Extraordinary. This was arguably the highlight of 'Phish 3.0' for approximately 24 hours, until the transcendent 8/7/10 show blew that notion away.

Everything is good here. Cities(!) > Moma is superb, as is every song in Set Two; Ocelot has a strong local flavour too. And the highlight, the jam that blossoms out of Simple, is simply one of the most beautiful jams Phish have played since June '04.

Yes, Trey absolutely *butchers* the Ghost > Mike's 'transition,' pointing to a worrying trend in Phish's music, an apprehensiveness or impatience on Trey's part, far removed from the patient and generous playing throughout the rest of the show. The sudden insertion of Mike's Song into the winning Ghost jam is a clunker on par with the 2009 Hartford DWD > Wilson. Ugh. But the rest of the second set approaches perfection. And you can't get There without passing through the points between There and Here...

I hope Trey finds purchase and patience, is able to hold on to each jam a little longer each night. But on this night he and his brothers onstage relax deeply into the music, and the result is a kind of free-floating consciousness of which each is a part. (Holy moley I'm listening to the Ghost right now and Cactus just flipped on his soul-rumbling bass effect...wonderful.) And good as this stuff is, it's only halfway down; the invocation was completed the next night, on 8/7. This is Transition and Descent. We are welcome to it.