1/30/25 Riviera Maya
Set 1
The opens with a real nice Blaze On. It never explodes like you hope and
Trey is soloing kind of restrained, but it has genuine power to it and
good energy. Good opener!
Immediately they go into Plasma and deliver the first must hear of the
night. Surely this is jam charted, it's a really sick version that stays
in "night time" mode throughout. Really chill in a wonderful way with
killer Leslie and vibrato effects from Trey. Its a genuine jam, yo and
well worth your time! Awesome Plasma!
After an ok but do-nothing Halfway, 46 Days picks the momentum back up.
For the first half, Trey sounds lost for what to do and you go "oh no",
but at some point he wakes up and they end up absolutely raging this
version. The finale rage fest feels longer than most and by "standard
first set type 1 46 Days" standards, its definitely extra, if you will.
Im calling it must hear. I feel like calling this PROBABLY must hear.
And of course if you have a first set with Halfway and 46 Days you also have to have a BOTT. 
Good version but not particularly great. See Halfway. I mean, its
really good but nothing you havent heard a million times before.
Gumbo is up next. The band sound GREAT and its very high energy and
tight. Unfortunately Trey is off in La La Land and delivers some of the
most boring, lazy and downright uninspired play I have EVER heard out of
him basically rendering this Gumbo null and void. What the corn, Trey. Please wake the F up...
A hot Funky B is next. As expected they tear it up and Page in
particular goes nuts. It ends up being rather short and nothing special
but still least brings it as good as it should.
The boring song choices continue, but Roggae is absolutely MUST HEAR!!! A
spectacular version, powerful and majestic and "clicking". Listen to
all the reactive full band interplay throughout! This version is INCREDIBLE!! HOLY CRAP!! X FACTOR FREAKING MAGIC!!! THIS ROGGAE IS AMAZING! 
As per the set so far, its back to boring averageness afterwards.
Halleys sounds great and is high energy (like everything else), but Trey
pulls another Gumbo and just really .....doesnt really do much at all.
Total bummer.
The set concludes with Jim and Cavern, of course. As expected, ok and nothing more.
Cavern is Cavern but holy freaking crap GET THIS JIM! NUCLEAR BOMB EXPLOSION. X Factor all over this sucker like Roggae!!
All in all, this was a pretty frustrating set. Total quality
whiplash. Some amazing things, LOTS "average straight down the middle,
good but not great" stuff, and some downright boring and uninspired
stuff. At least the energy was really high and the playing throughout
was super tight. The rest of the guys are ON tonight!
Roggae and Plasma and Jim are grnuinely must hear and 46 Days prooooobbbaaabbblllyyy is.
Also, THIS WAS THE MOST EFFING BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORING SONG SELECTION IVE EVER HEARD THEM ASSEMBLE, GOOD GOD IS IT OVER YET?!
Set 2
20 minute Everythings Right to open! Awesome version, it spends until
the 12 minute mark moving in and out of subtle mood changes while
basically staying "type 1". Around 12 min things really take off and
they spend the rest of the time building a funky soundscape, Trey doing
tons of "chord vamping" stuff. Kinda "minimalist" but never boring.
There are no big guitar explosions or excessive soloing, it's a slightly
minimalist mood building kind of jam, never over the top but always
moving and always interesting. Great version - must hear!
ER gets weird at the end and thy segue excellently into a terrific No
Men. SUPER high energy, just like it should be!!! Beyond funky, the robo
wah shines. Terrific type 1 reading worthy of must hear status, imo.
And then...woah boy..... holy mother of Satan..... 20
Years Later is 14 minutes of full blown galaxy destruction annihilation
that even Dr. Who couldnt fix. Immediately, its apparent this version is
WAY tighter and more "powerful" sounding than 90 percent played. The
guitar solo is a thing of unholy wonder - Trey spends 5 or 6
minutes unleash the gnarliest, most sludgy and unhinged solo I may have
ever heard, never laying off the wah pedal to incredible effect. The
best About to Run has nothing on this TITAN. Around 10:30 the
jam moves into major key and goes "proper" type 2, Fishma doing unique
drum patterns and the whole thing dissolving into a miasna of gooey,
synthy, wacky awesomeness. The jamming in the last few minutes is
absolutely magical.
That was UN FRIGGIN BELIEVABLE!!! GOAT VERSION RIGHT THERE.
PERIOD. END OF STORY. THAT IS WHAT X FACTOR MAGIC IS!!!! ONE OF THE
SICKEST, MOST INCREDIBLE JAMS THIS SIDE OF ANYTHING. GREAT GOOGLY MOOGLE
THAT WAS "STANK FACE" SUPREMACY!!!
AND HOLY CRAP INTO A 22 MINUTE PIPER LIKE ITS THE 90S AGAIN! And, once again...HOLY MOTHER SWEET BABY BANANA JEESUS GARLIC SAUCE SATANIC CLUSTER F###.
Piper is downright extraordinary. This is an all timer. Of any era.
Period. One the all time greats right here, ladies and gents.. Right
away the jam eschews melodic bliss rock for some sick ass rhythmic
jamming. Around 7 minutes they DROP into this unbelievable dark section.
They spend the next 5 minutes exploring the far reaches of the universe
- this sounds like a jam made for exploring the moon or something. LUNAR JAMMING! This
sectional is magi upon magic topped with a helping of MAGIC. Around 12
minutes the darkness shifts major key but the weirdness continues.
Slooowwwlllyyy they begin moving towards more melodic jamming reaching
the FIRST peak around 15 minutes. This part sounds like the dang
Pelham 2021 Carini - just fantastic!!! From there, they keep pushing and
enter this SICK AS F hard rock and roll section. They
spend from 17 minutes until the conclusion whipping up one of the
lengthiest, most destructive and hosiest peak finales of anything Ive
ever heard. Bangor 2022 Disease aint got nothin on this Piper, ya dig?
And then, its over ....
And on into a hot Taste. Really fresh set placement! Sounds great as
always, Pages piano so tasty. Not anything must hear but excellent as
ever.
And man, Shade is so the perfect cooldown following all that... absolutely 10/10 version. Must hear.
After another completely unnecessary 4th quarter The Wedge (seriously,
why is this ever out of set 1?!) the set closes with a typically hot C
Zero. Really though, this Zero is friggin nuclear!!! Must hear - even by C Zero standards its HOT!!!
How appropriate that we get Hood as a closer! Hood is extra long and
extra tight, full of energy and extra pizazz from start to finish. A
truly excellent Hood. Extra sauce in the lengthy opening jam section.
Extra delicate in the pre-peak slow build section. This is a REALLY good Hood! Im calling it must hear. 
All in all, the quality disparity continues from set 1 but thats
nitpicking - ER>No Men is top tier stuff, and then 20YL and Piper
were both, well, full blown all time versions that will be remembered
for decades to come. Shade and Zero are both well worth your time too.
And Hood is just stellar.
Piper and 20YL are Mexico 2024-tier, ok?
A very mixed show but my god the highlights were astronomical. Id
probably give it like a solid 4.0 or 4.1 because the highlights in both
sets were so insanely great that it really does even it all out for this
show. The 3.6 on .NET is hogwash, imo.
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