This show starts a stretch of one of the best weeks ever for Phish. This to Camden on the 4th is a one week stretch of top notch, 5 star, highly above average shows.

One of the best shows from the summer run. Phish always puts on a good show in Jersey and this was no exception. One of my favorite Mike's is from this show..

This show starts off with a pretty nutty Chalk Dust, with a guitar-as-siren breakdown in the middle, then chugs along until the band hits Gin, a jaunty classic-rock Gin that has a jam that could probably have been made its own song if the band so wanted (credit Fishman for some great drumming leading into the jam). I try not to use "hose" too often in my reviews, but if this isn't hose, then I'm not really sure what is; the music just pours out of the group with monstrous energy and abandon. I've been listening to a lot of Gins lately, and I can safely say this is the best non-Went one I've heard yet. This jam is about what a *powerful* jamming unit Phish can be, and the sharp turn back into the main Gin theme is something to behold. Piper (which gets played with vicious speed) and If I Could are a decent close to an okay set with a towering jam.

Set II leads off with DWD, which rocks along in standard DWD fashion before slowing to a crawl, Trey going to the effects pedal to wring some weird noises out of his guitar, Mike and Fish holding down a steady DWD-style backdrop, and then just when you're lulled by the low-gear jam the band explodes back into a DWD reprise and then immediately goes into Hood, which is also good but not a standout to my ears (although the crowd roars at Trey hucking the glowsticks back at the crowd are fun). Jibboo and Circus are whatever. Then comes Mike's Song, which brings a muscular energy right off the bat and locks into a Mike-driven jam (seriously, the bass will stick in your throat, it's so thick), with some of those techno-flourishes the kids were talking about back in the day (see: the next show). Then comes a sudden full band stop in the jam, a pause for cheering, and an equally sudden, fluid return into the jam...for about a minute, before another full band stop, upon which Trey starts up Albuquerque. Albuquerque actually makes a lot of sense as a palate cleanser (dig the harmonies!), and Weekapaug catches fire at the end, nearly on par with the greats (12/31/95, 7/17/98) for sheer intensity. A nice two-song encore sends everyone out happy.

I don't know if I would call this a classic show or anything, but the opening Gin definitely begs to be heard and the Mike's Groove is excellent, so I can recommend a download without hesitation.

Truly an aweome show, the Gin alone is one of the bests in my book

This is a fun little show that doesn't really flow that well. I'm not one to be super picky about song placement, but a couple choices in this show rub me the wrong way. First, I think that If I Could is a really odd way to end the first set. A Golgi or Sample tacked on afterword would have made the first set so much better. Second, Hood in the second slot of set two? I'm sorry, but that just didn't do it for me.

Whatever merit those complaints might hold, however, is counteracted by several awesome jams. This is an all-time great Bathtub Gin. For me, it falls in fourth place, right behind Riverport, Went, and Paradiso 7.1.97. We've all got Fish to thank for it too. He falls into this great little disco-funk groove shortly after the jam starts, and the rest is history.

Aside from the Gin, which is undoubtedly the single greatest part of the show, there are well above average versions of Mike's Song and Taste to be had here. Mike's is dirty, really dirty. Shit's gross. And Taste seems to me to be much more patient than most versions. For my money, those are the top three songs of the show, though CDT, Disease, and Hood are all fine as well.

This show is far from all bad, but as a whole, it just doesn't make very much sense to me. There are plenty of shows with weird setlists that I think work, this just isn't one of them. The jams are great though, and I'm always open to Albuquerque, it's such a great song. If I could give half stars I'd give this show 3.5 stars... I'll be nice and bump it up to 4 since I can't.

P.S. I noticed while I was proof reading that, in the last paragraph, I used the phrase "if I could" colloquially. Kind of ironic, and completely unintentional.