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

So far, this has been a pretty good vacation. My friend and I got into Denver on Friday. We hadn’t planned it, but our flights landed within 30mins of each other. We pulled into the first taco place we spotted, and it was wonderful. The hotel had our room ready when we got there. We saw a pretty damn good Phish show Friday night. A great start to the trip. My friend recently adopted a four year old and I have had a lot of stress at work so far this year, so we were both ready to relax. We started off Saturday with a hike at Lair O’ the Bear.

It was an easy walk, with the biggest incline coming from the parking lot. There were beautiful views and a babbling creek. Lots of time to look out at nature and muse about all the people who have lived and worked in these hills before us. On the way home, we spotted a sign for something called Dinosaur Ridge so we checked that out too. They had a bunch of dino tracks and some cool rock formations. The brontosaurus bulges were our favorites. Then it was back to the hotel to enjoy a few hours of rest and relaxation before lot dinner and showtime. At this point, I may have blissed out too much on nature and hot tubs to bring an entirely objective eye to Dicks’ Night 3, but I will do my best. I take my responsibility to dot net very seriously.

On the way into the venue, we caught sight of the famous prairie dogs with plague. We also found some delicious tamales in the lot and I drank rum out of a coconut. We went into the venue and met up with some fine .netters in section 114.

So the band eventually came out and opened with “46 Days.” I was expecting a swampy groove to open the show, and that was mostly what we got. There was a quick turn into the major key but if you blinked you might have missed it. Mostly they kept this one groovy and down tempo.

“Oblivion” came next, the composed section continuing the theme of down tempo swamp funk from the previous song. The jam started out with Trey stepping aside to let the rest of the band set the mood. They started slow and quiet with swelling sounds that reminded me of rising balloons. Trey added in some noodles and then Mike started to go more evil. They did an interesting thing with the tonality here where Trey, Mike and Page took turns being in the major and minor key. It created a weird in between sound that reminded me of what Frankenstein’s monster might listen to if he were in a good mood. From there we moved into an up tempo funk section, and then a classic rock stomp that climbed to a peak. Trey took us home with a little improvised melody that he wove in and out, ABAB style. Once we hit the peak, we crashed back into the song proper.

“Axilla II” came next and rocked all our socks. The band clicked together and raged in fine form. Not much of a jam in the outro. Kuroda killed the lights and we got more down tempo, swampy distortion that led to a short delay loop jam into…

“Bathtub Gin.” This one seemed to be following the normal form of a jazzy climb to a big climax. We took a tangent into more of that weird melodic space where some of the band is sonorous and clean and some of them are dissonant. Fishman kept the beat swinging, so this one sounded like if Frankenstein's Monster opened a jazz bar. That led us to a fiery peak that abruptly switched to the Gin theme to close out. A little miscommunication between Trey and Fish on the last hit gave us a funny little tag at the ending.

“Undermind” was a bluesy breather. Mike got to take a solo in this version and he sounded great. Fish also tore it up at the end.

I was pumped for this “Maze” and they did not disappoint. Page’s solo had some telepathic-level interplay between him and Trey. Very locked together. Then Trey took his solo up to the stratosphere. There was some confusion on the final hits at the end, but they managed to land the plane.

I thought “Free” was gonna be the closer, but that was not to be. This version had a nice funk section but it was a little short. Seemed like Page caught everyone off guard with the ending chords.

So maybe that's why Trey called “Most Events Aren't Planned” to close. Page did some great work out in front on the boards, but Mike and Trey missed the transition into the outro section. Made the ending a little sloppy and they tried to make up for it with extra heat. Still not gonna complain about this tune, it's always a good time. Time for setbreak, with a little help from Blackalicious' classic Blazing Arrow.

“Loving Cup” was a surprise to open set 2. We didn’t get a jammed out version, and if this is in reference to a sport I’m sure you’ll let me know in the comments, but this was still a good way to open the set. I like a warm up tune to stretch the hammies in this spot.

“Kill Devil Falls” dropped into the first Set Two Jam Slot and did not disappoint. Fishman went ham on this one and did some amazing work. If you like his feather-light finesse approach to fills, you will want to check out this version. It started out with a section that sounded a bit like “NICU.” Mike hit a driving bass line and Trey pounded those staccato chords in the upper register. Then we transitioned smoothly into something that sounded like Pink Floyd. Not quite ambient, floating through space with a purpose.

From there we headed to a fast-paced funk section in the minor key. This is where Fish took the lead. He entered this liminal space that was similar to how the other guys were playing with tonalities in the first set. Fish, however, was using rhythm to keep us in between two things. He dropped to half time, jumped back up to regular, and pushed everyone into weird new places. It’s Weather Report Tribute night at Frankenstein’s jazz club! Eventually, they resolved into a major key jam that started to build. I pictured horses joyfully running through meadows.

Trey referenced his “NICU”-esuqe staccato chords and that caused Mike to bubble over with ideas in a soul/blues mode. Trey let Page and Mike lead us up into higher ground, but we did not hit a peak. Instead, they landed on these weird double hits and floated out to space. Fish kept a beat going for a while and we ended with a sheet of screaming dissonance that took a hard left turn into…

“What’s Going Through Your Mind.” This was a first for me (song count at 391!) and I am a fan of this tune. From the manic party description to the scathing chorus, I am here for it. The jam was… unique. I don’t know how to describe it. It was churning through a minor key for a while. The lights looked like tadpoles swimming in a pond. Everyone was playing simple rhythmic phrases but they didn’t lock up in predictable ways. It was like they combined the Plinko jams with the Echo Chamber jams of 2022. Frankenstein’s Monster sits by a pond full of tiny fish after his jazz club closes. Pretty cool, but it will require further analysis. Eventually they rolled over to the major key, so now it was happy tadpole music. Another hard left turn of a segue.

But what a way to go into “Crosseyed and Painless!” The jam was danceable and fast paced. Like “46 Days” in set 1, there was a brief dip into the major. Then they changed keys altogether and Page and Mike sang the, “Still waiting,” part in the new key. Finally, we brought it back to the original key to finish it off. During this song, the crowd in the Mike’s side stand put together a massive rope of glow rings and began passing it through the crowd. Earlier, at Lair o' the Bear Park we had marveled at the power lines strung along mountain peaks and all the work that had gone into them. Now the crowd had constructed their own unbroken line and passed it right in front of us.

“Split Open and Melt.” Goddamn it, Phish. You know I’m blissed out on vacation. Why do you keep playing things that are so hard to describe? This “Melt” got dark and weird, as they are wont to do. Lots of free jazz, distortion, and dissonance. Just when I thought they might peel the skin off my face with those lines, the whole band turned on a dime into a triumphant outro. Very cool.

“Monsters?” We’re not done? Trey really wails on this one. I love how his voice has been sounding this year. I didn’t hear anything unique about this version, but I thought the placement was good. So “Carini” is the closer? Again, we dipped out toes in the major but this was mostly a minor key shred fest. It was also very fast. Great way to end.

There was an audible groan in our section for “Bug.” This is one of my least favorite Phish songs, so I was participating in that a bit. Didn’t hear any significant flubs, but I’m not a Bug expert. “First Tube,” on the other hand, got everyone celebrating. Not the most inspired choice, certainly, but it got the job done.

I had a great time at this show and don’t have any major complaints. My buddy thought if you combined Friday’s set 1 and encore with Saturday’s set 2, you’d have the perfect show. That might be true, but I’m still smiling.

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