2023-04-21 Los Angeles, CA

 4 21 23 Los Angeles

Set 1

Mega hot energy tonight!!

Excellent soupy Moma followed by A+ Type 1 readings of Sigma, Party Time and SL23

Then a 20 min Everythings Right! ER is must hear. A wonderful Type 2 jam without several sections concluding in pretty good peak. Not an all timer, but absolutely highlight worthy!

A nice Shade followed by a hotter-than-expected Funky B (this one was noteworthy, imo) lead us to the shining crown jewel of the set - A Wave of Hope

14 minutes, this one goes Type 2 quickly and DESTROYS! As strong or stronger than my famed Seattle rendition, this is the definition of must hear and a top 10 jam of the year so far for sure. Absolutely must hear!!!!


All in all, this was a terrific first set!!!! Two deep, must hear jams, everything loaded with FIERY ENERGY FROM HELL and more enthusiasm than you can shake a stick at. WOW! FREAKING AWESOME SET!

Set 2

A fine Sample opens before a ridiculous 21 minute Disease.

This Disease is a hot friggin mess!

It almost dies before it begins - a total brainfart moment from Gordo leads to an impassioned yet ramshackle reading of the song itself.

The jam begins and it takes FOREVER for them to pull it together. It is the definition of spinning their wheels all the way to the 14 minute mark. Then, something magical happens - the beat slows down and the jam reprises the ridiculous, psychedelic, 2003-Phish kaiju monster stomp of 4 19's Set Your Soul Free The next 7 minutes are up thre with the Viking Darkness section from the 4 17 Greezer.

Epic. Ridiculous. Psychedelic. MONSTROUS.

NO SALVATION FOR THE INNOCENT - PHISH HAS COME TO SLAUGHTER THE WEAK!!!

And just like that, the magic comes to a close and we go into a nice but perfunctory Mercury.

Huh.

Mercury is good but gets aborted for Blaze On (rolls eyes).

Thankfully, BO brings the goods. 18 minutes, varies Type 2 that is very patient and totally awesome. They strike X Factor gold again and this ends up being a must hear version. SUPER PEAK ALERT!

Then comes YEM!!! AKA , Hot Mess 2: Electric Boogaloo

A strange duck, the composed portion is among the worst ever played this side of 2004. Its atrocious and nearly falls apart several times. But then they pull it together in a big way and deliver inspired jamming (for a modern YEM). In other words, it starts awful and gets awesome.

Cavern ends the set and Drift is the encore.


All in all, definitely a very strong show with classic potential hampered by sloppy playing and questionable segues. Several jams, albeit excellent, smack of "we have heard this before", while others go into the X Factor stratosphere (Disease, Blaze On).

Hard to rate this show! I enjoyed the HELL out of it but there were a lot of problems at the same time. Definitely a better overall show than Seattle #2 and Berkeley #1, that is for sure.

2023-04-19 Berkeley, CA

 4 19 23 Berkeley

Set 1

4 19 23

INNYLT opener. ATROCIOUS mix! Wheres Trey?!!?! Wheres Page?!?!


13 min Type 2 Bag!!! Robot funk bliss rager!!!MUST HEAR!


Gotta say though, the mix tonight (as with last night) is GARBAGE. WHERE'S PAGE??!!!

Back to the cavern sonics from the Mexico gigs

And the hits keep coming - 14 minute Type 2 Runaway Jim!!! Gets quiet and blissful. Very cool and strange vibrato/tremolo FX from Trey!!! Gorgeous!!!! Where did this come from?! Heavenly bliss Jim! This morphs into tension filled late night darkness for a long time that slowly rebuilds the heat before the climax. Turns into late night robo jazz or something!!! X FACTOR MAGIC . MUST HEAR! This is freaking incredible!!!

Lawn Boy leads to a very nice Halley, but it ends with the worst dead-stop ripcord this side of 2009! At least it goes into a MAGICAL Timber!!! Free jazz Timber! Must hear!!! Insane jam!!! A++++++++++++++++++

A perfect 10/10 Winterqueen is next, and then a HOLY MOTHER OF NUCLEAR BOMB 46 Days to close. No, seriously, the hose on this is DEADLY.

Overall, a very different set than 4 18s first set. Id probably PREFER that nights first set, but in all honesty?? I think this was even stronger!

THEY JUST KEEP GETTING BETTER!!!!!

Set 2

Starts great with a killer Mike's Song! The first jam immediately goes to this soupy, funky, watery kind of place. Terrific. Then into some killer type 1 melodic stuff.

Then, just as we get going, the set stalls and we get... a 15 min Sea of Stars in the 2nd slot?! Look, I adore the song and the jamming it produces, but we barely got going and we already hit the brakes.

Please dont let this set be a retread of the terrible 2nd set from Seattle #2!!!

Sea of Stars is MUST HEAR!!! X FACTOR MAGIC! It quickly jettisons the chill bliss, moves to a darker area, then spends a very long time in a rapid fire, uptempo-yet-ethereal and atmospheric rock jam!!!!

Super unique! Woah!!!! They took this FOR A RIDE!!!!

Even better, it winds its way back into Weekapaug to close!!!

Mikes- Atmospheric Rock Jam Sea of Stars-Groove

So a rocking and unexpected Cool It Down keeps the momentum going from Paug. Then we get a mammoth, 21 minute SYSF.
Terrific vocal performance from Trey (no, seriously). The jam spends a long while in soupy, funky, weido robot synth land. Dark and danceable! It becomes outright psychedelic, like the 12 6 97 Tweezer or something. PSYCHEDELIC HOSE EXPLOSION!!!! This is no feelgood SYSF!!! THIS IS EPIC!!!

After a bit, Trey introduces a rhythmic groove and the whole jam slows down into this hulking, stomping, CRUSHING behemoth laying waste to everything in sight!!!

This goes on for a long time! Eventually Trey begins the "dying droid" bleeps and bloops and the whole thing is crashing in on itself like a dying star!

I DIDN'T THINK MODERN PHISH COULD DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS!!

In other words, imagine Set Your Soul Free played by 2003 Phish.

Dude..... now THAT was the jam of the run so far!!!!

And into Whats the Use.... WTU is magical and kills

Then we get a pianoless (basically) version of Loving Cup. Celebratory as hell and totally killer, it has even more spunk than usual!!! At the same time, this audio mix is an offensive DISGRACE to Mr. McConnell!!!


Gorgeous Waste into the expected Tweeprise for the encore...

All in all.... I think this was the best of the 3 shows!!! Top to bottom it was the most "complete", and the jamming was next level throughout.

The Set Your Soul Free is mandatory listening. Honestly, I think its as strong as the 44 minute Tweezer. Its THAT good. Incredibly dark and twisted and psychedelic. A masterpiece.

 

 

2023-04-18 Berkeley, CA

 4 18 23 Berkeley

Immediately, the energy is through the roof from the grt go. You can tell this wont be the narcoleptic first set from 4 17!

A super rare Olivia's Fool opens and kills.
Killer!!!

Up next is an A+ Seven Below! Maybe the best performance of it in a while! Super fresh feeling coming so early. Awesome Type 1.5 sttle jam that threatens to go super deep. Must hear!

Maze is KILLER! Best modern version since god knows when! It was super tight and felt extra stretched out as well. Trey killed. Page killed. Maze killed. Must hear!

Then a rare Mountains in the Mist to cool us off. MUST HEAR! GORGEOUS GORGEOUS GORGEOUS! SEA OF STARS STYLE AMBIENT BLISS EXTRAORDINAIRRE!!!!!!! HOLY CRAP IVE GOT GOOSEBUMPS!

Yo this set is putting set 1 of 4 17 to SHAME!

AND THEN A 23 MINUTE GIN?! IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIRST SET?!?!
Gin is killer. It does its Type 1 rager thing until the 14 min mark. Instead of killing it, they dive into a dark zone for a while before building back up to an explosive peak finale. Awesome Gin. Well worth your money. A definite less is more kinda version.

The greatest 555 Ive ever heard in my life follows. If they played it like this every time, Carini would have serious competition! Basically going dark space type 2 for a few minutes, this one is a dark and menacing MONSTER of a jam! WHERE THE HECK DID THIS COME FROM?!?!?

Set 1 closes with a raging Possum

BEST OVERALL SET SINCE MEXICO! TOP TO BOTTOM HEATER! INSPIRED PLAYING AND X FACTOR ENERGY!!!

Set 2 opens with a strange, MUST HEAR Dont Doubt Me!!! 12 minutes, super deep and lengthy Carni style type 2 robot madness. 555 on steroids. MAGICAL! 1999 whammy pedal fx and all!

Then the fun keeps going with a 13 minute KDF!!! A genuine Type 2 bliss rager! It goes into the stratosphere. Gets creepy dark in the last few minutes. Lots of patience in this jam. Must hear. WOW!! WE ARE GETTING SUCKED INTO THE WORMHOLE!!!! Then straight ripcorded into...

A 21 minute Fuego!!!!????!!! Slop city reading of the sonf itself, but holy crap Jon Fishman is a friggin CANNON!! Fuego goes heavy metal tonight!!! Slightly jarring move into the jam, but its all good. This sucker gets WEIRD! All 1999-style, noodle loops and ambience. Then they slowly begin a cery rhythmic and tribal groove that lasts a few minutes and sees them bring it t a conclusion. Legitimate contender for GOAT Fuego. X FACTOR MAGIC.

The following Light is OUT OF THIS FRIGGIN WORLD! A++++++++++ Jazzy jamming, type 1 of the highest order. SO MUCH EXTRA GROOVE AND SPUNK!!!!! MAGICAL LIGHT! DONT FORGET THIS ITS AN ALL TIMER!!!!!

Lonely Trip cools us off. The Howling gets us dancing, then Farmhouse chills is again. Farmhouse is a wonderful version.

After the previous three songs, Number Line does the set no favors, but thankfully it builds a great head of steam and closes the set excellently!!!

C Zero to close.


All in all, this show was set to be an all timer, then it kinda fell off the proverbial cliff in the back half.

Super strong gig, id say it's the equivalent of probably Seattle 1. A strong 4.0-4.2 leve show imo!!!! Totally blew away night 1 as an OVERALL show!

Fuego, Gin, KDF and Light are all mandatory listening!

They didnt just burn down the Greek tonight, they friggin RAZED it!

2021-09-29 Pittsburgh, PA - J.F.A.T.

 Onwards to the first actual "Jon Fishman's Almost Tab" show, lol


After a surprise acoustic show in Columbus on 9/28/21 while Trey got stuff sorted out, we get Jon in to save the day for the rest of the tour.

9/29/21 Pittsburgh

Set 1

46 Days - Um, a 21 minute version to open the show?! Ok! Ultra red-hot until around 5:30 when things go Type II and get whacky! Ray and Trey are playing around with blip-bloop delays and stutters, feeding off of each other. Extremely cool and "goopy" sounding again (my new favorite word, lol). Fishman and Dezron are keeping that damn groove going almost better than if Cactus were playing. This is incredibly sick. You've never heard 46 Days GROOVE like this. Around 8 minutes, Ray starts doing extended holds on the organ and the vibe gets dark. Trey breaks out the RoboWah5000 and honks it the hell up for a long time. Dude, this is already one of the greatest versions of this ever played. This is incredible.
Around 9:15, he sets a cool loop of his wah pedal playing then proceeds to use the RoboFrogDeluxe on top of it, so you get this water, wacky "wobble" sound on top of his already-going robot looper!!! Trey then moves on to doing textural sustains and holds atop all of this. And the GROOVE KEEPS GOING!!! Around 11 minutes, Trey loops this new sound, then returns to his normal clean tone to solo on top of it. At 11:30, everyone syncs up onto a new pattern!!! God, I love live music for moments exactly like this.
Around 12 min, Ray begins a cool descending organ motif. Trey latches on and jams this new pattern. This sucker is growing and evolving and moving! Around the 13 minute mark, Fishman is switching up his drumming, adding in new fills and beats, giving some more "oomph" to this already-red hot rocketship. By 14 minutes, Trey is back on the RoboWah and this jam is getting HEAVY! It's still grooving like a mother, but it's developing a WEIGHT to it! Let me put it like this, you will be headbanging......
Around the 15 minute mark, Trey discovers a new motif and this leads the whole jam back into a kind of "raging Type I" area once more. His guitar tone is clean - no wah, no Robot, and he's just tearing it up all over these disgusting grooves. But then at 17 minutes, he kicks back on the robohonker and EVERYONE starts playing together on the motif once more. The wah comes back at 17:30 and it sounds like this thing is heading for liftoff. Fishman is ANNIHILATING the kit.
By 18:30, the delay pedal returns and we are flying through outer space on a funky, 1973-style rocket ship to the stars. Then at 19 minutes, Trey sneaks in the 46 Days lick and leads the band seamlessly back into a reprise of the song, bringing this incredible, must-hear, MASTERPIECE of a jam to an incredible, hose-peak, EXPLOSION of a finale!

 

I had to take a breather after that opening 46 Days. Literally one song into the show and I needed a break!

Picking back up....


Set 1, Continued:

Blaze On - 31 minutes. Longest version ever. Dude. What. The jamming begins with some vocal scatting from Trey before Ray jumps on the piano and lets loose. Absolutely wonderful latin vibe on this. That is always "implied" in Phish versions, but with the extra percussion and whatnot, the guys really lay hard into that latin-jazz thing and it elevates the song MAJORLY. Around the 6 minute mark, the jam gets super low-key, with a TERRIFIC section of Ray and Trey bouncing back and forth between the two of them. Call and response awesomeness.
Also, why is Trey's playing SO good in these shows when it was, honestly, lackluster for a lot of the summer? WHAT DID HE CHANGE?! Love the percussion in the background during this. Fishman syncs up with it and plays off of it. Great stuff. So by 8 minutes, the jam is starting to get very quiet! Ultra-laid back and groovy. Everyone is locked in together TIGHTLY!!!! Playing off of accent notes and listening to each other.
Check out the section at 9:35!!! Trey introduces this jazzy little motif and everyone instantly grabs ahold of it!!! WOW!!! The jam is slowly moving away from the super-chill into more of a "saturday afternoon at the local jazz fest" kind of feel. Not sure how else to explain it. They are making such great use of so "little"!!!
At the 11 minute mark, Trey starts to rock it up a bit more doing chord hits and slashes. Dezron and Fish pick up on this and the jam starts to get more uptempo. My legs are a-tappin' and my head is a-bangin'!!! LET'S DANCE!! So with the new template laid down, Trey moves over to the RoboWah and the heat begins to build!!!!
Now we are slowly heading for a mid-70's, classic rock, "Frankenstein" type of jam!!! Then at 12:45 the whole band picks up on this runaway groove and the gauntlet is thrown down!!! Trey begins those extended sustains followed by flurries of notes....This sucker is ROCKING now!!!! LET'S FRIGGIN GO!!!!
So from here, by the 14 minute mark, we are firmly in "this is what we expect from a red-hot Type I Blaze On at a Phish show" territory. Everyone is still jamming off of that ascending motif from a few minutes ago (you will know it when you hear it).
But then, SUDDENLY, at 15:30, the jam DIES RIGHT DOWN!!! Trey is whispering "Blaze on....." all smooth and sultry-like, while the music gets uber-funky and low-key!!! LATE NIGHT BLAZE ON!!!
At 17:40, Trey starts doing some new chordal vamping, if you will, with a different feel, and the jam moves into a more "feel good" type of area. Dad-Rock Blaze On? Wonderfully relaxed melodic soloing ensues for a couple awesome minutes. Check out the way Dezron so flawlessly plays along with Trey! Around the 20 minute mark, Trey begins a new descending motif. They jam on this for a good long while, and Trey even gets one of his patented Super-Sustained notes around the 21:40 point. Divided Sky would be proud!
Around 23:30, this building heat subsides, and a more "heavenly bliss" feel begins to emerge! Ray moves to the organ and Trey does a loop on top of which he busts out the RoboWah. But he's using it patiently and subtly, not going ham on it. They vamp this out for a good long while (several minutes), just sitting in this interesting new area. Very feel-good vibes. By 28 munutes, this is still going. This feels a lot like one of those, say, 1999 Phish jams where they just get into a "zone" and you sink right in, just surrendering to the flow, letting it wash over you....minimalist but still interesting. Just sink into the chair and let it take you over.....Wow....
And with that being said, at almost exactly the 30 minute mark, on the dot, they bring the jam to a conclusion.


 

Ok, sorry about that. That Blaze On Super Odyssey was even better than the 46 Days that opened the show.

Two songs, 51 minutes into the show.....

Review of set 1, PART three!

9/29/21 Pittsburgh, PA

Undermind - Awesome little version. Inspired playing from Trey! Only goes about 10 minutes but crushes from start to finish. Seriously, when is the last time Trey was consistently playing this invently and strongly?! And where was this Trey during the summer 2021 Phish shows?! Around the 5 minute mark, things heat up considerably when Fishman takes front and center for, basically, an in-song drum solo, while Ray shreds up the organ. Wowzers. Serious heat. Then at 7 minutes Trey busts out the RoboFX and IT'S ON!!! Holy crap, check out that spectacularly perfect Undermind-motif bass fill at 7:20 from Dezron! The whole band drops out and he goes "do do do do do, do", then they launch right back in with Trey doing the dying robot stuff. Insane. After this several minutes of insanity, Trey returns to the vocals and they ride the song to it's conclusion.

Yo, what the hell was that. That had no business being that incredible.

Ghost - And this mammoth, four song first set concludes with Ghost. Check out Rays spooky organ playing during the verses!! Gives it a totally colorful vibe!! Right away, the jam gets going good with Trey doing patient and perfect lead lines on top of Ray's spooky background organ. Very powerful. Those keys are really adding a new feel to this!!! Trey proceeds to let it friggin' rip on this sucker, going all psychedelic meltdown peak on us!!!! Good lord! Trill city!!! By the 7 minute mark, the fire is RAGING and this thing is about to explode! Impact is imminent!!! Check out the insane, volcanic meltdown peakage around the 8 minute mark! There wasn't anything approaching this all summer with Phish!!! What is going on!!! Where did this come from!!!

ALL HAIL THE UBER GHOST. MAY WE BOW AND ASK FOR MERCY, FOR IT REIGNS SUPREME!!!


And with that, the set is over. Guys, you can just call that the damn show. If they ended it right there, nobody would complain. This was even better than the Charlotte and Asheville gigs that I so loved. If you are a Phish fan, you NEED to give this a listen. I am not exaggerating. This is mindblowingly great stuff....

Playing set 2 while running errands so you guys get a break from my super lengthy ridiculous for a set

Party Time - A raging, robotic, Type 2, 20 min PT to open. Immediately planting it's flag at the summit of "Greatest PT Ever Played" peak. First 15 min or so are insane robowah Type 1, then it begins to deviate greatly from there, going Type 2 into RobotDarkBliss or something until its conclusion. Robot FX loops, late night jazz vibe, percussion all over th place ..Incredibly unique, freaking awesome, and must hear!!

Up next is a 13 min Ocelot. Ultra FUNKY tonight!!!! Ray's keys add a totally different field of color and sound to this!!! Good lord this is terrific. Stupendous soloing from Trey with the perfect amount of RoboFX to give it color but not go overboard. As with Party Time, you aint never heard Ocelot like this!! Wow!!!! Extremely wacky!!! Robot meltdown finale! Wtf!!!

Jibboo up next. Love the percussion on this! Kinda sloppy overall surprisingly. This one takes a long time to get going - not until about the 8 min mark or so. Then, just when you are about to write it off as rote, everything slips into place. The energy SKYROCKETS and they Type I peak this sucker to oblivion. This was the first "low" of the shows so far and it still ended on a massive high. This wasnt essential, but that last couple minutes were FIRE.

Up next we get round two of slow/dark Plasma. Red hot, machine gun Trey type 1. Terrific on the whole, but not the psychedelic beast from the other show. Still, you need to hear Trey absolutely STRANGLING his poor guitar on this!

Lonely Trip follows and is the breather we needed. Very nice as always.

I Never Needed You Like This Before gets us up and rocking again. And jesus friggin christ on a cracker this is 10 min of full blown fire from the sky machine gun Trey insanity. If you want to hear Trey obliterate his guitar, you NEED to hear this! MUST HEAR!!! OH MY GOD!!!

No acoustic encore tonight. Instead, Twist kicks off proceedings. Fishman providing vocals in the chorus makes Trey bust out laughing - "Thanks Fish!". Hilarious. Not anything must hear, but its fun eithr way. Lots of great robo FX.

First Tube to close. Interesting to hear it with a more funky, latin vibe. Basically apply what I said about Twist to this.

All in all, a another strong set, but a massive step down from the first and, easily, the least-incredible of the three shows so far. A terrific gig by itself, the surrounding competition is just so insanely, unfairly great! The Party Time, Ocelot and INNYLTB are all must hear, but the rest of the set is merely average-great.

What in the hell was that first set though! There was no way the 2nd set was gonna top that!

2021-09-26 Asheville, NC - T.A.B.

 Not-yet-Jon-Fishman's-Almost-TAB continues with 9/26/21 Asheville, NC

It's infuriating to think I could have gone to both this and the Charlotte show. I'm in Greenville - Only an hour away to both! But alas, my life was in the gutter at the time and it was impossible to attend....

That being said, here we go with set 1 of 9/26/21


Set 1

In Rounds - Skinny little legs! Odd to hear without the backing vocals, but a surprisingly strong opener that get us going good! For the sake of not highlighting everything, and in the wake of what is to follow, just know that I had to try my absolute hardest not to highlight this, lol. It's great.

Everything's Right - 16 minutes of awesome sauce! GROOVE SUPREME! The guys lay into this one HARD! The jam gets going strong but lays back kinda chill, then eventually Trey turns on the RoboWah5000 and kicks it up a couple notches! Must-hear!!! Better than a couple Phish versions I've heard, that's for sure! Trey is just going for it on these shows - what gives?! Where was this fire all summer when I kept complaining about show after show being way too chill?!
Cool section around 10 minutes where I'd say it goes Type II. A "scary" kind of theme appears and the guys ride this out. This goes for a couple kick-ass minutes and sees the band reaching an awesome robot-fuelled climax!!! Must hear! Killer!! Seriously, this goes HARD! ROBOT FIRE SUPREME!!! BANG YOUR HEAD!!! HOLY CRAP!!!

CHECK THAT FRIGGIN PEAK AT 13:45!!!!! THE GROUND IS QUAKING!!!



No Men In No Man's Land - Holy crap on a cracker, how could they possibly surpass that ER?! Turns out they don't, but this sure tries it's best! If a version this hot was played by Phish, people would be talking about it for days. Not an all-timer or anything, but an absolutely A+ Type I rager version! Perfect usage of robot FX when needed, great soloing from Ray on the organ for a different flavor....highly recommended!


Olivia - Killer! Love Russ's drumming on this. Can't believe this was shelved for almost 20 years until this 2021 TAB tour brought it back!

Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan - Now, if every Phish version was like this, I would never complain about it being on a setlist! The organ gives SUCH a great sound to this and really makes it stand apart!!!! The equivalent of the Ocelot from the show prior, this sucker is down and dirty and murky in the best wah. Super choice wah-pedal strangulation of the highest order! Super patient and all the better for it. This is automatically at the very top of the pile of best versions of this ever played - this very well might be contender for the very best one ever played (to this point)! I have never heard a Phish version come close to the adventurousness of this one!!! Spectacular reading! A+!!! MUST HEAR!!!

Steam - Oooh!!!! Great choice for the super-groove of the TAB band!!! 10 minutes of Hose City magic! Basically, everything I said about Stealing Time, apply straight to this. Face melting in the supreme with an insane peak. What in the hell!!! Why doesn't Trey play like this with Phish?!?!?!?



Push On Til The Day - Rages the set to an explosive rock and roll finale. Hot damn.




Ok guys, 9/25 Charlotte blew my mind. We are only at the halfway point of this one and I think it has already topped it!!! There wasn't anything in the set that was less than terrific. Everything was truly killer. If you are picky, Everything's Right, Stealing Time and Steam are the three things you NEED the most. All 3 are NEXT LEVEL with Steam and Stealing Time being genuine "best ever?!" contenders!

The Moma Dance - A nearly 21 minute rendition to open the set! Holy crap! So strange to hear without Fishman singing, but holy crap the GROOVE on this is INSANE! In all seriousness, the way they play this....it almost sounds like a different song!!!!! The change is subtle but massively effective!! Proceeds destructively as expected until the 8 minute mark where we switch gears into this awesome, almost "Cheap Sunglasses"-style, "late night" groove! Everyone getting down HARD! Trey is making great use of his effects sparingly, doing tasteful delay stabs and squeals...This section is great and goes for a very long time. By the 12 minute point, Trey is doing RoboWah "squiggles" all over the place while the keys start getting a bit darker and angstier. By 13 minutes, the keys give way to piano and you can say we are definitely in Type II!!!! The jam is dark and scary, without resorting to synthesizers or robot FX - this is good old fashioned TENSION! Trey almost derails it by throwing in some Moma Dance refrains, leading the jam back into more "typical" territory. Absolutely magical Moma! It went out there without going "out there". Hard to describe but this was a legitimate JAM!! Terrific and patient - the best kind!!! They stretched it out perfectly! Must hear!

I Never Needed You Like This Before - Absolutely spectacular Type I!!! PEAK ALERT! PEAK ALERT!! PEAK ALERT!

Plasma - 14 minute version, this got a total facelift, much like Camel Walk and Moma!!! Slow, dark, GRIMY and NASTY!!! Almost bluesy!!! Robot FX right out the friggin' gate!!! Dude! Right away at the 3 minute mark, we drop into Type II, late-night, chill ambience!!!! Russ is keeping the drums going, but everyone else is just doing quiet, "aquatic" stuff that would be perfect for a movie soundtrack or something! I guarantee you, you have not heard a Plasma like this (at least, not by Phish). I imagine this is in the ballpark of what Plasma might sound like played by Pink Floyd or something. Around 6 minutes, Trey backs off the FX and patiently lays down a lot of "perfect" melodic lead lines....this is SPECTACULAR!!! Now THIS is X Factor Magic!!! It rages hard in this "late night scary funky" groove until around 10 minutes when Trey starts to strangle his guitar with an incredibly unsettling "stutter" kind of effect!!! At 10:45 we hit a point where, if this was a Phish jam, I guarantee it would turn to bliss (you can pretty much tell the musical "cues", lol). Thankfully this is not Phish and so this spooky, scary, muddy Plasma keeps going!! Keep that tension coming, boys! Around the 13 minute mark, Trey turns to some SUPER grimy and muddy robot sounds and the jam reaches a definite climax before concluding.



Guys. Guys, no, listen to me. I'm serious. Have y'all heard this Plasma? This was one of the most incredible things I've ever heard related to Phish. This was NOTHING like any other Plasma I've ever heard (and probably the same for you as well!).
  

Set 2

About to Run - Great choice out of that "never heard anything like it before!" version of Plasma! Keeps the dark and dirty feel going and gets some rock and roll energy injected as well! Another "does a perfect version exist? Yes!" rendition thrown down by the boys!!! Guitar annihilation!!! LET'S RAGE!

Sand - As always, Sand has to be played. Killer version. Super spacey and goopy tonight. Trey going ham with his delay pedal! Absolutely terrific little Sand!!

>Carini - And into a 12 min Carini!!! Didn't see that coming! And this is absolutely RIDICULOUS! Listen to Dezron's friggin' thunder-stomp bass on this sucker! The jam begins in a laid-back groove mode once again. Trey spends a good long while doing that "laid back" noodle stuff that is oh so choice. Eventually though, things take a harsher tone and Trey busts out the RoboWah in addition to various robot FX for the nasty Carini jam we expect. Spectacular stuff. By the 10 minute mark, things are absolute Type II wackiness of the highest order!! Funk meltdown supreme! BANG YOUR HEAD INTO THE WALL MELTDOWN PEAK AT 11 minutes. Holy crap! MUST HEAR!!!


Carini ends the set proper. Then we get a great acoustic encore of Mountains, Shade and More with a raging First Tube to close.


All in all, WHAT A FRIGGIN SHOW! It's almost a 50/50 tie, but I think this show has the slight edge over Charlotte. It was cool to see that it had a very different vibe! Charlotte had a very "bluesy and relaxed" kind of heat. This show was totally "dark and grimy and funk", if you will.

Again, see my notes for the Charlotte gig - what a show!!! Yea, if you're playing 2021, you need to take the side trip to hear these....

Wow!

 

2021-09-25 Charlotte, NC - T.A.B.

 TAB, 9/25/21 Charlotte, NC

Set 1

46 Days - Surprisingly CHILL reading of the song! Low-key and almost funky! The extra percussion gives a great feel. Right at the 4:15 mark or so, Trey kicks on some tasty RoboWah to great effect. Around 9 minutes or so, Trey lays back and the GROOVE takes over. But then he kicks on that "waterfall delay", as I have been calling it. Things are starting to get "out there", though they are still skirting around the edges of 46 Days. Definite, outer space vibes slowly creeping in! By the 12 minute mark, Trey is setting loops and laying HARD into the RoboWah while the rest of the band groove this to oblivion (no pun intended...). This is freaking AWESOME!!!! Around 13:20, this sucker begins to peak hard, with Trey returning to a more normal sound and just letting it rip, building upwards higher and higher! From here, it's straight up molten lava ripping to the end. KILLER STUFF!! WOW!

The Way I Feel - Keeps the initial chill feel of 46 Days going. Super hot, all down and dirty. Red friggin hot, this is basically 12 minutes of Trey shredding it up. Hell yes!

Blaze On - "Do it, Ray!" is stranger than "Play it, Leo!", but it'll work! Red hot raging type 1 as expected. Then around the 8 minute mark, Trey kicks on the RoboBullfrog deluxe and the jam starts to stretch its wings sonically. Then at 10:30, I'd say we go full Type II!!! The jam gets REAL quiet and a bit spacey, though everyone is still jamming out. Wow, this is cool! Eventually it slowly builds back to Type I raging and the song concludes from there.

Hot damn, three for friggin' three!!!!

Camel Walk - A 13 min Camel Walk is up next, and this sucker is incendiary! Right off the rip, Trey is just destroying worlds!!! DANG! Bascially, it's just Type I fire from start to finish. KILLER!

Ghost - A slow and sludgy, 13 min Ghost follows. Ghost is a bit awkward structurally. Ray's keys really give this a different feel. Right away, Trey jumps on the way and honks it up, again, all slow and sludgy. Immediately, im talking by the 5 minute mark, the jam gets down to almost nothing! EXTREMELY quiet!!! Slowly, they build it back up - Trey is playing extremely GROWLY!!! THIS IS THE COOLEST GHOST IVE HEARD IN A HOT MINUTE!!! THIS THING IS NUCLEAR BOMB FIRE!!! MUST HEAR! MUST HEAR!!!



Hot freakin' damn, that first set was the BEE'S KNEES!!! Everything was total fire played with more energy and enthusiasm than many large chunks of Phish's 2021 summer tour - that's for sure! 

Set 2

Set Your Soul Free - Terrific, Type I rager. Ray's keys really elevate this! Right away, Trey wastes no time jumping on the wah. But then the jam gets more stoccato and latin-feeling. Trey laying back, doing delay lines. From here builds back up and rocks to the finale. FRIGGIN INSANE!

Ocelot - Like everything else tonight, in the best way, this is stuck DEEP in the muck and filth! EXTRA slow and GROOVETASTIC! This thing is disgusting! It goes super-chunk, robo-wah, groove machine up in this sucker! Absolutely the most out-there Ocelot I've ever heard. MUST HEAR!

Sweet Dreams Melinda - Wait, this isn't a Phish show? Great version! Nothing really must-hear, but totally great all the same! Trey's playing is stupendously fluid and delicate! Wow!

Gotta Jibboo - 15 minute killer!!! Of course the crowd goes nuts when Trey triggers the OG whale siren loop at 3 minutes! Ray proceeds to deliver a terrific piano solo for several funky minutes while Trey lays back. He ain't Page McConnell, but he gets the job done! I'd say the jam just about goes Type II around 5:40 when he and Trey lock in together on a motif that brings the jam slowly downwards and even more chill. Builds back to a raging peak from here and finishes with aplomb. MUST HEAR!
HOTTEST JIBBOO I HAVE EVER HEARD IN MY FRIGGIN LIFE!

A Life Beyond the Dream - Absolutely friggin' gorgeous.

Twist - DUDE! WHAT IS GOING ON! INSANE TWIST! 16 MINUTES!! SUPER GOOPY AND CRAZY!!! MUST HEAR!



Twist concludes and the set comes to a close. For the encore, we get some acoustic tunes with funny-as-ever Trey banter

Sample In a Jar - Is Sample

Brian and Robert - Yo, this might be a new all-timer version of this. It sent goosebumps down my arms. Absolutely SPLENDID!

Back On the Train - See Sample

Strange Design - Great to hear as always, but nothing tops that Brian and Robert!

Final Encore:
Sand - I'm actually not a huge fan of the TAB versions with horns. I prefer the slinky, low-key groove of the Phish renditions. This one is a great middle ground, with all the sludgy, goopy characteristics of the songs we've already heard, but with a more rocky inflection than most TAB reading. Awesome!



All in all, we aren't to the "great" shows yet and I was already BLOWN THE HELL AWAY!!!! Honestly, if you're a Phish fan, you probably just need to hear this (and the rest - I can't wait!). This was a superb gig! EVERYTHING was a damn highlight!!! Total fire and passion and RAGING ENERGY!!! Plus a healthy helping of dark goop (whatever you wanna call it).

Dang!

2023-04-17 Berkeley, CA

 4 17 23 Berkeley

Very strange setlist!

A very nice, if rathr stiff, The Curtain With opened the show. Gorge 2018 version this is not, but it was still good overall.

A very good (nothing more) Carini rages in the 2nd slot. Worth another listen

Trey then commits the ultimate sin and ripcords the band into.......All of These Dreams?!

Look, im a fan of the song, but to friggin kill that Carini and slam this into the 3rd song of the show....

?!?!?!?

A very good Stash (see Carini) follows. Probably the tightest thing so far but the jam ends just as its getting going. Solid but unspectacular.

Halfway, Mull and Undermind all try their darnedest, but none exceed the "average in every way" description. You can tell they are trying hard, its just not clicking for whatever reason.

The Theme to close is probably the set highlight with Carini. It begins stiff and boring but ends up in a great hose peak. Better than expected but still not GREAT.

All in all, a very, very odd feeling set. The energy is there and it sounds like they are trying hard, but almost nothing achieves any form of liftoff. This had to be the most inoffensively BLAND set I can recall hearing. Its ridiculous.....

Back in the dump truck, sitting, waiting to get loaded....Restarting set 2 of 4 17 23 this morning.

If anyone remembers, I thought set 1 was the most ridiculously stiff and bland set Id ever heard. Ive never heard another set like it! Nothing was bad, but nothing got going at all either and it was just...I dont even know.

I checked out the webcast only to realize the show took place in cold weather. And ya know what? In hindsight, thats exactly what it sounds and feels like! Im blaming the weather for the first set.

Fair enough - they at least tried.

As for set 2.....

My Soul is a surprisingly potent opener. Nobody ever wants it but it always slays. Immediately, the energy is up tenfold from set 1 and this thing just spews fire. Awesome.

Tweezer - 44 minutes. Ive heard this 4 or 5 times in isolation and it hasnt clicked with me yet. Lets see how I take it today...

Around 12 minutes, Trey gets going good and deep with the RoboWah and Gordo is growling it up. This section is awesome. Overlooked this on my last listen. Killer peaking through this section!!!

But then Page creeps in with the watery keys and leads the jam towards a more blissful, watery feel.

Around the 16 minute mark, this turns into a more rhythmic feel. A mystical, slightly ambient vibe appears. Heavenly bliss approaching. Love the rhythm Fishman has going. Things seem a little aimless for the next couple minutes, or maybe their patience is just rubbing me wrong....

Around the 22 minute mark, the drums lay back and turn into tribal fill patterns. Trey has a blissful loop going and things are getting really ambient and out there. Heavenly bliss has arrived!

Then right at 23:30, they stumble into greatness. Pure unadulterated X Factor Magic. The jam goes into this super dark, black hole, No Quarter type of area. This lasts for 5 or 6 INCREDIBLE minutes and is some of the greatest music I've ever heard the boys lay down.

I call this Viking War March Phish, lol. This is the sound they play in a movie when you see one faction ominously marching on the battlefield, off to conquer the land of their rivals. All dramatic and EPIC!!!! THE MOST EPIC MUSIC I HAVE EVER HEARD IN MY FRIGGIN LIFE! WHERE DID THIS COME FROM?!?!?!

EPIC! EPIC! EPIC! EPIC! EPIC! EPIC! EPIC! EPIC!

Or something like that....Must hear section!

Then at 29 minutes, Trey ripcords them (yes, thats a ripcord) out of the magic and back into Tweezer. The remaining 15 minutes are strong enough, and probably better than the first 20 minutes, though they never reach the heights of that dark section again.

Great, pulsing, push and pull kind of dark funk robot section follows for a few awesome minutes before melting down to nothingness again. Robot ambience. They piddle around in the murky soup for a bit before Trey guides them back to the surface.

Gotta love the "pew pew!" Star Wars blaster sounds from Page.

So we eventually get back to a dark funk area once more and the jam eventually rides its way to a blissful peak and conclusion from here.

Ok, Ive been converted....That dark section in the middle....jesus christ!!!! . Also, the LivePhish mix is garbage again. Like listening in a cave. Its a mushy mess. You can barely make out Page and Trey in many sections....

>Simple

Great segue into Simple!

Right at 5 minutes, from the outset, the usual Simple bliss is completely jettisoned for a slow dive into very dark, Type 2, swamp waters. Ambient looper hell has returned. This aint no happy little Simple!

Trey eventually starts some bluesy licks which prompts Fishman to get going on the drums, morphing this into another super dark, No Quarter-style jam.

Sorry for always harping on about No Quarter. Its just such an easy comparison point....

Things are slowly building and building, fire heating from below...Trey gets going with tasteful Robot delays and the whole thing is just a strange, sideways kind of mess!!! Like an asteroid on a crash course - brace for impact!

By 10 minutes, we are in outer space, Star Wars, droid meltdown hell!!! Is that Page or Trey doing those theremin-style bleep bloops?? This is a nasty, gnarly, grinding mess. Like a Split Open and Melt self-annihilation....

Inexplicably, at the 11:30 mark, Fishman makes his play to save us from drowning in the vortex. A new rock jam emerges. FX are cast aside and Fishman is doing awesome work with interesting patterns and fills. Trey proceeds to rock out....

This doesnt last long, however, and blissful ambience starts to slowly seep into the music. Fishman keeps it rocking, but Trey is in looper land while Page returns to the piano.

Around 15 min, a new melodic motif emerges that everyone proceeds to rock along too. This is a turning point. Hose peak approaching!!

Slowly, over the course of several incredible minutes, like a classic slow build Piper or something, they keep turning the heat knob one click higher and higher....

But then, just as its all about to explode, they avoid the peak (boo!!!!) and the jam turns into another slow droid meltdown scenario. Fish keeps it rockin, but Trey is just straight up making noise!!!

And having successfully blue-balled us with no peak, they lead us into ...

>Rock and Roll

Awesome segue!!! Perfect choice to celebrate the insanity we just survived!
Not the tightest rendition, but who cares?!
Rages to high heaven as hoped and kicks major tail!

Ya know that part where the band drop out and Trey does "that" ascending, melodic lick? Yea, angels wept for the vibe exuded....Good lord I have goosebumps on my face from that....

A++++ version!!!


Absolutely stunning Miss You to finally cool us off after weve been burning for the last hour....

8 minute Sand encore. Excellent but too short!!

All in all.....ive already said too much