2025-07-15 Philadelphia, PA

 7 15 25 Philadelphia

Set 1

The show opens with a giant 11 minute Punch! They've been jamming it this year, but I think this is the longest version played to date, no?! Dude! Even better, they ACTUALLY jam this one! Not that they havent been jamming the others, but this one has 5 1/2 minutes of legitimate "actual" jamming, not just "playing around the intro" stuff. Out come the hazy synths like its 1999. Trey jumps on the robo wah for an extended lead section. They actually build the damn thing to a peak! Trey maks a loop of the peaked note and it sustains as he then leads them into the actual song. He then takes the pitch shifter and fades that loop down...dude, that was SICK!!! Jam chart this, NOW! The song itself sounds as good as any other version from this year, not much to say there. Must hear - this was AWESOME!!!!

They immediately follow that up, with a 16 minute Everythings Right. ER is SUPER laid back and chill tonight. Thankfully I wouldn't call it meandering though. They are just chilling in that low key zone. A very nice and relaxing rendition. It's not until the 12 minute Mark that's some real heat starts to build and they kind of rock it to a close. I can't call this must here but it's worth a listen.

A rare, and hot Camel Walk follows and keeps the show rollin nicely. Good stuff.

Theme is up next and, to me, it feels rather fresh coming earlier in the set like this. Standard reading, good stuff. Really powerful finale as always but nothing special overall.

Honestly, its a nice call going into Caspian after. It just....fits, imo. And its better than getting Caspian'd out of a blooming jam, haha. Caspian is basically the equivalent of Theme, except the peak finale absolutely explodes. It's actually took me by surprise a little bit. Honestly this is a light must hear, it just goes on and on and on in the best way!

They follow that with the inspired choice of Its Ice. Unfortunately this is a pretty lackluster version in my opinion. It's incredibly loose and the furthest thing from tight that I can imagine. No big flubs or anything but it's just.... Loose around the edges in the biggest way. Definitely the least great version I've heard in a long while, haha. If it was 2018, we'd be raving about this one, lol

A bog standard About to Run follows. Solid as ever but nothing that impressive.

Thankfully this bland set ends on a very high note with David Bowie. It feels rather lengthy, despite only being 12 minutes. For the first half you go oh no this is just going to be another boring regular version. But then in the back half The x Factor kicks in and they just rage it to the sky. Nothing you haven't heard before but it's an exceptional type 1 reading.

All in all, this set was like a solid B+. It started amazingly with Punch but quickly devolved into a set full of "standard average but good versions of a mostly bland selection of songs".

Punch is the only TRUE big boy must hear, but Bowie and Caspian are legit as hell. ER is worth a mention too. This set gets an "eh"/10 for me. 

 

Set 2

40 minute Sand opener, woohoo! Oh no, does that mean this is going to be one of those "blow your load early and then play catch up in the 4th quarter" kinda sets? Even worse - this might be the most disappointingly boring and non-clicking jam of all time!

It starts great - around 8 minutes, Trey latches on to one sustained note and the boys are off. Into melodic Bliss rock type 2 we go. But it's excellent melodic Bliss Rock! Nicely inspired playing, lots of loops and "substance", etc Great stuff! All the way at the 14 minute point after a peaky bit, the jam proceeds with the bliss rock, but instead also moves into a ridiculously meandering couple of minutes, reminiscent of that late teens portion of the Pittsburgh Mind. Nobody doing anything of note, Trey sounding lost for direction, the jam just floundering along completely lost for what to do. Finally around the 19 minute mark, they kind of start to connect back into a rockier zone. From there all the way to the 23 minute mark, they built the jam into a spectacular peak finale rage reminiscent of "insert favorite peak finale rage section". Awesome stuff and it feels like the jam ends appropriately around the 23 or 24 minute mark. They should have ended it here!!!!

Omfg the next 16 minutes or so are pure torture! From around the 25 minute mark to around the 29 minute mark, they start to go into robo space groove territory - FINALLY SOME DEVIATION!!! Just as unfortunately, it's very uninspired as well, nobody really jumping off the deep end and the playing rather restrained on the whole. Ugh. Even worse, around the 30-minute mark, they shift back into upbeat Bliss Rock. From there they spend the next seven or eight minutes just meandering and floundering along in the most boring and uninspired melodic Bliss Rock whatever the hell you want to call it hell I've ever heard. The gym ends with a nice peak around 38 minutes or so but it's not even that spectacular and when all is said and done it's WAY TOO LITTLE WAY TOO LATE . Every so often they would torture Us by teasing a brief moment of a different direction and then immediately falling back into boring meandering. UGH!!

F this jam. It is trash. This jam can suck a chode. Should ended it at either 14 minutes or 23 minutes ...

Lets hope this 19 minute (!!!) isnt trash as well... And its not! THANK GOD!

MyFe is must hear. A stellar reading full of extra pizazz. Fishman and Trey are going nuts screaming "MyFe!!!!" constantly, lol. The jam begins effing FILTHY MCNASTY. Holy moly is that some tasty jamming! The the next few minutes see them just going wild in the best way possible. Spectacular. Check out the Meowdulator SPAM at the 9:50 mark, lol. This goes until the 10 minute mark. Fishman switches us into a more shuffly kind of zone. From here out, unfortunately we move into major key Rock and rolling, so the funky strangeness is done, but that's okay because the playing is very tight and inspired all around. This is a killer reading that definitely deserves must hear status.

They keep the energy going nicely with standard but excellent type 1 readings of Boogie On and Blaze On.

The set concludes with, honestly, probably the strongest most ridiculous piece of music of the entire show! No, seriously. Carini is only 10 minutes, but it does in 10 minutes more than that version of Sand did in 40, basically. Absolutely UNHINGED, this version is a screaming spitting snarling black hole vortex of ridiculous x Factor magic nuclear bomb destruction. 10 times more EXTREME than your typical type 1 set closing Carini. X FACTOR! X FACTOR EVERYWHERE!!!! THIS CARINI IS ONE OF THE MOST MIND BLOWING THINGS IVE EVER HEARD IN MY LIFE, HOLY MOTHER OF SATANIC HELLFIRE FROM HADES. WHAT IN THE LOVE OF SATAN'S BUTTHOLE CAUSE THEM TO UNLEASH THIS MONSTER!!

5000/10 Carini. Full stop.

Highly inspired 4 song encore! Shade, I Didnt Know, Wilson and Possum! LETS GO!!
Man, we really needed that Shade, I tell you what...

All in all, this was easily the worst show of the tour after Columbus in my opinion. But thats just a testament to the strength of this band in 2025 that a show with THAT MyFe and Carini (I refuse to acknowledge that garbage dump Sand) can be called on the weaker side.

For set 2, MyFe and Carini are all you need. By 2025 standards, this show gets like a 3.7 from me. Or something. I dont know. This show wasnt amazing. Not horrible, but not great on the whole either.