(7) Tumble - 06/28/2025 vs. (10) Hot Tea - 02/14/2025

All of the silly goontz heads are ruining this bracket. this tea is miles better than a tumble that was only cool bc its MSG…what are we doing here

This tumble should be higher

Made a tea while listening to Hot Tea. It was magical, thanks.

Space Panther isn't wrong. Tea is measurably better to me. MSG bias doing a lot of lifting here

This Tea! Absolute scorcher. Haven’t listened to enough versions to GOAT it yet, but it IS the best I’ve heard for sure. Could this Tumble be getting the Brad Serling Bump for being his #1 JOTY of all JOTYs this year? I took Tumble in my bracket for that reason. Not at all surprised this is really close.

Listen to Handini! The Tea is the jam!

While maybe not the better jam of the two, that hot tea is too much fun and the fellas are feeling it! It's got my vote.

DJ Marb pushes the tumble over the top for me. Bass bass BASSSSSS!

TEA!! 🫖

This Tumble represents a monumental moment for the band and the fans that I will never forget experiencing. This Hot Tea was the capper to an unbelievable show that I will also never forget experiencing. How lucky to have seen both of these absolute smoke shows. That said, this Hot Tea is unique totally unique and was completely unexpected. For those reason, it gets my vote.

I so love this Tumble, not just b/c MSG and I was there, but it's funky and danceable, yet dark and brooding. And the shit Rick is doing for a good portion of it is subdued but still lethal AF. And Tweekzbass kills throughout. Cotter is on fire as well, and the integration of the electronic drums is really tasty. Also, are we counting the 7+ minute reprise in this, cuz that was insane. They are playing so freaking fast by the end of that, like a runaway train very nearly coming off the tracks yet somehow they keep it on. Even Peter lets out a "Whoa!"
And while Tea is quite unique and takes some crazy twists and turns, it feels a bit disjointed to me and there are points where they do seem to go off the rails, and Rick is really fighting to get back on. And Cotter's solo just doesn't do it for me.

Each of these has a fun little CCP/near tease:

Tumble: @5:45 Rick starts moving toward “A Go Go” locking in at 6:15. Based on how much seeing Sco in the city was important to his musical story, I think this is intentional even if he doesn’t quite nail the progression…

Hot Tea: Trevor jumps into a “I got a feeling in my body” (Elvis Presley) riff at around @9:30. Compare especially to the Elvis at Stax version for the same swagger. Someone else mentioned a Suspicious Minds jam somewhere else in GLC? Maybe they were vibing on the King at the time.

worst tea in years against a solid long goontz. not my fave tumble this year but this tea shouldnt be anywhere near this bracket.

This might be the first one where I'm split right down the middle. On the one hand, Hot Tea is quite a full body/full band jam. Everyone contributing to the cacophony, which is what I love. On the other hand we have the Goontz offering in Tumble, and while I'm not the biggest proponent of the Goontz, this one is damn good and could be their best representation of it yet.

I'm going with Hot Tea, because that sort of chaos is what I want more of (as long as they can then re-assemble the jam nicely enough, which may not have been the case here), but I still give a tip of the cap to this Tumble.... if only DJ Brownie could see you now

Here's the thing about this Tumble... it's the best Rick has ever sounded during GOONTZ and arguably the best GOONTZ jam of the year. So Goose... if you're listening to... more of this please!

But this Hot Tea is a revelation. An easy GOAT version of a song I generally don't want to hear when I'm at a show but I absolutely LOVE this version. They took this puppy for a Westville Rockdale ride and gave it the treatment. Completely rambunctious, boisterous, unhinged... and in the encore slot no less!

I was in attendance for both of these and had a blast dancing to both (as I always do) but in terms of jam quality I wouldn't say these are even particularly close. GRaps Tea FTMTW!

This Tumble is crème de la crème in terms of Goontz. It breaks the mold with a churning 2 guitar dark jam. I honestly feel it is a little over-hated and deserves more credit for its exploration. It almost feels like some fans hear Goontz and immediately write it off as a boring jam. While I do think Goontz was overplayed, we shouldn’t be punishing jams like this Tumble just because it falls under that category.

With that being said, this Hot Tea deserves to move on. This jam is almost deceiving. You think that you are going to get a standard Hot Tea, it’s placed in the encore in a show with already hefty improv. You even get a Cotter solo. At the 11:37 mark Rick plays the melody from “Can’t Feel My Face” by The Weeknd, seemingly confirming the feelings of a teased filled and party Tea. Right as the band finishes their first peak and you think more heat is coming, but they immediately throw you into a jarring dark, swirling, and condescending jam. The band settles in a heavy metal theme, Trevor’s bass is thick and heavy, reminiscent of something you’d hear in a Rage Against the Machine song. The band meanders in a dark space before making a demented push to a hot peak. The feeling after this jam was unlike anything I’ve ever felt at a show. It went from an absolute dance party in the venue with some of the best crowd I’ve ever witnessed, to utter shock and confusion. Almost felt like foreshadowing to the JOTY Madhuvan a day later. Hot Tea moves on!

A lot of MSG “not in attendance” bias

These are both interesting jams that did not make my 64. Like most of Goontz, Tumble was cool live but divorced from the MSG lights experience doesn't really stand out from the pack. This Hot Tea probably wins just on the basis of sheer weirdness but the intersting section only lasts for a few minutes.

Find me a better hot tea.

Wildly different jams that I had ranked on roughly the same tier on my bracket, near the end. There is little question that the Tea is the better jam in JOTY terms and gets my vote. But I have a real soft spot for this Tumble which is undoubtedly an attendance bias darling (and may win because of that). One of the better examples of the band dipping into a different genre and, depending on how you feel about said genre, doing so quite well. I enjoyed it live and still enjoy it on relisten. But the Tea is clearly more interesting and unique. Not sure I'd call the GOATTea, but definitely in the conversation and among the best few they've played. Tea should probably win I think, but I'm not sure it will

As an encore this was more like lets get the par-Tea started. Refreshing and it gets my vote.

I mean, are we being serious right now? This Hot Tea is leagues better than this Tumble. The tumble should be at best a 15 seed. I like goontz, don't get me wrong. Goontz haters are annoying. This one is so, so, boring though. The hot tea on the other hand not only has a keyboard solo but a drum solo too. Too freaking sweet. It goes dark and dissonant towards the end which I like, but then right at the last second we're yanked out of the muck into a dance party. Trevor brings that thing home BOUNCIN, man what a bass line. Please use your ears and vote for Hot Tea

GOATEA

GREAT matchup. I know those that love this Hot Tea are going to be pissed if it loses to Goontz, but this Tumble is the one and only Goontz that made my bracket. It is simply relentless energy, and not the repetitive stuff that makes most Goontz not worth relistening to. The groove and wrapping up with the shredding metal finish...I just love it too much not to give it my vote, even though this atypical Hot Tea is great.

This hot tea is scalding, dark, beautiful, spicy, rich, & delicious. It's my #2.

My story arc with MSG Tumble - while at the show / and the days immediately after the show thought it was one of their best jams ever - once the weeks went by the recency bias died down it was a great jam but nothing close to as good as I originally thought - took a break from listening to MSG largely the last few months and gave it a few listens again this week with its matchup coming up and it definitely rose up again in my personal rankings - long story short, it's not one of the best jams ever of theirs (or even close really), but it's still an absolute heater, especially the groovy Trevor Bass licks in the first half / throughout it. Will be curious to see how far it goes, but at a minimum it's one of, if not the pinnacle moment, for those of us lucky to have attended the MSG show (other top moments for me were the Factory opener, Shama when Peter announces they're breaking the curfew, and for some reason Running Up That Hill hit insanely hard).

Kinda funny and surprised (but not) to read these comments! Fans love the dissonance. It almost feels like there is more desire to go against this Tumble bc it was at MSG. That being said...

The Tumble fucking. rules. Super vibey and dancy Trevor lead jam in the first half that moves into some sick fucking nasty full band dark electronic goop that builds and builds and builds and does not let up. So sick. Huge fan of this full band build and peak without Rick driving with his guitar. Phenomenal jam that deserves the praise it receives.

This Hot Tea does rock though! Still haven't found one that tops my GOAT 6/16/2021 Hot Tea ;)

I really enjoyed the dark goontz tumble from MSG but the fact that it’s seeded higher than this Hot tea is bonkers. This Tea takes some really fun turns going chaotic and dark with some truly great play from the Rick and Peter. GOAT tea and briefly GOAT encore until they topped that a night later. This Tea has the makings of a JOTY.

This matchup will be a good test of how strong the MSG bias will be over the bracket voting because I’m sorry but MSG Tumble is not a better jam.

Hot Tea all the way. Neither of these jams made my bracket, but this Tea was at least close at no. 79. (This Tumble was in the 100s with the other Goontz jams. More on that in a bit.) At the very least, this Tea shows the band experimenting with something wild: A completely gnarly type II jam (out of Hot Tea no less) in the freaking encore. Now, if a jam consists *entirely* of Westville-Rockdale-type chaos, like this Tea or the Cabo Thatch, I usually don't find it that compelling. But I still respect the band's boldness and experimentation.

This Tumble was probably a blast to witness live, and it's one of the cooler Goontz jams given how dark it gets. But, by this point in the summer, the Goontz was getting pretty repetitive and predictable IMHO, and that continued for the rest of the year. When played once in a blue moon, Goontz is amazing. When played every show in the second set, Goontz is... I dunno. It gets old to me. I'm hoping the band uses it more sparingly in 2026.

Despite being seeded a few spots lower… I gotta give some Valentine’s Day love to this Hot Tea from Grand Rapids. There’s tension, there’s chaos, and there are these great solos that volley back and forth between the Peter/Rick side and the Cotter/Trevor side… putting this Hot Tea right up there with the best of them (2/11/22 Louisville and 7/6/23 Thompson’s Point… just off the top of my head). A massive exclamation point to close out what I feel was the best show of the year.

Yeah… MSG was special, and this Tumble is really solid… but in a tournament where the “goontzy” stuff has not seemed to fare very well, I’m curious to see if this goontzy Tumble gets more love than the goontzy Tumble from Indy… strictly because of the venue. #teamhottea

Hot Tea gets my vote. It’s the more interesting jam and is underseeded. The Tumble will blindly get votes because it was played at MSG and people like to dance to the Goontz.

GOAT Hot Tea. Dark, twisted, surprise exploration.

UPSET WATCH

June 28 lays claim to one of my favorite Tumbles, just not in 2025. In the room, I loved this Tumble — Ricky in his sword-from-the-stone rocker at the Garden mode, delivering an SF Wys sort of attack over the dark goontz. On relisten, it's a lot more anodyne. It does hint at what goontz can become if Rick can finally decode it, but only hints.

Like Sammy J in Pulp Fiction, for me to say a nice thing about the jamband generica that is Hot Tea, "we'd have to be talkin' 'bout one charmin' MF'ing Tea." This may that Tea.

I had Tumble at 45 vs. Tea at 26, so this feels like an easy 10-7 upset. But people be crazy, yo, and this was the Garden. Bing bong.

This Tea might be the easiest vote of the entire bracket for me. A sudden down-shift into twisted chaos in the encore of a very special show on 2/14. I'm sure the Tumble was fun in the room but the Tea is in a different league. I'll be impressed with the fanbase if MSG bias doesn't run away with this one.

HOT TEA by a BILLION. Hottest tea of the year

Sorry MSG, this wasnt even close to the best Tumble of the year, and apparently a lot of folks think this Tea was better than my #4 pick of Hot Tea 6/19.. and as the ONLY Hot Tea to make the top 64 this year, I guess I'm team Hot Tea on this.