11/27/09 was an strange show, but a very satisfying one. Both sets opened strong, sputtered in the middle but finished with mindblowing runs of songs. The setlists contained a mix of oddball tunes and classics.

Set 1 turned the energy way up early. After a classic but well delivered bag the band went into a maze that blew the effing roof off the place. After an extended solo this Maze went into a strange, wash of noise space jam before climaxing. It reminded me of The Worcester '03 Maze and it was a good one. With the energy already at fever pitch, the band decided to slow things down, too early in the show for my liking. The run from Driver to Two Versions of Me was well played, Gumbo was short but featured a sweet bluesy piano solo from Page, and It's Ice was nailed (and only my 2nd in about 25 shows), but overall this stretch made the Bag/Maze opening feel like a distant memory and made me question the direction of the show, especially with them playing Two Versions, one of the absolute worst offenders of the Phish 2.0 era.

The band must have felt the same way, because they raged the end of the set. While Timber ->Limb, Cavern -> Light might not look great on paper, each version was stellar. Timber featured an extended dark groove while Limb, a song that I usually find a bore, soared through an extended jam that brought that crowd back to its early set heights. Cavern is always a little disappointing in that despite being a classic it signals the end of the set, except the band busted right into the power chords of Light. Light seemed to combine Timber's dark groove with Limb's euphoria and it absolutely raged, deconstructing into a 3 minute space jam before returning back to the song for a final round of "the light is growing brighter now."

Set 2 followed set 1's pattern. My Friend was dark and heavy, and the TV on the Radio cover (nice to see Phish giving a contemporary band a nod) had a nice disco funk feel to it. On Your Way town was well played by all, but was another energy killer, and Fluffhead, while well recieved, was badly flubbed. Page missed an organ solo cue and Trey flubbed 3 different seciotns. At some point you could tell the band got pissed at themselves because the last 5 minutes were the heaviest, angriest Fluffhead I ever heard. The energy was nice, but man was the delivery botched.

Piper had a nice, high energy groove but I don't love the new, fast opening. I preferred the '99-'00 Pipers that started quietly and built to the fever energy. The jam of Piper was excellent, and Tomorrow's song was a quirky, enjoyable jam that has some potential given the song's overall lack of structure. Caspien was Caspien. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I feel like "eh."

Late-middle set 2 and I'm kind of questioning this set's direction again (like set 1). Man did they step it up. As soon as Fish laid down the opening drumroll of Hood the place erupted. The opening of Hood had some filthy, deep bass notes. I still don't know if it was Mike's bass or Page's synth, but it was fucking sweet. The Mr. Minor seciton of Hood was nailed and the jam was beautiful. I felt good about this Hood. Suzy blew the roof off the sucker and again returned the energy to a peak, at the end of Suzy I saw Trey say "1 more" to Page, and I lost my shit when that 1 more was Coil. One of the songs that made my love Phish to begin with, the band walked off stage as Page played his solo and returned at the end. Trey says "we went off for the encore and wondered, Page, where've you been?" Contrived? Yes. But perfectly delivered. I Been Around was the perfect closer after Coil. The Fire encore dissaponted me at first but man they ripped into this one. It prefectly recaptured the energy of the end of the 2nd set.