2024-08-16 Dover, DE - Mondegreen #2, Secret Set

 Finally reviewing the Mondegreen secret set properly right now. I've heard/seen it before when it happenned and then played it earlier this week when I played 8/16/24, but obviously this ain't something I can just dictate notes about on the fly in the truck

Anywho, on we go!

8/16/24 Dover, Mondegreen

Secret Set, 50 minutes.

-------The secret set begins with a slow fade in of acoustic guitar picking and upbeat background synths. This continues for a good long while, slow acoustic strumming and picking while rain/waterfall sounds lay an ambient backdrop behind it all. Around 3:30, Trey moves over to electric for the first time, and the jam suddenly becomes darkly intense, Page's synth in the background like a siren's warning call. Thankfully, Trey jumps back to acoustic and breaks us out of the impending darkness with more acoustic strumming and we return to pleasant pastures.
--------Sticking to acoustic, the jam begins to get a slightly "acoustic Zeppelin" feel about it. Trey has set a background loop and Fishman is nowhere to be found for the time being. Around 7 minutes, the rainstorm intensifies. Trey moves effortlessly back and forth from acoustic to electric, setting loops, doing little fills, all while Page inserts little synth wash "bursts" beneath, poking in and out of the jam. By 9 minutes, Fishman is still AWOL. The jam is continuing as stated, except now Trey is playing acoustic while - to my ears - manipulating his electric guitar loops underneath. Very cool textural work!!! Definitely a SOUNDSCAPE! Atriums, anyone?
-------- All of a sudden, right around 9:45, Trey starts playing around with his delay pedal (I have one, I KNOW those sounds, lol) and the jam immediately takes a turn for very dark waters. Pouring rain beneath it all, Trey goes back to the acoustic while the rest of the soundscape lingers in the dark and tense kind of area. Still no Fishman! FINALLY, at the 11:45 mark, Fishman enters the jam amongst a wash of cymbals!! Trey moves over to electric and we get a burst of darkly psychedelic guitar playing/soloing. At 12:30 a slow and powerful rhythm finally emerges and we are off to the races!!!
---------So, the jam immediately begins in that "Egg In a Hole", slow-doom-march kind of feel. Extremely dark and heavy. Total "No Quarter" vibes. Trey just soloing away, Page pounding out the piano, Gordo holding it down tight, Fishman smashing those cymbals. By about 14:30, this "down with the ship" jam is in full swing as if this is 25 minutes into a certain massive AC/DC Bag from New Years or approaching the Mexico Chalkdust. HOLY CRAP LETS GET IT!!! SHRED THAT SUCKER!!! Now this is what I'm talkin about!!!!
-----Around 16:30, the overt explosion gives way to a heavier, groovier kind of "swirling down the toilet bowl" type of jam. Holy mother of Satan, this is one of the HEAVIEST things I've ever heard Phish unleash. Holy crap, cue the headbanging everyone. Raise your devil horns!!! Around 17:30, in this cataclysmic Storm of the Century jam, Trey sets some wacky robo loopers and the jam veers totally off course into "deconstruction" land. All hail our type 2 robot overlords!!! Gordo refuses to let the darkness leave and the jam sounds like a star imploding upon itself. WELCOME TO THE MIAMI 1989 DARK STAR, BOYS AND GIRLS!!!!! If you know, you know....
------- Holy moly........After getting our faces pummeled into the ground for the last 8 minutes, the insanity breaks and Trey returns to more folksy Zeppelin acoustic strumming while Fishman takes a breather and the rainstorm returns (did it leave? Or was it just lost behind the hurricane?!). Cool textural synths from Page and upbeat bass lines from Gordo. Welcome to the massage parlor!
-----But not for long! Around 21:45 Trey moves back to electric and they slowly begin to reawaken Godzilla from his slumber once more. Some Caspian-esque jamming ensues so I guess it's not off the deep end just yet after all! This "Prince Caspian in a dream" jam goes on for quite a while. An excellent section of music!!!! Very ethereal and uplifting, like floating serenely on a cloud while the guys jam out behind you. Extremely cool.
-----Around the 25 minute mark, Trey starts "motifing" his way out of this section a little bit. 2021-style Page synths enter the picture and the jam begins a slow build skyward towards the heavens. Wow. Talk about yer high quality slow build over here! Finally at 27 minutes, the synths give way to piano and the jam begins to, again, sloooowwwwllllyyy work its way sideways, if you will. Trey moves back to acoustic, sets a strumming loop and then jumps back to electric (I think?). We are still in "Caspian Dream Land", but it's definitely going type 2 out of it (wait, is this type 3 jamming?! A type 2 jam out of a type 2 jam?!) This LONG ASS "Caspian" jam subtly shifts again around the 32 minute mark into more of your typical "Loving Cup classic rock" kind of rock and roll jam. Lots of loops, Page pounding the piano, Trey just bending notes like his life depends on it, etc.
-----And then, outta friggin nowhere, at the 35 minute mark they shift on a dime into a blazing through outer space, synth laded, spazz out kind of jam. Super uptempo, Trey setting loops again, Fishman rattling those cymbals and going nuts on the kit. This is one of those "runaway spaceship" sounding jams once more. Pounding and filthy Gordo bass. Around 37 minutes, the jam begins to fight amongst itself - screeching sound effects in the background and crazy spastic drumming undercut by Trey's folksy acoustic guitar strumming. ADHD jamming?!!?! Yo, this is totally unique for sure!!! Around 39:30, they enter a "peak to the sky" hose explosion kind of zone. This rocket ride is out of control!!!!!!! HOLY CRAP BRACE FOR IMPACT!!!
----However, at 40:45, they avoid impact and rewind the "build" back a couple minutes as everyone latches on to a new riff/motif all together. It's like they decided to have a 2nd go at the same section or something. Very cool! Around 42:10, Trey begins his "David Bowie peak swirls" and the whole thing just EXPLODES into maybe the greatest hose explosion peak of a year with many great ones!!! Just absolute and utter annihilation!!!!! And then, abruptly, they pull the rug out from under it (definitely way too soon!) and the jam shifts back into a midtempo-yet-heavy kind of stomping rock vibe. From here they go into a "Loving Cup classic rock" jam, just absolutely slaying.
----Around the 48 minute mark, this raging rock jam finally collapses in upon itself amid a lengthy and noisy wash of cymbals, whammy pedal abuse and alien synths, etc. It is time for the beast to slumber once more.....


All in all....my god. What a mother effing jam. I wish it went more "out there" at times, but that's nitpicking as this thing is an absolute BEAST. Top 5 jam of the year? Maybe top 3? I really think its THAT good. It's unique, it flows like a mother, and you'll never have 50 minutes fly by faster than listening to this sucker.

They came to crush, and crush they did. How long will it take Delaware to recover from the fallout? Because they just dropped a nuclear friggin bomb on Dover......