Phish - December 30th, 2018

Although no "second jam," the post-tramps-segment jam is extended, with Trey passionately soloing (and even trilling) quite fiercely, and there's an excellent peak to the jam taboot.

Perhaps the real giveaway that this is a stellar, ferocious, extended 3.0 version is the segue into Crosseyed (which could certainly be smoother, but is still welcome).

Abandons funk for a spacey groove with plenty of synthesizer and twinkling staccato notes and then makes a surprise -> "Weekapaug."

-> in from "Tube." Hot little "Weekapaug" reprise jam before -> back to "Tube."

-> from "Weekapaug" into the breakdown to wrap up another strong 2018 "Tube."

Subtle, magisterial, and grand, the jam, bright as DMT (if, in actuality, colored with "WTU?" DNA), slowly builds, gently rising more than gaining intensity, the band riding Trey's wave of sound which crests to swell to become play notably restrained and pretty. This, then, into a perfect > for "Plasma."

As a platform for improvisation, "Plasma" continues to impress. Here, > from a huge "Everything's Right," the band does not cool so much as they are cool. Trey lays way back, yet still manages to inform much of the version's signature sound. Fish's play is polyphonic. Page answers. And Mike offers some of the run's most interesting, and varied, runs. An awesome, cerebral, jam.

Slides into a warm and relaxed Page-driven jam with Fish's woodblock adding color, then dives into a space not too far away from the preceding "Plasma" at Mike's urging, before building to a huge trill-laden finale and dying away into spaciness. Tremendous version.

Almost one year later, the band closes another holiday set with a crazed "Melt." Like 12/29/17, the version sheds form after assuming nothing more than a perfunctory structure. Unlike the 17, however, the musicians - and Page in particular - expand upon 2018's "SOAM" sound, creating that haunting, Phishy sort of shoegaze; another mind-bender; in nature more spectral than musical.