My first Phish show @ SPAC, only my third Phish show total, and what a show it was!

We were all wondering what they would open with, naturally, and I had been wanting to hear KDF for a loooooooong time. They rocked it! Solid playing, a little jamming. Twas tasty. Moma Dance was a funkfest where Trey and Page were spraying everyone with their funky meathose. Not too much exciting after that, until BOAF. Great version here, not too long but definitely a good jam with a good peak. Yarmouth Road was a reggae-filled couple minutes of goodness, except some of the vocal parts were a bit off. Oh well. Bathtub Gin more than made up for that. Nellie Kane was a random but great choice, as it is another tune I had really wanted to hear live (woo!).

Now... allow me to preface the next song by saying this:

Army of One is my absolute, hands-down, no doubt about it favorite ballad by Phish. EVER. Just like YEM, the song is so damn good that I will never get tired of it. Confession: when they played this at SPAC, I started crying in the middle of it. Seriously. I am not ashamed to admit it either. The lyrics get me every time- "I got no answer but you’ve got no call,
Just can’t compete with the weight of it all." Ahhh man. Perfection.

OK back to the review here- My Friend, My Friend was a real treat! Loved hearing that one. They go into a FUNKY Cities from there, right into Bowie- quite a good Bowie if you ask me. Composed section, pretty much nailed. Phish displays their ability to play dynamically here, that is, their use of dynamics in the song is spectacular. Rock solid jamming and gorgeous lines played by Trey against the backdrop of Page's jazzy chords. Awesome (and popular) way to close a set.

SET TWO

*One of the smoothest-flowing Phish sets I've ever heard.* I could have done without the opener, Energy, but I'm not really complaining because pf the amount of sheer musical GENIUS in this 2nd half.

Light proved once again to be quite useful as a jam vehicle, and boy do they drive it well! Mango Song was alright, vocal parts aren't perfect but the song reaches a cool peak. 46 Days exhibits some Type I jamming, and then we get to my favorite part: Steam > Drowned > Slave. Steam was freakin fantastic, I kid you not. Phish spreadin' the phunk yet again! Lots of sweet jamming in this 3-song sandwich, IMO the most lucid jams of the night were contained in that half hour block. They chose Zero as an encore and it raaaaaged!!

I was on the lawn for this show but pavilion for the next two nights. THE highlight of my summer, for sure.