[We would like to thank user Estimated_Eyes (Luke) for authoring this recap. -Ed.]

After being treated to such an incredible weekend of heady jams at Great Woods, I had an anxious excitement for what Mohegan had in store. As we all know, like the Grateful Dead, Phish regularly plays heaters in CT. The most recent, Hartford ’22, having my favorite segment of music of summer that year - AWOH >ASIHOS>BLAZE ON particularly. And it’s a huge Phish regret of mine that I missed the Mohegan ’19 run, making a hypocrite of me, someone who always says “Never miss a New England Phish show.” The “Beneath a Sea of Stars Part 1” from night one of Mansfield, although great, couldn’t hold a candle to the version from night 1 of Mohegan ’19 and, honestly, it has got to be the best version of that song to date. I was crushed to miss those shows, and I couldn’t wait to have second pass at Mohegan. Another thing adding to my excitement - seeing Phish in a venue that only holds about 10k people. What a treat for my 50th show. I’m sure to a jaded, grizzled vet, the 50th is still “noob” territory, but it feels like an earnest landmark and was the cherry on top of all the excitement and anticipation for the night ahead.

I like to get to the shows early as rule, but the arena being in the casino gave even more reason to get there in good time, and after a morning of coordinating dog sitters, traveling, and checking into the hotel, we headed over and entered the Mohegan Reservation at about 5:30. Even as you exit off the highway, the landscape around was more woodsy and wild than the plaza centered zone where my hotel was, and I felt more like we were driving into a national park than a casino. The view of the river - which a quick wikipedia browse informed me is called the Thames River, formerly the Pequot River and Frisius, Great, Great River of Pequot, Little Fresh, New London, and Pequod before it came to be called by it’s current name - that greets you as you drive up to the casino is so beautiful I got distracted and forgot I needed to think about parking. We ended up in the free Winter lot, which felt like a VIP situation after the long weekend at Mansfield, and we eagerly made our way into the casino. Now, I’ve never been much of a gamblin’ man, but Mohegan deserves a huge shout out at the very least as a place to attend a show. We hung out mostly in the Casino of the Earth until show time and couldn’t have been more enthralled by the aesthetic of the entire place, with many aspects of the design and architecture evoking aspects that are culturally significant to the Mohegan people: such as the four directions, the elements, basket weaving, beading, tanning, the earth and sky, the moon etc. Even aside from the multitude of diverting activities at your finger tips, it was an amazing place to be before a phish show and lent itself well to “getting in the mood,” so to speak. For a pine tree loving hippie - who needs Vegas Phish when you can have Mohegan Phish with an actual waterfall and a mountain with howling wolves at the top, walls that look like basketry, beading that shines and gleams in the ambient light. We wandered around and marveled for a bit before hitting a few slot machines - some lucky, some not - until we entered the arena itself around 6:50. After being lucky enough to attend the Eugene Shows at Matthew Knight arena, as I walked to my seats, my excitement grew and grew seeing that this space was even smaller and the view from our seats, and honestly I’m sure from any seat, was sick. The stage was low to the ground, and I noticed that after Trey had been trying out different rigs in
Mansfield, tonight was no different and there was another new set up, this time a blast from the past - the OG Languedoc cabs and Mesa Boogie amp!! The 90’s vibes were seriously in the air, as people all around us made their way to their seats, the gymnasium style risers shaking with every beer-ladened attendee pounding down the stairs. The floor, tiny compared to my last GA experience on New Year’s Eve, was going to be party central, especially as the full lighting rig was present, towering over the stage and crowd, looking even bigger in such a small space and after being somewhat limited, it would seem, at Mansfield.

The lights dimmed and the crowd cheered as The Phish from Vermont took the stage at about 8:05. Page hit a sample and informed us that, “You have been selected as the first astronaut to explore the planet Mars, and your space ship isabout to blast off on its voyage of discovery. Because of the incredible speed ofyour rocket: your trip is short.” And with that, we do indeed blast off, and I couldn’t be more ready for my journey exploring new sonic galaxies with my favorite jamband. The 2014 “Chilling Thrilling” jam goes a bit type II at the end and has a little extra sauce - just a bit more than normal - and sets the stage for the psychedelic night ahead and launches us into the rattling, banjo-esque opening riff of wha twould be a perfect version of “Rift.” According to my incredibly succinct mid-show phone notes, “They fucking crushed it.” At this point, just 2 songs in, they’ve already set a serious vibe and the energy levels are high in the room. As “Rift” ends, they surprsingly move into “Golden Age.” My immediate thought is, “Golden Age? In the first set?” Yes, Golden Age in the first set - an unprecedented occurrence until now . The night continued in the vein of Great Woods Nights 1and 3 with big beefy jams early in the show, and they gave us the full hose treatment as the music wound it’s way in some pretty introspective and peaceful places reminding me of the river and surrounding forest as we drove in just a couple hours earlier, before finding itself in rather boundary-pushing territory until Trey brought it all back to the Golden Age riff, which came in like a pulsing groove and brought me back to the dance party for a moment longer before it all came to an end. Next up, Gumbo, which I’m always down for. Page opted to stay on the Grand throughout the tune, which gave it an extra Dr. John feel, culminating in a raging piano coda that had Fish pounding drum fills all the while glow sticks rained down from the top sections, in what seemed like an effort from the crowd to almost neg the band into going back into an extra long jam. Alas, to no avail, the song ended as normal. Trey then let loose the opening licks of “Funky Bitch,” in what was a continuation of the Mardi Gras à la Burlington, VT portion of the show, and Page continued his stellar night with an incendiary hammond solo during the12-bar blues number. Even the folks who feel the need to mindlessly check their fb marketplace listings throughout a show couldn’t resist the boogie spirit, sloshing their warm beers as the metal risers jostled and groaned under the weight of a thousand people getting down. Blues rock at a casino - it’s a match made in heaven. I was pleasantly surprised to be greeted next by the semi-rare and always fun “Guyute” and just as with “Rift,” they absolutely nailed this prog-rock composition, liltingly making their way through the the song as the lighting rig bathed us and the stage in magical light, before dropping us into a crunchy but fully standard “Undermine,“ featuring yet another reverb-drenched organ solo, which was highlighted by low envelope filter tones from Trey and the beloved cowbell from Fish. The lights, the band, and the crowd had become one pulsing, dynamic entity at this point - truly surrendered to the flow as Fish spontaneously erupted into a drum solo to end the song. At this point the new hit single “Evolve” made its summer tour debut. The beer drinkers and casuals make their way to the refreshments and restrooms, while the indoctrinated followers blissfully dance to the psychedelic-quasi-religious dad rock, eyes dewy from lyrics that could impart some serious wisdom for those willing to suspend their need to be too-cool-fo rschool. Maybe it’s just the fungus talking, but it was a beautiful moment dancing to a song that evokes imagines of the beginning of time at Mohegan, which honors nature in its very design, and vibing with the fam. The harmonious mellow vibes continued on into “Waste,” which felt appropriate after I’d watched the Bittersweet Motel doc only the night before (who doesn’t need Phish-fix on a Monday between shows) and especially with the old setup behind Trey. The night of Page continued with the opening notes of “Walls of the Cave” and although a fairly normal version, CK5 worked his magic and used the lighting rig in almost architectural ways to sculpt a cave of sorts, and the Silent Trees portion of the song was absolutely smokin’ and the perfect way to close out the first set.

Other reviewers have mentioned how good the music is that plays over the PA during a Phish show and this set break was no different, with what I assume is a mix of Trojan Records tunes keeping the vibe up, and Lee “Scratch” Perry’s “I am the Upsetter” set a declarative and take no prisoners tone just as the band took the stage for the second half of the night at 9:56. A call-back to the tease before “Stash” during Night 2 of Mohegan ’19, we get “Plasma” right off the bat. I felt like the band was really intentionally pushing things and making an attempt to get as free as they could, opening up the possibilities for the night. As “Scratch” Perry promised, no punches were pulled and “Plasma” baptized us in the waters of set two and promised a bright future ahead. “Kill Devil Falls” followed, and I wondered if they were paying tribute to the Taughannick Falls Bar inside the casino itself which showcases a 55’ high indoor waterfall that takes its name from and represents a treacherous crossing point during the Mohegan tribe’s migration atone point in history. Little did I know, as I pondered this during the first part of the song just what lay in store for us all at this point in our night’s journey. The jam started off with swirling Fender Rhodes lines and blissful licks from Trey and we, the dancing hoards, were allowed to bask in that realm for a bit, but Fish started to pick up the pace and Trey let a note ring out that felt like it lasted forever, the tension building. In a tour already filled with so many amazing jams, the note seemed to cry out announcing the arrival of yet another incredible bit of music, starting with a synth-heavy, trippy, driving dance beat that moved into a building cacophony of Trey’s delayed guitar swells that brought us to the final chorus of “KDF” - go back to Taughannick Falls? The nu-metal riff of “Carini” smacks us in the face next; the glow sticks start flying and once again the gymnasium style bleacher seats are pushed to their absolute limits - somebody call OSHA, cause the structural integrity of these seats has definitely been compromised after being given the business last night. Some dissonant yet upbeat note choices by Trey started off the jam portion of the song which guided us down to a little blissed-out portion, where it almost sounded like he was quoting “Up on the Sun,” by the Meat Puppets, before moving to a twinkly, tropical, steal-drum-evoking guitar zone. I was absolutely loving everything that was happening and about 9 minutes into the song, we entered one of the coolest grooves I’ve personally ever heard Phish playin person, and everyone was getting down and locked in with the band. We were all grooving as one, and I felt like I would be happy if I and every phish fan in the building stayed in this moment forever, locked in a magical rave kingdom of the gods. Kuroda’s rig immerses us in gleaming light-magic as the electronic dance music continues working the crowd over completely until some alien-licks from Trey brought us back down to reality and the heavy riff of “Carini” returned and the crowd went wild. The band then launched into “Ruby Waves,” which boded well in lieu of how this show had been going. I love RW because of the genre of jam they often get into when inside that space, and it was the perfect choice. While the Ruby was short compared to some past versions, Phish got right down to business, putting us right into lush, ambient and spacious territory with lots of synths by Page - always a favorite of mine. It was hard not to feel like there were a lot of Jerry-ish moments from Trey throughout this bit, and it created a lot of uplifting, posi, “healing music” jam moments. In comparison to the last four songs, the “Piper” may seem fairly standard, but in a vacuum, it’s certainly no slouch, and they covered a lot of territory in under 7 minutes. It felt equally as trippy and heady as the rest of the show. After almost three hours since we initially blasted off on our journey of discovery to the planet mars, the dancing masses got a cool splash of water and a much needed breather, grounding ourselves in the calm atmosphere of “mercy.” A set closing “Everything’s Right,” felt like a euphoric victory celebration after a successful night of inter-dimensional musical exploration and a dance party amongst the stars (i.e. Kuroda’s rig). With the band coming back out at 11:22 for the encore, it seemed they were definitely due to be running over their 11:30 curfew. They treated us first to the very casino appropriate “Julius,” which states, “I came out on top, by the luck of the draw,” and I couldn’t help but feel similarly from my Phish-lottery seats with my $5 winning ticket from the slot machines in my fanny pack. Everybody left it on the floor one last time for the truckin’-esque outro jam before being left with the Hendricks-inspired guitar stylings of the emotional “About to Run” and daddy Trey shredded to us one more time before sending us off to bed (or back to the slot machines).

Overall, it was an incredible and extra-heady night four, a very noteworthy installment in what I’ve been calling the “2024 New England 5-Pack.” The “Plasma”>KDF>”Carini”>RW was probably the best continuous sequence of music from the summer tour, and I can’t wait to see if night two of Mohegan tops it. As Isip my coffee and write this, thinking back over last night and the nights at Great Woods, I find myself confirmed in my belief that you absolutely should never miss a New England Phish show.

If you liked this blog post, one way you could "like" it is to make a donation to The Mockingbird Foundation, the sponsor of Phish.net. Support music education for children, and you just might change the world.