3rd day of summer tour and I was getting into a nice groove. I was still with Chris G. and my buddy from home and we were having a blast. I have no idea where we were sleeping in between shows. This was pre hotel era for me and we certainly didn't have a tent. You would think I would remember pesky little details like that but when you are young and Phish is your life sleeping isn't your main concern.

We got to this one early as it wasn't that far from the previous venue. Heavy drinking crowd which was ok with me. I think I paid 5 bucks for a ticket for this one. My buddy literally traded the shirt off his back to a guy with an extra.

LIstening back it's another fantastic show. But the thing is when everything is always super like that even the great shows start to become mundane. I remember thinking that this was an "average" show. listening back it's obviously way more than that. The first set was fairly standard for the time period but the Stash was above and beyond. I don't think I really loved Stash when I first started seeing shows but by this point I was really starting to appreciate them. I think it's a type ii but I'm not really the expert on these things... Definitely gets a little jazzy at some points.

2nd set is pure fire from beginning to lights off. Wilson is always good right? Are there bad ones? I don't think so personally. Maze is hot and Trey shreds. He's getting some encouragement from Fish I think who then says OWWWWW right before it wraps up. Some songs just flow together really nicely and Maze>mound is a great example of that. All of that high energy in Maze comes way down with the beginning drumbeat of Mound but the crowd is in total lockstep with the band.

Tweezer was under intense scrutiny at this point. After the extended extended version at Mud Island people were wondering if that was the new standard. I personally don't like a song taking up an entire set. I need some closure every once in awhile or I start to lose interest. SInce then we've of course learned that Tweezer is capable of pretty much anything on any given night. IMO it is their ultimate jam vehicle. Page is on fire during the composed section really looking to break out. This night they are itching to jam out and start immediately after the composed section. All 4 of them get points for that. Fish is especially in the zone. Trey starts leading them somewhere and truly surprising is the JBG debut. It's totally unexpected from Phish at this point. I mean this is practically a GD cover which is not something that was expected at all. Trey of course completely shreds. It was fun to watch. Was this rehearsed? I always wondered that. they drop back into Tweezer as if it was just another few bars they had jammed out. Page and Fish get into some real bluesy sort of riff. THen they just get real spacey and mellow. It just gets so far out before Fish brings it back around... Amazing dynamics represented here. Mcgrupp being next highlights their sense of dynamics they were throwing around that night. Acoustic Army kind of lets us know the sick stuff is done for the night except...HARRY. Mike is going nuts during the Thank you part. Also this is pre Hood chant which makes it better for me. They were just so in the pocket back then. I think a lot of that comes from the amount of time they spent playing together. They were just completely in time and tune musically. THree Little Birds with Dave was very nice to wrap up a very complete show.

Up next the legendary DEER CREEK