[We would like to thank @Culture_Czar for recapping last night's show. He’s "a Birmingham local that you’ll find seeing all kinds of weird music shows at venues all over the Southeast." -Ed.]

It is often said that “comparison is the thief of joy” and while that may be a good life motto, it’s probably the best Phish motto. As cliché as the expression is, it was a good thing to keep in mind for Phish’s second night at Birmingham’s new Coca-Cola Amphitheatre. After Saturday night’s deep space jam fest, it was highly unlikely that Sunday would go that weird and that hard, but if you let go and surrender to the flow and take the show on its own merits, you were likely to have a real good time.

Sunday’s show opened with “Punch You in the Eye,” which has never disappointed anyone in the history of ever as far as I’m aware. It got folks locked in and in the mood for dancing after a long, hot Alabama afternoon. PYITE dropped into “Mike’s Song” and the crowd perked-up considerably hoping "Mike’s" in the two-hole of set one would be an auspicious sign of another epic evening. While the band had some nice interplay during the jam, it was still a bit laid back for my tastes.

“Ocelot” followed and kept things going in the established chill-Sunday-evening vibe. It was quietly awesome, but still had a feeling of getting-warmed-up to me. In a rare instance of playing songs that appear back-to-back on the same studio album, “Kill Devil Falls” was up next. It was well played like everything up to this point, even if not a particularly memorable rendition.

Norman Blake’s “Ginseng Sullivan” brought a little more bluegrass flavor to this Deep South run of shows. Though Blake was born in Chattanooga, he spent his formative years in the northeast Alabama town of Sulphur Springs. Perhaps this was a local-ish nod? Regardless, I’m never sad to hear some Norman Blake.

“Halley’s Comet” was among the shortest versions I’ve heard at just under six minutes. It bopped along nicely with no real surprises. "Halley’s" dropped into “Weekapaug Groove,” which was also quite short at just under six minutes and lacked the big nasty bass intro we all know and love.

“Stash” was up next and had me hoping we’d see the first significant/memorable jamming of the night. After the song portion, they settled into a quiet, spacey vibe that felt like we were finally getting into some real exploration with a patient, somewhat dark ambient vibe. About 11:20 in they settled into a futuristic robot jam while still keeping a delightfully deliberate pace. While it never really hit that otherworldly orgasmic peak that the best versions of “Stash” have, it was satisfying in a more sophisticated and subtle way. The first set closed with a standard version of “Cavern.” All these years later, “whatever you do, take care of your shoes” is still great advice. Especially in this economy.

The second set opening with “A Wave of Hope” really got my hopes up seeing as this is unquestionably a modern warhorse (Mexico 2024 for instance). This jam took me exactly where I wanted to be with Page laying down some undulating waves of synth while Trey playfully bounced over the top like a deft surfer enjoying his time becoming one with the ocean before they locked into a full band groove. This felt like the first time all night that they were firing on all cylinders together. Repeating motifs that will get stuck in your head combined with a hard, driving pace is just [insert a chef’s kiss noise here].

At this point, I’m just going to pause the review to come out and say one of my controversial modern Phish opinions: Nowadays, I generally am more interested in the jams that grow out of new songs. The band seems more excited to play those songs and they tend to be more unpredictable in where they go. Obviously, there is no shortage of great jams of old songs in recent years, but I find the new songs to be more predictably unpredictable.

“What’s Going Through Your Mind” followed and found me with fingers crossed for another grand exploration. After the song portion, they settled into a mid-tempo groove with Trey laying down some tasteful soloing over the top. I don’t always need guitar pyrotechnics and this really hit the spot for me. It eventually wound down into a nice spacey chill out, and then “Mercury." Fishman drove the improv in this one, keeping a very snappy pace that egged Trey on and allowed Mike to lay down some thick bass lines. Trey eventually took the reins and this was humming along nicely, but a bit of an abrupt transition to “Golden Age” kept this one from exploring its full potential.

TV on the Radio was one of my favorite bands before Phish started covering “Golden Age” and this is always one of my favorite covers of theirs. It was no surprise this song made an appearance this weekend after Trey was photographed with them backstage at the Bourbon and Beyond festival in Louisville. For the first several minutes of the jam they stayed near the source material keeping things funky before it eventually gave way to a more abstract and darker deconstructed flavor of improv that I wish they’d pushed a little further, but that’s not an actual complaint. At this point, they’ve just played four songs of 15 minutes or longer. Let’s be real, THIS is why we show up!

And I’m especially not going to complain when that jam drops into “What’s the Use?” WTU gets my vote for being the most listenable Phish song in the sense that it’s the one song of theirs they could play at every single show and I’d be into it without fail. It fills me with a sense of peace and awe like few other pieces of music do. It was the perfect end to this chunk of long improv songs.

To close the set out, “Good Times Bad Times” brought a refreshing dose of “rock god mode” that had not appeared in the show up to this point. They’ve gotten so good at group improv that you sometimes forget how fun it is to hear them just throw down and wail on some classic rock. A perfect close to a very good set.

The encore opened with “Fee” and found me hoping we might be on the receiving end of an unlikely and incredibly rare triple nipple after thinking back to the PYITE show opener. This sadly did not come to pass, but it’s one of those inside baseball things you find yourself hoping for when the chance appears!

“Twist” made its first ever appearance in the encore! It was fun to belt out some woos and have some shuffling groove this late in the game.

Knowing the show wasn’t going to end on this mid-tempo jam, I found myself wondering what might be next and the band sent us out on a hopeful note with “More.” I know this song takes a lot of crap and I saw no shortage of folks complaining about it on social media after the show. That said, everyone around me was getting down and belting out the chorus. I think the folks online doth protest too much.

All in all, this show was the epitome of the oft-used phrase of “average great” when describing a solid Phish show that isn’t going to go down as an all-timer and doesn’t have any particular jams that will be discussed forever. I have zero complaints. It was well played. It was a lot of fun. I’ll listen to it on tape again. It was a solid addition to their brief resume at Birmingham’s newest venue.

On to Alpharetta!

If you liked this blog post, one way you could "like" it is to make a donation to The Mockingbird Foundation, the sponsor of Phish.net. Support music education for children, and you just might change the world.