Phish - October 29th, 2021

Punishing play, typical of the song, cools. Out, then, from the song's familiar closing refrain, Trey shapes his tone, his sound heavy as a stone, and offset by spaceage Page. On-point (somewhat incendiary) Fish, Mike anchors what becomes an oozing, liquid event. Lazer-like, the band enters a jam that evokes Floyd inside the walls of a cave, with terrific lead Fish. Listen again and again - Trey is so inventive - as there is always something different to hear, or say.

On the heels of a towering "Axilla II" jam, this "Mike's" starts with a distinct funky groove which soon evokes "Martian Monster" before returning to more typical play through 6:45. From there, the jam switches to major for a playful and increasingly suspended-in-air feel until the closing chords.

A squirrely little Paug, the version closes out a terrific, traditional, "Mike's Groove." Too hot to quite enter stop / start play, the band comes close, before Trey breaks to solo. Nimble and spirited, many notes inform play both cerebral and danceable - the best kind of Phish - improvisation, with Fish consistently as ever attacking his kit. With Mike in check, and Page pivoting from keys to piano, Trey alights upon a melody he deems fit to follow. Play cools to pause before, terifficaly, returning to [plus some goofy banter] refrain.

High-energy set-closer delivers a rousing jam that gets beyond the usual techno-synth into a pumping euphoric blowout.

A fun little amuse-bouche to a superb second set, as the band really leans into the hard-rock outro to "Ass Handed" proper, Fishman snapping into a tasty groove while Mike takes point on the jam. Short but sweet. > into "Tweezer".

After beginning ordinarily enough, the jam eventually takes-on a Trey-led melodic theme reminiscent of "hose" improvisation, yet the "type I" form is maintained in a compellingly fierce manner. This theme-jam takes over four minutes to begin peaking, soaring, in a dizzyingly beautiful fashion, and then Trey turns on the syrupy envelope-filter effect, and Mike begins playing lead fucking bass, with fantastic accompaniment from Page, who then begins soloing a bit over this incredible groove being laid down by Mike, Trey and Fish around 16 mins in. Spine-tinglingly cool, repetitive, grooving takes over, and Trey begins soloing melodically o'er it before Fish returns to Tweezer's drum line, and the jam dissolves away as Trey nearly teases "Lifeboy" before Bitch begins. It's a safe bet that if this sick improv doesn't move you, then 4.0 Phish is not for you.

Like all things '21, "Reba" - here perfectly placed - has been touched by Trey's grace. Solid play breaks for a jam we haven't seen too often of late, a simple bit of riffing, or vamping, with Trey here or there adding notes atop a bedrock beat. Terrific. Perfectly paced, Trey's marvelous tone offset by Page's perfect fills, terrific Mike, and scattershot Phish, the band, even before the banter, drives to a nice peak.

Trey wastes no time getting a "Tweezer" tease in, kicking off a "blissy" jam. No longer chained to the song's bass line, Mike has some very inventive play. The "bliss" gives way to Trey going heavy on his effects, and eventually -> "Tweezer."

After Sand peaks and "goes type II," Trey leads the full-band back into Tweezer at 11:53 of the Sand (LivePhish timing; fwiw the fact that this isn't tracked on LivePhish explains why Phish.net does not rely on LP tracking for setlist purposes---it can be demonstrably, objectively, Wrong). This renewed Tweezer jam cooks for many minutes before the key modulates in "type II" fashion and the groove melodically soars anew, with a wondrously smooth segue into Sigma Oasis.

Having found a home as the S2 closer in its last three apearances, this "Walk Away" really loads the spring, finally relenting for a well-earned peak and walk off the stage.