12/30/25 New York
Set 1
The show opens with a sick Chalkdust>Moma>Chalkdust sandwich. Heck
yes, lets go! Chalkdust is speedy and energetic but not a nuclear
version. A nice "ease into the show" reading. Good stuff! Very chirpy
kind of version. Awesomely, the song actually kinda goes type 2
eventually, going into this ULTRA FUNKY zone for a glorious minute
before working back out into Chalkdust briefly and segueing into Moma. Yo, that was awesome - shame they cut that jam short!!
Nothing like red hot type 1 Moma Dance. Nothing you havent heard before but theres a reason its often in this slot - it just works! And this one is super high energy. Listen to Fishman going crazy! And holy smokes listen to Trey just go OFF!!! And then outta NOWHERE, with an obviously planned segue, they launch back into Chalkdust like you hit skip on a cd player. Yo that transition was amazing!! And then they just rip that final section of Chalkdust to a close....
Hot damn, this is why we Phish. What an opening!!!! Dang, son.....
And into BOTT we go. Uptempo and just full of energy. It's an excellent
reading for sure. Borderline must hear by the same time nothing you
haven't heard before. Still this is a terrific reading regardless.
Following a nuclear version of Axilla, we get a strong reading of
Divided Sky. Nothing essential but Trey is having a great night with his
sustain and there are no major flubs anywhere. Good stuff.
Blaze On is the equivalent of back on the train tonight. No real jamming
just an absolutely blazing type 1 reading. Not much here but definitely
take note of it.
A very nice Tube follows. I would call this a light must here. It's not
very long but feels longer than it is and has a really nice jam to it.
Nothing all that unexpected it's just really really good. Unfortunately
the same cannot be said for Reba.
Yuck this is the worst version I've heard in a long time!
The main portion of the song sounds fine but Trey completely butchers
the difficult section in a couple major spots. Guess he was just on
another planet or something because this is a bad reading of it flat
out. The solo is nice enough and delivers the heat but doesn't reach
magical levels and feels like it is cut too short.
The set concludes on a massive note with maybe the biggest highlight of
the entire set. A 14 minute Melt from hell closes it out in wonderful
dying robot Droid fashion. It's hard to judge and compare all these kind
of Melts because they always deconstruct themselves into Oblivion but
this one feels extra special in that regard similar to the 7/27/23
reading. They melt it down and deconstruct it into bleep bloop land and
then just keep on going and going and going for like five or six solid
minutes of glorious deconstruction. Some X Factor on this I would
definitely call it must hear!!!!
All in all this was a bit of an average set but in an okay way. The only
lousy thing here was Reba. Everything else was average excellent for
the most part but the opening chalk dust sandwich and the closing melt
were truly must here. Give special notice to tube as well and train and
Blaze are worthy of a listen to. A very enjoyable set but definitely not
a particularly strong one on the whole despite me saying that it's
good. As far as an average set goes this is about as good as that gets.
I'm not making any sense and don't know how to explain what I'm saying
lol
Also, I kept forgetting to mention but Fishman is THE MVP of this set!!
Hes ON in a way i havent heard in a while! Just all kinds of unique
fills and inspired playing all over the damn place. He basically takes
charge and steers th band it feels like!!
Set 2
A 16 minute ghost open set two. And holy crap what a ghost it is. The
song itself sounds excellent and you know we're in for some good stuff
when it immediately drops into dark and watery kind of melodic jamland,
like the start of wave of Hope from the night before.
This is very nice and promising and goes for a bit but unfortunately
reaches meandering territory, Trey sounding unsure what to do or what
direction he wants to go with the jam. Finally after a long stretch of
this when you think the jam is going to dissolve into mediocrity, they
all link up in the jam takes to the Moon. From here it basically goes 10
different variations of nuclear bomb. First it goes into upbeat melodic
Bliss rocking with extreme energy and enthusiasm. Then it morphs into
that Isabella style kind of hendrixie watt infused HEAVY power rocking.
Pure fire out the ass. YOUR HEAD WILL BE BANGING!!!
The final section sees the jam continue to keep its energy until it's
conclusion but Fishman changes up the beat into a more shuffling kind of
whatever Groove and Page jumps onto the watery keys. It turns into this
heavy kind of tropical Rock thing similar to the Tweezer (or is it
Free?) from Portland 1998. And they ride that baby to a close segwaying
into a 15 minute Ruby waves.
YO HOT DAMN THAT WAS MUST HEAR X FACTOR MAGIC ON THAT SUCKER FOR SURE!!!.
The X Factor continues with the next three selections!!! Ruby Waves
sounds great, the jam beginning - as everything does these days - with
some watery melodic noodling. Eventually Trey starts chording and giving
it some darker energy. Late night vibes. He sets a background loop and
starts to do this motif before properly kicking it up and soloing for
real. Page jumps on the synths and ITS FRIGGIN ON, SUCKER!!!
We are just in a WASH of synths!! The jam shifts major key starts ti
get kinda ethereal, Trey bliss soloing ti the sky. All the while, Page
is absolutely ABUSING his dang synths!! SYNTH HELL. Its pretty
incredible - Trey just soloing away while these crazy synths squeal away
underneath. And all if this happens by the 10 minute mark!!!!
Eventually Trey returns to chording leaving OG Synth Master McConnell to
take center stage with the aforementioned synths. Things quickly quiet
down and the beat goes to a half time/slower kind of rhythm. Fishman
accenting Trey with his snare hits. After a bit, it morphs into this
kind hazy yet tropical, starting-to-rock-hard zone. Trey starts riffing
it up and the energy is back to red hot levels of intense. We are GROOVIN baby!!! In the last minute, Trey jumps on the wah Page does sick synth washs beneath. Trey lets it rip and this jam is just CRUSHING!!!
YO MUST HEAR ALERT!!! THST WAS FRIGGIN AWESOME!!!! It was lime a giant 25 minute jam condensdd or something!!
Faking out Fishman from his return to Ruby Waves drum roll, Trey yanks them into a 14 minute Light.....
So this 14 minute Light...hot damn what a version. Best, most jammed version since.... when?? I cant think of the last one this deep. Right
away, the jam begins with Trey and Page just locked in together TIGHT,
playing off each other completely. Fishman has a cool tropical rhythm
going again and the jam shifts into this sick kind of beachy rhythm.
Listen to Gordo going nuts beneath all this. This then slowly quiets
down, Fishman keeping the pounding rhythm going, Trey and Page taking us
to Late Night ville. God, this is SICK. There is so much
going on and so quickly! Constantly evolving in the best way. They stay
in this jazzy tropical zone for a long time, Trey picking out an
exquisite solo. X factor. X factor galore. This is AWESOME!!! Very
slowly, at the perfect pace, they work out and up into more rocking
territory. Very powerful, Fishman answering Trey and Pages every move. Jeez they are SO locked the F in!!! THIS IS FRICKING FANTASTIC!!!! And then they just ride this to a close, PERFECTLY returning to Light proper and sending us on our way.
Holy sweet jeezus what a great jam. Dang .... .
GET YOUR RADIATION SUITS ON BECAUSE WE'RE ABOUT TO GO NUCLEAR BOYS AND GIRLS!!! A 14 minute cross-eyed follows and holy freaking moly crap on a cracker this is one of THOSE. Versions. You know the universe destroying kind. Right from the outset just everything is so effing EXTRA
about in a way I can't explain unless you've heard it. The jam
absolutely rips and snarls and annihilates everything in sight until
around the 7 or 8 minute mark. At that point it shifts on a dime and the
jam shoots skyward, taking on an ethereal kind of hazy late '90s vibe.
Explore this wonderful area for several minutes of awesomeness before
coming back down and ripping us out to a close. Mexico and Boulder have just added a 3rd to their wolfpack of all timer renditions. Jeez louise .....
Following cross-eyed we get an 8 minute bridge the gap version of Twist.
Type 1, but it's again up-tempo and absolutely loaded with energy Trey
absolutely laying waste. Good enough for me to call must hear!!!
After Twist, Cavern ends the set before a nice encore of First Tube into
a rare Drift While Youre Sleeping. Honestly I love Drift in this spot
and always think it works best as a set closer, maybe show closer as in
tonight's case. It sounds well rehearsed and pretty tight aside from a
couple loose moments from Trey and it definitely delivers the goods as
it should. Nothing much here but it's a perfect emotional capstone to
this nuclear bomb set.
All in all, HOLY CRAP WHAT WAS THIS SET AND WHERE DID IT COME FROM!!!!
Easily, EASILY, the best set of the six played so far and it's like not
even close. The entire run of ghost through twist is 100% must hear.
Pretty much everything went deep and was tight energetic and excellent
on the whole
Ghost, Ruby, Light, Crosseyed and Twist - A++++++++
Nuff said.
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