2019-12-04 Pittsburgh, PA - 2024 revisit

 Onward to 12/4/19 Pittsburgh

ON PAPER, this looks like a "weak" show, so Im feeling trepidatious about this one, lol

Set 1 begins, shockingly, with 555!!! And its a GREAT one!! Excellent all around , they tear it up! Great start

After a solidly excellent Bag, we get a MUST HEAR Cars, Trucks, Buses. Trey rips this one a new one and its molten hot if you can believe it!

Oddly enough, Water In The Sky follows that perfectly, offering the perfect cooldown. Terrific!

Sample In a Jar is pretty must hear tonight. As with CTB, Trey goes all scorched earth and just razes the building. Holy moly this version SMOKES!

Theme is decent but a definite letdown after that Sample. Good as ever but not particularly great.

Thankfully, the next THREE songs turn in must hear versions!! Funky B is even hotter than normal, with extended organ soloing and Trey soloing that seems to last thrice as long and as hot as usual. Spectacular Funky B!!

Then, Wolfman turns in a low key funk jam that slowly morphs into a stupendous kind of "hose bliss" finale, not unlike the KDF from 12/3. Pretty sick.

And finally Halleys Comet gives is an all too short uptempo funk jam that is just killer. Unfortunately its completely ripcorded by Trey into Circus, which, pretty much kills the set in its tracks, good version or not.

UGH! SHAME ON YOU TREY!

The set comes to a good close with the debut of Mike song Victim. Not amazing, but Id welcome another version!

Antelope is solid.

All in all, a very good set that is better than it looks. 555, CTB, Wolfman and probably Funky B are what you need. This is definitely a "lesser" feeling set but its still totally enjoyable while its playing. Hard to explain. The energy is HIGH and Trey is just blazing tonight - that helps a LOT!

Kinda weird though - just has a "less than" vibe despite the high quality of the playing. Hard to describe. Feels like a 2011 first set 8 years out of place or something. 

Set 2

Set 2 begins old school with a freshly placed Cavern. A terrific 14 minute Runaway Jim takes things to another level - the jam immediately descends into a darkly aquatic kind zone. Think uptempo No Quarter, if you will. Trey doing Leslie vamping over Pages watery keys. Fantastic.

Very quickly, the whole band sync up in a SICK moment of full-band rhythmic syncopation, moving into strange rhythm and out again like clockwork! Wow!!!

Then Trey takes the lead with a nice melodic lead atop Pages watery keys. The darkness begins to lift and the bliss signals its arrival. Very quickly, Page and Trey lock in togethe into a swirling mess of glorious sunshine.

Trey then hits the Leslie once more and the jam shifts again, though still remaining in that blissful area. The crowd roars (apparently for a large banner saying 'CL1T', lol).

The roaring crowd eggs them on and Page dives into his dark synths, Gordo bumping along heavily on the bass, Trey soloing melodically. With Page doing ambient synth sustains, Trey follows suit and we enter the strange ether!!

FULL BLOWN TYPE 2, BABY!

Quickly, Trey starts vamping once more and Fishman begins playing around while Page noodles with the synths, are dark and creepy-like.

And the jam comes to a close....

Wow! How about that?! That was pretty sick! Not sure if that tops the insane Charlotte version from the summer, but its in the same wheelhouse! They took it for a RIDE!!!! 

....and Jim ends in a wash of dark ambience, slowly fading, perfectly, into the Phish debut of Ghosts of the Forest!

THAT SEGUE WAS FRIGGIN PHENOMENAL!!!!! The setup with the dark mood of the jam winding down and the slow build into the intro of the song - segues dont get any more perfect than that!

And Ghosts sounds great!!! Not sure if I want it in the Phish repertoire, but this sounds tightly played and well rehearsed, Trey gives great soloing.... definitely not shakey or sloppy!! I could see jam potential - maybe this deserved at least a COUPLE more airings with Phish, no? It was a SPECTACULAR "landing pad" out of that Jim!!!!!!

Keeping the dark mood going perfectly, thry end Ghosts and launch right into ASIHTOS!!!! Talk about maintaining a mood! This one is short - barely 7 minutes - but covers a lot of ground. Excellent playing in the song itself, they lay into hard, Trey especially taking his time building his solos. Soon it moves into some almost-bliss before diving back down into some murky dark-funk. Excellent stuff. Just as quickly, they revert back, seamlessly I might add, to the chirpy, upbeat bliss with a nice peak section to round it out.

Good lord they know how to navigate a piece of music!

Trey leads them out with some nicely placed strums of Prince Caspian and the guys make the transition smoothe than you might expect. Good stuff. And Caspian DESTROYS!!! Exceptional! Must hear!!!!

Following that killer Caspian we get a terrific Fuego - song portion is standard, but we get a really, really great 3 or 4 minutes on the end of super dark type 2 strangeness. Must hear!!! Killer jam!!!!

An excellent YEM and GTBT close the set before a fun encore of HYHU>Terrapin and Julius sends us home

So set one was enjoyably good but felt a little lacking. Set 2 was strong from the first note to the last with a very dark feel permeating much of it, very much like set 2 of 12/29/23!!!

Jim through Fuego is all must hear. An excellent set with excellent jams. I feel this one is likely underrated/forgotten about. Go revisit it - its a great set!!!!

2019-12-03 Philadelphia, PA - 2024 revisit

 Moving on to the infamous Sirius subscriber, supposedly no jamming, Tweezerfest show - 12/3/19


12/3/19 Philadelphia

Set 1

We get off to a spectacular run for the first half hour or more! An excellent Hello My Baby bust out right into Tweezer sets the tone for the night perfectly!

Tweezer is shorter but excellent, exploring darker, more patient kind of playing. Very solid stuff. And in a total X Factor face-slap moment Trey rips into the Free lick and the boys follow suit without ever stopping!

A true segue!

Free is terrific, extra funky and just killer as ever. Same goes for the following Moma, but the fun begins when Trey immediately morphs the Moma jam back into Tweezer and they spend the duration alternating flawlessly between the two! This is really fantastic stuff right here.

In yet another flawless segue, they slowly continue to morph the jam and turn it into Blaze On, which itself turns in an A- type 1 reading. Absolutely excellent!!!

Man, what a friggin PARTY so far!!!

The first not-quite cooldown of the night occurs with a fantastic Jesus Just Left Chicago. A+ all around, throw this in the must hear pile.

Up next is a GLORIOUS Kill Devil Falls>Tweezer Jam>Ya Mar combo. KDF deserves a jam chart - it reaches bliss fire hose heaven, just erupting like crazy. Then at the perfect moment Trey yanks them back into Tweezer! Tweezer is dark and grimy and gritty this time, all growly FX and bass tones. Fantastic. Then he pulls us into a terrific Ya Mar to pick us up.

That was SICK!!!

Solid closer of Drift

All in all, this set was a BLAST!!!! It just kept you on your toes from start to finish. I only heard this show once years ago and it ALWAYS stuck with me as being a great listen. So glad that is still true.... No this set doesnt reinvent the wheel but it doesnt need to - its a party! Awesome segues, terrific bursts of jamming, energy out the wazoo. No it aint The Great Went, but c'mon folks, this is GOOD STUFF!!!

 

 Set 2

The 2nd set begins in SPECTACULAR fashion with a MUST HEAR, type 2, x factor magic Chalkdust that goes full blown psychedelic hose explosion on us. Absolutely incredible and one of the finest versions in recent memory - please go revisit this!!!

CDT morphs back into a Tweezer jam which in turn segues into an excellent Mikes Song. Mikes rocks good, giving way, funnily, to an oddly placed Sparkle/Ass Handed combo that set the stage for a wonderfully jammed out Weekapaug. Really, this Paug is great and this whole "sandwich" is essential eating!

Friggin terrific stuff you guys. Golly!!!!

A perfectly placed Miss You gives way to an absolute stunning Waves. Short and type 1, thats ok because Treys soloing is some of the most perfect you will ever hear. A+ hidden gem!!!

A short Twist dissolves into a surprise airing of A Day in the Life!!! Pretty excellent and great to hear!! This fakeout set closer then gives way to a very lengthy and VERY jammed out 2001 outer space dance party! X FACTOR ALIEN MAGIC! THIS SUCKER GOES TYPE 2 AND ITS GLORIOUS!!! MUST HEAR!!! Tons of stuttering delay, ambient synth, tribal drums.... SCREAMING POWER DRILL!!!! ALIEN AWESOMENESS!!!

After that, an obligatory More closes the set and Waste into Tweeprize close the show.

THIS FRIGGIN SHOW IS AMAZEBALLS!!! ESSENTIAL LISTENING 101! THE WHOLE DANG THING FRONT TO BACK IS JUST A FANTASTIC BANGER OF A SHOW!!!! GO REVISIT THIS SUCKER!!! ITS A BLAST!!!  

That Met show is plain awesome. Its got a bit of everything - sick segues, high quality jams, excellent flow, high energy....

I mean, what the hell. Honestly there is almost nothing to complain about unless you wanna just be a super jerky nit picker.

That 12/3/19 show kills and Im standing by that statement. Mustve been incredible to be in that room.

2019-12-01 Uniondale, NY - 2024 revisit

 12/1/19 Uniondale

Set 1

The show opens magnificently with a spectacular, MUST HEAR, 13 minute Ghost!! A wonderfully kind of smoky slow burn jam evolves slowly into rock and roll before a MASSIVE hose EXPLOSION finale. Hot damn!!!!! Essential!!!

Its immediately apparent the energy tonight is different than that of last show's. The following Rift is must hear - they absolutely NAIL it to the friggin board. Its flawless and it RIPS!!!!

Same goes for the "where did this come from?!?!" Man Who Stepped suite!! Again, its FLAWLESS!!! They obviously rehearsed the hell outta both tunes and it shows! Again, essential listening!!! Holy crap!!!

After a nicely powerful Wedge, Martian Monster absolutely smashes our face in. In a set like this, of course Timber is what pops up next!!! Some excellent patient and bluesy jamming ensues. Wonderful stuff. Must hear, probably. A seriously terrific version in every way. MUST HEAR!!!!!

Up next is the year long bust out if Cool It Down. Terrific and rocking, grab this. Not much to say - its great!

After an average Roggae (read: great as ever) we get a stupendously kick ass Poor Heart! This thing SMOKES and is 1.0 worthy, imo! Must hear!!

The next massive highlight is an incredible 11 minute type 2 Tube!!!! This thing SOARS to the heavens and peaks for days!!! X Factor everywhere!!!!!!!!! All timer!!!!!!!

Smashing C Zero to close

All in all..... HOLY FRIGGIN CRAP!!! Now THIS is what it sounds like when things "click"!!!!!! An absolutely flawless first set full of energy and x factor, its so good, I damn near want to say its better than the entire previous two SHOWS! A MASSIVE step up in quality!!!!

Ghost, Rift, TMWSIY, Timber, Poor Heart and Tube are all MUST HEAR and everything else is top shelf as well!

Well friggin done boys! 

Set 2

The second begins with a true monster. This 14 minute Everything's Right has claim to top 5 or 6 version, imo. Im dead serious.

I cannot stress enough how much you need to hear this.

The boys waste NO time diving headfirst into a late night kind of dark groove. They lay into this hard. It just builds and builds thicker and soupier with every passing minute until by the end they are full on in the wormhole.

But the way it is played and developed and layered... everything abou it is PERFECT as if it was created on purpose. A true, genuine, no BS, X Factor Sent From Above (well, from Below, in this case) moment.

A genuine all timer. I do not make that statement lightly.

12/1/19 Uniondale

Everythings Right.... 

So Disease bubbles up perfectly out of the black hole outro of ER. The song rages hot as expected and then in the back end evolved into a funky zone. Disease is nice but merely the stop-gap piece tonight....

The fun begins when, after a few minutes of funk, they, magically, morph into....Cities!!!! That segue was some friggin X Factor on steroids. My god what is happening.

Even better, they play the song while Fishman continues the "wrong" drum pattern from the jam prior, so Cities is played with a very wacky and janky feel. All screwed up sounding in the greatest way! Its not until the song is almost over that they start playing it "properly".

This is freaking RIDICULOUS!!!!!!!!!! HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!!!!

And on a dime, no warning, Trey RIPS into a nuclear bomb Carini! No BS with this one, no type 2 ridiculousness, just pure, unadulterated face melting of the highest order. This one is played supremely well. This is NOT your "average type 1 Carini". This is a big cut above. Must hear!

Following that, an 11 minute Ruby Waves takes flight. We go soaring through the sky for a good, long, blissful while. Its not essential, but its a unique jam - its a good listen, but it never really peaks or fully explodes, yet it doesnt dilly dally either. Terrific landing back into the song to close!!!! Check it out!

And into the darkness again with an 11 minute 20 Years Later. Hilariously, the jam immediately pulls a massive switcheroo and they begin by launching into the brightest, warmest bliss this side of your favorite Roggae!!!! Dude!!! Aint no darkness here! Just Trey shredding the good vibes to the max!!! All hail out lord and savior, X Factor Magic!!!! Then, all of a sudden, the bliss mutates into a terrifying, grindy, rhythmic pulse and we head for the strange!!!! And with that heavy metal pulse it comes to a close....

Firestorm versions of Number Line and SANTOS close the set while we get a fantastic encore of Roses and Slave!!!

All in all...look, I know I said 11/29 was great. It is. Thats a GREAT show!!! But this. This was something else. This show was PHENOMENAL. In all seriousness, I would seriously put it in the top 5 shows of 2019 so far. Maybe even top 3. Its a damn juggernaut. Ghost, TMWSIY, Rift, Timber, Cool It Down, Poor Heart Tube, Everythings Right>Disease>Cities, Carini, 20 Years Later......ALL OF THAT IS MUST HEAR. ALL OF THAT!!

And that Everythings Right is a friggin masterpiece.

Welp, you know what they say, its all downhill from here!!!!

2019-11-30 Providence, RI - 2024 revisit

 On to 11/30/19 Providence, Night 2

Night 1 was the Plasmathon, this show is the "THX Synth intro" show, lol

Set 1 gets off to a terrific start with the triple header steamroller of Turtle, Punch and Slow Llama. All are very good to excellent but Punch is must hear (by 2019 standards). They must have really rehearsed it because its pretty much flawless, aside from the slightly-too-slow tempo.

The Trey song intro/Page THX synth fun begins song 4, an excellent little Meat. Its just too short!

"This next number, its called The Old Home Place! Hit it, Page! * cue synths *
Great version, everyone nails their parts.

Rinse and repeat the above for Lawn Boy and I Didnt Know! Trey intro>synths>song

Fun Phish is sometimes best Phish

Back to business with a standard hot Maze before the next true highlight if the set. A 10 minute Jibboo of epic proportions, this thing is essential listening! Its the ultimate slow burn duel between Page and Trey, the two slowly building it up and up and up, absolutely tearing it a new one! MUST HEAR!!! FANTASTIC!!!!

Set 1 ends on a bum note with a decent Stash into a butchered "A-for-effort" Plasma reprise and a solide Golgi.

All in all, this was a fine listen, but musically it doesnt hold a candle to the first set of night 1. Punch and Maze were both strong and Jibboo was ESSENTIAL, but outside of that this is just all about the fun, really, and thats ok!! Its a fine listen, just dont expect musical fireworks. Nothing was poor, but almost not excelled, ya know what I mean? One of those "straight down the middle, gets the job done" kinda sets.

Again though, shoutouts to Punch and THAT JIBBOO!!! 

Set 2

Set 2 begins auspiciously with a massive 17 minute Gin! It flirts with Type 2, but it mostly follows the 2023 template of "stay in your lane and jusy melt your face off". A pure ROCK SHOW Gin. Really good but it doesnt even particularly peak that well or anything so it ends up with that "not enough substance for the length" feeling. Id give it a B+

The following Alaska>WTU (you read that right!) is a glorious shock-surprise!!! Alaska dissolves into the ultra murky swamps of frog-croak type 2 ambience segueing beautifully into a FANTASTIC WTU!!

A+ must hear stuff!

Thankfully the following 11 minute Piper keeps the goods rolling! Piper shreds hard and fast for a good while before slowly morphing into a funky latin kind of feel, full of Fuego teasing from Page (sounds like it to me). It then gets real quiet as they break it down, Trey doing massive wah bursts in and out. Gordo kicks on some bass FX and we are off....into Golden Age...

GA is ok, but that gets abandoned quickly for Hood to close the set. The "song" portion is abysmal - flubby and limp as it gets. Yuck. BUT, as soon as the "build up" jam arrives, the friggin X FACTOR switch turns on and from there it rockets to the damn moon!!!!! From there it becomes one of the best, if not the best version of the year!!!! The back 2/3 are MUST HEAR!!! HOSE! HOSE ALERT!!!!

And we get an INSANE encore of friggin BBFCFM, Kung, Wombat, Possum and Plasma to close!!!

All in all, there was a ton to like about this show and, ON PAPER, it looks like the friggin show of the year. In reality, whatever "spark" they had on night 1 is just missing this night for some reason. Everything is good but not much is ESSENTIAL. Its a very strange feeling. That being said, Punch, Jiboo, Alaska>WTU, Hood and that dang encore are probably must hear.

Good show but an "off" vibe.

2019-11-29 Providence, RI - 2024 revisit

 Back on with the 2019 replay this morning, we begin to close in on my first two shows (12/6 and 12/7!!)

We begin this morning with 11/29/19 Providence

An interesting setlist pretty much devoid of any lengthy jamming, but length does not equal quality, so lets not jump to conclusions!

Set 1 begins with a standard good First Tube to open. Good stuff, nothing special. Fresh to get in that spot.

The following Final Hurrah is TERRIFIC!!! Truly A+ version! Put it on the must hear pile! After a solid NICU an equally must hear Steam rears its head. MUST HEAR! Another killer highlight, its a truly excellent version!

The fun keeps going with a double whammy of insanity - a very rare Scent of a Mule turns in an impassioned and flawless reading (seriously, they rehearsed this sucker) before the massive "never thought that would happen" bustout of Bye Bye Foot! Great organ and soulful guitar soloing on Foot - this deserves to be in rotation! Honestly, I much prefer this to, say, Sleeping Monkey.

Awesome.

In perfect set construction manner a fiery No Men picks us back up and gets us moving. Absolutely INCENDIARY Type 1 fire. This version is BLAZING! Nothing you havent heard before but damn is it great! Trey just goes OFF!

I should mention there has been a LOVELY kind of relaxed and laid back vibe throughout the set. Not tired, but think....breezy. Like they could be playing this set in Mexico or on a cruise or something. The following Gumbo grooves hard and helps cement this. Just another type 1 version, but per this set, its a REALLY GOOD type 1 version.

The relaxed party vibe keeps going with a nice My Soul. Red hot as expected. Good stuff.

Up next is the debut of the Vida Blue song Maybe! Only performance right here. And unfortunately its the only real weak point of the set. Pages vocal is very unsure and Trey is totally lost for what to play, AWOL for the majority. Shame, cuz its a very nice song!!!

The set ends wonderfully with a nuclear bomb double header of Sand>Fire! Both are exactly what you expect and they both friggin destroy. Good lord what a set ending!!!

All in all, I enjoyed the heck out of this show. On paper, aside from the rarities and debut, it looks lacking, but dont let that fool you. This is a set that is all about that VIBE, ya know what I mean? It felt like a breezy, beachside party with your friends. Just a grand old time. I highly recommend this set - it does not reinvent the wheel but it doesnt need to.

The Final Hurrah, Steam and Sand>Fire are probably must hear, along with Bye Bye Foot. The excellent Mule is worth a mention.

This was a GREAT set!!!!  

Set 2 - The Plasmathon

Set 2 begins with a MONSTER, must hear 46 Days that is pure nuclear, sucked-into-the-black hole ridiculousness. Maybe the version of the year! Holy crap!!!

BOTT is an excellent version, building to a surprisingly blissful peak. They truly lay hard into the BLISS on this one!!

A 13 min Plasma is the jam centerpiece of the show. It features 3 or 4 distinct sections, all excellent. One of the marquee jams of this tour - MUST HEAR!!!

After a lovely Farmhouse breather, we get a "why the hell is this not jam charted?!" Light>Plasma reprise! Light is 10 POWERHOUSE minutes of fantastic "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks playing" and needs to be heard. Terrific. And the ending is so choice.

The following BOAF is exceptional as well, Trey and the boys absolutely burning down the damn house. Must hear!!!

After a lovely Joy, we get ANOTHER great sequence! A short Simple sees a great segue into Set Your Soul Free. Another "needs to be jam charted!" piece, it quickly dives into spooky darkness for a long while only to slowlt rebuild to a rocking finale and morphing into another full on Plasma reprise to close! MUST HEAR!!!

A face melter Walk Away closes this sick set in style.

Pretend the show ends here. WTF is up with the encore - Meatstick, Sleep, Driver, Bug


All in all, this is a freaking AWESOME show and dont let anyone tell you otherwise!!! In the 2nd set, the whole 46>BOTT>Plasma shebang as well as the Light, BOAF, SYSF and Walk Away are ALL must hear!!

THIS SHOW BROUGHT THE HEAT AND DONT LET ANYONE TELL YOU OTHERWISE! GOOD LORD ITS A BLAST!  

2000-06-24 Atlanta, GA

 Onwards with 2000, how about 6 24, Atlanta?

Set 1

The show opens with a massive, psychedelic firestorm, 16 minute, GOAT-contender version of The Moma Dance. Dont take me lightly when I say, this might be the greatest version Ive ever heard (and thats saying a LOT). Full force outta the gate, it gnashes and snarls and twists and turns and ultimately just annihilates in every way possible. Unbelievable.

The following Jim aint far behind. It stays firmly Type 1 but is SO nuclear powered that it mows down everything in sight. If you put this as a top 25 or 30 version of all time, I would not argue. Good god!

Bouncing is the sweet relief we need to collect ourselves and it is played flawlessly! Not like its as technical as Fluffhead, but Trey nails his parts and the whole thing is perfect. 

And then comes Tweezer.....

Up next is the big daddy of the show - the famous 26 minute Tweezer. Song sounds great, the jam begins with a perfectly placed wah hit. After another vocal section Trey kicks on the looper and its off to Jam Land for real.

Quiet and patient is how we start, Gordo and looper leading the show. Cactus is really grooving hard! Someone begins to interject with some creepy, alien type FX (is it Trey on his keyboard??).

Those go away and Trey begins funkily vamping on guitar, Page layering gooey synth underneath. Very slowly, the whole band begins to raise the volume of the jam and the groove just increases with intensity more and more until we are back at "proper" playing level.

Page moves to piano and Trey is melodically soloing. Excellent stuff.

All of a sudden, Trey hits upon a weird stoccato rhythm outta nowhere. Mike immediately picks up on it and the jam shifts on a dime into this "sciencey", kinda King Crimson sounding style!

This new style begins to move upwards towards a more blissful type of sound. Trey and Mike are dueting (as much as is possible while improving), when suddenlt Page hits some "dark" notes and the jam starts to sound kinda twisted.

The KC vibe is still going strong but will it be light or dark?? The intensity rapidly builds!!! They break out of the KC bit into a funkier, Manteca-ish groove and we get back to proper "rocking"!!

This thing is a monster! By this point we are in melodic-bliss-rock mode. Pounding piano, Leslie hits, ratatattat cymbal work....Trey starts a new chordal motif, the other guys quickly latching on.

This new chord based motif sees them working skyward again in a rockier fashion, full of tension and uncertainty. Will it peak?! Thankfully they keep it going and just keep on building it up and up and up without stopping!!!!

The crowd picks up on the excitement and grant the band a roar!

Suddenly, after one of those anti-peak moments, the whole thing dies down quickly and quietly! The intensity is there but they are crouching low, like a wild animal in wait for the kill....Wait for it....wait for it....wait for it....

They stay down low for a long time. Fishman is exploding on the kit like the 7/23/99 Birds of a Feather. Everyone is playing TOGETHER in the best way, making this quiet soup of sound.

Slowly becoming more psychedelic by the second, Trey springs into action, trilling his sweet heart out, tearing it up and launching the jam full throttle towards the sky into a blazing hot, melt your face, heavenly shred fest of epic proportions!!!!!

Yes!! Give us the peak!!!!! Inject it directly into my veins!!!!! AND PEAK THEY DO! HOLD ON TO YOUR SPACE SUITS, HOLY MOTHER OF JUPITER LETS FRIGGIN GO!!!! SOARING ACROSS THE MULTIVERSE!!!!!!

And slowly, the peakiest peak explosion that ever peaked begins to dissolve into some kind of quietly rhythmic ambience.

And just as it began, so shall it conclude...
Ladies and gentleman, the Lakewood Tweezer....
Holy moly....

Strange Design is perfect out of that MONSTER masterpiece Tweezer. It works and feels like a coda, really! As if its part of the piece played previously. Perfect!

To follow, a particularly funky and rocking Cavern closes the set in terrific fashion. Cavern is Cavern but this one is particularly strong. It just has that extra something about it. Genuinely, a Cavern worth hearing, lol. Wow.

All in all, HOLY FRIGGIN CRAP THIS SET WAS AMAZING!!! HOW HAS THIS NOT BEEN RELEASED YET?! The Moma and of course Tweezer were all timers with Jim not far behind and even trusty old Cavern turning in a "take another listen" performance.

Its all downhill for set 2, right?   

Set 2

A rip roaring Birds is a great start to proceedings. Of course you get exactly what you expect. Molten face melting. Though it does hint at stretching its wings, it ultimately keeps them close to the chest. Trey basically melts down for 7 minutes like a Maze on steroids. Heck yes.

Unfortunately all momentum is immediately evaporated when the follow up song is....Bug. Look, I love a good Bug, and this is a fine version, but F- for set placement, Trey. Ugh! Dont scoff at this version, its actually particularly inspired imo, its just the horrific set placement. No, really, this is an inspired reading. Very powerful!!!! Give it a listen!

The following My Sweet One is must hear! Its a hilarious train wreck that they somehow keep on the rails, featuring a drum solo, bass solo and Page solo and a demonstration of Gordo's fight bell! Hysterically badass!!

The following Antelope is NUCLEAR. Even by Antelope standards it is just pure unhinged insanity of the most ridiculous order. There is even an ambulance siren at one point. Must hear, it deserves a jam chart entry.

Frankie Says is terrific. Does not sound like a bustout.

Carini ups the ante again and melts our faces once more, delivering the face melting of a life time. PEYTON HOOTEN!!! A MUST HEAR rendition, this is evil and wacky and just...insane!!!!!

A terrific, extra potent combo of Coil into Caspian closes set 2. Coil is good, but Caspian is EXCELLENT, and the pairing work better than they have any right to!!

The encore begins with, I swear Im not kidding, maybe the greatest Guyuute ever played. Its played at light speed, full of gusto, and they friggin NAIL it compositionally! Holy crap they had to have rehearsed the snot outta this for it to be this fantastic! Truly MUST HEAR!

Josie Wales, Driver and Tweeprize close the show.

All in all....holy mother once again. I am speechless. This was a classic show, full stop. What is there to say? 

 

2000-09-27 Englewood, CO

 Good, relaxed driving route in the truck again today so that means its 1.0 AUD listening time!

Today's pick is 9/27/00 Englewood
Aka the "Piper>Gumbo>Ghost>Mango" show

Ive played that INSANE 2nd set sequence many times since discovering it years ago but never the full show.

Solid A- AUD on this one. EQ it to remove the "dullness" and it sounds much better.

Set 1 feels like something from mid 90s Phish. Strong but inessential versions of Sample and MyFe open the show. Both are BLAZING hot!

Beauty into My Soul into Limb recalls Europe 1997 big time! Limb By Limb is ESSENTIAL listening! They fully tap into that x factor vein and deliver one of the finest versions I have ever heard. This needs to be known by everyone!!! 10/10 Limb!

Dirt is a nice cooldown before Melt gets us nice and grimy for a bit. Another highlight, maybe not essential, but Id say its strong for sure.

Horn is butchered unfortunately but thankfully Taste comes in with the other must hear piece of the set, almost nearing the exuberance of that Limb. Terrific reading!

Standard rocking Cavern to close.

All in all, I dig the variety of the set and the energy. I dont think they sound tired! Limb By Limb is a legitimate ALL TIMER and Taste is just terrific. Melt worth a listen to. Cherry pick the highlights but its a fine set. 

Set 2

Opening with a 17 minute shredfest Piper is always a good thing! The initial section is your typically amazing "how much hotter can this get?!?!" round of face melting. Delightful!

After another turn through the verses, Trey sets a repeating loop and the jam dies down into a jazzy kind of outer space, rapidfire space funk. Or something like that.

The transition from facemelting to this new section is so choice. Trey vamps it up good and hard, everyone just making this one massive groove fest. You WILL be bopping your head, trust me!

Soon enough, Trey steps on the wah pedal and we get some sick textural stuff complemented by Page using his wah as well (I think). I call this Squiggle Jazz Funk. Or something like that! Trey settles on a neat repeating descending motif and everyone latches on. They stay in this Space Funk area for a good long while, everyone playing around and controbuting their fair share.

Eventually Trey begins soloing more conventionally and the jam starts to lift off a little bit more. He is playing that motif still but there is suddenly intent behind it, as if you can tell they are now going to rock this sucker to a peak.

Instead, they switch it up and Fishman begins to play around with the beat, slowing it down then speeding it up again. The jam somehow magically winds its way to a sudden conclusion and they segue into a 14 minute Gumbo....

This Piper is SO GOOD. Its just ridiculous how they could pull music like this outta nowhere. I love my modern Phish, but "1.0" (and 2.0) Phish was truly a damn sight to behold. Just incredible. 

.... and so the beastly Space Funk Piper concludes and Gumbo begins. Excellent song choice, the funkiness really fitting big time! Really excellent reading of the song itself, Trey absolutely lets it rip, just tearing a new one on the guitar.

The jam begins with everyone suddenly dropping down quickly to a more quiet zone, jamming out the Gumbo motif down low.

This goes for a while until they go even quieter! Page moves to the organ and they bring this sucker right into Soul Town, USA. Groove it up, baby! This is SICK!

Eventually, it begins to build back to normal volume, intensity increasing slowly. Gordo trigger some bass fx and the whole band start to rock this sucker good and hard! Still groovier than a MF, but they are LAYING INTO it full throttle!!

Finally, they just full bore go for it, abandoning any pretense of subtlety, rocking hard until it slowly winds itself down to a conclusion like its being faded out.....  

With the Gumbo fully consumed, Trey signals that familiar opening loop and we move into a 13 minute Ghost.

Starting exceptionally chill, it quickly builds a head of steam, turning into a rocking version by the time of the first round of solos.

Fishman eventually takes charging, really upping the energy and forcing everyone to follow suit.

Trey begins this melodic motif that he latches on to for several minutes and the jam kinda starts to feel like its beginning to soar! Picture flying through the sky...thats what it sounds like to me. Or something. Its anything but serene - indeed it is raging hot. But its just got this fluidity about it all.

It just keeps building and getting hotter with each passing minute! Its like the slowest building peak-in-progress imaginable, if that makes any sense.

RAGE-TASTIC. PURE FIRE.

And then it just suddenly....stops! On a dime! Huh.

Hard to explain but this is a friggin excellent little Ghost. I wont call it an all timer but definitely put it in the underrated category!!! Wowzers. 

Out of Ghost and into the famed Mango Song. Nearly 10 minutes on this sucker! For such a rarity, it sure sounds great! Rehearsed?? Fantastic version that is just 10 minutes of pure exuberant joy!?? Excellent version!

After a very well played Heavy Things, we get the 2-year bustout of Brother!!! Sounds fine at first, then it kinda struggles in the middle. Eventually it "clicks" and they BURN THAT SUCKER TO THE GROUND. Another essential piece!

Excellent, uber funky YEM to close the set.

Loving Cup is the excellent, celebratory encore this show deserved and it delivers as ever. Great stuff.

All in all, set 1 is enjoyable but nothing to write home about, save for that Limb (you MUST hear that LxL!!!), while set 2 is basically all killer no filler for the most part (the "filler" is played excellently, thank you). The Piper>Gumbo>Ghost>Mango is an all time classic sequence that is essential listening for all Phans. Please listen to that (and Limb!!!!) if you have not!

I thoroughly enjoyed this show. Can you tell?