[We would like to thank Jen Chadbourne (@Saw_ita_Jen) for recapping last night’s show. She currently lives in Burlington, Vermont, working at Nectar’s (hopefully) and freelancing event and production work. She is a longtime fan of Phish’s music; she tries to catch a few shows every year and has been seeing them for three decades so it adds up. Jen also promotes programming and organic networking wherever she is, she is building and connecting ‘community.’ -Ed.]

With Koa 1.5 + the OG 1.0 stage arrangement, are we conjuring ‘96 or what? I'm going to own my bias of 1996 in Phish openly here, I saw my 100th show that Fall at the Arco Arena show in Sacramento, CA. I was lucky enough to catch almost the whole fall tour stateside. So back to ‘96. Trey dropped the plug on his Insta story about the new Koa 1.5 guitar made out of the same wood from the same tree as his coveted Koa 1 aka '96 (with a recent wiring modification similar to Mar-Mar), so that planted the seed in my mind about the ‘96 era being on the front of the bands mind. Then earlier this afternoon Phish posted sound check photos showing that they have a ‘new’ stage set-up that is actually the “old stage” stage setup, more conjuring of ‘96 and really the whole pre-96 era of 1.0. Musically to me ‘96 stands out as it was the crystallization of the peak of raw Phish. ‘97 and ‘98 led to the funk fusion of their perfected sound. One thing to consider about ‘96 is the whole band used very few effects, sound modulation, loopers, pedals etc. The articulation of their abilities was jaw dropping, They just nailed it all without any need to have effects. ‘96 was the crystallization of the craft, the rest of 1.0 was the on to perfection and release.

Tonight, the lights drop and they walk out and it's like ok, great we are going to Phish. The band walks out but, here we have Mike and Trey laughing as they walk out, clearly engaged and everyone got to the stage and centered and the show started off with what had seemingly become a long lost tradition, they looked at each other and started together in sync. This was a beautiful thing to see, and then the set was just fire with a strong amount of songs from the 90’s.

“The Moma Dance,” “Back on the Train,” and “Wolfman’s Brother” all really “vibed” that old school raw phish sound. For me it really set in that this was a new/old school sound in so many ways. During the “Wolfman’s” it was just peaking: the memories of the sound but also the formation on stage. New sightlines on the webcast but for the band members to be relating to one another differently (or was the other way, “the different way” and this is now the boys coming back to the landing pad)?

So yeah, I was fired up. They launch into a swampy but not sloppy “46 Days.” Treys really is just shredding with the new Koa. They closed out the set with “Birds of a Feather” > “Slave to the Traffic Light.” The “Slave” was so sick, I don't know how to say it more than the new/old positions were coming in super hot set 1. The band felt rehearsed and also playful of the whole new/old thing. Jon really took the pace up a notch out there on the edge, he was on fire the whole night. The “BOAF” was really fast and striking with this jamming pace. So 8 songs in the first set all average about 8/9 minutes, starting off just right. No big bust outs but also extreme high energy and high experimentation in the air.

When they came back out on stage for set 2, it was the same charming vibe to see them finish their chats before taking the mic, just having fun. Stellar “Bouncing Around the Room” to start set 2. Timing out at 3 minutes it was almost maybe more of a tease, but that can be debated in the comments. Then one last ‘90s bust-out before the set really took off, “Sample in a Jar” was beautifully executed.

But the 19 minute “Life Saving Gun” was the stand out jam of the night for me. There were parts where I was like, “this is the best live 5 minutes of Phish in 5 years?” followed by moments where I was like “oh huh, well maybe I was just really…” and then bam back into this sick, rockin’ medley of sound. From a drum and bass heavy reggae part into devolving to loops and syncopated synth sounds, all leading back to the house party vibes conjuring what Phish threw down for YEMSG New Year, back into the new/old raw rock almost like instrumental Fugazi at times, maybe coming from Trey, hot off the drop of the new single he did with Guerilla Toss & Stephan Malkmus.

They rolled the jam back into “Twist” and that went > “Piper” which were really fluid. It was clear they were stoked to be playing and the togetherness of the tour opener really was sweet. It will take a bit to get re-used to seeing the stage look this way (again). For me it just created this flood of memories, they just spilled out, thinking about where I was in the rooms when they were still set up this way, it’s really cool. The “Twist” had several sample teases from Fishman, including the gurgle laugh that they said was the voice of Holy Blankenstein who was really Icculus in disguise as per the lore set out on the eve of Sci-fi Soldiers I love that Icculus gurgle so much, as it is a nod to Gamehendge.

They launched into “Everything’s Right” which I feel like lyrically is a little dubious these days, but to hell with it- if they are going to play it like that?! Ok fine.. Sold. Swampy, Funky, Wet, yes, I know but it was like Okefonekee funk in their playing tonight, closing out the set with a long goodbye, great cap on the night.

Then out for encore “Strange Design,” “Harry Hood,” and “Suzy Greenberg.” A three-core is NOT a thing that would have happened in the 90’s, so in that way the show ended with a more modern feel. Lets see how they continue to light up New Hampshire; no pressure here at the doorstep of their being,

*If you did not get to see what Trey said about the new/old guitar please watch the link provided, it’s really cool, and that guitar is what is going to set the tone for the tour and with power of what we saw tonight I would not be shocked if we aren’t feeling Koa 1.5 for quite a while, sets the tone for the tour. Also, here is the link for Mike’s Pre-show rundown.

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