Couch toured from the east coast, yes this was worth staying up past 3 am for - this show is an absolute behemoth. I said in another review that this band sounded ready to go off these past few nights and well for what its worth I think they just went off.

Instead of going song by song which would take a long time - let me say this to summarize this show - This TweezerThon 2nd set is even BETTER than it looks on paper - and on paper it looks like some straight up setlist porn --- oh and they played friggin LA Woman which was sick and teased it along with Tweezer the rest of the set - it cant be understated when I say this is a show for the ages. A+ second set that is going to be on repeat soon. This band is so damn good. I refuse to believe this show can be topped in Vegas - I don't know what they'd need to play to do it - but dear God I hope the find a way to top it!

Must Listens: Entire show

Was going to wait for the morning but I got too excited...

I flew into town from Columbus, OH to hit this Sunday show solo-- both my first time down here in LA and my first time going to a show solo. Absolutely any and every one of my expectations was blown out of the water. I settled up in the second row of the pit directly in front of Page and waited a few hours for the show to start.

A Wave of Hope was a nice way to get everyone moving, and then, BOOM! Second song spacey as all hell YEM-- another first for me! The energy in the room was palpable prior to the first uttering of 'Boy'! and everything just came flowing down. Fishman was doing an exceptional job pacing the prolonged ending of the jam and they even wrapped it up with an abbreviated vocal jam. Instead of taking a break with a catch up song, the band dove right into a ten minute Moma which was really where you could tell Trey was on fire for the first time. After the year that Simple has had so far (and it's been quite the '21 for it), I kinda wrote off the song as a possibility for the first set, but the Simple -> Waiting All Night was just a beautiful piece of music-- truly art. The Maze was exceptionally high-tempo, and the nature of the jam and the environment on the floor convinced me that this HAD to be the set closer (if you haven't, would highly recommend listening to this jam that'll probably be overlooked because of the rest of the show). To my delight, Trey proved me wrong as he pulled out his megaphone. Fee was arguably the song that got me into Phish in the first place, before I even really "got" the music, and I've always been wanting to see it live. It did not disappoint-- it was just as happy as I'd imagined and everyone in the arena was singing along. If this first set didn't already have everything in it, the Steam and Antelope to round it out were played without flaw. Steam stayed Type I and concise enough to give the band time to play a full Antelope but adequately showcased the capabilities of each member to play off of each other (bass bombs in this one were crazy!). Antelope has gotta be my favorite set closer too, and this one just got me so excited from the start.

When they started Set II with Cars, Trucks, Buses, I didn't really know what to expect. I'm actually a huge fan of CTB and I thought to myself about flipping the position of that and YEM at that time. And then the TweezerFest kicked in-- my first Tweezer as well. I can't even start to go song by song in this behemoth of a set. LA Woman was a crazy cool bustout that the crowd loved-- it was obvious the band had practiced this one recently as it sounded like it could've been a regular in their rotation. The SANTOS/Tweezer blend was arguably the first-ever Type II jammed out SANTOS and it was one of my highlights of the show. The juxtaposition of that with the What's the Use showcased the dynamic nature of Tweezer jams, and, to a greater extent, the band. What's the Use is incredibly awe inspiring and they didn't cut any corners tonight. The band just takes it absolutely next level after this onset; BOAF to Chalkdust (with a nice BOAF tease right after the vocal section) to Boogie On Reggae Woman is, in most shows, a satisfactory meat of a second set. This iteration just so happened to be right at the midway point of a damn TweezerFest. Carini has also had a beast of a '21 and the darkness of this jam just blew the room up-- at this point, we'd had somber, spacey, energetic, inspiring, and experimental emotional components of this set and Carini was just so different than everything else that had been played. The set wrapped up with Mr. Completely and Tweeprize and honestly I don't know if there's a single thing I would've changed about this set. The Gin encore was also a shocker and a monster of a jam in and of itself.

All in all, a lot of firsts for me. Yeah, this is only my seventh show, but this is almost certainly the best Phish show I've been to, edging out Deer Creek Night One. If you've got the time, there is not a song I would skip out of this entire show. If you don't have the time, make the time. An absolute must listen-- this band is unbelievably hot right now going into Santa Barbara right before Vegas. 5/5 stars without a question.

It’s 3am as I’m writing this review so I’ll be brief.

This show is magnificent. People went into tonight thinking there’s no way last night’s show can be topped this tour. Time will tell, but the band definitely laughed at that thought. Phish came to PLAY tonight.

There are some jams that have extra oomph on them, specifically YEM, Moma, and SANTOS. However, this isn’t a show you’re going to seek out a specific moment for. You likely won’t get the same enjoyment out of it. Because while SANTOS gets its first exploratory excursion, it didn’t feel like about 12 mins and it was all part of the Tweezerfest flow. The flow starts at CTB and ends at Tweeprise.

Even set 1 had that flow going. Simple flows straight into Waiting All Night (bust out?) which gets played at a different pace than usual as if it were Catapult or something. Moma with the YEM quotes, etc etc.

There’s a lot to be said about this one. You’ll want to hear that first set at least once, and you’ll listen to that second set for the rest of your life. And if you were there, well, you just made a lot of lifelong best friends tonight lol

I'm not usually one to post a brief review, but in case you're only tuning in now, or scouring reviews in posterity digging through the absolute embarrassment of riches in the spice-wielding worm-riding sci-fi back to the future incarnation that is PHISH 2021, I highly recommend making time for this YEM, at the very least (you may as well stick around for the fantastic Moma Dance and the rest of the show, too). I don't know what happened to these guys, which vaccines they got, or if there was some opening of the Lions Gate in late July or what, but from Deer Creek on they've been pulling off jams and extending songs, often early in the first set, like it was 1997. I'm not here necessarily to draw comparisons even if that is one, but that's the only time I can remember, save maybe the imposed context of the Baker's Dozen, that they were this likely to take a random song (NICU? Camel Walk? Axilla?) pull a big left turn and land it in a giant satisfying jam. I've still only made my way through a fraction of Fall, and not all of it works (except Carini; in 2021 Carini always works), but wow are they having fun, kicking ass, taking names, and Destroying America All Over Again.

Anyway, this YEM? A close buddy of mine, after hearing it, who was front row on 12/9/95, messaged me saying he thought it might be the best version they've played since 1995. "Better than the top three I've seen live?" I replied. "11/28/97, 2/28/03 and 8/6/17?" He suggested yes. I've only listened a couple a times, and everybody gets a little crazy sometimes, especially these days. But I'll tell ya folks... he may just be right. ????

After a Fall 1997-esque murderer's row of shows stacked with sprawling 25-30 minute jams, 4-and-5-song sets, jam vehicles out of the most unlikely of songs (Type II NICU?! 20 minute Carini encore?!) and some absolutely bonkers song placement, Phish picks the Sunday Show to throw down some straight setlist porn. Second attempt at A Wave of Hope, one of my favorite Lonely Trip songs, early first set YEM (excellent), awesome Moma Dance through Maze sequence, and pretty much the entire second set. Massive Tweezerfest, flowing like one giant song with an essay's worth of teases to document, and the first improvisationally significant S.A.N.T.O.S., taboot. This, folks, is Phish, with a capital "P"!

What can you say? As soon as they went into YEM in the two-slot we all knew we were in for a big one. Around moma dance I had to pee and was waiting for a break so that I could run to the bathroom without missing anything good. That break never came. Check out the waiting all night played at the tempo of simple! So cool.
Cars Trucks Buses!!! What a freakin' treat. At that point I'm sure every joe in the crowd knew that Tweezer was about to come in fiery hot. But who knew is would go to the lengths that it did.
I've been living in LA now for about 1 month. First Forum show. I feel so grateful to have witnessed LA Woman. Around the end of Chalk Dust it felt like things were winding down. Trey was very very hungry for more music though. Wonderful set that just kept on giving. First Gin encore since 1991! I mean come on now.
Thank you thank thank you thank you thank you thank you, Phish. I'm only 23 but the older I get the more this band means to me and the more I appreciate perfectly curated musical evenings like this one. 5/5 show.

What a show!
Brought two first-timers with me because the phriends who were supposed to join me in LA in July 2020 couldn't make it in October. What a lucky pair to have this as their first show! Of course I "lectured" them in the car on the way there about how Phish never repeats songs throughout a tour, and Phish proved me wrong by repeating Steam and Antelope in the first set (I had seen both songs in SF last week), and then again with SANTOS, Chalk Dust, Carini, and Mr Completely (and Bathtub Gin in the encore).
It hit me during the second set that they seem to be calling a redo from last weekend after the tragic death of the young man who threw himself off of the second level. It was like Phish was telling us with their music, "We know last weekend was tough, and we feel the pain of the family and friends of the deceased. We don't want to erase the memory of the shows from last weekend, but we do want to reset some of the fan favorite songs so they are not tainted by tragedy." I heard the message and was comforted. I was brought to tears during Birds of a Feather, which I heard as a reminder that we're all in this together, and I cannot wait to see what they have in store for us this coming weekend in Vegas.
Thank you, Phish, for an incredible experience that will not be forgotten.

An emphatic counterwieght to the prior night in Chula Vista, LA featured more focused energy, better flow, and utimately my vote for the better of these two shows that will likely always be compared side by side to those who attended.

This was my 60th show, and first time seeing a long-awaited Fee (very well done) as well as Cars, Trucks, Buses. Highlights and bustouts galore!

1st set must-listens: YEM
2nd set must-listens: Second set. Its essentially one piece of music interspersed with teases (call it a "Tweezer-fest, but its more of an upbeat party of a set with the only delicate moments featured in WTU?)

Two words: Jesus Christ

This is my tenth year seeing The Phish and it was a celebratory night.
Being from LA, my first show was Hollywood Bowl 2011, this show for me is symbolic.
I called the 1st set YEM (I had called it as the opener so I'll count it), my buddy called the Tweezer (he also called this as the 2nd set opener)
I've been chasing Cars Trucks Buses and Fee for the ENTIRE time I have been following this band as I have never seen them before.

Just ridiculous how the band has been approaching this fall tour.
If this was my last show ever, so be it, I have advanced to the afterlife.

25 years in.
Great show.
When the 2nd Song starts with a spacey YEM, something great is coming along.
Never, ever, miss a Sunday.

And it’s great to see this show come out of the LA forum bc traditionally it served up fun (but consistently average or less shows).

Really excited to see what Santa Barbara brings us.