Hmmm - Four full days later and still no review for this seminal night. Maybe that's because @laudanum and @scissortail summed it up nicely in the blog reviews for Nights 3 & 4. This show/seismic event found itself worthy of discussion the next night by Trey himself in the lyrics to Chalk Dust Torture Reprise. And why not? The first set is loosey goosey yet still finds moments to dive into the effects laden jamming that will undoubtedly define this run and possibly the next year or more. 46 Days briefly divebombs into it but pulls up, KDF leans in hard for the last five minutes or so. Perhaps a harbinger for what is lurking after setbreak.

And eleven minutes into the Blaze On opener it feels like 2024 Evil Phish has arrived again - only to be ripchorded (ripriffed?) for CDT. And it is a glorious, multi-sectional CDT even BEFORE the earth opens up and swallows it at minute 22ish. Waves and waves of thick effects, pitch divebombs, growling rumble, synth corkscrews and tom rolling, cymbal crashing madness. And then.... well, if the video is still up, at 28:38 we reach sublime chaos at its apex and an inexplicable moment of musical hive mind. Trey mashes his expression pedal and what many folks have described as the "bubble effect" explodes into the Mexican night. It is out of left field, overbearing, and could have devolved the jam into ambient weirdness, but everyone adjusts - Trey starts a call/response with the effect, Fish finds the rhythm and mimics it with his China cymbal. It just shouldn't work, but of course it does, and it elevates the jam and sends it racing to a massive peak of power chording. At 30:00 in the video we humble viewers are presented with incontrovertible evidence that this new noise rock movement is here to stay - Trey's maniacal smile as he leans into that expression pedal over and over, bobbing his head, eyes cast to the floor.

The rest of the show? It was good/great Phishing - Hood has an excellent bliss peak and Zero never disappoints.

It looks like 2024 will be another titanic shift for the band - think '97 more groove/less peak meets the highlights of the oxy years ('04 SPAC Piper comes to mind) meets an expert command of a new cache of effects from both Trey and Page. I can't wait to see what CK5 can do with this new direction with the mother grid and his full lighting rig.

PHISH, FRIDAY 02/23/2024
MOON PALACE
Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico

SET 1:

Set Your Soul Free: Standard. Cool segue into Ghost. ->

Ghost: Standard. Interesting segue, would have been awesome but Fish got a little carried away and didn’t catch on as fast as his mates. ->

Fast Enough for You: Standard.

Evolve: Standard.

Mull: Fun little jam. Like this tune and feel it has potential. >

46 Days: Standard. >

Kill Devil Falls: This rocked. Mike dominates for a good portion. Lots of dark energy and intensity. Would recommend. >

Wading in the Velvet Sea: Perfect placement, sublime.

Sigma Oasis: Standard.

SET 2:

Blaze On: Has a bit of length and a solid enough jam to start off the set. >

Chalk Dust Torture[1] - Listened to this a couple of times last week on lengthy drives and both times just got absolutely lost in it. Not going to give a blow by blow on this one at all. What I will say that this is one of the best, long jams they have ever put together. It has been a while since Phish blew me away, but this did exactly that. This jam traverses so much time and space and what I really love is that they take you to some really dark spaces – some very intense spaces. So evil. Those that got to witness this in person are some lucky folks. This is magic. Easy, easy all timer and highly recommended. >

Beneath a Sea of Stars Part 1: The old magic back on display. They literally couldn’t have picked a better follow up tune than this. I would have melted into the sand. >

Backwards Down the Number Line: LOL. They earned it. It’s fine. >

Harry Hood: Standard.

ENCORE:

When the Circus Comes: Standard.

Character Zero: Standard.

Summary: Not as good as 2.22, but it has the jam of the weekend. Would rate this as a 4.3/5.

Replay Value: Kill Devil Falls, Chalk Dust Torture

[1] Unfinished.

Trey teased Mull in 46 Days. Chalk Dust was unfinished and contained a Shipwreck quote. At the end of the show, Trey quoted Buffalo Bill from the film The Silence of the Lambs, saying "It puts the lotion on its skin."
SHOW RATING
Ratings are currently offline.
Overall: 4.667/5 (

This Chalk Dust is an indisputable masterpiece and remains uncontested as the Jam of the Year.

The level of patience demonstrated by the band is unparalleled, no rushing through sections or constant key changes, which sometimes feels like a ripcord but without going for a different song if that makes sense. It’s been the only thing that’s sorta bothered me about a good amount of Phish’s jamming since 2022 especially, but none of those problems are present here. Everything here is fully fleshed out.

The beginning section of the jam (6-18 mins) is like floating peacefully on a cloud that slowly builds into a raging thunderstorm. The middle section (18-27 mins) is groovy but has a darker sentiment to it and gradually breaks down into chaotic disarray, which bleeds into the final section (28-39 mins) of pure EVIL.

Trey weaving hellacious licks between bubble effects with the M5 modeler is something only Trey can pull off, with Fish adding echoing drum fills. After a big pitch bend-laden peak Trey hits a cascading pitch sweep into a heavy metal-like riff and it all meshes together perfectly. The wind down and > into Beneath a Sea of Stars is impeccable.

This is the Phish that I know, yet it sounds unlike any jam they have ever played, and I hate to say it but they didn’t come close to matching it all summer. Whatever you are looking for in a jam, it is here. Jam of the Year, and possibly the decade.

Although staying in a rather uppity all-inclusive resort packed to the chandeliers with highly motivated and generally well-to-do Phishheads can get pretty hedonistic - even for the early-rising barely-partier that I'd transformed into - by day three of Phish Mexico 2024 it was time I treated my body like the temple it is, at least a little.

And so it was that on February 23rd I rose with the sun and committed a relaxed walk in and around my end of Moon Palace, coffee in hand.  I joined in on the beach meditation session and followed it up with a visit to the resort gym for a long and sweaty stationary bike ride.  The large exercise room was packed full when I arrived; I was lucky to find a bike available.  Those richippies are go-getters, I tells ya.

I spent the rest of the day ferociously avoiding all of the alcohol I encountered (booze was available - nay, pushed - at every turn), not to mention any other smiling pills, friendly posies, or promised precursors that came my way.  I ingested nothing stronger than a chocolate milkshake until just before the first set.

I had my first drink at setbreak.

That first diversion after a day of abstention came on fast and strong.  My hands were awkward bananas and the band delivered a pretty wacky first set.  Or so I thought at the time; I daren't listen again.  During setbreak I sat with my friend in a circle in the sand and found myself too distracted to notice that I was unintentionally leaning into the stranger who was sitting behind me in his own circle of beach-sitting friends.  He made me aware of my accidental intrusion by suddenly and furiously rubbing my back, which quite freaked me out.  

At this point I figured a beer would help settle my soul and I was right.  Most particularly, holding a beer gave me something to do with my bananas.

Overall, the second set was much easier on my skandas.  After opening with a relatively chill and definitely groovy Blaze On Phish waded in to a lacklustre run through their generally-raging Chalkdust Torture.  Though I defy you to find someone who agrees with me, I thought the song was wholly under-performed.  As the song seemed to be coming to a close I nearly leaned into m'lady's ear with a “worst Chalkdust ever...” but before I did the band started jamming, so I held back.  I remember thinking to myself, “Just you watch buddy, they know that was pretty lame so they'll probably try to redeem themselves by jamming this Chalkdust out until it becomes epic.”  

Forty minutes later they had done exactly that.  And for once in my life I had kept my mouth shut.  Perhaps spending the day living life proper had something to do with it.  Hmmm.  It feels like there must be a lesson in there somewhere, but where?!?!?

(I'm sure you think I'm crazy, but I dare you to go back and listen to that Chalkdust again, but only up to the end of the song itself; stop it before they start jamming  If you do - and if you're really being honest with yourself - I think you'll find that yeah, before they started jamming it was a pretty lacklustre Chalkdust.  I mean, normally that opening riff to Chalkdust tears out of Trey's guitar like a freight train going downhill, but this one started with the energy of someone strumming an E chord around a campfire.  Sure, the jam was gold and the whole thing was the whole thing, but I'm just sayin'...)

Hood was a great set closer and Character Zero ended the show on solid footing.  As did I, thankfully.

After the show we ran into our Canadian brethren Andre and Dave and we joined them (and our other Dave) for beats, snacks, and drinks at the Nizac pool DJ afterparty, where we commandeered a very pleasant and nearly secluded thigh-high wading pool on the outside fringe of the action and enjoyed the opulent leisure of our predicament in happy, friendly solitude until the wee hours.

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