I thought the first set was a first set and expected no more and no less. I feel line In the only one that noticed 10/31/14 started Buried Alive > Ghost as well, so there’s that.

I thought the second set was absolutely fantastic from an effort, idea, and for the most part, execution standpoint. Sure, Trey had some extended lapses, moreso late in the set - you know ithey’re gnarly flubs if you’ve never even heard the song yet you know he’s playing the wrong chords repeatedly. But Trey also had a number of moments of sheer genius, and our fearless recapper has it nailed regarding the strat. (As linked from the recap, it’s the Ed O’Brien Strat - Ed being the auxiliary / third guitarist, backup singer, and “more cowbell!”er of my favorite active non jamband, Radiohead). I’m a huge Hendrix fan and (amateur) strat devotee myself, so it was awesome to see Trey shred away on it. He tamed and abused that axe in the best way possible last night.

I thought the third set was just fine, even if they ran out of steam in the 4th quarter. SYSF isn’t ever going to be a song I call for at a show, but it’s a straight ahead and largely inoffensive tune and they’ve done some cool shit with it (see linked 25 minute BGCA version). I could’ve listened to that Tweezer for another 17 minutes, with its patented 3.0 minijams, multiple modulations, and seamless navigation between and across a handful of different ideas, ultimately puddling into that ambient space that gives me a raging clue every time... ASIHTOS was the real encore for me and my cue to go to bed (I had meetings this morning - it was already past 12:30) but I don’t blame the band for wanting to run out the clock with a few handoffs to the third string fullback rather than grinding out another few scores. The fact that these guys are nearly 55 years old, and just managed to troll the shit out of the entire fanbase with Fishman’s text and coconspirators with clout speaking to the album’s quality on the interwebs, effectively inventing a new band - SO THEY COULD PLAY US A BRAND NEW ALBUM THEY WROTE JUST FOR LAST NIGHT - is fucking amazing and a testament to their creativity and giving nature.

God damn I love Phish.