2022-08-10 Toronto, CAN

 8/10/22 Toronto

Set 1

The show opens with a 10 minute Sigma. Good high energy version but a little loose. It gets a nice jam going when, outta friggin nowhere, they execute a ridiculously smooth segue straight into Blaze On!!

Blaze On is the definition of A+ type 1. Uptempo and very hot, Trey just laying down perfect soloing throughout. Id definitely call this opening duo must hear!!!

Steam is totally must hear as well. Even by hot Steam standards this is a cut above. Excellent soupy robo jamming gives way to the expected volcanic eruption. Essential.

My Sweet One is great. MSO is MSO.

A 13 minute Theme follows and continues the excellence. As with Blaze On, this is A+ type 1. The jam is very long and if it was more adventurous I would call it must hear. Still, genuinely excellen.

Wombat is friggin great tonight. Aside from Trey completely forgetting the first verse, this is as tight and hot as Ive heard in a while. Really excellent and tight jamming with cool delay work. If this was longer Id call it must hear.

Afterwards comes a 12 minute Stash. A really terrific version, this is as perfectly played as possible. The jam is upbeat bliss but it is pretty unique featuring stellar kind of...soaring leads. This is genuinely fantastic and must hear.

The set closes with Sand. Even by "hot set closing Sand" standards, this is a cut above. The X Factor shines in spades and Trey absolutely WAILS on this sucker like it beat up his momma!! This Sand is jaw dropping!!! Must hear at all costs!!!

All in all, I thought this set was GREAT!!! Tight, high energy playing throughout and Trey in top form. Id say the opening Sigma>Blaze, Steam, Stash and THAT SAND are all must hear, but really the ENTIRE set is excellent.

Smashing!!! Wow .... 

Set 2

Ooh a 13 minute Sample to open? High energy and rocking, the jam immediately goes into a some weird key change or something (SOMETHING happens but im not sure how to explain it). After some nice type 1 they get wacky and spend much of its duration going full blown type 2 robo funk. This is friggin amazing. X Factor magi! Must hear!

Unfortunately the good times quickly come to an end. An 18 minute Disease that is basically a jam trainwreck....the song itself sounds good, spending its time doing that boring type 1 thing up until around 8:30. The jam finally shift gear and goes type 2 for a bit, but never realizing its potential. Around 12 minutes it reaches a perfect natural conclusion point and comes to a stop. For some reason Trey does a reverse ripcord and YANKS them back into the jam. Lame type 1 bliss rock ensues. Around 18 minutes it gets powerful finally abd they segue into....DDHVL!

The short DDHVL jam is sick but the entire rest of that Disease is garbage! One of the worst jams Ive EVER heard!! Just boring, disconnected and extremely messy

Twenty Years Later and Light are both SOLID renditions that try but never really achieve. Neither offend but neither are special in the slightest.

Bouncing is surprisingly rough, tempo and tech issues abound. Ugh!!

2001 is ok but barely 5 minutes, but at least it wakes us up.

Finally things get back on track with a high energy and inspired feeling Sally. Too bad its barely 5 minutes as well! Really a shame its not longer as this is fantastic!! Must hear!

An 11 minute Free ends the set before Lawn Boy abd SANTOS wrap it all up.
Free is really good and high energy woth excellent robo funm rocking! Great end to the set! No really this Free is fantastic grab this!

All in all, set 1 was just killer but set 2 was just a mess! That Disease was astronomically bad and Light, 20 and 2001 were among the most "solid but uninspired" versions imaginable. Sample and Sally and probably Free are worth your time but the rest is just....not good.

Overall id rate this show like a solid 3.8 or 3.9.It was strong enough, just super messy!!

 

2022-08-07 Atlantic City, NJ

 8/7/22 Atlantic City

Set 1

A rare 11 minute Wolfman opener tonight. Heck yes. Terrific type 1 version that really stretched good without getting weird. Hot. Must hear, imo.

A 12 minute Tube is next. Really good version and big points for length. It never fully gets there jam wise but is still great overall, so ill call it excellent but not must hear.

Mountains is gorgeous, sounding like it could go into Terrapin if they wanted to.

An 11 minute Ocelot follows. Absolutely must hear!!! Total energy, Trey is ON and the jam is just COOKIN!!!! Spectacular Ocelot!!! Holy crap!!! No, seriously, this is next level. Killer....

And then into...a mid set Fluffhead?! Ok! Sure! Why not! Not must hear, but its an excellent reading, high in energy and played close to flawlessly. Killer.

Mercury is tight and sounds great but its only 7 minutes and completely lacking any jam. what the heck, dawg...

Gumbo is excellent too, but once again they just play straight through with no jamming whatsoever. Bummer.

Thankfully the set closes on an absolutely rodic note with Carini. 10 minutes but complete and utter X FACTOR MAGIC TO THE EXTREME!!! HOLY MOTHER OF ICCULUS THIS IS INCREDIBLE!! No, seriously, the entire thing is just EXPLODING with MAGIC! No other way to explain it!! Perfect FX usage, perfect length of the jam sections, umbelievable psycho space rock hose peakage.... All timer version. Put this in the pantheon of the greats.

All in all, this was definitely an excellent set. Everything was tight with good energy and good song selection. On the flipside, most of the versions seemed to have a hard time escaping "this is genuinely excellent but also nothing special" territory.

Carini is a big, fat, shining X Factor diamond. No clue where the hell that came from. Both are a step below, but id also call Ocelot and Wolfman as must hear. Others will love Tube, but for me it left me wanting.

Basically I have lots of small nitpicks. This is a great first set anyone would be stoked to get!! 

 

Set 2

Ooh, a Mike's Groove to set us off! Solid version. Paug develops good heat but overall nothing special and lacking a bit of "oomph".

A 19 minute Wave picks us right up and delivers a spectacular reading. High energy, it gets stuck in some semi-aimless type 1 until 12 minutes. The X Factor kicks in and the jam spends its remainder crafting a killer, kick ass, aquatic robo rage factory. Dark and light, lots of hard grooving and weirdness. Just KILLER!!! MUST HEAR! Doesn't top Hartford but its worthy competition!

Then out of nowhere and into a 24 minute YEM! And boy oh boy is this YEM a doozy!!! The song itself sounds pretty decent. High energy from the outset. Rages hard and hot until around the 14 minute they reach an extraordinary peak explosion. Unbelievable. Really. X Factor for days. For the next 2 minutes os the vocal jam before Fishman kicks us back into the jam at 16 minutes. The final 7+ minutes see the jam going type 2, exploring a killer kind of bouncy and uptempo funk/rock jam. Absolute magic. THIS YEM IS FRIGGIN INCREDIBLE!!! There have been several "holy freaking crap" YEMs this year and I think this one just topped them all. My god.

Solid Suzy to close before Velvet Sea and First Tube close the encore.

All in all, not a perfect show but generally high quality all around. The 2nd set feels a little short but who can complain with the spectacular Wave and incredible YEM.

For this show, grab Wolfman, Ocelot, Carini, Wave and YEM, imo.

I think I liked night 2 better personally, but this is still a killer show. Id rank it like a 4.2 or something. 

 

2022-08-06 Atlantic City, NJ

 8/6/22 Atlantic City

Set 1

Awesome start with 46 Days. Id say this goes type 2, spending its time in a chill yet heavy darkness. This sucker GROOVES HARD. Definitely must hear!!!

The following Moma is hot if inessential.

The double whammy of Olivias Pool into My Soul is excellent. My Soul blazes, definitely must hear. It kills.

Following a bliss rock 555 and a good NICU, we get a 17 minute power rock Gin. A bit more "weight" than most "straight rock" readings, its a massive version that just kicks butt, plain and simple. Must hear, probably.

Heavy Rotation makes a rare outing. Really strong, it has a budding jam that Trey ripcords them out of.

Character Zero is totally must hear. Hottest version of the year?! Pure nuclear annihilation, it even goes proper type 2, spending a few minutes in a blissful starry night Sea of Stars kind of area. Incredible.

Just as sick is the set closing Moonage Daydream. Chicago 2018 is my go to, but this might have just topped it. Must hear!!!!

All in all, this set kicked the crap out of set 1 of 8/5. 46 Days, Gin, C Zero and Moonage are all genuinely must hear. Awesome set!

Set 2

We get a 15 minute No Men to kick things off, and holy mothr of robo Satan what the hell is this. There is no raging, there is no peak, there is no good vibes. There is no light at the end of this tunnel, only darkness. Very textual, the jam slowly, minute by minute, gets darker and more abstract. Black Hole Robo Space Vortex. Or something like that. Just layer upon layer of sound, synths and loopers everywhere. It definitely reaches a point of "how much darker can this get?!" and then some. Pure mayhem. This is one of the most intense and dark jams of the modern age. Please go revisit this. The X Factor shines DARKLY!!! Christ!!!

A wonderful 17 minute Tweezer is up next. Going through a number of sections, its a soupy, jammy mess. A bi of this, a bit of that. And its killer. Must hear, of course.

A 10 minute SYSF is up next abd the X Factor continues to shine brightly. Staying type 1, this one is the definition of NEXT LEVEL!!! VOLCANIC ENERGY EXPLOSION FROM THE SUN!!! HOTTEST VERSION EVER. NO, SERIOUSLY, THIS IS MOLTEN LIQUID MAGMA FROM THE SUN. WHAT THE HELL. MY GOD.

A 12 minute Simple keeps it going even stronger!!! A spectacular reading, the jam absolutely SOARS, before dropping into the weirdest, most-out-there robot deconstruction jam imaginable. Stuttering, jittery synths and jagged delays, excessive power drill....you get the idea. Utter insanity from outta nowhere. Dude.

After a strong but inessential Number Line we get a ridiculous Golgi. The sequel to the other jammed out one from earlier in the summer, this one is super angsty, going heavily into a wild spanish jam before working its way back out. Another "wtf was that?!" performance from this run!!!

Slave is a total slow burner, starting pretty boring before eventually coalescing and ripping it up. Not essential but definitely does the job for sure.

ALBTD into Tweeprise close the show. Not sure if ALBTD is must hear, but its a genuinely terrific reading that works as a perfect "closing the book" moment.

All in all, I thought this show - top to bottom, overall - was much stronger than night 1 as a whole. That being said, the 2nd set of night 1 far eclipses the majority of this show, no matter how awesome, so pick your poison.

For set 2, No Men, Tweezer, SYSF and Simple are all must hear, adventurous readings and that Golgi is definitely worth a mention.

This show is far better than the 3.9 on .NET. This is an easy 4.2-4.3 level show, imo.

Thats 2 for 2 with AC2022!!!!!

2022-08-05 Atlantic City, NJ

 8/5/22 Atlantic City

Set 1

The show opens with Chalkdust into Wilson. Excellent opening, both are high energy and rock great.

Sand is interesting tonight. It doesnt rage, and it doesnt bliss rock either, instead spending its time in an interesting and powerful melodic kind of introspection. Not must hear, but its got character!

Plasma is very good, eschewing funkiness for outright rocking. Hot version.

Theme and BOTT are both solidly strong though neither is remarkable.

And then, holy crap, outta friggin nowhere, 21 MINUTE SIGMA! LETS FREAKING GO!!! Loaded with X Factor, this is a monster of a jam. The initial type 1 starts to skew when Trey starts introducing loopers. Around 14 minutes the whole thing goes pedal to the medal, absolutely EXPLODING, before eventually calming down into a terrific robo rock section. Killer segue into Cities. Must hear at all costs. Absolutely unbelievable.

Following a short Cities the set comes to a close with an average hot version of More.

All in all, this was a strong set. Aside from Signa though, nothing is must hear. That being said, everything else was at a "excellent if unremarkable" kind of level.

But that Sigma. Holy mother of type 2, that was insane. 

Set 2

A raging and excellent Axilla sets the scene before a 15 minute Soul Planet takes over. Another essential X Factor jam, it begins dark and growly, going into a wonderfully aquatic melodic jam. Slowly it picks back up and peaks hard eventually turning into a full blown rock jam again before again dying down with some spectaculaly groovy robo strangeness. A terrific and probably underrated jam. Go revisit this! Killer flow, really fantastic!!!

And then, the hits keep coming with a friggin 21 minute Disease up next! Disease is outstanding. As must hear as the Bangor version, this one goes deep Type 2 from the outset. Around 8 minutes, Trey begins looping and icy, crystalline synths start to appear. For the next 4 minutes they build a beautiful, twinkly, night sky kind of space jam. Extremely cool. Working out of it, around 14 minutes they slowly shift into a kick friggin ass robo groove that thankfully lasts a long time. Plinko jamming, ridiculous robowah abuse, Pages textural synths. This thing is MONSTER!!! Somewhere around 18 minutes, after some Midnight Rider teasing, the jam slowly starts to bliss out and from there they bring it on home like tucking us neatly into bed. Beautiful. Ok, now THIS is the Disease of the year and definitely in my top 5 of 2022 so far. X Factor everywhere, this is an incrdible, flowing, multisectional ADVENTURE!!! This is sick!!!! THAT WAS ONE OF THE GREATEST JAMS OF MODERN PHISH. IT WAS PERFECTION!!!

ALL TIMER JAM ALERT!!!

And the following 15 minute Ruby is JUST AS GOOD!!!! HOLY CRAP!!! X FACTOR MAGIC, EVERYWHERE!!!!! Ruby is spectacular. The jam quickly deviates going into devastating party-robo-jamming, evolving into a killer stop-start ROCK JAM. Finally it slowly builds t an astonishing and lengthy finale, producing the finest hose peak conclusion since the Pelham 2021 Carini. No, SERIOUSLY, this is THAT good. And instead of returning to Ruby, they do a Disease reprise!!!!

Ghost is 12 minutes tonight but keeps the magic going full stop!!! Not even finishing the sing proper, they dive immediately into a dark and brooding and HEAVY jam with No Quarter riffage abound. X Factor in spades. This is easily the most OUT THERE Ghost I can think of, easily, in the entire 2018-2024 period. No other one gets this STRANGE iirc. This is mindblowing. DOOM METAL GHOST.

In a perfect and unbelievable segue, the set closes with Hood. Hood is A++++ across the board. Highly inspired robo jamming in the intro abd the whole thing is just absurdly amazing. My god.

Awesome encore of Monkey into a must hear, heavy robo funk Free.

All in all ....WHAT IN THE LOVE OF CRAP WAS THIS SET?!? WHERE DID THEY PULL THIS FROM?!?! X FACTOR ACROSS THE BOARD!!! If 2/26/22 is still show of the year, this is hands down SET of the year. Honestly, this was one of the most insane, magical, ridiculous sets Ive ever heard. Complete must hear. My god. This is like a 4.8 level second set. Seriously.

So yea, just grab everything from Disease through Hood and the Free as well as Sigma from set 1.

My god.

2022-08-03 Clarkston, MI

 8/3/22

The rain delay+curfew, 1-set show

Nice choice of INNYLTB to open the show. Solidly rocking. Good stuff.

Right away things get intense with a 17 minute Everything's Right in slot two. This version isn't particularly strange or crazy, its just really, really good!! The song feels a little groovier than usual. The bliss rock type 1 extends up to about 11 minutes. From there they kick it into high gear and the jam EXPLODES. Just pure fire outta nowhere. From the there, the jam explores a variety of extremely funky, soupy and rocking styles, eventually slowly winding its way to a close. This was really terrific. Definitely must hear.

Then into a 14 minute KDF!!! Really enjoyable though ultimately underwhelming, never escaping pleasant bliss rocking and kinda fizzling out.

Camel Walk is excellent. Terrific stuff.

And now holy moly, a 15 minute Stash?? Lets go! Stash is hot and the boys are cookin. AND HOLY CRAP THIS STASH IS SPECTACULAR!!! It stays type 1, but is completely "extra" from the first second to the last. Unbelievable x factor energy on this. I cant believe im saying this seriously, but I truly think this was the best Stash Ive ever heard. No, im not exaggerating. My god.

After BATR and MyFe comes another incredible reading with a 12 minute Bowie. Absolutely flawless technically with even MORE energy than that Stash, I would say it damn near comes close in terms of quality. Just x factor high quality across the board. No meandering either, high quality playing througout. Spectacularly strong regular Bowie. Def must hear!!!

And now a 15 minute Carini?! Carini is excellent though disappointing jam wise, never escaping hot type 1. Terrific segue into No Men. No Men is killer - 12 minutes of ass kicking, getting growly and hard in the back end. Id call it must hear. Really awesome version. The finaly few minutes are sick.

Unfortunately they commit the ultimate sin and axe it in favor of a standard strong Twist. The set proper ends with a genuinely excellent Drift. Not must hear, but about as good as any standard version can be. Great stuff.

Boring encore of Bug into Possum. At least both are excellent and Bug is dedicated to Bon Jovi who is in attendance

All in all, for the most part this show delivers a million times better than you expect. Tight and HOT playing, X Factor energy all over the damn place, a ton of lengthy readings ...

The only bad part is that none of the jamming really takes off that much beyond terrific type 1. Its a nitpick but a valid one. See Carini>No Men for a good example.

On the upside, Stash and Bowie were among the finest modern versions played.
All in all, id say Everything's Right, Stash, Bowie and No Men are all essential.

Definitely a show that punches above its weight. If the jamming was better Id rate this like a 4.1 or a 4.2  

 

2022-08-02 Cuyahoga Falls, OH

 8/2/22 Cuyahoga Falls

Set 1

What in the love of all that is unholy - the show opens with an a capella. Strawberry Fields Forever. Heck. Yes.
I wouldnt call it must hear - the arrangement is kinda boring - but its still awesome regardless.

First true song of the show is Crowd Control. And this one kills!! CC often drafs and rarely achieves proper "liftoff". This one is incredibly high energy and just awesome. Honestly, this is probably must hear.

Up next is an awesome early set Punch!!! Punch is downright terrific tonight, super high energy, sounding practiced etc. Treys soloing aint too great but otherwise this is basically pretty flawless! Awesome!!!

46 Days gives us our first taste of X Factor tonight. Terrific reading that just explodes, featuring a SICK kina laidback night time jam for the final few minutes. It actually goes proper type 2! Essential.

A mid set YEM is an odd placement, but the technical part is, again, but its an excellent reading so who cares. Nothing special, but is definitely really good!!!

Tube and Shade are both average excellent but then Reba is totally botched by Trey, only to be redeeme by a soaring solo peakfest

High energy Cavern to close.

All in all, the playing was excellent (aside from Reba) and the energy is high. Everything is basically "base level excellent", though very little sticks out and makes you go "wow!".

Also of note, Trey seems to be favoring the neck pickup again and his tone is back to sounding like crap.

Grab Crowd Control and 46 Days. 

Set 2

25 minute friggin monster Free to open the set. Oh my sweet X Factor god! The song itself is tight and extremely hot. The initial soloing is off the hook and it rages type 1 all the way to the 13 minute mark. From there to about 17 minutes, they search a bit, going type 2 with some excessively upbeat robo rocking. Around 17 minutes, after jamming a cool melodic motif for a bit, the jam slowly begins to move back into less overtly "happy" grounds, heading for just a hard hitting, straight up, rock and roll section. Basically they take it friggin nuclear and burn down the friggin house for about 4 spectacular rocking minutes. Around 21 minutes, the jam goes low key befoe positively ERUPTING like a volcano. Honestly, this sounds like one of those mid 90s Mikes Song jams or something!!!! From about 22:30 the jam gets real funky again. From there they slowly wind it down to a close with a perfect segue into.....

All in all a terrific jam, a definite beast. This one doesn't get strange at all for the most part but bas just rages extremely hard. A must hear, of course, even if it was a little too "one note" for my taste

...Esther!!! Heck yes!!! 3rd one of the year so far, I think? Great version! Followed by a blazing hot Blaze On that goes into a cool darker jam in the back half.

Then we get a big boy 16 minute Scents. Never really going type 2, it basically follows the blueprint of Free and just gets progressively hotter as it goes with tons of raginf guiar and hose spraying abound. Must hear.

After the worlds shortest 2001 picks us back up. Killer type 1 reading, really excellent.

The set closes with a KILLER 14 minute Melt. X Factor all over this, imo. The jam is very rhythmic and "together" while simultaneously wacky and nutzo. The jam sounds like 10 minutes of a dying robot, all angular and whatnot. Must hear.

A+ encore of a must hear Gin. Its a type 1 rager, but its TIGHT AND BLAZING HOT, delivering the hose with MG Trey on full display.

All in all, this set was all killer, no filler, full stop!!! Free, Scents, Melt and Gin were all must hear, imo. The energy was through the roof and Trey was on FIRE.

Id give set 1 like a 3.5 or so. Set 2 is like a solid 4.4ish level. Overall, id balance it out to like a 4.2 level show or something.

 

2022-07-31 Columbia, MD

 7/31/22 Columbia, MD

set 1

Off with a bang with a 15 minute Wave of Hope! All right lets go! Wave is really good, basic just doing "extended type 1". It never fully "delivers" but it gets close! Great opener!

After Dogs Stole Things comes Bag. 10 minutes long, it stretches into type 1.5 territory, delivering a high energy, synth filled, gooey rock fest. Absolutely SICK slow build peak finale. Killer. Grab this!!! Wow!

Following a fun Sparkle and a surprisingly funky BOTT, we get the first true X Factor moment of the night. Mull is 12 minutes of kick ass ridiculousness!!! Absolutely must hear!!! All hail X Factor Magic!!! They finally take it for a proper ride, going full blow type 2. Heat, extreme funk and a robo meltdown. This is ESSENTIAL. Give me more!!!!

The Foam that follows is just as essential. Played flawlessly, for real, it sounds straight out of 1993. No I'm not exaggerating, holy crap.

Dang!!!

And onto a 15 minute Ghost to close the set! And Ghost is fantastic! It jams nice and chill, very slowly increasing in intensity until it just EXPLODES into an incredible hose finale. A true must hear. Killer.

All in all, set 1 was excellent! Not a single low point and everything was base level excellent. Flow out the wazoo as well!!! Foam, Bag, Ghost and ESPECIALLY Mull were all must hear. The set doesnt exceed the X Factor insanity of night 1, but if night 1 didn't exist, Id be calling this one of the best first sets ever. Killer. 

Set 2

Good set opening with a really nice Halley. Unfortunately, there is NO jam and Trey awkwardly has them full stop, out of nowhere, just launch into Tweezer instead.

Thankfully, all is forgiven with this Tweezer being a hefty and killer 19 minute jam beast. They build upon the Mull from set one, increasing the soupy funk to level 5000!!! Somewhere around 10 minutes, the jam shifts into this really unsettling and very unique, melodic minor key kind of zone for a while befoe returning to the light for a killer ethereal kind of bliss rock section. Around 15 minutes they go into this insane funky blues shuffle bit for a few killer minutes, extremely reminiscent of the 8/6/21 Simple. Perfect ending following that. Definite X Factor all over. This is a MUST HEAR Tweezer!!!!!! Yo, this Tweezer is SICK!!!!! PURE MAGIC!!!!!

AND HOLY MOTHER OF ZOMBIE BANANA JEEZUS - THIS WINGSUIT!!!! THE GOAT!! BEST IVE EVER HEARD!!!! COMPLETE AND UTTER MAGIC!!! ONE OF THE MOST INSANE SOLOS EVER PLAYED BY TREY, EVER!!! MORE MAGICAL THAN A 1995 REBA!!! WHAT IN THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY?!?!?! THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE!!!

* faints and dies *

No. Seriously. Im not exaggerating. Ive heard some incredible Wingsuits. This topped them. All of them. This is THE definition of "definitive go-to all time version".

What in the world .....

After a brief Tweezer reprisal jam to pick us back up, we go into a raging 9 minute Birds. Chill at first, it is ultra high energy regardless and slowly just builds and builds, raging to a climax. If you aint bangin your head to this one....

Terrific Joy follows and gives us a lovely break from all the world-destroying going on. Excellent as ever.

Out of Joy and into Taste. Taste is a fireball!!! Must hear version, a Type 1 Taste doesnt get finer than this!!!

And the segue into WTU is so choice. WTU is strong and then we get the duo of Howling and SANTOS to close the set. Both blaze hard hot, though neither are truly "essential".

Highly inspired encore of the rare Show of Life into Loving Cup and of course Tweeprise to close. Show is absolutely gorgeous and I really wish this wasnt a rarity!! Loving Cup is hot as ever. Great stuff.


All in all....this show was killer, once again. Less generous on the X Factor than night 1, this show felt more "typical excellent show" then the unique craziness of night 1. Still, an absolute sick show from top to bottom without a single low point and a number of MASSIVE highlights.

Easily a 4.2-ish level show, imo. For set 2 the Tweezer, Wingsuit and the Taste were the must hears, imo