My 15th show began with the song that hooked me on The Phish 15 years ago - Farmhouse...and Trey forgot how the song's structure goes. This set the tone for a show where nothing was quite the way it's supposed to be - the weather, the setlist structure, the song structures, and so on. Day even began with a shattered mirror as I pulled out of my parking spot at home, and ended with a hotel without power until the next morning. I admittedly acted like a jackass about both setbacks.

Set 1 took a turn for the better with a typically glurpy Wolfman's funkfest, and then some appropriately discordant Trey / Page interplay on a solidly manic Maze. Yarmouth Road was another favorite selection marred by Trey's forgetting the song's structure, in stark contrast to the song's electrifying debut last year. Strange Design was simple, eloquent, and on point. Devotion To a Dream was album-solid, and that's the best thing I can say about it. Ocelot was one of the better versions - lively verses, biting solo break, and a blissfully meandering outro jam featuring some atypical accents toward the end. Chalkdust brought some '94 style tension, with a huge build, but then just became flaccid at jam's end without the anticipated peak release. Mound was good fun, and Mike's mini-flubs were trivial. Roggae was drizzly and floaty. Possum got good and playful, thanks to some inspired thematic piano runs by Page. Break time!

Bathtub Gin meandered aimlessly - far inferior to the version I saw last fall in Woostah, but some robots will surely tout its imaginary greatness because it went type II. Limby Limb was an interesting curveball, a second improv excursion in lieu of doing what the song "should" do - and this time it really worked!! Funky, yet brazen and outside, before congealing into a blissful Winterqueen intro. Time for the obligatory interminable pause before a simple quickie from the new album. The Line. Oh! drama. Tweezer brought us back from the daddy opera, recapped the Limbylimb theme with incessant "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes" quoteases, and got into some deep space before erupting into a typically stately Caspian. Closing jam was a bit aimless, hinted at a rare "finished" finale, and then abruptly bouncegiggled into Sparkle - another welcome surprise. Run Like An Antelope was about average - i.e. a scorching throwdown. Sing Monica...and play, Trey!! A slightly extended and typically thunderous Tweeprise said goodnight.

Here's hoping for more fireworks tonight!!!