2025-04-27 Hollywood, CA

 4 27 25 Hollywood

Set 1

Awesome Landlady opener tonight! Landlady is played perfectly. Great start! A rarely placed Cavern gets us up and rocking before Llama in slot 3. What is this, friggin 1992?!

Llama is the fist must hear of the night. Some definite X Factor for sure. This thing SMOKES!! Not only that, it kinda goes type 1.5 or so, definitely breaking out of the Llama "mold" into a crazy soaring kind of 2018-style area before coming back into Llama proper. FANTASTIC!! This deserves a Jam Chart entry - all day. Definitely "different" than most others.

Just as good, they follow with a 10 minute Sand. Borderline must hear, its nothing you havent heard before, but the heat dial is turned to 5000 and broken right off. A very "powerful" and downright GNARLY version. KILLER.

And up next is The Lizards!!! I GUESS THIS IS 1992!!! Unfortunately, Lizards, and the following Hey Stranger are good enough but also never anything above average.

Then comes a 12 minute Timber. The next must hear, it never really "peaks", but it burns excessively hot for a very long time. Absolutely worth your time - AWESOME version!

Then like a slap in the face comes Joy. Love the song and the cooldown placement is great. But this version is YUCKY!! Treys voice is completely gone and out of tune, he is completely fumbling chords and leads throughout... it's just shambolic. Ugh...

The set ends on a high note with a rocking Most Events. Killer as always, not much to say.


All in all, the creative setlist choices and the Timber, Sand and Landlady are what makes this set enjoyable. Much of it was enjoyable but sloppy or just downright janky (Joy).

Good overall but with definite highlights. Id give it like a B+ 

 

Set 2

The 2nd set opens, actually refreshingly (imo) with More. Unfortunately, its not particularly strong, really barely average (again, imo).

Not a great start! But then woah baby we get a 28 minute YEM!! Longest version since 1.0, right? Good Lord!! The composed parts sound good enough but I definitely wouldnt say tight - Trey just has this "hesitancy" tonight. Thankfully he gets over it quickly. They proceed to then deliver maybe the YEM of the effing decade so far!!

Jamming excellently, around 15 minutes they reach the vocal jam. Almost immediately they '86 that sucker (seriously, after about 30 seconds, maybe!). I dont think Fishman ever stopped drumming!! For six minutes they lay down the nastiest, most 2021 "gooey robo super funk" jam since, well 2021. Spectacular. Then at 21 minutes it shifts into actual type 2!!!! It enters this melodically ethereal kind of bliss zone. They jam the F outta this, slowly increasing the intensity and twistiness of the whole affair. Eventually it slowly gets heavier returning to more "typical " YEM jamming.

HOLY CRAP!!! X FACTOR OVERLOAD!!!! LETS FREAKING GO!!! ALL TIMER YEM ALERT!!!

They then execute one of the sickest segues EVER into a 14 minute Twist. And Twist might be even better than YEM!!! WHAT THE CRAP?! YOU GET SOME X FACTOR! YOU GET SOME X FACTOR!!! EEEVVVEEERRRYYYBBBOOOODDYYY GETS X FACTOR MAGIC!!!!!!!!!!!

MOST JAMMED YEM SINCE 2021. RIGHT HERE. MY GOD THIS IS BONKERS.

They explore EVERY nook and cranny of this sucker to the extreme. Mexico 2022 BOAF seagull drops, more intense working out, lovely melodic jamming. It has it all. It feels like a 25 minute adventure crammed into 10 minutes of jamming.

Legitimate all timer of the post 2009 era right here. All day long. No, its not Fukuoka 2000, but what is?! This is an extraordinary version right here laying waste to 90% of the others surrounding it ....inctedible....

So that unbelievable "so much is happening I cant keep up" Twist comes to a close and they launch into the most extraordinarily, unbelievably nuclear bomb KDF for the next 11 minutes. More fiendish energy than a nightclub cocaine sniffer in 1986 Miami. Around 530 it shoots for the moon and goes into an absolutely balls to the wall MENTAL jam. Full type 2, they go 2021 "spastic roboMelt synth looper up/down whammy pedal HELL" on this beast. The definition of absolutely UNHINGED. This is unfriggin real. What is even happenning. Sucked into the robovortex!!!!!

What in the love of X Factor.....

And into a rare Lifeboy as the much needed cooldown!!! Excellent reading, worth a listen. The set proper concludes with a solid 2001 into an absolutely scorching - with a capital s - SANTOS to end with our faces melted.

Continuing The x Factor overload, The encore consists of a frigging 22 damn minute Fuego!!!! What in the crapballz!!!!! Sweet banana jeezus!!! And my god someone call the Army - GODZILLA IS ON THE LOOSE!!

Fuego thrashes and snarls and spits and stomps. It basically crushes everything into oblivion with its robo synth heavy fire wackadoodle Uber strength. Absolutely must hear - maybe the HEAVIEST ever played?!?! My god.

All in all, set 1 was super mixed. Set 2 started badly with More but basically ended up being a nonstop sledgehammer of "what is going on?!" amazingness.

The whole YEM>Twist>KDF and UBERFUEGO are all beyond must hear.

Thank god the tour ended on a high note!! 

2025-04-26 Hollywood, CA

 4 26 25 Hollywood

Set 1

A Jim opener tonight like its 1997 again. Unfortunately its a lousy opener, low in energy and honesty just kinda boring. Bummer!

Thankfully, they fix this immediately with high energy type 1 readings of Blaze On and Martian Monster. Both are excellent though neither are must hear.

The first must hear of the night is Birds of a Feather. This one is high energy, featuring some inspired bliss rock jamming in the middle, giving it a "floating in the clouds" kinda vibe, culminating in a MASSIVE sustain peak!! Trey even sets a loop of the sustained note and they flawlessly return to the song proper, absolutely raging this sucker to its conclusion. Definitely some X Factor magic on this bad boy!!! Add that to the list of greatest shorter jams ever!! That was AWESOME!!!

555 keeps it going nicely. Excellent version with good energy and dark jamming. Good stuff.

Up next is a spectacular Divided Sky!!! A+ version all friggin day!! They nail the hard parts, its full of energy and Trey goes banana sandwich on this sucker. MUST HEAR. THIS IS KILLER!!!

Then outta nowhere we got a monster, 18 minute....Ether Edge?! Ok!! Not my favorite song, it makes up for that in spades. The song absolutely blazes top tier bliss rock type 1 for a long damn time. Just as its starting to get boring, around 13 minutes it breaks loose. They spend the next 5 minutes in "burn Tokyo to the friggin ground" molten lava meltdown zone. X Factor city. Absolutely must hear, of course. This is just ridiculous.

The set ends perfectly with an excellent and tight reading of Coil.

All in all it wasnt my favorite set, but aside from Jim it was pretty dang terrific for the most part. Birds, Sky and Ether are all legitimate must hears.

That Birds!!! Excellent stuff  

 

Set 2

14 minute Bag to kick things off! Awesome. Its not a shredder, but at the same time its VERY high energy and they absolutely burn down the house with this bad boy. At the 8 minute point Trey introduces this metallic stoccato riff. And its off to the races diving into type 2! Gordo and Trey are both going nuts with hardcore robo fx usage and the whole thing is just crushing in every way. Definitely some X Factor at play!!! Eventually the robo jamming subsides and it moves into a cool major key area that is more textual, Trey using water fx and, awesmely, jumping on the wah for "slow washes". Slowly the jam morphs from there into a more tensely semi-ambient zone for a bit before awkwardly ending outta nowhere. That was incredible except for that "wtf?!" ending.

THIS IS FRIGGIN SICK AS HELL!!!!!!!!! MUST HEAR!!! THIS BAG RULES!!!

And holy mother of crap, that LAUNCH into Life Saving Gun was the sickest, most bad ass transition/placement of all time. Like following one huge shot of adrenaline with another!!! And oh hell yes WE ARE JAMMIN THIS SUCKER!!! Immediately, the jam begins with them diving headfirst into a SICK watery funk jam. Everyone building a funky bedrock of pure awesomeness. If your head aint banging, I dont know how to help you... Somehow the jam slowly morphs into a VERY 1999-style psychedelic "semi ambient flying in the sky" kind of jam. Trey doing awesome volume work, Page on the synths. Quickly they move back out and they all sync up on a motif from Trey, slowly building the jam skyward, obviously working towards Peaksville. Trey begins to work in the descending main melody line of LSG into the heavenly mix. Page follows suit and they rock it to home base.

FREAKING AWESOME. PROPER TYPE 2 GUN!! X FACTOR MAGIC!!! MUST HEAR!!! THAT WAS SO SICK!!

And the hits keep coming!! THEY MOVE RIGHT INTO THE HOWLING AND LTS FRIGGIN GO. This set "construction" is absolutely ON POINT tonight, holy crap. That is a KILLER 1>2>3 punch to open the set. Of course this thing is great as always. Maybe not the greatest of all time but it totally keeps that energy going hard. Trey laying it down funky while Gordo kills on the bass. I swear, is that the damn Meowdulator pedal at play? MEEEEOOOOWWWW!!! Then Trey comes back out answering Gordo by going hard on the robo filter for a good while. Man thing smokes. Straight up funk annihilation!! Screw it, im calling this must hear - it is SO badass.

Oblivion follows and, unfortunately, its only 6 friggin minutes. Cmon guys, stop devolving the song...At least what is here is excellent. Somehow in the jam, natually, Trey "stumbles" into the Antelope lick!!

And into a very rare mid 2nd set Antelope!!! Nearly 12 minutes as well. This sucker absolutely rips from start to finish. The main "buildup" jam in the middle is excellent, feeling eventful and hard hitting rather than the "generic" workout it sometimes can be. Overall, this Antelope isnt must hear, but it continues the non stop fire of the set perfectly.

Gotta say, thank God for Sea of Stars coming next. That cooldown is genuinely needed at this point, haha. Freaking awesome version, it melts into this crazy kind of "psychedelic night sky" zone.

Very surprisingly, they follow it with a 16 minute Everythings Right! The jam begins by sinking into a really, really cool "dark night time" jam. Laid back yet rocking. Everyone is totally in sync, responding to each other and working together excellently! Dude, this is awesome. Just sink into the groooovvveee..... Around 9 minutes, the jam shifts into an ethereal major key zone. Kinda watery and "airy". Everyone syncing up on this one little motif, then Trey lets it rip and sends us upwards. This jam is FANTASTIC! Listen to how SMOOTH the whole thing is!!! From here Trey lets it rip and they spend a few minutes peak -rocking the crap outta this sucker. The jam develops some serious weight and begins to rock like a mothereffer. Trey just going nuts. My god this ER is BAD ASS!!!!! X Factor Magic strikes again!!!! LETS FRIGGIN GO!!! GET IT TREY!!! Then at 13 minutes the jam just EXPLODES before they return back to the chorus and send us out. My God, that was incredible.....talk about yer high quality set closer!!!!

From there, we get a super inspired triple encore of Taste, About to Run abd Slave!! Holy moly, move over Possum>Tweeprize!! Taste is a SMOKESHOW tonight. It is more often than not these days and this is another primo version. Pure fire. Awesome.

About to Run is next and I gotta say, that works extremely well moving out of Taste for some reason. As with Taste, its a typically burning and excellent reading, but not really must hear.

Excellent typical Slave closer.

All in all, I enjoyed the crap outta this show but I think night 1 is better by a wee bit. This has a 3.95 rating on .NET. Thats about how id rate it - probably a 3.9. It really just needed one BIG jam in set 2 to send it over the edge. That being said, there was still basically nothing but quality music throughout.

The Bag>LSG>Howling combo is incredible as is the friggin magical Everythings Right. And massive props to that damn encore!!! 

2025-04-25 Hollywood, CA

 Finally moving on with the rest of spring 2025.

4 25 25 Hollywood

Set 1

46 Days opener tonight. An absolutely spectacular reading. This thing SOARS. Trey is just going for the damn jugular. Short but must hear for sure. What a bomb drop of an opener!

An average excellent (and terrifically placed) Rift follows. Nothing special but they basically nail it. Awesome 1-2 punch.

Then comes Moma. Jeez, let up on the nuclear assault, eh?! Even more annihilation than 46 Days, its absolutely must hear. My god.

And then....my god..... A 14 minute Chalkdust comes blazing up the rear. The song itself is good but nothing special. But the jam! THE JAM!!! HOLY MOTHER OF CAMDEN '99 2.0/PELHAM 21 CARINI!!!! The jam spends its time in this incredible blissful soundscape, slowly working higher and higher, spending the majority of the jam in the upper reaches of the stratosphere. This what ascension sounds like. X Factor out the ass - if this doesnt have your jaw on the floor then nothing will. An absolutely mind blowing rendition, it peaks and peaks and peaks some more. Welcome to Peaksville, population: Trey. That was one of the greatest things Ive ever heard. And that transition back into Dust was a 90s-tier rage fest supreme.

Holy mother of strawberry banana sandwich. Damn. Top 3 jam of the tour so far righ there. Maybe one of the overall best Chalkdusts of recent years. If you want to FLY, this is your plane ticket....

A nicely placed Evolve follows to let us cool down without losing momentum. And ya know what? Im calling this must hear as well. Pages soloing is just extra terrific and then Trey delivers one of the most perfect solos Ive ever heard. An absolutely smashing rendition on all fronts.

Into a 12 minute Stash next. A very nice version that is super "smooth". Blissful major key jam. Nothing special but great regardless.

A super funky Wolfman gets us going good again. The jam begins in high gear with Trey on the wah and Gordo on some nasty, growly bass FX. They are making this a thicc one. Extremely funky. This is a terrific Wolfman. It begins to peak, but Gordo takes charge and leads them back into a murky, rhythmic funk jam. The whole thing is pretty heavy and just downright nasty. Probably must hear, im 50/50 on that. It absolutely rages. KILLER.

Closing the set excellently is a rare first set Harry Hood. 12 minutes. Hood is played really, really excellently tonight, Trey nailing the "evil ascending lick" section for once. The buildup jam is ridiculously nice. Super smooth, they flit and float over here and over there before they settle upon the final section and Trey peaks it to oblivion. God this final section is just magical. This is an AWESOME Hood. Probably must hear - this is just MEGA!!!


All in all, this was an excellent set from start to finish without any low points. 46 Days, Moma and Evolve (and probably Wolf) were all must hear, A+ readings and that Chalkdust was just straight up MAGICAL in every way. Same for that incredible Hood. My goodness. A terrific set all around. No complaints here!!!  

 

Set 2

Maybe the shortest version yet of Mind opens the set, only going a bit over 6 minutes! Good stuff but nothing special.

The song ends and they IMMEDIATELY friggin launch into a 13 minute Carini like getting slapped in the face. Uptempo, this version is just vicious. The jam instsntly strikes gold, diving into a heavy rhythmic section before moving into a blissful and, again, soaring (word of the tour!) jam that sees everyone linking up. They jam this ascending motif and the whole things just elevates to the sky. Hot damn this is AWESOME. Evenually the jam moves into a more straightforward major key rocking area, everyone still in sync. Trey flirts with FX usage. They just dig in hard absolutely rock the living daylights out of it. AND THAT FINALE SECTION! LETS FRIGGIN GO!!!! This Carini stays firmly "in the box" but there is some definite X Factor going on. Its KILLER. They just crush this one!!! But wait!!! Thats a false ending!! The jam somehow shifts downwards and they go into a blissful watery jam to close it out for real.

Light rises from the ashes. A monster version reaching friggin 20 minutes!!! And holy crap what a MONSTER!!! Immediately the song morphs into a dark and heavy titan. It spends its time basically in "dark" mode, swerving and shifting seamlessly through a number of different kind of murky and swampy sections. Terrific full band interplay, this isnt a Trey solo fest. Kinda...sounscapey? I guess? A very "textural" jam all around. Absolutely full of X Factor abd theres no way to do it justice with a phone review.

Light spends its final section somehow moving into a really nice chilldown area, and they basically - very slowly! - "fade" the jam to its conclusion.

Immediately, as with Carini earlier, they then launch into a 15 minute Mercury. Hell yes!!! Trey has a few vocal stumbles but this is otherwise the strongest Mercury Ive heard since god knows when - Huntsville 2018, maybe?? Tight, punchy and obviously rehearsed. It even jams for a long time, going into a gooey, slightly psychedelic funkiness reminiscent of Light but not so dark. Another must hear, this is KILLER.

The jam kinda winds down and Trey leads us into a short 7 minute Piper. Despite its length, it completes the quadrilogy of must hear material, going absolutely next level, burning like a damn 1.0 version (no, really, this is ridiculous!). Unfortunately, right in the middle of the maelstrom it awkwardly just...ends and we get a pretty nice ALBTD to follow.

Nothing to say, its a good version but not amazing. The set closes with a face melting Ghost that im calling must hear. Only 10 minutes but this little sucker friggin annihilates even more than most destructive set closing versions. Gooey and fiery and just all kinds of face melting.

Encore of a good Possum into a.....standalone Tweeprize?! Huh. Thats new lol.

All in all, this set wasnt "perfect" but still had a ton of absolute insanity. Carini>Light>Mercury>Piper and thet Ghost are all must hear.

The 3.8 rating on .NET is low, imo. This was PROBABLY in the lower rung of the tour so far but is still an excellent show all around. Id personally rate it like a 4.1 or something.

Killer!!!! 

2025-04-23 San Francisco, CA

 4 23 25 San Franciso

Set 1

Holy mother of whatever, this opening sequence.... The opens on an absolutely RIDICULOUS note with a 12 minute Simple into a PYITE. Simple goes type 2 around 6 minutes, spending its time in a tensely atmospheric kind of majestic area. Not dark at all but there's this "weight" to it. Some X Factor for sure!!

Around 12 minutes, the speed suddenly increases for about 20 seconds. In hindsight, they were "teeing up " for what was about to come.

And boy what was about to come!!! They execute a GENUINE segue into Punch!! Yup, thats a legitimate Simple>Punch right there, boys and girls! Even better, Punch absolutely kicks effing ass in the extreme! X Factor all over this bad boy!!! For a start, its uptempo and tight. It spends nearly FOUR MINUTES in the intro section, Trey playing around with loops and delays etc, just getting into it hard. Longest Punch intro since 7/23/99? The song is heavy and hard hitting. They nail it. They obviously made an executive decision to slow down the Landlady section significantly, because the tempo DROPS, but thats totally ok because it allows them to nail the parts and actually kinda gives it some oomph as well. This is one of the best Punch's I can recall in the last few years, full stop (and its been improving over time for sure). This is total must hear material.

Wow!!!

The magic keeps flowing on into a 14 minute Gumbo!!! The X Factor continues in an even bigger way. The jam begins a murky, soupy funky whatever. Very slowly they execute one of those "wait, how did we get here?!" moves upwards into a soaring, explosive peak fest of a finale. This is like a screwed up 46 Days on steroids or something. One of the SICKEST jams I can recall. Obviously, its easily the GOAT Gumbo since, well, whatever version post 1.0, eh? Total X Factor magic. Just insane!!

Up next is Reba. They nail the composed part and Trey turns in an excellent and emotional solo, light on the shredding but digging in hard. I wouldn't necessarily call it must hear, but its definitely downright excellent at the same time. Awesome.

Following that, we get the bust out of The Well. Why in the love of God is this a rarity?! There is zero reason for this to not be in regular rotation!!!! This version is a standard type 1 reading, blazing a path of destruction, but again brought to an unsatisfyingly unjammed conclusion. JAM THIS AGAIN, YOU COWARDS!!!

The penultimate song of the set is an excellent Bowie. Love the slightly extended intro, Trey playing around. Compositionally, they pretty much nail it. Awesome. And this Bowie is AWESOME!! The whole "noodle jam" section ACTUALLY kinda goes type almost 2ish, moving into this cohesive, uptempo kind of melodic bliss rock whatever. I swear there are McGrupp teases at one point. Another barnburning X Factor laden rendition. This Bowie is absolutely insane!!! Lets get it!! And im not a Bowie guy, so thats saying something!!! This thing is tight, its adventurous and it SMOKES!!! THAT PEAK FINALE!

Im dead. All hail the BG2025 Bowie.

This world destroying set concludes with Character Zero. Burns as always. Nuff said.

All in all, this set was unbelievable!! Surely, in time, this will stack up as one of the strongest first sets of the modern age. Simple>Punch, Gumbo and Bowie were all must hear and EVERYTHING else was excellent. Not one single weak or even lesser song in the set, really.

A+ This set punched me in the face and stole my lunch money 

 Set 2

Sample in a Jar is the "troll" opener of the set. Good stuff but merely a warmup before....30 MINUTE TWEEZER!!! LETS FREAKING GO!!! The jam begins with Trey picking out this scratchy harmonic rhythm. He then makes a cool loop of it and jumps on the robo fx to jam on top. This goes for a bit before Trey returns to a regular tone, doing some quasi-Manteca jamming (you can actually call it teasing probably!)
-----They spend the very next long while type 1 jamming this sucker to oblivion. And its friggin EXCELLENT. This beast is powerful! Around the 13 minute mark it begins to shift, Trey jumping over to the robo wah, Fishman introducing a new drum pattern and the whole thing morphing into this watery kind of robo funkiness. Out come the textural synths.
-----Trey still on the robo wah, at 14.30 the jam evolves into a laid back bliss chill out. The X Factor has struck. We are afloat in the sea of blissful relaxation... A super textural, soundscape kind of jam ensues. Absolutely glorious. Slowly they peak it to a cool motif peak section. Ethereal, yo!!! Holy crap this is beautiful!
-------They stay here a LOOOONNNGGG time, absolutely exploring every inch of this "ascending motif" jam. This is soooooo 1999/2000 Phish!!!! Around 19 minutes, Trey makes a textural loop and the jam slowly begins to rebuild some power, Fishman beating the crap out of his Tom's like they owe him money. This is unbelievably sick.
------Around 20.30, they begin to build into a robo infused, dark and murky and stompy kind of heavily rhythmic jam. This is THICC AF. Big booty IG baddies aint got nothin on this sucker!!!! THIS IS THE SICKEST THING IVE EVER HEARD IN MY LIFE.
------At 23 minutes they begin another motif leading to an insane extended peak. At 24 minutes Page does this incredible descending piano motif underneath Treys screaming extended leads. THIS IS FREAKING INCREDIBLE!!! WHAT IS GOING ON!!!!!!! HOLY MOTHER OF CRAP!!!
-------Then, just as quickly, at 25 minutes they totally shift the jam into a feel good, almost tropical kind of upbeat rock zone. Not bliss rock, definitely more...feel good, I guess.
------At 27 minutes it begins to quiet down into a relaxed zone again. Spectacularly good melodic soloing from Trey ensues. He jumps on the wah and the jam quickly fades itself out....This is the greatest thing Ive heard in my life. This somehow leaves the 4 22 Ruby in the dust!!!!

What can I possibly say that hasn't already been said a million times before by me. This was an extraordinary Alzheimer version of Tweezer. Full stop. Period.As with Ruby the night before it was perfectly measured, organic, adventurous, multisectional and just all kinds of what in the hell.Put this on the Mount Rushmore of Tweezers since 2009.

Top 3 or 4 post COVID version all day.

Orange Beach 2022
MSG7 2023
Berkeley 2023
St. Louis 2024
Shoreline 2021
Alpharetta 2021

And now San Fran 2025.....

A lovely Lonely Trip is next, giving us a much needed cooldown. Good version that brings us to a 13.5 minute Crosseyed. Crosseyed is must hear. Blazing as usual, around 9 minutes it goes full type 2 into another dark and fiery kind of robo whatever you wanna call it jam. Its sick.

Pillow Jets keeps the fire going. It stays type 1, but to my ears its as good as any ever played. This is an EXCEPTIONAL type 1 reading!!

The same goes for the set closing YEM!! Definitely a must hear version, they set the building on fire abd and send everyone in a 50 mile radius to the burn unit.

Good encore of an average Velvet Sea into a KILLER First Tube

All in all, another incredible show!! It currently has a nearly 4.6 rating on .NET but as a whole Id give it like a 4.2 or 4.3. The 2nd set kicks ass through the end but after Tweezer is mostly just a string of "REALLY excellent type 1" kinda versions.

I definitely strongly prefer set 2 of night 1 and think that set is stronger, easily. But its all splitting hairs. This is an exceptional show from start to finish, period. 

 

2025-04-22 San Francisco, CA

 4 22 25 San Francisco

Set 1

Surprisingly underwhelming start to the show with below average readings of Buried Alive and Axilla. Decent energy but Trey is Mr. Sticky Fingers tonight and his playing is decidedly uninspired. Sloppiness abound.

The song selections do give us some good momentum though. A Mikes Groove in slot 3 is a great choice. Unfortunately again, a pretty loust overall MG. Wasnt Trey having tech issues and Mike sick this night?? That explains it all

Mike itself is flubby but absolutely rages energy wise. Shame that Trey's soloing is so unimpressive aside from one mega sustained note.

After a weak Hydro comes the now infamous slow Weekapaug. It actually sounds pretty decent but isnt anything to write home about.

The first truly good piece of the night is My Soul. Typical version and nothing special, its at least "average excellent" with loads of fire.

Following that is a 20 minute Halley! The intro of Halley is atrocious!!! Trey sounds like he's dying or something. Thank God the jam is fantastic. Definitely some X Factor, all the way until 14 minutes it explores the upper reaches of heaven, just SOARING non stop forever. Its pretty incredible. Then it shifts dark into an evil robo kind of stomp jam for a long while before GORDO reintroduces the song and they close. Definitely must hear - the ending is premature but this is essential regardless.

Just as essential is the following Roggae. Reaching 11 minutes, this one is absolutely mind blowing. Around 5 minutes the song outta nowhere morphs full blown into fantastic dark type 2 jamming. They explore the crazy darkness for a long time before melting back into the light. They peak the ever loving CRAP outta this forever! THIS JS THE GREATEST ROGGAE IVE EVER HEARD AND ITS NOT EVEN CLOSE! HOLY MOTHER OF X FACTOR ICCULUS!!!

Maze comes next and keeps the good times going excellently. Nothing special enough to call must hear, but it 10,000% delivers. As hot and feisty as the hottest Maze's of recent times. A+ reading - it BLAZES!!

This convoluted set concludes with a 14 minute Melt. The jam is interesting in that they spend a long time in major key territory. Its strange and Melty and type 2, but its "light" instead of "dark". Very cool. Around 10 minutes, robo FX squealing away, it begins toying with darkness, straddling the line. This Melt is a MESS!!! A ridiculous, psychedelic, swirling vortex MESS in the best way!!! A modern Melt is a modern Melt but id probably call this must hear.


All in all, this was one of the jankiest sets Ive ever heard. Again, IIRC, most of the issues are from outside forces so it earns major forgiveness.

Halley and Roggae are must hear, Melt probably is and Maze is killer. Basically, pretend the set began with Halley as its all primo Phish from there. 

 

Set 2

The 2nd half of the show opens with a monstrous nearly 22 minute Carini! Hot damn, son! Unfortunately, this is another extremely underwhelming and undercooked jam. The song sounds great but the jam begins in upbeat melodic bliss rock zone and stays there all the way to the 12 minute mark! And its boring, uninspired, downright uneventful playing at that. Ugh. From there, it basically spends 9 minutes doing a standard type 1 rock jam that doesnt really do much of anything. This Carini plays like an 8 minute type 1 version stretched out to 22 minutes. Yea, Im not a fan. At all. This kinda sucked.

Thankfully we get a 15-minute No Men to pick us right back up. No Men rages hard, spending it's time in dark and synthy type 1.5 fire heat. A heater, its definitely must hear. Definitely some X Factor going on. Its SICK!

EVEN BETTER, IT SEGUES OUT OF NOWHERE INTO A FREAKING 23 MINUTE RUBY WAVES!!! And holy mother of Satan what a Ruby!!!!! Top three of all time, Mexico 2024 tier version from outer space!!! The song begins with the jam immediately going into a psychedelic yet majestic area with Trey slowly building a beautiful soundscape with delays and loopers. Type 2 right off the bat! This section is awesome and very unique. Going until the 6 minute mark where they begin to toy back and forth with going dark. Extremely slowly they mutate the jam flawlessly into darker Waters over the course of multiple minutes. Absolutely NUTS, they explore the oute reaches of the cosmos spectacularly all the way until the 12 minute mark. Things slow down and begin to get much more melodic and majestic, though still absolutely OUT THERE. This jam is MAGICAL!! This reminds me of the Mex24 WOPE. Ridiculous aquatic landscape building with all kinds of bubbly synths and what not, the jam slowly gains ahead of steam after a few minutes and then spends the final eight or nine minutes of the jam slow building into the biggest most ridiculous peak hose explosion maybe in the entire history of the band. Yes I just said all of that this jam is one of the all-time greats of any era of any period of any year of the band. No exaggeration this might be a genuine contender for number one greatest Ruby of all time right now even against Alpine 2019 or MSG 2024.

That was one of the most naturally organic, flowing, slow building, perfectly executed, perfectly measured jams ever in the existence of the universe.

No possible phone review can accurately depict the ridiculous magic of this unbelievable jam. I will definitely have to do a blow by blow review of the song itself. 

So after that universe destroying Ruby, we get a perfectly placed Waste, and boy does it HIT hard tonight, carrying some definite emotional heft as the comedown after that all timer jam. Excellent version, it ends wity a sustained note, segueing out of thin air into Whats the Use!!! Nobody in the universe saw that coming. And my god did it work. WTU is all kinds of extra tonight and the Waste>WTU pair is a total must hear.

On a shocking note, the set proper concludes with a FIREBALL type 1 Disease!! They friggin BURN IT DOWN!! What a FRESH placement and this is strong enough for me to call it must hear!!!

As if all that wasnt enough, we get the ultimate encore of Fluffhead. 99 percet perfect aside from about 10 seconds in one part, its a spectacular raise your glasses affair, sending us out in grand fashion. Not a must hear version but still totally excellent reading that brings down the house.

All in all...man, 2025 just keeps upping the damn bar, eh?!?! Set 2 was another all-killer, no filler, basically entirely must hear affair (aside from the incredibly uninspired Carini)

That No Men! That Waste>WTU!! That Disease!!! And that RUBY!!!



Depsite the myriad of "just shut up and stop analyzing things" flaws the show contains, the heights are, again, stratospheric. The 4.3 rating on .NET feels a tad high, but really, the good stuff in this show is just BEYOND.

So, I can dig a 4.2/4.3 rating on this one.  

2025-04-20 Portland, OR

 25 04 20 Portland

Set 1

13 minute 46 Days opener. This shows gonna be a heater! This version is awesome!!! X Factor all over this bad boy. The jam immediately drops into a heavy zone with growly synths while Trey motifs away. After a while we get extended type 1 before they burn it down to close. Its way better than Im describing. Pretty fantastic.

An extremely average and unimpressive Moma leads into a short Cities which morphs into a 15 minute Plasma. Another must hear, this one takes a long time to do much but once they kick it into high gear it just EXPLODES for a long time delivering a phenomenal extended peak finale section. Just sick. Absolutely must hear!!! HOSE HOSE HOSE HOSE HOSE SPRAY THAT FRIGGIN HOSE OH MY GOD YES LETS GO FRIGGIN GET IT IT PEAK THE CRAP OUTTA THAT HOSE!!!!!!!!!

Oh my GOD that ending section!!!!!!

Bouncing next is a good breather but god does Treys guitar tone sucks so bad...

They make up for it with a god damn 22 minute Sigma Oasis. Christ! And what an absolute monster it is, full stop. It never goes robo, basically spending its time (I THINK! The mix is so ATROCIOUS that I struggled to hear Trey!!!) in a ridiculous melty dark fire kind of nuclear waste jam. Just pure annihilation. Around 12 minutes it sounds ready to wrap but they push through into a more typical blazing type 1 jam and melt the building to the friggin ground from there. I cant explain via phone how absolutely balls to the wall ridiculous this was (again, I THINK). It SEEMED, honestly, like a top 5 Sigma. It was unbelievable.

After a typically hot but short Antelope the set ends with a spectacularly blazing Santos, 20 times hotter than even the regular hot ones. Good enough for me to call must hear!!!

All in all, this wasnt my favorite "complete" set. Plenty of MONSTERS but anything that wasnt was pretty unspectacularly average. But, the MONSTERS fully outweight any of that so this is extreme nitpicking on my part.

46 Days, Plasma, Sigma and SANTOS were all must hear imo.

I wish I could rave more but THE SOUND IS SO EFFING TERRIBLE I STRUGGLE TO MAKE OUT THE INSTRUMENTS AT TIMES!!! YOU SHOULDNT BE UNABLE TO FRIGGIN HEAR TREY OF ALL PEOPLE.

THIS IS MADDENING!!!!  

 

Screw it lets go. First set killed and 2nd looks great anyways.

4 20 25 Portland

Set 2

18 minute Wave to open. Great choice! Best jam of the tour so far. Top 2 or 3 of the year so. An all timer reading, imo. An absolute X Factor buffet. The initial song just blazes. Fantastic synthy fire rock. Off the rip its apparent this will be special when Fishman begins playing with the drum patterns. This highly inspired initial jam goes so hard. Then, around 10 minutes, the jam shifts dark. Welcome to outer space!!! The next 8, gloriously strange, blazing, melty minutes see the boys on a trip through the cosmos at Ludicrous Speed. Synths and robo FX out the wazoo, complete organized chaos of th highest order. This is an unbelievable jam and maybe the most OUT THERE version of Wave ever played (I cant recall another like this!). This is an INSANE jam. Must hear at all costs. Pure magic.

Also, no clue what happenned, but the sound began lousy like set 1, then at a certain point you LITERALLY hear the faders shift and the mix becomes very good like Mexio again!!!!!

Into Twist, this is another X Factor must hesr reading. Strictly type 1, this might be the most explosive, lave like, machine gun nuclear friggin bomb version of all time. Seriously. This one is pure fire on top of fire on top of fire. Best Twist Ive heard since God knows when. Unbelievable reading, truly. I dont know whats in the water tonight but they need to keep drinking it!!!

And into a 16 minute Scents we go! The initial jam is extremely delicate, almost sounding like the middle of a Hood jam or something. Super nice and a great unexpected cooloff. Slowly it builds into some excellent midtempo melodic rocking. You dont even realize it - it flows so good. Around 8 minutes it begins to drift, Trey doing motif stuff. And the sound is back to dog crap, Trey lost in the wash...ugh. Around 9:15 they enter "spastic type 1" mode. And it just stays there. But its ok! Because they simply rage the loving crap out of it until its conclusion. Its far from my favorite reading, but I also can't deny it's awesome at the same time. Lesser than the other 2 jams but still must hear. Very much a "2023" version! Awesome stuff.

A short Everythings Right is next to give us a breather. Good stuff. Really nice funky little jam. Not a must hear version but definitely keeps the momentum going excellently. Best part, it somehow starts to go deep and they friggin morph the jam astoundingly perfectly into Reggae Woman!!

Reggae Woman isnt that good, but they once again morphy/blend out of the song and into 2001!!! How in the hell did they do that?!?!

2001 is pretty excellent if short. On the whole, none are must hear but you NEED to hear those segues!!! Good God those segues were MAGIC!!!

After ALBTD (really getting bored of this one no matter how great I think it is ..) the set proper concludes with a 15 minute Hood. How perfect for such a monstrous show! Hood itself is ok, kinda average overall. As usual though it builds to an absolutely glorious and LENGTHY climax tonight, just exploding like the 12/29/23 version or something. HUGE finale on this. Maybe not must hear but its awesome.

Beginning the encore with Wilson, the show reaches its conclusion with Slave. And, as with Hood, its genuinely excellent all around, delivering a strong reading, but falling just short of must hear.

All in all, this show was pretty nuts!! The Wave, Twist and to a lesser extend Scents were must hear and you REALLY need to hear those segues later on!!!!

I would say the 4.3 rating on .NET is accurate, imo. Plenty of boringly average/unimpressive versions, but also an excessive number of downright monstrous, beastly, next level jams as well. The jams in this show are HIGH quality!

Sound problems aside, I really enjoyed the crap outta this one  

2025-04-19 Seattle, WA

 4 19 25 Seattle

Set 1

The show opens with a tasty 9 minute Free. Solid, good energy version. Nothing special.

Outta nowhere, we get pummeled with a 20 minute Gin in slot two. Hot damn!! Unfortunately it stays type 1, basically, but its FLAMETHROWER hot and loaded with SO MUCH ENERGY!! Off the rails hose explosion finale included. Normally id bitch about this but this is absolutely smashing. Must hear! This kicks ass!!!

Evolve is fantastic tonight!!!! 10/10, everyone is just going off and the whole thing is stellar, even by Evolve standards. Must hear!!!

Then comes Stash....third must hear in a row, this version is pure X Factor. The song sounds great and then the jam immediately dives straight into DARK and evil jamming, like a demented Carini. ALL HAIL SCARY STASH!!! Its not super long but my god is it powerful!!!!! Wow!

Following excellent but not must hear readings of Pebbles and Farmhouse we get a fantastic Suzy. Borderline must hear, its got extra sauce imo. Awesome.

The set closes with a mind blowing Walls of the Cave. Even by Walls standards this one is RIDICULOUS!!!! It goes on forever, just blazing a trail of destruction worse than an F5 tornado. X Factor for sure, MUST HEAR!!!

All in all, this was an excellent set!!! On the whole it felt a step down from night 1 and most of the highlights were "ever so slightly lesser". The only thing really aporoaching the magic of night 1 was Walls, but the whole set was great and im very much nitpicking in the extreme.

No complaints here really other than me preferring night ones first set.

Awesome stuff.

 Set 2

Ooh baby, 19 minute Chalkdust to open!!! Please be awesome, I beg! The song itself sounds great, played up tempo and with high energy. The jam gets off to a rough start. I swear they must spend like 7 or 8 minutes just trapped in this incredibly BORING, uneventful and meandering kind of hazy melodic bliss rock. I wanted to shoot myself. Thank god, in the final 6 or 7 minutes it starts to turn ever so slightly.... psychedelic and ethereal. Now its getting good!!!! Slowly they ramp up the intensity until they effing EXPLODE into what feels like a multi minute peak VOLCANIC NUCLEAR ERUPTION!!!! You get a peak! You get a peak! You get a peak! EVERYBODY GETS A PEAK!!! Its an absolutely magical and unbelievable finale!!! I hate to keep making the comparison but its the only thing I can think of - this jam SOARS to the effing heavens sounding like the 99 Camden Chalkdust. That kind of peak.
You can easily chop out the first entire half of the jam, but the back half is incredible. Must hear, but only for the back half.

Out of the death throes of Dust and into a 14 minute Light. And holy mother of Satan what a funky robo hellfire piece of black magic this is. The song sounds great but the ENTIRE jam is spent in this mother effing INSANE "2021 on STEROIDS" funky robotic wah annihilation crackhead whatever. BALLZ TO THE WALL ROBO WAH FUNK STORM. WHAT IN THE LOVE OF GOD IS THIS.

Hands down, that is THE most OUT THERE, extreme, downright INSANE light ever played. Find me a more wacky, insane reading. Go on, im waiting. That was definitely up there with the heights of night 1 or Mexico AND THEN SOME.

After topping it off with a perfectly executed and oh so kickass Chalkdust reprise, we go into Fuego. Just as insane as Fuego and equally must hear. X FACTOR FROM HELL. Dark, heavy, abstract and molten. One of the darkest and most evil versions ive ever heard. 

 

And of course the darkness continues into a black hole Monsters. And holy crap that was the best set placement of all time I swear. Another winner, as emotionally potent and ass kicking as any other.

A really good Piper (I THINK....) is next. It sounds jammed good but has an awkward dead stop ending.

Numberline closes. Unfortunately, I had to skip Numberline and Monkey. The sound this set is so ATROCIOUS that it's literally putting me in a bad mood. I cant take it.

Inspired encore of Sleeping Monkey and a typically evil 9 minute MyFe. MyFe is melty enough for me to actually label it must hear!!! Shorter but UNHINGED!

All in all, by any metric, this is an excellent show. Definitely a step down from night 1 (the highlights werent AS high for the most part but it's nitpicking. The Dust>Light and Fuego were unbelievable readings. X Factor galore. Good stuff. 

 

On the negative, this set was now the low bar all time worst LivePhish recording Ive had the displeasure to hear. I thought the Sphere and Albany were trash. This is WORSE!!!!

Listen to Light, Fuego, Piper - WHERE IS TREY?! WHERE IS PAGE?! YOU CANT HEAR THEM!!! This set sounds worse than an aud recorded up in the rafters. You can even hear audible level adjustments throughout.

I am deleting the board for set 2 and going AUD. There is no way to make this harder/more infuriating to listen to.  

2025-04-18 Seattle, WA

 4 18 25 Seattle

Set 1

Highly inspired choice of a 12+ minute Sand to open the show! An excellent version, it has some "stiffness" (breaking in the tour/show I guess) but is nicely energetic. The jam is initially patient and introspective. At a certain point something "clicks" and they just shoot for the sky! This version soars with an excellent peak section. Really awesome and a tad unique sounding. They keep going and so some textural Leslie jamming for a bit before reaching another, slightly smaller peak and sending us out. That was an awesome version that definitely had some character to it. Honestly, you could almost say it slightly goes type 2 as well. Must hear!!

The following 12 minute KDF keeps the rocking going. Unfortunately this isnt a great version. I dont know if Trey was having a hard time dialing in his sound tonight or what. It just sounds kind of not smooth. Not rough or sloppy, but not tight. The jam itself tries very hard and kind of gets there but is hampered by this overall stiffness. To be fair it is highly energetic and does peak really hard but Trey is having trouble with his sound and it kinda ends up a disappointment overall. Basically A+ for effort, B for execution.

Up next is Theme. Average strong type 1. Really good as always.

Then we get, outta nowhere, 18 minute BOTT!!! Is this the longest ever?! I know the 2009 NYE version was 17 minutes.... The song itself sounds slightly tighter than the rest of the set played so far. Very good type 1 ensues. At the 8 minute mark things start to get interesting when everyone syncs up on a little descending motif. Right at the 9 minute point things go proper type to and dark synthesizers appear out of freaking nowhere! Hold on to your x Factor hats here we go!!
The jam dives into a dark and textural area, Trey doing patient melodic lines while Page provides smooth synths. Eventually Trey begins an ascending motif that they all latch onto and the energy starts to rise, slowly rocking it up more by the second. Around 13 minutes they really begin rocking again and the jam just explodes!!!! Massive, epic hose explosion volcano eruption!!!! Lets go!!! Shame the LP recording sounds so bad as this is AWESOME!!! This peak is AMAZING!!! It literally goes on for MINUTES!!!! They are just melting faces with this sucker....Then at 16:30 they PERFECTLY slide back into the song and bring us home.

Holy crap!! That was legit a MONSTER! WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?! Must hear of course!

Wonderful and perfect choice of If I Could to cool us down. Good version but nothing special - gotta say, Treys tone really sucks.

A 6 minute Tube is a great pick to lift us up and dang does this one feel like its loaded with extra energy or something. Really SICK robo wah jamming, the whole band totally synced up like one 8 armed beast. This Tube is awesome. Im calling it must hear for sure!

Mull follows and delivers a super hot type one reading. Nothing must hear but its HOT and totally excellent! Awesome reading!!!

The first set of the tour comes to a close with a 12 minute Wolfman. And holy crap what a damn Wolf it is!!! X Factor all over this BAD BOY!!!! Initial type 1 gives way to KILLER Leslie jamming for a good while. Eventually it starts to build and, as with BOTT, it just friggin EXPLODES for several incredible, glorious, hose spewing minutes. Must hear at all costs!! THIS IS INCREDIBLE!!!! NO, REALLY, THIS IS A MONSTER!!!!

All in all, it took a bit to get "steady" but this was an awesome set overall with strong energy and excellent jamming. Sand, BOTT and Wolf are alm true, must hears.

Great start to the tour!!  

 

Set 2

A 12 minute Blaze On kicks things off. An absolutely smashing type 1 reading. Just energy out the wazoo and never boring. The run time is justified.

Pulling off one of the slickest segues Ive ever heard in my life, they go into a friggin 23 minute Golden Age. Golden Age is a Kaiju sized BEAST OF EPIC PROPORTIONS!! Ridiculously high energy, it spends most of its jam - all the way to the 19 minute mark (!!!) in the sickest, most ass kicking PARTY ROCK jam Ive ever heard. This isnt boring or meandering - this is high caliber full band interplay of the highest order. Around 19 minutes after an unbelievable peak, it drops into 4 glorious minutes of "wtf is this" weirdo type 2 to send us out. Holy mother of F. Now THAT was a true ALL TIME version. Pure MAGIC.

BUT WAIT!!!! THERES MORE!!!

An 18 minute WGTYM is next and delivers the effing jam of the century!!! THIS IS A GOD DAMN 1.0 TIER JAM AS GOOD OR BETTER THAN MEXICO 2024 OR ANYTHING IN THE MODERN AGE!! THIS IS, QUITE SIMPLY, THE GREATEST JAM IN THE UNIVERSE FOR ALL TIME. FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST....
Initial type 1 gives way to excellent darker jamming. Around 13 minutes it sounds like a natual ending but they push through. The next 5 minutes are the stuff of legend. Have you heard the Camden 99 Chalkdust? This is literally comparable. Im not joking. Absolutely SOARING higher than the heavens, with the most MAGICAL peak finale of anything ive ever heard in my life. Trey UNBELIEVABLE meltdown of a guitar solo is up there with the greatest solos ever laid down in the history of rock. Full stop.

Jam of the Year. Right here . Cancel the rest of the shows as it aint getting better than this.



No seriously, that was Mexico WOPE, 47 minute Soul Planet, Camden 99 Chalkdust black magic voodoo.

IAWITW keeps the party going. Definitely continues the special energy of WGTYM. After some short jamming they change gear and execute another flawless segue into Ghost.

Ghost continues the X Factor fun. Another unique version. Its 14 minutes of awesomesauce. Initial rocking slowly mutates into this sick latin/Santana/whatever kind of feel. LATINO GHOST. Its so dang awesome, dripping with X Factor. They spend a long time exploring that to the fullest before the expected head ripping finale. Obviously must hear.

Boring encore of Bug and Possum. Both are genuinely excellent if nothing special versions, but ya know what? These "average" readings felt needed after the universe destruction the set unleashed.

All in all - 5/5 star second set. Easy. Literally perfection from start to finish. EVERY single song in the set was must hear. The Golden Age and Ghost were both OUTSTANDING, but that Mind!!! Pretty much ever version has been dang good to great so far, but this just left ALL of them in the dust.

Sooooo hard. Its not even funny.

This show was so unexpectedly high quality I cant believe it. Overall Id rate it a strong 4.3, maaayyybbbee a 4.4 if the first set was a little less "rusty" or whatever (dont forget those sick set 1 highlights!!)

This 2nd set is sure to go down in the Halls of Phishtory as one of the finest ever played. 

2025-02-01 Rivera Maya, MX

 2 1 25 Riviera Maya

Set 1

14 minute Gin to open. All right, lets go! Slow building type 1. Good energy. Ends up in an awesome swirling kind of peaky section. Awesome little version. SUPER high energy!!! I mean the peak section goes on forever! I'm calling this must hear, yo.

And hey, it wouldnt be Mexico without a Soul Shakedown Party! Shakedown is friggin awesome! Definitely must hear, its about 9 minutes of fantastic type 2 aquatic jamming. Killer.

After a slaying Martian Monster comes an INCREDIBLE Stash! Complete X Factor, its beyond powerful, nailed stupid tight and bursting with more energy than a nuclear bomb. Completely must hear. I cannot overestimate how insane this Stash is. What in the F. Some kind of black voodoo juju magic.

Farmhouse is another must hear tonight. Extended jamming and outstandingly delicate Leslie work. Beyond A+. WOW! No. Seriously.

Reba is an incredibly magical version tonight. The boys NAIL the composed sections and Treys solo is legitimately 90s-tier, imo. Like Chicago 2018 or something. It just goes abd goes and goes, extremely powerful and just incredible from start to finish. Obviously must hear.

Even BETTER is the following 13 minute Golden Age!!! The song rips and is tighter and more uptempo than usual - no drag here! The jam is total X Factor Magic. This jam is amazing!!! It spends its time in a dark kind of uber funkiness that rocks HARD and is just all kinds of filthy. If every GA was as spectacular as this one youd never hear me complain about it like I usually do. My god.

The set comes to a close with a ridonkulous 13 minute MyFe. Not much to say - as with the rest of this nutzo set it just delivers from start to finish. Must hear!

All in all, WHAT THE HELL WAS THIS SET?!?! SERIOUSLY!!! THIS SET WAS BONKERS!!! Literally pretty much EVERY SINGLE SONG was top tier, must hear!!!

Soul Shakedown, Stash, Reba, Golden Age, Farmhouse, MyFe......christ on a cracker!

X FACTOR: THE SET

This was like a 10/10 level set. What in the hell!!!!! 

 

Set 2

WGTYM opens and its a 22 minute behemoth!!! X Factor abound, yo. It doesnt get that strange but its definitely HIGH QUALITY!!! It spends until about 12 minutes exploring a darkly textural late 90s kind of robo sound. Extremely cool!!!! From there it shifts into major key bliss rocking. Around 17 min it slowly starts to build to a peak. And holy friggin moly what a PEAK it is!!! They just explode this sucker! Trey even holds a dang sustain note for a FULL 60 SECONDS!!! It peaks so hard and then they perfectly reenter the song and bring it to s close.

That a bit one-note, but who cares when the quality was that high and thar finale section was just bonkers!!!
And then we launch into an....18 minute Crosseyed!!! Ok!

Crosseyed is the definition of a godzilla sized multibeast. The song itself rips as usual but the jam is pure x factor dark magic. Staying dark the ENTIRE time (thank god!!!) it begins with an incredible round of so effing sick power funk rock raging. Just pure FIRE and molten everything all over the place. Around 12 minutes Fishman takes charge and slows the beat down. Here the song gets HEAVY. The following 5 or so minutes are comparable to the 20 Years Later from night 2. Just the most incredible, spectacular, unhinged, MOLTEN FIRE FROM THE SKY round of dark psych soloing whatever. This effer is INSANE. And the return back to the song is so killer as well. Seriously this blows that WGTYM out of the UNIVERSE to the point that im seriously second guessing my thoughts of it.

I know I say this a lot lately, but its true! If this cant be considered an all time version than I dont know what can. Absolutely ridiculous reading, essily in the top 5 ive ever heard. Pure awesomesauce..... @heathen , if this doesnt impress you....

And then we get a 17 Tweezer!! Yo, wtf dawg!!! Tweezer IS awesome and an excellent listen overall, but really is kinda messy a little bit. It languishes in boring, low key chill bliss rock allllll the way to the friggin 11 minute mark. You can literally just delete this 6 minutes. Nothing happens. Finally Trey has enough and tries to get something going. Some slight motif jamming ensues before they go for broke and just rage it to a close.

Really annoyed by that Tweezer - its enjoyable to listen to. In no way is it bad at all, but it absolutely feels ...undercooked?? The rocking end section is great though.

And out of Tweezer they segue into the most perfectly placed Mercy everz I swear to god. That segue and placement was just... * Chefs kiss * good lord. And the song itself is just magic. Oh so delicate and perfect, with inspired piano work from Page. Im calling this must hear for sure.

Another perfect selection, a 10 minute 2001 comes to pick us back up. This one feels pretty inspired. Fishman is a powerhouse and Page is laying such delicious leads throughout, my god. This version is just killer all around. Im calling it must hear. Dude, the robo wah jamming or whatever is just KILLER. They are deep in the FUNK with this one. Definitely a cut above most "average" readings.

As if its 2019 again, we get a rocking More to close. And honestly, from the outset, this More has SO MUCH OOMPH to it!!!! It fits ridiculously well in an emotional way as the show closer and rips hard. A++++ More. Crap man.

Kinda boring encore of the obligatory ALBTD, First Tube and Tweeprize. At least they are all base level excellent versions with ALBTD in particular REALLY packing a punch!!!

All in all, wow....this run just kept getting better with each show!!! First set was outstanding in every way and set 2 pretty much followed suit. For set 2 Id say WGTYM, Crosseyed, 2001 and, yes, More are all must hear!

WGTYM is fantastic but that Crosseyed is the easy highlight of th entire show, and possibly this run! Its SPECTACULAR!! Look out for the Funkytown jamming!!

The 4.4 rating on .NET is accurate but id even bump it up a point or two. Now THIS is a "OG Live Phish Vol. 1-20" level show. All day.

My only nitpicks are the lousy Tweezer and the super boring encore. Aside from that this is damn near a truly flawless show. And if those are my dumb nitpicks, that should tell you how fantastic this show was.

On to spring tour!  

2025-01-31 Rivera Maya, MX

 1 31 25 Riviera Maya

Set 1

A rare Cars, Trucks, Buses opens the show tonight. The energy is high, the playing tight, and, honestly this is stronf enough to call must hear. Its really fantastic!!!

Even better is the following 12 minute Moma. Hot off the rip, this one goes in a different direction, slowly working itself through the funk, everyone building this fantastic jam. A+ in every way. It doesnt explode - its a "take your time and enjoy yourself" kind of jam. Genuinely must hear. Its fantastic!!!!

Sigma delivers an outstanding type 1 reading tonight. Extremely tight, energetic and ENTHUSIASTIC. Really awesome little version. As with Moma, Trey never goes off, but everything else about it is 10/10. This one is POWERFUL.

Tube follows and absolutely delivers. Borderline must hear (definitely comp worthy!), as with Moma, its funky as hell and they jam for a long time, just diving on in and enjoying it to the fullest. Excellent Tube.

And then, outta nowhere, big boy 21 minute Wolfman!!! And this Wolfman is downtown spectacular!!! Total X Factor magic from the start!!! Multiple sections, A+ band interplay, phenomenal and perfect FX usage.This is, simply put, one of the greatest Wolfs Ive ever heard. Exceptional robo funking gives way to killer type 1 rocking. Somehow it morphs into a dark and much heavier kind of POWER ROCK thing. The back half of the jam sees them absolutely laying into this sucker like I cant even describe. This sounds like a late 90s Mikes Song jam or something. This Wolf is one of the most BADASS things ever layed down. Truly must hear in every sense of the word.....

Maze follows and like Sigma is absolutely EXPLODING with energy on all sides like a balloon about to burst. Definitely must hear, its just a damn EXCEPTIONAL reading on all fronts!!! Like Sigma, this version is just downright POWERFUL. Probably in that borderline must hear area like Tube. Definitely comp worthy though.

After a nice Lonely Trip to give a respite from the absolute headsmashing of the set so far, we go into Possum. Slow building, it sounds average at first until it becomes unhinged and goes absolutely NUCLEAR for a lot of it. Possum is Possum but this is another straight up killer reading.


All in all, HOLY CRAP WHAT A SET!!! Wolfman was an all timer, Tube, Sigma and Maze all turned in exceptional readings, Possum melted faces, Moma was damn essential.

A+++ first set. Super high energy and powerful. They are absolutely INSPIRED tonight!!! 

 

Set 2

15 minute Oblivion to kick things off! A terrific reading, it spends its time slowly exploring major key bliss rock. Lots of substance, never meandering or boring, slightly psychedelic with a great peak finale. Definitely some slight X Factor. Must hear.

Then we have the shock surprise 13 minute Sightless Escape!!!!! Only the 3rd ever friggin played! The song sounds tight and excellent. Rocking version. Unfortunately, the jam is non existent. Its like 8 minutes of basically nothing happenning. It never evolves, it never peaks, it never escapes "extremely lukewarm type 1". What a bummer - a genuine disappointment!!!

Even worse, we get Caspian'd next, lol. It's just a type 1 Caspian but at least it ends up being a really excellent one. No, really, its fantastic!!! They go HAM on this one big time. Must hear for sure. A shred your balls off reading!!!

Immediately they LAUNCH into Fuego. And holy mother of Icculus what a Fuego it is. 23 dang minutes, this Fuego is a MONSTER!!! The song itself is extremely tight and HIGH ENERGY. It ROCKS harder than anything, spewing nothing but pulverising, head smashing nuclear destruction. Around 10 minutes the jam begins and they immediately go type 2, launching into this heavy and dark rhythmic thing. It goes into this really unique funky rock kind thing. Heavy and dark. Around 15 minutes Trey's playing becomes a lot more melodic and reflective with excellent use of the Leslie pedal. They are deep in the outer space black hole kind of heavy whatever. Full tilt type 2. This jam is absolutely magical and amazing. This has to be in the top 10 versions of the song ever. Easy. Around 19 minutes the robotics come out and things get wackier before they return to the song proper and send us out.

That was one of the most high quality jams of the last few years and lays waste to something like the MSG 7 Fuego. Absolutely incredible complete x Factor magic. Where in the hell did they pull that from?!?! That Fuego was HEAVY

The perfect cooldown follows with a GORGEOUS 14 minute Sea of Stars! Genuinely an outstanding version. The song is so high quality. Then then jam is just terrific. Around 8 minutes the gorgeous starry sky playing suddenly takes a completely unexpected shift towards darkness!!!! They spend the next 6 minutes creating a downright scary and evil dark ambient soundscape!!! This has to be the most type 2, out there version besides Camden 2019!!!! This is an absolutely EXTRAORDINARY and utterly unique version!!! Its just unbelievable!!!!!! X Factor from Hell!!!

After a hot type 1 Chalkdust to pick things back up, the set proper concludes with a heavy and hot Most Events! Its a terrific reading with extra funkiness and tons of porno scratching from Trey. Not must hear but still compilation worthy.

Awesome encore of Saw It Again into an extra funky a nd blazing hot SANTOS. Perfect! SANTOS is must hear. It just goes OFF and then some!!!


All in all, this was an EXCEPTIONAL show!!! Almost nothing that wasnt excellent with multiple unique jams up there with the very, very best of anything from the last few years.

This was at least a "Dicks 2024 tier" level show. I have no hesitancy calling it a solid 4.4 or 4.5. Just...wow. What an effing show .... 

2025-01-30 Rivera Maya, MX

 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.