(8) Madhuvan - 06/19/2025 vs. (9) Animal - 02/06/2025

Love this Animal but the Madhuvan is on a whole other level and might be the best one of the year. Fkn sick ass slave to the traffic light type jam smack in the middle, various spaces and great flow.

This Animal was actually one of my favorite jams of that whole run, so while surprised to vote against it it is not a hard call for me at all after listening to both jams side by side.

To me, the most unique Madhuavan in the tourney and my favorite.

The blissies this Animal gives me is why I love this band! Animal all the way.

There are so many damn good Madhuvans in this bracket... this one is by far the weakest. Would've loved to see the St Louis version here. Also I really loathe the start/stop section. They really need to stop doing it.

This matchup isn't my jam, but I guess I'll go with Animal.

The Animal is my number 2 overall! Underrated jam! The way they play together and listen is impeccable! Rick riffing off Trevor’s bass line is the cherry on top! And Peter laying down the most beautiful melody really sets this beauty off!!!

This is a really good Madhuvan. Great link up between the various sections, all of which are pretty compelling and they finish it really nicely. Rightly in the middle of the bracket and one I am really glad I had reason to go back and check out again today. However, its an easy choice to go with this Animal. This is the kind of special jam that we come here for. Just rollling joy that continually ebbs and surges into new pockets of light. Well-developed, multi-part jams are great and always welcome but I'll always go for the kind of transcendent experience that this Animal supplies when given the choice. [And while it is a worthy winner standing on its own, I think it should get some bonus points by setting the mold for a years worth of wonderful Animal jams - its hard to fully grasp but before this version, this song was a surefire bathroom break and now its welcome in any show.]

Great rawk battle here. Madhuvan gots some serious goods. Animal so good. Was leaning towards Madhuvan but for what seems like every 10 seconds of “Slave,” it dropped it down a notch for me. They just added up for me. I so rarely do any of that pishy comparison stuff, but this one is hard to ignore. Both fantastic choices regardless. Animal gettin’ it this round.

Alumni Blues said "Madhuvan... finishing weak unfortunately" but the finish was really the back end of a double encore. Maybe you had to be there. I was there for both Animal in Milwaukee and Madhuvan in Cleveland and the Animal was good but the Madhuvan was special.

JVG put it perfectly in their comment below. I voted with my heart here. Obviously this Madhuvan is very good and has more "interesting" improvisation going on. But not much that Goose played this year makes me happier than this Animal jam.

I’m sorry if hating but both fall short. Voting Madhuvan most cuz Animal is the type jam I’d skip. No variation in jam and not strong. Madhuvan at least had some interesting bits in the middle jam finishing weak unfortunately.

Easy pick for Madhuvan here. Love the spacey takeoff to begin the jam, and the slow dark rise before settling on some consistent full band cruising. After a quick nod to Holmdel Madhuvan with the start-stop section, they make a bouncy erratic push to the peak. This jam is far more memorable than this Animal which spends most of its life in a bliss peak, and didn’t leave as strong of an impression as this Madhuvan did.

this Animal is awesome in that it just keeps going and going. after the run i said it was the standout jam, just so enjoyable.

the mad is real fun, a shame it faces this bliss beast in round 1

For my tastes these are both rather over-seeded. I would argue this Madh is more like a 14-seed and the Animal is a 15 or even 16-seed.

Lotta Madhuvans this year and it's going to be tough for any that aren't the big Feb monsters to really stand out. Also, I think we're at risk of even those being polluted in the overall standings due to competing with one another (cannibalization) as well as general Madhuvan fatigue. This Cleveland version is actually a really good one and does manage to stand out from the crowd by being "different" from the rest. But everything else I wrote holds true, regardless

This is the best Animal of 2025 and I get what people like about it so much. Bliss Animals are candy crack... superbly enjoyable... and even though they don't do anything terribly notable, this MKE version is the most engaging of them, no question. I would not be at all surprised if this Animal were to win this round. No chance it past the AIN in round 2 though.

Slight attendance bias here, but just that… a slight attendance bias. This Madhuvan truly is a journey… from the slow tempo and the rhythmic “pitch-bending” that brings a wonderful eeriness early on... to the very building/driving segment… to the wonderful stop/go - stop/go - stop/go section that is very reminiscent of Slave to the Traffic Light… to the very high-energy finish… to that fantastic segue into Atlas Dogs… this one really is a piece of work! After all that, I’m not sure if it’s exciting or hypocritical to say it’s not the best Madhuvan in the competition.

This Animal from Milwaukee is solid (as is the one from Grand Rapids the next week... which I actually like a little better). It’s bright, upbeat, and light on its feet… and for a song that I feel can be cheesy and corny, I remember liking these first two versions of ‘25 a lot. While I love that a version of Animal was good enough to make the cut, I feel it's outmatched here against this Madhuvan.

Going Animal here, but barely. I think JVG nailed it. If I want to listen to an experimental, multi-part jam, there are many others (including many other Madhuvans) I'd pick before this one. If I want to listen to a swinging, concise-yet-unhurried bliss jam, this Animal is one of my go-tos.

That's not to say this Madhuvan isn't a good jam. It is. The highlight for me is the first jam-- a driving, Black-Keys vibe that put me on the edge of my seat. I almost voted for it for that segment alone. After that, though, it kinda felt like a discount mashup of Madhuvans past, particularly the magnificent Holmdel version from last year.

Conversely, at the time this Animal was played, it was wonderfully surprising and unique. It was a swinging, ambling, Allman-brothers sunrise bliss build that didn't sound like any of the band's previous bliss jams (and was totally unexpected coming out of a non-jam vehicle like Animal). It was so effortless and joyful. Then the band kinda ruined it by jamming out Animal the exact same way for the rest of the year. Oh well. Hopefully they mix it up a bit more in 2026.

Was at both shows, favorite animal of the year but it doesn’t stack up to this madhuvan

Is there such a thing as Madhuvan fatigue?

Really nice, meandering and experimental Maduvan with some cool jam sections. But that Animal is just a stone cold groove! Super blissful start to the jam and then a smooth and solid build up to a rocker. Phenomenal!!

Taking the animal here. It's a nice building jam where every member is interlocked in each other's grooves, very cohesive. I loved Peter's marimba/xylophone and also of course Rick had some exceptional guitar playing. That guy seems to be pretty good at the guitar thing. Madhuvan was fine. It was very much a Phish-y jam, but they have played much better jams in that style. It felt kind of half-baked, especially in a year full of great madhuvans.

Ani-meh-al

Animal, great bliss jam, Madhuvan… isn’t even one of the top 3 played this year,

Meh.

Westville all I need…. Numbers tell the story.

This animal is a straight f*ckong banger

I guess we aren’t being serious

Was lucky enough to be at the 2/6 show and yeah the Animal was pretty good, but shouldn’t even be in the same conversation as this awesome Madhuvan - perplexing how Animal is ahead by this margin right now. Just because it’s the only Animal in the field versus one of the 5(?) Madhuvans doesn’t mean it’s a better jam - it’s not even close, Madhuvan all day here!

Well said, JVG!

I'm not saying people should vote for Animal, nor am I saying that I voted for it. But I do think that this Animal does its type of jam better on a relative basis than this Madhuvan does its type of jam. Lots of folks will decide that one type of jam is inherently better than the other and vote that way. And that's fine. This is a litmus test matchup.

Madhuvan, easy choice.

Good madhuvan but gotta go animal here. I’m not that big a fan when they keep going back and forth between the soft jam and the dark, loud like they do in this mad. Other people may like that but not my fav. A lot of good animals this year but this still takes this match for me

Everyone listen to Ryan and get serious. Vote for Animal!

My heart wants to choose Animal but the Mad is just mad good...

Ok let’s get real here. The Cleveland Madhuvan is far better than this Animal.

The Animal from Spokane is the best of the year. Sick first set closer

This Madhuvan could pull off the All I Need upset but...

Let’s be serious here.

GOAT Animal bliss peak. No animal jam came near this. Easy winner

Hate to vote down the only Animal in the running this year, but it should have been Goosemas Animal and you all know it. Cleveland Madhuvan I loved every part of your delicious jam and perfect seque into my first attended ADogs. Transcendent