Quick Hits: San Francisco + Los Angeles

Summary

Helping Friendly Podcast Summary: Quick Hits: San Francisco + Los Angeles

Episode Title: Quick Hits: San Francisco + Los Angeles
Host/Author: Osiris Media
Release Date: April 28, 2025
Duration: Approximately 1 hour 45 minutes

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Introduction and Readiness for the Tour

The "Quick Hits: San Francisco + Los Angeles" episode kicks off with the hosts—Megan, Brian, Mike, and RJ ("E")—discussing their preparedness for covering the latest Phish tour. Mike shares his approach to webcasting and analyzing shows, highlighting the diverse reactions from fans.

Notable Quote:
Megan (01:14): “Some of us are ready. Some of us will be ready for this soon. Brian, how, where are you on the spectrum of readiness?”

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Crafting the Tour Headline

The team collaborates to create a headline encapsulating the essence of the tour. Megan emphasizes the band's focus on jamming, noting both classic peaks and repetitive grooves. After some playful banter, they settle on:

Headline:
Megan (05:05): “Consistency is the new evolution.”

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San Francisco Shows Overview

The primary focus of the episode is a detailed analysis of the two consecutive shows at the historic Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco.

Key Points Discussed:

• Set List and Performance Quality:
  Mike praises the San Francisco run as the strongest of the year, citing excellent set lists and standout jams like "Buried Alive" and "Haley's Jam." He draws parallels to previous standout performances, suggesting these shows set a benchmark for the rest of the tour.

  Notable Quote:
  Mike (06:16): “Set list works really well. You got these like classic moments. Buried alive, Mike's groove... they just jumped on stage and everything just worked.”

• Ruby Waves Jam:
  Megan and Mike delve into "Ruby Waves," describing it as the most compelling jam they've heard in a long time with a sophisticated narrative arc. They appreciate the seamless flow and intentional composition that make it a standout performance.

  Notable Quote:
  Megan (08:26): “I love these shows. These are like the classic quintessential Fish show... Ruby Waves has the most incredible narrative arc.”

• Flow and Execution:
  The discussion highlights the impeccable flow between songs, the strategic placement of new tracks, and the band's ability to maintain energy without overextending on jamming.

  Notable Quote:
  Mike (05:00): “They're playing with ease, you know, they just jumped on stage and everything just worked.”

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Analysis of Specific Jams and Song Choices

The hosts offer in-depth critiques of individual songs and jams performed during the San Francisco shows.

• Tweezer Jam:
  The "Gigantic Tweezer" is lauded for its elements of nostalgia and emerging patterns, though there's a consensus that it didn't reach the same heights as "Ruby Waves."

  Notable Quote:
  Mike (04:19): “A return of the gumbo jam... a gigantic tweezer. It just felt like Fish was playing with ease.”

• Haley's Jam:
  Praised for its narrative and emotional depth, Megan describes it as an effortless yet intentional piece that showcases the band's locked-in performance.

  Notable Quote:
  Megan (11:02): “The Haley's was super warm. It holds up really nicely on re-listen. It speaks to the very clean attack mode Trey has.”

• Ruby Waves Continuity:
  Megan emphasizes the continuous flow of "Ruby Waves," highlighting its journey-like quality and sophisticated textures.

  Notable Quote:
  Megan (26:23): “It just has such a narrative arc to it that it gets so deep right away. It feels like a journey.”

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Comparison with Los Angeles Shows

Transitioning to the Los Angeles leg, the hosts compare the San Francisco performances with three consecutive shows in LA, noting differences in energy and execution.

Key Insights:

• Set List Variation:
  The LA shows feature a mix of extended jams and classic Phish staples, but the flow feels more uneven compared to the San Francisco performances.

  Notable Quote:
  Mike (38:41): “But I think this is a jam that... it's just really locked in, solid type 2. Jamming in a place where you would not expect it.”

• Ether Edge and Other Jams:
  "Ether Edge" is highlighted as a standout jam within the LA shows, appreciated for its drive and thematic depth despite lacking the extended improvisation of San Francisco.

  Notable Quote:
  Megan (61:07): “The Timber is a great jam, but it's definitely the moment in the first set.”

• Encore Performances:
  The LA shows conclude with electrifying encores like "Fuego," which the hosts praise for its depth and thematic significance.

  Notable Quote:
  Mike (88:35): “They started Fuego. I immediately started getting texts from people like oh, maybe the Monday Green one.”

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Vocal Jams and Evolution of Set Structures

A significant portion of the discussion revolves around the band's use of vocal jams—a nostalgic element that some hosts feel could be phased out to enhance musical flow.

Key Points:

• Vocal Jam Critique:
  RJ and Megan suggest that vocal jams might be outdated and discuss whether the band should evolve beyond them to maintain the show's momentum.

  Notable Quote:
  RJ (19:19): “The gap that Brian mentioned for Down With Disease was not a long enough gap... Megan, what are you?”

  Megan (79:13): “I thought JFK... Why do they still do it?”

• Host Perspectives:
  Mike expresses a nuanced view, appreciating certain vocal jams for their beauty but recognizing the need for more inspired improvisation.

  Notable Quote:
  Mike (83:46): “If they're going to do like what they did in summer 22 and what they did here, where the Vocal jam leads to another jam segment... I thought the back half of this jam was really exciting.”

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Upcoming Content and Listener Engagement

The episode concludes with the hosts teasing future content, including a "Rushmore" series and a draft for the top 25 Phish shows. They encourage listeners to engage by sending voicemails and participating in discussions.

Key Announcements:

• Rushmore Series:
  The next series will delve into specific iconic jams, inviting listener participation in voting and discussions.

• Top 25 Shows Draft:
  The hosts plan to collaboratively create a list of the best Phish shows from 2000 to 2025, emphasizing community involvement and friendly competition.

  Notable Quote:
  Mike (97:29): “We're going to try to come up with a list of the 25 best fish shows played since 5, 21, 2000 through 4, 27, 2025.”

• Listener Interaction:
  Encouragement for listeners to submit their thoughts and participate in shaping future episodes.

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Conclusion

The "Quick Hits: San Francisco + Los Angeles" episode offers a comprehensive and passionate analysis of Phish's recent tour performances. The hosts provide insightful critiques of set lists, jams, and the evolving dynamics of live shows, enriched with personal anecdotes and expert opinions. Their engaging discussion not only caters to long-time fans but also serves as an informative guide for newcomers seeking to understand the nuances of Phish's live performances.

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Final Thoughts:
This episode exemplifies HFPod's commitment to bringing the fan voice into Phish discussions, offering deep dives that reveal new angles of appreciation for the band. Whether you're a seasoned follower or new to Phish, this detailed recap provides valuable insights into what makes their live performances uniquely captivating.

Transcript

[Megan]

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[Brian]

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[Megan]

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[E]

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[RJ]

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[Megan]

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[RJ]

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[Brian]

OSIRIS.

[E]

Good afternoon, everyone. This is HFPOD. Some of us are ready. Some of us will be ready for this soon. Brian, how, where are you on the spectrum of readiness?

[Mike]

I'm ready. I, you know, do the thing I do. I webcast all the shows, go to some of them, re listen to all the highlights the next morning, come up with some ideas, some thoughts, share them with people. Some people give me the thumbs up. Some people give me the heart. Some people write, you know, paragraph responses about how I have no idea what I'm talking about because I wasn't there. You know, I'm ready. Let's go. We got five shows to get through today. No time to waste.

[E]

There is no time to waste. Megan, this is a vibes. This is a Vibes show and a Vibes year, I think. But what, Megan, do you have a headline for, for this, for this tour? If you were, if you were to put together a headline for or maybe for the past five shows or for the tour overall?

[Megan]

Yeah, I would say overall, I think that the tour Trey has like a strong intention to jam right now, which I'm totally here for. I think he carried on his what he built upon in Mexico doing some really good set listing and I think he got better at it on this tour. And I think their jamming is really interesting right now. I'm excited to get into it, but it seems to be falling into like one of two categories. More like a classic peak jamming with some cool stuff after but mostly most of the time spent on building to the peak or a lot of times like a repetitive looping groove, jamming. So that's what I heard a lot of on this tour. But yeah, I mean, I thought really, really great tour, especially grand shows is this. Yeah, this is a long. I don't really do headlines. That's not really my best.

[Mike]

It's a wild, wild, long headline. NY Times opinion.

[E]

I shouldn't have thrown this out. I shouldn't have thrown this out there, guys. But I. But I did too much.

[Megan]

I didn't get in trouble on this podcast for talking.

[E]

I think it was. I think it was fine. Brian, what's your headline?

[Mike]

Fish doesn't give a about your hall of fame.

[Megan]

I like that.

[Mike]

That's it. That's the headline.

[E]

That's a good headline.

[Megan]

That is a good headline.

[Mike]

You know, there's sub headline here. This is where you can actually talk, Meg. Right? You know, you point.

[Megan]

Oh, okay.

[E]

Thanks.

[Megan]

Is that how you do. Got it. I knew you'd find a way to keep talking.

[Mike]

There's like elements of nostalgia here. There's elements of, you know, like you said, Meg, there's like these, these new kind of risks and patterns that are emerging. I don't think we had anything that was like, I was trying to think about this tour in conjunction with like the spring from two years ago, because obviously, same location, same time of year. You know, I feel like that tour, there was so much shock value, especially with the tweezer and the simple. This didn't really have that. But like, this is akin to.

[E]

Being.

[Mike]

A fan of a sports team that wins multiple titles in a row where you get the year two and year three, and there's like a lot of nuances and a lot of weeds, but like, if you're slightly removed from it, you're just looking at a team's performance. You're like, wow, that is incredible stuff. And you think you're going to be on this high forever. Like, as a kid, I thought the Chicago Bulls would just win every single NBA title. And then I didn't realize it didn't go that way. And we're just in that. We're in that time with the band right now. Like, I. I don't know really how to differentiate 23, 24, 25 right now, because it's all just this continuation of such good fish. Maybe it's not new fish, rj, but it's really good Fish.

[Megan]

Yeah. Consistency is the new evolution, right?

[E]

Yeah. I mean, that's the headline. There we go. Okay.

[Megan]

I got there finally. It took me a little bit.

[E]

We just had to workshop it a little bit okay, we got five shows. We got five shows to talk about. We're going to make it through. Which means for a quick hit, that means each show we can't talk about for more than one hour. So we're going, we gotta get, we gotta get started.

[Megan]

Perfect.

[E]

Brian. We. They started with two shows at. I mean after the ones we already recapped since we last talked. Let me just say it that way. They started with two shows in San Francisco at the historic Bill Graham, whatever it's called. Ca. Civic Auditorium.

[Mike]

Civic Auditorium. Come on. That is an important part of the title here.

[E]

That's why you were able to say it. So, okay, we got the first night. I, I know about the second night because I had to recap it for Jambase or I had the pleasure of recapping it for Jam Base. So I know that one because I had to pay close attention. But the first night, I mean these, both, these nights are really strong. But where, where do you start, Brian? In terms of the, the San Francisco kind of two show run, I think.

[Mike]

This is the strongest run of the year so far. I think that this is, this is kind of going to be the benchmark as we go through the remaining runs. Whatever happens in fall, whatever in winter, obviously no summer tour, I think run.

[E]

As in any, any, any two show or more combo. Is that what you mean?

[Mike]

At the same venue? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So like this Seattle, Mexico, msg, you know, so on and so forth. I think this is the best run at the same venue, multi night run since Dicks. It just works. Set list works really well. You got these like classic moments. Buried alive, Mike's groove. Even though the weapog is like hilariously bad, it's actually like kind of awesome in its badness. A huge Haley's jam. The first, the longest Haley's jam that we've heard since 12, 7 99. The return of the BGCA Power Hour in set two. An excellent straight but excellent fourth quarter, outstanding encore on, on night one and night two kind of picks up on that with simple kind of throwing back to the mic screw jammed into punch. A return of the gumbo jam. Like we'll get into all of this, but like I think you know, a gigantic tweezer. Like it's just you, you have all the elements of a big blowout Fish run here, maybe aside from gigantic bust outs, but you get a few rarities and punch in the eye and it just felt like Fish was playing with ease, you know, there didn't seem to be a lot that they were trying for. They just jumped on stage and everything from. From afar seemed like it just worked. I loved these two shows. I loved webcasting them. I loved re listening to them. They contain probably my favorite jam of the year so far. In Ruby Waves, we can get into the nitty gritty and the details, but I'll pause and throw it to Meg for her next headline.

[Megan]

You know, I'm not good at headlines, but yeah, I'll tell you what I thought about these shows. I love these shows. These are like the classic quintessential fish show. I feel like it's. They have perfect set lists. I think it's interesting. When I was looking online, people have Night two rated a little higher. But I loved Night one, I think mostly because of Ruby Waves. This is the most compelling jam I've heard them play in a long time. It has the most incredible narrative arc. It's so effortless but intentional at the same time. And it is really a piece that sounds completely composed. They are so locked in the entire time. I've played this a bunch of times. It's absolutely incredible. But I think what really stands out about this show and the next night too, is the first sets are really great too. I think you have a couple of these vocal struggles, like key issues and like, we've had a little bit of that with the whole run. Has had moments of flubs or issues with singing or landing the right key. But because they're set listing so well and because they're jamming so well and they're jamming in the first set consistently, I think people. It doesn't matter. I totally feel like that's fine. If you're gonna. If you're gonna go for it. If you're gonna set list perfect shows and jam. I don't care if you make mistakes because that to me says you're. You're in the moment still. You're not trying so hard to play a perfect show. And I think that's what you're saying, Brian. They just had an effortless to them. I also think these shows stand out because the fourth quarters are good. And that is what has been sinking. Some other shows not sinking. That's actually really critical sounding, but has been not making some of the other shows as excellent as these shows is that they're kind of falling into the same traps of playing songs like 2001 or a song that just doesn't keep the momentum moving. And I think this one is so good this first night because after they have the Ruby Waves, they Have the cool down with waste, but then they go into what's the Use? Which is super cool and just a great use of the fourth quarter and then play a celebratory down with disease. And so that's how you. Fourth quarter. You know, you don't always have to keep the energy up, but you have to keep the intrigue or at least have the flow going. And both of these shows have excellent, excellent flow. And I think the second night, the first set is probably the most classic, perfectly played fish set you could get. I mean, I think that if you put this on for. Someone just said this is what fish is, it would be a killer example. Seven songs, first set is absolutely amazing. And I do think that the Tweezer Jam is incredible, but I do like Ruby Waves more than this. Tweezer Jam.

[E]

Yeah, I'm still in the Portland. The two Portland gems were my favorite of the. Of the tour, which is the Wave of Hope, Wave of Hope and the Sigma Oasis. And, and I don't, you know, I don't know, it's just, I think it's just me. But they're, they're really. I mean, they're. There's some really cool stuff this run. I think the second night of San Francisco is like kind of a perfectly. Like you were saying Megan just now, like, if you look at those set lists, it was really pretty perfect. I mean, you have like the, you know, there wasn't even a break in the first set until they. Before they went into the well. And then really the only down moment, like to catch a breather in the second set was the lonely trip out of a huge Tweezer Jam, which is like the most awesome thing you could possibly do.

[Mike]

So, like, like one of the ideal breather songs too.

[Megan]

Yes.

[E]

Yeah, it just, it, it really worked. Both those shows are incredible. And when you think about it, especially compared to the three nights in la, which we'll talk about, like those. Both of those shows back to back, it's. To your point earlier, Brian, it's pretty incredible. And it's, it's. It's gonna, like, that's gonna get a lot of replay value. Those two shows, you know, that's hard to beat.

[Mike]

They also feel like. Sorry, I was just gonna. They feel like a combined piece. Like, it feels like if you finish night one, there's like a natural inclination to turn on Night two and it picks up and carries some of the themes while also adding a few others. And I think you're right. Like this first set from night two, I was freaking out. Like the whole, like every song I was, you know, like, you want Ariba there coming out of a gigantic, you know, early stage. It was the longest gumbo jam that we've heard since 7 22, 2003. You want a song like the. Well, that is like a newer song that kind of keeps you on your toes. You want to have a Bowie that has a little bit of extra space on the end of it. Nits can be picked over with, you know, should the last seven minutes of Character Zero actually been David Bowie? But you know, Character Zero is one of those like classic set one closers. It's a good spot for it. So, you know, you have this like narrative arc through the run, which is when we get into California, the Hollywood shows, I think you lose that a little bit, but you definitely have it here. And having that in a week long tour where the band goes to their, their third stop on the tour and just like they feel it right away, that's a special thing. Yeah.

[Megan]

The one other thing I want to say about these shows too is I think that he's placing new songs perfectly. He's putting them in the right places and using them well. And it's cool because some of them have become Monster Jam Bugles. But when they're not, he's placing them perfectly, which is exciting. And I think he's just really gotten a hold of set listing in a way that's made a big difference this year.

[Mike]

When you say he, you mean Mike. He's managing the sets really nicely.

[Megan]

Yeah, no, actually, I mean, I mean Fishman. Sorry.

[Mike]

Okay, let's go back to that list.

[Megan]

Right? Fishman writes a set list. Right. Okay. I thought so.

[E]

Let's go back to the first, first set of the first night. Brian, did you, did you. Do you feel like. For the people who listen, who want us to read Set list, Do you feel like you did or I think you kind of did? I think you.

[Mike]

I mean, I did, but I skipped a few. I'll. I'll do it again because.

[E]

Okay, why don't you do that? Why don't you do that?

[Mike]

Do you want to do it? You're the set list guy now.

[E]

No, I don't know. I'm good. I just was for that one, that.

[Mike]

One time, that one episode, that one show. Like there's five shows now. I can't do this. Just wait till we get into like three set shows, you know, type of thing. So we've got Buried Alive Axel, a part two Mike song. Hydrogen Weapon. Classic classic group Lovers are gonna like that. Then we get this song. My Soul seems rarely played for some reason. Haley's comment. Rogue maze and then split open and melt to end for the first set. Set two, we get Karini. No man in no man's land. Fading into ruby waves Waste fading into. What's the use? Fitting into disease. Disease with a nine show gap. That's the longest gap for disease in two years. Back in summer 2023. And then the encore was Fluff head. I'm. I'm with you, Mike. It's it. This is RJ's corner. I don't. I'm not trying to steal it. What did you guys. What did you guys like about this set? I think we all know, like the big moment, but, you know, just give. Let's dive in.

[E]

Well, I. I thought that there was like. I thought the first part of the set was like little rough. I mean, the little axle. The axle into mics. It was a nice segue. But I feel like that, like jam, you know, stretched out into this. That was like all they could. They like used other finesse in that. In that area, like we could pog. And then my soul was all. And that like the beginning of Haley's. It was just. It was a little. It was like a little bit of a rough segment. But then in that Haley's jam, there's a part which I don't. I don't hear. I mean, Ryan Storm can. Can correct me, but I don't hear a lot of Paige like just on the electric piano kind of jamming. And in the middle of that or beginning of that Haley's jam, It sounded like a 70s, like studio jam. Trey had no effects on. Paige was on that like electric piano sound. And then like, I mean, that. That jam was really cool. And they did like what we've talked about in. In the past few shows, like kind of Mike and Fishman, like building. Kind of keeping that groove and building the tension as Trey and Paige kind of like work their way up toward the peak. And then it gets like quiet and then, you know, uses that growling tone like toward the end. That's like a really amazing, you know, adventure for that. That early in the show.

[Mike]

Yeah. And coming out of Haley's, the song that everyone kind of begs to. We got in San Francisco. Haley's and Gumbo. These two songs that everyone kind of begs to return as jam vehicles. That happened. I'm right there with you. The Haley's was super warm. It holds up really nicely on re. Listen. It speaks to the Very clean.

[Megan]

Kind.

[Mike]

Of attack mode tray that we saw on this tour where he really went for peaks in an aggressive manner. The Sigma Oasis you mentioned from the show before in Portland, they were really nailing these sustained, anthemic peaks that are incapable of being done. If Trey is not up for it, and there have been years where he's not been. He's not had the ability to really do it. And he can totally do it now and you feel it. This Haley's is a great example. I want to talk just really quickly about the weak a pog because I feel almost like the run turned on this. Like they come out Buried Alive. Our good friend Jonathan Hart always talks about how Buried Alive is an indicator of a. A great show. I think this ultimately led to a great show. But I think you were right, rj, that the early part of this show is pretty rough. And I think the. We could pog. Like there was an argument that they should just stopped and restarted it. Fishman was going way too slow. Trey was trying to go faster and faster. And they play this four minute version that doesn't really sound great. Also, like when you watched it on the webcast, I'm sure you could tell there it was this moment of frustration that turned into almost a moment of humor. And they are so good at that. In the moment, if something goes wrong, they don't actively freak out. They kind of like embrace it and turn it into part of the show. And that combined with the off key singing in Haley's just kind of seemed to lead to a band that was like, you know what, let's just like shut up and play some music for like 15 minutes and just see where things go from there. And that happens as a result of the. Both these. So those are my thoughts on the set. I thought it was super fun, even in spite of like a few hiccups here and there. If we. If we want to call them that.

[E]

Megan, Megan, before you. Before you give your thoughts, I just want to say Patrick, our friend who's watching said that the. The gap that Brian mentioned for Down With Disease was not a long enough gap for Down With Disease. Nine shows. And I was actually gonna. I was gonna say the exact same thing, but Patrick said it for me, so. Thank you, Patrick. We're on the same page. Could use a little bit more of a break, I think. Megan, what. What are you.

[Mike]

Where were you?

[E]

Especially the Rogue. What did you think of this set?

[Megan]

Yeah, it was fine. No, it was.

[Mike]

I deliberately left the Rogue to her.

[Megan]

I mean, it went. It went Type two. That's cool. Like if you're gonna do Rogue, then do something cool with it. So I support that definitely. But the. The Haley's was. I love the post beat part of this jam. It's. I know it's not pillow jets, but it has that like Conjurer of Thunder vibes. It has this like huge drums from Fish. Just like. Yes, it just. And also found this place that I noticed them doing quite a bit on this tour. Like when they're getting to darkness, they're not doing as much weird exploration. They're more finding grooves inside of it. And I love that the end of this finds like a dark groove. It's really cool and fun. And the split open about is great too. It's over 14 minutes. It gets like into that like weird noise jam and it's fun. Great set.

[E]

Really, really great set. And the. I think the, you know, we had what, at least two really cool jams in that first set. So, you know, we're like, we're. We're off to a good start.

[Megan]

And that's like consistent throughout this whole run. Like they've been jamming, doing like a pretty big jam and some like smaller micro jams in the first set, like almost every show.

[E]

Yeah. And the split up in the middle was really cool. Way to close as, as usual. Okay, so we have a what, five or six song second set here. The. What was the. What was the vibe going into this, Karini? Because I. I listened the next morning, but. Brian, did you stream it was. It was. It was. Were all the people in the front going nuts? Because.

[Mike]

Yeah, everyone's always going nuts.

[E]

Go nuts.

[Mike]

Everyone just loses their mind at the front and they get camera cues so they know to. To really showcase it. No, everybody. Everyone's loving it. Karini, the open set, the second set. Karini is, you know, it's one of those songs that when it's played in an unexpected place, it has like even more of an effect. Those initial chords. And I think like it's a fairly regular set to opener, but I think it always kind of shocks the system when it happens. This one kind of reminded me of the man version from Two Summers in that it really connected around this kind of arena rock peak and just wrote it for 20 minutes. There's not a lot of exploration here. Almost reminded me of the Sigma Oasis in the way that like we're just. We're pushing and pushing and pushing and like the peak is within reach, but then it's further away because we just want to like Sustain and enjoy the build up to it. So like, this is a jam that you know, for this compared to like the next two jams is not something I will return to as much. But I think like, especially if you're in the room, I've always heard that Bill Graham is really loud because of the way that the room is constructed and like the size of it, having it be the jam to try to keep me awake at 11 o'clock on a Tuesday night. Like it definitely did that. But it kicks off this hour of music that as you go on and this is something we've talked about a lot when you get that first big jam to kick off a set, the success of jams, it's a little bit easier for them to get to that weird space and to get to that creative space. And you really hear it about halfway through this. Nomen in no Man's Land, where Trey almost kind of like creates a song in the middle of it and it's like a whole new jam at that point in time, you know. And then that builds for the next seven, eight minutes and goes through some really crazy segments where we start to hear some of these effects that we're going to hear throughout the remainder of the tour. That goes into Ruby Waves, a song which the song portion seems to be getting shorter and shorter. It's like two and a half minutes long now. And once it's over, there's no like eight minutes sustained solo. And then we get to the jam. It's just like Trey changes keys and we're off and running. And I want to leave you, rj, to make the description of the middle part of this jam, because you said it so well in our text thread on Thursday morning. I will just say, emotionally, this jam hit me cerebrally. It hit me like this jam just has everything for me. And I think to your point about the Wave of Hope, this to me sounds like the band taking some of those weird elements that are in the Wave of Hope and repurposing them a little bit more towards a more melodic and slightly more straightforward jam. But you still, you don't lose the experimentation that made the Wave of Hope really exciting. But I'll leave you to explain the middle seven minutes of it.

[E]

Well, all I said, which Megan, you posted about it today, so you have thoughts about it too. I just said that his. The riff that he was playing was like heart wrenching and beautiful. There was something about it that it.

[Mike]

Was like if you compared it to something specifically.

[E]

Did I?

[Mike]

I can say it because I Remember, I'm letting you have the credit here. You compared it to the solo from Bug, which I did. Really, really heart wrenching and beautiful. Totally the same. Like, it's not Bug. It's not in the same key, but it has that feel that, that. That a song like Bug has. But what is so interesting about is that when you find that type of riff and that type of build midway through a jam, it's more of like a shocking sense of kind of emotions where it's like Bug, you know, to expect that at the end of it. Like that's what the song is designed to do. This you find you stumble upon it. It just makes a little bit more exciting, I think.

[E]

And any guitar players who are watching, there's something that Trey's doing there because like you were saying, Brian, it doesn't just build to like a typ Bliss peak. There's some. There's some element of like the whatever mode he's playing in. Like there's some. There's some element of it that keeps it kind of slightly melancholy while he's still like building to the peak, which I think is really awesome.

[Megan]

But this is what they've been doing is that they've been shifting tone on top of the Bliss Peaks and so shades it in a way that is. Is different and really sophisticated.

[Mike]

It's a good way to put it.

[E]

Yeah. Yeah, that. So. So the Ruby Waves. Brian, was that. Did you say that's your favorite jam of the run?

[Mike]

It's my favorite jam of the year. Right. I think that, yeah, that has. That has the. So my tier one jams of the year are the Fuego from Mexico, the Golden Age and what's going through your mind from Seattle, the Chalk Dust and the Light from Seattle, the Ruby Waves and then slight spoiler, but the Light from Night one of Hollywood bowl. This. If I were to like rank within there, this is. This is preeminent for me. This is it.

[E]

Yeah.

[Megan]

I mean, same for me, this jam. I mean, what's cool about it too is its placement because it has these two kind of almost warm up jams. And it sounds a little offensive, but this nomen is. I've gone back to it a bunch. It's such a good jam. It's kind of destined to be overshadowed by this Ruby Waves. But like you were talking about rj, that mournful kind of feeling. Trey's doing those sloping riffs in the middle. It's like. And he's playing in the middle of that jam. And I've never heard him do anything like that. And it's so kind of arresting. It's a really incredible jam. And then just to have them go into this Ruby waves. But this is my favorite jam, too, that I've heard in a while from them, definitely all year. And it's hard to explain what's so great about it, because I think it's just. It's like I was saying earlier, it just has such a narrative arc to it that it gets so deep right away. Like, it's so sophisticated and textured. Like, six minutes in, it feels epic. And that takes bands so long to get there, usually. But there's just this flow throughout the jam where there's no clear section. It doesn't feel like they end one section and move into the other. It has such a continuous flow to it that, to me, it just felt like a journey that. That's what I always want in these monster jams. And this one felt like an effortless journey in that way.

[E]

Yeah, that's like a real. They were really. Whatever Trey was doing that night, it really worked. He tapped into the. The San Francisco historical musical vibes, brought it alive. It's pretty amazing.

[Mike]

I mean, San Francisco, think about it. It's gotten the Shoreline shows in summer 21, the Chase center shows in fall 21, the Berkeley shows in spring 23. I'm trying to think of anything else between then and now, but, like, four of the best runs. Five of the best runs. No, four. Yeah. Four of the best runs that the band has played since the Pandemic have all been in the Bay Area, which shouldn't be that surprising, but it's also just, like. You just, like, accept the hyper housing prices because you're gonna get good fish.

[E]

Yeah. Okay. So then they encored with Fluff Head, which was really well played. And I do think, as we talked about on the previous episode, like, Trey's. Trey's acoustic tour is clearly. You know, there's clearly a lot of practice into these songs because he's really playing almost all of these songs, like, really well.

[Mike]

That's why he's demanding faster pace from Fishman. He's like, you can't play like we played two years ago. Like, this is. Come on. I just want to say Fluff Head in the encore is one of my favorite spots for it. Like, yeah, it's takes up enough. Enough space. It's like you get to fully focus on the song, not have to worry. You know, there's. It's just. It's amazing.

[Megan]

It's a little journey it's better than like two random songs.

[Mike]

Yes. Yes.

[E]

Yeah. Yeah. It's pretty. Yeah. What a great. Yeah, great encore. That's a. That's a good. It's a good argument in favor of keeping encores, which generally I think we shouldn't.

[Mike]

But we're gonna have one more of those.

[Megan]

Yeah, we definitely have one more of those.

[E]

There's definitely one more.

[Mike]

A little bit of foreshadowing, little teasers.

[E]

A couple in between that I wouldn't, you know, wouldn't. Wouldn't bother, but. All right. So.

[Mike]

Exact same way, Mr. B.

[E]

Night two. You mentioned the simple. They. Okay. Actually. Sorry. Night two, Wednesday four, 2325. Bill Graham, Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. Set one opens with simple into Punch you in the eye into Gumbo into Reba.

[Megan]

Yes.

[E]

Well into David Bowie character zero. Megan agrees. So far. Set two is sample into Tweezer into Lonely Trip, Cross eyed into Pillow Jets. You enjoy myself. And encore is waiting in the velvet sea in first tube. I guess we got two. You enjoy myself in four shows, which is sort of strange.

[Mike]

Jaws and nine all over again.

[Megan]

Oh, yeah.

[E]

Yeah. Okay, so this simple, it's really like a pretty quick fallback into, you know, a really good groove. And then the segue into punch you in the eye. Just getting into this like, new way of getting into this old song. It's just wild, Good, really wild.

[Megan]

It's like such a rock star feeling to this. It's. It's so good. Trey, sounds incredible.

[E]

Yeah, it's really like, what a great segue. And. And like just, you know, showing that they can, like keep. Keep doing new with these songs that have been around forever. Brian, do you have thoughts about that before we talk about, like the gumbo and. And other jams?

[Mike]

Perfect way to start off the show. I was. I was texting my buddies while we were watching it, and as you could hear punch happening, you know, everyone was just getting excited on the text thread. You could see the band was going. The crowd was losing it. Like, just. It's like I was saying earlier, like, this felt like a narrative arc. These felt like in the olden days if these shows were not officially released five minutes after they ended. This is like a box that people are clamoring for because these two shows just picks up right after Almost the way. Don't come at me because I'm just going off the top of my mind, my head right now of like great two night runs, but in the same way that you leave Hampton night 197 with this incredible second set. And then you come back and they open up with a mike's groove into Harry Hood on the next night. Like, that carryover is really, really important.

[E]

Yeah. Yeah. And I will say in that punching the eye, it sounded like Fishman was, like, kind of keeping the drumbeat of punching the eye the entire time while not ever getting out of there. But that sounded like it was almost like a 2001, like, build. Ish. And then they. But they kept, like, on the. I mean, it was wild. Okay, so that the gumbo jam again, like, just, man. Another. I mean, they're kind of maybe following similar patterns, right? With, like, the. There's the tray with his, like, growling tone, which is awesome. And then there's, like, the build. And then after the build, there's more, like, spacey stuff. Is that. Is that it? Is that the. Is that the pattern of gems or. Or only some of them? Or are they all kind of going in that direction, do you think?

[Mike]

I mean, it feels to me like I just go back to that exercise they were talking about that we talked about last week, the never very exercise that led to kind of that ruby waves. It also sounds like the insert your own hay, you know, that type of exercise from the early 90s where if. What's different is, like, when Trey seems to come up with a riff and the rest of the band latches onto it, there's not as much, like, bouncing back and forth ideas of, let's shift this and let's go this way. It's more. It seems like a clear build from his riff, and then based on how they're feeling once they peek it, if they have more to say, I think they just know now where to go at that point in time rather than have to kind of, like, battle against the instinct to fade out into a new song. And so, like, this gumbo, it's not super long, but it seems like it had multiple ideas, multiple segments. It seemed like they got beyond the excitement of we're stretching gumbo out and just settled into, like, it's any old jam vehicle, which. There. There are a couple, like, nine ish minute versions from mid 3.0 that, like, they got a little too far away from gumbo and they just went back to the song, you know, so it was exciting for a couple minutes. This was like, a full commitment to the jam, because I don't even think this returns to gumbo. I think it just fades into rebirth, if my memory serves right. I don't know. I don't know. You guys are just. You Guys are just thinking. Wondering that. I'm pretty sure if someone. If someone in the. In the audience. I think. I think it went back and confirmed. No. No return.

[Megan]

No, it went. Yeah, sorry.

[E]

I thought it did go back. I think I might have written that in my notes, but I guess it didn't.

[Mike]

I don't think it did, but.

[E]

Because I do. I do know that at the end, it was sort of like, what is happening here? And then maybe they just. Yeah, they just ended it anyway. They. They did segue directly into Rebo, where, again, like, they're just. That's like, what, 30, 40 minutes of playing without stopping, which is just right. It's wild. But I do think this set is just the. It is really well constructed. And, Megan, I want to hear your thoughts, but I do want to just say that I think us complaining about David Bowie not going places really has inspired them to take this song seriously again. So, you know, I think we did.

[Mike]

It for all, like, 30. All, like, 36 seconds.

[E]

Hey, I just want to say zero seconds.

[Mike]

If there's something out there that you guys hate about this podcast, you want to, like, you know, like, for what we say over these five shows. Now you have your bait. If I. If I'm wrong that it actually went back into the ending, and I'm committing to this idea now. Now you can say I have no idea what I'm talking about. So there you go. Silver Platter Mag, your thoughts. Confirms.

[Megan]

He confirms. I was actually thinking about rj, what you were asking about, if all gems are going this way. And I think that so many of the jams on this tour did lead to the classic peak, but I think it was a little different like we were talking about before, like, shifting tone on the build and also just being super patient, less meandering. A lot of, like, finding grooves settling in and then a lot of looping and a lot of building up. And Trey is just loving that sustain right now. Like, he just wants to hit, like, super long notes and, like, ride them. And like you said Brian earlier, he's super attacking these peaks. And so it's. If they're sounding so good in it, I think they probably just keep wanting to do that. But I think what's interesting is that for me, I'm always loving the ambient space they get into. And there's less of that on this. There's a little bit post peak, but definitely less in this run of that kind of floating in space, ambient patience. It's much more groove driven, much more peak driven, but it's working. It sounds awesome. And you know the. When Trey's peaking like this, you know that Reba. That peak is going to fucking just absolutely hit. And this one did. It's. This is absolutely beautiful and perfectly placed like we talked about. I think this is the most classic 1.0 fish set they've played in a really long time. It's so great.

[E]

Yeah, I think I. I think I forgot to listen to Character zero, but. But like the rest of it was just. It all flowed.

[Megan]

So you probably have an idea of how it went.

[E]

Yeah, I mean, it's really fun. Live. Great song to hear live. Okay, so the second set here we had. We get the sample before the tweezer. I do think we should talk about the tweezer. I mean, it's a great big jam. I think that there's like, definitely the Mantega teases continued. But I don't, like, I didn't. I didn't think this tweezer was as good as some of those other gems in terms of the way, like, it wasn't as dynamic, I thought, as some of the gems we've talked about, like the ones from Portland or even. Even from the night before. But curious if you guys, is this like a classic? Is this a classic tweezer? Are we gonna go back to this tweezer now?

[Megan]

To me, it kind of passed me by, to be honest. Like, it's incredible the way it builds and increasing intensity. It has a huge driving Pete. It's got a strong attitude. But to me, it just didn't hit me the way the ruby waves did or the wave of hope or what's going through your mind or the golden age. Any of these. Like, those were more interesting to me for sure.

[Mike]

Yeah. I mean, far be it for me to pick any nits about a 30 minute jam. Like, let's just be real. I'm very grateful that the band.

[Megan]

30 minute jam.

[Mike]

Totally.

[E]

I know, I know.

[Mike]

I'm very grateful for the fact that this is now like, oh, semi. This is a pretty regular thing that the band exceeds 30 minutes. This is something. For a long time we were like, that'll never happen again. And now it happens like every. Every like six shows. Exactly. I've. Dude is a hundred percent correct here. Like in 2010, if you were like, I don't know if the 30 minute tweezer was the most epic ever. Like, you would be chased rightly so out of any fish conversation. So we're very, very blessed right now.

[Megan]

Yeah, that's how good fish is.

[Mike]

That Said Patrick Hickey has an interesting point here that I don't 100% agree with, but I think is actually worth. Worth talking about the tweezers. What people who hate fish think fish always sounds like it's a little meandering, it's a little directionless. It stretches over this long, long period in time that, like, I'm sure if you were a casual listener, you would just kind of be like, okay, let's what's happening next? You know, it reminded me in a way of the Alpharetta 2023, 2029 minute tweezer. That kind of just. It's tweezer for 29 minutes. I do think that this had a really cool segment, like around like 15 to 23 minutes. So, like kind of midway in the jam. There's some really cool ideas, but it felt like, let's just play tweezer. Why not? Screw it.

[Megan]

I think this comment from AVDUD is pretty good. Pretty tray heavy for nearly 30 minutes. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I agree.

[E]

I think that that early on in the jam where he does that kind of looping effect that I think he does on the solo acoustic tour where it's just kind of like chord jamming with loops. It's kind of like Keller Williams or something, you know, for like a while. Not. It's not that long and nothing. You know, I like Keller Williams, but I'm just like. It was basically like a Trey solo, you know, thing for a while, but.

[Mike]

Just looping that, you know. Do you think word's gonna get back to Trey? Like, like opinion polling of like, hey, they're not feeling the 30 minute gens.

[E]

Yeah, I know. We should probably not say anything 13.

[Mike]

Minutes from now on. We should just shut up and delete this.

[E]

We should not say anything about it. Okay.

[Megan]

You're playing like a little bit too much in the 30 minute jams. Like, everyone would be like, oh my God, great job.

[Mike]

Hold on. I want to just note this because this is. This is interesting conversational point here. Cools underscore TBM. All of these are 4.0 tweezers or head and shoulders above the San Francisco one 417 from Berkeley. I would agree with that. It's a 43 minute one. That's amazing. 81 21. That's the crazy Alpharetta one or Atlanta. I forget if it was either or. But with like the insane Fishman stuff and you realized how crazy 4.0 is about to be. 9,121 from shoreline. Yes. 33 minutes. Amazing. And 8, 13, 21. A tweezer that lots and lots of people have told me I have to love. I like it a lot. I don't love it, but it is a good one from Atlantic City.

[Megan]

Oh, that was a very fun one.

[E]

God, when are we doing our Mount Rushmore tweezer? Like in like five years.

[Mike]

I don't know how we're gonna.

[Megan]

Brian's probably prepped for it.

[Mike]

No, I don't know how we're gonna do that so hard.

[Megan]

How could you possibly. We need 10. We need like at least 10.

[Mike]

We're gonna talk Mount Rushmore at the end of this episode because we have another one coming up and one about like two episodes in the future. I am just totally screwed on. So.

[E]

We can't, we can't complain about a 30 minute tweezer. But we will. Um, but, but, you know, same. Same thing though.

[Mike]

Put the post T shirt slogan. We have HF pod logo. We can't complain about a 30 minute tweezer. But we will.

[E]

But we will.

[Megan]

Maybe we will because we're going to make T shirts soon.

[E]

So that's what we keep saying. I keep hearing that. I keep hearing that. That's happening. The one thing I noted in the review I did for Jambase, which you can find on jambase.com if you want to read it, is that I almost thought I heard like a mind left body jam at a. At a point there and then, but it like never really went in a lot of different. It was just sort of like there for a long time, which I thought was again, I think we've. I think we've covered it. But landing and lonely trip. Wow.

[Megan]

Always good.

[Mike]

Perfect.

[E]

Great place to land. Okay, so the Cross eyed and painless Fishman again like just on. On that the entire time, which I thought again was like another great jam. And I don't know, that's this whole fourth quarter.

[Megan]

Anytime you want to call 2001, just call Cross Eyed instead.

[E]

Yeah, Cross Eyed. Or even that like the pillow jets, which was only like what, like it was less than 10 minutes. But it was, it was like. It was high energy and kind of like a lot of joy before getting into. To enjoy myself. So I think, yeah, 2001 can be like maybe just paused for a little bit or open set one with it. It's like the new moment.

[Megan]

Exactly. Yeah.

[E]

Just seven minutes.

[Megan]

Start off something with it. Yeah, not in the fourth quarter.

[Mike]

There's a joke. A couple of my friends and I have that, like when a show is Going a certain way, someone will just text a life beyond the dream into 2001, into Goldie, into Possum and it's like that's the fourth quarter we're getting. This is the antithesis of that. This is like. Because I was just looking at it. So since the kickoff of summer Tour last year, 7212-483248-15248, 31 dicks, 12, 29 MSG 2125 in Mexico and then here, Bill Graham. Every single cross item that I've just listed has been played deep in the second set. And it's a very, very interesting set listing choice that I am fully in favor of. I would love to hear a long 22, 23 minute crossout again. I don't know if it's going to happen. They're getting a lot done in like nine to 15 minutes. And it also has this ability to just like blow up the energy and like shift the contours of what that show is going to feel like because they're throwing it here so late. So I'm in favor of it and I thought it added to this show in a really cool way.

[Megan]

It's like a shot of adrenaline. It's perfect.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[E]

Yeah. That's in a good, good way to end. I'm not going to. You know, they. They played an encore again. Could have just they did you enjoy myself for another 15 minutes? It would have been fine. Straight to the curfew. You know, don't worry about taking a break.

[Mike]

But if they announced that during the vocal jam, would you listen to the vocal jam? We're not go play but I go tonight.

[Megan]

We'd be in the bathroom. What are you talking about?

[Mike]

I know you would you come back out? You'd be like, why the show over? I thought happen yet.

[E]

Brian, you totally ruined my segue. Because I was going to say that they didn't take a break. They didn't need to take a break for the encore. But we need to take a break for our sponsors. You like that?

[Brian]

This episode is brought to you by Loom by Atlassian. Are you feeling stuck at work? Get your team unstuck with LOOM video messaging and move work forward. Use Loom to simultaneously record both your screen and yourself to share a quick update, provide feedback, train a colleague and everything in between. Plus add Loom AI to your meetings. For instant written notes and recordings, try loom [e-mail]. that's L O O-M dot com. This episode is brought to you by Pluto TV. Pluto TV has all the shows and movies you love streaming for free. That means laughter is free with gut busting comedies like the Neighborhood Key and Peele and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Mystery is free with countless cases to crack from Criminal Minds Tracker and Matlock. And thrills are free with heart pumping hits like the Walking Dead and Defiance. Feel the free Pluto TV stream now pay. Never.

[Mike]

All right.

[E]

Okay.

[Megan]

Beautiful.

[E]

Friday, 4:25, Hollywood Bowl, Hollywood, California.

[Megan]

Hollywood Nights.

[E]

Hollywood Nights. I thought there's one Eggy song that whenever they're jamming, it sounds like Mike is. Mike Goodman is playing. The baseline is Hollywood Nights. And I need to ask him because it happens to me when I'm listening to them. And it happened on Friday at the show. And I was like, is he playing the Hollywood Knights bass line or is this just, you know, like that? You know that. I mean, you guys know that.

[Mike]

Anyway, was that. Was that Trixieville that you saw? I don't know.

[Megan]

I don't think I saw Trixieville. I don't think they played it. You saw Trixieville anyway, by the way, Eggy show, amazing. Just side note, great concert. Unbelievable. They sounded amazing. Yeah.

[E]

Agree. In Philly, Friday night. Great. So good. They're so good.

[Mike]

They're a very good band. You also should listen to. Everyone here should listen. You guys and all the crowd should listen to the Vice or Virtue podcast. Justin, Bruce, Amazing stuff. Interviews with the band, Deep Div on current runs, Deep Dives on old stuff. If you want any sort of primer, that is the podcast to check out.

[Megan]

Yeah. And I was on the most recent episode, so check that out.

[Mike]

You were?

[Megan]

Yeah. Thanks. It was so fun. Justin's amazing and so fun to like, learn so much about Eggie. And I was blown away by this show. I'm not gonna go off for too long, but I will say that talk about flow. That show had unbelievable flow. And they brought out Hamilton Lighthouser and sang Violent Femmes and Warren Zevin. So it was just killer.

[E]

Yeah.

[Megan]

And I brought three people that didn't know Eggie and they were all had their minds blown. It was exciting.

[E]

That's awesome. That is exciting.

[Mike]

They're having a moment.

[Megan]

Yeah.

[E]

They're so good. Brian. I think that the. I think the jam was maybe in Northern Lights when that happened.

[Mike]

That is probably my favorite Eggy song, so that's cool.

[E]

And okay.

[Mike]

Well.

[E]

And also Hollywood Nights. What a great cover. Goose kills it. So we got Goose and Eggy covered.

[Mike]

Do you think Rick was like, can you just like, not Do Hollywood nights. Because we're gonna play Hollywood bowl in, like, 20, 26, and I would like to play that. So, Trey, would you do me a solid? And Trey was like, dude, I fucking took you on tour. I'll play whatever I want.

[E]

Paige could do. Paige could do Seeger, I think.

[Mike]

Crush it.

[Megan]

Yeah, he would do great. Yeah, he would do great.

[E]

But he didn't. He didn't, and they didn't. Yeah, that's the best. We're Midwesterners, Megan. That's why.

[Megan]

Exactly.

[E]

Bob Seger speaks to us.

[Mike]

You and I. You and I once sang Bob Seger together.

[E]

We did. We did. There's video of that somewhere.

[Megan]

I think I've seen a video of that. It's actually amazing. You guys sound great.

[E]

Brian sounds really good.

[Megan]

I really want to karaoke with you guys. Brian, you do sound great.

[Mike]

I can get into the Seeger zone. I'll tell you what.

[E]

Okay.

[Megan]

It's those old musical theater days really come into use. Your middle school playtime really helped that one.

[E]

Friday night was 46 days. Rift, MOMA dance into chalk dust. Evolve Stash Wolfmans into hood. Second set was what's going through your mind Into Carini, into light, into Mercury, into Piper, into a life beyond the dream. And then Ghost to close Possum Tweezer Reprise Encore This. I think that this. If you look at this on paper, even on the live Fish app, this set one looks like the first part looks like something you definitely could just go ahead and, like, skip through. But the playing, like, the playing is better than the set list. Looks like the Trey playing in 46 days and Moma and. And then the chalk dust and then Rift. He was like, really? He hit it, like, on fire. But I was. I listened to that, and I thought all, like, four of those first songs were really, really good. So I felt like they, like, started off really strong. But. Brian, the chalk dust torture half halfway through the first set. It really is like, almost Camden chalk dust. Like the soaring solo from Trey, but also, like, Mike is, like, on that baseline. Like, it's almost like a cover of that version, except, like, halfway through, they kind of forgot it. But it was. But it was. Either way, it was awesome. Chalk dust.

[Mike]

Yeah. And I mean, Trey talked about that in the New York article, and I'm sure he read the New York article, so even if he forgot saying it, like, he reminded to it. And I'm sure he probably listened to it at some point because we hear it again two nights later, which we'll talk about. But yeah, I Think that this, this show I thought was a perfectly good first night of a run of like a three night run. Nothing insane, a lot of fun. Some really great song selections. These two classics, Chalk Dust and Harry Hood being played in the first set. Something that for the former used to be pretty standard and now it's like, whoa. Choctaw's Torture midway through set one. Holy crap, what a weird spot. Harry Hood hasn't really been featured as a set one piece much in its career. And so having it close out the set here just added a little bit more than like if it had been, you know, like if you had thrown. I know they had just played it, but like if you had thrown Fluff head there, that's a fairly. That that's closed out a lot of set ones. Harry Hood doing that just added a spark, I thought for a Friday night hanging out watching this show. I had a great time. Didn't really go too far off the reservation, aside from the Choctaws torture. But really fun little first set that kind of just sets the table. You would think for a run to build off of.

[Megan]

Yeah, some really nice playing too. Like four to six days, got that like blistering little peak. And the Rift is really, really well played. And you know, it's a hard song. Yeah, the Chalk Dust you talked about, killer. The way it ends right back in the refrain is so perfect. The Stache is like a pretty jam, but I really like this Wolfman's. It's like super funk, Clav. It's kind of a sophisticated cow funk take. It's really growly and kind of monster. I love when they were finding that sound throughout this whole tour, Just Dance Heaven loved it. And yeah, the Hood is perfect. It's contemplative, stunning. It's beautiful. Really nice first set. After I saw this first set, I was like, okay, this show. Show could go places.

[E]

Megan, how do you feel about what's going through your mind that's only six minutes long just to open up set to.

[Megan]

Well, I think that's going to be the rarity from now on. You know what, has this song been played 10 times or something? And it's always. I think there's only two. It's been played eight times and there's only like one or two times that it hasn't jammed. So it's definitely a jam vehicle. So it's fine. It's. Trey just can't wait to play it. He just wants to play it all the time and I think he's messing with where it Goes, too. But I think starting off the set's good like this. You know, there's a lot of. A lot of repeats in this show. I think the next night is when they start to open up the catalog a little bit more. But they're playing a lot of songs they've already played on this. On this run. But this light is fantastic and, you know, making me feel a little bit like our Rushmore episode is maybe. I don't know. I think I. I'm a little on the fence if this is better than 12, 30, 18. I don't think so, but it's pretty close. This is a fantastic jam.

[E]

Brian, I know you have thoughts on the lay. I just want to say that about five minutes, five to six minutes into the carini after what's going through your mind, which. So, again, the second carini in three days or two days, whatever it is, there's a little riff that he gets that Trey starts playing. It's like. I feel like in a lot of these jams, he's kind of like you said about the Whatever. Whatever I loved from this show before the. He kind of is inventing these little things on the fly, you know, and in the lands. Yeah, yeah, he lands on this cool. Really cool riff. And then, I mean, it doesn't. I think they. The light is where the. Is where the action is, but it's pretty. It's. It's definitely worth, like, listening to, you know, but, Brian, this light made your major tier one list.

[Mike]

Yeah. I think that this Light is unquestionably, to my mind, the strongest moment from the Hollywood bowl weekend, one of the stronger moments from the tour. The band seems to lock in in a way that, like, another jam segment I liked a lot that chalked us into Light from Seattle Night two feels a little bit more melodic. This kind of gets into that weird, deranged space. We talk. Talked a bit about last week that wasn't there as much during week. The first weekend of the tour and really just showed that, like, okay, this band isn't, like, falling into one stylistic choice. It's when they connect new ideas, new directions start to appear, and maybe it was easy for them and, you know, beneficial for them to play a lot of big, peaking, driving jams in the first weekend and get to a point here about a week into the tour where we start to get weird noises, weird ideas, weird rhythm interplay between Trey and Fishman. If you think about, like, a summer tour as it would unfold, you would almost like, in my mind, look at the Ruby Waves and the Light as kind of benchmarks for where the tour is going to go here to me, they're the highest point of the overall tour. And I find this interesting that like if you look at the second set, everything aside from A life beyond the Dream is a current or past jam vehicle. You know, so you open and they're all used in very different ways. Like what's going through your mind is played as the YouTube song, the free stream song. Karini, as you said, RJ, it's got a really cool jam that made my overall list. The Light. Amazing Mercury. We get like the first well played Mercury in what, like four years. Like they actually really nail it and then they treat us all to the first Mercury jam in a while. Piper rips nothing crazy, just rips and then ghost as this kind of weird. Is it becoming a set closer? Apparently it works pretty well following Life beyond the Dream. So like it's. It's a cool set that like aside from the Light, I don't think it really like gets to the heights of the two San Francisco sets or night one in Seattle. But there was never a moment where I was like these three songs in a row don't feel like they work. Like it all flowed really nicely.

[Megan]

Yeah, I think there's. If they hadn't played the San Francisco shows before this, I think people would have been like going nuts for the show. But I think when you Such high, high shows the night before. But this light there's. The part that I love about it is it's. Fishman is going crazy in it. I don't know how. He's going all over the place, but still holding it down in the jam. And then 13 minutes, Paige switches to the piano and it adds so much depth and emotion to it and they build this mini peak. But then the best part to me of the jam is the last five minutes when you have all of these rich textures and sounds like you were speaking about Brian, but with just this life affirming percussion behind it. It just, it's. It's so incredible. And then it fades out into these like really sweet hopeful notes at the end. It's. This is definitely one of my favorite jams of the whole run as well. And the Mercury is good. It's the longest one since Albany last year and. And it sounded, it sounded really well played. It's going to get there again, I think soon.

[E]

Yeah, well, I think, I think the solo acoustic tour is, you know, it's pushing a lot of these songs like Back to you Know, having the correct structure and keys and all that stuff, which is great because sometimes, I mean, you know, I'm not a. I'm not a professional musician. It seems hard when you have to.

[Mike]

Imagine, like, part of the way they work is that they're just like, okay, we'll play this song. Song right now. But we haven't rehearsed this song in six months. And so everyone's kind of relearning it.

[Megan]

In the moment and they're kind of hard songs.

[Mike]

Yeah. And like Mercury has this kind of like weird rhythm and it's kind of got a sultry kind of like groove to it and all these strange parts that fit together and like kind of they all have to be locked in. And you. You heard it in 2018, 2019, when like that song was played all the time. And so it sounded really good and then they kind of stopped and hopefully it's coming back.

[E]

And. Okay, so let's go to Saturday. We are run. We're the second show of the run here in Hollywood. Runaway Gym opener Blaze on Martian Monster into Birds of the feather 555 divided sky ether edge into squirming coil. Second set AC DC bag into life Saving Gun into the Howling Into Oblivion into Antelope Sea of Stars Part one into Everything's Right. And the encore was Taste about to Run Slave to Me. There's like two or three things to talk about from the show, but maybe is there anything to talk about in the first step besides this like crazy, kind of jammed out Ether Edge?

[Mike]

I don't think so. Birds has.

[Megan]

Yeah, it's pretty good. But that's. It's really just about the Ether edge. It's kind of saved the set.

[E]

Yeah. So Megan, tell us about your thoughts about that jam.

[Megan]

So this is the 10th time played. There was a 12 minute version from St. Louis last summer that was on the jam chart. But otherwise this song is. Stayed pretty contained. So this is 18 minutes big peak and has the big like yards after catch situation with this just big monster riffing. That sound they were playing with the night before. Look at you, Megan.

[E]

Yards after catch.

[Megan]

I know.

[E]

Awesome. All right, Sorry. Keep going.

[Mike]

Not even football season. Let's just.

[E]

Spring.

[Mike]

How many spring did you go to exactly?

[Megan]

So many. So many. I watched the draft this weekend. Yeah, you know what? I would watch the draft because of the outfits. Those guys come correct. There was a huge thing in vogue about. About the outfit. So I. I did catch some of those vibes.

[E]

Okay. Sorry I interrupted you. I was just too excited.

[Mike]

I Saw that when I was reading the latest issue of Vogue. I understand what that reference was for.

[Megan]

You still get the paper version, Brian. You get it delivered.

[Mike]

I do.

[Megan]

I actually do. But not anymore. Back when advertising was a real thing.

[E]

Okay, sorry, Megan, I interrupted you. But you just, you need a sports reference. So we just have to.

[Megan]

Big, big monster, riffing, scenery, chewing, vibes. Love it. Like, to me this is like third, fourth quarter energy. This is not first, first set stuff. And that's what I love. I love it. If you're going to play a big scary monster jam in the first set, that's. That's awesome.

[Mike]

Scenery, chilling, vibes. That is a hell of a way to describe driving through Colorado or great first set jams.

[E]

Yeah, you.

[Mike]

You just. You just pick your poison. I love it.

[E]

It's awesome. It was very good. I'm glad. I'm glad. Thank you for doing that. I need to go back to this jam. I need to go back to this show. I kind of rushed through the show because I didn't listen to it until this morning, but I. Brian, I love you.

[Megan]

Rj.

[E]

I. I have some thought. I have some second set thoughts, but is there anything you want to say to add to what Megan said or anything else in the first step?

[Mike]

No, I mean, Ether Edge is what. This is a jam vehicle. What the hell? Like, yes, this, this song debuted as like a odd late second, second, second set ballad. I saw it twice, Dick's 23 and Mexico. And I liked it, but I was always just kind of like, I don't know where this song fits. And then they played it night two of St. Louis following a 40 minute tweezer and it blew up and it became. And then I. It was the third song at Dick's this year and it blew up again. And then it was played here and decent set list here. Not the most inspired plane. And then you get Ether Edge and it suddenly just like takes on a life of its own. And it is so wild. One of the things I love the most about webcasting these shows is that because of the way the camera works, you can really see the band if they're kind of uncomfortable or kind of not having like a great set and like what that looks like. And then that moment that they connect and the lights connect and they're all just playing and there's thought it's just music and you really can see that on the webcast in a really cool way. And you definitely felt it during the See Through Edge. And I've gone back, listened back to it. I've enjoyed it every time. There's a lot of new ideas. It kind of reminds me of the Back on the Train from Night one of the tour. Kind of reminds me of the Everything's Right from Mexico in that it's not going to like blow your brains with new ideas, but it's just really locked in solid type 2. Jamming in a place where you would not expect it and for it to land in squirming Coil. And I'm now remembering this is the song that did not return to the song Gumbo was I. I concede that all of you who are still listening, I can see that this one goes into Screaming Coil. Beautiful way to end the set. We can go on to set two now. Rj.

[E]

I. I felt like so you know, you see a set to AC DC Bag opener. They. It kind of gets out there like a lot of times we'll get like a, you know, kind of an extended type 1 jam within the structure of ACDC Bag which is. Which is fun. But this like kind of gets out there and it's pretty. It's portray's kind of unhinged in here, in this. In this jam. And it. It. I felt like it was totally unexpected and really pretty great. And the same thing with Life Saving Gun. Like it. I don't know. I feel like this, this set again, like the set list on paper looks good, but I think if you look at like the song timings and the way the flow is, it might not seem like there's like a lot of ups and downs. But I felt like the beginning of the set is really strong and the ACDC bag was super fun. I just want. I just want more jammed out ACDC bags, I guess. But yeah, what like 13 minutes. And it. It really like gets to some weird places and I think that's. That's really cool. The middle of the set I think is like, you know, fine. But I really also really liked this sea of stars into Everything's Right as a. It was like a good, good combo to close it. So sort of like the. The first and fourth quarter of the sets were good. The middle was like dragged a little bit, I thought. Me.

[Megan]

It's just very up and down there, you know, I think like playing. Well, first of all, I totally agree. The ACDC Bag Lifesaving Gun also, both of those songs jamming is ideal and they both kind of like my notes on Life Saving Gun is that they plunge right into the jam. Just start with looping and it's no Time wasted. And same with the bag. It's super compact, but it gets a lot done. But I think the Howling, Oblivion, Antelope, it's just. It's a bit of a confusing three songs in a row to me. It doesn't really have, like, a good flow, but I do like the end of the set too. But I, you know, I feel like people love the Howling and it's really fun when you see it live, but is it? Yeah, it is. It's a dance party.

[E]

Is.

[Megan]

Is. But it's not. It's. It's not a. I think it's better to do something like. Like open the second set with it or play it. I don't know. It's. It's. It's kind of like 2001. It's the new 2001 to me, and it can hit so well sometimes, and other times it just feels like a bit of a confusing way to mess up a flow of a set. And I think this set struggles with that a little bit.

[E]

Like, I texted you guys earlier when I was listening to it. Oh, cool, everyone's howling again. Great.

[Megan]

Yeah.

[E]

You get to that part of the set and you're like, okay, I'm good.

[Mike]

Getting the Howling and Martian Monster in the same set is like, that's about the limit of gimmickry. Fish. That I can handle. This set is interesting because I agree with everything you guys are saying. I think this is one of those weird sets that I didn't love during the webcast for many of the same reasons that you're describing there, Meg. It felt very up and down. It felt like, oh, now this is the song that's gonna go deep you in the way that, like Night one, we didn't go super deep until light. And then everything locked in and there's no thought. And then whatever you guys play afterwards, it doesn't matter. This one didn't. It never fully got to that point where, like, it felt like something opened up and reached its full potential. But when I went back and relistened to it, I actually liked it more than I did initially. So I. I don't know what to make of that. That. That happens sometimes. Sometimes weird flow ends up complimenting of his show. Sometimes. I agree with what you guys are saying, though. The ACC bag. I think the thing that shocks me the most about this, this show is that the ACDC bag and life saving gun both get to really unique, complete musical ideas, but don't sustain them for the 17 to 25 minutes that we just associate with like the best Fish jams at this point in time. So it feels very much like, like when listening back, it almost feels like listening to a peak 2012 show where you're not expecting a 20 minute jam. So you get a 13, 14 minute jam and it has a really cool section and you feel really good about that. And this, this felt like a throwback in that sort of way.

[Megan]

I have a question, Brian. Can I interrupt you? Do you, do you guys think that like, it's almost a, it's almost like a problem for them right now that they can just lock in so quickly that sometimes they play jam jams that are excellent, that are only like 16 minutes and everybody's kind of like. Because like if this set doesn't have a 20 minute jam and so many of these sets do that it just kind of makes it not the best one. I don't know. Like, it's almost like it's to their. A false. They're getting like faulted for being so good at jamming.

[Mike]

I mean, I thought about that as a listener because I think that it's like I was saying at the top, like I think we're in a really sustained great period of Fish that a show like this in 2018 or 2019, 2016 would have seemed like a peak show. And now it doesn't because the standard is, feels really high. Like the bar is very high in terms of how they've been playing for the last two years. Did they walk off the stage tonight and think the same thing they did after 1228? I don't know. But it definitely doesn't feel as locked in as like some of those great moments do.

[E]

One of our viewers, radio Starkiller says SF1LA2AS.AS is as the top two shows. So. So there are definitely some people who like this show up there, you know, among the five.

[Megan]

I interrupted you though, in the, in.

[Mike]

The thread here saying that they really enjoyed this show as well. Yeah, I can see like, like I said, I returned to it and I had a good time. I enjoyed it more on Re Listen than I did in the moment. I think part of it is to your point, Meg, where like you see a 14 minute jam or you hear one or you watch one and then you're like, okay, they still have something more to do. And then they followed up with an 11 minute jam. You're like, I think they still have something more that they could probably do. Is that fair as a listener? I don't know. I mean, I think that the cool thing about this show is the oblivion. Really slow, sleek. You know, it's. It's a sleek segue into run like an Antelope. And it's kind of a weird, stretched out run like an Antelope. And then rather than getting the life beyond the Dream 2001 Golgi Possum, you know, type of ending we get Sea of stars, really cool breath of fresh air. And then everything's right, which is a really solid everything's right. So, like, I think everything kind of works in this set. It just worked. It didn't. It didn't feel like it unfolded the way that San Francisco both nights were just like banger after banger and huge jam. Huge jam. Okay. You can play whatever you want. Oh, my God, you're playing this. Holy crap. You know, like, it doesn't have that feel because you. You kind of left the show being like, I. I think there, you know, five minutes here or there on either side of AC bag or life saving gun changes the dynamics.

[Megan]

Yeah.

[E]

I didn't listen to the encore, but there's a six minute taste, which I didn't even know you could play that song in six minutes. I thought, like, just based on the number of, like, the way the A structure, it'd have to be at least like eight or nine minutes. But apparently they did it. And maybe it was. Maybe, you know, just want to note.

[Megan]

That this comment is really funny sounds.

[E]

If you think so. If you think so, why don't you read your funny comment? Megan, come on. We're all just here for entertainment.

[Megan]

Just said I agree with what Megan just said. It's kind of like how Brian is too good at drafting to win. Brian, do you have a comment about that?

[Mike]

I have lots. But, you know, we should just probably move on with the shows. Here we are. We're gonna do our next draft in a couple of weeks. We'll tell you guys all about it. And Meg is gonna hopefully have her brain broken in preparation for it because there's like 400 shows associated with it.

[Megan]

My brain broken, everybody. I want this noted on the record. This is what he even pretending to hide this. He's clearly admitting that he's trying to break my brain. Brian. It won't happen.

[Mike]

I'm trying to do to you what RJ has done to us with literature over the last 10 days.

[Megan]

I know, it's unbelievable.

[E]

All right, sorry, guys. I thought you liked podcasts, but has.

[Mike]

RJB ever asked you, like, just. Just, you know, pull of the listeners. Hey, do you want to read a short story. And like, what would your mindset say when someone said, would you like to read a short story? How many pages are we talking when we say short story?

[Megan]

We're talking like, like 30. Max 50 is like a long short story.

[Mike]

Hard. Max 50.

[Megan]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[E]

I offered. I offered to switch out one of those short stories with a three page Hemingway story for you. Brian. That would be. I thought that would be better. But you guys, you know, we are.

[Mike]

Currently in the middle of a 155 page short story that RJ has recommended. 155 pages, which I didn't even know.

[Megan]

It was that many. Brian just told me this because I haven't started reading it yet, but now I need to get on it.

[E]

Apparently it's a small. They're small pages. They're like this big.

[Megan]

It's not small.

[E]

Okay, Sunday. Hollywood Bowl Landlady Cavern into Llama sand. The lizards. Hey Stranger. Into Timber. Joy. Most of most events aren't planned. Set two is more you enjoy myself into Twist into Kill Delva falls into Life Boy into 2001 into say it to Me Santos. Encore. It was fuego. Listen, it's not my fault of how long the short stories are, okay? It's the author's fault.

[Megan]

Okay, we'll blame her.

[E]

First set is. There's not much going on here. I mean, the Timber is really cool.

[Mike]

It's like me recommending this like, jam band that released an album on Friday and being like, hey, this is a cool album. You should listen to this while you're like doing emails and then you press play and you're like, wait, it's a 90 minute studio album. What in the hell is going on? Who records a 90 minute studio album? That's not like a classical composer.

[E]

Yeah. And guess what? Some people love it. So I'm just saying rock.

[Megan]

But it is a very long album.

[E]

Okay, Timber. You guys would get back to fish. Or should we just say Sunday was a Sunday. The Sunday show thing was cool for a while. Wasn't last night. Then we kind of.

[Mike]

You need to do an exploration of the Sunday show period and explore like what happened in 1.0 on Sundays. Because I'm pretty much convinced at this point in time that it was isolated to like 2009 to 2014.

[E]

Well, it was just that one. It was just that one Merryweather show. I mean, it was just one show.

[Mike]

There were a couple. There were a couple Merryweather shows. There were a couple where like people were like, if you're at Merryweather on a Sunday night, your Life is gonna change. That's a great one. The 2013 one's great. The 2010 one is great. But I saw a Merryweather Saturday Sunday where the Saturday show was the better show and Sunday night was a bit of a snooze fest.

[E]

So that was before Magna Ball.

[Megan]

It's like anything. Like we like, liked it too much. We talked about it too much. Talked about it at 12:30. We're talking too much. Just need to like let it go and maybe it'll.

[E]

They did, but they did go. They did play last night in. In la. Okay. The Timber Jam.

[Mike]

Like me and Perfect Speller are talking about me drafting way too much. Like, we just gotta. We gotta give Meg the praise that she deserves and maybe I'll win.

[E]

Okay, well, you know, we have. Okay, I'll start. Let me try this one more time. The Timber first set. I already did. You were like. You were thinking about something else. I already read the set list. Yeah, we're already there. The Timber gets like really. It goes off into a really kind of dreamy space and then back into like what you'd more consider to be like a timber jam. Kind of dark and brooding and it's. It's a pretty cool jammed out timber. It has like some. Some 20, like some 97 vibes in there a little bit, you know, but. But it kind of gets there after a while. It's kind of like the, you know, the same kind of pattern we've been talking about. Like you get a little bit dark toward the end, which I thought was. Was cool. But that's kind of the notable jam of the first set, right?

[Megan]

Yeah, it's a great jam, but it's definitely the. The moment in the first set.

[Mike]

Yeah. And I think whereas night night 2 set 1 blowed a little bit better and has the ether edge. This one didn't really flow to my ears aside from like 45 seconds in the Llama. And then obviously the Timber. I'm here for the Lizards Always and Forever. That's kind of one of those like, you guys play it whenever you want type of songs. But it's a 38 show gap. The last time it was played was Alpine Valley and it really sounded like it. They really were not hooked up for this. This may be. Probably is a me thing. So, you know, come at me with your pitchforks. I'm not a hey, stranger guy. It really sounds like like my first strut and groove, you know. It's just. It doesn't really do it for me. I get what he's trying what he's trying to do. I'm not. I don't find this the song to be that engaging. I find it to be kind of cheesy. And everyone always says like, well, yeah, it jams a little bit but like it's kind of just like eight minutes of the riff, like altered in a way. And so I was not. And Joy at this point in the show, I don't know.

[Megan]

Joy shouldn't play in the first set ever.

[E]

Megan says no.

[Megan]

No.

[Mike]

Meg says no. We have just so many more ballads now. Like if can we miss you is like the grown up version of Joy. And I would like much rather get that if we're gonna get a ballad here or like, you know, a throwback to like a fast enough for you or a Billy Breeze. Give me an anything but me. Like, you know, I just. I don't know. There's something a little. I. I understand why Joy was written. Don't come at me like it hits home to me too. Okay, I get it. I just don't personally like the song I thought but this was the first set that was played and had a very good timber.

[Megan]

It lacks major flow. I mean and I agree, you know. Hey strangers, it's fine. But I don't think he's found out a good place for it. And I was trying to think and I don't know where that place is which says something. But yeah, I think sand doesn't make sense in between llama and lizards. Like sand should go before. Like most events aren't planned. I don't know. I think that this section really struggles. This sand lizard stranger. It's just. Yeah the whole set is a little wonky but agree timber jam school.

[E]

So finally, finally we hear more again for the first time since Mexico to open up the second set. Finally. It's been too long. I don't know how many shows it's been. It's been oh eight. Only eight. But still way too long. The I just want to say about more real quick. So I've seen it almost every time it's been played apparently according to Fishnet, which is great. But you know the. The second set. More opener before the jam is so great. So 8121 before the tweezer 71922 at the man before a tweezer kind of a tweezer fest set 72823 before Ruby waves at MSG and then this one. I think maybe that that's it but that's a pretty good track record for. And a great Placement for this song. Like, I think it's just. I think it's kind of genius, but maybe it's. Maybe it's not genius, but I think it's. I'm just glad they finally played it. And I just want to say, guys, so more. And then they played you. Enjoy myself, you know? Do you guys believe in evolution? Are you guys like evolution people? Or are you more like the God created everything? People, people.

[Mike]

We perfected man and then man sinned and now we are. No, I'm an evolutionary minded person. What are you talking about?

[E]

You know, like, we. So we had like tails, right? And then we didn't need them anymore and so they went away. That's what I think should happen at the vocal jam. Like we had a vocal jam. It worked for a while. It was a good. It was part of the. Of their life. And now it's not needed anymore. So we can just, Just. It can be phased up. You don't need a vocal gym. And it's not. I don't want to hear this. Like, it's classic, man. Or whatever. Like, you don't need it because the jam. After the vocal jam here, if you just take out the vocal jam, you have a awesome jam vehicle. Like you hit. You hit it after the composed part and then you jam for 20 minutes. What are we doing?

[Megan]

RJ, can I tell you a funny story about that? That really, this is just heading home for me because, yes, I think it was in Mech. I was watching the Mexico show a few years ago, streaming it with my dad, who is a big music guy, has seen Fish a few times, but not really into them. But we were watching and they played yam and they get to the vocal jam and I was explaining this is something they used to do, like when they had small club shows and they do all this weird stuff. And I was explaining to him a bunch of the lore and he turned to me and he goes, so why do they still do it?

[E]

Such a great point.

[Megan]

I just, I've never heard. And I love how you said that because I've never thought about it being a moment of evolution for them. I. I don't think it will happen because they're nostalgic. But yeah, it was funny. So my dad agrees.

[Mike]

Fish is the nostalgic act. Breaking news. There's your next headline.

[Megan]

No, they're nostalgic.

[Mike]

They are.

[Megan]

I think so. A little bit, yeah. Why else would they continue to jump on trampolines and sing songs from, you know, that they sang so long ago?

[E]

I think Dan Wegg makes the best point for the Vocal Jam, which it's great for weirding out the venue staff. I think that's like the best justification I've heard. Brian, where do you fall on this?

[Megan]

I agree with that.

[Mike]

Well, I mean, I'm contractually obligated to say everyone should listen to the 10 7, 2000 vocal jam because it will make you weep. It's gorgeous. And you can hear the band being like, oh no, we don't want this to end. It's amazing. It's really, really beautiful. That said, I don't disagree. I don't think that we've heard many vocal jams of late that have been like, really inspired. Like they used to do really fun things where like they would come up with a phrase or a joke and they'd like repeat that. That's happened a couple times in 3.0, 4.0. But I guess my thought is if they're going to do like what they did in summer 22 and what they did here, where the Vocal jam leads to another jam segment and so the Vocal jam ends up being like 30 seconds, I'm happy to give it to them. I thought the back half of this yam was really, really exciting and really engaging and whereas we had some cool, you know, isn't that interesting that they are jamming all off the Vocal Jam jams back in Summer 22, this felt like it could have come out of Carini or it could have come out of what's going through your mind or light or like a very high powered jam vehicle that then goes into type 2 space. I thought this was fantastic. A lot of different sections, a lot of cool rhythmic stuff happening. And this to me is where the show really came unlocked. And this is like a really interesting. Like these two last two shows in Hollywood are really interesting in the sense that like I felt the second set on Night two didn't really work when I was listening in the moment and then I re listened and I was like, wait, maybe it works better in, you know, on tape when you're just kind of doing yard work and stuff. This show I didn't really enjoy and I was like, oh, this is how we're ending this tour. And then you get. You enjoy myself in a twist, Kill Devil Falls and the Fuego Encore, which we're going to talk about because there's so much historical stuff associated with the Fuego Encore. But like the show kind of turns here and suddenly we're in cool open ended jam space that I don't think anybody was really expecting at this point in time. And I'm here for it because, you know, I texted you guys. The landlady opened the show was the first performance in 110 shows. Last performance was 8, 14, 20, 22. I was there. I remember they opened with it and being like, oh, we are in for a Sunday show. And I would invite anyone to go and look at the set list for Alpine Night 3 because it's kind of a direct insult at someone like myself. The one thing I was hoping, that whole show, the one thing I was hoping was like, just lock in. All I need is one 18 to 22 minute jam and I will be happy and I will like be like, cool. The show was saved and this show is saved multiple times, even after kind of stumbling to the. The second set part. But I, I dug the. I know that's way more than you were asking when you asked if I like vocal jams and not rj. But you know, if you don't like my open ended answers, you can find another podcast co host. Okay. That's what I'm here for.

[E]

All right. No, like, okay, well, that was aggressive. Megan, Megan, do you have any other thoughts on this set?

[Megan]

I do. This is the longest yam since 1998. That's pretty cool.

[E]

That is really cool.

[Megan]

Paige, to me, is the MVP of this jam. It's just. It's so driving and interesting, but the stuff he's doing in the back end of that jam are just amazing. And I love this segue into twist. It's so jazzy and breathy. And then the twist just. They play the song and they get right back into that really jazzy space. And this jam's only 14 minutes, but it's excellent and really beautiful. And the Kill Devil Falls is cool too. Like space sounds, all these layered effects. It's really rich. I thought those two gems. I think you're right, Brian. The show really turned there and it's. It's. It's great. Like the whole second part of that or the whole first part of that. The middle, I guess I should say, of the second set is fantastic. And you know, then they play a really, really great ballad. Life Way is always, always, just always play life. Boy, that's a great, beautiful song. And then they decide to play 2001. And according to Brian, one of the best songs ever written by Fish.

[Mike]

Which one?

[Megan]

Santos. Because I know you love that Castle X. You know, I'm a big fan, Big fan, huge fan. But then Fuego comes to save. To save the encore just like in Monda Green Day 4. Huge, big Fuego.

[E]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean they, they really did, they really did save it. The. It was interesting what you mentioned in the Kill Devil Falls, like the effects because I felt like that was the first time we had like heard that.

[Megan]

Yeah, totally.

[E]

And that's what, eight shows in. So it's like, it's just interesting if he was just discovering that or deciding to mess around with it on the last night, but. Or maybe it was just like a fuck you to the Rock and Roll hall of fame. It's like, I'm gonna use all my effects tonight, dude. You know? Yeah, but the, the Fuego encore, Jim, I think again, like, I think it kind of followed that, that pattern that we're, that we've, that we've heard this tour but in a, in a way that I think is like what a great, I mean what a great way to end a show, End a tour.

[Megan]

Mike sounds amazing in that jam.

[Mike]

It is the longest encore single song performance not named you enjoy myself. So if you take out you enjoy myself. This is it. We have gone 42 years and we finally decided to do a 20 plus minute long jam in the encore. This is, let's not make this a one time thing. This is awesome. Like I was, I was secretly hoping because it was late on a Sunday that they would come on and just play like two songs and I'd be like, cool, I'm gonna, I'll see you guys in the morning. And they started Fuego. I immediately started getting texts from people like oh, maybe the Monda Green one. Oh, Fuego has been great of late. And of course we don't just get a 9, 10 minute fuego. We get a fully realized, deep, groovy, like really thematic version in the encore slot. Like rj, this is what encores are for. It's for like iculus insanity or this.

[E]

Yeah, I think that's totally, totally fair. I do. Brian, I want to know if. Because I have access to your top gems list so I, I know that this is not on there, but do you think it will be?

[Mike]

It's on there. It's on three. Which is. This is an interesting thing for me because as I said, up until the you enjoy myself I was kind of like, I don't think this is a really good tour finale. This doesn't show. It's really connecting for me youe enjoy Myself In a twist, the Fuego and the Kill Devil Falls all ended up on my list. Timber ends up in my honorable mentions I thought this Fuego was you know there with well I have it in the same tier as the 130 everything's right the 131 wolfman's the 418 back on the train 422 carini 426 ether edge and 427 fuego all together as kind of like you know, not the most mind blowing stuff you're going to hear but like really deep thematic jamming that like will can anchor a set. This is our. Our Kai Havertz division for the. The oft injured but when he gets going man, what a. What a. What a midfielder for. For Arsenal. I'm just here for it it.

[E]

Brian, I don't want to make this too much about your personal list but that's where we are. So I noticed that the. That I'm here for third. The third night of Hollywood bowl is the only one of the three that made your your and any tier of your shows of the year.

[Mike]

So I know this is the.

[E]

You think this is the show of the. Of the run.

[Mike]

In the end I would, I would. I would rank the three shows. Night three, Night one, Night two. It's just. It's really hard for me to turn away this type of deep, weird improv like from Yem through Fuego that's over an hour of really engaged, risky, wild improv. Especially in unexpected places. Like coming out of Twist. They could have gone into pretty much anything. And like that's kind of the point at the end of a run where you expect the life beyond the Dream 2001 Golgi Possum type of stretch and instead they go into Kill the Falls, a song that everybody knows they've ripped every single time they've played for the last two years. Yeah, I mean even the Santos, you can laugh like, sorry, I'm sorry. You know that album rules. But like the Santos kind of has a little bit.

[E]

It's perfect.

[Mike]

I think we are coming out live. We are come to outlive Our Brains is one of the greatest songs ever written. Say to me, Santos, it's really not. We can have a conversation around songwriting and phrasing and melody if you'd like, but it's one of the greatest songs ever. I would say to me, Santos, not one of the greatest songs ever written. I think a song that's been slightly underutilized because when you first heard it, it sounded like the future Down With Disease. I don't love it as just a set closer, but I thought this version had a Little bit extra mustard on it was really nice.

[Megan]

I think I put night one above night three just because of the first set too. And the party.

[Mike]

It's really fun party show.

[Megan]

Yeah. And I think the light is. Is so great. And I think that having the chalk dress, the wolfman's on the hood in the first set make it pretty strong. And the second set's good too, but.

[E]

Yeah.

[Megan]

Yeah, but I think It'd be like 1, 3, 2, probably for me.

[E]

Okay, so here's the deal. We have. We have some. Well, we've. So we've concluded our spring tour wrap up. I hope that everyone enjoyed it. They were quick hits of all the shows and they were quick. That's one thing. They were. We are next week we are going to. Brian, do you want to read that. That comment?

[Mike]

Yeah. I love these kind of comments because, like, it. It makes me think about how I felt about like chalk dust torture in the mid 2000. This is from Matt Emmer. Emmer. Imagine telling a fish fan in 2010 that in 15 years the exciting song Fish will go to when they're feeling most connected is Kill Level Falls. It's a very strange place that we're in. But he's absolutely right. Like, I would point anyone to the Bethel and the. What was it? Mohegan? Kildova Falls? Were those the two? Those were the two. Thank you. Especially the Bethel one. Just like, like. And another example of. I think it was a Saturday night show, not super connected and then they went to K Falls and was like, oh my God, everything is okay in the world. And Come on. And this is a song that like I was telling Fish to rewrite a week ago because the intro is a little weird.

[E]

Well, it's still, it's still like he was. He was trying to get back into it.

[Mike]

Syracuse 23. Great call, Ev. Dude, that's another one of those Camden chalk dust types of jams. Anyway. Interrupted you.

[E]

No, it's okay. You know, that's what we're here for. We have next week we're coming back to the. To our Rushmore series. So we have a. I actually there's a voicemail that I'm going to play the next time we get together because it's about Rushmore and it's about someone ridiculing my opinion of some Mount Rushmore jam. So that will be fun. That you can look forward to that. That. But send us your. Send us your. You know, just send us all your thoughts about, about the Rushmore series so far. Maybe about. No man and no Man's Land, which we're doing next, just, you know, send us voicemails because we like hearing them. And I will play the one. If you're listening to this, hoping to hear yourself tell me that my opinions are wrong, I will play it next week, I promise. But we're gonna go back to no man in no Man's Land. If you go to osirispod.com rushmore you can vote on your. On your versions. I will lead us through this. This galaxy. Really, it is a galaxy, that song. So, you know, stay tuned for that. That's right.

[Mike]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Megan]

We have the song that birthed the Megan dance, just so you know.

[Mike]

No man, which one?

[Megan]

It's the best groove. I think it was an MSG in April. Maybe I'll take that one. Yeah. And that's when my friends saw me dancing like that.

[Mike]

That song, potential Rushmore version. That one rules pretty good.

[E]

You can see the list. There are eight versions that we're going to be choosing from. So in some ways, I have a possibly easy job, but also possibly hard because, you know, all eight are really good.

[Megan]

You need more time to hem and haw over them and listen to them obsessively.

[E]

We have. We have two other Rushmores coming up, which we'll tell you about next week, and then we are doing a draft after that. There is, is. There is some. Do you want to talk about the draft now, Brian, or do you want to talk about it next week?

[Mike]

I would love to talk about it now because I want to make me, you know, feel ready and prepared for. Is going to be the top 25 shows of the 21st century. So far, no. Severance is not going to be on the list. It's not that kind of shows, guys. These are fish shows. Every fish show. I haven't actually even watched Severance, which someone's going to probably yell about. And this is going to include potentials from the spring tour. You, dear listener, maybe, like, why don't you just wait till the end of summer tour? I don't know. Because this will give us more stuff to talk about over summer tour. When, like, would that show have made the top 25? What we're going to basically do here is we're going to try to come up. Well, not basically what we are going to do is try to come up with a list of the 25 best fish shows played since 5, 21, 2000 through 4, 27, 20, 25. Everyone will have eight picks, and then the last pick will be a Consensus team pick.

[Megan]

You said.

[Mike]

Okay, we each get eight, and so there are three of us, so that gets us to 24. Yep, yep.

[Megan]

So the list is coming together. Sorry, I'm learning about this with the audience. But so the list is going to be builds collectively. That's cool. I like that.

[Mike]

Yeah. So we'll still do the same Snake draft. There's still competitive nature of it. So, like, you do want to select the best shows, but. And I think, you know, because we're basically making this list as a group, if you select a weak show, it will. It will result in a lot of ribbing online. Because this stuff matters. We're trying to, like, come up with a real pick here. What does it make? Make a list and save us some time, says ecw.

[E]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Hey, if you. If you guys want a top 25 list with, like, 24, seven 1598s, that's totally fine.

[Megan]

You know what? They might actually. Because people like that show, Brian. Unlike 12, 196. Okay.

[Mike]

Okay.

[E]

Well, I can't wait. It's going to be such great camaraderie for that. What else. What else do people need to know? So listen to every show from 2000 until now, and then you can come up with your list.

[Megan]

I mean, seriously, it's totally just, like, ruining my life. This is so cruel. I'm gonna be, like, writing report cards exactly when I'm doing this draft. I think this was, like, planned.

[E]

It's gonna be fine. It's gonna be fine and fun as always. And speaking of fun and fun on Wednesday, if you guys like listening to us talk about stuff on Wednesday, Megan is going to be leading us through the cosmos to talk about this book, Orbital. So that is going to come up on our other podcast. And we might start a new podcast in between now and then, but there's at least. At least another one. Okay, I think that's everything. I think we did it. Guys, have you watched.

[Mike]

Have you. Have you watched the Player yet?

[E]

No, but I'm. It's. It's. It's like, it's imminent.

[Mike]

Okay. Because we're gonna do a podcast. We're starting our movie podcast. Our first episode is on Player by Robert Altman. You need to watch that by tomorrow.

[E]

How about I'll watch it by this weekend?

[Mike]

That's not good enough, because I. I got to finish Orbital, and I got to finish six other books at the same time.

[E]

You. You've already finished Orbital. So, anyway, we are going to. We are going to figure out how to talk about movies, but Then I need to stop, start watching them. So we'll do that. Megan's going to lead us through a discussion of orbital. We have some hot takes. I have a hot take about Orbital. Orbital. So we're gonna. We're gonna come back on.

[Megan]

Yeah, I'm excited about that conversation. I've been thinking so much about it now that I'm prepping for this episode, and it's. It's gonna be a good conversation.

[E]

So check it out. That's called Library Card, but this is called HF Pun. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. We will see you next week when we will be talking about nomen in no man's land. All right, bye, everybody.

[Megan]

Bye, everyone.

[Mike]

See you, guys.

[Brian]

Osiris. Hey, what's up, you guys?

[E]

This is Reed Mathis. I made a podcast called the Gifts of Improvising.

[Mike]

That's come.

[E]

The Gifts of Improvising that's coming out on Osiris.

[Brian]

We talked to all your favorite improvisers.

[Mike]

Natalie Cressman, Marco Benevento, Tom Hamilton, Aaron Magner, Holly Bowling, Bill Kreutzman, and Jay Lane.

[E]

So what are you doing a podcast? Yeah, doing a podcast.

[Megan]

So don't fear if you hear a foreign sound to your ear.

[E]

We need the gifts of improvising.

[RJ]

This is Lawrence Lanahan, journalist, musician, and host of Rearranged, an Osiris Media podcast about music arranging. Once a song is written, arrangers make musical decisions that shape how we end up hearing the song. And we're not just talking about adding orchestral accompaniment like horns and strings, or doing a cover version of a song. Arrangement can be putting happy music over dark lyrics, using samples, recording all acoustic, even tiny decisions like putting an electronic loop into an acoustic song to draw your attention to an important turn of phrase. It's all arranging. Rearranged Episodes are documentary essays where I use arrangements to answer some big questions, like what is a song and what can a song become? And how can the sound of a song change the meaning you take from it? Listening this way has changed my relationship with music. Tune in to Rearranged, and maybe it'll happen for you, too. Learn [e-mail] com Osiris.