[We would like to thank @zzyzx for providing this recap. -Ed.]

Like any good obsessive, I have multiple interests that rule my life. Among them are - obviously - Phish, but also the Seattle Mariners take up way too many of my brain cells.

Usually they interact in different worlds. I might occasionally check the score during a show and I've taken in a few random day baseball games on tour this year to see new stadiums, but they rarely overlap. There are two exceptions though.

The 1995 playoff series with the Yankees, the one that is largely felt responsible for getting the new stadium built and keeping the team in town, took place during a northwest fall tour. I missed Edgar's grand slam because I was in the parking lot of Spokane and I was completely oblivious to the most famous play in Mariners' history - Edgar Martinez's game winning double - because I was in Missoula. I got a score update from CK at the break, and assumed the Yankees would hold onto their then 4-2 lead and eliminate the M's.

The second happened yesterday in Schenectady. Mel had been up late and it was raining all day so I was just going to let her sleep in. While getting back from my dreary morning walk, I ran into some Mariners' fans in the lobby of all things. It hadn't clicked, but Ichiro's induction into the Hall of Fame was yesterday and it was a short trip to Cooperstown. I wouldn't get to see his speech, especially after rain delayed the ceremony, but I drove over there and saw the town get taken over by Mariners' fans.

It nearly was an epic fail as I couldn’t find parking and the only lot I saw was $50 for the day – a bit much to pay to randomly wander Cooperstown – but I somehow found the last spot of free street parking less than a half mile from the hall, so I checked out the scene. It was a moment like the Amy's Farm or the Clifford Ball when I realized that this stupid interest wasn't just something that I was saddled with, but rather thousands of others shared. Even not seeing the induction, it was fun being around the crowd and getting amused that all of the Ichiro official merchandise sold out while there was plenty of Dave Parker and Dick Allen souvenirs remaining.

The one downside to this adventure was that we got a late start to the Phish part of the day. As a result, we didn’t get into the not-that-super secret lot we had been using, but rather were parked deep in the bowels of the park. I only was allowed one parking break yesterday!

I wasn’t even sure we’d be able to get out at all because the exit we’d have to use appeared to be blocked. Knowing that I had to write this recap in the morning before checking out, I was pretty cranky about the whole thing, getting mad over how long it would probably take to get out. Maybe because it was my 5th show in 6 days, maybe it’s because the humidity has been getting to me, but I just was surly about the whole thing, snapping at people who really didn’t deserve it. I was in no mental condition to see a concert. I don’t know if I’d be able to enjoy the night.

As someone who has written a few of these recaps, I always have one fear. It’s not a bad show. If they have another 4/15/04 in them (please don’t!), I could get all wryly jaded about the whole affair and make it a comedy routine. What I didn’t want was the kind of night that makes me say afterward, “Out of all of the shows I have ever seen, that was one of them.” I always want something to give me a hook to write about. Thankfully Phish wasted no time in making sure that I had that.

After a quick “Buried Alive” opener – I always am amused when the opening song seems tailored to frustrate those who can’t afford the webcast but can at least watch the free opening song – Phish went into their first repeat of the New York shows. That by itself was surprising as I didn’t think we’d get any of those, but bigger than that was what the repeated song was: “Tweezer Reprise.”

Phish have done a few things with “Tweezer Reprise.” Its most normal placement is to be exactly that, reprising a “Tweezer” played earlier in the show (or occasionally playing it a day or two later if they’re in the same venue). They opened with it a few times in 1995 as a joke playing on the idea of starting with the show ending. Recently, they’ve had a new joke where they’d overload a show with “Tweezer Reprise,” concluding the same “Tweezer” multiple times.

This fit none of these. “Tweezer” was last played at the first show of Forest Hills 4 shows prior. It was reprised that night and they hadn’t referenced it since. If anything, this reminds me of the Grateful Dead at Giants Stadium in 1991, where they reprised a “Playin’ in the Band” for no reason that anyone could fathom. This led to a golden era of “Playin’ Reprise” where they were sometimes used in the jam role that the main song had.

Phish combined those two roles, This wasn’t just a random placement of the song, but it was uniquely jammed out. There was an extended version at Dick’s on 9/1/24, but this one was far more extended. At one point, they returned to the main theme of “Reprise,” reprising itself, but they were using that the way that they use the “Tweezer” theme these days in jams, as a way of grounding themselves before going back into a jam.

According to Live Phish’s timing version clocked in at 13:04, more than twice as long as the Dicks version. This was easily the longest “Tweezer Reprise” in Phish’s history, a record that seemed unlikely to ever be broken. It lasted for about two hours.

All weirdness must end and the “Reprise” went into a much more normal call of “Reba.” Or so it seemed. As Trey led the band into the build into a rather stunning peak, he came across the “Tweezer Reprise” chords seemingly by accident as they fit very well into the riffs he was playing. This was no accident though, as – despite Jon using his drum fill to signal the end of “Reba” – Trey kept rolling with it. We then got a quick play of the song before it segued into “Funky Bitch,” a “Tweezer Reprise Reprise” if you will; “T (Rep) (Rep)” as I wrote in my setlist shorthand.

So my first guess of the set was that this would be a one-time wacky thing was proven false. My new operational theory is that “Tweezer Reprise” would be the glue in the setlist, a connective tissue joining the songs together. That also was proven false as “Funky Bitch,” while very well played, was just a saga about a woman taking money with nary a call to freezer step to be found. We should be grateful that Phish resisted the easy trope of bringing up a female character and fridging… errr freezering her.

“Roses are Free” followed which was a very popular call at least in the pavilion. Mind you, we were already primed to be stoked about this show at this point but people were going nuts. That didn’t stop when we got the first extended version of this song since Worcester 2012 if we can trust the Phish Net jam chart.

The jam went into an interesting conceit where Trey would end each jam phrase with a three chord “bomp bomp bomp” progression. It kind of served as a similar role as the riff in “Split Open and Melt;” we can do whatever we want in the middle– in this case a ridiculously joyous jam – but let’s return to this every time around.

Just when it threatened to become a tad repetitive (a fate largely avoided by having the tempo change and by having Page take on the role of the chords at times), they figured out another landing place for this jam. It was time for “T (Rep) (Rep) (Rep)!” They did a great job of mixing it in with the previous celebratory jam.

Remember when I was cranky about the parking situation earlier in this review? Remember wheh I was scared that that would color my ability to enjoy this? That was now a distant memory. Phish: the cure for turning into a cranky old man… at least some of the time!

Perhaps the band agreed with me as to the structure of the “Roses” jam, because a few songs later they closed the set with “Split Open and Melt.” As is being done in this era, the “Melt” dissolved into an intense but mostly amelodic bout of insanity. I wrote “[They’re making] some cool noises” on my setlist which is both true, but I quickly realized was something that was pretty much the case with any good jam. What is music if not “cool noises” Still though. The noises being made were indeed quite cool!

As the jam fell deeper into the weirdness, I had a sudden flash to a deleted scene in High Fidelity, with Trey taking the role of Barry.

“Trey, you’re over 60 years old. You owe it to yourselves, to your friends, to your parents, not to play this kind of cacophony.”

“I owe it to myself to go right to the edge! And we’re doing that! Over the edge, in fact… And if the SPAC crowd can’t take it, fuck them! Let them riot! We can take it! We’re fucking Sonic Death Phish!”

Fortunately, the only rioting that happened was inside our skulls as we were more stunned at the sonic overlay. It was evil and terrifying and there was but one escape. The only way out of this insanity could be found by, once again, stepping through the freezer. The segue is nothing short of stunning as Trey first starts playing the chords with the deep space effects of the jam. It takes a second for it to become clear what he’s doing. In the same way that “T (Rep) (Rep) (Rep)” had elements of the joyous “Roses” jam, “T (Rep) (Rep) (Rep) (Rep)” included the sound effects and terror of the “Melt” jam, including Jon making a call to try to end the “Melt” after it.

Set break. To be honest, at this point we kind of needed it. I walked up the hill, listening to the joyous reactions of everyone, to get a snack. My new setbreak addiction for the weekend was these weird soft serve ice cream pouches. I first discovered them at The Gorge, but SPAC has them too. They’re surprisingly refreshing even if they make me think that they’re the human equivalent of the Churu cat treats. In this case though, I grabbed one just so I could request that the employee step into the freezer.

I don’t want this show review to be too over the top with praise. I need to find the weak points of the show too. So let’s point out that Trey flubbed the opening riff of “Kill Devil Falls”! Sure the remaining three hours were nothing short of stunning but BAD TREY! Yeah, that’s pretty much all I can find on the downside for the entire night.

The jam itself went into an interesting place that I’ve been noticing since Forest Hills. They’ve been using the spacier effects but without losing melody or energy. A few times this week I felt like they were hitting a new “What’s the Use?” only they were regularly danceable. What made the SPAC run over the top is that they were contrasting these melodic landscapes with irrepressible high energy peaks. No matter what kind of Phish you love, you got your turn tonight.

This was followed by a “Twist” that managed to pack a ton of moods into its relatively short length, one of my favorite versions in years. Mel pointed out that the start of the jam sounds like Trey might be prepping a bit for some potential sit ins during GD 60. A section right about five minutes in has that sweet airiness that a “Dark Star” can achieve.

The ”Golden Age” that followed had potential to continue the improvisation, but they had another plan. As soon as they got to the jam, Trey mixed in the “Tweezer Reprise” riff with the “Golden Age” playing – the segues into these “Reprises” were all so much fun! – and we were in “Tweezer Reprise Reprise Reprise Reprise Reprise!”

Remember the record breaking 13 minute “Reprise” from the first set? This one would be 10 minutes longer without ever being boring. One bit especially stood out in this jam. They had gone into another of the Siket Disc sounding spaces and then at 18:33 Trey brought it back into “Reprise” but it started out very slow and sludgy. Mel called it “The Tweezer Dirge” and it was a standout moment in a show full of them.

After a brief “Boogie On Reggae Woman” which was the closest thing to a cool down song since maybe “About to Run” towards the end of the first, we got the expected “You Enjoy Myself” to end the set. It’s weird to think of one of Phish’s most complex compositions that has the band jumping on trampolines and ends in a surreal vocal jam as a return to normalcy, but it kind of served that purpose. It was a well played punctuation to the set.

Did I say “to end the set?” Excuse me. We had one more “T (Rep) (Rep) (Rep) (Rep) (Rep) (Rep)” to come. While I do feel that there was a slightly missed opportunity in that they didn’t start it out of the vocal jam for extra surrealism, it didn’t stop the crowd from going wild. It was the only way for the set to end and Trey added a little extra to the build.

The one thing about the Phish scene is that you can always find someone with a contrarian take. No song is so hated that it doesn’t have someone chasing it, and no matter how popular a song is, someone is sick of it. For “Tweezer,” that’s my friend Annette. She almost attended this show and I started texted her about how glad she should be that she missed it. By the 4th one, I was sending her video at every “Reprise. As it wound down, she suggested that it would be the basic “Tweezer” that would encore the show. Great call Annette. Continuing the great switcheroo theme, the show with the two longest “Tweezer Reprise” versions, had the shortest “Tweezer” ever played as it literally had no jam at the end.

The show didn’t quite end there. A very strong “Harry Hood” finished out the concert, appropriate since our plan for today is to head up to Burlington and see the Phish sites; as long as this review has been, it would be even more detailed if I didn’t have to check out in an hour. This show deserves it!

For a second I thought we might get “T (rep)(rep)(rep)(rep)(rep)(rep)(rep)” after it but the joke wouldn’t work after the short “Tweezer” and Trey was strong enough to resist it!

It has come out this morning that people made shirts that asked why the band had never encored with “Tweezer” before and that’s likely what inspired this reversed show, but regardless of the inspiration, between the new jamming style and playing this extended joke, this is a band that is still willing to reinvent itself 40+ years into their career.

We don’t get to choose our obsessions. We find something that clicks with us and then we can be stuck with it. I moved to Seattle in 95, fell in love with that version of the baseball team, and they’ve been ruining my summers for decades, giving me just enough hope to believe. However, I also randomly happened to have my musical obsession be one that has endured for decades, constantly finding new and interesting ways to entertain.

Phish make it look so easy that it can be hard to remember that this isn’t the normal progression for a band. While yesterday was a day to remind me that at least the M’s gave me the joy that was Ichiro, Phish have regularly been giving that bliss and far more. What’s an occasional walk into a freezer to make up for it?

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