Welcome to Mystery Jam Monday Part 104 here at Phish.net, back after a one-week hiatus. As usual, we will be playing for an MP3 download, courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. The rules haven't changed: you need to correctly identify the song and the date to win. Post your guess in the comments. One guess per person per day (with the second “day” starting after I post the hint). A hint will be posted on Tuesday (if necessary) and the answer will be posted on Wednesday. Good luck...

Tuesday Answer: Well, may as well end this thing now. It was the "Jam" that concluded the 6/30/11 Super Ball IX soundcheck. @benhatley is our nominal winner, but I will roll over the prize until next week, as he requested. @phriendlyghost, if you were half as smart as you seem to think you are, you would have just waited for the hint and guessed first thing today.

With the conclusion of Phish’s midwest swing, the heat will certainly be spoken about for years to come. In more than one way, even. As temperatures grew towards the century mark, so did the band’s own brand of fire.

When the band hit the stage on Sunday evening the typical tradition of discussing what to play first commenced, with the island infused rhythms of Bob Marley’s “Soul Shakedown Party” setting stage for the evening. Important to note though was what Trey and Mike both fiddled with during the preamble. If you listen back to the Live Phish recording, at 0:23 you can clearly hear Trey begin playing “Chalk Dust Torture Reprise” with Mike following suit. Definitely a fun trivia fact (h/t @zzyzx) and something to throw on to the rarities wish list. Speaking of rarities, for the fourth show in a row, another track off the Velvet Underground’s Loaded found its way into the set. Driven by Fish’s vocal stylings the country rock number "Lonesome Cowboy Bill" is highlighted by a fancy bit of guitar work from Trey, that begs for even more exploration. But the majority of the first set is marked not by high improvisation, rather with the outstanding technical play that has become much more prevalent over the recent week as the set bounces between styles that are masterfully executed.

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At least in theory, this was a night when things were poised to go sideways.

Temperatures in Noblesville, Indiana, peaked near 110° F today as the entire Midwestern United States roasted. Phish issued a sober advisory to fans, warning them to seek shelter, hydrate, and SPF themselves liberally. In contrast with the scorching temps, the decision to interrupt leg one of summer tour with a four day break after three strong consecutive performances led some to wonder whether Phish might come back cold, and give back some of those hard-won gains.

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When Phish announced their 2012 summer tour, the weekend trifecta in (approximately) Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Cleveland jumped out for a couple of reasons. For one, it was the only three night run of the tour in different cities. Probably more obvious – to football fans anyway – was the fact that the three cities are inextricably linked by their (sadly one-sided) rivalry in the AFC North division. And thus it was settled: AFC North tour was on.

First up was Cincy's Riverbend Music Center, a throwback venue right down to the AstroTurf "lawn" that recalls the multi-purpose stadiums of the ‘70s and '80s. "Wolfman's Brother" kicked off the festivities, but the ensuing, and well played, "Peaches" would establish the theme of this set: bustouts. Six songs would make their 2012 debuts in this set, and none was more surprising than the first "Shaggy Dog" since 10/29/95, or 574 shows. "Runaway Jim" marched in next and gave way to the next bustout, a fairly short but fiery "Light Up or Leave Me Alone."

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By Martin Acaster (Doctor_Smarty)

Phish hit the stage on their second night at nTelos approximately 50 minutes after the sun’s direct light caressed the Tropic of Cancer, thereby ushering in the true northern hemisphere Summer of 2012 and triggering the final 6-month countdown to the conclusion of the 13th Baktun of the Mayan calendar. The summer solstice would therefore serve as the ampersand uniting the first and second nights of the Portsmouth run in a grand cosmic joke that paid presumably unintentionally homage to George Lucas. The “Tijuana Tuck & Roll” in the long run may prove to be a pair of shows that at first glance (on paper) look great but after continued sittings may be found to be stuffed with nothing more than hay and cow shit. Put another way, much like the protagonist in the ZZ Top song “Zipper Job,” you should not judge a tranny by its cover... unless you are into that kind of thing. Before you get irate... I assure you that I AM into transformation...of any kind. Phish, much like the rest of humanity, is trying to make the change. Although transformation allows growth, it is sometimes painful.

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Summer’s here and the time is right to skip the preliminaries and get right to the action. So let’s!

The band takes the stage at nTelos Wireless Pavilion just before 8pm and warms up with a perfunctory “Sample,” which gives way to the oblong Delta rhythms of “Party Time.” During the jam segment, Trey introduces Carl “Geerz” Gerhard of Giant Country Horns fame, informing the audience that Gerhard now leads music instruction for all of America’s armed forces(!). “Geerz” blows a big old solo that brings the crowd to life before taking a bow and exiting stage left to the first notes of a rare but mostly unremarkable first set “Simple.”

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Welcome to the Mystery Jam Monday Part the 103rd here at Phish.net. As usual, we will be playing for an MP3 download, courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. The rules haven't changed: you need to correctly identify the song and the date to win. Post your guess in the comments. One guess per person per day (with the second “day” starting after I post the hint). A hint will be posted on Tuesday (if necessary) and the answer will be posted on Wednesday. Good luck...

Wednesday Answer: Nice job by @andrewrose with his second win in a month with the 7/13/99 "Wolfman's Brother." The Blog will be back on Monday with another Mystery Jam...