[We would like to thank user @mikh2wg aka Rob for recapping last night's show. -Ed.]

I’ll start off by answering the question you all must be asking yourselves, “Did our reviewer go to the St. Louis Zoo before the show?” Yes. Yes I did. @lomein and I got into town at 9am and we needed something to do and somewhere to be. So after a killer vegan lunch at Seedz, we walked over to see some animals. Highlights included grizzly bear antics, getting splashed by puffins, and watching a hippo mom and calf take a nap underwater. As far as omens presaging songs that could be played tonight, we saw a big group of Vultures and lots of parents and kids who needed to Get Back on the (zoo) Train. I called No Men for the opener and Lomein called Glide. We checked into our hotel in the afternoon, had some dinner, and hopped on the Metro to the show.

So neither of us predicted the opener, but I'm not gonna complain about "Cars Trucks Buses." The sound was a little muddy across the board at first. Not a lot of clarity in the bottom end. Nonetheless, Trey gave us a patient solo with some good space for Mike to attack and Page tore it right up.

The crowd was very happy about "Gotta Jibboo." This is not one of my favorites, but the lights were looking cool and I was feeling the energy from everyone around us. Mr. Brown got the sound dialed in at this point. I realized I could look over and watch him twiddle the knobs. I did for a little while, but it wasn’t very exciting. The jam started slow and quiet. Lots of good stuff from Fish where he kept backing off his fills to make more room for Trey to shred. We got to the climax and Trey switched to a more muscular rocking version of the riff. Was this a tag? He started with the Jibboo rift again. A ripcord? No, it was the beginning of a little jam. It wasn't quite Jibboo but it wasn't that far off. Type 1.5, if you will. Mike kept that Jibboo swing in there and that made it easy to switch back to the riff and bring us to the ending. I don't think it won me over for good, but I did enjoy this version.

The next trio of songs were all well played. "NICU," "Ocelot," and "Evolve," all stayed inside the pocket. No complaints, those are all fun songs. It was during "Ocelot" that I realized I could see the ASL interpreters really well from our spot. Since I teach ASL, I got to understand the show in two languages. Great job from the interpreter team. During "Evolve" I noticed that the lights that illuminate the walkways shine down from above at Chaifetz. That means that each 200 section had one period who essentially stood in a spotlight the whole show. One guy was dancing very hard in 215.

Then it was "Theme From the Bottom," another song I don't usually wish for. This version, though. It had a little sideways jam on the way to the peak. Like how they used to do "Harry Hood." As in Jibboo, Trey took a left turn when the band appeared to come to a climax. Instead of the ending, he turned on a dime into a dark, up tempo funk section. They explored that space for a while and then did another surprise left turn back into the climax of Theme. Go listen to this version right now.

"Vultures!" They did notice the bird omen! This version was short, but I love the lyrics and drum solo at the end. Always a treat. I didn't spot any flubs.

"Timber Ho!" was a welcome, tom tom laden escape into the dangerous world of jackin. Thought we were gonna get a standard version, but Trey took us to the major not once but twice. The first time was just for a couple bars, but the second was a full on Calypso jam. Very cool to see Timber deviate from the form.

Then we got "Everything's Right" for a closer. Those lyrics are funny at the end of the set: "I'm tired! We're closing this thing down." Mike pushed the band into a short major key jam and then Trey took us back to the minor to make it easier to slip back into the chorus to end.

A very good set 1 with cool explorations and some of my favorites.

Set 2 started with a new one for me, "I Never Needed You Like This Before." This version was short and fiery with some more great playing from Johnny B. Fishman. This time he pushed the dynamics up with extra fills.

Then there was "Tweezer." It felt suspicious from the beginning. Everyone around us on the floor was nodding when they started it up. Yes, this is the right move. In keeping with the theme of the night, we started low and built up from there. Only this build up was long. Very long. Kuroda was using the LED bar lights and nothing else. It created this illusion of lines of light drawing themselves across a completely black canvas. The band crept around these liminal spaces of rock and funk, barely changing dynamics for a long time. Then Mike and Trey pushed them into a free jazz section. The rhythm section stepped up the tension and we got a screaming dissonant peak. From there, Trey found this descending four note phrase that was similar to "The Dogs." They used that for a minor key climax and then hung out in that zone for a bit before switching to a major key. Another glacially paced climb and we ascend to an incredible climax. Not good enough for Trey, he repurposes that 4 note phrase from earlier to push us even higher.

This was the moment. Where I got chills. Where I knew with certainty why I had gotten up at 3am and made this trip. To hear this live. This was why.

Not done yet, though. There’s still some more hose in the major key before we bring back the "Tweezer" riff and close down this monster.

“Ether Edge” is up next. Very gently transitions. Good playing from everyone. Not a standard version either. We got a languid, Pink Floyd-esque jam that licked our faces with puppy tongues of light and sound. That segued into…

“Piper.” "Piper" did its rock-stomp-late-into-the-night thang for a bit before we moved into a major key. The jam that developed was very similar to Bob Marley’s “Stir it Up.” Pleasant and lilting, we glided down to our landing pad.

Which was “Meat!” This is one of my favorite post-jam songs and this one had a nice little fake out ending from Mike.

“Blaze On” has become a set closer of late, but this one brought some extra heat. Trey started the peak with mostly quarter notes. Then he held one long one and let Mike and Page shred like crazy to really bring this one home and close us out.

“Saw it Again” and “Tweeprise” brought the house down for the encore and we began to make our way to the metro.

It was quite a day of travel and Phish but it was one of my best ones. Attendance bias is high at this point, but we got new kinds of jams, big peaks, explorations to the depths of quietness and screams of ecstasy and terror. That’s a pretty damn good concert.

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