Set 2 = JAMMED THE FUCK OUT!

Now, I did not go to the first night. But I did hear some talk in the lot about how it (the first night) was pretty boilerplate...a lot of 6 min. standard issue songs. Lots of folks believed that they could have gone a lot deeper with several of their tunes. But to me, and to most people that have been going to Phish (or most touring rock bands in general) know that the second night is ALWAYS better. The first night was just a setup....a benchmark for them to absolutely soar, to hit that outlier off the charts of the bell curve. Ya, I think we all had a good time.

Set one included an Uncle Pen that hasn't been seen in 9 years, classic NICU, techincal latiny oldschool goofiness with Foam, a Lawnboy favorite, Split open and melt, and VULTURES, yes ....Many have spoken before on the fact that lots of bands (including their fans) have a few years of creation, manifest some classics that everyone wants to hear, and than are content on playing them over and over, for decades in some cases, with no evolution of the sound. Now I am absolutely not hating on The Dead or any other bands because it takes a lot of talent and passion to be able to be on the road performing for decades. I'm just pointing out a difference in style and culture. Phish not only plays the shit out of their old songs, but has created a bunch of worthy new ones. One thing that really stands out in my mind was the ambiance created from the lights during Alaska...something about the blending of cool blues and greens, with a touch of purple, that just seemed to make sense with the lyrics of the song....

Set two, as stated before, put to rest ALL inclinations brought on by the lack of jamming the previous night, that they were there to ROCK. It was a dance party. And for whatever reason, during Ghost, the one thing that kept comming to mind was FLUX. FIshman and Gordon would simply drive the bodies of every person in the arena, pulsating in unison, until Trey would flick on his Boomerang petal, and bend the groove backwards, forwards, sideways....simply freaking out ALL of the freaks.....

Now lots of other stuff happened during set two (Gotta Jibbo + Wolfmans + Julius), but I'm feeling a bit too bombastic, so I'll let the other phans go into more detail on it, BUT, I would be remiss to not mention the YEM vocal jam encore. I could barley handle it. ...chants, encantations, they even were able to replicate the sound of a aboriginal didgeridoo with just their voices...honestly, I had to close my eyes for the greater majority of it.....I'm not sure if the recordings would be able to capture exactly what was laid down that night, but you'll get an idea....picture yourself tied to a sacrifical stone, with a witchdoctor, eagerly awaiting the shrinking of your head....