The first set starts off fun with a nice Wolfmans, Llama and Martian Monster. Axilla>Hey Stranger works well. The Steam>Taste stretch is fun and unique. Definitely expected a song after Taste. Overall it was a very average first set but with how they are playing in 2025 it's definitely enjoyable. The second set is another story. Carini is a relentless exploration that lands in beautiful Trey melodies and Page synth on top of fantastic Mike and Fish rhythm. Light goes type 2 immediately and stays there for way longer than I thought it did as it touches on some really nice and somewhat intense musical ideas. Carini comes back in and we get some extra improv before going into a killer version of Sand. Melodic and hypnotic with great effects from Page and Mike. Perfect landing spot in Piper which churns out a micro-jam before landing in the Lizards. Shout out to LizardswithaZ. Trey must have read your show recap. Then we get a big YEM to close just an insane hour and forty-five minute long set. The cherry on top was a jammed out Meatstick that gets nice and funky before exploding in euphoric synths with Trey using the Meatstick riff to build a wonderful peak. All-star stuff from the second set and encore that stacks up easily with the best of 2025. It's going to be a hell of a Hampton run to close out the year before the New Years Shows. Get ready to step into the freezer.

To me, this show was a classic tale of 2 sets. The 1st set was solid but forgettable in ways - and was probably teeing up this show to have an "average" rating (3.8-3.9) - but in came this 2nd set to absolutlely flip the script. From Carini onward in this show you are getting the bliss, the goods we all come to see. Fantastic. Even that meatstick was dreamy stuff. Set One: B- Set Two A+ Score: 4.45

This was my best friend Emily's first show..she started listening to the boys the summer after her junior year of high school. I had just graduated from high school the previous years and had seen the boys about 9X during the 3 years prior. So, I guess I was her guide to the band. We took the train down from CT with some friends who were getting annoying, so as soon as we touched foot in NY, we ditched them. We entered the building and I believe she was overwhelmed with the size of the garden. We found some higher seats before the show to go and have a little session. My piece was clogged so I attempted to clean it on the spot. The resin snake I blew out was gigantic and landed on one of the seats next to us. Before I could clean IT, some of her new friends from UVM spotted her and came and sat down. One dude sat right on the snake and I didn't have the strength in me to tell him what happened. I hope he had a good show despite getting resin all over his pants. We moved seats and found some a little closer to the stage. The song selection that night was amazing. The Velvet Underground's Rock and Roll kicked off set I with some crazy energy. We are both Velvet Underground fans so that was pretty awesome. They transitioned smoothly into Funky Bitch, another cover the boys have made their own over the years. This segued nicely into PYITE, my favorite song at the time and one of her favorites. The energy was high in the garden and you could hear every sound the boys and fans were making. Horn grabbed onto the tail end of Punch and was the cooler we needed from three straight bangers. A little bluegrass with Ginseng Sullivan came at the best time. After singing along, we were treated to an explosive Melt. I believe her face melted some that night as I looked at her and she had eyes closed and was just taking all of the sound in. The next cooler came in the Billy Breathes song Brian and Robert. This was a song that told us this show was for her. Guyute was the next selection. Guyute packed the punch to get the crowd moving again. My Soul, a pretty typical cover for the late '90s followed before ending the set with another cover, Free Bird. I'm not the biggest fan of this a capella rendition of the song, but the crowd ate it up. At set break, we found some of the people we came with and shot the sh*t with them. This was back when you could pretty much get anywhere you wanted in the garden without running into issues. The good ol' days! When Set II began, expectations were high after a set with so many cover songs. Free was a great choice to open up the set as she was experiencing a new type of freedom with people who were seeking the same feeling within the community. Free transitioned into Limb By Limb, another one of Emily's favorites. We were blown away by their tight playing and commanding performance before the familiar sounds of 2001 started to make an appearance. Without stopping the boys went into another amazing cover, Boogie On Reggae Woman. This was my first version at a Phish show and coincidentally I met my future wife during this song at MSG on 12/3/09. Mind you, in 1998, I was 19 at this show and she was 18. This was still fairly early in my Phish show experiences. Emily was blown away by how amazing the boys were and the conversations they were having with their instruments really spoke to us that night. The set ended with a roaring version of YEM. What a treat for a first show! To compliment YEM, the boys chose to return for an encore and played another early composition, Divided Sky. YEM and Divided Sky have defined Phish's early and ever so talented song writing styles. We left that night feeling rewarded and more than satisfied, blissful if you will. Well, needless to say, she was hooked and we spent many more shows together over the years extending into the Phish shows today. Due to distance, we aren't always able to get to the same shows, but when we do, the magic of her first show comes out and the memories flow. Thank you Phish for providing this experience for us and being so welcoming of new fans. What an amazing time in NYC as young fans. We got back on the train and headed home knowing we had just experienced the greatest thing happening in the world that very night and looked forward to many more nights like that.

So much potential with the strong opening. At least we got a BDTNL on my FIL birthday. I’m glad I missed this show for the birthday party and just watched the stream saving hundreds of doll hairs. My dolls are already bald after so many shows. Hoping for a better show tonight and thankfully the bar is low enough should be easy to top.

Not a typical festival set, what a great dance and jam fest! A Day in the Life in set one? Wow! I’m a huge fan of Timber and thoroughly enjoyed that. I disagree with the show notes that CDT was unfinished. Trey brought the band back from the CDT jam and clearly finished the song. I’ll grant that it was a soft finish but it was done and he stuck the landing straight into more jamming and into Light.

What a show, Phish in Alpharetta is always a phenomenal time. Total show length was 3:18:47, a tad long in the tooth and every phans wish. As I sat pre show and chatted with other phans we ended up getting most of the songs we discussed wanting to hear. I love these conversations and coincidences. Who doesn’t love a Buried Alive opener? What a special treat to get a beautiful Slave, a typical set closer, in the three spot. I’ve noticed this tour that several typical set closers and or encores are moved further up into set one or two. Other examples this late summer tour include A Day in the Life at Bourbon and Beyond and Good Times Bad Times n2 B’ham, both usual encore songs played before the encore. After that scorching set one we knew that we were heading to the land of Oblivion for set two and this set did not disappoint. After 46 minutes of Oblivion>Bowie>Fuego it was now time to cool down with Leaves. Trey teased Dixie’s Land at the end of Fuego right at the 15:18 mark and in Leaves Trey brought a mellow Fuego jam back in to Leaves, it was quite pleasant. My Birthday was recently so I’m counting Number Line as my B-day song. For those of you who don’t like Drift While Your Sleeping or Monsters, you’re not really listening and your not surrendering to the flow. Drift and Monsters was an absolutely beautiful end of the show! Antelope was a scorching end-cap and was certainly curfew busting going past 11pm! This is definitely another highly rated Alpharetta show. This is why we Phish.

The first set is a must listen. Slave in the 3rd spot?! Peaches ! Peaches! Tube is where it really took off. Oblivion was funk nasty. Fuego was explosive. Yeah, number line & drift slowed us down but up to that point this was “the” show. Tuesday night fans hath been rewarded. This show was is immediately a legend

Festival sets often get mixed reviews and I thoroughly understand why. However, this show really had maybe two moments where they lost their groove. Moma Dance and Free are always a welcome combo and Timber never disappoints so the band was definitely there to keep fans on their toes, as usual, and play for new listeners. Capping off the set with ADITL > Possum might just be my favorite first set closer I've seen all year. Given the bullshit going on in our country, ADITL hit me like a freight train, reminding me this is why I go out of my way to catch as much Phish as possible. Opening the second set with Sand is always fun and this was definitely a memorable performance. I immediately heard the Leaving On A Jet Plane tease and it brought the child in me back being a song we'd always sing at camp. Next up Chalk Dust even had its moments even though the songs kind of gotten old for me. Albeit short and sweet, the transition into Ya Mar was perfect and it most certainly had the audience singing along. As for my soapbox on 2001, I've felt like it's gone back to its gimmick status as the bands excuse to let Kuroda get creative and do his light show. Whenever the song goes under ten minutes it kind of feels like an opportunity for the band to save their voices, but this was nonetheless a great version with Trey getting weird as usual. Making it even better, the band broke into a terrifying Carini which had the audience real spooked. I wonder what the new listeners thought of that one! And before you know it, it was time to feel good about hood. Take it or leave it, the encore was really just for show and I'll dub it the "Sunday Football Encore" because you can hear snippets of those songs any Sunday if ball is your thing. I'm sure our die hard phans have mixed feelings about this show, but overall it was a great time and I was real happy to see Phish headline a festival that was not their own creation.

To put it simply, of the 15 shows I've been to since 2017 (and many, many more listened to), this is peak Phish jamming. They operated on a level I'd never seen in person before. Easily the best show I've attended and one of those moments where only this band can take you. Truly a transcendent experience and masterful musicianship throughout the night. Throw on this night in the middle of a '98-'00 show playlist, and nothing is out of place other than some new songs in the mix. This is why we go to shows: to catch something like this in the flesh and be moved beyond imagination. For the guitarists out there, it's also pretty cool to hear a $100k+ Dumble amp in real life haha.

Tonight was the foil to Saturday night, so to understand the show you need to understand what came before. In short, Saturday captured the uncertainty and anxiety that we are all feeling in this moment. Life Saving Gun was intentionally dark. Tonight was the Yang to last night's Yin. It’s not often you get to hear such a purposely crafted set list. As the band sang the lyrics to these deliberately selected songs, we heard our current existential crisis described in the first set, whereas the second set presented the solution. Not to spoil it, but in the end, hope and love prevail. The tyrant was defeated, and freedom won, by who else than Milly Grace. Exceptional setlist, Trey. Obviously a lot of thought went into these shows, and the work paid off. The people around me all got the message. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

I want to first start off by saying Saturday’s show was completely flawless from top to bottom, front to back! Vocals, music, everything 🔥🔥 With that being said, Sunday, if I’m being honest just seemed like they couldn’t ever find their groove. I did get a few firsts that I’ve been chasing for a while, so I was super stoked about that, but again, it just seemed like they had a hard time getting it dialed in. There were quite a few stumbles and it times during those, had a little trouble reeling it back in. But hey, can’t win ‘em all!!! Still had a great time and wouldn’t have changed it for nothing! I’m grateful that they came to my backyard! I’ve seen them in several states and I only had to drive 25 minutes to get to these shows! I hope they make it a regular stop when touring down south!

I traveled down from Cleveland, Ohio with my brother for a much-needed weekend adventure, and man, I was not prepared for the night that unfolded. This show ended up being my 44th Phish concert, and somehow the band still found a way to surprise me. To make it even more special, I finally got my very first “Old Home Place”—a song I’d been chasing for years—which immediately elevated the night into unforgettable territory. From the opening notes of Back on the Train, the band wasted no time locking into a groove. Cities kept that funky momentum going, setting the tone for a first set that balanced energy and flow beautifully. Sample in a Jar and Theme From the Bottom reminded everyone of Phish’s ability to deliver familiar classics with fresh vitality. Then came the highlight for me—The Old Home Place—a perfect breather with rootsy charm, made all the more meaningful as a personal first. The set closed strong with a raucous one-two punch of Bathtub Gin and Runaway Jim, both stretched just enough to let Trey dig in while the rest of the band pushed and pulled the jams with their usual telepathy. S2 was a journey. Sigma Oasis set the mood with its expansive optimism, leading seamlessly into a roaring Down with Disease that hit liftoff mode early. The segue into Life Saving Gun and then Pillow Jets showed how easily Phish blends the new material into their live tapestry—fresh songs that already feel road-tested and natural. Mountains in the Mist was a gorgeous, emotional breather that had the entire crowd hushed, before Blaze On reignited the fire with its joyous sing-along energy. The Ghost closer sealed the set with a deep, murky groove that had everyone dancing with abandon, reminding us once again why this band is unmatched when it comes to improvisation. For the encore, Phish went straight to the soul. Shine a Light was pure catharsis, sending waves of gratitude through the room, and then they wrapped the night with Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S., a high-energy exclamation point that had the whole crowd shouting in unison: “This is what space smells like!” Walking out, I couldn’t help but feel blown away. After 44 shows, Phish somehow managed to give me a “first,” deliver both deep jams and heartfelt ballads, and remind me why I keep coming back. It was a night full of surprises, connection, and pure joy—everything you hope for when you set out on a Phish adventure.

They were slotted for 3 hours; first set was well played and festival-friendly, though short (65mins); intermission was also very short (19mins), and they ended up going about 10mins past the alloted end time The 2nd set to me felt like about 50% pure improv, which blew me away under any circumstances, but particularly in a general festival setting. Granted, it was the end of a long day at a hot festival, and the effects of hours of partying and that i wasn't taking notes certainly must be factored here. . .

Not a review, more an observation. Up early doing the laundry, decide to finally check out what happened at start of this mini tour. Read that they started with 46 Days. My brain immediately freezes up and I audibly go "Hmmmmm...". I was at SPAC3. Sunday July 27th. "46 days and the coal ran out"..."47 days and the coal came home". Mofos were on a 46 days hiatus since SPAC3 and returned to the stage on the 47th day. These mofos don't miss a trick. I've laughed my ass off all morning since. How can you not love a band like this. Through Wolfman's and so far they sound like they came ready to play. Hope y'all out there enjoy the tour, I'll be enjoying the replays.

I left a review for this (9/12/99) Ghost in the 9/9/99 review area and it is uneditable, so will say for the 9/9 Ghost here that it is a shredder a la Columbus and New Mexico versions from summer 99, Type I excellence. Now, for the 9/12 Ghost - solid jam through 15 minutes, then it goes deep into places only 99-00 Phish could go. There, I feel better.

Once upon a time, say all the way up to IT, Ghost was consistently funky, kept a solid rock beat, and 90% of the time kept a dark edge, even on Type IIs such as this beauty. The Tweezer is solid; the first 5 minutes or so of the jam foreshadow Fall/Winter/Cypress. Using any sort of “objective” metrics based on paper and sound this show is either underrated at 4.1 or literally every 3.0 show needs to be re-ranked based on 1 Setlist content 2 Quality of play (correct notes and timing) 3 No bliss jam or electric piano in Ghost for Pete’s sake

Got it — I’ll smooth it out, tighten some spots, and keep the tone true to your style: enthusiastic, casual, and a little playful. No quotes on song titles, just flow. Here’s the refined version: ⸻ The LivePhish dSBD of this one has a nice amount of room sound mixed in. :) They kick off the New Year’s party with a pretty straightforward Possum, followed by a well-played Foam. Trey breaks out his new Christmas present, The Final Word, at the start of Sparkle — hilarious moment with the “fucking jerk!” bit. Minor fumble to open Stash, but Trey more than makes up for it with a strong solo. A fantastic Sky is dedicated to Chris Gainty, and The Final Word makes another appearance during Esther. The composed section there is a little shaky, but Llama closes the set with pure shred. Set 2 opens with a fairly standard Brother. Right before Buried Alive, Trey lets everyone know there are only two minutes left in 1991. He drops a cool Auld Lang Syne tease before the countdown, and a lively Runaway Jim ushers in 1992. Beautiful Reba here, and a sharp intro to Cavern, though Trey stumbles over some lyrics. Mike drops a Nellie Kane tease during the Antelope intro, but the move into the jam is messy. Still, the jam itself is decent. Wilson kicks off set 3, packed with Trey throwing out final words like “you’re an asshole” and “fuckin’ jerk!” to the crowd’s delight. The Tweezer jam that follows is gorgeous, and McGrupp serves as the perfect landing pad. Mike’s Song hits hard — the second jam slips into a really nice groove, making this one of the hottest versions in a while. Weekapaug closes strong, with Trey tossing in some fun Lion Sleeps Tonight teases. Before the encore, Trey takes a moment to introduce Marjorie Minkin’s art, which was being displayed for the first time. Lawn Boy includes a Christmas Song tease, and Rocky Top into Tweezer Reprise seals the night with a burst of energy.

3rd night... after banging Night 2 not sure what to expect.. but was not expecting that Fuego to come out and just punch ya... First off, not a big Sigma Oasis fan, but that jam is making me rethink my previous opinions. Lizards had everyone up and dancing, Day in Life was a great 45k people sign along.. and then... that Fuego. Yeah, some may say, "Its Fugeo" but this one just continues to tickle that spot in my brain.. and to follow that up with the rest of that second set (with Fuego up into Everythings right) .. dang. ... was it the best of the 3 nights.. nah, night 2 was the best of the 3 but this one holds its own... thats for damn sure... and Hood def made me feel good. ( hopefully back to dicks next year though.... )

How on God's green earth does this Piper - this majestic, beautiful, syrupy, balls-to-the-wall Piper - not qualify for the jam charts? It's got legs, momentum. It goes! Seriously, how is it not on the jam chart? Especially with that picture perfect segue into A Day In the Life? It's a criminal oversight! A travesty!

Decent SBD source until Stash. From there, the quality drops and stays that way for the rest of the show. Things kick off with a well-played Wilson, followed by a hypnotic Jim. Foam is beautiful. Trey takes the audience on a journey through time and space for the first time before landing in Gamehendge—solid Forbin>Mockingbird! Stash fades out at the end and cuts, with the sound degrading during the jam and continuing after the tape flip until the end of the set. A solid Antelope closes out set one. Trey teases the Christmas Song before and during this inspired Buried Alive opener, which slams right into a beautiful Reba. Chalk Dust rips per usual. Brother is raucous, Terrapin is fun, and Harpua starts and fades out, then restarts cleanly with no cuts—a nice way to close the last set of the tour. During the encore, Trey jokes that aside from New Years, this will be the last show for the next three months. Since it’s the last show, they decide to give away the tramps, and he even jokes that they’re giving away Fish as well. Unfortunately, the encore cuts before any music is played.

This show is, IMO, wildly underrated. One of the best SOAMelts I've encountered provides the big jam in Set I, but the whole dang set is played well - there's a 12-minute Maze here that's electric, the opening Possum kicks much ass, and I'm grateful for any version of Meat that exists (I love this tune) But that Set II is just incredible. Maybe this show isn't as well-regarded as others from 1998 because of the relatively short length of these sets, but it's hard to deny how gorgeous the Simple ends up becoming. I could rave for hours about this Simple jam. I feel like it's the purest expression of what Phish seemed to be getting after in the best jams from this career-pinnacle year of 1998. The patience and delicacy the band plays with here would have been unimaginable just a few years before this. 1998 is often characterized as the year they introduced "ambient" jamming, but not every show from this year features a jam that can be called "ambient:" this one does, but I'd also argue that the jam is so compelling that it doesn't recede into the background like textbook-definition Eno-derived "ambient" music is meant to. Instead it commands the listener to follow closely to hear the intricacy of the interplay The Caspian jam is also stellar, if of a completely different character as the Simple jam. It starts with Fishman on vacuum. and the jam explores a calm and almost eerie zone before launching into a perfectly played and placed Fluffhead. This three-song combo at the heart of the show stands head and shoulders over many centerpiece jams this year, but I rarely hear much chatter about it. The HYHU>Bike>HYHU is a nice change of pace after so much serious jamming, and the Hood is its usual beautiful self It's downright lame IMO that there are only a couple of fan reviews of this show; I feel like it should be rated higher and people should really dig into that Simple>Caspian>Fluffhead sequence next time they're under any form of "enhancement." It will not let you down!

Decent SBD source available for this show. Page is prominent in the mix. Fun soundcheck at this show. The bands banter surrounding Memories is hilarious. They play Dog Log for Paul but Trey makes it clear throughout the song that they’re playing it for Marley. The end turns into “where’s Holdsworth gone?” “Jesus!” lol Nice blues jam. Trey takes a nice solo during Makisupa. Memories is missing from the tape. The recording starts off with a nice Foam/Reba pairing to open. Guelah cuts at the start of the Asse Festival section. Apparently, Trey’s guitar was messed up so they aborted Guelah. I Didn’t Know ends the first set due to technical issues. Set 1 clocks in around 40 minutes. Set two opens with It’s Ice in its first-ever slot as a set opener. YEM includes a couple of cheeky Alligator nods in the composed section (likely from Mike) and settles into a relaxed, enjoyable version. Sky is blazing hot. There’s a tape flip following Sky. Tela is clipped at the start and the recording quality dips. Llama rips as hard as ever. Before launching into Whipping Post, Fish quips “this is a crowd that deserves to be punished,” and he absolutely howls his way through the tune like he’s strapped to the post himself. At one point he even tells Trey he thinks he broke something on his guitar. The energy carries straight into a very playful Possum, punctuated by shouts of “Wait!”—the Middlebury crowd showing a lot more patience than Boulder ever did. Sadly, the recording cuts about four and a half minutes in. The sound bounces back for the encore, starting with a gorgeous Lawn Boy that features Trey teasing The Christmas Song in a nod to the season. A fiery Rocky Top closes the night on a high. This would make an excellent archival release, especially since the band has the master tapes in the vault. An uncut Possum alone would be worth the price of admission.

Responding to @educatefright and @Mrpalmers1000DollarQ's initial comments, I'm certain this show was selected for an archival release because there wasn't (and still isn't) a circluating AUD recording, similar to the justification for the archival release of 3/8/93 Santa Fe. I agree that there are other shows more worthy of archival release, even from this tour, but it's still nice for the band to fill in this gap in their recorded history. Weekapaug Groove sounds like it was another one of those "you had to be there" moments that doesn't translate well on the recording, particularly when Trey's guitar signal keeps cutting out, apparently due to a faulty connection with his wireless rig while he was rollerblading on the gym floor. For me, the clear highlight is the David Bowie w/ Baby Elephant Walk in the intro. This Bowie was featured on the IT From The Archives show from 8/2/03, which implies Kevin Shapiro already had this show in mind for an Archival release back then :)

Decent SBD source for this show with a healthy amount of bass in the mix. :) The tape kicks off with the soundcheck. Shaggy Dog is playful, complete with some alligator/crocodile silliness, before cutting about a minute in. It picks back up with what sounds like a Shaggy Dog jam. Page asks Fish to drop into the Cavern drumbeat, which launches the band into a fun little blues jam. Golgi, which had closed out four of the last shows, flips the script tonight by opening the set. Melt gets a nice jam, Fluffhead is spot on, and after a tape flip Llama comes in blazing. Gin holds strong, Ice has a cool middle section, and Possum closes the first frame in fairly straightforward but spirited fashion. Set two kicks off with a standard but always infectious Tweezer. Foam is a highlight with an inspired ending, followed by a sharp Mike’s that finds Cactus teasing Rapper’s Delight. Groove absolutely rips! “Make!!” There’s a tape flip after Fee. The opening of Sloth is clipped and the sound quality dips for a bit, with another splice after Coil, but luckily no music is lost. I Didn’t Know is especially fun, and the playfulness carries into MSO with a little Barracuda tease. About a minute into MSO the sound clears back up. Tweezer Reprise caps a lively set. Before the encore, Mike says something during Glide that sounds like “ten,” though it’s hard to tell. Cavern follows and closes the night on a high note. Side note: this second set was one of my very first cassette boots back in the day. Always a trip revisiting sets I haven’t spun in 30+ years. lol

Not the best audience source for this show—pretty muddy overall. Llama kicks things off, and a solid Reba follows. Smokin’ Jim. Cavern has had some inspired intros the last couple of shows, and this one keeps that streak alive. Brother is strong, and the end of Coil fades for a tape flip. The start of DaaM is cropped. Bouncin’ melts seamlessly into Bowie. Really nice version to close out set one. Set two opens with MSO. Like in Port Chester, the band stretches the pause at the end again. Trey’s solo in Stash is en fuego, and Groove absolutely rips. Tape flip after Groove. The start of Sparkle is clipped. Trey fires off another nice solo in Chalk Dust. “Put your hands together and keep them together for Henrietta!” lol. An inspired Love You follows, with Trey and Page getting introductions from Henrietta. Golgi closes the second set for the third time in a row. Suzy in the encore slot is sharp and well played.

August 18th, 2024 was the ultimate day of Phish’s ultimate festival (as of this writing), which they had called Mondegreen. For those that require it, Merriam-Webster gives us the following definition: mon·de·green: a word or phrase that results from a mishearing* especially of something recited or sung. And for those that assume that I’m implying that this was the bestest set of Phish most awesomest festival, well, perhaps Merriam-Webster could help out once again: ul·ti·mate: last in a progression or series: final In the end there wasn’t anything very “mondegreen” about Mondegreen and I doubt there will actually be anything “final” about Mondegreen either, except maybe/hopefully the use of the NASCAR track in Dover, Delaware for a Phish festival. Not that there was really anything wrong with the Woodlands (as the site is called). but there wasn’t a whole lot right about the Woodlands either. It was neither picturesque nor conveniently located nor overly user-friendly, plus did I mention it was in Delaware? I mean, c’mon now. Oh wait, I just thought of something wrong about holding your festival in Dover, Delaware: Pardon me for casting such a large foreshadow, but the area has a high propensity for major lightning storms. More on that soon. So anyway, when m’lady and I crawled out of our tent on that Sunday morn we joined our crew (which included our ride) in making a plan for the evening. Unfortunately our Plan A – which included raging out to two crazy sets of festival Phish before post-partying it up one last time with countless lifelong friends and brand-new companions – had succumbed to an ominous weather report that predicted a dire electrical storm would reign down upon our precise locale beginning at 8pm. Plan B had been twitted out by the band the night before. Well, their Plan B anyways: the band would now be going on at the unToddly hour of 1pm and everyone was being encouraged to bug out of the campgrounds immediately after the show. That last part wasn’t a full-on directive though – campers were free to throw their own particular cautions to the gusting, electrical winds and stay for the night if they wanted to – hence our crew’s morning discussion. We ultimately (see?) decided to cling to as much of Plan A as we could and stay the night, though we spent most of our truncated pre-show day packing up the loosest ends of our camp and battening down the first few hatches. Then it was off to the festival site, which was muggy and disgruntled. The band did indeed go on at 1pm, where they delivered a set clearly lacking in energy or any meaningful light show. Party Time my butt. And nary a nod to the whole mondegreen thing either. By the time [i]Bathtub Gin [/i]came around it was starting to hit home that not only had the band dragged our sorry butts away from our campsite decompression sessions for an early-afternoon matinee show, but that it was going to be an unannounced one-setter too. And not in a good way. Get this: They closed the set with [i]Golden Age[/i] and encored – that is, closed the whole festival – with [i]Fuego[/i]. Need I say more? Okay, I will: After the music was done it did indeed do some raining, but during what would have been show time (ie 8pm-midnight) we sat at our camp and watched a brilliant and constant display of lightning flashes all around us, several miles away. Truthfully, it was like we were in some sort of lightning no-go zone, and had the concert gone ahead as planned tens of thousands of us would have revelled in the miraculous bubble of good vibes that surrounded us and protected us as we got down to one of the coolest bands in the world. Instead, we sat in the remains of a mostly-packed camp aside a lethargic stream of fully-loaded and steadily-idling cars that snaked along every makeshift road in the ever-vacated campground and tried to give away our excess beer. The next morning we dismantled our bone-dry tents and bugged out of the campsite early enough to catch the breakfast menu at a diner forty-five minutes down the road. After that we tucked in and floored it back to Jersey where our friend Christina drove m’lady and I straight to EWR. We dashed into the terminal and found out in short order that our flight had been cancelled. What we didn’t know is that when the argumentative agent rebooked us (and insisted on charging us $80 for our luggage when our ticket clearly stated that luggage was free) she only booked us as far as Halifax. She forgot – or just didn’t bother – to book us on a connection from Halifax to our penultimate** destination of St. John’s, so when we landed in Halifax as far as the airline was concerned we had arrived where we were going. We hadn’t, of course. We finally convinced the agent to book us on a flight to Newfoundland, but we couldn’t convince her to get us on a flight that evening, as there were none. This fact also helped the agent convince herself that the airline shouldn’t book us a hotel, so they didn’t. By this time it was pretty late, maybe ten or eleven o’clock, so we found some airport bench space, pulled out our sleeping bags and inflatable pillows and got as much sleep as we could, which wasn’t a whole lot. Ultimately, was it worth it? Ask me on my deathbed. (Actually, you’d probably be better off asking for the password to my air miles account. You can’t take ’em with you.) *Is there a word for mishread words? **Look it up. https://toddmanout.com/

Nice crispy dSBD available for this show. Big Phil caught a portion of set 2 on video from the pit. The show opens with Glide, setting the tone right away. Llama rips per usual. Foam is a little shaky during some composed parts but has a nice solo from Trey. After Sky Fish wishes everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Always a great time to catch a Phish show in the NorthEast. Solid Brother. The YEM set closer is great! Not as inspired as the last version in Hanover but top notch nonetheless. A rippin’ little Chalk Dust starts set 2. Uncle Pen starts off a little shaky. Beautiful Hood. Nice It’s Ice jam. Leon Russell takes a nice solo in MSO. The band extends the pause at the end of MSO for the first time. Saleem Javed pulls out his bone for I Didn’t Know. Solid Antelope, even though the drop into the Marco section is a bit off. Inspired version of Golgi to close the set. They encore with playful renditions of Contact and Rocky Top.

Two months later I still have Egg In A Hole stuck in my head. Outside the venue after the show my friend that got me into Phish turned to me and said "thoughts?", and I responded with "that was a perfect show". After listening to the entire show again I can say I stand by that assessment. Consistently amazing throughout. I was happy to catch Fast Enough For You, even though it had me borderline crying. Pebbles>My Friend>Egg In A Hole was the highlight of the show in my opinion, evil Phish is just the best. The set 2 Tweezfest was as good as it gets. They really bring it when they play New England and this show is no exception. I feel blessed that I had an amazing seat all 3 nights, and the venue was less than an hour from my house. It may not have the most memorable jam of the summer, but I think overall it was the best show of summer tour. If Phish has a New England show toward the beginning of summer tour, GO TO THAT SHOW. It'll be the best show of the tour and then get overlooked because there's still so much summer tour left. The first night of Bangor 2019 was incredible, Bangor 2022 was nuts and had the best DWD of all time imo, and then this 3 night run.

August 17th, 2024 was day three of Mondegreen, Phish's eleventh-ish* self-curated music festival and the first one to occur in Dover, Delaware. It had rained hard during the early morning hours but I had remained comfortable, balanced sleepily upon my new fancy-pants air mattress inside my equally new, equally fancy-pants big-and-domey blackout tent. The huge cardboard city hall that was being constructed over the course of the weekend did not, however, fare the downpour nearly as well. My crew and I quit our campsite early so we could spend the day exploring the concert site, and the omission of the impressive corrugated paper and masking tape creation was the first thing we saw (or didn't see, I suppose). I'm glad I'd had a small hand in building it back on night one. There were, however, several other objects of curiosity scattered throughout the site, and we checked 'em all out. We surveyed the site from the raised platform of the Helio, a two-story structure that served as the centrepiece of the concert pitch, we bought lunch in the farmers market, we checked out a very cool 20' replica of the moon that hung in a forest clearing, we tapped on the glass as Ari Fink broadcast live from inside the siriusxm trailer, and similarly lackadaised ourselves around until showtime. By the time the show started my entire extended crew had congealed just ahead of and to the right of the the Helio, nearly the same vantage point as I'd had the night before and a great-sounding place to watch the show from. And it was a really good show too, if maybe a little standard. But really, I'm probably a poor judge of the last half of the show, for it was sometime during the second set that m'lady went on a bathroom run and never returned. After a song or two I started keeping my eye out for her and after another song or two I raised both of my arms in the air and kept them there, waving them slowly and hoping that if m'lady was lost that she'd soon find us. Well, she was and she didn't. I knew she was okay but I was still worried. I tried to convince myself that she had run into friends - which was extremely plausible - but I told everyone to watch out for her and I kept my damn arms raised high in the air, ever-waving. I wanted to go looking for her and did do a couple of quick circles around the immediate area, but I figured staying put and waving my arms in order to make our large crew even more visible was the best gambit. Oh yes...all the while my friend Linda was having a bit of an episode, one which left her mostly uncommunicative and balled up in the fetal position, laying at our feet. Lots and lots of people came over to ask about her - Phish fans have tons of empathy - but she was mostly fine, just being weird. So we tightened up our group so that people couldn't see her and kept on grooving. If I recall correctly Mike took her back to their glamping tent at some point midshow. But back to me with my arms in the air, trying my best to simultaneously dance away to [i]Tweezer [/i]and [i]Boogie On Reggae Woman[/i]. By the time the band tore into [i]You Enjoy Myself[/i] during the encore I had abandoned any hope that she had simply found other friends. She was almost certainly lost and I was too distracted to pay attention to one of my favourite Phish songs. After the [i]Tweezer Reprise[/i] set closer we all posed for a group shot. You can see me in the back with my arms dutifully raised, a concerned look stuck on my face. "What do you guys want to do?" "Let's go grab a drink somewhere!" "We were thinking of heading back to the campsite..." "I'm not going anywhere until m'lady gets back," I announced, my arms still up. Several people agreed to stay with me, and a few moments later m'lady appeared. She had indeed been lost and had spent the entire time circling the crowd about twenty metres away from us with mounting frustration. She'd not had a great set. Nor had I but I tried not to let her know that. I know what you're thinking, but I still think life is better without a cellphone. *It's not that I don't know how many festivals Phish has hosted, it's more that some people count some things as festivals that weren't, and vice-versa. Let's just say that the true number of Phish festivals is a matter of opinion. https://toddmanout.com/

Decent audience recording for this show. The beginning of Sloth is clipped. Stash is well played. There’s a tape flip after Sparkle, and the start of It’s Ice is cut. Sulu pulls out his bone for I Didn’t Know. During Bowie’s hi-hat hijinks, Trey notes that the crew will finally get to sleep in their own beds for the first time in nine weeks. He then presents Paul, Chris, Pete, and Andrew with monogrammed bathrobes in appreciation of their hard work on tour. The rest of the Bowie intro features secret language and bathrobe banter before settling into a nice version to close out set one. Overall, a fairly standard first set for this tour. Set two opens with another Tube, but instead of heading into MSO, the band launches into a beautifully inspired Divided Sky. Afterward, they pause while Fish pulls a splinter from his finger (“at least it shows he was working hard during that last tune!”). Cavern gets a fun intro, Chalk Dust rips, and A-Train is especially strong. YEM is pure bliss, gorgeous from top to bottom, and a playful Golgi caps off a rock-solid set. The encore is missing from the tape.