAGIC. X FACTOR MAGIC FRIGGIN EVERYWHERE, HOLY MOTHER OF CRAP ON A CRACKER WHAT IS GOING ON!!!!!
----Suddenly then, around the 14:30 mark, the screaming seagull
soundscape finally gives way back to actual music of the ultra-hot and
kinda funky variety. Page on electric keys, Trey going ham on the wah -
you get the idea. Birds of a Feather teases etc etc. By the 17 minute
mark, they begin to coalesce again once more into a unit and you can
hear them slowly begin to work towards another peak section. Slightly
awkwardly, at 18:30, Trey leads them back into Birds, but the rest of
the band keeps trying to climb. Incredibly demented and epic.
----And from there, they bring it to a close...
JESUS CHRIST WHAT A JAM!!!! THAT WAS ONE OF THE MOST INTENSE
PIECES OF MUSIC I'VE EVER HEARD!!! HOLY FRIGGIN CRAP!!! WHY IS NOBODY
TALKING ABOUT THIS JAM?!?!?!??!
Axilla II - To close the set. Holy mother of effing mercy. Screaming
seagull hellscape 2, electric boogaloo. Nearly 11 minutes on this
sucker!!! Absolutely epic and ridiculous in every way. Pure evil Phish
at it's finest!!!! * collapses and dies *
All in all....WHAT THE HELL WAS THIS SET?!??!?! Started sleepy, got real
hot with Stranger and Gumbo, then the X Factor kicked in and we soared
into the friggin' hellish skies of eternity!!!! The back half of this
set was one of the most ridiculous musical experiences of my entire
life. That Birds of a Feather and that Type II hellscape Axilla!!!
MOTHER OF MERCY SOMEONE HELP THE POOR SOULS OF THE DAMNED!
Set 2
A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing - A minute or two of very strange and creepy, donwright terrifying sound opens the set. Ambient evil. THEN THEY FRIGGIN LAUNCH INTO THE SONG IN THE BEST WAY I'VE EVER HEARD!!!!! HOLY CRAP THAT INTRO WAS AMAZING! The
song proceeds as usual, with the initial round of jamming going
straight for the blissful and upbeat. The very first signs of deviation
from the norm occur around the 9 minute mark. The blissful, upbeat
playing turns into something more low-key and almost funky, but not
quite. Ah hell, screw it, we goin' for Ocean Funk. Or something like
that!
---Around the 10 minute mark, Fishman and Trey start playing more
rhythmically. Lots of tom toms and Trey "vamping", so to speak. By 11
minutes, the Ocean Funk is in full effect. Page moving over to
some weird keys while Gordo tears it up with his bass FX. Trey is laying
down patiently tasty leads oh so perfectly like butter, choosing his
spots and nailing them down. This is friggin' sick.
---Like a vortex, swirling down the drain, the guys just take it
deeper and deeper and deeper. Finally around the 13 minute mark there
is a break in the tension and Trey goes back to "vamping" while Page
solos on the keys (which are barely audible in the mix 
). Page solos it up for a long time until around the 15 minute mark
when he lays back and hands it over to Trey. Trey is soloing it up,
smooth and easy, with Page answering his calls now and then. THE SWIRLING VORTEX IS BACK!
---Finally, around 16 minutes, the funky rock gives way to more easy going and blissful waters. The jam is dying down and it's absolutely lovely....
>A Wave of Hope - The one, the only, the legendary 35 minute beast! How will she go?! Let's see!!!! Raging
hotter than the sun, the jam proper begins around 6:30. The guys drop
into this rapid fire, semi-ambient, screaming seagull jam like during
Axilla and BOAF. This lasts about a minute.
---Around 8 minutes, Trey starts vamping it up, playing with FX. Trey
soon kicks on the delays, Gordo hits his FX, and the synthesizers all
come out to play. The guys are all locked into this massive, swirling
kind of maelstrom of uptempo craziness. Type II outer space rocketing to
the sky or something - I don't know how to describe it.
---Around 11 minutes, Page takes the lead with melodic synths, soon
echoed by Trey, and the jam goes firmly into major key bliss mode. The
guys stay in this zone for a very long time - several minutes!!! The
guys are so synced up, everyone is soloing separately, yet it all sounds
like one instrument!
---Finally, right at the 14:30 mark, something happens and Fishman completely changes the tempo. The jam DROPS out of nowhere into a dark and creepy outerspace zone led by blaring synthesizers and screaming seagull guitars from Trey. ENTER THE HELLSCAPE INFERNO! That drop into this was so unexpected, was that conducted via hand signal or something?!?!?! GET IT, LEO!!! PLAY THOSE SYNTHS!!! YES!!!! PSYCHEDELIC WHALE SIREN HELL!!!!!
---By the 17 minute mark, we are firmly in the blackhole wormhole
apocalypse portion of the jam. Yes, boys and girls, this is what space
effing smells like, and it is GLORIOUS. Ever heard a jam you couldn't
describe with words? Yea, this is that jam. HOLY MOTHER OF ICCULUS THIS
IS THE GREATEST JAM IN THE HISTORY OF JAMS. WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENNING
ANYMORE!!! ELON MUSK AIN'T GOT NOTHING ON SPACE TRAVEL LIKE THIS, BOYS
AND GIRLS!!!!!! @Jerfan13 , enter the bleep bloop wormhole mega vortex!!!!!!!!
---This goes ALL THE DAMN WAY to the friggin' 23 minute
mark. At that point, they seem to exit the wormhole a little bit into
more rhythmic areas. Trey sets a cool background loop and proceeds to
vamp "So What" (probably unintentionally) atop it. Trey and Mike pick up
on this and lay the "So What" bed for Trey to solo over. This is friggin' amazeballs.....At
24 minutes, things get wacky once more like we are in 2003. Trey kicks
on the Whammy pedal and some more robo FX for a brief moment before
returning to "So What".
---Amazingly, right at the 26 minute mark, the jam moves AGAIN!!!! In a
very hazy, very 2003-style way of thinking, a droning kind of feel
appears. A background drone with nice, gentle piano, and Trey doing
patient-yet-psychedelic playing over everything. X Factor. X Factor of the Gods. X Factor everywhere! At the 28 minute mark, in come the bleep-bloop FX from Trey and the storm subsides into a gentle quasi-reggae flavor. You can practically hear them setting up a Makisupa at this point!
---They stay in this reggae jam for a very long time. Around the 30
minute mark, things start to pick up again with some very cool
delay+whammy FX from Trey. Everyone else is still laying this ethereal
reggae-ish bedrock while Trey goes screaming seagull on us. What the hell am I even listening to - I have honestly never heard another jam like this. Dude....ARE WE IN HEAVEN?!?!?!??!
---By the 33 minute mark we are STILL in this heavenly,
blissful zone!!!! I guess you can call this a slow fade out. And with
that, the jam slowly and patiently winds its way down to a conclusion
like your mother tucking you into bed with a loving kiss goodnight.
Sweet mercy
END OF PART 1
>Oblivion - Out of that Wave of Hope, absolutely anything
would likely be a letdown. This was a good choice - they could have done
far worse on the song selection front. A measly 10 minutes long, this
one is no epic (but who cares at this point?!). It rips it up while it's
around. Listen to Page go nuts on the synths during the verses! Sick
stuff, yo. This sucker kicks all kinds of tail while it's hanging about
with us and it's a shame they didn't take it deeper - you can tell the
juices are still flowing and there was definitely untapped potential
laying within. Let me put it like this, it gets a LOT done in it's 10:32 run time. That is for sure! Wow!
>Tweezer - And into a nearly 16 minute Tweezer we go! Hell
yes!!! The jam begins in a pretty chill spot. Around the 6 minute mark,
we drop into a dark and laid back area. Very much "twinkling stars in
the night sky" but with a dark bent to it all. Tense and scary rather than relaxing - even Gordo's power drill comes out to play!!!
---Eventually around the 8 minute mark Trey wakes back up and starts to
do melodic soloing while everyone else begins to rebuild the jam from
the ground up. We aren't even to the 10 minute mark and have
already successfully entered (and exited) high quality deep space. Yup,
the X Factor is alive and well tonight!
---By 10 minutes we are still in this dark and introspective zone, but
the power is quickly revving back up more and more with each passing
moment. Love Page's piano while Fishman is just pounding the absolute
crap outta the kit. Finally, at the 10 minute point, the jam takes a
sudden move into a building-to-a-peak bliss section!!!! CHECK OUT THAT INCREDIBLE SYNC UP AROUND THE 10:50 POINT!!! THIS IS FREAKING AMAZING!!!!
---By 12 minutes, WE HAVE ENTERED THE PEAK ZONE!!! LET'S FRIGGIN GO!!!
GREATEST SLOW BUILD PEAK OF ALL TIME!!! HOLY MOTHER OF X FACTOR!!!!! X
FACTOR ON TOP OF X FACTOR WITH A SIDE OF FRIGGIN X FACTOR MAGIC FOR GOOD
MEASURE!!!!!!!!
ENTER THE SWIRLING VORTEX OF PEAKAGE FOR LIKE 3 ENTIRE FRIGGIN MINUTES!!!! HOLY MOTHER!!!!!!!!!!
---And then, Fishman to the rescue, he reintroduces the Tweezer beat and guides the X Factor Ship home.
DON'T OVERLOOK THAT TWEEZER. IT WAS A MASTERPIECE!!!!! MASTERPIECE, I TELL YOU!!!
>Tube - AND THAT SEGUE INTO TUBE HOLY CRAP!!!!! OUTTA FRIGGIN NOWHERE! Tube
is very much terrific with the x factor still flowing strongly. It
delivers exactly what you hope for and then some. And then, like Raleigh
2018, we somehow, magically, shift outta nowhere, again, into...
>Runaway Jim - HOW DID THEY DO THAT. WHAT THE F WAS THAT SEGUE. And Jim is unbelievable in every way! RETURN
OF THE SON OF X FACTOR MAGIC. HELP US ALL, HOW THEY BE DOIN THIS?!?!
PEAK AFTER PEAK AFTER PEAK!!! TOTAL EXPLOSION!! A++++++++ OH MY GOD!!!!!
And back into....
>Tube - a perfect return to finish Tube from the bluesy B section. My god.
Bug - Is Bug
Tweeprise - Is Tweeprise
All in all....um. Yea.
X Factor Magic: The Show
No joke, I honestly feel that was the strongest show they've played in YEARS. 8/5/23, the final night of the MSG7 comes close.
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