As we were walking down the lawn after the show, my wife and I overheard the BEST thing we've ever heard at a Phish show. this was the U.S. Summer tour finale, and two women, obviously on tour, were talking in front of us. then one said to the other, "Oh no! I just remembered I've got to go back and marry that guy!"

this was the big u.s. summer tour closer. phish had really been playing well the last 3 nights, so this deer creek crowd was really expecting the best. unfortunately, and some disagree with me, but this was one of the worst phish shows i have ever seen.

they kicked things off with farmhouse, which i thought to be a very poor opening choice. i was hoping they would come out firey...not so much. gbott was very overplayed on this tour,so i figured we'd be seeing that at the creek in one of the two nights. this song was ruined for me after seeing the bad ass dobro infused version in nashville. none of the other versions i heard could even come close. after they cranked up vultures, i thought this set would start to turn a corner, but as soon as they wrapped that up they dipped into sleep. this one is a snoozer. my hopes rose again with gumbo, where they explored some nice funk grooves that eventually found there way into a solid nicu. beauty of my dreams kept the energy going. bathtub gin got me fired up, but once it got going it did not really do too much. they dipped back into snooz'ville with mtnsi n the mist. axilla kept the roller coaster set going before closing out a some what disjointed stash that, like gin, tried to go somewhere but it never quite made it.

there have been many times i've seen phish play an uneven 1st set and rally back to kill the second. this was not one of those nights. wolfman's did start things off really well. they dug into some explosive funk grooves before winding around into piper. this piper also had some nice exploration. i really thought this show had turned around, but some problems started to arise during theme. it sounded like gordon got a little lost but the theme jam seemed a little muddled. after an odd little feed back jam led into down with disease, gordon and fishman's timing continued to be off. trey shot gordon a mean shitty grin as he sang the line in dwd about "always loosing time." you could feel the inner band tension. this jam had some interesting points, but all in all, it lacked focus and direction. finally they found their way into 2001 but all of a sudden gordon just starts playing soa melt. i don't know if gordon ate some mushrooms before this show or what, but this was not good. the notes below the set list describe the 2001 as a tease and say mike "redirected" the band, but that is not wholly accurate. they were playing 2001 and gordon just boned it. this is the only show where i was not wowed by gordo's playing, but something was up on this night. like the previous songs, the melt never really took flight, and the summer tour was coming to a close.

enc:

woodstock: this was a nice little moment to a not so hot show. i hadn't really been paying attention to the woodstock happenings since i was catching the end of phish tour, but all hell had broken loose. despite a not so hot phish show, it was still better than being anywhere else.

julius: not my favorite, song.... weak way to end the tour.

overall:
set 1: gumbo>nicu
set 2: wolfman's piper

This show IS Phish. Good, Bad, funny, Pretty, Ugly Rock, funk, jazz, country and soul all mixed up in a jumbled mess. Is it Great? no. Is it better entertainment than most live acts provide? absolutely. Don't let that first review spoil it for you. The second set is Amazing. And Gordo was on point because i would've rather heard a face splitting melt than the delay-loop-lazy 2001. Good Call Mikey.

The first set is CHILL, mellow Phish, and is a great listen late in the morning or early afternoon with a pot of coffee, and anything else you like to have at that time of day. It's the set you'd expect them to play after the previous night's show.

On the other hand, Theme>DWD>jam is unbridled, at times aggressive rock and roll, and the "jam" is Siket Disc worthy stuff.

Phish threw their 100 MPH fastball the night before, but this one's a curveball with some heat. Check it out!

I like this show and want to comment on the first set. I recorded this show from the lawn absolute center lawn straight to minidisc with a directional mono microphone. It is one of my favorite "audience" recordings.....something about it is so unique and for some reason Mike is nice and loud. I revisit this show often to listen to the fairly mellow first set with highlights VULTURES, SLEEP, and MOUNTAINS IN THE MIST. The harmonizing during Sleep and Mist captures the heart.....the audience on the lawn is totally silent and into it. The audience is fairly mellow on the recording and Trey and Mike just shine non stop. I think there is something to cherish when Phish plays a sort of mellow laid back first set as the sun is setting behind Deercreek. If you like minidisc and would like a recording of my master copy, shoot me a message. I'd love to spread this historic audience recording among the phishmasses. I have both sets and the entire 1999 Deercreek run. Cherish these recordings! GO PHISH! Thank you for touring. My life is great again with you in it 2011 UIC SICKNESS.