, attached to 2021-10-26

Review by TooManyUrkels

TooManyUrkels I was in attendance and the reactions are mixed on this one so I’ll settle the score: this was a better show than the forums and memes will lead you to believe. The opening P&M is the perfect show-opener trifecta: rare song, rare placement, big jam. Segue into Makisupa was buttery and the banter featured a hella rare quote - what’s not to like? Also Sample jammed like 7/25/17 and no one seems to care?? I can’t with y’all. Santana Halley’s was hot but for my money the Mull jam is top-shelf Phish: the outro from about 7min onward is the sort of dark, sticky, chunky, THICC groove I want from Phish shows. Reminiscent of Brooklyn 04 Moma and a sleeper for first set highlight, but I’m probably the only one who thinks so. SYSF jam was tasty; Mike seemed to miss the cue coming back in from the jam, but Phish is the most professional band out there and held the set closer together without issue. Please refer to Zappa’s “wind up monkey” speech if you’re unwilling to ease up on critique of the inherent imperfections of improvisational music. Suffice to say that this first set was money if not necessarily a treasure trove of classic hits… get over it, Phish is on phire.

Set 2 was effortless flow but not the balls-out party pholks were probably looking for. BASOS is kinda cringe but if they’re gonna weave it into the evening’s tapestry then there are a lot worse ways to do it than this. More buttery segues in 46 > Weekapaug; this whole segment comprised the improvisational meat of the show and is properly lauded. AtR featured the Big Red shred and the closing dyad was nicely executed even considering that IIC’s heyday might be long past.
Killer encore that largely speaks for itself - love it when Trey nails The Lizards and he did so with ease.

Despite how superlatively these tunes were played, I have to make a note here about the vibe of this show. The folks in GA seemed to be more interested in silently self-pleasuring their Phish gland rather than contributing to the collective energy in any meaningful way. All around me were shushers, pit police, and vibe killers. I suspect the largely muted second set that people in the forums are complaining about is in no small part a reaction to what the band received from the crowd in kind. If you give Phish a cocktail lounge vibe with golf claps and silent study, then you’re gonna get something similar in return; to then come to the forums and whine about the lack of heaters played is an exercise in entitlement and naivety. I love this band, but y’all can be like Star Wars fans sometimes smh


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