PHISH, WEDNESDAY 04/19/2023
WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST GREEK THEATRE, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
Berkeley, CA
Soundcheck: Horn, My Soul, Ginseng Sullivan, Water in the Sky

SET 1: I Never Needed You Like This Before: Still not quite sure what to think of this tune. Kind of not a fan. Actually, it basically sucks. Jam is a rager, but those lyrics are super yuck. Should have been retired after the Arkansas show, which it made sense for.

AC/DC Bag: Yes! This should have been the actual opener! Everything up until “Brain dead…” seems too mellow. Very cool that they jammed this out for the first time in a long time. But it really does not do much if we are being completely honest with each other >

Rift: Cool! Keeping that old school vibe going, I like it!

Runaway Jim: Nice! Old School still rolling! LOL Trey messing up at 1:29. This jam gets heady out of the gate with some cool delay type effects in the late 6 minute range. Excellent jam!

Lawn Boy: Old School still rolling. Page!

Halley's Comet: Calm down Broadway Trey, lol. Standard. Trey has a few Marty McFly moments in here. Pretty harsh transition into… >

Timber (Jerry the Mule) – Huge LOL at taking this major chord. This tune was NEVER made for that. This jam is absurd.

Winterqueen: Standard. >

46 Days: Rager.

SET 2: Mike's Song: Not sure what was going on, but everything that preceded that jam seemed very tentative and quiet. That nastiness that Trey hits up around 6:05 is straight out of summer 97. Nice! >

Beneath a Sea of Stars Part: The first ever pairing with Mike’s. Gives me serious goosebumps. I love how quickly this gets into deep space. While this doesn’t get to the greatness of 7.19.19, it still packs a major punch and will certainly grace the jam charts for good reason. Kind of rough and forced transition into… >

Weekapaug Groove: Solid jam. >

Cool It Down: Nice! Absolutely love how muddy they get in here. >

Set Your Soul Free: Dark and down – really good stuff. Big fan of this monster jam. >

What's the Use? – Transition is admittedly contrived. >

Loving Cup: Good stuff, rocking.

ENCORE: Waste: Perfection. Couldn’t end this run with a more appropriate number. >

Tweezer Reprise: Crushed as you would imagine.

Replay Value: AC/DC Bag, Runaway Jim, Beneath a Sea of Stars Part I, Set Your Soul Free

Summary: This is an interesting show. I am a fan for the most part. It has an old school feel to it with plenty of jamming. The jams are not exactly amazing but enough to score this show as a 3.7 out of 5.