Finally tackling my personal beasts after a week of joking rumination, haha
Onward in my molasses paced 2025 playthrough with 7/11/25 
So my appendix apparently had burst the night before. I was dying
in pain, on 3 hours of broken sleep, propped up ENTIRELY by
excitement/adrenaline and my trusty old Adderall. First show since
12/31/23 - god, time flies! 
I raged this show so friggin hard, went home and went in the hospital for a week, lol. Thats the context. 
I was delirious but I was there!
7 11 25 North Charleston
Set 1
As if by fate, the show opens with the Free opener I missed on 12/29/23
when my train was late to MSG. I remember thinking this felt just like
12/28/23 again. Probably just me being thirsty and delirious, but I
recall the energy being HIGH, especially among the room. Genuinely, it
just had that air of "tonight is GOING to be special". Phish came on and
it all went BOOM!
Free takes a minute to ease into things but quickly gains its usual
amount of heft. Some nice and chill funky interplay between Gordo and
Trey throughout, slowly ramping the heat up as it goes. Awesome section
where everyone syncs up on the "start stop" rhythm during the solo
section. All said, its an excellent opener. Nothing must hear but its
hot and was an amazing experience for me on a personal level. Who
doesn't love a Free opener?
And then Rift in the 2nd slot?! Hell yes!! I wasnt expecting to catch
another so soon. And man does it work great in that spot, keeping the
energy going from an opener. Its like it seals the deal that is going to
be a hot night. Rift is another excellent recent reading. It feels
slower than some others, but thats ok if it means it helps Trey nail it
better, ala Punch.
Following Rift, we get the 4th ever performance of Spanish Moon since its 2010 debut, the first since Chicago 2023. What did I do to deserve this?! It
took me a minute to realize what it was but the crowd seemed to pick it
up immediately. I remember thinking this absolutely wailed. Also, the
show had energy, but it feels like this is when the "warmup" is over and
they REALLY kick it into high gear. Spanish Moon is tight, hot and and
just nasty in the best way. Perfectly funking and rocking at the same
time. Trey just goes off on this bad boy, ripping it, with some great usage of feedback throughout. Definitely the first true must hear of the night!!!!
Up next is my 3rd Reba in 7 shows. Hows that for some modern Phish stats? 
Now
watch me not see a Reba again for 15 years, lol. Reba itself is NAILED,
played as perfectly as is possible in 2025. The solo takes forever to
get going, but when it finall clicks, BOOM its off to Magicville.
Another extraordinary Reba peak! I wouldnt call this must hear, but its
still a highlight.
Idk If I picked up on this in person or not, I don't recall, but
while the show does have a lot of energy, it also feels very
laaaaaaaiiiiiiiid back too, which is unique and unusual for a summer
2025 show. They are just chilling bro.
Following Reba we get the first Devotion to a Dream since 2016!!! Sure
it aint Colonel Forbin, but I also never thought Id get to see this
either! Another that took the crowd a minute to realize, lol. It was
supe tight and sounded GREAT!!! Zero reason this shouldnt be a first set
regular!!! Also, I cant believe im saying this, but this was easily the
hottest song if the set so far. It cooks! MUST HEAR!
Up next is a very rare 12 minute The Final Hurrah - another song I never thought id get to see! I was pretty much losing my mind at this point considering the setlist! The
Final Hurrah delivers a strong type 1 reading. It gets pretty chill and
then builds to a big rocking conclusion, unfortunately avoiding the
funky robot jamming I was hoping for, lol. I remember thinking at a
certain point they could have easily gone off into type 2 and delivered a
giant jam and then being disappointed when they didn't. This doesn't
come across on the recording at all but that's a stark memory that
sticks in my head.
Following the first My Mind since 2022 (good Lord save some bust out for
the other shows!!!), we get the next must hear of the night. Hey
Stranger is absolutely nuclear! It's not overly long tonight but they
drop the absolute Hammer with the sucker. Trey just destroys. I was
super excited to get this song as it's one of my favorites of the recent
bunch and I was bummed to not get it at the 2023 New Year's run. This
one is a definite must hear.
Around this point in the show, I recall realizing this was the
most bass-light heavy concert I had ever attended. The mix was terrific -
you could hear Cactus perfectly, but there was ZERO bass "oomph" at
all. It was incredibly weird to realize. It didn't bother me THAT much
as there is nothing worse than a concert where all you can hear is the
damn bass and drums at the expense of everything else, but I was
actually going "huh, that bass is REALLY thin!". Weird. I understand the
complaints now!!!
After a good but kind of average Taste, the set concludes with Walls of
the Cave. I was STOKED to finally get one! I didnt care if it was an
"average" reading or not. Hell yes, Walls closer, lets friggin go!
Thankfully, while not must hear, it does have genuine fire and heat and
they burn it down nicely. Killer.
All in all, im really surprised upon relisten - in person I was
absolutely BLOWN THE F AWAY by the set I had just seen. I went to set
break absolutely destroyed, genuinely thinking "there is no way set to
can top this".
Upon re listen, the set was way more laid back and chill then I recall
in person. I don't know if that's just the energy of the room not
translating to the recording or if that's just because I was hopped the f
up and totally delirious at the time, having the time of my life, lol
Musically, this set is carried very heavily by the multiple bust
outs and rare songs. Most of the songs sound excellent but there is very
little worth returning to in earnest. I would say Spanish Moon and Hey
Stranger are the must hear materials with special shoutouts to Reba and
Hurrah.
Honestly, from a "holy crap" standpoint compared to the rest of the
tour, this set gets like a B+ from me right now today. The setlist does a
TON of heavy lifting, imo. Absolutely nothing that is not played well or downright excellent, but
at the same time there is very little that is worth returning to after
the fact - in my opinion.
Set 2
Oh boy, here we go!
Fantastically, the second set opens with Slow Llama, and it's a terrific
reading, going hard in the robo funk and wall abuse just like I was
praying and hoping for in Final Hurrah. Probably must hear - its great
as always!! I was SUPER excited to get a Slow Llama - now ive seen both,
and in back to back shows!
Out of Llama comes the massive TITAN this show will forever be remembered for. I
absolutely lost my mind when Llama melted into Disease. The only other
version ive seen was the perfunctory "fakeout" version on 12/31/23 that
preceeded Gamehendge, and considering this was the 2nd song of set 2, I
KNEW this was going to be THE jam vehicle of the night!! BIG DISEASE
HERE WE GO!!
The slower tempo of the evening actually sounds great with Disease,
giving it a chunky quality reminiscent of the studio version. In person,
while thrilled to get the song and a ridiculously massive version (34
minutes - apparently it's officially the longest version ever played as
far as I can find!!!), the gym ends up being a pretty large nothing
Burger, which is a real bummer. It basically stays in super extended
type 1 the entire time, Trey trying at several points to lead them
elsewhere but Fishman just refusing to stop his ratat tat. I
swear, there was one hilarious part, where for about 2 minutes, Trey was
just glaring over at Fishman, practically BEGGING him to switch it up
and let them go deep, but Fishman had his eyes closed just ignoring him,
lol. Trey finally straight up just gave up and returned to blissful
high energy rocking. This jam though, it just goes and goes and
goes and goes some more, feeling like it peeks about 30 different times.
Every time I thought the jam had reached its conclusion, they kept
pushing through and kept on going! What the corn yo!? I will admit the
final peak is pretty damn amazing, well past the 20-minute mark I was
honestly just waiting for this jam to end. How much of that was my
weekend condition and how much of that was the jam itself, I'll let you
be the judge, lol. But I can honestly say this jam bored me - it felt
very disconnected and not like there
Ok my review above is a little harsh on that Disease. Here's a better breakdown.
I still think it has zero business being over 20 minutes or so. There really is barely anything happening at all until
after the 20 minute mark. Its straight up just kinda boring noodling
until then, failing to go in any meaningful direction.30 seconds of darkness, Sightless Escape teases there...oi vey. Eventually they switch on a dime back into a slower rocking zone. Im
assuming Trey was setting up a return back into Disease proper. THATS when the jam really takes off. Basically, just throw the first 15 minutes of the jam right in the trash. From here, it stays firmly in high energy melodic bliss rocking, but it
finally has some OOMPH about it, everyone locked in at last. Saying before that it felt like it had multiple peaks was the wrong
terminology - it felt like it had 40 different chances to deep and
litoff abd they just never did. It was weird. Anywho, somewhere around 26 or 27 minutes they start to build to proper
peakage and its off to the races and the rest is history. Trey peaking
us to heaven and the crowd erupting etc. I will admit, this final section was incredible to experience in person.
I sooooooooooo want to call this must hear. If it wasnt
so....undercooked, Id be raving. Because the final 10 minutes or so are
terrific straight up rocking.
was any magic going.
Twist and a still rare The Well (my 2nd!) keep the set going nicely.
Twist is actually worth a listen, kind of breaking down nicely into a
funky kind of stop start duel between Trey and Mike. I remember they
were right up in each other's faces grinning like idiots while playing
and it was so much fun. FANTASTIC! It never leaves type 1, but they sure explore it to its fullest. Its friggin LOADED with synths and wacky FX. Even Treys whammy pitch shifter makes a big appearance. Honestly, this should probably be jam charted if it isnt. Its SICK!
Thankfully the following 17 minute version of Sightless Escape was absolutely incredible. What the hell?! ANOTHER song I never thought I'd ever get to hear!! Only the fourth version ever played since it's 2019 debut and on top of that it's the longest version ever played by a decent margin. Holy crap this is amazing. Now THIS felt like the "X Factor Magic" was in FULL FORCE!!! They were just locked in together flowing through this sucker like a wave of awesomeness, basically keeping it in one zone, but digging into that one's own so fantastically well I was just losing it.
Sightless does its type 1 thing for a good while. Eventually something
shifts and they all start this new rhythm. It stays "on the ground", but
they officially take that turn into "we are taking this baby for a damn
ride" territory. Riding hard in that type 1.5 kinda zone, never leaving earth but also
straying far from the source, slowly effects and things start to creep
in. Very slowly they just keep going and going until the eventual
peakage. I really don't know how to explain what I'm talking
about, but I swear in person at least, I could feel a MASSIVE difference
between this and the Disease. This jam felt....flowing and organically
and always on the move with purpose. Hot damn. This had to be the most
unexpected thing I've ever experienced in the seven shows I've attended -
freaking SIGHTLESS ESCAPE being the damn jam winner of a show. Who
would think....
Even better, as the song reaches its conclusion, Trey correctly reads
the room and rips us right into Chalkdust!!! And shocked us was FANTASTIC!!! Maybe
not the most insane or crazy version of all time, but sometimes a super
well-placed, high energy type 1 reading it's just as effective as some
kind of giant type 2 multi beast. This Chalkdust felt like the perfect
peak conclusion of that Sightless Escape jam. For like the 15th time
this night I absolutely lost my mind. I saw an amazing type 2 robo jam
space freak out version on 12/29/23, but this was my first regular melt
your face type Chalkdust that Id always been pining for.
In one of the best "totally unexpected" moments ever, the jam seems to naturally "stumble" into the intro to Chalkdust This had to be unplanned because even the band (particularly Fishman, lol) seem caught off guard, haha
I mean, you have zero inkling or realization and then BAM you're in Chalkdust like "hold on, wtf. Huh?! OK! " That segue truly comes out of god damn nowhere and it was so friggin magical to experience in person. This is why we Phish, y'all. And then Chalkdust throws down the gauntlet, snappy, energetic and to
the POINT, they absolutely razed the coliseum, Trey's solo screaming from the sky like a crashing Kamikaze plane. And its over just as it began but the damage is done, and it was
massive. Proceed directly to the burn unit, you've got a 3rd degree ...
Honestly, I wish the set ended right there. It FELT like that was the
set closer and should have been. It would have been absolutely perfect.
They kept going with a fun Suzy Greenberg, but it honestly felt like one
song too many, as if they had just over shot the mark or something like
that.
By this time my Adderall was really beginning to wear off and I was
starting to feel the pain again in a big way. The first encore was
Circus, apparently with the biggest gap ever at 54 shows. Man this was
NOT well I needed to keep me going. Circus was pure agony for me,
waiting to get through it to see what the next encore was before I could
make the choice to run for the car and get home. Thankfully, First Tube
was the set closer. It sucked having to run out on it and it absolutely
wailed, but I got out and watched the first half from the stairwell
before running to my car to beat the traffic out of the arena parking
lot. Worth it.
All in all, this was a mind-blowing show to experience in person. I
am so unbelievably blessed to have seen it and despite it hurting
beyond belief that I had to miss the following two nights, I don't feel
bad in any way shape or form that this was the show that I got.
Multiple bust outs, the longest ever version of an absolute classic song, what the hell else could I want?!?!
I'd say the 4.3 rating is pretty accurate, my opinions today are
probably just colored because of my in-person experience. Because I
really thought this was a way better show than it came off to me while
listening to it today.
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