Phish: The Covid Jams (2021)

Another homemade compilation of instrumental-only Phish jams, this time culled from the band's rescheduled tour from fall 2021. A return to performing after a 17-month pandemic lockdown showed no signs of wear and tear; if anything, their extended explorations of outer-space grew even more frequent than in the past.

I've whittled the late July and August shows down to 2 CDs of wigged-out non-vocal passages (a few introductory exclamations aside), making this ideal for everything from work-day background music to late night headphone-friendly zone-outs. It's also a great mix for folks to who don't necessarily care for Phish's songs but enjoy a little free-form jamming.

Unlike the largely mellow, ambient mix I've previously shared, this one ranges from beautiful, sedate passages to the dark and heavy, though mostly sticks to a middle-ground that should help you step outside the world for a couple hours.

You can download the zipped folders of mp3 files (which, alas, will self-destruct after a few days). And if there's any interest, I'll get around to a follow-up collection from this tour.

Disc One

Disc Two

Here's that 8/31/21 Shoreline performance of "Soul Planet" (yep, there I am in the audience!), a record-setting solid hour long, though pared down as my mix opener to a 25-minute highlight reel: