A wise and handsome man once told me "any song w/ a la la la or a na na na is a good song" - this checks out w ER. There's a lot more I could say about this show, but I will just say A FIVE SONG ENCORE!!! OMG. THANK YOU TAB. * The Met is one of the best venues in the US... I will die on this hill or at least lay here for a very long time looking up at the pretty clouds in a post show bliss #LoveAndLight

They came out swinging with the 3 song whirlwind of Corona, Moz and Cayman, which set the tone for the night. Next up was 46 Days and the sideway peak jams from Phish Summer 2020 reared it's head. Valentine was nice. Lonely Trip reminds me of Slip Away by Clarence Carter and is a nice change of pace with Trey doing a bit of that 60s soul singer with the vocals. Evolve made it's TAB debut (in front of an aud) and seemed, for me, to have held up better as a Phish song. Once we passed the vocals (yes they nah nah na'd) the 2nd set really takes off with the ER jam and then the tour debut of Simple Twist Up that stretched its legs for a bit before we found ourselves at the precipice of the sets strongest run. Spin> GOTF was the real highlight for me, Spin had some extra blues licks ala Hendrix or Albert King and maybe the longest version of the song to date. TAB debut of GOTF was a lot stronger than the PItt Phish debut in 2019, probably because most of this band played on the original GOTF tour. The other notable thing was the mini-set as an encore with Trey going solo for the Gilmour/Waters flavored When World's Go Away and Trey's workhorse More. Heavy Things with a flute solo, yes please, and enough to send off happy, but, no, we are going full on let's highlight the horns with Magilla. Not to be outdone they throw down one more in Push On Til The Day and send us out into the Philly night.

Magical night. Went up to celebrate 30 years of seeing Phish and was rewarded with a retrospective of their career. 3 songs they played at my first show (ACDC, Antelope, YEM), some classics (CTB, Haley's), a Cavern opener for set 02, some choice covers, some new songs, and to top it all off Fish sang Terrapin in response to a sign that said "I really love you and I mean you" Page and Trey play around with GOTF a bit toward the end of Jim. The debut of GOTF was a little rough and they seemed to be trying to run Trey's voice thru some effect. I couldn't have asked for more if I had written the setlist myself. It was a beautiful train wreck, where chaos resolves into melody of love and life where for a few hours everything was right in the world..

Superb TAB show on a beautiful late summer/early fall evening, in a very small intimate outdoor venue, full moon in view. It was a magical night indeed. The entire second set is really the highlight, with all songs played exceptionally well. The bust-out of Quantegy was a nice treat, but prize of the evening was Sand, which absolutely hypnotized everyone lucky enough to be there to bear witness. The Sand alone is worth the download.

This show is mixed well but suffers in quality due to high cassette generations. This would make for an excellent release someday if Mr. Shapiro is sitting on the masters. Could this possibly be considered Phish’s first unophishial fest? It’s impossible to tell how many people were in attendance as there isn’t much audience in the mix. Hard to believe that just 8 short years later they’d be headlining their own festival in front of 70,000 people! Solid show all the way through with a great unknown percussionist that sat in for nearly the entire show! The jam that kicks off the show cuts in on the recording. Very reminiscent of a Bowie jam which wasn’t played at this show.????. First time the Mike’s Groove trifecta made it’s appearance on stage. Bag featured the opening segment where the last two versions played did not. There’s been a handful of nice segues from AC/DC into Possum leading up to this show, unfortunately that didn’t happen with this pairing. Set 1 featured three Page covers, the debut of Walk Away and two recent additions, On Your Way Down and Bold as Love. No Dogs Allowed made its debut even though somebody apparently requested it? This version is followed by what would eventually become the second half of Divided Sky. Alumni has a great intro, solid version all around! Curtain With got chaotic to start set 2 segueing into Dave’s Energy Guide and back into “With”. Wilson was enjoyable and had an extended vocal drum roll from Trey. Blue Bossa was fantastic with the horns, percussion and even whistle! Good stuff! YEM, Hood and Slave were the highlights of set 3. All and all a good listen. Hopefully we’ll see an official release of this at some point…

This was my first Phish concert and I had no idea how great the show was that I was seeing at the time. I remember being slightly bummed that they opened with Roggae, a slow song I didn't know back then, but now it's one of my favorites. THIS circus is the place for me... My first Divided Sky is still the best version I've heard in person, but it's certainly nowhere near contention for one of the greatest ever. Still, it's special to me. I also remember being excited to hear Weigh and David Bowie at my first show. Besides the song selection and excellent all around playing from the band, I remember that my friends and I rode in the bed of a pickup truck before the show. We caught a hitch near the farm where we were camping down the road to Deer Creek (back when Deer Creek was still surrounded by cornfields on all sides). Actually, a lot of fans were catching rides in pickups that day, but I bet the local farmers liked helping all the hippies. Also, one of my neighbors at the show had duct taped a glass pipe to his leg beneath his patchwork pants to get it inside the venue. He was slightly perturbed that he wasn't patted down by security but only because he then had to unnecessarily rip off a ton of his leg hair on the lawn. Well, that's the gist of what I remember from 23 years ago. Ah, I miss 90's Deer Creek.

I do not remember a fight, but I was near the soundboard and saw a kid (looked like he was 15 or so) falling and hitting his head on one of the seats and splitting his head open. It was a few rows in front of me and he was covered in blood and really struggling. Security and folks came over after a bit and helped him out. It stuck with me all this time as I was stuck in a loop thinking I am too old for this with all these little kids here and what has happened to the scene etc throughout the show. It kind of spun me in a different direction for the night.

In a review of Alpharetta 1 I said that show should be in the running for best of tour. I stand by this thought but would now slightly amend the list of other shows. Since it is not possible to edit reviews after posting, here is the revised Top 5 shows of Summer Tour 2021, in chronological order: Alpharetta 1, Deer Creek 2, Hershey 2, Shoreline 2, and Dick’s 3. Now, on to a review of this show. Here is the second installment of a three-night Deer Creek run, coming after a two-night run in suburban Atlanta, and then another two-night run in downtown Nashville. It’s interesting how the first two Deer Creek shows can be viewed as mirroring the Atlanta shows. While the first night in Atlanta sees the band taking advantage of the first and second sets to explore pacing, dynamics, energy, and sound, the second night’s first set is devoted more to building momentum for an explosive second set. At Deer Creek, the opposite is the case, as the first night is all about the second set Blaze and Simple. Set One Night two begins with the relatively uncommon appearance of Crowd Control. It’s a solid rock tune featuring Who-like riffs and an anthemic chorus, but not much distinguishes one version from the next. In fact, nearly every performance of this song since 2009 has opened a first set, the one exception being Maple Night of The Baker’s Dozen when O Canada took the number one slot. Thus, while it could very well be overstating the case to say that it is significant this show’s opener is Crowd Control, lyrical elements of the song are nevertheless later echoed in Army of One, and then once more in A Wave of Hope, the second track off Trey’s Lonely Trip. “Do something, or we will.” Is this a provocation, a threat, or simply a statement of fact? While Crowd Control dissolves into a crackling mess of half-strummed guitar chords, the question is answered as soon as asked. Here comes Poor Heart, and it’s thumping. Although not the fieriest version of all time, Mike is forced to squeeze in a quick solo before Page completely steals the show. Mere seconds later, it’s on to The Moma Dance, and it slays. Three minutes in, before a word has been sung, this version is already bursting at the seams. Later, Trey manages serve up a thick-sliced slab of guitar solo just in time for BOTT to take over where Moma left off. Another cooking Trey solo, and out of it emerges a lengthy sustained note more typical of a second set jam, but it’s only five and a half minutes into a seven-minute song and this note alone lasts almost thirty seconds. BOTT wraps, and a flurry of piano notes signals that Page wants to sing. It’s Army of One, but a deeply felt version of this second cut of the night from Undermind. Like the earlier Crowd Control, Army of One is a relatively rarely played song, and almost always shows up in the first set. In fact, four of the last six sets featuring the latter has also featured the former, going all the way back to Summer 2016. Following his turn in the spotlight, Page takes a moment to address the crowd, and says how happy the band is to be back at Deer Creek. It might be argued that the band has a somewhat ironic way of expressing appreciation to its fans considering the rather low opinion most have of the next tune. Still, even Bouncing has its place at the setlist table, serving here perhaps as a sort of amuse bouche before the next course of songs, much the same as Poor Heart before it. Mike and Fish take turns leading the charge as Ya Mar gets the party started up again. “Play it, play it, play it for us, Leo,” warbles Trey, and the casual lyricism of his sing-song delivery is reflective of this rather soulful take on a cover that has over time become as much a part of the Phish canon as any of their own songs. Page responds with what seems a relatively quick run through his traditional solo organ spot. Then, following a return to the chorus Trey takes his turn spreading the good cheer, playfully soloing this summertime classic out to its end. It can be interesting sometimes to observe how the band changes their approach to a song from tour to tour. The last time a performance of Roggae crossed the nine-minute mark was on November 3, 2018, and before that on August 7, 2018. On both occasions the tempo was faster than in the version under consideration here, and on both occasions Trey’s solo built to a (for Phish) straightforward big rock peak. This Roggae starts the like all the others, with the same base song structure, but even leaving aside the slightly slower tempo there remains something different about it. From the beginning Mike and Fish are more present, as was also the case in the preceding Ya Mar, but about a minute into the jam they get locked in tight with each other. Then, echoing each other, back and forth, bit by bit the jam is pulled just enough off its standard course so that Trey must build his solo to a different, much more psychedelic sort of peak. It’s a spellbinding performance. Out of Roggae’s ending comes an unfamiliar chord progression. Well, for anyone not yet conversant with Lonely Trip the first Phish performance of A Wave of Hope is certainly something novel, if not necessarily unfamiliar. A single live version of the song had been performed by TAB in October 2020 as part of one of the Beacon Jams. It’s an interesting song, featuring a single verse of irregular line lengths and a repeating chorus, and it will also be interesting to see if the band takes future versions farther out. Stash is up next. Trey’s vocal delivery is pretty much standard this time, but the jam after is most certainly not. No sooner has the final “maybe so, maybe not” been left behind than the rest of the song has been left behind, too, and the band is already venturing out toward new territory. Seven never to be repeated, brilliantly inventive minutes of group improvisation later, suddenly out of a fast-decomposing peak there arrives a fully developed groove recalling the beat of Jibboo to bring the refrain of Stash around. While the preceding jam has little in common with the precision tension and release playing of the canonical version of Stash from A Live One, there is evidence in it of a different sort of precision, of each band member’s careful attention to the shifting dynamics of their shared musical space from one moment to the next. Call it the sound of precision listening. Stash ends, and Cavern begins, for only something like the eighth time ever. This is a somewhat surprising statistic, considering how many times both songs have been played over the years, and continue to be played. Cavern, of course, can appear at any time in a show, but unlike Chalk Dust, for example, it is usually performed the same way, excepting the very rare slow and funky version. Nevertheless, Cavern seems always to be welcome anywhere it appears, and it is a fine way to arrive at a rousing sing-along conclusion. Says Trey, “We’ll see you in fifteen minutes.” Alone, none of the songs from this first set are likely to be considered among their best versions, except for Stash, perhaps. At the same time, each one is in its own way quite a bit better than average, especially Roggae. Does a combination of above-average performances add up to an above-average set? Certainly, but it could be there is more to it, or at least not just that. More on this after the second set. Second Set Everything’s Right seems to have acquired new status as a favored second set opener following its call-up to that slot on the first night of the 2019 Dick’s run. However, it was the exploratory first set performance at Barcelona Maya in 2020 that revealed new improvisatory dimensions of this song. Now, the band returns to the stage and launches into a version that sees them breaking even more ground. As in Mexico, the lately added “Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na” refrain continues to develop, but with the singing done there is very little left over to recall previous performances of Everything’s Right. In a sense the jam simply picks up where it left off before Stash ended. Each band member’s playing is full of care, sensitivity, and emotion, while the music itself is all patterns of light and shade, constantly shifting and changing like the sky reflected in a mountain stream. Bob Dylan surely had something different in mind when he said it, but this might be Phish discovering their own “thin, wild mercury sound.” Perhaps thin seems an odd choice of word here, but this sound is not packed down, it is opened wide. There’s so much space, and in that space is room for the music to find its own way. It’s over sixteen minutes later, and a seemingly random squiggle of feedback flickers out as Trey strikes the first chiming note of What’s the Use? Mike and Fish jump on the beat, while Page begins adding sweeping synth tones behind. At a little over eight minutes, this is one of the longest versions in recent years, and the first since Summer 2018 to appear as the second song of the second set. While most recent performances have been relatively straightforward, the band here stretches out and takes advantage of the extra room to explore. Fish and Page, especially, find fresh corners to color with rhythmic washes of sound, and Trey uncovers hidden resonance in the song’s lead. Crosseyed & Painless now makes its first appearance in a second set since Fall 2019. Although shorter than most other recent performances, the band takes this one at a quicker pace. Fish attacks the beat with the same intensity he has brought to nearly every song so far this tour, while Trey ramps up the intensity at the first instrumental break by using a reverse pedal during his solo. At about the nine-minute mark the jam begins to peak on the back of some riffing somewhat in the vein of Can’t You Hear Me Knocking. Peak now in the rear view, Fish deploys a snare roll to reign in the tempo, almost as if he is signaling for BOAF, except the beat continues to break down. A quick outro to What’s the Use? then emerges from the ambient stew left in the wake of this high-energy version of a Talking Heads classic. Meanwhile, Mike triggers a couple effect pedals, and from the rumbling sounds being made by his bass everyone knows it’s time for DWD. This version covers some of the same ground in the first six minutes as the one that launched the second set of the tour-opening show on July 28. There’s even a note Trey hits at roughly the same time in both, at 6:22 on 7/28 and 6:25 on 8/7, but here it leads to a C & P tease which sets things up for the jam that follows. Or, rather, here it serves as a pivot point, for the jam that follows quickly shifts toward brighter territory, Trey and Page playing off one another to great effect over the course of several summery minutes. Then, a bit past the eleven-minute mark Trey hammers down on a single high note and refuses to let go of it. It’s a very interesting, even perhaps confrontational choice, as it induces a radical shift of tone. Whether or not one calls it a peak, this sustained note effectively demarcates a point from which something like the standard DWD jam cannot return, so with nowhere else to go but outward the jam gradually flows into a more ambient zone before resolving into Wading in the Velvet Sea. Velvet Sea is a lovely song, and an always welcome return to the spotlight for Page. Having said that, most performances in recent years have not featured the complex Trey solo that some probably have a hard time hearing the song without (two exceptions being second set ending versions from 1/14/17 and 7/23/17). This version, while it does include a brief solo from Trey, returns to the chorus on the back of a watery-sounding guitar part that repeats in a way somehow suggestive of rolling ocean swells. Possum gets off to a quick start, but the abbreviated intro isn’t indicative of what comes next. Page takes the reigns following the first chorus, and at about the three-minute mark he teases Long Tall Glasses, a Top 10 hit for Leo Sayer in 1974. It isn’t the first time the band has teased this song, but there’s something about it that captures very well the spirit of the moment. Page plays the tune of a line from the song’s chorus, in which the narrator of the song might be singing, depending on the line, “I know I can dance,” or perhaps “Of course I can dance.” Trey immediately picks up the reference and repeats the tune of the line. It’s almost like Page signals “Hey, I’m ready, let me run,” and Trey responds, “Right on, man, we got you.” Regardless, Page’s solo is great, and builds to a double-handed key-pounding crescendo. After Trey’s solo reaches its own screaming machine gun peak, Mike brings back the chorus so that all might joyfully sing the possum’s demise one more time. The band returns to the stage for an encore and launches into Drift While You’re Sleeping. It’s a song with multiple parts, and in this way is quite like classic Phish tunes such as Fluffhead and Divided Sky. Also like these songs, Drift features a concluding section structured in such a way that it can accommodate some improvisation. This section builds to a soaring peak and sends the crowd home on a high note. Someone, possibly Trey, even exclaims something like, “Whoa,” at the very end, as if to say, “That was great!” In fact, it was great. Final Thoughts What if a show, or the flow of a show, is conceptualized as a series of waves? Energy builds from song to song, and then it crashes, or it dissipates, and the cycle is repeated. However, there are moments when the energy can be channeled into a performance, and it is these moments that a band like Phish exists to fully capture, as a surfer dropping into the curve of a great wave rides across its face from the peak to the trough. This show is a demonstration of how Phish goes about bringing those moments to expression in and through music. From Poor Heart to Moma Dance to BOTT, and from Bouncing to Ya Mar to Roggae, the first set rises from one peak to another before the bottom drops out of Stash and all the energy that had been building up flows out and into the jam. Conversely, the second set, following the ER that picks up where Stash left off, goes about gathering up the energy that has so far been released, as Crosseyed, DWD, and Possum reverse the path laid down by BOTT, Roggae, and Stash. Finally, Drift completes a separate series of songs, beginning with Crowd Control, but that also includes Army of One, A Wave of Hope, and Velvet Sea. Perhaps in the lyrics of these songs there are something like various perspectives on a wave, snapshots of points in time isolated from this wave in which the wave’s shape becomes visible. Maybe so, maybe not.

The SBD recording for this night is better than night 1. Decent overall but unfortunately the instruments are low in the mix. The show itself is fantastic! If you were somebody seeing Phish for the first time you probably would’ve walked out after set 1. Vocal jam heavy during the first half with an extended VJ during Sally! I Didn’t Know even had some vocal interplay during Fish’s trombone solo. GXBX is awesome! Fun version of Peaches! YEM had a jam reminiscent of something we’d hear 9 years later with some cool little stop/start action. Second set was a bit mellower but still great! Highlights include Blue Bossa, Timber, Jesus Left, Slave and Roll Like a Cataloupe.

First set is stellar. Top to bottom. Spin it. … Personally, I think the second set is beautiful. The Farmhouse is absolutely gorgeous. The Everything’s Right is a tour highlight. I don’t think the set was derailed- I think it was emotive and lovely. Looking at these reviews it seems like a lot of Phish fans like saying, “Surrender to the flow” but have a hard time actually Surrendering to the flow. Was the show a heavy hitting 5 star rocker or mind fuck? Absolutely not. Is their beautiful space and reflective qualities to bask in? Absolutely

This was my very first Phish show. It was all very spontaneous and I was very fortunate to catch this. The Forum interior had recently been remodeled and it is a great venue to catch anyone there. Highlights were the epic, rocking, middle part of the jam during "Down with Disease". "The Train Song" was really pretty. A dreamy "Divided Sky". "David Bowie" was my favorite Phish song growing up so was very stoked to catch this jam out. "Kill Devil Falls" became a quick favorite. The crowd gave a warm cheer at the "freeway in Los Angeles" mention during "Tube" and Trey responded with a nice chuckle. Everything flowed, nothing felt out of place. Very memorable.

I don't typically write too many show reviews, but I've had some scattered thoughts about this tour and this show in particular for the last week. We are so lucky to have the band playing at the level they are at right now. This year has given me a new appreciation for the depth of the Phish catalog...which was explored with precision over this summer tour. Trey seemingly made a conscious effort to play a very different show every night. This of course is always the case on some level...but this year felt different. "I Never Needed You Like This Before" rang so painfully and cathartically true from both the band's perspective and ours. On to this show. This show feels like quintessential Summer 2021 show in its unrelenting and supremely confident unpredictability. There were a few song choices from this night that raised my eyebrows a bit...but not in a cynical "Oh no, what are they doing?" sort of way. My reaction was more that of curiosity and in those moments at the show that night...I realized that I fully trusted the band's judgement perhaps since the first time since Magnaball. Take Sand>Sigma Oasis for example. The Sand busts out as an early night Type 2 highlight and while the segue into Sigma Oasis is excellent, at the show I expected Sigma to be a standard reading...but this is 2021 Phish. The danger, the risk...it's back. Sigma becomes an incredible jam and winds down into one of my favorite Phish ballads in All of These Dreams. The lyrics to this song hit me particularly hard. This past year and a half has had me alternating between deep anxiety, depression, fear and it caused me to retreat into myself and my own fears all too often. I adopted a sense of complacency in this fear...but while listening to the lyrics to All of These Dreams it hit me. I was living again. I was taking in an incredible Phish show yet again, and my sense of gratitude essentially overwhelmed me. As for the music from the rest of this night, it was just perfect. The band deftly moved vastly across their catalog...giving us excellent Type 2 throughout the entire show, great and atypical song selection, some of the most unique music I've heard from this band in years in Simple->Catapult>Meatstick. This show really had it all, and I'm so incredibly grateful we got to experience it and the rest of this amazing tour. As to my earlier point of feeling alive again, these lyrics from All of These Dreams hit me like a ton of bricks at the show. Such is the promise, such is the curse You could just live your life, better or worse Knowing the cache of dreams up on that hill Beckons and sways but won't bend to your will And if you go there, and after you do All of these dreams would be yours to purse The rest of your lifetime, devoid of a care If you keep your eyes open, you may find yourself there. Thanks for helping us feel alive again Phish. I'm eternally grateful for your presence in my life as it has enriched basically every aspect of it. I hope everyone who has suffered from the fear and anxiety of this nightmare year+ can feel the reprieve I felt this night. Seeya in the Fall.

The Soundboard recording for this one is a bit high in cassette generations. This took away from the overall enjoyment of the performance. With that said, what’s available from this night is pretty straightforward for the time. A few highlights worth noting. Funny banter from Trey following Curtain With (fans these days would pay top dollar to witness/experience that “living nightmare” in real time!) Funky Bitch featured a nice solo from Mike. Back to back Jimi tracks…First recorded version of Bold as love, inspired Alumni following Trey’s graduation. LTJP featured another solo from Fish like the version for Del on 5/21. Not for everyone but I enjoyed this version of McGrupp with a little Moses!

We love Dick's! The first set had tremendous energy, including an excellent Blaze On and a casual, mid-first set Ghost followed by a very welcome Ya Mar. The buzz as they teased us at the beginning of Bowie was palpable, and everyone seemed pretty happy at setbreak. Set 2 continued where the guys left off, with a tight Everything's Right that was fun for every single one of its 25 minutes. Fuego followed (with what seemed at the time like an epic glo stick war) and was going well, but was cut short so Trey could play the slowest, saddest Farmhouse of all time. Mercury was fine (anything would have been after that Farmhouse) but they tripped into Seven Below and kept us confused with Drift. Finally, to close the set we were rewarded with a 20-minute YEM that had all the same energy as S1 and the first two songs of S2. There was also a top-tier glo stick war during YEM that was truly a sight to behold. Bold As Love was a good closer to a good, not great, show. I try not to be too harsh of a critic and I am appreciative for any opportunity to see Phish play. This show had 5-star potential before Trey derailed basically half of the second set.

It is pointless to provide analytics on a show that has a blow by blow by @waxbanks. Thus, these comments are a bit more personal. Having been out of the live music thing since March of 2020, and having waded through a host of personal (in the dome and heart) challenges in the months preceding this gig, I was walking in with no musical expectations. One thing was certain, however: a little tour magic was beginning to rear its head before I even connected with my intended posse. Being on that grassy camping lot was like coming home. A good start to the day. What the music did on this day was to grab me by the scruff of the neck, and say, “Wake up! Snap out of it! Re-engage mf’er!” And so I did, dancing like a fool. What this did do was begin clearing long locked cobwebs from my heart. By Saturday, I was the universe’s open book, and the crust was cleared from my cosmic radar. I could hear it by the end. This is the show where replay evokes deep emotions, of all stripes, reminding me that “ There is a road, no simple highway / Between the dawn and the dark of night / And if you go, no one may follow / That path is for your steps alone.” They’ve walked that path as musicians and humans; they’ve inspired me to step out again. I’ve never needed them like this before!

If I were looking at setlists, I might be underwhelmed (although a 7-song first set is always something to behold): SYSF, Lonely Trip, and Ruby Waves were songs I actively hoped to avoid. Catapult and MEAP weren’t on my radar, Bliss and Billy breathes seemed out of the realm of possibility, All of these Dreams was a song I forgot I loved, and a third-quarter Meatstick normally seems to portend bad things. But damn, it all came together perfectly. The fact that such a seemingly incongruous set of songs converged so seamlessly tells the whole story. Phish knew what they were doing last night—just as they have all summer, even if I didn't realize it (see my thread lamenting a lack of peaks). Syunda night, Phish totally surprised me in the best possible way, and it’s the way that that unpredictability pays off that makes this the most compelling band I'll ever have the immense pleasure of engaging with. I talked a lot in the “Do you miss the peaks?” thread about how I felt they were missing a sense of cohesiveness this summer, maybe a price for all the exciting exploration that was happening. Last night, as well as set 2 on Friday, it felt like it all came together. Set one was one of the rarities that felt fully complete—everything purposeful, zero filler. Moma and McGrupp were great calls to get started. Sand in the third slot indicated we might be in for one of those special nights, and Sigma Oasis made good on that promise. Sigma was another song I was not looking forward to hearing, but damn, what a fun, feel-good song—one of Trey's rare new ones that, IMHO, manages to tastefully balance the love and light positivity with some nuance and grace. But the composed section of Sigma was just the start: following some triumphant bends after the vocals finished, we suddenly steered into the darkness. My friend Nate (who was decidedly anti-Phish until the pandemic, fell deeply in love during our year of isolation, and enjoyed his first ever shows at Dicks this weekend) and I looked over at each other excitedly: back-to-back type II jams straddling Q1 and 2? It was [i]one[/i] of those nights. Sigma explored similar terrain as Sand, with no complaints here, before sliding nicely into All of These Dreams, making only its...13th... appearance ever. I was not expecting or thinking of this song before this show, and it’s this kind of micro-bustout (if you will, per se, some call it, but actually no one calls it) that speaks to me: it’s just a subtle enough of a nod to Phish’s incomparable magnitude, and how many points of connection I have with this band, that reminds me of the sheer vastness of this whole thing. Making me fall in love once again with a song I didn't even know I had forgotten—one that will be but a footnote on a stellar weekend run—is something I can't imagine many other bands doing to me. Reba was a winner (any time Trey nails the composed section, the call-waiting/dentists office smooth jazz jam that follows is all butter) and Gin provided the glorious, triumphant closer that I love so much. My best friend Aaron, who has been marooned in Germany since before the pandemic, called it "overwhelmingly optimistic." Going into the third winter of this neverending pandemic, I'll bottle up this shining light of positivity for the darkness that surely lies ahead. After such a promising first set—and the fewest songs played in a Sunday at Dicks as far as I can remember (too tired to research now)—I had no idea what to expect for the second set. Nor did I really care. I was ready to follow wherever the night might go. Where we went was so much richer than the mountain range of blissful peaks I thought I'd wanted all summer. SYSF is perhaps the song of the soul suite I've hated most, thanks to its atrociously unacceptable lyrics, until I got tired of fighting it all this summer. Trey loves this song, clearly. I can block out the lyrics enough to appreciate that the vocal buildup right before the jam is undeniably fun, and the band clearly cares about going deep into the ensuing jam. This version proved true: the jam started with darkness, crossed into the light, then built to a shreddy electrical inferno, complete with shrieks that felt like the far off, slightly more concentrated echoes of the 9/2/16 Dicks NMINL. Not an intentional callback, I'm sure, and a technique Trey has used much in recent years (especially 2017), but I couldn't help but gratefully connect it back to Dicks Night 1 in 2016, one of my favorite shows for personal, sentimental reasons. Lonely Trip was a heartfelt and reassuring comedown. This song, as intended, is now burned into my soul as a marker of these goddamn weird and disconnected times we live in. Despite being vaccinated and returning to some sense of normalcy over the summer, and then spending my weekend with 75,000 people the past three nights. I’ve been feeling the isolation lately. Lonely Trip spoke to that, and it will forever be a vessel to how I feel right now. Simple was the party starter we all needed, and the fact that Nate called it as Lonely Trip gently wound up made it all the more special. Simple sinisterly devolved into a malfunction at the robot factory with Catapult, setting the stage for another goofily feel-good, come-together-and-sing-a-song-about-nonsense arty anthem with Meatstick. Back-to-back party classics, sandwiched around a weirdo semi-bustout morphed into a barely recognizable format? This was the second set I didn't know I needed. We soon enough found ourselves back in the short-circuiting robot factory with the Catapult callback (a place I was happy to return to even if I never expected wanting to go in the first place), then onto Ruby Waves, which surprisingly cut me deep. I know that’s what it’s intended to do, but it’s usually too saccharine to get past my guarded, skeptical brain. But this was a night of feels for me, and Ruby Waves easily slid into my heart that had already been plowed open by 2+ hours of immaculate song choices, "trust-me-you'll-like-it" setlist construction, and inspired playing. This version of Ruby Waves, charging hard out of the gate thanks to Fishman, built to a chaotic and intense peak before beautifully evaporating into...BLISS? Yes. Whoa. Bliss! What a treat for me to hear. Billy Breathes is my favorite album, the one that got me into the band when I was in 5th grade, forever ag. To bridge that time in my life to today, nearly 25 years later, where I’m ostensibly an adult but still carry the same childlike wonder and playfulness that Phish so perfectly taps into, was so special. The Billy Breathes that followed wasn’t an all-time version, especially after I’ve listened to the Hampton Winston Salem standout so many times. But the vocal section was performed well enough. And choice to play it felt like a nod to someone like me—as if saying, “We’re light years away from the era in which we wrote the songs you grew up on, but we’re still the same band that wrote them.” A validating and special moment, an amazing connector of the dots between the past and present. Most Events Aren’t Planned is one of the coolest new songs the band has introduced in recent years. Conventional wisdom probably called for 2001, Possum, or maybe even that long-clambered for Tweezer. But the band’s decision to buck expectations during the waning moments on the last night of tour paid off, at least to this guy—and proved that sticking to the script denies us the opportunity to keep writing new chapters of this weird, rarely boring, never-ending book. Sure, Trey could have pushed the solo section deeper, but I didn’t care. MEAP was plenty supercharged, setting the stage for a Hood that was as good as Hood will get these days—the perfect call to end such a wild, exploratory night and tour altogether. As surprising as MEAP might have been in the penultimate slot, Hood was the obvious call for closer, and proof that sometimes sticking to the script is the right call. Overall, though, it was the lack of sticking to the script that made this night—and tour—so special. I’ve found the last few Sunday nights at Dicks to be a bit deflating. Ever since the THANKYOU show*, Dicks Sunday shows have felt like a greatest hits collection on a CD you’d find in the bargain bin of Walmart—all the songs you love, but packaged in an unforgettable, if not altogether uninspiring way (listen to the fourth quarter Chalkdust from 2019 and tell me the band sounds excited at all to be there). Tonight, and this whole summer, was the opposite. Sunday night’s second set was a complete musical journey, one that went horizontal, vertical, into the darkness and back toward the light, straddling tones and textures and terrains I didn't even know existed. Last night, Phish balanced familiarity with something weird and excitingly exploratory in the most Phish-like way possible—in the way that only this band, with its 35+ year repertoire of songs that, at their best, resemble their former selves enough to keep the thread connected between all our yesterdays and our current reality while simutaleously breaking free from the past enough to keep us all guessing, trying to find the end of the never-ending maze, and always coming back for more. Who knows where it’ll all end up? That’s a question I hope we don’t have the answer to any time soon. I’m not ready to see where the rainbow of infinity ends. After this tour and tour finale, it’s beyond encouraging to know that our favorite band feels the same way. (*I have a huge soft spot for 2016, what with the huge peaks and all).

In a review of Dick’s 3 I said that show should be in the running for best of tour. I stand by this thought but would now slightly amend the list of other shows. Since it is not possible to edit reviews after posting, here is the revised Top 5 shows of Summer Tour 2021, in chronological order: Alpharetta 1, Deer Creek 1, Hershey 2, Shoreline 2, and Dick’s 3. Now, on to a review of this show. The first set begins with a 1-2 punch, as a big rock version of Sand is followed by an ER that serves fair warning the band means business. A mellow jam dissolves into alien goo, out of which emerges a lovely soaring peak. Later, there is a second interesting pairing when Foam comes close on the heels of Destiny Unbound. Maze and Stash both feature classic first set jams. While Trey builds a noteworthy solo in Maze, it is Stash that really showcases how well the band is playing their older compositions. The set concludes after a short but sweet and spicy Gin is put through its paces. Chalk Dust launches the second set into outer space on the back of a Fish beat that just won’t quit. Having achieved weightlessness, Steam drifts down to Earth before Caspian catches a monster wave and rides it back to shore. Listen once, then listen again: these three songs are some of Phish at their best. Golgi and AC/DC keep the party going before Shade cools things down for a few minutes. The Mike’s Song that follows is on the brief side, but features some excellent interplay between Page and Trey, as well as the concluding section that usually leads into Hydrogen. Except, in this case, a joyful Silent in the Morning gives way to Weekapaug, which takes another Fish boogie beat out for a ride before bringing the second set curtain down. The band then returns to send folks home with a soulful Life Beyond the Dream and a rocking Cavern.

This is a stellar show, top-to-bottom, and certainly should be in the running for best of tour (along with, to these ears at least, Deer Creek 1, Hershey 2, Gorge 2, and Shoreline 2). Gin is deserving of special mention for closing the first set in especially fine style. However, the completely unexpected highlight of the set if not the entire show is a way, way, out-there Sigma Oasis. Then there’s the second set. SYSF in some ways follows the excellent example of ER from the night before, and as with its predecessor is likely one of the best versions to date. The segue to Lonely Trip which follows is surprising but is also perhaps even more emotionally poignant as a result. It just works. A Catapult-infused machine jam sandwiched between high-energy takes on Simple and Meatstick then leads to a totally unhinged Ruby Waves. Like Lonely Trip, though, the subsequent Bliss segue to Billy Breathes fits and flows. Not to be outdone, a set-ending Hood that is concise yet powerful comes screaming to its rightful end. Still, there are more high points to cover: Sand, Reba. All in all, with a different selection of songs this show might not have sounded out of place in Spring or Summer 1994. The energy, song placement, and execution seem similar, if not exactly alike. It’s a gem for sure and bodes well for Fall. Onward!

Just to add a few things not mentioned yet: 1. During the Wedge, for the second(?) limestone block lyric, shortly thereafter Trey squeezes in the phrase `limestone capital of the world', a title which which happens to belong to Bedford, IN, about 90 miles south of Deer Creek. 2. During the `be-bop' mention in Simple, there's a Magilla tease. 3. More this night than 8/8/21, IMO there's a half dozen (or more) Cross Eyed and Painless quotes from Trey. I wasn't at 8/7/21, and I know they played the song there, but I found those quotes in Carini (x2), Sand, Tube and Blaze (Mike's and Bowie on 8/8 as well)..

Sometimes I forget I’m sharing the same moments in time as the band onstage. Sunday show at Dicks. Final night of summer tour 2021. The band was obviously ready to celebrate their achievements this summer but they were also ready to explore some of the new sonic territory they’ve been working through this summer. To my ears Trey was actively holding back this summer from taking jams in the somewhat more predictable up, up, up direction, instead taking them wide and deep. Spacey dissonant malfunctioning robot sounds from Trey’s line 6 pedal helped take them in new directions and we get some of my favorite examples in the simple->catapult->meatstick segment. This is a must hear segment where the band sounds in top form relative to any era. Last night though the band managed to take the jams up, wide, and deep. Sand, sigma oasis, and gin brought some glorious celebratory peaks. The ballads were well placed and well chosen. All of these dreams was a first for me and such a treat. SYSF delivered thoughtful poised jamming. There wasn’t a space unexplored on Sunday at Dicks and it made for the most complete and flowing Phish performance of the summer in my opinion, and that’s on a tour full of similarly successful outings.

What a wild, unconventional show! So much to discuss. How about that seven-song first set? A standard Moma and the relative rarity McGrupp set the stage for a couple big, creative type II jams. Sand is short, but potent, finding a dark funk groove reminiscent of 2001. Trey eventually manages to establish a major key turn, reaching for light in the darkness before sliding back into the groovy mire. Sigma Oasis proves to be even more potent, delivering some monster dark psych and complicated polymetric interplay. This jam packs a whole lot into 15 minutes and it delivers big time! It is a must-hear. The set's only breather comes by way of All of These Dreams, which barely offers enough time to recover. A frenetic Reba and a jumpy, energetic Gin close out the set in a big way. With one in the tank, this is already looking like the best night of the run! And then comes that second set. Twists and turns abound, this set features some of the band's most spontaneous and creative playing of the entire summer. They kick things off with an absolute monster Set Your Soul Free, revealing serious jam potential right out of the gate. Grabbing onto the same swampy psych that permeated the middle of the second set, this jam goes deep and dark quickly. Churning rhythms, driving bass, and loopy guitars eventually give way to an anthemic peak. The synergy here between Fish and Mike in particular is a thing of beauty, with Fish laying down some of his biggest, gnarliest stuff all weekend. Seemingly inspired by the commotion, Trey fires up the effect pedals and steers the jam home with laser-guided precision. It's an absolute masterpiece. If you haven't heard it yet, drop everything and give it spin. It's well worth your time! Lonely Trip serves as another well-earned breather, giving the crowd a moment to reflect on isolation of this past year and the community we are all so lucky to return to. But before we can get too lost in the moment, they hit us with a roiling Simple and the energy goes through the roof! Out of the chaos, we hear the strange Catapult lyrics emerge, but in cadence with broken machines and a clubby, quasi-industrial din. We hear the words repeating, forming hooks, and the jam takes shape into something resembling a song. Is this a song? Someone unfamiliar with this band certainly might mistake it for one. It's just that perfect! I know it's a real challenge to try to judge something as arbitrary as Catapult, but I don't think I'd be remiss if I suggested this one might be in the conversation for Best Ever. Really! And so, with everyone's minds thoroughly blown, the band kicks off a well-timed dance party by way of Meatstick. But this is no ordinary Dick's Meatstick! As it turns out, this one is hooked to the same machine that drove the Simple -> Catapult madness a moment ago, eventually breaking down into what should, in my humble opinion, be properly noted as Meatstick -> Catapult. To put it simply, this was no simple Meatstick. The fourth quarter kicks off with a refreshingly straightforward take on Ruby Waves, gathering momentum until hitting a glorious peak. The runtime on this one is deceptive, as it packs a lot of ideas and a whole bunch of energy into its 12 minutes. It's so strong, in fact, that they sufficiently earn themselves another breather, which comes in the form of the blink-and-you'll-miss-it rarity Bliss followed by a delicate Billy Breathes. With palates cleansed, Page leads the band through a slow-burning Most Events Aren't Planned, which steadily builds the energy until the stage is set for a transcendent Hood. Bewildered and amazed, we emerge on the other side with only a vague recollection of what we just saw. You don't get many sets like this one and there's, inevitably, much to unpack. After acknowledging the crowd one final time, the band delivers a rousing More and a goofy S.A.N.T.O.S. send off. It's a heartfelt, yet unconventional way to cap a a decade at Dick's. Rather than get lost in setlist gags or sophomoric humor or nostalgia of any sort, the band restlessly and relentlessly seeks new ground, undiscovered territory, digging deep and producing some of the most creative jams of the summer. I'm not sure this one is going to qualify as an all-time classic show, but it's pretty damn close. It demands your attention. It's a band refusing to sit still, refusing to rest on their laurels. With uncertainty lurking on the horizon, the band left it all on the table tonight. May we be so lucky as to do it again in the fall.

Call it a bathroom break, if you will, but that Bliss>Billy Breathes was an all time highlight for me. My daughter’s first show was Friday and then when those songs started, we hugged and truly experienced the Phishy-ness. I got to see Pebbles and Marbles with her on this run and Bliss>Billy Breathes was something I didn’t know I needed. Thank you for this wonderful moment with my daughter! Great times.

Phish comes out tonight, dicks fully plugged into a machine to deliver the best night of the run. First set is focused and explosive. From Mcgrupp onward it is all highlights. Sand rages, Sigma Oasis goes deep for its first proper outing, twisting and turning into the shadows. They bring us back with All of My Dreams, engaged with a great reba and Gin rages the set closing position, best outing of the year for one of summers MVP songs. Second set is beautiful, fun, strange. Souls are set free, I thought I heard a Simple riff from trey. But before that we get lonely trip which is such a great song. Simple with a catapult and jam that gets to sounding like the grinding of gears and the beeps of the buttons of the machine. Meatstick finally, another dick joke. Ruby Waves gets interesting, the second ever Bliss -> Billy, I think it worked well. Pages future funk most events aren't planned, fitting considering we decided last minute on Monday Lead to come. Seemed a common thread thus weekend. Strong outing for this song and then a ripping and roaring Hood, they drop into some funk territory and peak it beautifully. SANTOS is the new improved Zero. Sent home very happy tonight.

First set last night was as good a set as they've played all tour. Excellent jams in Blaze ON, Ghost, Undermind, and Tube. Even Bowie got a little sprightly, after suffering from years of just not cutting it. Everything's Right was the jam of the night, and worth your (Re)listen. Farmhouse was very poorly placed and not sure the set ever recovered, as manifest by a very awkward (although not as nearly awkward as a ripcord, mind you) transition from Mercury into Seven Below. Bold As Love deserves to have a Farmhouse tease in there, and it borders on a reprise. One wonders why the first sets seem to be shining so brightly compared to the second recently. Perhaps it's because they don't feel the pressure to throw a 20+ minute jam into the second frame every night to wow the clock counters, and feel free to just let the song end itself if it needs to. That's conjecture. There were about five or six jams that bear listening to, most in the first.

If I’m reading between the lines correctly; one deciding factor that helped make this a high-ranking, enjoyable show is the total omission of any of the material from “Kasvot Växt: í rokk”. Keeping those songs on the shelf equates to a more enjoyable listening experience. Yeah, I put in writing what you were thinking!

Night three fell upon us pretty quickly at Deer Creek. What a fun run! Both prior nights had the venue feeling good and there has yet to be a shortage of experimental, funky jamming. Anyways, my buddy and I got to the venue a little later than the nights prior-- we'd felt that we'd done an adequate job at navigating and exploring on Shakedown within the past two nights. We settled down at the back of the Pavilion on Page side about fifteen minutes prior to the billed start time to continue our drinking and conversing. It didn't initially seem quite as packed as N2, but, hey, it is a Sunday show. The boys came on stage with a nice, standard Sigma opener. I'm not a huge fan of the tune but it evidently gets them warmed up for a continued and deep night of jamming, plus it's pretty evident that they have a bunch of fun when playing it. They took the energy from that and played a nice version of The Curtain before transitioning to an awesome Mike's (it felt like Trey held that note for three whole minutes!)-- Fishman did an incredibly job maintaining the pace and continuing to elementally challenge Trey to find his groove which created a super uptempo and fun jamming section. I thought My Soul was an interesting interlude within the Mike's Groove-- they were absolutely making a statement about dictating the pace and feel of the show, though (maybe some second set foreshadowing)? Page was, as always, beautifully on from the start of this one until the end, and he took over the bulk of the jamming segment prior to Trey ripcording a few peaks before a similarly-styled Weekapaug. Weekapaug is one of my favorite Phish segments-- it rarely goes Type II but the band displays how much they can do with a structured melodic portion and riffing off of that, this version being no exception. They finish the first vocal portion of Mercury at about six minutes before enacting a dreamy and soft jam led by Trey's 4.0 Guitar's capability-- a beautiful juxtaposition to the bass bombs from the song's beginning. 46 Days and Taste served as the set's pacemovers and it was cool to see a debut with Casual Enlightenment. Bowie was, aside from the Mike's Groove, the highlight of my set-- the band feels confident and on the same page whenever they play this song and the structured jam portions were as clean as ever. Overall, definitely a first set worth listening to with some notable highlights. Set Two is really the set that people will talk about from this show, though-- not the jamfest that Night One had to offer per se, but the story was chronologically structured. They came out with a monstrous Gin that starts its jam segment at around 3 minutes before departing from Type I at around 8 minutes (side note: I've really loved Page's use of the synth this whole tour, I think it enhances the band's prog sound a lot). This opened the door for a nice, paced out Waves that transitioned into a more alternative Ghost-- this initial 'Ghost' portion lacked a substantive jam section, but, after being succeeded by Sneakin' Sally, the Story of Sally was truly underway with the Ghost tease beginning about 3:45 in-- the complementing jam section was almost a fusion between a Sally and a Ghost jam and it was really, really cool to see them push their musical limits in a creative manner. I'm not usually a big fan of Twenty Years Later and was a little surprised by the set placement, but it definitely continued the feel of the set and gave Mike a chance to lay some bass bombs. Waste was another interesting follow-up, but this tour they've really let loose after the vocal portion. Twist is REALLY where the mashup goes into another world-- there aren't quite discernable ends to the Twist/Makisupa/Martian Monster and the inclusion of lyrics and riffs from each song within the set prior was unlike any Phish experience I'd ever had. MEAP and More move away from this direction and really let Trey let it loose for a much higher tempo closing to the set before wrapping it up with a small Gin reprise to bring the story in full circle. Contact is a favorite of mine and it was a perfect way to wrap up an awesome weekend at Deer Creek. Slave really capitalized on the whole tone of the second set as well. Deer Creek will be a must hit moving forward-- first time at the venue, but definitely not the last!

High energy first set, fun songs, some deceivingly short but deep jams I'm blaze on, ghost and tube. Loved seeing Cool it down, ans undermind features our favorite furry, 8 armed, vacuum salesman SHREDDING the drums. To echo sentiments here already it felt like a second set. The David Bowie extended very creepy intro was very old school, don't get that too too often. Second set starts out so good. ER is the highlight of the weekend so far, jam goes so many places. The rest of the set was struggle bus on the compositions, felt like they could not keep it together. Improv wise it was very vibey, I admittedly sat for a bunch of it and relaxed which is the exactly energy I needed last night. -7 was a highlight for me, and it was close to breaking through. YEM to close was what we needed, let's be honest haha the vocal jam was surprisingly groovy and strong, one of the best in a while. CK5 shines during the vocal groove. Different set, but plenty of highlights.

This is a very strong first set. Ghost and Tube are particularly noteworthy versions. In both cases Trey really wants to play the Allmans-esque descending pattern that has appeared in so many jams since at least the Summer 2017 Nutter Center DWD. However, and to Trey's credit, he resists the temptation and the jams find other ways to conclude. Good stuff. As for the second set, ER is exceptional and probably one of the best ever performances to date. Fuego is also above average, but after beginning to dissolve into a delicate ambient jam, here comes Farmhouse. Some folks are probably cringing at the very thought. While this is not the version that will change that opinion, it's also not bad at all. There's even what sounds like a nice No Woman No Cry tease in the brief jam. One final thought: Drift is kind of a bummer coming after Mercury and 7 Below. The energy of the set begins to drag noticeably during and at points in the YEM after. Trey is still really excited about the GOTF material, and that's great, but maybe a different song would have been a better choice... About to Run? Ruby Waves?

The first set was awesome! Every song landed in fine form. The second set was well-played but not my favorite song choices and very low energy after the opener (which was fire). Definitely not conducive to a rocking Saturday night. Lots of us were seated pretty much the whole time from Farmhouse to YEM. CK5 was the best member tonight!

Dick’s first sets this year are feeling more like a second sets. There is a freedom that they are feeling that they don’t have to hold the type two for set two. That being said they aren’t packing monster jams like sets two’s tend to hold but the freedom to explore into type two is welcoming. That Tube was immediate hose and was begging for set two power hitter slot status. One can dream. Second set was a sleepy set from the couch. I dozed in and out a few times and had to determine my footing as I was judged awake by the music as to where we were at. Funny, not sure if it was just me but the .net set list didn’t immediately update the show and so found myself lost occasionally. Maybe the band was channeling that and intuitively conjured Drift…LOL. Like I have that much universal control(ler) in my hands. For the webcast I absolutely loved the interlude with Trey’s rig. It is so complex and I loved watching him geek out on that type of stuff. I’m no musician but I was into it. Mahalo Nui, Matthew