My experience with this show started on Thursday afternoon at the Weston Hotel in Cincinnati. After arriving I felt the need to get a workout in so I went to the ample but mostly lacking hotel gym facility. After about 15 minutes who should walk in but none other than one Trey Anastasio. He looked at me and I looked at him and he then ambled over to the tread mill with iPad in hand and big headphone set on and proceeded to get his workout on. I absolutely wanted to engage him in conversation as he was no doubt pondering the set list for Friday’s show. In the end I figured the dude didn’t want to be bothered so I settled to go for a run on a tread mill down the way from my idol with Run Like an Antelope blasting out of my earbuds. How cool is that! I felt like saying “Hey…I’m listening to you…what are you listening to?”

And a few notes about the show: Great day for a Phish concert. Clear, Sunny, and Hot. Parking lot scene was chill. Wife and I tailgaited for several hours. We had great seats about ten rows back center stage and eye level with the band. The music was loud and in high fidelity. Both set openers were the same as the last show I attended (Clarkston, MI 6/3/11) which I thought was interesting. Wolfman’s opener provided the perfect little warm up jam and I was happy camper. Overall the first set was great and remember thinking at the time that it was something of a unique set list. Come to find out there was a couple of nice bustouts indeed. Llama was way cool and I have to agree, Bowie is one of my favs.

The second set was typical for me. I could swear Phish is screwing with my head. Alternating back forth between a deep dark place and happy time. The Twist > Halleys roll is a good example. But they essentially had me wide eyed and mouth gaped for the entirety of the second set. I am a big fan of DWD and makes a great 2nd set opener and this version was a good time. They play this song a lot and it doesn’t bother me a bit. Throw in an energetic Fluffhead encore and I have to give this show two thumbs up. We had a great time and it was worth the drive from Northern Michigan.

Since the first time I heard Phish at the MSU Ballroom in ’92 I am amazed that 4 guys so seemingly humble in their immense talents can stand there, and without much fanfare, blow your lid clear off time and time again.

All Phish all the time! Cheers Mates!