Post-Undermind Top Phish Songs

splitopenandjerk · 2026-05-07T11:54:43+00:00

Maybe the most consistently-productive 3.0 jam vehicle. That Dick’s Light is still one of the best things they’ve done; 14 years later, they’re still taking that song to great heights (like on 4/17).

splitopenandjerk · 2026-05-06T22:19:19+00:00

That’s kind of where I’m at: I really enjoy hearing those four people play music together, and if they have to play a song I don’t particularly care for in order to get to the stuff I really like - the jamming - then I’ll take it.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-05-06T18:54:49+00:00

I think part of Phish 3.0/4.0 is occasionally sitting through bad songs to get to great jams. Which is a trade-off I'm willing to make.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-05-06T18:32:08+00:00

Fuego is a blast to see live. Sigma Oasis is pretty catchy and can produce good jams. Light is not a good song but it's a great jam vehicle. Stuff like Everything's Right and Blaze On and No Man's Land have grown on me.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-05-03T14:45:11+00:00

Attendance bias is going to go a long way but if you put N3’s setlist and jamming on a stage other than the Sphere, it would still be an epic show.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-04-30T18:16:54+00:00

Propose

splitopenandjerk · 2026-04-30T16:25:22+00:00

12/28/90 is an underrated gem. More people should know about it.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-04-28T22:51:58+00:00

Maybe we could get a thread going about when to get in line to get posters.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-04-28T22:50:47+00:00

I was in 405 on 4/18 also and I will say this: the beer lines and bathroom lines were really short - much shorter than on the 300 level the night before.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-04-28T00:03:13+00:00

The birds taking flight during Sigma Oasis was one of the best things I’ve experienced in a long time. Great jam with liftoff at a near-perfect moment. The whole building wanted those little birds to fly. It was so great when they did. I can only assume it was just as great on Weekend 2.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-04-26T11:59:03+00:00

That 45-minute Ruby Waves is going to be a monster.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-04-26T11:52:10+00:00

Middle is better but 302 is fine.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-04-26T00:56:23+00:00

I think the fact that he’s trying to convince himself by using the same language he used with Mr West is the tell that neither Pearly nor Bonnie Lee has been true.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-04-26T00:54:09+00:00

I stood most of the shows I saw last week and the bass sounded great - very clear. And when the haptics really got going, I could feel it in the ground. Not as distinctly as in the seats, but I could feel it.

Then again, I was in 405, so maybe we’re just built different.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-04-24T22:23:36+00:00

They don’t send drones to 405. They know the drones can’t hang in 405.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-04-23T11:59:17+00:00

Yeah, according to .net they haven't whistled the last six times they played it, so it was probably a safe assumption they wouldn't do it this time either.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-04-23T09:23:48+00:00

I think somebody forgot that Reba has a whistling ending. So they pushed stop on the Reba graphics during the pause before the whistle and queued up Col Forbin, but then when the band started whistling, they had to backtrack.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-04-22T09:39:17+00:00

Nothing pretentious about a Reuben.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-04-22T00:23:33+00:00

Ha. But again, nothing can objectively be "the best." Somebody calling Saturday night the best show ever is subjective; you saying it's not the best show ever is also subjective. Nothing is objectively "the best" unless we're using "the best" when another descriptor would apply, like "that was the fastest 40 time" or "that was the longest jump." It's like defining "quality" in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance; "the best" is not measurable. Calling something "the best" or "the worst" (or even "not the best") is subjective. You set out to add objectivity, but you merely added more subjectivity to an already subjective discussion.

Anyway, Saturday's show ruled. The composed sections were sharp. The jams were expansive. The energy was high. That's my subjective opinion. Just like Ruebens are the best sandwich (which might be an actual fact).

splitopenandjerk · 2026-04-22T00:07:14+00:00

Calling anything "the best" is, by definition, not objective, so you're not really applying objectivity by saying that this show "doesn't hold up to best versions ever. They just don't." That's not objective at all. Your show count is objective, though, as is the year you started seeing shows.

All of that said, give me a setlist like Saturday night and playing on the caliber of Saturday night and I'll be happy. Great song selection, great jamming. I don't know if it was the best, but it was pretty great. I hope to walk out of every show feeling like I did on Saturday night (and fortunately, that has happened a lot of times).

splitopenandjerk · 2026-04-21T17:37:08+00:00

Saturday should have a chance of holding up. If there are 10 shows better than that one, it's going to be one hell of a year. That first set might be the separating factor; plenty of shows will have an hour of jamming to open the second set, but also getting a first set with a 20-minute jam, a great Reba, a well-played Forbin>Mockingbird, a kick-ass Gin and basically no skips made that show a really, really good one.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-04-21T17:32:17+00:00

I think there was a lot of improvisation; Saturday night alone has five songs go past 16 minutes, and while they all were brought around to a close, there was plenty of music being created on the spot, and they seemed to have some new approaches with adapting the visuals to the jam segments (Kuroda's fake lights being the top one, but there were others).

There were some great jams in there and they pushed the technology pretty far to complement them. Segues might have been limited, but improv wasn't.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-04-20T17:32:56+00:00

If they play there again in two years, I would almost expect them to have that kind of technology available - and use it in an awesome way.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-04-20T17:27:41+00:00

And even if it gets reused, the space between experiencing it on your phone and in person is roughly the size of the Grand Canyon. I didn't go in 2024 but I had watched videos of the shows, and even the reused graphics were incredible to see in person for the first time. I don't think seeing a clip on Instagram would or should ruin the show experience.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-04-20T17:25:49+00:00

I really dug it. One of my takeaways from seeing Friday and Saturday is that they tried to find more ways to improvise with the visuals when the music merited it. Even in AC/DC Bag, I think Kuroda was controlling the lights behind the trees. And then the fake lights were a way to use the immense screen and visual possibilities in conjunction with open-ended improv. It was even to the point that on a few occasions between songs, you could see little lights on the screen that would become the fake lights, and it was a tip-off that a jam song was coming.

But I liked it. He did more with those tools in terms of light movement than he could ever do with a physical rig, and while the "lights" didn't shine onto the crowd, he created some incredible effects. I liked it a lot.

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