My dad and I, as usual, have listened together and decided on our votes (he doesn't have an account, so our voice is not multiplied; rather, consider my singular votes as having the endorsement of a committee featuring someone - formerly much more of a Dead and Panic person than Phish - who now likes Phish enough to do this with me but not enough to have the encyclopedic knowledge a lot of us have around here, and thus boasts a refreshing semi-outsider's perspective).

4/21 Down with Disease
I was kind of surprised that I ended up liking this Disease a lot more this round and the Wolfman's just slightly less (though it's still a fantastic funky dance party), but it is what it is. It's fairly uninteresting (though still enjoyable, upbeat, and blissy) for most of its runtime, but it still has a nice epic feel bolstered by the incredible ending, which first finds a small pocket of fluttering calm before exploding into an awe-inspiring heavy rock groove that eventually builds perfectly into the finish, leaving an amazing last impression despite my not being huge on the rest of the jam.

9/1 Set Your Soul Free
Earlier in this thread, I made it known that I'm really not a fan of this Scents, and one more listen since then has made me appreciate its more melodic aspects more, but it's still fairly underwhelming to me. On the other hand, 9/1 was the only show I attended last year, and this SYSF had my jaw on the floor. It's a beast that still seems somewhat underrated in terms of the general discourse here, even if it seems on track to win this round. Relistening to this jam has not lessened my appreciation at all - while perhaps I could see someone finding its first half relatively uninteresting (not unlike the Sphere Disease, perhaps), it's plenty enjoyable, and the last 8-10 minutes make it all more than worth it. They've descended into this effects-heavy doom metal (and I don't really listen to much metal at all, whether doom metal or some other offshoot, but this is what I imagine the best of that genre sounding a little bit like) a few glorious times lately, such that it isn't necessarily unique, but I can't get enough of it in any jam where it shows up (though don't get me wrong; I also love a good melodic bliss peak when it comes my way), and the commitment and the execution here in particular is amazing. It's not just one riff/groove/space that they linger on for a couple minutes, but it mutates several times as the jam descends even furthur into (exquisitely controlled) chaos. And the interplay between the band members, even obscured by the wall of effects, is elite if you listen closely. What an awesome, deep jam that I hope goes far (it's my favorite in this region, and that's not just attendance bias).

8/9 Pillow Jets
I'm still a little annoyed that I missed out on the madness of 8/30 (though I did really love 9/1, and if I still only had to go to one show of that run, I'm not sure I wouldn't still want to be at that one, not only for that SYSF but also for the bustouts and all the other madness), but of the three incredible jams that anchor this all-timer third quarter, this Chalkdust, despite being the longest, is easily my least favorite. It's still really good - just a nice, emblematic 2024 Phish groove machine with a great peak unfortunately cut off by a harsh return to the song. However, this Pillow Jets is something else. In an incredibly short time, it goes from the awesome Type I Pillow Jets murk to really turning on the jets, so to speak, and spawning an insane speedy jam segment that has very few equals in any other Phish jam I know, apart from maybe some 93-95 Hey Hole-style accelerations, and, speaking of 8/30, the middle section of that incredible Ruby Waves feels like it builds on what they did in this Pillow Jets. But it's just...really cool. Fast tempos and Evil Phish haven't always gone together, but between this, the ending of the Sphere Disease, and that segment of the Ruby Waves, maybe they should. What a cool jam this is, and it should absolutely be celebrated (though in the realm of sub-15-minute jams, I'm still not quite certain whether I'd pick it over the dearly departed other 8/30 jam, that unbelievably great Sand).

2/24 Bathtub Gin
This Simple is amazing, and it's not my least favorite of this year's big jams, all of which are, for the record, very worthwhile. But this is a uniquely captivating Gin that manages to recapture the lightning in a bottle that had animated the monster jams of the previous couple nights, and just keeps getting better and better as it goes on. Other Gins from 2024, a very good year for the song, have bigger peaks, but they don't have that Mexico magic buoyed by a truly swinging, jazzy, tight Fishman groove. Cool sounds, great melodies, excellent groove, and a touch of uniqueness...I stand by my underdog vote here (and my dad is very much of the same mind as I am). Anyway, though, this most recent listen did alert me to a cool detail in this still very good Simple (which I suppose I wouldn't be too sad to see advance) - around the 25-minute mark or so, there's a brief little segment that is for a moment almost identical to, and then just vaguely similar to, the gorgeous, spacey first segment of the Mexico Wave of Hope (around 8-11ish minutes in, if I remember correctly), so that was a nice detail to catch, but as good as it is, that Simple doesn't really tap too deeply into the Mexico sound, to its detriment at least in this arbitrary tournament, though it stands up on its own terms otherwise, and it reminds me that after I recently toured some colleges in Wisconsin (I've made my decision and that's not where I'm going, but it was cool to check some places out), I really would love to catch a show at Alpine Valley sometime.