Haters can hate, but man do I love this show. The knock on this particular year is the sloppiness and wandering jams, but you will not find those here. Nonstop action and a couple serious jams. The first set is as impressive as it looks. Check out that Ghost. A unique take that evokes a dark-circus vibe that really melts face. The Maze sequence is also fantastic.

Set two features an outstanding Piper > Sneakin' Sally that is hot and highly reccomended. What I really want to comment on, however, is that Scents. It's my personal favorite. 2004 captured the band at their most feeble and searching, but also at the height of their expressive powers. The emotion in this song is really unexpected and overwhelming, and given that C-word was next on the radar, it was almost as if the band was saying goodbye to the real stage one last time. The end result is a very sad, yet moving piece that is washed with ambient loops and great work by Page and Mike. This jam should be heard regardless, but if I had to give a reason, I would say that it really helps but things in perspective with where the band was at the exact moment in time. It gives us fans an unabashed inside look at their collective mindset heading in to the final weekend. Some people want to forget, some pretend it never happened, but some, like me, find that there is beauty in this time period. This Scents is a perfect example.

Also worth noting is that the very next day, Phish soundchecked what I conisder to be their best ever piece and my all time favorite jam, simply titled "Check 1". Get it. It is an extension of what I have written above times 10 million. The definitive jam, in my opinion, of the band's career and 30-plus minutes of why I love them so.