Tonight's recap is coming to you from couch tour; if that makes you angry I suggest you look for other, more important things to be angry about. Follow me on Twitter if you want to yell at me: @mielcarz

I started this summer in a weird place with Phish – even though the Baker’s Dozen residency was a new and novel concept for the band, for some reason I had low expectations that they would do anything truly groundbreaking. Of course, Phish exists to defy expectations. The first five shows of tour featured no repeats, and four of the five had jams of longer than 20 minutes, one of them a long wished-for bustout of an epic “Mr. Completely.” Only the most jaded fan could listen to the tour so far and not be salivating about what was to come in the next 13 shows. Building on the Baker’s Dozen theme and highlighting the uniqueness of the run, the band announced that there would be a different donut for each show served to early arrivers. Prior to lights, speculation was running rampant in the Phish universe - would there be no repeats all tour? None in the 13 MSG shows? One repeat? One song they play every night? Special guests? Trolling Billy Joel? Like they say in the song (that will only be played once during the run, Icculus willing), the only rule is it begins!

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Twenty-two years ago tonight at Great Woods, Phish played a legendary show that contained the final live performance of the complete Gamehendge saga. While the 2016 summer tour so far has not come close to living up to that level, the memory of that night and many other amazing nights in Mansfield had fans hopeful that this would be the show to turn it all around.

And it was. Phish played two sets replete with compelling jams that easily made this the show of the tour so far.

A relatively standard “Party Time” opened, letting the crowd know that it was indeed party time. “46 Days” followed, played at a slightly slower tempo than usual, but with an inspired, bluesy solo from Trey. The band then took a quick jaunt through “Poor Heart” and a surprisingly fierce “The Dogs” to tie a bow on the warm-up portion of the show.

“Bathtub Gin” is where things got serious. The band slowly eased into the jam, but driven by a relentless attack on the drums by Fishman, quickly reached an anthemic peak. Trey then switched to a lower more growling tone on his guitar to back off a bit, letting Page poke his head up, but then reasserted himself, grabbing the reins and driving to another peak to wrap up the jam. After the energy expended dancing to “Gin,” “Fast Enough for You” was a beautiful cooldown.

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Night one of Dick’s. Home to some of the most storied shows of Phish 3.0, with all sorts of setlist shenanigans. The “S” show. “Fuck Your Face.” “Most Shows Spell Something.” The “Lushington” fakeout. What would tonight bring?

A short but sweet “Tube” opened the show, but the fun thing about first night Dick’s is that even when songs stay within the song’s usual confines, the mind starts racing in crossword puzzle mode: “What could they be spelling?” During Page’s initial clavinet solo, Trey and Mike turned to each other and stood close (as they have several times this summer, notably during the Magnaball “Twist"), holding down the rhythm. “Ghost” followed, sending fans scrambling for their Scrabble dictionaries and coming up empty, “tg” not being found at the beginning nor “gt” at the end of many words. Trey's solo during “Ghost" was delicate and patient, and – simply because it wouldn’t be a summer 2015 recap without this statement – seemingly influenced by his time preparing for and playing at the Fare Thee Well shows.

Photo by Patrick Jordan © Phish From the Road

A deep dark slowdown finish to “Ghost” lead into the upbeat opening of “Halley’s Comet.” An allegro tempo and some fun duel-style interplay between Trey and Page started the “Halley’s" jam, which seemed to be going somewhere fast, but screeched to a halt when Trey played the opening riff to “Undermind.” A fun “Undermind,” but – unless they were spelling in Dothraki – it seemed unlikely that either “TGHU” or “UHGT” were at the beginning or end of any words. “Yarmouth Road” followed, and with a fun but relatively straightforward first set underway, “Bathtub Gin” brought hopes of a tentpole jam. One thing that has stood out about 2015 has been the ability of the band to instantly drop into a raging up-tempo jam, with very little noodling to find their way there. This “Gin” is a perfect example of this phenomenon – a very short build to a great raging peak.

After a short onstage discussion, the band decided on “Waiting All Night.” “Waiting” is a departure for Phish – one of several on Fuego that works better in the studio than live. “Horn” set up "The Wedge,” which was stretched out a bit, with a fairly exciting jam tacked on. “46 Days” had the feel of a set closer as soon as it started, got to a point where I thought they were raving up to end the set, and then took an amazing Trey-led turn into type-II territory. Bathed in intense black lights by Kuroda, Page drove the jam with some fantastic work on the organ as the band veered into a spacey place halfway between a "Harry Hood" jam and Pink Floyd’s “Dogs,” before segueing into “Run Like an Antelope.” Page stayed on the Hammond through the opening section of “Antelope,” which gave it an unusual Jimmy Smith feel. This “Antelope” jam was slow to build, with Page back on piano trading licks with Trey, but reached a typically wild set-closing peak with lights from Kuroda to match. During the final “Antelope” rave-up, Trey happily announced “We love Dick’s! We’re happy to be back!"

Photo © @stim_buck

On the webcast, a slideshow of summer tour photos was shown during setbreak, accompanied by music from Neu!’s self-titled debut album. Reflecting on the first set, it was (as they say) first setty, but there were highlights in the brief “Halley’s" jam, the "Bathtub Gin" and the "46 Days" -> “Antelope.” With the first letters from the first set songs spelling TGHUYBWHWFR, it seemed as if the word play from Dick’s in years past was left behind.

“Wolfman’s Brother” came down on me to open the second set. While most 3.0 “Wolfman’s” have been good-to-great – often as a centerpiece jam of a first set – the truly extended jamming the song would sometimes see in 1.0 and 2.0 has been absent. I had high hopes that the prime jamming slot placement of this “Wolfman’s” would lead to such an excursion. This jam didn’t disappoint, even if it stayed within the ten-to-twelve minute confines of most 3.0 versions – Mike held down an incredibly strong bass line throughout that Trey used as a launching pad for some inspired improvisation. A very chill end to the jam with some great keyboard work by Page faded into the bouncy opening of “Blaze On.”

I was pretty down on “Blaze On” following its debut, mostly due to the stoner-pandering lyrics. But the great jams at Shoreline and especially Magnaball, along with the truly infectious happiness with which Trey sings the song has made me a believer. The Dick's “Blaze On” can proudly stand with those versions and cements its place as a great jam vehicle. A spacey Floyd-esque part of the jam instead ended up being a Trey-led transition into "Golden Age.” The composed section, however, was a bit tarnished, with some pretty harsh flubs. It’s fair to say that even in the beginning of the jam, Trey still did not seem to be feeling it. However, this allowed Page to take the lead, which he did with aplomb, leaning heavily on his electric piano. Trey was seemingly content to remain in a rhythm role for the middle portion of the jam, with mike using his meatball pedal to great acclaim from the crowd. Trey eventually regained his footing, and with some great drum fills and changes from Fishman, jumped back into the lead role, playing some anthemic riffs with some judicious use of his whammy pedal. A fantastic version.

Photo by Patrick Jordan © Phish From the Road

Having redeemed “Golden Age” from a rough composed section, the band started another fan favorite cover, “Roses Are Free.” Unfortunately, it also featured a problematic composed section, with no jam to speak of, just a dissonant rave-up that gave way to “Fuego.” Being a song they wrote, they found solid footing in the composed section, which allowed a climb into one of the more interesting “Fuego” jams, with some dark riffing by Trey that built to a climax. This lead to a tender refractory period, featuring Fishman doing some delicate work on the drums, Trey using delay pedals and a Page-led sideways slide into well-executed “Wading in the Velvet Sea.” Continuing the theme of songs starting with a Page piano riff, “Walls of the Cave” was up next, reprising the same set closing sequence from the second day of Magnaball. “Walls” was a rocking set closer, and I’m happy to see this tune enter heavier rotation as opposed to a typical "Character Zero” to end the set.

The smart money was on a standard “Loving Cup” or “Julius” encore, but instead the band returned to play “Hold Your Head Up” while Fishman and Trey – wearing a "LET FISH SUCK" T-shirt – switched places on stage. Fish, following a bit of banter about Syd Barrett, started to sing an inspired version of “Bike.” This was an outstanding version with a truly great and melodic vacuum solo. Another refrain of “HYHU” allowed Fishman to swing his vacuum hose, jump on the piano, bow excitedly, sprint around the stage and generally act like a madman. Trey and Fishman then made their way back to their own instruments, and proving that the smart money is always right, played a rollicking version of “Loving Cup” to close the show.

The absence of setlist wordplay antics may have led to a more standard song selection than previous Friday night Dick’s shows, but there was a lot to like here. Highlights of the second set were the “Wolfman’s” through “Golden Age” sequence, and “Bike," with an honorable mention to what was a very good “Fuego.” The jams were great examples of 2015 Phish, where the band can seemingly find a happy place quickly, with minimal navigation required. While not quite reaching the peaks of Magnaball, the band shrugged off the 11-night layoff. It’s getting to the point where Phish at Dick’s is one of the surest things in rock and roll music, and this portends great things for Saturday and Sunday night.

Photo © Mike Gordon

Phish Summer 2015 – Setlists & Recaps
07/21/15 Setlist – Recap – Bend 1
07/22/15 Setlist – Recap – Bend 2
07/24/15 Setlist – Recap, Recap2 – Shoreline
07/25/15 Setlist – Recap – LA Forum
07/28/15 Setlist – Recap – Austin
07/29/15 Setlist – Recap – Grand Prarie
07/31/15 Setlist – Recap – Atlanta 1
08/01/15 Setlist – Recap – Atlanta 2
08/02/15 Setlist – Recap – Tuscaloosa
08/04/15 Setlist – Recap – Nashville
08/05/15 Setlist – Recap – Kansas City
08/07/15 Setlist – Recap – Blossom
08/08/15 Setlist – Recap – Alpine 1
08/09/15 Setlist – Recap – Apline 2
08/11/15 Setlist – Recap – Mann 1
08/12/15 Setlist – Recap – Mann 2
08/14/15 Setlist – Recap – Raleigh
08/15/15 Setlist – Recap – Merriweather 1
08/16/15 Setlist – Recap – Merriweather 2
08/21/15 Setlist – Recap – Magnaball 1
08/22/15 Setlist – Recap – Magnaball 2
08/23/15 Setlist – Recap – Magnaball 3
09/04/15 Setlist – Recap – Dick's 1
09/05/15 Setlist – Recap – Dick's 2
09/06/15 Setlist – Recap – Dick's 3

Commerce City, CO posters by Rich Kelly. 12x24, Edition of 850 each night.

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Merriweather Post Pavillion may not be a shed that is much loved by most fans – particularly those relegated to the lawn – but it has been the site of some fantastic Phish shows. Their first headlining show here on 8/8/98 contained two beloved cover debuts, "Sweet Jane" and “Sabotage,” along with a fantastic “Piper.” An epic spacey dark “Mango” on 9/17/00. A great "Rock and Roll” and "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea” bustout on 6/26/10 and the “Saw It Again” fest the next night. 7/14/13 featured one of the best first set jams of 3.0 in “Stash.” This great venue history with the growing legend of the summer 2014 tour made anticipation for the MPP run high. Let’s get this show on the road!

The show started at a very early 7:35p with “Sample," which in my mind is a much better first set opener than a second set closer. When I find myself getting jaded with this song I try to remember how I felt hearing it after I had skipped school to buy Hoist, and I get excited all over again. Maybe Phish's finest pop song?

Couch tour setbreak jokey-joke from LivePhish.

Unfortunately it is hard for me to give latter-day “Momas" the same benefit of the doubt, because as we all know they could be so much more. This "Moma" did have a slightly different and cool breakdown from Trey and Mike during the frothy cap/steady slap portion, with Fishman playing around a bit with his vocal rhythm as well.

A short discussion and a bit of help from Trey's guitar tech Brian Brown followed, then in keeping with its crepuscular nature, “Wombat" crawled out of its burrow. I can't have been alone in hoping this would be at least half as good as the 7/18/14 Chicago version. The short but funky jam was not on that level, but featured some fantastic clav playing by Page, sweet pornofunk licks from Trey and awesome Claypool-style bass slapping by Mike.

Photo © Phish – Phish From the Road

"Number Line" was up next, surely in honor of Chris Kuroda's birthday which was on Friday. I'll never get tired of hearing "Roggae," the way the whole band gets a line of the lyrics in the first verse will always put a smile on my face. The plaintive guitar solo at the beginning of the jam is some of the most emotional stuff Trey does on his guitar. I'm not a huge Dead fan, but it gives me a vibe of Jerry at his best. This particular jam was no exception, one of those where my heart was just reaching out to the band hoping it would continue forever. Beautiful stuff, and well worth a listen.

"The Wedge" was another song in the "we played it better in a second set in Chicago" slot. Always hard hearing the next version after the best version ever, wondering what could have been, but this stands as a good first set version, with a smidgen of extra mustard.

One thing I love about couch tour is the up close views you get of the band members playing their instruments. It's just fascinating to watch Page and Fishman in particular at work – and their work in both the composed section and jam of “Wolfman's" was great to see and to hear. Some great syncopated jamming in this tune, with all the band members taking turns on and behind the beat, which then slid into a ripping solo by Trey to bring it back home. "Wolfman's" has been a 3.0 first set all star and nothing here would make anyone say otherwise.

I don't know what changed their mind, but the band decided to play the first "Nellie Kane" of 2014 next. Seemed a bit rusty, but played with love. Maybe for some people seeing page do his "Lawn Boy" schtick gets old, but not for me. I laugh every time. I'm not sick of "The Line" yet but this summer is testing me for sure. I kid - I kid because I love. I want them to write more topical songs about years-old athletic failure, don't you? Scott Norwood is still out there, waiting for a jam band tribute. Don't let Umphrey's beat you to the punch, Trey.

I can't be the only JadedVet™ who want all you wooks to stop clapping during “Stash" so Fishman's woodblocks can come back, can I? I am? I'm a horrible misanthrope who hates a genuine and cool interaction between the band and the fans? Come on, I was cool with the "woos" in the Tahoe “Tweezer," I'm not all bad, ok? The “Stash" jam was a bit noodly for my taste, but Kuroda's work on the lights was spot on – I do love the backdrops. Trey also leaned hard on the whale whammy during the final riffs - he should probably "stash" that effect back on the tour bus.

Photo © Phish – Phish From the Road

Thankfully they came back to close the set with a rocking “Suzy," with some fun work by Page on the talk box, and cool riffs that some people (not me!) will call "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" and "Living After Midnight" teases. A group bow and a Trey balloon punt segued into a hilarious set break slide show concerning the name of the venue (the source for the title of this post). The highlights of the first set for me were “Wombat," “Roggae" and “Wolfman's," with “Roggae" being the belle of the ball. But I should point out here that one awesome thing about Phish is that you can like something I didn't and hate something I liked!

Little vocal mixup at the beginning of “Carini" to start set II, but more than made up for by a bloodcurdling scream from Fishman after the "people all were screaming" line. Following the composed portion of the tune, the band immediately launched into a driving jam dominated by some trilling by Trey and then modulated into a more melodic portion. Very cool finish that seemed to threaten to segue into “Twist" before changing key and dropping into “Ghost." The increased segues this summer have to be a conscious decision, right? I'm not saying they all seem forced but it definitely seems like the band is looking for opportunities to segue where in the past they may have let a jam peter out. The “Ghost" jam had a brief chill interlude before coming back with a riff driven classic rock style groove, with Trey using a watery effect and CK5 matching it on the backdrops. The jam then built back up triumphantly on the back of some fantastic playing by Trey and great Hammond work by Page before breaking down again with some great guitar delay loop work over a bed of a steady but ever evolving beat from Fishman.

A slightly herky-jerky end of the fantastic “Ghost" jam lead into my favorite tribute to House Stark, “Steam." Do you all wish “Steam" had been on Fuego as much as I do? I would have loved to hear what Bob Ezrin could have come up with on the production end. They amount of fog Kuroda pumps out in this song is so fun to watch, especially in some of the close ups – Trey and Mike must hit pedals based on muscle memory. "Steam" featured a great Mike solo utilizing the envelope filter in this one that sent the crowd into a frenzy – I could have listened to him solo forever, but Trey had other ideas, kinda forcing the opening riff of “Mango," the tune that spawned a million high school yearbook quotes in the 1990s (well, that and “Cavern"). A ripe “Mango," it finished with some haunting sustain from Trey as the band discussed their next move: "Sing Monica." I am an absolute sucker for puns, so I love the lyrics in this tune, and Trey clearly has an absolute blast playing it. Surely if they had written this in the 90s when Friends was still on it would have been their biggest hit, right?

It's at this point in a show where I start to worry that they are just going to play out the string with a bunch of non-jamming tunes and encore with “Julius," but thankfully we were shown the “Light”. "Light" starts way better from a dead stop – often when coming out of another song the opening chords are really jarring and almost dissonant. The part where Kuroda makes the lights grow brighter as "the light is growing brighter now" is so on the nose it should be cheesy and annoy me, but damn if I don't love it every single time. And not just that part – Kuroda really used this song and jam as a showcase. Some nearly “Manteca"-like playing by Page during the jam while Trey played with some echo effects that were reminiscent of some fall '13 jams. Page was phenomenal in this jam, with Trey providing fills and texture, almost Animals-era Floyd-like, and a smooth as silk (and rare!) Page-led segue into “2001." But it was to be a very short “2001" that ended with some layered loops from Trey and jumped into "Harry Hood."

Photo © Phish – Phish From the Road

Can we all agree to stop yelling "Hood"? Thanks. Fun pre-lyric section, with Trey laying down some funk before stomping on a bunch of his pedals. Mike starts off the jam unconventionally, repeating notes and building the tension before dropping into the typical bass progression. Trey played an inspired solo, hitting upon a theme and evolving it note by note as the song climbed toward its peak, and then breaking it down a bit, and finding a different theme. While not as exploratory as the Great Woods “Hood" that opened the tour, this was an excellent version that brought the fire and closed the set to an ecstatic crowd.

You know what would be awesome? If we all could all love “Julius" encores and that they make us dance like crazy and send us to our cars in a bouncy fun mood and all we would talk about driving home was how awesome the “Julius" encore was. Oh “Julius," we could have had such a good time together. Isn't it pretty to think so?

Highlights of the second set for me were “Ghost," “Light” -> ”2001" and “Hood," but it certainly had a fun flow that should be listened to straight through at least once (and maybe many times if you roll that way). Overall, a great show (definitely no Saturday Night Special here) that slots in nicely with what is becoming a theme this summer: segue-filled sets with riff-based jams that have a very classic rock feel. I for one am loving the return to sets as a meaningful unit of measure and a fully enjoyable group of songs to listen to, and I hope the trend continues. Can't wait to see what the rest of tour (and 2014) brings!

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After Friday night's stellar show, I'll admit to facing this assignment with some amount of trepidation. I was worried about having to review a show that in all likelihood would be below the heights reached on the 25th. Well, let's say that there was no reason to worry - last night stands at least equal and maybe above its partner, and the two shows were of such high quality that we will be talking about the Worcester '13 run for years to come. Now, on to the show!

I was anxious to see what changes the DCU Center (née Centrum) had made, especially after reading Parker's excellent preview. Well, if any of you were worried, it is the same old Centrum - a cozy little barn of a hockey rink that has been the site of many amazing Phish shows. The concourse was a little cleaner and brighter, but bathroom lines were still long and getting in and out of the building was still a long and annoying process. Sound on the floor was great, although when I ventured into the stands during Prince Bathroombreak Friday night, things were a little boomy and echoey.

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Quick - in two minutes or less, name your ten favorite Phish jams.

Members of the Phish.net working group did just that over email. It's an interesting exercise - since you are answering quickly, you bring all of your subjective biases, feelings and reasoning specific to that particular moment in time to the table. Every single one of us who answered found ourselves in disbelief that we forgot about certain jams that others had on their lists. Many of us wanted to go back and change some of our votes, but for our purposes here I've held all of us to our initial lists. In other words, our individual lists came from the heart, rather than our heads - we tried to keep this as spontaneous as possible.

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