2023-10-15 Chicago, IL

 Tonight we finish Fall 2023, just in time for the shows next week!

10/15/23 Chicago #3

Absolutely AWESOME setlist on paper!

Everything Is Hollow - First version since Charleston 2019 (the show I missed, dang it!). This is killer!!!!! BRING THIS BACK!!!! This deserves rotation!!!

Timber - You know it's gonna be a good show when Timber pops up! And this version is excellent - the energy is through the roof and Trey's soloing is so perfectly patient throughout. Fantastic! Freaking AWESOME whole-band interplay and ensuing peak!!!! MUST HEAR!!! WOW!!! LET'S GO!!! A++++++ TIMBER!!! THIS SUCKER IS NUCLEAR!!!!


Ocelot - Trey's voice is indeed SHOT, @pbuzby . This sucker is almost 10 friggin' minutes long though, so that's gotta count for a lot. And by golly does it peak. HARD. Must hear!!! Maybe not the greatest of all time, but good lord they ride this one to the finish line in a big way.....

Vultures - First since Seattle? Really?? I could have sworn we had, like, two other ones in between. Huh. Trey's vocals kinda kill this one, but thankfully the jam is great. A bit awkward on the whole, but still a powerhouse. Nevertheless, it's too awkward and "not smooth" for it's own good and does not deserve highlight status, imo.

Monsters - Only the SECOND version?! Really?!?! First since Star Lake debut. Again, I could swear we got another one recently....This version slays. Trey just lets loose a rain of fire from start to finish. Great stuff.

Plasma - Nearly 11 minutes on this one! Dark and murky and swampy, wah-infused vibe to the jam on this. Trey leans HARD into the wah, nearly getting robo sounds out of it. This is must hear. It's all Type 1, but it's just spectacular soloing and jamming from start to finish. Awesome, awesome, AWESOME!

Mercury - I can't in good faith highlight this. A 7 minute Mercury?! What the hell?! I thought 9 minutes at Dick's was ludicrous (and that was actually an excellent version, truth told)!!!

>Stash - I'm calling that a segue. They got to the point where the jam would start in Mercury and just launched into Stash instead. What the corn, man.....Anyways, 12 minutes on this Stash. Thankfully, this Stash is MUST HEAR!!! No, it's not the robo meltdown from Mexico 2023, but it spits fire from start to finish and has a great, powerful peak from the band. A stellar Type 1 Stash for 2023!!!!

Leaves - Always most welcome!!!! MUST HEAR! FRIGGIN MUST HEAR!! A++++++++ X FACTOR TREY SHREDDING!!! SPECTACULAR!!!

David Bowie - Rough start on this Bowie to close, but the song quick coalesces turns in a BARNSTORMING rendition!!! The final 4 or 5 minutes is pure primo fire-in-the-ears!!!! FANTASTIC!!!


All in all, a slight mixed bag of a set. Some fantastic stuff (Plasma, Stash, Leaves, Monsters, Timber, Hollow), some not-so-great stuff (short Mercury, Bowie beginning section, Vultures, Trey's voice....). Not much else to say. Was highly enjoyable to listen to but also had that "not exactly cohesive" thing going on.

Onwards to the final set of Fall 2023:

10/15/23 Chicago #3

Set 2

Drowned - First since August of 2021! Rages the expected Type 1 hard until 6:43 when things shift into a decidedly funky and danceable groove!!! On another night, this would be the launching pad for a great Crosseyed, and hell, you can just about hear Trey teasing that sucker. Lots of wah pedal, backwards delay and robo FX!!! Sick! Only a few minutes worth of Type II, but it's a great little "teaser" jam!

>A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing - Then, at the perfect moment, they launch into tight and POWERFUL reading of this classic. Everyone is playing this sucker on overdrive - truly a KICK-ASS version!!! 11 minutes, bass synthesizer robo fx come out early, at the 2 minute mark while Trey is shredding it up on the wah. Cactus is ALL OVER this thing!!! UNDERWATER DARK ROBO CACTUS SUPREME!!! Then around 5:30, the jam shifts into upbeat bliss for a while before turning into feel-good dance funk around 7 minutes!!! We even get some Manteca-style teases as well!!! Total wah pedal destruction, those are friggin Manteca teases, I don't care. This is friggin' fantastic! MUST HEAR MUST HEAR!!!! Hell yes!! FUNK IT UP!!!! THIS IS KILLER!!! Wow!!!

>Tweezer jam - Then at the 11 minute mark, we move seamlessly into a Tweezer jam!!! For 7 minutes! Super cool bent-note interplay between Page and Trey around 2 minutes! Then shortly after, Trey jumps back on the wah pedal and we go back to funking it up. Then in come the robo fx and synthesizers! Yo, this ASIHTOS/Tweezer is friggin' fantastical!! X FACTOR MAGIC!!! LETS GO!!! MUST HEAR!!! WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENNING ANYMORE?! Then around 4:45, hints of robo FX begin to happen and the jam starts to get a little abstract, teetering on the line between dark and light - which way will it go??? From here, the jam is in FULL BLOWN ROBO FUNK TYPE II. Very rhythmic, lots of blips and bloops, but also lots of unsettling bliss (which doesn't make sense until you hear it). THEN WE SEGUE INTO SIMPLE!!! YES!!!!!!!!!

>Simple - WHAT IS GOING ON!!! THIS JAM SEQUENCE IS FRIGGIN INCREDIBLE!!!!! And this Simple is friggin SOARING!!! Spectacular Type 1!!! Wow! A+++ In the back half, it straight up melts into full blown, black-hole Type II. They could easily go into "Egg In a Hole" from this!!! This bit of ambience fades the song to a glorious conclusion....

Pebbles and Marbles - Who saw that coming?! First version of 2023! AND THIS SUCKER IS UTTERLY FANTASTIC!!!! Obviously well rehearsed, it climaxes with an astonishing bliss peak, ala a great Walls of the Cave. MUST HEAR!!! LETS FRIGGIN GO!!! BANG YOUR HEAD!!!! WOO HOO!!!!!

Spanish Moon - First since Mexico 2019!! Again, sounds super rehearsed and KICKS SO MUCH FRIGGIN ASS HOLY MOTHER OF CRAP. MUST HEAR MUST HEAR MUST HEAR!!! FANTASTICAL!!!!

A Wave of Hope - 12 minutes on this one, it keeps the rocking fun friggin going hard!!! X FACTOR MAGIC AGAIN!!! This thing goes Type II HARD!!! Full on robo-haze, psychedelic rhythmic explosion!!! ROBO WAVE!!!!! LETS FRIGGIN GO!!! One of the most out-there jams of the entire year, a true must-hear!!! HOLY CRAP!!!!! RETURN OF THE SON OF BLEEP BLOOP WAVE!!!! FULL BLOWN TYPE II LIKE THE ISLAND TOUR TWIST!!!! HOLY CRAP!!! ROBOT HEAVEN!!!!!



>Evolve - Finally a much deserved cooldown!!! Super strong Type 1. Great stuff, if not exactly Must hear.

Loving Cup - Comparable to the face-melting MSG version from the summer, this one is another grand slam rendition. A++++ version. Facemelting, as mentioned. KILLER. Don't skip this!!! OH MY FREAKING GOODNESS!!!! LAVA TIMES NUCLEAR EXPLOSION, DIRECTLY INTO THE EAR CANAL!!!!


Run Like An Antelope - "THREE ORANGE WHIPS"!!!! Really sick interplay between Page and Trey, with them echoing eachothers playing. They are listening to each other! A great little Antelope, this is no stuff to turn your head at. Maybe not an all-time classic, but 2023 Antelope's don't get much stronger than this!!! Killer!

SANTOS - Nuclear. Nuff said.

Tweeprise - To close.


Oh. My. Effing. God. What the hell did they do before this set to make them turn out a MONSTER like this?! Hands down in the top 10 sets of the whole year for me. Honestly? It tops my beloved second set from night 1 in Chicago. All 3 nights were monster shows, but this 2nd set was among the finest constructions of 2023. What a friggin' TITAN it was from start to finish! Nearly the entire thing was essential. Good god....

SEE YOU GUYS AT MSG NEXT WEEK!

2023-10-14 Chicago, IL

 Onward to Chicago 2!

10 14 23 Chicago

Set 1

Runaway Jim - Super strong version to open. Killer.

Martian Monster - See above

Sample in a Jar - HOLY CRAP LETS GO!!! 11 minutes long, this one actually JAMS properly!! Fantastic! MUST HEAR!!! THAT WAS INCREDIBLE!!!!!

Weigh - Always a good sign when this one pops up! Trey nails his playing like its 1993! The guys sound super tight!!! Treys soloing is so choice on this, good lord. A++++++ Weigh!!! Wow!

Corinna - Killer. Get it, Page! Not much to say, its great! Bluesy chillfest deluxe, yo.

Tube - 9 minutes on this one. Very heavy focus on Pages watery keys with Trey doing lots of great vamping underneath. At 3.50 they magically stumble onto an acciental bliss jam. Cool to hear them switch styles so suddenly, purely by accident. From here they proceed to rip it the F up. Killer. Must hear!! This Tube SLAYS!!!!!! It gets super dark and sludgy and downright monstrous!!!! MUST HEAR!!! WOW!!

>46 Days - Segue outta nowhere....Destructive, of course. Must hear, of course. Quicklt goes into a smashing bliss rage jam. Must hear!! Holy crap!!! Return of the Son of Sample!!! BLISS EXPLOSION!!!!! HOSE!! SPRAY THAT HOSE!!! MY GOD!!! X FACTOR MAGIC!!!

NICU - See Weigh. Stellar NICU!

Most Events Arent Planned - HOLY CRAP! Must hear! Incendiary as ever!!

Cavern - Is Cavern. Good stuff.

More - Is More. Good stuff.


All in all, an absolute blast of a set!!! Tube, Sample, Weigh, Most Events and 46 Days are probably the main highlights, but everything was played with the dial cranked to "HOT" with the playing quality to match it!!!! One of the best sets of the fall tour so far! Dang!!!

THAT FRIGGIN 46 DAYS THO!

Set 2

Chalkdust Torture - Incredible! X factor magic!!! 16 minutes, gorgeous bliss to hosey rock and roll finale. Possibly the Chalk of the year! MUST HEAR!!

Oblivion - Short type 1. Good but nothing special.

Split Open - 15 minute nightmare. Not the best of the year overall but still a damn worthy amount of lunacy.

Whats the Use - Perfect out of Melt. Is WTU, but feels extra good tonight.

Everything's Right - 13 min. Excellent chill to rocking finale. Awesome!!! MUST HEAR!!!!

No Quarter - FRIGGIN MUST HEAR!!! HOLY LAVA IN THE EARS! ONE OF THE GREATEST THINGS PLAYED ALL FRIGGIN YEAR!!! MY GOD!!!

Fluffhead - STELLAR! Nearly flawless and with a ton of extra pizazz about it. That peak!! Truly a Fluff for the ages, possibly the version of the year.

ALBTD - Killer.

Character Zero - Is C Zero


All in all...holy crap what a set and what a show!!! Id put this in league with Nashville 2. Probably the 3rd best show of the tour so far (big complement). An absolute beast of a gig, it just needs more jamming.

2023-10-13 Chicago, IL - GREATEST CROSSEYED EVER PLAYED

 10 13 23 Chicago

Set 1

Carini - An absolute beast of a version. Fantastic. Must hear.

Rift - Nailed it!

Halley's Comet - Terrific type 1, amazing segue into....

>Ghost - 18 minutes of hose like its a 1998 Weekapaug!!! Faster than a Ferrari! More explosive than Hiroshima!! HOLY FRIGGIN CRAP!!!!! MUST HEAR IN EVERY WAY!!!!

Albuquerque - First since 2011!!! Sounds great!

I Saw It Again - Is ISIA. Good stuff. Wah pedal abuse. Omg, the screaming vocals are hilarious.

Foam - As with Rift, this was pretty dang flawless aside from the totally butchered ending.

Blaze On - Absolutely effing ridiculous!!! MUST HEAR! HOLY CRAP!

Meat - See Blaze On

Drift While Youre Sleeping - Excellent version to close....

All in all, holy crap that was a sick set!! The boys were locked in TIGHT! This set felt better than both nighs in Dayton and Id say it ties with set 1 of Nashville 3. Awesome stuff!

 

Set 2

Sand - A lengthy 17 minute beast to open! NICE! Right out the gate, Trey gets going playing with very cool loopers like it's 1999 all over again. This is gonna be a patient one, not a quick "fire to the face" Type 1 rager. Trey is going nuts doing awesome stuff with his whammy pedal like The Edge in "MOFO" Slowly, by the 7 minute mark, they are deep in the murk. Trey is going all Machine Gun on us with psychedelic backwards delay and a smattering of RoboFX for good measure. Hell. Friggin. Yes. ROBO SAND!!!! Around 9 minutes, Page comes in with the synths atop Trey's bed of loops. Things are getting proper strange now - for a brief moment it sounds like we are gonna head for a bliss peak, but thankfully they avoid it and return to "vamping" Sand. They slowly build it up from here and take it to the top of the mountain, going bonkers to the finish line. Absolutely 1000 percent must hear! This Sand was a modern monster!!! HOLY FRIGGIN CRAP!! ROBO PSYCH SAND!!! LETS GO!!! THAT WAS SICK!

>Waves - Waves is incredible tonight. It begins with the typical blissful Type 1 you expect, but quickly it turns a corner into DARK FIRE HEAT!!! Trey goes nuts with his loopers again and this thing is more like a volcanic eruption spewing fire in your ears than a relaxing day at the beach! Around the 8 minute mark it explodes into ROBO WAVES before coming back down again for a conclusion. Holy crap. Very unique! MUST HEAR!!!

>Tweezer - And into a 16 minute Tweezer we go. This sucker is awesome - very patient, old-school vibes. Sounds right out of 1997!!! Lots of killer porno-wah vamping with tons of great synthesizer and keyboard "inserts" if you will. There is a ton of air and space in this and it's glorious. Not aimless, but patient and thick in the groove. This is friggin' spectacular. Around 9 minutes, the funkiness gives way to a more typical classic-rock vibe. Really awesome country-inflected soloing from Trey - where is that coming from?! And towards the bliss we go! Then at 11:30 we move perfectly back into the Tweezer riff and jam. Then around 13 minutes the jam begins it's build towards a climactic rock and roll peak!!! This Tweezer was A++++ for a modern version! Absolutely must hear! Multi-sectional, never a dull moment, a great conclusion...what's not to love!? This was the X Factor flowing just like in Sand and Waves! WOW!

>Crosseyed and Painless - THAT SEGUE!!! THAT FRIGGIN SEGUE! LETS GO!! HOLY FREAKING CRAP ROBOT PSYCHEDELIC MELTDOWN CROSSEYED!!! ROBOT HELL LIKE ITS 2021 ALL OVER AGAIN! LETS GO!!!!

OH MY FREAKING MOTHER OF GOD HAVE YOU GUYS HEARD THIS?!?!?! THIS IS THE GREATEST PIECE OF MUSIC I HAVE HEARD PHISH PLAY IN ALL OF 2023!!!! X FACTOR TIMES ROBOTS TIMES 20,000 NUCLEAR BOMBS ALL EXPLODING AT ONCE!!! I CAN'T STOP HEADBANGING!! THE UNIVERSE IS GOING TO EXPLODE!!! WHERE IN THE HELL DID THIS COME FROM!!!??? HOW DID THEY DO THIS??!?!!! HOW ARE WE STILL HERE?!?! HOW ARE WE STILL ALIVE?!?!?!? T

THAT WAS THE GREATEST CROSSEYED AND PAINLESS PHISH HAS EVER PLAYED. I AM MAKING THAT STATEMENT AND STICKING BY IT. HOLY MOTHER OF CHRIST ON A CRACKER. I AM NOT EXAGGERATING.

GREATEST CROSSEYED OF ALL TIME. RIGHT HERE, LADIES AND GENTS.

 

>Light - So that Crosseyed happenned, huh? How about that. Then we got a wonderful segue out of it and into Light!!! Light is great as usual. Light is pretty chill. Right away they begin to stretch it to type II with a great dark-chill vibe happenning. It very quickly dies down into something more like what you would expect out of the Waves from before. It spends most of its time in this watery, semi-eastern sounding style that is pretty unique for Light. Super chill and magical.....

>Mountains in the Mist - Awesome as always, but it feels like it has more oomph tonight considering it's surroundings. Killer and the set placement was spot on!

Golgi Apparatus - Golgi is Golgi. Pretty sloppy tonight, but it's all about the energy so who cares. We ain't judging this set off of a typical Golgi.

Harry Hood>Talk>Harry Hood - Exactly as it looks like. Great to hear Talk pop up outta friggin nowhere like that (first since 2009 I believe!). Wow! And Hood Itself is outstanding. Don't sleep on this one!

Izabella - Perfect encore to melt our faces one last time!


All in all, Jesus Christ this show was incendiary! Aside from Golgi, set 2 was magical and perfect (and set 1 was spectacular too!). Easily the best show of Fall 2023 so far, probably even better than my beloved Nashville #3!!!

Currently, my Fall 2023 rating from "worst" (no such thing) to best:

Dayton 1>Nashville 1>Dayton 2>Nashville 2>Nashville 3>Chicago 1 

2023-10-11 Dayton, OH

 Onward to Dayton #2 - now this one, on paper at least, looks like an absolute BEAST!

10/11/23 Dayton, OH

Set 1

Set Your Soul Free - Hey, a 16 minute SYSF to open! What is it, 2018 again?! The song itself is SUPER powerful tonight! Like an exploding bomb from the get go! Around 8 minutes the jam begins. The guys drop into chill bliss, but Gordo has some sick bass FX going which give this a more exciting feel. Sometime around 10:30, this begins to evolve back into a hotter, more rocking state of affairs. Cool rhythmic interplay between everyone with a great push-and-pull section. From here they just build it slowly to a massive, rocking finale. Great stuff! Maybe not must-hear, but a terrific warmup nonetheless!

Funky B - First one since, what, Wilmington I think? Absolute HEATER as expected. Page the Rage is the star of this one. Kick. Ass. Then comes Machine Gun Trey and he absolutely annihilates everything in the building, laying waste to all of us like the Terminator going up against Skynet. Unbelievable. This wasn't a 10/10, this was a 100/10!!!! MUST HEAR!

Roggae - For the sake of not highlighting everything, I'll refrain for Roggae, but just know it's every bit as glorious as every other version ever played. Killer.

Kill Devil Falls - 12 minutes of ass kicking! Trey's voice is absolutely SHOT tonight, it must be said! This one stretches a good amount but when all is said and done it's basically a 12 minute, Type I firestorm of the melt-your-face variety!! Pure adrenaline and rock and roll insanity! THAT PEAK! THAT PEAK! THAT PEAK! MUST HEAR!!!

Steam - Again, doesn't this set look like something right out of summer 2018? Facemelting Type 1 of the highest order. See Roggae and KDF. Killer, but for the sake of not highlighting everything (and because I've heard better overall versions of Steam), I'll refrain once more, but it's absolutely worth a listen!!!

My Friend My Friend - Good version but nothing special. Strong as ever but nothing special in the slightest.

Crazy Sometimes - First one since Charleston 2019, I think?! This is totally killer. Must hear dance party ridiculousness. Awesome.

Walls of the Cave - Classic WotC to close the set. Killer as expected. Must hear face melting of the highest order!!! HOLY CRAP I HAVE GOOSEBUMPS!!! THAT EXPLOSIVE FINALE!!! LETS FREAKING GO!!!!!!


All in all, a great set! A total rock-and-roll-powerhouse affair! There wasn't that much that stood out beyond "terrific shredfest facemelting Type 1", but if you want to bang your head and have Trey pour lave directly into your ears for an hour, this is the set for you!!!!

I'd say Funky B, Kill Devil Falls, Walls of the Cave and probably Steam are the must-hear materials, though the opening Set Your Soul Free was a wonderful warmup too.

This set held better together as one whole than any particular highlights, really.

Set 2

Down With Disease - Ooh, a 17 min Disease to open! Please don't suck! Thank heavens that the reading of the song itself is GREAT for a 2023 version!!! Thank the lord!!! Very briefly the jam goes into a funky Type 2 zone, but 90 percent of this is just straight up fire-in-your-earholes Type 1 glory. Great return back into the theme to close! They stayed pretty close to home on this one, but they still took it for an absolute ride. If you just want to hear them rock the F out, again, this is the version for you!

Ruby Waves - A 31 minute Ruby Waves?! Oh boy, better buckle up! Already at only the 3 minute mark, we are starting to get out there! Trey noodling around while Page answers with squiggly synthesizer! Then it's back to a rock vibe and things get pretty chill. Pretty soon though, they are back to full power, just rocking out hard and nice. Things die back down once again and by 8 minutes, things are slowly starting to get "goopy". The tempo has slowed and we are fully into a bliss kind of jam, but there is a funky undercurrent of sorts that's hard to describe - it's a feel thing. Eventually, Trey sets a seagull looper in the background and the guys begin to jam upwards from this foundation. By 11 minutes, Trey is honking it up and the jam is starting to build towards a slightly latin-y, vaguely Twist-like feel. But it's still all Type I fire-raging. Just headbanging glory. Then, perfectly, at 12:30, Page jumps on the piano and starts POUNDING the hell outta those keys and we are off to the greatest peak in all of Peakville. At least we thought so! But alas, tis not to be - at 13 minutes, the jam finally goes full Type II (imo, at least) when we shift into the aforementioned Twist-style jam for real. This is where things start to get strange!!! By 15 minutes the latin-style jam has gone dark, with a brooding tensefulness beneath everything. Ooh, this is friggin' cool. By 17:30, Gordo has kicked on his FX and we begin to build towards another peak. The darkness subsided as quickly as it arrived and we are again in rock and roll bliss explosion land like the back half of a good Loving Cup or something.

And then suddenly, at 19:50....

The song reaches the point where it would normally conclude. They do the theme and you think it's about to end, but then they decide to pushing onwards and drop into full blow, wacky sound FX Type II. Similar to something out of, say, 1999 or 2000, this is all about crazy, scary ambience. Fishman going nuts, Trey on the pitch shifter, extreme "wooshing" sounds in the background. You get the picture. This goes for several great minutes of soundscape creation until around the 24 minute mark Trey begins vamping an uptempo funk kind of thing. Fishman is of course all over this. They stay "vamping" for a long time, just slowly building the sonic "scenery", if you will. Slow additions that over time build it up. Eventually around the 27 minute point Trey changes up his sound and Gordo kicks on his FX again, leading us down another side street into more wonky robo vamping. The jam just builds more and more into a full blown robot meltdown like its 2021 again!!! I mean, they are out there deep in the digital wormhole, then suddenly at exactly the 30 minute point they lead back into Ruby Waves and close it perfectly like they just wrote the final sentence of a novel....wow....

OBVIOUSLY THAT WAS FRIGGIN MUST HEAR. Wasn't my favorite jam of the year, but I wouldn't begrudge anyone listing it as a contender for the title!!! My goodness - what JOURNEY!


...to be continued....

Lifeboy - A very rare Lifeboy allows us to come back to earth after the ridiculousness of that Ruby Waves... Excellent.

Piper - Great slow build out of the end of Lifeboy! Piper is excellent tonight. Does the Type 1 rocking out you expect. Awesome. After a while it turns downwards into a great "late night" vibe of sorts and basically fades itself to a conclusion slowly.

Backwards Down the Number Line - Man, feels like ages since we've had a Number Line, no? Number Line is Number Line. See Roggae. Excellent version but nothing special.

I Am the Walrus - HELL YES!! We get a 2nd version played this year?!?!?

Egg In a Hole - Melt your face.

Possum - Is Possum.



All in all, this show was a big step up from night 1. I'd put this on par with Nashville #2, probably. Jam-wise, Ruby Waves was pretty much the only thing that escaped the "rocking the F out" Type I trap, if you will. This show kicked major ass - my nitpicks are, well, nitpicks! There isn't that much to say - the show speaks for itself. Excellent gig!