For this 2nd bonus show in my backyard, Phish showcased their range and delivered another tasty, balanced first set and another super long exploratory jam to highlight the 2nd set.

The scene at Shoreline was super chill for a GA show (compared to BGCA, much less 1.0 GA), but full of dedicated phans grooving hard to dailed-in phish, making the shows extra-special. After having 2x the space as normal the night before in Sec 201, my group(s) choose the lawn, resulting in having nearly unlimited dancing room on the lower lawn. Minimal searches and lines. Crowd noise at Shoreline is typically less than other outdoor venues that have a roof over more of the reserved seating, but everyone was pumped and appreciative.

I personally like the recent style of setlist construction, with a deliberate run at type II improvisation early in the show and/or late first set, a deep 3rd quarter, a sprinkle of randomness or rarities, and then we'll see about the last half hour of a 3 hour show. I remain baffled by people who dock this (and similar) shows a star for the final 15% or 20% being merely competent, fun, popular tunes. Clearly the Hood from N1 outshines anything in this show but TBH I needed the wind-down provided by 20YL and A Life Beyond the Dream.

Whether the Tweezer (or Soul Planet) will become a classic I listen to over and over again remains to be seen, but the first set is just crazy good with Mike's, Cities->, and Fluffhead the highlights. Fluff got a little splotchy right before the big peak, but otherwise a pretty tight set. My gut says this Tweezer stayed in the zone more than the Soul Planet, it didn't really feel as long as it was.

Overall, another terrific show absolutely worth seeking out. 2021 continues to shine.

(Audio from Live Phish- those of you who were there-, •count•your•lucky•stars! Because as I clean my house & draw my dog a picture for her birff day @6am. I’m not even finished with the show and I had to pull off a multi-task’er & get this out real fast, while I am in the zone.)

Okay… I’m somewhere in the second set and I already know hands-down this is gonna be one of my all-time favorite shows. I mean, right from the first note… BAM!!! Here comes Mike’s song from planet Funkatron !?!

And then… the man who stepped into yesterday. Walking down the Avenue right into the groove. Wow! Peeled the paint right off the walls!!

As my Uncle Joey says…. They had me doing
“The thorazine shuffle!”

Good golly, Miss Molly!!!

Whewww!!! Gotta take a breather after that one. One thing is for sure they are not only firing on all cylinders; they are creating more freakin cylinders as they go! Holy Shnikies!!!

Sometimes words just can’t explain it. That’s why we invented the arts. Such as this masterpiece, affectionately known as Shoreline N2.

So I won’t spend anymore time trying to explain how beautiful of an experience this was… and lucky for us… still can be, at any time.

That’s the beauty of technology. Live Phish is frozen in time. Perfectly preserved in a vacuum sealed air tight container. It remains as such for the rest of eternity. You can literally, press play & step through the portal.

And as your lawyer, I strongly advise you do that-

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Howdy yall!

Matty in Austin here to pile on to Carroteye's trenchant analysis of the world's longest Soul Planet and last night's Tweezer. As we all adjust to the dawning of the 4.0 sound, some clear patterns are emerging. Deep octave synth guitar echoes; long atonally dark passages over the top of driving rhythms; a penchant for going loooooong but skipping a blissful peak; a full commitment to GOTF and Lonely Trip material. And in my opinion, some slightly troubling harmony (Cactus) and vocal cadence issues (we are looking at you Big Red) that may be a bit more enhanced by some vocal mixing trouble as my ears have heard it both in the venues and on the LivePhish releases.

It's exciting to witness something altogether new, even if all of it just isn't your bag, baby.

All of that said, what the 8/31 Soul Planet had in sheer length the 9/1 Tweezer has in communication, musical ideation and execution. Driven particularly by Fish, who doubles up the beat at 11ish minutes and pushes the band toward a loop fed jam which collapses on itself, meanders for a bit and resurrects into a monster bliss peak - the first 27 minutes (!) is classic 3.0 with some of Trey's newish octave effects sprinkled on top. The peak then dissolves into a 4.0 avant garde soup of off time loops, atonal octave wiggles and rolling toms that somehow catches the scent of collective reality and slowly slides into Miss You.

While the 8 /31 Soul Planet seems born of the 2021 sound, this Tweezer is a perfect bridge between 3.0 and 4.0 - thrilling, daring and at times challenging. But all Phish.

Onward to Dick's! Be safe and take care of each other out there.

Matty in Austin
121 shows and millions of unimportant opinions

After saying in my comment on the previous night's Soul Planet that some of the more recent performances of Tweezer might not have been on the same level, here we have an altogether fantastic Tweezer. Some channel surfing follows Uncle Ebenezer’s appearance, including a brief American Woman tease, but the band locks on a groove around 11:45 that gets the party going in earnest. From there it’s smooth sailing to the start-stop jam around 18:00, out of which develops a spacey section that dances around Fire on the Mountain for a few minutes, building up to a nice peak in the process. Next comes a good six minutes of classic BBJ-style Tweezer madness which hints at SOAM before dissolving. For a moment, then, it sounds like Taste might be on deck, but the moment passes, and Miss You emerges instead. Overall, a superior effort, creating some great energy that carries over to a fierce Piper and the rest of Set II after.

Two years later... i need to drop this here.
I just got back to my hotel in Seattle. Phish just wrapped up the second night (4/14 & 4/15/2023)
here at the Climate Change Arena, or whatever they call it... (I call it a maze to get out of.)
Something about hearing them play these two shows got me thinking about this show.
I was on the plane home to Sacto from Seattle, having just done The Gorge, and the girls
I met back by the mix at The Gorge were from Tahoe, and we were talking about Tahoe
burning to the ground...(Phish Opened Seattle with Blaze On... fucking shivers down my spine)
two of those girls couldn't even get home, let alone wonder if they would have a house/cabin
to return to... Then I find out a few days later, that Phish decides to move to Shoreline for two nights!
(Sweet! I didn't have a tix to Tahoe anyway)
Long story shorter... Shoreline ends up being first come first served GA to the entire friggen place!
(why can't they do this to all shows? seriously, that would hella stick it to ticketmaster)
So I get to the line 4hrs early, and wait, and get the bracelet... and boom, row 3, standing right infront of Mike at Shorline.
Here's my question; here's my dealio, here's the shit that's been going through my head for two years.
... So Mike comes out, and tapes a fricken piece of paper to his mic stand, because he needs these lyrics, and he's obviously written them down so he can sing along... meanwhile, Page is over there going... "wtf, i swear my shit was working during soundcheck, what's wrong with my keyboards?" or whatever... and then Trey looks at Page like "dude, come on, lets fucking play!" and then looks directly at Mike, rolls his eye's and starts Mikes Song... Mike looks at Trey, and rips the lyrics off the mic stand he'd just taped up there...
WHAT WAS ON THAT PIECE OF PAPER!!!!! These are the things that plague you when you sit hella close to stage. That is all.