2012-08-28 St. Louis, MO

 Xmas Eve listening!

Onwards to Dick's 2012 (in 2 more shows )

Up next:

8/28/12 St. Louis

On paper, the setlist is absolutely STACKED. Song wise, it doesn't get that much better than this. Song length-wise, most everything is pretty short, but of course that doesn't mean much as the .NET rating is almost a 4.5 for this show, so obviously good things were goin' down!!!!

Set 1:

Punch You In the Eye - As always, my favorite Phish opener. Always great to hear. Nearly flubless except for Fishman losing his place and forgetting when to change beats at one part, but the train does not derail and all is good. Not really noteworthy, but terrific to get as always.

Runaway Jim - Extra mustard on this one! Gordo gets lots of time to shine in particular! A perfect one-two punch!! The guys are firing on all cylinders and this version brings the friggin' heat! EVERYONE is slaying!!! Get it Trey! He's just tearing the place to shreds near the end. Fantastic Jim!!!

Ocelot - From the opening beats you can tell this one is gonna be "extra". Love the way they just slide on into it. Extra slow tempo today, really digging into the beats on this one. Absolutely terrific slow-build Ocelot. Page is doing lots of tasty vamping in the background while Trey slooowwwlllyyy takes his time and builds the heat. Fishman and Gordo get in on the action and you can practically hear the oven knob being turned one click hotter every minute. A classic 1.0-style jam where they take their friggin' time and it's glorious. They are relishing in this Ocelot. DON'T SKIP ON THIS OCELOT. IT IS A+!!!!

Reba - The song portion has no screwups. Page is perfect as always but Trey sounds rusty (though he makes it through!). Pretty great soloing as usual. I'm ranking Page the MVP of this one though - I can honestly say I think his playing behind Trey was almost better than what Trey was doing. Great little Reba! It's nothing special and really not highlight-worthy, but it's still pretty good. It's just nothing special. And when "nothing special" is this, sometimes that A-ok!

I Didn't Know - Rarity and hijinks factor makes this list-worthy Fun as always with a vacuum solo as expected.

The Curtain - Awesome set placement! Believe it or not, it worked perfectly as the "pick me up" to follow IDK. Tons of energy, the guys sound like they are having a blast. IT CAME FROM THE BABY'S MOUTH!!!! I mean, there feels like extra oomph to this one, like they were really jonesing to play it and practiced it up. Really great version!!!

>Peaches En Regalia - A for effort. Everyone kills it except for Trey, who, LITERALLY kills it, butchering the whole thing. Nerves? Lack of practice?

>Mound - Talk about a trio of tunes! Great version. Played great. Does its thing.

Sample In a Jar - Super heat! Super fire! Burnin' down the house! DESTROYS!!!

The Sloth - Is Sloth. Kills.

Camel Walk - Absolutely killer! Maybe the best thing in the set so far! FANTASTIC!!

Possum - SLAYS

Mighty Quinn - ABSOLUTELY SLAYS!


What a BALLS-TO-THE-WALL banger of a set!!!! There wasn't much that was particularly "special", but everything was hotter than the sun and played with so much raging energy. Killer headbanger-style set!!!

 

 Set 2

Chalkdust Torture - Absolutely slays (word of the day!). 1.0-worthy version. BUSTS THE FREAKIN DOORS DOWN!!! STRAIGHT FIRE!!! Around 8 minutes it dissolves into some jazzy Type II ambient jamming for a minute. Knowing the setlist, you can hear the Frankie Says coming a mile away....

>Frankie Says - First one since 2010. Around 4 minutes, the mood shifts and we go Type II again. A small rock vibe is building. Think 12/6/97 kinda vibes, if that makes any sense. Funky but rocking. Woodblock. Page using wah pedal (right?). Cactus taking a lead. Awesome as hell. And Trey sees the opportunity to lead us perfectly into...

Undermind - NOW THAT'S A SEGUE, BOYS AND GIRLS! Normally I'd complain about that Frankie jam being nerfed, but Trey saw his perfect transition point and took the shot...and scored! Great segue!!! Of course this is a friggin' party and I'm sure everyone was dancing their tales off. Page kills it with a lot of sick organ soloing. Awesome part at 4:15 where Gordo kicks in his effects, and he Trey and Page all sync up perfectly for the next minute. Terrific jam "moment". Cactus is absolutely KILLING it on this!!! The song "winds down" for the final minute with some cool repeating effects from Trey and everyone slowly shifting gears into....

>Sand - WHAT IT THE MOTHER OF HELL WAS THAT PERFECT SEGUE! THAT WAS PLANNED! THAT WAS FRIGGIN PLANNED! YOU DONT JUST SEGUE LIKE THAT. A+++++++++++++++++++ SEGUE!!!! And on top of it, this Sand itself is exceptionally good. I know I say that about everyone, but damn, is Sand ever NOT freaking great?! This one sees exceptional funkiness from EVERYONE, with Page again maybe being the MVP of it all. Trey is "honking" it up fantastically and Fishman is just annihilating his kit doing his best Neil Peart "Tom Sawyer" fills all over the place. ABSOLUTELY FILTHY AND DISGUSTING AND PEAKING FOR AGES!!!!! JESUS EFFING CHRIST THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST SAND'S EVER!!!!!!! FULL THROTTLE TO THE HILT!!!!!!!! 100/10 Sand. DO NOT SKIP THIS SAND IT IS THE BEES FRIGGIN KNEES!!!!

>Walk Away - After they return to the Sand theme, Trey signals them quickly and the boys are obviously listening as they launch right into WA without any hesitation at all. And it kills as you would expect.

Limb By Limb - Terrifically awesome. Magical! Around 5:30 the jam proper begins and we get some darkness creeping in and out of the music. The boys can't decide whether to commit or not and toe the line between Type I and II for a while. Page is doing lovely things on the piano, but Trey is blasting that wah. Fishman is messing around, dropping in and out (lots of cymbal washing). The jam comes to a transition at 7 minutes when Trey introduces a Hendrix-esqu motif and the boys start riffing on it. A jazzily-uptempo kind of funky jam emerges. Everyone is "vamping" kinda trying to figure out where they want to go. Around 8 minutes things seem to coalesce better and Trey goes for some proper leads. This leads to a couple minutes of THE HOTTEST FRIGGIN ROCK AND ROLL PEAKING THIS SIDE OF 12/6/97!!!! ROCK AND ROLL EXPLOSION!! HOLY FREAKING CRAP EVERYONE IS DESTROYING WORLDS!!! MY FACE IS MORE MELTED THAN PIZZA THE HUT'S!!!!!

>Julius - Red hot. Has a great relaxed vibe like Ocelot did. Extra "jazzy" tonight, I guess. Or something like that. Rages hard. Cool outro with another, I'm assuming, planned segue into...

>2001 - RAGES! LETS GO! LETS PARTY!

You Enjoy Myself - Well, damn, talk about a way to cap off a set!! The composed section is performed top notch, with gusto! Terrific reading of the song itself. Running out of things to say, the first 15 minutes of this is A++++++ You Enjoy Myself in every way. The playing, the energy, the BASS SOLOING! IT'S TERRIFIC! EVEN THE VOCAL JAM IS FUN!!!

Shine a Light - One of my least favorite covers. It's great, but pretend the show ended perfectly with YEM.


All in all, this show is definitely worth the 4.475 rating on .NET!!!! I don't know what they did differently tonight, but they were just slaying on another level. UIC 2011 vibes as far as that stuff goes. That kinda level! INCREDIBLY KICK ASS SHOW. Definitely in the top 7 or 8 of the year so far, I'd say!

Holy hell doesn't begin to describe it!

2012-08-26 Charlotte, NC

 Cooked spaghetti for the family tonight and I'm feeling adventurous, so I'm gonna jump back to 2012.

Only 3 more shows until F Your Face at Dick's

8/26/12 Charlotte, NC
On paper, show looks stacked as hell - Crosseyed, Tweezer, AC/DC Bag, Moma, McGrupp, Fluffhead, LTJP>Alumni Blues, BBFCFM!!!

Set 1

AC/DC Bag - Awesome opener! Nothing we haven't heard before but a great version nonetheless!

>Moma Dance - Perfect count-off segue. Aw yea. Here we go. And just like Bag, it's another by-the-numbers-but-totally-excellent version. On a different night I might complain, but even though there is NOTHING memorable or special about these 2 tonight, they are just musical nectar for the ears. Like excellent fast food or something, haha. Good stuff.

>Heavy Things - As I usually say, great live version of HT are pretty rare. This one is damn good. Get it for Page's terrific piano soloing!!!! Trey gives an outstanding solo as well. Really, REALLY great little Heavy Things!!!!

Ocelot - Absolutely outstanding Type I RAGER. Trey is just freakin' going for it. 10/10 Ocelot, yo.

Funky B - Absolutely A-friggin'-plus Funky B! HOLY FREAKING CRAP TREY IS JUST DESTROYING!

Bathtub Gin - As with the Pelham show, this one is seeing the same kind of energy and crowd vibe tonight. I mean, the energy and enthusiasm is totally palpable. Love hearing the crowd cheer randomly throughout, haha. Another great-but-nothin-special Type I version like Moma and Bag.

Fluffhead - FLUFFHEAD! An absolutely terrific version, nearly flawless. If you can find a better-played version from this time period, by all means point me in it's direction.

>Letter to JP/Alumni Blues/Letter to JP - Automatic list addition.

Tube - After a few minutes of funny banter regarding their origins at Goddard, the boys launch right into Tube. As with Gin, Moma and Bag, it's yet another in a long line of been-there-done-that-but-it-was-still-awesome versions tonight. Really great, but no jam and nothing to make it memorable or noteworthy.

My Sweet One - LETS FREAKING GET IT PAGE! TEAR UP THOSE KEYS!!!

David Bowie - See Fluffhead. Just a friggin' A++++++ rendition all around. Incredible.


All in all, this set was absolutely nothing memorable in the slightest. There is next to no replay value whatsoever. BUT, it was still played damn near flawlessly with oodles of energy and vibe. It was terrific all around, but not a set you'll ever be caught referencing, so to speak. Felt like the little brother of Pelham 2012 set 1.

Great stuff!

 

 Set 2

Crosseyed and Painless - Always a barnstormer. Do people seriously, genuinely hate this?! I feel like every review I see is people complaining about. Hell, this is one song I'd take as often as they want to play it!!! And this one kicks the set off with a bang as expected!!! Things proceed as normal until around 7:45 when the tone gets noticeably dark! Minor key "still waiting", anyone? Things are still raging but hints of Type II are creeping in. Fishman is responding to patterns that Trey is playing and vice versa. Page and Gordo are laying it down sweet and thick in the background. By 9 minutes we have reached Nighttime jamming mode. Unfortunately, just as the jam slides fully into Type II dark ambience, Trey takes the, actually perfect, moment to segue us into....

>McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters - Ok, most other shows and I'd be raging about that "oh so terrible ripcord of Crosseyed blah blah blah" but not tonight! That was PERFECT set placement and transition!!! Dang!!! Also, when's the last time McGrupp popped up in the 2nd set?! And remember how well the composed songs were in set 1? Yea, they keep it up and NAIL this McGrupp!!!! Surely this was rehearsed because it is terrific!!!! Gotta love Page's excellently restrained piano soloing. Just beautiful!!! FRIGGIN A+++ 10/10 MCGRUPP!!!

>Mike's Song - And I guess you couldn't pick a much better song to go into out of that, eh? AND THE BOYS FRIGGIN CRUSH THIS ONE TO BITS TOO!!! A+ MIKE'S SONG!!

Keep in mind that a lot of stuff, like that Mike's, was nothing special or memorable, BUT, the playing and energy are so fantastically high tonight....it's nuts!!!!

>Bouncing Around the Room - Great to hear the crowd singing along!!! Great set placement as a breather!

>Axilla - What is this set, 1995 again? Perfect song choice to get us rocking again! Check out Page destroying on the church organ!!!!!!!!!! Killer!!!!

>Tweezer - And here we friggin' go!!!! Really great version that goes through several different phases. Really wonderful bliss jamming that starts somewhere around the 7 minute mark. Everyone is playing together and feeding off each other - it doesn't feel like anybody is the soloist. Super uplifting Tweezer. This one gets a lot of praise I've seen and it definitely deserves it!!!! There isn't too much to say about it - even though it has a few "zones", it mostly rides that bliss to perfection and back and rides it damn well! JUST GET THIS TWEEZER AND BASK IN IT AND LET THE LIGHT FLOW OVER YOU AND UPLIFT YOU! BRING OUT THE SUNSHINE!!!! LET'S FEEL GOOD, YO!!!! ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIC LITTLE TWEEZER!!!!!!!!!

>Harry Hood - @Harry Hood this was awesome set placement and I am loving it tonight. Killer Hood. Am I almost redeemed? Check out Page's gorgeous, descending piano line around 2:15...ugh, the stuff of angels, I tell you!! Killer version. Beautiful and uplifting and kicks major ass!

>The Horse/Silent In the Morning - Aw man, why? Ok, I guess we needed another break in the action..... I'm being mean. It's finely played and actually worked perfectly in it's set placement tonight!

>Weekapaug Groove - Absolutely A+ timing for bringing the Mike's Sandwich to a close!!!! The guys are just NAILING set placement lately, I swear. Terrific Type I rager. You get exactly what you expect.

Suzy Greenberg - See Weekapaug. Is great. Kills. Welcome to Page's House!!!!!!! An absolute blast of a Suzy!!!

Big Black Furry Furry Creature From Mars - OUT OF FRIGGIN NOWHERE. ALWAYS ON THE HIGHLIGHTS LIST! AWESOME INSANITY

>Tweeprise - As expected. Is great. Perfect ending to a wonderful set!



All in all, on paper this 2nd set looks rather disappointing and "songy". In reality, it was fantastic!!! The song choices and set placements really made it feel very cohesive and almost planned out. A wonderful "sleeper" set!! The whole show was pretty awesome as well. If I had to compare it to anything, this show felt like the little brother of the Pelham show I raged about a few gigs back. Wonderful vibe and energy tonight propelling "nothing special" versions to highlight status. A really, really great overlooked show!!!!!

Mexico 2020 Recap

 Ok, final thoughts on Mexico 2020:

Favorite show:
2/20

This one had it all - the flow, the "here we are!!" energy, an insane setlist, magical X Factor jamming from the start to the finish, etc. I can see why others prefer the other shows but this one connected with me more than any show in a good while. A terrific, terrific show!!!!

"Strongest" show in terms of jamming:
2/22
This show was an absolute BEAST. The first set sounded promising but lukewarm for most of it, but than that Tweezer hit and we were off to the races. This continued straight into set 2 which started with insanity and didn't let off until the encores were finished. Set 2 of this show is probably the strongest full set, start to finish, of the whole run but the first set was middling until Tweezer, so points redacted for that.

"worst" (there is no bad show in the 4) show by a wide margin:
2/21
2001 is great in the 2nd set and there's other greatness there as well, but they came out of the gate with a BANG on this show. One of the strongest first sets in recent memory - if you combined set 1 of this show with set 2 of 2/22, you would have a full-on classic that everyone would be talking about on .NET for decades to come!!!

A+ for effort show:
2/23
The setlist looks rather weak in spots on paper, but this show was ALL about vibe. The first set was SO much fun and the playing was at such a high level (for this point in time!). If you can look past the songs picked this show is loaded with goodness, though this might be another where the first set outshines the 2nd. There is a load of epic-length Type II in set 2, but a lot of it sounds rather "stale", for lack of a better word. Great dance music but not much memorable, ya dig? Still, the 2nd set tries its hardest and still comes out great in the end. I would rank this the 3rd show for overall quality of the four.


So basically, in my opinion from strongest to weakest:

1. 2/22
2. 2/20 (My preferred favorite of the 4!)
3. 2/23
4. 2/21

All four shows had jaw dropping moments and jams and you could make an outstanding compilation of the 4 if you wanted!!! Don't skip on these gigs - they are fantastic!!!!

2020-02-23 Quintana Roo, MX

 2/23/20 Quintana Roo #4

Set 1

Crowd Control - Not my favorite song (always sounds like a Who knockoff to me or something) but I will still take it. Great high energy version! Trey seems to have ridden himself of the occasional sticky-fingered slop that drenched his playing on 2/22. Nicely fluid solos - still more ever-sustained notes - and a rousing energy from the whole band! Not my favorite song but a great opener for night 4!!

Farmhouse - IN SPOT #2?! REALLY?! Ok, exaggeration aside I can get down with this. If this was an indoors arena gig or something....that's one thing. This is on the beach in friggin' Mexico with the moon and the stars and the sand and the water! I'm sure it was just gorgeous in person and in all honestly, it flowed great out of Crowd Control! Who woulda thought, eh? Great Farmhouse as always (find me one that isn't beautiful!). Good stuff!

Breath and Burning - Yes! I am seemingly the only lover of this song out there, but c'mon, is this not the perfect place for them to play it?! Awesome. Great party-setter! I can just picture dancing my tail off to this on the beach. And this one is simply wonderful - dance in the light of the moon indeed! Such a FANTASTIC feel-good vibe to this one! All hail BaB tonight! The perfect song for the perfect spot. This one just hits.

Divided Sky - After Trey and co's "mediocre looking crowd" moment of banter, we get into perfectly played DS! When's the last time Trey NAILED the composition like this?! I mean, I thought the one I got in Charleston '19 was pretty good, but this was perfect!!! Perfectly nuanced and dynamic, just absolutely spectacular. * chef's kiss * During the silence part, around 7 minutes, Trey takes a bit to acknowledge how awesome the crowd and venue are and how lucky they are to be there, etc. Very nice. Then back into DS like nothing ever happenned. Nothing else to say - the song proceeds as expected. It's absolutely loaded with energy and passion tonight and is one (notably!) the best versions heard in recent times. If you are looking for a good late-period DS, look no further!!!! A+

Following DS, some very funny banter ensues between Trey, Fish and the crowd regarding Trey's "mediocre looking crowd" comments

Meat - After a lightspeed Ramones "1,2,3,4!" countoff it's into the song As with the rest of the set so far, an absolutely wonderful relaxed-yet-energetic (does that make sense?!) vibe carries through. No sleepiness here! It's very short though with no jam and Trey instead opts to lead us into...

Everything's Right - The song is extremely powerful and full-on as expected. Totally imbued with the evening's celebratory energy. This set so far has just been a party! And this is no exception!! The guys waste no time getting down to business, quickly jumping into the jam about 5 minutes in with Trey scatting some vocals. Trey then hits another sustained note with Page doing some cool ascending licks beneath him. By this time at 7 minutes it's just full on Type I FIRE FIRE FIRE!!! This ER is just steamrolling you into the friggin' sand!!! Shortly though this gives way to som ultra-gnarly Type II funk razing. I mean, this beach is on fire. For real. You know we are going deep when Gordo turns on his effects! Trey starts doing some cool ambient playing which Page picks up on, all the while Cactus and Fish are holding down a steady groove funkier than you can imagine. Just outstanding. This gives way to lots of awesome raging before turning into an upbeat kind of Harry Hood-esque bliss-type jam. Lots of sustained notes from Trey while everyone else is just building towards the sky. This is like a Bird Song on steroids or something. THIS IS FREAKING MAGICAL! X FACTOR ABOUND!!! DON'T SKIP THIS!! THIS DESERVES ALL THE PRAISE IT GETS!!!! Slowly it fades out and we go into....

The Squirming Coil - Hitchike to the beach. Oh yea. It's fantastic. It's Squirming Coil. What else can I say?

Wingsuit - After Coil, maybe not the best set choice?? But I'm sure it'll be great - hey, they made Farmhouse work in the 2nd slot. It's all about tonight's vibe, baby! This one is a bit on the sloppy side, BUT it is loaded with that insane energy we know and love come the peak. Get it Trey! It's Wingsuit - Trey kills. What more do you want?!

David Bowie - Bowie has disappointed me a lot over 2019 but this one reclaims the mantle of greatness! An absolutely wonderful rendition that is tight as a nail and has a terrific multi-flavored old-school sounding jam to it that keeps you on edge until the end. I'm tired of it as set closer but gosh darn if every new version was this good I would never complain! Spectacular!!



Night 4 in Mexico gets an A+ for the first set!!!! Sure, on paper the set may look odd at times, but you have to remember the venue and the VIBE and all that jazz. This is definitely a "set fits the mood" kind of gig. The playing is top notch. Divided Sky is among the best in recent times as is the epic Everything's Right and David Bowie that both deserve jam chart/hall of fame entries, in my book!! A terrific, terrific set!!! 

 

Set 2

Simple - Oh, yes, you know it's gonna be good when they open the 2nd set with a 16 minute Simple! The song portion is surprisingly rough but it's all in good fun tonight. 6 minutes in and we leave the song, immediately heading into spacey jam land. Don't feel like commentating the whole thing, but it's an epic Type II space funk extravaganza that is just fantastic. IN A GADDA DA VIDDA JAM, YO!

>Golden Age - Literally the perfect (and only acceptable) choice out of that beastly Simple. Basically Simple Part 2, it keeps the party absolutely raging for another glorious 18 minutes of magic. Fantastic. Around 13 minutes the dancing stops and we go into black-hole outer space with delays and reverbs etc. GNARLY. 15 minutes in and we are just out there! Again, go listen - don't listen to my lackluster "reviewing". This is pretty must-hear, imo. Awesome stuff.

Fuego - After 5 minutes of Deep Space Black Hole Vortex Meltdown we arrive at our destination. It's Fuego with Simple teases. It's great. It keeps the party rolling. What more do you want? The final few minutes see the song burn out again into another worm hole, but fortunately they ride it PERFECTLY and execute a flawless transition into...

Undermind - Raging Page on this sucker! Fantastic playing from all and choice use of effects from Trey. This is as good as Type I gets (as good for sure as my beloved Charleston rendition ). Can't ignore Manteca jamming either! Plasma teases too! This thing is a beast!

Back On The Train - THAT SEGUE! WHO SAW THAT COMING! THAT WAS SICK!! As good as the previous Undermind. Teases abound (Simple!) and just packed with pizazz. Somehow they morph this into 1999 Ambient Black Hole Space!!!! Shades of Fukuoka 2000 A full-on black hole BOTT. NICE!!!! Must-hear!!!!

>Passing Through - My least favorite KV song besides maybe Play By Play, but ok, whatever. BUT THIS IS AWESOME! Everyone rages hard and this sucker just kills. Beautiful and upbeat, this would have be bobbing on the sand for sure. Terrific Type I "Grateful Dead" style jamming on this. Jeez this is so good that its STUPID! Don't skip this!!!!

Rise Come/Together - 4 minutes but a total banger! Don't miss - A+ version! Fire!!!

The Horse/Silent In The Morning - All are identical. Next!

Fee - Who doesn't love Fee, even if Trey forgets most of the lyrics?

Funky B - It's Funky B, it's hot as always. Nothing special. Feels really out of place though for some reason.

More - Of course this is the closer for the run, lol. What else did we expect?! A terrific version that closes it all in a neat little package.



All in all, set 2 of night 4 was very strong, but Simple>Golden Age didn't do THAT much considering the run time. It was terrific, don't get me wrong, but kinda stayed in one zone throughout. The rest of the set was killer as well though, even if it was in smaller packages. The Undermind>BOTT>Passing Through is MUST HEAR! After that, the set kinda falters a little bit with a string of short songs that are nice to hear but don't do anything special for the most part.

Still, if this were a standard 2019 show it would definitely deserve some props. Another great gig all around!

2020-02-22 Quintana Roo, MX

 2/22/20 Quintana Roo #3

Willin - Bustout! First since the Waiting For Columbus gag on 10/31/10 Starting this, how many thought it was Velvet Sea, eh? Great choice for an opener to set the low-key party vibe with the Mexico references and a Fishman vocal. Great stuff!

Tube - After the "warmup" of Willin, we get the perfect choice for PROPER opener! Trey seems to be having guitar problems, but once those are fixed, we get an awesome 12+ minute party fest. Oh yes. Perfect beach-dancing music! Goes Type II quickly around 4 minutes. A blissful jam appears and it's off to feel-good paradise. Cool backwards delay from Trey. From here on out they pretty much just give us a strong and blissful peak-laden ride to the sky. Not the most amazing Tube ever, but a damn great way to kick off a beach party! Awesome stuff!!

Evening Song - Love the song and glad to get the 2nd version of it, but I really think they should've waited until later to play it. A slow opener, a raging tube, and then a pop-ballad in spot #3? C'mon, guys. But I digress, this is a fine version and I love the song anyways so I'll take it. Not list-worthy but good stuff.

EDIT - After this I got called in to work unexpectedly. Then got home at 7pm only to be told I need to be awake at 430 so I can be back on the job as 7 am, lol.

Point is, I will restart this tomorrow but I ain't retyping it so you get a mini review of the first 3 songs

 

Restarting my listen of 2/22/20, but I'll pick up the review where I left off

2/22/20 Quintana Roo #3

Set 1 (cntd)

Set Your Soul Free - Gonna be harsh on this because I love this song/jam vehicle so much. This is list worthy but it pretty much stays in Type I rager mode for 3/4 of it. In the last couple minutes they round the corner into some cool Type II delay jamming but nothing really comes of it and the song ends. A pretty good little taster kind of version but disappointing when you expect so much more from it

You Sexy Thing - Fantastic. I believe in miracles indeed! Exactly what the doctor ordered for a beach party!

46 Days - RED FRIGGIN HOT! Return Of The Son Of The Longest Sustained Note Ever. Gnarly guitar wrangling from Trey. Short but oh so sweet

Waste - After a couple barn burner party tracks, NOW is an appropriate spot for a cool down (do you hear me, Trey?). I love Waste. It is my favorite Phish ballad. I will take any version they want to throw at me. On the list it goes

Your Pet Cat - It's YPC. It's short. Too many samples etc. It's fun as always but....NEXT!

Tweezer>Manteca - Oh yes, bring on the Manteca! Ever since the 11/14/95 Stash with that crazy Manteca jam I have been going nuts over this ditty I'm pretty tired tonight so I won't wax poetic, but this is pretty dang sweet. 20 minutes of a raging party. Must-hear, imo!!

>Makisupa-You Sexy Thing-Policeman - Exactly as it says

>Twist - ABSOLUTELY FRIGGIN OUTSTANDING!!! DO NOT SKIP!!!


All in all, 2/20/22 is still king for me, but this set had some highlights as big as anything else. The final half hour Tweezer through Twist is MANDATORY listening. A very strong set overall and on a different day I would probably be going nuts over it!

 

 Set 2

Energy - Great choice for set opener! A fun pop-rocker that's also kinda still a rarity. A tad sloppy from Trey. Immediately though we dive headfirst into Type II dark space! OUTTA NOWHERE! Not completely into the wormhole though, we go for more of a 1997 Great Went "2001" funky kind of vibe. A steady and frantic beat coupled with funky keys and some thoughtfully placed notes from Trey. Very cool. Dark but not evil. This jam is freaking awesome, but it doesn't evolve out of this, Trey instead opting to ripcord us into Soul Planet....

Soul Planet - I'll take it! I love SP - it always rocks and is dumb fun - come at me, haters! This one kicks ass! Absolutely loaded with all the ENERGY the ACTUAL song "Energy" was slightly lacking!!!! FANTASTIC!!! THIS SUCKER IS NASTY! THIS IS THE BEST TREY HAS PLAYED ALL NIGHT! THIS SP IS SHORT BUT FREAKING DESTROYS!!! DONT SKIP ON THIS!!!! THIS IS SOME X FACTOR MAGIC RIGHT HERE!!!! OUTSTANDING!!!!

Waves - One of the absolute NASTIEST jams of 2019 (look, it might as well be) gets ripcorded/segued into Waves. Ok, Fishman dropped the ball on that transition - I'll concede that. FINALLY the MicroJam is laid to rest and we get a lengthy (damn near 20 minutes!!!) Waves that is all kinds of awesome. Around 7 minutes the Type I slowly dissolves into some more DARK Type II. Well, not really, but things definitely get a hell of a lot more interesting in a "turn the lights down low" kind of way. Fantastically dynamic playing from all at this point. This continues for a wonderful 6 or 7 minutes. Lots of spastic drumming and gnarly Trey, including full-blown Birds Of a Feather teases (how did .NET miss that?!). Around 13:30 things turn another corner and start to slightly cool down a little bit. Page, Mike and Trey all latch onto a descending pattern and ride the same thing together. Very cool. This slowly morphs yet again into a slow-building ascending pattern for a good long while. A very long peak takes its time to build, Trey layering delays on top of each other. THIS IS FRIGGIN PURE X FACTOR MAGIC RIGHT HERE!!!!!!!!!!! DO NOT SKIP!!!! He leaves all the delays repeating and then starts a reprise of the "Ocean is Love" from Soul Planet bringing this duo full circle. Keep in mind at this point we are still in Multi-Delay-Layer-Hell This is one of the FRIGGIN COOLEST JAMS IVE HEARD OUTTA 2019!!!! HOLY CRAP!!!! This slowly returns to more calm and jazzy waters paving that way for....

>Carini - AND INTO CARINI WE FRIGGIN GO!!!! CARINI HAD A MOTHERFRIGGIN LUMPY HEAD YO!!!! THIS THING IS A GNARLY X FACTOR BEAST! HEAVY AND FACE MELTING AND SOUL DESTROYING!!! FREAKING SPECTACULAR!!! 1.0 WORTHY!!! DO NOT SKIP!!! GUITAR HISTRIONICS! OUTER SPACE SYNTHESIZERS! 1999-TYPE WEIRDO AMBIENT FUNK! 13 MINUTES OF PURE FRIGGIN MAGIC!!!!! MUST-HEAR!!!





I NEED A BREATHER. SOMEBODY GIVE ME SOME OXYGEN. HOLY FREAKING CRAP.

Ok, I haven't calmed down, but let's keep this freak train moving!!!





>Chalkdust Torture - Great choice, thank Icculus!! None of this ballad jibberjabber! Give us the heat! And right away we return to Carini Freak Zone with Page and Trey both going nuts simultaneously. This is total 1995 Chalkdust peak freakout meltdown territory. HOT AS THE CLIFFORD BALL YO!!! WOWZERS!! Towards the end things start getting funky and the reggae starts to sink in, leading us to...

Have Mercy - EVEN THIS IS JAMMED OUT WTF!? THIS IS SICK!!!

Holy freaking crap - 54 minutes of X Factor Magic. Do NOT skip Soul Planet through Have Mercy! That is next-level stuff!!!!

A Life Beyond the Dream - Ugh, just disgustingly beautiful. Guys I'm so spent right now they could crap on a plate and I'd lap it up.

>Harry Hood - The composed section is pretty weak, but they quickly shift into Type II eskewing your typical Hood stylings for some awesome funk workouts. After about 6 or 7 minutes of primo jamming they introduce the "You Can Feel Good" theme, but in a gnarly and spastic, energy explosion, Chalkdust Torture, fire from hell type of way! This is one of the HOTTEST Hoods I've ever heard! This thing is DEMENTED!! HOLY CRAP!!!

Sweet Jane - SPECTACULAR! TALK ABOUT A PERFECT CHOICE AND IT IS FREAKING GREAT OMG I CANT SAY MORE KILL ME NOW

Tweeprise - Who cares?!



All in all, I had some small doubts but set 1 ended up blowing me away. Set 2 absolutely DESTROYED me! This is MUST-HEAR show! I wouldn't hesitate to give this a 4.4 or 4.5 on .NET! FREAKING GO LISTEN TO THIS NOW HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Ok, to overanalyze and sum it up, lol:

Mexico 2020 (so far)

2/20 - Incredible show. Absolutely underrated. 2/22 might officially, imo, be "stronger", but this is terrific all around listening experience, does that make sense? Also, overall I prefer the songs played at this gig for the most part YMMV

2/21 - The 2001 and the Piper are probably the 2nd set highlights, but the majority of the first set is a tour de force: That whole Shafty/Plasma deal and the incredible Bathtub Gin...a much more mixed bag show for me but one can't deny the goods!!!

2/22 - Ok, as I mentioned, I concede this is probably a much stronger show if we are going for jam quality than 2/20, but I will die on my hill that 2/20 is the better overall show. Still, I absolutely was BLOWN away by this gig for much of it. It struggled at times but there was a solid hour + of PRIMO X Factor goodness in that second set AND that whole Tweezer>Manteca>You Sexy Policeman>Twist was of that level as well. that was stronger perhaps than anything on 2/20. It's apples and oranges and I can totally get if you pick this show's apples over 2/20's oranges An incredibly strong outing!!!!

2/23 - Excited to play this tomorrow. I'm looking forward to that Everything's Right that I've been aware of ever since it dropped. And that setlist looks bonkers (I know setlist isn't everything, but c'mon - look at that!)