2026-01-31 Riviera Maya, MX

 1 31 26 Mexico

Set 1

The final night of Mexico opens on an inspired note with the really creative trio of Mike's>Halley>Paug!! Sick. I wouldn't call the trio must hear but it's definitely worthy of the general highlight reel. The playing is strong overall and the band themselves are absolutely pummeling it but Trey is letting it all down by delivering the most average warming up kind of soloing ever. Nothing bad or offensive but nothing great either. Halley's is strong but has absolutely no jam and we are taken completely by surprise by Trey leading us immediately into Weekapaug perfectly. And as with Mike's it's a fine version that doesn't blow down the house but still delivers nice and fluid soloing free of sticky fingers.

Julius is up next and delivers a strong type 1 reading that sees the energy get notched up from the opening trio. It's nothing must hear and has a big near train wreck early on when Trey tries to go into the chorus an entire verse too early. Regardless it is still a very nice type 1 reading with generally excellent soloing from Trey although not spectacular.

Then holy moly freaking crap out of nowhere X Factor strikes and we get the longest yet version of my friend my friend to date as far as I remember. Clocking in at a massive 24 minutes it's a terrific jam overall though kind of lacking X Factor. It's really hard to explain. It puts the Carini from night three completely to shame and it's not even funny. This is definitely must hear, though again let down by Trey's mostly average soloing. You know the jam is going to be a good one though when it begins with Trey hitting a high note and looping it so that you have a sustained note piercing through the landscape for what seems like forever. The type one goes nicely though not spectacularly until about the 12 minute mark. It sounds like the jam is winding down but thankfully they push through it and for about 2 minutes while meandering to figure out direction. At the 14 minute mark the synthesizers come out to play and Trey steps on the wah pedal giving us a solid 3 minutes of heavy power rocking. This is where the jam really clicks and starts to take off truly. Rocking the F out they take this all the way to the 17 minute mark when it starts to shift again, this time into a hazy upbeat kind of bliss rocking reminiscent of some 1999 era Phish This goes until about the 21 minute mark and it's terrific, them just building it up and up and up. Around the 21 minute mark X Factor strikes and Trey begins a circular guitar lick which leads to a terrific extended peak section ala the Pelham 2021 Carini. Absolutely fantastic. And from there it comes to a close. Must hear!! This was killer!! Cohesive and never meandering. Though its not universe destroying, its absolutely worth your time and up there in the pantheon of great MyFe's.

A hard rocking yet unspectacular reading of Mull is next. It is good and hard rocking yet slightly let down by once again not really jamming properly.

A rare Vultures is next and continues the slight downward trend. The song itself is very tight musically but Trey loses all of his umph and delivers pretty weak soloing.

The penultimate song of the set is a searing version of 2001. I don't know what I like so much about it but it just has this power to it that I can't explain. It's not particularly anything special but they just click and deliver a perfect type 1 reading. I'm putting this in the must hear category.

The set closes exactly how you'd expect a set like this to close - with a SOLID yet unspectacular reading of Drift. It's good stuff and fits perfectly emotionally and delivers though nothing you need to run out and hear.

All in all this set was a bit odd. The Mikes Groove is basically strong though not barn burning and I would give it a light, light must hear. Basically the same is said about 2001 except that has a lot more power behind it.

The main takeaway is of course the 25 minute MyFe. It seems to lack that certain special "spark" - it is excellent but it just has this... ordinary vibe about it that's hard to explain. Still definitely one of the best jams of recent times!!

The rest of the set is the most ridiculously SOLIDLY AVERAGE, GOOD AND ENJOYABLE BUT NOT STANDOUT said I've ever heard. Trey in particular is playing well but there's almost no fire throughout the set from him and that holds back much of the material.

A hard set to judge, if we didnt have the MyFe I'd rate it like a B+ at best. But an enjoyable B+! 

Set 2

Set two opens on the most ridiculous note ever with the longest ASIHTOS ever. 40 damn minutes. 40 minutes. Yes, 40 MINUTES. Now this one has the X Factor. creatively it doesn't really succeed in my opinion, but they go for it hard and it absolutely delivers regardless. The main problem is that it is very boring musically for the most part. The energy and sheer excitement of a jam this large negates that thankfully but the one note color of 80% of the jam can't be ignored. 

                That out of the way, they jump into the regular, unwanted type 1 upbeat Bliss rocking right away. Bummer. Thankfully though it's loaded with power and the boys are absolutely rocking the F out. Unfortunately, and its a MAJOR unfortunately, this goes ALL THE WAY TO THE DAMN 22 MINUTE MARK. Bruh, come on now. We can do better than that. And I say that because the type 1 Bliss rocking was excellent overall but was never really anything that spectacular so there really was absolutely no reason for it to last that effing long. It was just egregious. 

                       Enjoyable but you could absolutely cut a solid 10 minutes out and detract nothing from the quality of the jam. THANK GOD, at the 22 minute Mark they finally shift gears and we enter an absolutely kick ass hardcore robot funk zone. And thank God again, they stay in it nice and long all the way to the 33 minute mark. They never deviate during that 11 minutes but who cares because that is 11 minutes of far more preferable music than the first 15 or so we had to get through to arrive there. This section kicks absolute ass and thank the Lord in heaven above that they revel in it so long. 

                   Around the 33 minute Mark they shift out again and back into type 1 rocking or whatever you want to call it. They spend the next five or six minutes building up and up and up just rocking it the F out and bringing it to a successful close. The final minute sees them swirling down into a vortex but unfortunately it's not to be and they kill it...

THANKFULLY, they quickly make up for it with a 19 minute Sea of Stars. And by golly what a version it is holy crap! Isn't this the longest one since Camden 2019? I forget somebody - please correct me on that. This one is absolutely bonkers and easily the most adventurous piece of music of the night so far. The magic is flowing. BIG TIME. 

                       They do the expected sea of stars thing all the way to the 11 minute mark, slowly deconstructing into a Grateful Dead type meltdown. Everybody locked in hard and the playing super inspired. They are deconstructing it yet not allowing it to fall apart. This is freaking amazing, this version KILLS. And it only gets better!!!! 

                     Around the 11 minute mark the jam starts to take on a dark tone and turns into a heavy rocking, messy storm of chaos. Trey sets a squeaking feedback note on repeat and they just lay into this sucker hard. Listen to Fishman just MURDERING his poor kit!!! They spend several minutes in this glorious meltdown Zone, refusing to let it die. 

                         Somehow they magically bring it back together perfectly and move out of the deconstruction into a general dark and driving, power rocking zone. Fishman is still going nuts, smashing the living daylights out of his kit, good lord!!! Page is on the piano and Trey is slowly building his soloing bit by bit, though he does start the sound slightly uninspired after a certain point. Who cares though, this sucker is a MONSTER! Just Godzilla, stomping all over Tokyo, leaving nothing but ruin in its wake. You have to hear this, it is incredible. They just lay into that heavy darkness and jam it slow and doom-like. And it's absolutely glorious. Must hear. Must hear at all costs.

And when they reach the point where things are getting so crazy that you're actually beginning to hope for a repreve from the madness, they on a dime somehow execute a flawless segue into the most welcome Meatstick ever, and a lengthy 9 minute version at that. No, seriously, why did that work so well?! It flowed like dripping butter! 

                      Trey's less fiery soloing tonight actually lends itself to this version of the song really really well. It almost sounds like if the Grateful Dead played Meatstick, haha. Picture Jerry Garcia instead of Trey on this. Seriously. Fishman is doing great work accenting it all with some nice cowbell and locked in snare hitting. And Treys solo is just delightfully patient and smooth. 

                    This is excellent - I'm giving this a must hear if tacked on to the prior hour of the show. In the context of the show it's absolutely perfect. Even better, it basically goes type 2 for two minutes at the end. Well, type 1.5 or whatever. They move into this hazy Zone where they start doing this swirling kind of circular playing. Fishman starts playing around with his beats and the whole thing is just turning into this cloud of blissful euphoria. One of the finest endings to the song ever. These last 2 minutes are just magic.

Following that we get a 13 minute golden age and it actually feels perfectly placed as a pick-me-up tonight instead of something where you're groaning that they're playing it again. And it's an absolutely exceptional version, Trey sounding more alive and is playing than he has all night, just ripping it up at last. It even goes type 2 halfway through into a fantastic dark robo Jam that lasts a good long while. Just as you think they're going to take it super deep they end it and move into Slave. Yo, must hear. All day. You need this. This RULES!!!

The set finally comes to a close with Slave. And thankfully it keeps up the high quality of the set. It takes a good long while to get going and you think it's going to end up being one of those boring average versions. Thankfully in the final few minutes it positively EXPLODES into an absolutely magical finale. A+. I'm calling this must hear

The encore consists of a raging Loving Cup into an excellent, though not must hear Hood. Great stuff.

All in all, I think when all is said and done this wound up being the best second set of the four nights from start to finish. It's not perfect but my issues are nitpicky. Basically ocean all the way through golden age is straight up must hear material.

This Mexico run I definitely feel was inferior to the last two but it was still great overall. The nightmare of 2022 it was not. And the major highlights were absolutely MAJOR!