Religious experience on the Jersey Shore. Phish provided this to us tonight. This is obviously one of the best shows I’ve seen live and one of the best of the current tour, which is saying something because the band has simply been on fire. Shows this tour when the jams were not as long as tonight have still been excellently played and contained beautiful improv. Tonight was on another level / plane of existence.
It was lots of things. It was a love letter to the shore. We all want to live while we’re young even (especially) when we are pushing up there in years. High energy rocking tight Chalkdust opener, I don’t mind if I do. Seamless segue into the Wilson chords which the crowd took a beat longer than Trey wanted to recognize , which was pretty funny. Wilson slays, short / tight head bobbing power chords. Sand gave us the first very obvious direct shore reference and first opportunity to boogie and get dirty. Toes in the sand during a funky as hell Sand - check. Plasma continues the grimy funkiness as Mike starts giving us low booming reverberations, the man on the bass truly held it down tonight. Theme from the Bottom (of the ocean) was beautifully played and another indirect reference to our incredible concert environment for this weekend - this by the way was my first time on a beach at a Phish show. If you have the means, I highly recommend it.
Back on the Train straight ahead pumping jam, keeps the energy (maybe we can cheat and call it a reference since many of us took the train to AC today). Then Sigma and yet another shore reference and the first indication that we are at a truly special show. We are not alone on the beach, and we are already there as the jam washes in and out like the tide, the Phish 4-headed musical organ in full effect, telepathically creating interesting and compelling soundscapes. 20+ Min monster Sigma. Hear at all costs.
Cities, not a direct shore reference but AC may or may not *cough* have a whole lotta bad parts. The boardwalk and Phish on the beach is not one of them. Brief Cities funk and then a More S1 set closer. Oh yea , phish played a lot of new songs tonight. And they were all awesome and it is now a simple fact that this band wants to jam them out , so let them do it.
Excellent S1 in the books.
Axilla II, yes and yes. Referencing the gentlemen all around (myself included) with the unpleasant olfactory hues being emitted from their axillac regions.
Soul Planet - we are at the shore people!! The ocean is in fact love !!! This is a true story! And also it is a bop, as the kids say, again I do not understand the hate, soul planet you are welcome anytime in my book. And the jam immediately breaks down into more dirty griminess, I mean really we are really digging little trenches as we groove our feet into the beach. SP Really gets into a deep grove with rising guitar screech peaks, and then it folds up into itself and Mike squelches out those bubbling bass tones that could only mean we are getting Down with Disease. And what a Disease it was, tens of thousands of barefoot children outside were dancing on the beach. This DWD touched transcendent blissful peaks, Trey was just on another (soul) planet, the guitar was absolutely incendiary. This jam was amazing stuff that you simply go to Phish shows hoping to see.
Ruby Waves - I am telling you there was a thin layer of clouds on the open sky , there were stars peaking through touching my finger tips as I extended my hands in ecstasy with yet another unreal jam involving incredible repeated peaking triumphant segments, and Trey smiles and goes without missing a beat back into the ecstasy guitar riff from DWD. My dear lord.
It did not matter what Phish did at this point after finishing disease. The fact that they then played a sick Ghost into a f*cking perfect Harry Hood cements this show as an all timer in my (afterglow still buzzing) opinion. Ghost got right back into the dirty wave-washing funk that permeated this show, and then Trey whipped that funk into a rocking groove. A powerful Ghost jam. Harry Hood , what a way to end this set. Trey and Mike get nice and cozy close to one another during the composed section and then we are treated to happy ethereal beauty before the monstrous traditional peak.
The hose was open tonight. It was an absolute privilege to be at this show.
I cannot imagine how Phish will top this, but this is the first night of the run (!!!!), so who the F knows. I will say that I have Magnaball Day 1 vibes (it helps with the all GA venue and tent pop up surrounding, much like Bader felt in 2012), just an unreal powerhouse of a jam in S1 and then a top to bottom barn burner S2. And then if you recall Phish played Magnaball Day 2 the next day. What are we going to get on Day 2 in AC ?
