I am writing this review on the Wednesday after the show. While I may not be able to fully remove my attendance bias, I can definitely try to remove recency bias by having waited a few days.

There was an X factor this night and most felt it. People saying the band was tired…that’s projecting, my friend! We had great seats behind CK5 and were in a great position to take this one in. Also, I finally brough enough layers to be warm enough that the unseasonably cold / damp weather (by LA standards) wasn’t really affecting this Miami boy.

1st Set

• Landlady was somewhat surprising given PYITE being played a few shows earlier but very cool to hear for a 1.0’er and apparently the first one in a couple years, which might explain the slight flub on the intro but nothing too noticeable.
• Cavern, now here we go! Fairly standard, well played. And oddly, the second tune of the night where Trey and Mike get to dance!
• Llama going type II was so cool! A good omen? We’ll see…
• Sand also going type II, OK so we’re in a mood to venture out of the box. I’m digging it so far.
• A first-set Lizards? What kind of show did we get ourselves into here?!? Trey seemed to be having some tone control issues but got it dialed in eventually. The buildup during Page’s solo before the outro seemed to catch Trey off-guard a little at the peak (Page peaked a bit early), but as a player/student of this music, I can attest that song is not easy unless you’re playing it OFTEN, which they don’t anymore sadly. Trey also had some minor flubs on the grand finale outro, but I’m not Brad Sands, so I’m not going say it wasn’t good because they missed some changes. Energy and intent were there. Lots of folks were calling this song before the show (our crew included) so I guess we inflected reality just enough to manifest that shit. READ THE BOOK!
• With Hey Stranger, the little flubs we’d been hearing here and there seemed to get ironed out, understandable given the highly interlocking nature of that song’s groove. Great time to look around and smile at your neighbors. Ryan and Sarah from Denver CO, hello!!! Man, Trey really loves the combination of that Mutron (auto-wah) and Whammy (set for down an octave, or up). He mentioned it during one of his rig-rundown videos and sounds like it’s still his go-to sound during funk jams.
• Timber Ho is always welcome in my book, and again, some Type II key changes going on here.
• This band really wants me to be happy, which of course brings me …. Joy.
• Most Events Aren’t Planned…..love love love this song. Great closer, very funky and well played. Fate extends a hand. Indeed! Play this more often PLEASE!!!!!!!

2nd set / Encore

• More. Hmmm…well played and I guess I like some idealism with my Phish. Some friends really dislike this song (hi Letty!) but I’m a romantic and a pragmatic idealist so yeah, I’m good with this song as an opener.
• YEM. Longest YEM in decades, and it’s not because they were tired/bored. This went through the usual form into the vocal jam but their vocal jam started to mimic the 2-chord G/C jamming they had just exited, so they reemerged with MORE funk jamming, almost like they had to do it! Then some more Type II key change jamming ensued, with lots of bells and whistles taboot. The madness could have gone on for longer but instead we cut into >
• Twist in from YEM, and great call in my opinion. VERY COOL that the jam, which often starts out bombastic and then winds down to mellowness, actually STARTED very lean and mellow, as if the band knew we were all dialed in and didn’t need any extra theatrics. But here we go with more type II key change type jamming.
• Kill Devil Falls felt like we were entering the “victory lap” portion of our program, but was fun. Some whammy shenanigans in the outro jam with start/stop, time changes, key changes, dissonant boomerang loops, and a partridge in a pear tree. Then back into the KDF groove, morphing into ….
• LIFEBUOY. If you don’t like this song then f--- you 😊 Ricky Bobby jokes aside, this was a perfectly placed ballad. As a phisherman myself, I love placing ballads after sick jams so we can all catch our breath and process what we just heard. This was absolutely beautiful to the point of getting slightly emotional given the state of the world we’re in. And then, seemingly out of nowhere….
• 2001 was all Page. Like really, ALL PAGE. I had one of the headiest visuals I’ve ever had at a show. Short but sweet.
• SANTOS raged. I am now a fan of this song; was on the fence before this night but this was a very compelling version.
• What can I say about the Fuego encore that the length doesn’t convey? A great choice IMO. They just didn’t want to stop playing, but alas, all things must pass. Don’t worry guys, we’ll keep it rolling.

This was one of those shows where I didn’t want to leave for at least 15 min post show. Plus I was in no hurry to navigate the nitrous roadblocks on Highland (no pun intended, that’s the name of the street). Thanks Phish, I'll be back.