7 20 25 Chicago
Set 1
The set opens with the excellent triple thread combo of Cars, Bag and
Funky B. Not much to say - the energy is high and these are excellently
energetic type 1 readings. But also they are nothing particularly
amazing or noteworthy either.
And thats fine! Good stuff! 
A nicely placed Alaska gives the set some nice flow, bringing in the
groove and letting us get on down, if you will. Ever the stomper
(whoulda thought?), its another hot version as expected. Again, good
stuff!
The setlist finally start starts getting interesting with Mikes Song,
unfortunately another shorter version (cmon you heathens, jam it out!!).
Thankfully this one is excellent. Its friggin bumpin' from the get go. I mean, its nothing unique, but its always awesome to just dive into some Mike's funk, eh? 
Maybe its just me, but I swear this one is REALLY cookin tonight!
Honestly, despite the shorter length, totally check this one out. It
just kills! Must hear? Honestly? Maybe.
Averting Hydro-like expectations, we the continue on into Reba. The
composed section is strong if not perfect, but you are here for the
solo. It absolutely EXPLODES!! Must hear just for the solo, some definite magic on this, imo!!
Keeping the flow going nicely we get a slowly-becoming-less-rare Leaves.
TERRIFIC version, with a gnarly, ripping solo from Trey. A+ version,
imo. Definitely must hear.
The set ends on an energetic note with the combo of Taste into Izabella!
Taste is supremely average if still very energetic, but Izabella
absolutely burns down the effing building as expected. Terrific reading
and definitely must hear.
All in all, this was a bit of an interesting set. The whole thing
was base level average excellent, and there were very few true standout
moments, but also nothing at all that disappoints. Mike's>Horn is a "small" must hear, but Reba and Leaves and Izabella are all killer.
Not every set or show needs to be an a+ all-timer to be great. Sometimes just fine is, well, just fine indeed!
Set 2
Set begins with an 11 minute Jibboo. Im a big Jibboo guy but I didn't
really care for this version and didn't think it worked as a set opener.
Even though it has a legitimate whale siren like its 2000, that's not
enough to save it from feeling like a slightly meandering and
non-delivering version. It's not bad or anything like that it's just not
incredible. The soloing has an interestingly grimy kind of feel about
it that is kind of unique but on the whole this isn't anything you need
to rush out and hear.
Much better is the following 19 minute Fuego!! Tight and solid, smack at
the 10 minute mark it goes proper type 2. Initially the jam just takes
on a heavier more kind of stompy and darker groove type of feel. Very hypnotic, if
you will. But after a few minutes Fishman starts playing with the beat
changing it to a more up-tempo feel. It's a really weird section in a
great way. Slowly it becomes more ethereal and blissful, with lots of
backwards loops and chirpy playing . Total deviation! Welcome to the psychedelic soup kitchen. Somewhere
around 14 minutes it really feels like Trey is trying to set up
Izabella once again! The jam is becoming more rocking by the second. Now this is what I'm talking about! Give us that x Factor come on boys! Trey jumps on the wah and the jam takes on a more straightforward HEAVY rocking feel, loopers still going in the background. This
is like a 10 ton boulder of awesomeness just pummeling you into the
pavement. Hot damn this is SICK!!!!! This is just FILTHY!!!! At
1845 this incredible jam winds to a close with Page STRAIGHT UP playing
Izabella, lol. But Trey doesnt take the bait....wtf Trey.... 
Either way, a genuinely KILLER jam!!! Must hear, of course!
And outta nowhere, the most hilariously and unexpectedly placed Sparkle follows. Fun as ever. 
Somehow, it doesnt feel out of place and works great as a fun little interlude before the next round of world destruction.
The 27 minute duo of Scents>Twist present one of the finest jam
sequences of a year absolutely bursting with all timer and GOAT
contenders. Scents is 14 minutes of flowing perfection. The song begins
with a wonky intro out of Sparkle (in a good way!), the jam slowly
evolving out of type 1 into this really sick and ethereal kind of upbeat
bliss undercut with Pages flowing synthesizers. Its a gooey "ocean in
the sky" scenario. Totally sick. It slowly morphs again back into a much
more slow and deliberately hard rocking STOMP of a jam. Absolutely
raging with WEIGHT. They easily could have morphed back into Izabella
during this section.
Aside from the awkward sudden ending ripcord out of the jam into Twist, its just incredible for a modern Scents. Must hear, duh!
And then comes Twist. Holy mother of "where in the F did this come from, how did we get here?!" Get
your space suits on because it's time to fly to the outer regions of
the universe!!! This jam is, simply put, a damn masterpiece. Honestly, I
think it tops the mind-blowing adventure from Manchester back at the
start of the tour, and it's probably even crazier than the GOAT of
3.0/4.0 reading from Hollywood on 4/27. THIS IS WHAT X FACTOR
MAGIC LOOKS LIKE ON FULL THROTTLE BOYS AND GIRLS. MY JAW WAS FIRMLY
PLANTED ON THE FLOOR. WHERE IN THE HELL DID THIS COME FROM?!?!
After a standard but very nicely played version of The Lizards comes
Shine a Light and KDF to finish the set. Continuing the stellar flow of
the show, Shine is a wonderful choice for this spot! And and honestly,
Shine is must hear, imo. It's just an a+ perfectly played perfectly
enthusiastic version loaded with extra heart and soul. And it's one of
my least favorite songs that I would much rather hear anything else of
in the setlist so that's saying a lot for me to say that
Twist begins with very inspires type 1 as usual. Right around 5 minutes,
the bottom totally drops out. They rebuild it into blissful, rhythmic
type 2. Page on the wah-wah-wah synths, Trey doing chirpy melodic work.
The beat begins to stutter and go awry. Quickly things start getting
strange!!! We shift into some kind of abstract heavenly bliss jamming. Extremely "soundscapey", if you will. Super textural in the best way. Like a warm, comfy quilt on a cold winters night. The
pulsing synths continue in the backdrop while Trey and the boys just
build this majestic, ethereal, cloud of bliss atop the bedrock of ooze.
By 9 minutes we are in full blown, 1999 style POWER HAZE!!!! This
jam is just soaring! Slowly and beautifully, second by second, everyone
locked in tighter than Fort Knox. Somewhere around 10 minutes, the jam
finds itself evolving into a massive slow burn, explosive peak straight from X FACTOR MAGIC HEAVEN!!! HOLY BANANABALLZ LETS FREAKING GO!! ANYONE GOT A PARACHUTE?! WE ARE SOARING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my sweet mercy this is one of the most mindblowing, earth shattering, soul crushing finales ever. My god.
And with that, a new Twist legend was born......
After a nicely played version of The Lizards comes a terrific reading of
Shine a Light. This is personally one of my least favorite songs ever
that I hope to never get in a setlist, so take me seriously when I say
this is a terrific reading. Just perfection from start to finish. I'm
calling this must here it's so stupidly good.
The set concludes with KDF. At first it's surprisingly chill, but
thankfully in the back half it delivers the screaming peak you expect
and closes the set on a great note.
Terrific encore of Fee, Paug and SANTOS. Fee is excellent and terrific
to hear as always, but the real winner here is the Weekapaug we were
shortchanged in set one. Small must hear on this one, it's just another
type 1 reading but it's REALLY, REALLY good one!!!
After that Paug, SANTOS almost feels unnecessary but still is a welcome show closer as usual.
All in all, wow this set killed!!! Set one was pretty good overall
with little that was most hear, but set two definitely brought the
goods and then some!! Fuego and Scents were TERRIFIC reading, but that Twist reaches genuine
all timer status imo. I don't know how anyone could hear that and not be
blown away. Holy moly. So grab those as well as Shine and Paug.
On the whole, I thought set one was a solid 3.7 or 3.8 level set, while
set 2 was like a 4.3ish level set imo. So it evens out nicely to the 4.3
rating over on .NET
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