Phish threw down hard for Saturday night on the beach in AC. Party vibes diffused both sets, and funky grooves blossomed into deep jams in S2. I agree with others who have commented that 2021-2022 seems to be a new high-water mark era for the band from both a musical and technological standpoint - inventive jamming is happening in both sets with consistency and Kuroda’s kidnapped alien robot intelligence-powered drone-light ballet is peaking right along with the music. It’s an extremely fun time to be a fan.

46 Days > Moma , very fun start to a show, both tight concise rocking versions. Olivia’s Pool, aka Shafty but filtered by way of a 60s acid-washed surfer band, was extremely fun and a rarity I was stoked to see live. Side note - can we get a Wipeout bust out please?? My Soul > 555 > NICU all rocked, tightly played - sand dollar, day at the shore got a nice pop from the crowd.

Gin gave us the first big jam of the night, but instead of Sigma’s exploratory movement last night we got a slow burn of crescendoing rock riffs that escalated into a massive and satisfying peak. Great Gin.

Heavy Rotation, a Page song that I will go ahead and admit I did not recognize - somewhat relieved to see it’s only the 2nd performance ever by the band. It kind of slayed? Leo led first segment was nice but then it gets quickly into a pretty nasty groove. I could see it coming back up in shows that require a Page vehicle a la MEAP.

Zero rocked hard and got jammed out for a few awesome but brief minutes, Trey opting for the Bowie cover, which I was stoked for and which tore shit up. Screeching Moonage peak of glory sends us into set break. The church of phish love is such a holy place to be.

No Mans, the band wastes no time entering a slick grooving funk jam, which then draws out into an oozing tension-build exercise, it felt to me like the last ~5 min of No Mans was Trey slowly drawing back the Tweezer arrow, patiently waiting to let it fly. And then Tweezer proper was a beast, as the tension releases into celebration, ecstatic segments of music ensued showcasing multiple jam styles. Very satisfying deep Tweezer jam. SYSF continued to allow the band to showcase improv and build a bridge into Simple, where the band took the set’s ramping energy and maneuvered it a slowly building ecstatic rocking peak. No Mans through Simple was all killer stuff.

Number Line continues the party atmosphere, as does Golgi which had a very unusual several minute build-up before it’s usual white light peak. Slave allows the band and crowd to marvel at our surroundings and contemplate the moment before the traditional glory chords signal the end of the set.

ALBTD is the show’s lone ballad and Trey brings it to an emotional peak. And then Tweeprise is the jump up and down fist pumper that everyone wants to hear, and it sends us onto the wilds of the AC boardwalk, grinning from ear to ear in my case.

I put AC 2 just a notch behind the transcendence of AC1, but we had a hell of a phish show tonight.