2025-06-22 Manchester, NH

 6 22 25 Manchester

Set 1

Classic Jim opener like its 1995 again. Good version that builds to a pretty hot peak.

Oblivion follows and delivers the first standout of the night. A shorter type 1 reading, everyone is synced up hard, the song sounds great and the flow is unreal. Very nice Page and Trey soloing and the on-a-dime switch from major key back to minor at the end is ridiculously choice. Maybe not must hear, but absolutely worth checking out at least once!

Same goes for The Curtain With. Not much to say. Its played perfectly and sounds great but also never reaches beyond "average excellent".

The fun continues with a typically roaring Llama. A+ on the song choices tonight! Llama is Llama. It kills.

Man, the setlist awesomeness continues with a super rare Fast Enough For You! And man it sounds great after Llama. And Id call this must hear for sure. The song sounds great and Treys solo is stupendous. Perfectly restrained yet emotional, almost sounding composed. A+

The Wedge is must hear tonight as well! Just a smashing rendition with Trey going off in a big way. Definitely killer.

Pebbles is high energy and compositionally sound but kinda loose overall. A for effort. They try hard and it is a strong reading but ultimately nothing special.

Up next is MyFe. Definitely the hottest jam of the set, this is probably must hear. It just melts. Nothing more, nothing less. Then, outta friggin nowhere, it descends STRAIGHT INTO HELL!!! Out comes friggin Egg In a Hole! WHAT IN THE F IS GOING ON!!?!?! Plundering the depths for a while we begin to ponder where it all went so wrong.....

The triple-closer section concludes the show with a SUPER HIGH ENERGY Fluffhead. Perfect choice! Its shakey compositionally with a few rough patches but the insane energy (that finale!!!) makes up for it.

All in all, another strong set. It felt a slight step down from nights 1 and 2 but thats nitpicking. The flow and song selection is fantastic and this almost feels like a set that couldve happenned in 1993!!
Id say FEFY and MyFe/Egg are the true must hears with special notice to Oblivion and Wedge.

Trey is definitely not having as good a night tonight. Hes just...off a bit. Kinda sloppy with his playing but not massively so. Just enough to make you notice. The set was excellent but also had a very noticeable looseness about it. 

 

Set 2

Nice choice of Axilla to kick it off with a bang! And then into a 20 minute MONSTER of a Tweezer!

Tweezer is an absolute monster in the truest sense. It's a perfect three act play. The song itself is so ridiculously tight and high energy it's not even funny. Then the initial jam is so crazy funky even by Tweezer standards. The first deviation comes when Trey begins doing a really cool super upbeat kind of melodic jamming on top of the rest of the guys doing the typical Tweezer funk fest. From there the jam begins to pick up energy bit by bit for a very long time. The jam slowly just gets harder and harder and faster and faster and more rocking by the second. After minutes and minutes of this the jam slowly explodes into the biggest orgasmic rock and roll peak fest you've ever heard in your life. Absolute head bangers Paradise!!!! Seriously this has to be the hardest rocking Tweezer ever played I swear to God holy crap. After having our faces melted 50 times over the jam suddenly shifts into a very dark and psychedelic kind of area. Page jumps onto the No Quarter synths and you're sure that we are going to segue into it. Alas it is not to be in the jam goes into Mercury!!

That freaking Tweezer oh my freaking God that was incredible!!! It just got better and better and better by the minute!!! X Factor Magic!!!

Oh so perfectly they launch into the revamped Mercury. 15 minutes long, this version is very tight and energetic with an excellent major key melodic rock jam. It's killer and honestly probably must hear.

And then, outta nowhere in the middle of the jam, Trey launches them back into freaking Tweezer again!! Full-blown tweezer jam for 8 gloriously magical minutes. Split into two even halves, spends the first half in the filthiest nastiest gnarliest XXX rated porno funk jam a Tweezer can possibly unleash. Then somehow it shifts into an incredible 1999 style soaring through the heavens ethereal magic bliss type jam like something out of a version of Sea of Stars. Pure unbridled x Factor magic, this 8 minutes of jamming goes far deeper and harder than the entire 20 minute version of Tweezer we had earlier in the set. This is freaking SICK!!!!

Eventually the jam reaches a natural conclusion and they pick the perfect choice of a short Pillow Jets to continue onwards. Good short version that fits perfectly.

Pillow Jets then morphs back into friggin Tweezer again!! Trey oh so slowly and perfectly leads them back into it. No ripcord here! And its 13 minutes this time!

Somehow, they top the insanity factor of the last portion of the jam. Initially the jam plays around in very nice low-key kind of night time jamming. Funky but introspective. At one point the bottom of the jam completely falls out and the entire thing goes to near silence aside from Fishman's continued drum beat. This is some freaking Fukuoka 2000 stuff going on. All hail 2025 Phish!!!! They proceed to spend a LONG time in this "twinkling twilight zone" area, slowly introducing synths and loops. Trey doing his best "1997 porno wah scratch" playing. Completely minimalist but they are building it as well. Slowly it begins to morph and grow - swirling buzzing bee noises and Treys pitch shifter....it sounds like a swirling tornado of craziness!!! Reminds me of the 11/14/97 Slave or something!!! Complete wackiness at its abstract finest!!!!!!

All hail unique jamming! I've never heard another jam like this out of modern Phish! Where in the corn did this freaking come from?!?! We are in the full-blown outer space screaming seagull vortex from planet Zongo. Squiggles and robo effects and Loopers out the wazoo. Bruh. Crap, the Twist from night 1 is nothing compared to this!

Somehow the jam continues to build back towards what you could call "music", eventually exploding back into a funky Tweezer jam and rage it to a burning close at last. The set closes with a SMOKING Golgi. Good stuff.

First encore is a heavy and hot Bug. Its not too long but its damn excellent. Then we get a 4 minute Tweeprize to put the ribbon on top.

All in all....HOLY MOTHER OF ALIEN SPACE BEES!!!! WHAT IN THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY WAS THIS MASTERPIECE OF A SET!!!!!!!!!!

I would honestly say damn near the entire set is truly must hear and needs to be played in whole.
If you combine all 41 minutes of Tweezer plus the nuclear bomb Tweeprize, that HAS to be the winner for GOAT Tweezer of the modern age. I mean, it honestly blows away something like the Berkeley 2023 version which is fantastic.

Set 1 was strong but set 2?! No way SPAC3 tops this. I don't know how any other set this summer could top this.

Good God.... 

2025-06-21 Manchester, NH

 6 21 25 Manchester

Set 1

The show opens on a fantastic note with Free into Reba. Free is excellent. Nothing must hear but still totally killer. Super high energy. Great start!!

Reba ups things more, delivering a technically sound and spirited reading. The solo is great - it just keeps getting hotter and hotter until Trey is just ripping that peak. Not special enough to call must hear, but still absolutely awesome regardless.

Again though, the energy is sky high, so even though these are "average excellent" readings, they still kick butt.

Halfway to the Moon keeps the energy goin. Everything about the first two songs applies here as well. I'd probably call this must hear. Its a standard type 1 reading, but its just oozing with extra "oomph". Its tight and hot and everyone is ON. Absolutely a highlight!!!! 5 outta friggin 5 stars. This version is a damn POWERHOUSE!!!

The party continues with the perfect set call of Halley's Comet. Heck yes. Again, super high energy, uptempo and tight. Just a joy! And hot damn, this sucker smokes! SO MUCH ENERGY!!! Quickly the song dives into a slightly darkly funky heavy rock jam. And again, just pure nuclear bomb energy. Hell, I have to call this must hear just on the basis of how freaking blazing hot it is. My goodness!!!
This thing is absolutely NUCLEAR!! LETS FRIGGIN GO!! BANG YOUR HEAD!!!

And into a friggin 17 minute Stash!!! Stash is incredible. Total x factor magic. Not much to say - it spends its time in upbeat major key rocking, slowly growing and evolving bit by bit into the biggest hose explosion peak Ive ever heard from a Stash. Absolute magic. Must hear, of course.

Meat is also must hear! 7 minutes, this one packs a wollop. They go so hard on this sucker, milking it for all its worth. Definitely some x factor at play. Spectacular!!! PRIME RIB, YO.

The set concludes with a killer 13 minute Disease. Its not must hear but it is absolute fire regardless and a terrific way to end the set.

All in all, this was an awesome set. SO MUCH ENERGY OH MY GOD!! Halfway, Halley, Stash and Meat are all must hear...THAT STASH!!!! 

 

Set 2

The set opens oddly with the strange choice of Drift. I love the song, but its terrible as an opener, imo. Either way, nothing must hear but it IS an excellent reading. Tight and high energy. Just killer. Good stuff!

And then, good lord, the next 40 minutes are just an adventure into the outer space vortex. 

Well hot damn, a 24 minute Carini, eh? An extended Carini is always welcome by me! As with the rest of the show, this version is just imbued with extra energy and enthusiasm out the wazoo. It very much has "the eyebrows" as Frank Zappa would say. You can just tell this is gonna a banger above the usual. Man, the boys are just locked in tight with each other, obviously listening and reacting, not just "autopiloting". Fishman in particular is just going nuts, constantly injecting new fills every couple of seconds.

Right around the 4:30 mark the jam starts to take flight. Around 5 minutes they briefly venture into upbeat melodic jamming. Oh no. Trey is doing chord-based playing and Page is locked in right with him as if they are playing a song (I mean, they are - you know what Im saying). They stay in the major key melodic zone for a good long while. Around 7 minutes Trey starts getting more noodly and the jam begins to stretch. Page jumps on the synths and it all takes on a decidedly "aquatic" vibe, but more...gooey than usual. VERY "flowing". Around 8 minutes Trey starts riffing but returns to the melodic playing while Page increases his presence on the synth with Gordo keeping up on the bass.

FINALLY, at the 9:30 mark, the jam begins to deviate again. Trey jumps onto the wah and some robo fx while Page leans harder into the blaring synths. The jam takes on a much darker tone and things are slowly getting more intense bit by bit. This is sick - I mean, it develops so friggin' smoothly, like butter. In come the robo fx! Fishman, meanwhile, is still introducing new beats and patterns, keeping tight with his brethren, propelling the jam onwards evermore.

At 11:20 Trey starts "chord vamping" again and Page takes the throne, layering in some very 2021-style synth work. Super ethereal and extended. Trey moves to the pitch shifter like it's 1999 and the jam fully enters outer space, flirting on the line between dark and light. We have entered the Twilight Zone!! Slowly the jam begins to increase back to a raging psychedelia. Trey is going nuts making layers until you go "wait, hold on, how many layers are there?!". The jam at this point is in full "ethereal outer space" mode. A million loops, Page's synths, bubbly Gordo, Fishman going nuts unable to hold a steady beat.

At 14 minutes, Page takes charge and ramps up the synth backing increasing the intensity further. It just keeps slowly getting "thicker", if you will. Shortly after, Trey removes the loops and lets Gordo shine for a bit as the crowd roars their approval. Quickly he returns to looping, however, laying a nice little stoccato kind of bedwork atop which he does lots of cool "volume swell" sounding stuff as the jam turns into a funky "stop/start" machine.

At 16 minutes, the funky looper space orgy is in full swing. Man, this is a friggin' soundscape. Everyone just BLENDING together, nobody taking lead. Killer. Of course, just as I say that, Trey takes the lead. He leads them back into melodic upbeat rocking, but the wacky undercurrent still persists. The jam wanders briefly, sounding as if Trey already wants to jump into Wave. He resists, however, and just ramps up the heat. Fishman is driving this sucker like a MACHINE and it's just steamrolling us into the ground!

Trey begins a "1-2-3" chord motif and it's off into heavy funk land. By 19:30 they are just laying into this harder than anything. The "1-2-3!" rhythm pattern taking center stage. Then, around 20:30, Page steers the jam again with his sustained textural synths. Trey seems to have a looper/delay going (hard to tell) and the jam starts to turn spacey again with robo fx returning in force. By 21 minutes, you would swear this is a jam straight out of summer 2021 again. By 22 minutes, the hard funk is a thing of the past as we are now firmly in the outerspace robo wormhole. Page quickly rescues us, however, with some classic rock organ stabbing, prompting Trey to move into more straightahead chord vamping.

Then, just as it began, it quickly winds to a hazy close, Trey playing around with harmonics amongst a backdrop of synthesizers.

Just as quickly, the haze immediately concludes and they launch - friggin PERFECTLY - into a 16 minute Wave. Seriously, I don't know why, but that segue/transition was just unbelievably perfect. Perfect song choice out of the perfect musical moment, executed perfectly.... And hot damn, does this Wave of Hope friggin fly! Wave always soars, of course, but this one feels absolutely....triumphant. Like a musical exclamation point or something.

At the 5 minute mark, the jam immediately dives into a dark and, once again, heavily "aquatic" sounding jam. We are exploring the depths, mateys. Wonderful interplay between Page and Trey, the two of them working like one to create this darkly mysterious soundscape. Trey doing slow melodic lines while Page interjects with bubbly keys an outer space synths to create a, well, spacey kind of "depths of the ocean" vibe. This is friggin' sick. Anyone know any other jams like this?

Around 7 minutes, Fishman ups the rapidfire drumming while Trey leads the jam into more ethereal waters (There's that word again, but what other word should I use??). Like a continuation of the first section of the jam, just with everything gaining some "girth", if you will. Listen to Cactus thickening it the hell up underneath!!! Dude, those synths coming in and out....this is SICK!!!! UNDERWATER ALIEN EXPLORATION!!! LETS FRIGGIN GO!!!

Then at the 9 minute mark, the jam TRULY dives into the strange when Trey sets a looper pattern. The ethereal haze enters and it sounds like something from Summer 1999 coupled with Beneath a Sea of Stars. Or something like that. I don't friggin know. All I know is that this is damn incredible. Just killer kind of "textural" jamming, everyone just layering it all into one big sandwich, perfectly reacting and listening to one another!!!! Everyone is TOGETHER! This sounds like one big instrument instead of 4 people on 4 separate instruments, ya dig?? In other jams, I might get on to something like this for being too "minimalistic", but this is that PERFECT kind where they are just laying into it hard.....

Those synths!! MY GOD I LOVE THOSE SYNTHS LETS FRIGGIN GO!! Trey doing excellent chord vamping laying a foundation for Page to "dart" in and out with tons of synth stabbing and layering. Meanwhile, Gordo is keeping rapidfire pace with Fishman back there who is, in turn, playing exactly in sync with Trey. God, I freaking love it when they are LISTENING to each other. Greatest thing ever.... Man, this jam is just SPECTACULAR!!! Hell, they could stay in this one zone all friggin day if they wanted to like you're "stuck" inside a 1997 Ghost vamp or something.

Finally, around 13 minutes, the jam begins to take a major turn. Things go askew in a big way. Page, again, leading direction with his synths, Trey responding by layering a multitude of robo fx. Welcome to outer space, boys and girls (or is this the ocean on Europa??). About 10 layers deep into synthy robo fx, the rhythm drops out and the jam slowly fades itself to a conclusion among a cavalcade of watery bleeps and bloops......

Billy Breathes is a PERFECT cool down from the insanity. A great version, id call this Carini>Wave>Billy trifecta one of the most must hear things of recent times. Insane.

A killer and surprisingly jammed 2001 gets us back on our feet before Meatstick. Meatstick and the following About to Run arent anything special but the set closing Possum is borderline must hear! Even by Possum standards, this is a HOT one. Trey is absolutely going off!!!

Inspired encore of Bold, Bowie and Wilson. Bold and Bowie are both spectacular readings - definitely must hear. Just locked in, tight, and both bursting with more energy than the sun. Hell, Bowie was practically 1.0 worthy. Killer.

All in all, I loved night 1, but there is no denying this show was an obvious and major step up! The Carini/Wave combo is truly something special. That Carini....other than that Fall 2021 version we love, what other Carini of the last few years is this downright magical?!

Honestly, this show was awesome, plain and simple. SO. MUCH. ENERGY!!!

I feel this is worthy of a 4.3ish rating 

2025-06-20 Manchester, NH

 Lets start listening through summer tour, shall we?

6/20/25 Manchester

Set 1

Funky Moma Dance to open. Super energetic and tight, the guys are into it. Nothing essential, but definitely a most excellent start to the show and tour!!! Really killer little Moma.

The fun continues into a blazing hot BOTT. Honestly, the energy is just palpibly sky high tonight, played with that extra bit of tempo and oomph. As with Moma, its nothing special in the grand scheme, just a typically excellent "get the blood flowing" set 1 reading. Seriously though, the energy is THROUGH THE ROOF!!

Predictably (but thats ok!) in slot 3 we get a 12+ minute Wolfman. Wolfman is MUST hear! An utterly spectacular version with an extra rhythmic slant to it. A++ reading, must hear. WOW!

Even better is the following 14 minute Theme!! X Factor all over this bad boy! Extra from the start, it just slays, eventually morphing into a sick funk jam that leads into full blown type 2 robo fun before coming back and blowing the roof off.

After The Old Home Place we get standard yet blazing versions of 46 Days and Birds. Birds in particular just crushes. Im gonna call that one must hear. Its nuclear!!!

In classic fashion, the set concludes with an excellent Slave. Inspired pick!

All in all this set is way better than I expected. Wolfman and Theme are both genuinely must hear and special mention to Birds! Everything is blazing hot and the energy is through the roof.
For a "start of tour warmup set", this kills. 

 

Set 2

A strange pair to open with the duo of Bouncing into Sample. Sample at least is balls to the wall pure energy. An absolutely explosive type 1 reading.

And then the alien invasion occurs ...

Kicking into high gear, a friggin 19 minute Life Saving Gun is next. X Factor galore, it annihilates, wasting no time immediately going type 2. It spends most of the jam in a sick kind of gooey and synthy psychedelic and meditative zone. Very textural and soundscapey without ever feeling meandering. No major key bliss rock here boys and girls!Eventually the beat changes and the last section sees them dive into a sick latin funk area to close. This was AMAZING!! BEST VERSION YET!!! KEEP JAMMING IT, DUDES - IT KEEPS GETTING BETTER!!!

Then, immediately blowing that the F away is an 18 minute Twist. A ridiculous LEGITIMATE ALL TIMER, its hard to describe without just listening to it. This is a 90s level psychedelic evil wormhale alien haze jam on the level of something from 2000 or the Hampton Halley, etc. Dark and synthy, eventually slowly morphing into the most insane, skull crushing, what in the love of Satan is happening jam this side of the Mexico 24 Chalkdust. X Factor?! More like XXXXXXXX FACTOR TO THE MAXXX!!! THIS TWIST IS SO FREAKING UNBELIEVABLY RIDICULOUS. WHERE DID THIS COME FROM. MORE OF THIS, PLEASE! LET THE TWISTAISSANCE CONTINUE!!!



ALL HAIL OUR SUPREME SATANIC ALIEN OVERLORDS FROM PLANET X!

They then "cool us off" with a raging 11 minute Piper. Nothing you havent heard before but it keeps the energy going great.

And into a 16 minute Everythings Right we go. Treys voice is SHOT, holy crap. Thankfully it turns out to be a spectacular reading. Excellent robo funking slowly morphs into a terrific motif-lead finale section. Probably must hear - its fantastic!!!

Highly inspired encore of Strange Design, Hood and Suzy. All are good but Id call Hood must hear. A terrific slow burn reading just dripping and oozing with passion. The final build up jam feels particularly lengthy and the whole thing is just killer.

All in all, this was an AWESOME show!! Zero low points, for real. Wolf, Theme, LSG, Twist, ER and Hood were ALL must hear! They came out SWINGING and knocked it outta the park. And words cannot do justice to that Twist. That was a true mind melter evil noise jam if there ever was one.

Hell. Freaking. Yes. Lets go!