2022-09-02 Commerce City, CO

 9 2 22 Dick's

1 set rain delay show.

Good 12 minute Carini to open. Good energy but struggles to do more than a pretty good peak and gets aborted as soon as it starts to get strange.

YEM in slot 2 is sloppy compositionally, but again, great energy. Nothing special in the slightest but a nice set call. Noteworthy is that they push through the vocal jam again and keep going. Very quickly though Trey reaches a perfect transition point and they segue excellently into Ghost.

Ghost is really, really good. Borderline must hear, it reaches a genuinely SOARING peak that is all kinds of awesome. Definitely worth checking out!

After an uneventful Julius comes Reba. Reba is far from perfect but the jam/solo is just stupendous. A really, really GREAT solo from Trey. Absolutely worth your time! Another "borderline must hear" piece.

Tube is pretty excellent. Nothing must hear but great all around. Up next is a 16 minute Tweezer into WTU. Tweezer never gets strange but Id call it must hear. Its excellent, just exploring lots of different little subtle areas. A rager. Love the Destiny Unbound teasing.

WTU is another standout. Great as ever. Id call the pair must hear.

A rare standalone Paug>No Men>Paug reprise is next. Paug is boring and pointless but the segue into No Men is awesome. No Men is blazing hot but extremely short without any jam, leading back into a short Paug reprise.

Moonage Daydream and Chalkdust to close are MUST HEAR!! Moonage is nuclear and Dust is among the finest type 1 versions of recent years featuring an incredible solo from Trey.

Inspired encore of a rare Pebbles and Tweeprise. Good stuff.

All in all, for a 1 set rain show, this was surprisingly really good. I can't call it a GREAT show and nothing had any real "X Factor Magic". Most of it was excellent on its own terms but nothing beats anything else played this summer.

The people on .NET calling this the show of the summer are smoking crack, straight up.

A+ for effort, B+ for result. The energy is there and most of it is really good, but even the "must hear" music is very much "lowercase" and not MUST HEAR, ya know?No way was this a 4.2 imo. Id give it a strong, like, 3.7 or 3.8 though!!

Its better than you expect but never truly excels for the most part - Dust, Moonage, and Tweezer>WTU are what you need most, probably.

2022-09-01 Commerce City, CO

 9/1/22 Dicks

Set 1

Ooh! 13 minute Sand opener - lets go!!! Bummer, this version kinda sucks... It grooves hard but Trey is asleep, and the jam is all kinds of disjointed and crappy, Trey trying to set loops and failing miserable. Terrible start to the show!!

A lengthy, nearly 14 minute Disease is next. Excellent reading, the song is tight and high energy. The jam is boring as hell - trapped in bliss rock purgatory with no escape!! The actual music itself feels great and this is not "uninspired", but it is definitely in that "ok, is anything going to happen or not?" territory. Its a really good version, incredibly boring jam wise.

Eventually, the jam somehow picks up steam and we get a ridiculous (and perfect!) segue into.....Scent of a Mule!! Dude, that segue was nuts. And Scent is killer! Sounds super rehearsed and very high energy. Effin A, alright!

After a grimy Ocelot, Heavy Things, Axilla and BOTT all deliver stupendous type 1 readings. None are must hear, but the energy is HIGH and they are all about as good as type 1 versions of them get.

Awesome.

The set closes with Theme and Blaze. Both are solid enough.

All in all, Sand was terrible, but the rest of the set was excellent, if exceptionally "ordinary". Id say grab Disease into SOAM, but thats stretching it as far as must hear material goes, imo. This set is a winner, just dont expect anything really special is what Im getting at.

Very enjoyable and high energy, but pretty uneventful playing wise for the most part. 

 

Set 2

The set starts off badly (see a theme yet?) with a decent but not amazing Possum into a very good but also underwhelming type 1 Twist. What is this nonsense?!

Finally it all takes a turn for the better with a 17 minute Ruby Waves. Ruby is unbelievable MAGIC!!! Well, the first 11 minutes anyways. After that Trey seems to lose interest and the jam kinda stutters to an end. Utterly insane, they deliver a "rip your head off and smash it into the ground" molten lava hose annihilation peak destruction version of all time proportions. 5000/10 version.

Dont Doubt Me is excellent and lengthy. Not must hear but kicks butt in the context of the set.

And then, hold onto your effin hats, Wave comes along and takes what Ruby started and elevates it a million times hotter. How is this even possible?! Just molten lava machine gun 1.0 level destruction. What in the F.

The Howling keeps it going good and then we get a 14 minute "balls to the wall" Piper to close that is explored nicely and definitely loaded with X Factor Magic like Wave and Ruby.

A terrific, if not truly must hear Hood for the encore. Wow.

All in all, if you like your Phish BLAZINGMOTHEREFFINGSOMEONECALLTHEFIREDEPARTMENT!!!! hot, well, proceed directly here!!

The segues suck, the jams never get strange, Trey abandons Ruby, and yet...man, hottest set of the summer. Hands down. Easily. My God.

Ruby, Wave and Piper are truly must hear and everything else from Ruby onwards is just heat, heat and more heat. What in the love of X Factor from Hell.

Wow.....

2022-08-14 East Troy, WI

 8 14 22 East Troy

Set 1

Great choice of The Landlady to open. Played pretty good with no flubbage. Great stuff!!

Unfortunately Runaway Jim is a snoozer. The song takes forever to get going and completely lacks energy. It almost gets going at the end but its way too little way too late. Major bummer!

Divided Sky is solid enough. Definitely not bad, but its very "sticky" and never really takes off very well. Trey struggles massively with his sustain notes. Eh/10

46 Days is decent but not great. The song never gets too hot and it has a budding jam with some cool delay stuff that Trey horrifically ripcords them out of.

DISGUSTING!! YUCK!!! That "transition" into Stealing Time was Coventry level garbage. Adding insult to injury the intro is botched even worse, with them unable to lock in at all, tempo all over the place. Throw this right in the trash

Surprisingly, Sugar Shack is pretty good. Still way too sleepy, Trey at least nails his parts. Solid enough.

After a nice Shade and a positively uninspired Moon, this lousy set comes to a close with the ONLY highlight of the entire set, a 13 minute Everythings Right. Surprise surprise, this is a terrific version! The boys finally CLICK and deliver a hard grooving, high energy rendition with MASSIVE peaking and rocking. Seriously, this is must hear.

All in all, this set is basically hot trash for the most part. Excessively "sticky" playing from Trey, a total lack of energy and the guys totally not "clicking" at all. This set was just downright LOUSY.

The ONLY thing truly worth hearing is the set ending ER. Everything else is just trash, pretty much, really.

 

Set 2

The 2nd set opens with a killer 11 minute reading of Energy! High energy, it goes type 2 quickly, delivering spctacular robot funk jamming with a hefty dose of strangeness thrown in. This one gets there, big time. Definitely must hear!

They follow it with an excellent 10 minute Jibboo that keeps the dancing goinf strong. Trey sets legit whale siren early and its off we go. The boys definitely sound infinitely more locked in that set 1. Treys soloing is sticky but this is otherwise an excellent reading. I'm calling this must hear, it's fantastic. Seriously!!

A 10 minute Soul Planet follows and hold on to your friggin space suits!!! This version is on FIRE!!! It stays type 1, but it sloooowwwlllyyyy builds into a series of minutes long peak raging of the highest order. Hose supreme. Must hear at all costs.

Excellent segue into a perfectly placed Rift. Rift is excellent, really well played!!!!

Reba follows and delivers an almost must hear reading. Technically, its 98 percent perfect and the solo is spectacular, if just too short.

Martian Monster is too short, but whats here just kills!!! Extremely inspired and "extra", im calling this must hear.

Broken Heart Attack>HYHU>MM jam is incredible!! This sequence is so unexpectedly killer!!! And the way HYHU works MUSICALLY in the sandwich is shocking. Must hear trio!!!

A raging Possum and a grindy Slave close the set excellently.

Waste and First Tube encore, both are extra excellent A+ readings. Waste is magical!!!

All in all, this set was shockingly fantastic!!! I honestly think the Energy, Jibboo, Soul Planet, BHA Suite and maybe Waste are all MUST HEAR with shoutouts to Reba, MM and Slave.

This was an all killer, no filler set. This set kicked so much ass!! Definitely one of my favorites of the whole year!

 

2022-08-13 East Troy, WI

 Welp, I just heard one of the greatest first sets ever played in existance.....

8/13/22 East Troy

Set 1

Tributing the famed 1999 show, we get an unbelievable opening triple threat combo of 1999>22 minute Fluffhead>Saw It Again. Good lord!!

1999 is absolutely killer. About 6 minutes long, everyone is locked in, the groove is hard and deep and the soloing is spectacularly perfect. A+ all around, an absolute must hear!!

Even better is Fluffhead. 22 minutes long, the song itself is FLAWLESS. Seriously, thats a 1.0 level Fluff, imo. I didnt head ONE single flub! And immediately, instead of concluding the song, they drop headfirst into an interesting and kind of darker rock jam. This is so sick. The whole jam goes through 2 or 3 sections and is just magical. X Factor. X Factor for friggin day!!! MUST HEAR AT ALL COSTS!!!!! BRING ON THE WHALE SIREN!!!

Eventually the jam somehow winds its way into Saw It Again. Another true must hear, this one is very lengthy by SIA standards (7 minutes!) and exceeds the usual awsomeness of the song. This has extra writen all over it. Killer.

After nearly 40 minutes of "wtf!?" magic, we get a gorgeous Leaves to give us a break. The X Factor continues to shine brightly and we get about a 4 minute jam tacked on the end! Quickly going type 2, this things goes FAR into the strange, whale sirens and whacky synth craziness. You would never know this was a Leaves.
Must hear, of course.

Unfortunately the jam is cut short, but at least Trey allows them to transition into BOTT instead of ripcording them. Excellebt type 1 as always.

Taste is as strong as any other recent version. Totally excellent if not truly essential.

Placed perfectly, imo, is the next song. The first post covid Petrichor (as far as im aware?), this is about as good as the song has ever been played. Apparently they soundchecked the crap out of it and boy did it pay off! Seriously, as with Fluff, this bad boy is, again, to my ears at least, flawless!!!! Good god!! All hail Petrichor!! Let the rains come down! Wow!

Following the non-peak conclusion of Petrichor, we get a perfect Squirming Coil to wrap the whole thing up. Coil is terrific and the piano outro is the most perfect ending this insane set could have received.

All in all, I thought this was one of the finest sets Ive ever heard from any era!! The playing is tight and energetic, Trey is ON, they nail the technical parts, the setlist is incredibly inspired and, the jams are fantastic and unexpected and the FLOW was out of this world - this set felt perfectly constructed!

Id say the opening trio of 1999, Fluff and Saw It Again as well as Leaves are the true must hears, but the entire set was just excellent across the board.

Id rate this set itself like a 4.5 or 4.6.
Wow....

 

Set 2

Tonight we get the first Number Line opener since 2011!! And on top of that its 14 minutes long! Unfortunately, the jam never escapes excessive bliss rock territory. While its enjoyable, is also kinda boring and the playing isnt especially good - its just kinda uninspiring and the attempt to peak it out at the end is janky and basically a total failure. It sounds like they simply just "give up" and limp the song out of existence. FINALLY in literally the last 30 seconds it goes type 2 and the FX come out but its too late and it just collapsed into Maze (great segue though!)

Bummer. That jam pretty much just straight up sucked!!!

On into Maze, that was one of the best setups/transitions ive ever heard. Killer! Thankfully Maze kicks serious ass. Absolutely unhinged feeling in the best way. Hot Maze is Hot Maze but dang is it always great to get a standout reading!!!
Trey takes his time slowly building his solo. Slowly he gets more and more off the rails. The crowd roars its approval and the song just EXPLODES with the final peak section. Hot damn, this is a spectacular modern Maze!!! Im calling this must hear. Trey botches the outro but who cares, lol

And they keep the energy going with a rocking 14 minute Mr. Completely, actually sounding energetic and slightly heavy tonight instead of the limp Phish versions we usually get. Really nice Trey and Page interplay to begin the jam while Fishman goes bonkers. This thing is GROOVIN! Trey sounds a little lost for what to play, like in Numberline but otherwise this is super tight and definitely enjoyable. Awesome part where Trey, Page and Mike all sync up on this interesting, circular kind of melodic motif for a good long while. The delays and subtle FX usage come out and the jam finally starts to get interesting. Trey keeps teasing robo wah while Page brings out the stuttering THX synths. Finally, the jam starts to get kind of ethereal, moving into an uptempo robo bliss, with Fishman teasing the Mr. Completely beat here and there, leading them to a lengthy bliss rock conclusion. Really excellent peakage. This is pretty sick - its a thick, soupy kind of slow burn groove fest. Noone is particularly soloing and they all seem to be more interested in building it all "together". Very textural jam. Im calling this must hear - its great! Sometimes it feels minimalist, but it also just, well, delivers as the same time. Absolutely worth your time!
Really, this is AWESOME!!

The song finally finishes not with a hard stop but a series of noisy "smashes" leading into another ridiculously smooth "how did they pull that off?!" segue into an interestingly placed Roggae. Seriously, its like they "crossfade" into the song. Its SO cool! And I must say, a mid 2nd set Roggae is actually really refreshing!
And HOLY CRAP THIS ROGGAE IS FREAKING MAGICAL!!!! X FACTOR MAGIC, BABY!!! ALL TIME GREAT VERSION UP THERE WITH THE BEST EVER PLAYED!! THIS IS MINDBLOWINGLY AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!

HOLY CRAP!!!

Even more insane, they follow it up with a mindblowing, truly nuclear bomb (way more than usual!!!) About to Run. Trey just murders everything in sight. Total bloodshed. Honestly, if someone wanted to try to pick the single greatest About to Run of all time, this would have to be in the top 2 or 3. Even by ATR standards, this over delivers in the extreme. X FACTOR MAGIC!!!

*An aside note - the first few songs of the set felt kinda "rusty" and slightly unsure, despite eventually delivering great results. With Reggae and ATR everything "clicks" finally and the quality level of the playing gains a new fluidity and is elevated drastically!!!

Another fresh move is the following late set Waves. Really excellent and delicate. Doesn't do anything special, but its REALLY, REALLY, good!!!!!

Another super inspired call is the set ending Undermind! (First ever 2nd set closer? And very rare in set 2 anyways!). Very lengthy, about 10 minutes. Undermind is hot, featuring robowah and synthy goodness off the rip. The robowah is just all goofy and terrific. Wacky in the best way!!! And then Trey kicks it into MAXIMUM FRIGGIN OVERDRIVE and destroys like we are back in About to Run. Total X Factor on this. Must hear!! One of the best Underminds ive ever heard!!!

Nice encore of a nicely jammed Blaze On. An incredibly molten hot rendition, you absolutely need to hear this! As good as Undermind! PURE FIRE!!!!


All in all....top 8 show of the year. This show BURNS. The 2nd set looks weird but delivers completely once you get past Number Line.

Maze, Completely, Roggae, About to Run and Undermind and Blaze On were all magical, spectacular readings, especially that mind blowing About to Run

How this has a 3.9 rating is beyond. Easy 4.4-ish level show for me.
Holy crap.

2022-08-12 East Troy, MI

 8/12/22 East Troy

Set 1

Ooh! A rare Fuego opener! AWESOME!!! Killer version, its tight and hot and high energy. The song sounds perfect and the jam is excellent, never getting weird but absolutely soaring to the sky instead. Its a bliss rock version, but its a terrific one! Must hear - also, is this the first Fuego opener Ive ever heard?!

The rocking keeps going with the must hear duo of Clear Your Mind>Twist. A super inspired pairing and set placement, CYM is excellent funking, groovy type 1. They execute a flawless and seamless transition into an excellent type 1 Twist. Taken on their own, neither is particularly "standout" but as a pair, the whole thing just works outstandingly well. The guys are playing TIGHT with each other and the flow of it all is outstanding. Wow.

Even better is Halley. On 6 minutes, but this one buuurrrnnnnssss. Honestly? This is hot enough for me to, again, call it must hear. Not much else to say - it CRUSHES.

With a "somehow they almost pulled it off" ripcord/segue we leave Halley for Destiny Unbound. Super, super FUNKY with sick "plinko wah" playing from Trey. I would jam chart this - this is KILLER. Its not overly long but, as with Halley, its absolutely on FIRE and the ridiculous funk jamming makes this sound as if they played the song in 1997 or something. Must. Hear.

And then, outta nowhere - 18 minute Moma Dance! LET'S FRIGGIN GO!!!! Off the rip, the song is excessively tight and energetic, with Trey getting in some "na na na na nas" from his TAB version of the song. At the 8 minute mark, the jam dives into type 2 with Trey going nuts with loopers and delays for a bit. After settling back down, the jam goes into a super laid back "night time funk" section for a god while. Killer. Trey is just tearing it up!! Finally around 14 minutes Page pushes them out and they spend the final few minutes building an abstract peak section with lots of wonky FX usage from Trey. Sick.

MUST HEAR!! ALL HAIL X FACTOR MAGIC!!! THE MAGIC REIGNS SUPREME!!! THAT WAS FRIGGIN RIDICULOUS!!!!!

The set closes with Drift. Im a fan, but this is a pretty ragged version. The raging finale saves it, but otherwise this is the only true blemish on an otherwise perfect set.

All in all, I LOVED THIS SET!!! Moma, Fuego, and CYM>TWIST and Destiny were all genuinely must hear. Aside from Drift, there wasnt one single low point. The energy was OFF THE CHAIN and the tightness was on lock. THIS SET KICKED ASS!

 

Set 2

Insane start with a 6 minute "genuinely jammed out" version of ....Ass Handed! Absolutely worth your time and worth a listen. Its awesome, lol

Unfortunately, the transition/ripcord/YANK into a 12 minute SYSF is like getting whiplash from hell. Awful!! That being said, SYSF is pretty excellent - if this was a first set. The song is TIGHT and high energy. The jam is pretty decent, exploring delay stuff, regular melodic rock and ultimately having a lengthy cool down outro. Whats here is pretty good, and while I wouldn't necessarily call it unercooked, this definitely leaves you wanting way more than what they give you.

Up next is the ultimate setlist sin - a 14 minute Golden Age that is played well but goes absolutely nowhere and does absolutely nothing and is way too long!!! It doesnt even finish that good. BORING!!!!! NEXT!!!! Seriously, this is a complete waste of time...

Love Lonely Trip but its not what we needed after that lame Golden Age. Love the song and its a good version but lets get on to Ghost.

13 minute Ghost. And holy sweet banana jeezus what a Ghost it is!!! This one rages extremely hard with Trey absolutely burning down the house. Then it goes type 2 into a crazy, wacky, "what the hell is going on?!" jam with lots of FX and Ass Handed call backs. The only flaw is that it ends too soon, but otherwise this is up there with the best jamming of the year. X FACTOR ALL OVER THIS SUCKER!!! MUST HEAR!!!

Following a hot but WAY too short Howling we get a shortish Simple. Simple follow Howling and doesnt jam at all - literally. Ok version but easily a total skip.

The set finishes on a high note with an X Factor laden, slap in the face Bowie!!! HOLY CRAP THIS KILLS!!! HECK YES!! MACHINE GUN TREY FOR PRESIDENT!!! MUST HEAR!!!

The Lizards and More for the encore. Pretty good.

All in all, this was one of the jankiest, most non-delivering sets ever, I swear. Ghost and Bowie are essential and Ass Handed is must hear too. SYSF is good but undercooked. The rest of the set is pretty much a total waste.

The 3.7 on .NET is apt. Bummer

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.