2/23/20 Mexico
Set 1
The show begins with 3 songs that nobody wants to open a show - all in a
row. Crowd Control, Farmhouse and Breath and Burning. But ya know what?
Ill take em!! They flow together great and there is definitely a "vibe"
tonight - a laid back and relaxed one.
Farmhouse is gorgeous and Breath, while not as fiery, is ultimately overall a "smoother" version than 12/8 in Charleston.
A PERFECTLY played Divided Sky keeps the energetic-yet-relaxed feel
going perfectly!!! Trey stops in the break to acknowledge the
awesomeness of the occasion of Phish in Mexico. Then its back into the
song to finish. Great version . Serious heart on this one. Its not
the most musically impressive version, it just has a great "warmth"
about it...
After a nice Meat, we get probably the most remembered piece of music from Mexio 2020 - the 18 minute Everythings Right. And
holy moly what a smokeshow! The X Factor is strong - this is as close
to a "perfect" jam as you could get. Just flawless. Mandatory listening!
Surprisingly, Coil (kinda sloppy tonight) is not set closer, but it does
go nicely into Wingsuit. An absolutely spectacular version in an era of
amazing versions. X FACTOR MAGIC ON THIS ONE! HOLY CRAP!.
Good Bowie to close.
All in all, all you NEED is Everythings Right and maybe Divided
Sky and Wingsuit. The rest of the set was positively average, but it was
a COHESIVE average which made it strangely enjoyable. Much better set
than you think, though it wont win any awards or anything.
Also, its absolutely about the VIBE with this set. Major points for that. You can't help but feel it....
Set 2
In amazing fashion, following on the heels of that incredible
Everythings Right, they slam us by starting the set with TWO massive and
deep workouts!!!!
Simple begins proceedings - 15+ minutes, this one quickly abandons the
usual bliss and spends the majority of its time diving into the murky
and oh so funky abyss of darkness. Absolutely must hear!!! It gets so
ridiculous, they wind up in a full on "In a Gadda Da Vida" heavy metal
jam towards the end. Just insane! This actually sounds like a jam
out of the late 90s or something!!! X Factor all over this beast! All
hail Simple deviation!!!! Complete and total dark-funk type 2
awesomeness!!!
Hot on its heels, they immediately launch into a nearly 18 minute Golden
Age! Often times a perfunctory "time killer" late in a fledgling 2nd
set, this one is much more in line with the greats of past, ala Hampton
2018. This thing FUNKS with a capital F!! Trey doing great delay
work and Gordo annihilating all over... Even better than Simple, this
again is X Factor Magic on steroids. Strange, and weird. Flawed, yet
incredibly intriguing as well. This jam goes DEEP.
Just utter awesomeness in every way. They freaking CRUSH this!!! Essential listening!!!!
And just as we are being suffocated by the black hole vortex that is the
final few minutes of this Golden Age, Page perfectly introducs Fuego
and off we go! Fuego ends up being excellent without being essential.
Never straying from the "base" type 1 jam, they still burn that sucker
to the ground and deliver a version even better than 12/29/19's
straightforward rendition. Great stuff!
Fuego concludes and Trey sounds for a split second like hes going to go
into Ghost before quickly realizing they already played one and instead
opts nicely for Undermind instead. A terrific type 1 reading full of
choice delay inserts and even a full blown Manteca jam and Plasma
teasing!! Must hear!
As is usual with the 2019 period, the boys are on top of their segue
game and Undermind some morphs seamlessly into Back On The Train.
Killer. As with Undermind, they stretch the boundaries of the song,
toying with Simple, playing around with ambience, doing a bit of this
and a bit of that. Somehow the song totally dissolves into several
minutes of full blown, pulsing, outer space ambience!!! What the hell is going on! Full blown type 2 BOTT!!!!
BOTT dies down and from the ashes rises....Passing Through as set closer?! Wtf?! Ok just go with it! Sounds great - inspired version!!!
Lengthy encore of Rise, Silent, Fee, Funky B and the obligatory More to close the door on Phish 3.0
All in all, while set 1 was pretty "average" despite 2 or 3
massive highlights, it held together GREAT and played like a dream. Set 2
continued the strange fun of set 2 of 2/22/20. Simple>Golden Age and
Undermind>Back On The Train are all MUST HEAR! Simple and Golden Age
are both towering titans of jams along with the Everything's Right in
set 1.
Maybe not a flawless "complete show experience", but honestly? The damn
jams might have been the best of all 4 nights!!! And that is saying A
LOT!!!!!
MEXICO 2020 IS A SUPREMELY UNDERRATED RUN LOADED WITH INCREDIBLE MUSIC.
Seriously, this run BLOWS AWAY the 2019 New Years run and its not even funny......
On to casual 2021 relisten! 
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