*On the couch until Atlantic City*
The band takes the stage and takes it all in. Those few extra seconds of them gazing at the crowd was a nice way to say "welcome back, we've missed you." This is a nice opening for "I Never Needed You Like This Before" which for me is one of the standout new Trey tracks. I'm a big fan of that hard opening riff. "Tube" nearly gets to "Did they jam out tube?" territory much like 12/1/19 with Trey quietly using the POG and Wah. A nice first set "Free" leads to a cute "Bouncing" and a heavy "46 Days." Fishman takes the lead on "Limb By Limb," ending with a "blahblahblahblah." "Wolfman's absolutely soars. You can tell the band has as much fun exploring that jam as we do hearing it. I'm always here for a "NICU." I think the audience and band are fully ready for "DWYS" to become a regular first set closer. After the past year and a half, those lyrics are hitting different.

Set two opens in the murky depths of Mike's flanger; an expected but wonderful "Down With Disease." Interpret the lyrics however you want nowadays. The vaccine has been created! This leads to a happy "Simple" until it doesn't. The band gets dark. "Disease -> Simple" becomes the most experimental 30 minutes of the show. Life hasn't been so simple. The best part of the night leads into the most rocky in my opinion. "Fuego" is a face-melter but this one was a little goofy. For me, "Plasma" was the lowest part of the night but was quickly supplanted by a "Weekapaug Jim." I do love when they sneak-a-paug and the band seems to have a "uh oh we're being silly" expressions on their face. We end the segues with "Rift." "If I Could" caught me by surprise showing up this late in the show but, to me, it worked. "Rise/Come Together" got some hate on twitter but by that time I was feeling the love, which led into a wonderful "Slave" to close it out. Trey says before "Santos" that this is the first time they've played Arkansas and they want to come back. Big shout out to the people of Arkansas. You deserve every show you get.