Uncomfortable truths are sometimes easier to acknowledge after the passage of time. This is especially true when there is a happy ending involved. So it goes with Phish's 2016 summer tour. Let's be clear: Heading into Dick’s, 2016 wasn’t just below average—it was among the most puzzling and disappointing stretches of the band's career.

Phish has always had highs and lows—many more of the former than the latter—but there was always an explanation for the lows. In retrospect, 1996 was about the band re-inventing itself after the peak of 1995. We all know the explanation for 2004, though the band still managed to scale massive peaks even during that time of trouble. In 2009, Phish was still getting their sea legs under them. But 2016 hadn’t provided an easy answer, at least not yet.

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Welcome to the 238th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday, the first and easiest MJM of September. Happy Labor Day to you all, especially those who got their asses handed to them at Dick's this weekend*! The winner will receive an MP3 download courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of the mystery jam clip. Each person gets one guess – if no one guesses correctly, I will post a hint on Tuesday, after which each person gets one more guess before I reveal the correct answer on Wednesday around 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Good luck!

*I'm writing this before Dick's has started, wishfully thinking there'll be another "Ass Handed."

Hint:

Answer: Congrats to first-time winner @courvoisier, who climbed right back in the saddle after a near win last week and correctly identified the 7/15/16 Chalk Dust Torture from the Gorge (located in George, WA), taking home a LivePhish code for his efforts. After consecutive strong showings, is he the next savant to take MJM by storm? Or will one of the multiple MJM winners swoop back in when the level of difficulty jumps up another notch? Find out on Monday when we're back with MJM239.

[This guest recap is courtesy of Dr. Stephanie Jenkins, who teaches the "Philosophy School of Phish" and other courses at Oregon State University. Special thanks to Yaron Marcus for his feedback on this recap and for the photos! -charlie]

On the second of three sold-out nights at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, Phish springboarded off the energy from night one to deliver an overall excellent show last night. It featured a number of tight, energetic jams, an unexpected opener, and a contender for the best first set of the summer. While the setlist did not contain any bust-outs or heavily-chased songs, Phish laid down a memorable, polished show that highlights the versatility of the band with the perfect balance of beautiful, reflective peaks and dark, sublime rock.

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Phish got right down to business last night at Dick’s… so we’ll do the same. Roaring out of the gates with “Ghost,” the band offered only the second show-opening Ghost since the ‘90s, the other also being at Dick’s (8/31/13, the “MOST SHOWS SPELL SOMETHING” gig). Rounding out at a little over ten minutes, it was still too early to sense that this was a night where IT was happening.

Photo by Herschel Gelman.

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Phish closed out the Lockn’ Festival on Sunday night with a solid performance of mostly classic fare to cap the four-day festival that featured many of the top names in improvisational rock and roll. Phish’s headlining slot on Friday night defied the low expectations that often accompany festival performances, as Phish offered one of the most highly-regarded shows of 2016 featuring expanded treatments of fan-favorites such as “Ghost,” “Bathtub Gin,” and “You Enjoy Myself.”

Outstanding performances from many other acts throughout the weekend helped raise the bar for the finale, including standout performances by Umphrey’s McGee, Ween, My Morning Jacket, Chris Robinson Brotherhood, two different Phil Lesh and Friends ensembles (including one with Fish and Page), and two jaw-dropping late-night performances from Joe Russo’s Almost Dead. Let’s turn to the action and see how today’s jamband heavyweight champ responded.

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Note: Starting this week, the MJM will provide more variety in terms of both the format and the difficulty of MJMs each week. Generally, every month will start with an easier MJM, and each MJM thereafter will increase in difficulty until the last MJM of each month. In other words, expect to see classic single-clip MJMs near the beginning of each month, and multi-clip + theme MJMs towards the end of each month, with other formats and levels of difficulty in between. Enjoy, and as always, constructive feedback is always welcome.

Answer: Congrats to first-time winner, @queenesther, who by identifying the 8/19/12 Light (-> Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley) by sight alone, takes home two LivePhish codes! Yes, @courvoisier was technically more accurate because @queenesther didn't mention the -> Sally, but ultimately I decided to award the code to the latter contestant because the video only features ~15 seconds of Sally, and @queenesther was 19 minutes quicker. Stay tuned on Monday, especially you MJM n00bs, when we'll have our first and easiest MJM of September.

If you’ve been a fan for a minute, you’ve heard of “festival Phish.”

It’s the mostly pejorative term for a set that’s preciously curated for non-fans who really rolled up to see Bruce Springsteen, Matt & Kim, or some craft yoga emo battalion with seven snare drummers, five fiddles, and three artisanal washboards—but decided to stick it out and finally, passively, see what Phish is all about. These dilute sets nearly always seem to include a “Moma Dance,” a “Down With Disease,” a “Joy,” and a generous helping of unapologetic ripcords.

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Hey Phish fans! It's me, The Book! Phish takes the stage at LOCKN' this weekend—with a free stream! Psyched? You bet I am! The kind folks who created me at The Mockingbird Foundation and phish.net ran a photo contest to celebrate my birth. Imagine, fans taking pictures of little ol' me! I'm only a little more than two months old, and already it feels like I've been everywhere!

What a summer it has been already! When you think summer—aside from Phish tour—you think the beach! My favorite beach visit this summer was to Morocco! Check out this shot of me from @YomeNetSan, who won third place in the contest! #ReadTheBook! It will save your life!

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Don't miss this wonderful article about Lars Fisk and his work in the New York Times, which includes some words from Trey about Mr. Fisk's work at Superball IX.

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And then there was one. Welcome to MJM Week 236, the tenth and final week of our Hall of Champions Series, Volume I. We welcome Emeritus Champion @schvice into the recording studio, where he has picked out this week's theme and tracks, all for your listening pleasure. @schvice recently gained Emeritus status, after winning his seventh MJM in Week 232, when he successfully navigated a challenging Gamehendge-based course set by @mcgrupp81. Where once he was the bane of the Blog, foiling themes and jams thought unsolvable, now @schvice has (thankfully) gone to the Dark Side, hoping that he can lead the Blog to that elusive victory number 17. Only one way to find out: let it rip.

To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of each of the three mystery jam clips, and answer what they share in common. Each person gets one attempt per day, with the second “day” starting after the Blog posts the hint -- each answer should contain three songs / dates, along with the commonality between them. No sharing or trading of answers is allowed. A hint will be posted on Tuesday if necessary, with the answer to follow on Wednesday. The winner will receive one MP3 code good for a free download of any show, courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. Good luck!

Hint:

Answer: It took a well-crafted triplet and a creative hint from the 10th and most recent MJM Emeritus @schvice, but for only the 17th time in 236 attempts, the Blog snags the W! As some users noted, the title of the video used for the hint is Mike Reed plays Groove Holmes' 1966 "Misty" up-tempo, on the Hammond Organ [emphasis mine]. The keen observer will note that the title is a play on "Mike's Groove," and the Mike in the video is certainly grooving along to the 50 year old tune; but even more fitting is the song played: "Misty." Fans well-versed in Phish's early material may recall that "I Am Hydrogen" has seldom-spoke lyrics that were used a half dozen times in the early days: "I walk awakening on the misty fields of forever." This week's "Mike's Groove" MJM consists of the 4/29/93 Weekapaug Groove, the 4/24/87 I Am Hydrogen, and the 7/12/96 Mike's Song. We'd like to once again thank @schvice and all of the MJM Emeriti for participating and crafting these awesome MJMs, and we hope to keep them involved and leverage their expertise in other ways in the future. Tune back in on Monday, when @ucpete takes over as your helping friendly host, and keep your eyes and ears peeled for some new tweaks in how the MJM is run. It has not escaped our notice that the multiclip format may be a turn-off to the unintiated, so expect a mix of classic single-clip MJMs, meta-puzzles, and other MJM shenanigans to take the sting out of Monday for everyone!

Special Thanks: I'd like to thank @ucpete for letting me be the Invisible Hand behind MJM for the past 10 weeks, helping each Emeritus Champion with crystalizing a theme, fine tuning the jam track samples, concocting the hint, and generally ensuring that the process runs smoothly. I had a blast getting to know each Emertitus Champion, and these guys, all ten, are not only great guys, but they really, really know their Phish. Thanks again @ucpete for handing the keys over and letting me take the cruise ship out for an extended journey. It was a great ride, but all good things must end, and with today's Emeritus/Blog victory (nice MJM @schvice!), I commend the MJM controls back to your good care. Enjoy what's left of summer everyone. DFB.

We are a year removed from the heart of Magnaball, and just over 20 years from the Clifford Ball. Similar to many of you, I'm sure, both of these events were transcendent weekends and times for me - so much more than just the incredible music and environment and people. Eye-opening, reaffiriming, and freeing. Intentionally or not, Phish created a model in Plattsburgh. And somehow they, and we, manage to keep improving on it.

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Welcome to week nine of the Hall of Champions Series, the 235th installment of Mystery Jam Monday. This week, our honorary guest host is seven-time winner @WayIFeel, who recently joined the ranks of the Emeritus Club after solving @PersnicketyJim's tricky theme involving songs written by each individual band member. Now it's @WayIFeel's turn to play the riddler, and here we go.

To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of each of the three mystery jam clips, and answer what they share in common. Each person gets one attempt per day, with the second “day” starting after the Blog posts the hint -- each answer should contain three songs / dates, along with the commonality between them. No sharing or trading of answers is allowed. A hint will be posted on Tuesday if necessary, with the answer to follow on Wednesday. The winner will receive one MP3 code good for a free download of any show, courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. Good luck!

Hint: No hint needed.

Answer: Congratulations to @andrewrose, who nailed his third MJM victory after correctly identifying the theme: cover songs; and the tracks: the 7/31/98 Cities, the 12/8/99 Ya Mar, and the 8/21/87 Skin It Back. Although he's won twice previously, @andrewrose has been on a MJM victory hiatus of sorts since 2012, so it's great to have him back in the winner's circle. Thanks again to @WayIFeel for hosting a very enjoyable round, the penultimate edition of the Summer 2016 Hall of Champions MJM Series. Please join us next week as our tenth and final Emeritus Champion, @schvice serves up the MJM 236 fare. And have your MJM skills finely honed, because @schvice has grown weary of watching the Blog get crushed week in and week out, and he's come up with a MJM worthy of his Emeritus Champion status.

Download link

Welcome to the 234th edition of Mystery Jam Monday. Continuing with our Hall of Fame Series this week, allow myself to introduce... myself -- the eighth of the ten seven-time MJM winners. I forced myself into retirement after a one week reunion tour during this very stretch of the MJM Emeritus Editions, and will crawl back into the shadows for a couple more weeks so the great and knowledgable @Dog_Faced_Boy can finish off his fantastic guest hosting stint of this now ten-week stretch of Hall of Fame MJM competitions.

To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of each of the three mystery jam clips, and answer what they share in common. Each person gets one attempt per day, with the second “day” starting after the Blog posts the hint -- each answer should contain three songs / dates, along with the commonality between them. No sharing or trading of answers is allowed. A hint will be posted on Tuesday if necessary, with the answer to follow on Wednesday. The winner will receive one MP3 code good for a free download of any show, courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. Good luck!

Hint:
Trying to make a contest that you lose
And the setlist doesn't mention vacuum

Answer: Congrats to @12_29_97_4eva who wins his second consecutive (and third overall) MJM by correctly identifying the 8/13/93 Bathtub Gin, the 12/10/94 Weekapaug Groove, and the 11/29/97 Runaway Jim, tied together by the fact they were all Weekapaug Jams. Tune back in on Monday at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET for the penultimate edition of the MJM Hall of Fame series, when @WayIFeel takes the reins and plays the game from this side of the fence for the first time.

Today is the 25th anniversary of Amy's Farm! Check out this article from JamBase, Looking Back At Phish’s Amy’s Farm Festival 25 Years Later featuring a reminiscence from our own David "ZZYZX" Steinberg!

Here is the original feature from The Phish Companion 3rd Edition. #ReadTheBook!

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Welcome to the 233rd edition of Mystery Jam Monday. Continuing with our Hall of Fame Series, this week we welcome Emeritus champion @yunkfunk, who is the seventh of our ten seven-time MJM winners. Forced into early retirement last December, we hope @yunkfunk has been enjoying Mondays, now that he has all that free time on his hands. For our delight, he has thoughtfully selected this week's tracks and theme. Here goes:

To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of each of the four mystery jam clips, and answer what they share in common. Each person gets one attempt per day, with the second “day” starting after the Blog posts the hint -- each answer should contain four songs / dates, along with the commonality between them. No sharing or trading of answers is allowed. A hint will be posted on Tuesday if necessary, with the answer to follow on Wednesday. The winner will receive one MP3 code good for a free download of any show, courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. Good luck, and thanks again to @yunkfunk for hosting this seventh week of the MJM Hall of Fame Series.

Hint: R.I.P. - 1947 - 2016 (p.s. - you might want to start with the jam chart).

Answer: Congratulations to @12_29_97_4eva, who scored his second MJM win this week by correctly identifying the theme, David Bowie, and the four tracks, the versions from 7/25/03, 10/5/95, 2/3/91, and 11/17/94, respectively. Perhaps I spoiled @yunkfunk's likely Emeritus victory, by throwing in a blatantly obvious hint, but given the lack of responses after Day 1, it seemed as though people were struggling with this week's tough selections. Anyway thanks again to @yunkfunk for hosting and for coming up with a great theme. And congratulations to rising star @12_29_97_4eva.

Join us next week for MJM 234, as the Hall of Champions Emeritus Series rolls on, hosted by Emeritus Champion number eight, our very own regular MJM Host, @ucpete. Just back from European holiday, Pete is sure to have had some down time to stitch together an unbeatable MJM, thereby assuring the Blog of finally winning that elusive victory number 17 (out of 234 tries). See you next week!