2022-07-20 Philadelphia, PA

 Dang it, I put 7/20/22 on the ipod by mistake last night instead of 7/19, so it looks like im doing these two shows in the wrong order, lol.

7/20/22 Philadelphia

Set 1

Terrible opening choice of Steam to begin the show. Thankfully it gets going pretty good - the band is absolutely raging, but its dampened by Trey being stuck in 1st gear. On the good side of average.

Runaway Jim. Better than Steam by a good amount, Trey still takes forever to get into 2nd. The song is tight and the band sound super powerful, only let down by Treys tepid and hesitant soloing. Thankfully he pulls it together eventually and the last minute plus is a terrific Jim peak rage as expected. Really nice Jim overall!

Tela is a great setlist call, if a bit early in the show for my taste. Played well, but Treys ham-fisted guitar tone removes all subtlety. Solid version but not a patch on classic readings.

Things kick up considerably with an 11 minute KDF! It goes type 2 almost immediately, with lots of synth and delay action. They definitely took it deep. Really good stuff except for the "lukewarm" thing that prevents it from really taking off. Its good but the jam feels kinda "stiff" rather than that smooth natural flow.

Great segue into Theme - im shocked that worked! Excellent reading, Trey finally wakes up and delivers the soloing highlight of the set so far. Really good reading!

After an average hot Birds and a fun I Didnt Know, the set concludes with Funky B and a 15 minute Melt. Funky is average hot. Good stuff as always and gets the job done. Trey lets it rip a little bit, finally. Melt is really great. Nicely melodic and kinda ethereal. Breaks down good. Terrific version, extremely psychedelic.


All in all, this was definitely a better set than 7/16 set 1, but at the same time it still rarely escaped "excessively average" territory. KDF was too stilted to be called must hear, imo, but was definitely a cool version regardless. Theme is the closes thing to must hear with Melt probably as well. This WAS a really nice/solid first set. It just didnt "excel" most of the time (does that make any sense?)

Average does NOT mean bad!!! I just mean that a performance is solid but not...exciting? Something like that.

Also, when does this 2nd leg of summer 2022 start to take off? Because Trey "playing too softly/hesitantly" Anastasio is REALLY starting to bug me!!!

  

Set 2

Set 2 is a ridiculous mess!! A very good Bag opens, but just as it begins to jam Trey YANKS them into Soul Planet .....Soul Planet is spectacular. Wonderful delay jamming gives way to an intense wah funk section. Poised to go 25 minutes for sure, Trey executes the most disgustingly unnecessary ripcord from hell into Simple ...

That Soul Planet is must hear. Its AWESOME!!!

Simple, thankfully, makes up for it by being an incredible type 2 beast. 15 minutes long, it spends its duration building a dark and menacing robo hellscape. This is 20 times meltier than the Melt in set 1!!!! Tremendous full band interplay on this, X Factor all over! MUST HEAR!!!

Then, just as the jam is poised to launch back into Soul Planet, Trey yanks them again, this time into an inspired Light. MAJOR props to Fishman for somehow making that ridiculous transition actually work! Wonderful energy an low key, almost dark vibes before chilling out. Just as you think it is ending, they start to rock it up again ....Killer. NIGHT LIGHT.

As the Light jam picks up speed again, they segue wonderfully into Party Time. And this thing smokes!!! Hell yea!! An ass kicking version, totally must hear!!!

After a lovely Lonely Trip, the set concludes with a Bowie. And to my shock and utter amazement, this version is TERRIFIC!!! Honestly, Im calling this must hear!!! SO MUCH ENERGY!!! LETS GET IT, BOYS!!! A smashing success that you wont expect!!! Normally modern Bowies put me to sleep, but this one had me engaged and excited thoughout!!!

Excellent duo of Waste and Loving Cup to close. Both are borderline must hear!!! Waste is excellent and Treys soloing is ridiculous!!!!! Then Loving Cup absolutely annihilates - where was this Trey earlier?!?!

All in all, in spite of the janky and unnecessary ripcords, this was a surprisingly excellent set!! Soul Planet>Simple>Light>Party Time and Bowie are all must hear!!!! Really!!!

This definitely made up for the boring first set!